Toronto, October 29, 1998 -- Banro Resource Corporation's wholly owned subsidiary, Banro American Resources Inc., reports that the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID") has formally registered its request for arbitration proceedings against the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC"). "This constitutes a significant step forward in our efforts to gain just compensation and restitution from the Congolese government for their unlawful expropriation of our mining assets in Congo," said Bill Wilson, President of Banro American. "Now that the request for arbitration has been officially registered by ICSID, we can legally pursue the Congolese government and we will move forward expeditiously," said Wilson. Washington, D.C. will serve as the venue for arbitration between Banro American and the DRC.

Banro American is seeking restitution for the sudden and unlawful expropriation of assets, including gold mining concessions, owned by its 93% controlled Congolese subsidiary, Société Aurifère du Kivu et Maniema SARL ("SAKIMA"). This claim has been valued at up to $1 billion.

Management has continued to closely monitor the political and military events unfolding in the DRC. However the Company has yet to receive an official response from the DRC as to why SAKIMA's assets have been expropriated. The DRC has recently invited representatives of the Company to meet in Kinshasa in order to discuss the dispute. A senior Banro management team, headed by President and CEO Bernard van Rooyen, is expected to travel to Kinshasa in early November.

"Although we are hopeful that these direct discussions with the Congolese government may start a process that will result in a settlement of our dispute, we are going to aggressively pursue the ICSID arbitration, as well as any other legal measures available to us to protect our investment," said Wilson.

The Company also reports that it has received final receipt from the Ontario Securities Commission for a prospectus to qualify the conversion of the 1,250,000 Special Warrants sold on April 29,1998 into 1,250,000 common shares of the Company. Upon conversion of the Special Warrants, the Company will have 14,921,181 common shares issued and outstanding.

Banro Resource Corporation, the parent of Banro American, is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with executive offices in Johannesburg, South Africa. Banro Resource is a public company listed on the Canadian Dealing Network (CDN) in Toronto under the Stock symbol "BNRS".

For further information on Banro, please visit our Web Site at http://www.banro.com or contact:

Bernard van Rooyen

Chairman, President and CEO

011-2711-4765031

Johannesburg, South Africa

A.T. Kondrat

Executive Vice-President

Cliff Jones

Investor Relations

Phone: (416) 366-2221

Fax: (416) 366-7722

Toll Free: 1-800-714-7938