Mo?se Katumbi, governor of Katanga province, which is bisected by Congo's copper belt, said Chinese entrepreneurs abandoned their smelters in a matter of days in a co-ordinated move at the end of last year as copper prices tumbled.

Asked if they would be welcomed back if the price rebounded, he told the Financial Times: “No, no, no. Not as long as I am governor. Katanga is not a jungle. They worked as if it was a jungle.”

Katanga's notoriously rough-and-tumble mining sector enjoyed a heady boom in recent years as commodity prices soared and foreigners rushed in to exploit its copper deposits. The Chinese entrepreneurs who came were part of their country's small-scale, private sector-led engagement with Africa. This has occurred alongside, but not always in conjunction with, a state-driven effort to secure resources, which last year led to a $9bn (￡6bn, €7bn) minerals-for- infrastructure deal between China and Congo.