Matadi

the chief port of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Za?re), in the west at the mouth of the River Congo. Pop.: 256 000 (2005 est.)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Matadi

a city in the Republic of Zaire, in the province of Lower Zaire, on the left bank of the Congo (Zaire) River. Population, 110,000 (1970). It is the main port of the country and is accessible to seagoing vessels; in 1971 it handled 1.5 million tons of freight. Exports include copper, cobalt, diamonds, products of the oil palm, coffee, cocoa, rubber, and timber. It is linked by railroad to Kinshasa. There is an airport. Matadi has oil mills and sawmills, as well as other enterprises.

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References in periodicals archive

A priority for the government is to improve and modernise the country's port infrastructure, starting with Matadi, a strategic location through which most external trade passes.

Priorities for modernity

Some of largest and best-known investments made by the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) include the Zambian telecommunications firm Zamtel, in which $394m was invested, and also oil storage and pipeline infrastructure which links Moanda to Matadi in the DR Congo, which amounted to some $3oom.

What happens to Libya's African investments?

Dirk Geens, Safmarine's Africa trade director, said: "Not only will FEW3 significantly improve transit times to Pointe-Noire in Congo-Brazzaville and Matadi in Democratic Republic of Congo through a direct call to Pointe-Noire, but it will also make a direct call at Tin Can Island in Nigeria."

Chinese investment leads renewal

Albeit with the investment of a substantial part of his personal fortune, including funds for the building of a 150-mile stretch of railway connecting Matadi and Leopoldville that cost the lives of an estimated 5,000 souls, Leopold's guile managed to secure a vast personal fiefdom.

King Leopold's Ghost

Controlling the Inga Dam electricity supplies and Matadi port through which imports and exports are routed has brought some relief but as the war drags on President Kabila is finding it increasingly difficult to pay the Luanda regime for its military support.

Congo: profit and loss account

In a three week campaign to overthrow him, they fought their way into the eastern suburbs of Kinshasa, seizing Goma, Bukavu, Uvira and Kisangani in the east, and initially Kitona, Matadi and the Inga Dam hydroelectricity complex in the west.

Carving up the Congo