Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he is deeply concerned at the recent kidnapping of humanitarian workers in Darfur, and once again called on the Sudanese Government to reverse its decision last week to expel 13 major aid groups. Last night five staff members of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Médecins Sans Frontières/Belgium – three internationals and two Sudanese nationals – were abducted by armed men from their office in North Darfur.

A cross-party row has broken out over a controversial finding by a committee of MPs that Britain should continue to supply aid to China. Hugh Bayley, a former government minister, has dissented from the main finding of a report by the international development committee that the government should provide up to £10m a year to keep an aid presence in China after aid ceases in 2011.

Australia ended a long-standing ban on non-humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe Wednesday, saying it wanted to help Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai relieve the suffering of his nation's people. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia would provide 10 million dollars (6.5 million US) for the Zimbabwe government to restore basic water, sanitation and health services.

The mass expulsion of humanitarian aid organizations from Darfur is having immediate and alarming consequences, with thousands of people already being denied critical health services. The government of Sudan terminated work licenses of the International Rescue Committee and 12 other international aid groups in Darfur yesterday and today, decimating the relief effort in a region where more than two million people remain displaced and dependent on foreign assistance.

As a leading UN economist argued that China could lead the world out of slump, all the signs last week were that Chinese investment in Africa was continuing unabated. So was concern by campaigners at the possible environmental and social impact of some Chinese deals and debate over the impact of Chinese traders and migrants. But there were also signs of continuing efforts by larger Chinese corporations to attend to their image. Meanwhile, the annual meeting of China’s parliament provided an occasion for an insight into future policy trends and thinking by China’s rulers.

Angola has secured another billion-dollar (783 million euros) loan from China, state media said Thursday, to be spent on developing its agricultural sector. The southern African country has already received at least five billion dollars in credit from China to pay for its post-war reconstruction, but the World Bank believes up to eight billion dollars more has not been publicised.

United States President Barack Obama is eager to promote good relations between his country and the East African Community (EAC), according to a letter he has written to EAC Secretary General Amb. Juma Mwapachu. In his letter, Obama expresses confidence of working together with the EAC in a spirit of peace and friendship in order to build a more secure world.

Former Mintek CEO and one-time Department of Trade and Industry DDG, Dr Paul Jourdan, played a role in making the South African government the custodian of mineral rights in South Africa. Until the new regime was enforced, mineral rights were the preserve of the private sector in South Africa, which was out of kilter with what pertained elsewhere in the Western world.

Nigeria and other developing countries face a financing shortfall of $270-700 billion to pay for their imports and service their debts this year, as the global economy falters and foreign investors withdraw, the World Bank has said. In a report published yesterday ahead of a March 14 meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers, the World Bank also said only one quarter of the most vulnerable countries have the resources to prevent a rise in poverty.

After four months of tough negotiations, Chinese and Russian officials February 17 signed a package of energy cooperation agreements, finalizing a credit-for-oil deal worth US$ 25 billion. The package includes a plan for a pipeline connecting Russian energy fields to Chinese consumers, long-term crude oil trading deals, and a loan from Chinese banks to Russian oil firms.

China's navy will renew an anti-piracy mission to the Gulf of Aden when the current commitment expires in the coming months, a naval top officer was quoted as saying by state media on Monday. China's three-ship anti-piracy flotilla took up its duties off the Somali coast in January on a four-month mission and new ships will be sent to take over in late April or in early May, the China Daily newspaper quoted the navy deputy chief of staff, Rear Adm. Zhang Deshun, as saying.

Stanbic Bank has partnered with the Chinese businessperson in Uganda to boost trade between Uganda and China. The partnership resulted into the formation of the China Enterprises Chamber of Commerce in Uganda (CECCU), aimed at promoting trade and economic ties between the two countries. CECCU, which was launched last week, brings together over 30 Chinese firms operating in Uganda.

China Minmetals Corp., buying OZ Minerals Ltd. for A$2.6 billion ($1.7 billion), is seeking metal assets in South America and southern Africa, taking advantage of seven-year low commodity prices to secure supplies. China’s largest metals trader may also “do some domestic acquisitions” this year, President Zhou Zhongshu said today in Beijing. It is still waiting for approval from the Chinese government for its planned takeover of Australia’s OZ Minerals, he also said.

China is regaining its appetite for acquisitions in Africa as asset prices on the continent tumble, according to Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender that is partially owned by China’s biggest bank. Jacko Maree, Standard’s chief executive, said in an interview with the Financial Times that Chinese companies were readying to “turn on the taps” once more after 2007’s surge of investment into Africa fell away dramatically due to the global financial crisis.

South Africa's Standard Bank is to take a 33 percent stake in Russian investment bank Troika Dialog, forging a major partnership deal despite the mounting economic crisis in Russia, the companies said Friday. Standard Bank will acquire the stake for 200 million dollars (158 million euros) through a convertible loan while also handing over its Russia operations and all its Russian business to Troika Dialog, the Russian bank said in a statement.

Attacking the US for its alleged double standards, Sudan Friday sought India’s diplomatic support against International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s decision to indict President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide in Darfur. “Sudan strongly rejects the decision of the ICC. The targeting of Sudan’s president is political, not judicial,” Omer Elamin Abdalla, charge d’affaires at the Sudanese embassy, told reporters here.

Italy will help Africa through the global economic downturn and aid its recovery when the worst is over, an Italian government official said here on Wednesday. At a briefing after a two-day meeting concerning the impact of the global economic crisis on funding for African infrastructure, Foreign Undersecretary Vincenzo Scotti said Italy will propose "financial mechanisms that mitigate risk and foster greater funding from private groups" at this year's G8 summit on the island of La Maddalena off Sardinia.

Togo is like much of West Africa — small, poor and an occasional producer of sensational soccer players—but for the bank. Lomé, Togo's capital, is home to Ecobank, a 21-year-old pan-African retail and corporate bank that, according to CEO Arnold Ekpe, employs 11,000 people in 620 branches in 26 countries, with a balance sheet of $8 billion.

In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and biggest oil producer, low crude prices are dragging down growth expectations, foreshadowing a dramatic slowdown in an economy that was teetering even in the good years. Nigeria has long struggled with a fractious federal system, endemic corruption and ramshackle infrastructure -- all factors that kept the commodities boom from lifting living standards significantly for most of the co

“POOR countries are innocent,” says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Nigerian managing director of the World Bank. They did not contribute one jot to the global credit crunch, and their banks and firms have few links to global capital markets. For a while, it seemed as if the rich world’s mess might even pass them by. The oil-price fall of 2008 benefited oil-importing developing countries to the tune of 2% of their national incomes.