Thank you for the excellent article Pitfalls of export processing zones by Herbert Jauch [http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/46932].

A copy of this article should be sent to every minister of finance and minister of trade in every African country. It should be printed and hung on the wall of every parliament building and every 'investment centre' and every university economics department in Africa. It relates to all the issues raised in Pambazuka: China/Africa, agrofuels, Chad/France, the future of Zimbabwe. This is the fundamental issue for developing Africa.

Instead of adopting an open-door policy towards foreign investment, Namibia (and Africa in general) need to adopt selective policies that channel investments into certain strategic sectors that will have a lasting developmental impact.

They require a very clear and strategic development agenda that is not based on blind faith in foreign investment as the panacea to our development problems.

The lack of alternative programmes for effective economic development and job creation places government in a weak position to negotiate adherence to labour, social and environmental standards with foreign investors."

How can this be distributed more widely? Can the AU hold a conference on this?

Following the civil war in Mozambique a very effective programme was started in which people with weapons could negotiate to exchange their weapons for an item which they themselves nominated and which would enable them to earn a living, for example, a plough, a sewing machine, a bicycle, a typewriter. In some cases a community that had a cache of hidden weapons would hand them over in exchange for a water pump or solar electricity generator for the community.

In this way people were not simply giving up what little they had but were getting something concrete in exchange.

The weapons were collected and cut up by a group of artists who then made the pieces of guns into artworks that are now sold and exhibited throughout the world. One work, "The Throne of Weapons" was bought by the British Museum who also commissioned "The Tree of Life" as part of their 2005 Africa show. Other methods of destroying the guns could be melting and reuse in equipment such as carts and ploughs.

It might be useful for people in Sierra Leone to contact the Mozambicans. See

Please can you publish some exposure and analysis of the current lethal exploitation of African countries' resources by China. Statistics, if any? If accessible?

The articles in the first of the special issues on trade justice are excellent, but as we necessarily focus on Europe, USA and multi national corporations, China is undercutting, with alarming speed, what were advances in African manufacturing.

Talking to friends from many African countries, it seems that each country on the continent is undergoing massive invasion by China, but we all tend to think it is only in our own country and therefore miss the larger, frightening picture.

It is very important to stop this takeover by China, particularly as their trade system at home (and international advantage) is based on such exploitative labour conditions and they, no doubt, care far less about labour conditions in Africa.

Thank you for all your work!

EDITORS reply: We have schedule to publish material on China and Africa shortly. Watch this space!

Thank you for that brilliant article by Charles Abruge. When I got to the second last paragraph of Francis B. Nyamnjoh's article, although directed at problems with democracy in Africa, it seemed to fit much more aptly in a description of that extraordinarily undemocratic bunch: the G7++++. This paragraph seems to describe exactly what we saw in action at Gleneagles.

"The mere call for an exploration of alternatives is, as we have seen almost everywhere [on the continent - replace with - in the G7++++], bound to be perceived as a threat and a challenge. In particular, such a call would receive a hostile hearing from those who have championed the cause of one- dimensionalism nationally and internationally - that is, those who benefit from the maintenance of the status quo, and who stand to lose from any changes. They cannot withstand the challenge, stimulation and provocation that democracy (as the celebration of difference and diversity) promises. They want life to go on without disturbance or fundamental change. And they are well placed to ensure this, thanks to their power to regulate [media] ownership and control, the power to accord or to deny [a voice to] individuals and communities. Only well- articulated policies informed by public interest broadly defined to include individual and community expectations, and scrupulously respected, would guarantee against such abuse and misuse of office and privilege."

Can the so-called democracies please BE democratic...

Although there is overwhelming evidence of the iniquitous nature of the IMF and WTO, there are continuous revelations that are just unbelievable in their inhumanity - the latest being the item about the number of teachers in Mozambique being restricted by the IMF. The same effect must be felt in the health professions, nurses and doctors and workers in the HIV/AIDS battle. Are these also restricted by this IMF clause? How does that 7% of GDP compare with the same expenditure in overdeveloped countries? This is total proof, if we didn't already have it, that the IMF programmes are nothing but a trap to maintain underdevelopment because it suits the powerful. Please keep us informed on this and related research and action to stop this appalling situation.