INTL Africa: Politics, Economics, Military- November 2021

[Plain Jane]

French forces face violent protests after crossing into Niger from Burkina Faso

A French military convoy heading to Mali on Saturday ran into more trouble in a town in Niger after being delayed for more than a week by protests in Burkina Faso, with the Nigerien government report…

www.france24.com

French forces face violent protests after crossing into Niger from Burkina Faso
Issued on: 27/11/2021 - 16:17Modified: 27/11/2021 - 21:38

A Burkinabe soldier walks past a French armoured personnel carrier, part of a French military convoy heading to Niger that was stopped by protesters in Kaya, Burkina Faso, on November 20, 2021. © Sam Mednick, AP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
2 min
A French military convoy heading to Mali on Saturday ran into more trouble in a town in Niger after being delayed for more than a week by protests in Burkina Faso, with the Nigerien government reporting two deaths and 18 wounded.

The supply convoy, which arrived in Africa in Ivory Coast last week, has crossed Burkina Faso and on Friday entered Niger on its way to central Mali.

It was heading for a base at Gao, central Mali, a hub of France's Barkhane operation which is shoring up allies in the Sahel against a jihadist insurgency that began in northern Mali nearly a decade ago.

But clashes reportedly broke out at Tera in western Niger on Saturday morning.

"The convoy of the French Barkhane force escorted by the national gendarmerie was blocked by very violent protesters in Tera in the Tillaberi region, where it had spent the night," the interior ministry said in a statement.

"In its attempt to break free, it used force," leading to "the deaths of two people and 18 wounded", including 11 seriously.

The town mayor had earlier announced that three people had been killed, but later said he had been mistaken.

French army spokesman Pascal Ianni told AFP that "no French soldier was wounded."
But "two civilian drivers in the convoy were hurt by stones and some civilian trucks were damaged."

"The convoy halted last night at Tera. This morning, when they wanted to continue the road to Niamey, they were stopped by 1,000 demonstrators and a violent group among them tried to take over the trucks," he said.

Warning shots
Niger gendarmes fired teargas to disperse the protesters, he added.

"Tensions soared again" in mid-morning and the gendarmes and French soldiers "fired warning shots", before the more than 100-vehicle convoy was able to move off, Ianni said.
He denied "false information" posted on social networks that the French army had killed dozens of civilians at Tera.

After entering Burkina Faso last week, the convoy was slowed by protesters at Bobo-Dioulasso, the country's second-largest city, and then in Ouagadougou, the capital.
On November 19, several thousand demonstrators blocked the convoy at Kaya, about 100 km north of Ouagadougou.

The following day, local sources said four people had suffered gunshot wounds in Kaya, in circumstances that remain unclear -- French and Burkinabe soldiers fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse demonstrators.

Protest organisers said they wanted to expose flaws in Burkina Faso's security accords with former colonial ruler France.

But rumours have also spread on social media -- which were recounted by protesters in Kaya -- claiming the convoy was in fact carrying weapons for the jihadists.

Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry dismissed the rumours on Wednesday and pointed to what he said was France's long history of help at times of crisis.

On Friday Niger President Mohamed Bazoum expressed his "gratitude" to France and applauded its "sacrifices" in the Sahel.
(AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Senegal calls on China to get involved in war-torn Sahel region

Senegal's Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall on Sunday said she hoped China would lend support in the fight against insecurity in the conflict-ridden Sahel region at the start of a China-Africa summit.

www.france24.com

Senegal calls on China to get involved in war-torn Sahel region
Issued on: 28/11/2021 - 22:02

Senegalese Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall leaves a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dakar, Senegal, November 20, 2021. © Andrew Harnik, AP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
1 min
Senegal's Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall on Sunday said she hoped China would lend support in the fight against insecurity in the conflict-ridden Sahel region at the start of a China-Africa summit.

Addressing reporters in the capital Dakar after meeting her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Sall said she hoped China would be a "strong voice" in combatting terrorism in the vast semi-arid region.

Islamist militants are active across much of the Sahel, south of the Sahara desert, waging a conflict that has continued for years despite the presence of French troops and United Nations peacekeepers.

Sall's statement came at the start of a China-Africa summit in Senegal, which is due to focus on trade matters as well as security. It ends on Tuesday.

The summit follows a visit this month from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to African nations Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal, against a backdrop of growing rivalry between Beijing and Washington.

China invests heavily in Africa, and is the continent's largest trading partner with direct trade worth over $200 billion in 2019, according to the Chinese embassy in Dakar.

DR Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are expected to attend the summit in Senegal.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is also due to make an address via videolink on Monday, according to organisers.
(AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Sudan says 6 soldiers killed in Ethiopia border fighting

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s armed forces said on Sunday that six of its forces were killed in fighting in the country’s border region with Ethiopia. It came a day after the military claimed that Ethiopian military and militia forces attacked the border area of al-Fashaqa, a disputed agricultural area...

apnews.com

Sudan says 6 soldiers killed in Ethiopia border fighting
November 28, 2021


CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s armed forces said on Sunday that six of its forces were killed in fighting in the country’s border region with Ethiopia.

It came a day after the military claimed that Ethiopian military and militia forces attacked the border area of al-Fashaqa, a disputed agricultural area that straddles the two countries. A report by Sudan’s state news agency on Saturday said that Sudanese forces had been in the area to protect farmers harvesting crops.

The fighting is the latest turbulence for Sudan, after generals deposed the country’s transitional civilian government in late October and arrested more than a hundred officials. Mass protests followed the coup, and the generals eventually reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok under military oversight amid international pressure. However many of the country’s pro-democratic forces continue to call for the military to release its grip on power.
Sudan had been struggling with its transition to a democratic government since the military overthrow of former autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019, following a mass uprising against three decades of his rule.


The decades-old dispute with Ethiopia centers on large swaths of farming land Sudan says are within its borders, according an agreement that demarcated the line between the two nations in the early 1900s. The two nations have held rounds of talks, most recently in Khartoum last December, to settle the disagreement, but haven’t made progress.

Matters escalated late last year after Sudan deployed troops to al-Fashaqa, driving out Ethiopian farmers and militias in the area. At least 84 Sudanese troops were killed in clashes with Ethiopian forces and militias from November of last year till August, according to the military.

Ethiopian officials have in the past accused Sudan of taking advantage of the conflict which erupted a year ago between the central government and the northern Tigray region. On Thursday they tightly restricted reporting on the country’s war.

Sudan has also seen tribal violence in recent days in its south, sparking fears of a return to all-out conflict there.

On Thursday, the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said that at least 43 people had been killed in inter-communal violence in Darfur and roughly 4,300 had fled their homes because of it.

Al-Bashir had waged a scorched-earth counterinsurgency in Darfur against ethnic minority rebels who blamed the government for economic and political marginalization. Government forces and primarily Arab militias known as janjaweed are accused of widespread atrocities in the conflict, which killed over 300,000 people and forced 2.7 million to flee.

In January, a resurgence in tribal violence killed 470 people in Darfur, in one of the worst episodes since the vicious war of the 2000s there.

Meanwhile, in Khartoum, the country’s recently reinstated prime minister announced on Saturday the replacements for top positions in the country’s police forces, according to Sudan’s state news agency. The firings came after security forces were blamed for the killing of at least 40 protesters since the coup last month.

 

[Plain Jane]

Who benefits from China-Africa relations? – DW – 11/30/2021

China is Africa's leading trading partner. It is also Africa's largest creditor. Experts say the relationship needs to be revamped for the benefit of the people. The ball lies in the African court, they add.

www.dw.com

Who benefits from China-Africa relations?
China is Africa's leading trading partner. It is also Africa's largest creditor. Experts say the relationship needs to be revamped for the benefit of the people. The ball lies in the African court, they add.




Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the summit in Dakar by video conference

China's donation of one billion doses of its Covid-19 vaccines to Africa was among the first things Chinese President Xi Jinping promised at the 8th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) in Dakar, Senegal, which started on Sunday and closes today. According to Xi, 400 million doses are to be produced in the continent.

While the announcement could be seen as part of China's efforts to burnish its image, author and researcher Helmut Asche said nothing could be gained from denigrating China's efforts. "Western donors are clearly falling short of what we should have done," Asche said, alluding to the unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and developing countries. "There are clear interests behind the Chinese side, but it also serves African purpose," Asche told DW.

China itself is increasingly angry at western criticism. Beijing's Foreign Ministry said the government was "amazed at recent comments by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian about an alleged African disappointment with the Chinese.

Valuable infrastructure
A spokesman of the ministry in Beijing cited a survey published in November 2021 by the pan-African institute Afrobarometer, which states 63% of Africans believe China has had a positive influence in their country.

"I see the influence of the Chinese," Bamidele Adekunle, adjunct professor at the Canadian University of Guelph, told DW. "When I was in Dar es Salaam, I saw lots of things done by the Chinese. And it has really transformed Dar es Salaam," said Adekunle.

Investments and credit lines extended to Africa in the last two decades have earned Beijing the accusation of practicing debt-trap diplomacy on the continent. The theory goes that Beijing is seeking to saddle nations with debt to increase its leverage over it.

The fallout of hidden debt
But analyst Asche scoffed at the notion. "I sincerely doubt that it is a conscious policy. China has no interest to see African countries caught in a trap," even if the Chinese strategy of swapping infrastructure projects for mineral resources known as the 'Angola-mode' has resulted in financial troubles for many African countries.

The problem lies in the lack of transparency. "Half of the Chinese debt contracted by African countries is so-called hidden debt. Hidden debt means that we do not know the exact terms of repayment, the state of repayment, and so on," scholar Asche pointed out.

In a recent study, the Johns Hopkins University's China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) found, for example, that Zambia's debt to the Chinese public and private lenders is $6.6 billion (€5.9 billion), almost double the amount disclosed by the previous government. The lack of transparency has opened China to criticism and suspicion.

The 'Angola-mode'
Chinese interests in Africa are focused on the acquisition of commodities. According to Chinese data, the country has turned into the continent's largest trading partner, with direct trade amounting to more than $200 billion in 2019.

The trade imbalance is enormous. African products represent around 4% of China's overall imports. However, Nigerian economist and consultant Tope Fasua does not place the blame on Beijing alone. "There isn't much for the Chinese to import from Africa beyond raw material and minerals," he told DW.


A Chinese firm is building a new standard rail line in Nigeria

The situation will not change as long as African leaders do not demand the transferal of technologies and know-how. It would pay to learn from China itself. "For example, the first fast rail train in China was done by European companies. But the Chinese negotiated for technology transfer," said researcher Adekunle. The second set was a collaboration between Chinese and European companies. But from then on, China was able to build with no help.

The need to eradicate corruption
That presupposes the will of African leaders to act and negotiate for the benefit of the people, said economist Fasua. He sees a new opportunity for the continent in the increased competition between the East and the West in Africa.

Expert Adekunle, who teaches at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, is cautious. First, corruption will need to be weeded out at all levels, transparency implemented, and processes harmonized and automated to eliminate middlemen. "That would reduce the danger of leaders taking bribes," he said.


China has pledged one billion COVID vaccines for Africa

According to a report released this week by the investigative team of the Washington-based The Sentry, to approve one deal aimed at improving living conditions for the poor, the inner circle of former Congolese President Joseph Kabila received $65 million in bribes from the Chinese.

The importance of regional integration
Africans could still "really benefit" from Sino-African relations, "but it is in no way automatic," warned researcher Asche. To increase leverage in negotiations with China, Africans have to reinforce regional integration, he explained.

While he acknowledged that some efforts had been made in this sense, including a start on a continental free trade area, "They are all free trade areas in the making and customs unions in the making. As long as that remains like that, reaping the benefits from a revamped cooperation with China will remain limited," Asche said.


Watch video03:28
Is China Africa’s new colonial power?
Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu