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Time for Africa to shine

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PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s chairmanship comes at a time when Africa is faced with several challenges, chief among them: the threat of human insecurity posed by terrorism, mainly in West Africa and in particular Nigeria where Boko Haram continues with very little State resistance and the growing gap between the rich and poor on the continent.
His road to the African Union (AU) Chairmanship has not been one of smooth sailing as those of us abroad continue to be fed with the usual ‘Mugabe is the boogieman’ propaganda.
In fact, the international media has for so long depicted President Mugabe as a despotic pariah responsible for human rights abuses, rigged elections and turning one of Africa’s most promising nations into a basket case.
However, the opposite is quite true, speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the AU Summit, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, said Zimbabwe is an important member state, a very committed country to the African cause.
Most telling in the proceedings at the summit was President Mugabe’s speech especially when he said, “African resources should belong to Africa and to no one else, except to those we invite as friends.
“Friends we shall have, yes, but imperialists and colonialists no more.”
In December 2011, the new headquarters of the AU, a towering 20-storey, US$200 million state-of-the-art complex in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was completed and handed over in January 2012 at the AU Heads of State Summit.
The building, courtesy of the Chinese Government, gift prompted Ethiopia’s late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to refer to Africa’s current economic boom as a ‘renaissance’, due partly to China’s “amazing re-emergence and its commitments to a win-win partnership with Africa.”
Previously China had either donated or assisted in building a hospital in Luanda, Angola; a road from Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, to Chirundu in the southeast; stadiums in Sierra Leone and Benin; a sugar mill and a sugarcane farm in Mali; and a water supply project in Mauritania, among other projects.
At the fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, held in Beijing in July 2012, the then Chinese President, Hu Jintao listed yet more, including 100 schools, 30 hospitals, 30 anti-malaria centres and 20 agricultural technology demonstration centres.
The relationship between China and Africa is not a one-way street and that it includes more trade than aid.
The Economist reported that trade between Africa and China was US$166 billion in 2011.
“The good thing about this partnership is that it’s a give and take,” Faida Mitifu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ambassador to the US, told Reuters.
China’s industries are getting raw materials such as coal from South Africa, iron ore from Gabon, timber from Equatorial Guinea and copper from Zambia.
Chinese industries also require new markets for their products and Africa is a potentially enormous outlet.
China’s give-and-take relationship also plays out in other forms.
Chinese construction firms are acquiring enormous construction contracts.
The China Railway Construction Corp (CRC) signed a US$1,5 billion contract in September 2012 to modernise a railway system in western Nigeria.
That same month, China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation, the largest train manufacturer in China, signed a US$400 million deal to supply locomotives to a South African firm, Transnet.
In February 2012, the CRC announced projects in Nigeria, Djibouti and Ethiopia worth about US$1,5 billion in total.
All this has been in the eyes of the West which is not pleased with China’s policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of African countries and its fast approach to aid delivery which make China more attractive than Western donors, whose aid often comes with demands to improve human rights and democracy.
In a veiled jab at China, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, warned against, a ‘new colonialism in Africa’, in which it is “easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave.”
In November 2013, the AU Commission Chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini, Zuma commended the relationship between China and Africa and expressed the desire for it to be enriched further in future.
In a meeting with Ms Liu Yandong, the Vice Premier of the Chinese government, Dr Dhlamini Zuma said, “you have been with us over the past 50 years, you were with us during our 50th anniversary celebrations of the OAU/AU in May this year and no doubt, you will be with us for the next 50 years.”
Ms Yandong welcomed the comments made by the Chairperson and underscored that her government would continue to work closely with the AU on peace and security and to build cooperation on economic development.
She pointed to four critical areas that the China-AU relationship can focus on:
Bilateral relations – wherein there would be increased contacts between Chinese and AU officials, especially in light of the strategic dialogues that regularly take place between the two sides.
Deepening cooperation on development – this would cover such areas as agriculture, manufacturing, women’s development, science, technology transfer and other fields.
Enhancing cooperation on peace and security – One of the serious issues to be discussed under this theme would be the Africa China partnership on peace in Africa.
On international affairs – Ms Yandong said more cooperation between Africa and China would result in an international system that is more equitable and fair, and which would better serve the interests of developing countries. She added that China supports the call to increase representation of developing countries in the United Nations Security Council.
During the Summit, the AU and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate on major infrastructure networks and the industrialisation process in Africa.
Dr Dlamini-Zuma, and Zhang Ming, special envoy and Vice-Foreign Minister of China, have signed the MoU on continental transport, high speed railway, aviation, road highways as well as on industrialisation.
The two sides inked the deal based on and following the discussion between Dr Dlamini-Zuma and Chinese premier Li Keqiang during the premier’s visit to the AU headquarters last year.
The China-Africa relationship will get stronger.
The editors of China Returns to Africa sum it up: So long as Africa’s development requires huge foreign investments, so long will China continue to be relevant.
“Irrespective of the concerns being voiced in some circles in Africa, Chinese involvement is widely considered to be a positive-sum game.”

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