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Published 1st February 2012

Vol 5 (AAC) No 4


Sudan

Workers safe but oil at risk

Oil fields around Bentiu, South Sudan, where mainly Chinese companies have been pumping oil. Sven Torfinn / Panos
Oil fields around Bentiu, South Sudan, where mainly Chinese companies have been pumping oil.

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

Oil rows and workers caught in the crossfire force Beijing to develop political and military tools to accompany its ever-growing economic muscle

Sudan and South Sudan are dragging a reluctant China into their smouldering relations at a time when both sides say the situation is on the brink of open armed conflict. Beijing’s ‘win-win’ diplomacy in Africa serves it well when there are two winners. However, the case of Chinese workers held by the armed Sudanese opposition and the conflict between Juba and Khartoum over oil pose another test of Beijing’s commitment to non-interference.


Oil flows eastward

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

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Tension in Sudan and South Sudan boosts the Kenyan backers of the Lamu port and corridor projects. South Sudanese officials had already been in talks to join their...


China loses Bélinga

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

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After four years of tough renegotiations, China’s deal of the century is finally cancelled

Australia's BHP Billiton has won the rights to the US$5 billion Bélinga iron ore project from China Machinery Engineering Corporation. BHP and the Gabonese Mining Ministry agreed a...


Illegal loggers taken to task

Gabon’s government is scrutinising the activities of Chinese logging companies which have failed to respect international best practice. In an unprecedented move, the Gabonese Ministry of Water and...


Experts rate foreign aid

Researchers from three continents analyse the impact of Belgian and Chinese aid projects and policies

A new report from Belgian, Chinese and Congolese academics provides in-depth analysis on the contrasts between European and Chinese aid and trade policies in Congo-Kinshasa. Neither Conflict, nor...


Refining relations

President Idriss Déby Itno’s government has finally reached an agreement with the Chinese owners of the troubled Djermaya refinery. Discussions between the government, led by Justice Minister Abdoulaye...


Home, sweet Chinese home

A Chinese-built, multibillion-dollar housing project near the capital will test Beijing-Luanda relations

The government is under pressure to speed up construction projects to meet its promise to build a million houses in four years, ahead of September’s elections. The Nova...


Gécamines strikes again

Gécamines has used strong-arm tactics once again, this time to block the investment plans of Australia’s Anvil Mining. The state-owned mining company’s decision to review its partnership with...


Capitalists and communists

The Beijing government and China International Fund may be separate entities but the multiple links between the two become clearer with each new project. Two of the CIF’s...



Pointers

Nalinee 'Joy' Taveesin

Minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office

Zimbabwe had an unexpected, dramatic effect on Thai politics in January. When Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced her new cabinet, the opposition Democrat Party suddenly remembered that one,...


Mohammed Saad al Katatni

People’s Assembly Speaker

In a victory for the long-frustrated ambitions of the Muslim Brotherhood, the People’s Assembly has elected Mohammed Saad al Katatni, a stalwart of the MB’s political wing, as...