Africabeat

I was asked yesterday to comment on Chinese investment in Africa for Radio France International’s English news service (Broadcast #1, Broadcast #2).  This was in response to comments made on Saturday by Maxwell Mkwezalamba, Commissioner for Economic Affairs for the African Union at the summit currently underway in Kampala.

Reuters ran a sensational headline: ”AU says must replace Western partners with China.”

Here’s the far less controversial thing Mkwezalamba *actually* said (emphasis my own):

“We need to diversify our partners that we work with and hence for us, working with China is something that we have welcomed.”

He’s promoting an idea I first encountered several years back in Uganda, while talking to a government official who dismissed fears of China’s takeover of Africa as overblown.  He said Uganda had and would continue to engage with Western donors, but that China was increasingly giving Uganda the freedom to dictate their own terms.  So, for example, if the flavor of the month, whether it was fighting TB or promoting women’s microcredit or abstinence-only HIV/AIDS prevention, didn’t align with the government’s actual needs or interests, they’d have more room to say: actually, what we really need is funding for agricultural implements or to pay teachers’ salaries, or what have you.  He said what China was increasingly doing for Ugandans was giving them the ability to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Although on the one hand donor coordination is important to give aid policies some semblance of coherence, there are very few markets where monopolies lead to good outcomes.  Considering the West’s track record in ending poverty in Africa, I think Western donors could stand some competition.

I’m aware I often come off as a cheerleader when I should be a critic.  Don’t get me wrong, there are many things that are problematic about Chinese investment in Africa, but many of those same things are what is also wrong with Western investment.  China offers a few unprecedented opportunities that I think at least some countries, if leaders are savvy and the public holds them to account, will make work to their advantage.

Controversial Ugandan journalist (and TEDster), Andrew Mwenda has been arrested along with two other staffers at the Independent, where Mwenda is managing editor.

According to the newspaper spokesman quoted in the Reuters story, Bob Kasango, "We think the government is not happy with a story The Independence
published in a recent issue exposing atrocities committed by government
forces during the war."

From The Independent’s website:

In
a two-pronged operation, police and operatives from the Chieftaincy of
Military Intelligence (CMI), Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce (JATT) and
the Black Mamba squad raided The Independent again, exactly a month after the first raid.  
 

 

 

It is 9.30am on Saturday April 26 and The Independent’s
Managing Editor Andrew Mwenda is driving from his home along Golf
Course Road in Kololo for the Capital Gang programme on Capital FM
radio. As he climbs up Coral Crescent Rise towards Lower Kololo
Terrace, two suspicious cars come from in front of him, the front one
towards him at breakneck speed. Thinking that perhaps the driver had
lost control, he stops and tries to reverse when suddenly three other
cars appear from behind, one knocking his rear bumper.

Read more at the TED blog

(Thanks for alerting me to this, Juliana)

The post-election violence in Kenya is having devastating effects throughout East Africa as fuel shipments from Mombasa, the region’s largest port, ground to a halt. 

Enter the Ugandan army.

Joseph Karoki writes that Ugandan troops have entered Nyanza Province in Western Kenya to help secure safe passage of oil trucks bound for Kampala:

Last night I recieved news that there were reports of Ugandan militia
in or around Nyanza Province and Western Province. I waited utill I got
confirmation from the ground. After several late night phone calls, I
did confirm that Ugandan Forces were indeed within Kenyan borders. Just
within the last hour Ugandan Army Spokesman, Major Felix Kulayigye,
confirmed the deployment of the troops on Tuesday, saying “it is to
forestall possible spill over of violence in Kenya”…

…So if we do have Ugandan militia in Nyanza province, many of you might
ask why? Well, here is a simple answer. Uganda is a landlocked country
that relies heavily on the political stability of Kenya for imports and
exports through the Mombasa Port on the Indian Ocean and is dependent
on the the safe passage of goods through Kenya.The political
instability has had devastating effects on Uganda’s economy.  Uganda,
fuel prices have risen from USh2,400 (Sh100) to USh5,000 (Sh225). Most
oil importing companies have reported that they have not replenished
their stocks after their reservoirs dried up. So there is motive as to
why Uganda would get involved.

His Kenyan readers are not too happy.

The Monitor newspaper says Uganda was woefully unprepared:

[Energy Minister Daudi Migereko] had a hard time explaining to the media how the country
could suffer crippling scarcities almost immediately after the Kenyan
turmoil began, and why the nation’s reserves could not even last days.

Both the Monitor and New Vision report price gouging and long lines at the few stations in Kampala that haven’t run out of petrol.  The Ugandans are trying to redirect shipments through Dar-es-Salaam
(Tanzania), but are facing major logistical problems, i.e., ships to carry fuel across Lake Victoria.  Moreover,
because of the higher
transport costs associated with that route, importing via Dar would not normalize prices.

Continuing west, government officials say Rwanda, which (surprise surprise) still has several days of reserves, may be facing its own crisis unless it can start importing fuel again.

I can’t imagine what the situation must be like in Eastern Congo.

There’s been a lot of coverage of Western pressure on Kibaki (well, minus the Americans of course, who found in him a staunch "War on Terror" ally).  But I imagine that today, it’s Museveni and Kagame who are really giving him hell.

From an opinion piece from the Ugandan newspaper New Vision:

Due to Africa’s lack of understanding of the character and real
intentions of China, its relationship with the emerging Asian giant
remains largely unbalanced and unfavourable to the interests of the
African people

*  *  *

Uganda: African Governments Should Study Communist China

Dr. Kiggundu Amin Tamale
Kampala

MUCH
has been- written about China’s burgeoning global influence and
pervasiveness as well as its seemingly insatiable desire to establish
and maintain strong economic ties with several African countries. Some
top-notch analysts have also described Beijing as a new Mecca for
global trotting- cap in hand African leaders.

However,
before declaring China as a close and dependable friend, African
policymakers need to ask themselves one important and valid question,
that is, does Africa understand communist China well? If the answer is
no, then, Africans need to find a way of understanding this hitherto
insular emerging Asian economic giant.

Continue reading this piece on allAfrica.com

(I am kicking myself for missing this since I happen to be in Kampala now):

KAMPALA, June 29 (Reuters) – Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called on rich and middle-income nations on Friday to stop wasting Africa’s time with aid pledges and instead open their markets to African products.

Fair trade campaigners say rich nations such as the United States and European Union countries give aid with one hand whilst refusing to cut subsidies and tariffs with the other, making it impossible for poor countries to compete. "The Europeans waste a lot of our time coming here talking about aid," he said. "We told them: if you talk about aid, I go to sleep. What we need is market access — open your markets to our products." Billions of dollars of aid pumped into Africa in the past 30 years has sparked debate over whether money was wasted.

Museveni was speaking at a meeting on India-Africa trade in Kampala, hosting delegates from African countries and 30 Indian multinationals investing on the continent.

Read more at Reuters AlertNet

I tried putting it out of my mind for as long as possible. That what you’re supposed to do with birthdays, Christmas, and trips to Tanzania.  Otherwise, anticipation throws you into permanent reverie about all the wonderful and exciting things to come or, even more frightening, makes you suddenly erupt in fits of squeals and laughter when you think no one is looking.  Not that I would know from personal experience of course; this is just what I’ve heard from friends.  Living through either of these common side effects is not a particularly desirable way to spend your time if the party is, say, six months away.

So I tried putting it off for as long as possible.

But there comes a point when the you just can’t keep putting off the inevitable.

I’m going to Tanzania!!!!!!

Let me explain.

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Since my last post, "The facade of democracy slipping in Uganda," Museveni’s unraveling has continued. Kizza Besigye, a major political rival who was set to appear before the High Court on charges of treason and rape, has now been charged by Uganda’s military court. Even if the civilian High Court grants Besigye bail, he may still be held indefinitely on military charges.

In addition to banning pro-Besigye demonstrations in Kampala, the government has threatened to shut down any news organization discussing Besigye or the case before a decision is made.

Related news articles:

"Museveni rival in military court" BBC News
"Museveni defends rival’s arrest" BBC News
"Blair attacks arrest of Ugandan opposition leader" Mail & Guardian

Tags

Uganda, Museveni, Besigye, Africa, media, law, democracy

On Wednesday, Museveni announced a ban all public demonstrations in the capital, Kampala.

Supporters of Kizza Besigye, President Yoweri Museveni’s opponent in the 2001 presidential election, have been staging protests against Besigye’s recent arrest and imprisonment. After returning from four years in exile, Besigye was charged with treason and rape. If found guilty of treason, Besigye could face the death penalty.

The ban on demonstrations, as part of a larger pattern of tightening political controls, raises some serious questions about the future of democracy in Uganda.

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Just in case there was any doubt, Museveni has announced his intention to stand for reelection in March. Up until now, Museveni’s leadership has made Uganda one of the region’s success stories. His refusal to step down threatens to tear all that apart.

News articles:

"Uganda’s president to stand again" BBC News

Tags:

africa, politics, Uganda, Museveni, election

Upcoming elections in Liberia and Uganda show how fragile democracy in Africa can be.

The economist v. the footballer

When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
won Liberia’s first post-conflict presidential election I had two
reactions: One, hooray for an African nation for choosing capability
over celebrity, a World Bank Economist over a footballer, a woman over
a man. Two, how many European countries and countries where women enjoy
a lower social status than we apparently enjoy in the U.S. have to
elect women as heads of state before we can elect a non-Christian, let alone a woman, to the Presidency?

Her opponent, George Weah, continues to protest the election results (59%
to 41% in favor of Ms. Johnson Sirleaf – a 130,000 vote margin), even
though many prominent African heads of state and the international
community at large have declared the election free and
fair. Weah’s supporters refuse to be deterred and have continued to
protest in the streets of Monrovia as an election fraud inquiry begins.
So far they have not been able to provide evidence of
fraudulent votes numbering anything close to enough to narrow the gap between Weah and Johnson Sirleaf.

In well-institutionalized democracies, such a broad mandate would
likely silence any questioning about the election’s validity. Even when the
vote is much closer (as it was in the United States in 2000 and in
2004), there is a sense that if a loser contests the results, he is
crying over spilled milk. Losing parties quickly regroup so as to
maximize their influence as an opposition party and attempt to gain
ground in the next election.

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