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Day: October 5, 2021

Ghanaian Government Blames COVID For Delay in Chinese Construction Projects But Says Work Will Be Done on Time

A top Ghanaian government spokesman pushed back on accusations that the administration has been slow to build the promised infrastructure projects as part of a controversial $2 billion resource swap deal with the Chinese state-owned conglomerate Sinohydro. President ...

While Sinohydro’s Road Work Maybe Progressing Slowly in Ghana, Government Supporters Insist Progress is Being Made

Government supporters published videos on social media this weekend to push back against the narrative that progress isn't being made as part of the $2 billion Sinohydro-bauxite deal.  Also, last month, the news site Graphic Online ...

Nigeria State Governor’s Tirade Against a Chinese Contractor Goes Viral

The governor of the northern Nigerian state of Kogi, Yahaya Bello, publicly berated a representative from the Changjiang Construction Nigerian Ltd. last week in a video that sparked widespread outrage online and fed into the narrative that Chinese construction companies build low-quality infrastructure, like the hospital in question ...

We Got Our First Peek at B3W, But It’s Still Not Clear What the U.S. is Trying to Do

The Biden administration appears to be ramping up its efforts to get the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative off the ground. In what was the first action related to the program since it was announced over the summer at the G7 summit in England, a high-level ...

Chinese Mobile Phone Brands Want to do in Latin America What They’ve Done in Africa

Chinese mobile phone makers are steadily expanding their market share in Latin America where they're now among the top three brands in some of the region's largest markets including Mexico, Peru and Chile, according to data from the telecommunications research agency Counterpoint.

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Climate Sweet, Climate Bitter

Last week it was Pakistan, this week South Florida. The climate collapse is like a monstrous four-dimensional version of whack-a-mole. You never know where – or how – it will hit. But the hits keep coming.

With the damaged Nord Stream pipeline (and the Global North’s unmitigated hydrocarbon dependence it represents) bubbling away in the Baltic Sea, U.S. climate czar John Kerry’s high-handed comments to the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment earlier this month ...

Sicomines is Bracing For a Brutal Report From the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

The Sino-Congolese mining giant Sicomines is already trying to discredit a highly-anticipated report by the Congolese branch of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative even before the NGO's findings have been published. Radio France Internationale and other media ...

Author Erik Bruyland on Why No One Should Be Surprised That the Sicomines Deal Is Now a Huge Mess

It was once described as the "Deal of the Century" now, 13 years later, the Sino-Congolese joint venture known as Sicomines is the focal point of a bitter dispute over whether this $6 billion copper and cobalt venture was established on wholly unfair terms.  ...

New Contingent of Chinese Blue Helmets Arrive in DR Congo

Nearly one hundred Chinese PLA soldiers operating as UN peacekeepers arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday. None of the troops will be assigned to combat roles and instead will support existing Chinese engineering and medical detachments.

Kenyan Fishers Describe Horrorific Conditions Aboard Chinese Trawlers

Kenyan fishers working aboard Chinese trawlers in the Indian Ocean report widespread mistreatment and abuse by their Chinese managers, even threats of being pushed overboard, according to a story published in today's Nation newspaper. In addition to the ...

China’s Role in Ghana’s Unfolding Fishing Catastrophe

While the Ghanaian government took decisive action earlier this year to crack down on illegal mining known as Galamsey where Chinese illegal mining interests have been active for years, Accra has done absolutely nothing to combat persistent illegal fishing in its ...