Africans In China

The Kenyan Coast is indisputably one of the top tourism and travel destinations in Kenya, providing a great variety of tourist attractions. Among the popular coastal destinations are the Gedi ruins, the mysterious remains of an ancient Kenya coastal town, which lie about 100km North of Mombasa and 15km South of Malindi. Found deep in the Arabuko Sokoke forest, these 15th century ruins are among Kenya’s great unexploited treasures.

Apart from the common belief that the town was abandoned in the early 17th century, little else is known about this ancient coastal town that still puzzles both archaeologists and historians. The reason why the town was abandoned is not documented but one school of thought believes that unknown invaders destroyed the town in the 17th century. Many researchers dispute this theory because there is no evidence of any disturbance or battle in this ancient Swahili settlement whose population was estimated at 2500 people.

Another school of thought thinks that the town residents abandoned it as a result of receding ocean waters which caused a reduction in water availability in the water wells. Other people also allege that the entire population was wiped away by the deadly and incurable Black Plague introduced by the Portuguese.

A relatively recent theory purports that the Gedi townspeople fled when faced with the threat of an invasion by the Galla, an inland tribe reputed to have been very hostile. However, there is no mention of any such large scale evacuation around that time in the local recorded history.

The Gedi ruins were declared historic monuments in 1927. There has been a lot of excavation and preservation work ever since, revealing large areas of this ancient town. Among the discoveries are the palace, the pillar tombs, and a great mosque. However, despite all research and exploration works, no one is certainly sure of what happened to the town and residents of Gedi.

Excavations of the Gedi Ruins that were carried out between 1948 and 1958 uncovered porcelain from China, an Indian lamp, Venetian beads, Spanish scissors, and other interesting vestiges that show that some of Gedi?s past citizens were engaged some form of international trade.

The Gedi Ruins were declared a national park in 1948 and the area has since become one of the top tourist attractions along the Kenyan coastal region. Gedi remains a mysterious place to visit, especially with pillars and stone walls, ruined mosques and tombs lying among stands of trees.

Surrounded by modern-day villages, Gedi is an oasis of tranquility; overgrown with plants and flowers. The area can be accessed easily from Malindi, Watamu and Mombasa. A small museum has been set up to exhibit ancient Arab, Chinese and Phoenician porcelain excavated from the ruins. The Fort Jesus museum in Mombasa has artifacts from the Gedi Ruins as well.

Zing Shen, a 42 year-old man with no arms, was recently caught driving with his feet in Beijing.

Zing told police that ever since he lost his arms in an industrial accident several years ago, he had used his feet to steer his vehicle without difficulty. He has no arms from the elbows down.

“He had an automatic so did not need to worry about changing gears and said he had put a lot of practice into learning to control the steering wheel with his legs. He said he was actually even more careful now with driving than he had been before he lost his arms. He was surprised when we arrested him.”

(weirdasianews)

By Olley Maruma in Harare

If decisive proof was ever needed to show that until African leaders use regional and continental integration to use their natural resources for their own continent’s development, all their 53 countries, as sovereign as they might appear to be, will remain neo-colonies of their former colonisers.

In West Africa, the value of the currencies of almost all the Francophone countries, are underwritten by the French Treasury in Paris. In the Anglophone countries, the value of their currencies is propped up through the American dollar by balance of payments support from the IMF.
In southern Africa, except for Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, the currencies of the other countries are underwritten under SACU by the South African Treasury through its central bank. As a result, the currencies of the countries that are not part of SACU have become the most unstable since the introduction of Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes in the beginning of the 1990s.
Understanding the importance of a common currency, the European Union introduced the euro in 1999. When the currency first came on board, it was extremely weak against other major currencies such as the American dollar and the Japanese yen. Today it is stronger than both of them.
The question is what would have happened if African leaders had taken regional and continental integration seriously and introduced the afro at the same time as the euro? When it comes to economic and trade relations, why do African leaders from the Cape to Cairo behave as though America and Europe have chained them to an immovable rock the same way Jupiter confined Prometheus to his stagnant place forever?
After all, there is a hackneyed saying among economic pundits that when the American economy sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. When will African leaders realise the importance of having preventative medicine? Do African economies always have to breathe the same contaminated air as America? Why are African leasers afraid of creating their own world with its own economic comfort zone underwritten by their own continental currency? African leaders, where are you when your people need bold leadership? When will you stop holding onto to the coattails of your former oppressors? When did they start loving you so much?
When the global credit crisis hit the world in full in October this year, it triggered intense panic among investors throughout the world, throwing equity markets into a tailspin. The ensuing crisis forced unprecedented government and central bank intervention in most industrialised countries, something they had considered anathema in the last two decades. Their central banks tried to save their financial systems by boosting liquidity.
The underlying cause of all this economic turmoil was a massive and unsustainable build-up of toxic debt over the past decade or so, largely fuelled by complete irresponsibility in American financial markets, particularly in lending to the sub-prime mortgage market. Western corporations, financial markets and governments, it seems, had forgotten that real wealth is created by investing in productivity activity that produces goods and jobs, not just providing services, particularly financial services. Abundant liquidity and low interest rates were eagerly dished out, encouraging consumers to spend and borrow without restraint until their incomes could no longer meet their credit card repayments.
At the same time, the financial institutions lending them money were resorting to the creation of financial products which were propped up by selling this stinking heap of toxic debt. When the time came for the balance sheet to be squared up, the result was a massive crash of the world’s stock markets. Liquidity evaporated from the markets as inter-bank lending ground to a halt. Now it is no longer news: the economies of the US, the UK and Europe are shrinking and a global recession is well on its way.
A drop in asset prices in the US, the epicentre of the world financial crisis, will lead to lower asset prices in economies where cross linkages with the global economy are high. This will mean less spending, lower production and less investment in most sectors of the world’s economies, leading to weaker economic growth. In southern Africa, weak activity in key world markets will hit exporters in the commodities market particularly in the mining and manufacturing sectors.
Profitability will dwindle as
export volumes and prices come under pressure. As it is, European retailers are having to sell their products at give away prices just to get rid of what they already have in their stocks.
Through the contagion effect, the subdued performance of key export sectors in South Africa and neighbouring countries will also start to affect the performance of other sectors, such as tourism, construction and engineering.
In the SADC region, South Africa has the biggest economy. That economy relies on financial inflows from various international markets. As a result of the slowdown in the US economy, inflows from the US may diminish. A drop in financial inflows will worsen the country’s current account deficit, which will have a negative effect on the South African economy in general. At present, South Africa needs US$20 billion a year to finance its current account deficit.
So as things stand, China, through what has come to be known as the “decoupling” process, may have to become Africa’s knight in shining armour for a while. Decoupling is the process in which because of developments in big emerging economies, events in the US economy no longer have a big impact on the rest of the word. So, will decoupling by China act as a cushion for Africa’s economies against the financial crisis in the US and most of the developed world?
Despite the disparities in wealth between the north and the south, in the last two decades the growth in global trade flows has consistently outstripped global GDP growth rates. This means that global trade to GDP rates have also been rising rapidly. At present, the US economy is still the biggest importer in the world. Most Asian countries, including China, whose economy is export driven, derive much of their incomes from exports to the US. As the US recession causes a dip in China’s export income, it will reduce the country’s ability to import from resource rich African countries. As it is, in the last few weeks, commodity prices have declined due to reduced demand linked to the world financial crisis. In South Africa, in value terms, mining output led by platinum, constitutes the country’s biggest export earning sector. The price of platinum has fallen by more than 60 percent in the last year. Not surprisingly, China’s demand for raw materials has decreased.

On the positive side, prices of stock market futures on soft commodities such as sugar, soya beans, wheat, maize and coffee have also seen some losses despite the current world food crisis. For African countries that rely on export commodities to China, a reduction in export prices will affect their incomes. A reduction in the price of soft commodities on the other hand, will come as a welcome relief to African countries that rely on food imports.
What distinguishes China’s economy from others is that its GDP growth is substantially driven by domestic investment. This is a lesson that Africa could learn for its own growth. As a result, the Chinese economy will still grow, albeit at slower rates. Africa-Sino trade reached US$72 billion in the first eight months of 2008, a 62 percent increase on the previous year. So China has decoupled the world’s economy to some extent but not nearly enough to cushion African economies completely from the impending US recession.
Analysts are predicting a deep and potentially long lasting recession in the developed world. Indeed, the consensus among economic analysts is that the effects of the current crisis are worse in the EU than in the US. This situation is not encouraging for China-EU and Africa-EU trade prospects. The EU is an important export destination for China and Africa. And despite a rapid increase in Sino-Africa trade, the EU still dominates Africa’s trade and investments.
As the global slowdown continues, the world is likely to see widespread intervention in the developing countries as the next wave of the crisis engulfs them. While the financial crisis has received substantial attention, its effect on world trade has received very little. This is because the effects of such crises on trade take a little longer to be felt. But trade constitutes a significant part of the world economy.
What Africa needs to do is to become inward looking. America built itself into a self-sustaining global economy by being inward looking. In the last 30 years, China has built its economy into that of a superpower by being inward looking. Europe built its strong economic base by plundering the resources of its colonies. Now the tables are turned, or are they? Africa needs its own currency, to lend to its own indigenous corporates and financial institutions to produce and to process its raw materials into finished products, first for the consumption of its own people and then, and only then, for export. Africa must turn the way it does things upside down. Until then we will continue to be despised by the rest of the world for craving other people’s currencies, which we will never have enough of.

(southerntimesafrica)

Shame Makoshori, Senior Business Reporter

THE Jingniu Group, a Chinese company, will spend about US$400 million in the next five years in constructing a glass manufacturing factory in Kadoma, The Financial Gazette can reveal.

Construction of the glass producing and processing centre by the Jingniu Group is already underway amid expectations that the project might absorb thousands of workers who were left jobless following the closure of gold mines and textile factories in and around Kadoma.
“With a planned investment of US$400 million and occupying an area of 100 hectares, China Jingniu Glass Factory in Zimbabwe is expected to be completed in five years,” said a statement jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, China National Machinery and Equipment Corporation and CMEC International Exhibition Company.
Once completed, the factory would become the second glass-manufacturing project to operate in Kadoma after a similar project by Romanian firm, Romsit, a joint venture with the Industrial Development Corporation, collapsed in the 1990s after it failed to produce durable glass.
Under Zimbabwe’s “Look East Policy,” the country has been promoting ties with Chinese companies.
Trade volumes between the two countries are expected to peak to US$500 million this year from US$275 million in 2006.
China has become the country’s second largest trading partner after South Africa although the balance of trade has remained in favour of the Asian economic giant.
Chinese investors have built the Sino-Zimbabwe Cement Company in Gweru that has become one of the largest cement producers in Zimbabwe with exports into southern Africa among other projects.
The Chinese government is also planning to build rural schools and an agricultural technology experimenting centre in Zimbabwe.
A Chinese official recently told The Financial Gazette that his country would this year double tobacco imports from Zimbabwe to US$100 million from US$40 million last year.
“China is the biggest buyer of Zimbabwean tobacco,” Hu Ming, economic and commercial chancellor at the Chinese Embassy in Harare said. “China wants to buy more tobacco from Zimbabwe this year because it is good quality tobacco. We used to import big volumes of tobacco from Brazil but Zimbabwean tobacco has good quality and the people of China want more of it. China will import US$100 million (worth of tobacco) this year,” Ming added.
(fingaz)

Barbecued chicken smoke and Senegalese pop music fills one hallway. On another floor, mosquito coil incense and the odour of new leather bean-bags bound for Angola commingle.

Welcome to the Tianxiu Building, the home of China’s largest African enclave and a microcosm for the billion dollar trade boom taking place between African nations and China.

Located along the bustling Xiao Bei Road in downtown Guangzhou, tens of thousands of Africans flock to Tianxiu to purchase everything from school erasers for Darfur to hair-weaves for Kinshasa’s beauty parlours.

Whilst at least 2,000 make it their own, thousands more are just here for export shopping runs.

“It is hard to get hair like this in the Congo,” comments Alice Clarisse as she peruses a Tianxiu shop specialising in hair extensions.

“I come here about twice a year to Guangzhou for a week, the prices are very good.” Clarisse, whose home-town is Kinshasa, adds, “This city of markets is becoming famous all over Africa.”

Indeed, since China opened in 1979, African students and merchants have been flocking to both Beijing and Guangzhou in droves. However, whilst Africans number into the thousands in Beijing, there are no areas that are considered to be wholly African in the capital.

Not so in Guangzhou. The Tianxiu Building began seeing hundreds of Africans move into the apartments above the lower shopping mall in the late 1990s. As more Africans moved in, more Chinese moved out to rent to them.

By 2001, when China entered the WTO and the Beijing 2008 Olympics were announced, the building was considered Guangzhou’s answer to Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong. It’s only grown since then and has seen an infusion of thousands of traders from the Middle East too.

Currently, the blocks around Xiao Bei Road are chock full of Halaal restaurants and Turkish coffee shops. Tianxiu itself is honeycombed with everything from mobile phone counters to African tailors to travel agents.

“I’ve lived here for five years and I can say that more and more people from Africa will come here,” comments Samuel Caam of Mali as he haggles with a Chinese merchant over a motorbike buy. “But most will only stay for about a week.”

In fact, Guangzhou has seen a spike in direct routes to destinations in Africa: Nairobi, Luanda, Lagos, Kinshasa and Cairo.

The expansion of the routes out of Guangzhou is emblematic of China’s dramatic investment in Africa.

Since 2006, the Chinese government has been taking measures to expand trade volume with Africa so that by 2010 it reaches USD 100 billion.

In the past two years, China’s trade with Africa has annually hovered in the 45 billion range, a 42 percent spike over 2005.

At the third Beijing Summit Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in November 2006, President Hu Jintao committed to double aid to Africa by 2009.

This olive-branch also included expanding the number of tariff-free imports from 190 to 440 and a provision for USD 3 billion in preferential loans.

Another USD 2 billion in export credits by 2009 was also promised to African nations, as was a special fund of USD 5 billion to entice Chinese investment in Africa.

The forum, which was established in 2000, has allowed for Chinese investors to pour in USD 6.27 billion into African economies and has led the Chinese government to cancel RMB 10.9 billion (USD 1.4 billion) in debt.

Overall, there are nearly 700 Chinese state owned companies operating in Africa, from mining to fishing to lumbering to telecom to oil drilling.

That means more African business people will be coming to Guangzhou, if you ask Edmuondo Dywill of the Congo.
Comments Dywill as he checks his boss in at Guangzhou’s Garden Hotel, “For we Africans, this is one of the hottest cities in China. It’s similar in climate Africa, and not so cold or expensive as Beijing or Shanghai.”

This sentiment is shared by Michael Osei Prempeh of Ghana. Prempeh recently launched his own trading company, Vokal Communications LLC, based in Guangzhou.

Donning a pressed suit, he walks down Xiao Bei Road flanked by Ghanaian associates in hip-hip garb. That’s not surprising given that hip-hop gear is one of the main commodities he exports to Ghana.

He’s also keen to point out that the African community is stretching beyond this area towards the Garden Hotel, which is where most of the European expatriates congregate.

“See, we are now getting more money and the community is mixing with more people from Europe and North America.”
They’re also moving into other suburbs outside Guangzhou, especially into the neighbouring city of Foshan.

Just ask “Mr. Foshan” himself.

In 2006, 28-year old Ndongo Abdallahi of Mauritania entered a karaoke contest for the Fosham Charm Ambassador. He won and became known in the Chinese media as “Mr. Foshan.”

In fact, when a delegation of overseas Chinese from Malaysia visited their ancestral city of Foshan, they were welcomed home with a serenade by Abdallahi — much to their shock.

Of course, Abdallahi, who arrived in Guangzhou in 1999 to study medicine and later mastered Mandarin is an exception.

A lot of Africans living in Guangzhou are still struggling to overcome the cultural and linguistic barriers presented in China.

Prempeh adds, “Most of the Africans here are from Nigeria, Angola, Togo, Congo and a few from Ghana…Many Chinese people don’t understand when we speak, but we’re getting there.” (By Christopher Cottrell)
(worldwide-china-info)

Two Chinese firms- Overseas construction (CGC) and China Aero technology International Engineering (CATIC) have been chosen for the of two cement and fertilizer production plants in Cameroon next year, an official source told APA.

The Memorandum of understanding signed between the two companies and the Cameroonian government is expected to help Cameroon in two years not only provide the local market mainly with cement which is suffering recurrent shortages but also to supply the sub-regional market.

Regarding the construction of the fertilizer plant, the Chinese side has announced the release of FCFA135 billion of investment for a total production of 120, 000 tonnes of urea and 90, 000 tonnes of ammonia.
As the Cameroonian Industry, Mining and New Technologies Minster Badel Ndanga Ndinga said, it is about “making available to farm input users both in African, western and eastern countries”.

The second project on the construction of a cement plant estimated at FCFA 35 billion is expected to offset the cement shortage in Cameroon with an annual production capacity of one million tonnes of cement for the first phase and three million tonnes for the second one.

These two projects should create more than 6, 000 direct and indirect jobs for an annual turnover of over 10 billion CFA francs.
(APANEWS)

A Nigerian businessman, Otunba Babatunde Showole, has called on the Nigerian authorities to use the opportunity of the visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lamai, to call the separatist leader to order and promote peace in the world.

Otunba Showole who was commenting on the visit of Dalai Lamai to Nigeria, said leaders like him should be told to promote peace in the world and not violence, as he is doing every year in Tibet. “Dalai Lamai should be told to recognise Tibet as part of China and cease all hostilities towards the central government in China.

“He should also recognise the existing social system in Tibet, instead of pandering to the capitalist forces who are bent on destabilising China,” he stated.

Otunba Showole explained that another way by which Dalai Lamai can contribute to peace in the world is to drop his demands for the creation of a so-called ‘Greater Tibet Area’ and the withdrawal of Chinese troops from the region.

According to the widely travelled Nigerian-based Chinese businessman, Dalai Lamai should give up his separatist activities and become a “peace-loving person.”

“Contrary to the reports in western media, there is peace in Tibet and people are living a fulfilled life. “I visited the area during my last visit to China and I witnessed a lot of meaningful development executed by the Chinese government. The place is peaceful,” Otunba Showole recalled.

He called on the Tibetan spiritual leader to return to China and embrace peace. “Separatists in Tibet should abandon violence. The Chinese authorities have an open door policy. They should explore this and bring development to the area,” he added.

(thepmnews)

Japan… Where else can you go to see thousands of loincloth-clad men soaking wet and frolicking around in the wintry night?

The Naked Man Festival (aka Hadaka Matsuri) takes place in Saidaiji, Japan.

Men from all over the world flock to this small town to consume copious amounts of sake and run around in the middle of winter in their underwear.

They form small groups and run around the neighborhood chanting “Washoi! Washoi! Washoi!”

The climax of the event takes place at exactly midnight, when two small wooden sticks (shingi) are dropped in the local temple.

The man who catches one will have a year of good luck.

These sticks are so highly prized, that the men clamber over each other to grab them, resulting in the strange tangle of bodies you can see here.


Louise Brown
TravelPod Community Manager

(weirdasianews)

Onche Odeh

Nigeria may not have the chance to meet up her agenda to develop its industrial sector if the textile sub-sector is allowed to crumble, Director of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Mr. Masayoshi Matsushita has said.

Although, the UNIDO director has said the country has a chance to rescue the ailing textile sub-sector from going extinct, he said a failure in this regard could prevent the country from achieving any meaningful progress on industrialisation.
Matsushita who said this on Thursday at a workshop organised by UNIDO and the United Nations Communication Team in Nigeria at Kaduna cited studies, which shows that Nigeria’s textile sub-sector performed best about a decade ago as indicating that Nigeria’s industrial sector is witnessing a major retrogression.

According to him, the economy of a country could only be said to be growing in positive light if the earnings per individual is relatively high. This is not the case in Nigeria.

“Nigeria will make very little or no advance if it fails to win the battle to rescue the textile industry from dying,” Matsushita said.

Current statistics from the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association shows that only 25 textile industries are currently operating in Nigeria as against over 175 of them that were operational in the 1980s. Similar records also show that Nigeria currently earns less than $11 million from exportation of textile products per year. The export earning as at five years ago stood at over $44million.

Matsushita linked the dwindling fortune of the textile sub-sector to activities of smugglers, which he said could not be tamed by merely banning importation of textiles. He, however, noted that Nigerians are their own enemies in this regards.

“Made in Nigeria textile are of very high quality, but we see a situation whereby some Nigerians go to China to order for inferior products for importation into the country. If the borders are open to importation, the government could effectively develop channel for screening the quality of textiles that come into the country,” he said.

UNIDO, as revealed by Matsushita, is currently working on ways of reviving the textile sub-sector. This is enshrined in a study which recommendation, Matsushita says would be passed on to the government for implementation.

“We are currently doing a study on how to revive the textile industry in Nigeria. Recommendations would be made in accordance with our findings,” he said.

He said infrastructure development, adequate and constant power supply and port construction is key to industrialisation, just as job creation. It is in view of these that Matsushita said the textile industry remains crucial to the country’s economy.

He said border control in Nigeria has not been efficient, adding, “If there is ban on importation, the smugglers are happy. They stay in the closet during the day and sneak the products through the Seme and Niger border at night.”
He said steady economic growth and stable political situation are vital conditions for Foreign Direct Investments. He also noted that the government must develop generous incentive schemes capacity development programmes if it intends to grow its economy.

(AllAfrica)

China has donated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities to the Ministry of Home Affairs worth 1.5million US dollars (about 1.8bn/-). The assistance, said to be the biggest support of its kind from the Chinese people, is intended to enhance the ministry’s plans to go high-tech.

The ministry’s Deputy Minister, Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki, said this in Dar es Salaam yesterday after a brief meeting between the ministry’s staff and China’s Deputy Minister for Public Security, Mr Cai Anji who is in the country for official visit. He said the donation, which was handed over to the ministry by Mr Anji, includes 50 new desktop computers, 30 laptops, scanners and digital cameras.

The minister further said that Mr Anji’s tour to the country was yet another move to demonstrate that the two countries were in good relations. He said that though China and Tanzania were both developing countries, China was better-off and projected to be at the pick of the world’s powerful countries in the world by 2025 and therefore the government felt prouder for its mutual relations.

Meanwhile, the visiting Chinese deputy minister commended the bilateral relations between Tanzania and China which started back in the 1960s for its ability to survive the test of time despite the changes the world has gone through. He said that numerous state tours made by the high ranked leaders of both countries were an indication of a continuing mutual understanding between the two countries.

(habarileo)

Foreign trade and utilization of foreign capital in Guangzhou continue their momentum despite the financial turmoil in the United States, and Europe and the general global economic slowdown, official statistics indicate.
Latest customs figures show the city had exports worth $32.64 billion in the first three quarters of this year, an increase of 17.9 percent from a year ago.

Imports in the first nine months were totaled $30.24 billion, up 14.9 percent.

The growth of exports rose 0.6 percentage points from a year ago, while imports edged down by 0.2 percentage points.

Exports to the US in the three quarters climbed up 0.2 percentage points after an eight-month fall, while the exports to the burgeoning markets of the Middle East, Africa and Latin America surged 33.6 percent, 39.9 percent and 33.3 percent respectively.

“China’s comparatively independent financial system and slowing of RMB appreciation are among the reasons Guangzhou’s foreign trade has not been severely affected by the financial crisis,” noted Li Qingqing, an associate professor of economics with South China Normal University.

The dominant share of exports in general trade, the gifts for the approaching Christmas holiday and rising prices of export commodities have also sustained trade numbers, she added.

According to statistics released recently by the municipal statistics bureau of Guangzhou, the city secured contractual foreign investment of $4.48 billion in the January-September period, down 18.8 percent from the comparable period in 2007, while the city actually utilized foreign capital of $2.89 billion in the nine months, up 13 percent.

Foreign capital used in information technology, computer services and software totaled $90.87 million, 1.8 times the year before. The real estate sector saw a foreign investment decrease of 3.3 percent to $1.2 billion due to the nation’s macro-control policy on the sector.

According to Gao Yaozong, deputy director of the city’s foreign trade and economic cooperation bureau, a growing number of foreign investors are interested in the modern tertiary industries and have switched to finance, logistics, exhibition and conventions, design and consultation from the previously popular real estate sector.

More than $4 billion in foreign capital has gone to the city’s service industry in the past five years.

Source: China Daily

China announced Friday it would give cholera-plagued gives Zimbabwe vaccines worth US$ 500,000 to help the country contain an outbreak of the disease which has claimed the lives of about 400 people in recent weeks. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have been hit by cholera countrywide, prompting regional and international aid agencies, including the World Health Organisation, to step in with assistance. Neighbouring South Africa, where cholera-related deaths of Zimbabweans have been reported, announced this week it would keep its borders open to sick Zimbabweans seeking medical treatment. A Chinese diplomat said the vaccines were being rushed to Zimbabwe and should arrive in the country shortly. “We are sympathising with the Zimbabwean people and we want to help as best as we can to stop the spread of the cholera disease that has killed many people in this country,” He Meng, deputy Chinese Ambassador to Harare, said. The cholera outbreak is being blamed on poor sanitation, particularly lack of clean water supplies in most urban areas.
(afrik)

While Europe, the Far East, and the US plunge ever deeper into economic crisis, Africa is quietly realizing a vision delayed more than 40 years. A few weeks ago, three large regional economic trade blocs: COMESA (Common Market for East and Southern Africa), SADC (Southern African Development Community), and the EAC (East African Community) joined together to form one large free trade area. Twenty-six countries compose this new economic alliance and although most of Africa in the west and north are not yet included, this is an important step to economic unity.
It is no secret to the world that Africa is far behind in terms of economic and political growth and maturity. The shameless exploitation of our natural resources by the West and China combined with the ineptness and blatant corruption of many of our leaders has proven to be a lethal combination in the continued colonialism of Africa.
This union is an attempt by some African countries to fix the current problem. Through this improved economic and customs union, it may be possible for Africa to have more control over our economies in order to ensure that the people and not just the upper class benefit. By removing trade barriers that restrict the movement of goods and services, we Africans are trying to stimulate economic growth independent of foreign (i.e. Western) influence. This new union brings together around 300 million people and an estimated GDP of $630 billion into one trade bloc which has enormous potential for growth. (Figures from bbc.co.uk).
With this new economic unity, it is now possible for us to negotiate with organizations like the EU and NAFTA, and large countries like the US, India, and China on a more equal level. Previously, these large countries and unions were able to isolate one or two countries and impose prices, development plans, and the distribution of benefits on them with little trouble. Now this will be more difficult for the so-called “great powers” of the world as Africans are coming to the negotiating table more united, ensuring that we are listened to and respected. This will allow us to have a better position in bargaining, and perhaps it will enable us to get better prices for our goods and ensure a diversification of our economies from the heavy dependence on the extraction of natural resources.
With this new union, it will be easier for us to set our own standards for development, and, with an integrated economy, we can all develop together. By concentrating on our own priorities for development, Africa can develop the way Africa needs to develop and not the way Europe or America wishes us to develop. The mistake of many African countries during and shortly after their independence was, and still is, the reliance on Western economic development models for growth. We had forgotten that we are not Europeans and were blind to fact that these so-called development models were actually dependency models. This new union could enable Africa to break with these exploitative policies and start catering to the needs and wants of its people. Too long have the people of Africa been low on the list of beneficiaries to the wealth of their nations. They have always had to wait for the Europeans, the Americans, or the Chinese, and corrupt government officials to get their share before they are allowed to have what remains. This must stop now, and it is my belief that this new economic union is a step in the right direction.
However, the true importance of this union is that it can be seen as a progression towards political unity on the African continent. The next steps to achieve this ultimate endgame would be the initiation of a better customs union, the establishment of a monetary union, and, finally, progression into a unified political entity.
The first major step has been taken, and now it is up to our leaders to lead and for development to start up again at a pace, and in a direction, that benefits Africans.
Although many challenges still await the African continent, this is a step in the right direction. I am not a fool to believe that this union will instantly solve all of Africa’s problems and that it means all leaders have finally realized what is important, but I am excited because it offers hope that the dream of people like Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure about a United States of Africa can become reality. The challenges are known, and we must understand that certain actors within the US, Europe, China, and others outside the continent and within will do whatever it takes to prevent this dream from becoming reality. They should know that their time of dominance, oppression and almost Messiah-like influence is coming to an end, and there will be no place to hide when Africa comes storming into the developed world, free from the chains of oppression.

(maneno)

The House of Representatives has called on Chinese authorities not to spare the two Chinese security guards who allegedly killed a Nigerian, Mr Ojide Ekene, in Guangzhou province, China.
The resolution was sequel to the report of the Joint Committees on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs on the investigation of the brutal killing of Ekene on September 25, presented by Mrs Abike Erewa (AC-Lagos).
The House also recommended that the criminal case against the two guards be followed to a logical conclusion and that the family of the deceased should be paid N4 million as compensation.
While commending the prompt action of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Embassy in China over the killing, the House described the killing as “unprovoked and unwarranted”.
The House also condemned the unwarranted killings of Nigerians in other parts of the world and urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish a Nigerian Consulate in Guangzhoun.
Besides, the House called on the Nigerian consulate overseeing consular activities in Guangzhoun to handle the increasing number of consular cases emanating from the province, noting that over 5,000 Nigerians were living in the area.
The House had on October 16 condemned, in strong terms, the killing of Ekene, a Nigerian businessman, and ordered a detailed investigation into the incident.
The lawmakers were disturbed that Ekene, ”in a bid to answer the call of nature” in a place without a public convenience, was abused, harassed, derided and hit with a heavy iron baton on his head by Chinese security men.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident happened on Sept. 25, when the deceased attempted to urinate at a place without any public convenience, as the four Chinese security men on duty swooped on him.

(triumphnewspapers)

Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, said that without a spiritual life, people risked losing their souls.

“In the age of the cell phone and the internet it is probably more difficult than before to protect silence and to nourish the interior dimension of life,” Father Lombardi told the Vatican television show Octavia Dies. “It is difficult but necessary.”

“There is an interior and spiritual dimension of life that must be guarded and nourished. If it is not, it can become barren to the point of drying up and, indeed, dying,” he added.

“Today, this is a very grave threat, and it is the most irreparable misfortune.”

The Vatican has long counselled against the excesses of modern life. Last month, Pope Benedict XVI said that the current global financial crisis was proof that the pursuit of money and success is pointless, and that wealth meant nothing.

“Nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture,” he told a recent assembly of the Synod.

However, Pope Benedict has embraced many aspects of modern technology in order to convey the Catholic message to a young, tech-savvy audience.

At World Youth Day in Sydney, the Pope texted daily messages of inspiration and hope to attendees, while digital prayer walls were erected on-site.

The Vatican has even made some of the manuscripts, documents and ancient texts from the Apostolic Vatican Library available to view online.

(Telegraph)

Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is carrying out refurbishment and extension work on the Mbanza Congo aerodrome, in Zaire province, Angolan news agency Angop reported.

According to the contractor, engineer Yang Mengxue, the work, budgeted to cost US$10 million, is due to be concluded within six months, after which teh aerodrome will be able to receive the new Boeing 737-800 and 777-2000 aircraft of Angolan airline Taag.

The runway will be extended to 2730 metres in length, as compared to its current 1,800 metres, and widened to 45 metres, which is 15 metres more than it current width.

Yang also said that recycling work would be carried out, as well as building of access routes, parking bays and replacement of the asphalt and signage on the airport apron.

(macauhub)

Asian demand for West African crude for December loading has fallen to the lowest levels in more than four years, traders said on Thursday, reflecting a fall in global oil consumption amid economic slowdown.

Asia’s purchase of West African crude, mainly Nigerian and Angolan, is around 858,000 barrels per day in December, matching the volume in August 2007.

The levels are the lowest in Reuters data, which dates back to June 2004.

The December volume is 6 percent down from around 918,000 bpd in November. Demand in December 2007 was about 1.22 million bpd.

Exports from Nigeria and Angola are about 3.8 million bpd for December loading.

India and China remained the main Asian buyers of West Africa.

India’s purchase of West African crude, mostly Nigerian and Angolan, has fallen to 8 cargoes, or 245,000 bpd, in December from around 11 cargoes, or 348,000 bpd in November.

The Indian imports in December are the lowest since June this year. They are down by nearly 35 percent from November and down by 75 percent from the levels seen in October.

China’s purchase of West African crude has fallen to around 490,000 bpd in December from 538,000 bpd in November, a difference of one cargo of crude oil.

SPOT PREMIUMS ALSO DOWN

“Crude going to Asia has dropped off, demand for West African crude has slowed almost everywhere, less has gone to the U.S. this month as well,” one physical trader said.

The fall in demand from China, India and the United States, the main buyers of West African oil, have slashed spot differentials, especially on high quality Nigerian crude.

Spot premiums on Nigerian gasoline-rich Qua Iboe <BON-QUA> have fallen to about dated Brent <BFO-> plus about $2 a barrel from its record high premium of $4.80 to dated in June, before international benchmark U.S. crude futures prices <CLc1> hit its peak above $147 in July on the back of strong energy demand from emerging economies such as India and China.

Analysts in a Reuters poll published on Wednesday expected oil demand to make the first drop since early 1980 in this year and next. [ID:nLQ285707]

West African crude oil exports gained marginal support from Taiwan. It bought 4 cargoes of West African crude for December loading, or around 123,000 bpd, up from around 32,000 bpd in the previous month.

Through tenders, the country’s largest refiner CPC Corp. bought crude from Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon in December and currently has a January tender in place for West African crude.

The following table gives the latest breakdown of December, November and October-loading West African crude cargoes sold into Asia, according to trade sources.

Figures are rounded.

DEC NOV OCT COUNTRY CARGOES BPD CARGOES BPD CARGOES BPD CHINA 16 490,000 17 538,000 17 521,000 INDIA 8 245,000 11 348,000 19 582,000 INDONESIA 0 0 0 0 1 31,000 TAIWAN 4 123,000 1 32,000 4 123,000 KOREA 0 0 0 0 0 0 JAPAN 0 0 0 0 0 0 OTHERS 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTAL 28 858,000 29 918,000 41 1.26 MLN https://customers.reuters.com/community/commodities/graphics/Wafrica_Flows.htm. (Reporting by Joe Brock; editing by Ikuko Kao and James Jukwey)

(reuters)

Kenya Airways announced that it has begun Guangzhou-Nairobi non-stop flights, flying on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, the first and unique airway from China to Africa directly.

The service airplanes are Boeing 777-200ER, taking off at 1:00 a.m. in Guangzhou and arriving in Nairobi at 6:15 a.m. local time. The flight takes only 10 hours, currently the shortest and fastest journey to Africa. The flight is during night, saving daytime; therefore it would be especially suitable for business and travel passengers. Within three hours of arriving in Nairobi, passengers can take flights to 33 African destinations there.

Kenya Airways also provides one night free hotel room for those passengers taking non-stop flights to Guangzhou on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and transfer to domestic flights within 8-24 hours.

(newsgd)