Arbitration News from Around the World Sean Kelsey (London) AFRICA Democratic Republic of the Congo The 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”, or the “Convention”) entered into force in the Democratic Repub- lic of the Congo (“DRC”) on 3 February 2015, bringing to 153 the number of states in which the Convention is in force. Legislation was passed two years ago by the central African state, but instruments of accession were not deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations in New York until late last year. Although the United Nations website recording the DRC’s accession to the Convention does not refer to any reservations, it is reported that the implement- ing legislation provides that the Convention will only apply to awards issued after 3 February 2014 which concern disputes related to immoveable state property or rights over such property, and that the DRC will apply the Convention subject to the reciprocity and com- merciality reservations. Comoros The parliament of Comoros passed legislation on 22 December 2014 for that country’s accession to the New York Convention. An archipel- ago nation lying in the Indian Ocean, in the north of the channel that divides Madagascar from Mozambique in mainland Africa, Comoros is the only Arab League country in the Southern Hemisphere, and is also part of OHADA, the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Busi- ness Law in Africa, which brings together 17 Francophone African 5