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A Progress Report by the UN’s Vera Songwe on the Status of African Debt Relief
Economic conditions in a number of African countries are worsening by the day. Lockdowns and a plummet in global commodity prices brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to severe economic repercussions across the continent.
From Race to Debt to COVID-19: A Conversation with Ambassador Kuang Weilin on Current Issues in China-Africa Relations
For much of the past two decades, China’s engagement in Africa has been steady, rather predictable and largely uneventful. That is, until this year. The China-Africa relationship is facing an unprecedented mix of challenges today ...
African Leaders Declare Crisis in Guangzhou is “Sorted Out.” What Did We Learn?
Less than one week after alarming videos, photos and accounts of African migrants being forced out of their homes and hotels in the southern China city of Guangzhou, the story has been “sorted out” in the eyes of many ...
Initial Reflections on an Unprecedented Crisis in China-Africa Relations
The widespread evictions and mistreatment of African migrants in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has caused a serious rupture in China-Africa relations. Chinese ambassadors across Africa have been called into various foreign ministries to explain why so many of their ...
How is China Going to Handle Debt Relief in Africa?
With economic conditions across Africa rapidly deteriorating, leaders across the continent are escalating their calls for the international community to provide emergency debt relief. Until this week, though, those appeals have been broadly targeted, not singling out any particular country ...
StarTimes Moves Quickly to Adapt to COVID-19 Crisis in Africa
Fake news and all sorts of misleading information about the COVID-19 pandemic are now rampant on African social media. Reports that Bill Gates wants to test a new vaccine on African people or that the surgical masks donated by Chinese billionaire ...
The Future of Chinese Rail Financing in Africa
China famously lent billions of dollars to countries across Africa to build expensive, new railways. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya all used loans from Beijing to build new lines using a standard gauge (SGR) that will one day ...
It’s Time We Talk About All That Chinese Debt in Africa
There are growing calls for international lenders to cancel or at least reschedule significant portions of Africa’s debt as economies one after across the continent another sink into recession as a result of the worsening COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier this month,
African Futurist Jakkie Cilliers Looks Beyond Today’s COVID-19 Crisis
“African economies are staring at an abyss,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed earlier this week in a desperate appeal to the international community for aid and debt relief to offset the ruinous effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Lin Songtian, China’s Brash Former Ambassador to South Africa Suddenly Returns Home
China’s most outspoken ambassador in Africa, Lin Songtian, abruptly left his post in South Africa yesterday just a few days after news had broke that he had been ordered back to China. Lin published ...
Life in Wuhan: An African Student Reflects on Months of Forced Isolation
Just as the rest of the world struggles to contain the highly-infectious COVID-19, China is now starting to emerge from its own battle with this deadly virus. Slowly, people are being allowed out of their homes and even returning to work. ...
Amid Plunging Prices, Africa’s Commodity-backed Debts to China Become Perilous
Over the past 15 years, many African countries borrowed tens of billions of dollars from China to build badly-needed infrastructure. Short of cash, these countries instead leverage their natural resources to repay their debts. Ghanaian bauxite, Angolan oil, and Zambian copper, ...