AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Kaberuka seizes the moment 25th May 2007 As economies grow and rival institutions falter, Africa's bank has a rare chance to establish a critical role on the continent The fireworks and acrobatic displays are over but the Shanghai effect lingers at the African Development Bank, which held its annual meeting there on 16-17 May. One of the ADB's most popular meetings ever, it pulled in some 2,500 delegates. Yet Bank President Donald Kaberuka has some very specific measures of success: he has to secure a substantial replenishment of the soft-loan African Development Fund (ADF) this year, cut back the Bank's stultifying bureaucracy and raise its profile, especially among African entrepreneurs who have been slow to tap its private sector fund.
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK The Shanghai set 25th May 2007 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site Much of the credit for the African Development Bank's Shanghai summit goes to the new management team under President Donald Kaberuka. He has assiduously built up personal ties...
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Big plans for power, roads and water 25th May 2007 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site The African Development Bank's new, big idea is a sharp focus on infrastructure funding - roads, ports, power generation and distribution, and water - as well as a...
Events are speeding up in Zimbabwe, albeit quietly. At first sight, it's business as usual: Minister of Environment and Tourism Francis Nhema wins a solidarity vote to head the UN Commission on Sustainable Development; the ruling ZANU-PF's Nathan Shamuyarira dismisses talks with the 'puppet opposition' MDC; and MPs in the Pan-African Parliament call for an end to Western meddling. There are important counters to those signals: Nhema's UN Chairmanship has already highlighted his country's worse... Events are speeding up in Zimbabwe, albeit quietly. At first sight, it's business as usual: Minister of Environment and Tourism Francis Nhema wins a solidarity vote to head the UN Commission on Sustainable Development; the ruling ZANU-PF's Nathan Shamuyarira dismisses talks with the 'puppet opposition' MDC; and MPs in the Pan-African Parliament call for an end to Western meddling. There are important counters to those signals: Nhema's UN Chairmanship has already highlighted his country's worsening situation. Moeletsi Mbeki of the South African Institute of International Affairs rejects the characterisation of the MDC as Western puppets. That's not just rhetorical point scoring against Shamuyarira: Moeletsi's brother, South African President Thabo Mbeki, has just discreetly hosted the first talks between the MDC and ZANU-PF. The two sides are due to meet again for talks under South African mediation next month. The Pan African parliament has agreed to investigate human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Add that to growing complaints within the South African Development Community that Zimbabwe isn't paying its bills and that its economic emigrants are out of control and the pressure for change seems to be mounting once again. Read more
CONGO-KINSHASA Dollars and mines 25th May 2007 A new government-backed investigation into billions of dollars of mining contracts lacks openness and the time to do the job The government's announcement last month that it will investigate about 60 mining contracts, agreed while civil wars raged from 1996 to 2003, risks disappointing everyone. Mining companies, especially...
AFRICAASIA The Western response 25th May 2007 Ostensibly, Western finance officials welcomed Asia's developing ties with Africa at the African Development Bank meeting in Shanghai. Norway's Secretary of State for International Development, Anne F. Stenhammer,...
UGANDA In the front ranks 25th May 2007 With the President's ear, Brigadier Noble Mayombo was one of the most influential officers in the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF). President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is Commander-in-Chief and...
CONGO-KINSHASA A wolf in the Congo 25th May 2007 Key to the contracts investigation in Congo-Kinshasa will be the role of the World Bank and the legacy of the anti-corruption policies pushed by its outgoing President, Paul...
GUINEA The troops see red 25th May 2007 As soldiers riot and elections are postponed, even the African Union tells Conté it is time to go Gunfire in the night was only the start of it. After a relatively calm April, discontent has spread again. Soldiers have continued sporadic shooting to warn President Lansana...
GHANA Banished ballots 25th May 2007 The debate over exiles having the right to vote combines with power-cuts to bring the opposition out on the streets The main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, has threatened to reject the results of the December 2008 elections if Ghanaians living abroad are allowed to vote. NDC...
AFRICAASIA Year of the Pig - the new scramble for Africa 25th May 2007 Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China Xiang Junbo explained that this is the Year of the Pig in the Chinese calendar, a symbol of fortune and good luck. For many of the 2,000 African delegates in Shanghai who heard him, that is starting to ring true. The revelation by African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka that the China Exim Bank, the country's official export credit agency, has agreed to finance projects worth some US$20...
UGANDA Room at the top 25th May 2007 The death of the President's closest military advisor opens a quiet succession contest The untimely death from acute pancreatitis of Brigadier Noble Mayombo was widely lamented. He was a top intelligence officer, Private Secretary to Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga and tipped...
CÔTE D'IVOIRE The Bank test 25th May 2007 One of the best tests of the peace accords is whether they prompt the African Development Bank to return to Abidjan. It moved to Tunisia in June 2003,...
CONGO-KINSHASA Kabila gets a rival 25th May 2007 An unexpected blast from the past has hit President Joseph Kabila with the victory of Léon Kengo wa Dondo in the 11 May poll for Senate President. This...
TANZANIA Grounded 25th May 2007 Praising the government's private sector growth initiatives earlier this year at the prestigious United States' Yale University, East Africa tycoon Reginald Mengi stressed the need to be 'careful'...
ALGERIA Not my party 25th May 2007 Algerians were fascinated and concerned by Nicolas Sarkozy's win in the French presidential poll. Many worry about the upsurge in terrorism at home and persistent reports about President...