Category: Week in Review
Week in Review: Hostages Rescued in Mali, Rwandan Agribusiness & Nigeria Joins AIIB
Malian security forces on Monday rescued three Chinese nationals kidnapped by unknown assailants after the trio escaped their captors over the weekend. The three construction workers and two colleagues from Mauritania were seized on July 17. While the Mauritanians were freed 10 days later, the Chinese were held ...
Week in Review: Sanctions, Supply Chains & Security
Three robbery-hijackings in a week have put South Africa's Chinese community on edge. The latest incident occurred last week in the Humewood area of Port Elizabeth where like the previous two incidents an ethnic Chinese driver was forced off the road and robbed at gunpoint. The assailants also ...
Week in Review: Xi Opens COP15, Zambia Takes Action Against a Chinese Mine & SA Busts Chinese Abalone Ring
The UN's biodiversity convention, known as COP15, opened on Tuesday in the southern Chinese city of Kunming. President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address and announced that China will commit $230 million to help developing countries protect endangered plant and animal wildlife. Even as China is currently bingeing ...
Week in Review: Vaccines, Military and Coal
Algeria will become the second African country after Egypt to begin local production of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines. A new "fill-and-finish" facility in the eastern city of Constantine will begin producing Sinovac jabs on Wednesday. The government says initial output will range between 1-3 million doses per month through ...
Week in Review: Human Rights, Contracts and Finance
China is turning to governments in Tanzania, South Sudan, and other Global South countries to fend off international criticism over its human rights policies in Xinjiang. The treatment of Uyghur Muslims was the main focus this week at the UN Human Rights Council after
Week in Review: Doses, Detainees and Diplomacy
Interpol has canceled the red notice arrest warrant requested by China for Uyghur activist Yidiresi Aishan, who was detained in Morocco last month. The red notice flagging Aishan as a member of “terrorist” organizations, and issued at China’s request, led Moroccan authorities to detain the 33-year-old computer ...
Week in Review: Crime, COVID and Cables
The Facebook-led 2Africa undersea data cable initiative announced that it will add three more countries to its list of landing sites across Africa. Seychelles, Comoros, and Angola will all be connected to the billion-dollar, 37,000-kilometer cable that will connect Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. In what is ...
Week in Review: Ore, Oil & Oranges
China's major oil suppliers in Africa and the Middle East are bracing for a downturn in prices after Beijing ordered the country's largest refiner, Sinopec, to scale back operations. Sinopec will reportedly reduce refining of road and aviation fuels by up to 10% in response to the slowdown ...
Week in Review: Pangolins, Power and Payments
Nigerian customs authorities at the port of Lekki sized a record 7.1 tons of pangolin scales on Wednesday and arrested three suspects. A fourth, believed to be the smuggling kingpin is still at large. The endangered pangolin is now the most hunted mammal on earth and a seizure ...
Week in Review: Shipping, Share Prices and Strikes
Islamic militants released two Mauritanians kidnapped earlier this month in Mali but there's no word on the three Chinese construction workers who were abducted in the same raid. The militants provided no explanation for Wednesday's release or any other information on the ...