Johannesburg (South Africa) — Just 10 years after establishing diplomatic and trade relations, China has overtaken the US, Japan, Germany and the UK to become SA’s biggest trading partner, according to the latest figures from the Department of Trade and Industry.

Trade volumes with China between January and July have reached R32,4bn, followed by the US with R21,7bn, Japan’s R19,7bn, Germany’s R17,5bn and the UK’s R15,2bn. This indicated an increase in SA-China trade of 11,95% from 8,45% in the same period last year.

The US was SA’s major trading partner only briefly, in the 2006- 07 financial year, after taking over from the UK, which had held the number one spot for a long time.

The increase in trade between the US and SA had been largely due to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) .

Agoa had enabled sub-Saharan African countries to export more than 1800 tariff line items duty- free to the US — on top of the 4600 tariff-free items listed under the Generalised System of Preferences.

According to Chinese ambassador Zhong Jianhua, the warm diplomatic ties between China and SA since 1998 had been matched by growing economic engagement, putting this country among China’s top three African trading partners. B ilateral trade volumes have risen from 800m in 1998 to 17,8bn last year.

Since 2000, China-Africa trade has grown 10 times, reaching 106,8bn last year , according to the Chinese commerce ministry.

Chinese exports to Africa have hit 50,8bn , while China’s imports from Africa have reached 56bn.

Other than imports of Africa’s raw materials, at least 500 of the continent’s products from 31 countries such as wines, tobacco, coffee and olive oil have received a zero-tariff treatment from the Chinese government and exposure to the country’s markets.

Zhong said SA had for the first time enjoyed a trade surplus with China and that this could increase.

He attributed the increase in South African exports to China to the international financial crisis, which saw most developed countries reduce their orders, especially from emerging economies.

China imports iron ore, gold, copper, chrome, wine, timber and paper pulp from SA, while China mostly exports value-added products, such as appliances and clothing. Angola — accounting for 24% of China-Africa trade — is China’s major African partner as it is the biggest source of China’s oil imports.

SA follows on 17%, then Sudan (8%), Nigeria (7%) and Egypt (6%). Angola and SA are ranked 29 and 31 respectively among China’s trading partners worldwide.

These countries collectively account for 62% of total China- Africa trade.

Economists have been critical of the skewed nature of China- Africa trade, saying China supplies value-added manufactured goods to Africa while the latter supplies mainly primary products.

The top import s to China last year have been mineral products (82%); precious stones and metals (3%); parts for motor vehicles (3%); wood products (2%); and base metals (1%).

The top export products from China last year to Africa in general have been machinery, transport equipment, footwear and plastic products.

source.BusinessDaily.SA

Porlamar (Venezuela) – A declaration that puts an accent on the positions of the developing South and expresses a renewed commitment to cooperation in the fight against poverty and for development was signed by the leaders who met over the weekend in the second South America-Africa summit, on the Venezuelan island of Margarita.

Eight South American and 20 African presidents, along with a number of vice presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and other senior officials from a total of 61 countries came together in the two-day gathering, which was considered a success by the participants, after the much less impressive attendance at the first summit, held in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, three years ago.

In the 30-page final declaration, the leaders expressed their complete support for reforms of the U.N. Security Council that would guarantee greater participation by the developing countries of South America and Africa and improve its functioning, with a view to redressing the current imbalances.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, which aspires to a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council – whose permanent members are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – said the Security Council had lost relevance, adding that “we must work together to reform it.”

The declaration states the need to solve in a peaceful manner any problem or dispute that could endanger regional or global security, although it also defends appropriate and effective measures against any threat to peace caused by the proliferation of “chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.”

In his address, Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi proposed the creation of a South America-Africa South Atlantic defence organisation, along the lines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

But the idea expressed by the Libyan leader, who currently chairs the African Union, was not included in the final declaration and did not receive the backing of other speakers.

Gaddafi also reiterated criticism of the U.N. system that he voiced a few days earlier in New York. In addition, he lashed out at the military powers that have sown landmines in countries of the developing South, while defending the use of landmines by poor countries, for defensive purposes.

The final declaration, however, condemns the production and use of anti-personnel landmines by any country.

It also condemns racism, discrimination and trafficking of persons, and underlines the importance of fostering the exchange of experiences with respect to the rights of women, children, adolescents, the elderly and the disabled.

The document calls on Britain to urgently negotiate the question of the sovereignty of the Malvinas/Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands with Argentina and the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago with Mauritius, while urging France to negotiate the issue of Mayotte island with Comoros.

In addition, the declaration reasserts the commitment to intensify efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf, who attended the summit, underlined that for the first time in history more than one billion people in the world are hungry.

“But in contrast, for the first time there are sufficient resources in the world to solve the problem of hunger,” said Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who holds the rotating presidency of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

The leaders also spoke out in favour of bi-regional cooperation in the areas of food and agriculture, and expressed an interest in taking part in the next FAO food security summit, slated for November in Rome.

Argentine President Cristina Fernández said the emerging cooperation between Africa and South America could give rise to a new model of trade that would include the transfer of technology and generate jobs.

“Argentina can offer technology, expertise and machinery, so that Africa doesn’t have to depend on charity from international missions, but can produce its food itself,” said Fernández.

Another frequently mentioned issue was the question of energy and mining. The leaders agreed to share and exchange experiences in terms of energy sources and savings, especially clean, renewable and alternative sources.

The two regions also agreed to cooperate in areas related to the production and sustainable use of oil and gas.

After virtually ever speech that touched on the issue, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez underscored the potential of the two regions, which together hold one-quarter of the planet’s oil reserves.

Over the weekend, Venezuela and Equatorial Guinea, which produces nearly 400,000 barrels per day of oil but has no refinery, signed agreements with Mauritius and Niger to study the construction of a refinery in West Africa.

On the environmental front, the African and South American leaders stressed that the nations of the industrialised North are historically responsible for global warming and must cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

They also supported a special fund to help strengthen developing countries’ capacity to confront climate-related disasters.

On the sidelines of the summit, the presidents of seven South American countries – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela – signed the foundational document of the Bank of the South, which will have 20 billion dollars in startup capital, of which Brasilia, Buenos Aires and Caracas will provide 12 billion dollars in equal parts.

Chávez suggested that the bank, which will fund anti-poverty and development projects, hold foreign reserves of countries of South America, because “keeping them in banks of the North so that they make us loans using our own money is silly.”

He also said the Bank of the South should forge an alliance with a similar institution in Africa, in order to create a major “South-South” bank to finance development programmes.

“I even have a name for it: it could be called Bancasa (for ASA – Africa-South America – as the summits are known),” said Chávez. Several African presidents indicated that they liked the idea.

The declaration says the two regions are committed to fomenting anti-drug initiatives, proposals, actions and activities at both the bilateral and bioregional level.

Bolivia’s request that the traditional use of coca leaves by indigenous peoples be recognised caused friction and delayed agreement on the question of drugs. In the end, a clause was inserted in the chapter on culture, stating that the leaders took note that the chewing of coca leaves is a cultural tradition of the Bolivian people, which should be respected by the international community.

Chávez offered facilities to house an ASA summit secretariat on Margarita Island, and the leaders agreed on a follow-up mechanism, based on sectoral working groups led by high-level officials who will meet in the next few months to present proposals to a gathering of foreign ministers to take place within the next year.

The third ASA summit will be held in 2011 in Libya.

source.IPS

Nairobi Kenya) — Southern Sudan is calling upon East African governments to intervene and help save the peace agreement between itself and Khartoum before the country relapses into civil war.

The semi-autonomous South is convinced that the President Omar el-Bashir-led National Congress Party (NCP) is bent on undermining the key provisions of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) by employing tactics meant to scuttle the 2011 referendum that will determine whether the South secedes.

In an exclusive interview with The EastAfrican, the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) head of mission in Nairobi John Anduga Duku, argued that Khartoum intends to scuttle the scheduled referendum by sponsoring militia groups to cause chaos in the South in order to show the world that the Southerners are not capable of governing themselves.

“We have now reached a critical stage in the implementation of the CPA in which the region, especially Inter-governmental Authority on Development (Igad) must intervene and evaluate the progress. Any attempt to delay the referendum will not be acceptable to the South. We would rather forgo elections but the referendum must take place,” said Mr Duku.

He accuses the NCP of undermining the GOSS by sponsoring individuals like Lam Akol to try and splinter the Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Movement and of sponsoring militias to cause inter-ethnic strife in the South, like it happened recently in Duk Padiet Payam in Jonglei state, where clashes between the Nuer and Bor Dinka, left 81 people dead and over 60 wounded.

Recently, negotiations between the NCP and the SPLM presided over by the US special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration, failed to reach an agreement on how to go about the referendum.

Khartoum is insisting that the vote to declare independence for the South must reach a threshold of 75 per cent, while the SPLM says 50 per cent plus one will suffice, arguing that it is the universally accepted threshold for self-determination.

Mr Duku also says the NCP chose Dr Ghazi Salahuddin to head its team in the negotiations for the referendum despite him being on record saying that the South will only secede through the barrel of the gun.

The other contentious issue is that Khartoum is insisting that Southerners living in the North should be allowed to take part in the referendum wherever they are, which the SPLM says is a ploy to influence the outcome of the referendum.

The CPA states that the referendum should be conducted in the South only.

The Southerners are also claiming that the referendum was scheduled for this year, but was first pushed to February 2010 due to lack of preparedness, and then later to April next year.

April also happens to be the beginning of heavy rains in the South, when communication is difficult.

The South is afraid that the continued postponement of the elections could eat into the referendum period.

However, the South would rather forgo elections than miss the referendum.

The GOSS now says that Khartoum is determined to preempt, deny, or disallow a legitimate vote for self-determination — the core principle of the CPA — and that they are ready to unilaterally declare secession.

Recently, top SPLM official Pagan Amum warned that the South will unilaterally declare independence if the North is bent on scuttling the referendum.

The CPA mandates Khartoum to make unity attractive to the South within the six year interim period by sharing power, sharing wealth and initiating development projects for the South to develop and its economy to catch with that of the North.

But four years down the line, the Southerners still feel oppressed, marginalised and that they are treated as second class citizens.

According to Eric Reeves, a Boston-based university professor, the NCP has held back the key concessions required for the democratic transformation that the peace deal promised, including a repeal of repressive laws and restoration of basic freedoms of association and expression, and it has blocked the actions necessary for a peaceful referendum, such as a credible census, demarcation of the North/South border, fuller wealth-sharing and de-escalation of local conflicts in the transitional areas of Abyei, South Kordofan/Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile.

The SPLM maintains that there is clear evidence of Khartoum sending weapons to militia groups in the South, as well as particular ethnic groups and to the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda and now operating in northern Democratic Republic of Congo and Western Equatoria in Southern Sudan.

Apart from having to deal with proliferation of arms in the South, the GOSS is grappling with the issue of corruption, which Khartoum has been highlighting with relish.

Mr Duku does not dispute the existence of corruption and says there are individuals who have misappropriated public finances, especially revenue from oil.

“Sudan is not an island, there is corruption, but it is not sanctioned by the government of Southern Sudan. The government is doing all it can to fight this cancer, we cannot defend individuals who have committed crime. However, there is a problem in the institutions of governance, in that we have a weak judiciary and a police force that allows those who have misappropriated public resources to escape prosecution. You cannot fight corruption with weak institutions,” he said.

The CPA says, “At the end of the six years of interim period, there shall be an internationally monitored referendum organised jointly by the GOSS and the SPLM for the people of South Sudan to confirm the unity of the country by voting to adopt the system of government established under the peace agreement or vote for recession.”

The principle of Southern Sudan self-determination was established in the Machakos Protocol of July 2002.

source.eastafrican.ke

Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) — The east and Horn of Africa regional bloc Igad has once again expressed its disappointment at the international community’s failure to take practical action against Eritrea.

Mr Kipruto arap Kirwa, the peace and reconciliation facilitator in Somalia, told reporters in Addis Ababa that Igad had “conclusive evidence” that Eritrea and al-Qaeda were supporting and financing militant groups in Somalia.

Mr Kirwa called on the international community to take immediate and effective action, to go beyond words and act against all spoilers in the region. Igad and the African Union recently made strong recommendations for sanctions against Eritrea and other entities, “aiding, financing and facilitating resources for the al-Shabaab and other negative entities”.

The resolutions were tabled before the UN Security Council in June. The US has also pushed for an immediate endorsement of the proposals. However, other Security Council members: China, France, Russia and the UK, are divided on the resolutions.

The resolutions had proposed air and sea blockage in the region to prevent the flow of arms and foreign combatants to Somalia. They also proposed freezing the assets and imposing travel ban against individuals involved in the Somalia crisis.

Eritrean top officials on the list include Yemane Gebreab — head of political affairs and presidential adviser at the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) party, Ali Abdu — Information minister and Teame Abrehasillase — Intelligence chief. They are among the individuals allegedly involved in arms smuggling activities in Somalia.

source.nation.ke

Nairobi (Kenya) — Five African regional organisations have agreed to jointly tackle issues that lead to high costs of doing business on the continent. Meeting with the European Union in Lusaka, the organisations — the East African Community, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Indian Ocean Commission, the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development and the African Union Commission — pledged to focus on building peace and security. They will also strive to enhance good governance, eliminate non-tariff barriers and develop efficient infrastructure.

This will reduce the costs of doing business by hastening the pace of regional integration and development across Africa, they said.
The meeting brought together the Inter-Regional Co-ordinating Committee (IRCC) of the Eastern and Southern Africa, the Indian Ocean Commission (ESA-IO) Region and the European Union to discuss how best ESA-IO countries can deliver on regional integration.

It was attended by high-level executives and senior government officials.

It was addressed by Zambia’s Vice-President George Kunda; Zambia’s Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Felix Mutati; Kenya’s Trade Minister Amos Kimunya; Uganda’s Minister of State for Finance in charge of Privatisation Rukiya Chekamondo; Arvin Booleil, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Co-operation, Mauritius; and Erastus Mwencha, deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission.

While officially opening the meeting, Vice-President Kunda said ESA-IO had made good progress, citing the launching in June 2009 of the Comesa Customs Union and the EAC Customs Union launched in January 2005.

He also singled out the progress towards the establishment of the EAC Common Market by 2010 and the ongoing preparations for a larger Free Trade Area comprising membership of the EAC-SADC and Comesa regional economic communities.

The EAC-SADC-Comesa tripartite process, he said, would address the challenges of overlapping membership currently faced by African countries; and provide stimulus to private sector participation in development of the region.

“The private sector will benefit from harmonised rules and procedures and simplification of requirements and guidelines to trade in the region,” he said. He added that these developments would dovetail into overall effectiveness of regional integration.

The director-general of development, European Commission, Stefano Manservisi, said there was need to “give practical and concrete expression” to EU-ESA/IOC co-operation.

“We need roadmaps to set out what we will do to get results… We do not need further policy papers; now we need to implement programmes,” he said.

Erastus Mwencha, the vice chairperson of the African Union Commission, said integration in Africa was not an option but a matter of survival.

He said it called for great sacrifices in the short-term which would, however, pay off handsomely in the long-term.

He said the first and second stages of African integration had been achieved.

The first stage involved strengthening institutional frameworks of existing regional economic communities.

The second stage focused on co-ordination and harmonisation of activities, in particular, the gradual elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Mr Mwencha said the stage was set for the third and most definitive phase — establishment of a continental Customs Union followed by a Common Market.

He, however, said the integration process of African countries was still facing a myriad of challenges, such as resource constraints, poor state of infrastructure, reluctance to cede nationalism and sovereignty for the common good, inadequate integration of regional and continental initiatives into national development plans and peace and security challenges.

But Juma Mwapachu, the EAC secretary-general, said regional integration in the ESA-IO region was experiencing positive transformation despite persistent problems such as non-tariff barriers to trade among partner states of the regional economic communities and infrastructure deficiencies.

Sindiso Ngwenya, the Comesa secretary-general, called for a system that would make aid effective by channelling it to specific regional integration needs.

source.eastafrica,ke

Mpulungu (Zambia) – A freeze in donor funding after allegations of Zambian government corruption is being keenly felt by those living with HIV in rural areas, which were receiving the lion’s share of financial HIV/AIDS support.

“We are suffering very much here; every month we have to come here [the health centre in Mpulungu town] to get drugs,” said Evans Sikazwe, who lives in Mpulungu district in Northern Province, about 1,100km north of the capital, Lusaka.

“Previously, health workers used to follow us [up] and bring us drugs in our area, but for the past two months we have been coming [to get them] on our own,” Sikazwe told IRIN. He has been HIV-positive for the past two years and now has to travel 70km every month to access life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

About 200,000 Zambians nationwide are accessing antiretroviral therapy (ART) services at various government health facilities, but only urban clinics are mandated to administer ART in rural districts.

In the absence of donor funds, outreach programmes such as mobile voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) and ART services have been discontinued. The Mpulungu clinic is the main referral centre for the district’s 82,000 inhabitants.

“It is very unfortunate, especially for people like me who are on ARVs and also TB [tuberculosis] treatment. Things are very difficult … this is like punishing us, and yet we need the support of everyone,” Sikazwe said.

”The crisis in the health sector financial management, the issue of single sourcing of procurement of mobile hospitals, issues surrounding road sector investments and a general lack of progress in financial management reform in government are the most notable issues”
Corruption

In May 2009 several donors, including two of Zambia’s main donors, the governments of the Netherlands and Sweden, announced the suspension of aid after it was confirmed that senior government officials had embezzled about US$5 million of donor funds from the health ministry. Donors provide 55 percent of Zambia’s health budget for the prevention and treatment of malaria, TB and HIV, as well as training medical staff.

A tough stance on corruption had endeared the late President Levy Mwanawasa’s administration to the donor community, but since his death in August 2008, that of his successor, President Rupiah Banda, has been deemed soft on corruption.

In the wake of the aid suspension, Zambia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and its Auditor-General investigated the corruption claims and a number of high-profile officials subsequently appeared in court. However, donors insist that Zambia needs to meet certain benchmarks in good governance and public financial management before further funding is released.

“The crisis in the health sector financial management, the issue of single sourcing of procurement of mobile hospitals, issues surrounding road sector investments and a general lack of progress in financial management reform in government are the most notable issues,” the Dutch Ambassador to Zambia, Harry Molennar, told a local newspaper, The Times of Zambia.

“The recent developments in Zambia regarding high-profile corruption cases, and the international response to it, serve as a case in point to illustrate the need for both strong political leadership in the fight against corruption, and the resolve of that same leadership to let justice have its independent and transparent way,” he said.

Obert Mubyana, the district HIV and TB programmes officer in Mpulungu, told IRIN that in “The past three or four months [since donor aid was suspended], the situation has been very bad. We are not able to travel … [and] have a lot of patients that we need to monitor.” A lack of funds has also meant that patients in outlying areas who need to start taking ARVs are not doing so.

“The whole grant … per month … [from] donors and government is about 120 million kwacha [about US$27,000], but after the withdrawal [of donor funding] we have been receiving as [little] as 40 million kwacha [about US$9,000]. This is not enough because … [we have] to carry out mobile VCT, mobile ART, we need fuel, we need allowances, so we have had to suspend a lot of programmes,” Mubyana said.

Mpulungu, Zambia’s only port on Lake Tanganyika and a regional trading hub, attracts people from neighbouring Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is a high-risk area for HIV infection.

The town has thousands of sex workers, some of whom often travel the country’s highways. “We come here this month; we go to Kapiri Mposhi [town on the main road about 150k north of Lusaka] next time. We go to Chirundu [on the Zimbabwean border] also, even Nakonde [on the border with Tanzania],” a teenage sex worker told IRIN. She charges about US$1.25 for her services.

HIV Prevalence is around 12.6 percent – the national average is 14 percent – but unofficial statistics from local health facilities estimate the rate could be as high as 50 percent. At Mpulungu clinic, 2,308 people have been tested for HIV since 2006, of whom 1,199 were found positive and 1,189 are receiving treatment.

“Of course, most of these people only come here when things are really critical, after they have failed with their … [traditional healers], so there could be some margin of error,” Flexon Mauluka, a data entry clerk at the clinic, told IRIN.

source.irinnews.org