{jcomments on}OMAR, BXL, AGNEWS, le 29 juin 2010—MINISTER for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has praised Uganda’s progress in fighting poverty and reducing HIV/Aids, but steered clear of openly criticising the Ugandan government’s preparations for next year’s presidential elections.
BURUNDI :
One Canditate For Burundi Elections in Africa
2010-06-29/english.ntdtv.com
Burundi leader Pierre Nkurunziza casts his vote.
But the outcome of the presidential elections is already clear – Nkurunziza is the only candidate.
Nonetheless the President said his country was experiencing democracy.
[Pierre Nkurunziza, Burundi President]:
“Today, Burundi will be an example when it comes to a peace process, but also of a positive democratic process in our country. As the president, I have shown a good example to the Burundian population, to encourage them to participate widely in these elections and to perform their civic duty.”
Burundians across the country took part in the vote, but many stayed away after all six opposition candidates pulled out.
Opposition parties claimed widespread fraud, and a series of grenade attacks during the campaign also heightened tension.
Over the weekend a number of opposition members were arrested, accused of planning to disrupt the vote.
With only one candidate running, Burundians cast their vote by putting their ballot in a white envelope if they are for the President, and black if they are against.
Residents in the capital Bujumbura were unhappy with the situation.
[Fabiola Nininahazwe, Bujumubura Resident]:
“It would have been better if we had more parties to vote for, if we had variety.”
The presidential elections — and upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for July — represent a test of how stable Burundi has become since 2005, when former rebel leader Nkurunziza was elected.
RWANDA
Rwanda: 2 Men Held in Killing of Journalist
By JOSH KRON/www.nytimes.com/ June 29, 2010
Two men have been arrested in Friday’s killing in Kigali of the independent journalist Jean-Leonard Rugambage, the police said Monday. One suspect admitted to hiring the other to kill Mr. Rugambage to avenge crimes he thought the journalist had committed during the genocide in 1994. Mr. Rugambage, who was tried and acquitted of genocide crimes in 2006, was murdered while working on a report that linked the government to an assassination attempt against a dissident general in South Africa. His senior editor has blamed the Rwandan government for the murder, an accusation the government has denied.
Burundi “Election” Concluded With One Candidate, Low Turnout
by Rudi Stettner/indyposted.com/ June 29, 2010
Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza won today’s election in the eastern African nation of Burundi. There is no jubilation, however, because he was the only candidate. All opposition candidates had withdrawn from today’s election, accusing Nkurunziza of rigging the proceedings. Turnout was low, with a mood of angry cynicism among Burundians who were asked to vote.
Burundi’s elections were marred by tension and violence. Burundi has been holding a series of elections over the summer that many had hoped would strengthen the peace in a country that had seen 13 years of civil war in which an estimated 300,000 were killed between 1992 and 2005. Municipal elections were seen by EU observers to be essentially honest, with irregularities but no observed fraud. Opposition parties, especially the Forces of National Liberation, considered the 60% victory of Nkurunziza’s National Council for the Defense of Democracy to be wildly implausible. This lack of confidence in the local elections that preceded the presidential election contributed to widespread lack if confidence in the Monday elections that have just taken place.
A series of grenade attacks 2 weeks ago and an attack last Tuesday that left one person dead have many in the war scarred nation of 9 million anxious for its future. Other East African countries share this anxiety VOA News quotes Kenya’s foreign minister, Moses Wetang’ula as follows.
“The gains in both security and stability that have been made in the last couple of years must not be lost. Having listened to all the parties, the region advises the people of Burundi, very firmly, that the region will not tolerate any slippage of the country into instability and violence,” he said. “We have impressed upon the remaining parties to participate fully in the remaining elections of parliament, senatorial and cell.”
Like neighboring Rwanda, Burundi is divided between Hutu and Tutsi, ethnic groups that are distinguished not by language but by occupation and social status. Burundi is estimated to be 85% Hutu, 14% Tutsi and 1% Twa, an aboriginal group that is considered to have been in Burundi prior to the Hutu and Tutsi. Such ethnic and tribal divisions have made post colonial nation building a daunting task and elusive goal.
Burundi has endured bloody civil war and genocide that has sent many of its people into exile in neighboring countries such as the Congo and Rwanda. Both its citizens and its neighbors have memories of war that are all too fresh. All hope that Burundi can move forward and resolve its internal disputes in a peaceful manner.
UGANDA
Martin praises Uganda’s progress in fighting poverty
JODY CLARKE in Kampala/The Irish Times /Tuesday, June 29, 2010
MINISTER for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has praised Uganda’s progress in fighting poverty and reducing HIV/Aids, but steered clear of openly criticising the Ugandan government’s preparations for next year’s presidential elections.
Mr Martin, who began a weeklong visit to Irish Aid projects in Uganda and Ethiopia yesterday, said that the story in Uganda over the past 25 years had been one of phenomenal success.
“Fifty-six per cent of people lived in poverty 10 years ago. Today, it is 32 per cent,” he said, adding that the number of people infected with HIV had fallen from a high of 20 per cent in the early 1990s to 6.4 per cent today.
“Very significant progress has been made over the past 20 years, Mr Martin said. “Aid has worked.”
However, when asked if he had concerns over the credibility of elections set for February, the minister struck a conciliatory tone, stressing that the Government’s relationship with Uganda’s was one “of partnership as opposed to conditionality” .
“We consistently raise issues over governance, transparency and openness,” he said. “We urge people to participate, engage and have a robust discussion.”
Successive presidential elections in Uganda have been marked by serious irregularities since President Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986.
The 2006 vote, the country’s first multi-party election since 1986, was marred by by intimidation of the opposition and widespread voting irregularities, according to election observers.
Election officers turned away hundreds of thousands of registered voters who allegedly did not appear on the voter register said Human Rights Watch, while the main opposition candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, was arrested on charges of treason and rape.
Earlier this month, Dr Besigye was beaten by police at a political rally held by his Forum for Democratic Change party in Kampala.
Dr Besigye, who is again running in next year’s election, was demanding the replacement of the country’s electoral commission, which was recently criticised by the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as incapable of ensuring the vote’s credibility.
Police said that he did not get permission for the rally.
Mr Martin was speaking in Kampala, where he announced a further €166 million in official development assistance to Uganda over the next four years. After a visit to the ministry of foreign affairs and the Uganda human rights commission, he visited Hospice Africa, where he opened a new building financed by KPMG Ireland and the Government.
The hospice provides palliative care to adults and children dying of Aids and cancer, but also trains staff to go to other countries in Africa to provide the same service. It has trained 7,000 people since it was founded in 1994 by Dr Anne Merriman, a UCD medical graduate who first came to Africa in the 1960s with the Medical Missionaries of Mary.
“When we started we had just enough money for three months” said Dr Merriman. “If Ireland didn’t come in at the start I wouldn’t have been able to start. Every building here has a bit of Ireland in it.”
Mr Martin later visited Luuka Plastics, which receives technical support from Traidlinks, an Irish organisation that helps African companies overcome obstacles to growth.
TANZANIA:
Tanzania: Brazilian President to Grace Dar Es Salaam Trade Fair
29 June 2010/Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam) /allafrica.com
Dar Es Salaam — PRESIDENT Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil will be the guest of honour at the official opening of this year’s 34th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) on July 7.
The Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair starts today at Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Grounds along Kilwa Road in Dare es Salaam.
Meanwhile, Capital-Plus International, a fast growing PR and marketing communications company has been appointed by the Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) to manage public relations and publicity during this year’s Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair.
The Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) formerly the Board of External Trade (BET) was transformed recently to oversee the growth and development of trade in the country.
Speaking in Dar es Salam on Sunday, TanTrade Director General, Ramadhan Khalfan said that the fair needs maximum coverage to woo investors as well as promote the local businesses and products.
“This year’s trade fair promises to be one of the best events ever organized in the recent years. Everything is in place to ensure the visitors enjoy their time during Saba Saba”, he said.
He said CPI experience would be vital in communicating to the outside world about the trade fair which has attracted over 16 countries.
“We are counting on CPI vast experience in public relations and marketing communications to promote the TanTrade activities as well as the trade fair”, he added.
On his part, CPI’s Head of Public Relations and Media, Mr Raymond Kanyambo said that his company was happy to be associated with the trade fair and promised an aggressive media publicity during the event.
“We will deploy a strong team that will be based at the trade fair round-the-clock services during the eleven-day event”, he said.
He added that his company would also offer media publicity service to other exhibitors so as to reach their diversified customers. The event will run from today and end on July 8.
The entrance fees have been pegged at 2,500/- for adults and 1,000 for children during the weekdays. The organizers said that during the opening of the event on Friday, adults will pay 3,000/- while a fee for children has been pegged at 1,500/-.
The soft opening of the trade fair will be held on Friday and would be graced by the Secretary General of the East Africa Community (EAC), Ambassador Juma Mwapachu.
At the same time, overall preparations for the 34th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair have been completed while exhibitors are busy making final touches in their kiosks especially on products to be displayed at the fair.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam at the Mwalimu Nyerere Trade Fair grounds on Sunday, the Director General of TanTrade Mr Ramadhani Khalfan said, almost all participants have completed arrangements and are ready for the exhibition.
“With only four days left before the soft opening of the trade fair, exhibitors are ferrying various products to their respective kiosks with most of them working tirelessly to ensure meeting the opening day deadline,” said the TanTrade director general, Mr Ramadhani, who until recently was the director of Board of External Tanzania (BET).
“Arrangements for the opening and other things related to the trade fair are done and TanTrade has put measures to ensure its success including addressing challenges that might arise,” the TanTrade boss said, adding that:
“The authority expects a lot of co-operation from 100 participants who attended a preparatory seminar and received a briefing on several regulations governing the 34th Dar es Salaam Trade fair exhibitions.
“Together with briefing participants, we also have focused on ensuring successful implementation of all activities under our authority and depend on the co-existing relationship with the respective exhibitors.
“Also, we expect the Brazilian President to be the Guest of Honour at the official opening of the exhibition which will host about 15 countries and 60 local companies are scheduled to showcase their products in the 11-day trade fair.”
This year’s trade fair exhibition is themed to centre on the ‘Agriculture first’ initiative popularly known as Kilimo Kwanza, as part of joining the government efforts in strengthening the agriculture sector.
CONGO RDC :
DR CONGO: EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE STILL ESSENTIAL
Source: Refugees International (RI)/www.reliefweb.int/Date: 29 Jun 2010
The launch of a new strategy on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is welcome, but numerous challenges remain. The strategy, which is part of the Congolese government’s stabilization plan for eastern DRC, has unintentionally led to a loss of attention and funding to address sexual violence in more conflict-affected areas. Further, poor coordination and lack of engagement with local groups are hindering the overall response. To ensure a truly comprehensive approach to combating and responding to sexual violence in the DRC, donor governments need to support the new strategy while ensuring that emergency needs are met.
Translate Rhetoric into Action
Greater international attention to the issue of sexual violence in the DRC has still not translated into improvements in the lives of the most vulnerable women. While the U.S. sent its top diplomat to Goma in order to meet with survivors, and the new United Nations (UN) Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict chose the DRC for her first official mission, the focus has remained on helping women who can access the provincial capitals for assistance, rather than those in insecure rural areas. The amount of attention the issue has received has also not been reflected in funding allocations.
According to statistics from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), there were over 17,500 incidents of sexual violence in the DRC in 2009. A far greater number of cases go unreported, the majority likely to be in conflict zones where access is difficult. There is an increase in the number of civilian perpetrators in UNFPA’s statistics from 2009, a consequence of years of brutal conflict and almost total impunity for sexual violence. But in areas of ongoing conflict the vast majority of perpetrators are still armed men, many of them members of the Congolese military.
The Congolese government has passed laws on sexual violence and has announced a zero tolerance policy for the military, but implementation is very poor. The government has not yet demonstrated the political will to address key issues like impunity for high-level commanders and reform of the military, nor has it dealt with the underlying causes of the conflict in eastern DRC. Without addressing the root causes of the conflict, the issue of sexual violence will remain unresolved.
KENYA :
Kenya: ‘Yes’ Camp Unveils its Plan for Poll Victory
Lucas Barasa/Daily Nation (Nairobi) /allafrica.com/29 June 2010
The leadership of the ‘Yes’ camp met in Nairobi on Monday to lay strategies for the referendum campaign and deal with internal wrangles said to be hurting its effectiveness.
Presided over by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the meeting, attended by 130 MPs, agreed on a plan to counter what was termed as the growing visibility of the ‘No’ team.
The MPs were instructed to head for their constituencies to campaign for the proposed constitution.
Expressed concern
Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga were reported to have expressed concern that the ‘No’ camp was “visible everywhere” while the ‘Yes’ MPs seemed to be “sleeping”. The Kenyatta International Conference Centre meeting came amid reports of rivalry and cash woes in the ‘Yes’ camp.
Many ‘Yes’ leaders are watching each other jealously, suspecting each of using the referendum to build a campaign machinery for the 2012 election. There have also been reports that the ‘Yes’ team does not have enough cash to meet its budget. A harambee (fundraiser) for the campaign raised only Sh6 million.
On Monday, the MPs, who complained about finances, were assured of cash to run the campaign at the national, county and constituency levels. The leaders pledged that any deficit at the secretariat would be met by well-wishers. They agreed on a three-tier strategy where 16 teams would campaign nationally, 47 at the county level and a team in every constituency.
President Kibaki read from the statement: “Members said that they were confident of a ‘Yes’ victory and noted the need to mobilise Kenyans to turn up in large numbers and vote for the proposed constitution during the August 4 referendum.” Vigorous campaigns in every constituency will start immediately after Parliament goes on recess on Thursday, he said.
Sources also said the rivalry, mainly between Mr Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, that was reportedly behind the lack of a united campaign front, was discussed at length. The two, it was understood, assured the meeting that they would campaign strongly for the proposed laws.
Sources said the President told the MPs they should not worry over claims by the ‘Reds’ that the ‘Greens’ had taken the campaigns as a government project. He said he was leading a government of reforms, among them the proposed constitution. The meeting agreed on 11 key issues to boost the ‘Green’ campaign amid worries of growing support for the ‘No’ camp.
Higher Education minister William Ruto is leading the ‘No’ drive. Spurred by the support of the Church, they have been holding campaign rallies across the country, urging Kenyans to reject the proposed set of laws. Also in the team are Cabinet ministers Samuel Poghisio and Naomi Shaban, and retired President Daniel arap Moi.
Mr Ruto said the August 4 referendum will be between voting ‘Yes’ for a divisive, controversial and ambiguous document or ‘No’ for a chance to correct it. “They (Greens) have missed the point. They are misleading the public.
“The choice on August 4 will be voting ‘Yes’ for a divisive document with controversial clauses on religion, counties and devolution and ambiguous clauses on land. On the other hand, voting ‘No’ will be to enable us give ourselves an opportunity to correct the clauses and enact the constitution that will unite Kenyans,” Mr Ruto said.
Ignore ‘propaganda’
In the ‘Green’ meeting, the President asked Kenyans to ignore “propaganda” by the ‘Reds’ and said the ‘Yes’ team will remain truthful to the suggested laws.
“We will not be dragged into campaigns that are not dwelling on the true contents of the katiba,” he said, adding, campaigns should focus on “the very positive issues that are contained in the proposed constitution.” The President did not field questions from journalists.
Kenya: ‘No’ Vote Will Help Fix Faulty Law, Says Ruto
29 June 2010/Daily Nation/allafrica.com
Nairobi — The choice in the August 4 referendum will be between voting ‘Yes’ for a divisive and controversial document or ‘No’ for a chance to correct it, Higher Education minister William Ruto has said.
Mr Ruto, who is leading opponents of the proposed constitution, said it is wrong for the ‘Yes’ team to claim the choice will be between the old and the proposed laws.
“They have missed the point. They are misleading the public. The choice on August 4 will be voting ‘Yes’ for a divisive document with controversial clauses on religion, counties and devolution and ambiguous clauses on land.
On the other hand, voting ‘No’ will enable us to give ourselves an opportunity to correct the clauses and enact the constitution that will unite Kenyans,” Mr Ruto said.
In an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Ruto said that all Kenyans require a new constitution but it should be a proper one. Only voting ‘No’ will allow the removal of contentious issues, he said.
Controversial
“No one can hoodwink Kenyans to vote for a controversial, ambiguous and divisive document,” he said.
But speaking separately, Mukurwe-ini MP Kabando wa Kabando said the ‘No’ team will be shocked as Kenyans want change.
“They will cheer choppers but vote with their hearts. My bet is that the youth can’t choose the past. They need resources. The new katiba provides that. They want to triple Sh80 billion remittances from the Diaspora,” he said.
He praised a clause on dual citizenship, saying it assured jobs for professionals in the Diaspora. Mr Ruto also denied reports that his team was being funded by foreign churches.
He said claims by Prime Minister Raila Odinga during a ‘Yes’ rally in Kakamega on Saturday were an act of desperation after sensing that the ‘No’ side was headed for a win. “We have not received a coin from anybody,” he said.
East Africa to Begin Economic Integration Thursday
Michael Onyiego | Nairobi /www1.voanews.com/29 June 2010
Members of East African Community will formally begin Thursday the process of integration. Despite some reservations from smaller countries, analysts believe the union will greatly benefit the region.
The Common Market Protocol – signed last November by members of the East African Community – will take effect officially on July 1, as the region moves closer to the dream of a politically and economically unified East Africa. That’s when Community members Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi will open their borders for the free movement of goods, services and citizens throughout East Africa.
The protocol is part of a vision that would see the nations eventually form a federated state, complete with a single currency and unified foreign policy. While critics of the East African Federation are skeptical such a union can be achieved by the proposed date of 2012, the integration set to begin in July has been heralded as an economic and political achievement.
Kenyan economy analyst Robert Shaw says the Common Market Protocol makes perfect sense for the region.
“In the global world a single country, and particularly a single African country which has a very small economy, it makes sense for there to be a greater bloc, for two reasons,” says Shaw. “One: the potential for trading within that bloc is great, and we have seen it. We have seen it even with the tentative moves that have gone so far. The increasing trading between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, to a lesser extent Rwanda, etcetera, has increased year after year. It makes sense. The second point there is that the bigger your market, that is much more attractive for investors, locally and internationally.”
The Protocol also will eliminate the vast amounts of restrictions and regulations often required to do business in the region. In addition to the elimination of trade barriers and border taxes, citizens of East Africa will be able to freely relocate within the community, bringing education and expertise where they are needed most.
But not everyone is optimistic. Critics of the union say that Kenya, the region’s largest and most dynamic economy, is likely to reap the majority of the benefits. In smaller countries, such as Rwanda and Burundi, there are fears that Kenya’s larger businesses will push aside the local economy.
According to Shaw, these fears distort the larger picture.
“Kenya is a hub, it is the hub and it will benefit a lot,” says Shaw. “At the same time, do not underestimate the potential of benefits for other countries. Kenya has a lot of human resources and skills. That can only benefit the region as a whole. To think that Kenya is, and this is one of the fears by the other countries, that Kenya is going to get the lion’s share of the benefits is a bit misplaced. It will benefit, but the other countries will benefit in many different ways as well.”
Despite the regional optimism, it likely will take some time before the borders are opened. According to Shaw, the borders in East Africa are notoriously tight and the elimination of red tape will not happen overnight.
The East African Community now will look to consular integration, which could see the bloc adopt a common immigration policy within the coming year.
The new market is already attracting attention. Turkey’s ambassador to Kenya announced his country would establish an Export Processing Zone within the East African Community to take advantage of the region’s potential.
Kenya: Mutula Vows to Oppose Vote Deferral Bid
29 June 2010/Daily Nation/allafrica.com
Nairobi — Justice and Constitution Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo on Monday vowed to oppose an attempt by Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau to suspend the August 4 referendum.
The minister said he would lead the government’s objection to the motion that seeks to compel the government to put on hold the referendum and reopen negotiations with opponents of the proposed constitution.
Mr Kilonzo stated that the referendum was part of a process driven by a law passed and debated by Parliament.
“Out of my personal experience in constitution-making, there can never be consensus. If there was consensus, we would not need a referendum,” Mr Kilonzo said.
Mr Kamau’s motion seeks consensus over the contentious issues of land, abortion and kadhi courts raised by the ‘No’ camp.
He is supported by Limuru MP Peter Mwathi and Kitutu Masaba’s Walter Nyambati, who argue that suspending the vote would ensure that the issues are addressed and divisions in the country resolved.
The referendum date is set by the Constitution and to alter it would require an amendment that must be passed by at least two-thirds of Parliament.
ANGOLA :
Angola’s Luanda beats Tokyo as priciest city for expats
By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch / www.marketwatch.com/June 29, 2010
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — Angola’s capital Luanda has knocked Tokyo off the top of the list of the most expensive city for expatriates, according to Mercer’s Annual Cost of Living survey released Tuesday.
Global companies with a presence in Angola include French oil group Total SA /quotes/comstock/13*!tot/quotes/nls/tot (TOT 46.52, -0.45, -0.96%) /quotes/comstock/24s!e:fp (FR:FP 38.13, +0.02, +0.05%) , which operates and has a 30% stake in an offshore oil block there.
For the first time, the employment-benefits consultancy’s top 10 list of cities also included two other African urban centers: Chad’s Ndjamena, at No. 3, and Gabon’s Libreville, at No. 7.
“Our cities are selected based on requests from our multinational clients,” Nathalie Constantin-Métral, a senior researcher at Mercer responsible for compiling the yearly ranking, said in a statement.
“Notably, African cities now figure prominently, reflecting the growing economic importance of the region to global companies across all business sectors,” she said.
“We’ve seen an increase in demand for information on African cities from across the business spectrum — mining, financial services, airlines, manufacturer, utilities and energy companies,” Constantin-Métral said. Read more on investment opportunities in African markets.
Mercer surveyed 214 cities across five continents, measuring the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
“To entice talented staff to these cities, multinationals need to provide the same standard of living and benefits that these employees and their families would experience at home. In some African cities, the cost of this can be extraordinarily high — particularly the cost of good, secure accommodation,” said Constantin-Métral.
Mercer’s 2010 top 10 list also included two other Asian cities: Osaka was ranked No. 6, and Hong Kong was No. 8. Rounding out the list, Moscow was fourth, Geneva was fifth, Zurich tied for eighth place, and Copenhagen was 10th. See top 50 cities ranked in Mercer’s 2010 Cost of Living Survey
New York is used as the base city for the index, and all cities are compared against this location. Currency movements are measured against the U.S. dollar. The cost of housing — often the biggest expense for expats — figures prominently in determining where cities are ranked.
Karachi was ranked as the world’s least expensive city. The Mercer survey found that it was three times as costly for an expatriate to live in Luanda as in Karachi.
A separate Mercer survey last month ranked Vienna as having the best overall quality of living. Tokyo ranked 40th on that list. See full story on Mercer’s most-livable cities.
Lisa Twaronite is MarketWatch’s Tokyo bureau chief.
Angola to diversify exports to the USA
[ 2010-06-29 ] /(macauhub)
Luanda, Angola, 29 Jun – Angola should soon begin exporting agricultural and agro-industrial products to the market in the United States of America, to which it already sends oil and natural gas, officials from both countries stated on Monday in Luanda.
After the opening of the Trade and Investment Council meeting, held per the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), the head of the US delegation, Florizelle Lizer, said the US federal government aimed to diversify commercial exchanges with Angola, to enhance the investment climate and attract more American entrepreneurs to the Angolan market.
Lizer mentioned concern about certain tariff barriers and a business environment which to a certain extent discourages some American entrepreneurs interested in investing in Angola.
Regarding the TIFA, Lizer explained that the protocol is meant to help expand bilateral trade and partnership between Angolan and American companies.
Angola’s Vice-Minister for Commerce, Archer Mangueira, said his country had the potential to export products such as bananas, pineapples, honey, coffee, fish, wood and granite, among other goods.
The TIFA was signed in 2009. It is a US government bilateral consultation mechanism meant to promote trade and investment and in the future may lead to the signing of agreements for reciprocal promotion and protection of free-trade agreements and investments.
Delegations from both countries will meet next October at a place still to be determined, to finalise the trade cooperation and working plan begun on Monday in Luanda.
SOUTH AFRICA:
Naspers, Simmer & Jack: South Africa Equity Market Preview
June 29, 2010/By Janice Kew/Bloomberg
June 29 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.
South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose 31.65, or 0.1 percent, to 27,289.72, snapping four days of declines. The measure has dropped 5.1 percent this quarter, heading for its first quarterly decline since the first three months of 2009.
Naspers Ltd. (NPN SJ): Africa’s biggest media company reports annual earnings. The Cape Town-based company said June 17 that earnings per share in the year through March fell by 40 percent to 50 percent from a year earlier when the sale of a pay-television unit in Greece boosted earnings. Naspers slid 11 cents, or less than 0.1 percent, to 261.89 rand.
Simmer & Jack Mines Ltd. (SIM SJ): The gold producer reports annual and quarterly earnings. Simmers slid 4 cents, or 3.9 percent, to 1 rand.
Vodacom Group Ltd. (VOD SJ): The biggest provider of mobile-phone services to South Africans said its net income declined by at least 600 million rand ($79 million) since March, when the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa introduced a reduction in the interconnection fee that operators charge each other to carry calls on their networks, Johannesburg-based Business Day cited Vodacom SA Managing Director Shameel Joosub as saying.
Vodacom retreated 2.64 rand, or 4.3 percent, to 59.15 rand.
White Water Resources Ltd. (WWR SJ): The mining-investment company said its loss per share in the year through March narrowed to 0.1 cents, from 2 cents a year earlier. White Water was unchanged at 21 cents.
Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:
Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) rose 1 percent to $18.94. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) lost 1.5 percent to $43.69. BHP Billiton Plc (BBL US) slipped 1.6 percent to $55.92. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) lost 1 percent at $4.564. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) decreased 1.7 percent to $13.78. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) slipped 1.1 percent to $10.41. Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMPUY US) fell 0.8 percent to $24.76. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) declined 1.8 percent to $3.93. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) fell 1 percent to $37.22.
–With assistance from Franz Wild in Johannesburg. Editors: Ana Monteiro, Vernon Wessels.
AFRICA / AU :
Bill Clinton: We May Have to Blow Up Oil Well
Posted by Brian Montopoli/ www.cbsnews.com/June 29, 2010
Former President Bill Clinton said during a panel discussion in South Africa that it may become necessary to blow up the Deepwater Horizon well that continues to spew oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
“Unless we send the Navy down deep to blow up the well and cover the leak with piles and piles and piles of rock and debris, which may become necessary – you don’t have to use a nuclear weapon by the way, I’ve seen all that stuff, just blow it up – unless we’re going to do that, we are dependent on the technical expertise of these people from BP,” Clinton said.
There has been some pressure for BP to simply blow up the well, with critics suggesting the company is forgoing that option out of a desire to get as much oil as possible from the rig.
“If we demolish the well using explosives, the investment’s gone,” former nuclear submarine officer and a visiting scholar on nuclear policy at Columbia University Christopher Brownfield said in a Fox News interview in May. “They lose hundreds of millions of dollars from the drilling of the well, plus no lawmaker in his right mind would allow BP to drill again in that same spot. So basically, it’s an all-or-nothing thing with BP: They either keep the well alive, or they lose their whole investment and all the oil that they could potentially get from that well.” (He penned an opinion piece in the New York Times making the argument.)
Some lawmakers have also pushed for blowing up the well.
“For the life of me, I can’t understand why BP couldn’t go into the ocean floor, maybe 10 feet lateral to the — around the periphery — drill a few holes and put a little ammonium nitrate, some dynamite, in those holes and detonate that dynamite and seal that leak. And seal it permanently,” Rep. Phil Gingrey (Ga.) said earlier this month.
UN /ONU :
World Anti-poverty Gains Under Threat From Multiple Crises: UN Report
June 29, 2010/Bernama
UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Bernama) — The world’s anti-poverty gains achieved over the past years are being eroded by the presence of multiple crises, including an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, increased food security, oil prices volatility and climate change, said a new UN report released on Monday.
The report, entitled Trends and Progress in International Development Cooperation, was submitted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the annual high-level segment of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), reported China’s Xinhua news agency.
“Multiple crises have created numerous obstacles for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” said the report.
According to the report, the world economy shrank by two percent in 2009, and recovery in 2010 will be fragile.
The crisis has driven more than 60 million people into poverty and more than 100 million people into hunger, further reducing MDG prospects, it said.
Despite progress in some areas of the global partnership for development, most areas are not living up to expectations, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and the least developed countries, it warned.
The MDGs are a set of eight anti-poverty targets that world leaders have agreed to achieve by 2015.
The economic crisis sparked a 13 percent contraction in global trade, the largest decline since world War II, and was accompanied by some low-intensity protectionist measures, said the report.
Trade is set to rebound by 7.6 percent in 2010, but persistent unemployment could intensify protectionist pressures, it said. Trade among developing countries, a key driver for growth, is rebounding sharply and projected to advance, Xinhua quoted the report as saying.
The global crisis has contributed to higher debt burdens in most developed and developing countries, eroding some of the progress made since the Millennium Summit in 2000, it said.
“The need for stronger and more effective development cooperation was never greater,” the report observed.
In 2009, overall development cooperation is estimated to have exceeded US$170 billion, with official development assistance (ODA) from industrialized countries increasing by 0.7 percent in real terms, it said.
“ODA remains the bedrock for the timely achievement of the MDGs, ” the report said, urging donors to set ambitious targets for 2015 and put in place five-year plans for scaling up disbursements.
The global economic crisis has slowed the fight against poverty, but the developing world is still on track to meet a key UN goal of halving the number of people living on less than US$1 a day by 2015, it said.
“This offers hope, and therefore is the time for immediate action. Losing this momentum in the fight against poverty will amount to a failure of development cooperation which the world can ill afford,” it said.
— BERNAMA
Africa: Cancun Talks Should Focus On ‘Specific Items’ for Agreement
Tamar Kahn/ Businessday/allafrica.com/29 June 2010
Johannesburg — December’s global climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, should focus on areas where agreements could realistically be reached, leaving the debate on a legal framework for the deal to next year’s conference in SA, European Union (EU) climate change commissioner Connie Hedegaard said yesterday.
Her comments add to the growing view it will be up to SA as host to help drive the talks to a binding conclusion. This is after last year’s climate conference in Copenhagen failed to reach a new deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
In April, then United Nations (UN) climate chief Yvo de Boer made similar remarks to the Washington Post, while the main negotiator for Japan’s environment ministry, Kunihiko Shimada, told Bloomberg in March that a deal this year was “almost impossible”.
At the Group of 20 summit in Toronto last week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the world should aim for a “realistic result” in Cancun.
“There is not much new coming out of Beijing and Washington,” said Ms Hedegaard at a media breakfast, noting that two of the world’s biggest polluters, India and China, were unlikely to commit to emissions targets until the US introduces new energy laws. The EU has already committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020 from 1990s levels, and would be willing to increase the cut to 30% if a global agreement on climate change was reached, she said.
She cautioned the Cancun negotiators against wasting time on topics covered in Copenhagen. They should try to reach agreements on specific items, such as conserving forests, that could go into a global treaty.
Ms Hedegaard said the Copenhagen round of talks had not been a complete failure, as they had spurred many individual nations to set targets. “We saw unprecedented global action,” she said.
The Copenhagen Accord says the world should aim to contain temperature rise to 2°C, but so far nations have not made sufficient pledges to cut greenhouse emissions to meet this target.
The a ccord was principally drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and SA and was criticised by nations such as Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba for leaving many countries out of the negotiating process.
Ms Hedegaard said the EU would announce in Cancun which projects were to be supported by its 7,2bn share of the 30bn committed in Copenhagen to help the poorest, most vulnerable countries deal with climate change. “It’s crucial for developing countries to see it (the money) delivered,” she said.
EU member states had agreed they would not create a new financing system for the funds but work with existing channels.
USA :
Guinea Starts Transition to Democracy
online.wsj.com /By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS And WILL CONNORS /JUNE 29, 2010
As Vote Count Begins, History Portends a Slow Shift in Power for the West African Nation; Challenges Await New Leader
Guinea is poised to become Africa’s next nation to reintroduce democracy after a long period of military rule, embarking on a transition that has proved halting and problematic for many African countries.
The National Independent Electoral Commission Monday began counting about four million votes cast over the weekend in what international observers described as the first free elections held in the West African country after more than half a century of authoritarian rule.
The vote, said the U.S. Embassy in Guinea in a statement, went “extraordinarily well.” African Union President Jean Ping welcomed the “neutrality” and “republican discipline” displayed by Guinea’s army forces.
Since its 1958 independence from France, Guinea has been ruled mostly by dictators and leaders of military coups. Some are rejoicing that the cycle may be coming to an end.
“For many years, free elections were a dream,” said Abdoulaye Baillo Diallo, an aide to one of the 24 candidates, all civilians, running for president. “Now it has become a reality.”
Preliminary results could be released by the electoral commission as early as Wednesday. Unless Sunday’s vote shows one candidate garnering more than half of the ballots, a runoff is expected to take place on July 18.
In the absence of reliable opinion polls in Guinea, analysts said the outcome of the vote was hard to predict. However, they said the following candidates could advance to a likely second round: longtime junta opponent Alpha Condé; Sidya Touré, who was Guinea’s prime minister from 1996 to 1999; and Cellou Dalein Diallo, prime minister from 2004 to 2006.
Guinea’s elections are being closely watched. Few African countries have been able to pull off a smooth transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Over the past two years, there have been four coups in Africa—in Guinea, Niger, Madagascar and Mauritania. While coup leaders often promise a quick transfer of power, restoration of democratic institutions and fast-tracked elections, most aren’t following through with those promises.
After a February coup in uranium-rich Niger, which drew international condemnation but relief within Niger, the military junta set an election date for the end of this year. Still, analysts are doubtful the government will hold to that date or that the elections will be free or fair.
Last year, in the island nation of Madagascar, a former disc jockey-turned-mayor led a military-backed coup. Though he also promised to hold elections, the date for a vote keeps getting pushed back.
And in Mauritania, the leader of a 2008 coup pledged to restore democracy to the West African nation—once a key ally in the U.S.’s war on terror. But the next year, the same coup leader won an election that most opposition politicians boycotted.
Outbreaks of fighting between the military and opposition movements typically mark the aftermath of such turmoil.
“Until governments—and the elites that support and benefit from them—are prepared to commit to democracy, good governance, and the rule of law, and until they are accountable to their populations, coups will remain a viable option,” wrote John Campbell, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
In the small East African nation of Burundi, voters on Monday began casting their ballots in an election with only one candidate—President Pierre Nkurunziza. The opposition boycotted.
In Guinea, the next elected leader faces a tough road.
An immediate challenge, political analysts say, will be to make sure that Guinea’s soldiers stay in their barracks. Just ten months ago, at a rally for civic rights and democracy held in the capital, Conakry, members of Guinea’s army shot into the crowd. More than 150 participants died and more than 1,000 were wounded in the incident.
Moussa Dadis Camara, who led Guinea’s junta until he was severely wounded by an aide in December, is convalescing in exile, and has said he won’t attempt a comeback. But inside Guinea, Mr. Camara still has many supporters, who could reject the outcome of presidential elections, analysts say.
In his absence, former defense minister Gen. Sekouba Konate became interim president and pledged to organize free elections.
Another headache for Guinea’s future president will be Latin American drug cartels, which are increasingly using West Africa and Guinea in particular, as a hub to export narcotics towards Europe, analysts say.
The main difficulty, however, could be jump-starting Guinea’s economy.
The country has large potential riches, including the world’s largest reserves of bauxite—used to make aluminum—but ranks among Africa’s poorest.
During the campaign, most candidates have said their priority would be to evaluate and perhaps renegotiate a number of large mining contracts that Guinea’s junta signed in recent years, notably with Chinese companies.
“It will be important to shed light on these contracts,” said Philippe Hugon, an analyst with the Paris-based Institute of Foreign and Strategic Relations. “The credibility of the future president will be on the line.”
Write to David Gauthier-Villars at David.Gauthier-Villars@wsj.com
CANADA :
The accomplishments of the G8 & G20 Canada summit meetings
By ■ Stephanie Dearing /www.digitaljournal.com/29062010
Now that all the hoopla over the Toronto G20 riots is starting to die down, it’s time to take a look at the agreements carved out by the G8 and G20 summits just wrapped up in Canada.
“What binds the G8 nations together,” begins the G8 Muskoka Declaration, “is a shared vision that major global challenges must and can be addressed effectively through focus, commitment and transparency, and in partnership with other concerned members of the global community.” The G8 nations, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, meet once a year. The Muskoka G8 also saw invited guests participate in discussions about Africa.
The agenda put together by Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper included Development; Food Security; Africa; Environmental Sustainability and Green Recovery; Trade and Investment; and International Peace and Security. The broad topics were the jump-off points for more in-depth discussions and negotiations.
The key agreement to come from Muskoka was what is called The Muskoka Initiative. This was Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s main focus, and the resulting agreement on enhancing maternal, infant and child under five health initiative in developing countries will see $5 billion contributed by the G8 nations over 5 years time. The initiative is a way of meeting Millennium Development Goals, and is for the express purpose of significantly reducing “the number of maternal, newborn and under five child deaths in developing countries.”
Harper was pleased his efforts to broker the the initiative were fruitful, saying in a press release issued June 26
“I am very pleased to announce Canada’s contribution to this critical initiative. Our contribution will make significant, tangible differences in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. Canada led the way in mobilizing support among G-8 and non-G-8 leaders, key donors and private foundations for this initiative to reduce the mortality rates of mothers and their children. We have been successful.”
Canada will contribute $2.85 billion to the initiative over the five-year period.
International Development agencies and women’s groups, however, are not so quick to applaud the Muskoka Initiative. Plan Canada said the $5 billion
“… falls far short of what Plan Canada and other NGOs are calling for from G8 leaders in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health by 2015.”
While Plan encouraged the G8 nation leaders to contribute more, Plan also said
“… Collectively however, the G8 failed to step up to its fair share of what is urgently needed globally to save the lives of millions of women and children. The longer it takes to fill the more than $30 billion MDG funding gap for maternal, newborn and child health, the more lives will be lost.”
Note: MDG = Millennium Development Goal
Harper pronounced theG8 summit as a success, saying the group had been “re-focused, … reshaped and re-energized.” An opinion piece in the Toronto Star contradicted Harper, calling the meeting “lack-lustre.” The next G8 summit will be hosted by France next year.
The G8 leaders moved to Toronto to join the others who make up the G20. Consisting of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, the G20 meets regularly and is
“… the premier forum for our international economic development that promotes open and constructive discussion between industrial and emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability.”
Brazil’s President could not make the meeting.
Harper’s focus for the G20, according to the Toronto Star, was the reduction of deficits and debt loads over the next five years. Harper’s key goal, to prevent a tax on banks, was achieved.
The summit declaration promised the G20 had taken the
“… next steps to ensure a full return to growth with quality jobs, to reform and strengthen financial systems, and to create strong, sustainable and balanced global growth.”
The declaration warns the recovery from the global recession is fragile, and continued recovery is the only way to cut the pain felt by millions of unemployed people around the world. Guided by an International Monetary Fund report that was written specifically for the summit, the leaders said they could create millions of jobs and generate trillions of dollars globally. The way out of the fragile recovery is based on continued fiscal stimulus, strengthening social safety nets, pursuing structural reforms and evening out global demand.
Austerity measures are the way to correct budget deficits, but many austerity measures slash support for social safety nets. Greece and the United Kingdom have already implemented austerity measures, while Italy has just unveiled its plan. France, German and Japan are engaging in some high level belt-tightening. The United States has refused to plan to implement austerity measures thus far, to the consternation of other G20 nations.
Financial sector reform, the hot button issue for the Toronto summit, was put on the back burner again. International banks, such as the World Bank, will receive more funds from G20 nations, to allow the banks to lend out more to struggling nations. The Globe & Mail quoted Toronto-Dominion Bank economists Craig Alexander, Beata Caranci and Martin Schwerdtfeger, summing up the G20 as ho-hum.
“In the end, the Toronto summit essentially laid out a broad range of issues where there was an agreement on assessments and principles. The G-20 Toronto summit provided little in the way of new developments to highlight, but re-confirmed the key policy areas that leaders are looking to make progress on and it acknowledged the importance of fiscal consolidation over the medium-term and global growth rebalancing.”
The next G20 will meet in Korea in November.
AUSTRALIA :
EUROPE :
CHINA :
China’s New Focus on Africa
By Alex Perry / Kinshasa, Cape Town and Lusaka / www.time.com/ Jun. 29, 2010
If you want to see what’s wrong with Africa, take a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The size of Western Europe, with almost no paved roads, Congo is the sucking vortex where Africa’s heart should be. Independent Congo gave the world Mobutu Sese Seko, who for 32 years impoverished his people while traveling the world in a chartered Concorde. His death in 1997 ushered in a civil war that killed 5.4 million people and unleashed a h
urricane of rape on tens of thousands more. Today AIDS and malaria are epidemic. Congo, then, is not a place you’d normally associate with a yuppie.
Tell that to Mathis Xu, 26, a manager at a Chinese state construction company I met last year. As a languages student in Beijing, Xu took French to be different — and different is what he got. In April 2008, he was picked to translate for the Congolese government and the state-owned China Railway Engineering Corp. (CREC) in negotiations over a $9 billion deal. CREC and others would build thousands of kilometers of roads and railways, 32 hospitals, 145 health centers and two universities, an investment of $6 billion in the kind of infrastructure Congo desperately needs. As part payment, China would receive $3 billion in concessions to mine the copper and cobalt essential to its growing industries. When the deal was struck that month, Xu found himself posted to Kinshasa as CREC’s liaison with the government. “We will transform this city,” he exclaimed, watching CREC’s giant road builders level a hillside in Kinshasa next to the Congo River. “It will be fantastic!”
As more than 300 political figures, business leaders and champions of civil society gather in Cape Town for a Global Forum sponsored by TIME and our corporate cousins at FORTUNE and CNN, China’s role in Africa will be a key part of their discussions. Notwithstanding the Great Recession, many observers think the African economy is poised for great things. Fueled by a commodities boom, the continent’s output grew by 5% to 7% in both 2007 and ’08 and even managed 2% growth in 2009. China is not the only nation that has noticed the opportunities in Africa, but it is the one that has taken them most seriously, in ways that may change not just the region’s economic landscape but its political one too.
The ambition, speed and scale of Chinese involvement in Africa is extraordinary. According to Chris Alden, author of China in Africa, two-way trade stood at $10 billion in 2000. By 2006, it was $55 billion, and in 2009 it hit $90 billion, making China Africa’s single largest trading partner, supplanting the U.S., which did $86 billion in trade with Africa in 2009. Today the Chinese are pumping oil from Sudan to Angola, logging from Liberia to Gabon, mining from Zambia to Ghana and farming from Kenya to Zimbabwe. Chinese contractors are building roads from Equatorial Guinea to Ethiopia, dams from the Congo to the Nile, and hospitals and schools, sports stadiums and presidential palaces across the continent. They are buying too. Acquisitions range from a $5.5 billion stake in South Africa’s Standard Bank to a $14 million investment in a mobile-phone company in Somalia.
Beijing insists it is a partner in Africa’s development, delivering investment and gaining a new market for its products and new access to resources. Western businesses say China is on a resource grab. They worry that it is playing unfairly, undercutting them by paying low wages and skirting standards on safety, the environment and human rights, and coordinating commerce, assistance and diplomacy in ways impossible, not to say illegal, in the West. The truth is somewhere in between. To the extent that China is using Africa as an experiment — to try out ideas of how it might be in the world — its African adventure is worthy of close study. To do that, we must answer two questions: How is China changing Africa? And how is Africa changing China?
Let’s go back to Kinshasa. Congo’s got problems. The Western way of helping has been with aid — multilateral, bilateral or through self-funding religious groups and NGOs. To stem the fighting in the east, Congo has a 21,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force — MONUC — the biggest in the world. These efforts have had mixed success. The war hasn’t ended, and the world’s loans to Congo have helped fuel corruption. Little has been done to address Congo’s infrastructure deficit. Coordinating aid among so many groups and nations remains difficult.
Enter China. Beijing doesn’t do gifts; it does deals. In Congo, China’s infrastructure-for-mines deal irked the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Fund argued that Congo’s guarantee to China that it would recoup at least $3 billion in minerals was an IOU on Congo’s national assets and therefore a new debt. That fell afoul of debt-write-off conditions, which require that the debtor take on no new loans. “If the Congolese take the Chinese deal,” said a Western official familiar with the negotiations in mid-2009, “they will not get any more [Western] support.” A standoff ensued. An earlier deal, in 2007 with Angola, also outraged the IMF. It had been negotiating a new loan with Angola for years, with carefully calibrated conditions to block corruption and alleviate poverty. By paying Luanda $5 billion in return for oil concessions and infrastructure contracts, China effectively made the IMF redundant. Diplomats across Africa like to say the continent offers space for everyone. But what’s happening in Angola and Congo is a new scramble for Africa. Xu, the translator, has no doubt that he is engaged in an intense rivalry. “Not everybody is pleased to see us here, that’s for sure. But we are not going to lose.”
For all the heat, even IMF officials admit that the Chinese model for African development has some advantages. First, it’s quick. Loan talks with multilateral agencies take years. The China-Angola discussions took weeks. “With the West, there are studies, analyses and bureaucracy,” says the Western official. “The Chinese just ask what the government wants, and they don’t question or comment or judge. They just do it.” China also works as visibly as it does quickly. Drive across almost any African country today and you’ll find Chinese engineers by the side of the road, sleeves rolled up, overseeing work crews. IMF officials in suits crunching numbers inside air-conditioned compounds just don’t have the same kind of dash. “What we do is always in the shade,” complains an IMF staffer in Africa. “Macroeconomic stability — what is that? You can’t show it on camera.”
Apart from aid, the Asian model of development is looking increasingly attractive. African governments look at Western economic instability over the past two years and find a better model in Asia’s extraordinary growth. Special economic zones, one of the engines of China’s growth for two decades, are popping up across the continent. But what really distinguishes Chinese businesspeople from their Western rivals in Africa is how risk-happy they seem. Barely a month goes by without the announcement of a new billion-dollar investment in one of the world’s least stable countries. The latest? A stunning $23 billion deal in May to rebuild Nigeria’s oil-refining capacity. For Chinese businesses, backing by a rich state that packages aid with commerce and has an extended time horizon cuts risk significantly. Chinese ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Wu Zexian elaborates on this new model of development assistance. “Before, African countries never profited from their resources. Now they help them build infrastructure. Other countries say, This country has a lot of problems. We say, This country has huge potential.” The key is long-term vision. “Yes, there is a risk,” says Wu. “But in 50 years, we will still be here. So will Congo and the mines. Short term: sure, problems. Long term: not much risk.”
So how is Africa changing China? In 2005, 49 workers died in an accident at a Chinese mining-explosives factory in Chambishi, Zambia. Populist opposition leader Michae
l Sata accused the government of selling out the country to Beijing, a stance that earned him wide support in the 2006 and ’08 elections. His views on China are colorful and expressed in terms that many Chinese would find deeply offensive. “In every part of Zambia, the Chinaman is there, packed eight to a room,” he says at his office in Lusaka. “What the Chinaman is doing, nobody knows.”
Zambia is just one country in Africa where China’s presence has provoked criticism. In South Africa, China found itself rebutting warnings from former President Thabo Mbeki about a new “colonial relationship.” In Ethiopia, in April 2007, China had to take sides in a separatist conflict when Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels killed 74 workers, nine of whom were Chinese, at a Chinese oil-field installation. The same year, a Chinese engineer was killed in an attack on a stone-material plant in Mombasa, Kenya, and Chinese oil workers have been kidnapped by rebels in Nigeria. Chinese migrants fought pitched battles with Algerians in the capital, Algiers, last year.
So China is trying to explain itself. Chinese bankers, academics and diplomats now take star turns at economic summits across the continent. “There is a mistrust of China,” says Wu. “We have to speak to be understood.” China has done more than just speak. It has also, in some cases, abandoned its long-standing policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. Liu Guijin, China’s special representative to Africa and its top diplomat on the continent, calls himself a “political troubleshooter” and says he spends a lot of time in Sudan mediating the conflict in Darfur. That sounds like a definite departure. “Perhaps we are having a flexible interpretation of noninterference,” Liu replies with a laugh. After an earlier reluctance, China is now the fourth largest contributor of troops to peacekeeping operations: its soldiers are on the ground in Liberia, Sudan and Congo as part of U.N. operations there.
One man’s flexibility can be another’s willingness to do deals with anyone. But China is becoming more sensitive to that criticism too. In Zimbabwe, China is often accused of helping keep Robert Mugabe in power. Not so, contends a senior member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who says China went to “huge lengths” to ensure that MDC Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, not Mugabe, got credit for a new $950 million loan in July 2009.
Mirroring the changes taking place in China itself, China’s relationship with Africa is “changing and maturing month by month as both parties better understand each other,” says Geoffrey White, CEO of the trans-African conglomerate Lonrho. It was that spirit that persuaded China to drop details in its Congo deal that the IMF found so objectionable, as well as cut the infrastructure part of the deal from $6 billion to $3 billion. Liu says that while China and the West have “different priorities, different approaches and different ways of doing things, we need China and [the West] to make efforts to align their interests and policies.”
There are limits to how far China will go. It will continue to pursue warm relations with all African countries, whether they are democracies or dictatorships, partly because each African country represents a potential vote against Taiwan’s efforts to gain diplomatic recognition. China’s commitment to nonintervention also remains strong; it has, for example, not supported the International Criminal Court in its attempts to prosecute Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes.
For all the tangled tale of aid, investment and diplomacy, what China has really brought to Africa is a change in the way that the rest of the world thinks of the continent. China has helped transform the idea of Africa from a destination for charity to a place for business. In 2006, for the first time, flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa were greater than those of aid — $48 billion of FDI compared to $40 billion of aid, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And the numbers keep growing. In 2008, according to the U.N. trade body UNCTAD, FDI hit $88 billion. “Trade, not aid” is the new mantra of influential African leaders like Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
China’s largesse, whatever the explanations for its arrival in Africa, has left a mark. As the representative of the Zambian Mineworkers Union at the Chambishi complex where 49 workers died, Mwinbe Stanslas, 45, might be expected to sound a note of caution about China’s expansion. He does not. “I’ve worked for the British, the Americans, a Jew and the Swiss,” he says. “They all closed. The way the Chinese are investing, they’re not leaving. My boy will get a job in this mine, and his boy after him. China is taking over. And I tell you, it’s a blessing.”
China Mobile invests in Africa
By Alex Kayle, Senior portals journalist/www.itweb.co.za/ 29 Jun 2010
Johannesburg,
China Mobile invests in Africa
China Mobile has expressed interest in investing in Africa, where it plans to boost services in rural areas, reports Business Week.
The company doesn’t have any acquisition targets in Africa yet and hasn’t identified a specific region on the continent where it would like to invest. “The purpose is to push business for mobile payments,” according to China Mobile chairman, Jianzhou Wang.
The Beijing-based company this year agreed to buy a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, a move that Wang says will help boost its wireless payment and finance operations.
Outsourced payment services to grow
According to the Verizon 2009 Data Breach Investigations Report, which was cited in the RSA report, 285 million payment card records were breached in 2008, states ZDNet Asia.
To combat online fraud and still be able to manage spiralling maintenance costs, the RSA study suggested retailers look at a form of outsourced service arrangement, which it called the ‘secure payment services’ model.
Craig Tieken, vice-president of merchant product management at merchant processing services company First Data, predicts many merchants will move to an outsourced services model by 2015, and that this shift will create a new industry standard for securely processing credit, debt and other payment card transactions.
Mobile payment booms in Asia-Pacific
The worldwide user base for mobile payments may reach the mark of 108.6 million in this fiscal year, says Top News.
The mobile payment user base was 70.2 million worldwide in the year 2009. According to global research firm Gartner, the total mobile payment users are going to comprise 2.1% of all mobile users in the year 2010.
The firm has also predicted that Asia-Pacific region will be the largest market for mobile payment in terms of user base. It is expecting that there will be 62.8 million users by the end of 2010 from this region itself.
INDIA :
Africa set to be major global player
Metro consumer powers economies
June 29, 2010/By Ethel Hazelhurst/www.busrep.co.za
Beyond China and India, Africa presents the economic opportunity of the future – and not just because of its resource wealth. A report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), released last week, highlights a new dynamic in Africa: the rise of the urban consumer.
MGI said, by 2040, the continent would have 1.1 billion people of working age, more than either India or China. But, much more important than the growth in population, is the rise in household spending power.
“The number of households with discretionary income is projected to rise by 50 percent over the next 10 years to 128 million,” the report says. African households spent a combined $860 billion (R6.5 trillion) in 2008, more than those in India or Russia.
The report forecasts the value of consumption could reach $1.4 trillion by 2020.
MGI identified Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia as the four economies that have already built significant manufacturing and service sectors.
“They are among the continent’s richest economies, and they have the least volatile gross domestic product growth and the lowest political risk. With all the needed ingredients for further expansion, they stand to benefit greatly from increasing ties to the global economy.”
Urbanisation is making it easier for producers to deliver to their potential markets. “In 1980 just 28 percent of Africans lived in cities. Today, 40 percent of the continent’s 1 billion people do – a portion close to China’s and larger than India’s,” the report says. Among the most densely populated is South Africa, where 62 percent of the population lives in cities.
The continent has as many cities of 1 million people as Europe and by 2030 its top 18 cities could have a combined spending power of $1.3 trillion.
Against this backdrop, domestic consumption will generate returns for companies in retail, telecoms and banking. A sign that the middle class is on the move is that 316 million subscribers signed up for cellphones in the past decade.
Urbanisation has also improved productivity.
“Companies achieve greater economies of scale by spreading their fixed costs over a larger customer base,” MGI said and calculated that the shift from “rural to urban employment accounts for 20 percent to 50 percent of productivity growth”.
And urbanisation has knock-on effects, spurring the construction of more roads, buildings, water systems and more.
The labour force is growing more rapidly than anywhere in the world, MGI said.
“The continent has more than 500 million people of working age. By 2040 that number is projected to top 1.1 billion – more than in China or India.
MGI estimated that, over the past 20 years, three quarter’s of the continent’s increase in GDP per capita came from an expanding workforce, the rest from higher productivity.
The return on investment is higher in Africa than in any other developing region, according to the report which urges investors and global business executives to make the continent part of their long-term planning. “Early entry into African economies provides opportunities to create markets, establish brands, shape industry structure, influence customer preference and establish long-term relationships,” it said.
MTN denies rumours it seeks a stake in India’s Loop Telecom
June 29, 2010/By Mzwandile Jacks/www.busrep.co.za
MTN, Africa’s largest cellphone network operator, was in talks to buy a substantial stake in India’s Loop Telecom in its bid to enter the world’s fastest-growing wireless market, it was reported yesterday.
But Nozipho January-Bardill, the corporate affairs executive at MTN, firmly denied the media speculation.
According to media reports, Loop Telecom had been looking for an investor and was willing to sell as much as 45 percent of the company.
If the deal goes through, MTN, which had 123 million subscribers by the end of March this year across 21 operations in Africa and the Middle East, will be entering a market that grows by 14 million to 15 million cellphone users every month.
A Cape Town-based analyst, who did not want to be named because his company would not allow them to comment on speculation, said these rumours could be true.
“Phuthuma Nhleko, the out-going chief executive, has always been looking for a big acquisition. I think he will continue to want to do this before he leaves office,” the analyst said. “But this is bad because by so doing, he could leave his successor with something that might not work at all, particularly considering that India is not as profitable as many would have thought.”
Nhleko announced earlier this year that he would be quitting the cellphone giant in March next year, saying it was the right time to secure the next generation of leadership for the group.
Investec Securities telecoms analyst Rob Forsyth told Business Report that Loop Telecom was a small firm in the broader scheme of things.
“Why would they want to acquire a small company in a very highly competitive market? I think it is highly unlikely that they would want to buy this company,” Forsyth said.
Loop Telecom has licence and spectrum to operate all over India. Citing people close to the development, India’s Business Standard newspaper said MTN had been negotiating through merchant bankers for the unlisted Loop Telecom.
MTN had made no secret it would like to expand into new emerging markets.
Three attempts to enter the giant Indian market have been thwarted in recent years and earlier this month MTN abandoned talks to buy assets from Egypt’s Orascom Telecom.
Regulatory hurdles prevented MTN from negotiating a deal for some or all of Orascom’s businesses.
Shareholder disputes and government concerns stood in the way of attempts in the last two years to conclude merger agreements with Indian operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications.
BRASIL:
Telefonica’s Vivo Bid Stirs Portuguese Hostility Before Vote
June 29, 2010/By Paul Tobin/Bloomberg
June 29 (Bloomberg) — The vote on Telefonica SA’s 6.5 billion-euro ($8 billion) offer for Portugal Telecom SGPS SA’s stake in their Brazilian venture may be too close to call, turning on how a centuries-old antagonism plays out.
Portuguese investors probably control 40 percent to 50 percent of the vote, according to Banco BPI analyst Pedro Pinto Oliveira, meaning the bid’s success may hinge on whether they cast their ballot at tomorrow’s meeting along nationalistic lines. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates last week asked state-owned lender Caixa Geral de Depositos SA, with 7.3 percent of Portugal Telecom, to reject the bid.
Telefonica’s offer may come up against a four-century-old distrust on the Iberian Peninsula that’s given rise to the Portuguese adage that “from Spain, there are neither good winds nor good marriages.” The two countries are squaring off today too, playing each other in the World Cup soccer match to determine which team goes to the quarterfinals.
“There is a certain element of hostility there,” said Roger Appleyard, head of global credit research at RBC Capital Markets in London. “It would probably not be the same if the bid were from a company such as Deutsche Telekom.”
Telefonica is offering to buy Portugal Telecom’s stake in their 50-50 venture Brasilcel NV, which owns 60 percent of Vivo Participacoes SA, Brazil’s largest wireless company. Portugal’s Socrates has called the stake in the asset in Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, “strategic.”
‘National Champion’
“It’s a national issue,” Jorge Felix, president of the Portugal Telecom workers’ union. “No one can deny the strategic value Vivo has for the growth of Portugal Telecom, or the strategic interest for the country of having a company that has the capacity to invest and help in its technological development. It’s as much or more important for Portugal than it is for Spain.”
Portugal Telecom relies on Brazil for growth, with sales from the Latin American country rising 27 percent in the first quarter, while revenue at home fell 3.6 percent. Yet Portugal Telecom this month acknowledged that the company can provide “no assurance” that “similar value will be delivered to the shareholders for Vivo” should Telefonica’s bid fail.
“Portugal wants to remain having a national champion and that’s all fine, but it does not make rational economic sense to reject the offer because it’s significantly more than the Vivo stake value on any measure,” said Appleyard.
Telefonica Stake
About 36 percent of Portugal Telecom is held by Portuguese investors, according the company’s website. U.S. holders own 23 percent, 21 percent is owned by investors based in the U.K. and Ireland and 19 percent by shareholders in the rest of Europe.
Telefonica held 10 percent of Portugal Telecom before reducing its stake to 2 percent last week. Telefonica still controls 10 percent of the voting rights, Portugal’s securities market regulator said yesterday. Antonio Menezes Cordeiro, chairman of the shareholders’ meeting, will decide if the Spanish company can exercise its voting rights or whether it would represent a conflict of interest.
Institutional Shareholder Services, the influential group that advises investors, recommended June 14 that Portugal Telecom shareholders accept Telefonica’s offer. On June 18, Proxinvest, another shareholder advisory service, recommended that the bid be rejected.
Two large Portuguese shareholders have said they will reject the bid. Ongoing Strategy Investments SGPS SA, which owns a 6.8 percent of the Portuguese company and has board representation, plans to vote against the offer.
Close Call
The price is not sufficient, Jose Maria Espirito Santo Ricciardi, chief executive officer of Banco Espirito Santo SA’s investment banking unit, said in May. Banco Espirito Santo owns about 8 percent of the stock.
“It will be a close call,” said Teresa Martinho, an analyst at Banif Investment Bank in Lisbon. “I still think at this price it will be hard to pass.”
Portugal Telecom Chief Executive Officer Zeinal Bava has sought to step up the fight to force his counterpart at Telefonica SA, Cesar Alierta, to put more money on the table.
Alierta has refrained from boosting the bid a second time, Portugal Telecom, which rejected an initial 5.7 billion-euro bid without a shareholders vote, has said the revised offer “does not reflect the strategic value of this asset for Telefonica.”
Madrid-based Telefonica, which said its first offer was “fair, full and final,” wants control of Vivo to merge it with Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo SA, or Telesp, its fixed-line unit in Brazil.
‘Regional Rivalry’
“The offer is more than reasonable and that should be enough,” said Alberto Espelosin, who helps manage about $12 billion at Ibercaja Gestion in Zaragoza, Spain.
Still, for some investors, voting on the offer may be less about reason and more about history. Portugal fought off invading Spanish armies in the 1600s as well as the 1800s, when they attacked with Napoleon’s forces. Spain ruled over Portugal for 60 years between the late 1500s and early 1600s.
That history is the backdrop for most of Portugal’s dealings with its neighbor — from business to soccer.
“It’s a regional rivalry in every aspect,” said Carlos Queiroz, the Portugal team’s coach said at a press conference yesterday in South Africa. “A Portugal-Spain is a special titbit, like Argentina-Brazil or England-Germany. They are menus you don’t see every day.”
–With assistance by Anabela Reis and Joao Lima in Lisbon. Editors: Vidya Root, Simon Thiel
EN BREF, CE 29 juin 2010… AGNEWS /OMAR, BXL,29/06/2010
