Daniel’s Blog

Note: This article is again about the China-Africa cooperation, the author questions the chinese motivations and the Africa’s welcome to chinese investment. You may like me, not share his views but I like his way of analyzing things. Don’t take as reality what he says about history

[L]et’s stop being stupid by not learning from Africa’s own history.You may forgive what happened in the past but that doesn’t mean you forget about it.

You operate from an “anti-white, anti-imperialist and anti-colonial paradigm.” In your scheme of things, the only enemies of Africa are the white devils, who colonized and exploited Africa and continue to do so. Therefore, you operate from the premise that anything or any action that
defeats or thwarts the expansionist designs of the white devils in Africa must be good for the continent.

Some of us keep telling you that it is true white devils colonized, enslaved, and exploited us in the past and continue to do so. But your paradigm is too narrow and has been rendered obsolete by the turn of events in post-colonial Africa. While you only see white devils, many Africans also [see] non-Western devils and even black devils. To refuse to see these other devils is to suffer from “intellectual astigmatism.”

You have been told time and time again that throughout its history, Africa has been a playground where all sorts of FOREIGN entities competed to advance THEIR interests, not those of the African people. They came in all sorts of colors. The Brits, the French, the Portuguese, the Belgians, the Americans, the Soviets, the Arabs, the Chinese, etc. In my view, the most stubborn were the Portuguese. They had no intention of granting their African colonies independence. The Belgians were probably the most contemptuous of their colonial subjects and imposed the most stringent conditions on them. The African could not travel in the Congo without a permit, possess firearms, or drink anything stronger than beer. He could become a carpenter or a mechanic, but not an
engineer. He could be a bishop, a journalist, an accountant, a medical assistant, a teacher, a civil servant, or a druggist, but not an architect or an attorney. By the 1930s, there were several lawyers in British and French West Africa, but not a single one in the Congo. To the Belgians, lawyers meant politics, and politics would instigate demands for political rights outlawed for the Africans.

The Brits were more pragmatic and flexible, seeing the eventual grant of independence to their African colonies. In fact, in 1843 the African Committee of the British House of Commons passed a resolution expressing Britain’s reluctance to further engage in colonial affairs. According to
Boahen and Webster (1970), the British resolved that their future policy in Africa “should be to encourage in the natives the exercise of those qualities which may render it possible for us more and more to transfer to the natives the administration of all Governments, with a view to our
ultimate withdrawal from all, except probably Sierra Leone” (p. 210). Of course, all that changed when intense commercial competition among Europeans led to the Berlin Conference in 1888.

When it came to defending its interests in Africa, the French were the most ferocious. And Frech economic interests in Africa are vast. Twenty percent of France’s oil came from West Africa. The Ivory Coast, for example, buys 40 percent of its imports from France and the French own a third of the country’s manufacturing industries.

In 2002, when Ivorian government planes accidentally dropped bombs on rebel positions, killing three French peacekeepers, France sent in war planes to destroy Ivory Coast’s ENTIRE air force! The French would viciously defend their language and culture. They never equated decolonization with retreat. Charles de Gaulle, assisted by a handful of competent and ruthless men, managed an incredible sleight of hand: not a termination of France’s control over its former African colonies, but a transformation of its control into something quite original — a community of nations, sharing one currency, that was tied to France economically, politically, culturally and, of course, militarily.
African children were taught that their ancestors were Gauls and that the deserving among them would gain French citizenship.

France left hundreds of officials in Africa as advisers. Behind the doors of many key ministries in the Ivory Coast and Senegal or Gabon, discreet but powerful French officials kept a close eye on policy. The French also sent teachers to Africa and brought African students and civil servants to France for training. France’s primacy as an external actor in central and western Africa thus continued largely unabated after colonialism. In fact, in 1993, there were more French citizens –
about 100,000 — in post-colonial Africa than at independence.

The French did not hesitate to remove or install African despots who did not serve to serve their interests. After 1960, the French intervened on many occasions to prop up unpopular African regimes against internal dissatisfaction and disorders. The most notorious such occasion was in
Gabon in 1964, when French troops were used to reinstate President Mba after a coup. Noting that the French did not intervene to save President Youlou in Brazzaville in 1963, critics charged that intervention was predicated on mineral wealth. (Gabon is rich in oil.)

Another instance was in May 1991, when 9 million rounds of ammunition arrived in Cameroon on a ship from France, destined for the authoritarian government of President Paul Biya. The ammunition helped Biya brutally suppress political opponents, enabling him to win the October 1992 presidential election in a vote that observers said was fraudulent. Two months later France gave Cameroon FF600 million [$110 million] in new loans. In May 1993, Mr. Biya was welcomed in Paris by
both Mr. Mitterand and the new French prime minister, Edouard Balladur. The French were also singularly culpable in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The Hutu-dominated government of Juvenal Habyarimana was French-speaking. Paul Kagame and his Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) trained in Uganda, an English-speaking country, and were closing in. Miffed that Rwanda would become an English-speaking country, panicky French officials provided aid and ammunition to the Hutu government. In fact, it was claimed that Habyarimana’s plane was piloted by French officers. And after 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered, the French provided “safe passage” to the genocidaires to escape to the then Zaire, another French-speaking country. Afraid that the current commission of
enquiry would expose French involvement, a panicky French judge seeks to indict President Kagame on “war crimes.”

Disguised by bombastic gushing of “cooperation, ” France’s real intention, however, was to protect its economic interests and gain access to Africa’s minerals. For centuries, the French have always had this thing against “Ango-Saxons.” Driven by a chimerical belief in their cultural superiority, the French had always wanted to create a “La Grande France” globally – a comity of French-speaking nations with a French culture that can flex its power at the United Nations. France has always regarded its francophone “commonwealth” in Africa as part of its ticket to world-power status. Since General de Gaulle’s time, French presidents have maintained direct personal links with African heads of state, appointing a Mr. Africa as personal fixer and emissary (President Mitterrand sent his son). French officials, sometimes seconded from Paris ministries, sit behind the thrones of many African leaders. French political parties receive donations from African leaders; French companies, especially oil ones, are given extraordinary privileges in African states; French arms protect African allies. And aid has flowed freely. In 1993, France’s budget for overseas aid was $7.9 billion. The
French did everything they could to thwart “Anglo-Saxon” designs in Africa.

[I]f you went by your defective paradigm or the
fallacious notion that “the enemy of my enemy must be my friend” then
the French in Africa should be your darling.

China too has been an active player in Africa in the post-colonial
period. It sought to win adherents to the Chinese brand of socialism.
Zhao Ziyang, China’s foreign minister in the early 1960s, reminded
African leaders of the presence of Chinese coolies in Africa. (Britain
had rounded up more than 60,000 coolies at the beginning of the century
to work in South African mines. Ten years later, when their labor was no
longer needed, they were deported with little or nothing to show for
their suffering.) As members of the Third World, united in poverty,
China and Africa were identical, Ziyang once declared.

China’s conception of the world was tripolar: the United States, the
Soviet Union, and the Third World. In the postcolonial era China viewed
the Third World as an adjunct of the West. China competed with the
Soviet Union to recruit the allegiance of the African nations by
supporting their liberation movements. In the early phases, China was
the more aggressive, revolutionary force. The Chinese trained and armed
liberation movements in both colonial and independent African countries.
At the same time, denouncing Moscow as reactionary and revisionist,
China also strove to provide Africa with more nonmilitary aid than the
Soviet Union offered. Like the emerging states of Africa, China was a
Third World country, and its revolution was a model for all Third World
revolution, Ziyang claimed.

Lin Biao, Mao’s designated successor, noted that China’s revolution was
won when the Communist Party mobilized the peasants of the rural areas
to encircle the cities of China. Similarly, he viewed the Third World as
rural areas, and the West, to which it was attached, as the cities. The
Chinese global revolutionary strategy was to mobilize these rural areas
to encircle the cities. In reality, however, the driving forces behind
China’s engagements in Africa had little to do with Africa.

Like Moscow’s, Peking’s interests in Africa were primarily extraneous to
Africa. The first of these concerns was to seek international
recognition for Mao’s communist regime and, more specifically, votes at
the United Nations which would be cast in favor of the transfer of the
permanent Chinese seat in the Security Council from Taiwan to China
proper.

A second concern, which arose when Sino-Soviet friendship turned into
Sino-Soviet rivalry, was to make trouble for the Russians. The conflict
between Peking and Moscow, unlike the [ideological] alliance between
them, could be furthered in Africa.

China’s perception was that Moscow, not Washington, was its principal
enemy. Its strategy was therefore to weaken social imperialism at the
expense of monopolistic capitalism. West Africa observed that “in
Africa, China increased assistance to old friends such as Tanzania and
Zambia. The 2000km Tan-Zam railroad was meant to overshadow the
Soviet-built Aswan High Dam in Egypt. China also made friends with old
enemies such as Mobutu, helping him during the Shaba uprising in
1978-79; in 1980 they helped him build a naval base at Kinkuzu in
southern Zaire to threaten Angola” (Aug 15, 1988; p. 1473).

China’s fortunes in Africa quickly turned into mirages, however. At
first, China’s anti-colonial stance was welcomed by African liberation
movements. But as independence was gained, China’s emphasis on
subversion and its intense enmity toward the Soviet Union became less
and less appealing or relevant to Africans. In fact, as early as 1963
Julius Nyerere of Tanzania complained of a new scramble for Africa
between the Soviet Union and China. Because their actions were
anti-Soviet rather than pro-African, the Chinese themselves did not
achieve much by way of influence.

Furthermore, China was no less immune to blunders than the Soviets. Less
wisely than the Soviets, China meddled in Burundi ethnic feuds. In 1963
China backed the Tutsi expedition by training a number of Tutsi in
guerrilla warfare in China. The subsequent massacres in Burundi earned
China much opprobrium. China also supported the Biafran secessionists in
Nigeria’s civil war (1967 to 1970) simply because Moscow backed the
Federal Government of Nigeria. Similarly, in Angola, China supported the
FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola) because Moscow was
backing the ruling MPLA.

In Mali and Congo-Brazzaville, China made some headway. But a spate of
military coups brought to power new rulers distrustful of China. Only in
Tanzania did China achieve some diplomatic and ideological success.
China agreed to fund and build the 1,200-mile Tan-Zam railway line at a
cost of 166 million pounds sterling, free of interest. The railway was
both an engineering and a political achievement. It was completed two
years ahead of schedule and was much touted as a model of what foreign
aid could do for Africa. But it was one thing to build the railway and
quite another to run it efficiently. Maintenance was poor, services
degenerated, and the Dar es Salaam terminal became chronically clogged
to the point of immobility. Although the Chinese had nothing to do with
these shortcomings, their reputation suffered.

Fast forward to 2006: China’s increasing involvement in Africa should be
viewed against this backdrop. Despite the euphonious verbiage about
“cooperation”, “equal terms,” and “altruism,” the real intentions of
China are threefold. The first is to gain access to Africa’s resources
by signing with a bow sweetheart deals with African despots. The second
is to canvass for African votes at the United Nations in its quest for
global hegemony. In this sense, the Chinese are no different from the
French. The third is to seek African land to dump its surplus
population. Chinese communes are springing up in Namibia, Zambia,
Nigeria and other African countries. The Chinese have succeeded in
getting African states to accept large numbers of Chinese experts and
workers as part of their investment packages: 28 “Baoding villages” have
been established, each housing up to 2,000 Chinese workers, in various
parts of Africa. But the Chinese are not the problem.

The real problem was the retinue of clueless African clods, who attended
Chopsticks Conference at Beijing in October. “Clueless” because that
was no Berlin Conference for sure. No European powers were present; only
one Asian power, China. And no Maxim gun was needed. But lying
prostrate at China’s feet were 40 African heads of state, offering
themselves for voluntary economic enslavement. Disgusting.

Elementary principles of demand and supply suggest that that was a
buyer’s market. When 40 desperate suppliers are competing for one
buyer’s attention, the buyer calls the shots. With chopsticks dexterity,
China can pick platinum from Zimbabwe; oil from Angola, Nigeria and
Sudan; cocoa from Ghana; diamonds from Sierra Leone; etc. – all on its
own terms because of its strong bargaining position. Few radical
intellectuals and African heads of state see nothing wrong with this
huge imbalance because China is perceived to be a “friend of Africa”
since it is “anti-West.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” has been the seductive fallacy.
Those who don’t learn from history are bound to repeat it.

George Ayittey,
Washington, DC

(Ekosso)

A Chinese businessman in Namibia is in danger of losing the equivalent of more than N$4,5 million to the State after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge that he had tried to illegally take more than U$$431 000 out of Namibia.

Reports today say Chen Jianguo pleaded guilty to five charges under charges Namibia’s Exchange Control Regulations.

Chen, owns a shop at Oshikango’s China Town, admitted that he contravened the Customs and Excise Act by not declaring that he was bringing US$431 492 into Namibia between September and November last year.

He is also said to have admitted that he contravened the Exchange Control Regulations of 1961 at Hosea Kutako International Airport on November 14 last year by trying to take US$431 492 - the equivalent of N$4,573 million at the current exchange rate - out of Namibia without authority from the Treasury.

Chen, when arrested, offered bribes to three officials at the airport in a futile attempt to persuade them not to go through with the arrest.

He had offered a bribe of US$10 000 to a Police Constable, a bribe of N$870 to another official, and a bribe of N$700 to a third official.

Meanwhile, this week alone police there say they have arrested 17 foreign businesspeople, most of them Chinese, at Oshakati, Ondangwa, Ongwediva and Oshikango.

Chief Inspector Golden Naanda told a press conference at Oshakati yesterday that the Police in Oshana had received a tip-off about illegal exchanging of foreign currency by foreign businesspeople.

He said the Police conducted an undercover operation in Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa on Monday.

Six Chinese businesspeople, one Indian and one Angolan businessperson were arrested at Oshakati and Ondangwa, and an Indian businessman was arrested at Ongwediva. Other reports say that, eight Chinese businesspeople were arrested at Oshikango.

In terms of Namibia’s Exchange Control Regulations, nobody other than an authorised bank is allowed to buy or sell foreign currency in the country.

The maximum sentence for this offence is a N$250 000 fine, or five year’s imprisonment, or both.

(afrik)

Huawei, the Chinese multinational telecommunications network company, has announced it will soon open a training centre for sector professionals in Angola, according to the trade press.

Citing information from the Chinese company, South African website ITWeb said that expected growth in Africa had led Huawei to open another centre in Angola, after in July inaugurating a training centre in South Africa, its fifth in Africa.

According to Huawei’s estimates, the company expects turnover in Africa in 2008 of around US$2 billion, as compared with US$1.6 billion in 2007.

Bo Xue, the managing director of Huawei for sub-Saharan Africa, said that opening the training centre in Angola – for which date and location are not yet known – was a result of a need to find technically trained people to work with wireless WiMax and fourth generation networks, to meet market demand, ITWeb reported.

“Getting these technicians from China or Europe would be the short term solution. The sustainable and long term solution is to invest in training local technicians,” Bo said.

“The centres also make it possible for us to transfer knowledge and qualifications to our partners about new generation networks, thus overcoming the lack of technical staff and engineers in Angola,” he said.

The Angolan centre will be the sixth in Africa, after Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Kenya and South Africa.

In Angola, Huawei had been training local technicians by shipping them to the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen, with over 400 Angolans taking part in this scheme.

The Chinese company recently announced an investment of US$7 million to build a technical telecommunications training centre and to transform the Angola Telecommunications Institute into a Telecommunications University.

In the Angolan market, Huawei sells technology to operators Angola Telecom and MSTelcom and has an office of around 100 staff, of which around half are Angolan, the company said.

According to Huawei’s worldwide Communications director, Ross Gan, it is in the emerging markets that the Shenzhen company (in Guangdong province, bordering Macau) expects greatest growth, due to population increases and the low penetration levels of mobile phones.

The company’s new focus for Africa, Ross Gan said, was to develop specific products to respond to the specific difficulties of the continent, such as a lack of electricity.

Huawei thus pledges in the short term to provide more energy efficient technology to ensure mobile network coverage across the whole territory of the markets in which it operates.

Huawei in 2007 announced revenues of US$16 billion and expects an increase in 2008 to US$23 billion.

In 2007 the African market accounted for 36 percent of new sales for Huawei. (macauhub)

(itnewsafrica)

In Vietnam, the skinny and the petite can look forward to getting more exercise after proposed new regulations set a minimum chest size for licensed drivers.
Anyone with a chest under 28 inches will be banned from driving a motorbike - which make up 90 per cent of the traffic on the country’s chaotic roads.

Anyone who is too short, too thin or too sickly will also have to seek alternative transport. Ailments such as enlarged livers or sinusitis will rule out aspirant motorists.

“The new proposals are very funny, but many Vietnamese people could become the victim of this joke,” said Le Quang Minh, 31, a Hanoi stockbroker. “Many Vietnamese women have small chests. I have many friends who won’t meet these criteria.”

The average Vietnamese man is 5 feet, 4 inches (164 centimeters) tall and weighs 121 pounds (55 kilograms). The average Vietnamese woman is 5 feet, 1 inch (155 centimeters) tall and weighs 103 pounds (47 kilograms).

Vietnamese bloggers have been poking fun at the plan, envisioning traffic police with tape measures eagerly pulling over female drivers to measure their chests.

“From now on, padded bras will be best-sellers,” said Bo Cu Hung, a popular Ho Chi Minh City blogger.

“I’m not heavy enough, what am I going to do?” Le Thu Huong asked in a letter to Tuoi Tre newspaper. “And what about people whose chests are small? Most of them are too poor to afford breast implants!”

Vietnamese roads are among the most dangerous in the world but it is not clear why the ruling Communist Party believes banning small drivers will make them safer.
(Telegraph)

China’s government may have high- profile political and strategic reasons for seeking closer ties with Africa, but its companies are on the continent mostly for the money, analysts say.

A case in point is the move by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to buy 20 per cent in South Africa’s Standard Bank, which at 5.5 billion dollars is the biggest Chinese financial acquisition ever.

“Chinese companies of course operate as economic entities, and they very much pay attention to the bottom line,” said Barry Sautman, an expert on Sino-Africa ties at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

“They’re not usually driven by political orders. Instead they are driven by economic opportunities, and the action on the part of this Chinese bank in terms of investing in Standard Bank is driven precisely by that consideration.”

China increasingly sees Africa as the land of new opportunity. Bilateral trade was 55.5 billion dollars last year, 10 times the volume of less than a decade ago.

It is against this backdrop that ICBC’s surprise deal, announced late last week, makes sense as it gives it access to Standard Bank’s comprehensive network of 713 branches in South Africa and 240 in the rest of the continent.

“ICBC’s cooperate clients, both large and small, have many investments in Africa. It would be good for ICBC to have a foothold there,” said Yukkei Lee, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Core Pacific Yamaichi.

But this is China, and the players are different. It is hard to say where economics ends and politics begins-and ICBC remains majority-owned by the government.

Similarly, it is hard to pin down the primary motive that drove China to sign a deal last month to loan five billion dollars to the Democratic Republic of Congo to develop infrastructure and mining partnerships.

“In China it’s virtually impossible to truly separate commercial interests from political decisions,” said David Marshall, a Hong Kong- based analyst with Fitch Ratings.

“(There is) extremely close linkage in terms of ownership and personnel between the Chinese large state-owned companies, including the state- owned big banks and the Chinese government. Essentially they are all run by individual senior members of the Communist Party.”

However, the clear economic rationale for ICBC’s agreement with Standard Bank serves as a reminder that China’s interest in Africa is not only based on the thirst for oil or the need to maintain diplomatic allies.

China’s activities on the continent have always been multi- faceted, encompassing both political and economic objectives for the past half century, local academics argued.

“History shows that Africa needs us and we need Africa,” said Jiang Zhongjin, a professor at the Center of Africa Studies at Nanjing University.

“But our basic principle is to take care not to hurt each other’s interests, and let both sides make money,” he said.

What has changed, and made China more visible, is its growing economic muscle, reflected in foreign exchange reserves now surpassing 1.4 trillion dollars.

“We should understand the reasons why China is interested in Africa,” said Jean Marie Cishahayo, a Shanghai-based consultant.

“First of all, we now have 1.4-trillion-dollar reserves. It’s a very heavy burden for a country to find solutions in that situation.”

(thefinancialexpress)

By Carli Lourens

Sekoko Energy, a venture between Sekoko Resources Ltd. and China Railway Construction Corp., may build a power plant for as much as 40 billion rand ($3.8 billion) in South Africa to help end the country’s energy shortage.

Sekoko Energy will be controlled by Sekoko Resources, a South Africa-based company led by black investors, Tim Tebeila, chairman of the resources group, said by phone today. The shareholding has yet to be completed, he said.

Sekoko Energy will submit a bid to state-run power utility Eskom Holdings Ltd. by May for as many as three 600-megawatt coal-fired generating units, Tebeila said. The first could start producing power 36 months after the approval date, he said.

South Africa wants to encourage private sector investment to augment Eskom’s expansion, expected to cost about 343 billion rand over five years, and end the shortage that caused rolling blackouts in the first quarter.

“Sekoko estimates that it has more than 4 billion tons in situ of indicated coal resource in its Waterberg properties,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. There are sufficient reserves to feed a power plant and a possible coal-to-motor fuels plant, it said.

Sekoko is among 23 companies Eskom invited to bid for power plants. Others include AES Corp., Aldwych International, Huaneng Power International Inc./G3 Power and Shenzhen Energy Group Co., Eskom said Oct. 24

(Bloomberg)

State-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) broke ground for new oil refineries in Chad and neighbouring Niger this week, as the company boosts its ties with resource-rich countries in Africa.

ZTE  Corporation, provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has clinched an exclusive contract from Chinguitel, a telecom carrier under Expresso Telecom Group (ETG) to help Mauritania, a country in northwest Africa build its first 2.5GHz Mobile WiMAX commercial network.
Chinguitel chose ZTE to provide Mauritania the core network equipment to establish its first ever WiMAX 16e Commercial Network. Chinguitel is leveraging ZTE’s advanced technology and expertise to help them establish a CDMA and WiMAX integrated network infrastructure, covering the whole area of Africa.

“It is a valuable opportunity to partner with ZTE in building the first WiMAX commercial network in Mauritania. We are impressed by ZTE’s state-of-the-art technologies and pioneering visions, hence are confident that we can provide the African population with the most effective wireless and highly-advanced communications platform to enjoy access of various wireless services,” said
Xu Shengfei, chief representative of ZTE Mauritania, said that they were happy about the deal and committed to provide expertise solutions to further expand more strategic partnerships in Aftrica. He said that his deployment will trigger more similar WiMAX opportunities in other African countries.

ZTE product range covers sectors of the wireline, wireless, service and terminals markets. The company delivers innovative, custom-made products to customers and it is the only Chinese company among the 15 board of directors in theWiMAX Forum ( News - Alert), a not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16/ETSI (News - Alert) HiperMAN standard.

To date, ZTE claims that it has successfully established 30 commercial trials and trial networks for 802.16e WiMAX worldwide, covering Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

The company was awarded the “Most Promising Vendor of the Year” by Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) in its 2007 Asia Pacific ICT Awards, and was reported as the fastest growing telecom equipment and solutions provider among the major telecom vendors worldwide byIDC ( News - Alert) in 2007.

(By Jyothi Shanbhag)

(wimaxtoday)

China on Tuesday promised to honour its international obligations to protect endangered animals, as it began to buy ivory in Namibia in the first legal sale of elephant tusks in nearly a decade.

“We implement our international obligations to protect endangered wild animals and we have always honoured our international obligations,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters when asked about the ivory sale.

“In this regard, we will uphold and honour our international obligations.”

Nine tonnes of ivory went under the hammer in Namibia on Tuesday, beginning nearly two weeks of sales of 108 tonnes of ivory in four Southern African countries — exclusively for Chinese and Japanese buyers.

The four countries — Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa — have been authorised by CITES, the international convention that regulates trade in endangered species, to make the one-off sale.

But some conservationists fear that the sudden arrival of so much legal ivory in China and Japan could provide a way for poachers to slip their ill-gotten wares past the eyes of regulators.

Most of the tusks to be auctioned, which come from government stocks, were taken from elephants that died from natural causes or from the culling of herds to prevent overpopulation.

The ivory can go only to China and Japan, which must then track it to prevent it from being resold overseas, in compliance with CITES regulations.

The Asian nations are among the world’s largest markets for ivory, which is used for families’ traditional seals to stamp documents as well as handicrafts.

(XINHUA)

The first legal ivory sales in nearly a decade open Tuesday in southern Africa, with a special auction for Chinese and Japanese buyers bidding for 108 tonnes of elephant tusks.

Four African countries have been authorised by CITES, the international convention that regulates trade in endangered species, to make a once-off sale of ivory to the two Asian powers.

But some conservationists fear that the sudden arrival of so much legal ivory on the Chinese and Japanese markets could provide a way for poachers to slip their ill-gotten wares past the eyes of regulators.

The Asian giants are among the world’s largest markets for ivory, which is used for families’ traditional seals to stamp documents as well as handicrafts.

Michael Wamithi, head of the elephant programme at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said both nations are also among the top destinations for illegal ivory taken from poached elephants.

“Several multiple-tonne seizures have been made at Chinese ports in recent years. The lack of enforcement for the registration systems in both countries also provides a convenient loophole for illegal traders,” he said.

The wildlife trade watchdog Traffic said it has confidence in the auctions, which begin Tuesday in Namibia and then move every three days through Botswana, Zimbabwe and finally South Africa.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s a well-managed process,” Traffic’s national representative David Newton said in Johannesburg.

Despite concerns about China’s enforcement efforts, Newton said Beijing had made real efforts to comply with international rules on ivory trade.

“They are taking this a lot more seriously,” he said.

“We’re always urging caution, and the ivory trade needs to be very strictly managed,” he said. “For the one-off trade, we’re confident that the monitoring mechanisms are in place.”

The auctions, which are closed to the public and to media, will sell off tusks from government stocks.

CITES says it agreed to the sales only in African countries where elephant populations are judged to be healthy and growing. More than 312,000 elephants are living in the four nations.

Most of the tusks were taken from elephants that died from natural causes or from culling of herds, when animals are killed to prevent overpopulation.

CITES said in a statement that it has taken precautions to make sure that the auctions don’t encourage poaching.

Willem Wijnstekers, secretary general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), will visit all four countries to supervise the sales.

He will also meet on the sidelines of the auctions with Chinese and Japanese authorities about measures taken to monitor the ivory after the sale, CITES said in a statement.

Profits from the sales must go toward elephant conservation projects, or toward programmes aimed at developing communities who live around elephant ranges, it added.

The ivory can go only to China and Japan, which then must track it to prevent it from being resold overseas, in compliance with CITES regulations.

The international ivory trade was banned in 1989, but since 1997 CITES has authorised Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe — where it judges the elephant populations to be strong — to carry out occasional sales.

The last sale in 1999 earned five million dollars. The four countries agreed not to hold a new sale for at least another nine years.

South Africa will hold the biggest sale, with 51 tonnes on the block, followed by Botswana with 44 tonnes, Namibia with nine tonnes and four tonnes in Zimbabwe.

(afp)

MANUFACTURERS Association of Nigeria (MAN) and Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), has raised alarm over the systematic and deliberate destruction of the Nigerian textiel industry and economy by unscrupulous Chinese their textile exporters and called on the Federal government to engage the Chinese government over the matter.

Textile

In a joint presentation at a policy dialogue forum on Nigerian Textile, organised by the National Union of Textile, Garment Tailoring Workers of Nigeria in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FEF) in Abuja, MAN and NTMA, lamented that the most serious problem afflicting the textile industry in Nigeria is the unabated influx of counterfeit textiles from China.

Presenting the joint position of MAN and NTMA, Executive Secretary of NTMA, Mr. Paul Olarewaju alleged the counterfeited textile fabrics originate in China and specifically target and copy the trade marks of Nigerian textile manufacturers, ‘Made-in-Nigeria’ or ‘Made-as-Nigeria’ on the selvedge and even blatantly take SON/NIS markings to deliberately mislead consumers.

According to Mr. Olarewaju, the markets in Kano, Ibadan, Onitsha and Lagos are flooded with smuggled textiles through nation’s land borders, particularly, Niger Republic which now occupy over 80% market share.

He said: “The situation in the Nigerian Textile Industry is alarming. Unless urgent steps are taken by the government, a total collapse is imminent. The most serious problem afflicting the industry is the unabated influx of counterfeit textiles from China. There has been a sharp increase in the volume of textiles being smuggled in through our land borders, particularly via Niger Republic.

These goods originate in China and specifically target and copy the trade marks of Nigerian textile manufacturers; print ‘Made in Nigeria’ or ‘Made as Nigeria’ on the selvedge and even blatantly take SON/NIS markings to deliberately mislead consumers. The markets in Kano, Ibadan, Onitsha and Lagos are flooded with smuggled textiles which occupy over 80% market share. The Federal Government is urged to engage the Chinese authorities by drawing their attention to the serious damage caused by the trade malpractices of their textile exporters to the Nigerian economy. Federal enforcement agencies such as Customs and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) should be tasked to take effective measures against faking and counterfeiting of Nigerian manufacturers’ trade marks.

The Textile sector is a strategic non-oil industry in Nigeria. A basic industry that almost all countries have as their first industrial activity and most developing economies show a high degree of self-sufficiency for textiles and garments. An industry which uses maximum indigenous raw materials — Cotton. An employer of 200,000 workers in 1985 now reduced to 24,000 workers and a million indirect people — cotton growers and labour. The second largest textile industry in Africa (after Egypt). On a replacement basis the present installed textile manufacturing capacity in Nigeria represents a US$2 billion investment. There is a huge potentials to create thousands of jobs in the garment sector if the textile industry is allowed to survive.”

Given details of the modus operandi of the dubious Chinese textile exporters, the Executive Secretary of NTMA, said: “Chinese companies violate intellectual property rights (IPR) of Nigerian textile manufacturers by specifically targeting popular Nigerian textile companies and counterfeiting their trade marks on the material produced in China and destined for Nigerian market. Several Nigerian and international laws are broken to gain illegal market entry to the detriment of Nigerian textile industry in particular and economy in general. The faking of trade marks is done to mislead Nigerian consumers into buying counterfeits of genuine materials at cheap price by evading duties and taxes due to the government.

Chinese companies target popular Nigerian textile companies and counterfeit their trade marks which are printed on the cloth selvedge. Made in Nigeria or Made as Nigeria is printed on the cloth selvedge and labels to falsify country of origin declaration. Chinese textile companies even openly display the Nigerian manufacturers’ trade mark on their websites to attract potential importers. There is an urgent need to draw the attention of the Chinese authorities to the serious damage caused by their exporters to Nigerian economy.”

“Federal Government of Nigeria should make an official complaint to the Chinese authorities about the trade malpractices followed by Chinese companies and which are destroying Nigerian economy.  ECOWAS Commission should be also urged to lodge a complaint as these goods are circulated in West Africa through land borders. Chinese authorities should be urged to inspect their textile mills which counterfeit Nigerian trade marks, falsify country of origin and fake SON quality standard marks. Chinese authorities should be urged to make pre-shipment inspection compulsory for export of African Prints to check non-compliance.

Nigerian enforcement authorities should seize and destroy textiles which fake Nigerian manufacturers trade marks and falsify country of origin and quality certification markings on labels/selvedge. Chinese Government. The Chinese authorities need to be engaged by drawing their urgent attention to the serious injury caused by their companies on Nigerian economy. The Federal Government should seize this opportunity. China has been promoting itself as a partner for Africa’s development. China is energy hungry with insatiable appetite for Nigerian oil and minerals. China wants to participate in African infrastructural development. Above all, China wants to project an image as a responsible nation which abides by rule of law and play by WTO rules.”

(vanguardngr)