African Business articles from October 2005

African Business archives from October 2005

Africa's priorities: technology-led leap forward.(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I would like to add to the debate that African Business has initiated in recent months regarding the issues affecting the development of the African continent. Nothing can be achieved until priorities are established and addressed accordingly....

Falling into the G8 trap: impetus must be African.(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I fear your piece on the G8 pledges (August-September issue) falls into the trap that so many commentators have been trotting out relentlessly for 20 or more years: the rich world must 'do' something about Africa. If Gleneagles has proved...

Our history, our future: where there's a will, there's a way.(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... It is with a great feeling of pleasure and gratitude that I congratulate the African Business magazine staff for winning the Diageo Africa Business Reporting Award (African Business August/September 2005 issue). As an African youth, it...

A reader's delight: the value of information.(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I read with true delight and a sense of pride the recent accomplishment of African Business (August/September, 2005 issue) in winning the Diageo African Business Reporting award. While news of and about the continent remains under a cloud of...

Leveraging finance: the IFF initiative.(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I read with great interest your article titled Live now, pay later in the February 2005 issue of African Business, referring to the International Finance Facility (IFF), a scheme proposed by Gordon Brown, which was to issue [pounds...

Aid that counts: clarification and definition.(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I would like to clarify the coverage of the OECD data on official development assistance (ODA) that you quote in "The Many Forms of Aid" (African Business August/September 2005). Military aid is not counted as ODA. Debt forgiveness is...

Prize letter: win a free annual subscription!(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... African Business will award a free one year subscription to the reader whose letter is chosen as the Prize Letter for that month. (Existing subscribers will receive a free annual renewal). Your views on Africa and matters affecting Africa are...

Finance: governments eye pensions.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... There is at least $170bn in public sector pension funds in Africa that should be invested in the continent's development plans instead of being channelled into European markets. The money could be used to partly ease Africa's dependency on...

Troubleshooters: SADC's standby force at the ready.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Southern Africa's contribution to the African Union's Standby Peacekeeping Force has been inaugurated and is ready to deal with crisistorn nations. The regional standby force of fully equipped and deployment-ready troops came into being in...

Infrastructure: Malawi plan for canal to sea.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Landlocked Malawi has submitted plans to the Nepad secretariat for the building of a canal to connect Malawi with the Mozambican port of Chinde. The canal, which would allow water-borne traffic to ply exports and imports to and from the Indian...

Commodities: $60m of Malawi's tobacco smuggled.(reports on tobocco smuggling inMalawi)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Around 50,000 tons of Malawi's current tobacco crop has been smuggled out of the country since April as growers bypass the state-owned auction floor monopoly to avoid red-tape and get higher prices. The MD of Malawi's Auction Holdings, Evans...

Economy: Angola heads for 16% growth.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Increasing oil prices and increased output could swell Angola's economic growth to 16% this year, of which non-oil activity would account for 10%. Angola's oil-fired economy has been Africa's most prolific since the civil war ended in 2002,...

Power: China, Iran to fund Zambia projects.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Southern Africa's urgent power needs will be further met by two electricity generating projects in Zambia, funded by Chinese and Iranian banks. The projects are a $600m hydro-electric power station on the Kafue River near Lusaka while the...

Legislation: SADC to eliminate visas in 2006.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Southern African Development Community)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is expected to eliminate visa requirements by 2006, paving the way for the free movement of goods, trade and people in the region. This follows the approval of a draft protocol on the...

Labour: SA unions mobilise the second economy.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(South Africa's)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Taking its cue from similar initiatives in Ghana and Tanzania, South Africa's main labour union, Cosatu, is to launch a new trade union for workers in the informal economy. Now street vendors and workers in home-based industries, comprising the...

Food security: hedging against famine.(United Nations World Food Programme)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) plans to launch weather derivatives next year as a hedge against climate patterns that could trigger food crises in Mali and Ethiopia. It is the first time such action would have been used in the...

Legislation: S Africa's white landowners feel 'chill'.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Mainly white landowners in South Africa felt a chill when land summit delegates overturned the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle that dictates the country's land distribution policy, paving the way for land seizure. The summit claimed...

AB guide to African currencies.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Illustration)
October 1, 2005... AB Guide to African Currencies COUNTRY CURRENCY [pounds sterling] STG ALGERIA (Dinar) 132.96 ANGOLA (New Kwanza) 164.17 BENIN (CFA) ...

The UN's missed golden opportunity.(EDITORIAL)(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had hoped that the world organisation's 60th anniversary summit which was attended by a record number of heads of state, would be a defining moment in history. He and his team had worked tirelessly to set up an...

Africa's Top 100 banks 2005.(Cover Story)
October 1, 2005... This year's African Banks rankings indicate that the industry, as a whole, has continued the process of growth and reform. Multinational banks lead the way, and South African banks, as usual, take most of the top spots. Encouragingly, regional...

Rising oil prices alarm African importers: the price of oil has rocketed this year due to a number of causes and is believed to be heading towards the $100 a barrel mark. The impact on Africa and other developing regions could be severe.(VIEW FROM THE CITY)
October 1, 2005... From $43.50 a barrel at end of last December, oil has leapt in price by more than 60% to reach over $70 by the beginning of September. With the risk of further hikes, Wall Street bankers Goldman Sachs have warned: "Oil markets have entered a...

Namibia ready to roll out massive gas-to-power project: Namibia will take a crucial step towards self-sufficiency when the massive Kudu gas-to-power project is completed. Preparatory work is in its final stages and construction should begin soon.(ENERGY)
October 1, 2005... Namibia's emergence as a sustainable independent nation is set to be confirmed by the development of the $1bn Kudu gas-to-power project. After years of delay, Irish firm Tullow Oil and Gas is eager to proceed with the scheme and now the...

Brazil to deepen ties with Africa: Brazil, under president Lula, is emerging as a major economic and political force on the global stage. Part of the new strategy is to develop strong links with Africa, with which it has an ancient cultural and ethnic link. Faycal Benhassain reports.(economic and political relations with developing countries)
October 1, 2005... The 2002 election of Luis Ignacio da Silva, popularly known as Lula, as Brazil's new president signalled a profound change in Brazil's international relations. As a committed socialist, Lula had always believed that Brazil should forge closer...

High-speed train project back on track: the high-speed urban train project, designed to move commuters around the grid-locked Johannesburg-Tshwane (formerly Pretoria) axis, has finally been awarded to a consortium. The question, asks Tom Nevin, is whether there is still enough time to complete the project before the 2010 World Cup?(Bombela Consortium)
October 1, 2005... For a moment, it appeared that plans to introduce South Africa's first high-speed passenger train service had derailed. First mooted four years ago by the premier of Gauteng province, Mbhazima Shilowa, the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link inauguration...

George Weah's toughest match: after the horrors of civil war, Liberians go to the polls this month to elect a new president and parliament. The outstanding contender among a long list of candidates is the former World Footballer of the year, George Weah. Can the sports star become a political star? Neil Ford discusses.(LIBERIA)
October 1, 2005... As Liberia struggles to recover from years of decay and civil conflict, the country's most famous son has emerged as the most likely victor in the presidential elections scheduled for 11 October. Former Fifa World Footballer of the Year and...

Should Museveni stand again? Uganda has voted in favour of multi-party politics but the turnout for the referendum was low. Was this because president Museveni might stand for a third term? Neil Ford discusses.(UGANDA)
October 1, 2005... The Ugandan people have voted for a return to multi-party politics in what should be a momentous step on the country's long road to recovery following the devastation of the 1970s and early 1980s. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [GRAPHIC...

Tourism to lead economic revival: with the price of sugar tumbling and the market for textiles being squeezed, Mauritius is facing a precarious economic future. As Nasseem Ackbarally reports from Port-Louis, the island is now looking to tourism to revive its fortunes.(MAURITIUS)
October 1, 2005... Mauritius is looking forward to tourism, 'the only bright spot in its economic landscape', for much more growth and development, as its two biggest pillars--sugar and textile--are threatened by outside forces and the economy is on red alert....

Search on for new routes to the sea: one of Ethiopia's biggest economic headaches is access to the sea for the land-locked country. Neil Ford describes the various options the country is now examining to enable it to reach the sea.(ETHIOPIA)
October 1, 2005... The secession of Eritrea and subsequent border war had many negative effects on the Ethiopian economy. The loss of manpower, waste of money, devastation of human lives and diverting the government's attention from the needs of the rest of the...

Black Gold of the Sun: Searching for Home in England and Africa.(My Father's Daughter)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... Black Gold of the Sun Searching for Home in England and Africa [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By Ekow Eshun [pounds sterling]17.99 Hamish Hamilton ISBN 0-2411-4192-3 My Father's Daughter By...

White Lies: Canon Collins and the Secret War Against Apartheid.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... White Lies Canon Collins and the Secret War Against Apartheid [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By Denis Herbstein [pounds sterling]14.95 HSRC Press ISBN 0-85255-885-6 A welcome reprint for this fascinating book first published...

The Lost Kingdoms of Africa.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... The Lost Kingdoms of Africa [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By Jeffrey Tayler [pounds sterling]16.99 Little. Brown ISBN: 0316726079 This is the account of a journey through realms of Africa so remote, so geographically and...

Into the Quick of Life.(A Time for Machetes)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... Into the Quick of Life [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By Jean Hatzfeld [pounds sterling]12 Serpents Tail ISBN 1-85242-883X A Time for Machetes By Jean Hatzfeld [pounds sterling]12 Serpents...

Makers and Breakers: Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... Makers & Breakers Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Edited by Alcinda Honwana and Filip de Boeck [pounds sterling]16.95 James Currey ISBN 0-85255-434-6 The studies in this book present...

A History of Indigenous Slavery in Ghana.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... A History of Indigenous slavery in Ghana [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By Akosua Adoma Perbi [pounds sterling]14.99 Sub-Saharan Publishers ISBN 9988-550-32-4 Slavery has existed in practically every society in the world at one...

Worlds apart come together: a tribute to peace.(Ceasefire)(Sound Recording Review)
October 1, 2005... Ceasefire Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim Riverboat Records Cat: TUGCD1038 Emmanuel Jal is one of the hottest rappers to explode out of the African music scene. And he made a significant number of new fans when he performed...