Ahead on Canadian rebuke to Congo on debt relief after row over mining rights

Reuters was alone on June 30 with Canadas move to delay a World Bank meeting to approve $8 billion worth of debt relief for Democratic Republic of Congo, depriving President Joseph Kabila of the chance to announce the deal at a same day independence anniversary attended by foreign leaders. Revealed to Reuters by a World Bank official, the Canadian intervention was a symbolic protest at Kinshasas removal of mining rights from Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals in a review of the sector which has frightened investors. Reuters was also ahead of the pack when Canada abstained at a World Bank meeting a day later to allow the debt relief to go through — meaning Congo finally got the long-awaited write-off but Kabila was deprived of the PR glow from the step.