Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | CHINAAFRICA Labouring the point 27th August 2009 A new report by African trades unionists accuses Chinese companies of breaking regulations on minimum wages and working conditions African trades unionists are stepping up their criticism of the Chinese companies in countries like Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa. In mid-August the Congress of South African Trade Unions called on...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | CHINAAFRICA African officials ignore labour abuses 27th August 2009 African Labour Research Network investigators found that many factory inspectors at Kenya's Labour Ministry took bribes from Chinese and other companies to overlook bad practices. Despite reports that in Malawi, workers...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | CHINAAFRICABRIEFING Beijing debates world's biggest aid fund 27th August 2009 Chinese officials are discussing ways to use some of their country's $2.1 trillion in foreign reserves to finance what could be the world's biggest development aid programme, as Western economies are...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | NIGERIASOUTH KOREABRIEFING KNOC, KNOC, who is there? 27th August 2009 In mid-August, Nigeria's Federal High Court overturned President Umaru Yar'Adua's revoking, in January, of Seoul-based Korea National Oil Company's rights to 60% of Oil Prospecting Licences 321 and 323 in a...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | CONGO-KINSHASACHINABRIEFING Gagner-gagner - they claim 27th August 2009 Both sides are claiming victory this month in the long-running negotiations on debt relief between the Kinshasa government and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Kinshasa has won promises...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | INDIAAFRICABRIEFING The rice and the rot 27th August 2009 Opposition politicians in Delhi are pressing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress Party government for a full investigation into allegations of corrupt deals worth 25 billion rupees (US$520 million) in rice exports...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | DJIBOUTIETHIOPIAINDIA Gurjit Singh 27th August 2009 India's Ambassador to Ethiopia (Retired) Long-serving diplomat Gurjit Singh distinguished himself as one of the most activist ambassadors in Addis Ababa and personally raised the substance and profile of Ethiopia-India relations. Singh has just ended a...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | JAPAN Yasukazu Hamada 27th August 2009 Minister of Defence, Japan As the political head of a more outward-looking Japanese military, the Self-Defence Forces, Yasukazu Hamada is taking a robust line against pirates based in Somalia. In March, he ordered two SDF...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 10 | CHINA Jiang Weiqiang 27th August 2009 Director-General, International Bureau, State Council Information Office, China Jiang Weiqiang and his State Council Information Office colleagues will play a leading role in Beijing's media courtship of Africa ahead of the fourth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Sharm el-Sheikh,...