Emerging Actors in Africa news round-up

General
World Bank says foreign investors are crowding out African producers
A leaked World Bank report into investors from rich nations buying up African farmland has intensified campaigners' fears that the growing trend is marginalising local producers.
After a spate of investments in African land by sovereign wealth funds looking for gains on rising commodity prices and by countries such as China worried about their own food security, the World Bank launched research into the area. Its report is due to be published next month, but a draft copy leaked to the Financial Times painted a picture of largely speculative investment badly lacking agricultural expertise, and a rush towards countries with lax laws. It mentioned only a handful of successes.
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Uganda: Government calls off oil deal
Uganda will seek the full amount in taxes from the transfer of assets from Heritage oil after all, according to reliable sources who talked to Sunday Monitor. This comes after reports that President Yoweri Museveni personally insisted that the taxes due to the government from the deal - the largest in Uganda's history - be paid in full.
Reliable sources, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, have told this newspaper that the President made his position known at a mid-week meeting he held with the head of the Uganda Revenue Authority, Ms Allen Kagina. The Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Chris Kasaami, attended the meeting which reportedly took place at the President's country home in Rwakitura.
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Africa Times: Singapore leads ASEAN investment into Africa
Africa is on the road to economic recovery because of a growing and dynamic labour force in the cities, an improving technology base and a diversifying agricultural sector according to the World Bank.
Vice president Obiageli Ezekwesili told the inaugural Africa Singapore Business Forum held in Singapore on July 14 that “Africa is turning the corner… it is on the path of an economic rebound.”
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China in Africa
ANC study group to learn what makes China tick
Senior ANC members flew to China yesterday for a two-week study tour that will include hearing a lecture on the role of state-owned enterprises.
The African Union last week called on African countries to look to China for development because the snail's-pace flow of funds from Western nations and the World Bank.
The tour group is led by ANC national chairman Baleka Mbete and includes Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, Communications Minister Sphiwe Nyanda, Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba.
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Vavi looks to China for ideas on controlling rand
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi this week called for research into how other emerging markets were keeping their currencies competitive and stable. This came after rand strength helped shave off 61 000 South African jobs in the second quarter.
Vavi singled out China as a case study, but advocated a broad-ranging investigation of other developing markets.
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Zambia's Lewanika could be TAZARA's messiah
Founder member of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika, has used his dogged, expressive style to ingrain himself on Zambia's political and social conscience. Now he is head of TAZARA and promising more.
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AU says must replace Western partners with China
The African Union said on Saturday Africa must turn ever more to China for its development because conditions and checks often stalled the flow of funds from Western nations and the World Bank.
Maxwell Mkwezalamba, the AU's economic chief, said Africa must end its reliance on Western money.
"For Africa's development and integration we have depended on the Western world -- we cannot continue to proceed like this," Mkwezalamba told reporters.
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China and Rio Tinto complete Guinea mining deal
Mining giant Rio Tinto has completed a deal with Chinese firm Chalco to enter a joint venture in West Africa.
The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding between Rio and Chalco's parent company Chinalco in March.
The venture will develop Rio's Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.
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Nigeria's refinery project to create 7,000 jobs: official
An estimated 7,000 jobs will be created in Nigeria's southern Bayelsa State when a refinery is built there in a joint project with China, state oil officials said on Thursday.
State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said in a statement that the Bayelsa refinery is one of three to be built across the country with a total installed capacity of 750,000 barrels per day.
The three 'Greenfield Refineries' will be located in Bayelsa, the commercial capital Lagos and central Kogi state, the statement said.
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China looks to build nuclear plant in SA as it seeks growth in Africa
The Chinese government may build a nuclear plant in SA as part of its investment in Africa's energy sector.
In a lecture, organised by the SA National Energy Association, Standard Bank's Thomas Orr said one of China's five major power-generation groups could invest in a nuclear plant in this country.
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China Building Africa's Economic Infrastructure: SEZs and Railroads
Chinese policymakers see in Africa possible solutions to some of China's most pressing problems, for instance, Beijing's need to secure access to energy resources and other vital minerals to sustain the country's rapid economic growth. Yet Chinese interests in Africa extend beyond energy resources and minerals and clearly include markets, infrastructure development and agriculture. China's operations in Africa are becoming more diversified and multi-dimensional, and the Chinese government as well as private entrepreneurs has seemingly realized the need to look at large regions of Africa in an integrated fashion to maximize the benefits of its growing investments. This new approach has resulted in an ambitious plan, which was announced at the 2006 Forum on China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meeting, to establish five special economic zones (SEZs) in Africa to attract Chinese investment and integrate China's comprehensive economic activities throughout the continent. In spite of the recent global economic downturn, this program appears to be gaining momentum.
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The Chinese Navy’s Emerging Support Network in the Indian Ocean
The ongoing debate in China over whether or not to formalize logistical support agreements for Chinese naval forces in the Indian Ocean is a natural outgrowth of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) expanding presence in the region. As China continues to maintain a task group of warships off the Horn of Africa to conduct counter-piracy patrols, it is cultivating the commercial and diplomatic ties necessary to sustain its forces along these strategic sea-lanes.
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Uganda head lambasts Commonwealth and Commends China
Uganda’s president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said the western world has squandered cultural links with Africa and mismanaged it by making lectures thereby losing out unnecessarily.
The Ugandan President said this while meeting British Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham at State House in Entebbe. Minister Bellingham who is heading a UK delegation to the 15th Africa Union Summit in Kampala delivered a special message from United Kingdoms’ Prime Minister David Cameron to President Yoweri Museveni.
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China turns on demand power
American journalist Matt Taibbi employed a grotesque analogy last summer to describe the Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs as a "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money".
In the energy industry, a similar phenomenon has arisen to invite respect, admiration and fear - China's appetite for oil. No survey of the oil sector's present and future can now afford to omit the China factor and its multiple ramifications.
This major new reality in geo-economics has just been underscored by a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that reveals that China has overtaken the United States as the world's largest energy consumer.
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Call to recruit women in campaign against HIV/AIDS
Women should be recruited as an active force in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a campaign that has previously addressed them almost exclusively as carriers of the virus, according to study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released on Monday.
Funded by UNAIDS, researchers interviewed more than 1,000 HIV-positive women in 13 provinces either in person or by questionnaire to study its impact on female sufferers, said Bu Wei, a professor at the academy who led the study.
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Zheng He: Symbol of China's 'peaceful rise'
Standing seven feet tall, China's maritime giant Admiral Zheng He led the world's mightiest fleet, with 300 ships and as many as 30,000 troops under his command.
Portrait of Chinese admiral Zheng He Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch, died in 1433 aged 62 and is buried in the Chinese city of Nanjing
Next month, archaeologists will begin work off the coast of Kenya to identify a wreck believed to have belonged to the man some historians believe inspired the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor.
Chinese archaeologists, who arrived in the African country this week, are hoping that the shipwreck could provide evidence of the first contact between China and east Africa.
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China invests heavily in Brazil, elsewhere in pursuit of political heft
Just past a port where workers are building a two-mile-long pier to accommodate huge vessels known as Chinamaxes that will transport iron ore for China’s ravenous steel industry, past berths for tankers to lug oil to Beijing, a city of factories is sprouting on an island almost twice the size of Manhattan. Many of the structures will be built with Chinese investment: a steel mill, a shipyard, an automobile plant, a factory to manufacture oil and gas equipment.
The port project recalls the China of the past decade: a worldwide effort to extract resources for use in the country’s vast manufacturing sector. But the factory city represents something new: an aggressive push to invest in industries overseas to bolster the country’s image and political influence.
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India seeks Congo help to rescue abducted pilot
The Indian Embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is in contact with the central African nation's government to secure the release of an Indian pilot taken hostage by rebels.
Syed Mazher, who was serving as a co-pilot with a private airline, was taken hostage by Rwandan rebels after they attacked an airplane at a airstrip in Kitambe, about 25 km north of Walikale in the North Kivu province in Congo.
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Unfair to say China's aid leads to Africa's corruption, huge debts: Zambian FM
Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande has slashed a recent media accusation that China's aid to Africa leads to the continent's government corruption and huge debts, saying it is ungrounded.
"It's unfair to say that China's aid to Africa leads to corruption and huge debut," he told Xinhua in an exclusive interview at the sideline of the ongoing 15th African Union summit in Uganda's capital of Kampala.
"China's loans are soft loans. There is no serious or difficult conditions attached to that and there is no string attached to the loans from China," he said.
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India in Africa
India participates in 15th African Union Summit
New Delhi, July 26 (ANI): An Indian delegation led by Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Vivek Katju participated in the Executive Council Session of the 15th Summit of the African Union held in Kampala, Uganda.
The participation was in keeping with India's consistent engagement with the African Union multilaterally and it's Member States bilaterally.
During the Summit, Vivek Katju and the delegation called on Jean Ping, Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union. arious aspects of the continuing engagement with Africa and the follow-up of the decisions of the India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) of April 2008 were discussed.
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India discusses UN reforms at AU meet
enior Indian diplomats have held discussions on the reform of the UN Security Council during meetings with African countries at the ongoing African Union Summit in Uganda.
A delegation led by Vivek Katju, Secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry, participated in the executive council session held July 22-23. The 15th AU summit is being held July 25-27.
“The issue of UN reform and the common African position was a subject of discussion at the Summit and was also discussed with the foreign ministers, particularly the Committee of 10 of the African Union,” said a press release of the external affairs ministry issued from Kampala Monday.
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India, EU in new bid to clinch free-trade deal
India and the European Union are to hold a fresh series of free-trade talks next month in Brussels in a bid to clinch a deal by the end of the year, an official said.
Chief negotiators for India and its largest trading partner will meet at the European Union headquarters in Brussels in August as part of a push to conclude negotiations on the India-EU free-trade pact by December.
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Indian telecom giant shortlists firms for $1 bn Africa IT outsourcing deal
Bharti Airtel has shortlisted three multinational firms and two home-grown IT majors for its billion dollar plus IT outsourcing contract in Africa, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told ET.
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Reliance, Essar in race to buy BP's Africa assets
Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries and Essar Oil are among about half a dozen firms in race to buy crisis-hit British energy giant BP's fuel marketing assets in east African countries.
BP is selling retail outlets, terminals and aviation fuel stations in Botswana, Tanzania, Namibia, Malawi and possibly also in Zambia, to cover costs related to the worst oil spill in US history, industry sources said.
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Latin America should embrace India trade –IADB
Latin America sends only 0.9 percent of its exports to India, a commodity-hungry country that should be a major growth engine for the region, the Inter-American Development Bank said in a report on Tuesday.
The IADB bemoaned the lack of direct shipping services between Latin America and the South Asian nation of 1.1 billion people and said punitive import taxes were stifling the potential for closer ties at a pivotal time for the global economy.
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Cameron hoping to forge new special relationship with visit to India
When David Cameron stands on the grounds of India's best-known IT company this week and makes his pitch for building a "new special relationship" between Britain and India, he will no doubt have in mind the thoughts of a previous visitor to the Infosys campus.
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In other Emerging Powers News
NGOs slam EU-Brazil plans to develop biofuels in Africa
EU and Brazilian leaders are set to announce a new "triangular co-operation" initiative, under which they will aim to work together in some of the world's poorest countries, but NGOs say the duo's scheme is self-centred and will simply make conditions worse.
At a bilateral summit in Brasilia on Wednesday (14 July), European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are to agree to co-operate on a range of different projects in Portuguese speaking parts of Africa, Haiti and East Timor in the coming years.
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Brazilian firm seeks to grow in Africa with SA's Zest
WEG, a Brazilian multinational electrical manufacturing enterprise, is planning to use its controlling stake in SA’s Zest Group as a launch pad to compete in the electrical equipment market in Africa.
The group, one of Brazil’s top 30 companies, last month concluded a 50% equity deal with Zest, its electric-motor sales partner of more than three decades.
The deal paves the way for WEG to buy out the remaining 50% of shares from the company and is part of WEG’s strategy to use SA to expand on the continent.
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Angola/ "Apex-Brazil" to open a business center in Luanda
A business center, aimed to strenghten investment intentions and support brazilian companies operating in Angola, will be open this year in Luanda by the brazilian agency for promotion of exports and investments "Apex - Brazil", the agency managing and planning director announced today.
Ricardo Schafaefaer said the business center will be a supporting point for angolan and brazilian companies wanting to establish and invest in each of both countries, bringing as benefits for angolan investors the access to the brazilian source of business, trade and investments skills, advisory and consultancy about Brazil.
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Blogs, Opinions, Presentations and Publications
How China is changing Sierra Leone
Andrew Harding, BBC’s Africa Correspondent, discusses the perceptions of Chinese activities in Sierra Leone, and China’s impact in Africa.
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Angola: China or Portugal? Part I - The Unlikely Contender
This is the first of a series of two postings contributed by our South Africa-based consultant, Kirill Riabtsev. In keeping with the Africa focus of our last few postings on this blog, these two postings look at Angola and how the business interests of China and erstwhile colonial power Portugal are competing in this resource-rich African country.
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Podcasts, Reviews and Interviews
When China met Africa: BBC4 Documentary
A television programme focusing on Chinese business investment in Zambia.
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China in Africa: Who is Michael Sata?
Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata has emerged as a central character in the story of China’s engagement with Africa. He has become a staple of the mainstream media’s coverage of the issue, portrayed as a vocal critic of the Chinese, particularly in Zambia. By any measure he plays the role well. Where most African politicians dare not air their concerns or frustrations about the Chinese, Sata is seemingly fearless in his criticisms, giving journalists one provocative quote after another. Eric Olander takes a closer look.
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* Sanusha Naidu is research director of Fahamu’s Emerging powers in Africa programme.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.