[   Roger Meece a noté que les FDLR (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda) continuaient de bénéficier de la plus grande capacité militaire, opérant essentiellement dans les provinces du Nord-Kivu et du Sud-Kivu. Il a cependant observé une diminution de la capacité de ce groupe, lequel est, a-t-il dit, « sous pression ». Il a également fait état de la menace majeure que continue de constituer l’Armée de résistance de Seigneur (LRA).]

BURUNDI :

Burundi anti-drug police make huge marijuana seizure

Bujumbura, Burundi – Large quantities of marijuana were seized and fields of the drug destroyed in different regions of Burundi, PANA learnt from police sources in Bujumbura. According to the commander of the anti-drug police, Dismans Ntakibirora, over 300 kg of marijuana were seized in Muyinga (north), Gitega (center) and Bubanza (west) recently.

Ntakibirora said nearly five acres of land where the drug is planted were destroyed in the regions, saying that farmers were in the habit of hiding the drugs in corn fields, forests and valleys.

Seizures do not reflect the reality of the phenomenon, the country has no police

He indicated that drug use was becoming a huge problem in Burundi which had no police officers ‘trained, equipped and in sufficient numbers’, to deal with the menace.

Neighbouring countries like DR Congo and Tanzania are other routes used by farmers to supply marijuana and cannabis.

The drug, called ‘hard’, such as cocaine and heroin, are imported and are also circulating widely in smart neighbourhoods of the country, according to Ntakibirora.

Police arrested 33 people, including 25 men and eight women, involved in drug trafficking networks.  /   Pana 10/02/2011

RWANDA

US-backed program aims to sterilize 700,000 men in Rwanda

February 11, 2011  /   http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9237

The Virginia-based Population Research Institute (PRI) has promised to do “everything in its power” to stop a plan to sterilize 700,000 men in Rwanda.

The campaign, encouraging men to undergo vasectomies, is “nominally voluntary,” according to reports, but some men—particularly in the armed forces—are likely to regard the suggestion as an order. “This amounts to coercion,” observed PRI president Steven Mosher.

The campaign in Rwanda is associated with a previous campaign encouraging circumcision, allegedly as a defense against the spread of AIDS. The campaign is being subsidized by US foreign-aid programs.   Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

RDC –Congo

DRC beat Cote d’Ivoire in Chan  Send to a friend

Friday, 11 February 2011 /   Khartoum. Holders DR Congo came from behind to beat Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 in their Group C day two clash on Thursday in Omdurman.

The result makes the group very open with leaders Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and holders DR Congo all in contention for a place at the next round of the competition.

It was a hard fought victory for the Leopards, who upped their game after the opening loss to Cameroon last week. The match brought out the better of the two teams with the Ivorians dominating with their possessiveness, whilst the Congolese remained aggressive.

The Elephants set the Al- Merriekh Stadium alive with the opener on nine minutes through Mangoua Kesse, who headed home from Kouame Konan’s cross from the right.

The Leopards warmed themselves into the game and made clear their intent four minutes later after Alain Kaluyituka Dioko’s half-volley missed by inches. In the 18th minute, Salakiaku Matondo soared above all to head home the equalizer from a corner-kick taken by Kabangu Mulota. (AFP)

Trafic d’or en RDC: des millions de dollars dans la nature

© afp  —  Les trafiquants d’or présumés interpellés la semaine dernière dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) auraient payé la somme de 6,5 millions de dollars pour l’achat de 310 kg de métal précieux, mais les services de sécurité congolais n’ont récupéré que 1,8 million, a-t-on appris mercredi de source officielle.

Les quatre trafiquants présumés – un Américain, un Français et deux Nigérians-, “ont dit aux enquêteurs avoir donné 6,5 millions de dollars (aux vendeurs d’or). Mais il y a une contradiction, car il n’a été rapporté à la banque centrale que 1,8 millions de dollars”, après l’interpellation des suspects, a déclaré le porte-parole du gouvernement congolais, Lambert Mende Omalanga, à l’AFP.

Selon M. Mende, quelque 310 kg d’or achetés par les suspects ont été saisis. D’autres sources avaient indiqué jusque-là qu’environ 450 kg d’or avaient été récupérés par les enquêteurs. Le porte-parole du gouvernement a par ailleurs indiqué qu’il n’était “pas impossible que des militaires (congolais) soient impliqués” dans ce trafic.

Les quatre suspects étaient toujours en garde à vue mercredi à Goma, le chef-lieu de la province du Nord-Kivu, où leur avion – un biréacteur immatriculé aux Etats-Unis- s’était posé le 3 février. L’aéronef était toujours immobilisé mercredi après-midi sur le tarmac de l’aéroport de Goma, a constaté un correspondant de l’AFP.

Les quatre trafiquants présumés “sont placés sous surveillance dans un hôtel et sont bien traités”, a déclaré le gouverneur de la province, Julien Paluku. “Ils ne nient pas avoir participé à une transaction” pour acheter de l’or, a-t-il ajouté à l’AFP.

Le Nord-Kivu et le Sud-Kivu sont des provinces très instables en raison de la présence de groupes armées toujours actifs, qui sont régulièrement accusés de se financer notamment grâce au trafic de minerais, dont la région regorge (cassitérite, coltan, or…). Des militaires sont aussi accusés de tirer profit de ce commerce illicite.

L’exploitation minière artisanale dans ces provinces a justement été suspendue depuis septembre par le président congolais Joseph Kabila, qui avait dénoncé l’implication d’autorités civiles et militaires congolaises dans ces trafics. (belga/chds)

09/02/11

Onze soldats jugés pour viols dans l’est du Congo-Kinshasa

publié le 10/02/2011 /  Par Reuters  —-  Onze soldats de l’armée congolaise ont comparu jeudi devant un tribunal militaire à Baraka, dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC), accusés du viol d’une soixantaine de femmes début janvier.

Les faits se seraient déroulés dans la ville de Fizi, dans la province du Sud-Kivu où opèrent l’armée gouvernementale, des miliciens et des groupes rebelles locaux et étrangers.

Ce procès est considéré comme un test de la volonté des autorités de Kinshasa de combattre les exactions commises dans la région. Selon les chiffres des Nations unies, plus de 160 femmes sont violées chaque semaine dans l’est du Congo.

Plusieurs groupes armés opèrent dans cette région depuis la guerre qui a embrasé entre 1998 et 2003 l’ancienne possession belge qui regorge de richesses minières. Le viol, considéré comme une “arme de guerre”, y est monnaie courante.

L’an dernier, le représentant spécial de l’Onu sur les violences sexuelles a présenté l’est de la RDC comme la “capitale mondiale du viol”.

Les accusés, parmi lesquels figurent le lieutenant-colonel Mutware Kibibi, ont été inculpés de viols et de détentions arbitraires, a rapporté un journaliste de Reuters sur place.

Les audiences devraient durer environ dix jours.

RDC – Situation préoccupante à l’Est selon la MONUSCO                        

Vendredi, 11 Février 2011 /   Kinshasa, le 11 février 2011 – (D.I.A.) – Le Représentant spécial du Secrétaire général des Nations-Unies en RDC, Roger Meece a déclaré, le 7 février, devant les membres du Conseil de sécurité que la situation dans l’Est du pays était toujours préoccupante. C’était au moment où il présentait le deuxième rapport de la Monusco (Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation du Congo) au Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU.

 Concernant les relations entre la Mission onusienne et le gouvernement congolais, M. Meece a affirmé  que celles-ci avaient « connu une amélioration constante ». En effet, soutient le chef de la Monusco, la Mission a pu « établir un dialogue très constructif avec des interlocuteurs civils et militaires à tous les niveaux du gouvernement ». Selon le rapport, il en a résulté un renforcement de la coopération concernant la coordination opérationnelle au plan militaire, des programmes de formation de la police, de l’approche adoptée pour les programmes de stabilisation et du processus d’évaluation conjointe. Pour le représentant spécial, la protection des civils demeure « clairement » la priorité principale de la mission qu’il dirige. Et c’est en raison notamment des opérations conduites par des groupes armés étrangers ou de l’intérieur dans l’Est du pays. Pour lui, ces groupes continuent d’agir comme des forces prédatrices, utilisant souvent le viol et d’autres formes de violence contre les civils. Le représentant spécial  a par ailleurs fait état de nombreux abus commis par des membres des FARDC (Forces armées de la RDC) et de la Police Nationale Congolaise (PNC).

Selon ce deuxième rapport, « la cause fondamentale de la poursuite de la violence dans l’Est demeure,  la présence et l’activité des groupes armés restants ». A ce sujet, Roger Meece a noté que les FDLR (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda) continuaient de bénéficier de la plus grande capacité militaire, opérant essentiellement dans les provinces du Nord-Kivu et du Sud-Kivu. Il a cependant observé une diminution de la capacité de ce groupe, lequel est, a-t-il dit, « sous pression ». Il a également fait état de la menace majeure que continue de constituer l’Armée de résistance de Seigneur (LRA).

Concernant la tenue des prochaines élections, le patron de la Monusco a noté que les progrès ont été réalisés cette année. Cependant il a attiré l’attention sur l’importance et la nécessité d’assurer un scrutin  transparent, pour assurer la stabilité au pays. Car, estime Roger Meece, « un échec à conduire des élections crédibles représenterait naturellement un sérieux revers des progrès importants réalisés depuis de nombreuses années par la RDC ».

Pour sa part, le représentant de la RDC à l’ONU, Ileka Atoki a réitéré l’ « engagement sans faille » de son pays à éradiquer le fléau des violences sexuelles. Car pour ce diplomate, la violence envers les femmes constituait toujours pour la RDC un « véritable fléau, une réminiscence morbide, un héritage lugubre d’une décennie de rupture de la paix et de la sécurité internationales dont le pays a été récemment la victime expiatoire ». Ainsi, il a réclamé réparation  et que tous les auteurs – nationaux, étrangers et même messagers de paix – de ces crimes soient punis.  (Agence Catholique D.I.A. www.dia-afrique.org)

UGANDA

Uganda: Northern aspirations before election

http://www.theafricareport.com/archives2/politics/5136564-uganda-northern-aspirations-before-election.html

WRITTEN BY BENON HERBERT OLUKA IN KAMPALA           / FRIDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2011  ——   After years of civil conflict in the north, new opposition candidates are jockeying to represent the region while the ruling party tries to temper discontent and return President Yoweri Museveni to power

Uganda votes on 18 February but for the northern part of the East African country, which suffered a brutal 20-year rebellion that started in 1986, it is an election that will present several choices at the presidential level.

Like in other parts of the country, voters in northern Uganda will have to choose one of the eight candidates whose names and pictures will be on the ballot. However, in northern Uganda, particular attention will be paid to how they choose between the two arch-rivals in the last two elections – incumbent Yoweri Museveni and Kizza Besigye – and two new candidates who hail from the region – Nobert Mao and Olara Otunnu.

In the last three elections since 1996, northern Uganda overwhelmingly voted against President Museveni. Much of that vote was a protest against the failure of President Museveni’s government to end a war that led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of up to two million people from their homes.

The war ended five years ago following the aborted peace talks that took place in the Southern Sudan city of Juba and the subsequent isolation of the Lord’s Resistance Army in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A series of resettlement and rehabilitation efforts are ongoing in the north, resulting in a marginal change in general perceptions about the government. The region has also profited from the booming trade with Southern Sudan, which is now Uganda’s leading export market.

Not that simple

While those developments have improved the image of the ruling party in the north, it is not sufficient to erase the anger built up over the last 25 years. Northern Uganda is therefore expected to once again vote against the ruling party. The difference this time around is that the people in the north are spoilt for choice.

Mao, the youngest candidate in the race, has a strong record of opposing the government. His role as a parliamentarian and district chairman also holds him in good stead among the people in northern Uganda. But the 43-year-old candidate needs more time to reach out to voters in other parts of the country.

Otunnu, on the other hand, leads a party whose founding father, Milton Obote, hails from the north. The former UN diplomat has also distinguished himself as a consistent critic of Museveni. However, he spent about 25 years abroad, and opponents say that he is out of touch with the needs of ordinary Ugandans.

According to Tabu Butagira, a reporter with the privately owned Daily Monitor who has covered the campaign rallies of some of the leading presidential candidates in northern Uganda, Besigye is the leading hope for an opposition victory at the 18 February poll.

“In the eyes of the voters in northern Uganda, the Mao and Otunnu combination, even if they are likeable characters, does not bear the symbolism of victory to lead to expected change of government,” says Butagira. “Besigye is in the presidential race for the third time and has demonstrated the ability to draw crowds in the current campaign and therefore presents himself as a formidable candidate capable of dislodging President Museveni.”

TANZANIA:

Tanzanian President Says Road Won’t Harm Wildebeest Migration

February 10, 2011, /  Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said conservationists have exaggerated concerns that a planned road around the Serengeti National Park would disrupt the annual migration of 2 million zebras and wildebeest.

Only an unpaved, 54-kilometer (34-mile) section of a planned highway around the northern periphery of the park will pass into the Serengeti, Kikwete said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday.

“No tarmac road will be built through the Serengeti,” Kikwete said, according to the statement. “We will only build a road around the park to ease very serious transport challenges facing the poorer communities around the park.”

The proposed road will cut travel times for residents in some northern Tanzania villages living without tapped water or electricity who currently spend eight hours on a 170-kilometer dirt track to reach Mto wa Mbu, a town outside the park, he said.

The northern route has drawn criticism from environmentalists including the Wildlife Conservation Society, based in New York, and the Zoological Society of London.

Vehicles moving along the road may collide with the migrating mammals, while the increased traffic may block their northward migration to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in neigboring Kenya, the groups said on Aug. 25. They recommended the government choose an alternative option to expand the road network, possibly closer to the southern edge of the park.

Tanzania has declined a funding offer from the World Bank to study the possibility of a southern route, Kikwete said.

Annual Migration

The annual migration of the zebras and wildebeest, also known as gnus, starts in Tanzania around October as a seasonal dry spell begins and herds follow rainfall north in search of grazing, according to conservationists. The phenomenon was chosen as one of the seven natural wonders of the world in a 2006 survey by USA Today and ABC News’s Good Morning America.

The Serengeti, in northwestern Tanzania, gets it names from the word Siringitu of the Maasai tribe who are native to the area, meaning “the place where the land moves on forever.”

The area is designated a Unesco World Heritage Site and attracts as many as 90,000 tourists every year.

–Editors: Philip Sanders

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Nairobi at or smcgregor5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net

Fighting leprosy still problematic in Tanzania  Send to a friend

http://thecitizen.co.tz/business/13-local-business/8130-fighting-leprosy-still-problematic-in-tanzania.html

Friday, 11 February 2011 /   By The Citizen Reporter

Dar es Salaam. Despite succeeding to reduce the number of leprosy cases radically, by cutting the prevalence of the disease by over 90 per cent, Tanzania has nevertheless not yet managed to wholly wipe out the infectious, chronic illness.

A report issued by the ministry of Health and Social Welfare in 2008, for instance, showed that the country had managed to reduce leprosy cases to fewer than 4000; and currently there are less than 3000, while in 2006 Tanzania received a special award from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for meeting the control target of one affected person in every 10,000 people.

However, the non-contagious, but chronic infectious disease caused by leprae mycobacterium, is yet to be fully eliminated in the country, and experts like Lindi regional medical officer, Dr Mohammed Ali, warns against complacency in the campaign.

“Tanzania has managed to reduce the number of leprosy cases from about 35,000 to 2,600 but the disease is still a big problem in some parts of the country…leprosy has not been totally curtailed,” he noted. “Lindi is the mostly affected region. The other regions where the problem is also huge are Rukwa, Dar es Salaam and Mtwara.”

Dr Ali was speaking during the observance of the 58th World Leprosy Day, held nationally in Lindi Region. The Day is observed internationally on January 31 or its nearest Sunday to increase public awareness of leprosy or Hansen’s disease. It was chosen in commemoration of the death of Gandhi, the Indian leader due to his role in anti-leprosy work.

Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded diseases in the world. It is an infectious chronic disease that targets the nervous system, especially the nerves in the cooler parts of the body – the hands, feet, and face.

According to Dr Steve Lyons of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at WHO, the agency has since 1995 supplied close to 100 per cent of the MDT (multidrug therapy) for leprosy free of charge to all endemic countries. MDT is the standard treatment for the disease, which Dr Lyons says is very safe and highly effective.

“Because of the long incubation period of the disease, elimination will not happen overnight. But most countries continue to make significant progress. With free treatment widely available, this has led to greater awareness of the disease and its symptoms, and its earlier diagnosis. This in turn has led to fewer residual disabilities, and less stigma within the community,” he said last week in an email message to this paper.

Access to information, diagnosis and treatment with MDT remain key elements in the strategy to eliminate the disease as a public health problem and reaching the WHO prevalence rate of less than one leprosy case per 10,000 people.

To date, only four countries have not yet been able to control leprosy: Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and Nepal.  Tanzania’s ministry of Health and Social Welfare officials say that although leprosy is under control on a nationwide basis, there are still some areas where the incidence of the disease ranges between 1.4 to two cases per 10,000 people, such as Lindi Region.

According to Dr Amani Semu of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme (NTLP), leprosy is also still a health problem in Kigoma and Morogoro regions. He told a national TV channel, TBC1 on January 30, that Lindi still shoulders the biggest burden of the disease, with 130 cases at the end of last year.

Tanzania launched the NTLP in July 1977, becoming the first country in the world to successfully combine the control of TB and leprosy into a single programme.

The program is charged with the responsibility of facilitating early diagnosis, treatment and cure of as many tuberculosis and leprosy patients as possible, so as to reduce the incidence and prevalence of the diseases until they are no longer a major public health problem in the country. The programme is also aimed at reducing physical disability and psycho-social suffering caused by the two diseases.

Government data shows that leprosy has rendered 30,000 people disabled in Tanzania during the last 26 years.  Health and Social Welfare minister Hadji Mponda said in Lindi at the commemoration of the World Leprosy Day that 32,400 patients out of the 35,000 who reported were treated between 1983 and 2009.

He said 2009 statistics showed that 11 per cent of new patients, who had been discovered to have leprosy, had permanent disabilities.

“We are going to improve the services countrywide to help patients to live ordinary life, as much as possible,” he noted in a speech read on his behalf by Zanzibar deputy health and social welfare minister, Sirah Ubwa.

According to the minister, the only effective way of fighting the disease is to raise awareness on how people could protect themselves from contracting it.

KENYA :

GlaxoSmithKline: Kenya To Introduce GSK’s Pneumococcal Vaccine

FEBRUARY 11, 2011  /   LONDON (Dow Jones)–GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.LN), a global healthcare group announced Friday the incorporation of its pneumococcal vaccine into the Kenyan national immunization program.

MAIN FACTS:

-Kenya is the first African country to receive pneumococcal vaccines through the innovative financing mechanism known as the Advance Market Commitment or AMC, which is designed to bring heavily discounted vaccines to children living in the world’s poorest countries.

-GSK’s Synflorix is the first vaccine to be rolled out in Africa under the AMC framework and provides protection against 10 strains of the pneumococcus bacteria that are responsible for the large majority of pneumococcal disease in Kenya and worldwide.

-Sierra Leone is also introducing pneumococcal vaccines through the AMC in Africa, and Yemen is doing the same in the Middle East.

-Certain countries in Latin America are also eligible to receive pneumococcal vaccines through the AMC.

-Nicaragua began vaccinating children in late 2010 and Guyana is introducing vaccines this year.

-In total, GAVI anticipates that more than 40 developing countries will receive pneumococcal vaccines through the AMC by 2015.

-The AMC accelerates access to new and innovative vaccines.

-By guaranteeing the availability of initial purchase funds, the AMC enables vaccine makers to invest in development and manufacturing capability.

-In addition, by contracting significant volumes over the long-term, manufacturers can significantly reduce the cost of their vaccines.

-GSK has invested more than $400 million in a plant to manufacture Synflorix in Singapore to meet expected global demand.

-Kenya began administering immunizations in early January with Synflorix, which is supplied in a two-dose presentation to help developing countries optimize their storage and transport space.

-Kenya rolled out a comprehensive training program to prepare its healthcare workers and clinics to administer the vaccine alongside the traditional immunizations Kenyan children already receive.

-Shares at 1553 GMT up 0.08 pence, or 0.68%, at 11.79 pence.

-By Zechariah Hemans, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9411; zechariah.hemans@dowjones.com

US President Obama Nominates Scott Gration as the Next Ambassador to Kenya

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/US-President-Obama-Nominates-Scott-Gration-as-the-Next-Ambassador-to-Kenya-115935834.html

Michael Onyiego | Nairobi  February  11, 2011  /   AU Summit Reveals Growing African Resentment Toward Western Values

U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration has been nominated by President Barack Obama as the next Ambassador to Kenya. Gration’s arrival will end the term of influential and often controversial envoy Michael Ranneberger.

After much speculation, U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration as the next U.S. Ambassador to Kenya. The move, which had been rumored for many months, answers many questions regarding the fate of current U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger.

Diplomatic appointments would not usually make headlines but, as Nairobi University international relations professor Gerrishon Ikiara explains, the U.S. post in Kenya is different. “It is very important. The American ambassadors here have had a lot of impact in many ways. We have had quite a number of American ambassadors who have left a permanent impact,” Ikiara said.

Ambassador Ranneberger is no exception. The U.S. envoy was a highly visible player in some of Kenya’s largest crises. During the 2008 post-election chaos he was at the center of American shuttle diplomacy which saw visits from Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer and then-Secretary of State Condolezza Rice.

Ranneberger has also been an outspoken advocate of political reform and anti-corruption initiatives. In 2008, the Ambassador issued United States travel bans on senior members of Kenya’s government, including the Attorney General who he believed were slowing the pace of reform.

More recently, the U.S. Ambassador has launched a campaign to fight the illegal narcotics trade. Though not releasing names, Ranneberger issued travel bans against members of Kenya’s parliament allegedly profiting from the trade and announced the opening of a Drug Enforcement Agency office in the country to combat the growing problem. 

But Ranneberger’s tenure has been nothing, if not controversial, and Kenya’s politicians have increasingly accused him of meddling in Kenya’s internal affairs.  “Putting in place a new constitution really is key to the entire agenda to reform Kenya and to bring about fundamental change,” he said. “The other reforms, police reform, judicial reform, ending the culture of impunity, ending negative ethnicity, can’t really come about unless this new constitution is put in place.”

The U.S. Envoy openly advocated the adoption of Kenya’s new constitution in August of last year. But opponents accused him of secretly funding the referendum campaign, and members of the United States Congress slammed his support over abortion clauses contained in the new Kenyan laws.

Ranneberger has also frequently addressed Kenya’s youth, urging them to take the country’s future into their own hands. The envoy has often described those programs as part of a campaign to end impunity in Kenya’s notoriously corrupt public sector. But such action has not come without consequences.

Many politicians, including President Mwai Kibaki, have criticized Ranneberger and accused him of fomenting revolution in the east African nation. Some have even accused the envoy of using the programs to build ethnic militias and provoke civil discord.

But perhaps most damaging to Ranneberger’s influence in Kenya has been the leak of classified diplomatic cables through the controversial website Wikileaks. Though many cables contain routine assessments of Kenya’s political climate, one particular cable pegged Kenya’s President and Prime Minister as directly involved in the country’s corruption. The envoy also labeled the principals as part of an “old guard” blocking critical reforms in the east African nation.

The release of the cables kicked off a diplomatic storm and provoked the fury of Kenya’s parliament. The lawmaking body considered demanding that Ranneberger be sent back to Washington. A motion was introduced to censure the U.S. envoy, but the vote ultimately fell short.

Though Ranneberger has been frequently accused of overstepping the traditional bounds of a foreign diplomat, it is not the first time an American ambassador has played an outsize role in Kenya’s politics. Nairobi University Professor Gerrishon Ikiara pointed to former ambassador Smith Hempstone, who was often called the “Rogue Ambassador,” as an example.

“He left a permanent mark here as the country struggled through political reforms during the Moi regime. He was loved a lot by very many ordinary Kenyans, activists, NGOs. Obviosly the government of the day didn’t like him. He was very outspoken but he made a permanent impact on the reform process in Kenya,” Ikiara states.

Hempstone was a vehement critic of Kenya’s one-party state and the rule of President Daniel Moi during the early 1990s. His brusque style led members of the Kenyan media to term his approach “bulldozer diplomacy.”

With Senate confirmation still pending, Gration will likely not arrive in Kenya for months to come. But many in Kenya will be anxiously waiting to see how the new U.S. Ambassador to Kenya will approach the country’s rampant corruption and whether he will assume the mantle of rogue ambassador. 

AFRICA / AU :

Ten killed in Mogadishu clashes

Fri Feb 11, 2011 —- http://www.presstv.ir/detail/164797.html

Al-Shabab fighters conduct military exercises in northern Mogadishu, Somalia, file photo.

Heavy clashes between Somali government troops backed by African Union forces and al-Shabab fighters have resulted in the deaths of 10 people in Mogadishu.

Six Somali soldiers lost their lives on Friday after bitter clashes broke out between al-Shabab fighters and transitional government troops in Mogadishu’s northern district of Hodan. Four al-Shabab fighters were among the dead, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Several civilians were also wounded in the skirmishes. Somali ambulance workers ferried those wounded to local hospitals.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The Somali government has struggled for years to restore security, but efforts have not yet yielded results in the Horn of Africa nation.

Up to one million people have lost their lives following years of fighting between rival warlords and because of the country’s inability to deal with famine and disease.

There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia. More than 300,000 IDPs are sheltered in Mogadishu alone.

Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

MP/HGH/MMN

Ethiopia Foiled Eritrea-Backed Attack on Summit, ENA Reports

By William Davison – Feb 6, 2011 /    Ethiopian security services thwarted an Eritrea-backed terrorist attack on last week’s Africa Union summit, the Ethiopian News Agency said.

Explosives were confiscated after being transported from Djibouti to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital and venue for the meeting, according to state-owned ENA.

Members of Ethiopian separatist group the Oromo Liberation Front and their collaborators were arrested, the Addis Ababa- based news agency said, without saying how it obtained theinformation.

During the summit, which ended Jan. 31, Dina Mufti, spokesman for the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, dismissed the Australian Foreign Ministry’s warnings of an attack on the event attended by heads of states.

Suicide bombers from the al-Qaeda-linked Somali group Al Shabab struck Kampala, the Ugandan capital, two weeks before the last African Union summit, killing 74 people.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net

AU Prepares Report on Ivory Coast Crisis

Scott Stearns | Dakar  February 10, 2011 / 

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Incumbent-Ivorian-Government-Says-African-Union-Talks-Show-Failure-of-West-African-Mediation–115711489.html

African Union officials in Ivory Coast are preparing to report back to a heads-of-state panel charged with resolving the political crisis.  Ivory Coast’s incumbent government says the mediation shows that West African leaders have failed in their push to promote the internationally-recognized winner of the presidential election. 

African Union officials have been in Abidjan this week, meeting with representatives of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and the United-Nations-certified winner of November’s vote, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara.

Those officials will draft a report for review by the leaders of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, South Africa, and Tanzania, who have been asked by the African Union to come up with a way to resolve Ivory Coast’s political crisis by the end of the month.

West African leaders say widespread support for Mr. Ouattara is slipping because some heads of state are now backing Mr. Gbagbo. 

“The solidarity that started amongst us and in the international community is fast being eroded because certain countries have taken sides and therefore are disagreeing with the decision already taken,” said James Gbeho, who chairs the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.

Gbagbo advisor Yao Gnamien says the African Union mediation shows ECOWAS has failed.

“The ECOWAS failed to solve the problem.  How can they sanction President Gbagbo without listening to him?  They were thinking that President Gbagbo has not been elected.  Instead of saying that, they should have come to investigate first,” said Gnamien.

Gnamien told VOA that the African Union will clearly show that Mr. Gbagbo won re-election.

“The stay of the experts in Cote d’Ivoire will tell all the world what was going on in Cote d’Ivoire after the election, and then we will see whether the president is guilty or not,” he said.

But Gnamien says the African Union panel must not question the legitimacy of the constitutional counsel decision that is the basis of Mr. Gbagbo’s re-election. The counsel annulled as fraudulent nearly ten percent of all ballots cast, reversing electoral commission results that declared Mr. Ouattara the winner.

It is true that the constitutional counsel is historically the final legal authority on Ivorian elections.  But for this vote, under a peace plan signed by Mr. Gbagbo, the United Nations must certify the outcome. U.N. representative Young-jin Choi certified Mr. Ouattara.

Christian Preda led the European Union observer mission to Ivory Coast’s election.

“Mr. Choi, the special representative of the secretary general of the United Nations said clearly that the results announced by the electoral commission were the final result and this is, as you know, the position of the international community with some exceptions, the international community accepted this result,” said Preda.

One of those exceptions is Russia, which has blocked Security Council resolutions endorsing Mr. Ouattara. In a meeting this week with Senegal’s foreign minister, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the international community must not impose itself on Ivorian democracy.

Lavrov says forced outside interference in the electoral process is absolutely unacceptable and could destabilize all of West Africa.  He says the international community cannot create such a bad precedent that could be used every time someone is unhappy with an election.

ECOWAS leaders are considering military force to remove Mr. Gbagbo, and Gbeho says they reserve the right to act independently of any African Union decision.

UN /ONU :

USA :

New Ivory Coast Ambassador Arrives in US

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/New-Ivory-Coast-Ambassador-Arrives-in-US-115603599.html

Nico Colombant  February 08, 2011   /    A new Ivory Coast ambassador has arrived in the United States, as part of a diplomatic offensive by the internationally-recognized President-elect  Alassane Ouattara against incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo who is refusing to leave power. 

Daouda Diabate spoke to dozens of Ivorian nationals who gathered at the Embassy Suites hotel in Washington, shortly after he had landed at Dulles International airport.

He explained he was part of a team trying to get the cocoa-rich but divided and struggling Ivory Coast, known in French as Cote d’Ivoire, back on track.

“Cote d’Ivoire used to be qualified as an economic miracle in Africa and this is the kind of thing that we know that once again we can achieve. We have the people. We have the resources. We have the opportunities. We just need peace and stability and we just want to see the right man at the right place and do the job, with democracy, with good governance and all these things Cote d’Ivoire can come back to that kind of success,” he said.

Diabate, a former ambassador to the United States under Mr. Gbagbo, was more recently ambassador in Brazil, before being appointed back to the United States by Mr. Ouattara.

After the reception, he rushed off to the State Department to finalize a process which he hopes will get him recognized by U.S. authorities and at work at the Ivory Coast embassy in Washington before the end of February.

Balla Sidibe, who recently led a protest of Ivory Coast nationals outside the White House, greeted the new ambassador’s arrival, but said even if he gets to work in Washington, the battle remains in the Ivorian commercial capital Abidjan.

“We need to also acknowledge the fact that right now Cote d’Ivoire is being taken hostage by one individual that does not want to quit. He is a sore loser. His name is former President Gbagbo,” Sidibe said.

One of the organizer’s of Tuesday’s event Toumani Sissoko was one of many who took time off work to attend.

He said he hopes the U.S. government will do more than just current economic sanctions to help oust Mr. Gbagbo, who remains in control of the army, ports and state media.

“I think the United States has to show force to Mr. Gbagbo without using it first. Showing force means the United States can bring some military, some aircraft, some boats, and all these things and show to Mr. Gbagbo we are ready to strike and Mr. Gbagbo knows how powerful the U.S. army is so he may leave,” said Sissoko.

That option has not been raised publicly by U.S. officials who say Mr. Gbagbo stole the election. But officials from the West African regional grouping ECOWAS have raised the possibility of outside military intervention with a U.N. mandate as a last resort.

A panel of African heads of state recently mandated by the African Union sent negotiators to Abidjan this week as part of a new month-long mediation attempt.

Last year’s much delayed U.N.-sponsored election which was supposed to reunite Ivory Coast, divided in two since 2002, has instead intensified divisions and led to dozens more deaths.

After national election commission officials gave the victory to Mr. Ouattara by a wide margin following the second round November run-off, the country’s constitutional council threw out votes from the rebel-held north, erasing the first result and instead leaving the state’s power in the hands of Mr. Gbagbo.  The incumbent has said any Ouattara diplomatic appointment is illegitimate and that he will reciprocate by forcing ambassadors to leave Ivory Coast.

Mr. Ouattara’s appointment to the United Nations Youssoufou Bamba has already started working in New York, and was also present at Tuesday’s event in Washington. Another Ouattara appointee, Ally Coulibaly, now heads the Ivorian embassy in the former colonial power France, even though he initially had to use the services of a locksmith to force his entry into the compound in Paris.

Calls to the Ivorian embassy in Washington on Tuesday to see if employees there would cooperate with the scheduled handover went unanswered.

EAC and US Africa Centre for Strategic Studies explore areas of collaboration

http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=619464&Itemid=28

Friday, 11 February 2011  /   The Director of the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS) at the National Defense University in Washington DC in the USA, Ambassador (Rtd) William M. Bellamy paid a one-day working visit to the EAC Headquarters today and held talks with various EAC Officials led by the Secretary General, Amb. Juma Volter Mwapachu.

Amb. Bellamy, who also toured the ongoing construction site of the new EAC Headquarters and the Nyerere Centre for Peace Research, was accompanied by Mary McGurn, the ACSS Interim Director for Community Affairs and Lt. Col. Thomas W. Cook, the Defense Army Attaché at the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam.

The Secretary General was accompanied by the Deputy Secretaries General in charge of Political Federation, Hon. Beatrice Kiraso; and in charge of Finance and Administration, Dr. Julius Tangus Rotich; the EAC Defence Liaison Officers; and other senior officials.

The visit by Amb. Bellamy to the EAC Secretariat was mainly to explore possible areas of collaboration between the two institutions. Welcoming Amb. Bellamy to the EAC Headquarters, the Secretary General said ACSS was a huge resource partner for the EAC in terms of capacity building, networking, developing programmes, information generation and sharing especially for the Nyerere Centre for Peace Research.

Amb. Juma Mwapachu informed his guests that the Treaty for the establishment of EAC identifies peace and security as prerequisites for the success of the EAC Region Integration process. He said the relevance of peace and stability to all the four stages of integration cannot be over emphasized. In light of the evolution of conflicts, crises and other threats to peace and security, there was need to constantly identify the strengths and weaknesses of, opportunities for and threats to the Community, for which appropriate regional responses need to be put in place and build internal capacity for action research to regularly inform decision making.

“Our partnership with ACSS especially in supporting continuous training and capacity development on peace and security issues within the Secretariat and Partner states will be decisively explored”, stated the Secretary General.

Amb. Juma Mwapachu affirmed further that EAC and ACSS partnership will strengthen the region’s strategic capacity to identify and resolve security challenges in the region.

The Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation, Hon. Beatrice Kiraso briefed the Director of the US African Centre for Strategic Studies on the current EAC political affairs initiatives including good governance, human rights, the strategy for regional peace and security, and the operations of the Nyerere Centre for Peace Research.

Col. Micheal Luwogo, on behalf of the EAC Defense Liaison Officers made a presentation on the EAC which focussed on the Defense cooperation that is being underpinned by a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2001. The process to upgrade the MoU to a full Protocol is ongoing.

Ambassador (Rtd) Bellamy informed the EAC officials that the US Policy toward Africa was mainly geared towards supporting strong and stable democracies and good governance; fostering sustained economic growth and development; strengthening public health; preventing, mitigating, and resolving armed conflict; and finally helping to address transnational challenges.

Director Bellamy reiterated that based on the US policy and in the overall context of forging partnerships for Africa’s future, the ACSS’s mission is to support United States foreign and security policies by strengthening the strategic capacity of African states to identify and resolve security challenges in ways that promote civil-military cooperation, respect democratic values, and safeguard human rights.

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Ambassador (Rtd) Bellamy extended invitation to EAC nominated officials to participate in the various programmes being conducted by the ACSS. The Director also pledged to support EAC in developing its strategic plan/or vision once called upon. The two parties agreed to develop further concrete areas of cooperation for implementation.

Source: East African Community (EAC)

USA, France Upset about Aristide Return to Haiti                          

Port-au-Price, Feb 11.- United States and France reacted with disgust to Jean Bertrand Aristide’s return to Haiti, which could happen at any moment because the former president has the diplomatic passport issued by his country.

According to spokesman of the US State Department Philip J. Crowley, his return would be an inconvenient distraction for the nation, which is preparing the run-off of the controversial general elections of November 28.

The run-off should be held on March 20 when the opponents will be Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly.

“Haitian people must now focus on choosing the candidate to support in the vote”, said Crowley from Washington.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bernard Valero said his government will closely monitor the stability and civil peace in the country.

The fear of the United States and France is that Aristide is very popular in Haiti and the return could be ruining their efforts to bring the presidency to one of their preferred candidates.

Indeed, the two nations are accused of orchestrating the coup that overthrew Aristide in February 2004.

Aristide, exiled in South Africa, expressed in public his desire to return to his homeland on January 20, to cooperate with the recovery of the education sector, seriously affected by the devastating earthquake of January 2010. (Prensa Latina).

CANADA :

Gbagbo ‘not welcome’ in Canada

Feb 9, 2011| By Sapa-AFP   —  Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo is not welcome in Canada, says the country’s top diplomat while commending the African Union’s support for his rival Alassane Ouattara.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement, “Laurent Gbagbo and his entourage are not welcome in Canada”.

“Furthermore, all persons found to be involved in the subversion of the democratically elected government of the Ivory Coast, and those found responsible for gross human rights violations or war crimes, would be inadmissible to Canada.”

In addition to the travel restrictions, Cannon said Ottawa was exploring with its allies “further measures” against Gbagbo and his entourage “as long as they continue to defy the democratic will of the Ivorian people”.

An African Union five-member heads-of-state panel this week is aiming to resolve a two-month-old power struggle between incumbent strongman Gbagbo and Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of disputed November elections.

The AU last month reaffirmed its recognition of Ouattara as president elect and said it would seek to help him “exercise power” through a negotiated political deal.

Cannon said Ottawa looks forward to the AU panel’s recommendations.

Egypt envoy to Canada hails historic, proud moment in wake of Mubarak ouster

By: Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press  / 02/11/2011     OTTAWA – Share our joy, but hold the advice — for now.

That was the message from Egypt’s envoy to Canada as he spoke hours after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

Ambassador Wael Aboulmagd called Friday’s dramatic turn of events a proud, historic moment for all Egyptians everywhere that heralds a new era of freedom for his proud nation.

But in an interview with The Canadian Press, Aboulmagd had some words of advice for well-meaning Canadians and other foreigners who want to help his country move forward.

What can Canadians do to support Egyptians?

“Right now, very little, because people are going to be very sensitive to any — and I mean literally any — word coming from a foreign government. This is their affair, they did it. They started it, and they want to work on it,” Aboulmagd explained in a wide-ranging telephone interview from his Ottawa embassy.

“But down the line,” he added, “building the institutions of democracy requires a lot of work, and at that time every government — and not only governments, civil society all over the world — can play a role in capacity building and other forms.”

Aboulmagd said the rebuilding of Egypt is “ultimately an Egyptian endeavour,” but one that will require the goodwill of others the world over.

The people who took to Cairo’s streets for much of the past three weeks have done nothing short of rewriting Egypt’s social contract, and this is their moment, he said.

“This is a proud moment for every Egyptian. This is a historical moment,” he said.

“The voices that we saw going to Tahrir square — no one in government or outside ever challenged the ideology, the motivation, the patriotism of those people, nor the legitimacy of those demands.”

Despite the uncertainty of the last 24 hours, Aboulmagd said he never had any doubt that Mubarak would step down because he declared he would not seek re-election.

“It became evident to anyone who was reading a little bit beyond what was in the media, that this was the end of an era. This is a moment where the government, and everyone in authority will have to respond to what the people want and that free and fair elections for the presidency will take place.”

Aboulmagd said he learned of Mubarak’s departure through the media, while watching reports from his office, which overlooks a snowy riverside park in downtown Ottawa.

He said it is too early to pass judgment on the regime that has ruled his country with little regard for human rights for the last three decades.

“Ultimately it will be judged that it was pretty much a done deal a number of days ago,” he said. “It was clear that the social contract was resigned with the Egyptian people.”

The future of Egypt will have to be more democratic and free to address the will of the people who took to the streets, Aboulmagd said.

Aboulmagd said he had not yet spoken to Canadian officials about the dramatic developments.

He said he was still reporting to his country’s foreign affairs office, and that Egypt’s military would act as respectful “guardians” of the will of his people in the coming transition.

He would not speculate on how Egypt’s revolution would affect other Arab countries.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday that Canada will be pushing for free and fair elections in Egypt and respect for the rule of law.

He’s also urged Egypt to respect its treaties and pursue peace in the Middle East.

Harper was speaking during a brief visit to Newfoundland and Labrador as news began to filter out that Mubarak was on his way out, but before it was confirmed.

“We are all seeing what’s happening,” Harper said. “Transition is taking place in Egypt.”

He said what’s happening cannot be undone.

“I think the old expression is: ‘They’re not going to put the toothpaste back in the tube on this one.'”

He said Canada would like those in power in Egypt to lead change.

“Get in front of it,” he added. “Be part of it, and make a bright future happen for the people of Egypt.”

EnCana-PetroChina Deal Subject to Review

FEBRUARY 11, 2011 /  By BEN DUMMETT  /   TORONTO–PetroChina Co.’s planned 5.4 billion Canadian-dollar ($5.42 billion) deal to acquire a 50% stake in EnCana Corp.’s Cutbank Ridge natural-gas reserves in Western Canada will be reviewed by Industry Canada, a federal ministry, to determine if the proposed transaction generates a net economic benefit for Canada.

“I can confirm that this transaction is subject to review under the Investment Canada Act,” Industry Canada Minister Tony Clement said in an emailed statement. The deal can’t proceed unless the government decides the transaction passes the Investment Canada Act’s net economic-benefit test.

PetroChina, an arm of China’s state-owned National Petroleum Co., plans to file its application soon, Mr. Clement said. PetroChina produces two-thirds of China’s oil and gas.

EnCana, one of North America’s biggest natural gas producers, expected the review given the transaction’s large size. However, the Calgary company isn’t concerned.

“We believe this arrangement [between EnCana and PetroChina] advances the criteria” under the net-benefit test, said EnCana spokesman Alan Boras. It brings in investment, and will lead to job creation, domestic economic activity and the development of new technologies, Mr. Boras said.

A PetroChina spokeswoman wasn’t immediately available for comment.

By acquiring a 50% stake in Cutback Ridge, PetroChina will split the costs and profits with EnCana from development of shale and deep-gas wells in a 635,000-acre area stretching across northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta. The area has proven reserves of about one trillion cubic feet of natural gas and current production of 255 million cubic feet a day.

Canada’s Investment Canada Act has come under scrutiny in the wake of the government’s decision late last year to block BHP Billiton Ltd.’s US$38.6 billion hostile bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. Though the Canadian government emphasized that its review of that transaction was based on an objective interpretation of the net-benefit test, some observers said the decision was politically motivated because of opposition to the deal by Saskatchewan, Potash Corp.’s home province.

Mr. Clement’s announcement may come as a surprise to some market participants who said they believed the transaction wouldn’t be subject to review because PetroChina is only buying a stake in an energy project, as opposed to acquiring Calgary-based EnCana outright.

Chinese companies have employed this strategy in Canada specifically to try to avoid scrutiny or facilitate approval under the Investment Canada Act, as part of their effort to gain access to oil and gas reserves necessary to feed China’s economic growth. For instance, last year China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, acquired a 9% stake in Calgary-based oil-sands producer Syncrude Canada. The government reviewed that deal under the Investment Canada Act because Sinopec acquired 100% of a company that held the 9% stake in Syncrude. In the end, the government approved the transaction.

Canada can apply the net-benefit test in cases when a Canadian company with a minimum book value of C$312 million is being acquired by a foreign entity, or if all or most of the assets used in the business operation of a Canadian company are being bought by a foreigner, assuming the asset’s book value meets the book-value threshold.

Competition lawyers suggest the government is reviewing the EnCana-PetroChina deal on the basis that PetroChina is acquiring a major part of Encana’s Cutbank Ridge natural gas reserves, given that it will own 50% of the operation.

Still, it’s said to be unlikely the government would block the deal.

“I don’t anticipate a problem in this kind of deal,” said Anthony Baldanza, a lawyer and expert on foreign investment law at Toronto law firm Fasken Martineau. “Gas is plentiful, [the government] has allowed a lot of oil-sands transactions … and there is a need for capital,” he said.

The government’s move to review the EnCana-PetroChina deal also offers further evidence it will decide to review the proposed merger, announced earlier this week between Canada’s TMX Group Inc. and London Stock Exchange Exchange Group PLC to create one of the world’s biggest stock and derivative exchange operators. That decision is expected next week.

—Edward Welsch in Ottawa contributed to this story.

Write to Ben Dummett at Ben.Dummett@dowjones.com

AUSTRALIA :

EUROPE :

Mubarak ‘listened to the voices’ of Egyptian people: EU

AFP, Feb 11, 2011  /  BRUSSELS:  Europe on Friday welcomed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s decision to stand down, saying he had “listened to the voices of the Egyptian people” and opened the way to reform.

European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said that by departing Mubarak had “opened the way to faster and deeper reforms”.

“It is important now that the dialogue is accelerated leading to a broad-based government which will respect the aspirations of, and deliver stability for, the Egyptian people,” she said in a statement.

“The future of Egypt rightly remains in the hands of the Egyptian people,” the statement added.

The EU stands ready to help in any way it can.”

CHINA :

China supports Egypt’s efforts to maintain social stability

English.news.cn   2011-02-10   /    BEIJING, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) — China said Thursday it supported Egypt’s efforts to maintain social stability and restore normal order, expecting ties between China and the Arab country to develop unaffected.

“China holds that Egypt’s affairs should be decided independently by the country without foreign interference,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular press briefing.

As a major country in the Arab world and in Africa, Egypt’s stability concerns peace and stability in the whole region, Ma said, noting China is closely watching the situation in Egypt.

“We believe Egypt has the wisdom and capacity to find proper solutions and get through the current tough time,” he said.

Ma said China values the traditional friendship and strategic cooperative ties with Egypt, expecting bilateral relations to continue to develop in a sound and steady manner.

He also stressed that China is doing its utmost to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens and organizations there.

China had arranged eight flights to fly back more than 1,800 Chinese citizens, including about 360 from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, according to Ma.

Editor: Mo Hong’e

China to spur Africa growth

February 9 2011    —    http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/china-to-spur-africa-growth-1.1023850

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China is now a clear leader in the race for Africa’s resources and can be expected to continue developing these interests for the mutual benefit of both Africa as well as China’s surging economy.

George Fang, Standard Bank’s Head of Mining and Metals China told the Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Wednesday: “The race for Africa’s mineral resources continues to gather momentum. Continued growth in consumption resources is being driven by growth in China and the rest of Asia. Chinese companies are increasingly acquiring assets, as are Indian companies, prompting other global miners into a race to secure mineral assets of their own. This movement for resources can be to the benefit of the African continent.”

China was again expecting growth of 10% plus, and for its exports to surpass the volume of pre-financial crisis in 2008. China had recovered from the global economic slowdown far faster than even the most ardent optimists could have anticipated. But the China of 10 years time would be a far different one than the export-based economy of today, as internal consumption accelerated.

Underpinning Standard Bank’s projection that growth would continue for decades and possibly still accelerate further, Fang said the rate of urbanisation in China was still well below the rate of other countries at a comparable period in their development. China’s urbanisation was 45%, compared to 73% in the US (at the comparable development era), 88% in the UK and 74% in Japan.

The scale of China’s urbanisation had never been seen before and was still accelerating. Every year approximately 27 million people moved from the countryside to cities. China already had some of the biggest cities in the world, and people were increasingly being attracted not to the massive coastal cities, but to second and even third-tier inland cities. There were 90 cities in China with populations of one million, and these were beginning to feel the influx. Fang said some of the strongest economic growth was occurring here.

One symptom of this unprecedented growth was an almost insatiable demand for natural resources to feed expansion, and China had the capital to acquire them. “Historically, China has not been a major foreign investor in mining, but over the past five years that has changed. The number of deals that China is initiating has grown exponentially on every continent, but especially Africa,” explained Fang.

“China is adding infrastructure capacity to link resources in countries as diverse as Mauretania, Sudan, Nigeria, DRC, Gabon, Angola and Zambia. This type of strategy is key to China’s investment on the continent. Thus making the investment viable but also leaving a future economic legacy for the host country, “ said Fang.

He said the major underpins of this extraordinary growth within China were urbanisation and infrastructure development, and in both cases they were rapidly accelerating. Some cities were growing at eight times the rate that Chicago grew at the height of its growth, a growth that author Mark Twain said made the city unrecognisable from one visit to the next.

“China is creating more dollar billionaires than any other country, and this is a sign of a consumer market of some buoyancy. China will soon overtake Japan as the second biggest market in luxury goods,” said Fang.

Even more startling in its scale, said Fang, was China’s ascent up the technology ladder. He believed China would accomplish within years what took other countries decades. This would not be achieved by original research, but by using its massive foreign currency resources to cooperate with foreign companies and their technology.

He gave the example of China’s auto industry. “Decades ago this industry barely existed, yet within three years there will be no significant gap in technology between Chinese domestic cars and their foreign counterparts, except in the luxury car market niche. China is also implementing green technology faster than any other country.”

It was this ascent that Fang believed would enable China to take its place as a global financial leader, as Chinese exporters started evolving into more value-added manufacturers able to command premium rather than discount prices.

It was this growth from which Africa would derive benefit. Now was Africa’s time. For many years Africa had been excluded from the economic growth experienced in the more developed world. However, Africa was resource rich, had a growing educated population, and would prove to be the engine that would provide growth to world economies for the next few decades. The benefits to Africa were clear. Resource and infrastructure investment would be followed by the development of a growing industrial and services sector.

Fangs said: “The African picture is changing. Spearheading Africa’s aggregate growth performance are the relatively low-cost providers of natural resources that have benefited from the surge in Asian demand. Along with this demand has come the reciprocal development of infrastructure by the likes of China. Physical infrastructure is essential to propel agriculture, manufacturing, services, trade and even human capital enhancements, while rising incomes and rapid industrialization drive demand for electricity, transport, telecoms and housing. Resource and infrastructure investment will leave a legacy that will continue to build and enhance the economic status of the continent, drive economic growth and ultimately benefit the continent’s people.”

Geographically, Standard Bank was positioned as the institution of choice for mining transactions and investments into Africa. Standard Bank had a presence in 17 countries on the African continent and in 15 countries outside of Africa. Natural resources were an established element of Standard Bank’s DNA. – I-Net Bridge

Trade between China and Africa at US$115bn a year

By Paul Redfern, NATION CORRESPONDENT, LONDON Friday, February 11 2011

Trade between Africa and China was valued at almost US $115bn last year, and is growing at a rate of 43.5 per cent, it was revealed this week.

Chinese investment in the continent has been expanding rapidly over the past decade with bilateral trade deals signed between China and 45 African countries.

But the concentration of Chinese investment has been in eight African countries including Kenya and Tanzania but also South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Zambia and controversially Sudan and Zimbabwe according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Invested heavily

China has invested heavily in Kenya’s ports and is part of a $22 billion project announced by the Kenyan government in April 2008 that includes a rail line and a motorway linking neighbouring Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and Rwanda to the port at Lamu.

China has also invested in hydro and wind power projects.

In Tanzania, Chinese direct investment has exceeded US $200m by the end of 2009, with investments in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, mining and construction commodities and a number of transport infrastructure projects

http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Trade%20between%20China%20and%20Africa%20at%20USD115bn%20a%20year%20%20%20/-/1006/1105918/-/gkgvw1z/-/

China urges West to lift Zimbabwe sanctions

(AFP) – http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jdGP5OVvr1hZ9wL281XRMO_A-OPw?docId=CNG.ac77f4a664827a6ef5fdcb5eabc9af2b.8d1

11/02/2011 — HARARE — Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Friday urged Western countries to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe as he paid a visit to buttress ties with the southern African nation.

“Let me be frank, we believe there should be lifting of sanctions by some countries,” Yang told journalists after meeting President Robert Mugabe and senior government officials in Harare.

“China believes that Africa belongs to African countries and African people. African people are their own masters and all the others are just guests.

“We believe all nations should respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The European Union and the United States imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle after presidential elections in 2002 that Western observers charged were rigged to hand Mugabe victory.

Yang also called for strengthened relations with Zimbabwe, which he called a “good brother”.

“China and Zimbabwe have traditional friendship from the days of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. Since then our relationship has moved forward,” he said.

Mugabe commended China’s support for Zimbabwe in the face of isolation by its former trading partners in the West over charges of human rights violations.

“Our relations have a long historical background of cooperation which saw us before our independence being assisted by the Communist Party of China invariously to build the capacity that we used to demolish colonialism here,” Mugabe said.

“We continue to interact in terms of development in other sectors. We still want that co-operation to intensify.”

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai also welcomed increased links with China, saying both countries would benefit from sustaining their burgeoning economic ties.

“On the economic side, China has various cooperation agreements with Zimbabwe,” Tsvangirai said after meeting Yang.

“China’s record in Africa is one where Africa benefits. I am here to confirm that there is definite benefit for Zimbabwe and China.”

Yang and Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi signed an agreement for a 50-million-yuan ($7.6-million, 5.6-million-euro) grant for Zimbabwe, a government official who attended the closed-door meeting told reporters.

Terms of the grant were not released.

Yang’s visit comes weeks after Zimbabwe’s investment promotion minister, Tapiwa Mashakada, announced plans by the China Development Bank to fund investments worth $10 billion in Zimbabwe’s mining, agriculture and infrastructure sectors.

Zimbabwe and China have political ties dating back to before Zimbabwe’s independence, when Beijing provided arms and training to guerrillas fighting British colonial rule.

China has also been pivotal in protecting Zimbabwe at the United Nations. In 2008 China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution seeking sanctions against Harare.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved

US-China trade deficit grows to record $270bn

guardian.co.uk /  Friday 11 February 2011 —  Chinese containers ready for shipping. China notched up another chunky trade surplus with the US. Photograph: Aly Song/REUTERS

The US trade deficit with China has hit a record high, fuelling tensions between the countries over currency imbalances.

The gap between US imports from China and what it sold to the country rose to $273.1bn (£170bn) last year, the largest trade imbalance the US has ever recorded with a single country. While US exports to China grew by a third last year to an all-time high of $91.9bn, imports worth $364.9bn travelled in the other direction, an increase of 23.1%.

Some US politicians blame Beijing for the size of the trade gap between the nations, claiming it is unfairly keeping the yuan’s value too low. On Thursday a bipartisan group in Congress proposed a bill that would allow the US to impose emergency tariffs against China if its currency was found to be undervalued.

China, though, has long denied that it is responsible for American exports lagging so far behind its imports.

The overall US trade deficit jumped by a third during 2010 to $497.8bn as the US economy recovered following the trauma of the financial crisis. This is the largest annual percentage rise since 2000. The rising cost of oil was a key driver in pushing up the total cost of imports. In December, the US trade deficit widened by 5.9% to $40.6bn, the commerce department reported.

Economists warned the US deficit was likely to keep growing in 2011, although manufacturers may benefit from a weaker dollar. “Exports remain strong and are a bright spot in the US expansion,” said Cary Leahey, at Decision Economics.

INDIA :

India’s choice of 5G fighter aircraft says a lot

 Saturday, Feb 12, 2011  /  By Nirad Mudur | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

India and Russia have finalised the Russian PAKFA aircraft – a Sukhoi-T50 fighter aircraft – as the base design model for their $6 billion Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) programme.

This has not just dealt a death-knell to any prospects of India joining the American F-35 fifth generation fighter programme, but also indicates the nature of things to come on India’s final selection of the $10 billion deal to procure 126 Medium weight Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCAs).

And it does not appear bright for the Americans who have come to Aero India 2011 with Boeing’s F/A 18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin’s F-16 IN Super Viper – seriously considered as the two of which one would finally clinch the costliest Indian defence deal till date, which, according to air chief PV Naik, would be signed by September this year.

Globally, defence experts and critics are reading too much into the absence of MiG-35 at Aero India 2011 from which it pulled out just a week ahead of the commencement of the event on February 9. But the Russian delegations visiting Aero India 2011 in Bangalore have confirmed that though their contender for the MMRCA deal, MiG-35, was the only one from the six contenders to have pulled out from the air show, the MMRCA selection committee members as well as defence experts were witness to a series of demonstrations by MiG-35 which also carried out extreme manoeuvres in Indian as well as Russian conditions.

Sources said the aerial manoeuvres demonstrated also involved “some which would not have been allowed to be carried out at any of the air shows” and that the Indian side were “thoroughly impressed”.

BRASIL:

Brazil Approves Total’s Buy Of 20% Stake In BM-S-54 Block

FEBRUARY 11, 2011 –  RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)–Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, approved earlier this week the purchase of a 20% stake in an ultra-deepwater offshore block by French oil company Total SA (TOT).

In June, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA, RDSA.LN) agreed to sell a 20% stake in the Santos Basin’s BM-S-54 block to Total, subject to approval from Brazil’s oil regulator. No purchase price for the block was disclosed. The deal was approved Tuesday, with minutes from the ANP board meeting posted on the regulator’s website.

The deal marks the expansion of foreign oil companies participating in Brazil’s presalt oil discoveries, where access is limited. Shell’s block was one of a handful of exploration areas that were auctioned off under concession contracts, which have since been replaced by a production-sharing regime.

Last year, Shell said the first well drilled under the block’s salt layer showed signs of hydrocarbons. Geologists believe the block could hold substantial reserves given its proximity to the Lula field, which was the first presalt oil field to be declared commercial. Earlier this year, Shell also discovered oil in a presalt well in the Campos Basin.

Shell will retain its operator status for the block, with an 80% stake.

The Santos Basin where the BM-S-54 block is located is home to the presalt cluster that produced several oil discoveries, including two of the largest finds of the past 30 years. Shell Brasil is actively targeting the presalt region as part of a 10-well exploration program over the next 18 months.

The Santos Basin presalt finds were made under a thick layer of salt off the coast of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states. The oil lies under more than 2,000 meters of water and a further 5,000 meters of sand, rock and a shifting layer of salt.

-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-21-2586-6085; jeff.fick@dowjones.com

Brazil arrests 35 in swoop on Rio police corruption

RIO DE JANEIRO | Fri Feb 11, 2011 (Reuters) – At least 35 people, mostly Rio de Janeiro police officers, were arrested on Friday on suspicion of colluding with drug gangs as the Brazilian city attempts to clean itself up before hosting the 2014 World Cup and the Olympic Games two years later.

It was one of the biggest operations against police corruption in the city, which is gradually overcoming a reputation for crime and violence. Rio police have long been accused of corruption and of covering up their violent tactics in the city’s hundreds of slum areas that are often controlled by drug traffickers.

“No police in the world can turn the page without cutting its own body,” Jose Beltrame, the Rio state secretary for public security, told reporters.

Hundreds of officers took part in the operation, code-named “Guillotine,” seeking the arrest of 45 people, including 32 police officers. By Friday evening, 27 police officers had been arrested, investigators said.

The investigation began in 2009 when a planned police operation in a slum had to be aborted after details of the raid were leaked to drug traffickers, officials said.

Police officers targeted in the operation were also suspected of running protection rackets for illegal gambling, leading militia groups and taking bribes from traffickers.

One of the suspected leaders of the scheme, former police commander Carlos de Oliveira, was suspected of charging drug chiefs 100,000 reais ($60,000) a time in exchange for information about police operations. Oliveira, who turned himself in to investigators, had since left the police to join the city government.

Crime rates in Rio have been falling, which authorities have attributed to their policy since 2008 of sending in specially trained police to occupy slums and drive out drug gangs. Rio recorded its lowest murder rate since 1991 last year — 30 homicides for every 100,000 people, down about 18 percent from 2009.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Vicki Allen)

EN BREF, CE  11 février 2011… AGNEWS /DAM, NY,11/02/2011