Despite its failure to host the 2011 All-Africa Games, Zambia has been assured by the Chinese government that its 50 000-seater Ndola Stadium will still be constructed. Chinese President Hu Jintao last week said his country is committed to improving sports infrastructure in Africa and will soon commence construction of a modern stadium in Zambia.

Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre (GRC) has organised the first high-profile forum to discuss the increasing importance of Africa to the UAE and wider Gulf's future. The Gulf-Africa Strategy Forum 2009 takes place on February 24 and 25 in Cape Town, South Africa, and aims to cement the Gulf-Africa relationship by offering an in-depth assessment of the status of ties and a clear outlook to where the relationship could be heading.

Minister of Trade and Industry Rasheed Mohamed Rasheed started on Tuesday 24/02/2009 important talks in Beijing with senior Chinese officials on ways of deepening bilateral economic relations. The talks focused on promoting Egyptian exports to the Chinese market to correct the imbalance in trade that tilts in China's favor by billion.

Trade and cultural exchanges will benefit from direct flights between Beijing and Algeria which started earlier this week. The inaugural flight landed in Beijing Capital International Airport in the early morning of February 23 after flying 11 hours from Algeria's capital Algiers. Previously, it took travelers at least 16 hours to get the other city, as they had to transfer flights.

New Tactics are pleased to announce that our workbook, ‘New Tactics in Human Rights: A Resource for Practitioners’ is now available for download in Arabic. The New Tactics’ book is a collection of 100 innovative tactics being used by the international human rights community. This workbook is meant to illustrate the breadth of tactics and the power of tactical and strategic thinking. You can find many other translations of this book on the Workbook page!

Some 3,000 African asylum-seekers have to leave Tel Aviv because of an August 2008 ruling by the Israeli Ministry of the Interior. The ruling permits asylum-seekers to reside and work only in towns and cities north of Hadera and south of Gedera, about an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv, where they now live. The ruling was initially imposed only on newcomers but in recent months asylum-seekers living in Israel for longer periods have experienced the same constraints on their work permits, forcing them to leave their homes.

Works can be nominated for prize consideration in the individual competition categories until March 6, 2009. Nominations are recommendations; thus, nominated projects are not automatically entered in the competition. The nominated artists will be contacted by the organizer before the jury convenes. Then, projects must be formally submitted by the artists themselves prior to the entry deadline and in accordance with all competition criteria in order to be entered in the competition.

As the dust settled on President Hu Jintao’s four nation African visit, a sense of relative normality returned to the Africa-China debate. A few residual commentaries and debates continue to make media headlines and blog sites around the interpretation of President Hu’s Africa visit and . But attention has now shifted to a more a significant diplomatic visit, namely Hilary Clinton’s first official engagement and visit to Asia as US Secretary of State.

As discussed in earlier editions of the China-Africa-Watch, Mrs Clinton’s visit to China has been characterized by all kinds of expectations, not least that the Obama administration would continue with its tough trade talk against China, in keeping with the new President’s election stance. Even Washington hawks and Clinton opponents expected her to stick to her guns in pushing China on its human rights record as she did during her election campaign.

But, it was Mrs Clinton who did a 360 degree turn and caught most off-guard with her comment that while Washington ‘would press China on long-standing US concerns over human rights such as its rule over Tibet…’.‘form a pragmatic partnership with Beijing on the financial crisis and climate change’.

By making her first diplomatic trip to Asia and China in particular, the new Secretary of State was sending a clear signal about her priorities. But where does Africa fit in all of this?

As the US and China begin to define their pragmatic but symbiotic relationship, how does President Hu’s talk of forging a new Africa-China consensus take into consideration this thawing of relations between Washington and Beijing? Perhaps, it is too early to draw conclusions, but for African scholars and commentators the issue is that any change to the engagement between Beijing and Washington does have important implications for how Africa engages with each of them.

This is especially relevant since the global financial crisis was the backdrop of President Hu’s African visit with the underlying message about strengthening partnership and cooperation during times of adversity.

Some might fear that America could be a rival to Africa for China’s attention and affection. But American-China relations are based on a real economic interrelationship whose health is also key to Africa’s hopes of mitigating the worst of the economic storms. In particular President Obama depends for his economic stimulus package on China’s willingness to continue to lend the USA money.

As the Financial Times reported on 22 February; ‘The level of Chinese demand for US Treasury paper could play a crucial role in determining the interest rates the US government has to pay for its rapidly growing debt pile.
‘In the past year, Chinese investors – mainly its central bank – have become the biggest foreign holders of US Treasuries, increasing their holdings 15 per cent last year to nearly $700bn (€545bn, £485bn).
‘Foreign investors now own about $3,000bn of US Treasuries, or more than half of the amount publicly available. Whether Chinese buying continues to increase this year at the same pace could be an important factor in the outlook for the Treasury market.

‘In turn, the level of demand from China depends on the health of the US economy. The fewer Chinese goods Americans buy, the fewer dollars China will have to invest in dollar-denominated assets’

So much as economic reality forced Hilary Clinton to moderate her election campaign line on China’s human rights issues, so China has little laternative but to continue to buy US Treasury bonds to enable Obama’s rescue package – although mounting opinion in China is asking if the money would notbe better spent at home.

This ambivalence was pungently expressed by Luo Ping, a senior Chinese banking official, at a recent conference; ‘“US Treasuries are the safe haven; it is the only option,” said Mr Luo. “Once you start issuing $1-$2 trillion ... we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys, but there is nothing much we can do.”

If this China-America marriage of convenience lasts long enough to pull the global economy out of recession, then Africa along with the rest of the world economy will feel the benefit of a shorter-lived downturn. But many expect that once the global economy recovers, China will be looking for alternatives to the dollar, and to reforms in the global financial architecture.
This could be to Africa’s benefit, if her leaders know or can be pushed and pressured into knowing, how to make the best of the opportunities.
But in forging a new consensus with Africa, China should also reflect on how Africa’s newest Diaspora in China is affected by the global financial meltdown.

As Chinese traders and merchant families have to find new ways of keeping the Chinese dream alive, similarly African traders in China are finding it harder to maintain their business activity, not least due to the increased pressures of ‘dared to think and act’. But African traders are also making the same trek to China with the same intentions and ambitions. Therefore, if the ‘financial crisis breeds new opportunities’ for China’s private firms and traders in increasing investment into Africa, then the traffic should certainly not be only one way. The official rhetoric of ‘win-win partnerships’, may sometimes appear to be contradicted by realities on the ground.

* Stephen Marks is research associate and Sanusha Naidu is research director of Fahamu’s China in Africa programme

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Representatives from Africa and poorer Asian nations have been asked to attend the G20 financial crisis summit in London on April 2, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday. Brown has asked the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the Association of South East Asian Nations and the African Union Commission to send delegates to the summit.

CODESRIA/SEPHIS collaborative programme is pleased to announce the sixth session of its Extended Workshop on New Theories and Methods in Social History which is scheduled for the 3rd -21st of September 2009 in Dakar, Senegal. The theme of the workshop is: Historicizing Citizenship. The Workshop will be organised around the comparative experiences of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America.

The 53rd United Nations Commission on the Status of Women will consider the theme: "The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS" at its 53rd session at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 2-13 March 2009. As part of efforts to increase its focus on national-level implementation, the Commission will return to this theme in two to three years time to review the implementation of the policy recommendations adopted and to identify remaining gaps and challenges.

The Arab Regional Office in Amman of the Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) is recruiting a Program Manager whose responsibilities will include grant review administration and grants management as well as other programmatic and administrative responsibilities.

The International Council is pleased to announce the release of its report Corruption and Human Rights: Making the Connection. What impact does corruption have on enjoyment of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights? When can human rights principles and tools help to curb and prevent corruption? In recent years, governments, NGOs and international organisations have taken many initiatives to fight corruption. However, these efforts have rarely been analysed from the point of view of human rights, despite their potential and relevance.

The University of Westminster has three new studentships available for students starting their PhD research in October 2009. Each studentship includes a stipend of £15000 and a fee waiver, and applications must be received by 5pm on March 3rd, 2009. Applicants need to apply for one of the specific projects advertised at

On the morning of February 16, 2009, President Hu Jintao delivered an important speech to a welcome conference attended by people from various sectors of Dar es Salaam. He stressed the Chinese people cherish their traditional friendship with Africa in the past, now and in the future, always take the African people as completely trustworthy and all-weathered friends and will maintain brotherhood and partnership with the African people forever.

Chinese President Hu Jintao completed his visit to the four African nations of Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Mauritius on Tuesday. This was his first overseas trip in 2009 and his sixth visit to Africa. Obviously China is sending a strong message that it intends to expand and develop its relations with the continent. China’s goals in Africa include increased trade and greater market integration. They also include spreading its culture, values and political philosophy toward a harmonious world.

South Africa is hoping that its participation in the forthcoming International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF) in Bangalore, as well as recent investments in India by South African firm Sasol, will lead to doubling of bilateral trade to $12 billion by 2010. The 18th IETF, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, will be held Feb 23-26, and will see 500 exhibitors from 25 countries.

India and the five-nation South African Customs Union (SACU), a regional sub-group of African countries, are likely to sign a preferential trade agreement by the year end, an official of South Africa High Commission said on Wednesday. "By the end of 2009, we should be close to signing of the PTA between India and its southern African customs union partners," Counsellor in the High Commission Jardine Omar said.

The trade and industry department has formally asked China to extend import curbs on clothing and textiles from that country. The request was apparently made without consulting industry players, as none of the industry’s representative bodies was aware of SA’s bid to extend the quotas.

SA’s first legal bid to protect itself against unfairly subsidised imports from China has been thwarted, under what appears to have been undue pressure from the Chinese government. South African manufacturing firms are already squeezed by heavily subsidised imports from China. The situation is set to get worse as the Chinese government increases payments to its manufacturers to keep exports competitive in the global economic downturn.