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Published 1st October 2013

Vol 6 (AAC) No 12

Zimbabwe

Look East again

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures
Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

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Chinese investment will dominate Zimbabwe’s economic policy as President Mugabe’s new government finds itself short of friends in the West

President Robert Mugabe’s government has announced that it will be putting even more business the way of its Asian trading partners. This is after refusals by the United States and the European Union to lift the ongoing sanctions on the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government.

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Ex-army officers fast-track power plant

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Military connections may have helped China Africa Sunlight Energy overcome the opposition of bureaucrats and activists

In May 2012, when the Movement of Democratic Change’s Elton Mangoma was still Energy Minister, he worried that the China Africa Sunlight Energy deal could be a case...

Closing tax loopholes

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Mauritius will host another round of talks to discuss amending a controversial tax treaty, as the finance sector shifts its focus to Africa

Mauritius has invited Indian officials to a new round of discussions, in early October, on the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) signed by the two countries in 1982....

Mega-projects and mega-ghost towns

Millions have been spent, but two big projects backed by Chinese and Indian firms have failed to live up to expectations.

A short drive north out of Port Louis, a new road passes a couple of sugar plantations before signs in both English and Chinese announce your arrival in...

The titanium rush

The government has warned Chinese company Hong Ti Minerals to develop its mining project quickly as other Chinese firms join the hunt

Such is the competition for Mozambique’s mining permits that the government has threatened to revoke licences from companies that do not quickly develop their concessions. Mining legislation requires...

Lamu corridor lags behind

As plans trundle on for an oil and transport project connecting South Sudan and Ethiopia to the Kenyan coast, China backs a new rail link for Uganda

Kenya says that the huge Lamu corridor project is progressing but in late August China put its support firmly behind a rival transport project. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government...

Wooing Juba

Talks about a loan worth US$1-2 billion and finance for mining and energy projects show the growing strength of relations

Diplomats from Beijing continue their courtship of the South Sudan government, with substantive talks about new billion-dollar loans and promises of Chinese diplomatic support. All this is intended...

Future shocks fund

The emerging economies agree to pool their money against financial shocks, but it may not be enough to protect them

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced at the Group of 20 Summit in St. Petersburg in early September that the governments of the BRICS grouping – Brazil, Russia, India,...

Making Djibouti a logistical hub

Chinese-financed port and rail projects could be a boon for the region's trade

On 8 September, Abubaker Mohamed Hadi, the President of the Djibouti Port and Free Zone Authority, presided over the ceremony to mark the start of construction at Damerjog...

Controversy over contracts

Irregularities in the award of multimillion-dollar telecommunications contracts to two Chinese companies lead to their cancellation

Concessions clear the way for Bong Mine

Activists won better terms for local communities from the Chinese investors in mine and railway works

Protestors celebrated a victory in September after China Union, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation and the China-Africa Development Bank agreed to employ more local people and do more...

Pointers

Tress Bucyanayandi

Minister of Agriculture, Uganda

Agriculture accounted for 23.4% of Uganda’s gross domestic product in 2011 and now the government has given Chinese companies the green light to set up operations in the...

Jan Steenkamp

Chief Executive, ARM Exploration and Technical Services

As African policymakers call for greater industrialisation on the continent, South Africa-based African Rainbow Minerals is defending its decision this year to set up a processing plant in...

Lasro Simbolon

Director of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Indonesia

Provincial governments should be the drivers of Indonesia-Africa trade, according to Jakarta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Jean-Baptiste Natama

Chief of Staff to the Chair of the African Union Commission

The African Union wants to form strategic alliances with its international partners to afford the organisation the financial and administrative capacity to implement programmes across the continent.

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