Vol 3 (AAC) No 8 | GUINEACHINAAUSTRALIA Building an improbable railway 17th June 2010 There are two big problems with the new deal between the China International Fund and the small Australian mining company Bellzone announced in Conakry on 24 May to...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 8 | CHINA Chen Bingde 17th June 2010 People’s Liberation Army Chief of Staff, China Chinese arms are affordable options for African militaries looking to upgrade, and the advisors of the People’s Liberation Army are ready to meet that demand. On 23-31 May,...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 8 | CHINA Xia Huang 17th June 2010 Ambassador of China to Niger Xia Huang’s short tenure as Ambassador to Niger has been anything but uneventful. Since his arrival in Niamey in November 2009, Xia has contended with a coup that...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 8 | INDIA S.M. Krishna 17th June 2010 Minister for External Affairs, India After the resignation of New Delhi’s point man on Africa, Shashi Tharoor, in May, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna is taking an even more hands-on role in the cultivation of...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 7 | MAURITIUSINDIA Round-trips and hot money 20th May 2010 Indian companies are routing tens of billions of dollars through Mauritius each year in a giant tax avoidance scheme India is changing its tax laws in a bid to introduce greater transparency into its financial transactions with Mauritius. The aim is to stem ‘round-tripping’ of funds by politicians, businessmen and...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 7 | MAURITIUSINDIA Tweeting Tharoor and the cricket controversy 20th May 2010 Minister of State for External Affairs for Africa Shashi Tharoor considered himself a modern diplomat for his embracing of the internet messaging website Twitter. Yet his tweets from...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 7 | NIGERIACHINA Oiling the gears 20th May 2010 Beijing’s biggest African offer yet is a risky gambit to gain a major stake in the upstream and downstream sectors of Nigeria’s oil business Equal measures of optimism and scepticism greeted China’s announcement of an agreement to build three oil refineries worth US$23 billion. The terms of the memorandum of understanding are clear; the...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 7 | GABONCHINA Beleaguered Bélinga 20th May 2010 Gabon’s huge iron mine project due to begin production in 2011 has been delayed again by the new government’s plans to renegotiate terms When Gabon’s President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba was alive, his ministers had nothing but praise for the nearly US$4 billion Bélinga iron ore mine and associated logistics projects, described...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 7 | GHANASOUTH KOREA Building on oil money 20th May 2010 The US$10 billion STX housing deal gets its first hearing in Parliament just as the government prepares to borrow $1.5 bn. in future oil revenues The Ghanaian government is proposing to put up US$1.5 billion of its future oil revenues to finance the first phase of a controversial housing project with the South Korean construction...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 7 | CHINAAFRICA CIF, Beijing’s stalking horse 20th May 2010 Beijing’s relationship with the China International Fund is much clearer than it likes to admit. When the Hong Kong-registered CIF signed multibillion-dollar deals with pariah regimes in Guinea...