TORONTO, Dec. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Banro Corporation ("Banro" or the "Company") (AMEX - "BAA"; TSX - "BAA") announces that Peter Cowley has elected to retire as President of the Company, effective March 1, 2008. Mr. Cowley will remain on Banro's Board of Directors as a non-executive director. Mr. Cowley joined Banro's Board in January 2004 and was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer in June 2004. Since this period, Banro has established operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the "DRC") and significantly advanced the exploration and development of the Company's wholly-owned gold projects of Twangiza, Lugushwa and Namoya. Most recently, Mr. Cowley oversaw completion of Preliminary Assessment studies of the Company's Twangiza and Namoya projects. Mr. Cowley stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of the Company in September 2007, following the appointment of Mike Prinsloo as Banro's new CEO, and to reflect the advancement of the Company from explorer to explorer/developer. As a non-executive director, Mr. Cowley will continue to provide input to the Company's exploration activities and specific aspects of the feasibility studies being undertaken at Twangiza and Namoya. Simon Village, Chairman of Banro, said: "On behalf of the Board and management I would like to thank Peter for his major contributions to Banro's achievements to date. The Board welcomes Peter's future contributions to our technical and strategic thinking as we look to unlock value from this significant exploration portfolio." Banro is a Canadian-based gold exploration company focused on the development of four major, wholly-owned gold projects along the 210 kilometre-long Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the South Kivu and Maniema provinces of the DRC. Led by a proven management team with extensive gold and African experience, Banro's strategy is to unlock shareholder value by increasing and developing its significant gold assets in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. DATASOURCE: Banro Corporation CONTACT: please visit our website at http://www.banro.com/, or contact: Simon Village, Chairman, United Kingdom, Tel: (44) 788 405 4012; Arnold T. Kondrat, Executive Vice-President, Toronto, Ontario, or Martin Jones, Vice-President, Corporate Development, Toronto, Ontario, Tel: (416) 366-2221 or 1-800-714-7938

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