Iran's Fars News Agency is reporting that Congolese President Joseph Kabila is "eager" to open an embassy in Iran. At least that is what the country's Foreign Minister Basile Ikouebe is quoted by Fars as telling his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki in a meeting on the sidelines of the 64th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sunday.
Ikouebe is quoted as saying "The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo... is willing to open the Congo embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran as soon as possible."
Question: Given Iran's, how shall we put it, rather controversial activities of recent days --- testing missiles and admitting to having a secret nuclear facility --- is this really the best time for any nation to be "eager" to engage with Iran? Could this report perhaps contain a bit of exaggeration?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
China and Africa: Aid With a Catch?
An eye-catching article in today's New York Times on China's expanding business dealings in Africa. You can read the whole item here.
But here is the general point of the report:
"From Pakistan to Angola to Kyrgyzstan, China is using its enormous pool of foreign currency savings to cement diplomatic alliances, secure access to natural resources and drum up business for its flagship companies. Foreign aid — typically cut-rate loans, sometimes bundled with more commercial lines of credit — is central to this effort.
"Leaders of developing nations have embraced China’s sales pitch of easy credit, without Western-style demands for political or economic reform, for a host of unmet needs. The results can be clearly seen in new roads, power plants, and telecommunications networks across the African continent — more than 200 projects since 2001, many financed with preferential loans from the Chinese government’s Exim Bank.
"Increasingly, though, experts argue that China’s aid comes with a major catch: It must be used to buy goods or services from companies, many of them state-controlled, that Chinese officials select themselves. Competitive bidding by the borrowing nation is discouraged, and China pulls a veil over vital data like project costs, loan terms and repayment conditions. Even the dollar amount of loans offered as foreign aid is treated as a state secret.
"Anticorruption crusaders complain that secrecy invites corruption, and that corruption debases foreign assistance."
Have we heard this kind of thing before? Yep. I found this item from October 2008 on the Voice of America website. In it, then U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazier was quoted as saying China needs to be more transparent with how it gives debt relief and loans to African nations.
"We certainly are concerned about China's lending practices potentially undermining our efforts to insure that Africa doesn't reaccumulate unsustainable debt," said Frazer. "We don't want to on the one hand cancel that debt and then on the other hand, China's giving more debt."
But here is the general point of the report:
"From Pakistan to Angola to Kyrgyzstan, China is using its enormous pool of foreign currency savings to cement diplomatic alliances, secure access to natural resources and drum up business for its flagship companies. Foreign aid — typically cut-rate loans, sometimes bundled with more commercial lines of credit — is central to this effort.
"Leaders of developing nations have embraced China’s sales pitch of easy credit, without Western-style demands for political or economic reform, for a host of unmet needs. The results can be clearly seen in new roads, power plants, and telecommunications networks across the African continent — more than 200 projects since 2001, many financed with preferential loans from the Chinese government’s Exim Bank.
"Increasingly, though, experts argue that China’s aid comes with a major catch: It must be used to buy goods or services from companies, many of them state-controlled, that Chinese officials select themselves. Competitive bidding by the borrowing nation is discouraged, and China pulls a veil over vital data like project costs, loan terms and repayment conditions. Even the dollar amount of loans offered as foreign aid is treated as a state secret.
"Anticorruption crusaders complain that secrecy invites corruption, and that corruption debases foreign assistance."
Have we heard this kind of thing before? Yep. I found this item from October 2008 on the Voice of America website. In it, then U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazier was quoted as saying China needs to be more transparent with how it gives debt relief and loans to African nations.
"We certainly are concerned about China's lending practices potentially undermining our efforts to insure that Africa doesn't reaccumulate unsustainable debt," said Frazer. "We don't want to on the one hand cancel that debt and then on the other hand, China's giving more debt."
Friday, September 18, 2009
Operation Objective Voice Update
The U.S. military’s Africa Command is seeking $7.8 million for the fiscal year beginning October 1st to continue Operation Objective Voice, an operation described by AFRICOM as one “that strikes at the heart of violent extremist ideology” through broadcast and other messages. The operation, first reported here exclusively in April of this year, involves the deployment of Military Information Support Teams, known as MISTs, in Africa.
A spokesman for AFRICOM confirmed the budget request for the 2010 fiscal year in response to an inquiry from this blog. Efforts to obtain information on actual spending on the program during the past year have been unsuccessful.
In the past, Africa Command confirmed the deployment of Military Information Support Teams (MISTs) in Nigeria, Mali and Kenya. An AFRICOM official said those teams have undertaken several programs. He said these include Ethnic and Religious Tolerance programs, Anti-Smuggling/Anti-Trafficking programs, Conflict Resolution training or broad-based radio programming. In Kenya, for example, the official said the MIST team has conducted Peace and Reconciliation programs. These efforts are closely coordinated with U.S. Embassy programs.
The official disclosed AFRICOM has also conducted OOV-sponsored surveys in Chad, Niger, Senegal, and Algeria. "We have sponsored an Embassy program in Niger. We are working on OOV programming initiatives in Senegal and Burkina Faso. We also have MISTs deployed to Mauritania, Niger, and Ethiopia," the official revealed earlier this year.
Although not specifically conceived as part of OOV, the official confirms AFRICOM sponsors a news and information website, www.magharebia.com. He said AFRICOM also has Civil Affairs teams conducting small-scale Humanitarian Assistance projects in several countries; and "while these are not funded or overseen by OOV, they also contribute to the achievement of the command's OOV Effects," the official said.
The AFRICOM official said the MISTs deployed in Africa did not deploy with radio, television or other equipment of their own. He said they use capabilities already in existence in the countries where they work.
He said, "Typically (though not always), they will employ TV, radio, newspapers, billboards and posters, and what we call 'Durable Messaging Goods' (the things you give to people, such as shirts, hats, soccer balls, etc.). TV may include buying ad time or sponsoring documentaries; radio may include buying ad time, sponsoring live discussions or call-in shows, or producing radio dramas/series."
According to Foreign Policy online, the durable messaging goods including “advertising vehicles,” such as mosquito nets and water bottles that are not explicitly identified as coming from the U.S. government.
Asked by AFRICOMWatch if the U.S. military was considering the deployment of Commando Solo airborne broadcasting platforms, the official said earlier this year it is an option. "While we may seek to deploy it, it would likely be a temporary measure in support of a specific operation, such as Counter Piracy operations. It would likely NOT be deployed in support of OOV; because OOV is a long-term effort in several countries, and the temporary employment of an airborne broadcast platform is not well-suited to long-term OOV needs."
In the meantime, the Voice of America has reported the U.S. is planning to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles in the Seychelles islands to combat piracy. The use of land-based drones is a new approach to deter ship hijackings in the region.
VOA’s Alisha Ryu quoted a spokesman for the U.S. military's Africa Command as saying several Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles will be in the Seychelles by late October or November. He says they will be used to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions throughout the Indian Ocean region.
A spokesman for AFRICOM confirmed the budget request for the 2010 fiscal year in response to an inquiry from this blog. Efforts to obtain information on actual spending on the program during the past year have been unsuccessful.
In the past, Africa Command confirmed the deployment of Military Information Support Teams (MISTs) in Nigeria, Mali and Kenya. An AFRICOM official said those teams have undertaken several programs. He said these include Ethnic and Religious Tolerance programs, Anti-Smuggling/Anti-Trafficking programs, Conflict Resolution training or broad-based radio programming. In Kenya, for example, the official said the MIST team has conducted Peace and Reconciliation programs. These efforts are closely coordinated with U.S. Embassy programs.
The official disclosed AFRICOM has also conducted OOV-sponsored surveys in Chad, Niger, Senegal, and Algeria. "We have sponsored an Embassy program in Niger. We are working on OOV programming initiatives in Senegal and Burkina Faso. We also have MISTs deployed to Mauritania, Niger, and Ethiopia," the official revealed earlier this year.
Although not specifically conceived as part of OOV, the official confirms AFRICOM sponsors a news and information website, www.magharebia.com. He said AFRICOM also has Civil Affairs teams conducting small-scale Humanitarian Assistance projects in several countries; and "while these are not funded or overseen by OOV, they also contribute to the achievement of the command's OOV Effects," the official said.
The AFRICOM official said the MISTs deployed in Africa did not deploy with radio, television or other equipment of their own. He said they use capabilities already in existence in the countries where they work.
He said, "Typically (though not always), they will employ TV, radio, newspapers, billboards and posters, and what we call 'Durable Messaging Goods' (the things you give to people, such as shirts, hats, soccer balls, etc.). TV may include buying ad time or sponsoring documentaries; radio may include buying ad time, sponsoring live discussions or call-in shows, or producing radio dramas/series."
According to Foreign Policy online, the durable messaging goods including “advertising vehicles,” such as mosquito nets and water bottles that are not explicitly identified as coming from the U.S. government.
Asked by AFRICOMWatch if the U.S. military was considering the deployment of Commando Solo airborne broadcasting platforms, the official said earlier this year it is an option. "While we may seek to deploy it, it would likely be a temporary measure in support of a specific operation, such as Counter Piracy operations. It would likely NOT be deployed in support of OOV; because OOV is a long-term effort in several countries, and the temporary employment of an airborne broadcast platform is not well-suited to long-term OOV needs."
In the meantime, the Voice of America has reported the U.S. is planning to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles in the Seychelles islands to combat piracy. The use of land-based drones is a new approach to deter ship hijackings in the region.
VOA’s Alisha Ryu quoted a spokesman for the U.S. military's Africa Command as saying several Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles will be in the Seychelles by late October or November. He says they will be used to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions throughout the Indian Ocean region.
