Africa

United States Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Johnnie Carson’s week-long trip to Asia in November reaffirmed Washington’s combative relationship with China and its desire to work with Japan...

India’s resource-heavy trade with Africa may be poised to move into the service sector. Indian companies in banking, hotels, agriculture stand to benefit, but African companies will continue...

Twenty-five years after its foundation in response to devastating Ethiopian famines, the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), a Japanese-funded non-governmental organisation, is looking beyond crop yields to the challenges...

The United States Senate is again raising the alarm about Washington losing out to Beijing in Africa. On 1 November, the Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs, chaired by...

For many African countries, the West’s economic travails will translate into spiralling food and fuel prices, higher unemployment and less state spending on education and health. The rumbling...

This year, for the first time, Africa’s two heavyweights, Nigeria and South Africa, were on the United Nations Security Council and both wanted to make their mark. The...

The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Western Australia, at the end of October attracted 1,500 delegates, 80 of them from China. British Prime Minister David...

Africa has picked a really bad time to launch its economic boom, says one finance minister resignedly. In Washington for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual...

Between 1998 and 2008, the number of mobile phone subscribers in Africa increased from 4 million to 260 million while network coverage increased from 10% to over 60%...

Developed jointly by British software firm Sagentia and Kenya’s Safaricom with the help of a British grant, M-Pesa banking services are a success story. Pesa means ‘money’ in...

With its victory over the forces of Moammar el Gadaffi this week, the Transitional National Council (TNC) has proved it has more staying power than suggested by its...

Greeting four Francophone African leaders in Washington on 28 July, President Barack Obama pledged ‘stalwart’ support on economic and security matters, signifying growing US interest in a region...

Accusations of corruption against police chiefs, plans for state interference with the media and innuendo about politicians compromised by business associates – British Prime Minister David Cameron and...

The United Nations’ latest projection of world demographic trends* predicts that Africa’s population will reach 2.2 billion by 2050, 24% of the global population. Nigeria’s population, according to...

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development had criticised the delays in implementing the new Act but stayed silent when the guidance came out at the end of March. Britain...

The resilience of Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi’s regime after ten days of aerial bombardment combined with the military weakness of the opposition groups has prompted Britain, France...

After two months of courageous campaigning by determined young Africans, the region’s autocrats are preparing their counter-offensive

European policy-makers are anxious to safeguard the supply of raw materials to their industries and the European Union has just presented guidelines for a ‘raw materials diplomacy’ to...

UK businesses lobbying against the new Bribery Act seem to be having some success (see Confidential Agenda, week ending 28 January). The government has postponed implementation of the Act, already...

President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, who worked closely with successive South African Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma on diplomatic issues, also presided over a sharp boost...

Brazil’s political involvement in Portuguese-speaking Africa goes back to the independence struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. In July 1974, the military junta which then ruled Brazil recognised...

At the start of one of Africa’s busiest political seasons – more than 17 elections are due this year – the deepening crisis in Côte d’Ivoire sends a...

The latest attempt by a Chinese company to secure African mining assets from Australian companies has hit the skids over concerns about insider trading by Hanlong Mining. Several suspicious deals...

Transparency has not been a major feature of China Sonangol’s and China International Fund’s activities in Africa, but one of the investment vehicles is now embarking on a human-resources drive...

Uganda may miss the East African Community’s deadline of December 2012 for all member states to switch from analogue to digital television. In early August, Uganda’s communications regulator sounded the...

Cracks are appearing in China’s solidarity with its African allies at the United Nations’ arms trade treaty (ATT) talks. At a UN Preparatory Committee in New York City on 11-15 July,...

December 2006: Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan and Kenya author Resolution 61/89, ‘Toward an arms trade treaty: establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms’. The...

As Africa’s trade with China continues to top its trade with the United States and former colonial powers, African bankers are calling for a united African front. Standard Bank’s Jeremy Stevens predicts that China-Africa...

Officials at Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) are playing down reports that the government is mulling a naval escort for its ships facing the threat of piracy in the...

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (aka “Bulldozer”) secured Pyeongchang’s 2018 Winter Olympic bid on his trip to Durban, South Africa, that began 6 July. He then signed deals...

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak inaugurated a coordinated attempt to strengthen economic ties with Africa by hosting the first Malaysia-Africa Business Forum on 18 June. It...

The India-Japan joint Africa summit highlights an evolving network of new partnerships seeking to strengthen development, trade and political ties with African countries. Countries have tended to cooperate...

India– which held its second India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa on 24-25 May – is challenging China’s previously unparalleled reach across the African continent. The Asian hypereconomies are...

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is ratcheting up its African diplomatic offensive, touting the ‘moderate Islamism’ of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (Justice and Development Party,...

Bangladeshi companies will be the next Asian businesses scouring African countries in pursuit of land. With a growing population, rapidly disappearing arable land and rising food prices, the...

Japan played a diplomatic blinder in Dakar in May, collecting not just a sackful of goodwill but solid sub-Saharan support for two of its key international priorities –...

It began with ‘China is a developing country’ and ended by shedding some – but not much – light on Beijing’s global aid programmes. In April, China’s State...

New Delhi’s not so secret competition with Beijing is heating up ahead of the second India-Africa Forum in Addis Ababa on 24-25 May. India’s diplomats are adopting Beijing’s...

Singapore is widening its net in Africa. The city-state’s trade with sub-Saharan Africa reached US$8.4 billion in 2009 and it punches above its weight in financial terms. Geographically...

A month after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated its northeast coast, Japan faces a humanitarian tragedy, a drawn-out nuclear crisis and an expensive reconstruction. In the tightly...

The World Bank’s African team dispatched a delegation to Tokyo in mid-March to boost its Japanese personnel, as part of Bank President Robert Zoellick’s ongoing reform of the institution. Some...

Africa’s second railway boom is under way. The first was driven by Europe’s colonial powers, who needed to tranport ore, tea, coffee and other goods from the interior to the...

Energy is at the centre of South Korea’s strategic agenda and the Seoul government wants to improve the country’s position in the African energy market. To that end, Seoul dispatched...

A formal study group at the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development is exploring ways to take lessons from China’s development path and apply them to the fight...

Standing at US$114.8 billion in November 2010, China-Africa trade has bounced back faster than most of Africa’s other foreign trade since the 2008 global financial slowdown. China is...

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describes Africa as ‘an emerging priority’ for his government, which is poised to reinforce its economic, diplomatic and security links with the continent...

The Democratic Party of Japan’s crisis of popularity forced a cabinet reshuffle and now a new raft of ministers will handle relations with Africa. The replacement of Land,...

China’s invitation to South Africa – rather than South Korea – to join the developing-country top table group of Brazil, Russia, India and China in December has irritated...

North Africa is the prime diplomatic and investment destination for Muslim countries from Southeast Asia like Indonesia. Egypt’s Trade Representation Authority reported that bilateral trade hit US$753.2 million...