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News; International

Africa's Natural Wealth

Isha Sesay, Jeff Koinange, Anderson Cooper

3,694 words

28 April 2007

CNN International: Inside Africa

CNIAF

English

© Voxant Inc. All rights reserved.
ISHA SESAY, GUEST HOST: Hello, I'm Isha Sesay. This is INSIDE AFRICA, coming to you this week from Nigeria. Today, we're going to explore some of Africa's natural wealth. From oil to diamonds, gold, rubber and precious stones, Africa has it all. It is one of the richest continents in the world, and yet look around and you'll see much of it remains poor.
Right now, we're in Lagos. This country sits on top of the world's largest oil reserves, yet 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. So why the disparity? We tried to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: There will soon be a new man at the top in Nigeria. But what will it mean for the country's poor? Like those in the Niger Delta, surrounded by vast oil wealth, they're among the nation's poorest people.
CHIEF E.K. CLARK, IJAW ETHNIC NATIONAL: In every situation, the man who produces the oil, the wealth of the country should be in a better position. Like a man in Texas, a man in California. But here, we are the poorest. There is no water to drink. There is no light. There is no hospital. It's only in the Delta that there is no (inaudible).
SESAY: But poverty is not confined to the Niger Delta. High unemployment and inadequate investment in education, health care and infrastructure means life for the average Nigerian is hard. The country has generated billions from its oil deposits, but somehow it hasn't benefited the masses.
Political analyst Pat Utomi believes the system is to blame.
PAT UTOMI, POLITICAL ANALYST: In Nigeria, unfortunately, because few people are employed as a result of direct gains from oil, and because of (inaudible) public policy that has not really created wealth, we find that most of the people are very, very poor in spite of all of it.
SESAY: Some economists believe the gap between rich and poor has never been greater, despite the fact that Nigeria is the world's sixth largest oil exporter. It's estimated that 90 percent of the nation's wealth sits in the hands of 10 percent of its population. Some feel the situation has explosive potential.
UTOMI: I have preached for many years this coming anarchy, this revenge of the poor, and it seems to me some psychology of the few who have access to power -- Nigerians are docile, Nigerians will never react -- and you just think, this is a time bomb ticking away. And the day that it happens, it will catch all of them (inaudible).
SESAY: The nation's president-elect, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, has vowed to kick-start the economy and improve life for all. Something that would be welcomed here in large numbers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Earlier, I spoke to Nigerian political activist Ledo Miki (ph) about poverty in the Niger Delta and of concerns about government and oil company policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Niger Delta today, it has become a place where you get the worst forms of poverty that you can even imagine. And where you put it where there is a backdrop of the resources that it sits on top, then you know it's an area of huge injustice. And that has been what has been the underlying problem in that area. People have no water, no pipe water, no electricity, no schools, and even the access to the basic necessities of life do not exist. These are quite an enduring problem that people have come to live with over the years.
SESAY: Ecologically, what is the situation now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These streams where people take water from -- as I said, there's no pipe water. It's polluted as the result of (inaudible) spillages. You know find out that because of that, even the marine, the aquatic life, have been completely degraded. Indigenous people that we are, we do not see land just as some flora and fauna there. They have deep spiritual significance.
SESAY: I have read in some places that those spillages are due to vandalism of the pipes committed by indigenous people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not denying that there's been cases of what you might call vandalism, but again, the responsibility of how to deal with issues of crime is that of the government.
SESAY: Some oil companies saying that they are paying their taxes and the money that they're required to pay that would in turn benefit the community. But somewhere along the line, the money isn't getting to the people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I mean, obviously that is true. There's corruption going on at every level, even the level of the oil companies. But as we've said, I've told you that the problems of the Niger Delta are that of injustice. And that is admitted by all the sides. There's also this - you have accountability. This leads to the issue of accountability. The oil companies themselves need to be accountable for some of the things that are happening. If you speak to the Nigerian government, most times there have been disputes about actually what taxes are supposed to be paid and due.
SESAY: How optimistic are you for a change occurring in the lives, the daily lives of the people in the Niger Delta?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every person now knows that there is a problem in the Niger Delta. The people of the Niger Delta also believe that it cannot be business as usual, all this. Now, there is opportunity for everybody, not only those in the Niger Delta, to say, look, we need to make this happen, so that we don't have another Iraq, we do not have another situation where we'll say international intervention came too late, in this situation, because the Nigerian situation has tremendous impact, or potentials of impact on the rest of Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: That was Nigerian activist Ledo Miki (ph), speaking to me a little earlier.
For majority of Africans who may not reach the benefits of the wealth they inherently own and for those who mine it, it's more often a hazard than a blessing. Anderson Cooper reports from the Congo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A young miner descends into the earth, hoping to scratch out a living in the dangerous darkness below.
It's pitch-black in the mine. The ceiling in this mine is maybe 2,5 feet. We're literally crouching down, crawling through the mud.
Hunched over, sitting in a pool of water, we find 23-year old Siba Joua (ph). The rocks he pulls from the ground earn him just a few dollars a day, but they've also created widespread corruption, and helped fuel a civil war that resulted in more than 3 million deaths. Dozens of warring armies and militias have fought for control of Congo's natural resources.
This is a cassiterite mine. It's where tin comes from. We're probably about 100 feet or so inside a mountain in the eastern Congo. The mine itself is a low-tech operation, but increasingly, tin is used in high- tech products. Because of changes in environmental regulations, tin has replaced lead in circuit boards used in equipment like - well, like these cell phones. Chances are if you use a cell phone, you're probably carrying a piece of the Congo with you.
In the last four years, the price of tin has more than doubled. You'd think that would be a great development for cash-strapped Congo, but very little of the money paid for Congolese tin actually ends up benefiting the people here.
JASON STEARNS, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: It's a predator state. So you have - the customs officials are completely corrupt. It's estimated 60 to 80 percent of customs are never - are embezzled, never get back to the people. You can blame the people who are doing it, but they're doing it because they can, and they can because there is no state, there's nobody to tell them not to.
COOPER: A 2005 report by the nonprofit group Global Witness found most miners have to pay bribes to local police and military officials just to sell their tin.
Much of the cassiterite or tin ore that is mined here is smuggled illegally into Rwanda and other neighboring African countries. Corrupt Congolese officials are paid to look the other way. According to aid workers, the export of tin is worth at least $50 million, and the Congo should be profiting from that by taxing it, but so far, they're not.
The Congolese government says there is regulation, but the problem is enforcing it. The infrastructure is poor, so it's hard to prevent smugglers and looters from taking mineral resources out of the country illegally.
Theoretically, I mean, the Congo, the government should be making this money and giving the money, you know, in services to people. That's just not happening.
STEARNS: The government provides almost no social services to the people. Ninety-eight percent of the education in the country is actually provided - is provided by the students, the cost of education is provided by the students themselves. I don't think the state provides anything -- next to anything for health or education, the roads.
COOPER: It's not just the illegal export of tin that's a problem. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is rich in natural resources. Cobalt and copper is mined from here. That winds up in the lithium batteries that we use at home. Also, mineral called coltan is mined here. That ends up in cell phones. There is also large mines for diamonds, as well as for gold.
For the miners themselves, the payoff is low, and the risks huge. Last month, a miner died here, while trying to pump water out of one of the shafts.
"It was the gas," Siba Joua (ph) says, "the pump from the generator suffocated him."
Siba Joua (ph) would like to quit, but he has a wife and child to support, and knows of no other way to make a living.
"A lot of us get old in this mine," he says. "I want to make my money and go."
It is just one of the many tragedies in the Congo. Thanks to mismanagement and corruption, the mineral wealth that could be such a blessing remains in many ways a deadly curse.
Anderson Cooper, CNN, Nabibwe (ph), the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: When we come back, satisfying China's hunger for resources. Is the country helping develop Africa's future, or is it, as some claim, pushing a near-colonialist policy on the continent? We take a look. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world's largest mobile operator says it's ready to buy cell phone carrier companies in Africa. China Mobile Communications Corporation says it wants to tap into the continent, which boasts the largest growth rate of cellular customers in the world.
South Africa says it will no longer buy gluten from China after the chemical melamine was found in the product used in pet foods. At least 30 dogs are said to have died from eating the tainted food.
China is now the biggest investor in Zimbabwe. It has more than 35 companies and $600 million invested in the country. Chinese'>Chinese officials say companies are still looking for investment opportunities in Zimbabwe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Welcome back. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA, coming to you this week from Lagos, Nigeria. Today, we're looking at what happens to Africa's resources, many of which end up in China, which is perpetually hungry for the continent's abundant raw materials. And what they found is a continent desperate for outside investment and very little competition from U.S. and other foreign firms. Some analysts say that lack of competition and decade-long deals now being struck by China could mean Africa isn't getting the true value out of its resources. But others say China reaps while the West is sound asleep. Jeff Koinange has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China is serious about making its economic mark here, and for good reason.
GARTH LE PERE, SINO-AFRICAN EXPERT: China's footprint has grown tremendously over the last decade, and I think, you know, it's primarily driven by China's resource requirements, the demand for the kind of raw materials that the continent has.
KOINANGE: Compare that to U.S. President George W. Bush's single trip to five African countries back in 2003. Now, more a distant memory than a show of solidarity.
PATRICK LAURENCE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Priority areas for the U.S., I don't think Africa figures as highly as the Middle East, and they are obviously very concerned about Iran. But I think perhaps they have been caught a bit -- they haven't shown the same energy and dedication to Africa.
KOINANGE: Africa experts see a widening gap between U.S. and Sino- African relations. The U.S. more attuned to its global war on terror, and China more focused on issues of trade and aid.
So far on paper, at least, it seems Africa is greatly benefiting from China's seeming benevolence. From Algeria to Zimbabwe, Sudan to Nigeria, and Kenya to Zambia, China's investing in Africa with dizzying speed, and pumping cash into the continent, some $3 billion in each of the last two years, with a potential for billions more in the coming years.
What China gets out of the deal is access to Africa's abundant crude oil reserves, copper and cobalt for its steel industry, and cement to satisfy its growing infrastructure demands. But the deals are raising some eyebrows.
LAURENCE: Don't underestimate the Chinese, and I would add, you know, perhaps it behooves African leaders to read or re-read the tale about the Trojan horse, you know, which led to the saying "beware of the Greeks when they come bearing gifts." Perhaps they should say to themselves, be careful of the Chinese when they come with their offers of free trade and debt relief.
KOINANGE: And then there is the case of making investments without long-term ties to the continent. A few years ago, the U.S. introduced an incentive for Africa -- the African Growth and Opportunities Act, or AGOA, which basically eliminated duties on African-made goods destines for the U.S. But the Chinese had other plans, setting up factories across Africa using cheap labor, and exporting the goods directly to the ready U.S. market.
This was a typical Chinese-run clothes factory in the Lesotho capital Maseru that provided employment to hundreds of locals and was a shot in the arm for the tiny economy. But as soon as the AGOA deal expired, the Chinese in Lesotho simply closed up shop, leaving the factory intact, sawing machines and all, and rendering hundreds out of jobs.
And then there's the issue of Darfur, where Sudan's government is accused of human rights violations, not unlike China, but where the two nations' leaders seem to have found common ground.
LAURENCE: African leaders should see beyond the benevolent smiling charm, and say to themselves, what do these guys want? What do we want? How can we bargain so that we can get enough from them and they can get enough from us, without us losing our independence?
KOINANGE: And that's the fine line African leaders will have to walk as China continues what experts describe as its seemingly unquenchable thirst for African raw materials. So far, it appears to be a win-win situation, and with the other superpower, the U.S., busy trying to extricate itself from both Iraq and Afghanistan, the road ahead for China in Africa, for now at least, seems open for business.
Jeff Koinange, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Just a note to Jeff's package: There has been growing criticism of China's labor policies in Africa, as well as of their investment and presence there. Just this week, Ethiopian rebels attacked an oil field in western Ethiopia, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers, as well as kidnapping scores of other Chinese employees. In Nigeria, armed militants earlier this year killed 11 Chinese oil workers and five Chinese telecommunication workers in three separate incidents.
There's much more to come on Africa's vast resources. When we come back, a look at the brighter side of things: A sparkling deal in Botswana. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Welcome back. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.
Diamonds, the mystery, the beauty, the violence - what should be a major asset for Africa has often been a mixed blessing. Over the decades, global demand for these stones has fueled hate, financed wars and created slave labor. In Botswana, it also fueled (ph) one of Africa's fastest growing economies. Jeff Koinange reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE: You're watching the controlled explosion in a diamond mine in northeastern Botswana. It's the world's largest open-pit diamond mine, 600 feet deep so far, and vast. It's as wide as 52 football fields.
This is the most efficient and safest way to mine diamonds. Here in Botswana, the world's largest diamond producer, all the mining is mechanized, controlled and above all, conflict-free. The mines do not produce blood diamonds.
Since they were discovered here four decades ago, diamonds have turned out to be Botswana's best friend. A 50/50 joined venture between Botswana and diamond giant De Beers has led to the creation of one of the most successful businesses in Africa. It's known as Debswana, a partnership that is as rare in Africa as the precious stones they find in these pits.
These huge boulders contain some of the world's best diamond deposits. They are hauled in these massive trucks to a tipping (ph) area, where they are crushed into smaller rocks, before they come here, where water pressure forces out more impurities and so on. One conveyer belt after another in this multi-million-dollar complex. Diamonds are serious business here.
The rough gems will end up in the nation's capital, Gaborone, here, in a 10-story building, where at any one time there are literally millions of diamonds.
This building holds more than 75 percent of Botswana's foreign exchange earnings. This room alone worth tens of millions of dollars, thanks in part to these tiny little precious stones, precious stones that have transformed what was one of Africa's poorest countries to one of its biggest success stories.
MIKE MOROMENG, DEBSWANA DIAMOND: This is a two-karater, roughly. Yes, this is a two-karater, yes. OK. It's two karats. Yeah. It's a wonderful stone. It's a wish stone. Yeah.
KOINANGE: Mike Moromeng is responsible for making sure Botswana's diamonds are among the world's finest. And that when they leave here, they're certified "not conflict diamonds."
MOROMENG: As we receive diamonds from the mines, they are all packaged in such a way that nobody can tamper with them, to ensure that there is no other diamonds that find their way into Botswana diamonds.
KOINANGE: Unlike most other African countries, where diamonds seem to bring greed, chaos and corruption, in Botswana, every stone is systematically evaluated and grouped by quality.
The diamonds are not cut or polished here. Every rock is shipped to De Beers' headquarters in London, and from there sold to diamond dealers around the world.
Botswana's attorney general says despite their care to control diamonds here, she won't be surprised if the movie "Blood Diamond" has a negative effect on diamond sales. She hopes movie goers see it for what it is.
ATHALIAH MOLOKOMME, BOTSWANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm going to watch it, and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it, but I hope that, like me, all the people in the world, when they finish seeing that movie, they will remember what they have just watched is a work of fiction. For 99 percent of the diamonds of this world, they come from clean countries which are not involved in conflict.
KOINANGE: In fact, our invitation here was part of a public relations campaign to create a firewall against the possible negative publicity the "Blood Diamond" film could stir up. The De Beers company and Botswana hope to make clear they are more than a cut above any bad blood that might come from blood diamonds.
Jeff Koinange, CNN, Gaborone, Botswana
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Thank you for watching. It's time to say goodbye from here in Lagos, Nigeria, where there is much more to come next week. So please let INSIDE AFRICA be your window to the continent. Take care.
END
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Document CNIAF00020070503e34s00001

Factiva Insurance Risk Summary - April 27, 2007
1,364 words

27 April 2007

Factiva Insurance Risk Summary

FIRS

English

© 2007 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved
* April warmest and driest in Netherlands in decades
* Australia drought is climate change warning - U.K.
* Australia to exceed Kyoto targets - study
* Costa Rica to ration power amid hydro shortfall
* Bomb found outside Texas abortion clinic - police
* Ethiopian rebels say working on release of Chinese
* Two killed in Nigerian oil city failed kidnap bid
* Earthquake sparks panic in Indonesia's Aceh
* Europe backs new cell-based flu shot from Novartis
* South Korea allows in first U.S. beef since '03
* Workplace cancers cause 200,000 deaths a year - WHO
* Herbal medicine may cut breast cancer risk
* Omega-3 may fight Alzheimer brain changes
* Statin before bypass surgery may boost survival
* Chest protectors not effective for young athletes
* About 6,000 U.S. hogs may have eaten tainted feed
************************************************
* April warmest and driest in Netherlands in decades
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - April is on track to be the warmest in the Netherlands since temperatures were first measured in 1706 and the driest in more than 100 years, the Dutch meteorological office said on Friday. The KNMI said global warming was one of the reasons for the record and predicted more extreme weather such as heatwaves and downpours in the future.
* Australia drought is climate change warning - U.K.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Drought-hit Australia may offer a warning of how climate change threatens core human needs, as the continent's food bowl faces the prospect of having irrigation cut off, Britain's climate change ambassador said. Canberra has said it will halt irrigation to an area that usually grows over a third of the country's farm produce, if heavy rain does not fall in the next few weeks.
* Australia to exceed Kyoto targets - study
CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - Australia, already the world's biggest polluter per capita and a Kyoto climate pact hold-out, will exceed its greenhouse gas targets within three years, an independent study said on Friday. Australia's conservative government along with the United States refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol, but insists the country is on track anyway to meet its target of 108 percent of 1990-level greenhouse emissions by 2012.
* Costa Rica to ration power amid hydro shortfall
SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Costa Rica said on Thursday a lack of rainfall to drive its hydroelectric plants meant it would have to start rationing electricity. Power will be rationed twice a day for five hours at a time for different sectors of the population on a rotating basis, Pedro Pablo Quiros, executive president of the state-run Costa Rican Electricity Institute, said.
* Bomb found outside Texas abortion clinic - police
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Authorities on Thursday confirmed they had found an unexploded bomb outside an abortion clinic in the state's capital. The device, about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, was discovered on Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Austin Women's Health Center, said David Carter, assistant chief of the Austin Police Department.
* Ethiopian rebels say working on release of Chinese
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian insurgents who captured seven Chinese workers during a deadly attack on an oil terminal will free them as soon as the military stops activities in the area, a rebel spokesman said on Friday. Ethiopia has sent defence forces to the region bordering Somalia to hunt down fighters from the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) which carried out Tuesday's pre-dawn raid killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese.
* Two killed in Nigerian oil city failed kidnap bid
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed two policemen in a failed kidnap attempt on Friday in the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt, police said. The officers were escorting a convoy of vehicles carrying expatriate staff to work when two armed men dressed in army uniform opened fire on them in the Borokiri district of the city.
* Earthquake sparks panic in Indonesia's Aceh
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - An undersea earthquake rattled Indonesia's Aceh province on Friday, sparking panic among residents, although there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage and casualties. The 5.9 magnitude quake struck at 3:02 p.m. (0802 GMT) and was centred some 70 km (45 miles) southwest of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.
* Europe backs new cell-based flu shot from Novartis
LONDON (Reuters) - A new kind of seasonal flu vaccine made in cell culture, rather than chicken eggs, and which could be quickly mass-produced in the event of a pandemic was endorsed by Europe's drugs watchdog on Friday. The European Medicines Agency said it had given a positive opinion to Novartis AG's Optaflu, clearing the way for full European marketing approval within two or three months.
* South Korea allows in first U.S. beef since '03
SEOUL (Reuters) - Seoul will permit the first shipment of U.S. beef into the country for sale since December 2003, South Korean officials said on Friday, after a U.S. senator said a rejection could scuttle a bilateral trade deal. South Korea, once the third-biggest importer of U.S. beef, agreed to resume imports last year, but rejected all 22 tonnes of beef sent over in three shipments after that due to small bone chips -- infuriating Washington and U.S. cattle producers.
* Workplace cancers cause 200,000 deaths a year - WHO
GENEVA (Reuters Life!) - At least 200,000 people die every year from cancers related to their workplaces, mainly from inhaling asbestos fibres and second-hand tobacco smoke, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday. The U.N. agency said every 10th lung cancer death is related to occupational hazards, and about 125 million people worldwide are exposed to asbestos at work, leading to at least 90,000 deaths each year.
* Herbal medicine may cut breast cancer risk
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A new study provides preliminary evidence that an herbal medicine used to help women cope with menopausal symptoms may reduce breast cancer risk. However, much more research is needed before the herb, black cohosh, can be recommended to prevent the disease, Dr. Timothy R. Rebbeck of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia and colleagues caution.
* Omega-3 may fight Alzheimer brain changes
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A fatty acid found in fish may help thwart the buildup of brain proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease, a study in mice suggests. In Alzheimer's disease, lesions known as "plaques" and "tangles" form in the brain, due to the abnormal clumping of two proteins called beta-amyloid and tau. The mouse study found that a diet rich in the fatty acid DHA might interfere with this process.
* Statin before bypass surgery may boost survival
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A study hints that taking a statin or other cholesterol-lowering drug before heart bypass surgery may boost survival. However, investigators caution that the improvement may be more directly associated with factors other than cholesterol-lowering medication. Dr. Brian D. Powell of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues analyzed the outcome of 4,739 patients undergoing bypass surgery for the first-time between 1995 and 2001.
* Chest protectors not effective for young athletes
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A blow to the chest of a young athlete from a ball, or hockey stick, or collision with another player, can trigger an irregular heartbeat that leads to sudden death -- despite chest protectors. A new report has found that commercially available chest protectors don't do what they're supposed to do.
* About 6,000 U.S. hogs may have eaten tainted feed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An estimated 6,000 hogs from New York to California were likely given feed containing melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertilizer, and those that have consumed it will not be allowed to enter the human food supply, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Thursday. USDA said that so far states have quarantined one farm each in South Carolina, New York, North Carolina and California.
*************************************************
Full versions of these and other insurance stories are available from Factiva.com.
Document FIRS000020070427e34r00001

FB Business, Technology

[e-mail]'>China's 'go out' policy means trouble Tom Holland [e-mail]

651 words

26 April 2007

South China Morning Post

SCMP

2

English

(c) 2007 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited, Hong Kong. All rights reserved.
The nine Chinese employees of Sinopec killed on Tuesday in the disputed Ogaden region of Ethiopia are not the first casualties of Beijing's "go out" policy of securing foreign supplies of natural resources. Nor will they be the last.
The unfortunate oil exploration workers were apparently caught in the cross-fire when the military wing of the Ogaden National Liberation Front attacked an oil installation at Obala near Ethiopia's border with the unrecognised state of Somaliland. A number of other Chinese were taken prisoner.
Made up of Muslim ethnic Somalis, the ONLF is fighting for Ogadeni independence from Ethiopia, whose government is dominated by ethnic Tigrayan Christians.
In a statement released after the attack, the ONLF claimed it had previously warned Beijing that Chinese oil companies operating in the Ogaden would be at risk.
"We will not allow the mineral resources of our people to be exploited by this regime or any firm that it enters into an illegal contract with," the statement declared.
The killings in Ethiopia highlight the dangers inherent in Beijing's strategy of turning a blind eye to repression and bad governance in its eagerness to secure supplies of oil and other natural resources.
In recent years Chinese state-backed companies have bolstered their chances of winning lucrative resource contracts by pledging to invest generously in local infrastructure in countries where few other businesses would dare venture.
Last year, for example, Huawei Technologies and two other mainland companies agreed to pump US$1.5 billion into Ethiopia's telecommunications system. The country has been off-limits for most western companies since the 2005 police massacre of 193 political protesters.
Ethiopia is not the only African country where mainland companies have run into trouble. In January, nine Chinese employees of the Chinese National Petroleum Company were kidnapped at gun-point in the troubled delta region of Nigeria.
As in the Ogaden, delta inhabitants accuse foreign oil companies of assisting the national government to cheat them out of their rightful income from local natural resources.
By extending no strings attached loans to African governments, Beijing has also been accused of undermining international efforts to promote sound governance.
For example, a proposed World Bank loan to Nigeria's railway system with strict anti-corruption provisions recently fell through after China offered a far bigger loan to rebuild the network without stipulating any onerous clean-up conditions.
Beijing's enthusiastic support for unsavoury governments is also causing problems elsewhere in Africa. In Zimbabwe, where China is the biggest foreign investor with over US$600 million committed according to local officials, opposition figures say Beijing is behind President Robert Mugabe's brutal crackdown on local street traders, because they compete with Chinese businesses.
Meanwhile, Beijing's support for the Khartoum government is widely regarded as instrumental in prolonging conflict in the war-torn Sudanese province of Darfur. In a bid not to upset the regime, last September China abstained from a Security Council vote on deploying United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur.
Beijing had a lot to lose. As of the end of 2005, China had invested more than US$350 million in the country. Each year China buys billions of US dollars-worth of petroleum from Sudan and the mainland is the regime's main arms supplier.
Recently some signs have emerged that Beijing is sensitive to international criticism over its readiness to leap into bed with ugly partners, especially in the run-up to next year's Olympics. A list published last month by the National Development and Reform Commission of suitable countries for Chinese oil company investment omitted Iran, Sudan and Nigeria.
However, as long as Beijing continues its support for repressive and corrupt but resource-rich governments, there will be more tragedies like the one this week in the Ogaden.
Document SCMP000020070425e34q0000d

NEWS

Rebels raid China-run oil facility in Ethiopia 9 Chinese workers among 74 killed

Brian Knowlton

The New York Times Media Group

883 words

25 April 2007

International Herald Tribune

INHT

3

1

English

© 2007 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved.
Ethiopia said Tuesday that a rebel group had killed 65 Ethiopians and 9 Chinese workers in a raid on a Chinese-operated oil field near the border with Somalia.
It said the group had been backed by the government of Eritrea and analysts said the attack had underscored the vulnerability of the rapidly growing Chinese presence across Africa.
Xu Shuang, the general manager of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, which runs the field, told The Associated Press that the attackers also kidnapped seven Chinese workers and a large number of Ethiopians in the pre-dawn attack. The Ethiopian government confirmed the toll. The field is near Abole, in a disputed region of eastern Ethiopia not far from the state capital, Jijiga.
"Such an outrage, the cold-blooded murder of people who were building roads and engaged in other development activities, is a measure of the level of barbarity involved," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia said in Addis Ababa.
Bereket Simon, an aide to Zenawi, said the assailants had been militants connected to the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which claimed responsibility for the attack. The group wants to create a separate state for ethnic Somalis in the region. Last year it told Ethiopia not to invest in the area and warned oil companies not to operate there. The group also has been fighting Ethiopian troops in Somalia, after Addis Ababa helped the government there evict an Islamic movement from Mogadishu.
The toll among the Chinese workers and their vulnerability to the continent's instability follow heavy investment by China in Africa to satisfy the needs of China's fast-expanding economy for energy and minerals. Beijing has invested heavily in the Sudanese oil sector, for example, and now buys half the country's oil.
"The Chinese are going places where nobody else will go," said Peter Brookes, a former deputy assistant defense secretary in the Bush administration who has studied the Chinese presence in Africa.
"People don't really want to go into Sudan, the Niger Delta, but the Chinese are willing to go to these places where others, for political or stability reasons, won't go."
The facility attacked Tuesday appeared to be an example of such risk. The region is known more for its instability than its oil.
Reports said the facility had been guarded by 100 Ethiopian troops, an indication that attacks had been feared. But they were outnumbered two-to-one by the rebels and were overwhelmed in a hour- long battle.
The Chinese are willing to accept what normally would be an unenticing risk-to-reward ratio, partly because they often gain exclusive access to any oil they find, said Brookes, now a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
"They're not putting it on international markets, they're sending it straight to China," he said.
The attack was not the first to affect Chinese oil workers on the continent. In January, militants in Nigeria kidnapped nine Chinese oil workers; two more were abducted in March.
Most hostage-takings there are resolved with the payment of a ransom, but two of the Chinese are still being held. Five Chinese telecommunications workers were held last month for two weeks.
Chinese companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in projects large and small across Africa.
From Angola to Kenya, Sudan to Zimbabwe, the Chinese have built or committed themselves to building railroads, roads, refineries, hospitals and communication networks.
The Chinese are willing to work with authoritarian governments in places like Sudan and Zimbabwe that the United States and Europe find objectionable and have punished with sanctions. They also have been willing to undertake projects too small to interest others.
Much of the Chinese activity has focused on energy, but it also has helped countries, including Ethiopia, with few known energy resources.
In addition, Beijing is interested in developing markets in Africa and in the political clout it stands to gain in international venues like the United Nations that could come from closer ties there.
China has courted Africa at the highest levels. President Hu Jintao visited eight countries in February. Three months earlier, Beijing acted as host for a summit meeting attended by almost every African head of state. China now trails only the United States and Europe as the continent's leading trading partner.
The Chinese presence, however, has not been universally welcomed.
Workers in Chinese-run mines in Zambia have protested wage and working conditions and there have been riots. Union spokesmen have said that China has become too dominant a factor in the country's economy.
African producers complain that cheap Chinese goods are flooding their markets, contributing to unemployment. They say Chinese contractors underbid local companies and often import cheap labor.
President Thabo Mbeki has warned that Beijing was running the risk of creating a "colonial relationship" in Africa.
Brookes said: "Some people are not very happy. There have been riots over the Chinese presence."
But Brookes said he did not believe that the Chinese would be deterred by the attack on Tuesday.
"I think they'll continue," he said. "They see it as a national security issue - access to oil, or gas."
Document INHT000020070425e34p00006

Burden of Bringing IT to Rural Communities
by Mary Ekah

1,715 words

25 April 2007

06:12 AM

All Africa

AFNWS

English

(c) 2007 AllAfrica, All Rights Reserved
Lagos, Apr 25, 2007 (This Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
When Kolawole Agboola returned to the country last year from the United Kingdom, it was with a motive to turn Nigeria into a competitive knowledge base swelling with Information and Communication Technology (ICT). For him, that was the way to go if the nation's economic development is to be fast-tracked. And he had been witness to how that helped other thriving world economies such as those of India, Japan, China, UK, USA and Singapore.
To set Nigeria on the trail, Agboola floated Diakrino Training Nigeria Limited as an IT training and capacity-building enterprise. And his tool is a well-designed e-Learning concept that would offer Nigerians self-paced practical training sessions on ICT courses and other soft skill programmes via the Internet.
The initiative set out as a one-stop market-leading provider of learning content, study resources and delivery solutions for business skills and computer certifications. It sought to provide employees of small and medium-sized businesses, students and other individuals the opportunity to increase their job-related skills.
The online system also offers project-led training on career-based courses that lead to professional industry-recognised computer certifications in such fields as Business skill, Desktop computing, Networking and Database Development, MSCD and Wed development. After his e-learning initiatives were kick-started, Agboola said it has relatively been a success and that Nigerians have been very receptive of the idea.
"Diakrino Training has been brilliant. So far, about 4000 Nigerians have benefited from our e-training modules. We get mails from Nigerians thanking us for giving them the opportunities to learn IT at ridiculous rates. Each of our courses is being sold for about N2500 and we have over 500 IT courses available on Diakrinotraining.com.
"These are courses you could go online and study at your pace or download for a space of three months and study at home. Our online modules required to get certified as a Microsoft Certified Solutions Engineer (MCSE) would cost anyone only N40, 000 to complete all the stages.
We have some Nigerians who have already done this. In the United Kingdom, the same thing will cost anyone about GBP3000. But we are committed to making IT learning accessible to the Nigerian public", he said.
With some success being made of his first efforts already, Agboola is however not resting on his oars. Recently, he launched yet another e-learning initiative for students, which he said, "is targeted at helping to raise education standard in the country".
Simply called EasyJamb, Agboola presents a learning system that simulates the exam environment and afford students preparing for JAMB examinations an opportunity to truly assess their state of preparedness before the main act.
EasyJamb is an online portal where Nigerian students preparing for JAMB can practice at their pace or test their readiness for the examination. The way it works is such that JAMB questions have been put online and a learning system that picks up questions at random for students have been designed; depending on whatever subjects the candidate is taking.
"We have three levels of proficiency - the beginners', intermediate and expert levels. Each of these levels simulates a different examination environment. The beginners' level is relaxed. You have two minutes for each question. The intermediate is a bit tougher. It allows you 1.15 minutes. But the expert level assumes you are ready to take the examination tomorrow. It allows you 45 seconds per question. And if you do not finish with a question under the time allowed, the learning system moves you to the next question. You get scored immediately you finish the test, so the system allows you know how good your effort is.
The good thing about EasyJAMB is that no matter how many times one re-accesses; one is never presented with the same set of questions. For this reason, it is going to be very difficult to use the learning system effectively and diligently and then fail JAMB examination.
Agboola said he came up with the idea to help increase the standard of learning in Nigeria as well as to help raise the bar on educational standard to where it ought to be. This system equally serves as a mentoring system in the sense that after completing it, prospective student attempts the questions and is scored; the system could display all correct answers to the set of questions just attempted.
So one could actually print out the page and use it to study over and over again. This does not need you to wait for anyone to mark your scripts. It does it instantly. The system presents you JAMB questions from 1978 to 1995 in all the subjects.
The response since the launch of EasyJAMB, Agboola said has been brilliant and encouraging, adding, "though it could be better. There have been testimonies, most of which have been from parents who actually went to the banks to buy our access cards for their children. They have been quite excited at what we are offering their wards. The have also been positive responses from the students. For students, after going through your extra-mural classes, the best way to ascertain how ready you are is to go to EasyJamb.com and give yourself a test".
EasyJAMB access cards, which could be purchased at Zenith Bank, GTB, UBA and First Bank at the cost of N1000, allows one access to the learning system for six months to prepare for the UME examinations.
Agboola said the investment has been huge, first, in terms of personal effort, nothing that "to ensure this takes off on schedule it is seemingly unquantifiable. In terms of how much we have had to pay consultants who prepared solutions to the questions, to pay programmers who developed the learning system and to pay to bring this idea to the awareness of all, runs into several millions".
Alhough, the software engineer's expectation for returns on the initiative is high, he looks more at the future and not in the immediate. "In the next few years, the positive effect of this would have permeated through and EasyJamb would be a household thing", he said.
The fact that not many Nigerians presently own a personal computer to aid practice may pose a challenge to this laudable initiative, as a lot of people will still resort to commercial computer centres. Despite this seemingly constraint, Agboola is optimistic. "We do not see this much as a constraint. We all know IT is on the boom and people are catching the bug daily.
"I see the acquiring of computers and access to Internet improving massively in the next few months in Nigeria. I see it happening at such speed that those not prepared for it would be left behind. However, I see a lot of cyber cafes around where our youth just fritter away time chatting. These concepts we are introducing into the education market would get more Nigerians going to cyber cafes to learn and improve themselves rather than waste unproductive time", he noted.
Agboola, who is indeed eager to collaborate with JAMB on this, is so excited about the product and sees it improving the quality of candidates' performance in their examinations.
"I see every student that attempts the EasyJamb performing exceptionally well in the exams because there is no way you will be taken aback when the chips are down. What we have done is to simulate real examination environment and this is even more stringent than what you go through on the examination day. If you consistently do well at the expert level, you are sure to score well over the 300 mark in the examination", he noted.
Away from EasyJamb, Agboola said Diakrino Training also have softskill courses on how to manage ones staff, manage customer relation centre, how to speak publicly and so on, in addition to the IT specials on offer. "These softskill courses are up to about 50 different types. We also have accounting courses, free tutorials on literally all subjects on IT. These are all put up there to get Nigerians in a better position to take advantage of the digital age we are in."
He also shared the experience and impact his programmes have had on some beneficiaries since inception. "It has been mind-blowing. One of our earliest customers, a chartered accountant had a situation on his hands - the IT experts working in his IT firm were earning more. When he stumbled on this training programme, he got highly consumed and today the story is different. For me, it is like my dreams are coming through already and I see more people's earning power increasing because of the proficiency they will gain from our training. There have also been such testimonies from as far as Kano and Gombe. This is practically changing people's life.
Recently, the Federal Government was reported to have entered a deal with CISCO to train 20,000 Nigerians at a cost of about N1 billion in IT skills. Whereas, anyone can go to diakrinotraining.com and get easily trained with skills equivalent to what CISCO would offer at ridiculously cheap price of about N40, 000 for all the modules over time. This is about getting more Nigerians in tune with IT skills to improve their marketability and participation in the digital economy our nation is getting into with speed.
"At the moment, the subscriber base for telecom companies in Nigeria is about 38 million. Telecomm is about computing and IT Skills, nothing more. And if we are not careful, we are going to have South Africans and other foreign nationals coming into our country to take jobs Nigerians should be doing. We do not want that. So it is good that more Nigerians acquire IT skill, as it is capable of taking our economy to the crest.
"That is what took the UK economy to being the fourth in the world. It can also happen here. It would simply make Nigeria the preferred place for businesses requiring cheap and competent labour across the world. This is my ultimate goal and it is achievable", Agboola noted
Document AFNWS00020070425e34p000ee
This Day (Nigeria) - AAGM: Burden of Bringing IT to Rural Communities.
Mary Ekah

1,722 words

24 April 2007

This Day (Nigeria)

AIWTHD

English

The Financial Times Limited. Asia Africa Intelligence Wire. All material subject to copyright. This Day (Nigeria) (c) 2007 All rights reserved
When Kolawole Agboola returned to the country last year from the United Kingdom, it was with a motive to turn Nigeria into a competitive knowledge base swelling with Information and Communication Technology (ICT). For him, that was the way to go if the nation's economic development is to be fast-tracked. And he had been witness to how that helped other thriving world economies such as those of India, Japan, China, UK, USA and Singapore.
To set Nigeria on the trail, Agboola floated Diakrino Training Nigeria Limited as an IT training and capacity-building enterprise. And his tool is a well-designed e-Learning concept that would offer Nigerians self-paced practical training sessions on ICT courses and other soft skill programmes via the Internet.
The initiative set out as a one-stop market-leading provider of learning content, study resources and delivery solutions for business skills and computer certifications. It sought to provide employees of small and medium-sized businesses, students and other individuals the opportunity to increase their job-related skills.
The online system also offers project-led training on career-based courses that lead to professional industry-recognised computer certifications in such fields as Business skill, Desktop computing, Networking and Database Development, MSCD and Wed development. After his e-learning initiatives were kick-started, Agboola said it has relatively been a success and that Nigerians have been very receptive of the idea.
"Diakrino Training has been brilliant. So far, about 4000 Nigerians have benefited from our e-training modules. We get mails from Nigerians thanking us for giving them the opportunities to learn IT at ridiculous rates. Each of our courses is being sold for about N2500 and we have over 500 IT courses available on Diakrinotraining.com.
"These are courses you could go online and study at your pace or download for a space of three months and study at home. Our online modules required to get certified as a Microsoft Certified Solutions Engineer (MCSE) would cost anyone only N40, 000 to complete all the stages.
We have some Nigerians who have already done this. In the United Kingdom, the same thing will cost anyone about £3000. But we are committed to making IT learning accessible to the Nigerian public", he said.
With some success being made of his first efforts already, Agboola is however not resting on his oars. Recently, he launched yet another e-learning initiative for students, which he said, "is targeted at helping to raise education standard in the country".
Simply called EasyJamb, Agboola presents a learning system that simulates the exam environment and afford students preparing for JAMB examinations an opportunity to truly assess their state of preparedness before the main act.
EasyJamb is an online portal where Nigerian students preparing for JAMB can practice at their pace or test their readiness for the examination. The way it works is such that JAMB questions have been put online and a learning system that picks up questions at random for students have been designed; depending on whatever subjects the candidate is taking.
"We have three levels of proficiency - the beginners', intermediate and expert levels. Each of these levels simulates a different examination environment. The beginners' level is relaxed. You have two minutes for each question. The intermediate is a bit tougher. It allows you 1.15 minutes. But the expert level assumes you are ready to take the examination tomorrow. It allows you 45 seconds per question. And if you do not finish with a question under the time allowed, the learning system moves you to the next question. You get scored immediately you finish the test, so the system allows you know how good your effort is.
The good thing about EasyJAMB is that no matter how many times one re-accesses; one is never presented with the same set of questions. For this reason, it is going to be very difficult to use the learning system effectively and diligently and then fail JAMB examination.
Agboola said he came up with the idea to help increase the standard of learning in Nigeria as well as to help raise the bar on educational standard to where it ought to be. This system equally serves as a mentoring system in the sense that after completing it, prospective student attempts the questions and is scored; the system could display all correct answers to the set of questions just attempted.
So one could actually print out the page and use it to study over and over again. This does not need you to wait for anyone to mark your scripts. It does it instantly. The system presents you JAMB questions from 1978 to 1995 in all the subjects.
The response since the launch of EasyJAMB, Agboola said has been brilliant and encouraging, adding, "though it could be better. There have been testimonies, most of which have been from parents who actually went to the banks to buy our access cards for their children. They have been quite excited at what we are offering their wards. The have also been positive responses from the students. For students, after going through your extra-mural classes, the best way to ascertain how ready you are is to go to EasyJamb.com and give yourself a test".
EasyJAMB access cards, which could be purchased at Zenith Bank, GTB, UBA and First Bank at the cost of N1000, allows one access to the learning system for six months to prepare for the UME examinations.
Agboola said the investment has been huge, first, in terms of personal effort, nothing that "to ensure this takes off on schedule it is seemingly unquantifiable. In terms of how much we have had to pay consultants who prepared solutions to the questions, to pay programmers who developed the learning system and to pay to bring this idea to the awareness of all, runs into several millions".
Alhough, the software engineer's expectation for returns on the initiative is high, he looks more at the future and not in the immediate. "In the next few years, the positive effect of this would have permeated through and EasyJamb would be a household thing", he said.
The fact that not many Nigerians presently own a personal computer to aid practice may pose a challenge to this laudable initiative, as a lot of people will still resort to commercial computer centres. Despite this seemingly constraint, Agboola is optimistic. "We do not see this much as a constraint. We all know IT is on the boom and people are catching the bug daily.
"I see the acquiring of computers and access to Internet improving massively in the next few months in Nigeria. I see it happening at such speed that those not prepared for it would be left behind. However, I see a lot of cyber cafés around where our youth just fritter away time chatting. These concepts we are introducing into the education market would get more Nigerians going to cyber cafés to learn and improve themselves rather than waste unproductive time", he noted.
Agboola, who is indeed eager to collaborate with JAMB on this, is so excited about the product and sees it improving the quality of candidates' performance in their examinations.
"I see every student that attempts the EasyJamb performing exceptionally well in the exams because there is no way you will be taken aback when the chips are down. What we have done is to simulate real examination environment and this is even more stringent than what you go through on the examination day. If you consistently do well at the expert level, you are sure to score well over the 300 mark in the examination", he noted.
Away from EasyJamb, Agboola said Diakrino Training also have softskill courses on how to manage ones staff, manage customer relation centre, how to speak publicly and so on, in addition to the IT specials on offer. "These softskill courses are up to about 50 different types. We also have accounting courses, free tutorials on literally all subjects on IT. These are all put up there to get Nigerians in a better position to take advantage of the digital age we are in."
He also shared the experience and impact his programmes have had on some beneficiaries since inception. "It has been mind-blowing. One of our earliest customers, a chartered accountant had a situation on his hands - the IT experts working in his IT firm were earning more. When he stumbled on this training programme, he got highly consumed and today the story is different. For me, it is like my dreams are coming through already and I see more people's earning power increasing because of the proficiency they will gain from our training. There have also been such testimonies from as far as Kano and Gombe. This is practically changing people's life.
Recently, the Federal Government was reported to have entered a deal with CISCO to train 20,000 Nigerians at a cost of about N1 billion in IT skills. Whereas, anyone can go to diakrinotraining.com and get easily trained with skills equivalent to what CISCO would offer at ridiculously cheap price of about N40, 000 for all the modules over time. This is about getting more Nigerians in tune with IT skills to improve their marketability and participation in the digital economy our nation is getting into with speed.
"At the moment, the subscriber base for telecom companies in Nigeria is about 38 million. Telecomm is about computing and IT Skills, nothing more. And if we are not careful, we are going to have South Africans and other foreign nationals coming into our country to take jobs Nigerians should be doing. We do not want that. So it is good that more Nigerians acquire IT skill, as it is capable of taking our economy to the crest.
"That is what took the UK economy to being the fourth in the world. It can also happen here. It would simply make Nigeria the preferred place for businesses requiring cheap and competent labour across the world. This is my ultimate goal and it is achievable", Agboola noted
Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media. (allafrica.com)
FTDL55694155
Document AIWTHD0020070425e34o0004b

DJ Gunmen Attack Chinese-owned Oil Field In Ethiopia - Embassy
441 words

24 April 2007

07:23 AM

Dow Jones Commodities Service

OSTDJ

English

Copyright 2007, Comtex News Network. All Rights Reserved.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Apr 24, 2007 (DJCS via Comtex) --
Unidentified gunmen attacked a Chinese oil company's field in Ethiopia Tuesday, an embassy official said, injuring several workers.
A Chinese Embassy official in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, said the attack took place early Tuesday morning but had few details.
"We think there are people injured in the attack but we do not know the exact number. Chinese workers were injured," said Sun Qing, a political officer at the embassy. "The attack happened in a remote area, the situation is not clear and we are working to get more details," she told The AP.
"We expect the ministry of foreign affairs in China to make a statement in the next few hours. We are not authorized to talk from here."
Ethiopian government officials weren't immediately available for comment.
China has increased its presence in Africa in recent years - including in areas seen as politically unstable - in a hunt for oil and other natural resources to feed its rapidly growing economy.
The oil field is in Ethiopia's eastern state, bordering Somalia.
In December, Ethiopian troops crushed an Islamic movement that ruled the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and much of the south of the country. But it is now fighting an increasingly bloody insurgency. Militants have vowed to wage an Iraq-style insurgency against Ethiopia and the interim Somali government it backs.
So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
However, last year an Ethiopian rebel group issued a warning to companies that are looking to develop in the contested area of Ethiopia, saying any investment that benefits the Ethiopian government "will not be tolerated."
The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which wants an independent state in Ethiopia for ethnic Somalis and has been waging a low level insurgency against the Ethiopian government. It is also fighting against the Ethiopian forces inside Somalia.
Somalis lost a war in 1977 for control of Ethiopia's Ogaden region, which is largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis.