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10 Oct Don’t cut aid to Africa - Kikwete
Jakaya Kikwete the president of Tanzania who is also the chairman of the African Union has appealed against any cut in aid following the global financial crisis.
Kikwete said his country and other developing states were "deeply concerned" about the crisis.
"Our appeal to our development partners is that they should not cut aid to the developing countries," Kikwete said. "Tanzania and other developing countries are deeply concerned with the current financial crisis coupled with skyrocketing oil and food prices."
Financial experts say Africa is relatively sheltered from the global financial crisis, but there could be an impact on investment, remittances and aid.
Kikwete said he hoped that the global economic meltdown would not ultimately affect aid.
"Our expectation is that the financial crisis in Europe and America, and now the huge sums of money that are being spent to bail out the banks, would not impact negatively on development assistance to Africa," Kikwete said.
10 Oct Nigeria moves to stem financial crisis
Nigeria’s President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has called for close collaboration between the government and private sector in order to tackle the effects of the current global financial crisis.
However, the country’s Secur-ities and Exchange Comm-ission (SEC) insists that the Nigerian capital market is not suffering from any crisis.
The Council of the NSE had last Tuesday approved plans by six banks - namely First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and GTBank Plc - to pump N600 billion into the market. Each bank is expected to bring in N100 billion.
Analysts said with four more banks expected to join the discussions, the proposed bail-out package could increase to N1 trillion.
On Thursday, Nigeria’s stock market depressed further as the NSE All-Share Index fell to 44,638.26, while the capitalisation closed at N9.505 trillion. This indicates that the market of the NSE has lost over N3 trillion, falling from a peak of N12.6 trillion since the bears set last March.
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08 Oct Oxfam urges arms trade control
Oxfam, the UK-based charity, has condemned the lack of an international treaty to control arms trade in a report entitled: ‘The case for touch international arms control.’
Announcing the launch of the report on BBC today, Oxfam’s Debbie Hillier said there was an urgent need for such a treaty because “irresponsible arms trade transfers undermine the fight against poverty.”
“We are not suggesting that all arms trade is irresponsible or inappropriate,” Hillier said. “But it is incredible that there is still no international treaty over weapons. There are more trade rules in the WTO on tomatoes than there are on weapons.”
An average of US$22bn a year is spent on arms by countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America – a sum that would otherwise enable those same countries to be on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals4 of achieving universal primary education (estimated at $10bn a year) as well as targets for reducing infant and maternal mortality (estimated at $12bn a year).
“The world’s most powerful governments, who are also the world’s biggest arms suppliers, have the greatest responsibility to control the global trade,” the report says.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council – France, Russia, China, the UK, and the USA – together account for 88 per cent of the world’s conventional arms exports.
Hillier noted that since most arms trade is “shrouded in secrecy,” the movement of weapons creates corruption and undermines sustainable development in countries caught up in armed conflict.
“Oxfam and Amnesty International are witnesses to widespread abuses of human rights, which are directly and indirectly attributable to the proliferation of weapons,” the report says.
“Weapons in the wrong hands prevent access to hospitals, productive land, education, and markets, with short-term effects such as malnutrition and high rates of child mortality, as well as longer-term effects including illiteracy, higher risks of disease outbreaks, poverty, and poor governance. The culture of violence feeds upon itself."
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for instance, more than three million civilians have been killed or have died from hunger and disease as a consequence of the conflict in the DRC since August 1998.
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07 Oct EU opens ‘Job Centre’ in Africa
The European Union has opened its first immigration centre outside Europe, in Mali's capital, Bamako to help people find legal work in Europe and cut down on illegal migration.
Thousands of young West Africans try to make it into Europe illegally each year and many die on the way.
The EU says the new centre will offer guidance on legal migration and help with job training and the search for work abroad. It will also raise awareness about the dangers of illegal migration.
The EU has stressed that no specific job vacancies will be on offer at the centre. However, Spain is already offering seasonal contracts in Senegal for picking fruit or working in hotels to several hundred people each year.
Patrick Taran, a migration expert at the International Labour Organization, said Europe - with its ageing workforce - is increasingly realising it needs workers of different skill levels.
"It makes a lot more sense for people to come through legal channels so that their rights are protected and they can demand and receive fair pay for their work," he said.
Mali is at the centre of well-established migration routes. Thousands of young West Africans set off from the north of Mali each year across the Sahara Desert towards Europe.
Last week, the Spanish coastguards rescued a group of 230 young Africans - the largest single boatload of illegal immigrants to reach Spain.
07 Oct Zimbabwe into ‘information dark ages’
Zimbabwe's economic catastrophe is plunging the country into an "information dark age" as newspapers, radio and television become overwhelmed by multimillion percent inflation and the breakdown of infrastructure, according to media analysts.
Newspapers have become too expensive for all but a tiny minority, while the state-controlled radio and television monopoly services are stricken by
chronic power cuts, says the independent Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ).
The state-controlled and subsidised Herald newspaper, the only national daily, soared to Z$3 000 on Saturday from Z$10 on August 1, when the central bank slashed 10 zeros off the currency.
For that price, a hungry Zimbabwean can get two loaves of bread.
Zimbabwe is classified by the New York-based international Committee to Protect Journalists as among the 10 worst countries for hostility to freedom of the media.
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 02 Oct SA unveils electric car in Paris show
Optimal Energy, a privately owned South African company will today make history by unveiling Africa's first locally developed electric car at the Paris Motor Show in France.
South Africa’s Science and Technology Minister, Mosibudi Mangena, will preside over the unveiling of the car named "Joule." The car has been named after British physicist James Prescott Joule, who was best known for his research in electricity and thermodynamics.
Analysts said the ultra sleek zero-emission car is Africa's answer to climate change.
Joule is a six-seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) designed by Optimal Energy in association with legendary South African-born automotive designer, Keith Helfet.
Optimal Energy, which specialises in optimal solutions for urban transport, was capitalised with a R50 million investment.
In a statement, CEO of Optimal Energy Kobus Meiring said: "The world's finite energy sources are being used inefficiently and urban transport plays a major role in energy wastage and climate changing pollution."
"Joule's value proposition is made more compelling when environmental influences such as increasing pollution and global warming phenomena caused by the rapid increase in urbanisation are also considered," he said.
Using a normal 220 Volt home outlet and Joule's onboard charger, it will take approximately seven hours to recharge Joule's battery for a 200km driving range, with two packs providing 400km in total.
Joule's large battery bay is able to accommodate a number of different battery configurations from different suppliers, giving the customer the choice of performance and cost.
Electric cars only require about 20 percent of the energy that conventional cars require; meaning that the total emissions are much less, even if Eskom's coal dominated electricity is used.
With the global trend of electricity generation becoming more renewable and cleaner, total emissions caused by electric cars will continue to shrink.
Gauteng is currently being evaluated for Joule's first assembly plant as it has the biggest cities and has expressed interest in placing the first fleet orders.
Although supplier lists are not yet final, it is expected that the local content of Joule will be more than 50 percent.
Joule will be sold in all major South African cities, such as Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban, however South Africans will have to wait two years before seeing it on our roads. It will only be available towards the end of 2010.
02 Oct UN warns of Zimbabwe food crisis
About half the population of Zimbabwe could soon be in need of constant food aid and medical assistance, according to the UN.
In an interview with the BBC, John Holmes, UN’s humanitarian chief, said three million people in Zimbabwe were already reliant on aid, and that
figure could rise to five million.He said the situation was already grave and deteriorating.
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01 Oct Nigeria recovers $3.4bn govt funds
Nigeria has recovered of $3.4bn (£1.9bn) of government funds over the past year, according to President Umaru Yar'Adua.
Yar'Adua revealed the details during his address to mark Nigeria's 48 years of independence, saying it was proof his government had a zero-tolerance against corruption.
This year Nigeria was ranked the world's 60th most corrupt country out of 180, ahead of Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Somalia, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, amongst others.
Nigeria is the world's eighth largest exporter of crude oil, shipping millions of barrels every day. According to analysts at Standard Bank, the country has earned $1.19tr in oil revenue over the past 37 years. However, most of its 140m people live in poverty.
After he was elected last year, Yar'Adua demanded ministries return all unspent money in their budgets to the treasury. Political analysts say in past administrations, Nigerian ministries were often suspected of filing bogus contracts to steal money.
While Yar'Adua acknowledged that there were no quick-fix solutions to Nigeria's deep rooted problems of corruption, poverty and poor infrastructure, he said political stability and strong economic growth had put the country on course to become one of the world's 20 biggest economies by the year 2020.
In April two ministers, a senator and nine civil servants were charged with fraud and benefiting from the proceeds of crime. Government prosecutors said they had not returned $2.5m (£1.4m) from the health ministry budget to the treasury.
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25 Sept EU gives $14.7m to Zimbabwe
The European Union on Thursday boosted its humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe by 10 million euros (US$14.7m), largely for health care, water and sanitation.
A statement from the European Commission said the latest fund, which comes in the wake of an earlier gift of 15 million euros in food aid, is to “tackle the suffering among the most vulnerable population groups affected by displacement, epidemics and violence.”
Since 2005, the EU has allocated more than 82 million euros in aid to Zimbabwe while keeping up a raft of sanctions against the regime of Robert Mugabe.
EU foreign ministers had been set to toughen the sanctions on September 15, but the signing that day of a power-sharing deal between Mugabe and his pro-democracy challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, led them to postpone the decision.
The bloc is keeping up its pressure on Mugabe, however, insisting that his regime give aid workers full access to the hardest-hit parts of the country.
”The EU's humanitarian assistance is neutral and impartial and not an instrument of politics. I expect all restrictions on humanitarian operations
to be totally lifted as a result of the recent political settlement,” EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said.
25 Sept Mujuru calls for more farmers
Zimbabwe Vice president Joyce Mujuru – allegedly opposed to President Robert Mugabe's continued stay in power - said the country should have more farmers than soldiers.
Addressing a rally in Chiredzi where she had gone to commission farming equipment to sugarcane farmers and irrigation schemes, last weekend Mujuru said: "It is surprising to see a nation with many soldiers who out-number farmers, who are the backbone of the economy. We should not have more soldiers than farmers.
“The problem is that many of our leaders only come to the people when it is election time, so they would not know what the people want...Anyway, I came to see the situation on the ground," she said.
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19 Sept Nigerian rebels ‘blow up oil pipeline’
Nigeria's main militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) claims to have blown up another pipeline in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
Mend released a press statement saying it had used explosives to attack a pipeline operated by Shell. There was no independent confirmation of the claim by Mend who declared "war" on Nigeria's oil industry on Sunday.
Meanwhile, government officials say militants have freed two South African workers kidnapped last Saturday.
Analysts said if the pipeline attack is confirmed, the sabotage would be the fifth attack since Sunday's declaration by the militants who claim to be fighting for greater control over oil wealth in the impoverished Niger Delta.
Nigeria's oil production has been cut by 20% because of unrest in the region over the past few years.
Independent reports in Nigeria say the militants have attacked gas plants, oil installations and pipelines over the last six days - part of an oil war declared after a rare but fierce military raid on one of their bases.
Reports of the attack on the pipeline in the east of the Delta came hours after the new Nigerian defence chief visited the region. Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike reportedly encouraged the troops in what was termed their "battle against criminality".
In a separate development, Mend said it had handed over two South Africans it claimed to have rescued from "sea pirates" to the Nigerian authorities in Port Harcourt on Thursday night.
South African Foreign Affairs department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the high commissioner in Nigeria had confirmed the release. The South Africans were among 27 people, including two Britons, seized from an oil services ship.
The recent fighting is some of the heaviest in the last two years.
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11 Sept Zimbabwe shops licensed to accept US$
Gideon Gono, Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank governor and a key player in the ruling Zanu-PF party, has licensed 250 wholesalers and 1,000 retailers in the country to sell their goods in foreign currency as an 18-month "experiment".
Analysts say the move is a final humiliation for Zimbabwe's battered currency, which was
worth more than the US greenback at independence in 1980.
Even after two revaluations that have knocked a total of 13 zeros off the Zimbabwean dollar, it was trading on the black market on Wednesday at around 6,000 to the USD – or 60,000,000,000,000,000 to one in terms of the original Zimbabwe dollar.
"These reforms are essentially a pragmatic response to the realities in the economy," Gono said. "We have watched and observed with heavy hearts the suffering of fellow Zimbabweans as they wait and continue to wait in long queues at the borders as they bring in basic commodities.
"We have also seen desperate mothers, youth and the elderly spending cold nights in foreign lands as they seek for basic commodities."
Mugabe consistently blames western countries such as the USA and UK for Zimbabwe’s economic woes, while analysts lay the blame on his government’s mismanagement of the economy, typified by the unregulated seizure of white-owned farms from 2000 onwards, which destroyed commercial agriculture, the mainstay of the economy.
Since 2000, Zimbabwe’s economy has spiralled downwards, with millions leaving in search of work abroad, particularly in South Africa. Officially, inflation in Zimbabwe is now running at 11.2 million per cent – unofficial estimates put it much higher.
Banknotes are in short supply - the most recent revaluation last month was accompanied by the issue of a new currency, but prices have kept soaring and the government's standard fallback position of recent times, printing ever more currency to meet its needs, has been stymied by the German company that supplied its banknote paper stopping its shipments.
"Some of you may ask, 'are we now trying to dollarise the economy?' No, the Zimbabwe dollar remains the legal tender," Gono insisted.
Analysts say de facto dollarisation has been under way for weeks and months, as carrying ever-larger bundles of Zimbabwe dollar notes is inconvenient for shoppers, let alone businesses. The US dollar and South African rand, along with fuel coupons, are far more useful alternatives which will not lose half their value in a matter of days.
The move is also partly an attempt to bring more foreign currency into the government's own depleted coffers - by legalising the trade, it hopes to move business from the black market to official channels, where it will collect 25 per cent of private companies' export earnings and 15 per cent of
domestic traders'.
John Robertson, an independent economist in Harare, said: "They can't physically print enough Zimbabwean money, I think this is what's caught them out. They seem to have run out of other options so the use of somebody else's money seems a good idea.”
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08 Sept Kenya maize shortage forecast in 2009
Kenya is likely to face a maize shortage by mid next year, as the country's stock would have dwindled to less than a month's supply of grain, according to the Regional Agricultural Trade Intelligence Network.
The network is a USaid-funded project comprising the Famine Early Warning Systems Network Project (FEWS NET) which focuses on crop production and trade data, and the Regional Agricultural Trade Enhancement Support Program (Rates) which deals with changing trade policy to enhance regional trade in maize.
Kenya consumes around 270,000 metric tonnes a month and national stocks are expected to drop to about 163,000 metric tonnes by end of June 2009. This means Kenya will face a grain shortage estimated at 136,500 metric tonnes by mid 2009.
The Network says Kenya needs to plan to import maize to cater for the period between July and October, 2009, when the next big maize harvest will be expected.
In August, the average wholesale maize price in
Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala saw the lowest price in Dar es Salaam at $240 per metric tonne and the highest in Kigali at $362 per metric tonne. In Nairobi, it was $341 per metric tonne while in Kampala the price was $257 per metric tonne.
Economists say the drop in the wholesale maize and beans prices in Dar es Salaam was as a result of harvesting in most of the growing areas in Tanzania.
In June, prices of maize dropped by about 12 per cent in Dar es Salaam compared with January 2008, but have remained relatively stable at $240 per metric tonne and are not expected to drop much further.
The price statistics maintained by Ratin also point to the fact that wholesale prices in Kampala have also dropped since mid-June following the onset of the harvesting season.
According to information by Ratin monitors in Busia, maize supplies to the district have increased following the high demand by Kenyan traders.
Maize from Uganda through Busia is going all the way to Nairobi and parts of eastern Kenya in areas such as Meru, Machakos and Isiolo.
The increased maize supply necessitated the drop in prices at Busia from $370 per metric tonne in July to $318 per metric tonne in August.
In Nairobi, wholesale maize prices which have been rising since February 2008 are currently dropping. The estimated rise in price between February and May 2008 was 60 per cent while the drop since June has been 10 per cent.
According to some sources, Kenya is importing 4,500 metric tonnes (50,000 90-kg bags) of maize from Tanzania and another 135,000 metric tonnes (1.5 million 90-kg bag) of maize from South Africa.
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02 Sept Food aid in Zimbabwe still under leash
The lifting of a ban on food aid in Zimbabwe has not removed tight government controls, according to Aid agencies in the country.
In an interview with the BBC, Fambai Ngirande, a spokesman for Zimbabwean aid groups, said hopes that the government meant well by lifting the ban "were dashed", and that agencies have been ordered to submit information on their staffing, equipment and operations or risk being barred.
The government imposed the ban ahead of the presidential election in June, saying aid was being used politically. Aid agencies have always denied government charges that they were helping the opposition MDC in the campaign.
Ngirande told the BBC's Network Africa programme that government officials made repeated threats - to investigate aid agencies or strike them off the register - at a meeting on Monday to explain the conditions for lifting the ban.
He said police officers were present, and that all aid distribution would have to be done in conjunction with local officials. An official from the Social Welfare ministry, Lancaster Museka, told the state-owned Herald newspaper that aid agencies would have to fill in forms detailing all the money they had received and how it had been used.
The form must also list where and when they have distributed food aid, he said. The form must be signed by the agency's head, who can be prosecuted if any information is inaccurate, according to a report in the state controlled Herald newspaper.
Meanwhile, agencies have warned that Zimbabwe's maize harvest this year has been the worst on record and that by the end of the year, more than five million people- almost half the population - could be dependent on food aid. Talks to resolve Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis remain deadlocked.
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29 Aug Zimbabwe inflation to hit one billion
Inflation in Zimbabwe is predicted to reach one billion percent by the end of the year, unless a political solution is forged between Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, analysts said this week.
Inflation data released by the country’s Central Statistical Office (CSO) this week put year-on-year inflation for June at 11.27 million percent, the highest in the world and quite unusual for a country not at war. The previous month, the rate had reached 2.2 million, which means it accelerated by a massive 839,3 percent.
Analysts say the latest inflation figure is an indication that Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is worsening with no signs of a respite.
Much of the inflation crisis stems from the excessive money supply growth and the funding mechanisms of the budget deficit. But economists believe the actual inflation figure is higher than the official figures.
One analyst said the core problem was that Zimbabwe's manufacturing sector had ground to a halt and that money supply was at very high levels. Critics have accused President Mugabe's government of printing money to finance an election campaign and prop up the economy, fuelling hyperinflation.
With almost 80 percent of the country’s workforce unemployed, staple foods such as maize, sugar and other basic foodstuffs are in short supply. On July 30 Zimbabwe Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono re-denominated the Zimbabwean dollar currency by slashing 10 zeros. However, the move has had no effect on stemming the devaluation of the currency.
When it was re-denominated the Zimbabwean dollar was trading at $140 billion to the United States dollar, or $14 in the re-denominated currency.
Currently the unit trades at $100 to the greenback, or $1 trillion in the old currency. This week, the Zimbabwe Economics Society (ZES) said any delay in arriving at a solution to the political impasse that represents the will of the people might worsen the economic situation.
"We want to make a clarion dismissal of talks that build on the foundation of the June 27, 2008 presidential run-off poll results, that in fact was a one-man election," said ZES president Lovemore Kadenge.
"We as ZES want to argue that the talks should not be an issue of power but democracy, human rights, freedom, justice and economic development. The suffering we currently see was borne out of gross macroeconomic mismanagement. In as much as ZANU-PF's economic models have plundered the nation, it is necessary that they acknowledge responsibility for the economic woes and concede defeat. We expect the greatest degree of compromise from ZANU-PF. That and that alone is a litmus indicator of true patriotism," said Kadenge.
John Robertson, a Harare-based economist said the skidding exchange rate was worsening the inflation outlook.
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13 Aug Malawi traders 'hoard' maize
Malawi's traders are anticipating that maize prices will rise later in the year and are holding on to stocks, pushing up the price for consumers, according to reports in the country.
A commodity analyst in Malawi said although the government and food aid agencies have projected a food surplus, some traders have begun hoarding maize, expecting prices to go up even further during the lean season from December 2008 to March 2009. The main maize harvest in Malawi takes place between March and July.
The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Network (FEWS-NET) projects that the harvest would be less than initially estimated.
"Heavy speculation of localised food shortages have resulted in heavy competition for maize purchases and an increase in maize prices compared to what is normally expected at this time of the season," said FEWS-NET.
Reports said the price of maize across Malawi shot up from K17 (US$0.11) per kg around early January to K45 ($0.31) per kg last month. Some private traders are paying suppliers K3,000 ($21) per 50kg bag and reselling it to the public at K3,500 ($24.55) and even K4,000 ($28).
Malawi's deputy agriculture and food security minister Frank Mwenifumbo, recently told parliament that the country would produce a maize surplus of 500,000mt.
Furthermore, Mwenifumbo said government did not have a hand in the price of maize. "We are suffering because of a liberalised economy, but we won't sit back and watch traders dictating prices to us. We are working on drastic measures that will make maize a protected produce and a property of the Malawi government," he said.
Grace Mhango, president of Malawi’s Grain Traders Association, admitted that some traders were hoarding maize with a view to selling it at a higher price when the situation worsened.
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06 Aug SA unions protest rising cost of living
A one-day strike organised by Trade unionists in South Africa to protest against the high cost of living has caused widespread disruption throughout the country, according to reports.
Unionists called for strike action in all of South Africa's nine provinces, with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) mobilising two million members to protest against the high cost of living.
Reports said public transport was affected across the country, with long queues forming for buses and taxis in Johannesburg. Public transport network has been severely disrupted, with a knock-on effect on schools, mines and carmakers.
A BBC video, showed thousands of demonstrators waving sticks and singing outside the Pretoria city hall. Analysts said although the march was meant to focus on the cost of electricity, the banners and chants show that for most, this is a chance to vent their anger at steep rises in the cost of food and fuel.
Patrick Craven of Cosatu told the press that the strike encompassed rising costs across the board. "It has to be seen in the context of all the other increases in prices which clearly make the electricity tariff that much more difficult to bear, particularly the food price increases, the fuel price going up and the rise in interest rates," he said.
Cosatu, an ally of the governing African National Congress (ANC), said the strike would be a warning to employers who may want to sack workers because of a downturn in profits due to a power supply crisis.
Cosatu has urged the government to subsidise essential commodities and demands higher wages for workers.
The union said it is determined to put helping the poor at the top of the political agenda.
Among the businesses that could face stoppages are carmakers, textile factories, and the construction of stadiums meant for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Workers and students are expected to stay at home if public transport is disrupted.
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24 July East Africa faces hunger - Oxfam
Millions of people in East Africa face the risk of severe hunger and destitution, due to rising food prices, UK-based charity Oxfam has warned.
Droughts, war and poverty have put an estimated nine to 13 million people in the region in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, it says.
The situation has been made worse by rising food prices, with wheat and rice particularly expensive.
Reports say some people have started to eat animal feed.
Oxfam says many people in the remote north-eastern Afar region raise animals for a living but many camels have died and the goats are starting to succumb to hunger too.
This means it will be difficult for the people to rebuild their herds - and their lives.
The last rain fell in the area 11 months ago and this is the second serious drought in the region in three years.
Analysts say the combination of rising food prices and animals that are dying and falling sick could push peasant farmers over the edge.
Oxfam is calling on donors to increase aid levels to the region.
"The cost of food has escalated by up to 500% in some places, leaving people who have suffered drought after drought in utter destitution," says Oxfam's Rob McNeil, who has just returned from the Somali and Afar regions of Ethiopia.
"Some of the roads we travelled on were littered with dead livestock. There is little or no pasture or water for the animals that people rely upon. People are increasingly becoming desperate."
The call follows another warning on Tuesday from the UN World Food Programme, saying that more than 14 million people in the Horn of Africa needed food aid because of drought and rising food and fuel prices.
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17 July UK offer on Nigeria oil problem blasted
An offer from the UK government to provide Nigeria with military training to secure oil supplies in the Niger Delta, has been condemned in Nigeria.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered military training to Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua to help fight militants and oil smugglers.
But activists said more military action would result in more militant groups springing up to oppose it.
Yar'Adua says there is a cartel dealing in "blood oil" from Nigeria. He says this trade is behind much of the violence in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
Attacks on oil installations has been partly responsible for cutting Nigeria's production by about 25%.
The Delta's most publically visible group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) also condemned the UK's offer. "Without justice, security and peace will be elusive. Mend will ensure that," spokesman Jomo Gbomo told the BBC.
"Mend is aware that its actions have forced the system to focus on the region and will continue our armed agitation side by side with talks until we achieve our objective."
Patrick Naagbanton, of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), said Mr Brown did not understand the problems of the Niger Delta.
"He's acting on the spur of the moment. He needs to have a better understanding of the situation," Naagbanton said. "It will just lead to a mushrooming of hardened armed groups."
Dimieari Von Kemedi of the Bayelsa State government said military training would not solve the problem of oil theft. "If the UK wants to help with that, Scotland Yard [police] - not the Ministry of Defence - would be the right people to do it," Kemedi said.
Oil smuggling is extremely profitable in Nigeria and involves highly placed corrupt politicians, military officers, government officials and oil company employees.
Oil is stolen by breaking into pipelines and filling barges which then rendezvous with tankers on the high seas. The illegal oil is then mixed with other legitimate cargoes and sold for an enormous profit by unscrupulous traders - who pay for the oil partly with weapons, analysts say.
Many armed groups in the Delta provide "security" for the smuggling rings, also known as "bunkerers".
Niger Delta politician Patrick Dele Cole, a minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, says that the trade could be cracked by chemically marking crude to trace its origin.
"We need the technology from the UK and the US and others to help us track these vessels. I know the government is interested in getting hold of drones like the UK and US are using in Afghanistan," Cole said.
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06 July Shell may pull out of Zimbabwe
OIL giant, Shell, is considering pulling out of Zimbabwe amid claims that Robert Mugabe is reserving the distribution of fuel at petrol
pumps for party supporters.
A report in The Observer said Shell was mulling a plan to halt activities in the country, which are overseen in a joint deal with BP.
One option being canvassed is for Shell to sell its stake to a third party.
Meanwhile both the UN Security Council and the European Union are drafting tougher sanctions aimed at members of Mugabe’s regime and their families. The US and the UK are calling for sanctions to be widened.
Shell and BP supply 74 independent petrol stations in Zimbabwe. Supplies are piped from Mozambique and stored at four oil terminals.
An analyst said political instability in Zimbabwe since the June 27 rigged presidential election was one factor under consideration by Shell.
In a statement, Shell said: 'We have a shareholding in a small retail joint venture which is operated by BP. We are currently reviewing our position.' BP said it had no plans to withdraw.
A study by London-based Ethical Investment Research Services shows that Britain is the largest foreign investor in Zimbabwe, with holdings in more than a quarter of the 82 companies that have their parents listed on overseas stock exchanges.'
An analyst said if Shell pulls out, it would be the fourth company to do so in the past fortnight. Tesco announced last week that it would stop sourcing products from Zimbabwe as long as the political crisis persisted.
Meanwhile, London mayor, Boris Johnson, has pledged that Oyster card supplier EDS would not renew its contract with the Munich-based company Giesecke & Devrient, after it was revealed that the company provides banknotes paper to Zimbabwe's central bank.
Barclays said it would continue operating in Zimbabwe after it was accused of providing loans to five of Mugabe's ministers via a subsidiary. Unilever, Standard Chartered Bank, British American Tobacco, and the mining corporations Anglo American and Rio Tinto, have all pledged to stay.
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29 June Germany firm cuts ties with Zimbabwe
A Germany firm supplying the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) with paper for bearer cheques has been asked to halt business with Zimbabwe because of concerns it was helping prop up President Robert Mugabe's regime.
Analysts said the move could have disastrous consequences for Zimbabwe already reeling from cash shortages.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday failed to respond to press inquiries on the issue. However, an official with the Germany embassy said he was aware of reports that the Munich-based firm, Giesecke and Devrient, had been asked to stop supplying Zimbabwe with paper.
Reports from Germany indicated that the Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul reportedly wrote to the firm on Friday asking it to immediately stop the shipments of paper to Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, PEOPLE'S shops, commissioned by President Robert Mugabe during his recent campaign, are already dividing the people: basic commodities are only sold to those connected to Zanu PF officials, according to a report in a Zimbabwe newspaper, The Standard.
Consumers, who spoke to The Standard last week, said once the goods were delivered to the shops, they were quickly bought up by Zanu PF officials, militia and war veterans.
Those without political links to the Mugabe's administration cannot buy the commodities as customers are vetted by youth militia before being allowed to enter the shops.
So far the people's shops have been commissioned in areas such as Nkayi and Tsholotsho in Matabeleland, Mashonaland East as well as Chipinge in Manicaland.
Mugabe also promised to establish two other shops at Mahuwe Business Centre in Mashonaland Central, while campaigning for the 27 June presidential election run-off, in which he was the sole contestant.
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24 June Kenya wheat growers fear competition
The Cereal Growers Association (CGA) of Kenya fears that falling wheat prices in the international market will spell doom for local growers under the new taxation structure announced by Finance Minister Amos Kimunya.
Kimunya revised the duty on wheat imports from 35 per cent to 10 per cent, in a bid to raise the competitiveness of local millers in the region while keeping a measure of protection for farmers.
However, cereal growers in Kenya are now sounding the alarm that the playing field would be heavily tilted against them were the international price of wheat to fall below $450 per tonne.
David Nyameino executive officer of the CGA, said it cost between Sh32,000 and Sh38,000 to plant an acre of wheat. With an average yield of 12 bags per acre, he argues that the break even point for a farmer with an average cost of Sh35,000 per acre for a 90kg bag of high grade wheat would be Sh2,750. That translates to Sh33,000 per acre or $473 per tonne).
Analysts said this means that with international wheat prices below $450 - $475 the 10 per cent duty would see imported wheat costing cheaper than locally produced wheat, sounding a death knell for farmers.
A monthly bulletin released by the Kenyan ministry of agriculture early this month indicated that on average, the prices for the 90kg bag of wheat in the local market rose from Sh4,044 in April to Sh4,335 last month.
The price of imported standard milling wheat has since risen from $175 per tonne in 2006 to $234 in January 2007 to $430 last month, due to a global shortage on supply and an increased demand.
"Every country, including China and India support their farmers and our members know the kind of difficulty they usually encounter whenever they try to export their commodities," said Nyameino.
CGA argues that with prices for inputs and transport rising, only a sustained rise in the international market could save farmers in a liberalised market.
Nyameino said the alternative, is for the government to seek a five year extension to the Comesa safeguards that block duty free wheat from entering Kenya.
24 June T-mobile cuts EU rates
T-Mobile has announced a reduction in international roaming rates for Internet access and mobile broadband within the EU, by 80% from GBP7.50 per megabyte to GBP1.50. The new rates will come into effect on July 1, 2008.
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09 June Safaricom shares shoot up 60%
Shares in Kenya’s mobile phone company, Safaricom, shot up by as much as 60% on their first day of trading, in the country’s biggest ever stock market flotation today.
The stock rose as high as 8 Kenyan shillings ($0.13 £0.06) from a sale price of 5 shillings in trade on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
Industry analysts said the Kenyan government should raise around $833m from the sale of a 25% stake in the company. Safaricom is East Africa's most profitable company, with profits of $370m last year. It employs more than 1,000 people.
The sale was the first chance for many Kenyans to buy shares in a parastatal.
Foreign investors were required to pay 5.5 shillings, 10% more than the price offered to Kenyans. Safaricom's shares ended trading at 7 shillings.
A source in the Nairobi Stock Exchange said the sale was oversubscribed by more than 500%, a sign that investors have renewed appetite for Kenya's economy after violence in the country following elections earlier this year.
Unlike many Western countries, Kenya's mobile phone market is not saturated - only a third of Kenya's 36 million people own a mobile phone. Analysts also said Safaricom's strategy of targeting low-income Kenyans would help boost its customer base.
President Mwai Kibaki, who launched Safaricom's trading debut said: "This IPO is the most attractive in our history."
However, the share sale was not without controversy, with opposition parties trying to delay the issue because of uncertainty over Safaricom's other shareholders.
While the government insists it currently owns 60% of Safaricom with the other 40% in the hands of UK giant Vodafone, opposition groups say another firm called Mobitelea also has shares, thought to be around 10%.
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03 June UN urges more food production
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General today urged nations to seize an "historic opportunity to revitalise agriculture" as a way of tackling the food crisis.
Addressing a UN-sponsored summit in Rome, Ban said that food production would have to rise by 50% by 2030 to meet demand. He suggested that export restrictions and import tariffs ought to be minimised to alleviate a food crisis which has seen food costs reached a 30-year high in real terms, causing riots in several countries.
Meanwhile, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which is hosting the conference is calling for $1.7bn of emergency funding to tackle the shortage in production. The agency has also warned industrialised countries that unless they increase yields, eliminate barriers and move food to where it is needed most, a global catastrophe could result.
An estimated 100 million people have been pushed into the verges of hunger worldwide, according to some estimates, with poorer countries facing a 40% increase in their food imports bill this year.
In his speech Ban said the instability caused by the price rises threatened progress made in countries such as Afghanistan, Liberia and Haiti.
Analysts said a taskforce created by Ban to target the food crisis is expected to present a 38-page report with measures that could cost up to $15bn (£7.5bn) to implement.
Announcing some of the report’s findings, Ban said high food prices offered a chance to finally address the ongoing problem of access to food for the world's poor.
"The threats are obvious to us all. Yet this crisis also presents us with an opportunity," he said. "While we must respond immediately to high food prices, it is important that our longer term focus is on improving world food security."
Measures to improve access to food for vulnerable people include expanding aid, boosting smallholder production and minimising export restriction and import tariffs, he added.
Earlier this month, the FAO calculated that the amount of money being spent globally on importing food was set to top $1 trillion (£528bn) in 2008, a 26% rise on the previous year.
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28 MayJapan pledges aid to Africa
The Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has promised to double his country's aid to Africa within five years.
Fukuda made the pledge today in front of leaders from more than 50 African countries at a conference in the Japanese city of Yokohama. He also called on Africa to work together on measures to try to combat climate change.
This is the fourth time Japan has hosted a major conference involving African leaders. Analysts said it was not surprising that Japan wants to work closely with Africa because like China and India, it is seeking access to Africa's markets and to its natural resources.
Opening the conference Fukuda pledged that by 2012 Japan would double its aid to Africa, currently $1.7bn (£850m), increasing it gradually year by year to meet the target.
However, Japan gives less to Africa compared to the United States, as well as when compared to Britain, France and Germany - three countries with smaller economies than Japan.
Fukuda promised to encourage Japanese firms to invest in Africa.
President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, replying on behalf of the African Union said the Japanese government needed to work much harder to persuade businessmen that Africa was a safe place to invest.
"The perceived notion of risks about doing business with Africa or in Africa today is more a matter of the unforgotten past history than what is actually occurring on the ground in Africa today," Kikwete said.
A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says the world's major donor nations have fallen behind on their commitment to raise the amount of money they give to developing countries.
The report says the G8 group of wealthiest nations "face a real challenge" to meet their pledge to double aid to sub-Saharan Africa by 2010. The OECD said overall aid fell by 8.4% in 2007, in line with expectations. It said the annual decline was expected as a result of the planned end of major debt relief for Iraq and Nigeria.
According to the report, the most generous nations in terms of donations as a proportion of gross national income were Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
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21 May Nigeria to demand $2bn from oil firms
Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar'Adua has ordered the state-run oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to demand nearly $2bn in arrears from two major oil companies.
The government says Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil have not paid taxes and production sharing costs they owe on two offshore oil fields. However, Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil say they have followed the law and are in discussions with the government.
"ExxonMobil affiliate fully complies with all laws and regulations and has paid taxes and royalties to Nigeria accordingly," said ExxonMobil in a statement.
"Our affiliate routinely has ongoing discussions with a number of government agencies on a variety of topics, including tax. We do not comment on ongoing discussions."
Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (Snepco) refused to comment while there were "ongoing discussions" between it and the government.
Industry analysts said the production sharing contracts agreed between Nigeria and major oil companies in the deep water production fields are coming up for renegotiation and that the government may be trying to improve its negotiation position.
The price of oil has risen sharply internationally since the production sharing costs were first negotiated.
A source said NNPC has not been able to fund its share of the joint venture agreements for on-shore oil production, and is trying to find other ways of paying for them.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s defence ministry has suggested that militant attacks which have curtailed production, could be brought under control by employing the very militants conducting the attacks to police the pipelines.
"We will engage them to police oil pipelines, but they must first form themselves into limited liability companies for us to discuss with them," Defence Minister Yayale Ahmed told a House of Representatives committee on Tuesday.
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06 May Zimbabwe issues $250m note
Zimbabwe's central bank governor, Gideon Gono, has further introduced new higher denomination bearer's cheques of $Z100 million and $Z250 million value in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages bedeviling the country.
The new bills come into circulation today (06 May 2008).
In a press statement, Gono, said the move was implemented for "the convenience of the banking public and the corporate sector".
Since December 19 last year, Zimbabwe has seen the introduction of the Z$250 000, Z$500 000 and Z$750 000 bills which were followed by the $Z1 million, $Z5 million, $Z10 million in January.
Early last month, the Zimbabwe Reserve bank introduced $Z25 million and $Z50 million notes, whose value has since been eroded by spiraling prices of goods, amidst a galloping inflation.
Cash shortages have over the past five years been among the most tangible indicators that the country’s economy was failing dismally. Significantly, Zimbabwe has not had formal currency since the introduction of bearer cheques as a temporary measure in 2003.
Analysts say the persistent cash shortages are unlikely to end, given the general loss of confidence among Zimbabweans in their country’s formal banking system and the image of Zimbabwe as a rogue state, following Mugabe and Zanu-PF’s bid to hold on to power despite losing a general election to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Last week Gono conceded to growing pressure to liberalise Zimbabwe's exchange rate, ostensibly to cover the widening vacuum created by lucrative rates offered on the illegal but thriving black market and the official rate.
Until then, financial institutions were offering a ridiculous $Z30 000 to one US dollar against the black market rate of US$1 to $Z130 million. One pound sterling can now buy Z$400m.
The new measures have had ripple effects on the availability of cash within the formal system as banks now offer up to $Z165 million for a single US dollar.
Financial institutions have called on the Reserve Bank to lop off more zeros from Zimbabwe's multi-digit currency saying their systems are struggling to read the excess figures. Gono has said he will not dance to the tune of banking institutions which he accuses of being unscrupulous and of fueling speculative activities.
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30 Apr Kenyan taxpayers' shocking tab
Kenya’s newly installed government of national unity will come at a heavy cost to the country’s tax payers, according to data revealing the salary structure for ministers and members of parliament.
The new cabinet, with 40 ministers and 52 assistant ministers is the largest in the history of post-independence Kenya.
The former opposition leader, now the new prime minister, Raila Odinga, had pushed for a cabinet of 26, but agreed with the demands of President Mwai Kibaki and his followers for a much bigger administration.
Cabinet ministers are paid nearly (US) $18,000 (£9,000) per month, and only around $3,000 is treated as taxable income per year. Assistant ministers earn a bit less - just over $15,000 per month. The new prime minister and two new deputy prime ministers will be paid more.
The salary structure for Kenyan cabinet ministers compares favourable with UK cabinet ministers who take £118,000 per year from which they pay a much higher level of tax than their Kenyan counterparts. By contrast the average wage in Kenya is just $400 per year.
Data shows that salaries alone will cost the Kenyan taxpayer $1.5m a month. Furthermore, ministers and their assistants also get allowances - that adds another $210,000 a month to the bill.
Those in the corridors of power also enjoy a host of other benefits as well: travel allowances, health insurance, rural homes, even club membership.
A Kenyan analyst said it is impossible to put an accurate figure on the total burden to the tax payer. However, he said these extra bonuses amount to a cash value of at least $13m a year, or to put it another way, enough to build around 50 new schools in Kenya.
On top of that the Kenyan coffers will pay 40 permanent secretaries and their staff, adding hundreds of thousands of dollars more to the bill.
There are also security costs to take into account. Odinga has already been allocated 45 security staff and a fleet of cars to travel in. Cabinet ministers and their deputies get a minimum of five security personnel and a couple of shiny new cars.
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29 Apr Chicago to host African business Forum
The 2008 Agribusiness Forum, Investing in Agriculture Links in Africa will be held in Chicago, Illinois on June 25-27, under the auspices of the Corporate Council on Africa.
It is envisaged that the Forum will attract more than 300 leaders from the private and public sectors in the U.S. and Africa.
The two-day Forum will include industry-specific sessions, networking opportunities, and panels. Topics for discussion include issues such as financing, commodity trading markets, food security and infrastructure investment to connect African markets.
Other issues to be discussed include market information systems improvement, product innovation, cash crop production and investment, livestock production and investment, pharmaceutical growth, bio-fuel industry growth, carbon trading, and production technology.
Stephen Hayes, President of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) which promotes links between the African business sector and USA business community said he was pleased to welcome USAID as a sponsor of the 2008 U.S.-Africa Agribusiness Forum.
“Public sector support of this event is essential and USAID’s participation will provide the information and perspective needed to address agriculture and agribusiness-related opportunities and challenges in Africa,” Hayes said.
Novus International, Inc. Buchanan Renewable Energies, and All Africa Global Media are among the sponsors.
Visit www.africacncl.org for more details and registration information.
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10 Apr Sasol coal-to-fuel technology approved
Commercial airliners could increasingly switch to using synthetic jet fuel derived from coal, instead of from crude oil, following the approval of a technology used by the South African petrochemical company, Sasol.
A press statement from Sasol said aviation stakeholders including airframe and engine manufacturers, airlines, authorities such as the International Air Transport Association and the UK's defence ministry, had jointly given the approval for the use of coal-to-fuel technology by airliners.
Sasol CEO Pat Davies said: "This approval recognises the absolute need to develop aviation fuel from feedstock other than crude oil in order to meet the world's growing needs".
The move would integrate alternative fuel into the energy mix.
Davies said because the approval covered fuel produced at its Secunda synfuels facility in Mpumalanga, only airlines flying from OR Tambo International would benefit, initially.
Sasol said the approval of its coal-to-liquids jet fuel "marks a significant development in the adoption of clean-burning alternative fuels for the aviation industry."
According to Sasol, engine emissions from its jet fuel were lower than those of jet fuel derived from crude oil, because of a lower sulphur content.
Furthermore, Sasol said it had already supplied a fuel mixture made up of a coal-to-liquid component, blended with kerosene derived from crude oil, to international airlines operating from OR Tambo International Airport.
Analysts said the high cost of oil has obliged the global aviation industry to turn to alternative fuels, particularly those which are deemed to be more environmentally friendly.
Industry sources say Sasol's aim to take its unique coal-to-liquids technology international, could present South Africa and other countries with significant coal reserves, an opportunity to convert these natural resources into money.
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28 Mar Tutu urges inquiry in SA $4.8bn arms deal
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for a judicial inquiry into a controversial 1999 arms deal by South Africa, which was worth US$4.8bn.
Speaking at the University of the Western Cape, in a lecture commemorating the late anti-apartheid activist and Justice Minister Dullah Omar, Archbishop Tutu said: "We need to do something about the arms deal.
“We owe it to those who paid a heavy price for our freedom, we owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our future that a thorough independent judicial inquiry happens as a matter of urgency."
The 1999 deal was the first major arms purchase by the ANC government, following the lifting of an arms embargo imposed during apartheid.
At the time of the arms purchase, Jacob Zuma, who beat President Thabo Mbeki a couple of months ago in the contest for African National Congress leadership, was a provincial ANC leader.
Zuma currently faces corruption charges related to the $4.8bn purchase. His former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, is serving a 15-year jail sentence on charges that included soliciting bribes in connection with the arms purchases.
A corruption case against Zuma collapsed in 2006. However, he is expected to go on trial again later this year, following reports that prosecutors have new evidence against him.
If acquitted, Zuma is almost certain to succeed Thabo Mbeki as South African president after elections in 2009.
Deriding the purchase of the weapons, Archbishop Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said South Africa's real enemies were not military, but poverty, disease and homelessness.
"To buy sophisticated machines we did not need, for which we did not have the trained personnel, would be laughable if it was not so serious," Archbishop Tutu said.
In another case related to the arms deal, Tony Yengeni, a member of the ANC's national executive and a former MP, was jailed for fraud in 2006 but released after five months.
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21 Mar DRC to cancel ‘dodgy’ mining contracts
The Democratic Republic of Congo is set to cancel "many" mining contracts and renegotiate others, following the work of a commission set up in 2007 to review 60 mining contracts.
Although the commissioned report has not been published, DR Congo's Deputy Mines Minister Victor Kasongo said it was clear "that none of the contracts met international standards".
In an interview with the BBC Kasongo said: "Many of them need to be re-negotiated and some of them have to be terminated, because when you do business every partner must be remunerated proportionate to their input."
The mines review commission also recommended the cancellation of some contracts which it said had been awarded illegally in rebel-held areas in the east of the country.
21 Mar SA to import more power from Maputo
South Africa power utility, Eskom, is to increase the import of electric power from Mozambique to help it cope with severe electricity shortages.
Currently, more than 75% of the power generated from Mozambique's Cahora Bassa Dam is sold to South Africa, which is experiencing power outages which have become a nuisance in the manufacturing sector and for domestic consumers.
A shortage of power in January caused a series of blackouts in the country, forcing mines to suspend production for several days over safety concerns.
A Cahora Bassa Dam spokesman told the press that the company will be able to increase supplies to South Africa next month, following a $60m refurbishment of the facility.
Meanwhile, industry sources have revealed that electricity prices in South Africa are set to rise by more than 50%. Earlier this year South Africa was forced to cut power supply to Zimbabwe because of shortages at home.
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19 Mar Nigeria plans cassava-to-ethanol project
The Ekiti state of Nigeria is planning to produce ethanol from cassava on 12,000 hectares of farmland, according to Tunji Awoniyi, the project coordinator. Crown Green Energy Nig Ltd. is at the forefront of this activity partnered by Crown Agro-Allied Investment Ltd.
The project, which is estimated to cost about 14.4bn naira (US$115m) will initially employ around 8,000 workers. However, once it is fully developed, an extra 5,000 workers will be needed.
Nigeria is currently importing fuel ethanol from Brazil.
“Our aim is to domesticate fuel ethanol production in Nigeria.,” Awoniyi said. “The country needs about 1.3billion litres of fuel ethanol, and not a single litre is being produced in the country.
“It is an integrated project, in the sense that we have acquired 12,000 hectares of farmland mainly for cassava production in Ekiti State. We have another 10,000 hectares in Kogi State, for the same project,“ Awoniyi added.
Furthermore, Awoniyi said an additional 30,000 hectares will be purchased in Ekiti is 30,000 when the project is fully developed. He estimated that 100 tons per day of starch will be produced initially, and that the project will be waste-free as every part of the cassava will be converted into an added value and for something else.
Awoniyi estimated that the cassava-to-ethanol project will be done within 18 months from design to commissioning stage.
He said: “If the nation is serious, this is the best vehicle for rural development. Every unemployed youths, women and graduates can be brought in through mechanised farming.”
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18 Mar Botswana to open diamond plant
Botswana is set to start polishing its own diamonds when a new diamond-processing plant, opens in the country this year, according to mining industry sources.
Until now, diamonds from Botswana have been sent abroad to be polished, marketed and sold.
The $83m plant, jointly owned by the government and diamond giant De Beers, will become a processing centre for diamonds from DeBeers mines worldwide.
Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and one of Africa's most stable countries.
The new venture is expected to create at least 3,000 new jobs, including in finance, security and telecommunications sectors associated with the diamond industry.
The Botswana diamond mining industry is the engine room of development. Earnings from the industry have catapulted Botswana from a poor agrarian economy in the 1960’s to one of the strongest economies in the world, affording its citizens a higher standard of living and better quality of life.
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13 Mar One pound buys 95m Zimbabwe dollars
Zimbabwe's dwindling economy has sunk to staggering new lows, with the country’s dollar currency traded on Wednesday at 95 million to the British pound and around 41 million to the US dollar in the parallel market, dealers said.
Just two days ago, the black market rate for the US dollar stood at just over 31 million Zimbabwe dollars. Last Wednesday the rate was 29 million to the US dollar.
When Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980, the local unit was roughly at parity with the pound.
With the currency in free-fall, supermarket prices are rising like never before. Reports in the country said bread in one bakery was selling at 9.5 million a loaf by Wednesday lunchtime, up from 7.5 million Tuesday afternoon.
Analysts have warned the economic crisis could prove to be President Mugabe’s downfall when Zimbabweans go to the polls on the 29th of March.
13 Mar Mozambique needs to import maize
Mozambique will need to import at least 1.25 million tonnes of maize, wheat and rice by August to cover food shortages caused by floods, according to the government.
Speaking to the press today, Fernando Songane, co-ordinator of Mozambique's National Agriculture Development Programme (PROAGRI), said at least 150,000 people in the country were in urgent need of food aid after severe floods in the centre of the country.
Songane said although Mozambican farmers produced 2.17 million tonnes of grain during the 2007 harvest, compared with 2.10 million the previous year, this would still not be enough to meet local food needs.
"We have a shortfall of 500,000 tonnes of maize, 350,000 tonnes of wheat and 400,000 tonnes of rice in 2008," Songane said. "Some 150,000 people are facing acute hunger due to flooding in central Mozambique and we need to start planting before the situation gets out hand in August."
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11 Mar Zimbabwe govt "moronic" – JSE chief
Russell Loubser, chief executive of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has ruled out any chance of working with its Zimbabwean counterpart while President Robert Mugabe's "moronic government" is in power.
The JSE has been campaigning actively to forge links with other African stock exchanges, in recent months.
However, Loubser told the press on Monday that such ties with neighbouring Zimbabwe will not be contemplated unless Mugabe's 28-year rule is ended at elections this month.
"The Zimbabwe stock exchange would like to work much closer with us yesterday, " Loubser said at a press conference for the announcement of the JSE's annual results.
"We are just extremely apprehensive while you've got that type of government in power because anything is possible ... We are very careful about doing something there while that type of moronic government is in place," he said.
Loubser's comments come in the wake of a new law passed by President Mugabe last week which will ensure that indigenous Zimbabweans own at least 51% of companies operating in the country.
Analysts have warned that the new legislation will scare off the few foreign investors still left in Zimbabwe following an economic meltdown over the last eight years, with an inflation rate of more than 150,000%.
In 2003, Loubser said those who drew comparisons between South Africa and Zimbabwe, ignored the wide gulf between the two countries.
“The rule of law and respect for property rights apply in South Africa, human rights are defended by one of the finest constitutions in the world, economic management is in sound hands,” he said.
According to Loubser, the JSE, the largest stock exchange in Africa, recorded an increase in revenue close to 40% in 2007, despite what he called a "volatile" year.
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06 Mar 500 rioting Zambian miners sacked
AROUND 500 Zambian mine workers have been sacked after rioting and attacking a Chinese manager at the Chambishi copper smelter in the northern region.
Reports in Zambia say protest was sparked by rumours that members of the Chinese management team were about to go on holiday, which workers feared would delay negotiations to improve their conditions of service.
China has become a major investor in Zambia's run-down copper sector but workers have complained of low wages and poor conditions.
The workers apparently threw stones at the managers as they attempted to hold talks, on Tuesday before police were called in. Several buildings were burned in the violence and a protester was injured.
Chambishi company spokesman George Jambwa told the press that dismissed miners have been given three days to reapply for their jobs.
"They have all been dismissed with immediate effect," he said. "We have given three days to those who want to be re-employed to write to us and give reasons why they should join our company."
Albert Mando, general secretary of the National Union of Mining and Allied Workers (Numaw) said he was "surprised" by the dismissal, adding that the union could not negotiate when seven of its officials had been arrested.
Last year, while on an eight-country tour of Africa, China's president Hu Jintao cancelled a visit to launch the US$200m Chambishi smelter because of miners' anger at working conditions.
A blast at the copper mine killed 50 people in 2005.
Chambishi smelter, which is still under under construction, is part of a huge multi-million dollar Chinese investment in the area.
The growing Chinese presence in Zambia became an issue in last year's presidential election, with the opposition threatening to throw out of the country large numbers of Chinese traders and labourers who have become an increasing source of agitation for taking businesses and jobs.
Dipak Patel, Zambia's trade and industry minister until last September, said the government was mistaken to ignore growing resentment.
"We have a lot of Chinese traders selling in the market and displacing local people and causing a lot of friction," he said. "You have Chinese labourers here moving wheelbarrows. That's not the kind of investment we need."
Addressing university students last year South African President Thabo Mbeki warned that Africa needs to be on its guard against allowing a "colonial relationship" to develop with Beijing.
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04 Mar UK asked to track Taylor’s $650m
A Special Court in Sierra Leone has asked the UK government to help track down money believed to have been stolen by Liberia's ex-leader Charles Taylor.
Taylor is on trial in the Hague, Netherlands, accused of funding rebels in Sierra Leone while in office.
He denies the charges, but the chief prosecutor, Stephen Rapp, says if he is convicted for pillage he wants Taylor’s alleged stolen millions to be returned to Liberia.
"If we can get the money back to the victims, that's a critical part of justice," Stephen Rapp said during an interview with the BBC.
Rapp has been in London to meet UK government officials to discuss the alleged looted money which is believed to be in the region of several hundred million dollars.
"It may be even close to a billion dollars when you add together all the resources and the money that went through the government of Liberia when he was president," Rapp told the BBC's World Today programme.
"Indications are that some $650m was due to the people, due to the treasury - that money all flowed through his personal bank accounts."
Rapp said tracking down the funds was an "ongoing forensic effort", and that governments around the world have been co-operative when asked for help.
"If we obtain a conviction for him on pillage we're going to go forward and try to obtain the restitution orders," the chief prosecutor said.
During Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, which officially ended in 2002, tens of thousands of people died and thousands more were mutilated, raped and had limbs amputated.
Taylor's war crimes case was transferred from Sierra Leone to The Hague for security reasons, although it is still being conducted by the UN-backed court.
The former Liberian president is charged with 11 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Rapp noted that the real tragedy of the war in Sierra Leone is that not enough was being done to help the victims of the war. He hopes that any recovered money would go to a victim reparation programme.
"For the thousands of people who had arms and legs and sometimes ears and other body parts chopped off cruelly during the course of the conflict - and victims of sexual violence."
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28 Feb SA in shuttle diplomacy over EU treaty
A high powered delegation from the South African ministry of foreign affairs is engaged in a series of meetings with Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) members which include, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, to agree on a common view, before a meeting with European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson Tuesday.
Sources said the South African team, which is led by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma held discussions with Botswana ministers earlier this week and is in the process of consulting other member states before the meeting with Mandelson in Botswana about the nature of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).
The treaty is at the centre of the relationship between the European Union (EU) and African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) countries. Thirty-five countries in seven ACP regions signed up to EPAs in December 2007, which South Africa and others feel is weighted in favour of the EU bloc.
Western based charity organisations are also critical of the EPA. Last year, Actionaid, the UK-based charity issued the following statement:
EPAs are skewed in favour of rich countries and threaten to leave 750 million poor people worse off than ever. We are concerned that unless EPAs are radically reformed, the impact in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries will be:
• job losses, government revenue losses and cuts in public services as developing countries are forced to open up their markets to the EU before they are ready
• corporate domination as African, Caribbean and Pacific governments’ ability to regulate big business is restricted
• weakened democracy as governments will be prevented from choosing their own development strategies.
Referring to the EU's demand for most favoured nation treatment, Dlamini-Zuma recently said SA could not allow a partnership agreement with the EU to restrict its relations with the rest of the world.
Under the most-favoured nation clause, EPA signatories would have to extend concessions made to other major countries in future free trade agreements, to the EU.
Observes say South Africa’s bid to win over the Sacu members has so far met with resistance. Botswana is apparently angered by South Africa’s stance and is ready to break ranks with the customs union.
South Africa itself has refused to sign an EPA because of the EU's demands for the liberalisation of services and concerns about implementation.
Dlamini-Zuma wants the entire EPA process to be reopened and negotiated afresh but this is unpalatable for countries that have already signed interim EPAs.
SADC trade adviser Paul Kalenga said recently that the EU was the first major global economy to extend duty-free, quota-free access to southern African economies, excluding SA. If these countries acceded to SA's demands and backed out of the EPAs, they stood to lose this favourable market access.
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26 Feb Angola producing 1.9m bpd crude oil
Angola has raved up its oil production capacity. Since last week the country’s oil fields have been producing 1.9 million barrels per day, (bpd) of crude oil compared to the previous rate of 1.7m bpd until the end of 2007.
However, analysts estimates that by the end of this year Angola’s oil production rate could reach 2 million bpd.
Manuel Vicente the C.E.O of the Angolan National Fuel Society (Sonangol) which recently celebrated it’s 32 anniversary, told the press on Monday that increased oil production had been facilitated by a global rise in oil prices and a progressive growth in the company's workforce, which currently stands at 8,240 workers.
Vicente also revealed that Sonangol will try to enter any market that is feasible, in its bid to diversify it’s activities.
However, he said Sonangol’s priority this year is to improve the supply of fuel and its by-products.
"We are improving the supply sector, increasing the capacity of distribution and storing of our products, in an action with the government, aiming at, in a near future, opening the market in these areas and allow other actors, different from the state, to act in this domain," Vicente said.
Oil accounts for 90 per cent of Angola’s exports, 50% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 80% of its tax revenues.
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21 Feb SA budgets $7.6bn to tackle power cuts
South Africa's power utility, Eskom, will get 60bn rand (US$7.6bn) over the next five years to tackle the power cuts that have hit the economy.
The pledge was made by South Africa’s finance minister Trevor Manuel in his latest budget in which he also cut the corporate tax rate to 28% and increased social spending.
Manuel has forecast a growth of 4% in 2008, down from the 4.5% estimate made in October. However, he still predicts a budget surplus of 18bn rand for the year.
Maintaining that the economy was in good shape, despite negative signals for the short to medium term economic conditions elsewhere in the world, Manuel said: "As we present a picture of where we are now, we must also tell South Africans and the world that our ship is stronger and we are better prepared than during previous episodes of global turmoil."
He added: "It is time for neither gloom nor panic. But the course ahead would be somewhat tougher."
The main pillar of Manuel’s budget provides more money for social programmes. Spending on health services, including programs to fight HIV/Aids, will rise by 10% over the next three years.
An additional 10bn rand has been set aside for tackling crime, while 90bn rand extra has been allocated to fight chronic poverty.
21 Feb One US$ worth 16m Zimbabwean dollars
One US dollar is now worth 16m Zimbabwean dollars on an illegal but flourishing parallel or black market in the country. The exchange rate on the official market is US$1 to Z$30 000.
However, the bulk of foreign currency trade takes place on the parallel market, which even the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe dabbles in to raise hard cash for critical imports.
Foreign currency dealers this week said the central bank had entered the market this week to
source foreign currency for electricity, food and fuel for March 29 elections and to repay exporters after raiding some accounts last month.
Shortages of food, fuel, foreign currency are all symptoms of a fast crumbling economy which economists blame on President Robert Mugabe's controversial policies, such as seizing white farms, many of which are now either producing a small percentage of their previous yields or have stopped producing altogether.
Analysts say the continued weakening of the local dollar and surging inflation, which according to latest figures obtained from the state Central Statistical Office yesterday vaulted to 100 580.2 percent in January,, was yet another sign Mugabe's government had lost the battle to end a biting economic crisis.
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18 Feb Nigeria revokes sale of telecom firm
Nigeria has revoked the sale of the state telecoms company, Nitel, to a consortium backed by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
A spokesperson for the Nigerian government today told the press that a new controlling stakeholder was being sought, after the new owners failed to improve the running of the company.
It is the second time President Umaru Yar'Adua has cancelled a major privatisation project granted by his predecessor. He recently reversed an oil refinery sale concluded while Obasanjo was in power.
Transnational Corporation (Transcorp), which acquired a controlling stake in Nitel in 2006 said it would contest the decision in court, according to industry sources. Transcorp was apparently established by a group of Obasanjo's business allies who bought a number of state assets, including Nitel, before Obasanjo’s tenure ended last year. There were accusations that proper privatisation rules were not followed.
The sale of Mtel, Nitel's mobile phone subsidiary, was also cancelled on Monday.
Media reports in Nigerian say Transcorp believes the revocation of their ownership came just as it was about to turn the companies around.
A company spokesman was quoted in the Lagos-based Vanguard newspaper saying: "Ironically, the purported reversal comes at a very crucial period of Transcorp's efforts at revitalising both organisations. We are certain of an amicable settlement of this challenge in our favour."
Nigeria’s Information Minister John Odey said the search for a new investor with sufficient resources to improve the telecoms company would begin immediately.
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17 Feb Nigeria state-of-the art hospital burned
A fully-equipped hospital that lay unused for two years has burned to the ground in northern Nigeria, according to newspaper reports in the country.
Ironically, the General Hospital in Maiduguri which was built in 2006 boasted of the state of the art facilities, including several surgical theatres, intensive care ward, and the clinical section which contained millions of dollars of equipment.
Reports say the reason the hospital remained unopened, even though Borno was recently hit by a measles outbreak which killed hundreds of children across three states, was because the state governor Ali Modu Sheriff refused to open the hospital, until former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited to the state.
Existing hospitals in Borno are apparently poorly equipped and overcrowded.
Obasanjo’s visit to Borno was however postponed several times, the last being just two months before the election in 2007. His successor Umaru Yar'adua was due to visit later next month.
Sheriff has blamed the fire on arsonists whom he accused of trying to damage his political reputation.
A source in Borno said angry residents of Bulunkutu, where the hospital was situated, gathered around the burned hospital and shouted abuse at the alleged arsonists.
Addressing the arsonists through the local media, Sheriff said: "There is not one hospital in the country owned by a state government that has the type of world class equipment we had in there. It is their people that would have benefited."
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15 Feb Zimbabwe inflation hits 66,212.3 pct
Zimbabwe's annualised inflation rate rose to a record 66,212.3 percent in December, scuttling President Robert Mugabe's efforts to put the once prosperous African nation's economy
on a recovery course.
Mugabe's trusted Central Bank governor Gideon Gono has made the battle against inflation the cornerstone of his policies to reverse an economic slide that many people blame on his boss's mismanagement style and his controversial policies, including seizures of white-owned farms.
"The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of December, as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index, stood at 66,212.3 percent, gaining 39,741.5 percentage points on the November rate of 26,470.8 percent," Zimbabwe's Central Statistical Office said in a statement on Thursday.
Month-on-month inflation also rose to 240.1 percent in December from 131.4
percent in November, the CSO said.
The data was another sign that a government-ordered price freeze in June had failed to halt runaway price increases. Zimbabwe is struggling with rising poverty, unemployment of about 80 percent and chronic food and fuel shortages.
Mugabe, who blames the problems on sabotage by Western nations opposed to his rule, is running for another term as president in elections on March 29.
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14 Feb UN concerned over looming food crisis
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is concerned that the rising international price for cereals such as wheat and maize will have serious repercussions in Africa.
Poor countries could see their cereal import bill rise by more than a third. Africa as a whole is expected to see an estimated 49% increase this year, according to FAO, which notes that international wheat prices have risen 83% in the past 12 months.
Demand from fast developing countries such as China, and droughts and flooding have pushed cereal prices to record highs.
Analysts estimate that poor countries will pay a record $33.1bn (£17bn) for cereal imports in the year to July 2008. This is despite a fall in the total amount they will import.
“The rising price of wheat, maize and rice will push up the cost of basic foods and this will affect the world's vulnerable populations the most,” FAO said.
The agency warns that around 36 countries around the world are already facing a food crisis. Twenty one of those are in Africa.
Some governments have apparently lowered import tariffs, raised food subsidies and imposed duties on food exports, in an attempt to limit the impact of rising prices on their populations.
Lesotho, Somalia and Swaziland are said to be facing an "exceptional shortfall" in food supply after years of adverse weather.
This week FAO launched an appeal for $87m of emergency assistance to help flood-affected populations in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.
“Farmers in flooded areas are in urgent need of seeds to begin replanting, with only two months to the end of the cropping season,” FAO said.
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12 Feb SA moves to quell power shortage fears
South Africa’s Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin on Monday told a parliamentary media briefing that power shortages in the country will be alleviated within six months.
However, he stressed that the "tight" supply situation would persist for another four years while new generation capacity was installed.
Industry sources say Erwin remarks are calculated to allay foreign investors' concerns about the electricity supply which has affected production in many industries.
Erwin said during the next four years, new industrial projects which consumed large amounts of electricity will have to be carefully vetted by the government.
Despite government assurances that the crisis would not affect foreign investment inflows, there have been reports of uncertainty among investors as to its duration.
Sources said the government is planning a Public relations drive over the next few months, in major countries investing in South Africa, to clarify the electricity situation and reassure prospective investors of the fundamental strength of the national grid.
Erwin said the present electricity reserve margin of 8% should move quite quickly to between 10% and 15%. This would flow from the implementation of the government's emergency energy plan to reduce consumption and bring in new supplies through co-generation, initially via gas-fired turbines.
The plan involves both energy-efficiency measures such as the extensive introduction of solar water heating, and rationing of big users through quotas and price incentives should they not achieve reduction targets voluntarily.
The programme should take effect from April onwards.
Erwin said having a "tight energy supply" would put SA in "exactly the same position as other developing countries".
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11 Feb Ethiopia to host science conference
Ethiopia will host a conference titled: "Science with Africa" from 3 to 7 March this year, under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and ISC-Intelligence in Science.
The conference is part of an initiative to strengthen cooperation on science and technology programs between the EU and the AU and to promote the application of Science and technology to achieve specific Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as promote the participation of the African research community into European programs.
The three day conference will examine methodologies for improving science program participation by scientists and researchers in African nations.
Speakers will include senior policy makers from Africa and around the world, eminent scientists, research project managers, experts in proposal preparation and IP and patent specialists.
Organisers said the 'Science with Africa' conference is an off-shoot of the January 2007 summit meeting of heads of African states in which the leaders declared 2007 the year of science and technology and strongly urged all member countries to allocate 1% of their gross domestic product to Research & Development by 2020.
Registration is now open for the Science with Africa conference. The conference is free of charge.
For further conference details and registration, please visit: www.sciencewithafrica.com/
11 Feb Norway pledges £4.5m to NEPAD
Norway has pledged NOK 45m (around £4.5m) to the NEPAD, Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (NEPAD-IPPF) covering the period, 2007-2009.
According to a communiqué recently signed by the Norwegian Ambassador in Tunisia, Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether, and countersigned by AfDB Secretary-General,. Modibo Toure, the Bank agreed to a schedule of activities connected to the disbursement of the funds to be delivered by 2009.
The first of five instalments began on December 20, 2007, and the last disbursement is expected in October 2009.
In 2007 the NEPAD-IPPF Special Fund, which assists Regional Economic Communities mobilized US$22.5m. It is expecting a contribution of £6 million from DFID (UK), and € 2m from German in 2008, earmarked for Infrastructure development.
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10 Feb Nigeria orders oil firms back to Delta
Nigeria's government has ordered all oil companies which fled the Niger Delta in the wake of militant attacks to return to the area or cease operations.
The announcement comes in a week when militants kidnapped a top politician's wife and blew up a major pipeline.
The instability and violence in the southern region over the past four years have led to a significant drop in Nigeria's oil exports, with many Nigeria-based oil firms moving to the commercial capital, Lagos from Port Harcourt in the Delta.
However, Godsday Orubebe the Minister for Special Duties said it was now safe for oil companies to resume production.
"It is now time for these companies to return back and keep the productive wheel of the region busy again," Orubebe said during a meeting with representatives of about 140 oil companies. "We wish to state that there has been a great improvement in security in Port Harcourt in particular and within t | | | | |
