The character of the new all-male leadership of China’s Communist Party announced on 15 November will prove at least as important for Africa’s political and business elite as...

A delegation of Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front Provincial Chairmen was in Beijing ahead of the historic 8 November Chinese Communist Party (CCP) conference and seamless change of...

Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Alain Fanaie, the former head of infrastructure and commodities at France’s Crédit Agricole, China Sonangol is making moves towards transparency....

President Joseph Kabila’s beleaguered government in Kinshasa faces growing pressure from local authorities and civic activists to step up scrutiny of Chinese mining companies in the country. This...

A dispute over pollution in Katanga between Chemical of Africa – an Indian company based in Dubai – and local miners and non-governmental organisations may hit Chemaf’s expansion...

The row over Zimbabwe’s missing diamond revenues will be at the centre of political campaigning ahead of next year’s general elections. Anti-corruption activists are accusing Indian traders of...

China Union’s plan to relocate six villages near the Bong iron mine has been met with anger from the people of Lower Bong County, posing yet another threat...

Two new large dams will be built before President Goodluck Jonathan’s first presidential term expires in 2015, according to the government. The companies constructing the dams, however, admit...

The Japan International Cooperation Agency celebrated twenty years of international assistance to African countries at the United Nations University on 30 November. JICA’s African Department is working on...

After an earthquake and tsunami devastated its eastern coastline and caused meltdowns at the Fukushima reactors in March 2011, Japan shut down all but two of its nuclear...

Anil Sardana is looking overseas to escape the constraints Indian markets place on his company. In April 2012, Tata Power formed a joint venture, Cennergi, with South...

China has quietly joined countries implementing sanctions against Khartoum, we hear. This may not reduce Beijing’s substantial arms exports to Khartoum but it is making life difficult for...

Leading opposition presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party are stepping up criticism about the financing of Chinese projects in the energy and telecommunications...

The influence of Chinese money on Ghana’s heated politics has crossed a legal red line, say activists who accuse telecoms company Huawei of bribing officials of the ruling...

South Africa’s Trade Minister Rob Davies gave a list of trade concerns to Beijing officials in October during his tour of East Asia. Davies’s government wants to reduce...

The third Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Forum took place in Seoul from 15-18 October, marking a stronger engagement from the South Korean government. Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan announced to...

Faced with difficult negotiations with its Chinese partners and the seemingly implacable demands of the population, the Nigerien government admitted in mid-October that the Chinese-built Société de Raffinage...

Chinese companies are displacing European powers in African countries where ties were considered to be strongest, and China is set to become Algeria’s largest trading partner ahead...

In October, Chinese companies were once again the target of Madagascar’s environmental groups for their role in illegal rosewood exploitation. Environmental umbrella group Alliance Voahary Gasy pointed ...

Shanghai billionaire Yu Yong has directed his private equity firm, Cathay Fortune Corporation, to mount a hostile bid for Australian mining company Discovery Metals. At stake are Discovery’s...

At the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Conference (KOAFEC), held in Seoul from 15-18 October, South Korea announced US$590 million in aid and loans over the next two years....

In papers submitted to the High Court for yet another extension on setting by-elections in late September, President Robert Mugabe gave an effective commitment to general elections by...

China may advocate a policy of non-interference, but that did not stop it taking a pretty prominent place in Angola’s 31 August elections, from the campaign trail and...

Several recent court cases – some stretching across two continents – highlight the corruption and criminality that accompany the rapid influx of Chinese investment and workers into Angola....

China International Fund, a Hong Kong-based outfit which works closely with Beijing’s state corporations, will become one of the Freetown government’s most privileged business partners following the signing...

They were left out in the cold by President Alpha Condé in 2011 (AAC Vol 4 No 11), but the businessmen behind the China International Fund are making...

State media proclaimed in mid-September that China International Fund was to begin building some of the infrastructure that it promised in late 2009 (AAC Vol 3 No 2)....

China will continue to support the Bamako government’s position and ‘will bring our aid to the extent that it is possible, in particular to the army, where we...

China Development Bank has expressed its interest in backing Congo-Kinshasa’s colossal Grand Inga Dam project. The announcement was made during the visit of Zou Lixing, a CDB Vice-President,...

After months of talks, Sudan and South Sudan have signed agreements that should allow South Sudan to resume oil production. The 27 September deal came after...

Opaque flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Mauritius to India look set to continue – despite the eight rounds of negotiations over the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement...

Plans by two Thai companies – PTT Asia Pacific Mining and Italian-Thai Development Company (Italthai) – to develop rich coal deposits at Sakoa have stalled amid...

As part of Korea’s attempt to boost relations with emerging markets, Exim Bank Chief Executive Officer Kim Yong-hwan hosted a conference for diplomats from Africa...

On 7 September, Bui Thanh Son welcomed 200 Vietnamese companies and African diplomats to the Vietnam-Africa-Middle East Business Forum, an initiative of the Vietnam...

The killing of Wu Shenzai on 4 August and the wounding of his two compatriots by Zambian mine workers demanding the implementation of the newly revised minimum wage...

Despite the travails in Zambia's relations with China and fears that changes in mining regulation and taxation would scare off Asian companies, the flow of investment continues. Officials...

As soon as he touched down at Abidjan's Felix Houphouët-Boigny airport on his return from the 19-20 July fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, President Alassane Dramane...

Proof continues to mount about the role of Chinese business interests in the illegal trade of rosewood from Madagascar. Rosewood is harvested from protected areas in Madagascar and...

Mainland Mining, a subsidiary of China Geo Engineering Corporation, faces opposition as it tries to mend its ways and restart activities on its ilmenite (titanium-iron oxide) exploration permit...

Chinese traders already feeling the heat from local competitors in Kenya, Malawi and Uganda now face new regulations and restrictions to their activities after protests by local businesses....

A corruption trial involving managers of Chinese construction companies has fizzled out, at least for now. The three – erstwhile China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation General Manager...

Kenyan politicians are battling over the controversial award of a contract for a coal mine in Eastern Province by the Energy Ministry to a little-known Chinese...

In late August, Toshiyuki Kato led a Japanese business delegation to Congo-Kinshasa and Zimbabwe to discuss an expansion of trade and investment. The group represented the...

The head of Wilmar International, the world's largest palm oil producer, has pinned the future of his company on African growth. At an August results announcement, Kuok Khoon...

With a crucial leadership handover at the end of the year and growing domestic economic concerns, Beijing hosted the Fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on 19-20 July with...

In July, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank cut growth estimates for China and its African trading partners. The IMF forecast that China’s gross domestic product would...

Mauritius and India are gearing up for another confrontation over the 1983 Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. The DTAA allows Indian investors to avoid paying tax by funnelling their...

Despite support from groups like George Soros’s Open Society Institute, President Alpha Condé’s government persists in striking troublesome mining deals. The government and the African Iron Ore Group,...

Disappointing diamond revenues and other factors forced Finance Minister Tendai Biti to slash predictions for Zimbabwe’s gross domestic product growth in 2012 from the expected 9.4% to just...

Since he was widowed in March 2009, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been involved in a series of romantic escapades that have drawn...

Indian policy-makers are getting more serious about the effective delivery of aid to their diplomatic allies. New Delhi lags far behind its Asian counterparts in speed of despatch,...

Amid unprecedented criticism from the European Union and strikes on several worksites, Chinese companies are having a rough time in Cameroon. With Hanlong Mining’s backing of the Mbalam...

Ahead of the Fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC V) in Beijing on 19-20 July, President Mahamadou Issoufou declared that Niger’s cooperation with China on natural...

Anjin Investments is attracting even more attention from the authorities after a Global Witness report released in late June highlighted the company’s links to the security services and...

On a 8-13 July trip to East Africa, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik met Kenyan Premier Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki. Kenya lobbied for South Korean participation in...

After years spent cultivating India’s relations with Southern Africa, V.S. Sahney has turned his attention to the West. In July, Sahney led a Federation of...

China’s new Ambassador Lin Lin takes up his post in Harare this month. Ambassador Lin follows the outgoing Xin Shunkang, who completed a highly successful two-and-a-half-year tour of...

Singapore’s Olam is riding a new wave of opposition to its industrial agriculture and fertiliser projects. Criticism of state-backed projects from inside the governing Parti Démocratique Gabonais is...

The Gabonese government reconfirmed in early June that it is open to discussions with all interested parties on the development of the Bélinga iron ore mine that...

Benin’s Syndicat national des travailleurs de l’administration des transports et des travaux publics (Syntra-Ttp) is leading public calls for African governments to hold Chinese construction companies to account...

Prime Minister Jean-Omer Beriziky says that Chinese investors are angry about the treatment they have received from the government. Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation executives vociferously point out...

On 6 June, Algeria’s courts ruled that Chinese telecoms companies Huawei and ZTE are banned from participating in public tenders due to their inappropriate relationship with a former...

Pakistan’s engagement with Africa is struggling to get off the ground. While the government is launching its first serious efforts at summitry, boosting trade and improving continental diplomacy,...

Africa’s top private equity firms are in talks with their Chinese counterparts to channel a new wave of investment into African companies. On 16 June, Vincent Le Guennou,...

In late June, Mozambique was the first stop on Cai Fuchao’s three-nation tour that also took in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The Chinese-led construction boom in Congo-Brazzaville has been assuming mythical proportions. In May, rumours – boosted by a mobile phone video – swept through Brazzaville and Kinshasa that...

China's grand plans for special economic zones across Africa to emulate the success of its coastal manufacturing regions have hit problems in Mauritius and Algeria, showing that the...

The Chinese special economic zone in Algeria is yet another case where plans to replicate successful Asian policies met with unpredictable local conditions.

Beijing hosts the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on 19-20 July, where China will make a raft of new promises to its African...

Australian mining firm Chalice Gold Mines announced on 27 April that it would sell its 60% stake in the Zara gold mine in Eritrea to China Shanghai Corporation...

A wage dispute at an Angolan building site in Chindonga, a sleepy town in Kwanza Sul, is causing a storm in India.

Despite a faltering economy and a devastating 2011 earthquake, Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba told the follow-up meeting to the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Marrakech,...

China is Sierra Leone’s largest foreign investor. However, you would not know that from the chaotic state of Sierra Leone’s mission in Beijing, which has had to change...

Kuniko Ozaki is the presiding judge in next month’s trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague of Kenya’s so-called ‘Ocampo 4’.

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh is one of Vietnam’s most experienced diplomats. He was posted to Vietnam’s permanent mission to the United Nations for 14 years, leading...

The five-year term of Pratibha Patil, India’s first female President, ends on 25 July. Her final foreign tour on 27 April–7 May took in South Africa and the...

South Sudan’s government and ruling party have welcomed the billions of dollars in promised investment that resulted from President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s April visit to Beijing, but they...

Border clashes between Sudan and South Sudan brought an early close to Salva Kiir Mayardit’s trip to China, originally due to end on 28 April. After a session...

South Africa, China’s largest trading partner on the continent, looks set to be the first African nation to join the 20 other countries and regions that have swapped...

The 28-29 March New Delhi summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries debated establishing a BRICS development bank – the South Bank –...

Essar’s deal for rehabilitating NewZim Steel (formerly the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company) is teetering on the brink of collapse.

Just twelve months after the start of commercial oil production, Ghana has mortgaged its lucrative oil marketing monopoly to Unipec via the state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation –...

Southern Africa is now the major frontier of coal exploration for Indian energy companies. Khopoli Investments, a subsidiary of India’s largest private power producer, Tata Power, agreed a...

Little was gained and little lost during Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou’s first African tour on 7-18 April. Far outscored in the contest with China for diplomatic recognition, Ma...

In April, the Tokyo government named political science professor Akihiko Tanaka as President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the country’s development agency. He succeeds the respected Sadako...

In late March, seconded from the External Affairs Ministry where he headed the passport division, Amarendra Khatua was appointed Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan to ...

Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu championed cooperation in agriculture, mining and infrastructure on his tour through Namibia, Uganda and Zimbabwe in early April. Hui is one of China’s four vice-premiers,...

Turkey is underscoring its engagement in Somalia through development projects in Somaliland and Puntland. It sees the projects as proving to the United States and European Union the...

Officials from the China Development Bank (CDB) are offering to finance a substantial part of the Conakry government’s US$8.6 billion overhaul of mining and industrial infratructure, according to...

Planning and construction work on Ghana’s US$850 million gas pipeline is slowing down because the lead contractor – China’s Sinopec – fears that national elections in December could...

The government’s decision to borrow US$3 billion from the China Development Bank (CDB) has become a key election issue, much to the irritation of the authorities in Beijing,...

A new report from the United States’ Social Sciences Research Council highlights the links between research and China-Africa trade and diplomacy. A Preliminary Mapping of China-Africa Knowledge...

The numbers of African institutions studying China are far fewer than those of Chinese institutions studying Africa. Regional studies programmes are often poorly financed, but joint research projects...

Public universities and government-backed think-tanks dominate Chinese research on Africa. Most ministries host official research institutions, which have limited independence.

On 7-18 April, President Ma Ying-jeou will make a state visit to three of Taiwan’s four African allies – Burkina Faso, Gambia and Swaziland. It will be the...

The African Union will determine which African countries will host India’s two new industrial clusters, which will be backed by billions of dollars in investment from the New...

President Mahamadou Issoufou is under pressure to reduce petrol prices at the pump. On 23 March, the Syndicat National des Travailleurs du Commerce (Syntracom)warned that unless the government...

The former Chief Executive Officer of troubled Air Tanzania Corporation Limited, David Mattaka, and two others appeared in court on 21 March to answer charges of abuse of...

The Singapore Business Federation’s African overtures continue. A delegation from SBF’s Africa Business Group was in Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville from 26 February to 4 March to examine investment...

Mitsui & Co., Japan’s second-largest trading company, is launching a global hunt for copper and coal assets with a war chest of US$17 billion.

On 1-2 March, the first India-Africa Science and Technology Ministerial Conference was held in Delhi. The host was Vilasrao Deshmukh, who unveiled an array of new fellowships, exchanges...

The former scourge of Chinese investors, President Michael Chilufya Sata, has reshuffled his Patriotic Front government to placate Asian and other investors and to streamline economic policy. On...

Chinese investment in Zambia continues to boom under President Michael Sata’s Patriotic Front government, despite the rhetoric of his unruly ministers.

Hostage-taking, festering regional disputes and rising domestic criticism are all complicating the politics of Beijing’s Africa policy.

China is caught in the escalating fight over oil revenues between Sudan and South Sudan. Its newest African partner, President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s government in Juba, has asserted...

Traders are the visible target for the merchants, unions, consumers and politicians angered by the impact of China’s growing ties to Africa. Nevertheless, some African governments are resisting...

A group of 33 Malawian merchants in Karonga has petitioned the government to oust the Chinese nationals whose businesses, the traders complain, are increasing competition in the northern...

President Idriss Déby Itno inaugurated a new cement factory at Baoré in Mayo-Kebbi on 16 February. Chad’s first cement plant was built by China CAMC Engineering Company, thanks...

Work will begin soon on the long-awaited new Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway. The two governments and their Chinese contractors are creating a US$1.5-billion trade corridor from Addis Ababa to the Djibouti...

The government of West Africa’s leading narco-state remains tight-lipped about a corruption case involving three officials of the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry who were arrested in November 2011...

A war of words has broken out between Negbalee Warner, Chairman of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, and his Managing Director, T. Nelson Williams. At issue is a US$25 million...

Wang Shenyang led a group to Libya in February to review the remains of Chinese projects and determine what could be salvaged. Chinese companies had some US$20 billion in housing, railway...

With healthy overseas profits, Bank of Baroda is looking to Africa as a ‘centre of growth’, according to Chairman M.D. Mallya. The state-owned bank plans to expand operations in Botswana,...

In January, China’s state broadcaster CCTV opened a studio in Nairobi, Kenya, taking the ‘win-win’ relationship to the airwaves. CCTV Vice-President Sun Yusheng, a man with solid journalistic...

Sudan and South Sudan are dragging a reluctant China into their smouldering relations at a time when both sides say the situation is on the brink of open...

Tension in Sudan and South Sudan boosts the Kenyan backers of the Lamu port and corridor projects. South Sudanese officials had already been in talks to join their...

Australia's BHP Billiton has won the rights to the US$5 billion Bélinga iron ore project from China Machinery Engineering Corporation. BHP and the Gabonese Mining Ministry agreed a...

Gabon’s government is scrutinising the activities of Chinese logging companies which have failed to respect international best practice. In an unprecedented move, the Gabonese Ministry of Water and...

The government is under pressure to speed up construction projects to meet its promise to build a million houses in four years, ahead of September’s elections. The Nova...

The Beijing government and China International Fund may be separate entities but the multiple links between the two become clearer with each new project. Two of the CIF’s...

A new report from Belgian, Chinese and Congolese academics provides in-depth analysis on the contrasts between European and Chinese aid and trade policies in Congo-Kinshasa. Neither Conflict, nor...

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak prides himself on his government’s resource diplomacy, but now a corrupt Cameroonian diamond deal has taken its first political casualties. The CNK International...

President Idriss Déby Itno’s government has finally reached an agreement with the Chinese owners of the troubled Djermaya refinery. Discussions between the government, led by Justice Minister Abdoulaye...

A bruising election year in Ghana kicked off with President John Atta Mills’s 9 January announcement of the death of South Korean company STX Corporation’s US$10 billion housing...

The two-day state visit of India’s Commerce Minister Anand Sharma in mid-January gave Indian investors the opportunity to complain about the restrictions and obstacles that – despite decades...

Zimbabwe had an unexpected, dramatic effect on Thai politics in January. When Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced her new cabinet, the opposition Democrat Party suddenly remembered that one,...

Officials are building up expectations for the fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC V), which Beijing will host in the last quarter of this year. The showpiece summit,...

Beijing’s cooperation with the International Monetary Fund often goes unnoticed. China has been quietly working with the IMF to pressure African governments to remove fuel subsidies, after its...

The Indian government starts 2012 aiming to almost double bilateral trade with Africa from US$46 billion to $70 bn. by 2015. Such plans disguise the fact that, so...

Japan’s cycle of political instability and the long recovery from the tsunami and Fukushima nuclear crisis signal another year of inward focus for the governing elite. Prime Minister...

President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party) won a second term on 14 January and now has another four years to carry forward his China-friendly...

President Ma Ying-jeou’s election victory on 14 January gave comfort to those who feared that an opposition win might rupture the delicate détente between China and Taiwan –...

The Tata Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates, has named Cyrus Mistry as the surprise replacement for Chairman Ratan N. Tata, who steps down in December 2012 after...