1. China in Africa

China Offers Mediation Between North And South
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi made the offer at the conclusion of his two-day visit which took him to Khartoum and Juba. Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti speaking to reporters along with Jiechi at Khartoum airport welcomed China's initiative saying that Beijing is qualified to play this role given the acceptance and appreciation it enjoys from both sides.
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China Gives $15.7 Million to Rwanda to Boost Economic Development, Trade
China’s government will give Rwanda 100 million yuan ($15.7 million) in grants and loans to encourage economic development and trade with China, Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said.
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Somaliland in port deal with China businessmen
Somaliland has struck a deal with Chinese businessmen to extend its Berbera port as well as TO build a refinery and new roads in the breakaway northern enclave, its president said. Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo said Somaliland, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not been formally recognised internationally, said the new deal would boost its economy and strengthen ties with Horn of Africa neighbours.
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Ghana, China reach $800 mn gas development deal
Ghana will borrow $800 million from China to build natural gas infrastructure, the head of the national gas company said Friday, months after the country became Africa's newest major oil producer.
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Tanzania to spend $742 mln for emergency power, seeks loan from China
Tanzania plans to spend 1.2 trillion Tanzanian shillings ($741.89 million) by the end of next year for emergency power projects aimed at ending chronic energy shortages in east Africa's second-largest economy. Energy and Minerals Minister William Ngeleja said in a presentation to parliament seen by Reuters on Monday that the government was seeking loans from China to finance construction of a natural gas pipeline from Mtwara in southern Tanzania to Dar es Salaam, the country's commercial capital.
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China Africa Cotton Moçambique to invest in cotton sector
China Africa Cotton Moçambique plans, over the next three years to invest US$22 million on its programme to boost production and process cotton in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, Rádio Moçambique reported. Of that amount, over US$6 million were invested in construction work for a cotton processing factory, in the Cerâmica neighbourhood on the outskirts of the port city of Beira.
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Ethiopia, Somaliland and China to Sign Trilateral Agreement
Somaliland, Ethiopia, and China are likely to sign trilateral agreements in the coming days. The deals are likely to be on oil, gas, and logistics. To take matters further, Somaliland President Ahmed M. Silanyo arrived in China for bilateral talks.
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China gives Ethiopia $55 m in aid
China on Monday announced food aid worth 353.2 million yuan ($55.28 million), one of its largest single gifts to a foreign country, to help Ethiopia and other African drought-stricken regions solve the current famine crisis. Premier Wen Jiabao made the promise while meeting visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
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China's Red Cross to donate $1.3m to Horn of Africa
China's Red Cross Society on Wednesday announced that it will donate 8 million yuan ($1.25 million) to famine-plagued countries in the Horn of Africa for emergency humanitarian aid. Two million yuan will go to Kenya through the country's Red Cross organization and another 2 million for Ethiopia, while the other 4 million yuan will help other countries in the region.
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2. India in Africa

India's Essar Steel gains access to African iron ore reserves
India's Essar Steel has its foot on as much as 45 billion tonnes of iron ore in Africa after agreeing to pay $US750 million for a majority stake in state-owned Zimbabwe Iron & Steel Co, which has been renamed NewZim Steel (NZS). Under a deal signed in Zimbabwe earlier this month, Mumbai-based Essar Steel, part of the diversified Essar Group run by the billionaire brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia, will spend up to $4 billion over the next few years on the steel plant, iron ore mines, a possible ore beneficiation plant, and associated power plants and other infrastructure.
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India’s CIL starts coal mine development in Mozambique
Making its first international foray, Coal India Africana Limitada (CIAL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), would shortly start exploratory and development work at two coal blocks in Mozambique’s north-western Tete province, estimated to have a reserve of one-billion tons.
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3. In Other Emerging Powers News

OIC pledges $350 million to Somalia at Turkey summit
Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries have pledged $350 million in aid to fight famine in Somalia at an emergency summit in Istanbul, OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said Wednesday. With some 3.7 million Somalis at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa country, Ihsanoglu said he hoped the aid would soon reach $500 million and urged donors to improve drought-stricken Somalia’s long-term food security by helping it rebuild infrastructure and agriculture.
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Turkish PM to set up Somali embassy
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, keen to strengthen Ankara's ties with the African continent, said Friday he would set up an embassy in Somalia and promised major infrastructure projects in Mogadishu. The visit by Erdogan, the first leader from outside Africa to visit for nearly two decades, was aimed at drawing attention to the famine sweeping across the Horn of Africa nation, which is leaving at least 3.7 million Somalis at risk of starvation.
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Brazil ramps up naphtha purchases in North Africa
Brazil's Petrobras is ramping up its purchases of North African naphtha, adding to pressure in the Mediterranean, traders said on Wednesday. Supply is tight in the Mediterranean because of lost Libyan output and the export of nearly 100,000 tonnes from Russia to Asia this month. Traders reported the Brazilian oil company had won a tender to purchase a 40,000 tonne cargo from Morocco's port of Mohammedia in September. It will follow the export of a cargo from Algeria's Skikda refinery, due to load later this week.
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Iran's Salehi to visit Somalia in coming days
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi would visit Somalia soon in a bid to step up transfer of aid to the drought-hit people in the African country. His trip whose exact time has still remained unclear is scheduled for coming days. Salehi is now on an official visit to Russia. Salehi's visit to Somalia mainly aims to examine needed goods of Somali people and ways to send aid for them as soon as possible.
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Mozambique offers Brazilian farmers land to plant
Mozambique invites Brazilian soy, corn and cotton growers to plant on its savanna and introduce their farming know-how to sub-Saharan Africa, the head of Mato Grosso state's cotton producers association Ampa said on Monday. Brazil has been successfully growing crops on its center-west plains since a breakthrough in tropical soybeans in the 1980s unlocked the productive potential of the expansive region by breeding soy to grow closer to equatorial regions.
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Food security: Can Africa learn from Brazil?
Famine in the Horn of Africa has brought food security back to the limelight, with analysts pointing out that the continent should learn from South America, particularly Brazil. Brazil has over the decades emerged as a good example of 'how to do it' when it comes to just about all sectors of agriculture, getting the best out of a few plantations and numerous small-scale producers to make the sector stable and guarantee food security.
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White paper on SA foreign policy
Former finance minister Derek Keys once remarked that we – by that he meant the average, well-meaning person – would like others to do well – but not quite as well as us. Reading the final draft of South Africa’s new white paper on foreign policy recalled his wise observation. The white paper – drafted after wide consultations with foreign policy analysts, business and union leaders and civil society – was approved by the cabinet last week and will soon be considered by Parliament.
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4. Blogs, Opinions, Presentations and Publications

INTERVIEW-Mozambique offers Brazilian farmers land to plant
Brazil has been successfully growing crops on its center-west plains since a breakthrough in tropical soybeans in the 1980s unlocked the productive potential of the expansive region by breeding soy to grow closer to equatorial regions. While Mozambique possesses similar climatic and soil characteristics, Amapa President Carlos Ernesto Augustin told Reuters that some areas in the country on the southeast coast of Africa even had more fertile soils than Brazil.
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More Mistakes by The Economist: "Charity Begins Abroad"
The Economist has a new feature on aid from developing countries (August 13th, 2011): "Charity Begins Abroad: Big Developing Countries are Shaking Up the World of Aid." A lot of the article appears to be accurate. But with regard to China's aid, not surprisingly, it gets a few big things wrong or partly wrong.
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