African Business articles from February 2008

African Business archives from February 2008

The Kenya elections: when will the AU show leadership?(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... Since its inception in May 1963, the OAU and its successor, the present-day AU, has not demonstrated any meaningful leadership nor solved a single crisis in Africa. African leaders are known more as dictators than as true leaders seeking to...

African Banker Awards: why US, not Africa?(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... I could not stop musing on the so-called creme de la creme of African banking that gathered in the US to be showered with praise and awards (African Business, December 2007 issue) and wondering whether they ever consider the problems...

A nation decides: the US and Africa.(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... As the US begins to decide who from the two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, should battle it out in next November's presidential elections, it is worth taking a look at the candidates in the selection process and the policies they are...

Africa--EU Summit: the right conclusion?(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... Do you think that Anver Versi's cover story on the EU-AU Summit in Lisbon is really an adequate analysis? Does it really come to the right conclusion? Are African leaders to be applauded for 'standing firm' while the 'German chancellor and the...

Christmas visitors to Africa increase.(Tourism)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... More and more Europeans are choosing to travel for their annual Christmas holidays, and that trend is helping to establish a second tourism high season in many African countries. Africa's main high season corresponds with the northern...

Regional safety bodies formed.(Aviation)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... African countries grappling with dangerous airplanes and lax aviation rules are forming regional bodies to tackle air safety issues. Passengers flying in Africa are roughly 75 times more likely to die in a crash than passengers flying in North...

Tanzania's power supply upgraded.(Utilities)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... On the heels of a 2006 energy crisis that saw much of Tanzania's population suffer through rolling electricity blackouts, the East African country is working to build new energy investments that will power growth, create jobs, and reduce...

Shoprite targets DR Congo.(Commerce)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Shoprite, the supermarket group headquartered in South Africa, is to invest $80m to build two new supermarket complexes in DR Congo. Shoprite is the largest supermarket group on the African continent and currently operates nearly 1,200 outlets...

Malaria warning.(Health)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The World Health Organisation (WHO) has alerted travellers to high malaria transmission in the Southern Africa region this season, warning visitors to malaria-prone countries who have little natural resistance to the disease, to take extra care...

China-Africa ties improve.(Trade)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... China's Ministry of Commerce has reported that from January to November 2007, China-Africa trade volumes reached $65.9bn, an increase of 31% compared with the same period last year. Overall imports and exports are balanced and are expected to...

Sign language for Africa.(Communications)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The African Rehabilitation Institute (ARI), the Harare, Zimbabwe-based African Union body with a direct responsibility for the rights of the disabled in Africa, is planning to develop a uniform sign language for sub-Saharan Africa. That will...

AB guide to African currencies.(Briefs)(Market share report)
February 1, 2008... AB Guide to African Currencies Country Currency [pounds sterling]STG Algeria (Dinar) 130.57 Angola (New Kwanza) 146.93 Benin (CFA) ...

Kenya--playing with fire.(Editorial)
February 1, 2008... In mid-January as we were going to press, Kenya was precariously poised and all of Africa and indeed, most of the rest of the world, was holding its breath. What happens in Kenya will have enormous ripple effects not only in East Africa but...

Kenya Managing the crisis.(Kenya)(Editorial)
February 1, 2008... As we went to press, Kenya was still poised on a knife-edge. Parliament had been reconvened and the Speaker of the House had been elected from the official opposition ranks. The opposition had called for three days of demonstrations which had...

Anatomy of the crisis: Andrea Bohnstedt, our correspondent in Nairobi, covered the elections and their aftermath. Here she gives the background to the conflict and discusses the economic impact on Kenya and beyond.(Kenya)
February 1, 2008... Was the election rigged? The election results were always going to be tight--this much had already been clear from the opinion polls in the weeks and months preceding the elections. However, the fallout of the elections in Kenya had caught...

Growth will not suffer says Central Bank governor: the violence that followed the December polls not only shocked the population at large, but also threw out careful calculations by some of the world's major credit rating agencies. Neil Ford describes how polls wrongfooted the experts.(Kenya)
February 1, 2008... Prior to the December elections, the major credit rating agencies believed that the polls would have little impact on Kenya's economic development. In mid-December, rating agency Fitch gave Kenya a B-Plus long term foreign currency default...

Cheerful gold prospects.(View from the City)
February 1, 2008... Gold was the superstar of the metals and minerals sector in 2007 as the US dollar spot price rose by over 30%. Investors are still betting on a sustained rally as depleting production, robust demand, the sliding dollar and the cloud hanging...

Investors queue up for Nigerian LNG.(Energy)
February 1, 2008... With 184 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, Nigeria could well become one of the world's top five gas exporters in a decade. Investment for the sixth production train is already in hand and another train, the biggest in the world is on...

Africa--home to world's most wanted minerals: generally speaking there is virtually no mineral that Africa does not have in exploitable quantities but the continent tends to follow its economic nose and root out those that are the money-making flavours of the day. Tom Nevin digs out the story.(Special Report: Mining in Africa)
February 1, 2008... Strategically, energy-generating coal and uranium will be Africa's most important minerals in the decade ahead, followed by gold for the sheer flow of revenue it is generating. Right now we live in a world that turns on electrical power, and...

Lonrho--back with a vengeance: Lonrho is now back in Africa determined, under the executive chairmanship of David Lenigas, to regain its once dominant position as one of the continent's giant conglomerates. It has also returned to its initial core activity--mining. Report by Anver Versi and Nick Rosefield.(Special Report: Mining in Africa)
February 1, 2008... Lonrho, which began operations in 1909 as the London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Company, has gone through the business mill in every conceivable way during its century old history. From its core mining activity in Africa it diversified into...

Why Africa rejected 'divide & rule' EU trade deal: during the Lisbon AU-EU summit, the majority of African nations refused to sign the new trade agreements put forward by the EU. They said the deals brought them no new benefits but left their industries threatened by European imports. Neil Ford explains why Africa took this stance.(Topic)
February 1, 2008... Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the Africa-European Union summit in Lisbon in December was Africa's bold and united refusal to be browbeaten by the EU into accepting the status quo as sign of progress. (African Business, January 2008)....

Emergence of a people's champion: barely 14 years ago, millions of South Africa's downtrodden black people won their fight against inequality and discrimination. It's happening all over again. Associate editor Tom Nevin analyses the impact of Jacob Zuma's victory in the ANC elections in December.(South Africa)
February 1, 2008... In a week in December that reshaped politics and ideology, South Africa set itself firmly on an African course that abandons any pretence of first worldliness. It is back to grassroots people-power where the masses rule. On the way out is...

The Ribadu conundrum.(NIGERIA)
February 1, 2008... President Yar'Adua's election campaign was built around the concept of zero tolerance towards corruption, and recent legal cases seemed to indicate that he was matching words with action. Then came the announcement that the anti-corruption...

Taiwan dumped for China: the government of Malawi has finally established diplomatic relations with mainland China, ending months of speculation over moves to sever its diplomatic ties with Taiwan. This brings to an end a 42-year relationship. Lameck Masina reports.(MALAWI)
February 1, 2008... Malawi becomes the third Taiwanese ally to defect to China over the past 18 months. Chad dumped Taiwan in August 2006, followed by Costa Rica in June 2007. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] The decision follows the signing of a five-point memorandum...

A man of the people? Tanzania's President Kikwete has now been in power for two years, during which his country has continued to show robust growth. What has been his personal impact on the nation? Analysis by Neil Ford.(TANZANIA)
February 1, 2008... Prior to his election as president, Jakaya Kikwete had a solid reputation as Tanzanian foreign minister and as a member of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party. After two years in power, the time is perhaps ripe to consider Kikwete's...

Prices slashed for South African fans: uppermost on Fifa's 2010 soccer World Cup priority list is how to make the games affordable to the millions of Africa's soccer fans and how to ensure that spin-off commercial benefits are fairly shared. Tom Nevin reports on developments.(World Cup 2010 watch)
February 1, 2008... Fifa has now announced that the cheapest tickets at the South African Cup games will cost R150 ($20) each and these will be sold only to local residents. A further 120,000 tickets will be given away to the lowest paid. The football world body...

Fractious energy developments: the challenges for corporate oil.(Book review)
February 1, 2008... Empires of Oil Corporate Oil in Barbarian Worlds By Duncan Clarke [pounds sterling]20 Profile ISBN: 978-1-84468-046-5 Having taken issue with the 'peak oil' proponents in his last book The Battle for Barrels, Dr Duncan...

On the beat: arresting melodies.(Sound recording review)
February 1, 2008... Wamato Les Amazones de Guinee Sterns Cat STCD1106 After 25 years, Les Amazones de Guinee have released their third album, Wamato. It has been a long wait but well worthwhile--this recording is evidence that this all-women...