Libreville– Despite the Japanese Government’s emphasis that it is an international development forum for Africa, Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) and its action plan are still pretty much perceived as Japan’s official aid package deal towards Africa.

Firstly, there is notable under-reorientation of key players: other donor governments (for harmonization of aid efforts), other Asian governments (for Asia-Africa partnership), private sector (for economic growth), the civil society organizations (for the downward accountability) and more. One of the African Government expressed the frustration in the plenary of the Ministerial Conference in Gabon that TICAD should stop pretending that it was the Asia-Africa meeting.

The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), for one, have been fighting to find its way to be involved in the process since the first TICAD held in Tokyo in 1993. To be fair, TICAD has come a long way. Since the third TICAD in 2003 especially, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has continued dialogue with the Japanese CSOs, and today the CSOs have gotten the observatory status in the TICAD proper and all the preceding meetings. The participation of the CSOs, however, still depends on the approval of the Japanese and the host country governments, and it is limited to African and Japanese organizations.

Secondly, the draft Yokohama Declaration and Action Plan are weak with respect to CSO engagement vis a vis CSO being recognized as a strategic partner in fostering the TICAD process forward. The documents do not necessarily reflect the positions of the co-organisers (The Japanese Government, The World Bank, the UNDP, and the UNOSAA) on the Civil Society participation in development, either. As the two documents are considered by some as the guideline of Japan’s bilateral commitment, the political game seems to continue to make the bilateral aid process as exclusive as possible. The obvious omission of the CSOs from the documents was lamented by the some Government Delegates in the plenary session.

Finally, the involvement of the co-organisers are no way equally prominent in the meetings. The presence of the World Bank, UNDP, and UNOSAA seems only tokenistic. The African Governments only acknowledge the contribution of GoJ in their diplomatic speeches. The commitments from the TICAD process are almost exclusively from the Japanese Government. Where is the spirit of “harmonization of aid?”

TICAD is standing at the turning point. In mid 1990s, when the developed world was experiencing the aid fatigue, it played an important role to keep Africa on the agenda. Today, African Governments have plentiful commitments from different donors. There are different forums that discuss African Development. Time has changed. The Japanese Government and the Co-organisers should revisit the relevance and mandate of TICAD seriously in May. If the age demands the transformation of TICAD, so should it be.

Under AGOA, Ramatex Textile & Garment Factory, a Malaysian company moved to Namibia. Herbert Jauch looks at the cost of allowing companies to operate without government regulation, tax exemption and government sanctioned suspension of worker rights in Export Processing Zones.

The closure of the Ramatex clothing and textile factory in Windhoek last week, marked the end of one of the most controversial investments in Namibia since independence.

The way in which the closure occurred once again showed the disregard of the company for its workers as well as the host country.

The company managed to mislead Namibia (in particular the government) time and again by providing false information to hide its true intentions of using the country merely as a temporary production location.

While trade unions and government are still trying to achieve some compensation for the retrenched workers, we need to draw some hard lessons from the Ramatex experience.

This article sketches some of the events surrounding the company's operations in Namibia and suggests that a fundamentally different approach to foreign investments should be pursued in future.

When Namibia passed the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) Act in 1995, government argued that both local and foreign investment in the first five years of independence had been disappointing and that EPZs were the only solution to high unemployment.

The EPZ Act went as far as suspending the application of the Labour Act in EPZs which government described as necessary to allay investors' fear of possible industrial unrest.

Namibia's trade unions on the other hand opposed the exclusion of the Labour Act and after lengthy discussions a "compromise" was reached which stipulated that the Act would apply in the EPZs, but that strikes and lock-outs would be outlawed for a period of 5 years.

In 1999, the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI) carried out a comprehensive study of Namibia's EPZ programme which found that EPZs had fallen far short of the expectations of creating 25 000 jobs and facilitating skills and technology transfer needed to kick-start manufacturing industries in the country.

At the end of 1999, the EPZs had created very few jobs although millions of dollars had been spent on promoting the policy and on developing infrastructure with public funds.

By 2001, Namibia still had not managed to attract any large production facility through its EPZ programme. This changed when the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced that it had succeeded in snatching up a project worth N$1 billion ahead of South Africa and Madagascar, which had also been considered by the Malaysian company Ramatex.

This was achieved by offering even greater concessions than those offered to other EPZ companies, such as corporate tax holidays, free repatriation of profits, exemption from sales tax etc.

Drawing in the parastatals providing water and electricity (Namwater and Nampower) as well as the Windhoek municipality, the Ministry put together an incentive package which included subsidised water and electricity, a 99-year tax exemption on land use as well as over N$ 100 million to prepare the site including the setting up of electricity, water and sewage infrastructure.

This was justified on the grounds that the company would create close to 10 000 jobs.

The plant turned cotton (imported duty free from West Africa) into textiles for the US market.

Ramatex' decision to locate production in Southern Africa was motivated by the objective to benefit from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which allows for duty free exports to the US from selected African countries who meet certain conditions set by the US government.

Even before the company began its operations in 2002, it made headlines, as it became the most talked about investment in Namibia.

The debate around Ramatex revolved around the massive size of its operations, the establishment of a new industry and the controversies surrounding the company's environmental impact and working conditions.

A study carried out by LaRRI in 2003 found widespread abuses of workers rights, including included forced pregnancy tests for women who applied for jobs; non-payment for workers on sick leave; very low wages and no benefits; insufficient health and safety measures; no compensation in case of accidents; abuse by supervisors; and open hostility towards trade unions etc.

Tensions boiled over on several occasions.

After spontaneous work stoppages in 2002 and 2003, Ramatex finally recognised the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (NAFAU) as the workers' exclusive bargaining agent in October 2003.

The recognition agreement was supposed to pave the way for improved labour relations and collective bargaining.

However, the union was unable to make progress on substantive issues and on several occasions reported Ramatex to the Office of the Labour Commissioner for unfair labour practices and the company's unwillingness to negotiate in good faith.

Despite several attempts to find a solution through mediation, no agreement was reached.

By September 2006, the company had not raised wages and benefits and claimed that its operations in Namibia were running at a loss.

Ramatex' workers, however, had run out of patience and declared that they would go on strike unless their wages were significantly improved.

When the company refused to meet their demands, they went on strike in October 2006, bringing the operations to a standstill.

Within 2 days, workers achieved what 4 years of negotiations had failed to deliver: Hourly wage increase from N$ 3 to N$ 4 plus the introduction of some benefits such as housing and transport allowances.

Ramatex used a significant number of Asian migrant workers, mostly from China, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

Although the companyclaimed that they were brought in as trainers, most of them were employed as mere production workers with basic salaries of around U$ 300 - 400 per month which were higher than their Namibian counterparts.

The import of Asian workers also served the company's strategy of "divide and rule".

Workers were divided according to nationalities, received different remuneration and benefits and found it hard to communicate with each other.

As a result there was hardly any joint action by all Ramatex workers.

Protests by Namibian, Filipino and Bangladeshi workers were isolated and found no support from their Chinese counterparts while protest by migrant workers usually resulted in the immediate deportation.

At the height of Namibian operations in 2004, Ramatex and its subsidiaries employed about 7000 workers, including over 1000 Asian migrant workers.

Following retrenchments in 2005 and 2006 (including the closure of one subsidiary), this number dropped to 3 400 (including 400 Asian migrants) in early of 2007 and further to about 3000 by the end of that year.

These trends provided a clear indication that Ramatex was preparing for closure.

This followed the end of the global clothing and textile quotas in 2005 and could be observed all over the continent.

In Ramatex' case, the company indicated it was planning to expand in Cambodia and China and negotiations are underway for the establishment of 2 new plants in Vietnam.

Ramatex' global strategy always regarded Namibia as a temporary production location although the Namibian government seemed to think otherwise.

Ramatex' claims of losses of up to N$ 500 million in Namibia seem devoid of truth.

Ramatex pays no taxes in Namibia, receives water and electricity at subsidised rates and is exempted from import duties in the USA.

It is thus almost impossible for the company to make losses in Namibia and the truthfulness of Ramatex' claims is highly questionnable.

The economic assessment of Ramatex' operations must also take into account the substantial environmental damages caused by operations including the pollution of Goreangab dam and underground water resources.

The Namibian government had been warned by Earthlife Africa but did not take precautionary measures. Instead, the municipality announced near the end of 2006 that it would take over the company's waste management.

Ramatex should have been held fully accountable and forced to rectify the damage at its own costs.

Ramatex represents a typical example of a transnational corporation playing the globalisation game. Its operations in Namibia have been characterised by controversies, unresolved conflicts and tensions.

Worst affected were the thousands of young, mostly female workers who had to endure highly exploitative working conditions for years and in the end were literally dumped in the streets without any significant compensation.

Ramatex had shown the same disregard for workers when it closed its subsidiary Rhino Garments in Namibia in 2005.

Workers had observed the company shipping equipment out of the country but when confronted, Ramatex initially denied plans to close its subsidiary but then retrenched about 1 500 workers in April.

Overall, Ramatex' presence in Namibia was a disaster for the country and some hard lessons will have to be learned to avoid a repeat in future.

When dealing with foreign investors there is an urgent need to ensure (at the very least) compliance with national laws and regulations, workers rights, as well as environmental, health and safety standards.

Experiences elsewhere have shown that compromises on social, environmental and labour standards in the name of international competitiveness lead to a "race to the bottom", leading to a process of self-destruction.

In the case of Ramatex, the Namibian government abandoned its role as regulator and some officials defended Ramatex.

The case has shown the problems of blindly accepting any investment as beneficial.

Instead of adopting an open-door policy towards foreign investment, Namibia (and Africa in general) need to adopt selective policies that channel investments into certain strategic sectors that will have a lasting developmental impact.

They require a very clear and strategic development agenda that is not based on blind faith in foreign investment as the panacea to our development problems.

The lack of alternative programmes for effective economic development and job creation places government in a weak position to negotiate adherence to labour, social and environmental standards with foreign investors.

This has to be the starting point for breaking the chains of dependency.

The project on Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism in Southern Africa (ANSA), for example, is an attempt to develop a different and comprehensive development strategy for the region.

The ANSA proposals will be introduced in Windhoek next week and hopefully will pave the way for a more open-minded discussion about a suitable development strategy.

* Herbert Jauch is head of research and education for the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI). This report was written prepared for The Namibian by the author.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

African migrants continue to attempt to cross the dangerous Sinai desert in an attempt to enter Israel as witnessed by the arrest of 13 Africans on Sunday by Egyptian police who said they were trying to sneak into Israel. Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers have repeatedly said they see Israel as a place for a better life. The 13 Africans arrested on Sunday "were from Eritrea, Sudan, Ghana and the Ivory Coast," an official told AHN Media Corporation. According to the official, they were arrested near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.

Troops from the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean have recaptured most of the island of Anjouan after a year-long rebellion, officials say. They said troops backed by an African Union force had taken Anjouan's main city and airport with light resistance.

The Network of African Freedom of Expression Organisations (NAFEO) has learned with dismay the adoption by the Transitional Parliament of Somalia of a new press bill which blatantly violates press freedom and freedom of expression. The new law contravenes international legal instruments which guarantee press freedom, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The fate of Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist accused of sedition, is not certain, as her case file has gone missing. On March 17, 2008, when the case was called, the trial magistrate, Buba Jawo, said there was no file before him pertaining to the case. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported the case has since been adjourned indefinitely.

The International Federation of Journalists has welcomed the formation of the Association of Journalists Unions in the North of Africa, which will act as the regional body of journalists’ trade unions in the media industry in the region.

Business involvement in philanthropy is increasing day by day, but is it a blessing, a curse, or somewhere in between? Just Another Emperor? is the first book to take a comprehensive and critical look at this vital new phenomenon. Whatever position you take, this will be one of the most important debates of the next 10 years.

Within 24 hours of the outbreak of the post election violence in Kenya, Kenyan blogs were posting hour by hour reports. On December 31st there was a complete shutdown of the mainstream media. Sokari Ekine, who blogs at explores how bloggers filled the information gap.

Stephen Marks argues in this extended review of recent publications about China that there are few other important global players whose affairs are so exclusively analysed on the basis of ignorance and stereotype. There is little understanding outside China about the differences of perspectives of Chinese intellectuals - they are far from being a homogeneous group.

China is no longer a topic - it’s a dimension. On every issue, from global warming to the credit crisis, China and its impact can no longer be ignored, not as a subject apart to be left to experts, but as an integral component of the global picture, on which every analyst or commentator has to have an opinon.

And as we all do when we have to come up with an opinion on something of which we know nothing, we reach off the shelf for a ready-made answer. In the case of China, these are easy to find.

There is the cold-war image of China the sinister Communist dictatorship. There is the older racial image of the sinister ‘inscrutable’ Chinese. And for Africa, there is the image of the voracious Chinese imperialist, concerned only to rape the ‘eternal victim, the dark continent’, of its precious resources. (see ‘' by Emma Mawdsley.)

There are few other important global players whose affairs are so exclusively analysed on the basis of ignorance and stereotype. Across the world, those who follow international politics are aware of the major policy debates in Washington between neo-cons, traditionalists and ‘multilateralists’. The ebb and flow of federalist currents in the EU are common knowledge. Even the revival of Russian assertiveness under Putin can be analysed as a modern trend, without invoking the ghost of Stalin or images of the Russian Bear.

But as Mark Leonard, Director of what calls itself ‘the first pan-European thinktank’, asks us in his recent book, ‘how many of us can name more than a handful of contemporary Chinese writers and thinkers?’ Indeed, if we are honest, ‘a handful’ would be generous where most of us are concerned.

The chief merit of Leonard’s contribution [What does China think? Fourth Estate 2008] is to show us what we are missing, and whet our appetite for more. The same feeling of stumbling across a hitherto unknown continent of argument and debate around central issues of our time comes from Zhang Yongle’s summary of the range of ideas in a leading Chinese intellectual journal in his article ‘Reading Dushu’ [New Left Review 49 second series, Jan Feb 2008].

It is no surprise to be introduced to the ideas of ‘New Right’ economist Zhang Weiying, a pioneering advocate of the free-market economic reforms which led to China’s astonishing record of 9 per cent growth year after year for three decades.

But cliches will be shattered by exposure to the thinking of some of China’s ‘New Left’, who have no wish to turn their backs on the market at home or abroad, or to turn the clock back to a central command economy, but instead are grappling with the same issues of combining market institutions with social justice and equity, as their counterparts in the West and South.

Economists Wang Shaoguang and Hu Angang argue persuasively that a central state which was at once stronger and more democratic could curb unaccountable regional power centres which currently waste resources through corruption and duplicated prestige investments. The resulting resources could finance a welfare safety-net which would give the public confidence to consume, thereby strengthening the domestic market and reducing China’s dependence on Western consumer demand.

Other writers such as Wang Hui and Cui Zhiyuan lament the ‘new enclosure movement’ which is ripping-off public property, and discuss ideas such as an Alaska-style ‘social dividend’ for citizens from the profits of state-owned enterprises, which would provide a ‘social wage’ to replace the largely dismantled welfare state.

Slightly more exposure abroad has been given to the environmental critique of Pan Yue, quantifying the horrific human, ecological and economic cost of the environmental degradation that has accompanied China’s breakneck growth. Though appointed to head the official State Environmental Protection Association, his report has been shelved, and widely ignored on the ground. But its concerns are certainly reflected, however inconsistently, in official pronouncements.

When it comes to political institutions, the Chinese debate is also far from the stereotype of Stalino-Maoist totalitarianism, though still remote from any Western concept of democracy. There have been some widely-trumpeted experiments in village-level democracy, contested inner-party elections, and consultative innovations such as ‘citizens juries’ and public policy hearings. But these remain few, localised and untypical.

Moreover, their champions do not see them as leading to multi-party democracy but rather to a ‘chinese model’ of ‘deliberative democracy’ where the central government allows a range of consultative opinions to be presented to it, supplemented by low-level electoral participation.

However, as new leftist Wang Shaoguang points out, this represents in effect a convergence with the West where the established electoral democratic system is increasingly perceived as ‘hollowed out’ and formal, and is frequently being supplemented by consultative processes, citizens juries and local referendums. Could China and the West be converging on the same destination from different starting-points?

The debate that Leonard reports on issues of global governance is equally stimulating, and shows a keen awareness that Chinas’s interest lies in promoting a notion of ‘soft power’ against the one-dimensional US obsession with hardware.

Many of us are familiar with solemn Western debates about how to ‘manage’ China’s rise, so as to ‘assist’ the new arrival to be a ‘civilised’ member of the ‘international community’ just like an assumed Western ‘us’. So it is a pleasant and amusing surprise to be introduced to the mirror-image debate in Beijing about how to ‘manage’ the West’s decline.

This debate came out into the open in 2006 when Wang Yiwei, a young scholar, asked in a newspaper article ‘how can we prevent the USA from declining too quickly?’ Shen Dingli argued that China’s goal should be ‘to shape an America that is more constrained and more willing to co-operate with the world’.

So however we are to analyse the complex and changing reality of the ‘actual’ China, the cliches of the conventional wisdom – the ‘evil Communist Tyranny’, the ‘inscrutable oriental’, or the new imperialist raping and looting Africa – are clearly more a hindrance than a help.

Which therefore leads us to ask why these unhelpful images persist. One obvious approach would be to ask whose interests are served by portraying China in this way. Less obvious, but also perhaps more interesting, is to make a comparison with the first encounter between the West and China, in which the prevailing stereotypes were not negative but on the contrary, rather idealised.

Leading philosophers of the 18th Century Enlightenment, including such figures as Leibniz and Voltaire, frequently referred to China in the most glowing terms. This followed an explosion, reminiscent of our own days, in the volume of Western publications about China.

According to the German scholar Thomas Fuchs (

Now these utopian images of China did indeed draw on aspects of reality. But their purpose was not so much to understand the real China, as to say something about the society of the West. Could the same be true of today’s negative image?

**Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The Iraqi Voices in Cairo is a website project under the auspices of the Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program (FMRS). The Iraqi Voices in Cairo Project was formed by an association of reporters and researchers working together with the Iraqi community of Cairo. The goal of the project is to address a worldwide lack of humanitarian information about Iraqi refugees in Egypt. With an extensive international campaign, Iraqi Voices in Cairo aims to draw international attention to the Iraqi people who have been forced from their country into Egypt. The seminar will discuss the mandate of the project as well as the findings and goals for the future.

Kaari Murungi, the Director of Urgent Action Fund - Africa, passed by Fahamu's office this week to tell us that as a result of the appeal sent out in Pambazuka News in January for support for the rape crisis centres in Kenya, they received nearly $1 million! Kaari told us: "The majority of the funds we received were from people who had read about the appeal in Pambazuka News."

We take this opportunity of thanking our readers for responding so wonderfully. This is exactly the kind of solidarity that Pambazuka News stands for. So, thank you to all of you who responded!

Uganda's government has banned a workshop for prostitutes scheduled to start on Wednesday in Entebbe. "We don't take any delight at all in the idea that prostitutes are coming together to devise ways of spreading their vice," the ethics minister said.

The Sephis programme has two sub-themes; 1. Equity, Exclusion and Liberalization. and, 2. The Forging of Nationhood & The Contest over Citizenship, Ethnicity and History. These reflect the double range of interest of the programme, directed at both understanding processes of cultural change and developing new visions on development emerging in the South. Sephis will pay special attention to projects that support the elaboration of these themes, which - as it were - reflect the cultural and economic side of the programme.

An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by American policy analyst Marian Tupy and Zimbabwean lawyer legislator David Coltart leaves no doubt in one's mind that the 'façade of democracy' manifesting itself in so-called 'political pluralism' in Zimbabwe is indeed an illusion.

Opposition groups in Zimbabwe are suffering harassment, intimidation and discrimination in the run-up to national elections on 29 March. Police in some parts of the country are clearly restricting the activities of opposition party members, while supporters of the ruling party enjoy total rights. Amnesty International has warned that the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly are being unnecessarily restricted in advance of the poll date.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has set up a new chicken-rearing and egg producing project to improve the nutrition of some of the neediest internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the volatile North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The project, in partnership with Veterinaires sans Frontieres (VSR), seeks to raise the self-sufficiency of the displaced though the consumption and sale of poultry products.

Egyptian security men shot dead two African migrants on Thursday as they tried to slip across the frontier into Israel, bringing to 10 the number of migrants killed at the border this year, security sources said. The sources said security forces opened fire on the two men, both in their 30s and believed to be from Ivory Coast, after they refused orders to stop at the border.

Stunned friends have remembered Ivan Toms as a larger than life character who had tremendous energy and huge passion for the country he loved and served. Toms was on Tuesday morning found dead in his Mowbray, Cape Town home after he failed to pitch for an important meeting. No foul play is suspected.

Survival International hasreleased a summary report which shows how tribal peoples are having their basic right to water denied. The document was released to coincide with World Water Day (March 22). Taking examples from nine different tribes, it explains how industry and governments are destroying tribal peoples’ water sources.

Five Cameroonians and a Nigerian accused last year of homosexuality in Cameroon have been released temporarily from the Bell prison in Douala where they spent more than six months behind bars. The six were arrested last August on charges of homosexuality. While awaiting judgement from Supreme Court, they stayed in custody for six months, and it could tripled if renewed pending investigation.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/en/357/46990-hands.jpgFiroze Manji argues that in comparison to Europe and the US, China in Africa is still a small player. While keeping an eye out on China, Africans should not be distracted from paying attention to the West's continued exploitation of the continent including the use of military might to protect its economic interests.

"What I find a bit reprehensible is the tendency of certain Western voices to … raising concerns about China’s attempt to get into the African market because it is a bit hypocritical for Western states to be concerned about how China is approaching Africa when they have had centuries of relations with Africa, starting with slavery and continuing to the present day with exploitation and cheating."
Kwesi Kwaa Prah (2007)

Open any newspaper and you would get the impression that the African continent, and much of the rest of the world, is in the process of being ‘devoured’ by China. Phrases such as the ‘new scramble for Africa’, ‘voracious’, ‘ravenous’ or ‘insatiable’ ‘appetite for natural resources’ are typical descriptors used to characterise China’s engagement with Africa. In contrast, the operations of western capital for the same activities are described with anodyne phrases such as ‘development’, ‘investment’, ‘employment generation’(Mawdsely, 2008). Is China indeed the voracious tiger it is so often portrayed as?

China’s involvement in Africa has three main dimensions: foreign direct investment, aid and trade. In each of these dimensions China’s engagement is dwarfed by those of US and European countries, and often smaller than those of other Asian economies.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) of Asian economies globally has been growing. The total flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Asia to Africa is estimated to have been an annual average of $1.2 billion during 2002-2004 (UNCTAD, 2006). Chinese FDI in Africa has in fact been small in comparison to investment from Singapore, India and Malaysia, which are the principal Asian sources of FDI in Africa according to UNDP (2007) with investment stocks of $3.5 billion and $1.9 billion each by 2004, respectively. Such investments are greater than those of China. The same report goes on to say, however, that Asian investments in Africa are dwarfed by those of the United Kingdom (with a total FDI stock of $30 billion in 2003), the United States ($19 billion in 2003), France ($11.5 billion in 2003) and Germany ($5.5 billion in 2003). And if China sits in fourth place amongst the Asian ‘tigers’, the scale of its investments in Africa are miniscule in comparison to the more traditional imperial powers.

Asian FDI flows to Africa have certainly grown 10-fold since the 1980s, but smaller than the 14-fold growth in FDIs globally in the same period. Compared with India, for example, China’s FDI is small. India has a larger investment in oil in Sudan and Nigeria than does China. Of 126 greenfield FDI projects in Africa, Indian companies accounted for the largest number. Indeed, amongst the Asian economies, Malaysian companies dominate in mineral extraction sector in Africa. Africa’s share of total outward flow of Chinese FDI is marginal - only 3 per cent goes to Africa, while Asia receives 53 per cent, Latin America 37 per cent. It should be borne in mind that China is a net recipient of FDI, and receives a flow of FDI also from Africa: SAB Miller breweries and SASOL from South Africa, Chandaria Holdings in Kenya, amongst many others.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/en/357/46990diagr.jpgAfrica is certainly important trade partner for China, the volume increasing from $11 billion in 2000 to some $40 billion in 2005. China has a growing trade surplus with Africa. According to UNDP (2007), China has become the third largest trading partner of Africa, following the United States and France. China has focused primarily on the import of a limited number of products - oil and ‘hard commodities’ for a few selected African countries . China’s trade with Africa represents only a small proportion of Africa’s trade with the rest of the world, and is comparable to India’s trade with Africa, although both have been growing rapidly.

China imports from Africa five main commodities - oil, iron ore, cotton, diamonds and logs. The export of these commodities, and in particular oil, has grown significantly in the last ten years. A few African countries (Sudan, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya) source a significant share of their imports of manufactured products, mainly clothing and textiles, from China. (Kaplisky, McCormick and Morris, 2007). China has been vigorously castigated for its support of repressive regimes. In almost all cases, China’s involvement has been in support of its need for strategic natural resources, especially oil. And it is perhaps here that one finds the reason for the fears expressed in the west about China’s role in Africa. USA is the world’s largest consumer of oil products , with 25% of its requirements destined to come from Africa. While China sources some 40% of its oil from the Middle East, it currently sources 23% from africa 23%.

Much attention has been drawn to the negative impact of the cheap Chinese commodities on African economies. Certainly this has contributed to the decline of industrial production and the growing retrenchment of workers. But China has essentially taken advantage of the ‘opening-up’ of Africa’s market that has resulted from the adoption of neoliberal economic policies that the international financial institutions, backed by the majority of the international aid agencies, have forced Africa’s governments to comply with. Given that the relative size of Chinese imports is small in comparison to imports from industrialised countries, the blame for the decline in industrial production and growing unemployment in Africa can hardly be place entirely at China’s door. Furthermore, it is important to recognise that some 58% of exports from China are manufactured by foreign owned companies. The retrenchments and closures of local industries occurring as a result of cheap goods imported from China need to be placed at the door of the multinationals concerned as much as on the Chinese government and Chinese companies.

Just like other western powers, China has used aid strategically to support its commercial and investment interventions in Africa. Aid has taken the form of financial investments in key infrastructural development projects, training programmes, debt relief, technical assistance and a programme of tariff exemptions for selected products from Africa, not dissimilar to the agreements that Africa has had with Europe, US and other western economies. China’s aid is attractive to African governments not only because of the favourable terms offered, but in particular because of the lack of conditionality that is offered that has so constrained, and many would argue, undermined develop that would have the potential for bringing about social progress.

The most serious worry for the US was expressed by the spokespersons of the IMF and World Bank who complained that China’s unrestricted lending had ‘undermined years of painstaking efforts to arrange conditional debt relief’. There is clearly concern that China can now offer favourable loans to Africa and weaken imperial leverage over African economies. (Campbell, 2007). “The US and World Bank claim to be fighting poverty in Africa,” he continues, “but after two decades of structural adjustment the conditions of the African poor have worsened, with indices of exploitation and deprivation increasing by geometric proportions. According to one estimate, at the present pace of investment in Africa from the West, it will require more than one hundred years to realise the Millennium Development Goals. Chinese investment potentially provides an alternative for African leaders and entrepreneurs, while providing long term potential for the development of African economies.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/en/357/46990drawing.jpg"China’s official development discourse is explicitly non-prescriptive, employing a language of ‘no strings attached’, quality and mutual benefit. It emphasises the collective right to development over the rights-based approaches focused on individual rights. Once the dust settles on the current China-in-Africa fever, and notions of China’s exceptionalism wear off, all involved will need to harness hopes to realistic vehicles in order to make the most of the current potential." (Large, 2007). Rocha (2007) suggests that Chinese investments in Africa are having and could continue to have some positive impacts. China is helping African countries to rebuild their infrastructure and providing other types of assistance to agriculture, water, health, education and other sectors. This could have very positive spin-offs in lowering transaction costs and assisting African governments to address social calamities such as poor health services, energy crisis, skills development. However, it is true that ‘Chinese companies are quickly generating the same kinds of environmental damage and community opposition that Western companies have spawned around the world’ (Chan Fishel 2007).

The evidence available suggests that the drive to increasing the rate of profit is exhibited as much by Chinese as by western capital. The west has the advantage in having already established its dominant position that is potentially being threatened by the ‘new boy on the block’.

But China has the advantage of never having enslaved or colonized the continent. China has also not made any false promises coated with neo-liberalism. While the West, the IMF and the World Bank put conditions that only aid in their fleecing of Africa, China has so far been willing to provide unconditional aid and invest in infrastructure. At the same time, however, it freely takes full advantage of the opening up of markets that neo-liberal economic policies over the last 25 years have offered, unencumbered.

And so far, unlike the US, China has not sought to establish military bases in Africa to protect its economic interests, which the US has sought to establish through AFRICOM

* Firoze Manji is director of Fahamu and editor of Pambazuka News.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

***Footnotes are available at the URL shown below

Malawi Information and Civic Education Minister Patricia Kaliati has said that the country will have a booming information and communication technology services after successfully piloting ICT telecentres in some districts of the country. To be regulated by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), the telecentres will be run by women as a way of involving them in ICT activities, the minister said.

The government of Zimbabwe has been condemned for barring leading international news media from covering the next weekend's general elections. Zimbabwe's act is not in tandem with international conventions it had signed, guaranteeing "total access to national and international media." The Paris-based Reporters sans frontiers the government's act forms part of its designed authoritarian measures and irregularities.

The Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (CAR) said his government was poised to beef up security forces to counter insecurity in the country. Faustin-Archange Touadera told parliament that the best way to reduce insecurity in the provinces was to reinforce the capacities of "our defence and security forces."

Two towns in western Cote d’Ivoire have been shut off by two days of riots by disgruntled Ivorian soldiers. Troops started rampaging through the town of Duékoué, 400 km north west of the commercial capital Abidjan, on the morning of 24 March, protesting the murder of a low-ranking soldier by robbers the night before, Commandant Vazoumana, a gendarme in Duékoué told IRIN.

By early evening the corridors of the Soldier Bar brothel in a busy commercial area of Accra were already filled with long queues of young girls and their clients, when heavily armed police stormed in, arresting all 160 of the girls. The targets of the raid, which took place in February, were the 60 girls among them who were aged under 16 who had been recruited according to brothel manager Matthew Abanga to service the brothel's teenage clients.

A coalition of civil society organisations that on recently mobilised several thousand people to take to the streets of Ouagadougou and other towns and cities in Burkina Faso has threatened a nationwide strike if the government does not find a way to lower prices.

As is traditional, the African Centre will host the 43rd Forum on the participation of NGOs in the Ordinary session of the African Commission. The forum will deliberate generally on the human rights situation in Africa in general and attempt to bring to the fore specific situations that need to be highlighted in order to attract the attention of the African Commission in particular and the international community and other concerned bodies.

Wracked by decades of political insecurity, HIV/AIDS simply wasn't a priority in Chad for many years. A chronic lack of health workers and uncertain funding delayed efforts further, but the government of Chad is finally starting to take action. Chad covers around 1.3 million square kilometres and has a population of less than 10 million.

Another hospital breakout in South Africa by drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients desperate to spend the holidays with their families has some public health experts questioning whether forced isolation is either the most effective or humane way to treat such patients.

Will governments worried about national food supplies begin restricting land available to grow feedstock for biofuels? If they do, it may be after using a new United Nations tool to analyze their countries’ food-versus-fuel balance. The instrument, now available in a test version, is from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_01_matubalemurphy.gif by Matuba Mahlatjie.
Matuba Mahlatjie is a gay blogger living in Pretoria. He comments on the possibility of Jacob Zuma becoming the next President of South Africa. He is particularly concerned over the recent acceptance by Zuma to attend a luncheon by Black Journalists Forum in South Africa.
“This forum of black journalists is so anti democracy and transparency. I listened to all their excuses for barring white journalists and they did not make any sense. The truth is they are making us look like uneducated savages who are comfortable with being repellers of change.

It is unfortunate that the people (Journalists) who are supposed to help the nation eradicate the evil spirit of racism - are the ones who are painting the country black and white. All media houses in South Africa have black journalists, but I like the fact that Talk Radio 702 and e.tv deliberately sent white journalist to expose the devil that possess the Black Journalist Forum here in South Africa.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_02_lesbianrules.gifhttp://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_03_bandwidthblog.gifhttp://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_04_jontyfisher.gifThe Fish Bowl comments on an article by Dr Steven Friedman on the political and economic realities of the ANC
“The article summarises what I have been trying to push for some time. We keep trying to look at the ANC through Western prisms, when the leader of the ANC party is not usually the decision-maker. Mbeki was the ultimate decision-maker in his cabinet, but it is this type of leadership that has sparked the current "revolution" in voter sentiment. There are many players in the NEC and the NWC who hold vast business interests, the it is much more likely that a third way scenarion will occur.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_05_yblog.gifYblogZA uses the total eclipse of the moon as a metaphor for the downward spiral of South Africa largely due to the ANC.
Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of President Thabo Mbeki, told the Cape Argus that South Africans had to face the fact the rest of the world had reason to be "very concerned" about the direction in which the country was moving.

“[Moeletsi] Mbeki also criticised new ANC president Jacob Zuma for "bad-mouthing" his own country's political and justice system in a foreign country. Zuma claimed in court papers in Mauritius this week that fraud charges against him were part of a political move against him. Moeletsi Mbeki, who is deputy chairperson of the SA Institute of International Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, said: "Here we have the president of the ANC, the possible future president of the country, claiming that the 16 charges of fraud against him are part of a political campaign to keep him out of office.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_06_khanya.gifKhanya has a philosophical discussion on “political and spiritual identity and personal values” and the separation of the church and state.
“Earlier today I got a message from another blogger about the liberation struggle in South Africa and its spiritual basis. Here are some preliminary thoughts, linked to the example above. I was a member of the Liberal Party, and while the humanist student in the example I gave was not, there were several others with views similar to his. The student whose banning we were protesting against was, however, both a Christian and a member of the Liberal Party. And one of the interesting things was that people with radically different religious backgrounds and worldviews were able to work together in a political party for common political goals. Christians, atheists, humanists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims and Hindus worked together for a common political goal of a democratic nonracial South Africa. Their reasons for pursuing that goal may have been very different, and almost opposite. But no matter what the reasons, they were able to agree on a political goal and a political programme.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_07_abahlali.gifhttp://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_08_blacklooks.gifBlack Looks has another report on the diamond empire of Israeli billionaire, Lev Leviev whose diamond mines in Angola have been cited for human rights violations and which fund illegal settlements in the West Bank and his real estate business in New York using underpaid workers in hazardous conditions.
“Leviev’s wealth was built while trading with a business that was a huge pillar of the South African apartheid regime. He then went on to use the proceeds to construct an apartheid reality in the West Bank.”

* Sokari Ekine blogs at Black Looks and www.africanwomenblogs.com

AIFO an Italian NGO is looking for a doctor for a project in Nampula (Mozambique). The person will be looking after the leprosy-tuberculosis programme. The person should be Portuguese speaking and have experience in infectious diseases in Africa. More specific training in leprosy and Tuberculosis can be arranged. Salary will depend upon the qualifications and experience. Inially a one year contract will be proposed that can be renewed. Interested persons should send their CV to
[email][email protected]

In all parts of the world, refugee women and girls are subjected to rape and other forms of sexual and gender based violence and torture. They are often targeted for human rights abuses from different aggressors, including regular army and militia members, irregular forces and members of their own community. This course will explore the impact of this violence on women and girls, families and communities. The course will take place in the 6th floor lounge, Hill House, Main Campus at the American University in Cairo from Monday June 9 to Saturday June 14, 2008 (excluding Friday) everyday from 9 am to 5 pm.

The Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants (LCRI), which provides legal aid to refugees and immigrants from a number of countries, was forcibly deprived of its office space in the Faculty of Law at Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria, on January 17, 2008. The LCRI serves a number of African clients, most recently including individuals and families from: Algeria, Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Western Sahara, and Zambia.

The CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute is an interdisciplinary forum which brings together African scholars undertaking innovative research on topics related to the broad theme of governance. The theme of the 2008 Session is Religions and Religiosities in African Governance. The deadline for the submission of applications is set for 06 June, 2008. The Institute will be held in Dakar, Senegal, from 04 - 29 August, 2008.

The Masters in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford is a part-time degree offered over 22 months. It involves several periods of distance learning via the internet as well as two summer sessions held at New College, Oxford. The degree programme is designed in particular for lawyers and other human rights professionals who wish to pursue advanced studies in international human rights law but may need to do so alongside their work or family responsibilities. The final closing date for the Masters is 14 March 2008 and this is to start the course in October 2008. The closing date for the 2008 Summer School is 1 April 2008.