Chinafrica (25) Watching for PRC Influence in Africa

Sunday, 08 Nov 2009
List of Chinese oil and mineral deals in Africa
Sunday, 08 Nov 2009
Reuters reported that China has become a major investor in African energy and mineral resources which it needs to feed its booming economy.

Here are some of the assets Chinese firms have bought or are trying to purchase and deals reached in Africa in recent years:

1. August 2009 -- State-owned oil firm China National Offshore Oil Corporation confirmed it was bidding for Kosmos Energy stakes in the Jubilee oilfield offshore Ghana, which could be worth between USD 3 billion to USD 5 billion.

2. July 2009 -- CNOOC and Sinopec Group, parent of Sinopec Corp agreed to purchase a stake in an oil block offshore Angola from Marathon Oil for USD 1.3 billion. Angolan state firm Sonangol later exercised a pre-emption right, blocking the Chinese purchase.

3. June 2009 -- Sinopec Group bought Swiss oil explorer Addax Petroleum Corp for USD 7.2 billion, gaining access to high-potential oil blocks in West Africa and Iraq.

4. June 2009 -- State-owned Nonferrous Metal Mining Corp pledges to invest USD 400 million in Zambia Luanshya Copper Mines after formally taking over running the mines.

5. April 2009 -- China granted Niger a USD 95 million preferential loan for the SOMINA uranium mining operation, a joint venture between China National Uranium Corporation and the Niger government. Their mine is due to come on line in 2010.

6. January 2009 -- China Union signed a USD 2.6 billion contract to develop Liberia Bong iron ore deposits, estimated at 300 million tonnes of low-grade ore. The first iron ore pellets are expected in mid 2010.

7. June 2008 -- Top Chinese oil and gas firm CNPC struck a USD 5 billion deal with Niger government to pump oil from the Agadem block within three years and lay a 2,000 kilometers pipeline to export it. CNPC also said it would build 20,000 barrels per day oil refinery, Niger's first.

8. June 2006 -- Sinopec Group acquired some offshore blocks in Angola for about USD 1 billion.

9. April 2006 -- CNOOC bought a stake in a Nigerian deepwater oil field for USD 2.7 billion.

10. July 2005 -- China and Nigeria signed an USD 800 million crude oil sale deal between Petrochina International and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to supply 30,000 barrels of crude oil per day to China.

11. December 2004 -- Sinopec and the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company agree to drill for oil in the Niger delta.

12. October 2004 -- Sinopec secured a 50% interest shared with state firm Sonangol in Angola's Block 18.

13. July 2004 -- Algeria grants three exploration blocks to China top two oil groups CNPC and Sinopec in a licensing round.

14. Jan to Feb 2004 -- Total Gabon signed a contract with China Sinopec to sell Gabonese crude oil to China.

15. Before 2004 -- CNPC had a 40% interest in Sudan 300,000 barrels per day Unity fields in the south. It also had a large share in the Melut Basin fields.

(Sourced from Reuters)

Liberia's Biggest Ever Mining Concession Agreement

IN THE NEWS

Chinese mining firm to begin operations in Liberia soon
African Press Agency
15:35:44

APA-Monrovia (Liberia) The Chinese company, China Union, which earlier this year signed a US$2.5 billion mining concession agreement with the government of Liberia has assured the Liberian people that it would still go ahead with its operations in the country, despite the global financial crisis that has slowed down the company’s operations.

Presidential Press secretary Cyrus Badio told reporters Tuesday that China Union assured that it would begin full-scale operations shortly, now that there are positive indications that it is overcoming the negative effects of the global financial crisis.

Addressing reporters on the China Union and Arcelor Mittal Concession agreements, Badio admitted that the effect of the economic meltdown to some extent affected the company’s operations.

He however added the Chinese company has informed the Liberian government that it has begun to overcome the effects of the global financial meltdown.

Following the signing of the multi-billion dollar mineral agreement with the Liberian government, China Union began dragging its feet in executing the terms of the agreement, including delays in paying a US$45 million signature fee to the Liberian government.

Chinese Ambassador to Liberia, Zhou Yuxiao admitted that the company was dragging its feet because it was adversely affected by the global financial crisis.

TSS/ad/APA
2009-11-04

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Chinafrica (24) Watching for PRC Influence in Africa

Story... PRC contemplating political action to protect assets...



[Photo: The bauxite factory of Guinea's largest mining firm, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee (CBG), at Kamsar, a town north of the capital Conakry. Photo AFP]

Business interests force China to political action in Africa
Published: 3 November 2009 17:30 | Changed: 3 November 2009 17:35
It is becoming increasingly difficult for China to stay politically neutral in Africa as its economic interests grow.
By Pauline Bax and Mark Schenkel


As night falls over Conakry, the capital of Guinea, the street lights only come on in the neighbourhood of Manquepas (which translated means ‘no lack’). In the other neighbourhoods, children do their homework by the candlelight of a petroleum lamp. Night watchmen read the Koran in the light from the sign for a petrol station. Grocers light their shop fronts with a neon light fed by a battery.

But in future, say the Chinese, everything will be different. The whole capital of Guinea will have electricity. Taxi drivers will no longer have to take six passengers at once in their rickety Peugeots, the capital will have a metro system. There will be flood control dams, new government offices, a fleet of passenger aircraft. Guinea will finally become modern, or so the Chinese promise. In exchange for that, all it has to do is supply raw materials like bauxite, oil and iron ore to China.

China is saving the developing countries, according even to the military junta in power in Guinea. On 9 October the Guinean minister of mining, Mohamed Thiam, announced the junta is on the verge of signing a treaty with China. It involves an investment plan worth 7 billion US dollars – one of the largest raw materials deals in Africa.

Shortly before the news was announced, soldiers in the African country shot dead 157 demonstrators. Foreign criticism of this massacre and the threats of sanctions that followed put the military rulers under such pressure that the treaty was used in order to show the population that Guinea has no need for the West whatsoever.

But the situation in Guinea is precarious. Observers say that ethnic tensions between factions in the military could result in a war that will also have serious consequences for neighbouring countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia.


A more honest partner


The instability in Guinea shows that it is becoming increasingly difficult for China to maintain its traditional policy of political and diplomatic non-intervention in Africa, says Mohamed Jalloh on the telephone from Dakar, Senegal. He is an analyst there for the Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group. China has invested so much in Africa in the past years that it can no longer avoid taking a more active diplomatic role, says Jalloh. “Not because China is suddenly more concerned about human rights or democracy, but out of enlightened self-interest. China benefits from a minimum level of stability in Africa, in order to secure the raw materials required for its rapidly growing economy.”


The Chinese presence in Africa extends beyond the recent hunt for raw materials. In the1960s the communist regime presented itself as a leader of the developing countries from the idea that Africa and China were similar and had the same opponents. Beijing extended no-interest loans and provided economic aid to about twenty African countries, including Guinea. Unlike the West, it refrained from direct political interference however.


Many Africans feel that China is a more honest partner than the rich countries, which they feel are simply meddlesome. “I think it would be a good thing if African countries could do business with China on the basis of equality," says Baffour Ankomah, editor-in-chief of the weekly New African. “After years of Western involvement, Africa is now like a woman being pursued by two suitors. It can now itself choose which of the two men makes her happiest.”


But according to Western governments and human rights organisations, China can no longer stand aloof from corruption, election fraud and repression in those African countries where it has its foot in the door. The US Department of State said in a reaction to the negotiations between China and Guinea it was concerned. “We think it is important to be alert to human rights in countries with which you do business,” said a spokesperson.

Chinese UN peace-keepers in Sudan


At the same time China is realising that stability is important for securing its economic interests. “Everything seems to indicate that China is less ready to take risks,” wrote analyst Philippe de Pontet in the weekly African Business. “Chinese companies have not yet withdrawn from unstable countries, but they have clearly taken a more reticent attitude.”


The unrest in Guinea also threatens a neighbouring country like Liberia – where China invested 2.6 billion dollars this year in iron ore mines, the largest foreign investment in Liberia’s history.


The most prominent change to China’s Africa policy of the past years took place in Sudan. For years human rights activists have condemned Beijing for supplying arms to the regime in Khartoum, which is held responsible for the genocide in Darfur. Sudan supplies oil to China. In 2007, Beijing voted in favour of a peace-keeping mission in Darfur led by the United Nations and the African Union, a move that surprised many. China even sent UN peace-keepers. The new approach reportedly was entirely due to the Olympic Games in Beijing. China was in danger of reputation damage when celebrities like American actress Mia Farrow dubbed the games the ‘Genocide Olympics’.


Critics see the sending of peace-keepers as a small sacrifice in order to be able to continue China’s policy in Sudan. Beijing still supports African countries in their opposition to the international arrest warrant for Sudanese president Bashir. But according to Jalloh of the Crisis Group, the Sudan case shows that China more often feels compelled to take on responsibility. “It is a start.”


Observers take a similar view of China’s military involvement elsewhere in Africa. Beijing sends an estimated sixteen hundred peace-keepers – more than four other permanent members of the UN Security Council. Only a few dozen US peace-keepers operate throughout Africa. Good for China’s reputation and an exercise for the People’s Liberation Army, or good for stability in Africa? Both, perhaps. Just like the three Chinese frigates that fight piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Behind the scenes



These days Chinese ambassadors from Liberia to South Africa encourage their fellow countrymen to learn the local language, in order to prevent tensions with local workers. In Zambia local mine workers have already rebelled against the tough Chinese working conditions and against being elbowed out by Chinese labourers. In an interview with the Financial Times last year the ambassador to South Africa tried to soften the impression that China is keeping Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in power. “We are not happy with what is happening in Zimbabwe,” said Zhong Jianhua. He felt that the Western condemnation of Mugabe only had an "adverse" effect however.


Critics say this is all for show. Behind the scenes the negotiations on economic cooperation are simply going ahead.


In Guinea the Chinese government explicitly denied involvement in the controversial raw materials deal. Huo Zhengde, ambassador in Conakry, told French radio station RFI a week and a half ago that Beijing does not play a role “in any way whatsoever.” According to the magazine Africa Confidential, there was concern when Guinea suddenly publicly announced the negotiations that had been secret until then. China feared a diplomatic situation like that which arose earlier concerning Sudan, the magazine writes.


Ambassador Zhengde stressed that the talks with the junta are being held by the China Investment Fund (CIF) from Hong Kong – a private company. This is true on paper, but in practice it emerges that the CIF is intertwined with the Chinese government in many aspects. China often uses these kinds of constructions, whereby Beijing can deny that it is involved in controversial deals but in fact remains in control.


Jalloh wonders how long China can maintain this aloof approach. “If Guinea collapses, China will once again have to participate in a UN mission to secure its investments in the country.” Ankomah of the New African finds the Western concern about China’s political indifference hypocritical. Moreover he hopes that China will be less neutral than it seems. “Beijing now has interests in Guinea. Who knows, behind the scenes China might even persuade the junta to reform.”

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Copenhagen Countdown - 1 Month

Cold
Cold
Copenhagen
Carbon Sequestration
Expectation
Frustration
Obliteration

We repeat our concern:

http://liberianature.blogspot.com/2009/09/copenhagen-grab.html

Anthropogenicagent

Raping of Liberia’s minerals?

People,

We seem to be on a bumpy road, with ups and downs coming at us fast. We are in a good news bad news cycle with regard to natural resources. We cannot vouch for the veracity of the report (below) from Southern Times Africa, but it is quite serious.

American Mining Associates has been in the news for years. Is there anyone out there that can corroborate this stuff?

Thanks.
Anthropogenicagent

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Raping of Liberia’s minerals
Southern Times Africa
Oct 29, 2009

The raping, observers say, is ignoring recent announcement by the Sirleaf Administration that all inherited concessionaire agreements and rights were suspended for review.

According to them the raping was going on at the time the United Nations, EU, and other members of the donor community are adamant that they would contribute to efforts to jumpstart the Liberian economy only if Liberia showed indications that it has control over the exploration and exploitation of its mineral and forest resources and that the revenue generated from such economic activities would benefit the majority of Liberia's impoverished population.

Perhaps it is in realisation of where the international community and the Sirleaf Administration stand on the issue of mineral tapping versus appropriate legislation that prompted the locals in the Kungbor District to express outrage, this week, at the wild abandon with which local certificate-brandishing miners and the American Mining Associates (AMA) were ravaging and ripping diamonds and other hard currency earners with no regards for the welfare of operation areas.

Mohammed Swaray, a local community development chairman, is outraged over an alleged illicit diamond mining operations of the American Mining Associates (AMA) in Kungbor District in Gbarpolu County.

Like Mohammed, several citizens of the district are also not happy about the AMA activities. The citizens said it is preposterous that AMA continues to carry out mining activities in their district while the United Nations' ban on diamond and timber industries is still in force.

According to them, AMA was indiscriminately and illicitly exploiting the diamond deposits in the region especially near Kungbor, a town along Liberia's border with Sierra Leone.

Each day, they told our reporter, gigantic earthmoving and mineral washing equipments belonging to AMA were seen gulping precious gems from the land without reference to them or regard for their welfare. "What is perplexing about the massive digging of the diamond here is that Government is not doing anything to arrest the illicit mining," a youthful resident in Kungbor told The Analyst.

"In fact, it is a matter of time before AMA begins razing some villages that prospectors believe are sitting on diamonds. There are threats by the company to relocate villages forcibly so that it can have access to what it claims to be gems upon which the villages are situated," said Sarnor Kollie who called himself 'concerned citizen'.

What was angering most citizens, according to Kollie, was that individuals claiming to be agents of the Ministry of Lands and Mines were aiding and abetting the raping of the gems without bothering to explain to the locals what was happening and how they would benefit in keeping with the new political and economic dispensation that the Sirleaf Administration has been preaching.

The residents specifically accused Charles Dagoseh, Director for Mines, and James Konuwa, Assistant Minister for Mines of the Ministry of Lands Mines and Energy of aiding and abetting the AMA exploits.

Town Chief Vaniba Sheriff told The Analyst during a day-long investigative tour conducted by The Analyst over the weekend that AMA headed by Gene Bryge and a Lebanese, Alieyou Ussuf, and his Liberian wife Muna Ussef are involved in illicit mining, an act the chief described as a violation to the UN security sanction on diamonds.

Chief Vaniba said they are operating in the Liberian forest with the alleged approval of Dagoseh and Konuwa, officials of the ministry. "The only thing that is hurting me is that AMA claims it has bought the entire town and therefore request that citizens vacate or be expelled,"

the chief said. "Where does this American company expect us to move to? Is it serious for us to leave the town of our forefathers and be displaced in our own county?

Government needs to come out with an investigation and a solution in this serious matter. If the Government feels that sanctions hovering over the country are not important, we the citizens matter." He said despite the illicit mining activities in the county, the AMA has refused to help the locals improve their livelihood by employing them.

According to him, the management instead has chosen to employ Sierra Leonean, Malians, and Mauritanians. Mr. Sheriff said on several occasions the citizens attempted to disrupt the operation of illicit mining in the county but that Messrs Dargoseh and Konuwa, upon receiving the information about the citizens' plans, immediately dispatched personnel of the Liberian National Police to provide security for the AMA operation.

"Mr. Journalist, go and see the sophisticated mining equipment that AMA is using to mine diamonds in the district despite the fact that Liberia is under UN diamond sanctions," the chief said. "We want the president to know about the illicit mining activities in this district. Go and see the open holes they dug and left behind and see how many more they dig daily and think what will happen when this continues for the next five to ten years."

Indicating that AMA was not doing anything in the interest of citizens despite the exploitation, he said the company failed to construct the drinking well it promised residents two years ago.

He said without doing anything to address the failure to make good its promise to the residents, employees of AMA were, without remorse of conscience, drawing drinking water from a hand-pump installed by German Argo, an international non-governmental organization operating in the area. According him, residents of the district have realized too late and at their disadvantage that AMA was using the well promise as a cover to conduct mineral exploration in the area. He said haven't noticed that no diamonds were at the location marked for the hand pump AMA began the damaging of gravesites in search of diamonds. "They even dug up the recreation center built for our children," he said.

Raymond Kpoto, Chairman of the Kungbor District Youth Association, said the operations of AMA were intended to endanger the assistance the international community promised to provide for the Sirleaf Administration, adding, "My county will be seen as a defiant society amongst the comity of nations." The AMA claimed to have built bridges, schools, markets, shelters of the locals, offices of immigration, but nothing has been done in the district, he said.

"The AMA alleged that they have purchased the entire clan from the Lands and Mines Ministry. Because of that, they put their security forces on the alert to arrest and detain anyone caught mining in the area.

Sometime their security people are assisted by some officers of National Police who are acting on the directive of assistant minister-designate James Konuwa," said one resident.

He said the AMA security guards, headed by one Eric Doe III, were wearing army uniforms and carrying handcuffs. According to some residents who spoke with our reporter, security guards of AMA were in the habit of ill-treating and intimidating those who dare mine diamond or challenge their right to mine in the area. "I am not in support of the AMA operation. They came here before the war, but they failed to do something positive for this district," said Kungbor District Development Chairman Mohammed Swaray. He added, "We expect any company besides the AMA to engage in development initiative that will help the county. In fact nobody or company is suppose to mines because Liberia is right now under sanction on diamonds." Some illicit miners in the area, according to the residents, are Abdul Kamara a Sierra Leonean who said he is operating on the license of his boss, Bakasa Jarbie, a Malian.

The AMA Manager, Gene Bryge, has meanwhile denied allegation that his company was mining diamond in the district. He however confirmed allegations that the AMA security guards were arresting 'illegal miners' and claimed to have invested million of dollars in the development program of the county without saying in what he invested the money.

Ministers Dagosi and Konowa, when asked for comment, referred our reporter to the minister proper. "We can not talk now until the minister gives us the authority to speak" they told our reporter. Investigation continues.

© 2009 Southern Times Africa

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Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - First in Forestry

Just in from "Star Radio"... This is huge!


Liberia named number one EITI compliant country in Africa
Written by Sebe Giddings
Thursday, 15 October 2009

Liberia has been named the first Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Compliant Country on the continent of Africa.

Liberia was elected Wednesday during the 10th meeting of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Chairman of the EITI Board Dr. Peter Eigen announced the board’s decision following a review of Liberia’s validation report.

The EITI board congratulated the government of Liberia and all stakeholders for the Country’s progress in implementing the EITI in Liberia.

Liberia is the first Country to have included the forestry sector in its reporting.

According to Dr. Eigen, Liberia has also undertaken extensive dissemination work by building community engagement in the EITI process.

He said Liberia’s success in reaching the EITI Compliance demonstrates what governments, companies and civil society can achieve by working together.

Liberia is also the leading EITI implementing country world wide and the second country to have completed validation.

Azerbaijan is the only other country in the world to complete validation.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is a coalition of governments, companies, civil society groups, investors and international organizations that set a global standard for transparency in the extractive sector.

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EarlyBird

'Land Grabs' in Africa

'Land Grabs' in Africa: can the deals work for development?
Author: Lorenzo Cotula, Sonja Vermeulen
Publisher: International Institute for Environment and Development
Publication Date: September 30, 2009
Copyright: 2009

Publisher Website: http://www.iied.org/
Language: en
Category: Sustainable Development, Land Issues, Africa, Food, Agriculture and Rural Issues, Agribusiness


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For many millions in the developing world, land is central to livelihoods, food security, even identity – the result of a direct dependence on agriculture and natural resources. It is not surprising, then, that a recent wave of large-scale land acquisitions in poorer countries has sparked a major debate. Through these acquisitions, interests in richer countries are buying or leasing large tracts of farmland for agricultural investment in Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. With some deals involving hundreds of thousands of hectares, these investments have been dubbed ‘land grabs’ by the media. But this is too simplistic. Depending on the way they are structured, these investments can either create new opportunities to improve local living standards, or further marginalise the poor. An analysis of this complex and shifting situation, focusing on Africa, lays out key trends, drivers and main features, and outlines how to make the renewed momentum in agricultural investment work for local development and livelihoods.

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Thanks for the work at International Institute for Environment and Development!

Indeed not simple, however without some forethought the picture can be quite different: