The United States of Africa – The African Union
Original post began on February 10, 2013
Dilemma X
A United States of Africa is not a new vision. In fact the creation of a continental union of Africa’s countries into one country has its origins dating back long before Muammar Gaddafi’s vision of a United States of Africa.
The Europeans had long held trading forts along the African coast. They would trade with the African nations and empires for natural resources, goods and enslaved humans. Europeans even engaged in battles between one another to maintain control over these major economic trading ports. But, the Europeans dare not venture into interior Africa, with some exceptions: northern and southern Africa.
Many people, especially those living outside of Africa, tend to forget that the independent nations of Africa today have political borders that are a result of the lines that were drawn on a map at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885. No Africans were included in this meeting. The border lines were drawn with a total disregard to the existing ethnic groups, a disregard to the existing kingdoms, empires and city states and a disregard to the existing cultures of the continent of Africa. The European Scramble for Africa began at its most aggressive pace.
African nations began to gain their independence from European powers during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1975 Angola gained its independence from Portugal. In 1980 Zimbabwe gained its independence from its white Bristh-African Apartheid government. Finally, South Africa gained independence when in 1994 Apartheid officially ended as law and the majority black native African population could vote.
Today, some view that the Scramble for Africa now has expanded to India, China and the United States, with Europe always keeping pace.
History has shown that Europe’s wealth has supported the European diaspora once European nations began to depart from some of their traditional class systems. India’s modern wealth has boosted the wealth of Indians in the diaspora, China’s modern wealth and Japan’s modern wealth also supports the populations in each of their diasporas. Of course there are many who do not shared in the economic benifits. Just as in the United States where many are middle class. Yet, there are still many who are in the economic under class in the United States regardless of the nation’s wealth.
Would a United States of Africa begin to provide more economic wealth for Africans and for the entire African diaspora? Is a United States of Africa a threat to those wanting Africa’s natural resources?
See the recent timeline of events creating the United States of Africa below.
Video: African Union Anthem
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Let us all unite and celebrate together
The victories won for our liberation
Let us dedicate ourselves to rise together
To defend our liberty and unity
O Sons and Daughters of Africa
Flesh of the Sun and Flesh of the Sky
Let us make Africa the Tree of Life
Let us all unite and sing together
To uphold the bonds that frame our destiny
Let us dedicate ourselves to fight together
For lasting peace and justice on earth
O Sons and Daughters of Africa
Flesh of the Sun and Flesh of the Sky
Let us make Africa the Tree of Life
Let us all unite and toil together
To give the best we have to Africa
The cradle of mankind and fount of culture
Our pride and hope at break of dawn.
O Sons and Daughters of Africa
Flesh of the Sun and Flesh of the Sky
Let us make Africa the Tree of Life
http://www.africa-union.org/AU%20symbols/ausymblos.htm
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Video: Berlin 1885: The Division of Africa
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Video: Marcus Garvey -The uplift of African people and Pan-Africanism
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Video: Marcus Garvey on African people of the world
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Video: Marcus Garvey and the United States of Africa
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Video: W.E.B. Du Bois – Rivalry with Booker T. Washington, a graduate of Hampton University and founder of Tuskegee University
Marcus Garvey aspired to open an industrial and agricultural training school modeled on Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute. Garvey was invited by Booker T. Washington to come to the United States. Washington died in 1915, however, before Garvey could leave Jamaica.
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Video: W.E.B. Du Bois – Pan-Africanist
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Video: Kwame Nkrumah -who led Africa to freedom
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Video: Kwame Nkrumah’s dream of a United States of Africa
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana from 1951 to 1966. Overseeing the nation’s independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana.
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Video: Kwame Nkrumah’s dream of a United States of Africa forced to fade
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Video: Bob Marley – “Africa Unite”
The Survival album by Bob Marley & The Wailers was released in 1979 and contains the song “Africa Unite”
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1993
South Africa -Africa’s only nuclear state
In 1993, President F.W. DeKlerk revealed that South Africa had built 6 nuclear weapons and was in the process of building a 7th when his government decided to halt the program and destroy the nuclear devices. The political election held on April 27, 1994 mark the end of apartheid South Africa. Nelson R. Mandela would serve as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
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Video: F.W. De Klerk: speaks on nuclear Africa- former President of South Africa
South Africa’s former president stated that they had nuclear weapons to protect Southern Africa’s natural resources. South Africa also had the weapons to keep out foreign influence.
F. W. de Klerk, was the 7th and last President of apartheid South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994. He was preceded by P. W. Botha and succeeded by Nelson Mandela
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United States of Africa Timeline Since 2000
July 11, 2000
The African Central Bank (ACB), and was adopted at Lome, Togo
The Constitutive Act of the African Union
Adopted by the 36th Ordinary Session of The Assembly of Heads of State and Government
July 11, 2000
Lome, Togo
Adopted this Act included:
Article 19
The Financial Institutions
The Union shall have the following financial institutions whose rules and regulations shall be defined in protocols relating thereto:
(a) The African Central Bank;
(b) The African Monetary Fund;
(c) The African Investment Bank.
Article 17
The Pan-African Parliament
1. In order to ensure the full participation of African peoples in the development and economic integration of the continent, a Pan-African Parliament shall be established.
2. The composition, powers, functions and organization of the Pan-African Parliament shall be defined in a protocol relating thereto.
Article 24
The Headquarters of the Union
1. The Headquarters of the Union shall be in Addis Ababa in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
Nations present
1. People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
2. Republic of Angola
3. Republic of Benin
4. Republic of Botswana
5. Burkina Faso
6. Republic of Burundi
7. Republic of Cameroon
8. Republic of Cape Verde
9. Central African Republic
10. Republic of Chad
11. Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros
12. Republic of the Congo
13. Republic of Côte d’Ivoire
14. Democratic Republic of Congo
15. Republic of Djibouti
16. Arab Republic of Egypt
17. State of Eritrea
18. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
19. Republic of Equatorial Guinea
20. Republic of Gabon
21. Republic of The Gambia
22. Republic of Ghana
23. Republic of Guinea
24. Republic of Guinea Bissau
25. Republic of Kenya
26. Kingdom of Lesotho
27. Republic of Liberia
28. Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
29. Republic of Madagascar
30. Republic of Malawi
31. Republic of Mali
32. Islamic Republic of Mauritania
33. Republic of Mauritius
34. Republic of Mozambique
35. Republic of Namibia
36. Republic of Niger
37. Federal Republic of Nigeria
38. Republic of Rwanda
39. Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
40. Republic of Sao Tome and Principe
41. Republic of Senegal
42. Republic of Seychelles
43. Republic of Sierra Leone
44. Republic of Somalia
45. Republic of South Africa
46. Republic of Sudan
47. Kingdom of Swaziland
48. United Republic of Tanzania
49. Republic of Togo
50. Republic of Tunisia
51. Republic of Uganda
52. Republic of Zambia
53. Republic of Zimbabwe
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March 3, 2004
Pakistan may make Nigeria a nuclear power
Julian Borger in Washington
The Guardian, UK
Pakistan yesterday offered to share military assistance, including “nuclear power” with Nigeria, in defiance of President George Bush’s new counter-proliferation initiative. The offer was announced by the Nigerian defense ministry in a statement saying that General Muhammad Aziz Khan, chairman of Pakistan’s joint chiefs of staff, had made the offer to the Nigerian defense minister, Rabiu Kwankwaso, during a visit to the west African state’s capital, Abuja. “Speaking at the opening of the discussions, the Pakistani chairman of joint chiefs of staff … said that his country is working out the dynamics of how they can assist Nigeria’s armed forces to strengthen its military capability and to acquire nuclear power,” the Nigerian press release said. Neither the Pakistani nor the Nigerian governments clarified what Gen Khan had in mind. Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, expressed shock at the confession, but pardoned Mr Khan, much to the anger of nuclear inspectors at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/mar/04/pakistan.julianborger
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September 21, 2004
U.S. to lift final sanctions against Libya
CNN
President Bush on Monday signed an executive order lifting the remaining U.S. commercial sanctions against Libya after determining the African nation has met all of the U.S. requirements for eliminating its programs on weapons of mass destruction.
In December Bush announced an agreement between the United States, Britain and Libya for Libya to give up its WMD programs in exchange for the lifting of U.S. sanctions and better relations with the international community.
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September 30, 2004
Nigeria launches first nuclear reactor
AFP
KANO- Nigeria launched its first nuclear reactor for scientific research Thursday in the northern university city of Zaria, the research project director, Ibrahim Umar, said. The reactor, which is solely for scientific purposes and constructed with technical assistance from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), was launched in Ahmadu Bello University, the largest university in northern Nigeria, Umar told AFP in a telephone interview. “The reactor will solely be applied for scientific research which includes soil mapping to quantify different elements in the soil to boost agricultural production and to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer as well as for solid minerals identification in Nigeria”, he said. “It will also be used in petroleum exploration and for identifying elements associated with diseases in the human body and other human-related research purposes”, Umar said.
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January 19, 2005
Nigeria has no ambition to become nuclear power
Xinhua
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjoon Tuesday welcomed the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in his office, saying that the west African country is interested in atomic energy for peaceful uses, but she has no ambition to become a nuclear power. He also appealed to the UN agency to help the west African country to train its personnel in the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. In February last year, there was nuclear mix-up as a statement from the Nigerian Defense Ministry said the country had discussed acquiring nuclear power from Pakistan. Nigeria later clarified thestatement issued after the visit of Pakistan’s chairman of the Joint Services Committee, General Muhammad Aziz Khan, was a “typographical error” and should be ignored.
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May 12, 2006
Memorandum for the Secretary of State on Rescission of Libya’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism
Presidential Determination
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July 3, 2007
United States of Africa
African leaders debated proposals for the rapid creation of a United States of Africa at the 9th Ordinary Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union that took place in Accra, Ghana, 1-3 July 2007.
Click image to enlarge
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October 1, 2007
General William Ward becomes head of AFRICOM
General William Ward was Commander of U.S. Africa Command from October 1, 2007 to March 8, 2011. Ward previously served as Deputy Commander, U.S. European Command.
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October 1, 2008
United States Africa Command (AFRICOM)
U.S. Africa Command Assumes Responsibility for Military Relations with 53 Countries
The Department of Defense announced October 1, 2008, that United States Africa Command became the 6th unified geographic command within the Department of Defense unified command structure.
Established in October 2007 as a sub-unified command under U.S. European Command, U.S. AFRICOM’s focus during its first year was to build a unique organization dedicated to long-term partnerships. Beginning in October 2008, U.S. Africa Command is focused on synchronizing hundreds of activities inherited from three regional commands that previously coordinated U.S. military relations in Africa.
Source: USAFRICOM
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November 17, 2008
President George W. Bush calls Gaddafi to express gratitude
ABC News
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February 2, 2009
February 2, 2009
Gaddafi vows to push Africa unity
BBC News
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to pursue his vision of a United States of Africa, in his inaugural address as the new chairman of the African Union.
Col Gaddafi was elected by the heads of state of the 53-member union behind closed doors at a summit in Ethiopia. “I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to achieve the United States of Africa,” he said in his inaugural speech.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7864604.stm
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February 7, 2009
Nigeria Supports ‘United States of Africa’
By Nwakpa O. Nwakpo
Leadership/All Africa Global Media
ABUJA — The minister of foreign affairs, Dr. Ojo Maduekwe, has said that Nigeria supports the formation of the United States of Africa.
However, he said that the Nigerian position during the recently concluded summit is that there should be “a gradual approach to the creation of a United States of Africa.” The ministry said that “in principle no one is opposed to having a United States of Africa some day but it is dangerous to jump into it now.”
Maduekwe said that Nigeria does not want to cut corners rather, all should work gradually and systematically to achieve the union in the shortest possible time. He reasoned that “there is no reason why Africans should not feel free to do business anywhere in Africa without restrictions.”
The minister explained that the formation of this unity government entails the ceding of member states’ sovereignty to a certain extent which, he said, portends danger if done in a haste. He then advocated adequate sensitization for the people to understand the meaning while they work towards the harmonization of forms of government, electoral processes and cycles, constitutional amendments to enable some member states to get ready before entering into the unity government.
He also noted that there is need to work only the shared values and interests of member states that will form the foundation of the unity government.
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February 11, 2009
Gaddafi wants Caribbean nations to join a United States of Africa
BBC News
Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has said he would like a United States of Africa to include “Caribbean islands with African populations”.
Col Gaddafi, speaking in Tripoli as the African Union’s (AU) new chairman, said this could include Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
Celebrating his new role at his compound in Tripoli on Tuesday, Col Gaddafi suggested Caribbean islands should join the AU and become a bridge between Africa and Latin America.
He envisages a single African military force, a single currency and a single passport for Africans to move freely around the continent.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7883178.stm
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February 28, 2009
China to link capitals of Angola, Congo using Fiber-Optic cable
By Franz Wild
Bloomberg
State-owned China International Telecommunications Construction Corp. began work on a cable to link Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo with the rest of the world.
The capital cities of these countries will be connected to a fiber-optic cable in the Atlantic Ocean within 9 months, improving Internet, telephone and television connectivity, Lambert Mende, communications minister for the Democratic Republic of Congo, said today in a phone interview from the capital Kinshasa. He didn’t say how much the project would cost.
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March 31, 2009
Gaddafi storms out of Arab summit and labels Saudi king ‘a British product’
Daily Mail (UK) Foreign Service
When his Qatari hosts tried to quieten him down, Gaddafi – the current chairman of the African Union – insisted he would not be silenced.
‘I am an international leader, the dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the imam (leader) of Muslims, and my international status does not allow me to descend to a lower level,’ he said. He then got up and walked out of the hall. A Libyan delegate said he went to an Islamic museum for a tour.
Gaddafi ended Libya’s decades of international isolation in 2003 when he gave up its pursuit of nuclear arms and renounced terrorism.
However, he has continued to antagonise other Arab leaders. He has harboured a grudge against King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia since they exchanged harsh words in early 2003 over the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
‘Now after 6 years, it has proved that you were the liar,’ Gaddafi told Abdullah yesterday. He added that the Saudi ruler was a ‘British product and American ally’.
The two are thought to have had a reconciliation last night.
Last year, Gaddafi poured contempt on fellow Arab leaders at a summit in Syria, warning they might be overthrown like Saddam Hussein.
He boycotted a 2007 summit in Saudi Arabia, claiming ‘Liza’ – referring to former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – had dictated its agenda.
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Video: Muammar Gaddafi
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April 27, 2009
Nigeria to host proposed African Central Bank (ACB) headquarters in Abuja
This Day/All Africa Global Media
Nigeria signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Union (AU) to host the proposed African Central Bank (ACB) headquarters in Abuja. The bank, expected to become functional by 2021, will help advance the cause of regional integration actively pursued by the African Union. The MoU is the 3rd in a series of agreement establishing steering committees to work towards African integration by locating different regional bodies in all parts of the continent.
Other proposed financial institutions are the African Investment Bank to be based in Tripoli, Libya, the African Monetary Fund to be based in Yaounde, Cameroon, and the Pan African Parliament in South Africa. According to the Nigerian central bank (CBN) governor, Dr. Chukwuma Soludo, who was at the signing ceremony, the MoU is only one block towards achieving an African single currency and a common exchange rate policy. The steering committee will also collaborate with African central banks to ensure effective integration of Africa’s financial systems at the regional and continental levels. The ACB building among other facilities are provided by Nigeria as part of the hosting agreement.
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July 1, 2009
Gaddafi calls on Caribbean states to join African Union
AFP
SIRTE, LIBYA-Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, the current head of the African Union, called on Caribbean nations to join the continental grouping at the opening of a summit Wednesday. “This group of countries are considered to be African countries but they are located in the Caribbean,” he said in opening the summit in the seaside Libyan town of Sirte.
Seven Caribbean states, including Jamaica and Haiti, have sent delegations as observers to the summit, he said. “We hope that they will become members of our African Union,” he said. “This will represent a solid tie between these two worlds.” “Their citizens, their people are Africans,” he added.
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July 03, 2009
Nigeria, Algeria, Niger seal $10 billion gas pipeline deal
By Ola Awoniyi Ola Awoniyi
Agence France Presse (AFP)
ABUJA, NIGERIA – Three African countries on Friday signed an accord to build a 10- billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe. The project will convey gas destined for the European market more than 4,000 kilometres (2,485 miles) from the Niger Delta in Nigeria, via Niger and Algeria.
The head of Nigeria’s state oil company, Mohammed Barkindo, said the agreement “gives this project the official stamp of approval from the three governments, directing the national oil companies of these three countries to begin in earnest the definitional phase of this project.” Petroleum and Energy ministers Rilwan Lukman of Nigeria, Chakib Khelil of Algeria and Mohammed Abdullahi of Niger signed the agreement in Abuja.
The first delivery of gas is scheduled in 2015.
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July 6, 2009
African Union Authority to be established
BuaNews (Tshwane-Pretoria, South Africa)
SIRTE, LIBYA— Continental leaders gathered at the 13th African Union Summit on Friday took a decision to transform the African Union Commission into a new African Union Authority.
Libyan President and host of the summit, Muammar Gaddafi, hailed the landmark decision at the closing of the summit. “Africa will speak through one single voice to take up challenges,” said the leader.
The Angolan top diplomat said that the new authority will comprise a President, assisted by a deputy and 12 other members, among them secretaries, in replacement of the then commissioners. Member States of the African Union (AU) fully keep their national sovereignty.
African observers also welcomed the decision, saying it would strengthen Africa’s unity and continental integration. A new authority is being seen as a positive step towards forging a bigger say in international arena.
However, they warned that the transformation process would need to take time before tangible actions are taken. “The road ahead for the formation of the new authority will not be smooth and there will be more and higher hurdles waiting for the pa -African body,” said an observer.
Also speaking at the close of the summit, South African President Jacob Zuma said the summit had realized a progressive step for building a new Africa. He reiterated the call that all Africans should remain loyal to their commitments to African
unity.
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July 9, 2009
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July 12, 2009
Video: Euronews’ interview of Colonel Gaddafi
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December 10, 2009
Ghana brokers oil deal with Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea is sub-Saharan Africa’s 3rd biggest oil producer
Ghana Graphic
ACCRA- A Petroleum deal under which Equatorial Guinea will supply Ghana with about 65,000 barrels of crude oil daily until the commercial production of oil in the country comes on line has been brokered by President J.E.A. Mills.
The deal, struck between President Mills and his Equatorial Guinean counterpart in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, is the result of efforts by the Ghanaian leader to ease the country’s problem of erratic supply of crude oil on the Ghanaian market. It also marked the high point of the President’s three-day visit to the Central African country where he participated in the swearing in of President Theodore Nguema Mbasogo.
In return, Ghana is to support Equatorial Guinea in the generation, distribution and maintenance of hydro-power projects in that country.
Ghana will, in addition, support the agricultural sector of Equatorial Guinea in its bid to boost the production of food at reasonable prices for its people.
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December 29, 2009
Sudan ships first export of ethanol
AFP
KHARTOUM– Sudan, angling to become Africa’s leading exporter of ethanol, has sent out
its first shipment of the bio-fuel to the Netherlands, an official with the state-owned Kenana company said on Monday.
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March 16, 2010
Divide Nigeria in two, says Muammar Gaddafi
BBC News
Nigeria should be divided into two nations to avoid further bloodshed between Muslims and Christians, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said.
In a speech to students, he praised the example of India and Pakistan, where he said partition saved many lives.
Splitting Nigeria “would stop the bloodshed and burning of places of worship,” state news agency Jana quoted him as saying.
A senior Nigerian diplomat said he was not taking the suggestion seriously. Hundreds of people have died in communal violence in villages around the central Nigerian city of Jos this year.
‘Historic, radical solution’
Although the violence in Nigeria generally takes place between Muslim and Christian communities, the underlying causes are a complex mix of political, social and economic grievances.
Nigeria is roughly split between its largely Muslim north, and a Christian-dominated south. Col Gaddafi, until recently head of the African Union, characterised the Jos violence as a “deep conflict of religious nature” caused by the federal state, “which was made and imposed by the British in spite of the people’s resistance to it”.
He described the partition of India as a “historic, radical solution” which saved the lives of “millions of Hindus and Muslims”. Splitting India in 1947 caused a breakdown of law and order in which at least 200,000 people died. Some estimates say one million people were killed. About 12 million people were left homeless and thousands were raped.
An attempt by the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria to secede in 1967 sparked a war which left more than one million people dead.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8570350.stm
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April 11, 2010
Nuclear Security Summit -Washington, DC
US President Barack Obama opened a two-day nuclear security summit, warning that the atomic aspirations of groups like Al-Qaeda.
President Barack Obama meets Nigeria’s acting President Goodluck Jonathan in Washington, D.C.
President Barack Obama, right, meets with South Africa President Jacob Zuma, left, in advance of the Nuclear Security Summit, at Blair House in Washington, Sunday, April 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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June 23, 2010
Ghana-Angola Joint Commission reactivated
Xinhua
Ghana and the Republic of Angola announced on Tuesday the reset in motion of a joint intergovernmental commission for cooperation between the two African countries. The commission would serve as a privileged tool to reflect study and submit proposals on how to establish a mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries, a senior Ghanaian official told Xinhua late Tuesday evening.
The decision was made at the end of a two-day official visit here by Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, accompanied by his wife Ana Dos Santos and other high-level government officials. The visit provided an opportunity for the two countries to renew their commitment to peace on the continent and also enhance their bilateral ties for mutual benefits.
The Ghanaian official said that the two countries would work toward promoting peace, stability in Africa and creating conditions for reconstruction and economic and social development. Ghana was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Angola after the latter gained independence in 1975.
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September 1, 2010
African Union to foster air transport integration in Africa
The Guardian (Nigeria)
The African Union (AU) has begun moves to promote the integration of air transport on the continent, especially through the exploitation of the potential of the Yamoussoukro Declaration.
The Yamoussoukro Declaration remains the single most important air transport reform policy initiative by African governments to date. It was adopted out of the recognition that the restrictive and protectionist intra-African regulatory regime, based primarily on Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs), hampered the expansion and improvement of air transport on the continent.
One of the vital parts of the decision is liberalization, which is viewed as a means to develop air services in Africa and stimulate the flow of private capital in the industry.
Today, 70 per cent of Africa’s long-haul traffic is carried by non-African airlines, just as foreign airlines are pushing into the African market.
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September 01, 2010
Nigeria, South Africa to strengthen ties
Xinhua
The governments of Nigeria and South Africa have reiterated their commitment to strengthening their bi-national commission to include the promotion of person-to-person relations.
The two countries recently celebrated the 10th year anniversary of the bi-national commission.
South African Ambassador to Nigeria Kingsley Mamabolo made the pledge on behalf of his government in Abuja, Nigeria on Tuesday when he visited Nigerian Minister of Interior Emmanuel Iheanacho. He stressed the need to foster person-to-person relations between nationals of both countries to promote socio-economic development.
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September 01, 2010
Ghana will support its neighbors with oil and gas
Ghana News Agency
ACCRA-Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday gave the assurance that Ghana would not hesitate to support its neighbors with her resources anytime the need arises.
“We are all neighbors and therefore need to be interdependent on each other and with the discovery of oil and gas in Ghana, government will support its neighbors as soon as she embarks on the drilling of those resources.”
“Ghana and Benin are historical friends since we are both members of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Benin’s problems are definitely Ghana’s problems.”
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September 02, 2010
Tullow Oil Expands in Kenya, Ethiopia with Africa oil license acquisitions
Tullow Oil is a London based oil and gas exploration and production business headquartered in Chiswick
Bloomberg
Tullow Oil Plc, which plans to produce its first oil in Ghana later this year, will expand exploration in Kenya and Ethiopia with the acquisition of interests in six licenses from Africa Oil Corp.
Tullow agreed to buy a 50 percent interest in Blocks 10BB, 10A, 12A and 13T in Kenya; and the South Omo Block in Ethiopia, the London-based explorer said today in a statement. The transaction will expand Tullow’s East Africa assets after last month’s agreement to join the U.K.’s Centric Energy Corp. in exploring Block 10BA in northwestern Kenya.
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September 3, 2010
2.5 billion barrels of oil discovered in Uganda
Tullow Oil plc is a global oil and gas exploration company headquartered in London, United Kingdom
Walter Wafula
The Monitor
Oil exploration firm Tullow Oil says the quantity of oil discovered in Uganda has surpassed the 2 billion barrels that were confirmed last year. The announcement indicates that more crude oil remains beneath the Albertine Graben in the western part of Uganda.
At $74 (Shs166,000) per barrel of oil yesterday, the discovery so far means that Uganda and Tullow have the potential to earn up to $148 billion from the current oil that has been found in the western and northern regions.
That potential revenue is equivalent to Shs333 trillion enough to fund Uganda’s current national budget for the next 42 years without donor funding.
However, that kind of revenue can only be realized if the impasse between Uganda and oil companies like; Tullow and Heritage Oil and Gas is dealt with to give way to the establishment of a $10 billion oil refinery in the country.
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October 11, 2010
Australia joins suitors of Uganda’s oil
Robert Mukombozi
The Monitor
BRISBANE- The Australian government has announced plans to venture into Uganda’s oil market, promising mutual benefits. Mr Stephen Bohnen, the executive officer, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Queensland, has said his government has finalized plans to engage the Ugandan government over prospects of including it among the partners, especially in the oil sector.
Uganda’s oil was discovered by an Australian Company, Hardman Resources, under Lake Albert. In Uganda, Tullow oil estimate that there is 700 million barrels of oil under Lake Albert.
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October 27, 2010
Uganda plans its first oil refinery in 2-5 yrs
Reuters
KAMPALA- Uganda has received interest from Asian and European firms for its first oil refinery, to be built in public-private partnership in two-to-five years, the African nation’s minister of state for energy said on Wednesday.
Firms including India’s Essar Group, China’s CNOOC and France’s Total have shown interest in building Uganda’s planned 200,000 barrels per day oil refinery, Simon D’Ujanga said.
“We import fuel now, we want to have our own,” D’Ujanga said on the sidelines of Delhi International Renewable Energy Conference.
The minister said the Ugandan government may invite formal bids early next year and the refinery would also cater to fuel demand from neighbours like Congo, Rwanda and Kenya.
A Reuters report last month said Kenya government and India’s Essar Group are keen to combine forces with Uganda in building a refinery and pipeline for its newly-found oil. D’Ujanga did not mention if Essar and Kenya have expressed joint interest in building the refinery.
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November 4, 2010
Ghana discovers more mineral deposits
Daily Graphic
Ghana has made more discoveries of mineral deposits which are expected to boost the country’s economy and development. The deposits include copper, phosphate, nickel, chromium and uranium.
The government has, therefore, invited the investor community to partner it to develop the country’s enormous natural resources in an efficient, economic and environmentally sustainable manner that will ensure the sustainable development of the country.
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January 03, 2011
Obama to increase engagement with Africa in 2011
Associated Press
HONOLULU— President Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests.
Expectations in Africa spiked after the election of an American president with a Kenyan father. But midway through his term, Obama’s agenda for Africa has taken a backseat to other foreign policy goals, such as winding down the Iraq war, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and resetting relations with Russia.
Obama aides believe those issues are now on more solid footing, allowing the president to expand his international agenda. He will focus in Africa on good governance and supporting nations with strong democratic institutions.
Obama delivered that message on his only trip to Africa since taking office, an overnight stop in Ghana in 2009, where he was mobbed by cheering crowds. In a blunt speech before the Ghanaian parliament, Obama said democracy is the key to Africa’s long-term development. “That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long,” Obama said. “That is the change that can unlock Africa’s potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans.”
The White House says Obama will travel to Africa again and the political calendar means the trip will almost certainly happen this year, before Obama has to spend more time on his re-election bid. No decision has been made on which countries Obama will visit, but deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said stops will reflect positive democratic models. The administration is monitoring more than 30 elections expected across Africa this year, including critical contests in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. “The U.S. is watching and we’re weighing in,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said the White House understands that U.S. involvement in African politics can be viewed as meddling. But he said Obama can speak to African leaders with a unique level of candor, reflecting his personal connection to Africa and that his father and other family members have been affected by the corruption that plagues many countries there.
Officials also see increased political stability in Africa as good for long-term U.S. interests — a way to stem the growth of terrorism in east Africa and counterbalance China’s growing presence on the continent.
The U.S. was caught off guard during the 2009 climate summit in Copenhagen when several African countries voted with China and not the U.S., the administration official said. The official said the administration must persuade African nations that their interests are better served by aligning with the U.S.
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January 25, 2011
The Egyptian Revolution
On January 25, 2011, widespread protests began against Hosni Mubarak’s government regime.
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January 26, 2011
Oil majors make new find off Congo’s coast
UPI
BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of the Congo- French energy company Total and U.S. supermajor Chevron announced new hydrocarbons discoveries in the deep waters off the coast of the Republic of Congo.
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January 28, 2011
Egyptian military chiefs cut U.S. Pentagon visit short
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Senior Egyptian military commanders cut short a visit to the Pentagon on Friday and were headed back home Friday, American military officials said, as the Egyptian Army was deployed on the streets of Cairo and other cities to back up state security forces who had confronted mass protests around the country throughout the day.
The Egyptian military delegation was in Washington for previously scheduled annual military talks with their American counterparts. The sessions were led by Alexander Vershbow, the assistant secretary of defense for International Security Affairs.
Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Friday afternoon that there were no scheduled formal discussions of the Egyptian protests at the talks at the Pentagon but that it would have been hard for both sides to ignore the television footage from Egypt’s streets. The scenes included scenes of tanks, tear gas and thousands of angry demonstrators protesting the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
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February 11, 2011
Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak resigns
On February 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak resigned and fled Cairo. Mubarak served as the 4th President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Mubarak was appointed Vice President of Egypt in 1975, and assumed the presidency on October 14, 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat.
Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had stepped down and that the Egyptian military would assume control of the nation’s affairs in the short term.
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February 21, 2011
TUNISIA: John McCain and Joe Lieberman meet leaders, calls revolution ‘very successful’
U.S. Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman met with Tunisia’s Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi in Tunis on Monday.
McCain told Reuters that U.S. officials have offered Tunisian counterparts help in shoring up security following its “model” revolution.
“The revolution in Tunisia has been very successful and it has become a model for the region,” McCain, the leading Republican on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, told Reuters after the meeting with Ghannouchi and other Tunisian government officials.
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February 21, 2011
U.S. offers Tunisia security aid for “model” revolution
By Tarek Amara Tar Reuters
TUNIS– Washington has offered Tunisia help in shoring up security following its “model” revolution, U.S. Senator John McCain said Monday. A popular uprising in the North African state last month ended President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s 23 years of rule, sending shock waves through the Arab world and inspiring further revolts, one of which toppled Egypt’s president 10 days ago. “The revolution in Tunisia has been very successful and it has become a model for the region,” McCain, the leading Republican on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, told Reuters after meetings with Tunisian government officials. “We stand ready to provide training to help Tunisia’s military to provide security,” he said. Elections to replace Ben Ali are expected by July or August.
But new protests have erupted in recent days against the interim government tasked with organizing the vote for failing to address rising crime rates and lingering poverty. Tunisia’s ouster of Ben Ali — widely seen as a repressive ruler who raided state coffers — inspired Egypt’s uprising and has also encouraged mass demonstrations elsewhere in the Arab world, including in neighboring Libya where scores of people have been shot dead by security forces. U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, traveling with McCain, said the situation in Libya was “tragic.”
“The Tunisian military played a constructive role (…) but the military in Libya has been against the people,” Lieberman told Reuters. “That is unacceptable.”
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March 2011
Pan African University
The Pan African University was officially launched in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, headquarters of the African Union
African Union’s
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PAN AFRICAN UNIVERSITY
See document at link below
Afrian Union Establishment of The Pan African University -March 2011
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March 3, 2011
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March 13, 2011
Arab League endorses No-Flight Zone over Libya
By Ethan Bronner and David E. Sanger
The New York Times
CAIRO — The Arab League asked the United Nations Security Council on Saturday to impose a no-flight zone over Libya in hopes of halting Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s attacks on his own people, providing the rebels a tincture of hope even as they were driven back from a long stretch of road it had captured in the three-week war.
The extraordinary move by the 22-nation bloc — an extremely rare invitation for Western military forces on Arab territory — increases the pressure on the Obama administration, which has been reluctant to intervene in a war that could turn out to be prolonged and complex.
However, by inviting the West to take such action, it also clears the way for the United States and Europe to press for a strong Security Council resolution and to counter the objections of China and Russia, which traditionally oppose foreign intervention in a country’s internal disputes.
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March 18, 2011
Video: President Barack Obama on Muammar Gaddafi
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March 19, 2011
Bolivian president rejects military intervention in Libya
Xinhua
LA PAZ- Bolivian President Evo Morales on Friday expressed his rejections against any foreign military intervention in Libya and favored a peaceful solution to the crisis in the North African country.
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March 19, 2011
Nigeria backs UN no-fly zone resolution against Libya
By Agency Reporter
Punch (Nigeria)
Nigeria has joined the United States and other nations on the Security Council to pass a no-fly resolution against Libya, citing the magnitude of humanitarian disaster in the North African country, Empowered Newswire has reported.
Five council members, including China and Russia, which are permanent members, abstained from the decision alongside Brazil, Germany and India.
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March 20, 2011
European Union sends 52 election observers to Nigeria for upcoming presidential election
AFP
ABUJA– The European Union has sent another 52 observers for next month’s general elections in Nigeria where previous polls have been tainted with violence and irregularities. The 52 represent a second contingent, following a “core team” of nine analysts who arrived in the country on March 1, the EU said in a statement late Saturday.
A total of 120 observers from all 27 EU member states as well as Norway and Switzerland are expected in Nigeria for the polls, scheduled for April 2, 9 and 16.
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March 20, 2011
African Union demands ‘immediate’ halt to Libya attacks
AFP
NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA – The African Union’s panel on Libya Sunday called for an “immediate stop” to all attacks after the United States, France and Britain launched military action against Moamer Qadhafi’s forces.
After a more than four-hour meeting in the Mauritanian capital, the body also asked Libyan authorities to ensure “humanitarian aid to those in need,” as well as the “protection of foreigners, including African expatriates living in Libya.”
Libya has invested billions of dollars in sub-Saharan Africa.
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March 29, 2011
Venezuela, Russia, China and the African Union come out against the Western attacks in Libya
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Venezuela, Russia, China and the African Union are among the countries and organizations to come out against the Western attacks in Libya.
Britain, France and the United States launched strikes Saturday against Libya’s air defence to help enforce the no-fly order approved by the United Nations and to protect Libyan civilians, the Pentagon said.
But Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez condemned the strikes, claiming the attackers just want Libya’s oil.
Chavez, who is close to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and sharply critical of the U.S., said “they want to seize Libya’s oil. The lives of Libya’s people don’t matter to them at all.”
Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, allies of Venezuela, backed Chavez.
Russia expressed regret over the attacks, saying the UN Security Council Resolution that authorized the no-fly order was “adopted in haste.”
The African Union opposed the military action. It plans to send a delegation to the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Sunday.
In Beijig, China expressed “regret” on Sunday over the attacks.
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May 5, 2011
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July 8, 2011
Japan Opens Military Base in Djibouti
Mohamed Osman Farah
Bloomberg
Japan opened a military base in Djibouti that will be used to help combat piracy off the coast of the Horn of Africa, said Admiral Kenichi Kuramoto, commander of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Japan has about 600 people in the MSDF, 180 of whom will be stationed at the base near the main international airport in the capital, Djibouti City, Kuramoto said. He spoke at a ceremony yesterday attended by Djiboutian Prime Minister Mohamed Dileita Dileita and Japanese Senior Vice Defense Minister Katsuya Ogawa.
Japan’s government today extended the MSDF’s anti-piracy mission off Somalia, which was scheduled to end on July 23, Kyodo News reported today, without citing anyone.
Under Japanese law, MSDF can open fire on pirate vessels that approach commercial vessels after warning shots have been fired.
Japanese forces arrived in Djibouti in 2009 and have been stationed at Camp Lemonnier, the U.S. military base in Djibouti.
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October 20, 2011
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Video: President Obama on the death of Muammar Qaddafi
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October 20, 2011
Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi killed
BBC News
Libya’s Col Muammar Gaddafi has been killed after an assault on his birthplace of Sirte, officials say.
Acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril announced the death, and later said the colonel had been killed in a crossfire between Gaddafi loyalists and fighters from the transitional authorities. He confirmed that Col Gaddafi had been taken alive, but died of bullet wounds minutes before reaching hospital. Video footage suggests he was also dragged through the streets
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Video: RT News/ “United States of Africa” – NATO attacks on Libya
New currency would replace U.S. dollar to shift the economic balance of the world
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January 28, 2012
African Union opens Chinese-funded headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The entire $200 milion project was funded by China as a gift to the African Union
The building was inaugurated at an official ceremony on January 28, 2012.
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March 28, 2012
Brazil to rally BRICS against rich countries
From left to right, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South African President Jacob Zuma pose at the BRICS 2012 Summit in New Delhi on March 29. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press)
Reuters
NEW DELHI- Brazil will push for its large emerging-market peers including China to denounce what it sees as unfair monetary policies by Europe and the United States, raising the stakes in a global confrontation over economic imbalances.
Originally “BRIC” before the inclusion of South Africa in 2010. BRICS is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (all have nuclear weapons with the exception of South Africa and Brazil. Brazil has the largest black population outside of Africa. Brazil’s most recent 2010 census shows African-Brazilians in the majority for the first time at 97 million people of the nation’s 190 million people.)
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December 24, 2012
President Obama builds up U.S. military presence in 35 of the 57 African nations
U.S. Army teams going to Africa as terror threat grows
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A U.S. Army brigade will begin sending small teams into as many as 35 African nations early next year, part of an intensifying Pentagon effort to train countries to battle extremists and give the U.S. a ready and trained force to dispatch to Africa if crises requiring the U.S. military emerge. The teams will be limited to training and equipping efforts, and will not be permitted to conduct military operations without specific, additional approvals from the secretary of defense. The sharper focus on Africa by the U.S. comes against a backdrop of widespread insurgent violence across North Africa, and as the African Union and other nations discuss military intervention in northern Mali.
The terror threat from al-Qaida linked groups in Africa has been growing steadily, particularly with the rise of the extremist Islamist sect Boko Haram in Nigeria. Officials also believe that the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which killed the ambassador and three other Americans, may have been carried out by those who had ties to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
This first-of-its-kind brigade assignment — involving teams from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division — will target countries such as Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger, where al-Qaida-linked groups have been active. It also will assist nations like Kenya and Uganda that have been battling al-Shabab militants on the front lines in Somalia. Gen. Carter Ham, the top U.S. commander in Africa, noted that the brigade has a small drone capability that could be useful in Africa.
But the new program faces significant cultural and language challenges, as well as nagging questions about how many of the lower-level enlisted members of the brigade, based in Fort Riley, Kan., will participate, since the teams would largely be made up of more senior enlisted troops and officers.
A full brigade numbers about 3,500, but the teams could range from just a few people to a company of about 200. In rare cases for certain exercises, it could be a battalion, which would number about 800. To bridge the cultural gaps with the African militaries, the Army is reaching out across the services, the embassies and a network of professional organizations to find troops and experts that are from some of the African countries.
Thomas Dempsey, a professor with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said the biggest challenge will be the level of cultural, language and historical diversity across the far-flung continent.
The Pentagon’s effort in Africa, including the creation of U.S. Africa Command in 2007, has been carefully calibrated, largely due to broad misgivings across the continent that it could spawn American bases or create the perception of an undue U.S. military influence there. As a result, the command has been based in Stuttgart, Germany, rather than on the African continent. At the same time, many African nations are eager for U.S. training or support, as they work to build their militaries, battle pirates along the coast and shut down drug trafficking, kidnapping and other insurgent activities.
The brigade will be carved up into different teams designed to meet the specific needs of each African nation. As the year goes on, the teams will travel from Fort Riley to those nations — all while trying to avoid any appearance of a large U.S. military footprint.
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20th African Union Summit –January 21-28, 2013
Leaders of African nations gather at The 20th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA- The 20th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit holding on the theme: “Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance” ended Monday,January 28, 2013 at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with commitment by the AU Heads of State and Government to ensure implementation of the Assembly Decisions and Declarations arrived at during their deliberations.
In his closing remarks, the newly elected Chairperson of the African Union, Mr. Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, expressed satisfaction at the active participation of all the Heads of States and Government in the discussions on various issues of interest to the continent.
The following decisions were adopted among others:
On refocusing the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to support the transformation agenda of the African Union, the Heads of States urged the Secretary-General of the United Nations to provide the required support to ECA to enhance its work in accordance with Africa’s priorities.
On the creation of the African Observatory on Science, Technology and Innovation (AOSTI) to be hosted by the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, the Heads of State endorsed the project.
They called on Member States and Development partners to avail the necessary technical and financial support for sustaining the AOSTI and its programs.
The Heads of State also decided to create the Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization (PAIPO). They requested the Commission to convene a meeting of all stakeholders dealing with intellectual property in the implementation of the Decision by May 2013 Summit.
On the integration of the new Africa- Asia Strategic Partnership (NAASP) into African Union structures and processes The Assembly requested the Commission to take the necessary steps towards the integration of the New Africa-Asia Strategic Partnership (NAASP) into the African Union structures and processes.
On the representation of local communities in organs of the African Union
The Assembly requested the Commission to submit a comprehensive report on the opportunity, feasibility, relevance and implications, including financial ones, of the proposal at the January 2014 Summit.
On the establishment of the African Union institute for statistics
The Assembly approved the establishment of the African Union Commission Institute for Statistics that will be based in Tunis, Republic of Tunisia.
On the promotion of critical knowledge for the accelerated and sustainable development of Africa
The Assembly took note of the proposal of Burkina Faso on the promotion of critical skills for Accelerated and Sustainable Development in Africa. The Heads of States approved the initiative of Burkina Faso.
On the hosting of a special follow-up summit on the Abuja 2001 African Union Summit on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases in the third quarter (July/August) of 2013
On the south-south and triangular coalition in support of Africa-post 2015
The Assembly took note of the proposal by the Republic of Guinea relating to the creation of a South-South and Triangular Coalition in support of Africa Post 2015; it approved in principle the creation of a South/South and Triangular Coalition to assist Africa within the framework of its Post 2015 Agenda.
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January 22, 2013
The ‘United States of Africa’: Mugabe calls for formation of Continental Superstate
By Palash R. Ghosh
The International Business Times
While French military airplanes bomb militant targets in the deserts of northern Mali, the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has again asserted his long-held dream of a “United States of Africa.”
“Get them [African states] to get out of the regional shell and get into one continental shell,” Mugabe said in his capital, Harare, after a meeting with Thomas Boni Yayi, Benin’s president and the outgoing chairman of the African Union (AU), according to the Herald newspaper of Zimbabwe.
“The continent of Africa: this is what we must become. And there, we must also have [one] African head. [Yayi] was talking of the president of Africa. Yes, we need one. We are not yet there. This is what we must go and discuss, but we must also discuss the issues that divide us.”
“Our vision now is what we can do to strengthen the unity and stability because without it we cannot move to the prosperity of our people in our continent,” he said.
“Pan-Africanism is necessary for us to be together. Our regional communities have to move together, to work together and to strengthen the unity of the continent. We need to strengthen democracy in our countries. We need to strengthen good governance. We need to strengthen the peace and stability and unity of our countries.”
“We are not there yet,” Mugabe said. “As we stand here people will look at us, as me [as an] Anglophone, him [Yayi] Francophone, you see. There is also Lusophone [Portuguese-speaking], but we are Africans first and foremost. Africans, Africans. Look at our skin. That’s our continent, we belong to one continent. We may, by virtue of history, have been divided by certain boundaries and especially by colonialism. But our founding fathers in 1963 showed us the way and we must take up that teaching that we got in 1963. That we are one and we must be united.”
“In my country, yes, we have also had divisions, political divisions, but I am glad that we all appreciate that whatever political affiliations we belong to, we are Zimbabweans,” he declared.
Alpha Oumar Konaré, former President of Mali and former chairperson of the African Union Commission, supported the notion during the commemoration of Africa Day in 2006.
The former President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, even set a target date for the formation of the United States of Africa — as early as 2017.
“We ask … for the establishment of the United States of Africa, the only solution to free our peoples and … make Africa a major cultural, economic, political and social whole, which will be respected,” Wade once said.
Trevor Manuel, South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency in charge of the National Planning Commission, said unifying African – at least economically – would be crucial to the continent’s survival.
“Its not about EU, not about the U.S. (United States), not about the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank, its about us and the way we relate to each other, and in this context it is fundamentally important that we talk to each other as Africans about some of the hard truths that confront us,” he said at a conference in Harare last November.
“As individual countries, we will not make it in the world. We will be picked off and become markets for the rest. So we can’t look to the rest of the world. We have to look to each other in our neighborhood and understand that’s where change will be driven from. As we learn from Europe we look at ourselves in understanding what we should not do.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/united-states-africa-mugabe-calls-formation-continental-superstate-1030506
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January 29, 2013
Obama administration established U.S. drone base in Africa approved by Niger
Reuters
NIAMEY- Niger has given permission for U.S. surveillance drones to be stationed on its territory to improve intelligence on al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters in northern Mali and the wider Sahara, a senior government source said.
The U.S. ambassador to Niger, Bisa Williams, made the request at a meeting on Monday with President Mahamadou Issoufou, who immediately accepted it, the source said.
“Niger has given the green light to accepting American surveillance drones on its soil to improve the collection of intelligence on Islamist movements,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.
The drones could be stationed in Niger’s northern desert region of Agadez, which borders Mali, Algeria and Libya, the source said.
A spokesperson for the United States’ African Command (AFRICOM) declined to comment.
The United States already has drones and surveillance aircraft stationed at several points around Africa. Its only permanent military base is in the small country of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, more than 3,000 miles (5,000 km) from Mali.
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April 7, 2014
Nigeria is now the largest economy in Africa
Nigeria’s economy surpassed South Africa’s as the largest on the continent
After months of delays and mounting anticipation, Nigeria’s economy has been officially “rebased”. It is now worth $510bn (2013 figures) – an 89% rise, far in excess of analysts’ predictions. Nigeria is now Africa’s largest economy, pushing South Africa to a distant second place.
August 4-6, 2014
U.S.-Africa Leadership Summit
President Obama in August welcomed leaders from across the African continent to the Nation’s Capital for a three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the first such event of its kind in the United States for African leaders.
This Summit, the largest event any U.S. President has held with African heads of state and government, will build on the President’s trip to Africa in the summer of 2013 and it will strengthen ties between the United States and one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest growing regions.
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May 7, 2014
Nigeria and DPRK agree to share knowledge on information technology in nine point communique.
The two countries also agreed to facilitate the exchange of experts, technicians and university professors between the DPRK and Nigerian universities. Under the agreement, educational institutions would be able to carry out joint research projects covering a variety of sectors including energy, industrial technology and agriculture.
North Korea and Nigeria formally established diplomatic relations in 1976 and signed a similar cooperation agreement in 2012.
https://www.nknews.org/2014/05/north-korea-and-nigeria-sign-cooperation-agreement/
<strongNorth Korea Signs Economic Cooperation Agreement With Nigeria
May 9, 2014
North Korea and Nigeria signed an economic cooperation agreement that will deepen ties between the two countries in the areas of knowledge exchange, information technology, and public sector exchanges of modern technology.
https://thediplomat.com/2014/05/north-korea-signs-economic-cooperation-agreement-with-nigeria/
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December 17, 2014
President Obama delivers a statement on chart a new course on U.S.-Cuba relations
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Today, the United States of America is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba.
In the most significant changes in our policy in more than fifty years, we will end an outdated approach that, for decades, has failed to advance our interests, and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries. Through these changes, we intend to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people, and begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas.
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See History
Is there still a fear of a black Cuba? A brief look back in history
https://dilemma-x.net/2015/01/17/is-there-still-a-fear-of-a-black-cuba-a-brief-look-back-in-history/
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20th African Union Summit -January 21, 2015
Africa Oil Boom on Hold as Prices Spur Explorer Caution: Energy
Paul Burkhardt
Bloomberg
Africa’s oil and gas boom is in jeopardy.
The dash for resources that saw explorers invest billions of dollars to tap promising oil fields from Ghana on the west coast to Tanzania on the east, is stalling as the global drop in crude prices pushes drillers to reconsider the high costs of exploration on the African continent.
For many drillers, 2014 was already failing to reach the promise seen in 2013 when half of the world’s 10 largest oil and gas finds were made in Africa. With oil prices dropping below $50 a barrel, analysts say they expect a more concentrated pullout in 2015.
Ophir Energy Plc, a U.K. explorer that’s made several large finds in Tanzania, ended its 2014 drilling campaign in Gabon in June, after a series of dry holes. Repsol SA, Spain’s biggest oil producer, spent almost $100 million on a well that missed in offshore Namibia.
Tullow Oil Plc, a British oil company that’s among the most active explorers in Africa, said last week it won’t drill a single offshore exploration well in the continent this year as it reduces investment in response to lower prices.
For Africa to revive the momentum of its oil and gas industry, governments need to look at the terms they offer explorers and adapt them to reflect lower prices, Tullow Chief Executive Officer Aidan Heavey said.
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January 30, 2015
Mugabe officially appointed African Union chairman
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe took over the post of African Union chairman on Friday, replacing Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
AFP
The veteran leader, Africa’s oldest president aged 90, shook hands with Abel Aziz in front of fellow leaders to applause at the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital.
Mugabe, is the continent’s oldest leader – and one of its most controversial post-colonial figures.
He initially won favour in Western capitals when he preached racial and national reconciliation after taking power in 1980 in the wake of a brutal guerrilla war against white-minority rule. To most of Africa, he was an anti-colonial hero.
But Mugabe’s lustre quickly faded. From crushing political dissent to ushering in disastrous land reforms that saw the economy crumble, many accuse Mugabe of turning the regional breadbasket into a basket case.
Despite this, Mugabe – who turns 91 next month – remains admired in much of Africa and was already serving as the chairman of the regional Southern African Development Community.
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February 4, 2015
BRICS bank legislation submitted to Russian parliament
RT
The Russian government has submitted a bill to lawmakers to ratify the BRICS bank. The New Development Bank will have assets of $100 billion from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and rival the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
The New Development Bank agreement will come into force only after all five countries ratify the legislation.
The bank will be headquartered in Shanghai, India will serve as the first five-year rotating president, and Russia will be the chairman of the representatives. Each country holds an equal voting share, and the bank is available to United Nations members.
The Russian government approved the draft law on January 29, 2015.
At the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July, the five developing countries established the $100 billion bank, as well as a $100 billion currency pool. The funds will go towards funding infrastructure and development projects in the five emerging economies.
The three biggest BRICS economies China, India, and Russia are also banding together on the ‘One Belt, One Road’ project- a reincarnation of the Silk Road- aimed at reestablishing the economic corridor across Eurasia.
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February 5, 2015
Angola seeks $1 billion in loans as oil price falls
Andrew England in Johannesburg
Financial Times
Angola has dramatically slashed its budget for the year and is reaching out to the World Bank and international lenders for at least $1 billion in loans as Africa’s second-biggest oil producer and one of the continent’s star economic performers grapples with the fallout from the collapse in crude prices.
Luanda has already approached Goldman Sachs and Gemcorp Capital LLP, a small London-based investment firm set up last year, for loans of $250 million from each institution.
The government is also in talks with the World Bank over a possible $500 million soft loan for budgetary support to help narrow its financing gap. It would be the first such loan provided by the bank to Angola.
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February 11, 2015
Angola Plans 25% Cut in Budget as Oil Revenue Set to Plunge
Colin McClelland
Bloomberg
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said oil revenue in this year’s budget will plunge by almost half, forcing Africa’s second-largest crude producer to cut spending.
Projected oil revenue will decline to cover 37 percent of spending needs, down from 70 percent last year, Dos Santos said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday. The Finance Ministry plans to cut expenditure by 25 percent to 5.4 trillion kwanzas ($51 billion) in a revised budget that’s set to be approved this month, it said on Feb. 7.
“The significant drop in the price of oil in the international market since November last year has greatly affected the revenue of the state,” Dos Santos said, according to state-run Jornal de Angola. He warned that failure to adapt to the new circumstances may undermine the “economic and social stability of the country,” he was quoted as saying in state-run Jornal de Angola.
Oil prices have slumped by more than half since June, threatening producers such as Angola, which relies on crude for almost all of its exports and more than two-thirds of government income. The national currency, the kwanza, has weakened more than 7 percent against the dollar in the past six months as foreign exchange becomes scarcer and the country imposes import quotas.
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Video: Central Bank Of Nigeria anticipates rise in non oil sector
February 13, 2015
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February 13, 2015
Nigeria’s economy is under pressure from oil price drop
BBC News
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, pumping over two million barrels a day. For decades, the country has relied heavily on the oil sector to bring in taxes and foreign exchange.
But the drop in the oil price has knocked the value of the local currency – the naira – by nearly 20%.
Those immediately affected are ordinary people, and also the new generation of investors who only entered the oil and gas businesses in recent years.
Lerato Mbele reports from Port Harcourt, in southern Nigeria, for Africa Business Report.
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February 25, 2015
Africans look to Chinese-built east Africa railway network
African people are awaiting a Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project set to run from Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa to Rwanda’s capital Kigali through Uganda, the latest in a spate of efforts to facilitate transportation and boost trade in the eastern Africa region.
It is expected to cover a distance of about 2,935 km (1823.72 miles), featuring passenger trains with a speed of 120 km per hour (74.56 mph) and freight trains designed to move at 80 km per hour (49.7 mph).
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March 24, 2015
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan sign accord on Nile dam
Three countries sign deal amid fears that dam being built by Ethiopia would reduce water supply to Egypt and Sudan.
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March 31, 2015
Nigeria: Muhammadu Buhari wins historic presidential election landslide
The 72-year-old built an early lead in northern states dominated by the mainly Muslim, Hausa-Fulani ethnic group of which he is a member.
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May 18, 2015
ANGOLA: Oil cooperation with Cuba shows potential
Angola Press
HAVANA— Cooperation between Angola and Cuba on oil drilling marks a “fundamental point” on both states bilateral relations, stated on Sunday in Havana, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Manuel Augusto.
The official, who was speaking to the press, under the 72-hours visit to Cuba paid by the Angolan Vice-President, Manuel Vicente, added that the cooperation between both countries confirms the political will and the potential for its increment.
The State Secretary mentioned that the success on the oil drilling in Cuba will mean a radical change in the life of this Caribbean country.
He added that the Angolan oil company (Sonangol) is in this moment in Cuba as a potential partner.
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May 19, 2015
Investment flows to Nigeria down a third over election uncertainty, oil prices
Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria — Foreign investment to Nigeria fell by nearly a third with the United States a “key driver” of the decline in the first quarter of 2015, compared to the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
“High levels of uncertainty in the quarter due to a postponed election and depressed oil prices resulted in year on year declines in inflows” of $1.23 billion or 31.6 percent, said a new report published this week.
The decline is even sharper, at $1.8 billion or more than 40 percent, when comparing the last quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015, it said.
Capital importation to Africa’s biggest oil producer totaled $2.67 billion for the opening quarter, the lowest in two years, the bureau said, quoting figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Former colonizer Britain remains the biggest source of foreign investment for Nigeria followed by the United States.
March 28 elections were delayed for six weeks to allow a multinational military offensive against Boko Haram Islamic extremists in the northeast of the country.
Former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari won the vote and succeeds President Goodluck Jonathan on May 29.
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June 1, 2015
Africa to launch continental free trade negotiations
It will be larger, in population, than either the European Union or NAFTA. 26 African nations with a population north of 600 million.
Odisha Sun Times
CAPE TOWN- African countries will launch the Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) negotiations at the upcoming African Union (AU) Summit scheduled for mid-June this year, it was announced.
The CFTA will be the main topic at the 25th AU Summit scheduled for June 14-15 in Johannesburg, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
The CFTA will create a market of over 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of over $2 trillion, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said at a press briefing in Cape Town after a fortnightly cabinet meeting.
Radebe said the CFTA would build on the Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) and progress achieved in the regional economic communities.
It will also give traders and investors access to a growing market and provide a basis for enhanced intra-Africa trade, he said.
At its 18th session in Addis Ababa in January 2012, the assembly of heads of state and government of the AU adopted a decision that reflected the strong political commitment of African leaders to accelerate and deepen the continent’s market integration.
The leaders agreed on a road-map for establishing the CFTA by the indicative date of 2017.
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June 9, 2015
Angola’s president visiting China to sign economic agreements
Xinhua
Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with his Angolan counterpart Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Tuesday and they pledged to boost win-win cooperation between the two countries in pursuit of common development.
“China and Angola are good brothers and long-lasting strategic partners,” Xi said during their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Recalling his visit to Angola in 2010, Xi said the friendly cooperation between the two nations has yielded visible results and brought substantial benefits for their people over the past five years. The two countries announced the establishment of a strategic partnership during Xi’s visit, when he was vice president of China.
During Tuesday’s talks, Xi said China and Angola need each other in pursuit of common development and they can provide opportunities for each other with their comparative advantages.
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June 9, 2015
African free trade agreement to be signed in Egypt
By Alexander Aucott
euronews
The leaders of 26 African nations have been laying the groundwork for an African Free Trade Union in the resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.
Behind closed doors ministers of the three African economic blocs: the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the South African Development Community (SADC), and the East African Community (EAC) have been discussing the deal that is expected to be signed on Wednesday (June 19).
The merger of the three groups will see a trade zone that expands from from Cairo to Capetown representing 60 percent of the continents GDP and 52 percent of its population.
Francis Mangeni is the Director of Trade, Customs and Monetary Affairs for COMESA:
Speaking to euronews he said: “This is a landmark. It’s a milestone in the history of Africa; and the reason why is because you now are going to have a free trade area, a single economic space covering half of Africa, so that’s unprecedented.”
Once signed a timetable for implementing the agreement will be decided at a later meeting.
euronew’s correspondent in Egypt, Mohammed Shaikhibrahim said:
“Access to economic integration between African countries still faces many difficulties, notably the readiness of the infrastructure of these countries, specifically in the field of transport, telecommunications and energy”
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July 22, 2015
These gargantuan North Korean statues can be found all over Africa
North Korea, a country known for its secrecy, isn’t particularly subtle when it comes to public art.
From lavish political murals to towering Soviet-realist statues, North Korea’s government-run Mansudae Art Studio produces exuberant pro-government propaganda for show at home and abroad. While there are few countries in the world willing to host to works of art produced in the Hermit Kingdom, some Mansudae-made statues have found homes overseas. In recent years, the studio’s international division, Mansudae Overseas Projects, has created several massive works of nationalist art at the request of foreign governments—almost exclusively on the African continent.
Amazon patented a way to tell Alexa to ignore “Alexa”
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October 12, 2015
President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari blames previous administration for inablity to deal with Boko Haram
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November 16, 2015
Algeria currency depreciates on back of low oil prices
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November 27, 2015
China, Djibouti negotiate over military base
Xinhua
The Chinese government has confirmed its started negotiations with Djibouti’s government for the construction of a new military base there.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry says the base will be used to provide supplies for Chinese warships on escort missions in the Gulf of Aden.
It will be China’s first military installation in Africa.
More than 60 Chinese naval vesselshave sent to the waters off Somalia since it joined the international escort missions in the area 7-years ago.
Djibouti is located in the Horn of Africa, bordering Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.
It also faces the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east.
The Chinese military used a port in Djibouti three years ago when it withdrew its citizens from Yemen during the start of that country’s internal conflict.
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December 1, 2015
U.S. Secretary of the Air Force visits U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Chebelly Airfield, Djibouti
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December 8, 2015
Benin deploys 800 troops for Boko Haram
Daily Trust
Benin Republic President Boni Yayi said his country was ready to send 800 troops to join Nigeria and other neighbouring nations in the ongoing fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.
Yayi stated this at the Presidential Villa in Abuja after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday during his one-day state visit to Nigeria.
Addressing State House correspondents, Yayi assured that Benin’s 800 troops were battle ready and were awaiting their deployment.
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December 9, 2015
Niger to transfer Boko Haram prisoners back to Nigeria
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December 10, 2015
Oil Producing Countries Pummeled by $40 Crude
OPEC members from Algeria to Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela are struggling to cope with market slump
By BILL SPINDLE, BENOÎT FAUCON and DREW HINSHAW
The Wall Street Journal
LONDON—The fall of crude prices to six-year lows in recent weeks has pummeled oil-producing countries from Venezuela to Iraq.
Few countries have been as spun around as Nigeria, Africa’s top oil exporter. The nation of 182 million people depends on oil for 75% of its revenue, money it needs to roll out new infrastructure for a population that grows by 13,000 people a day. In April of last year, after a decade of 6 % growth underpinned by robust oil prices, the country became Africa’s biggest economy, with roughly the gross domestic product of Poland.
This year, the country recorded just 2.8% annualized growth in the third quarter, compared with 6.5% a year earlier. Half of the country’s states have been unable to pay their civil servants.
Two big reasons for the overall price fall are vast new supplies from the U.S. and the reaction from Saudi Arabia to those new barrels. Instead of cutting back its own production to support prices, the kingdom has ramped up output to record levels in a battle for customers in the global market.
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February 9, 2016
Oil price collapse may force Ghana to revise 2016 budget
By Kwasi Kpodo
Reuters
Ghana may have to revise its 2016 budget after the collapse in oil prices, Finance Minister Seth Terkper told a news conference on Tuesday, giving no specific figures.
Oil is one of Ghana’s major exports, along with cocoa and gold, and it produces about 100,000 barrels a day. Prices have tumbled in the past 18 months to below $30 a barrel from as high as $115, and Terkper said the government had based the budget on a projected average figure of $53 per barrel for Brent crude . Brent oil traded at $33.53 a barrel on Monday.
Ghana had one of Africa’s strongest economies until the fall in commodity prices hit revenue and the country is also facing a fiscal crisis that it is trying to solve with the help of a three-year International Monetary Fund aid programme.
Ghana is targeting 5.4 percent gross domestic product growth in 2016, up from 4.1 percent last year, and will aim to reduce inflation to 10 percent from 17.7 percent in 2015, Terkper said.
Provisional figures showed the fiscal deficit at 7.0 percent at the end of 2015, lower than an initial target of 7.3 percent, he told journalists at the news conference.
President John Mahama faces a tight re-election battle in November in which economic performance will be a big issue. Terkper said the government will resist pressure to raise wages or overspend as has happened ahead of previous votes.
“We are doing a turnaround but we shouldn’t be complacent because there are still some risks, particularly in an election year,” he said.
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February 17, 2016
Oil crisis leads to food rationing in Angola
Deutsche Welle
The decline in the price of crude oil badly hit Angola. The national currency kwanza nearly crashed and imports have drastically reduced. Food is scarce and more expensive. Supermarkets have to ration it.
These are pictures from the former economic miracle country Angola. One has to get used to seeing long queues at supermarkets where people stand for hours waiting to do their daily shopping. “I came here at six o’clock in the morning and have not yet been able to buy anything till now”, said one woman in front of a supermarket in the southern Angolan city of Benguela. “The situation is currently difficult, very difficult.” evidently frustrated.
Long queues bring back bad memories to many Angolans about the time of the civil war, one of the bloodiest in Africa. Since its end in 2002, the economy has been growing at a high rate of 13, 18 and in some years even 23 percent per year. Since then queues were no longer an issue, Angola was instead a popular destination for international companies to build supermarkets and shopping malls.
Cheap oil ruined purchasing power
According to statistics from the United Nations Angola exported oil worth about 68 billion US dollars in 2013. But as the Angolan elite lived in the lap of luxury and bought billions of corporate investments in Europe, they forgot to diversify the economy at home. In 2013 more than 98 percent of Angolan exports were oil and oil derivatives. Today, apart from oil and diamonds Angola does not produce anything that is competitive on the world market. During Portuguese colonial era, Angola was a popular coffee exporter.
Much of the food has to be imported. However, last year the price of oil fell by two-thirds. So Angola earned considerably less from its exports. Consequently, it could not afford to import much, because the government did not want to get into foreign debt. “There are fewer goods in the market, which makes the prices to go extremely high,” says Angolan economist António Panzo. “The products are scarce, because not much is imported. This makes the situation very difficult for the dealers.”
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February 24, 2016
IMF Urges Nigeria to Devalue Currency as Low Oil Prices Hit Economy
Traders have turned against the nairaas global oil prices have plummeted
By The Wall Street Journal
Nigeria’s central bank should allow the local currency to devalue as part of a package of aggressive economic policies to reverse the impact of low oil prices on Africa’s biggest economy, the International Monetary Fund said.
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February 24, 2016
IMF calls on Nigeria to lift foreign exchange curbs
Reuters
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called on Wednesday for Nigeria to lift foreign exchange curbs and let the naira reflect “market forces” more closely, also urging more fiscal discipline and structural reform to bolster growth.
President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected a naira devaluation and backed hefty restrictions imposed by the central bank to prevent a collapse of the naira as Africa’s biggest economy is whacked by a slump in oil revenues, its lifeblood.
Companies have laid off thousands, cut production and even closed operations as they struggle to get enough dollars to pay for imported spare parts and raw materials.
The naira is trading as much as 40 percent below the official rate on the black market. Devaluation would encourage investment and make domestically produced goods more affordable.
“The exchange rate should be allowed to reflect market forces more and restrictions on access to foreign exchange removed, while improving the functioning of the interbank foreign exchange market,” the Washington-based fund said in a statement, after consultations with top officials in Nigeria.
Currency curbs had “significantly” affected parts of the private sector and the economic outlook for Africa’s top oil producer was “challenging”, it said.
Nigeria needs to import anything from milk to machines as authorities have failed to end its dependency on oil, a fact Buhari wants to change but which business leaders say will be impossible to achieve if plants cannot import raw materials.
The IMF also said it expected the West African nation to grow by 3.2 percent this year, below the official forecast of 3.78 percent. It urged boosting non-oil revenues, raising infrastructure spending and collecting more taxes.
“With oil prices expected to remain low for a long time, continuing risk aversion by international investors, and downside risks in the global economy, the outlook remains challenging,” it said.
The views of the IMF are relevant as Nigeria wants to borrow from the World Bank to help fund a budget deficit of 3 trillion naira. Sometimes the IMF gets involved in such programmes asking for policy changes.
The government wants to borrow up to $5 billion abroad for the budget and has also held talks with China and the African Development Bank. It has also considered issuing Eurobonds although nothing concrete has emerged publicly on that.
Buhari was elected last year on an anti-corruption ticket, promising to create jobs in the nation of 170 million, where only a super-rich elite has benefited from its energy wealth.
He unveiled a record budget in December to improve power supply, build roads and invest in telecommunications but had to withdraw it due to flaws and optimistic oil price calculations.
On Wednesday, the former military ruler vowed to punish those he blamed for adding “unauthorised alterations” to the draft. “The culprits will not go unpunished,” he said, according to a statement of his office.
The IMF has welcomed his plans to lift capital expenditure. (Editing by Louise Ireland)
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March 2, 2016
Africa and the price of oil
Deutsche Welle
Lower state revenues, higher inflation and hesitant investors are only some of the reasons African oil producers are suffering from drop in the oil price. This is how eight African countries are affected.
Nigeria: Huge economy deeply in debt
Oil revenues make up almost 80 percent of Nigeria’s export revenues. The oil money finances a great part of the budget of Africa’s biggest economy. “We expect Nigeria’s current budget deficit to double due to the low oil price,” said Francesca Beausang, Africa analyst at the London based BMI Research firm. According to the Financial Times, Nigeria expects a budget deficit of around $15 billion. The public expenditure has also risen sharply, as the country tried to boost its waning economy through increased spending. The problem is, with the rising national debt, investors are also asking for higher interest rates for new loans.
Sudan and South Sudan: The cost of pumping the oil
Crisis surrounds the oil regions that straddle the border between Sudan and South Sudan. In 2011, South Sudan which now owns the majority of the region’s oil fields, gained independence from Sudan. Since that time, South Sudan has had to pay transit charges to its northern neighbor which runs the pipelines. These charges amount to around 22,50 euros ($24.42) per barrel in addition to the pumping costs. At an oil price of less than 30 euros, South Sudan is suffering major losses. If Sudan’s government does not agree to lower its charges, South Sudan would have to stop its production altogether, stated South Sudan’s oil minister in January.
Angola: One sack of rice, a bottle of cooking oil and a bag of sugar
In 2013, Angola exported $68 billion worth of oil. That’s according to data from the United Nations. Since the oil prices have dropped by two-thirds in the last year, ordinary Angolans have felt the pinch. Angola imports a great amount of its food from abroad . Due to the reduced revenues that have come with the falling oil price, the country has also had to reduce its imports. “There are fewer goods on the market and that is pushing the food prices sky high,” said Antonio Panzo, an Angolan economist.
In many parts of Angola, supermarkets and traders have started rationing their goods: One sack of rice per customer, one bottle of cooking oil and a packet of sugar. The traders hope that this will stop a run on the goods and prevent the growth of the black market. Additionally the state has announced a 25 percent reduction of the national budget. Infrastructure projects like the building of new roads, sea ports, airports, hospitals and schools will particularly be affected by this.
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March 6, 2016
Lower crude oil price cause of lower FDI to Ghana – Economic Analyst
Ghana Business News
The fall in foreign direct investments (FDI) to Ghana is as a result of the lower crude oil price and power supply challenges during the past year. Mr Courage Kingsley Martey, Senior Economic Analyst at Databank, said the situation has eroded confidence in the Ghanaian economy. He said other emerging markets were experiencing similar lower investment levels; stating that “this is in particular to primary commodity exporting markets.”
FDI is an investment made by a company or entity based in one country, into a company or entity based in another country.
A statement issued by Mr Fidel Amoah, the Content Manager of Lamudi Ghana and copied to the Ghana News Agency, saidd Mr Martey believes that part of the reason is due to the decline in prices of Ghana’s main commodities, especially crude oil.
“The sharp decline in crude oil price saw investment slow down not only in the Ghanaian sector but other West African countries as well. As a result, it affected foreign employment levels in Ghana negatively,” he said.
The Ghana Investment Promotion Center last month released results of FDI in 2015, indicating a 31 per cent decrease from 2014’s $ 3.4 billion.
Mr Martey said apart from the adverse impact of the lower oil prices on capital investments by the foreign investors, the country had also increased its expenditure against expected crude oil revenue.
He said, however, the last two years has seen a dip in actual revenue, meaning an increase in debt finance indices and exchange rate pressures; stating that this he believes could also have been one of the reasons investors are averse to invest.
“The country’s ability to refinance its debts has been negatively affected by the lower crude oil price.
“One of the government’s debt management strategies is the establishment of the sinking fund. Its source of funding is from excess crude oil revenue above the cap on the stabilization fund.
“However, when you have a situation where crude oil price drops, revenue inflows to the sinking fund is affected. This would constrain the country’s progress towards managing and servicing its debts,” he said.
The Economic Analyst also said that the country’s power challenges could be another leading reason why foreign investment in the country has reduced.
He said power cuts also raised the cost of doing business, serving as a disincentive for investors. Other factors he attributed to the reduction in FDI were bureaucracy and the country’s tax regime. He said these two factors affect the competitiveness and productivity of businesses operating within that environment.
He observed that the demand for luxury housing could be affected as a result of less influx of expatriates; domestic employment however increased by over 15 per cent according to GIPC’s report.
Akua Nyame-Mensah, the Managing Director of property portal, Lamudi Ghana, said the domestic employment growth has created a great opportunity for real estate developers. “The focus for the Ghanaian real estate market is currently luxury housing. Though the reduction in expat employment may not affect real estate business drastically, it still would have some slight implications,” she stated.
“Meanwhile, the GIPC report indicates growth in local employment. This serves as a great opportunity for real estate developers to diversify and tailor their products to this segment of the Ghanaian population,” she added.
Launched in 2013, Lamudi is a global property portal focusing exclusively on emerging markets.
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March 14, 2016
Growing Chinese debt leaves Angola with little spare oil
By Libby George
Reuters
Angola has found itself with a dwindling amount of crude to sell as more of its oil flows to China for debt repayment, leaving little revenue for anything from oil sector development to health care in one of Africa’s largest oil exporting nations.
Following a trend also seen in Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia and Venezuela, Angola has tied up more of its output in pre-financed deals to bridge a drop in income due to the 70 percent fall in oil prices in the past 18 months.
The price slump means the Western oil majors which manage the fields and platforms that help Angola export 1.8 million barrels per day are also taking more oil in return for their investment and services.
Countries with oil often use it as collateral for loans, and during a previous oil price collapse, in 2008, the process helped to tide many over until better times. But this time most experts say the rout will continue until at least next year.
As recently as five years ago, just over half of Angola’s 50-60 monthly cargoes went toward paying oil majors, with as few as four to five cargoes going to pay back prefinanced deals, leaving the country’s state oil company, Sonangol, with as many as two dozen to sell on the market or to term buyers with ongoing contracts.
Through a series of conversations with at least six oil traders, Reuters found the number had been cut by more than half, to fewer than 10.
Part of that was because more has been going to Western oil majors such as Total, Chevron and BP due to the price fall.
No one foresaw the price collapse when the contracts were written, said Readul Islam, analyst with Rystad Energy. “There were no clauses in the contract about what happens to the profit sharing when prices dropped so low.”
Existing contracts meant Angola had only one cargo to sell on the spot market in February, traders said, crimping its ability to generate cash when needed and ability to set prices for its term buyers.
A source close to Sonangol said it still had some flexibility to sell oil directly on the market.
It could get other loans, or refinance deals to limit the amount of crude paid to lenders, the source said, and had already dropped some contracts with term buyers who had not prefinanced them to keep back three to six cargoes each month.
In March, it got two or three and in April six, but some of that may reflect delays in meeting commitments under continuing contracts which it will have to make up for later in the year.
Traders and analysts said between Sonangol’s preexisting problems and the precipitous drop in oil prices, the situation looked difficult.
The government forecasts a budget deficit of around 5.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2016, based on oil prices of $45 per barrel; Brent crude this year has thus far peaked at $41.48 and analysts say it could be subdued all year.
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March 31, 2016
China military to set up first overseas base in Horn of Africa
Katrina Manson
Financial Times
China is set to install “a few thousand” troops and staff at its first ever overseas military base, the first permanent overseas deployment by Chinese armed forces.
The new naval facility will sit in the same city as America’s own sprawling African military headquarters in Djibouti, the Horn of Africa country where the US has a 4,500-strong base running counter-terrorism operations across the region. Japan, which also has its only overseas military base in Djibouti, already faces a tense stand-off with China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
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June 22, 2016
The African Union is introducing a single passport to make travel on the continent easier for Africans
The African Union (which consists of 54 African countries and was launched in 2002) announced this month that it planned to launch an electronic passport scheme in July. The electronic passport will facilitate visa-free travel among all the countries of the African Union.
The East African
The African Union (AU) is set to launch an electronic passport (e-passport) in the next two weeks in part of measures to boost movement of people across the continent.
The e-passport, to be launched during the African Union’s 27th Summit which kicks off in Rwanda from July 10, is part of efforts to boost intra-regional trade.
The AU, however, says member countries will have to adopt and ratify necessary protocols and laws to prepare the way for use of the passport.
Heads of state and government, ministers of foreign affairs and the permanent representatives of AU member states based at the headquarters in Addis Ababa will be the first group to get the e-passports during the summit.
Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), termed the move a “steady step toward the objective of creating a strong, prosperous and integrated Africa.”
The Rwanda summit will talk about Africa’s integration and the introduction of a common passport.
Countries like the Seychelles, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Ghana have taken the lead in ensuring easier intra-Africa travel by relaxing visa restrictions and in some cases lifting visa requirements altogether.
The East Africa Community in March launched an the document. A phase out programme for the current East African and national passports will go on for two years staring January next year.
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January 2, 2017
Asia Flooded With West African Oil in Latest Sign of OPEC Impact
West African oil producers will next month send the most crude to Asia in at least five years, the latest sign of how refineries in the world’s biggest demand region are scouring the world to replace supplies cut by OPEC’s Middle East producers.
The 2.19 million barrels a day that West African nations, led by by Nigeria and Angola, will send to Asia in February compares with about 1.79 million barrels a day this month, the data compiled by Bloomberg show.
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January 18, 2017
New find takes Kenya closer to billion barrels of crude oil
Kenya is inching closer to a billion barrels of oil find in the Lokichar basin in South Turkana amid stalling plans for early oil from June.
British explorer Tullow announced it has discovered 25 metres of net oil pay at a depth of 700 metres in Erut-1 well in oil-rich Block 13T.
The new find, the firm said, indicates its plan to achieve a target of more than a billion barrels in the Lokichar basin was on track. Kenya’s recoverable oil reserves are estimated at 750 million barrels in blocks 13T and 10B.
The blocks are owned by Tullow Oil of Britain ( 50 per cent), while Canadian explorer Africa Oil and business conglomerate Maersk of Denmark hold a 25 per cent stake each.
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January 27, 2017
Shell and Eni to temporarily forfeit Nigerian oil prospect
Financial Times
A court in Nigeria has ordered Royal Dutch Shell and Eni to temporarily forfeit one of the country’s most highly-prized oil prospects, pending completion of a corruption investigation into the $1.3bn deal that secured the asset.
The ruling involves a dispute over the European companies’ 2011 acquisition of an offshore exploration bloc estimated to contain up to 9bn barrels of oil — enough to cover Nigeria’s current total annual production for more than a decade.
Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency is investigating allegations that Nigerian subsidiaries of UK-listed Shell and Agip, owned by Eni of Italy, entered “a fraudulent agreement” with a Nigerian company linked to the country’s then-oil minister and other senior politicians.
https://www.ft.com/content/fcd50330-e491-11e6-8405-9e5580d6e5fb
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February 1, 2017
Figures published by the Bank of Ghana have shown that Ghana raked in a total of US$ 114,400,610.40 in the first half of 2016 from the thirtieth, thirty first and thirty second crude oil liftings.
Per the amount, US$2,772,660.23 million and US$ 6,469,540.76 million were allocated into the Ghana Heritage Fund and the Ghana Stabilization Fund respectively on the 24th of March 2016 on the thirtieth lifting.
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February 1, 2017
Africa: Equatorial Guinea makes bid to join OPEC
Africa Oil and Power
Equatorial Guinea wants to join OPEC. On Friday, Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea, met with officials in Vienna to submit his country’s interest to become the 14th member of the cartel.
In recent months, Equatorial Guinea has strengthened its relationship with Arab members of OPEC, hosting the Africa-Arab Summit in Malabo in November 2016. Equatorial Guinea has previously flirted with joining OPEC, the most recent discussions taking place in 2009.
Equatorial Guinea is the third largest oil and gas producer in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite a sluggish oil price for the past two years, the country has maintained oil output levels at roughly 200,000 barrels per day. If accepted, Equatorial Guinea would become the sixth African country to join OPEC and the first since Gabon rejoined in July 2016.
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February 14, 2017
Angola displaces Nigeria to become Africa’s top oil producer – OPEC
Angola has taken over from Nigeria as Africa’s top oil producer, according to a report by the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) released on Monday disclosed that Angola’s current production was at 1.651 million barrels per day (bpd).
Nigeria’s output on the other hand, was between 1.576 million bpd to 1.604 million bpd, in both cases the report cited secondary sources and direct communication for its latest figures.
Algeria lost the top producer spot to Nigeria in December 2016. Nigeria’s main problem with production was due to attacks by militants in the Niger Delta region on oil installations.
The government has opened talks with the militants leading to a quell in the frequency of attacks. Nigeria’s Mohammed Barkindo is the Secretary General of the OPEC. He was voted into office last year.
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February 18, 2017
Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari’s absence sparks concern
NBC News
One of the world’s most populous countries has been without its leader for almost a month, and no one seems willing to explain why.
Muhammadu Buhari, the 74-year-old president of Nigeria, has been the subject of swirling rumors, conspiracy theories and downright fabrications since he flew to London on Jan 19.
A full 29 days after the president left, neither he nor his aides have explained exactly why he is there, nor when he plans to return.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nigeria-president-muhammadu-buhari-s-absence-sparks-concern-n722306
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March 20, 2017
Robert Mugabe calls for union of African states
By Elsa Buchanan
International Business Times
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has appealed for greater economic integration among African countries with the aim of setting up a union of African states, according to local media.
In January 2015, African leaders nominated Mugabe – the continent’s oldest head of state, now 93 – as chairman of the African Union in 2015. He drew applause when he told fellow leaders that the continent’s wealth belongs to Africa and not to “imperialists and colonialists”.
Speaking at that African Economic Platform summit in Mauritius on 20 March, the veteran leader said it was important for a united Africa to speak with one voice, according to the state-owned Herald newspaper.
In his call for more integrated African economy by promoting fair trade among African nations and existing regional blocs, Mugabe said member states “should build ourselves as was promised as entities, regional entities that will merge one day and form more than just the African Union as it is but a much more united African Union, call it if you want, Union of African States, with perhaps an authority called Government of African Union States and those other authorities being subordinate to that authority”.
March 20, 2017
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has taken a swipe at countries which inhibit free movement of persons, goods and services across the continent.
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May 8, 2017
Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire to sign strategic partnership agreement
Source: GNA
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that co-operation between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire would be facilitated by a new initiative dubbed “an Agreement for a Strategic Partnership”, that will be signed by the two countries.
This agreement, according to President Akufo-Addo, would bind Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire “in even closer intimacy and go beyond the bounds of the concept of the Permanent Joint Commission, which is the conventional tool for co-operation.”
“This agreement would embrace all aspects of our national lives and if undertaken with sincerity and transparency, it should enhance considerably the chances of our two countries to attain progress and prosperity,” President Akufo-Addo said when he was awarded with Cote d’Ivoire’s highest national award, La Grande Croix dans l’ordre National Ivorien (The Order of the Grand Ivorian Cross), at a State Dinner held in his honour by the Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara.
Describing the relations between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire as being “of the highest priority, for reasons which are self-evident”, President Akufo-Addo noted that one of the areas of focus in this Agreement will be in the cocoa industry.
“Together, we produce 65 per cent of the world’s cocoa, and if we work together and coordinate our policies, we can protect our farmers and guarantee a better life for them,” he said.
Battered by the volatility of the international cocoa market, despite their position as largest suppliers of the commodity, the two countries have resolved to develop solutions which will ensure resilience to price volatility in the market and thereby, curb the fall in revenues derived from cocoa exports. Cocoa contributes to about 15 percent of Cote d’Ivoire’s GDP and 7 percent of Ghana’s.
Reiterating his commitment to strengthening ECOWAS, President Akufo-Addo said it was extremely important for the welfare of the 350 million people living in West Africa, that its leaders showed strong political will to make ECOWAS an economic and political success, and to make the integration of the region real.
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May 8, 2017
Ghana-Japan to strengthen trade relations
Source: GNA
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has said Government is determined to co-operate with companies and countries interested in providing high quality infrastructure in the country, especially in the areas of construction and manufacturing.
He said as part of the Government’s industrialization plan, it was more than willing to allow those companies to set up and operate in the country.
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May 12, 2017
Riyadh backs Equatorial Guinea as new OPEC member
(UPI)- Equatorial Guinea has a role to play in oil market stabilization efforts and has support to become a member of OPEC, the Saudi Arabian government said.
Saudi officials hosted the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in Jeddah. According to the officials Saudi Press Agency, both sides discussed restoring balance to a market bogged down by too much supply.
Saudi Arabia is the largest contributor to an agreement coordinated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to balance the market through managed declines.
“The two countries expressed support for another six-month extension or more for the oil storage to shore up to their historic commercial levels,” the press agency reported. “The Kingdom also lent its support for Equatorial Guinea’s joining OPEC, describing Equatorial Guinea as yet another factor of stability of the oil markets.”
The country has lobbied to join OPEC at least since 2009 and advanced on its regional partnerships last year by hosting a joint African-Arab summit. In December, it joined OPEC efforts as a non-member state by agreeing to cut about 12,000 barrels per day from production.
The country is the third-largest oil producer regionally and could add at least another 200,000 barrels per day to OPEC if accepted.
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May 18, 2017
US Snub of African Union Should Spur Regional Powers to Unite
Newsweek
In April, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stood up one of Africa’s most powerful people, African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki. Tillerson invited Faki to Washington for a meeting, then backed out at the last minute. Former U.S. ambassador to the AU, Reuben Brigety, called the Secretary of State’s snub the dumbest thing in the world, adding that 21st-century Africa has a bigger voice in global politics, which could cost U.S. presence in Africa. The Conversation
First, it signals the return of the U.S./Africa policy that held sway from 1960 to 2001. In that era, Africa was on the back burner when it came to American foreign policy. It was against this backdrop that the Rwandan genocide, and the implosions of Somalia, Liberia and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) took place.
Second, this proves that Africa is strategically insignificant to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. When you add the rising nationalism in Europe to the equation, the continent finds itself in a precarious position internationally.
As such, there’s a clear and present need for African led-states like South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt and Libya to act in concert. These countries have been referred to as Africa’s Big Five.
http://www.newsweek.com/rex-tillerson-african-union-trump-africa-policy-611324
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July 10, 2017
Africa North Korea’s surprising, lucrative relationship with Africa
Near the southern tip of Africa, 8,000 miles from Pyongyang, this capital city is an unlikely testament to North Korean industry.
There’s the futuristic national history museum, the sleek presidential palace, the sprawling defense headquarters and the shadowy munitions factory. They were built — or are still being constructed — by North Korea, for a profit.
For years, North Korea has used African nations like this one as financial lifelines, building infrastructure and selling weapons and other military equipment as sanctions mounted against its authoritarian regime.
Although China is by far North Korea’s largest trading partner, the smaller African revenue streams have helped support the impoverished Hermit Kingdom, even as its leaders develop an ambitious nuclear weapons program in defiance of the international community.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/north-koreas-surprising-lucrative-relationship-with-africa/2017/07/10/c4e6f65d-30fe-4bd2-b178-d90daaac3007_story.html
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August 21, 2017
Ghana to Sign Gas Deal With Equatorial Guinea
The government of Ghana is signed a government-to-government Heads of Agreement with Equatorial Guinea for the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas from that country to Ghana, for a period of 5 years.
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August 24, 2017
Ghana, Equatorial Guinea waive visa requirements
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
Ghana and Equatorial Guinea have agreed on the waiver of visa requirements for citizens of both countries holding Diplomatic, Official, and Service passports. In a communiqué issued at the end of President Akufo-Addo’s three-day state visit, both countries also agreed to reactivate the Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation which serves as the framework to promote cooperation in the areas of oil and gas, energy, agriculture, civil aviation, trade, defense, and security among others. The twenty-point communiqué was signed by Ghana’s Foreign Minister – Shirley Ayokor Botchway, and her Equatorial Guinean counterpart – Agapito Mba Mokuy.
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September 14, 2017
Eleven African countries will be probed by the UN over their military ties with North Korea
The United Nations (UN) will probe North Korea’s military cooperation with 11 African countries, according to a report published by an eight-member panel of experts on Sept. 9.
The report claims North Korea sidestepped international sanctions to provide military and security assistance to Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Mozambique, Namibia, Benin, Botswana, Mali, and Zimbabwe.
Over the last few years, North Korea has looked to Africa for allies as it becomes more isolated from the world. In June 2015, Angola was found to be in possession of North Korean marine engines and military boats. At a summit in Kampala in May 2016, South Korean officials at the event announced that Uganda pledged to stop military dealings with North Korea after a UN report revealed the pariah state was offering security training to the Ugandan police force.
The relationship between North Korea and Africa dates back to the Cold War where the country was looking to find allies among newly liberated, socialist countries in Africa. Like China and Russia, it was looking to stamp out western influence on the continent, and present its adversary, South Korea, as a puppet of the US. And while China’s relationship with Africa is now mainly concerned with trade and development, North Korea is determined to find military and diplomatic support on the continent.
Eleven African countries will be probed by the UN over their military ties with North Korea
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September 28, 2017
Ghana Doubles Energy Revenue With Increased Oil Production
Oxford Business Group
A report from the central bank shows that Ghana’s state oil revenues more than doubled between the second half of 2016 and the first half of this year, from $93.4m to $191.3m, driven largely by increases in production levels.
Output should increase even further in the near future – in May the Sankofa field began producing oil ahead of schedule, and it is expected to start with natural gas as well in February 2018.
Sankofa is part of the $7.9bn Offshore Cape Three Points Project operated with a 47.2 percent stake by Eni, and partners Vitol (37.8 percent) and GNPC (15.0 percent). The new field is projected to generate some 45,000 bpd.
Together the TEN and Sankofa fields were initially expected to lift Ghana’s crude oil production to an average of 123,416 bpd this year, up from 88,487 bpd in 2016, according to projections in the March budget. However, as output has since risen from the newer fields, the deputy minister of energy, Mohammed Amin Adam, said in June total average production this year could top the 200,000-bpd mark.
The new fields’ added output should help Ghana move closer to its target of 6.3 percent economic growth for this year, up from 3.5 percent in 2016 and 3.9 percent in 2015.
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October 23, 2017
Moody’s Downgrades Angola’s Ratings To B2
Moody’s
Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings of the Government of Angola to B2 from B1 and changed the outlook to stable from negative. It also affirmed Angola’s short-term issuer ratings at Not Prime.
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October 23, 2017
Half of central Congo’s 1.5 million displaced people have returned
Reuters
Almost half of the 1.5 million people displaced by an insurrection in central Democratic Republic of Congo since last year have returned home as violence has waned in recent months, the United Nations said on Monday.
Fighting in central Congo’s Kasai region between government forces and militia fighters demanding their withdrawal from the region has killed up to 5,000 people since August of last year.
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November 10, 2017
AFRICOM Holds Inaugural Africa Senior Enlisted Leader Conference
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November 21, 2017
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s longtime president has resigned
NPR
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has resigned from office, according to the speaker of the country’s parliament. Midway through proceedings to impeach the president Tuesday, Speaker Jacob Mudenda read what he said was Mugabe’s letter of resignation as the body of lawmakers erupted in jubilant applause.
The resignation, which ends the tenure of one of the world’s longest-ruling leaders, comes just one day after Mugabe, 93, ignored a deadline set by his own party to step down — and it follows a week in which Mugabe had been under house arrest by the military, which had seized power in what it described as a “bloodless correction.”
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November 24, 2017
Zimbabwe’s new president Emmerson Mnangagwa offers to compensate white farmers who lost their land
eNews Channel Africa (eNCA)
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s newly-sworn-in president Emmerson Mnangagwa promised to compensate white farmers who lost their land during his predecessor’s notorious land reform programme.
On 24 November 2017, Mnangagwa became only the third President of Zimbabwe since its independence, following in the footsteps of Canaan Banana and Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa said the while land reform was inevitable and cannot be reversed, those farmers who were removed from their land will receive compensation.
The new president promised elections will be held next year.
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Video: New Zimbabwe President promises to compensate white farmers who’s land was stolen under Mugabe
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November 27, 2017
Angola’s new president picks apart the dos Santos empire
LUANDA – The start of the clean-up operation did not take long.
Within three months of taking control of Angola, President Joao Lourenco sacked his predecessor’s daughter as head of the state-run oil company and set about dismantling the empire built by Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
A presidential decree in mid-November swiftly ended the reign of Isabel dos Santos – Africa’s richest women – as boss of Sonangol, the country’s troubled economic flagship which supplied three-quarters of its revenue.
A little over a year ago, the 44-year-old “Princess”, was named by her father as head of the company, sparking outcry among the opposition.
But despite her standing, Lourenco dismissed her, later saying: “Sonangol is Angola’s golden goose, we are going to take care of it very carefully.”
Within a few weeks, the bosses loyal to dos Santos heading critical institutions and sectors — including the central bank, oil, diamond industry and the media — were replaced by allies of the new leader.
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January 17, 2018
Patrice Lumumba: Commemorating 57th anniversary of his assassination
The Herald (Harare, Zimbabwe)
January and February are two of the saddest months for most Africans and people of African descent on the continent and in the African Diaspora. The source of this melancholy is Europe and the United States of America. The recent utterances attributed to one of the leaders of these countries rubs salt into our wounds at a time when we want to reflect on the pain Europe and the United States of America has inflicted on us through centuries of white supremacy (racism), slavery, colonialism, capitalism and imperialism.
A noted white historian, Basil Davidson wrote in 1987, “The racism that we know was born in Europe and America from the cultural need to justify doing to black people, doing to Africans, what could not morally or legally be done to white people, and least of all to Europeans.
To justify the enslavement of Africans, in short, it was culturally necessary to believe, or be able to believe, that Africans were inherently and naturally less than human, but were beings of a somehow sub-human, non-human, nature. That was the cultural basis, in this context, of the slave trade and of the modern imperialism in Africa which followed the slave trade.
Dr Cheikh Anta Diop writes that “imperialism, like the prehistoric hunter, first killed the being spiritually and culturally, before trying to eliminate it physically. The negation of the history and intellectual accomplishments of Black Africans was cultural, mental murder, which preceded and paved the way for their genocide here and there in the world.”
On the 17th January 1961, Africa lost one of its greatest sons, Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. On the 20th January 1973, Amilcar Cabral of Guinea Bissau was assassinated in Conakry, Guinea.
On the 3rd February 1969, Dr Eduardo Mondlane, the founder in 1962 of Frelimo and Samora Machel’s predecessor, was assassinated by a parcel bomb in Dar es Salaam. On 21st February 1965, Malcolm X succumbed under a hail of bullets at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York. On the 1st February 1974, Onkgopotse Tiro, a young Black Consciousness Movement leader was assassinated by a parcel bomb in Gaborone, Botswana. On the 27th February 1978, the founding President of the PAC, Robert Sobukwe died of what PAC members believe was a cancer induced disease. On 7th February 1986, well renowned scholar Cheikh Anta Diop died in his sleep in Senegal.
Lumumba was killed for his country’s resources and for fear by Dwight Eisenhower’s administration that Lumumba could expel the Rockefeller and Morgan families who controlled the Congo’s economy by virtue of their joint monopoly of the banking system.
The second reason Lumumba was killed was that under pressure from other African nations, he nullified the agreement giving Detwiler carte blanche over his nation’s critical resources.
Lumumba’s trouble began the day that he and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana signed an agreement they regarded as another step toward the creation of the United States of Africa.
A year earlier, Nkrumah had signed an agreement with Sekou Toure of Guinea asking their respective parliaments to ratify a similar agreement. White supremacists held that another man had no right to do what he pleased with his country’s resources and to decide the destiny of his country. This is what Fanon refers to when he says in racist societies a black man is not regarded as human.
http://www.herald.co.zw/patrice-lumumba-commemorating-57th-anniversary-of-his-assassination/
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January 31, 2018
Niger Govt Partners with North Korea on Health, Infrastructure, Power
Plans are afoot by the Niger State government to partner with the North Korean government in health care delivery, infrastructural development and power.
Decision to this effect was reached in Minna during a courtesy visit to Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello by the North Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Jong Yong Chol.
The Governor who was impressed with the level of development so far achieved by the Koreans said the state will further strengthen relationship with the country so as to derive the maximum benefit from the arrangement.
He explained that his administration was desirious of a one stop state of the art medical facility that can provide first class medical services for Nigerlites and all Nigerians and that is capable of reducing the huge investment on medical tourism to Dubai, India, Germany and Cario by Nigerians.
The Governor who was optimistic that with the effective collaboration and partnerships with the Koreans in this area, health care delivery in the state will greatly improve and the huge forex being expended annually on those seeking medical treatment abroad will drastically reduced.
http://metrowatchonline.com/niger-govt-partners-north-korea-health-infrastructure-power/
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A speech by Ghana’s president called for Africa to end its dependency on Europeans
December 05, 2017
Video: Ghana’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo speaking in France
French president Emmanuel Macron with Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Presidential palace in Accra, Ghana.
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February 21, 2018
Africa: Ghana hosts 5th meeting of presidential task force on ECOWAS single currency
The summit aimed at assessing progress towards a single regional currency by 2020.
The Fifth Meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Single Currency Program has taken place in Accra.
The meeting brought together Heads of States, Governors of Central Banks and the Finance and Foreign Ministers from the ECOWAS sub-region to deliberate on the implementation of the ECOWAS Single Currency program by the year 2020.
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President of Ghana Akufo Addo full speech 5th Meeting of the Presidential Taskforce on the ECOWAS Single Currency
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March 23, 2018
Ghana: Parliament approves controversial US ‘military base’ MoU
Parliament on March 23, 2018, approved the controversial Ghana-US defence cooperation agreement which seeks to provide the United States access into the country to camp its military forces.
The approval was done by only Majority Members of Parliament because the Minority staged a walkout during the debate on the Floor of the House.
Ghana’s Cabinet had agreed to provide the US’ military troop a place near the Kotoka International Airport, and also give them unhindered access to some key installations following a Memorandum of Understanding between the government of Ghana and the US government.
The MoU was laid before before Parliament on Tuesday recommending to Parliament to ratify the agreement, but it was rejected by the opposition in Parliament.
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November 16, 2018
ECOWAS Parliament recommends adoption of single currency
The adoption of a single currency in Africa has been identified as a viable way of integrating trade and removing all obstacles to free trade and movement in ECOWAS member States.This was disclosed by participants at the opening of the 2nd ordinary session of the 2018 ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja on Thursday.
Developing Intra-community trade is a sore point constantly raised when when the issue of the economic development of African countries is discussed.
Presently intra-community trade in Africa stands at 15% while trade at European Union is at 70%
The Speaker, National Assembly of Niger Republic believes this is not good enough and he insists it is a situation frican legislators must seek to turn around.
Many of the lawmakers believe instituting an African free Trade zone would help. With over 1 billion people in Africa, they insist many more countries buying into signing African free trade zone will make the continent the largest free trade zone in the world with an expected GDP of about $2.5trillion and trade volume in the region to move from 15%to 60% by 2022.
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November 19, 2018
Tullow Oil moves 30,000 barrels to Kenya’s Coast since June 2018
By Elizabeth Kivuva
The Star, Kenya
Oil mining firm Tullow has so far moved 30,000 barrels ( 4,285metric tons) of oil from Turkana to Kenya Petroleum Oil Refinery in Mombasa since June.
The British firm said it moves 600 barrels per day dispatched in four trucks every two days under the Early Oil Pilot Scheme. However, this was below the targeted 2000 barrels per day.
The joint venture with National Oil Corporation is undertaking full production after resolving disputes in August with the community seeking jobs, tenders and better share of the revenue.
The dispute had led to a two-month suspension on operations.
In their Trading Update for the period between July 26 and November 15, the British Oil firm is targeting to make high exploration in East Africa and increase on shareholders’ equity.
The firm has now taken the decision to include Twiga field to the two mines Amosing and Ngamia fields, after production and water injection trials in the Foundation Stage Development.
“This has been another period of very solid delivery from Tullow against the backdrop of continued volatility in the oil price,” chief executive Paul Mcdade said.
The pipeline project and engineering for transportation of crude oil from Lokichar fields, whose design works were announced in May this year, is expected to be completed by March.
The cost of the pipeline is estimated at Sh110 billion ($1.1 billion), with a further $2.9 billion (Sh290 billion) needed for upstream operations.
“Good progress continues to be made on the Kenya development project. The upstream and pipeline Front End Engineering and Design work is progressing to plan and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019,” the report stated. They expect to ship the first crude in the first half of 2019.
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November 28, 2018
Oil Libya makes a re-brand into OLA Energy in Kenya
Libyan Express
Libya Oil Kenya Limited unveiled a new visual identity Wednesday, under the brand OLA Energy, the new brand for its extensive network of retail outlets and petroleum products, Capital Business reported.
“This new brand captures the essence of our company as a modern energy player across our footprint in Kenya and Africa; it characterizes our strength and success, and expresses the drive and ambition felt throughout our Group in this phase of its evolution,” the Libya Oil Holdings CEO, Mazin Ramadan, commented.
Ramadan added that OLA Energy pays homage to our proud heritage – the new name is abbreviated from ‘OiLibya Africa’ – whilst also marking a bold step toward our future; we are working to introduce a new range of fresh retail experiences to our customers, in keeping with our mission to deliver the highest quality services to every visitor to our service stations across the continent.
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December 6, 2018
Ghana: Tullow Oil Seeking Partners to Acquire New Block
Reuters Africa
ACCRA- UK oil explorer Tullow Oil is seeking partners in a bid to acquire a new oil block in Ghana which launched its first oil bidding round in October 2018, the company’s managing director Kweku Awotwi said on Thursday.
Tullow is already lead operator of two oil fields in Ghana including its flagship offshore Jubilee field, with cumulative output currently at around 160,000 barrels per day, Awotwi told reporters in Accra.
Tullow had to delay the development of its second field – Tweneboah, Enyenra, Ntomme (TEN) due to a maritime border dispute between Ghana and its western neighbour Ivory Coast.
Awotwi said following a resolution of the dispute by the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea last year, Tullow had drilled three wells for TEN and two more for Jubilee. “Things are improving and production is going up,” he said, projecting that output could reach 180,000 barrels daily by the end of March next year. (Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
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December 8, 2018
Why EAU Monetary Union could be delayed
The East African
By JAMES ANYANZWA
East Africa’s plan to have a single currency by the year 2024 could be delayed if the recommendations by the region’s Sectoral Council on Finance and Economic Affairs (SCFEA) is anything to go by.
SCFEA has asked the EAC Council of Ministers to consider amending the East African Monetary Union (EAMU) protocol to grant some key institutions the independence they require to operate smoothly.
There are four critical institutions which are necessary for the implementation of a single currency regime, as provided for in the protocol for the establishment of the EAMU.
These are the East African Financial Services Commission (EAFSC), East African Monetary Institute (EAMI), East African Statistics Bureau (EASB) and the East African Surveillance, Compliance and Enforcement Commission (EASCEC).
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Why-EAC-Monetary-Union-could-be-delayed/2560-4886916-10c9y4qz/index.html
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December 11, 2018
How oil discoveries derailed Kenya and Uganda debt plans
The Standard
The discovery of oil at the little known Kodekode village in Nakukulas location in Turkana East District in 2012 was a turning point for the country in many ways.
The big find, as it came to be known, had thrust Kenya among the league of oil producing countries overnight and was hailed as a game changer for a country whose other traditional exports were shrinking at an alarming rate.
However, unknown to many Kenyans, the mandarins at Treasury had already started crunching the numbers in the intervening months between the announcement and the actual extraction of the first drop of oil from the Turkana fields.
The oil find would start shaping State policy in a move that was seen as having handed the country a blank cheque to start spending oil money that was not there, driving it on the brink of a debt crisis.
The oil discovery also had a geopolitical significance, with landlocked Uganda also making a similar find.
“The oil that was discovered in Uganda is much lower than what has been discovered in Kenya,” then Energy Minister and current Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi said at the time.
A resource race would ensue as Kenya looked to outdo Uganda in being the first country in the region to export oil despite the uneconomical cost of trucking the commodity all the way to the Mombasa port.
According to the Kenya Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (KCSPOG), transporting 2,000 barrels of oil per day to Mombasa would cost the country Sh3 billion.
Kiraitu was to be proven wrong a few years later as Uganda’s find proved to be significant at 6.5 billion barrels against Kenya’s 754 million barrels.
This notwithstanding, East Africa was suddenly thrust into the global scene, expecting a huge windfall from the black gold which with the inclusion of South Sudan’s 3.5 billion barrels made up 0.63 per cent of all the proved reserves in the world.
“East Africa’s discovery of oil does not rank it amongst uniquely endowed nations, nor does the quantity of oil suggest that those discoveries will make a significant impact on the world market,” the Institute of Economic Affairs said in a report.
But it was enough to lure both countries into the speculative debt markets. This as they went on a dollar debt binge that is now threatening their economies.
Uganda’s national debt has nearly trebled in the last three years to more than 50 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), creating a risk of default risk, since nearly two-thirds of the debt is external.
Kenya’s debt, on the other hand, has hit Sh5.1 trillion this year and the country now faces its major test in settling two significantly heavy dollar-dominated loans without any viable source of the money.
The trend has caught on in other African countries, prompting the withdrawal of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) support in Kenya, Zambia, Congo and Mozambique which could otherwise have offered dollars to restructure loans.
Kenya was among the sub-Saharan countries under IMF programme that has risen nearly five-fold between end-2014 and end-2017 from $1.8 billion (Sh180 billion) to $7.2 billion (Sh720 billion) to tame the financing gap and manage debt.
Only Chad and Gabon have secured bailouts from the IMF.
Mozambique has set the pace for resource-rich African countries to pay off their dollar debts with natural resources.
The southern African country has reached an agreement with the bulk of its creditors to restructure a $726.5 million (Sh72.6 billion) Eurobond, including extending maturities and sharing future revenues from huge offshore gas projects, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.
Bloomberg reported that under the deal, Mozambique would issue a new $900 million (Sh90 billion) Eurobond maturing in 2033 with a coupon of 5.875 per cent – just over half what the current outstanding bond was designed to pay in interest.
Through a separate instrument, creditors would also receive five per cent of future fiscal revenues from the Area 1 and Area 4 natural gas projects, though payments would be capped at $500 million (Sh50 billion).
Kenya expects to settle Sh185 billion foreign commercial debt including $750 million (Sh75 billion) five-year Eurobond next June coupled with $766 million (Sh76.6 billion) syndicated loan in March.
Capital outflows
The country is hoping to roll over part of the debt by getting a syndicate of banks to stretch repayment dates.
However, Kenya operates in a global economy and while post-2008 global financial crisis meant Americans were printing money and lending rates were as low as 0.25 per cent, the debt was affordable.
African countries were issuing bonds at an average of six per cent and lately at an average of eight per cent yet they celebrated oversubscription while foreign creditors were laughing all the way to the bank.
The 10-year US Treasury yield was 2.46 per cent at the beginning of this year and had risen to 3.09 per cent by October 11 this year.
The US Federal rates increased by 0.25 per cent to 2.25 per cent. Global macroeconomic shocks such as capital outflows from emerging markets and oil price instability could weaken the shilling, increasing external debt repayment costs.
This means that refinancing current loans will inevitably be expensive.
Although some analysts say that the Mozambique way is a viable option, Treasury officials say the country will not explore this route.
“We are not including any matter of oil in any of our economic outlooks or projections,” said Treasury Principle Secretary Dr Kamau Thugge.
Kenya will make about Sh6.4 trillion from the Turkana oil find alone if commercial production starts by 2020.
An Oxfam report has also suggested that the oil will be completely depleted by 2043, about 23 years, while IEA estimates that at 80,000 barrels a day, Kenyan reserves will be depleted in just under 25 years.
The country has four Eurobonds and one tap sale. The first Eurobond is estimated at $270 billion (Sh27 trillion), part of which has to be paid in June next year and in 2024.
This year, the country also took a 10-year $1 billion (Sh100 billion) bond that matures in 2028 and a 30-year $1 billion bond that matures in 2048.
Oil may be the only steady source of dollars that could service these debts since the Government has to keep on borrowing.
With oil trading at $59 (Sh5,900) a barrel, Kenya could easily get dollars from its finds which according to Global development charity Oxfam report, the break-even point for Kenya’s oil will be about $45 (Sh4,500) per barrel.
Oxfam says the country will make on average about Sh280 billion every year from the estimated 600 million barrels of oil in Turkana.
“The oil royalties are spent already, we need more oil or a faster working economy,” said Deepak Dave of Riverside Capital.
“By borrowing against oil reserves, the Government is now in the business of taking investor type risk instead of renting a national treasure. However, debts raised from infrastructure should be repaid out of that specific infrastructure,” said Mr Dave.
However, as Aly Khan-Satchu, chief executive of Rich Management, said in an earlier interview, the country’s biggest risk is that its investments have a sub-optimal return on investment.
The SGR cannot pay for itself and is actually costing the country more money to maintain as it made a Sh9.98 billion loss in its first year of operations.
Another radical move proposed by analysts would be to take Kenya’s debt package it into one and sell it on the open market for a lesser rate essentially called debt restructuring.
The National Treasury has been looking for a loan negotiation and financial modelling expert to help reform the debt office.
The adviser, to be hired through the World Bank, will need to be good at issuing and refinancing debt.
According to a notice by the ministry, the adviser will serve for the next eight months, which is crucial for the Government’s management of the first Eurobond and syndicated loan repayments.
“The consultant should have an excellent understanding of the financial sector reform issues with specific emphasis on debt management, issuance and restructuring,” said the notice.
The expert is also supposed to help drive changes at the Treasury’s debt management office, which is under pressure from international partners over worrying levels of repayment of the Sh5.1 trillion debt.
Dr Thugge, however, downplayed this was just a regular appointment.
“We are not looking for a restructuring expert. We are simply looking for someone to head the PDMO since the contract of the previous head expired. It is a regular occurrence in the Government,” he said.
Treasury also issued an internal advertisement in July seeking 20 officers to fill vacancies after breaking up its risk and debt mobilisation functions.
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December 12, 2018
Equatorial Guinea Primed for Huge Growth as Host of 2019 ‘Year of Energy’
Source: APO
11 new oil and gas wells to be drilled in 2019, with $2.4 billion investment
2019 to be bumper year for Equatorial Guinea’s oil and gas sector, with Year of Energy (YearOfEnergy2019.com) initiative providing impetus for intra-African cooperation; 11 new oil and gas wells to be drilled in 2019, with $2.4 billion investment; Emphasis placed on economic diversification, underscored by energy sector growth
After a year of sector recovery and pan-African alliance building, Equatorial Guinea is ready to capitalize on expected new investment and solidify its global standing through its ‘Year of Energy’ campaign. In 2019, Equatorial Guinea will host and promote multiple events to champion its oil and gas projects and promote intra-African cooperation, including flagship events for the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
An improved economic outlook in Equatorial Guinea is due in large part to expected foreign direct investment in oil and gas during 2019, with 11 new wells to be drilled. Already, five platforms have been contracted to perform drilling of new wells. These include greenfield prospects held by ExxonMobil, Kosmos Energy, Marathon Oil and Noble Energy. 2019 has been designated the Year of Energy by the MMH, highlighting the nation’s energy diplomacy in recent years, its investment in sustainable oil and gas sector growth at home, and its support for African oil and gas industry growth through memberships of APPO, GECF and its increasingly visible presence in the Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Equatorial Guinea has worked to make the business environment appealing to international investors, while also protecting the local economy, and has moved up in the World Bank’s Doing Business Index, with particular improvements made during 2018 and 2019. The global report specifically notes a law adopted in 2019 that regulates the mediation of contract disputes and creates a resolution mechanism, and a law from 2018 that eliminated the need to obtain an authorization from the Office of the Prime Minister to start a new business.
In 2019, Equatorial Guinea will host the triannual APPO Cape VII Conference & Exhibition (April 1-5, 2019), will promote its available acreage at the Africa Oil & Power Investor Forum (June 11) and Africa Oil & Power Conference in Cape Town (October 2-4) and will hold the GECF 5th Gas Summit (November 26-29, 2019), the first time the event is being held on the African continent.
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December 13, 2018
India’s military in Africa
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December 14, 2018
Could China squeeze the U.S. out of its only permanent military base in Africa?
While Djibouti is slightly smaller than New Jersey and has a population of under 1 million, its strategic location gives it an outsized influence. At the southern end of the Red Sea, Djibouti is on the shipping route between Asia and the Suez Canal. Every day an estimated 4.8 million barrels of oil transit the Bab el-Mandab strait adjacent to Djibouti.
Djibouti’s proximity to terrorist havens in Yemen and Somalia also made it an ideal location for the U.S. military. Camp Lemonnier, a former French foreign legion base, became an expeditionary base for counterterrorism operations after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The base, which shares a runway with Djibouti’s only international airport, has grown significantly over the years.
The base houses thousands of military personnel to support operations in the region. The military reports killing approximately 254 al-Shabab militants through 32 airstrikes in Somalia this year so far. That is a significant increase over the approximately 150 Somali militants reportedly killed in the previous year. Djibouti is also adjacent to Yemen, where the United States has been supporting Saudi-led efforts against Houthi militants.
In October, the military announced $240 million worth of contracts for expansion of facilities that will include infrastructure to support the Air Force’s largest cargo jets. This is just part of the $1.4 billion plan for the base that the Pentagon announced in 2012. The Obama administration entered a 30-year lease for Camp Lemonnier in 2014 at a cost of $63 million per year.
While the United States and other countries have military interests in Djibouti, China has made major investments into the country’s infrastructure. This could help Djibouti be a node in China’s massive “One Belt, One Road” project to connect markets across Asia, Africa and Europe.
“The Djiboutians are up to their neck in debt to China,” Reuben Brigety, former U.S. ambassador to the African Union told The Post. Brigety said he expects this leverage to be used to force the Djiboutian government to hand control of the port to a Chinese company within the next six months.
“The Chinese will eventually use that enormously important strategic position to crowd out U.S. military operations,” Brigety said.
The first pillar of the Trump administration’s new Africa strategy is advancing trade and commercial ties between the United States and Africa. While investment in Djibouti could increase American influence, China certainly has a head start.
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December 14, 2018
U.S. to Africa: Pick Either US or China and Russia, Not Both
WASHINGTON— President Trump plans to reshape America’s policy in Africa by challenging the continent’s leaders to make a strategic choice to align themselves with America instead of Russia or China.
One overriding concern, U.S. officials said, is China’s expansive presence on the continent, from its East African military base in Djibouti to its role as one of Zambia’s biggest debtholders. China is also spending billions of dollars to build railways, dams, oil refineries and other major projects across Africa.
China’s deepening ties come as Russia has expanded its military cooperation on the continent, including places like the Central African Republic, where Moscow has provided weapons. The administration is now framing those developments as national security threats to America as it tries to offer a reliable alternative with trade and investment.
U.S. trade with Africa represents a small percentage of the country’s exports and imports. In 2017, the U.S. exported about $14 billion in goods to sub-Saharan Africa and imported nearly $25 billion, according to the U.S. Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. China recently agreed to invest more than $60 billion more in Africa, a move that gives Beijing more leverage and influence to counter any new American initiatives.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-declare-russia-china-national-security-threats-in-africa-11544704321
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December 14, 2018
Nigeria files $1.1bn legal claim against Shell, Eni over 2011 oil deal
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Video: Bob Marley – “Get Up Stand Up”
Written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh and released in 1973 with Bob Marley & The Wailers.
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Video: “The United States of Africa” Debate “A dream or a possible reality”
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Did you know?
Sir Winston Churchill’s speech in the University of Zurich, 1946 on the United States of Europe
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 26, 1951 – 7 April 7, 1955
Part 1
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Part 2
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Africa diaspora
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Video: Africa diaspora banking without borders
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http://diaspora.kcbbankgroup.com
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Africa: Diaspora remittances to Africa hits $60 billion
By Onwuka Nzeshi
This Day
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on January 4, 2013 disclosed that Africans in diaspora remitted a total of $60 billion to the continent in 2012.
The World Bank had ranked Nigeria as the fifth among the top recipients of diaspora remittances while India is leading the pack of countries whose citizens send huge returns home.
Regional Adviser of the organization for Africa, Mr. Charles Kwenin, disclosed this at the National Diaspora Policy Advocacy workshop held at the National Assembly, Abuja.
Kwenin, who made a case for the formulation of a diaspora policy in different countries across Africa said such a policy would provide the framework in addressing the needs of Africans living in foreign countries.
He said that given the growing influence and relevance of diaspora issues globally, Africa had no choice but to explore the opportunities available in it.
Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, who declared the workshop open hailed Nigerians in diaspora over their contributions towards the economic development of the country.
Tambuwal , represented by the House Leader, Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, said Nigerians in diaspora have helped in no small measure in uplifting the living standards of their brethren at home.
He said that Nigerians in diaspora could play pivotal roles in government’s effort to advance the social and economic development in the country.
The House, Tambuwal said, was working on ways to encourage Nigerians in the diaspora to always remember home and contribute more meaningfully to national development.
He said that in addition to monetary remittances, Nigerians living abroad would be encouraged to invest in emerging industries in Nigeria. He charged the House Committee on diaspora to ensure the protection of Nigerians living abroad as diaspora issues had become and would continue to assume an important place in the country’s political agenda.
Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said that since the inception of the committee, it had intervened in several diaspora issues.
She advocated the institution of a National Policy on Diaspora as well as a National Commission for Diaspora Affairs adding that with such structures in place, Africa could surpass India in diaspora matters.
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Video: South Africa and its remittance situation
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Diaspora for Development in Africa
Sonia Plaza and Dilip Ratha, Editors
The World Bank
The diaspora of developing countries can be a potent force for development for their countries of origin, through remittances, but also, importantly, through promotion of trade, investments, research, innovation, and knowledge and technology transfers. This book brings relevant experience from both developed and developing countries to bear on issues confronting today’s governments in linking with their diaspora. The chapters present different approaches used by countries that have tried to maximize the possible gains from migration by engaging more comprehensively with different diaspora groups and individuals.
There has been a shift in the discussion from seeing the emigration of skilled people as a loss, to seeing skilled migration as an opportunity to get remittances, trade, investment projects, and new knowledge. China; India; Israel; Japan; the Republic of Korea; and Taiwan, China are examples of economies that have tapped into their diasporas as a source of knowledge. In addition, there has been a new emphasis on including both skilled and unskilled migrants as contributors to host and home country development.
Some African countries are pursuing policies to develop links with Africans abroad, either to encourage them to return or to use their skills, knowledge, or financial capital to foster African development. The book discusses concrete examples of diaspora initiatives that are being implemented in Africa. There are comprehensive reviews on how the diaspora can promote trade and investment linkages. Some developing countries are using dual citizenship to deepen ties with their diaspora. The book directly addresses the issues of remittances-linked financial instruments, investments by the diaspora, diaspora bonds, contributions of skilled and unskilled diaspora in transferring knowledge, analytical research on return migration, and concrete circular migration experiences. There is a need to have a better understanding of these initiatives and to see whether they can be scaled up or replicated in other countries worldwide.
The focus of the book is on Africa. However, the chapters should be of interest more broadly to other regions, as well.
Otaviano Canuto
Vice President
Poverty Reduction and Economic Management
World Bank
See book in pdf format at the link below. Click your back arrow to return to Dilemma X
Diaspora for Development in Africa -Sonia Plaza and Dilip Ratha, Editors