China defends its policies in Africa

In the Wall-Street Journal, China's vice commerce minister pushed back against Western criticism of China's activities in Africa saying that  they are "more market-driven"

Economic activity in Africa has surged in recent years, with Beijing becoming an important investor, creditor and donor for many African nations. But with the rise of China's influence upon the continent, concerns persist that Beijing is preying on the continent's resources to feed the Chinese economy, contributing little significant improvement to African livelihoods.

Amid such criticism—and as China asserts that its presence in Africa is increasingly being shaped by nongovernment actors—Beijing has put in place some mechanisms to deal with issues surrounding its investment and trade on the resource-rich continent.

"China's presence in Africa is becoming more and more market driven, the actors operating there are diverse, there are many models, and the areas they are in are broad," said Fu Ziying, the vice commerce minister, in a recent interview. "The Chinese government is more and more aware that as the economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa evolves, there need to be some laws and protections in place."

In a rare discussion about China-Africa ties, Mr. Fu, the senior trade official in charge of China's Africa portfolio, spoke about what he termed the misunderstandings surrounding China's presence in Africa.

In response to questions about some sensitive cases in the past year related to China's moves in Africa, Mr. Fu's comments suggested there were limits to what the government could do, shedding little light on the controversies.

Last year, a Hong Kong-based entity named the China International Fund struck a massive, $7 billion mining and infrastructure deal in Guinea that gave it, through two Singapore-registered entities, sweeping concessions to the mineral riches of the West African nation. Guinea authorities are now investigating the deal.

Company filings and other documents show that some CIF executives have ties to a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Mr. Fu reiterated denials by Chinese government officials that the government has any involvement in CIF.

"This fund is entirely built by individuals, and it has absolutely no government or Chinese state-owned company background in it," Mr. Fu said, adding that the Chinese government took the step to "inform relevant countries" that no such fund is registered in China.

Meanwhile, when asked about the investigation by Namibian authorities into alleged bribery involving Chinese security-equipment provider Nuctech Co., Mr. Fu said the matter was a civil-commercial dispute, arising from commercial competition, and that the Chinese government wouldn't intervene in such cases.

Mr. Fu, who accompanied powerful Politburo member Jia Qinglin to Namibia in March, said that the Nuctech case hadn't come up during the visit. Neither Nuctech nor its parent company has commented on the investigation.

The probe, which emerged late last year, is sensitive because the Communist Party Secretary of Nuctech's parent company is Hu Haifeng, the son of Chinese President Hu Jintao. References to the case disappeared from Chinese news websites soon after the story surfaced.

Mr. Fu also expressed frustration over persistent criticisms against China by Western nations and multilateral development agencies, which have cited Beijing's lack of transparency in its dealings in Africa and that the financing it provides without conditions on better governance or tackling corruption sets back the local economy.

"It's like marriage. The husband and wife are happy. Their happiness quotient is very high. But suddenly you have someone beside you that keeps criticizing the marriage," he said. "If Africa has a criticism about China's investment in Africa, then that is a problem."

China's engagement with Africa has begun to be studied only in the past few years. One recent study by the Centre for Chinese Studies at South Africa's Stellenbosch University and the Rockefeller Foundation listed the development of local worker skills and labor rights as key challenges that may determine whether Africans will benefit from China's presence on the continent in the long run.

The study also recommended more joint ventures be set up between African and Chinese companies to transfer technology and build capacity and an increase in the role of African civil society in project consultations.

This year China-Africa trade will exceed $100 billion, and the growth in bilateral investment is likely to enter its fastest period in the next five years, Mr. Fu said. Last year, trade between China and Africa fell to $91 billion amid the global financial crisis, from $107 billion in 2008, according to Chinese government data.

In 43 African countries, China and the corresponding African nation have set up a joint committee that convenes to discuss economic and trade issues when needed, Mr. Fu said. Such committees often don't meet more than once a year, and Mr. Fu indicated that there are cases that end up outside of that framework. But he claimed that, along with agreements on bilateral trade and investment protection, they offer a way to smooth burgeoning ties between the two developing economies.

Mr. Fu also responded to a question about a case involving investment in the other direction, from Africa into China. South Africa's Sasol Ltd. in December submitted a plan with its Chinese joint venture partner to build a plant that will convert coal to liquid fuel in China. The project, estimated to cost $5 billion to $7 billion, would be among the largest by an African company in China.

However, a document prepared by the local-level economic-planning agency in Ningxia, where the plant will be located, said that the review of Sasol's plan was being delayed to await a rival plan based on Chinese technology. Sasol has said it remains confident in the project.

"This [Sasol's] project hasn't been rejected," Mr. Fu said, adding that at issue is still a broader question of whether it is better to stick to using crude oil or convert coal to oil for China's energy needs.

Mr. Fu himself led a delegation in April to five African countries: the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Liberia and Chad.

In Liberia, where China is carrying out a $2.6 billion project to revitalize the iron ore Bong Mines, Mr. Fu said his group convened a roundtable with senior representatives, including ambassadors, from the local embassies, including ones from the U.S. and EU, along with foreign and local media.

Mr. Fu said the roundtable, including another one set up while he was in Gabon, was done to address the misunderstandings of China in Africa.

China's business with Africa.



More discussion on China in Africa.



China in Africa : Friend or foe for the European Union?



More detailed discussion if China is a constructive partner for Africa or new colonist.



China accused of neo-colonialism taking Africa's resource away.

Is Germany sending Mercenaries to Somali?

Somali Warlord Hires German Mercenaries to Provide Security Services.

Politicians have reacted angrily to reports that a German firm has signed a deal with a Somali warlord to provide security services. Former members of German special forces and an elite police unit could soon be working as bodyguards and trainers in the lawless country.

For years, German politicians and pundits have been taking the moral high ground over the activities of the American private security contractor Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, in places such as Iraq. "The US government has allowed private security firms to develop into an omnipresent, uncontrollable apparatus in the war zones of this world," wrote one German newspaper back in 2007.

That moral outrage is now looking distinctly shabby in the light of revelations that a German security company is planning to supply mercenaries to a Somali warlord. On Monday, Thomas Kaltegärtner, CEO of Asgaard German Security Group, confirmed a report by the German public broadcaster ARD that his company plans to send former German soldiers to Somalia.

In a December 2009 press release, Asgaard announced it had signed an "exclusive agreement on security services" with Abdinur Ahmed Darman. Darman, a Somali warlord who styles himself as the country's president, does not recognize the legitimacy of the United Nations-backed transitional government of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The agreement, the company said, would cover "all necessary measures to reintroduce security and peace to Somalia." The country has not had a functioning central government since 1991.

According to Kaltegärtner, himself a former Bundeswehr soldier, Asgaard employees would provide security for Darman and train police and military forces. He stressed, however, that combat operations were not planned. He said that over 100 mercenaries could be involved in operations. Although negotiations were not yet complete, it was possible that Asgaard employees would be operating in Somalia in the near future, Kaltegärtner told Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper. Kaltegärtner also told the newspaper that his company employed former members of the German army's special forces, the KSK, and Germany's elite GSG-9 police force.

Privatizing State Violence

Several German politicians have reacted angrily to the news that former soldiers could soon be in action on the Horn of Africa. "In my opinion, this is not acceptable," Rainer Arnold, the defense expert of the center-left Social Democrats, told the Tuesday edition of the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper. He called for new legislation to "clearly limit" such operations, adding: "One cannot privatize state violence."

Speaking to the same newspaper, Green Party politician Omid Nouripour accused the German government of not doing enough in the past to regulate private security firms. Paul Schäfer of the far-left Left Party and Rainer Stinner of the liberal Free Democratic Party, which governs in coalition with Merkel's conservatives, also criticized the deal, with Schäfer talking of a "shadow foreign policy."

Observers warn that German employees of the firm could be killed or targeted for kidnapping in Somalia. The Islamist Al-Shabab militia, which controls several regions of the country and parts of the capital Mogadishu, has allied itself with Al-Qaida, which wants Germany to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. The Islamist groups would be pleased to get their hands on German hostages, experts say.

"If a German firm were to train and support a Somali militia, that would certainly go against Germany's interests," said Annette Weber from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in remarks to ARD. The German Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry now want to look into what Asgaard is planning to do in Somalia, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The company itself tried to play down the significance of the operation. "We want to work closely together with the German government and will in no way act against its interests," Asgaard said in a statement published on its website on Sunday. "There are currently no German citizens working on behalf of Asgaard in Somalia." The company stressed that it would only begin its operations in Somalia once Darman "once again assumes control of state affairs with the approval of the UN."

While Darman isn't considered an Islamist -- he is living in the United States and enjoys good contacts to U.S. congressmen -- his chances of becoming the next president are slim. His support inside the country is limited, and officials in Germany have warned that he may not get the personnel support from Europe.
A German prosecutor Wednesday launched an investigation into whether deploying the mercenaries to Somalia would be in violation of a German law that bars the sale of services of German soldiers abroad. A Justice Ministry spokesman Wednesday said the deal could also violate an international arms embargo imposed on Somalia by the United Nations.
Meanwhile, security experts aren't thrilled by the prospect of former German troops in a country like Somalia, where some 1.5 million people have been displaced by domestic fighting. The

For years, German politicians criticized the activities of U.S. private security contractor Blackwater, now Xe Services, in conflict zones such as Iraq. "The U.S. government has allowed private security firms to develop into an omnipresent, uncontrollable apparatus in the war zones of this world," the left-leaning Die Tageszeitung newspaper wrote in 2007.

Military Exercise; Phoenix Express Kicks Off in Souda Bay

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="446" caption="SOUDA BAY, Greece - USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) enters Souda Bay, Greece to participate in exercise Phoenix Express (PE-10), May 18, 2010. PE-10 is a two-week exercise designed to strengthen maritime partnerships and enhance stability in the region through increased interoperability and cooperation among partners from Africa, Europe, and United States. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Edward Vasquez) "][/caption]

Military exersize starts,involving Africa, U.S. and European countries.

Phoenix Express 2010 (PE-10), a two-week, two-phase, multinational, maritime exercise among regional partners from Africa, Europe, and the United States, is set to conduct its kickoff pre-sail conference and conclude its in port training portion of the exercise.

The in port phase, which began in Rota, Spain, and continued in Souda Bay, Greece, focuses on medical training, maritime interdiction operations (MIO), helicopter operations and safety, damage control, navigation, deck seamanship, search and rescue (SAR), small boat operations and a leadership round table.

Ships and personnel involved will depart Souda Bay later this month and sail into international waters in the central Mediterranean Sea.

During the underway portion of PE-10, countries will track and board suspect vessels carrying suspicious cargo, and Maritime Patrol Aircraft and Automated Identification Systems, along with MIOs like SARs and Visit, Board, Search and Seizures will be performed.

U.S. commanders believe PE-10 is invaluable to theater partners because it fosters mutual understanding and improves international military partnering.

"Phoenix Express demonstrates theater partner nations' commitment to regional stability and maritime security," said Captain Martin Beck, commander of Task Force 68, whose task force is in command of the exercise. "During this exercise, maritime professionals will further develop the capacity to maintain maritime domain awareness. When they meet in the future to conduct combined peacekeeping or humanitarian operations, or to counter trafficking in drugs, people, or weapons in this region, they will be better able to respond and work together."

Twenty countries are expected to participate in the exercise as either an active participant or observer. U.S. units participating in Phoenix Express include the USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), home ported in Virginia Beach, Virginia; USS John L. Hall (FFG 32), home ported in Mayport.

More background on the preparation for the exercise:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="435" caption="ROTA, Spain - Lance Corporal Drew Van Hook, assigned to Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST), Company Europe, at Naval Station Rota, Spain, instructs a Moroccan maritime interdiction operations team on basic close quarter battle training, April 27, 2010, in preparation for Exercise Phoenix Express. The goals of the exercise are to increase participating countries' knowledge and experience with FAST unit core capabilities and highlight common safety and security concerns in the maritime environment such as illegal immigration, criminal activity, narcotics trafficking, and weapons trafficking."][/caption]

In preparation for Exercise Phoenix Express 2010, North African Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO) teams are training with Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) Company, Europe, April 19 to May 7, 2010 at Naval Station Rota, Spain.

Moroccan and Senegalese MIO Teams are training primarily on tactics, techniques, and procedures associated with Maritime Interdiction Operations.

The goals of the exercise are to increase participating countries' knowledge base and experience level with FAST unit core capabilities and highlight common safety and security concerns in the maritime environment such as illegal immigration, criminal activity, narcotics trafficking, and weapons trafficking.

Countering these issues require skills such as MIO, air operations and boat operations.

"Multilateral exercises like Phoenix Express are an important part of the U.S. Naval Forces Africa Maritime Supporting Plans and the International Military Partnering Lines of Operations" said Captain Martin Beck, commander of Naval Expeditionary Task Force Europe and Africa, Commander Task Force 68 (CTF 68/368). "The FAST Marines are working with our Spanish host to help train and prepare our North African partners for maritime security operations, which is key in our combined readiness to address the security challenges we face at sea."