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Oil & Gas New power generation

South Africa Tailor-made growth

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Nigeria Sanusi’s revival plan

N ° 81 • J u n e 2 016

Innovative Africa Leapfrogging the obstacles, a new wave of entrepreneurs is spurring growth

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OIL & GAS New power generation

South Africa Tailor-made growth

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contents

Nigeria Sanusi’s revival plan

N ° 81 • J U N E 2 016

The AfricA reporT # 81 - june 2016

Innovative Africa Leapfrogging the obstacles, a new wave of entrepreneurs is spurring growth

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

FREE with this issue: an invesTing supplement on côte d’ivoire. not to be sold separately

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

Business

4 Editorial Will the UN save us from hell?

62 south africa A tailor-made rebound The textile industry is bouncing back and creating jobs thanks to a combination of smart government intervention and entrepreneurial tenacity

6 lEttErs 8 thE QuEstion

Briefing 10 signposts

12 intErnational 14 pEoplE 16 obituary Papa Wemba 18 calEndar

68 tElEcoms Skype no more

20 opinion

frontLine 22 succEss! Innovative Africa In health, education, technology and more, the continent is leapfrogging barriers to compete on the world stage

78 nigEria Plugging the leaks 80 Egypt Pumped-up petroleum

cover crediTs: fAdeL sennA/Afp phoTo; foToLiA; sundAy AghAeze/Ap/sipA

36 mozambiQuE A tangled web of debt

46 uganda Besigye’s gamble

Art & Life

82 rolE modEls A dream deferred It’s never easy to change career midstream, but three Kenyan women explain how they made the decision to make the bold step and follow their dreams

46 libya Terms of engagement

86 music Fight the power

47 anansi

88 lifEstylE Twitter trends and Behind the Scenes with Lady Jaydee

country focus 49 camEroon Staying power At 83, President Paul Biya shows little sign of stepping down, but some younger voices are being heard the africa report

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73 hannibal

74 Gas fuels growth Mozambique and Tanzania have been hard hit by low gas prices but the new market conditions are driving investors to look closer to home for new customers and business opportunities

30 northErn nigEria Beginning to rebuild Making the regions ravaged by Boko Haram whole again

45 south africa The division of labour

72 financE Kenya banks: Breaking bad

dossiEr: oil & gas

poLitics

38 somalia Seeking stability in election season

70 lEadErs Vuyani Jarana, Chief officer, Enterprise Business Unit, Vodacom

89 travEl Grape goodness among the Western Cape vineyards 90 day in thE lifE Malian midwife Hadjaratou Traore

editorial

The AfricA reporT A Groupe Jeune Afrique publication

By Patrick Smith

57‑Bis, rue d’Auteuil – 75016 PAris – FrAnce tel: (33) 1 44 30 19 60 – FAx: (33) 1 44 30 19 30 www.theafricareport.com

Will the UN save us from hell?

t was Dag Hammarskjöld – the second secretary general of the UN, whose plane crashed on a mission to the Congo in 1961 – who set out what he thought was a realistic goal for the organisation: “The United Nations was not created to bring us to heaven but to save us from hell.” Not only is the UN, along with many other organisations, manifestly failing to save tens of thousands of people from hell on earth, but its own employees have been complicit in some appalling abuses… and are yet to face sanctions. Such failings will be centre stage as the UN prepares to choose its next secretary general to succeed Ban Ki-moon, who retires at the end of this year. An impressive field of candidates, dominated by women, has emerged. But, as before, the winner will be decided more by horse-trading than merit or performance criteria. Ban took office in 2006, just after the UN General Assembly had voted overwhelmingly to include a Responsibility to Protect in the organisation’s charter. The UN now had an obligation to protect civilian populations from attack. An early sign of this new commitment was a joint peacekeeping mission by the UN and the AU in Darfur. Today the mission is on the brink. Its South African contingent is pulling out because of a lack of cooperation from the Sudan government. Three years ago a whistleblower told how senior diplomats had helped cover up the involvement of pro-regime militias in massacres. To date, no action has been taken against them. In his valedictory comments in March printed in The New York Times, Anthony Banbury, a former assistant secretary gen-

Cha i r m a n a nd f o und e r Béchir Ben yAhMed P ub l i s he r dAnielle Ben yAhMed publisher@theafricareport.com e x e Cut i ve P ub l i s he r JérôMe MillAn

eral of the UN, refers to the chief of staff of a large peacekeeping mission who is widely seen as incompetent. But, like most senior UN officials, this chief of staff is impossible to sack unless found guilty of a serious crime. When a highly trained and well-equipped military and intelligence contingent led by France flew into eastern Congo in 2003, they shut down a clutch of venal militias within three months. But after this contingent left, their ill-prepared, poorly trained successors struggled and new militias surfaced to terrorise civilians again. The mesIf we want sage is twofold. If we want UN peacekeepers UN missions to succeed, they must to succeed, be highly trained and they must properly equipped. Secondly, ways must be highly be found to pay for trained them because effective peace-building saves and properly thousands of lives and equipped avoids the longer-term cost of states riven by crisis and insecurity. The proposed Tobin tax (0.25% of every foreign exchange transaction) could raise tens of billions of dollars. The costs of organising a credible international standby force would be around $2.5 billion a year, according to military experts. Meanwhile, the people of Central African Republic are paying the price for the UN deploying poorly trained soldiers with minimal accountability. UN peacekeepers have been found guilty of violating the people they were sent to protect, including raping and abusing young girls. By Hammarskjöld’s measure, the UN has failed and we should demand a remedy. ●

edit editorial@theafricareport.com the africa report

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m a r K e t i nG & d e ve l o P m e nt AlisOn KinGsley‑hAll e d i t o r i n Chi e f PAtricK sMith m a na G i nG e d i t o r nichOlAs nOrBrOOK editorial@theafricareport.com a s s i s ta nt e d i t o r chArlie hAMiltOn a s s o Ci at e e d i t o r MArshAll VAn VAlen bus i ne s s e d i t o r MArK AndersOn e d i t o r i a l a s s i s ta nt OheneBA AMA nti Osei re G io na l e d i t o r s crystAl OrdersOn (sOuthern AFricA) Billie AdwOA McternAn (GhAnA) s ub - e d i t o r AlisOn culliFOrd P r o o f r e a d i nG KAthleen GrAy a rt di r e Ct o r MArc trensOn desiGn VAlérie OliVier (leAd desiGner) JeAn‑PhiliPPe GAuthier christOPhe chAuVin (inFOGrAPhics) P r o d uCt i o n PhiliPPe MArtin christiAn KAsOnGO r e s e a r Ch sylVie FOurnier P ho t o G r a P hy PierAnGélique schOuler o nl i ne Prince OFOri‑AttA sales sAndrA drOuet tel: (33) 1 44 30 18 07 – Fax: (33) 1 45 20 09 67 sales@theafricareport.com cOntAct FOr suBscriPtiOn: webscribe ltd unit 8 the Old silk Mill Brook street, tring hertfordshire hP23 5eF united Kingdom tel: + 44 (0) 1442 820580 Fax: + 44 (0) 1442 827912 email: subs@webscribe.co.uk 1 year subscription (10 issues): All destinations: €39 ‑ $60 ‑ £35 tO Order Online: www.theafricareportstore.com dif C o m internAtiOnAl AdVertisinG And cOMMunicAtiOn AGency 57‑Bis, rue d’Auteuil 75016 PAris ‑ FrAnce tel: (33) 1 44 30 19‑60 – Fax: (33) 1 44 30 18 34 advertising@theafricareport.com a d ve rt i s i nG d i r e Ct o r nAthAlie Guillery with JeAnny chABOn re Gi o na l m a na G e r s iBiJOKe FABOrOde PAscAle lAlleMAnd cécile lOuedec Printer: sieP 77 ‑ FrAnce n° de cOMMissiOn PAritAire : 0720 i 86885 dépôt légal à parution / issn 1950‑4810 the AFricA rePOrt is published by GrOuPe Jeune AFrique

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who will criticise the moroccan state?

RepoRt

N°80

ey mon to tHe

AFRICA

A supplemeNt

Kenya EXCLUSIVE INTTERVIEW

• South Africa Inside the Zuma system • DRC The Kabila Konundrum

President Kenya atta

“We were rightt”

NEW

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w w w.t h eafri car ep or t. c om

s a human rights activist, I would like Who runs Nigeria? to commend the critical approach [writer] Tahar Ben Jelloun takes towards the deeply-rooted racism in Moroccan society and the total hypocrisy on the issue of prostitution THE POWER LIST [‘Sexuality is omnipresent in the Arab world’, TAR80 May 2016]. Unfortunately, he does not dare From backroom to front of house, the dealmakers and kingpins controlling Africa’s biggest economy to mention those who are really responsible – that is the Moroccan State itself – for the plight of the migrants in Morocco or the fate of countless prostitutes, whose social misery we would rather censor than talk about. Why not also criticise the violence carried out by police officers against refugees and prostitutes? When you are an established writer like Tahar Ben Jelloun, who writes in one of the propaganda papers, it’s maybe easier to criticise Arab society in general rather than those truly responsible Mohamed Khirani for implementing the regressive policies in our countries. MUHAMMADU BUHARI

LAMIDO SANUSI

KEMI ADEOSUN

TB JOSHUA

TUKUR YUSUF BURATAI

ADE AYEYEMI

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

NASIR AHMAD EL-RUFAI

IBRAHIM MAGU

ALIKO DANGOTE

AKINWUNMI AMBODE

WOLE SOYINKA

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

lessons from south korea The main reason that we need more focus on science and maths education in Africa rather than arts is because of trade imbalance [‘The Question’, TAR80 Apr 2016]. Many highly advanced countries like South Korea took off economically because of purposely focusing on technology advancement. The country embarked on an import substitution model, whereby they supported industries to locally manufacture goods they would otherwise import, both saving foreign currency and allowing them to earn it through the export of these goods. For Africa to take an economic

juncture. Beyond the necessary short-term macroeconomic adjustment, structural transformation is needed. The region needs policies that will increase the welfare of all citizens, encompassing public, private and civic forces at all levels, from local to national and even global. This can be done, and as falling commodity prices are hurting many economies, copperrich Chile and diamond-rich Botswana are showing how answers to such policy choices can increase resilience.

Amadou Sy Director and Senior Fellow, Africa Growth Initiative

green energy means wind power too

Your article [‘Green is the new deal’, TAR79 Apr 2016] rightly stresses that solar and geothermal power will roll over the African market in the coming years. But why is there not a single word about the rise of wind power on the continent? It is only a Matano WaChao question of time until large-scale wind farms spread over Africa. In Ghana, for instance, the financial close of the Ayitepa Wind Farm – the country’s commodity price fall first wind park, which will generate is an opportunity 225MW – is only a few steps away. Your Frontline ‘Growth: After the Once this large-scale wind farm crash, the fightback’ [TAR79 Apr 2016] is delivering electricity, other projects rightly recognises that the adverse will follow easily and Ghana as well effects of falling commodity prices as the whole sub-Saharan region should also be seen as a catalyst for will finally overcome dependence reforming African economies. Subon foreign, unrenewable fuel and gas. Marianne Böeller Saharan Africa has reached a critical

leap, science and maths must be prioritised as a matter of urgency. We need equivalents of technology and industrial multinationals, from Africa by Africans, to create jobs and prosperity for our people.

How to get your copy of tHe AfricA report On sale at your usual outlet. If you experience problems obtaining your copy, please contact your local distributor, as shown below. ethiopia: SHAMA PLC, Aisha Mohammed, +251 11 554 5290, aisham@shamaethiopia.com – ghana: TM HUDU ENTERPRISE, T. M. Hudu, +233 (0)209 007 620, +233 (0)247 584 290, tmhuduenterprise@gmail.com – kenya: NATION MEDIA GROUP, Antony Mutunga, +254 (0)20 328 8000, amutunga@ke.nationmedia.com – nigeria: NEWSSTAND AGENCIES LTD, Marketing manager, +234 (0) 702 7997 288, newsstand2008@gmail.com – sierra leone: RAI GERB ENTERPRISES, Mohammad Gerber, +232 (0)336 72 469, raigerbenterprise@ gmail.com – southern africa: RNA DISTRIBUTION, Butch Courtney, +27 (0)11 602 9800, butchc@mad.co.za • SUBSCRIPTIONS: RAMSAy MEDIA, Karin Mulder, +27 860 100 204, subs@ramsaymedia.co.za – tanZania: MWANANCHI COMMUNICATIONS, Emmanuel J Lyimo, +255 716 500 500, elyimo@tz.nationmedia.com – uganda: MONITOR PUBLICATIONS LTD, Micheal Kazinda, +256 (0)702 178 198, mkazinda@ug.nationmedia.com – united kingdom: COMAG, Mark Swan, +44 (0)1895 433791, Mark.Swan@comag. co.uk – united states & canada: LMPI, Sylvain Fournier, +1 514 355 5610, lmpi@lmpi.com – Zambia: BOOKWORLD LTD, Shivani Patel, +260 (0)211 230 606, bookworld@ For other regions go to www.theafricareport.com realtime.zm – Zimbabwe: PRINT MEDIA DISTRIBUTION, Ian Munn, +263 778 075 147, ianmunn@mweb.co.zw

ADVertiSerS’ iNDeX DANGOTE GROUP p 2; NECOTRANS p 5; ACCOR p 7; NESTLE CWA p 9; IE SINGAPORE p 13; SAHAM ANGOLA SEGUROS p 17; CHANNELS TV p 19; TAR SUBSCRIPTION p 35; REP. OF GABON p 41-44; OIL & GAS COUNCIL p 48; NANA BOUBA GROUP p 53-55; BIOPHARMA p 60-61; BENCH AHIF p 65; GPP AFRICA OIL WEEk p 65; EkO HOTELS p 67; DDP OUTDOOR p 77; GLOBAL MEDIA ALLIANCE p 77; MIX TELEMATICS p 79; TAR DIGITAL p 81; CNN EMEA p 91; STANDARD BANk p 92 the africa report

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the question To respond to this month’s Question, visit www.theafricareport.com. You can also find The Africa Report on Facebook and on Twitter @theafricareport. Comments, suggestions and queries can also be sent to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil, Paris 75016, France or editorial@theafricareport.com

your views:

The Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2016 edition of Attacks on the Press focuses on gender-based attacks on journalists, a problem compounded by fear of discrimination in the workplace if the victims speak out.

Do female African journalists get the respect they deserve?

Yes Liesl LouwVaudran Johan nesburgbased freelance journalist, Africa analyst

This is a tricky question to answer because the word ‘deserve’ is loaded with meaning. Do journalists in general get the respect they deserve? I don’t think so. But if we are comparing how male and female journalists are treated, I would say that from my personal perspective, women do get as much respect as men if they are professional journalists. In South Africa, women play a very important role in the journalism fraternity. Two of our most influential weeklies, the Mail & Guardian and the City Press, are run by women who are both very respected journalists. It certainly wasn’t easy for them to make it to the top and for many working mothers the long hours in the newsroom can be a big challenge. Students often ask me whether it is more difficult to work as a journalist if you are a woman, especially on assignment in foreign countries. My answer is usually the same: if you act professionally you shouldn’t have any problems. Male politicians or contacts might try to take their chances, especially if you are young and inexperienced, but you don’t need to compromise your own principles just to get a story. When on reporting trips, treat those you meet with respect and often people are more eager to speak out to a woman reporter. The same safety rules for covering conflict situations apply for both men and women. ●

No Hannane Ferdjani Journalist, Africanews

Unfortunately female journalists do not get the respect and recognition they deserve in the current framework of African and international media. As an African female journalist, I have found that hardship and career more often than not go hand in hand. The practice of journalism implies constant and consistent interaction with people – in some instances with high profiles or persons who are not easy to get access to. It is for instance, in my opinion, a bigger challenge for African women to approach certain types of interviewees and convince them to contribute to a report and have their voice and story told. Contributing to that phenomenon is the mere fact there are fewer female journalists than male – it is not a path that is encouraged. Often, preconceived notions of what a journalist should be exclude the African woman: parents will dread their daughters being in the field and suffering from difficult reporting conditions or the risks of covering wars and other types of crises. In Africa, the most famous and renowned journalists are men. We do not have our very own Christiane Amanpour yet. However, as journalism is shaken up by the internet era, new types of representatives of the job are finding their place, and that is also the case in Africa. I strongly believe that with social media and participative journalism, the gender inequalities are being reduced day by day. It is therefore the best time for an African female journalist to find her place and earn respect. ●

Countries like Chad and Ethiopia do not give journalists in general that respect, let alone female ones. From my personal experience, female journalists in Kenya & Uganda get the respect they deserve. Tusiime Mwebesa South Africa continues to be informed by some of the world’s best female reporters that grace international screens and tabloids! Thipapedi Rampou The fact that there are fewer female journalists than their male counterparts could be telling. Shouldn’t respect be earned on the quality of a journalist’s work rather than their gender? Of course there are a host of other factors that result in nonrecognition of female journalists such as nonconducive environments, but at the end of the day the quality of their work must speak for itself. MwnBelle In Ghana professional female African journalists are just as respected as the men. M Koby Kay It depends how you measure respect. Overall, they do get respect. But if we are measuring respect by the dollar, then no. Nyeusi Munguu

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signPosts

south sudan Internally displaced people who have fled their homes because of armed clashes wait patiently to register for aid in Wau, north-west South Sudan.

In conjunction with GeoPoll, The Africa Report asked 100 Kenyans across the country the question: Is the government winning the war against elephant poaching? Don’t know No Yes

68.6% 22.6%

8.6% GeoPoll is the world’s largest mobile surveying platform and sample provider in Africa, enabling companies and organisations to gather quick, accurate and in-depth insights. To conduct your own mobile survey using GeoPoll’s easy-to-use platform visit Research.GeoPoll.com.

cÔtE d’iVoiRE Every African country was represented at Abidjan’s Lumières d’Afrique exhibition.

tunisia The statue of Habib Bourguiba,

the country’s first president, was moved back from La Goulette on the outskirts of Tunis to the centre.

Politics

The stuck-fast presidents

ome things just never seem to change. That is what voters stuck in the groundhog day of endless presidencies in Chad, Djibouti and Equatorial Guinea may have felt as they saw their respective presidents – Idriss Déby, Ismaïl Guelleh and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – re-elected in April. This followed familiar scenes of opposition intimidation, electoral violence and unlikely margins of victory amid media blackouts. The first two leaders are a protected species by virtue of their governments’ contribution to the West’s – and now to China’s – preoccupation with the global war on terror. Chad actively participates

in efforts to suppress Islamist militants in the Sahel and hosts 3,000 French soldiers in the Barkhane base. Djibouti hosts a US base, from which drones patrol the skies over Yemen and the Horn, while Beijing is building a naval base that it says will contribute to regional security. Both Déby and Guelleh changed their constitutions to stay in power. Obiang meanwhile, who recently called for UN Security Council reform, alongside his friend, President Robert Mugabe, promises that he will not stay in power forever despite winning by a comfortable 99% of the vote on 24 April. Déby and Guelleh, too, have said the same thing before.

REligion Man and god A survey by Germany’s KonradAdenauer-Stiftung foundation found firm majorities for the separation of religion and politics in North Africa, with the strongest support in Tunisia and the weakest in Morocco.

72.8% Tunisia

chad’s idriss déby casts a predictable vote in april

54..8% Morrocco

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©ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP

briefing

SOUTH AFRICA Two lone members of the

Inkatha Freedom Party sit among deserted opposition benches during a 5 May boycott of parliament.

kENYA A woman was rescued

after six days trapped in rubble after a building collapsed in Nairobi.

ETHIOpIA Followers of the Orthodox Church

share a contemplative moment beside the extinct volcano crater of Lake Wenchi after celebrating Easter.

©ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN/AFP; ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP; MOHAMED HAMMI/SIPA; RODGER BOSCH/AFP; BEN CURTIS/AP/SIPA; JONATHAN FONTAINE/SIPA

“If the electoral commission

Ethiopia

Kenya

Mozambique

Rwanda

Tanzania

Nigeria

Kenyan oppositionist Raila Odinga has drawn a line in the sand over elections planned for 2017.

Zambia

is not properly reformed, there would definitely be no reason for us to participate in the coming electionss ”

MANUFACTURINg CATCHINg THE FOREIgN INvESTOR’S EYE

Ghana

Uganda

YOUTH DEMOgRApHIC DIvIDEND, OR DISASTER? The world’s top 10 countries with the youngest populations are in Africa. Building more schools and fostering an environment in which the economy produces jobs are especially big challenges in countries like Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which are among those with the highest population of young people.

Source: Set

Percentage of the population aged from 10 to 24 10% to 19% 20% to 29% 30% or more

A small group of sub-Saharan African countries is poised to attract investment in sectors that export onto world markets, according to Supporting Economic Transformation’s Manufacturing FDI Potential Index (the top nine countries are shown above). While there have been concerns that manufacturing has been falling since 1976 and the share of employment in the sector has dropped since 1992, there are bright spots. Kenya’s manufacturing exports have grown by an average of 9% per year from 2005 to 2014.

BANkS CONTINENTAl AMBITIONS The 10 youngest populations are all in Africa (median age, 2015)

Source: united nationS 2015 data the africa report

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Niger Uganda Chad Angola Mali Somalia Gambia Zambia DRC Burkina Faso

14.8 15.9 16 16.1 16.2 16.5 16.8 16.9 16.9 17

In early March, Nigeriabased United Bank of Africa announced its expanding ambitions to take on competitors from across the continent. Chairman Tony Elumelu said the bank will increase the number of countries in which it is active from 18 to 25, all the while devoting more funds to its operations in the East African Community.

briefing

InternatIonal 1

2 5 4 1

VenezUela

720%

The country’s predicted inflation rate for 2016 threatens to send the oil-dependent economy into a dangerous tailspin. More than one million people have signed a petition calling for a referendum to oust President Nicolás Maduro.

Iraq

Spoiling for a fight

©MuRAT TueReMiS/LAiF-ReA

Lawmakers dithering over proposals by prime minister Haider al-Abadi to replace ineffectual government ministers with technocrats and scrap the sectarian quota system were roused out of their wrangling when supporters of proreformist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the parliament building to stage a sit-in in May. Some political apparatchiks are reluctant to abandon the current system, which guarantees them power and patronage benefits, but oppositionists are becoming increasingly vocal in their frustration at governmental corruption and a lack of progress on security, economic growth and reconstruction.

tUrkey/eU

A great divide

Tensions around cooperation deals between Turkey and the European Union (EU) reached new heights in May. Ankara and Brussels are due to implement an agreement they signed in 2013 to provide Turks with visa-free entry into EU signatories of the Schengen Agreement. However, the deal calls on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to implement a series of reforms in areas such as terrorism and judicial cooperation. Even though his government signed the 2013 deal, Erdoğan’s response in May to European pressure to change terrorism laws that activists say are used to repress journalists and civil society was: “Since when are you running this country?” The bust-up over visa liberalisation also risks hurting other areas of cooperation. Turkey and the EU signed an additional agreement to reduce the flow of Syrian migrants this March. If Turkey accepts returned migrants whose asylum claims are rejected in Europe, it will get €3bn ($3.4bn) and Europe will speed up its visa review and make a decision by the end of June. Both sides have until then to find a compromise. Countries like Niger, which have also asked for EU money to fight migration, are watching to see the impact on their chances.

UnIted StateS

Trumped!

Property mogul and former reality television star Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican candidate for the presidential elections due on 8 November after rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out in May. Trump’s sensationalist campaigning strategy has divided the Republican establishment but gained the support of the party’s grassroots. His popularity has continued to surge across the country, with a presidential poll carried out by Reuters and Ipsos reporting that he is neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton, who is leading in the Democratic party’s primaries.

©YoNATAN SiNdeL/FLASH-90-ReA

ISrael

“In the

past, we saw European leaders speaking against the Jews. Now, we see them speaking against Israel ” Justice minister Ayelet Shaked equates criticising the government with criticising the Jewish people.

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spotlight

emir Muhammadu Sanusi ii As central bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was feted for his attacks on corruption. Now emir of Kano, he has lost none of his zeal for change ElEvation to thE EmiratE of Kano does not much constrain the forthright Sanusi lamido Sanusi. on 2 may, he packed out the auditorium at the Paris headquarters of Le Monde, one of the world’s leading liberal newspapers. resplendent in flowing white robes and turban, Sanusi spelled out his remedies for the deepening conflict in the Sahel. as leader of the tijaniyya branch of nigeria’s Sufi muslim community, Sanusi is now the second-mostimportant islamic leader in nigeria

after the Sultan of Sokoto, who heads the Qadiriyya branch. many nigerians of all faiths cheered in June 2014 when Sanusi was chosen to become the traditional ruler of the country’s second-biggest city. Six months earlier, Sanusi had clashed with former President Goodluck Jonathan after asking awkward questions about missing oil money. Economic failure, not a fight about faith, is at the heart of the Sahel’s crisis, Sanusi told the audience in Paris. “For me, the priority is

to bring the water back to the lake and to revive agriculture,” he said, pointing to the shrinking of lake Chad by 90% over the past four decades. Bordering Cameroon, Chad, niger and nigeria, the lake Chad basin had supported fisheries and livestock, providing tens of millions of people with fresh water. now its dwindling expanse is a measure of regional decline. “three hundred years ago, this was one of the world’s great trade routes. […] We have to rethink the Sahel,” argued Sanusi. he called for a plan to revive trade between West and north africa. Consolidating security and rebuilding economies as soldiers push back against Boko haram will require both coordination and innovation, said Sanusi: “maiduguri [the main target of the Boko haram insurgents] and all of the Sahara have immense potential for solar energy. one only needs to see what morocco has done.” rebirth of a governor 31 July 1961 Born in Kano 1985 First merchant banking job, with Icon Limited June 2009 Appointed as Central Bank Governor 20 feb. 2014 Suspended as CBG by President Jonathan after exposing $20bn oil ministry fraud

©AfolAbi Sotunde/ReuteRS

8 June 2014 Crowned Emir of Kano, having succeeded his great-uncle

“This election was a robbery that started on the eve of the polls with the soldiers’ vote ” Chadian opposition leader Saleh Kebzabo criticised the re-election of Idriss Déby as president on 10 April.

“Backtracking means a mistake was made ” The notoriously opaque Egyptian interior ministry inadvertently revealed its inner workings when it accidentally sent members of the press a list of guidelines for dealing with… journalists. The guidelines banned all coverage of the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni. the africa report

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Good times

©SIPA

ali MufuRuki The founder of Infotech Investment Group and chair of the CEO Roundtable of Tanzania was appointed to a British government panel in April to investigate the efficiency of the country’s aid in Africa.

The Mauritanian author won this year’s Prix Kourouma at the Geneva book fair in May for his novel Le Tambour des Larmes, which examines the cost of love against the backdrop of life in the modern Sahara.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said his rival Riek Machar’s arrival on 26 April signalled their willingness to work together. •

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“His return to Juba today marks the end of the war and the return of peace ” the africa report

Julius MaleMa After telling President Zuma to step down or “those soldiers are going to turn their guns against you”, EFF party leader Julius Malema received a water gun as a gift from an ANC colleague and a treason charge.

©ROGER ASKEw/REX ShUTTER/SIPA; ©SEYLLOU/AFP; ©KALPESh LAThIGRA FOR JA

Patrick Smith in Paris

Riyad MahRez Capping Leicester City’s Premier League victory, Algerian forward Riyad Mahrez was named the Professional Footballers’ Association Players’ Player of the Year and the club’s player of the season in May.

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Sanusi, who was targeted by the insurgents in December 2014, when a group of fighters attacked the emir’s palace and killed more than 100 people in Kano, says there is no Islamic basis for Boko Haram’s declarations. But he warns of the dangers of fundamentalism: “For me, Wahhabism and Salafism have a certain intolerance in common with groups such as Boko Haram. […] Islam in Africa has its own schools of thought, its ancient empires and its own history. And we have no need for Saudi Arabia and Iran to explain Islam to us.” Sanusi’s personal bridge-building between Islamic theology and the financial world continues after his appointment in June 2015 as chairman of Black Rhino, an affiliate of the US-based Blackstone private equity company. His condition for taking the appointment, he says, was that at least part of Black Rhino’s $5bn investment fund would be used for bankable projects in Kano. When asked what role a traditional ruler has in politics, Sanusi briefly struck a diplomatic pose: “to counsel and to advise”. But after a discreet pause, he held forth on Nigeria’s economic policy: “The government must adjust the exchange rate because, whether we like it or not, the naira has been devalued on the parallel market.” The naira’s fall is due to crashing oil prices, but President Muhammadu Buhari’s government will gain little from following an anti-devaluation strategy, Sanusi told The Africa Report: “Sooner or later, I think we will have to change our policy because we cannot eat our cake and have it. ”We hear that the government’s economic team has already received a few policy missives from the emir’s palace. ●

The leader of the Gambian opposition PDP was detained and charged with incitement by President Yahya Jammeh’s regime. Earlier, Jammeh’s security officers tortured Solo Sandeng, the UDP’s youth leader, to death.

MOïse katuMbi The former ally of President Kabila announced his candidacy for the DRC presidency on 5 May. Over 25 of Katumbi’s allies have been arrested and a pro-regime TV channel claims he has hired mercenaries to organise a coup.

Bad times

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people

Obituary Papa Wemba (Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba) 14 June 1949 - 23 April 2016 – and his politics, as subtle as they were, went beyond his music. Back in 1970, when Mobutu banned the wearing of European clothes, Papa Wemba and his friends responded defiantly by dressing up in elegant, colourful and designer clothes to challenge the status quo. Sapologie was born; and S.A.P.E, a French acronym for ‘the society of atmosphere-setters and elegant people’ became a cult-like social movement for which he will long be remembered. free spirit

©STR/AFP

Rumba ambassador with the angelic voice

Popular singer Papa Wemba woke the world up to the urban sounds of Kinshasa and spawned the flamboyant dress style known as ‘la sape’

he story of Papa Wemba’s journey to superstardom reads like something from a work of fiction. One afternoon, the story goes, he went to visit a friend in Kasa-Vubu, where D.V. Moanda’s band, Belgid, was rehearsing. A Catholic choir singer, Wemba told the band how much he loved singing and begged for a chance to sing. When he’d finished his a cappella, D.V. Moanda decided there and then to disband Belgid and create a new band. Zaïko Langa Langa was born and Papa Wemba – then 20 years old and training to become a journalist – was its first recruit. After Zaiko and a short stint at Isifi Lokole, Yoka Lokole and L’African Jazz, he created his own band, Viva la Musica, andwentontologastringofNo.1hitslike ‘ShowMetheWay’, ‘FaFaFa’, ‘Okoningana’, ‘Maria Valencia’, ‘Yolele’, ‘Image’, ‘Latin Lovers’, ‘SheChante’, ‘Phrase’, ‘AwaY’okeyi’ and ‘AinsiSoit-il’, whichconqueredAfrica, popularised Congolese music in Europe

Like Fela Kuti in Nigeria, in the 1970s Wemba declared a section of Kinshasa in the borough of Matonge an independent state. He named it Village Molokai, declared himself the Village Chief and appointed both a supreme court and a government. Papa Wemba courted controversy and drew some opposition. In 2003, he spent more than three months in a jail in Belgium where the authorities accused him of smuggling people into Europe. And for the past 10 years he was prevented from performing in Europe or North America because of his close ties with Joseph Kabila – a boycott that applies to all artists supporting the dictatorial Kabila regime in Kinshasa. When news of his tragically premature death came, my 18-year-old sister Laura broke down in her room. It felt painfully personal; like a dear family member had died. And this is what made Papa Wemba special. We grew up with him. I danced to him before I

and transformed him from stardom to superstardom. At one point in 1987 he had a No. 1 album, single and film simultaneously. His trademark high vocal range, ability to craft international hits and his effortless fusion of traditional rhythm with funk, poetry and rock won him fame and made him an enduring figure in African music. ‘Rail On’ is perhaps my I danced to him before I knew personal favourite of his his name... with the same classics. It opens with a soft ballad of guitar and drums joie de vivre as my dad had that sounds more like a prayer. After 11 seconds of slow-building knew his name was Papa Wemba; betension, he cries in a tender, angelic tenor fore I knew his style of music was called voice the most poetic Swahili words, rumba; before I knew he was a global icon, before I knew about S.A.P.E. – and which capture exactly the sorrow of his passing: Machozi yangu yote namalizika I did so with the same joie de vivre my dad had danced to him as an adolescent / Mie nitalala na nani / We unaenda, ‘I have run out of tears crying now that you in the bars and nightclubs of Kinshasa have gone’. I have listened to it a lot lately. 30 years earlier. My greatest regret is Elsewhere in his catalogue were that we did not honour him when he songs that addressed political matters was still with us. ● Vava Tampa the africa report

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calendar

NOLLYWOOD WEEK PARIS 2-5 June PARIS | FRANCE For the fourth year running, Nigerian cinema fans in France get their fix on the big screen at Cinéma l’Arlequin. nollywoodweek.com

CAREERS IN AFRICA RECRUITMENT SUMMIT 3-4 June

PARIS | FRANCE careersinafrica.com

WEST AFRICA COM 8-9 June DAKAR | SENEGAL Francophone and anglophone stakeholders gather to discuss the region’s digital and ICT economy. westafrica.comworldseries.com

WIND ENERGY UPDATE SOUTH AFRICA 8-9 June CAPE TOWN | SOUTH AFRICA Developments and openings in a fast-growing sector. windenergyupdate.com

NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL 30 June – 10 July GRAHAMSTOWN | SOUTH AFRICA The small university city of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape is the home of this arts festival with a proud tradition of anti-apartheid protest theatre. Today it is a celebration of theatre, dance, the visual arts and music with an almost overwhelming choice of events. Highlights include Shakexperience/Nobulali Productions’ all-woman Animal Farm (pictured), Standard Bank prize-winning jazz trombonist Siya Makuzeni, and OoMaSiSulu, a theatre piece about the life of the activist Albertina nationalartsfestival.co.za Sisulu from the biography by Elinor Sisulu.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD 16 June GLOBAL africanchildinfo.net

AFRICA’S BIG SEVEN & SAITEX 19-21 June

INNOVATION PRIZE FOR AFRICA 22-23 June GABORONE | BOTSWANA Malaria testing, solar energy and educational solutions are among the innovations competing for $150,000 in prize money. innovationprizeforafrica.org

ZAMBIA INTERNATIONAL MINING & ENERGY CONFERENCE 23-24 June LUSAKA | ZAMBIA zimeczambia.com

AFRICA RAIL 28-29 June JO’BURG | SOUTH AFRICA terrapinn.com

NAIROBI | KENYA expogr.com/kenyaenergy

JOHANNESBURG | SOUTH AFRICA Two mega expos in one location: the continent’s largest food and beverage industry trade show and its largest trade show for retail products and technologies. exhibitionsafrica.com M

NIGERIA OIL & GAS 13-16 June

OIL & GAS COUNCIL AFRICA ASSEMBLY 20-21 June

AVIATION OUTLOOK AFRICA 28-29 June

ABUJA | NIGERIA cwcnog.com

LONDON | UK oilandgascouncil.com

JO’BURG | SOUTH AFRICA terrapinn.com

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POWER & ENERGY AFRICA 10-12 June

AFRICA ENERGY FORUM 22-24 June LONDON | UK Global investment meeting bringing public sector and solution providers together. africa-energy-forum.com

AFRICA PORTS & HARBOURS SHOW 28-29 June JO’BURG | SOUTH AFRICA terrapinn.com

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opinion

G George Turner Dire ector, Finance Uncovered, United Kingdom

Tax avoidance: how it works and how to stop it

he Panama Papers have put the spotlight on tax avoidance once again. This is, of course, not a new issue. Before that, we had Swiss Leaks and BVI Leaks. You may be asking: how does tax avoidance work and why have policymakers struggled to rein it in? Firstly, it is important to understand that tax avoidance by multinational companies is different from tax avoidance by individuals. If an individual opens up a secret bank account or places his or her money under the control of an anonymous company, it is most likely to hide money. If this is tax-related, it is more likely to be ‘evasion’, than ‘avoidance’ (the first is illegal, the second not), but there are other reasons for hiding money too. It could be that the person is a politician and wants to keep the source of his or her money secret. The person could be looking to hide his money from his wife or mistress or a creditor. None of these reasons are normally legitimate, but people don’t normally hide money for legitimate reasons. These were the kinds of issues at the heart of the Panama Papers leak, and the solution to secrecy is simple: transparency. Shortly after the publication of the Panama Papers, we saw a new attempt by world leaders to put pressure on secrecy jurisdictions to open up – something that came to a head at Britain’s Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May. But tax avoidance by multinationals is different. Multinational companies are not single corporate entities. A multinational can be comprised of hundreds of companies scattered around the world. These companies trade with each other, moving money around different parts of the company. There is, of course, no problem with this in itself. However, at some point, accountants realised that they could take advantage of company trading to move money from subsidiaries in high-tax jurisdictions to low-tax jurisdictions. Instead of companies trading with one another on the basis of supply and demand, transactions are created in order to gain a tax advantage. It is indeed one of the paradoxes of the tax-avoidance debate that whilst so many defenders of tax havens see themselves

as upholding the principles of a free market, tax avoidance at its heart is a market abuse. A good example of how this works was discovered by Finance Uncovered’s investigation into MTN, Africa’s largest cellphone service provider. In that 2015 investigation, Finance Uncovered discovered that a number of profitable operating companies within the MTN group in Uganda, Nigeria and

A wealthy client wishing to remain anonymous…

…seeks the advice of a bank, an asset manager or a law ﬁrm…

This offshore company creates other companies, either in a domino or a fan formation, in ﬁnancial centres with zero or low taxation. These companies (trusts, foundations) receive funds to be concealed.

©illUstration by christophe chaUvin

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Ghana were paying an annual ‘management fee’ to an MTN company in Mauritius. MTN did not employ any staff at its Mauritius subsidiary, and so it was difficult to understand what management the companies were receiving in return. MTN claimed that these transactions were not tax-driven, but the Ugandan authorities disagreed. Right at the centre of many tax-avoidance cases is an economic fiction. Services being paid for are often illusory, concocted simply to move money to tax havens. In order to combat this, tax authorities have adopted what is called the arm’s length principle. Transactions are supposed to be discounted if they are not market transactions – in other words if they are not transactions that two independent companies would enter into. If such an artificial transaction is found, the government authorities add the money back into the taxable profits of the local subsidiary. This sounds good in principle but is extremely complicated in practice. Finance and intangible assets are the most difficult to deal with. If one subsidiary loans money to another subsidiary, what is the interest rate that should to be applied? If it is too high, it can lead to profits being shifted artificially. To detect

…who directs him to a law ﬁrm (such as Mossack Fonseca) specialised in setting up offshore companies in Panama, Mauritius, Luxembourg, the Channel Islands, the British or US Virgin Islands…

Powers of attorney allow the client to manage his assets.

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that kind of tax avoidance, a detailed understanding of the firm and all of its transactions is required. The problems this causes for poorly resourced revenue authorities should be obvious. The solution is to adopt a completely different way of taxing companies. An alternative to the arm’s length principle is the unitary approach. Instead of treating a multinational as a hundred different companies – and attempt the impossible of unpicking all of its transactions – the unitary approach looks at a multinational

Services being paid for are often illusory, concocted to move money to tax havens as one corporation. The approach then apportions the company’s profit to each country based on the amount of economic activity that takes place there. Unitary taxation is already law in some states of the United States. It does have its problems – for example, working out the right formula can be controversial – but it has the benefit of being a much simpler system that cuts out all the shell companies used to move money around the world. That is perhaps bad news for accountants but good news for all of us. ●

The ﬁrm sets up an offshore company with nominee directors (management, board of directors) and a postal address.

To divert attention and further deepen opacity, these companies are dissolved from time to time and the funds transferred to new entities.

frontline

Innovative African innovation combines smart, economical responses with bold high-tech solutions. From solar power and containing epidemics to the world’s fastest-growing film industry, here are a few of the latest successes By Mark Anderson, Charlie Hamilton, Oheneba Ama Nti Osei and Patrick Smith

he revolution may not be televised, but it will certainly be on a smartphone near you. Some 70% of Africa’s cellphones are predicted to be internet-connected by 2020. Innovations stretch from the depths of the earth, harnessing geothermal power, to 50,000ft, where unpiloted aircraft can circle the skies broadcasting internet signals to inaccessible regions. Approvals can go through quickly because governments are often reluctant to impose regulatory hurdles on new technology. Because landlines were few in Africa, there were not many established competitors trying to block cellphones. Governments saw cellphone licences as a marvellous new revenue stream.

Africa’s cellphone revolution has been a catalyst for innovation. Engineers enthuse about ‘cellphone’ or ‘off-grid’ solutions for power and water shortages as well as ways to boost delivery of education and health services. And it can really be called Africa’s cellphone revolution because many of the ideas and technologies developed on the continent have now radiated around the globe. Systems to make payments via cellphones were speedily authorised by Kenya’s central bank once the technology was developed. Alongside the ingenuity of the coders, it was the market demand of millions of people without bank accounts that encouraged the innovation. Rwanda and Nigeria adopted the technology long before Western The AFricA reporT

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Africa economies could agree on protocols for systems such as Apple Pay. Now, across Africa, mobile-money accounts are being used to collect life insurancepremiumsandpensioncontributions. Out on farms, many coffee and cocoa growers can pay for fertiliser and seeds by cellphone and get meteorological predictions and planting advice. In some villages where schools were poor or non-existent, children can now follow courses via solar-powered screens. As the roller coaster of commodity prices dips, and debts and deficits grow, some of this talk about innovation and success can seem a little surreal. Yet activists, businesspeople and officials in Africa insist the need for innovation has never been stronger. Their views the africa report

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are formed by the search for solutions to harsh realities on Africa’s turf: power and water shortages, upgrading education and health services and fighting the ravages of climate change. Many of the successes described in the following pages are targeted at tackling such crises. African engineers and entrepreneurs are coming up with innovative ideas using a mix of solar power, cellphones and information technology. These offer both a shortterm fix and the prospect of leapfrogging established science in rich countries. African scientists often have to navigate two distinct worlds. As global business leaders enthuse about the implications of the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ and its aim to spur ever-closer collusion

between the industrial, digital and biological worlds, several African economies are dealing with the implications of the first three revolutions: steam, electricity and information technology. In their closely researched analysis of technological pioneers in the book Innovation Africa, Olugbenga Adesida and Geci Karuri-Sebina neatly describe the tensions pulling at African scientists and engineers: “Africa today is home to inventors and entrepreneurs, highend and low-end technological innovation, tinkerers and dreamers. Barely adequate social services, poor infrastructure, low agricultural productivity, preventable diseases and limited sanitation also characterise the continent […] but these are precisely the everyday challenges that these inventors, tinkerers and dreamers are seeking to resolve.” The next step, Adesida and KaruriSebina argue, will have to come from governments and businesses to improve funding and facilities for the inventors and pioneers. But now with state cutbacks across the board, that could prove as elusive as some of the promised technological breakthroughs. ●

©FADEL SENNA/AFP PHOTO;FOTOLiA

©PAuL LANGROCK/ZENIT-LAIF-REA

A solar parabolic trough gets a quick brush and shine at Ain Beni Mathar in Morocco

green revolution

Harnessing earth, wind and fire

nly one in four Africans have access to electricity according to World Bankestimations,makingtheenergy shortfall one of the most critical barriers to continental development. However, Africa is increasingly switching on to the potential of its renewable power sources such as solar, geothermal and hydroelectric energy generation, exemplified by projects such as the colossal Noor solar array in Morocco’s south. The $9bn plant on 450ha – the largest solar project in the world – went live in February and, when fully operational by around 2018, will provide around 1.1 million people with power. The project is only part of Morocco’s planned push into renewables, which targets some 2GW of capacity generated by solar and a further 2GW from wind turbines by 2020. Meanwhile, Kenya’s Olkaria geothermal power plants have been expanded with an additional 280MW of capacity added in 2015. Work is continuing on the 400MW Menengai Geothermal Development Phase 1 Project in Nakuru, backed by African Development Bank financing. The country is also on track for the Lake Turkana wind farm to go online in October. When completed, the 40,000 acre site will be Africa’s largest wind farm, and the $690m facility will generate an additional 310MW for the national grid. South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement programme has also won international plaudits since its launch in 2011, marshalling more than $15bn in investment expected to boost capacity by 6.3GW. ●

Ethiopia Power from power

Environment Clean and green

Ethiopia stands out for determination to achieve its energy goals. When the World Bank declined to provide loans for the Gibe III dam, Ethiopia secured the finance from China. Its appeal to the diaspora and citizens at home to contribute funds for the colossal 6GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), due to go live in 2017, enabled the project to go ahead without external funding. The country’s focus on power generation has enabled it to tap into the lucrative energy export market, earning $123m selling electricity to neighbouring Djibouti and Sudan in the first eight months of the 2015/2016 fiscal year.

Morocco’s high-profile overhaul of the rundown Nador district and Marchica Lagoon on the country’s Mediterranean coast won praise from international environmental and conservation groups. Launched in 2008 by King Mohammed VI, the $104m scheme saw the cleaning and dredging of the 1,000ha saltwater lake plus the development of the coastline region around it. Meanwhile, the Great Green Wall project to build a 15km-deep corridor of trees from West to East Africa to combat desertification holds the potential to make a marked impact in one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change.

Percentage of electricity in Kenya that was generated by geothermal means in 2015, up from 19% the previous year.

8.9

The price of electricity in South Africa in US cents per kilowatt hour – the cheapest in Africa and 15th cheapest in global rankings, according to a 2015 ranking by World Atlas.

$35

Price of a M-Kopa Solar starter pack. The company has received $50m in venture capital ﬁnance backing and has electriﬁed 300,000 low-income homes across East Africa.

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health

The fightback against HIV/AIDS

Ebola Contact tracers When Ebola was detected in Lagos in July 2014, epidemiologists held their breath. The courageous actions of teams throughout West Africa helped contain Ebola’s spread – particularly the one led by Liberian doctor Jerry Brown. But had the virus taken hold in Africa’s economic powerhouse, analysts feared it could have cost 10 times the 11,300 lives it claimed. Instead, the medical community and government mobilised to stop it in its tracks, redeploying doctors from an anti-polio campaign and calling on the state security apparatus to help with a comprehensive contact-tracing programme.

retroviral drugs to HIV suffers free of charge. In 2001, some 320,000 people – or one in four – had HIV, leading then President Festus Mogae to take decisive action and warn that Botswana “faced extinction” if the threat was not tackled. The following year, the government launched the Masa programme (meaning new dawn in Setswana) providing free antiretroviral treatments for people living in the country’s urban centres of Gaborone, Francistown, Maun and Serowe. The programme was expanded nationally in 2004, and by the end of 2013 was providing treatment for 224,000 people – around 87% of those eligible for treatment. The number of AIDS-related deaths in the country has dropped by almost three-quarters, from 21,000 in 2002 to 5,800 in 2013. By 2012, the programme was costing $347m per annum, with almost 70% paid for from government coffers and the rest coming from international donors, but the cost is likely to rise as newer, more expensive treatments are employed to combat drug resistance. ●

Liberia’s tragedy made Nigeria mobilise to stop Ebola’s spread

©DANIEL BEREHULAK/The New York Times-REDUX-REA

he fragility of some of Africa’s healthcare infrastructure was laid bare during the 2014/2015 Ebola outbreak (see below), but the continent has made some striking achievements through effective targeting of limited resources. One of the key fronts has been the continent’s battle against HIV/AIDS, where an estimated 24.7 million people were living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2013 – some 71% of the world’s total cases, according to UNAIDS. Since the start of the new millennium, there has been a huge uptick in efforts to combat both the spread of the disease and in the roll-out of retroviral treatments to prolong the lives of those infected. According to think tank the Brookings Institution, up to 25 million people have been saved since 2000 thanks to the new push to combat the disease. While South Africa’s 2011 campaign to radically boost the number of people tested for HIV has contributed to this number, the most striking single achievement has been the Botswana government’s nationwide campaign to offer anti-

Vaccination Jabs for all

Malaria Fever for none

The 2010 mass vaccination programme across Africa’s meningitis belt proved to be one of the continent’s greatest health achievements. The ambitious plan saw some 220 million people vaccinated across 16 countries. Incidences of the bacterial infection, which affects the brain and spinal cord, dropped from thousands to zero. The MenAfriVac jab effectively wiped out meningitis A in the region and prevented new outbreaks. In 1996 and 1997, some 250,000 people fell ill and 25,000 died of the infection. But health officials warn that unless the inoculation programme is made routine for children, the disease risks returning.

The tiny country of Swaziland saw a 99% drop in malaria cases from 2000 to 2014 and is set to become the first mainland sub-Saharan African country to completely eradicate the disease by the end of 2017 following the roll-out of a high-tech programme involving pre-emptive testing and real-time incidence mapping. Malaria, which killed some 438,000 people in 2015 according to the World Health Organisation, has already been wiped out in Mauritius and the Seychelles, and is being beaten back in Algeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, Comoros and South Africa, which could all be free of the disease by the end of the decade.

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frontline | innovative africa

technology

Big leaps from the platform: mobile money and Ushahidi

enya’s mobile-money transfer platform M-Pesa and crowdsourcing platform Ushahidi are two technology innovations that have put the East African country on the global technology map. When M-Pesa was launched by Vodafone through its Safaricom operations in 2007, little did anyone suspect that nearly a decade later it would have transformed the banking system in Africa. Today, customers use M-Pesa to send and receive money, make payments and withdraw cash from authorised agents. Limited access to banking services coupled with the proliferation of cell phones has enabled the service to grow exponentially. It had more than 25 million active users in March, up from 17 million in 2013. M-Pesa’s success has pushed other telecom providers to launch similar mobile-money platforms.

Airtel Money, MTN Mobile Money, Tigo Cash and Glo Xchange are just a few of these. M-Pesa is currently available in nine African countries and has operations in India, Afghanistan, Romania and Albania. In 2015, Vodafone Group and MTN Group inked a deal to allow MTN’s customers to use the service, thereby giving M-Pesa access to more than 19 African countries. More than simply a mobile telephone payment system, the innovation’s colossal reach has drawn millions of people into the mainstream financial sector, providing them with a platform to access a host of related spin-off services such as micro insurance, lending and savings schemes. Kenya’s Ushahidi, on the other hand, pioneered crowdsourcing technology to map emergencies, starting with the violence following the 2007 Kenyan

Kenya’s M-Pesa is a model that has been copied worldwide

elections. Kenyans across the country used mobile phones to share information and contribute eyewitness reports about events through texts to an Ushahidi crowdmap. Since then, Ushahidi has transcended Kenya’s borders and has been used around the world for crisis mapping. In 2010, following the earthquake in Haiti, volunteers translated text messages from Creole to help search-and-rescue teams find survivors. The 2009 Gaza war,

Partnerships give chances to more students

Augusta UwamanzuNna, who got into all eight US Ivy Leagues

©Simon Leigh for the Guardian

education

t was Donald Kaberuka, former president of the African Development Bank, who told The Africa Report: “Nothing stops the transmission of poverty from one generation to another better than high-quality education.” The rapid expansion of specialised colleges, with their capacity both to train teachers and to equip students for work in the IT sector and professions, has vastly improved the educational landscape in Africa. After massive funding cuts to state universities and colleges in the 1980s and 1990s, a new generation of schools have been established as publicprivate partnerships.

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©Sven Torfinn/PANOS-REA

the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, and the 2011 Nigerian election are just some of the events that have benefited from the crowdsourcing platform. The creators of Ushahidi went on to create iHub in 2010, a co-working space for the technology community in Nairobi. In 2016, it raised $3m for its BRCK device: the innovative self-powered mobile Wi-Fi router enables users to get online without electricity and in areas of limited internet connection. ●

A great example of one of these institutions is Ashesi University College in Ghana, founded in 1999 by Patrick Awuah. Ashesi was born out of two core ideas: to develop a liberal arts college with courses in science and the humanities for all students; and secondly, to teach science and engineering of direct relevance for companies in Africa. Having worked as a top engineer at Microsoft, Awuah wanted Ashesi to be grounded in African culture and tradition but for its students to compete in global markets. Ashesi means ‘beginning’ in Twi. Awuah sees it as such,bothforthestudents and for a new wave of topclass tertiary institutions in Africa. His fundraisers have established scholar the africa report

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Kibuye, on the eastern shores of Lake Kivu in Rwanda, will house the world’s first droneport. The project is due for completion by 2020 and will host cargo drones that can deliver 10kg of medical supplies at a time to almost half of the country’s remote areas. Drones capable of carrying 100kg are planned to follow by 2025. This is just one of the advances transforming the landlocked country into a regional information technology hub.

Medicine A text that save lives With an estimated 2,000 people dying from fake drugs every day across the globe, in 2007 Ghanaian Bright Simons launched mPedigree, a mobile telephony shortcode platform, to spearhead the fight against the counterfeit drug trade. The platform connects phones to a registry that enables consumers to verify the authenticity of products. mPedigree now operates in 12 countries – 10 in Africa as well as in India and Pakistan.

ships from some of the biggest companies in the world, including the MasterCard Foundation. Offering scholarships to students from some of the country’s poorest families was a priority at Ashesi from the start. That same imperative drove Mamokgethi Setati, vice principal for research andinnovation attheUniversity of South Africa and the country’s first black female to obtain a doctorate inmathematicseducation. Setati went to secondary school in Hebron village, and then went to university at the same time as her mother – a former domesticworker–begancollege education. In2004,Setatilaunched the ‘Adopt a learner’ programme to promote mathematics and science. •

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With strong support from new graduate students and local businesses, ‘Adopt a learner’ provides finance and mentoring to underprivileged students. In Nairobi, the African Leadership Centre, with its postgraduate courses on peace, security and development, is a strong example of pan-African and international intellectual cooperation. Its leading light is Funmi Olonisakin, a Nigerian specialist on conflict resolution, who brought in King’s College London and the University of Nairobi as partners for the centre. Its student intake spans Africa, reinforcing its aim to build a corpus of knowledge, networks and practical experience that can be used more effectively to address conflicts. ●

©CCTV Africa

Drones High in the sky

Innovators The younger, the better Little did 10-year-old Panashe Jere know that winning the Smart Kid Category of the TNM Smart Challenge Competition in Malawi for his Talk to Me app was going to propel him to stardom. Jere’s app converts input text into voice so children can always have someone to talk to. He was invited to the Facebook F8 Conference in April, where he met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg praised Jere in a post, saying: “This guy started coding earlier than I did.”

Teaching Proof is in the learning It was the 100% pass rates for all final-year students at Ponelopele Oracle Secondary School, which has students from some of the toughest backgrounds, that won South African teacher Shape Msiza international celebrity. Determination, discipline and relentless attention to the students will always produce the best results, Msiza insists.

Students Opening doors Getting into one of the eight Ivy League universities in the US is a substantial achievement; getting into all eight is extremely rare. This year Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna, the daughter of a Nigerian couple, joined the illustrious ranks of Kwasi Enin (Ghana, 2014); Munira Khalif (Somalia, 2015); and Victor Agbafe (Nigeria, 2015), as diaspora Africans with very proud parents!

frontline | innovative africa

employment

The green shoots of farm jobs

K Gaborone continues to shine up local skills

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

on’t say it too loud: government can run some businesses well, as long as it is done at arm’s length. Ethiopian Airlines posted $148m in profit last year, eclipsing the combined $100m that all other public and private African carriers reported. The company is a rare success story in the African aviation industry, which has been hit by lower tourist arrivals and the commodities crunch. Ethiopian’s main rivals – Kenya Airways and South African Airways – have been hit by management crises and huge losses. “The growth rate in the industry is very low – the average could be less than 5% – but we have been growing 20% to 25% annually compound, in revenue and fleet [size],” Tewolde Gebremariam, the airline’s chief executive officer, told reporters. Ethiopian benefits from both cheap financing and managerial independence from the government, allowing it to keep down labour costs and increase productivity. The airline’s 15-year expansion strategy is ahead of schedule thanks to rising profits and passengers. Ethiopian is set to grow further when the government breaks ground on a $4bn project to build a new airport in Addis Ababa that will have the capacity to handle up to 120m passengers a year. ●

Media Taking on Netflix South African company Naspers, a media group that offers entertainment and internet services in more than 130 countries, is Africa’s largest company by market value. Its internet segment posted 30% organic growth in the six

months to October last year. Naspers ranked fourth in the Boston Consulting Group’s prestigious Value Creators rankings, the only African company to be listed. It has launched a subscription video-streaming service, taking on US giant Netflix.

enya’s large agricultural workforce and its vast fertile lands have helped the country in producing horticultural products such as flowers and vegetables for export. More than 30% of the fresh cut flowers sold in Europe come from Kenya. Beans and peas that are sent to Europe make up about 80% of the country’s horticulture trade. Horticultural production increased by 8% last year, reaching 238.7m tonnes and bringing in $1.3bn. Agricultural success reverberates far across the country: the sector accounts for about three out of every four jobs in Kenya and about 20% of its gross domestic product. The sector is providing much-needed ballast for the national accounts, too. Kenya’s current-account deficit is shrinking faster than previously thought, thanks in part to solid growth in tea and horticulture exports, according to Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge. And it’s not just in Kenya: higher value agriculture such as cashew nuts in Benin, Gambia, and Guinea is taking off. “Half of Benin’s cashew crop has now been sold”, says Arancha González who heads the International Trade Centre. “This means livelihoods for thousands of smallholder farmers.” In Côte d’Ivoire, where the cashew trade is better established, they are starting to intensively farm the nut, rather than just put new lands under cultivation, leading to more cash in the pocket for farmers. ●

©Abdelhak SENNA/REA

©MONIRUL BHUIYAN/afp

Auto-focus Nuts and bolts of wealth Industrial revolutionaries look no further. Morocco’s automotive parts industry has generated upwards of 90,000 jobs and is likely to create another 100,000 by 2020. The country’s light vehicle production is projected to rise from 43,000 in 2010 to nearly 330,000 in 2020. This is helped by a €1.6bn ($1.8bn) processing plant automaker Renault built in the port city of Tangier in 2012. The plant is the largest in Africa with a capacity to produce 340,000 cars every year. The govenrment has also convinced Peugeot to set up shop. What is more they have insisted on improved local content: the engine block will be ‘made in Morocco’, which is no mean feat. the africa report

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Low-budget doesn’t necessarily mean bad movie

culture

Soaraway success on a shoestring budgets – movies average between $30,000 and $75,000 – low production values and fast turnaround times, with many films shot and edited in under a month. This is compared to Hollywood, where films can easily cost $250m and take more than a year to produce. However, as the commercial revenues have grown, so has the appetite for more polished,bigger-budgetofferings,spawning a new genre of film dubbed New Nollywood, which seeks to distance itself from the traditional Nollywood output. Movie piracy remains a threat, with the World Bank estimating that for every copy of a Nollywood film sold, nine bootlegged versions are traded. With limited distribution options for Africans in the diaspora, British-born

Talent Acting exports Ever since her breakthrough performance in the blockbuster historical drama 12 Years a Slave, Kenyan-born actress Lupita Nyong’o has remained a permanent feature in the Hollywood firmament. The star recently earned a Tony award nomination (Best Actress in a Leading Role category) for her performance in Eclipsed, the first Broadway play to feature an all-female black cast and creative team. The Oscar-winning actress is also set to star in and produce an adaptation of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s acclaimed novel Americanah, selected as one of the 10 best books of the year by the New York Times Book Review. Meanwhile Idris Elba also made headlines with his 2015 Netflix movie Beasts of No Nation, starring Ghanaian teen actor Abraham Attah. For his first feature film debut, Attah won the Marcello Mastroianni Best Young Actor Award at the 2015 Venice Film Festival and has since landed a new role in American film director Shane Carruth’s third film, The Modern Ocean. the africa report

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Literature Wise words

Nigerian entrepreneur and co-founder of distributor iROKO, Jason Njoku, launched iROKOtv, an online platform that provides paid-for Nigerian films on-demand in 2010. Today, it has grown to become the world’s largest online distributor of African content and Africa’s largest internet TV operator. To cater to the growing popularity of Nollywood outside Anglophone Africa, Njoku signed a multi-million-euro deal with leading French pay-TV provider Canal+ earlier this year to distribute Nollywood hits in French via an app. As of 2015, a 12-member Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC) has been put in place to submit Nollywood entries for the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the Oscars. ●

©David Levenson/Getty Images

t’s the kind of success story you only see in films: a nascent industry founded in the 1980s has blossomed into a sophisticated multi-million-dollar empire employing more than a million people and contributing around 5% to Nigeria’s economy. Now larger than Hollywood, Nollywood is second only to India’s gigantic Bollywood film industry, in terms of the volume of films made per annum. The industry generates an estimated $600m in revenue annually and produces around 2,000 films a year. The appetite for indigenous stories made on a shoestring budget and retailing for only a few dollars each has proved a hugely successful combination. Despite the vast revenues earned, the industry is renowned for its small

African literature continues to make a powerful impact on the world stage, through both established authors such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and newcomers such as 27-year-old Somali-British poet Warsan Shire, who was named the UK’s inaugural Young Poet Laureate in 2013 for her powerful work chronicling home, womanhood and life as an immigrant. Sweden has distributed Adichie’s essay We Should All be Feminists to every 16-year-old in the country, while American singer Beyoncé has incorporated literature by both writers in her music, ensuring an even wider audience for their words.

©GLENNA GORDON/The New York Times-REDUX-REA

politics

A man holds a cow at the cattle market in Maiduguri; thousands of farmers were displaced by the insurgency

Northern Nigeria

Beginning to

rebuild The reconstruction needs for regions affected by Boko Haram are huge. The government and donors are beginning to mobilise funds, but improving security, relaunching economies and fostering justice and reconciliation are proving challenging

By Rosie Collyer in Maiduguri and Yola

©Afolabi Sotunde/reuters

f you want to drive to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State and the birthplace of the Islamist Boko Haram militia, only two of the entry roads are regarded as safe. That is, they are passable without a military escort. One of them is the main road that our group takes from Damaturu in neighbouring Yobe State. But we travel together – cars and lorries – in a speeding convoy, hoping to deter ambushes from any Boko Haram fighters lying in wait. As we speed towards Maiduguri, there are signs that people are restarting their lives in the towns and villages along the way. The faithful heed the call to Friday

prayers in Mainok, the site of a horrific Boko Haram attack in March 2014. Fighters arrived at the mosque there with guns blazing. Some wore suicide vests, and at least 74 people were killed – some as they were praying. Today, local vigilantes, in well-worn black uniforms, stand guard as the faithful kneel for prayer in the town’s mosques. Mainok, as well as the neighbouring town of Beni Sheik, bears the scars of the Boko Haram attacks. There are rows of shops without roofs that had their stocks looted long ago. Alongside them are burnt-out houses that were targeted by the militia’s heavy weapons.

politics

Maiduguri’s history as a regional tradThese days, workers are busy on rebuildingeffortsinMainokandBeniSheik. ing hub – and as the target of periodic Some of them are financed by the Vicattacks from invaders – goes back 11 tims Support Fund, an Abuja-based civic centuries. Now, Maiduguri is coming groupthathaspersuadedbusinesspeople alive again after five years in a war zone. such as cement magnate Aliko Dangote As Boko Haram fighters attacked towns to deliver N24bn ($120m) of the N54bn and villages in Borno State, people fled they promised a year ago. to Maiduguri, more than doubling the city’s population. Other attempts to turn the region’s prospects are taking off. Officials and The southern shores of Lake Chad, community activists held a workshop in whichisonBorno’snorthernborder,have AbujainApriltodiscussthegovernment’s been largely abandoned. Baga used to have a thriving fish market. It was burned four-year recovery plan for the northeast. Meanwhile, a joint assessment by down in January 2015 along with most the federal government, the European other buildings in the town when more Union (EU) and the World Bank in April than 2,000 people were killed in one of reckoned it would take about $9bn to reBoko Haram’s deadliest assaults. build areas of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Babagana Abubakar, director of the Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states. Kanuri Development Association, exMost of the government money is yet to arrive. The Farms and smallholdings World Bank too promised remain abandoned as another $800m but it has not satplanting season goes by isfied expectations on the ground. “We have been explains the impact of the violence: “Those pecting the government to implement who could, fled. Very few have returned a kind of Marshall Plan for the affected states, but so far nothing has happened,” because of a lack of security and besays Bishop Stephen Mamza in Yola, the cause there are no funds available to capital of Adamawa State. help people rebuild.” About 50 fish traders who tried to Bishop Mamza is speaking at St Theresa’s Catholic Cathedral in Yola, return in August 2015 either had their which hosts a camp for displaced people, throats slit during an ambush by Boko many coming from northern Adamawa Haram or drowned in Lake Chad while and southern Borno states. Some of the trying to escape. people do not want to return, either because their homes have been destroyed Reported fatalities at the end or because Boko Haram insurgents are lurking in the surrounding countryside. private funds stalled

Later that day, there is another disappointment. Paul Ibe, spokesman for Aliyu Abubakar, one of Yola’s richest men, announces that a meeting in Abuja to launch the North-East Development Commission has been cancelled. At the beginning of the year, President Muhammadu Buhari had asked retired General Theophilus Danjuma to chair the organisation and raise private funds to rebuild the region. Abubakar and Dangote quickly joined up. The commission’s inauguration was postponed because law-makers were yet to pass a bill needed to establish the body. Back in Borno State, our speeding convoy eventually reaches Maiduguri safely. Our biggest problems in getting there are the chronic fuel shortages and ever-more-insistent officials demanding bribes on the outskirts of the city.

SOKOTO

Impressed by the generosity of people opening their homes to friends and family running from the conflict, Toby Lanzer, the United Nations humanitarian co-ordinator for the Sahel, tweeted: “Europe has a lot to learn from the people of Maiduguri.” He was comparing northern Nigeria’s response with Europe’s attitudetowar refugeesfrom LibyaandSyria. enduring threat

After five years of military attacks, with some 28,000 lives lost and 2.8 million people chased from their homes in the Lake Chad Basin, Boko Haram is in retreat. Under fire from Nigeria’s reorganised military, the rebels launch far fewer attacks, but often now with suicide bombers on soft targets such as marketplaces. Boko Haram is by no means defeated.Withitslooselyfederatedstructure – described as a “network of networks” by the experts at the Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group – it still threatenspeopleacrosstheregionwithits sporadic attacks and forcible recruiting. Most of those fleeing the fighting were farmers, whose crops were the mainstay of Borno State’s economy. Their farms and smallholdings remain abandoned as yet another planting season goes by. Having been a regional breadbasket selling wheat, sorghum and maize to neighbouring Chad and Niger, Borno State has become a begging bowl that

of 2015 NIGER

CHAD

YOBE

KATSINA

Damaturu

ZAMFARA

BORNO

BAUCHI

Maidaguri

KADUNA NIGER

ADAMAWA

PLATEAU KWARA

NASARAWA

CAMEROON

KOGI BENUE

<1 500 1,000 1,600

TARABA

Battle: Government regains territory Battle: No change of territory Battle: Non-state actor overtakes territory Remote violence Riots/Protests 200 km Violence against civilians the africa report

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source: acled

©Benedicte KURZEN/NOOR-REA

is reliant on donations from local and far more militant leader of Boko Haram. international organisations. On numerous occasions, the military As farmers wait to return to their fields, claimed to have killed Shekau, arguing a fleet of 2,000 tractors bought by Borno that the group uses body doubles in propagandavideos.Whateverthetruth,Boko State government in October 2015 is parked at Maiduguri’s Farm Centre. The Haram’s propaganda has been much distate government has sent a few young minished since the end of 2015. men from the countryside to learn how farm machinery works. Borno State govderadicalisation ernor Kashim Shettima has promised to A video released on 24 March featured supply them with combine harvesters on Shekau, but experts say it was doctored. their return. However, there is much work A follow-up video featured a group of to do first, says Babagana Abubakar: “The young fighters claiming that Shekau was alive and well but failing to produce roads and bridges need fixing first […] in many of the areas that would benefit any supporting evidence. At the same from mechanised farming.” time, other senior figures in the group Farmers have little choice for now but have been captured in recent months, to stay in the relative safety of the city. During a two-day Hundreds of Boko Haram visit to Maiduguri in March, suspects languish in prisons former president and military leader Olusegun Obasacross the region anjo said that conditions in the city were improving. “A rising morsuch as its chief bomb-maker and a ale within the military and the current maker of its propaganda films. Hundreds of Boko Haram suspects languish leadership of this country is the reason in prisons across the region. “Lawyers for this return to normalcy,” he argued. It was Obasanjo’s third visit to the city are rarely willing to represent them,” since the insurgency began in 2009. In explains Ferdinand Ikwang, an archiOctober 2009, shortly after Boko Haram’s tect of a government deradicalisation former leader Mohammed Yusuf died programme being piloted at a prison in police custody, Obasanjo went to the in northern Nigeria. The hope had been to put thousands of city to ask Yusuf’s relatives to appeal to suspected Boko Haram fighters through the group’s surviving members to lay down their arms, but that did not work. the programme. The EU hoped so too, Abubakar Shekau emerged as a new and and built an education block and a the africa report

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Students at the American University in Yola are working to forestall religious division

mosque inside the prison where the programme is being tested. Forty-three inmates signed up initially, but numbers are dwindling because the programme is being starved of national funds. Those 30 or so remaining appear to have benefited immensely so far. “I had nothing to do with women [female guards] before I signed up to this course, or other inmates. I was very insular. Now I realise that interacting with all kinds of people is good for me,” says a Boko Haram suspect speaking in Hausa through an interpreter. The government’s ‘Operation Safe Corridor’, launched in March, offers the chance to defectors to surrender and be granted amnesty. Security officials suggest that some Boko Haram fighters were surrendering out of starvation as the military’s economic blockade started to bite. On the University of Maiduguri campus, students stroll around, seemingly confident that the security crisis is under control. Years back, some disgruntled students left to follow radical preachers and ended up joining Boko Haram. Now, the campus is impeccably kept and its facilities are better than those of universities in peaceful areas. Enrolment is up this academic year and the vice chancellor, Ibrahim Njodi, predicts further expansion of stu- ● ● ●

politics

interview

Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi Shehu of Borno

They will never divide us TAR: Both Muslims and Christians in Borno have suffered from the Boko Haram insurgency. What is being done to ensure that it does not divide people along religious lines? It will never divide our different communities because for a long time we [Muslims] have been living peacefully with the Christian community. In Borno, there is no segregation based on religious, tribal or cultural differences. We all live together. That is why Borno is named ‘Home of Peace’. Right now, in my palace, we have members of the Christian community, Muslim community […]. Among the district heads, we have Christians and Muslims. Even in my traditional council, there is a man who was president of the Nigerian Labour Congress who is a Christian and a traditional title holder. There will not be any divisions because when this [insurgency] started, we were living together.

security agencies and the government. The way I understand it is that the government suggested negotiations in the first place. So let [Shekau] come out openly in front of the government and share his desire that he is willing to surrender and to enter peace talks. What should be done to restore the palaces and historic buildings damaged by insurgents? Surely the government has to do something. Here in Borno several of our palaces were destroyed by Boko Haram. The palace at Bama was destroyed. If you go to Baga, the palace was also destroyed. Some parts of Diffa no longer exist. The scale of the damage is too much for our state government alone to repair. We need the help of the federal government and the international community. What is being done for the internally displaced people? The situation in Borno is very serious. In Maiduguri, we have two million internally displaced persons right here in the town. Only a small proportion are

How effective have the vigilantes, many of whom are young men, been in pushing Boko Haram? They have tried their best, and we commend In Maiduguri we have two them. On many million internally displaced occasions I have told people right here in the town distinguished guests, including Mr President [Muhammadu Buhari] that these young in camps. The majority are squatting men should be given positions of with relations. We are not always able responsibility within the government’s to reach them and assist by providing military or paramilitary organisations shelter, food and medical facilities. so that they can serve their fatherland. Most of them are farmers back home, Something has to be done for them but they cannot return home for now. because they have done wonderfully Although government forces are trying by assisting the security forces. [to defeat them], Boko Haram are still around. Also, the damage done A video purportedly showing Boko by the fighting is great. What we need Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is a greater military and paramilitary was released last month in which presence in all local government areas he speaks of negotiations. Is this so that our people can go back home. a serious possibility? We are expecting the rainy season I don’t trust this too much because soon, so we want our people to go if he is serious, then let him come back and do their farming. ● Interview by R.C. in Maiduguri out openly and present himself to the

● ● ● dent numbers: “I refused to abandon this campus even during the height of the insurgency, and word spread that [it] is a safe environment,” he says. At a campus around 300km away in Yola, Adamawa State, some students and academics are taking a proactive approach to the insurgency. They set up the Adamawa Peace Initiative (API) to forestall religious division. It was the brainchild of Margee Ensign, dean of the American University of Nigeria in Yola. By June 2014, insurgents had occupied most towns to the north of Yola. Adamawahasanalmostequal numberof Christians and Muslims, and their communities are working together. Members of the population and religious leaders meet regularly, and bishops, imams and professors have joined hands to distribute food to displaced people.

grassroots action

Most recently, the API has started a reconciliation project in Michika, a local government area in the north of Adamawa State where most people are Christian. Locals who could not escape the recent fighting suffered the worst kinds of cruelty at the hands of the insurgents. As people, often badly traumatised, return to their villages, there are residual security concerns. Some of those who raped, pillaged and murdered for Boko Haram may also turn up, having negotiated an amnesty. Bishop Mamza, a member of the API, says that action is necessary at the grassroots: “We needed to initiate reconciliation because we cannot be sure that our political leaders will.” Tens of villagers came forward in March to give their testimonies of what happened to them and their loved ones during the insurgency. Thisgivesmanypeopleachanceto talk about their lives in a region that suffered from neglect long before the insurgency began. Alongside the initiative, aid agencies and some state bodies are springing into action to manage the reconstruction funds. But local people speak of two priorities: security and reconstruction. The military may have wrested control of most of the region from Boko Haram, but there is still widespread fear of attacks. People say they want investment that will enable them to rebuild the region’s farming and trading system rather than short-term palliatives. Fixing that will meanfinding the billions of dollars promised by the government, the Nigerian elite, the World Bank and the EU. ● the africa report

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Mozambique

A tangled web of debt The ruling party is struggling to convince voters and bankers that it can clean up the government’s books and hold former regime members to account

defence procurement was carried out. he discovery in April of two Questions are being asked about his role. state-guaranteed loans worth But since a press conference on 28 April more than $1bn, taken out by – when prime minister Carlos Agostinho shadowy companies linked to the inteldo Rosário, fisheries minister Agostinho ligence services, has triggered an economic and political crisis unprecedented Mondlane and visibly chastened finance since peace and democracy returned minister Adriano Maleiane offered clato Mozambique in the early 1990s. The rifications about the scale of the debt to newly discovered loans mean the govthe public – the government has largely ernment of Armando Guebuza approved gone quiet on the issue. more than $2bn in secret guarantees for companies set up by the intelligence serministers sit tight vices and the defence ministry, including Jorge Matine, a researcher at public transthe controversial Empresa Moçambicana parency watchdog Centro de Integridade de Atum (Ematum) deal, whose $850m Pública, says the press conference “was important, but offered no guarantees that loan came to light in 2013. The disclosure of the massive borrowthere is a need for further clarifications ing has led to the International Monetary to the public about the details of the Fund (IMF) and Western donors cutting debt and what are the consequences for society.” Moreover, expected reshuffles in off aid even while Mozambique is facing government have not materialised. Desan economic crisis that is not so much pite a disastrous trip to Washington DC of its own making. Falling commodity by finance minister Maleiane, where IMF prices have hit revenue from exports – coal, aluminium, gas – but perhaps sources say he repeatedly lied to them, more importantly also the value of fuhe remains in his position – as does the governor of the central bank, who also ture projects, in particular offshore gas developments in the north of the country. denies prior knowledge of the loans. Within the country, however, there is Guebuza retains the leadership of a little doubt that blame for the severity of powerful faction within the ruling party the overall situation lies with the govern– particularly inside the political commisment, still led by the former liberation sion, the 18-strong steering committee movement, the Frente de Libertação de from which Nyusi and his government Moçambique(Frelimo).And evenwithinFrelimo,recrimGuebuza still leads a powerful inations are flying, leading faction within the ruling party some to wonder whether the party’s unity might not and its steering committee survive this crisis.Former are supposed to take their cues. There is president Guebuza is widely held to be the key figure responsible for the troublealso little precedent for internal ruptures in Frelimo, according to Fernando Lima, some debts. But the question being asked is whether he and a circle of accomplices founder and chairman of Mozambique’s oldestindependent media house, Mediacan and will be held to account. The first signs of cracks came when the coop. He says the only time anything like government, forced by the IMF to come that has happened was “when a number of historical Frelimo cadres were accused clean about the scale of the debts, emphasised that they were taken out by the of planning a plot against President [Joaprevious administration – that is, before quim] Chissano in the 1980s.” This case Guebuza handed over power to Presidis not similar, he says: “At this juncture, ent Filipe Nyusi in January 2015. Nyusi it will be very hard to see the names the people are mentioning publicly exposed was defence minister during Guebuza’s second term, the time when this dodgy as responsible.”

There are conflicting views on how to deal with the debt scandal within the ruling party, Lima says. “There is an ‘ethical side’ of Frelimo asking for the whole issue to be cleared, including people held responsible to be brought to justice,” he says. But “in general, these are prominent figureheads with no responsibilities in government.” Among the ‘ethical figureheads’, perhaps the most prominent is Sérgio Vieira, a former security minister and central bank governor who called the deals a “crime against the country” in his regular television show in early May. Vieira is increasingly outspoken about corrupt deals and as a result has come in for a number of attacks in Frelimo-owned media. One line of attack is to claim that his son was a bodyguard for apartheidera South African military chief Magnus Malan. Another is that he stole gold from

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GBS was due to total around $250m, of which only a very small amount had been paid out by the end of March. Now, the group of 14 GBS donors have agreed to freeze disbursements. Some have also frozen sectoral support that is channelled through the government. For Shawn Barber, Canada’s high commissioner to Mozambique, the revelations about the hidden debt have been “one big punch to the stomach” towards the end of his three-year stint in Maputo. He says donors “want to see a level of

Mozambique's debt to GDP 80 70 60

55%

50 40 30

37% 2011

41%

2012

47%

2013

2014

SOURCE: TRADINGECONOMICS.COM

the central bank while he was governor. He strenuously denies both accusations – neither of which have been made with any supporting evidence. But while these respected members of the old guard wield no real power, members of the current government who also want to see the guilty parties held responsible “do not have the same ability and power to express themselves in public,” Lima says. Ultimately, Lima says: “I am very sceptical that leading figures within Frelimo or the former government will be held responsible. However it should be noted that international partners of Mozambique are increasing their pressure in order for individuals to be presented as responsible for the debt, and they have significant leverage at this point.” Before the April revelations, the government already had to reschedule its Ematum payments because it could not come up with the cash. The other loans were uncovered before the bulk of this year’s general budget support (GBS) was disbursed. Sources say that the 2016

2016

©Sven Torfinn/PAnoS-reA

People seek shade from the hot sun, but will soon feel the pinch of the aid freeze

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accountability for whoever was involved in these transactions”. They are also demanding transparency and democratic accountability. He adds: “Not just we, but the people of Mozambique, need to understand who it was that authorised these clandestine loans; who it was who made the decision to keep them hidden from public and parliament scrutiny; and where did the money go?” Barber has the sympathy of Ivone Soares, the leader of the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo)’s parliamentary bloc and the niece of party leader Afonso Dhlakama. For her, “the Frelimo government must be obliged to tell the whole truth about its hidden practices, return all the funds that were used for impermissible ends and its leaders must be held criminally responsible for impoverishing the country and the people.” call for demonstrations

Renamo is calling for people to take to the streets but may need to coordinate its call for demonstrations with other organisations. A rumoured general strike and unofficial demonstrations failed to materialise on 29 April – although the police and military took to Maputo’s streets with an impressive show of force just in case. The noshow by demonstrators has been put down mainly to a lack of coordination, with no organisation publicly taking responsibility for calling the demo. Another issue the opposition has had to contend with is the complex nature of the scandal for most Mozambicans, but the crisis is now making itself felt on the streets. The donor and IMF freeze means that the government is reining in public sector spending and there are questions over how much longer the central bank can hold the exchange rate even at its current level after it fell by 50% against the dollar in the second half of 2015. Now, two smaller opposition parties have called for a popular demonstration in Maputo on 21 May. It remains to be seen what traction they will gain from other civil society groups and the main political opposition. But if it is co-opted by Renamo and the other main opposition party – the Movimento Democrático de Moçambique – the demonstration could be big, and potentially enough to shake Nyusi out of inaction. Mozambique is holding its breath. ● Tom Bowker and Alexandre Nhampossa in Maputo

©Ilyas A. Abukar/AU UN IST PHOTO

Somalia

Seeking stability in election season

Election-planning disagreements, backroom dealings and insecurity are among the threats to peaceful national polls planned for August

s election season approaches, Mogadishu is a hot, fortified city, subjecttofrequentAl-Shabaabattacks and clan and business disputes that end violently. Armoured trucks carrying African Union (AU) troops roll around town as squads of heavily armed men escort bomb-proof SUVs. Mogadishu is mostly a divided town, where donor representatives, embassy officials, the United Nations (UN) diplomats and contractors live bunkered inside the heavily protectedairportcompound.Outside,life continues beyond the wire. There are the famous fish market, cafés and restaurants on Lido Beach. Meanwhile, villages of bullet-riddled buildings are left decaying after years of intense street fighting. Somalia has not had a popularly elected government since 1969, and this year is set to be no different. After two

decades of civil war following the 1991 collapse of Siad Barre’s government, a transitional government and numerous twists and turns, Somalia is experiencing yet another test of whether it is moving in the right direction, not just in who it chooses but in how it chooses. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud – who has fended off impeachment attempts – faces one of the continent’s fiercest and most fragile elections. So far, publicly at least, the fights around the upcoming vote have had more to do with the electoral process than any policy platform or development issue. Winning public support is the least of President Hassan’s concerns, as the election model under debate relies on clan elders and community representatives rather than a popular vote. It also relies on a healthy dose of cash.

Apart from finalising the electoral model, government and business decisions have been unofficially stopped as electioneering ramps up. Parliament is set to endorse the election scheme agreed to by Somalia’s National Leadership Forum in early April. It includes new developments towards a more democratic model, including the establishment of an upper house of parliament. But progress has been marred by months of deadlock over the proposed return to the ‘4.5 quota’ system that would have representatives chosen via the country’s four main clan groups: the Darod, Dir, Hawiye and Digil-Mirifle. election countdown

In 2012, President Hassan won the election through a complicated process. A group of 135 clan elders selected 275 members of parliament (MPs) and those MPs then voted for a presidential candidate. Parliament has yet to approve the electoral law for the vote the africa report

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Far left: President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud shows no pre-election nerves. Left: These young men are the lucky ones – 67% of the youth are unemployed

ities and groups were vying for the top spot and working in the government. His critics say that not much has been done on any of those fronts and that Somalia is in much the same position that it was four years ago. Over the coming weeks and months, talk of who is also putting their name forward will emerge in what is considered a costly and ruthless series of negotiations with clan elders and business leaders. Backroom deals and counter deals will be made as alliances shift from clan to aligned group interest.

©Tobin Jones/AMISOM Photo

crowded field

planned for August, but in its current form, the franchise would be extended to 50 elders who would choose an MP for each parliamentary post. This is seen as a step towards one-man, onevote elections in 2020. That election in four years’ time will require a national census and a voters’ registration process, both of which will take large amounts of money and serious logistical and security arrangements. With three months to the election and the MPs and the president’s terms set to come to an end at the end of August, observers are stressing that such a time frame is going to be extremely difficult considering a number of outstanding issues. The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, a local think tank, says that the larger electoral college is not enough to ensure a fair vote. In an April report, it said: “Some aspects of the proposed roadmap significantly stifle the prospects of a legitimate and inclusive election process.” Critics suggest that the 50 representatives, whose selection the africa report

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Word in Mogadishu’s cafés and khat-chewing sessions is that President Hassan faces opposition from several competitors within his own Abgaal subclan. Former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a businessman with deep pockets, is one of his main rivals. Jibril Ibrahim Abdulle, the head of the Centre for Research and Dialogue, also has shown some interest, according to local media in Mogadishu. Jibril would not confirm his candidacy when contacted in Mogadishu by The Africa Report. “It is not official. All I am saying is it is an idea I am exploring,” he says. Somalia’s only female presidential hopeful, Finnish citizen Fadumo Dayib, has also expressed her intention to run for the top job. As an outspoken critic of President Hassan and Somalia’s systemic corruption, Dayib’s diaspora distance has allowed her to say what a lot of Somalis think.

is going to be subject to fierce competition, is merely increasing the number of people parliamentary hopefuls will have to buy off in a cash-fuelled campaign. The UN and other international partners urged the government to speed up the decisions on this year’s elections or risk throwing political progress off track. President Hassan, a member of the Abgaal sub-clan of the Hawiye, last year unsucCritics says the larger cessfully tried to extend his electoral college just means term on the grounds of the herculean tasks ahead to more people to buy off deliver any type of vote. There are a lot of frustrations. The He is running for re-election and said at an event at the United States country’s poor security, in particular Institute of Peace in April that he would in remote parts of the country where a stick to his six-pillar agenda: stability, majority of the population lives, helps economic recovery, peace-building, to perpetuate desperately poor social indicators. Late last year, the UN reporservice delivery, improved international relations and fostering unity. ted a 17% increase in Somalis facing Considered a moderate Islamist and food shortages. These number up to despite links to the Muslim Brother855,000 people, two-thirds of whom hood, Hassan represented a safe option remain internally displaced, while 67% at a time when more hardline personalof youth are unemployed.

politics

©Tobin Jones/AMISOM Photo

Somalia has been among the top 10 recipients of humanitarian assistance for most of the past 10 years. It is trying to rebuild a functioning state after more than two decades of civil war. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the IMF argues that it is unlikely that the government will be able to repay its creditors the $5.3bn it now owes. The UN plans to help facilitate the vote through one of its longest-running missions. The topics likely to feature heavily in political debates ahead of the vote include the region’s devastating drought, the inability of the AU and Somali forces to defeat Al Qaedaaligned Al-Shabaab Islamist militants, the illegal plundering of fish stocks and outstanding constitutional issues. Election time also raises regional tensions. After much disagreement, the semi-autonomous region of Puntland agreed to participate in the 50-representative system after initially rejecting the proposal. peace first, justice second

One area where President Hassan can claim success, however, has been in promoting – and supporting to an extent – the federal member states that are seen as the building blocks to a greater federal Somalia. The Jubaland Administration and Interim South West Administration are emerging slowly with a semblance of cohesion. Jubaland’s president, Ahmed Madobe – a former Al-Shabaab commander turned Ras Kamboni militia

The Amisom force has had only partial success against Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants

leader who helped the Kenya Defence Forces capture Kismayo port – is now a leader whose influence looms large. These sorts of developments are serious concerns for Mogadishu’s elites. Increasing responsibility and international focus on the emerging regional states is an ongoing tension with the federal parliament. The new provisions for the establishment of an upper house of parliament where representatives are chosen from the regions could spark further disputes. Most of the regional states are still not developed enough to be considered stable.

International factors are just as likely to shape the lead-up to this year’s vote. Despite growing grumbles about President Hassan, who is backed by Western donors in part for continuity’s sake, he has managed to steady the ship over turbulent waters that included parliament attempting to impeach him in August 2015 for abuse of office. Parliament dropped the charge and instead opted for dialogue. He now has a significant war chest and allies in the Gulf States and wider Middle East. When The Africa Report contacted the president’s office to discuss foreign influence and financial support, an adviser declined to comment as it was “not such a lovely conversation during an election period”. Various Gulf State embassies declined interview requests. “We want peace,” was the answer from one Gulf ambassador before hanging up. Corruption and buying votes dominate the Somalia political scene. Mogadishu-based non-governmental organisation Marqaati has got political parties to sign up to “an integrity pact, committing themselves not to buy votes and to provide information on any vote-buying”. According to its website, 28 parties have agreed. One major holdout is the Peace and Development Party, the party of the incumbent president. The power of incumbency is not as strong in Somalia as it is in other countries.The2016votewillputHassan’sdealmaking skills to the test as Al-Shabaab militants seek to hike up the tensions and politicians look to extract as much value as possible out of the uncertainty. ● Ilya Gridneff in Mogadishu

A state of insecurity While the politicians and elders jockey for power in Mogadishu, the country continues to suffer at the hands of the Islamist militants of Al-Shabaab. In April President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told the Washington Post newspaper: “The Somali government cannot afford to pay the soldiers and at the same time to purchase lethal equipment.” In its last report the United Nations’ Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group accused senior army figures of pocketing most of the soldiers’ pay. These unpaid national soldiers and a floundering African Union Mission in Somalia continue to weaken the security scenario in much of the country. While the United States has ramped up its military support, and its assistance has seen pockets of success lately with targeted raids, the general consensus is that insecurity is well entrenched. In a recent Centre for Security Governance paper, Professor Ken Menkhaus explains how groups – from politicians and senior soldiers running private security firms to clan militias controlling communities – are benefiting immensely from an unstable Somalia. “The privileged relationship that these armed groups have with external patrons risks reinforcing their interests in perpetuating a weak state with a dysfunctional security sector,” he writes. ● I.G. the africa report

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THELETTER

GAbON HORIZON 2025

The successful payoff of Gabon’s industrialisation  Gabon is reaping the benefits of its economic diversification strategy.  Timber processing industries are growing steadily.

 The Moanda Metallurgical Complex is an industrial integration model.

Gabon’s industrialisation strategy, involving sustained efforts from both the state and investors from around the world, has proved its effectiveness.

Libb revville

It has resulted in the creation of thousands of jobs, included for skilled POPulAtION

financial situation linked, in particular, to falling oil prices.

1.69

the strategic shift started in 2009 is also yielding results in forestry, mining,

AReA

million

construction and agriculture. New developments are enabling the country

267,667

to maintain economic growth worthy of its geographical, geological and

GDP

human advantages. ■

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$18.18

km2

billion (2014)

DAtA: IMF AND GAbON

workers, a rise in export value and resilience in the face of the international

GAbON

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HORIZON 2025

Over 7,000 skilled jobs have been generated in the timber industry since 2011.ˮ

Nearly five years after the development and construction work began in 2011, 80 Gabonese and international companies have invested in the Nkok Special Economic Zone (SEZ), located a few kilometres from Libreville, the capital of Gabon. These companies mainly focus on key industries such as chemicals, metallurgy, timber, building materials, agro-industrial products and electronic components, etc. The Nkok SEZ covers over 1,000 hectares, half of which are serviced (roads, water, electricity and sanitation). It has a 230-metre long river wharf where barges berth to be loaded before continuing to the Owendo sea port, about 20 km away. To date, 21 factories are in operation on the site. They have generated more than 2,000 jobs and mobilised investment of almost $500 million. The Nkok SEZ has the potential to create 7,500 jobs in a favourable legal and fiscal context.

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abon posted a 5% growth in GDP in 2015. It demonstrates the resilience of the economy to external shocks such as fluctuating oil prices. the price of a barrel of crude fell 70% during the course of the year, a situation which, in other times, would have had serious consequences for the country’s economy. While oil continues to be a major part of its trade balance, the country is striving to develop new activities in high value-added sectors, bolstering its ability to deal with the unstable international context. It is thus reaping the benefits of its economic diversification, as set out in the Strategic Plan for an emerging Gabon (PSGe, see box), launched in 2009.

Already 21 factories in the Nkok Special Economic Zone

th e f i r s t p i l l a r o f t h i s s t ra t e g y, “Industrial Gabon”, is beginning to yield significant results. to accelerate the country’s industrialisation, the PSGe rapidly implemented a key measure: the export ban on raw logs that have not undergone local processing.

the timber industry was thus forced to industrialise, an essential step for the country’s second biggest source of revenue. As a result, the number of Gabon’s industrial assets has doubled. this increase in the volume of timber production was accompanied by a shift away from traditional export destinations such as China, which has long been the largest importer of

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Mining and Metallurgy School to open in September 2016-2017

Gabon’s timber, to europe, which has a higher demand for more sophisticated products. In total, more than 7,000 skilled jobs have already been created in the timber industry and industrial development is continuing to expand: in January 2016 the “first central African furniture manufacturing cluster” was established in the Nkok economic Zone (see box), not far from libreville, the capital. ultimately, this new cluster will accommodate a hundred furniture manufacturers.

the Moanda Metallurgical Complex, opened in 2015, has the capacity to process 85,000 tonnes of manganese per year.ˮ

the future of Gabon also depends on mining, another source of natural wealth. Gabon is the world’s second largest producer of high-grade manganese ore, an important element of steel and aluminium alloys, and is known for its large mineral reserves, including iron ore, gold and diamonds. this sector is also integral to the diversification and industrialisation strategy and, in June 2015, it expanded its metallurgic potential with the commissioning of the Moanda Metallurgical Complex, in the southeast of the country, where a world-class manganese deposit has been in production since the 1960s. launched in 2009, the development work resulted in the commissioning of two processing facilities, one with a production

capacity of up to 65,000 tonnes per year of silicomanganese alloy and the other with 20,000 tonnes per year of metal manganese. Around a thousand jobs have been created at this complex.

Gabon became the only country in subSaharan Africa, excluding South Africa, to locally transform its manganese. the vitality of the mining sector has had positive implications for the development of new projects, especially iron and manganese. Gabon currently provides about 25% of world production but the commissioning of four new production sites could rapidly propel it to the position of leader in this category of its mining industry.

In addition to creating jobs and increasing the value of manganese exports, the establishment of the Moanda Metallurgical Complex is symbolic in many ways. It allowed Gabon to demonstrate its capacity for investing in the future when it launched the construction of a 160 MW hydroelectric power plant, which will mainly generate electricity for the operation of the two manganese processing plants. Another investment for the future is the building of the Moanda School of Mines and Metallurgy (E3M). The result of a partnership between the Gabonese government, industrial site operator COMILOG, and the University of Lorraine, France, the school will receive its first class of 60 future engineers at the start of the 2016-2017 academic year.

+95%

The increase in foreign direct investment to Gabon since 2010, which reached $973 million in 2015.

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The three pillars of the Strategic Plan for an Emerging Gabon

products. All of these programmes aim to develop an agriculture that provides food security and encourages investment in new agro-industrial units. For example, since its commissioning in 2015, the Kango factory, east of libreville, annually produces some 35,000 tonnes of palm oil for export. In accordance with the Strategic Plan for an emerging Gabon, all these activities are carried out within the framework of a strict policy of environmental protection and sustainable development.

In the agricultural sector, several programmes are being carried out to develop over a million hectares of the country’s arable land, rich and conducive to the production of oil palm, rubber, biofuels, coffee and cocoa, as well as their processing into finished or semi-finished

As one of the most stable countries on the continent, both politically and economically, Gabon attracts companies from around the world keen to invest, alongside the state, in its industrialisation and economic diversification. ■

Central Africa’s first furniture manufacturing cluster was officially opened in January 2016. ˮ www.gaboninvest.org

ADVERTORIAL l IV

 Industrial Gabon, local processing of raw materials to promote the export of high added value products.  Green Gabon, showcasing the country’s impressive ecosystem (22 million hectares of forest, 13 national parks and over 800 km of coastline). Service-Oriented Gabon, making the country a regional benchmark for financial services, new information technologies, jobs in the green economy, higher education and health.

4.8

Gabon’s GDP growth in 2015, indicative of the economy’s resilience in the face of falling oil prices.

the PSGe equally demonstrates its effectiveness in other areas. In road infrastructure, for example, massive projects have been completed in order to connect the country’s provinces as well as link Gabon with its neighbours. Already a heavyweight player in the Central African economic and Monetary Community (CeMAC), which comprises six countries, Gabon is now repositioning itself at the core of the 120 million consumer market that makes up the economic Community of Central African States (eCCAS) and its eleven member countries.

In 2009, the Gabonese government implemented an ambitious policy aimed at diversifying the country’s economy and enabling it to join the ranks of emerging countries by 2025. The Strategic Plan for an Emerging Gabon (PSGE) sets out the actions necessary to achieve this goal, based on three main pillars:

politics

Zwelinzima Vavi tells supporters of his plans on May Day

South Africa

The division of labour A new labour federation in the works promises a more independent path

ormer Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) leader Zwelinzima Vavi and National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) boss Irvin Jim are combining forces to shake up South Africa’s labour unions. They plan to start a new labour federation next year. Both bear grudges against Cosatu, which expelled Numsa in 2014 and Vavi in 2015 over conflicts about personality and politics. Vavi and Jim say it’s time for labour to stop blindly following the governing African National Congress (ANC) party. On Workers’ Day – 1 May – thousands of people attended the Workers’ Summit in Tembisa on Gauteng’s East Rand thanks to Numsa’s financial muscle. This, they say, is the first step in the formation of the new federation, as well as the statement of intent to launch it. The exact nature and form of the federation is still being debated, but long-time trade unionists say it is time for an independent and militant federation that will not be aligned to any political party. In late April, Vavi said that he turned down overtures to join forces with the Mmusi Maimaine-led Democratic Alliance and that although his politics is supportive of much of the platform of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters he would seek an independent path. While some workers have welcomed this move, there is a feeling that, given the slow economic growth in Africa’s most advanced economy, it can ill-afford another federation. Organising the unorganised is also difficult and costly. The main federations – Cosatu and the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) – argue there is no place the africa report

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within South Africa’s labour landscape for another federation. South Africa already has four trade union federations, namely Cosatu, the Confederation of South African Workers’ Unions, Fedusa and the National Council of Trade Unions. But those calling for the new federation argue that Cosatu is fractured, and its loyalty to the ANC is irking the rank and file. There are about 14 million people in the formal workforce, according to Stats SA, and only about 26% of South Africa’s workers belong to a union. The new left-wing federation wants to build a mass-based, democratically controlled, Marxist-Leninist workers’ movement. It aims to be more militant and aggressive than Cosatu and Fedusa in challenging government economic policies. The new federation will also be calling for the nationalisation of the iron ore, coal and steel industries. Vavi and Jim face an uphill battle due to their combative relationship with government and the other unions. Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla dismisses their project as a non-starter. “It’s all talk,” Pamla told The Africa Report. Asked if Cosatu is concerned about losing members to the soon-to-be-formed labour federation, Pamla says Vavi wants to settle scores and Cosatu’s 23 union affiliates are unlikely to join. The year ahead is likely to be tough on the labour market, according to statistics announced in April by the Afrikaans trade union Solidarity. An estimated 60,000 South Africans could lose their jobs in 2016. Employees in the mining industry will be hardest hit. In the past year 36 companies Percentage have engaged in retrenchments, and 29,261 of South employees are facing retrenchment in the Africans mining industry alone. who belong Numsa and Vavi argue that workers have to a trade had enough of the politics and it is time for union; half a back-to-basics approach. An alternative are affiliated federation must give workers hope and to Cosatu focus on campaigns that take workers’ is-

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analysis

politics

sues to the forefront. Vavi and Jim have already started talking to smaller – but powerful – unions like Solidarity and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. If they are able to get the cooperation of these two, they will stand a chance against Cosatu’s financial muscle. Federations cost money, and deep pockets from members’ subscription fees are needed to sustain a powerful voice in South Africa. ● Crystal Orderson in Cape Town

Uganda

Besigye’s gamble The oppositionist provoked a crisis by organising his own swearing in

Pool/G

eTTy im

aGes

rguing that he won the election in February that has given President Yoweri Museveni another term in office, historical opposition leader Kizza Besigye of the Forum for DemocraticChange(FDC)nowfacestreasoncharges that could carry a life sentence or the death penalty. A crisis came to a head when Besigye organised a mock swearing-in ceremony for himself in Kampala on 11 May, the day before Museveni himself was sworn in as president. If the treason trial goes ahead and Besigye is convicted, it could herald a period of stiff confrontation between the government and the opposition. Arrested in Kampala, he now awaits trial in Moroto, northern Uganda. Ahead of the 18 February vote, Uganda’s oppositionists, led by Besigye and former Museveni prime minister Amama Mbabazi, criticised the government for training youth militia to intimidate voters and for buying votes. Museveni took 60.6% of the electorate, while Besigye won 35.6%, according to the official results. The Commonwealth’s electoral observers were the most critical, saying that the incumbent used state resources for his own political benefit and questioning the impartiality of the electoral commission. But none of the observer missions contested the overall results. Besigye kept up pressure on the government and complained about the harassment he suffered at the handsofthe securityforces, resulting in Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma ordering the FDC to refrain from any campaigning for a month in April. Besigye responded that he and his supporters would organise a yoweri Museveni strides into his sixth term in office

©VaTiCan

nationwide campaign of “defiance” against the court order. Ratcheting up the pressure,the authorities pledged to shut down any media house that broadcast live coverage of FDC events. Donor governments have not stepped in to defend Besigye or call on the government to de-escalate the situation. Diplomats from Canada, Europe and the United States had more important issues to protest when they walked out of Museveni’s 12 May inauguration. They were angered by the presence of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, an International Criminal Court (ICC) indictee for crimes against humanity who is supposed to face arrest in any country that is a signatory to the Rome Statute, as Uganda is. Despite Museveni having authorised the ICC to handle the case of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, he used his swearing-in to criticise the court as “a bunch of useless people”. Museveni has said his sixth term in office will be devoted to fighting corruption. His ability to root it out is, however, circumscribed by the opposition’s claims that members of his National Resistance Movement bought votes and used money to co-opt politicians ahead of the February vote. Museveni tends to use his international security credentials – having Ugandan troops as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia and supporting South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir’s fight against rebel groups – to protect himself from criticism of his governance record at home. He will need this military and political nous if he is to sideline Besigyewithout turning him into a martyr at the hands of a repressive state. ● Honoré Banda LiBya

Terms of engagement Western governments tread a fine line between meddling and security

wo reports issued on 13 May underlined the policy pressures building in Western capitals to counter Libya’s descent towards failed-state status. Britain’s House of Lords European Union (EU) committee concluded that Operation Sophia, the naval mission to tackle people-smuggling in the central Mediterranean, was failing to disrupt the traffic “in any meaningful way”. Meanwhile, as leaders gathered in Abuja for a summit on the jihadist insurgency convened by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari for 14 May, a United Nations Security Council statement expressed “alarm at Boko Haram’s linkages with the Islamic State [IS, also known as Daesh].” IS’s penetration of Libya after the death of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 is one element in a multifaceted problem that has left Western politicians foundering. According to a British intelligence source:“Whitehallgenerallyhasatwo-year concentration span, focusing on an issue the africa report

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politics

to the detriment of most others. IS has been that issue and, as it wanes, migration has come to the top of the agenda.” In Libya, both those issues come together for British Prime Minister David Cameron and his counterparts in the so-called P3 European grouping leading on Libyan security. The US, France, Italy and Britain have already increased special forces operations and aerial sorties over Libya, where IS has taken root around Sirte. Such interventions are met with mixed feelings among the belligerents. European military and intelligence officers are concerned that, driven by a perception that ‘something must be done’, politicians will agree a major ramping up of operations. According to a senior European commander: “If there is to be an intervention with a long-term positive impact, it must be the result of an all-round economic and political, as well as military, effort – and it must envisage post-conflict reconstruction from the very start.” Politicians say that, this time, theirs will be a measured response, based on a long-term commitment to stabilising Libya and the wider region. IS’s capacity to operate beyond

Libya was underlined when its units attacked police and military posts in the Tunisian border town of Ben Gardane on 7 March. Military strategists fully understand the threat, but fear they could be called to arms again at very short notice in response to another ‘strategic shock’, such as a major terrorist incident directly linked to Libya. Western powers’ are foursquare behind Libya’s new Government of National Accord (GNA), despite doubts about the grouping’s make-up and fragility. The fact that GNA prime minister Fayez Serraj has been able to establish a presence in Tripoli is seen as a major step forward. But opposition to any form of intervention runs deep, as it did when opposition to ‘foreign meddling’ derailed British, French and other efforts to support the post-Gaddafi transition. More air strikes and military advisers are expected. Missions like the EU’s so-far toothless Border Management Assistance Mission in Libya could be ramped up. But while doubts persist over who is really in charge, a coordinated Western response will be very hard to achieve. ● Jon Marks

Anansi Treason is in the eye of the beholder

Uncivil military relations Quick march! Anansi has been drilling his troops all afternoon, but wonders what they will be saying about him once they have been disbanded. South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma is feeling the same concern, as veterans of the African National Congress’s armed resistance wing queue up to denounce the corruption that they see besmirching a once-proud reformist government. General (retired) Siphiwe Nyanda is but one of the illustrious veterans making his opinions on the leadership of the country known. Could Nyanda tap into a vein of discontent? He quickly denied on 2 May that any disaffected elements in the military had any loyalty to him, after opposition leader Julius Malema invoked his name in a speech. the africa report

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About-turn! Meanwhile, in Mozambique, more liberation-era veterans are letting rip at the opportunism they see besmirching a once-proud reformist government. Do you smell a link? The Associação dos Combatentes da Luta de Libertação Nacional wants the government to investigate conflicts of interest in the more than $2bn in loans for dodgy defence deals the country agreed – some in secret – and to reveal the names of the individuals controlling the beneficiary companies (see page 36). Elements in the previous administration might be packing their bags.

March towards the future Halt! While some veterans had been planning to boycott the ‘Million Man March’ that the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) wants to organise to flex its muscles, President Robert Mugabe issued them a direct order to join. Relations between the presidency

and the veterans are at a low, with some former soldiers throwing their weight behind a ZANU-PF faction that backs vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa in the succession struggle. The ZANU-PF Youth League backs the opposing Generation 40 faction, led by Saviour Kasukuwere.

Strongmen without borders Lest you believe Anansi is only hand-wringing over the role enjoyed by veterans in African countries, we invite you to turn your gaze on the barbarous goings on across the Atlantic Ocean, where the loveable Donald Trump is galvanising the veteran corps. His regular diatribes on ‘traitors’ like Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who, he suggests, should be shot for deserting his post, target the ‘military vote’. Trainspotters will appreciate that Trump’s new campaign guru Paul Manafort was a great defender of some of Africa’s greatest tough guys, from helping Jonas Savimbi prolong the civil war in Angola to supporting Mobutu Sese Seko, the brutal and corrupt ruler of Zaire. ●

20 – 21 June 2016 Lancaster London Hotel, London, UK www.oilandgascouncil.com

AFRICA’S MOST

Over 800 executives will attend this

INFLUENTIAL OIL,

year’s Africa Energy Assembly. The event has cemented its position as the

GAS & INVESTMENT

most inﬂuential corporate development, strategy, ﬁnance and investment

EVENT

gathering for Africa, outside of Africa.

2016 SPEAKERS H.E. Gabriel Obiang Lima Republic of Equatorial Guinea

Brian Maxted Kosmos Energy

Malcolm Brown BG Group

Kola Karim Shoreline Energy International

Wale Tinubu Oando Group

Andrew Kamau State Department of Petroleum, Kenya

Omar Mithá ENH (MOZAMBIQUE)

Angus McCoss Tullow Oil

H.E.Thierno Alassane Sall Minister of Energy SENEGAL

Iain Pitt +27 71 858 1025 iain.pitt@oilcouncil.com

Amir Shirkhan +44 20 7384 8058 amir.shirkhan@oilcouncil.com

ENQUIRIES Drake Lawhead +44 7980 903 830 drake.lawhead@oilcouncil.com

country focus Cameroon

©SEYLLOU/afp

Biya salutes his supporters after voting for himself in 2011, a process he will probably repeat

Staying power Some of 83-year-old President Biya’s supporters want him to continue in office for another term in 2018 while others are calling for an early vote. With the government intimidating the opposition, there is little chance of Biya’s critics being able to push back against it By Reinnier Kazé in Yaoundé

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t 83 years old and in power since 1982, President Paul Biya is not ready to retire. At a press conference during a visit by France’s President François Hollande on 3 July 2015, Biya quipped: “It’s not those who want to, but who can, who stay in power.” For several months, supporters of the ruling Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais (RDPC) have launched publicity campaigns to call for Biya to run again in the next elections planned for 2018. RDPC member Hervé Emmanuel Nkomexplains:“Wehaveanalysed ● ● ●

country focus | cameroon

200 km

Garoua

NIGERIA

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

CAMEROON Douala YAOUNDÉ

Gulf of Guinea EQUATORIAL GUINEA

GABON

CONGO

cameroon in numbers PoPulation urban PoPulation (% of total)

54%1

life exPectancy at birth

55.52

infant mortality (per 1,000 births)

712

fDi, inflows (current US$)

$501.2m3

GDP (current US$)

$32.05bn1 5.9%1

inDustry, value aDDeD (% of GDP)

30.1%

inflation, consumer Prices (annual %) 1.9%1 internet users (per 100 people)

111

Source: WorlD bank 20141, aFDb 20142, unctaD 20143

22.77 million1

GDP Growth (annual %)

real gdp by sector Government

Primary sector

17.8%

20.8%

high-level support

Secondary sector (exc. oil) Tertiary sector (non-government)

37.4%

20% Oil

3.9%

oil exports and imports 16 14 12

2007-20, % of GDP

Oil exports

10 8 6 4 2

Oil imports Net Oil Exports

the security situation in the region. We think that our president is able to solve the current problems.” Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria are suffering from terrorist attacks by the Nigerian Islamist militants of Boko Haram. Since July 2015, Boko Haram has launched numerous suicide attacks in Cameroon’s Extrême-Nord region, killing hundreds of people. The response of the Cameroonian and regional armed forces seem to have weakened the group. Biya’s supporters regularly organise meetings and marches of support. On 24 April, RDPC members rallied in Maroua, the Extrême-Nord capital, in support of Biya’s candidacy. About a dozen ministers and many regime bigwigs were there. The party also paid thousands of students and gave them party-themed clothes in order to bolster theranksofthesupporters.Astudentwho attended the events, who requested anonymity, says there was deceit involved: “They asked us to come to participate in a conference. Once we arrived, we realised that it was a political meeting.” He adds: “At the end of the proceedings, they gave us each 1,500 CFA francs ($2.6), but we had to put our names and signatures on a document.” The party then presented the document as the list of people who support a Biya candidacy. The president has often done well in the Extrême-Nord during elections, even though it is a very deprived region, direly lacking in terms of infrastructure and public services. It is the poorest area of the country, and scores of young people from there have joined Boko Haram. ●●●

CHAD

Source: IMF country report DeceMber 2015

0 2007 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2020

Long-serving National Assembly president Cavaye Yéguié Djibril organised the RDPC event in Maroua. According to him “le champion” of the RDPC (Biya) is the “best chance” for Cameroon. Nearly all of the major leaders of the party and the regime, including prime minister Philémon Yang, have taken the same line. Political scientist Eric Mathias Owona Nguini has studied the Biya regime and his father, Joseph Owona, was a government minister for many years. “We have a governance system that maintains the president in power as long as possible,” he explains. He argues that Biya now “expends most of his effort on staying in power”. Owona Nguini says that much of the high-level political support is based on personal political calculations: “They hope to “benefit from nominations to

A frontpage story about the call for early elections attracts the attention of passers-by in March

major institutions or to gain access to rents and public contracts.” The contemporary RDPC has many similarities to a single-party state. The near entirety of the staff of the presidency, national assembly, senate, prime minister’s office and ministries are taken from the party’s ranks. Many business leaders and most of the directors of stateowned enterprises have RDPC party cards. Young people say party membership is a means to succeed in civil service exams and get jobs. The party also has unequal access to state media. A growing number of Biya’s supporters have come out in favour of early elections, with some proposing 2016 rather than 2018. That would require a change to the constitution. In February, minister in the presidency Paul Atanga Nji openly called for an early vote. As a justification, he explained that the electoral calendar in 2018 will be too busy, with presidential, legislative, senatorial and municipal votes planned. According to Owona Nguini, the real reason for the proposed rush is to “secure Biya’s control of the presidency in the shortest time possible”. Biya himself has not made any public statements on the topic. For RDPC member Nkom, the call for an early vote hides a number of the party’s preoccupations, including that the africa report

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©Jean-Pierre Kepseu/Panapress/MAXPPP

cameroon | country focus

stand up for cameroon

In April, four opposition parties including the MRC launched a coalition called Stand Up for Cameroon. One of its goals is to fight against any “secret” attempts to modify the constitution. The coalition says it will “push for a non-violent transition”. Its leaders point to chronic deficits in water and electricity provision, saying the country’s leaders must focus on those areas that affect people’s lives. Oppositionists have a difficult time organising at home. In February, Social Democratic Front (SDF) member Abel ElimbyLobe–whoisknowforhisvirulent attacks on the government on private rathe africa report

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still more corruption

On Transparency International’s rankings, Cameroon is among the countries perceived to be the most corrupt. In 2015, the non-governmental organisation reported: “About 44% of individuals surveyed said that corruption had increased in the last 12 months and a strong majority (57%) said that the government is not effective in its fight against corruption.” According to the Commission Nationale dio stations and TV channels – launched an online petition asking Biya to retire. Anti-Corruption, there are no sectors SDF supporters chanted “Biya Must Go!” where corruption is absent. in front of the Cameroonian embassy in In 2006, the government launched Pretoria, South Africa, in April. a much-hyped anti-corruption programme called Opération Epervier (OpThe government has systemically banned opposition protests and meeteration Sparrowhawk). It led to the ings, and the police regularly crack jailing of several members of the ruldown on the most daring ones. On 29 ing elite and the creation of a bespoke March, about 60 opposition supporters court, the Tribunal Criminel Spécial gathered in Yaoundé to protest against (TCS). Justice minister Laurent Esso the talk of early elections. The police says that in three years the TCS found beat and arrested them. A month later, 146 people guilty and sentenced them the administration withheld its authorto prison in cases related to corrupt isation for an MRC meeting in Bertoua a deals worth 30bn CFA francs. week after the RDPC’s events in Maroua. While the authorities celebrate these Owona Nguini says that this suppressuccesses, lawyers argue that the TCS is not independent. More sion of opposition activity widely, analysts argue that is “an expression of the repressive character of the Opération Epervier’s real impact is in neutralising insystem. The goal is to stop fluential personalities who opposition forces and crithave their eyes on the presicalcivilsocietygroupsfrom uniting and mobilising.” idency. If Biya remains in Oppositionist Simh says power for years to come, that these attempts by Biya “at best the country will go to hold on to power have round in circles. At worst, led to “a state of permanent there will be a chaotic coup d’état”. Oppositionists – even apocalyptic – end,” Almost half argues Owona Nguini. “Beare not the regime’s only of Cameroon's sides,thechaosstartedlong target. Two journalists and a teacher of journalism are ago, even if seems to be of population lives currentlyfacingchargesbethe slow-burning kind.” ● below the poverty line

40%

source: ins

of Biya’s succession. “At the moment, the president’s leadership is unquestionable, but we have to start thinking about what comes after Biya,” he tells The Africa Report. The succession remains a taboo topic in the ruling party, and Nkom is one of the few supporters willing to discuss it openly. Emmanuel Simh, a lawyer and vice-president of the Mouvement pour la Renaissance du Cameroun (MRC) political party, says “there is nothing objective that could justify the holding of an early vote. We are absolutely opposed to any constitutional revision that has the goal of benefiting a single individual.”

fore a military tribunal for failure to denounce acts of terrorism. Another is on trial for complicity in terrorism, and they all face the prospect of the death penalty. Outside his failure to hand over power to a new generation of leaders, Biya’s critics say that the results of his time in office have been catastrophic. According to the government’s Institut National de la Statistique, 40% of the population live below the poverty line. In 2013, Cameroon ranked 152nd out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index. The child mortality rate for under fives is dangerously high, at 148 deaths per 1,000 children. Several recent scandals have shown the inefficiencies of the healthcare system.

country focus | cameroon

They say they are now in negotiations with partners from China in order to restart the project. Chronic energy deficits and a lack Infrastructure and financing constraints have held back of infrastructure are other obstacles for miners. To take off, Mbalam needs the development of the sector, which the government mine infrastructure, roads, a railway and a mineral port. is counting on to kick-start its economic growth plan The government has admitted that bove ground and below, it is diffia Chinese-American investor, and there it had handed out too many mining licult to determine what exactly is have not been any new announcements cences too quickly. In 2014, it announced happening in Cameroon’s minabout reserves at the mines. that it had withdrawn 38 of 125 permits ing sector: companies make big promises Eric Bisil, the Africa coordinator of because of fraud during their issubut the government struggles to hold the Natural Resource Governance Inance. The same year, in order to assess them to their word. The government has stitute think tank, explains: “The numCameroon’s mining potential more acshovelled out exploration permits – more bers come from the companies because curately, the government also launched they are the ones doing the exploration.” than 100 since 2014, and the country an airborne geophysical survey to raise has proven reserves of diamonds, gold, the percentage of the area covered by He notes that the mines ministry does this kind of inspection from 40% to 70%. bauxite, uranium, nickel and cobalt. not have the technical means to verify Government officials say that worldthe estimates produced by With the World Bank’s class discoveries have been made, and mining companies. help in strengthening govAnother reason for the ernment capacity in the yet the sector is struggling to take off. mining sector through the In 2013, the non-artisanal mining secslow development of the Precasem project since tor accounted for less than 1% of gross mining sector is the curdomestic product. Members of the elite 2012, the authorities say rent low price for mineral commodities. Thelocal subthey are developing the cacontrol much of the artisanal sector. pacity to regulate the sector A recent official study entitled Evalusidiary of Australia’s Sundance Resources, Cam Iron, better. With weak prospects ation Stratégique, Environnementale et for oil production, the govSociale du Secteur Minier au Cameroun is due to develop an iron lays out the factors that are holding back ernment says it is counting ore project at Mbalam in the growth of mining. It states: “The main on mines to help the couneastern Cameroon. In July Estimated size problemthathascompromisedthesector try become an emerging of last year, executives adin tonnes of bauxite for a long time is that major companies mitted that they could not economy within the next reserves do not control the big deposits but small raise the funds they needed two decades. ● and medium-sized international explorand sacked 90% of the staff. Reinnier Kazé in Yaoundé in Cameroon ation companies do.” The smaller firms have not been able to attract the funds for the large infrastructure projects needed to make mining feasible and profitable. Many companies struggle to develop projects. Prior to winning an exploration permit for the nickel and cobalt deposit at Nkamouna, US-based Geovic had never run a mining project. It promised to start production by 2009 but instead sold its rights to China’s Jiangxi Rare Metals Tungsten Group in July 2013. Mining

Time to get things moving

1bn

source: kpmg

a whopping lie

Also in 2013, South Korean company C&K Mining started diamond production at Mobilong. That year, the country produced just 2,721 carats, according to the local office of the Kimberley Process certification scheme. The next year, production stopped. Local media reported that C&K was unable to raise funds after managers were found to have lied about the potential of Mobilong, saying that it held 420m carats – more than 2.5 times global production levels in 2007. C&K eventually sold its shares in the project to

gold mining has great potential but is currently around 95% artisanal ©Alfredo d’AMATo/PANoS-reA

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ADVERTORIAL

A pivotal player in Cameroon’s emergence

n 12 February, Nana Bouba Group (NBG) achieved international recognition in In three decades, Casablanca, Morocco when AZUR, its soap and oil subsidiary, won the SouthNana Bouba Djoda has South Cooperation Award at the sixth Africa Development Forum organised by made NBG the pride the Attijariwafa Bank and Maroc Export. The award crowns over three decades of one man’s commitment: Nana Bouba Djoda, a tireless of Cameroon’s economy. builder who wants to create wealth and contribute to his country’s prosperity. Today, NBG owns The country’s leading subsidiaries in agro-industry (GREENFIL), livestock (CAMBEEF), agro-food (SAGRI), beverages (NABCO), real estate (SCI KRINA), distribution (SOACAM), construction (BERNI) and soap (AZUR rice importer, and IBI). With over 2,000 employees and nearly 150 billion FCFA in consolidated turnover in household soap 2015, the group undeniably contributes to Cameroon’s development. It is without question the manufacturer and country’s leading rice importer, household soap manufacturer and tomato concentrate producer. To control the whole production and sales chain, NBG has rolled out a vertical integration tomato concentrate process with the end goal of securing its supplies. The first experiment is underway in the producer, NBG is palm oil industry. The GREENFIL project aims to create over 15,000 hectares of palm groves over the next 15 years in order to ensure the availability of AZUR and IBI’s indispensable raw pursuing its growth material. If successful, the group will repeat the experiment for tomatoes. by diversifying its Its banking partners’ trust in NBG has allowed the group to pursue its diversification by products and launching new products. The most recent, and dazzling, success is NABCO’s market launch of Ôpur mineral water, the national football team’s favourite drink. The subsidiary also makes implementing carbonated beverages under the VIGO brand name. a vertical Diversification is also taking place in new areas. The huge livestock population at the integration founder’s ranch in the Adamaoua region is prompting the group’s strategists to develop other niches, such as the dairy industry or charcuterie. strategy to Wanting to help officials overcome the difficulties and challenges they face, NBG plays secure supplies. a key role in Cameroon’s emergence. The group has invested over 43 billion FCFA in its various subsidiaries and paid nearly three billion FCFA in taxes. It was also one of the first companies to make a significant contribution to Cameroon’s fight against the Boko Haram terrorist sect by shipping food to the armed forces. Reflecting its philosophy of proximity, NBG’s civic commitment is also visible in its relationships with suppliers and customers. The group regularly participates in Ministry of Commerce campaigns against the high cost of living with the MIRAP project and proximity caravans. It has also heavily invested in making food available to refugees, people from the CAR displaced by war and victims of the MAROUA landslides for whom the chain of national solidarity had been set in motion. NBG is focusing on international markets in order to ensure its long-term success and consolidate its base. Pursuing those goals, the group has been gaining ground in the CEMAC zone for two decades. Its goods are available in Chad, Gabon, Congo, the CAR and Equatorial Guinea. AZUR products can also be found in Sudan, Ghana and the DRC. NBG will probably continue rolling out its growth strategy in Nigeria, Benin, Angola and other African countries. At NBG, they say the azure sky is the only limit. 

THrEE quEsTioNs For NBG CEO

Abbo Amadou How do you explain NBG’s success since it was founded?

How far along is the vertical integration strategy and when will its implementation be completed?

The vertical integration strategy is vital for us today. our activities The key to our have grown so big that we must success lies in three secure our supplies in order to essential points. ensure long-term success. We also First, there is El Hadj need to exercise better control over Nana Bouba’s clear, general and associated costs that humanistic vision. impact competitiveness, which is He wanted to set up M. ABBO AMADOU, increasingly fierce on our markets. a source creating wealth that would GEnERAL MAnAGER Of nAnA BOuBA Moreover, diversifying our offer benefit people, communities, the GROup. should allow us to better manage government and society as a whole the risks and crises that cause by investing, being involved in market instability. environmental issues, making a civic commitment, raising NBG will invest $60 million awareness of social and societal in palm groves (GREENFIL) responsibility and building a better by 2030. How will the group’s world to leave future generations. investment policy be The group also benefitted from one implemented in the projects of Africa’s greatest assets: youth. announced in various subsidiaries We placed our bets on the energy between now and 2020? of increasingly well-educated, experienced young people willing We’ve already invested nearly to meet challenges and see 50 billion in all the group’s activities themselves in a bright future and plan to invest even more in brimming with opportunities. strategic projects and support Lastly, we believe in the values for the growth and diversification of honesty and ethics as a mark to which we’re committed. of trust and long-term commitment Most of the investment will be to all the stakeholders. made in physical and intangible infrastructure, creating sustainable added value that is profitable for all.

ADVERTORIAL

A pivotal player in Cameroon’s emergence

DistriButiON

SOACAM

soACAM, the jewel in the group’s crown, stands head and shoulders above its competitors. The company, which was founded in 1984 and has 442 employees, is Cameroon’s leading importer of rice and its main distributor of basic necessities such as soap, refined oil, sugar, tomatoes, flour and pasta. That success is due to the fact that soACAM has its own logistical force, a network of 18 sales outlets and 63 storage facilities nationwide. The company’s presence in border areas allows it to shine in neighbouring countries, including Chad, Congo, Gabon and the CAr. Those assets enable 50 million people in Central Africa to consume to the group’s products every day.

sOAp

AZUR since it was created 15 years ago, the NBG industrial cluster’s flagship has become the unrivalled leader on the household soap market in Chad and Cameroon. AZur’s products can also be found in shops, supermarkets and hypermarkets in Congo and Gabon. its 770 employees process an important capacity of fat every year. AZur’s know-how is visible in its: - household soap - refined palm oil - glycerine.

WAtEr AND BEvErAGEs

NABCO

on 17 March, NABCo scored a goal by signing a partnership with the Fédération camerounaise de football (Fécafoot) making Ôpur mineral water,

its latest product, the national team’s drink. Launched in 2011, NABCo i s the group’s mineral water and health drink subsidiary. its plants in southwest Cameroon employ over 100 people. in 2014, NABCo made a sensational entrance on Cameroon’s competitive carbonated drinks market by launching six flavours (orange, grapefruit, grenadine, apple, pineapple and fruit cocktail) under the ViGo brand name. riding the wave of its success, the company is gearing up to bring other flavours out onto the market.

CONstruCtiON

BERNI S.A.

The NABCo plant in Limbe and the iBi and sAGri factories in Douala are some of the projects built by BErNi s.A, NBG’s construction branch. since 2012, the company has developed recognised expertise that creates value in the group. its areas of activity are: - construction of buildings - construction of dirt roads - civil engineering works - urban road works.

rEAl EstAtE

SCI KRINA

AGrO-fOOD

SAGRI

Housewives in Cameroon and Chad have been using the NEiMA brand of tomato concentrate to add flavour to their dishes since 2011. sAGri s.A.’s cutting-edge plant in the Bonabéri industrial zone (Douala), which employs around 50 people, annually produces more than half of tomato concentrate in Cameroon. To control the whole production chain, the company does not rule out upstream integration that will allow it to ensure NEiMA tomato paste’s excellent quality, known and appreciated by all.

AGrO-iNDustry

IBI S.A.

iBi s.A., the latest addition to NBG’s industrial activities, is entirely geared towards exporting soap to the CEMAC zone and beyond in order to meet steadily rising demand and keep pace with consumer trends. To reach those goals, in 2015 a soap factory boasting a significant production capacity for Central and West Africa. The $10-million investment created 2,000 jobs.

NBG has built a real estate empire worth over $10 million and set up the société Civile immobilière KriNA to manage it. That capital consists of: - several land titles - vacant land - buildings throughout Cameroon.

AGriCulturE

GREENFIL S.A.

in 2013, the group created GrEENFiL s.A. in order to secure supplies for AZur and iBi while guaranteeing the palm oil’s eco-responsible origin. NBG plans to invest $60 million in GrEENFiL s.A. in order to create nearly 15,000 hectares of palm groves by 2030, a large-scale project likely to generate 2,000 direct and indirect jobs. obtaining plots in the departments of océan (sud region) and Nkam (Littoral region) will allow GrEENFiL s.A. to plant the first 500 hectares in 2016.

SAOCAM Building Marché Congo 3rd floor – Po BoX 3031 – Douala, Cameroon Phone Fax: (00237) 233 42 17 16 informations@nanaboubagroup.com www.nanaboubagroup.com

tHE NANA BOuBA GrOup

country focus | cameroon

Agribusiness

Challenges great and small Jan-Joseph Stok/Greenpeace

Cameroon’s agricultural transformation depends on meeting smallholder needs and addressing the problems that industrial-scale investments face

access to finance more difficult. He ameroon has great agricultural potential, but the sector is concludes: “Then there is the issue largely stagnant. Local farmers, of roads, infrastructure and equipdonors and the government are comment, like tractors, to better develop mitting funds to Cameroon’s agriculture agricultural land. Only the state and sector, but both smallholders and large investors like the multinationals can make investments of that size. This reindustrial projects are encountering quires funding, and that explains why difficulties. While each group has its we have big hopes for the government’s own concerns, they are unanimous in their support for more legal clarity proposed agricultural bank.” about land rights and more spending MICROFINANCE BANK on farm-to-market infrastructure. There are many projects on the way Théophile Nono, president of the to help small-scale farmers. The Mouvement des Paysans Associés du Cameroun, explains the sector’s major Chambre d’Agriculture du Cameroun problems: “There are many challenges started to raise funds in February for an agriculture-focused microfinance bank. in Cameroonian agriculture, but you have to start with the availAnd in January, the African ability of quality inputs and Development Bank agreed totally eliminate the trade to provide a $100m loan to improve value chains of oil in doctored products […]. Then there is the fact that palm, plantain and pinesubsidies and training are apple production. almost nonexistent. […] FiWhile the government nally, loans are too rare for is keen on encouraging small-scale farmers. When both small farms and ina farmer finds a loan, the dustrial plantations, large terms are usually too onerfarms – often backed by ous due to the profits that foreign companies – have tonnes of cocoa peasant farmers can get struggled to get developproduced in 2014-15 ments off the ground. Two from their production.” harvest – up 12% Ndioro A Mbassa, an agprojects – Herakles Farms’ riculture researcher, agrees oil palm plantations in the south-west and the Justin Sugar Mills’ that much needs to be done: “First off, there is the land problem. It is project in Batouri, in the east – illusnot that the land is not available. You trate the obstacles companies face. Herakles – owned by New York-based have to have the uncontested right to it.” He adds: “Even large-scale projects Herakles Capital – first announced also find this to be troublesome. It is in 2009 that it had signed a deal to a delicate situation.” He explains that develop 73,000ha of oil palm plantathe lack of firm titles makes getting tions, which would have been one of

232,530

source: NCCB

The Herakles oil palm project was downsized when it fell foul of environmental groups

the largest in Africa. Local non-governmental organisation Struggle to Economize Future Environment and foreign partners campaigned against the project, saying it will lead to deforestation in protected areas and that it did not take into account the wishes of local populations. In response, the government pared down the project area in 2013 to 20,000ha and made the award of land short-term, with a validity of just three years so it could hold the company to account. A delegation from the economy ministry went on an inspection visit early this year and explained that the project was moving ahead, albeit more slowly than previously announced. Herakles officials said that they have grown half a million oil palm seedlings and are building a processing plant at Talangaye. Elsewhere, the Cameroonian and Indian investors behind the Justin Sugar Mills project have been engaged in a very public quarrel with the government. A joint venture deal for the development of 15,000ha was first signed in 2012, but industry minister Emmanuel Bondé announced the project’s cancellation in 2014. The prime minister seemed to side with the investors and gave them a go-ahead in mid-2015, but the government pulled out again in December. Justin Sugar Mills are now looking for private investors and have threatened to sue for damages. ● Jean Baptiste Ketchateng in Yaoundé and Honoré Banda

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cameroon | country focus

PeoPle to Watch

Big bankers and growing microfinanciers

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©FernAnd kuIssu For TAr

©jeAn pIerre kepseu

frilandFirstBankisnowthelargest Cameroonian bank in terms of assets, in a sector long dominated by foreign banks. The bank is the main project of economist and multimillionaire Paul Kammogne Fokam (1), a discreet man in his 60s. Over more than 20 years, Fokam turned the middling Caisse Commune d’Epargne et d’Investissement into a heavyweight second only to Gabon’s BGFIBank group in Central Africa. Afriland got its start gaining the trust of tontines (rotating savings groups) and entrepreneurs. Fokam follows a similar approach in his other ventures, particularly at the microfinance institution Les Mutuelles Communautaires de Croissance. The big banks have not yet blanketed the country with branches, which leaves some opportunities for the smaller players. Crédit du Sahel, headed by Daniel Kalbassou (2), is the microfinance institution with the widest reach in northern Cameroon – an area not well served by public or other services. Having raised 20m CFA francs from the local elite, Kalbassou started the institution in 1997 to collect savings and direct finance into the region’s productive sectors: agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing and small enterprises. There is a market for Crédit du Sahel’s services and it raised its capital to 2bn CFA francs ($3.5m) in 2013. Another microfinance institution with a strong local base, albeit a more urban one, is Crédit Communautaire d’Afrique (CCA), based in Bafoussam. Financier Albert Nkemla owns CCA through his Afrigroup holding company and has helped it to expand to Douala and Yaoundé. Cameroon’s economic and political capitalsarehometothecountry’sforeignowned banks, particularly the ones that have been in the country for decades, like Société Générale Cameroun. Managing directorAlexandreBeziaudarrivedfrom a Paris posting last year and leads the French-owned bank. It has 32 branches and 169,000 clients, of which 6,000 are

©Bruno LevY THe AFrICA Ceo ForuM/jA

As banks fight for market share and microfinance institutions spread their net, who are the directors leading the charge?

companies, and is regularly one of the top three Cameroonian banks. Alain Ripert, the director of Banque Internationale du Cameroun pour l’Epargne et le Crédit (BICEC), is facing tougher times. The subsidiary of France’s BPCE is struggling to improve its image after the press reported on cases of fraud. BICEC is currently undertaking investigations and promises appropriate actions to remedy any problems. public needs to know

Pierre Numkam, a former banker who now leads the Mutuelle Inter-Africaine des Consommateurs des Biens et Services, argues that customers need to be informed about BICEC and its peers. He says: “It is the only way to avoid bank failures that rob families and development efforts. Many banks today are badly run or facing crisis because of the structure of the sector. We need to educate the public so that they know about what is going on.” He points to the recent closure of the Compagnie Financière de l’Estuaire and the entry into receivership of Commercial Bank Cameroon. The challenge for Agnès Ndoumbe Mandeng Likeng is that of managing expectations. She has been working at the highly anticipated and small businessfocusedBanqueCamerounaise des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises since 2014. One of the rare women at the highest echelons of the banking, she – like her mentor and Société Nationale d’Investissement (SNI) boss Aïssatou Yaou (3) – was trained in France. With many small enterprises starved of finance, Likeng is charged with translating the government’s ambition for local businesses into action. Her bank awarded its first loans late last year. Yaou has been overseeing a portfolio of 32 state-owned companies since 2003. Prior to her posting at the SNI, she had a long career as minister for women’s affairs. She is from northern Cameroon, like Alamine Ousmane Mey, the former boss of Afriland First Bank and the current finance minister. In his fifties, Mey is a rising star, leading a newer generation of managers educated in Western universities. They are taking over from the group of financiers largely trained at the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales in Douala. ● Jean Baptiste Ketchateng in Yaoundé

country focus | cameroon

interview

Protais Ayangma Amang President, Entreprises du Cameroun (E.Cam)

We must abandon an economy based on rents Cameroon’s entrepreneurial dynamism will continue to be stifled unless the government goes further to eradicate obstacles, says the head of business lobby group E.Cam

rotais Anyagma Amang has be en fighting to improve the business world in Cameroon for the past 30-odd years. The 64-yearold insurance man left the sector in 2015 to concentrate on representing the interests of businesses – particularly small and me d i u m -s i ze d e nte rprises (SMEs). In 2011, he had created the employers’ organisation Entreprises du Cameroun (E.Cam), which now has 500 company members. E.Cam’s goal is to make SMEs the pillar of Cameroon’s economic growth. TAR: How is the private sector doing now? Protais Ayangma Amang: The 2015 results are not in yet, but we can say that some companies are doing very well, while others are doing pretty badly. The service sector is doing well – particularly banking, which has shown some good results, and telecoms, even though there has been a slight weakening yearon-year. The food sector is doing well, as are breweries, but manufacturers are suffering.

Whatexplainsthepoorperformance of manufacturers and the agro-industrial sector? Generally, the business environment is not getting any better […]. But for these sectors in particular, factories are working below their capacity because of very strong global competition and weak protection for local companies. For example, flour mills are complaining about their lack of protection. What is needed to improve the economy? The challenges are well-known. I spoke about the business environment: the Doing Business ranking shows there is a lot of room for improvement compared with other countries. Entrepreneurs continue to call for supportive taxation policies. Access to electricity is a problem in terms of quantity, quality and price. Governance is also a general problem: the bureaucracy is suffocating and there is corruption. How does corruption impact the private sector? Vastly. Corruption weakens competition and creates a great

SME champion 1951 Born in Yaoundé 1985 Founded the Compagnie Nationale d’Assurance

deal of inequality between business leaders. It raises costs. It hurts competitiveness because it is not the best who wins.

1996 Started the newspaper Mutations

Are bribes required to win state contracts? You know what is happening. Do not ask me to go into the details […]. You find it everywhere.

2008 Elected vice-president of the Chambre de Commerce, d’Industrie, des Mines et de l’Artisanat 2011 Created the employers’ group Entreprises du Cameroun

How do you find the dialogue between the government and private sector? It is pretty good. A couple of frameworks have been put in place, notably the Cameroon Business Forum [CBF], which is led by the prime minister and allows us to address problems in the business world. The theme of the last CBF was how to improve the image of the business sector. Although we have not reached total agreement, we have the chance to

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country focus

©Fernand Kuissu for TAR

massive finance, it is now coming in homeopathic doses. They should rethink the bank’s strategy because it is not responding to the market’s expectations.

make proposals, to indicate our position on the problems that affect us. It is a step. Before there was no dialogue. But aren’t the same points raised year after year to no avail? The administration is slow. Reforms take a long time. But there has been progress in the dialogue, and we have got some things done. What is the best concession that the government has made? We are now working on 20 or so recommendations that impact a number of sectors, particularly those highlighted by the Doing Business survey. The issues relate to the creation of businesses, to justice reform and property rights. Investors complain that justice is slow and sometimes “unjust”. It is difficult to invest the africa report

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when a document like a land title has no value […]. In terms of promoting investment, the state has done a lot. But we feel that SMEs are often forgotten when it comes to competing for public contracts and getting finance. They account for 95% of the country’s businesses.

“SMEs are often forgotten when it comes to competing for public contracts” Has the launch of the SME bank in 2015 had a positive impact? E.Cam members have been disappointed, maybe because their expectations were so high. People talked about the bank like it was a panacea, and it is far from that. It is not very visible, you don’t hear much about it. While entrepreneurs hoped for

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What are E.Cam’s projects for the future? Every two years, we organise an event called PME Exchange. We want SMEs to have an opportunity to grow by giving them a forum to exchange ideas, meet partners and show off their savoir faire […]. We are launching a business centre that will be operational in a few weeks. It will provide small companies with all that they need, like internet access and other tools they may not be able to get on their own […]. We are also launching the first ‘Business Centre Europe’ in sub-Saharan Africa, with the European Union. It will allow us to be connected with more than 64 countries and several thousand companies across the world. It is a big opening to the world that will help us to try to limit the damaging effects of the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements and see how we can approach external markets and build partnerships. What are the prospects for local processing of raw materials as a basis for Cameroon’s industrialisation? There are many challenges that we must resolve if we are going to industrialise. There’s the electricity deficit, which we think will be sorted out in the medium term. There are financing problems; we still don’t have the expertise that we need. This is where the state has a determining role to play: it must put in place the basic conditions for entrepreneurs to act. There is real entrepreneurial dynamism in Cameroon but we must absolutely abandon an economy based on rents. We produce but we do not process anything […]. We need to prioritise our national companies. We have to have national champions. We also have to accept that we will go through a learning period. ● Interview by Reinnier Kazé in Yaoundé

business South Africa

A tailormade rebound Two decades ago 55,000 workers lost their jobs in the textile industry. Against the odds, the government and entrepreneurs are bringing the sector back to life

By Crystal Orderson in Cape Town

t the Kazak clothing factory in the Observatory neighbourhood of Cape Town the radio blares music over the hammering and whirring of machines. Hundreds of women are hard at work putting together eveningwear of different colours. Boris Kozhanow, the energetic owner of the plant, looks on. With his multiple tattoos, he seems more like a biker than a factory owner, but his enthusiasm for manufacturing shines through.

Kozhanow has been in the business for more than 30 years and started his factory with only 38 people. His employment roster now comprises more than 600 people, and he has created jobs in an industry few wanted to invest in. “I am crazy, but I am passionate about this industry. I want to create opportunities for people,” says Kozhanow. He admits that there have been challenging times, but says he took advantage of a recent government scheme to invest in the company and look for new markets. ● ● ●

Boris Kozhanow, boss of the Kazak clothing factory: “I am crazy but I am passionate about this industry”

all pictures by Sydelle Willow Smith for TAR

business

“Everybody wants to blame someone. Instead of blaming China, Bangladesh, Mauritius or Turkey, we saw it as an opportunity to use new technology to sustain and create more jobs.” For decades, the clothing and textile sector was the lifeblood of working-class families in Cape Town and Durban. Tens of thousands of women were employed and able to put food on the table. Then came two blows: with the advent of democracy in 1994, a sector inadvertently protectedbyapartheidopened up; and, in 2006, a global trade deal that limited clothing exports from Asian producers like China and Pakistan expired. For South African textiles it was a bloodbath, especially in the provinces of Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Waves of layoffs left many families without breadwinners, with on average five dependents for each salary. According to the South African Labour Research Institute, more than 55,000 jobs were lost between 2003 and 2005 alone. ●●●

still struggling

Maud Weaner, who is 51 years old, sits comfortably in her chair while she relates her life in the clothing sector in Western Cape. She started at a young age and saw close friends and colleagues lose their jobs over the years. In 2006, she was laid off when the largest local swimwear manufacturer, Speedo, shut its doors in Cape Town. “All the big companies closed and the bosses opened smaller cut-and-trim businesses,” says Weaner. “Women are still struggling to find jobs in the sector.” The retrenchment put pressure on her family, and her two daughters dropped Delicate garments like nightwear and lingerie demand special skills, making experienced textile workers valuable. Grants have also allowed companies like Kazak to invest in new cutting technology and training for staff joining the industry

out of school to help out. With their aid, she was able to keep a roof over their heads. Slowly but surely, the sector has recorded a fragile recovery. It employed an estimated 165,832 people in 2003, according to the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU), and employment dropped regularly for more than a decade. Government data agency Stats SA reports that by September 2015 there were more than 90,000 workers employed in clothing, textile and footwear manufacturing. Between September 2014 and September 2015, employment in the sector increased by 1.8%. loans and grants

The government created incentives to help turn around the textile sector in 2009. Trade and industry minister Rob Davies tells The Africa Report: “We found an industry that was basically written off ” and no one really believed that it could be saved. In 2009, Davies and his counterpart at economic affairs, Ebrahim Patel, introduced the Clothing and Textile Competitiveness Improvement Programme (CTCIP). This scheme has slowly ratcheted up loans and grants over the past few years to help companies improve competitiveness and pay for capital upgrading. In addition, the Industrial Development Corporation has helped 93 companies with loans and investments totalling R2.2bn ($150.5m), saving an estimated 12,000 jobs in the process. The governing African National Congress (ANC) is keen to trumpet a relative economic success, especially in an election year. Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa addressed an ANC rally in Limpopo in January, saying: “This year, we want to see clear progress in fundamentally transforming our economy. We will work to boost growth, even in the face of difficult economic conditions. We will encourage investment in new factories.” And the industry also had strong supporters, most notably SACTWU, with ● ● ● n ° 81

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business | companies & markets

● ● ● its aggressive ‘Save Jobs’ campaign and strong lobbying of government. SACTWU head of research Etienne Vlok explains: “Incentives have helped companies receive grants to buy machines and train workers and improve their competitiveness.”

Left: Christine Matywatywa (left) and a fellow textile worker share a light moment on the factory floor. Below: More men are now being employed as machinists, such as Godfrey from Zimbabwe

Zara, Mango and H&M have set up shop in South Africa in recent years, investing millions in new stores. H&M’s South Africa spokeswoman, Amelia-May Woudstra, says the company is not yet sourcing any clothing locally, though it has already started producing garments in Ethiopia. “We are always looking into producing garments in all countries around the world and we see great potential in Africa,” says Woudstra. Chinese companies are able to produce at lower costs than their South African rivals, allowing them to pick up market share. Managing the China challenge will be tough but not impossible, as Kazak has proved. It has partnered with South African retailer Foschini, and Foschini now says 65% of its womenswear is made locally. Kazak is one of its primary suppliers.

springboard for jobs

The hope is to stabilise the recovery, and eventually grow the sector again. Johann Baard, executive director of the Cape Clothing Association, says: “The capitalto-labour ratio in the clothing sector is one of the lowest of all manufacturing sectors globally, and the clothing manufacturing industry can serve as the springboard for significant job creation in the country […]. This means [it takes] an investment of R20,623 to create one clothing job, as opposed to an investment in the auto sector of R279,586 for one job.” CTCIP is now bearing fruit. Christine Matywatywa was one of the machinists who lost her job in the early 2000s. She has been working at Kazak for the past six years and has been trained to use new machinery. “I learnt new skills and enjoy my job. It’s fast-paced, and you have to concentrate on making a perfect and clean garment,” she explains. Kozhanow says Kazak was able to benefit from the CTCIP scheme, getting modern cutting machines and computers that help pattern-makers create new designs. Kozhanow says: “With our new state-of-the-art machines we can generate patterns virtually,

send them to our cutting room and start producing immediately.” Several workers were also trained in using the new machines, and this has enabled the company to turn around clothes more quickly. “We have the manpower and skills here and can supply clothing fast to retailers we want to supply, not only nationally but also for the international market.” Could the arrival of giant clothing retailers in South Africa also help local textile companies?

going local

South African textile employment (1000s of jobs)

250 212 200

201 177 174

150

174

177 165 161

154 130 140 136 120

100

107 102

Clothing, textile, leather employment: formal

50 1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

87 93

2012

89 2014

source: sactwu

Domestic retailers like Woolworths, the Edcon Group (which includes big retailers like Edgars) and Mr. Price import up to 70% of their apparel. But the Foschini group is offsetting the higher costs of local manufacturing with greater efficiency gains. “It’s not often that retailers and manufacturers work in unison. This has been a good long-standing relationship,” says Kozhanow. When it comes to the export markets, the collapse of the rand has been an unexpected boost. But in the medium to long term, Vlok believes the industry must “focus on quality, not price. Let’s compete on design, where people are prepared to pay more.” Analysts are not expecting the South African textile sector to return to the employment levels of decades past, but this turnaround points to the creation of a more sustainable niche in the local and global marketplace. ●

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business | companies & markets

Telecoms

Skype no more

Morocco is the latest African government to ban free internet calling services, riling consumers, who say traditional calling is too expensive

anyMoroccansareinuproar over a ban on using mobile and broadband internet to place calls through servicessuchasSkype,WhatsAppand Viber. After the country’s telecoms regulator, the Agence Nationale de RéglementationdesTélécommunications (ANRT), declared in January that voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services are not permitted through mobile internet, operators began to block calls. “Telephony services can only be provided by those who hold an official telecommunications licence […]. Free telephony on internet protocol does not fulfil these conditions,” the body said. In March, the ANRT extended its ban on VoIP calls to fixed broadband internet connections, drawing further outcry. Protesters have accused mobile operators Maroc Telecom, Meditel and Inwi of trying to maximise profits by forcing customers to buy expensive international talk time. The recent ban has helped Maroc Telecom, which controls about 40% of the telecoms market share, to boost its profits. In April, the company reported a 16% rise in its net income for the first three months of 2016, to $1.6bn, compared to the same period last year. Its turnover was also 10.2% higher.

“Voice is a mature product with worldwide penetration rates of 96.8%, and consumers’ habits are changing.Socialmediaarebecoming increasingly popular.” Drave says Maroc Telecom’s improved results are mainly due to strong fixed and mobile data growth in Morocco and the performance of its sub-Saharan African operations. Several attempts were made to contact Meditel’s press office to get the company’s take on the VoIP crackdown, but no response was provided. While at least one phone company – Inwi – has confirmed that it is looking into a new internet calling platform to get around the ban on VoIP calls, many Moroccans are simply choosing to boycott traditional calling services. “I used to use Skype all the time or WhatsApp chat just to say hello,” says Moona Benyoussef, a mother of two living in Casablanca who has family in France. “But the costs of calling abroad in the traditional sense are so high it’s not worth it. In any case, a phone call is not the same as being able to see people on Skype.”

changing habits

Binta Drave, a telecoms equities analyst with investment firm Exotix, tells The Africa Report that mobile operators are losing money to VoIP services but it’s not the only reason for a decline in calling. “Operators often blame VoIP for a decline in voice revenue, but the reality is a bit more complex,” she says.

ticker tape Mining Botswana miner BCL to raise $250m for acquisitions

As in many parts of Africa, internet chat services have become increasingly popular in Morocco, with its large diaspora in places such as France and the US. International call packages through the main telecoms operators are expensive. For example with Meditel, 30 minutes of talk time to France costs about $5. Access to unlimited call time to a select number of countries that includes France, Tunisia, Britain and the US costs around $40 per month. There are still options available for free calls. Benyoussef explains: “Some messaging services such as Google Hangouts and Facebook are still working, but they’re a bit complicated because if people aren’t in your network you can end up paying for the call. We’ve been trying with virtual private network (VPN) services.”

$137 bn

Estimated global value of the VoIP sector by 2020 Source: Transparency Market Research

dark web solutions

Skype’s phenomenal growth against traditional telephone 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Annual growth (billions of minutes) International phone trafﬁc

S International Skype-to-Skype source: telegeography

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Telecoms Orange buys Liberia’s Cellcom and Tigo’s operations in the DRC

One of the most common VPN services in Morocco is Betternet, which acts as a proxy server, masking the user’s IP address and encrypting internet services. Other options include the TOR (The Onion Router) app, which is part of what is called ‘the dark web’. TOR works by randomly generating a series of IP addresses from anywhere in the world and routing encrypted internet traffic through them. It makes it virtually impossible for national authorities to trace a user’s internet history. The decision to block the free call services led to a storm of protest on social media sites, a relatively rare reaction in Morocco. Protesters launched several online petitions to challenge the ban. One

Agribusiness Nigeria’s Dangote Sugar plans to raise $503m to expand its operations the africa report

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on the site Change.org calling on the ANRT to reverse the decision received 8,500 signatures. Zakaria Boumarouane, an entrepreneur who signed the online petition, explains the ban’s negative impact: “I work freelance, and discussions and business calls over Skype are part of my daily life […]. What alternatives do the phone companies offer me? It’s a mockery to all young entrepreneurs who are trying to run international businesses in a difficult economic climate.” A number of pictures appeared on Facebook of children holding up personalised messages to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to ask him to intervene to help them reach family membersinEuropeandelsewhere. All over the continent governmentsandtelecomscompaniesare grappling with the impact of VoIP

services. In January, the telecommunications committee of South Africa’s parliament held meetings on the regulation of Over-The-Top (OTT) services like Skype. Some telecoms operators argued that firms like Skype and Google do not pay local taxes and are thus unfair competition, but the companies providing VoIP services said that they should not be regulated in the same way as telecoms networks. Committee chair Mmamoloko Kubayi said it was unlikely the government would issue new regulations. some still smiling

Not all companies oppose the use of OTT services. Firms like Smile Communications, which operates in countries such as Nigeria and Uganda, are proponents of VoIP because they operate 4G LTE

Retail South African chain Pick n Pay announced in April it will open in Nigeria the africa report

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Finance Kenyan financial services company Britam reports $11.8m loss for 2015

mobilebroadbandnetworksrather than traditional voice ones. The Moroccan ban follows similarmovesinEgypt,Ethiopia,Gambia and Zimbabwe. In Gambia in 2013, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority argued it was losing money to Skype, and the government banned the commercial use of the service in internet cafés. In September last year, Egyptian users reported problems with internet-based calls, although in this case it seems the telecoms regulator banned services due to security concerns. Skype responded to the ban in Egypt, saying: “We believe it should be up to consumers, not regulatory authorities, to choose the winners and losers in the communications space.” The company has yet to comment on developments in Morocco. ● Celeste Hicks in Casablanca

Oil Angola’s Sonangol to split up its regulatory and administrative functions

business | leaders

interview

outhAfrica’sVodacom operates telecom networks in just a handful of countries, but offers business services in more than 40 African states. Vodacom is rapidly growing its cloud services, operates eight data centres and has more than 300 corporate cloud clients.

TAR: What is Vodacom’s Africa strategy? VuyAniJARAnA:Predominantly, the strategy is around making sure that in countries where we’ve got full infrastructure and mobile services – like South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Mozambique and Lesotho – we develop total communication services for enterprises, which means from mobility to fixed services. We’ve becomethe end-to-end provider to enterprises andgovernmentsinthosemarkets. In markets where we don’t have mobile licences, the big focus is around connecting multinationals and global organisations. It is light touch, pan-African – where we don’t have underlying infrastructure but we connect organisations that want a presence in multi-country operations. But, in the markets where we’ve got full infrastructure, we go deeper to provide rich services. We have announced a collaboration with IBMtoprovidethe first cloud managing services in Africa. There’s been a lot of talk about rolling out 4G and LTE services andhowthatcouldbetransformative. What are the barriers to getting this off the ground? The big issue always comes down to spectrum. Countries have to find a framework within which they can allocate spectrum for 4G to be able to drive investment. African governments should move simply to allocate 4G spectrum so they can encourage investment. You will have cities benefiting from fixed investment, but rural areas are always going to benefit from mobile broadband and the invest-

Vuyani Jarana Chief officer, Enterprise Business Unit, Vodacom

The big issue comes down to spectrum

Opportunities abound in 4G networks and cloud computing, not just in providing services put in helping companies make the transition, says the architect of vodacom’s strategy for emerging businesses

ment in LTE becomes important. Every year, we try to bring down the price of entry-level 4G smartphones. In order to drive adoption of 4G, we need to make sure the handsets are much more affordable. I’m quite confident that what is coming through next will make affordability less of an issue. What’s the big sell on cloud computing? The big opportunity in cloud computing is not just providing a platform for companies to collaborate, it’s helping companies to transition from their current systems to cloud-based systems, helping them to unlock the benefits of cloud computing beyond saving costs. in which countries are your customers asking for services? Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya and the DRC, [but] it depends which sector. You’ll see them in the big mining countries. We’re also seeing a lot more demand for services in Morocco. We have clients in banking, oil and gas, retail, manufacturing, cement and other sectors. We constantly map out which companies and sectors are interested, in which countries, in order to provide a solution that is fit for purpose.

Vision for Vodacom 1970 Born in South Africa 2004 Awarded a master’s in business administration from Stellenbosch University 2005 Named executive director of Vodacom’s Southern African operations 2011 Appointed chief operating officer of Vodacom South Africa 2012 Became chief officer of Vodacom’s Enterprise Business Unit

MTn nigeria is fighting a record$3.9bnfineafterthe company missed a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers. Are you concerned about the regulatory environment there? Absolutely not. We’ve been operating in Nigeria for many years now and we have not seen any change in the government’s posture towards our industry. The only challenge we are concerned about is the broader issue of economicgrowth, which is similar in most countries. When the economy improves, then the pie starts growing again. your core market is South Africa. How do you see the economic situation there? South Africa’s economic outlook is challenging. We do think that if you look at the underlying demand for services at the consumer level, it has not tapered despite the rather sluggish economic outlook. Our view is that there are still opportunities to be looked into. One of them is around providing information technology services, internet and transforming value chains. Of course, we the africa report

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leaders | business

AppoInTMenTS can’t be naive about this. At some point, the consumer will feel the pressure. But at this stage, we think that there will still be growth.

Who are your clients today, and what kind of clients would you like to attract in the future? In the countries where we’ve got fully fledged infrastructure, we cover a range of customers: small and medium-sized enterprises, governments, mid-sized enterprises and multinationals across industries. We have vertical solutions for most industries that talk tothecustomers’needs.Acrossthe continent, for any company or organisation that has multi-country needs or has a multi-country presence, we provide connectivity. We stitch [together] a network that makes their branches operate as if they were in the same location. How does mobile money figure into your strategy? If you look at most countries where we operate, Vodacom has M-Pesa as a platform. It has been very, very successful in Tanzania, in the DRC, in Lesotho and Mozambique. In South Africa it’s a bit of a struggle because of the large banking system there, but [it has taken off] in areas with a lot of unbanked people. ● Interview by Mark Anderson in Abidjan

Nhlanhla Nene South Africa’s former finance minister landed on his feet after his departure from government in late 2015. Appointed to the board of asset management firm Allan Gray in April, he also works as a resident adviser a ebe Investment es e Co p at Thebe Corp.

Victoria Kwakwa The Ghanaian economist was named as the new vice-president for East Asia and Pacific at the World Bank after being promoted from her role as Vietnam country director. She will oversee the bank’s lending commitments to the region, currently estimated at more than $7bn.

Barrie van der Merwe Troubled South African miner Lonmin has poached the Debswana Diamond Company finance head to take up the role as the firm’s chief financial officer following the departure of Simon Scott. Van der Merwe took up his new position on 17 May.

The Ethiopian government has long been talking about privatisingstate-ownedcompanies.Do you think Ethio Telecom will be privatised soon? It’shardtotell.Wecanonlyhope it happens, and that when it happens Vodacom is among the operatorsselected.Thereareotherways of providing services – through partnerships, for example. Some ofthe servicesthatwillbeprovided arerichservicesaroundtransformation, whether it’s in agriculture, healthcare or education. Some of these solutions don’t need underlying infrastructure. That’s where we tend to look for partnerships with in-country operators.

business | finance

The run on Chase Bank was exacerbated when poor communication bred panic

Kenya banks

Breaking bad

Three banks have been placed into receivership in the past year. Is there more trouble on the horizon or will the new central bank governor whip things into shape?

iquidity problems, hidden loans and boardroom wars have forced the closure of three Kenyan banks in a 10-month period, raising fears of deeper problems lurking below the surface of the country’s finance sector. Analysts fear that there are more shake-ups to come but argue that the most likely impact is a shrinking of the number of banks. Since 2013, the government has been implementing tougher rules on non-performing loans and other issues to address concerns about the sector. Ferdinand Okoth, a financial consultant and lecturer, explains their impact: “Commercial banks especially will struggle under these new governance rules,” he says. “Consolidation, if it is done above board, may be a real option for some of them.” The recent banking troubles started late last year. In August the authorities closed Dubai Bank – the country’s smallest lender,

with just $40,000 of deposits – after a string of management scandals. The country’s central bank said “liquidity and capital deficiencies” triggered its closure. imperial exposed

But it was the closure of Imperial Bank in October that sent shockwaves through Kenya’s finance market. After the sudden death of the bank’s managing director, Abdulmalek Janmohamed, a decade-long scam involving unsecured and unauthorised loans was unearthed, leaving a $300m hole in deposits. The central bank sought to reassure the market by saying the bank only represents 1.8% of the sector. It added that “this incident does not present a systemic concern”. But the closure of Kenya’s seventeenth-largest bank by total assets was bound to create waves. A quiet but significant depositor flight began at Chase Bank immediately after Imperial Bank was

KSh 1.1bn Cash withdrawn by Chase Bank customers on the day it reopened Source: KCB

closed. A liquidity crisis followed, and on 7 April the central bank announced that Chase Bank would go into receivership. In the weeks preceding that decision, panic spread even further, leading to a bank run that was at first quiet, then unhinged. At the height of it, according to a Chase Bank manager who declined to be named, customers were withdrawing at least $15,000 per second from the bank’s mobile application alone. The bank’s poor communication made the problem worse, says Charles Gacheru, a Chase Bankcustomerwhohadmorethan $1m at the bank in April. “Everyone lied or withheld information when all we needed was reassurance,” he says. “Our company had issued 16 cheques in the two days before 7 April, so you can imagine the mess we were in when that announcement came in.” The central bank announced on 20 April that Chase Bank would be managed by major lender Kenya Commercial Bank and reopen to the public on 27 April. Some banks have struggled to manage the growth in customer numbers. Deposit accounts grew from 18.9m accounts in June 2013 to 31.6m accounts in June 2015, according to the central bank. The roots of this remarkable growth go back a decade: in 2003, President Mwai Kibaki’s government had pressured the banking sector to offer more credit to spur economic growth. Equity Bank’s pioneering strategy to get more people into the formal banking sector then gained alifeofitsown.Theeconomygrew, but so did non-performing loans. lax oversight

To address the problem of serial defaulters, legislators introduced a legal framework for credit reference bureaux in 2008. In 2013, the central bank enacted a new set of prudential and risk management guidelines for lenders, replacing the previous ones, which had been issued in 2005. Among other things, the rules require lenders the africa report

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hannibal to classify as bad loans all loan accounts held by any borrower who defaults on any loan for more than three months. Financial consultant Okoth explains the impact of those changes: “The 2013 prudential guidelines were an important trigger for what we are seeing today, especially because they also raised the core capitalrequirementsandtightened rules around disclosure.” But that was actually just the beginning, and oversight and supervision were at best lax at the time. monk brings new habits

The leadership of the central bank has been dogged by corruption charges. Court documents filed by Imperial Bank’s surviving directors revealed emails that showed Imperial Bank’s Janmohamed paid for former central bank governor Njuguna Ndung’u and his wife to visit a luxury health spa in Thailand. Hopes for reform were raised in June 2015 when Patrick Njoroge – who is referred to as ‘the monk’ because of his devotion to the Opus Dei Catholic institution – became the country’s new central bank governor. This powerful personal brand was meant to tell the sector that the new chief was incorruptible and has nothing to lose by doing his job right. Njoroge set about trying to make it more difficult for banks to hide non-performingloans.On16April, with lessons learnt from the three bank failures and the messy boardroom wars at Chase Bank, he announced an interest-free credit line for banks with liquidity issues. It was some anaesthesia for the surgery, but “not a loan, credit or a bailout” according to Njoroge. He did not say how many banks had used this lifeline or how much has been borrowed. Gacheru and other Chase Bank customers are lucky because the bank reopened after just three weeks. The depositors of the other two banks are still waiting, almost a year later, for even a sliver of hope. Court cases are piling up, putting even more pressure on the central bank to tighten the noose around bad banking practices. ● Morris Kiruga in Nairobi

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The timing is the message? US-based miner Freeport-McMoRan is selling its 56% stake in its prized Tenke Fungurume copper and cobalt mine to China Molybdenum for $2.7bn. That might seem like any regular bit of business news, but it comes at a time when Congolese politics is entering a period of uncertainty. President Joseph Kabila is due – but unlikely – to organise elections by November and step down once they lead to a new president. Freeport execs worked closely with the Kabila regime, gave the impression they were in it for the long haul and avoided demands for contract renegotiations. In addition to Freeport’s high debts and the low copper prices, was there something else that worried the company?

Galamsey grief The low commodity price environment is throwing up all sorts of conflicts. In May, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes agreed to hear the case that gold miner AngloGold Ashanti has brought against the government of Ghana. The South Africa-based company declared force majeure in February due to insecurity after more than 100 galamsey (artisanal miners) entered its Obuasi mine. AngloGold has complained about galamsey for years, and the arbitration is likely to worsen relations before it improves them. AngloGold had already turned over 60% of its Obuasi concession to the government in March after the company’s investment deal with Randgold fell through.

Nothing to fear Mining companies complain that governments are often behind the times. They also like to gripe when officials talk about changing mining codes, potentially hurting their profits. South Africa’s mines minister Mosebenzi Zwane is overseeing consultations to reform the Mining Charter. Companies have complained that the 30-day review period is too short and that the draft’s call for a permanent minimum black economic empowerment stake of 26% would be too onerous. To calm the complaints, minister Zwane told media: “I don’t foresee a situation where investors should be scared of people practising their democratic right to engage.” Not exactly soothing words.

Adapt to survive The pirates and militants who operate in the Niger Delta and the wider Gulf of Guinea region have been forced into a corner by recent lower oil prices. A report from the Oceans Beyond Piracy non-governmental organisation in the United States in May said that pirates are shifting their strategies and relying more on kidnappings since stolen oil cargoes are not worth as much. Meanwhile, in the Delta militant fighters have been upping their attacks on oil installations – one of the latest was on a Chevron platform in early May – as it appears that the Nigerian government will not continue with an amnesty programme and payments that had bought relative peace over the past few years. ●

dossier oil & gas

Gas fuels Mozambique and Tanzania’s economic potential has been hard hit by low prices for natural gas, but investors are now looking closer to home for customers By Neil Ford

t is tempting to see the oil price crash as denting hopes for eco nomic growth, especially for energy exporters. But for gas producers, there may be a silver lining, with lower prices creating an opportunity to use natural gas for power generation and other projects. The future of Southern Africa’s gas market, for example, could lie along a 2,600km pipeline linking the gas fields of Mozam

bique to South Africa’s Gauteng Province. The African Renaissance Gas Pipeline (ARGP) is the biggest planned gas project on the contin ent and is set to link Mozambique’s 180 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of re serves with consumers at home and in South Africa. Producers had once banked on exporting the bulk of Mozam bique’s reserves to markets in Asia and the United States, but a fall in

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More than just pipe dreams: Mozambique’s gas may power its expansion

growth Graham Kietzmann

prices is changing these plans. Gas prices are tied to crude oil prices, and Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices fell from $20 per million British thermal units (mbtu) in February 2014 to $4.50/ mbtu this March. Lower prices are creating incentives for producers to target markets closer to home. A consortium comprising South Africa’s SacOil, Mozam bique’s state oil company Empresa the africa report

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Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), Profin Consulting and the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau plan to make the ARGP a reality. Thabo Kgogo, chief executive of SacOil, tells The Africa Report: “It is an opportune time for project development of this kind given re duced operating costs associated with it. The project’s main driver is demand, so in reality we believe it should be moving forwards at

any oil price.” Kgogo adds: “It is a long-term project and we do not anticipate the price of oil to be $40 if and when the project is completed.” SacOil says the pipeline could be ready by 2020, and Mozambique has enough gas for this and other projects. Although the consortium is still some way off from conclud ing supply agreements, power generation is the most likely out

dossier | oil & gas

let, followed by synthetic fuel production. A specialist company in that field, South Africa’s Sasol, is already moving away from coal-to-liquids towards gasto-liquids production. Despite lower prices, companies planning to produce LNG in Mozambique are moving ahead. Two consortia, led by Eni of Italy and United States-based firm Anadarko, respectively, have jointly agreed to develop an onshore LNG plant with four liquefaction trains in the first instance, with a forecast production capacity of 20m tonnes per year.

bold move

This is to be increased in phases to ten trains and 50m tonnes per year, which would make it one of the biggest LNG projects in the world. However, the target for first production has slipped from 2016 to 2020 and will probably slip further. This is partly because of the difficulties in developing such a big scheme but also because of low gas prices. Anadarko has cut 1,000 jobs, and it seems likely that it will seek to bring other companies on board to provide the necessary investment. In addition, Eni plans to develop its own floating LNG (FLNG) plant on its Coral gas field, with production capacity of 3.4m tonnes per year. After the government of Mozambique approved the project on 24 February, Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi said: “It is a fundamental step to progress toward the final investment decision of our project, which envisages the installation of the first newly built FLNG facility in Africa and one of the first in the world.” Analysts at Wood Mackenzie said in March that “taking the final investment decision in a [$30-per-barrel] world will be tricky [...] While sanctioning it will be a bold move, Coral will be an expensive project […] Eni will need to secure project financing for the FLNG vessel, something that has never been done before.” Neighbouring Tanzania is in a similar position to Mozambique. Following the discovery of 2.2tcf

of reserves by the Dodsal Group of the United Arab Emirates in Feb ruary,Tanzanianowboasts57tcfof proven natural gas reserves, which is the third-highest figure in subSaharan Africa after Nigeria and Mozambique. Most of the fields discovered have been in deep water areas, many of them very close to Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin. The latest find was made onshore, near Dar es Salaam. The energy and minerals ministry signaled that it could also be looking for customers closer to home in a statement issued on 4 May: “Several East African countries have asked to buy gas from Tanzania [...] to start with, the government plans to build a gas pipeline to Uganda,” it said, adding that the government had started looking for funding. changing fortunes

BG Group, Ophir Energy, ExxonMobil, Statoil and the state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation have drawn up plans to build an LNG terminal near the town of Lindi in the far south of Tanzania. It will have two trains with a combined production capacity of 10m tonnes per annum. Shell’s recent takeover of BG should enable the consortium to take a final investment decision more quickly, as Shell has greater financial muscle to fund construction than BG.

Tanzania’s $1.2bn Mtwara to Dar es Salaam gas pipeline may save $1bn per annum by cutting oil import costs

2,600 km The African Renaissance pipeline will transport gas all the way to South Africa Source: SacOil

Tanzania had acquired a reputation for slow progress on big projects, but President John Magufuli sped up government approval for the LNG scheme after he came to power last year. In February, the companies acquired the 2,000ha required for the plant. Yet, as in Mozambique, low Asian LNG prices make this a difficult time to develop new production capacity. The Central Bank of Tanzania argues that the gas reserves will help to turn Tanzania into a middle-income country over the next 10 years, through LNG exports and domestic gas consumption. Tanzania already produces gas from the Songo Songo field, which supplies 300m cubic feet of gas per day to Dar es Salaam to produce 325MW of power. The electricity produced by the Ubungo plant is the cheapest in the country, at $0.06/kWh. Lee Robinson, the Tanzania officer for the Natural Resource Governance Institute, says: “The government has come under fire for apparently making deals in the past that were viewed as overly favourable to the foreign companies [...] The government wishes to avoid this with the gas sector, and the new administration is assertive, confident and populist to a certain extent. I think it will do its best to see domestic supply met as far as it is able while still securing investment.” ●

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dossier | oil & gas

Nigeria

Plugging the leaks

The government has promised to shake up its management of the oil industry, but the changes so far have not been quick or deep

resident Muhammadu Buhari has been slow to deliver on the reforms for the oil industry that he campaigned on in early 2015. Weakness in the management of the sector means that money has gone missing from government coffers and nationwide the refining sector has languished. The timing – when international prices have remained low – of the government’s proposed changes to the state-owned oil company makes them even harder. “The resources that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has to work with and their negotiating power with all their private sector partners is much lower than it would have been a couple of years ago,” says Alexandra Gillies, director of governance programmes at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), a London-based think tank.

NNPC boss and deputy oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu’s latest reform sees the splitting of the NNPC into seven business units, covering the upstream, downstream, gas and power and refining segments among others. “For the first time, we are unbundling the subset of the NNPC to 30 independent companies with their own managing directors,” Kachikwu said in a statement on 3 March. The people running these business units will report directly to Kachikwu, who says they will be tasked solely with making profits. rife with corruption

Analysts say that the government’s plans to reorganise the national oil company alone are unlikely to do much for the sector. The uncertainty around reforms and low prices have prompted analysts at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie to cut their pro-

Who’s who in the new-look NNPC

$25bn The NNPC is accused of failing to hand over tens of billions of oil revenues to the state Source: NigeriaN goverNmeNt

jections for Nigeria’s oil output from 2.1m barrels per day to 1.5m over the next ten years. The Nigerian oil industry is rife with corruption and a lack of oversight. After Buhari assumed office, a government commission reported that the NNPC had failed to transfer $25bn in oil revenue to the public purse between January 2011 and December 2015. While the NNPC disputes these figures, it admits that at least $1.6bn is unaccounted for. In a 2015 report, the NGRI laid out some of the challenges that the NPPC faces. The think tank urged the NNPC to eliminate its domestic crude allocation programme, to develop an explicit revenue collection framework, to wind down oil-for-product swap deals and to stop selling oil to “unqualified” companies. The Petroleum Industry Bill, one of the most ambitious at-

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tempts to overhaul the sector, if they’re not autonomous, then has been stuck in the national they don’t function like a regular company would. But if they’re too assembly since 2008 with few autonomous,thenthegovernment signs it will soon be enacted. It aims to split up the NNPC’s policy loses control over vast sums of and commercial functions, and public resources.” Opinions are divided about the establish a regulatory body for impact of the reorganisation anthe oil and gas industry. nounced in March. Gillies says the Buhari, who helped to found the NNPC in 1977, has begun to reorganisation “could certainly be a step in the right direction for take steps that he says will plug the leaks in the corporation. In a the NNPC”. She adds that there is move seen as reining in the power of senior Without an audit, reforms risk officials in the combeing superficial and failing to pany, he made himself minister of petrotackle the underlying problem leum and appointed little clarity about the financial reKachikwu, a lawyer and former lationship between the NNPC and executive vice-chairman at Exthe government, which has been xonMobil Africa, as managing director of NNPC in August. a key source of corruption in the past. When asked for comment Some of Kachikwu’s early efforts to clean up the oil sector have about the proposed reorganisawon praise. He cut the NNPC’s tion, the NNPC did not respond monthlylossesfromaround$151m to requests for comment from in August to about $15m in JanuThe Africa Report. Critics are sceptical of how sucary 2016. He has also reshuffled cessful the reorganisation will be in the NNPC’s senior management and slashed in half the number of rooting out corruption. Promedia’s Goldman explains: “It looks like recompanies allowed to export the corporation’s oil. But his gung-ho shufflingdeckchairsontheTitanic. approach has angered others. It’s not really tackling the fundaAbout 7,000 members of the Petmental issues.” roleum and Natural Gas Senior Matthew Page, a fellow at the Staff Association of Nigeria, which Council on Foreign Relations in include refinery and maintenance Washington DC, agrees. “People staff, walked out on 3 March in rearetakingmaybeasmalleramount action to the NNPC reforms. “They of oil wealth, but in some of the more orlessshutthe country down same ways they were before [...] within hours because of failure to This is an on-paper reorganisation. People have called it a reform consult,” says Antony Goldman, director of Promedia Consulting, – an unbundling – but in reality an Africa-focused research outfit. it’s just a change in the organisation chart. Buhari is not a details guy. He’s empowered Kachikwu to shuffling deck chairs make a lot of decisions. Kachikwu But more worrying still is the is a very powerful individual right amount of power that Buhari has handed Kachikwu, says Goldman: now, arguably more powerful in “You have the erosion of even the some ways than [former Presidveneer of oversight and transparent] Goodluck Jonathan’s petroency by the creation of a structure leum minister.” whereby the head of the NNPC is What is needed is a compreanswerable to himself. He’s been hensive audit of the corporation, made a football manager who’s says Goldman. “Without that, it’s very difficult to commercialise the too big to sack.” NGRI’s Gillies says the governcompany. And if you can’t comment’s challenge is a difficult one: mercialise the company, the risk “The NNPC needs to operate more is that any reforms are fairly sucommercially – more like a regular perficial and will fail to tackle the company […] But this is the probunderlying problems.” ● lem with national oil companies: Mark Anderson

dossier | oil & gas

Cameroon

Small hopes

MIDOR’s expansion cannot come soon enough

Egypt

While Cameroon has faced falling oil production and chronic electricity deficits in recent years, there are new prospects in gas, such as the onshore Logbaba field near the economic capital, Douala. Gaz du Cameroun, majority owned by Victoria Oil and Gas, will drill two additional wells at the site for a cost of around $40m, with one an attempt to find more reserves. The company plans to have completed proceedings by the end of the year.

Pumped-up petroleum

South Sudan

Investment in domestic refining and the liberalisation of the gas and electricity sectors augur lower prices for consumers

Peace in Juba, tenuous as it may be, is just a first step in raising production from South Sudan’s oil fields. Production had been halved by bitter fighting between supporters of President Salva Kiir and VicePresident Riek Machar. Oil minister Dak Duop Bichiok said in May that the government would soon inspect oil fields to determine the extent of the damage and how much it will cost to fix them.

wo refurbishment projects are set to dramatically lift Egypt’s refining capacity and slash import bills. It comes at a time of energy-market liberalisation: officials hope to see lower fuel prices for consumers, as well as improved air quality through better quality diesel. The country imports around $500m worth of petroleum products a month. The Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR) is currently undergoing an extension project that will increase capacity from 100,000 to 160,000 barrels per day. It is borrowing $1.4bn from French banks Crédit Agricole and BNP Paribas, withguaranteesprovidedbyItalian export credit authorities. MIDOR will supply the remaining $230m. Meanwhile, at the site of the state-owned Cairo Oil Refinery, investment group Qalaa Holdings is developing a $3.7bn modern second-stage refinery that will process heavier fuel oil into lighter blends such as diesel, gasoline, butane and jet fuel. With a capacity to produce 4.2m tonnes per year, the project will start production in early 2017 and could meet half of Egypt’s current diesel deficit.

MIDOR’s capacity will increase from 100,000 bpd to 160,000 bpd Source: MIDOR

Oil flows slowly

Consumers of electrical power are also hopeful of more reasonable prices, with Egypt planning to privatise part of the power generationanddistributionmarkets.Over the next seven years, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company will gradually unbundle its ownership of the generation, distribution and retail arms as part of the Electricity Law passed in 2015. The gas sector is also heading for liberalisation, as the country starts to link up homes to gas supplies. Around 7.5m homes currently benefit from gas connections. This could rise rapidly once the ‘su pergiant’ Zohr gas field enters production. A recent study by Edison says Egypt is already the world’s fifteenth-largest gas supplier. The Italian national oil company Eni, which discovered the Zohr field in September 2015, is busy drilling wells. The first three are complete, and a fourth should be finished by the end of May. Reserves are thought to be in excess of 30trn cubic feet. By the end of 2017, a gas processing plant in Port Said should be delivering 1bn cubic feet of gas per day. ● Nicholas Norbrook

South Africa

Chip off the old block

In a pragmatic move that will please both oil and gas companies and miners, South Africa plans to hive off part of the stalled Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act into two separate gas industry regulatory bills. The move may speed up investment in new platinum mines, as well as usher in a new era of shale gas exploitation.

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art & life

role models

A dream

A career change is never easy, especially in a society where middle-age means quiet comfort. Turning this notion on its head are three Kenyan women of words who are not short on action

By Maimouna Jallow in Nairobi

Clockwise from top left: Mumbi Kaigwa left the UN and produces theatre that touches lives; Sitawa Namwalie found her poetic voice in her forties; Muthoni Garland founded the Storymoja festival to get Kenya reading

deferred

here is a meme doing the rounds on the internet in which a teen tells his dad: “I want to be an actor”. The father replies: “No son, it’s pronounced doctor.” Like most parodies, this conversation is rooted in truth. Before the internet and fast travel started blurring our identities and opening up a world of new possibilities, getting A-grades and a degree in medicine, law or engineering to ensure the family’s financial stability was the standard to aspire to for many young Africans. Indeed, the pressure to follow this model is still great. Whilst parents worked hard to equip their children with the weapons they would need to make it in a world that did not see Africans as equals, many youngsters buried their artistic dreams deep in the pit of their stomachs and conformed. But today, after fulfilling familial, societal and sometimes even self-imposed expectations, some of these artists, who are now in their forties and fifties, are finally exhaling. And all of life’s twists and turns have in some ways made the final creation all the more powerful. “I didn’t know that acting was a job. I thought a job was something that had to be a struggle.” That belief led Mumbi Kaigwa, one of Kenya’s best-loved theatre actresses, to devote 10 years of her life to working for the United Nations (UN). She emerged drained and ● ● ●

art & life

“At the end of the day, you get to a certain age and you start thinking about your legacy. Yes, I could do repairs in my house, or buy a generator. But what I think is much more important is fulfilling this dream. Not even just for me. We have 29 employees at Storymoja who have bought into this dream, and until that is satisfied, I will not stop.” Muthoni Garland

● ● ● disillusioned with an institution that rotated projects as often as it did staff, with little regard for the dreams they’d nurtured. “After the third threeyear cycle, I didn’t want to be in the situation where I’d have to explain to the people I was interacting with locally that the project we’d worked on and which was now beginning to see results was having to wind up because we were moving onto the next thing.” So she quit, and went back to her first passion, acting. But this time, rather than just being an actress for hire, she decided to set up her own theatre company. “I also no longer wanted to be in an English comedy. I wanted to write things that were contemporary and about our own experiences here in East Africa.” That was 1999. Today, through her company, The Arts Canvas, she has been able to act, produce and even direct plays that have had a tremendous impact on people’s lives. In 2002, after appearing on a TV show about people taking the leap to follow their dreams, she was bombarded with questions about how she’d actually managed to make the shift. The more

questions she was asked, the more she asked herself. The result was her play, The Voice of a Dream. The performance was based on a series of interviews she’d conducted, in which she asked ordinary people what they would have done with their lives had they not had any fears or limitations in pursuing their dreams. “One character in particular was based on a woman I’d interviewed who said that as a child she sang all the time. She was told by her mother to stop singing and so she did. She came to watch the show, and afterwards she told me that this was the first time she’d heard herself. She decided to quit her job and follow her passion. It is quite overwhelming when my work has such an impact. I can be quite shy and insecure, yet theatre gives me a kind of power that even I don’t know I have.” For Sitawa Namwalie, a poet, playwright and performer who also works as a development consultant, the transition into the arts world was not as drastic. “Growing older, I don’t expect revolutions any more. I think life is negotiated. I have worked for all the major international development agencies.

And I am still in bed with all of them. That is how I butter my bread.” She believes she can make changes from within these structures: “The development industry is a complicated one. My work with women, with rural communities, in agriculture, and so on, has given me the ability to look at things differently. And I include this in my work. One of my poems that gets the most applause and laughs when I perform it is the voice of an African president, chastising his people for insisting on being so poor. I also question the role of the development industry, taking them to task for trying to define who we are as Africans and where we should be going. Do I wish I could one day dedicate my time to writing? Of course!” power to heal

The reality is, in the absence of statefunded arts councils it is often these very development organisations that end up funding the arts. It was thanks to UN Development Programme funding that Kaigwa was able to take one of her most powerful productions to camps for internally displaced people in Kenya. “We carried out a series of storytelling workshops and performances with different communities,” she recounts. Once again, she was able to witness first hand the tremendous power of theatre. “We brought together different members of the Sabaot tribe in Mount Elgon. They speak the same language but there are those that live on the hills, and others that live on the plains. They have been fighting since the 1970s. None had ever heard the other side’s

“I’d left the UN and I was telling a friend that I should have left earlier, wasted less time. But the person told me that everything that you are and everything that you’ve learnt, you will use at some point in your life. And it’s true. The proposal and budget writing has definitely come in handy.” Mumbi Kaigwa the africa report

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story, which was in fact pretty much the same story. Through theatre we were able to bring them together and create a healing for 25 people. They all said that had they had this opportunity before, they would not have fought.” Kaigwa wipes the tears from her eyes as she adds: “This is the kind of ‘I see you’ theatre that can form and inform society and give people a sense of ‘I am, because you are’. However, funders often have their own agendas, so the challenge, according to Namwalie, is to make sure that you do not do ‘theatre for development’. “That is the kiss of death. You could get confused and think that saying things like ‘the girl child’ is a good thing, but it isn’t, not when you are writing creatively.” Muthoni Garland is a writer and founder of the largest literary festival in East Africa, Storymoja. She worked in marketing and research for nearly two decades before rediscovering her passion, aged 40. In 1999, her husband was posted to Egypt. Unable to work or speak Arabic, she discovered a new world that was at her fingertips. Online, she met writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Binyavanga Wainaina, who understood the African context from which she was writing and didn’t ask her to explain words like ugali in her fiction. Eight years later, her short story Tracking the Scent of my Mother was shortlisted for the Caine Prize. But personal recognition was not enough. Garland wanted to see more books published locally and to encourage a reading culture in Kenya, where 25% of Standard Seven kids cannot read at Standard Two level – a direct result, she says, of not having strong reading and writing foundational skills from a young age. Her advice to budding writers is the same, read, read read! This dream led her on a journey where she had to make some sacrifices. “I remember that in the second year of Storymoja, I had to sell a piece of land that I had inherited just to make it happen. My brother thought I was mad. ‘What kind of Kikuyu are you?’ he asked me.” the africa report

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Garland had forgone an ambition to be a journalist because her parents thought it was too dangerous. When prominent Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o was sent into exile, she says, such a career was completely off the cards. Kaigwa, on the other hand, comes from an artistic family, with a brother who is a sculptor and a comedian uncle. Acting was a part of her life from age 10, but whilst her parents did not oppose it, they didn’t know how to feed it. “It’s not like my parents really knew what I was doing and thought, ‘Let’s send her to Julliard’ or another performance arts school,” she says. “I went to school. Then got my first degree. Then got a second degree. I fulfilled the traditional education story. There is a lot of information out there now. Perhaps if my parents had been more aware about the arts, they would have supported me in a different way. My daughter is a singer so there are things that I throw in her direction, by way of instruction and encouragement.” TRANSFORMATION

For Namwalie it was nine years ago, when she was in her forties, that she discovered a gift. She wrote her first poem, Land of Guiltless Natives, and received rave reviews. She was mesmerised. “Here I was, with a wonderful, high flying career, and then suddenly I stopped.” Her husband of 23 years did not recognise this woman who was transforming before his eyes. He tried to bring her back down to earth and remind her of their mortgage and three children, but Namwalie felt that she had to follow her dream: “It was the most difficult time of our lives. When you set off on a journey you just have to do it, but it is hugely disruptive for everyone. And I really did take off. I was speaking in a different way and being different. It is really a testament to who he is as a person that we survived. Today, no one pushes me to produce creative work more than he does.” The first time her father saw her perform, he said: “If I were a wealthy man, this is all you would do. We have found Sitawa now.”

“My biggest challenge is my own delusions. You believe that you are going to conquer the world. You believe that you’ll be on Broadway. You believe that you are going to write that fabulous play that is going to knock everyone’s socks off. But even if you don’t do that, we are making a positive impact. The things that we do matter hugely and that is an amazing privilege. To be in this world in that position is delicious.” Sitawa Namwalie

There is a Hausa proverb that goes, “When the music changes, so does the dance.” These women have dared to take risks and reinvent themselves. All in their fifties and with multiple careers under their belts, they disprove the myth that you have to start young to succeed in creative fields. Often it takes a lifetime of twists and turns to find one’s voice or just to find a way to use it. Especially as an artist. ●

art & life

Music Fight the power

During Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, hip-hop group Armada Bizerta spoke out against cronyism and police brutality. So how is it that five years on they find themselves singing the same tune?

Malek Khemiri, a.k.a. Malex, is one of Armada Bizerta’s rap voices. It was as a law student in 2006 that he became political and also started writing lyrics to voice his social views: “I took part in debates and demonstrations. Friends started listening to my lyrics, which spoke of problems of poverty, unemployment, legal hypocrisy, and police abuse.” call to unity

Malex formed Armada Bizerta with fellow student Ahmed Galai – the group’s DJ and producer – and rapper Campos. Blacko M joined them in 2010 after they released an underground album, La Phrase d’Attaque. As protests against the Ben Ali regime intensified, their music, striking out against oppression, became the sound track to a revolution. After the departure of Ben Ali in January 2011 the fragility of the revolution became evident. Armada Bizerta collaborated with other Tunisian artists to bring out the hit song ‘Enti Essout’ (‘My people, you are the voice’), a call to the youth of Tunisia to unify at this crucial

izerte, a city of 150,000 just an hour north of Tunis, has a wellpreserved old port surrounded by European colonial buildings. But past the port and the blue-and-white housefronts of the historic city centre, the streets turn rougher, with broken pavements fading into dirt roads. The Italianate buildings shrink to brick and cinderblock houses built haphazardly along narrow lanes. It’s here, in a small, windowless room littered with microphones, soft drink bottles, Palestinian and Tunisian flags, turntables and a basic computer, that hip-hop group Armada Bizerta is making music to overturn the system. There’s a counter-revolution afoot in Tunisia. Led by business interests and old-guard politicians, it is turning back the gains of the 2011 Revolution. Three mass killings in Tunisia in 2015, and recent incursions by the Islamic State group from Libya across Tunisia’s border, have shaken the country deeply. Tunisia’s new president, Beji Caid Essebsi, announced in February an extension of the State of Emergency, granting more powers to the police and curtailing freedom of speech, union rights, and freedom of assembly. No one is unhappier about the situation than activists and artists like Armada Bizerta, who called out against the Ben Ali dictatorship in 2011, only to have him replaced by new elites. As police abuse multiplies and young people leave to join extremist groups, they are fighting both the counter-revolution and extremist ideology through their music.

time. They also released ‘It’s the sound of da police’, an indictment of police violence, which draws inspiration for its title from the track by the famous New York Bronx rapper KRS-One. Police abuse is a continuing scourge, according to the group, sustaining a climate of fear among artists and journalists who criticise the authorities, or simply those who fear being in the wrong place at the wrong time. the africa report

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art & life

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Boutheîna El Alouadi, a.k.a. Medusa, is one of the few prominent women in Tunisia’s hip-hop scene. She started breakdancing and rapping as a teenager, and has become a successful artist. She is disappointed with the course of the revolution, and believes there are even fewer freedoms for artists. “It was not a real revolution,” El Alouadi says. “It was based upon employment, dignity, and liberty. Five years later we only have some freedom of the media. There’s more corruption among cops. In my new songs, I talk about how everyone’s got their heads down because of fear of the police.” Referring to a controversial law that penalises cannabis users she adds: “You could be on the street and get snapped up by the police for having a cigarette because you’re an activist, because the cops say it’s for making a joint.” ● S.K.

Songs of freedom: Bob Marley casts his aura over Armada Bizerta’s home recording studio, where lyrics in a mixture of Arabic and English are scattered around. Above: Ahmed Galai (Gal y) and Malek Khemiri (Malex)

Armada also push back against what they see as political parties trying to co-opt or buy off revolutionary artists. In the song ‘Independent’ Malex raps,:“The real artists used to sell kebab to survive, Now they’ve joined the parties for the ride.” He sees Tunisia’s hip-hop artists as political bards who have the ability to speak out for Tunisia’s disempowered – youth, the poor, those the africa report

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in urban ghettos across the country – building a counter power to the dominant discourse in a environment that leaves little room for their stories. Campos, whose real name is Akram Hamdi, embodies the pain and struggles of the Tunisian youth whom the group fight for, having spent 320 days in a Swiss prisonfortryingtoseekasyluminEurope. He told his story to The Africa Report by phone, the sound of dirt bikes cruising the streets of his neighbourhood of Sidi Salem in Bizerte echoing behind him. Campos started rapping in 2007: “I was talking about life in the hood. I talked about how we smoked zatla [cannabis], andhowwedefendourhoodsfromgangs and police attacks,” he recalls. Over time, he became more political, criticising censorship by the Ben Ali regime and the police violence that backed it up. In 2012 Armada Bizerta went on a concert tour of France and Italy. When it came to an end Campos could not face

returning to Tunisia. Sick of life just getting by in Sidi Salem, and fearing police reprisals for his bitter political raps, he got an under-the-table job at an openair market in Milan, surrounded by other migrant workers from North Africa. Seeking asylum, he tried to move on. “I got on the train from Milan to Switzerland, but at the border I was arrested by customs officers for not having a Swiss visa,” and having overstayed his Italian visa. “The detention centre at the border was full, so I only stayed there a day before the police moved me to another centre on the border with Germany.” He was moved to a third and fourth detention centre before facing a court. “I sing against the system in Tunisia,” he said. “I told the court, ‘If I go back I will be arrested and tortured. I am not a criminal. Why must I leave?’” broken voice

He was sentenced to over 10 months in prison. On release, he was deported back to Tunisia, where he’s lived ever since with his parents, making money selling used clothing from a small shop in Bizerte and recording a song every once in a while. Some in Tunisia are optimistic about the country’s political direction, particularly when it comes to the rights of artists like Armada who are sharply critical of the government and police. But Malex remains sceptical. He believes that unless greater accountability is introduced into the Tunisian political system, the rollback of rights will go on. “The politicians are working in their interest to get morepower.We’renotallowedtocriticise them, though, or we’re called terrorists.” “We’ve had a revolution,” he says. “But it’s far from complete.” ● Sam Kimball

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revolut ion wasn’t rea l

lifestyle TWITTEr TrEnDS #BITCHSWITCH South African telco Cell C was trending for all the wrong reasons after its CEO made sexist remarks Dineo Tsamela @DeeOnMoneyZA

Do you ladies turn your #BitchSwitch off with your swag when you sleep? Mr. Missing @chestermissing

Cell C CEO says women have a “bitch switch”, which is ironic, because clearly his douchebag button is broken and stuck on maximum strength. Hennie Kriel @LittleManKriel

Zapiro (The Times) #cartoon #JoseDosSantos #bitchswitch @zapiro

BEhiNd ThE SCENES

Lady Jaydee

Judith Wambura Mbibo, the Tanzanian R&B, zouk and kwaito singer known as Lady Jaydee, released her new single ‘Ndi Ndi Ndi’ in March What do you listen to when stuck in traffic?

I have some collections of songs by Bruno Mars, Whitney Houston, Dr. Dre in my car and I also listen to local radio stations. But I listen to different kinds of music. Hip hop, R&B, jazz, afro pop, traditional [Tanzanian] music – I don’t have a specific genre to listen to.

Where do you go when you need to unwind?

I like to go to the beaches to feel the ocean breeze or to a nice restaurant and have some wine.

What football team do you support?

I support Tanzania National Football Team (Taifa Stars) and Dar es Salaam Young Africans Club (Yanga).

What phone are you using and what’s your favourite app?

I love my iPhone 6s. My favourite app is BeautyPlus, it takes nice photos and you can treat them well.

What job would you do if you weren’t a musician? I would have been a chef, I like to make good food for people.

What food do you like to cook? Bianca Capazorio @wordnerd212

Hi Cell C. Me again. #bitchswitch still stuck in “on” position. What if I go to work like this tomorrow and all the men stop shaving? Siv Ngesi @iamSivN

Dear men, please don’t even try to find the #bitchswitch, keep looking for that other switch! This CEO is about as shit as Cell C signal.

One of the first female artists to sing R&B in Swahili, Lady Jaydee is constantly scooping awards but also has time for good causes

Swahili food. It is the kind of food that Tanzanians like to eat like ugali and vegetables, spiced rice.

What car are you driving? Range Rover Evoque. ●

Interview by Dotto Kahindi

bigbigjoe @bigbigjoe1

Let me get this clear: apart from actively practising dropped calls, Cell C also advocates misogyny. Well done. (slow clap)

©KWETu STuDIOS

the africa report

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travel south africa

Babylonstoren Cape Town Franschhoek Stellenbosch Steenberg

20 km

Grape goodness South African wines can be found in bars and restaurants all over the continent and beyond, but if you want to go to the source, the Western Cape has you covered

ou need not be a wine connoisseur to appreciate the rolling vineyards of South Africa’s Wine Route, however, it does help if you like to drink the stuff. The entire region, which starts from Cape Town and covers much of the Western Cape, is a feast for the eyes. Most activities in this beautiful region are built around wine, whether you are tasting, indulging in long boozy lunches or sitting down to 10-course gastronomic dinners. Many of the hotels themselves, being situated on farms or other fertile pastures, even produce their own vintage. Here are five of the best to whet your palate. the africa report

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Babylonstoren (1) is large estate comprising a stylish hotel, a spa, two restaurants, and a farmhouse shop, all set within extensive gardens where fruit and vegetables are cultivated in French formal garden-style plots. The property is full of Cape Dutch country chic, and the promise of wholesome living. Babylonstoren wines – like everything theydohere–arefocusedonsimplicity. Three whites, three reds, and a rosé are all made as naturally as possible. babylonstoren.com

Nestled within a small vineyard in the heart of the Franschhoek Valley, La Residence (2) is a sanctuary of classic glamour set against breathtaking natural beauty. The hotel’s individually designed suites are the height of luxury and elegance. La Residence produces its own blends of Cabernet and Shiraz, both of which are exceptionally smooth. theroyalportfolio.com/la-residence

Mont Rochelle hotel and vineyard is one of a handful of properties belonging to British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson. It is a simple and stylish spot,

where you may kick back and enjoy the good life. The hotel organises wine tastings in a variety of locations on the estate, from the restaurant to within the 150-year cellar itself. virginlimitededition.com/en/mont-rochelle

Located just outside the historic town of Stellenbosch, Spier 1692 is a great spot for the whole family as a hotel, farm and winery. In addition to winetasting tours, which include the option of grape-juice tasting for kids, Spier 1692 also organises fun activities of all sorts, from Segway outings and picnics to eagle encounters. spier.co.za

If you wish to experience rolling vineyards, fine dining and wine pairing but don’t have time to leave Cape Town, look no further than the exquisite suburb of Constantia. One of the best choices is Steenberg Farm (3), which includes a vineyard, a cellar, luxury accommodation and two well-regarded restaurants. Steenberg produces a large variety of wines and bubbly. steenbergfarm.com

Ruby Audi

day in the life Extraordinary stories of ordinary people

Delivering Life Midwife Hadjaratou Traore holds the truth dear, and advises her patients to do so too, even if it means living alone

am a midwife. I do prenatal consultations, births, family planning, HIV prevention and tests, and postnatal consultations at a community health centre in Kati, Mali. I was trained by Marie Stopes International. Family planning used to be a taboo subject. The men would say that if the woman uses contraception it’s because she wants to have a lot of boyfriends or be a prostitute. But now with adverts on the radio and TV, they know that it means having a child that is wanted. There are no more illegal abortions, or women who abandon or kill their children. In one year, I may have six pregnant women who are HIV positive. They say they don’t want to bring the husband here because the husband will leave them if they know she is pregnant. I tell them it is not the end of the world, we talk about the ways it can be transmitted, and that if she can’t make the man wear a condom then the woman has to learn how to use the female condom. The woman often does not have any idea how she got sick. Maybe her husband is what we call a “running after little skirts” man. The woman has to be strong.

When the woman is in labour, I say: “Come on, come on, don’t worry.” I comfort her because at that moment, there is so much pain. I tell her: “Breathe, breathe, don’t give up, push, push, you are so strong, it is going to come.” I help her until the baby is in my arms. I feel so good at that moment, it really makes me happy. If you have once brought a baby into the world, you know the pain that the woman feels from the start of the work until the birth of the child. If you see a woman working like that, you feel the pain that you once felt. When my son was three years old, the father told me that he had had a baby with another girl. He said he had wanted to tell me for a long time. Since he had lied, I said I could not marry him. It really hurt me, and I did not trust him any more. My parents didn’t know what had happened and I couldn’t tell them, I was so ashamed. He came to my father and said he wanted to marry me, and each time I said no. I can accept anything but lying. If you have something to say to me, say it, but don’t lie. Since then, I do not trust men. At my age, 40, I can’t go out with men. If someone wants to marry me, a friend, I will get married, but it’s impossible to have a sexual relationship like the one I had with that man. When I am working, I don’t think about the fact that all my friends and my sisters are married. I tell myself, it will come with time. There are a lot of people who say I am beautiful, and ask why I can’t find a husband, but I say, the day it comes, it will come. That is life. ● Rose Skelton the africa report

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