[Civsoc-mw] {Disarmed} FW: The Week in China-Africa News

Fri Dec 13 18:05:04 CAT 2019

Perhaps of interest d

From: The China Africa Project <eric at chinaafricaproject.com> 
Sent: 13 December 2019 13:01

Subject: The Week in China-Africa News

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The Way China Funds African Infrastructure Is Changing, African Leaders Challenge the West on Debt

Good morning from an electricity-challenged Johannesburg, where infrastructure decisions are rapidly turning into the highest political drama.

This week we took a deep dive into how Chinese infrastructure funding in Africa is changing. While the recent bauxite-for-infrastructure deal in Ghana was initially characterised as a throwback to the old-school 'Angola model,' it was quickly revealed that this deal with Sinohydro, which involved the creation of a new Ghanaian parastatal company, is actually a form of public-private partnership. These 'Sino-Africa Swap' deals are a new development, and aim to spread risk to avoid some of the oft-criticised downsides of resource-backed loans, including the outsized debt burden it places on African governments. 

Soon after Eric's initial analysis of this deal went out to readers of our daily newsletter, we were contacted by a Chinese negotiator currently putting together exactly this kind of Sino-Africa Swap deal on the ground in Africa. Subscribers to our daily newsletter got a chance to follow their conversation as part of our real-time coverage of China-Africa issues.

One of the biggest China-Africa issues is lending, and this week saw an interesting moment of African leaders breaking ranks and refusing to toe the Western line on debt. Donald Kaberuka, the former head of the Africa Development Bank, called concerns about African debt levels 'nonsensical,' days after six African leaders turned on IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at a contentious forum in Dakar. They rebuked IMF directives that African budget deficits shouldn't exceed 3% of GDP, saying these rules under-estimate Africa debt resilience. 

This week we also asked the uncomfortable question of why wildlife poaching has fallen off the China-Africa agenda even as poaching to satisfy demand in Asia is driving many African species to extinction. Our daily newsletter explored the issue in detail, suggesting ways activists can sound the alarm in the run-up to FOCAC in 2021. 

The China-Africa Project daily newsletter is increasingly becoming the place to follow real-time interactions between the biggest players in the China-Africa space. 

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Have a great weekend!
Cobus  

Three Things You Should Know This Week

1 

 <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=f9616dfef5&e=3f784f5356> China’s Resources-for-Infrastructure Financing Mechanism is Evolving Into the “Sino-Africa Swap”

There's a growing recognition that China's well-worn Resources-for-Infrastructure deals may no longer be economically viable for African states. Now, these so-called "RFIs" are giving way to a new arrangement called "Sino-Africa Swaps" that aims to spread risk more evenly among the various parties.  <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=616e9eb509&e=3f784f5356> (READ MORE)

2 

 <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=9436ed0594&e=3f784f5356> African Leaders Push Back on Western-led Debt Narrative, U.S., European Officials Should Take Note

For years U.S. and European leaders have been warning their African counterparts about the dangers of taking on too much debt, particularly from China. Now, it appears that some African leaders have had enough of these lectures and they’re starting to push back. They’re saying that even at levels of 50-60% GDP, African levels of debt are lower than many other regions around the world and these loans are critical to their countries’ development.  <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=5c7b8e32e5&e=3f784f5356> (READ MORE)

3 

 <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=167320eb81&e=3f784f5356> Kenya’s Embattled SGR Suffers Major Setback as Burundi, DRC Opt for Tanzania Route to Port of Dar es Salaam

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s longheld dream of extending his $4.9 billion Chinese-financed Standard Gauge Railway across East Africa suffered a major setback this week as both Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo both opted to go with Tanzania’s SGR for direct access to the port in Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is on a roll here because this latest deal complements an agreement signed last year with Rwanda for a 575 kilometer SGR line that will connect Isaka, a railway hub in northwest Tanzania, with Kigali.  <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=4d4bbaac11&e=3f784f5356> (READ MORE)

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The China in Africa Podcast 

 <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=bdb6c186c5&e=3f784f5356> The Rare News Interview with a Chinese Ambassador in Africa

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Chinese ambassadors in Africa rarely grant one-on-one interviews with international journalists. But that’s starting to change now, particularly as a few Chinese envoys are making themselves more accessible to the press and on social media platforms like Twitter.

Two ambassadors are especially noteworthy in this area: Lin Songtian in South Africa and Wu Peng in Kenya.

Ambassador Wu recently sat down with BBC journalist Dickens Olewe for an interview at the embassy in Nairobi. During the interview, they discussed some of the most sensitive issues that confront the China-Kenya relationship today.

Dickens joins Eric to provide a bit of background on how he was able to secure the interview and what he thought of Ambassador Wu’s responses to questions about transparency, racism and whether China is engaging in predatory lending in Africa.

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Analysis 

 <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=220a5c9126&e=3f784f5356> Recent Killing of Kenyan Rhinos Highlights Need to Get Wildlife Issues Back on the China-Africa Agenda

By Eric Olander, Managing Editor of The China Africa Project

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A 2.5-year-old female Southern white rhino, Elia, tries to run away after being shot a tranquilizer from a helicopter during Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) rhino ear notching exercise for identification at Meru National Park, 350 km from Nairobi, Kenya, on April 5, 2018. Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP

The privately-run  <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=fd16b9c62c&e=3f784f5356> Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya provided a sobering reminder this week that even though wildlife conservation issues have largely disappeared from the broader China-Africa agenda, the fate of some of Africa’s most endangered animals is becoming increasingly perilous due to continued demand in Asia.

 <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=38d2c9da9f&e=3f784f5356> Last Friday, heavily-armed poachers snuck into the conservancy, a vast territory that covers 62,000 acres in northern Kenya, shot a pair of male white southern rhinos and sawed off their horns. The poachers escaped before rangers arrived on the scene.

The horns from those rhinos are now probably making their way through a vast, sophisticated underground network and they will likely end up somewhere in China or Vietnam where demand for rhino horn remains stubbornly high.

 <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=8099bceddf&e=3f784f5356> Read More

About the China Africa Project 

The China Africa Project was founded in 2010 by journalist Eric Olander and Asia/Africa scholar Dr. Cobus van Staden to serve as an independent, nonpartisan forum to explore every facet of China’s engagement in Africa. 

For more information about the CAP, its funding and editorial ethics policy, please visit:  <https://chinaafricaproject.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de6c715223b42ee6c619dbe2f&id=2d1c18e069&e=3f784f5356> www.chinaafricaproject.com/about 

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Thank you for signing up for the weekly China-Africa email newsletter: a selection of thoughtfully curated stories from the editors at The China Africa Project. 

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