First Independent Mena Newspaper
Some Kenyan lawmakers are demanding to see more documents from a secret $5bn loan agreement with a Chinese bank that financed a cross-country railway, with critics of the deal blaming the government of the day for having given too much legal authority to China. The 2011 agreement was shielded from public view until Kenya’s transport […]
Botswana, the world’s second-largest diamond producer, has won its bid to host the permanent secretariat of the Kimberley Process (KP), the grouping that certifies that diamonds are not used to fund rebel groups. The KP, a coalition of governments, the diamond industry and civil society representatives, said in a statement on Monday (7 November) it […]
China is using new hybrid logistics links or multimodal rail-sea lines to bypass cargo chokepoints in an effort to speed up trade with Africa, where it is the largest trading partner. New rail-sea hybrid transport options stretching from western China as far as Europe, which are speeding up goods movement to Africa, imply the belt […]
Chinese-owned garment manufacturer “Omega Textile Maroc” opened in Casablanca a new facility, the third of its kind in the North African Kingdom, which is attracting more and more investors and businesses. The company, which makes socks and lingerie items, has invested over $7.1 million in the new unit to create 627 new jobs, including 240 […]
China is still seen favorably by many in Africa, where it is vying for influence with Washington, though, worldwide, support for Beijing has undergone a sharp decline, a new global public opinion survey of people in 25 countries has revealed. The survey by the Britain-based YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project that asked people about their opinions on […]
Retired members of the British Royal Air Force who were recruited via a South African company to train pilots in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) must be fully aware of the risk of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act, the British Defense Ministry has warned in its rare “threat alert”. China has been recruiting former […]
Kenya wants to renegotiate a multibillion-dollar loan from China that was used to build a major railway because though the country is up to date on its payments, it cannot continue with the current 20-year schedule. Answering questions from a parliamentary committee, Kenya’s incoming transport minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, said the country will have to ask […]
African countries have been divided over the vote in the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday (12 October) that in the end condemned Russia’s “illegal annexation” of Ukrainian territories after Moscow vetoed a similar text in the Security Council in late September. Twenty-six African countries voted in favor of, while nineteen others abstained in the […]
The controversial Beijing-funded African Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that is due to open in the next few months is just one example of China’s increasing investment in health care on the African continent since the pandemic as it builds what analysts and Beijing call a ‘Health Silk Road’. According to […]
China’s ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire has expressed Beijing’s desire to see the West African country introduce Mandarin in schools as the Asian country seeks to boost ties with Abidjan. “The Embassy will continue to work closely with relevant parties and strengthen communication with the Ivorian government to strive for the inclusion of Chinese language teaching […]