Sarkozy seeks fresh start and better trade at Africa summit

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="262" caption="French President Nicolas Sarkozy greeted Rwanda's President Paul Kagame."][/caption]

Over 250 African and French business leaders rubbed shoulders with African heads-of-state in Nice on Monday, as the 25th France-Africa summit, which for the first time will focus on both trade and politics, got under way.

NICE, France—Africa has the potential for exponential economic growth and must have a louder voice in world politics, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday, opening a summit with 38 African leaders.

Paris wants to use the gathering as a springboard for business deals and to bury bitter memories of colonial rule.

It is "completely abnormal" that no African country has a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, Mr. Sarkozy said, calling for reform of the body in an address to the Africa-France summit in the Riviera city of Nice.

"It is not possible to talk about the great questions of the world without the presence of Africa," Mr. Sarkozy said. "Our destinies are indissolubly linked." He said "Africa is our future" and will be a principle reservoir for world economic growth in the decades to come.

The 25th Africa-France summit coincides with the 50th anniversary of independence for 14 former French colonies. It marks a new era of ties—for Mr. Sarkozy a partnership of friends able to discuss commerce or stickier questions like human rights.

Breaking away from tradition, France has invited nearly 200 business leaders from France and Africa to this year's summit.

The dictatorships, conflicts, corruption and poverty that have plagued African nations for decades and define their image in the West have been reduced to sideline events at the two-day summit.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stressed the need to change "African realities" through commerce and new infrastructure. He asked that the summit put the accent on developing African economies, including strengthening the role of the private sector.

"We want at all cost to end the marginal status of the African continent," he said.

A harsh reality for nations like France is the growing presence in Africa of China, India, Brazil and Iran, and to a lesser degree the U.S. Many of those nations are moving full speed ahead to scoop up Africa's natural resources, make trade and win contracts to build infrastructure.

In French-speaking countries, mainly in north and west Africa, France must live down its past as a colonial ruler. An Elysee Palace official said Mr. Sarkozy is more interested in bilateral talks with leaders of countries not in the circle of former colonies.

Only one African country wasn't invited to the summit—Madagascar, the Indian Ocean island where a 2009 coup toppled an elected president.

Notable absent leaders include Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, sought by the International Criminal Court for allegedly masterminding atrocities in Darfur. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, facing EU sanctions travel restrictions, also wasn't invited.

This happens in the context of China's increase and economic-political expansion in Africa. Trade between Africa and China has increased 10 fold since 2000.

France is seeking to renew its ties with Africa at the two-day gathering that will touch on global governance and Africa's campaign for more of say at the United Nations Security Council, the UN's top decision-making body. France wants to increase the number of African states represented and also have two permanent African nations on the UN security counsel, but not let them have no veto power. Of course the lack of veto power was not welcomed by African delegates.



The summit is viewed by many as an attempt by the Elysee Palace to boost its dwindling influence in the region in the face of stiff competition from China, India and other emerging economic superpowers. China is now Africa’s biggest trading partner, and has invested billions over the past decade to tap into the continent’s raw materials to fuel its own fast-growing economy.

When he took office in 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkzoy vowed to break with the past and end what he described as the paternalistic relationship between France and its former colonies, a relationship based on privileges and hand-outs popularly referred to as “Francafrique”.

France has been frequently criticized for ignoring human rights violations in its former African colonies and propping up autocratic leaders in its quest for business privileges in the resource-rich continent.

In recent months, Sarkozy has attempted to mend France’s tense relations with Rwanda following the 1994 genocide. During a landmark trip to Kigali in March, Sarkozy said France would do everything possible to ensure that "all those responsible for the genocide are found and punished." Diplomatic relations between France and Rwanda were restored last year, three years after Kigali severed ties with Paris.

Has France really turned over a new leaf in Africa?

But critics say that 50 years after several African nations gained independence from France, not much has changed in the country's relationship with its former colonies.

While Sarkozy impressed when Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first African head of state to be invited to the presidential palace after he took office, he disappointed many when his first visit to the continent was to Gabon: then-President Omar Bongo of Gabon was a central figure in the ‘old’ ‘Françafrique’ style of diplomacy.

The disappointment turned to outrage last year, when the French government appeared to support Bongo’s son, Ali Bongo, in the August 2009 polls, sparking criticism among Gabonese opposition figures and igniting street protests across Paris.

Sarkozy’s cozy relations with Paul Biya, whose 28-year rule in Cameroon has been criticised by international rights groups, has also raised eyebrows in Africa circles. Last year, when Sarkozy welcomed the controversial African leader by praising Cameroon for its moderation, demonstrators in Paris sported placards that read, "Biya murderer, Sarkozy accomplice."

At this year's summit however, Sarkozy aims to focus on business. To mark the start of the much-trumpeted new era in French-African relations, a charter is set to be signed at the end of the conference which will pledge greater cooperation in training, jobs and environmental issues.

And while the annual summit has traditionally focused on former French colonies, the only two heads of state to hold face-to-face talks with Sarkozy at the conference's sidelines are South Africa's Jacob Zuma and Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, both leaders of former British colonies

African Economy to Grow 4.5% in 2010, World Cup to help export growth in South Africa.

The African continent will have robust economic growth this year.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast—Economic growth in Africa will rebound with growth of 4.5% in 2010 and 5.2% in 2011, according to forecasts in a report published Monday.

The African Economic Outlook 2010 report predicts the recovery will remain uneven, with southern Africa—the region hardest hit in 2009—recovering more slowly than the rest of the continent. The report by the African Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa said East Africa is predicted to lead the way higher, with growth averaging more than 6% in 2010 and 2011.

"The prospect of only a moderate recovery in a number of African countries makes it even more pressing to address the structural problems, which existed even before the global crisis," said Leonce Ndikumana, Director of the Development Research Department at the African Development Bank.

The report's authors say the world financial crisis slashed growth levels on the continent from an average of 6% in 2006 to 2008 to 2.5% in 2009.

"The good news is that the continent has proved resilient to the crisis," said Henri-Bernard Solignac-Lecomte, Head of the Europe, Africa and Middle East Desk at the OECD Development Center in a press release. Mr. Solignac-Lecomte added that the bad news was that the downturn could make it more difficult for countries to meet their targets of reducing poverty.

The study also studied taxation revenue and found large differences in the performance of individual countries, with some collecting only half the expected revenue given living standards and incomes.

The report was published at the start of the annual meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank Group.

The economic benefits of hosting a large scale international festival like a World Cup is paying off for South Africa.

South Africa's economy grew at its fastest pace in more than 1 1/2 years as exports grew amid strengthened global demand and the country geared up to host the soccer World Cup, government data for the first quarter showed Tuesday.

The economy should continue to benefit from the World Cup and a slow recovery in domestic consumer spending following last year's recession.

This comes after news showing that African economies have passed the "stress test".

African economies have shown resilience in the face of global financial adversities, have passed the stress test and can be expected to achieve economic growth this year, says Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Addressing African finance ministers April 26 in Washington, Kaberuka acknowledged that the global financial crisis has done some damage, but said African economies are expected to average 5 percent economic growth in 2010 and 6 percent growth in 2011, with some countries forecast to achieve an even higher rate.

In many African countries, he said, the crisis has “only been a setback.”

The entire continent has been subjected to a “stress test and has passed,” he told the ministers, diplomats and finance experts, many of whom were in Washington for World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings.

For sub-Saharan Africa, Kaberuka said, capital inflows to the region swelled from $10 billion in 2001 to $53 billion just before the economic crisis in 2007. He acknowledged however, that much of the inflow has been concentrated in a few countries and dependent on factors such as the size of the market, the level of political stability, the depth of financial markets and the availability of natural resources.

The AfDB president said while the region’s four largest countries accounted for about 88 percent of those capital inflows, there was a “broadening out” of the recipient base just before the crisis.

As conditions improve and investors see more of the changes they like to see — political stability, accountability and economic transparency — Kaberuka predicted, “I think we will see a change.” He added that Africa is changing right now, but acknowledged that many people are not yet seeing it.

As an example, he pointed to Cape Verde, calling it a “miracle” country in Africa. Cape Verde has gone from being very poor to being a middle-income country. It is no longer receiving soft or concessional loans from the AfDB, he said, but is now borrowing money at market rates. Even though it is still in need of foreign aid, investment and tourism, he said, Cape Verde has made great strides through remittances from its expatriate community and by making good choices.

The African Development Bank has worked hard to stimulate development in Africa, he said. Financing activities by the AfDB have increased from a modest $300 million in 2005 to $1.6 billion in 2008 through direct lending and equity participation.

The global financial crisis presented the AfDB with challenges but also the opportunity to innovate, he said, adding that the goal of the AfDB is to make every dollar it puts into the African economy count for five dollars in real terms to help stimulate economic growth and development.

Kaberuka told his audience that he is convinced that “the macroeconomic reforms that took place in Africa in the 1980s — mainly in the areas of public finance and exchange rates — have provided a very firm foundation [on which to build]. Now what we need are reforms in the microeconomic areas and the efficiencies of institutions.”

Questions are often raised about how much more aid can be given to Africa, he said.

“There is another way to look at this problem,” he said, and he identified lack of infrastructure as the biggest hindrance to Africa’s development and a factor “beyond any country or firm” to confront singlehandedly.

He said the explosive growth of telecom markets in Africa has stepped up demand for fiber optics and satellite communication facilities to meet a substantial need. “At the same time,” he added, “growing businesses large and small are hampered by power outages, poorly maintained roads and dilapidated railways.”

Africa — a continent with 1 billion people, 40 percent of whom live in urban areas and are in need of housing, telephones and services of all types — needs infrastructure. And this need for infrastructure is transforming Africa. In response to these needs, he said, 60 percent of AfDB’s financing in Africa goes to infrastructure — roads, rails, water, broadband, etc.

Lat years economic crisis was an opportunity to pass through reform measures and stay on the economic development front tempted to change course that many countries were on. Africa should stay on course, its going in the right direction.

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.

China eyes Africa's resources

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="470" caption="Mamadou Tandja, Niger president (left), who was welcomed in Beijing by Hu Jintao, Chinese president, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation which gathered representatives of 48 African countries in November 2006, became the first African leader whose downfall could be traced directly to his embrace of Chinese suitors."][/caption]

Here is a detailed look how Africa is viewed through the eyes of Beijing:

T he lions of Niamey are going up in the world. The cramped cats may not know it, but when they move to their spacious new enclosure at the zoo in the capital of landlocked Niger, they will be the latest beneficiaries of a latter-day scramble for Africa.

Their $60,000 (£42,000, €49,000) pen is the merest nicety compared with the rest of the largesse that Beijing and companies acting on its behalf are lavishing on an arid west African nation of 15m people more accustomed to hunger and penury.

Following the same bargain it has struck across the continent – swapping infrastructure and cash for resources to sustain its breakneck growth – China has secured access not only to another source of African oil but also to what is perhaps the single commodity considered more sensitive than crude: uranium. It has also turned Niger into a bellwether for those who fear that the struggle to secure the continent’s resources risks re-creating the ruinous brinkmanship of the cold war.

A few mud-red blocks from the zoo, two colonial thoroughfares converge. One, Avenue du Général de Gaulle, is named for the French leader who ensured his country’s stamp remained on its African colonies long after independence. The other, Avenue de l’Uranium, bears the name of the metal that has made Niger the bedrock of France’s nuclear-powered economy.

China has vied with western groups in Africa for oil and minerals for the best part of a decade. But it also has ambitious nuclear power targets and its quest for uranium – repositories of which are few and far between – has thrown the rivalry into sharper focus.



In the past three years, as China embarked on its new thrust into Africa, relations between Niamey and Paris plunged. The award of uranium concessions to China’s Sino-U and other prospectors broke the de facto 40-year monopoly of Areva, France’s state-controlled nuclear group.

The yellowcake trail

In January 2003 George W. Bush, US president, sought to further the case for war by claiming Saddam Hussein had tried to buy material for a nuclear weapon in Africa. The report on which the claim was based – documenting Iraqi attempts to secure yellowcake, semi-processed uranium ore, from Niger – had one flaw. It was fabricated. As coalition forces failed to find yellowcake in Iraq, the affair rumbled on. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, an aide to vice-president Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury in 2007, following a probe into the outing of a CIA operative whose husband had worked to debunk the claim.

The competition has seen work start on Niger’s first refinery and a $700m hydroelectric barrage, not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars in “signature bonuses”, courtesy of Beijing. It helped the country wring tougher terms from France before granting permission for Areva’s vast new mine, which will make the country the world’s second-biggest uranium producer after Kazakhstan.

Yet a February coup d’etat heightened the anxiety of those who see danger in a stand-off. Although ethnic rivalries and opportunism played their part in the putsch, Mamadou Tandja became the first African leader whose downfall could be traced directly to his embrace of Chinese suitors. “It was because Tandja had Chinese money that he felt he could mock the European Union, Ecowas [the regional bloc], the US,” says Mohamed Bazoum, a former minister who now serves on the “consultative council” created by the military junta that seized power.

The volatility in Niger is worrying to western intelligence agencies as they contemplate al-Qaeda’s presence in the effectively borderless lands of the Sahara. Drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods flow freely. That uranium destined for a dirty bomb could do the same ranks among the west’s security nightmares. Niger’s uranium could also prove of strategic importance as Europe frets about its dependence on Russian gas and looks to nuclear energy to help combat climate change.

With China's increased presence and quick business deals, this has brought alot of criticism towards Beijing.

Rights groups denounce Beijing for its readiness to do business with authoritarians in Sudan or Angola provided the oil keeps flowing. Yet they note that relationships such as Washington’s cosy ties to Equatorial Guinea’s petro-dictatorship deprive the west of any moral high ground.

Even Mr Tandja’s critics would not liken him to a Mobutu or a Mengistu. But that is partly because he failed to cling to power. “He became arrogant,” says one western diplomat. “He counted too much on the Chinese to be there.”

Perhaps Mr Tandja had not acquainted himself with China’s policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of African states. When young officers stormed the presidential palace on February 18, Beijing was as silent as it had been while he amassed power. The toppled president remains under lock and key. The junta pledged elections by February and has barred its own members from contesting them – so those overseeing the transition are not themselves participants. The soldiers have signalled they have no plans to break with China, although they intend to audit all Tandja-era mining permits.

If Mr Tandja set too much store by his Chinese allies, perhaps Beijing also invested too much in him – and his family. One son, Ousmane, was Niger’s commercial attaché in China. According to people familiar with the matter, he has close links to Trendfield Holdings, a British Virgin Islands-registered consultancy that helped China secure its uranium permits and is funding the lion enclosure at Niamey zoo. (El-Moctar Ichah, head of Trendfield’s Niger subsidiary, dismisses such claims as “speculation”.)

France’s critics say its subdued criticism of both Mr Tandja’s authoritarianism and the coup undermined democratic forces in Niger. “There is a sense of neo-colonialism – that France has no friends, only interests,” says one French expatriate.

Those interests may remain secure. “Fundamentally, Areva is still the big partner,” says another western diplomat. Olivier Muller, Areva’s managing director in Niger, dismisses talk of damaging rivalry with China. “It’s like in oil: there are enough blocks to produce,” he says. “You might compete for the blocks you want but after [they are assigned] you co-operate. In the next 10 years ... all the so-called ‘competitors’ will share infrastructure.”

Areva’s €1.2bn ($1.5bn, £870m) Imouraren mine is on track to start production in 2013. It is slated to yield 5,000 tonnes of uranium a year, doubling Areva’s output in the country. Mr Muller says the negotiations with Mr Tandja were tough but that Areva’s agreement to increase payments to the government by 50 per cent had more to do with rising global prices than competition. He describes Salou Djibo, the previously unknown officer and former United Nations peacekeeper now heading the junta, as “a nice guy”, adding: “I met the president for an hour this morning ... If you have one hour with the president, it has gone well. If not, you get five minutes. Obviously, we don’t talk politics, just business.”

Xia Huang, China’s ambassador in Niamey, says Beijing’s bonds to Niger are unshaken and that grander projects are in the offing, including pipelines and coal-fired power stations. China, he says, has offered Africa a “more profitable option” than other partners have. With a little overstatement, he adds: “This country has already seen uranium extraction for nearly 40 years. But when one sees that the direct revenues from uranium are more or less equivalent to those derived from the export of onions each year, there’s a problem.”

Beijing’s critics are unbowed. Mr Idrissa, the transparency campaigner, repeats charges heard across the continent. Chinese companies prefer to import their own labour and, when they do employ locals, they do so in poor conditions and at low wages, he says. “They are going to take our riches and go,” Mr Idrissa concludes.

But for others, China’s efforts offer an opportunity for industrialisation on a scale never countenanced by the colonisers of old. Ibrahim Iddi Ango, an industrialist and president of the chamber of commerce, is pushing for regulations that would oblige foreign investors to foster the local private sector. He notes that France’s Total and others including ExxonMobil of the US sat on the Agadem block for years but balked at Niamey’s demands. “Each time the government said, ‘build a refinery’, they said: ‘it’s impossible’. The Chinese came and said: ‘A refinery? What size?’”

The loser in this particular thrust?  France's Areva, which enjoyed a 40-year monopoly on Niger uranium. Given the level of development in Niger, I would say that competition wouldn't be a bad step.

Conclusion: China doesn't take a missionary approach to world affairs, seeking to spread an ideology or a system of government. Moral progress in international affairs is an American goal, not a Chinese one; China's actions abroad are propelled by its need to secure energy, metals and strategic materials in order to support the rising living standards of its immense population, which amounts to about one-fifth of the worlds population.

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.

Sub-Saharan Africa one of the world's most religious places.

A new Pew Forum poll is out and finds that Sub-Sahara is one of the most religious regions of the world.

A continent that was more known for tribal shamans than for steeples and minarets has, in just 110 years, become one of the world's most religiously devout regions, according to the Pew Forum.

A new massive survey, "Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa," released Thursday, charts how a region that gave birth to the term "global South" is now in the driver's seat in terms of world religious practice.

Twenty percent of the world's Christians now live south of the Sahara Desert and 15 percent of the world's Muslims live there. It's one of the world's most religious places, with at least 85 percent of the population in most countries saying religion is very important to them.

The picture was quite different in 1900, when animist religions comprised the bulk of the population while Muslims and Christians combined made up less than one-quarter.

Animists and traditional African religions have plummeted since then to about 13 percent of the population while conversion rates of Muslims and Christians have soared. Muslim adherents have gone from 11 million in 1900 to 234 million in 2010; Christians have gone from 7 million to 470 million.

Northern Africa is heavily Muslim and southern Africa is mostly Christian but where the two religions meet in a 4,000-mile belt from Somalia to Senegal has often turned violent, especially in Nigeria and Rwanda.

At least 45 percent of the Christians surveyed in Ghana, Zambia, Mozambique, Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda and Chad — which topped the list at 70 percent — consider Muslims to be violent.

Far smaller percentages of Muslims see Christians as violent — Djibouti had the largest percentage at 40 percent, followed by Kenya and Uganda in the low 30s.

From December 2008 to April 2009, the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted 25,000 interviews in more than 60 languages or dialects in 19 countries to ascertain the state of belief and practice among 820 million people in one of the world's most religiously volatile regions.

They found a group of people with heavily pentecostal and messianic beliefs, in both religions. More than half of the Christians surveyed believe Jesus Christ will return to rule the Earth in their lifetimes. More than half of the Christians surveyed believe in the "prosperity gospel," that God will give health and wealth to people if they have enough faith.

Similar attitudes were common among Africa's Muslims: About one-third said they expect the restoration of the caliphate — worldwide Islamic rule — in their lifetimes.

More than half of the Muslims surveyed said society as a whole — not individual women — should decide on whether to wear the veil.

Although Muslims often get blamed for allowing female "circumcision," which is the mutilating of female genitals, the practice is more common among Christians than Muslims in Uganda and Nigeria. However, the highest rates of female circumcision are in the majority Muslim countries of Mali and Djibouti.

And sizable minorities cling to aspects of African religion. More than half the people surveyed in Mali, Tanzania, Senegal and South Africa believed that sacrifices to spirits will protect them from harm. One-quarter of the Muslims and Christians surveyed in several countries said they believed in the power of charms or amulets to protect them.

With most of the populations adhering to one or the other religion, chances are, surveyors said, that neither religion will keep up its current growth rates as the pool of potential converts has shrunk. Neither religion seems to be converting members of the opposing religion in great numbers, they said, with the exception of Uganda where 32 percent of the respondents who were raised Muslim now say they are Christian.

Two wonderful coping religions expanding in a part of the world that's being integrated into globalization at a stunning pace right now--no coincidence, that. One knows how to handle abundance, the other does not.

Whats the status of Democracy in Africa?

Map comes from Freedom House 2010.  Legend is green for free, purple for unfree and yellow for partly free.

Subject is Cato Institute report on state of liberal democracy in Africa by Tony Leon.

Gist:  Economic reforms are what will drive the emergence of liberal democracies on the continent.  Why?  All liberal democracies are also market-oriented economies.

Recent positive trends include (from Daniel Posner and Daniel Young, UCLA):

• Democracy is increasingly seen as only legit form of government in Africa (What?  No Beijing Consensus?)


• Elections are now the norm, not the exception


• Elections are now increasingly contested, often vigorously


• Lifetime rule is disappearing (since 2000 we see longtime leaders gone in Malawi, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and ten others).


• Of the 18 presidents who bumped up against two-term limits in recent years, not one went extra-constitutional, 9 stepped down, three tried and failed to change constitution, and the six who were successful all got their 3rd terms.

Still, the report concludes, "presidential power remains a key impediment to democratic deepening."

Best short-term fix:  governments eliminate current restrictions on media.

No mention of China's impact, but I come away from the piece more optimistic about Africa's future.

Asia's demand triggers frontier integration in Africa via mining companies

Financial Times reports:

Six of the world’s biggest mining and steel companies have converged on an unprecedented scale on a mineral-rich corner of west Africa beset until recently by civil war.



The companies plan to spend billions of dollars in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where some of the world’s richest deposits of iron ore, the raw ingredient of steel, are found.

The groups are Vale, the Brazilian iron ore miner, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, the Anglo-Australian mining houses, ArcelorMittal, the UK steel company, Russia’s Severstal, and Chinalco, the state-owned Chinese mining company.

Buoyant demand for steel has lifted iron ore prices, intensifying global competition for Africa’s hitherto little exploited deposits, and pushing companies into increasingly risky territory.

Liberia and Sierra Leone emerged only recently from civil wars, while Guinea has been teetering on the brink of conflict since the death of dictator Lansana Conte prompted a military coup in 2008.

As yet there is little infrastructure to facilitate mineral exports from any of these countries, whose governments want to use the multinational corporations to fund the ports, roads, and railways needed to lift their struggling economies.

Last month, Vale agreed to spend between $5bn-$8bn on building mines, ports, and railways in Guinea and Liberia by 2020. By comparison, the gross domestic product of Liberia is under $1bn (€800m, £700m).

Vale entered the region by paying Beny Steinmetz Group (BSG), a mini-conglomerate associated with the Israeli billionaire, $2.5bn for exploration rights in Guinea’s Simandou mountains.

BSG’s claim is controversial, as Rio Tinto still disputes the Guinean government’s decision in 2008 to remove half of its Simandou exploration rights.

Teams from both Vale and BSG are in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, to negotiate details of the infrastructure deal with the country’s government. The idea is to transport the iron ore mined in Guinea through Liberia to a new export facility on the coast.

Marc Struik, head of mining at BSG, told the Financial Times the Vale-BSG joint venture wanted to build a new port at Didia in Liberia. That could cost $1bn, Mr Struik estimated.

The joint venture, he said, could spend more than $5bn on ancillary infrastructure to run the Simandou mines in Guinea. This would include two railway lines. The first would reconstruct a line through Guinea for passenger use. The second would be a new line to carry iron ore through Liberia to Didia.

The venture hoped to finalise the plan by the end of June, BSG said. It has signed only a memorandum of understanding with Liberia, which potentially stands to gain as much as Guinea from ore exports.

“We have come with a proposal that no one else has matched,” said Mr Struik. “Liberia is not going to stop the infrastructure development agreement.”

But recent history has shown such agreements to be fragile. Rio Tinto has not acknowledged that it has lost the title to the northern block of Simandou, which Vale now controls.

Rio still holds exploration rights in the southern Simandou block, where most of the region’s known reserves of iron ore are found.

In March, Rio brought in Chinalco, China’s state champion, in a joint venture to develop Simandou. Chinalco has ties to Chinese infrastructure contractors that could be key to developing the southern Simandou block – or more.

But no one is jumping to conclusions about the outcome. Elections are coming up in Guinea. Vale’s deal was signed by the interim government, installed after the former military leader was shot. Guinea’s unions and some opposition politicians say no new deals should have been made in the transitional period.

Done well, this can be a big boost to local economic development.  The hoped-for key difference with the past is the sustained, boom-like demand from Asia, which constitutes a socio-economic revolution all its own for Africa.

Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to South Africa

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="The secret military agreement signed by Shimon Peres, now president of Israel, and P W Botha of South Africa."][/caption]

Britain’s Guardian newspaper said it has proof that Israel had offered to sell nuclear warheads to South Africa in 1975. Documents uncovered by an American academic researching Israel’s ties with South Africa’s then-white minority government claims that Israeli President Shimon Peres, then defense minister, had offered the warheads “in three sizes”.

Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of the state's possession of nuclear weapons.

The "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa's defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel's defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three sizes". The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that "the very existence of this agreement" was to remain secret.

The documents, uncovered by an American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, in research for a book on the close relationship between the two countries, provide evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons despite its policy of "ambiguity" in neither confirming nor denying their existence.

The Israeli authorities tried to stop South Africa's post-apartheid government declassifying the documents at Polakow-Suransky's request and the revelations will be an embarrassment, particularly as this week's nuclear non-proliferation talks in New York focus on the Middle East.

They will also undermine Israel's attempts to suggest that, if it has nuclear weapons, it is a "responsible" power that would not misuse them, whereas countries such as Iran cannot be trusted.

A spokeswoman for Peres today said the report was baseless and there were "never any negotiations" between the two countries. She did not comment on the authenticity of the documents.

South African documents show that the apartheid-era military wanted the missiles as a deterrent and for potential strikes against neighbouring states.

The documents show both sides met on 31 March 1975. Polakow-Suransky writes in his book published in the US this week, The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's secret alliance with apartheid South Africa. At the talks Israeli officials "formally offered to sell South Africa some of the nuclear-capable Jericho missiles in its arsenal".

Among those attending the meeting was the South African military chief of staff, Lieutenant General RF Armstrong. He immediately drew up a memo in which he laid out the benefits of South Africa obtaining the Jericho missiles but only if they were fitted with nuclear weapons.

The memo, marked "top secret" and dated the same day as the meeting with the Israelis, has previously been revealed but its context was not fully understood because it was not known to be directly linked to the Israeli offer on the same day and that it was the basis for a direct request to Israel. In it, Armstrong writes: "In considering the merits of a weapon system such as the one being offered, certain assumptions have been made: a) That the missiles will be armed with nuclear warheads manufactured in RSA (Republic of South Africa) or acquired elsewhere."

But South Africa was years from being able to build atomic weapons. A little more than two months later, on 4 June, Peres and Botha met in Zurich. By then the Jericho project had the codename Chalet.

The top secret minutes of the meeting record that: "Minister Botha expressed interest in a limited number of units of Chalet subject to the correct payload being available." The document then records: "Minister Peres said the correct payload was available in three sizes. Minister Botha expressed his appreciation and said that he would ask for advice." The "three sizes" are believed to refer to the conventional, chemical and nuclear weapons.

The use of a euphemism, the "correct payload", reflects Israeli sensitivity over the nuclear issue and would not have been used had it been referring to conventional weapons. It can also only have meant nuclear warheads as Armstrong's memorandum makes clear South Africa was interested in the Jericho missiles solely as a means of delivering nuclear weapons.

In addition, the only payload the South Africans would have needed to obtain from Israel was nuclear. The South Africans were capable of putting together other warheads.

Botha did not go ahead with the deal in part because of the cost. In addition, any deal would have to have had final approval by Israel's prime minister and it is uncertain it would have been forthcoming.

South Africa eventually built its own nuclear bombs, albeit possibly with Israeli assistance. But the collaboration on military technology only grew over the following years. South Africa also provided much of the yellowcake uranium that Israel required to develop its weapons.

The documents confirm accounts by a former South African naval commander, Dieter Gerhardt – jailed in 1983 for spying for the Soviet Union. After his release with the collapse of apartheid, Gerhardt said there was an agreement between Israel and South Africa called Chalet which involved an offer by the Jewish state to arm eight Jericho missiles with "special warheads". Gerhardt said these were atomic bombs. But until now there has been no documentary evidence of the offer.

Some weeks before Peres made his offer of nuclear warheads to Botha, the two defence ministers signed a covert agreement governing the military alliance known as Secment. It was so secret that it included a denial of its own existence: "It is hereby expressly agreed that the very existence of this agreement... shall be secret and shall not be disclosed by either party".

The agreement also said that neither party could unilaterally renounce it.

The existence of Israel's nuclear weapons programme was revealed by Mordechai Vanunu to the Sunday Times in 1986. He provided photographs taken inside the Dimona nuclear site and gave detailed descriptions of the processes involved in producing part of the nuclear material but provided no written documentation.

Documents seized by Iranian students from the US embassy in Tehran after the 1979 revolution revealed the Shah expressed an interest to Israel in developing nuclear arms. But the South African documents offer confirmation Israel was in a position to arm Jericho missiles with nuclear warheads.

Israel pressured the present South African government not to declassify documents obtained by Polakow-Suransky. "The Israeli defence ministry tried to block my access to the Secment agreement on the grounds it was sensitive material, especially the signature and the date," he said. "The South Africans didn't seem to care; they blacked out a few lines and handed it over to me. The ANC government is not so worried about protecting the dirty laundry of the apartheid regime's old allies."

Peres on Monday categorically denied the report.

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday categorically denied a report that he offered nuclear warheads to South Africa in 1975, when he was defense minister.The report published Sunday in the British newspaper The Guardian is based on an American academic's research and claims to cite secret minutes of a meeting Peres held with senior South African officials.

Peres said Israel never negotiated the transfer of nuclear weapons to South Africa.

"There exists no basis in reality for the claims published this morning by The Guardian that in 1975 Israel negotiated with South Africa the exchange of nuclear weapons," the president said in an English-language statement. "Unfortunately, The Guardian elected to write its piece based on the selective interpretation of South African documents and not on concrete facts."

The article is based on a series of documents the South African government declassified in response to a request from American academic Sasha Polakow-Suransky, who is writing a book called "The Unspoken Alliance" about the close relationship between the Israel and South Africa.

Appearing alongside the article, the partially censored documents show a formal request from the South Africans for nuclear-capable warheads, and minutes of meetings in which then-Defense Minister Peres listed weapons available for sale.

But they do not appear to confirm any transfer of weapons, or any explicit offer from the Israelis to sell nuclear materials or nuclear-capable weapons to the South Africans.

The documents accompanying the story do show Peres' signature on minutes from a meeting where the then-defense minister discussed payloads available in "three sizes," one of several phrases that Peres said The Guardian misconstrued.

In response to the article, the South African government said it has dismantled all its nuclear weapons but did not relate to the 1975 claim.

The British paper did not call the Israeli government for a response to the article, Peres said, adding that his office "intends to send a harsh letter to the editor of The Guardian and demands the publication of the true facts."

The Guardian claims the documents offer the first documentary evidence of Israel's nuclear program.

In 1986, another British newspaper, the Sunday Times, published pictures and descriptions from a former technician at Israel's main nuclear reactor, leading experts to estimate that Israel had the world's sixth-largest nuclear arsenal.

According to its policy, Israel has never acknowledged or denied possessing nuclear weapons, though it is widely assumed to have them.

The "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa's defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel's defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three sizes". The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that "the very existence of this agreement" was to remain secret.

The documents, uncovered by an American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, in research for a book on the close relationship between the two countries, provide evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons despite its policy of "ambiguity" in neither confirming nor denying their existence.

The Israeli authorities tried to stop South Africa's post-apartheid government declassifying the documents at Polakow-Suransky's request and the revelations will be an embarrassment, particularly as this week's nuclear non-proliferation talks in New York focus on the Middle East.

Chinese military in equipment in Angola

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="399" caption="Angolan soldiers parade on the national day 11 November, 2005 in Luanda marking the 30th anniversary of independence from Portugal. Angola is considering asking the Chinese army and Chinese weapons companies for help in modernising its military, the chief of staff of the Angolan Armed Forces said Friday.… Read more »"][/caption]

Angola is thinking over buying military equipment from China. Not news per se......

LUANDA — Angola is considering asking the Chinese army and Chinese weapons companies for help in modernising its military, the chief of staff of the Angolan Armed Forces said Friday.

"Studies are under way into the re-equipping and the modernisation of our forces, with a view toward cooperation with the armed forces... and the defence industry in China," Francisco Furtado said on national radio after meeting with his Chinese counterpart Chen Bingde.

Chen was on his first visit to Angola to give about one million dollars (805,000 euros) worth of computer equipment to Luanda, and to discuss consolidating bilateral cooperation deals signed in 2008.

China is heavily involved in Angola's reconstruction after 27 years of civil war that ended in 2002.

The southern African country has already received at least five billion dollars in credit from Beijing -- repaid in oil -- but the World Bank believes up to eight billion dollars more has not been publicised.