Pambazuka News is produced by a pan-African community of some 2,600 citizens and organisations - academics, policy makers, social activists, women's organisations, civil society organisations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators who together produce insightful, sharp and thoughtful analyses and make it one of the largest and most innovative and influential web forums for social justice in Africa. 
Emerging powers in Africa Watch
RSS FeedChina lost billions in diversification drive
2009-03-20, Issue 424
China has lost tens of billions of dollars of its foreign exchange reserves through a poorly timed diversification into global equities just before world markets collapsed last year. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the opaque manager of...
Lifan to set up $10mln assembly plant in Ethiopia
2009-03-20, Issue 424
Lifan Group, one of the biggest privately-owned enterprises in China, will set up a vehicle assembly plant, the first of its type, in Ethiopia with an initial investment outlay of $10 million, Pan Juequan, chief representative of the company and proj...
Libya may thwart China national’s takeover of Verenex
2009-03-20, Issue 424
Libya will exercise its right to buy Verenex Energy Inc., trumping a proposed C$499 million ($393 million) takeover of the Canadian explorer by China National Petroleum Corp. “We will exercise the right of preemption,” Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Liby...
China’s shot across the bows
Stephen Marks and Sanusha Naidu
2009-03-21, Issue 424
African leaders put their case as finance ministers from the world’s 20 richest countries met in London, ahead of next month’s G20 summit on the global economic downturn. British premier Gordon Brown took the opportunity to promote himself as Africa’...
China keeps it going
Stephen Marks and Sanusha Naidu
2009-03-13, Issue 423
As a leading UN economist argued that China could lead the world out of slump, all the signs last week were that Chinese investment in Africa was continuing unabated. So was concern by campaigners at the possible environmental and social impact of some Chinese deals and debate over the impact of Chinese traders and migrants. But there were also signs of continuing efforts by larger Chinese corporations to attend to their image. Meanwhile, the annual meeting of China’s parliament provided an occasion for an insight into future policy trends and thinking by China’s rulers.
Sino-DRC contracts to thwart the return of Western patronage
Antoine Roger Lokongo
2009-03-11, Issue 423
The DRC’s desire to choose its own mining trading partners, whether Chinese investors or Western corporations, calls the bluff of global financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank, writes Antoine Roger Lokongo. Negotiations the country has conducted reveal how these institutions are putting pressure on the DRC government to ditch the Socomin deal with China – a Beijing-based, joint-venture between the DRC’s Gécamines and a group of Chinese state-owned enterprises – as a condition to get its debt forgiven. That is clearly blackmail, Lokongo maintains, and is inconsistent with the spirit of free trade and globalisation.
MPs clash over British aid to China
2009-03-13, Issue 423
A cross-party row has broken out over a controversial finding by a committee of MPs that Britain should continue to supply aid to China. Hugh Bayley, a former government minister, has dissented from the main finding of a report by the international d...
The toxins trickle downward
2009-03-13, Issue 423
“POOR countries are innocent,” says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Nigerian managing director of the World Bank. They did not contribute one jot to the global credit crunch, and their banks and firms have few links to global capital markets. For a while, i...
Nigeria: Growth falters on oil side, global crisis
2009-03-13, Issue 423
In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and biggest oil producer, low crude prices are dragging down growth expectations, foreshadowing a dramatic slowdown in an economy that was teetering even in the good years. Nigeria has long struggled with a ...
Africa, Business Destination
2009-03-13, Issue 423
Togo is like much of West Africa — small, poor and an occasional producer of sensational soccer players—but for the bank. Lomé, Togo's capital, is home to Ecobank, a 21-year-old pan-African retail and corporate bank that, according to CEO Arnold Ekpe...
Italy to help Africa amid global crisis
2009-03-13, Issue 423
Italy will help Africa through the global economic downturn and aid its recovery when the worst is over, an Italian government official said here on Wednesday. At a briefing after a two-day meeting concerning the impact of the global economic crisis ...
Sudan seeks India’s help against ICC ‘targeting’ its president
2009-03-13, Issue 423
Attacking the US for its alleged double standards, Sudan Friday sought India’s diplomatic support against International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s decision to indict President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide in ...
SA's Standard takes third of Russian bank
2009-03-13, Issue 423
South Africa's Standard Bank is to take a 33 percent stake in Russian investment bank Troika Dialog, forging a major partnership deal despite the mounting economic crisis in Russia, the companies said Friday. Standard Bank will acquire the stake for ...
China ready to invest in Africa again
2009-03-13, Issue 423
China is regaining its appetite for acquisitions in Africa as asset prices on the continent tumble, according to Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender that is partially owned by China’s biggest bank. Jacko Maree, Standard’s chief executive, said in ...
Minmetals Seeks Metal Assets in South America, Southern Africa
2009-03-13, Issue 423
China Minmetals Corp., buying OZ Minerals Ltd. for A$2.6 billion ($1.7 billion), is seeking metal assets in South America and southern Africa, taking advantage of seven-year low commodity prices to secure supplies. China’s largest metals trader may a...
Unwanted Indian peacekeepers
2009-03-13, Issue 423
There are many apologists for the Indian armed forces serving the ideal of world peace under the UN flag. They believe that serving in the conflict-torn areas of Africa builds India’s image worldwide, earns it long-lasting friends and secures India’s...
Stanbic boosts China-Uganda trade
2009-03-13, Issue 423
Stanbic Bank has partnered with the Chinese businessperson in Uganda to boost trade between Uganda and China. The partnership resulted into the formation of the China Enterprises Chamber of Commerce in Uganda (CECCU), aimed at promoting trade and eco...
China to renew Somalia anti-piracy mission
2009-03-13, Issue 423
China's navy will renew an anti-piracy mission to the Gulf of Aden when the current commitment expires in the coming months, a naval top officer was quoted as saying by state media on Monday. China's three-ship anti-piracy flotilla took up its duties...
The Bank Behind China's Overseas Growth
2009-03-13, Issue 423
After four months of tough negotiations, Chinese and Russian officials February 17 signed a package of energy cooperation agreements, finalizing a credit-for-oil deal worth US$ 25 billion. The package includes a plan for a pipeline connecting Russian...
Nigeria, Others Face $700bn Funding Gap
2009-03-13, Issue 423
Nigeria and other developing countries face a financing shortfall of $270-700 billion to pay for their imports and service their debts this year, as the global economy falters and foreign investors withdraw, the World Bank has said. In a report publi...
Auctioning mineral assets is way to go, says adviser to Liberia
2009-03-13, Issue 423
Former Mintek CEO and one-time Department of Trade and Industry DDG, Dr Paul Jourdan, played a role in making the South African government the custodian of mineral rights in South Africa. Until the new regime was enforced, mineral rights were the pre...
Obama seeks strengthened ties with EAC
2009-03-13, Issue 423
United States President Barack Obama is eager to promote good relations between his country and the East African Community (EAC), according to a letter he has written to EAC Secretary General Amb. Juma Mwapachu. In his letter, Obama expresses confide...
Iran signs deal to supply Kenya with crude oil
2009-03-13, Issue 423
Iran will supply four million metric tonnes of crude annually, as part of a range of deals signed last week, officials said on Tuesday. The agreed supply from Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, is roughly equivalent to 80,000 barrels per ...
Angola wins new billion-dollar loan from China
2009-03-13, Issue 423
Angola has secured another billion-dollar (783 million euros) loan from China, state media said Thursday, to be spent on developing its agricultural sector. The southern African country has already received at least five billion dollars in credit fro...
China sails into uncharted waters
Stephen Marks
2009-03-05, Issue 422
Though once distinguished by its lack of military presence in Africa, China’s recent foray into anti-piracy control off the coast of Somalia and increased participation in international peacekeeping initiatives have led to speculation surrounding the Asian giant’s desire to adopt a more powerful and independent militaristic role. Reflecting on the correlation between China’s rising economic growth and increasing concerns for national security measures, Stephen Marks considers the potential impact of military competition on the African continent.
China says not pushing to expand farming overseas
2009-03-06, Issue 422
China is not pushing to expand overseas farming and Chinese companies are less active in their investment abroad because of concerns of potential political risks, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said on Wednesday. To meet a perennial shortfall...
TAITRA opening trade bureau in Burkina Faso
2009-03-06, Issue 422
Taiwan's trade promotion body has recently set up an office in Burkina Faso, the first in West Africa, in an effort to facilitate business exchanges with the African country as well as the nearby region, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official ...
Greater flexibility required as Chinese presence in Africa increases
2009-03-06, Issue 422
The emergence of China as a force to be reckoned with on the African mining scene has altered the way contractors in the industry operate, with greater flexibility now required. Roger Dixon, a director and corporate consultant of SRK Consulting, says...
Canton Fair provides platform for promotion of Sino-South Africa trade
2009-03-06, Issue 422
The 105th Canton Fair, to be held between April and May 2009, has been formally introduced to South Africans in Johannesburg on Thursday by Zhang Zhigang, deputy director of the Committee for Economic Affairs of National Committee of the Chinese Peop...
India in Africa medical link-up
2009-03-06, Issue 422
India has launched a hi-tech project it says will provide medical education and better health care in Africa. Launched by Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi, the project will at first connect 11 African countries with India. The servic...
Previous ... 91-120 | 121-150 | 151-180 | 181-210 | 211-240 | 241-270 ... Next