Lesedi #16 (english)

Newsletter French Institute of South Africa - Research

|03| Focus on BRICS |03| The 5 BRICS Academic Forum: Towards a Long-Term Vision and Partnership with Africa?

- Carolina Milhorance de Castro |11| A BRICS Bank Ma ers - Christopher Wood |12| A New Trilogy? BRICS, Infrastructure and Development on the African Con nent - Agathe Maupin

|20| News CNRS Researcher Guillaume Porraz posted at IFAS Research Projects of our Long-Term Scholars

|24| Conferences & seminars The Arts and Cra s of Literacy – Manuscript Cultures in Muslim Sub-Saharan Africa Conference on the 2014 General Elec ons in South Africa Closing Symposium of the XenafPol Programme Book History Seminars Global History Workshop FISH - French Ins tute Seminars in Humani es

Photo: GCIS

|27| Publications Les Voyages de l'écrit. Culture écrite et expansion européenne à l'époque moderne : essais sur la Compagnie Hollandaise des Indes Orientales - Adrien Delmas Sounding the Cape. Music, Iden ty and Poli cs in South Africa - Denis-Constant Mar n

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The French Institute of South Africa was created in 1995 in Johannesburg. Dependant on the French Deparment of Foreign Affairs, it is responsible for the French cultural presence in South Africa and to stimulate and support French academic research on South and Southern Africa.

IFAS-Research (Umifre 25) is a joint CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research) - French Foreign Affairs Research Unit, and part of USR 3336 “Africa south of the Sahara”. Under the authority of its scientific council, IFAS-Research takes part in the elaboration and management of research programmes in the social and human sciences, in partnership with academic institutions and research organisations.

The Institute offers an academic base for students, interns and visiting researchers, assists with the publication of research outcomes and organises colloquiums, conferences, seminars and workshops.

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Adrien Delmas - IFAS-Research Director Guillaume Porraz - Senior Researcher, CNRS Laurent Chauvet - Translator Werner Prinsloo - Graphic Design, Website, IT Management Victor Magnani - Research & Communication Officer Dostin Lakika - IFAS-Research Secretary

Lesedi: Sesotho word meaning “knowledge” The views and opinions expressed in this publication remains the sole responsibility of the authors.

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The 5 BRICS Academic Forum: Towards a Long Term Vision and Partnership with Africa?

Carolina Milhorance de Castro PhD Student in Poli cal Science at the University of Brasília and CIRAD. Her research focuses on the BrazilAfrica and Trilateral Co-opera on in the Rural Sector. She received a Master's Degree in Interna onal Affairs (Sustainable Development) from Sciences Po (Paris), a er having completed a Bachelor's Degree in Interna onal Rela ons at PUC-Rio, and another Bachelor's Degree in Biology/Ecology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. Her professional experiences include the Organisa on for Economic Co-opera on and Development (OECD), the Ins tute for Sustainable Development and Interna onal Rela ons (IDDRI), the Oswaldo Cruz Founda on (FIOCRUZ), and the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO).

The rise of a group of emerging economies is one of the most striking phenomena in recent economic history. The crea on of “diploma c clubs” among States such as BRICS, characterize current evolu ons in the poli cal arena. This group cons tutes a forum of industrialised, large and fast-growing economies with significant influence on regional and global ma ers. They have assumed a proac ve presence in several mul lateral contexts aiming at promo ng norma ve and opera onal changes . This effort has been primarily generated at their annual summit for the Heads of State.

The term BRICs was coined by the Chief Economist of Goldman Sachs in 2001, in a paper tled “Building Be er Global Economic BRICs” and at the me it included Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined the group only in 2011. The concept of “emergence” was seen essen ally as a market-driven phenomenon that reflected deep changes in the structure of global economy as well as making the “right” economic policy choices. It is considered a mul -dimensional phenomenon, the product of economic, socio-poli cal and iden ty elements . The grouping's pa ern of resilience would have legi mated a posteriori their conceptual coherence .

The Fi h BRICS Summit was held on the 26 and 27 of March 2013 in Durban, South Africa. The Summit

which brought together the heads of the emerging States of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, took place for the first me on African soil. The leaders expressed their opinion on the theme of “BRICS and Africa – Partnership for Development, Integra on and Industrialisa on”. The objec ves on the agenda were ambi ous: promo ng development and reforming mul lateral ins tu ons. The eThekwini Declara on reaffirmed the group's commitment to promo ng interna onal law and mul lateralism, as well as global stability, development and co-opera on, based on an inclusive approach. The Summit brought together the leaders of countries that, together, account for more than 40 per cent of the global popula on, nearly 30 per cent of the land mass, and a share in world GDP (PPP) that has increased from 16 per cent in 2000 to nearly 25 per cent in 2010 .

One of the main discussions during the Summit concerned the formal launch of the nego a ons for the crea on of a development bank, in order to finance infrastructures and industrialisa on in BRICS and other developing countries, par cularly on the African con nent. This bank would serve as a financial ins tu on aligned with the way emerging countries view development, but not really as a counterweight to the World Bank and the IMF. Leaders also decided to cons tute a financial safety net by crea ng a

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Con ngent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) among BRICS countries, intended to an cipate short-term liquidity pressures and strengthen financial stability.

This con ngency fund, with an ini al size of 100 billion USD, as agreed by the member States, was not elaborated further. Moreover, they signed coopera on agreements, including the Mul lateral Agreement on Co-opera on and Co-financing for Sustainable Development and the Mul lateral Agreement on Infrastructure Co-Financing for Africa.

The new Chinese President, Mr XI Jinping, took part in the BRICS Summit which was his first major mul lateral mee ng, and which marked the beginning of a long African tour. Other African countries were also present, especially during the Dialogue between the leaders of the BRICS and African countries on the 27 of March. Among the Dialogue guests were the Presidents of the African Union (AU), the AU Commission and NEPAD, as well as various leaders represen ng regional economic communi es. The Dialogue helped to open discussions between the BRICS members and other developing States and regional organisa ons. These discussions were preceded by business and academic forums able to create condi ons for co-opera on and business, according to Brazilian diplomacy. Concrete results stemmed from these discussions, such as the crea on of the BRICS Think Tanks Council and the BRICS Business Council. The forums, with the academic one in par cular, aimed at formula ng recommenda ons and a long term vision for the Summit of the Heads of States and Governments.

What Do the Academics Have to Say? The BRICS Academic Forum hosted by the Durban University of Technology (DUT), the Department of Higher Educa on and Training ( D H E T ), the Department of Interna onal Rela ons and Coopera on (DIRCO), and Higher Educa on South Africa (HESA), contemplated increasing interac ons in the research circles and formula ng recommenda ons to be presented to the leaders during the Summit of 26-27 March 2013. Most par cipants were grouped into think tanks linked to

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the governments of the five countries and involved in formula ng public policies. A smaller number of civil society organisa ons and other research ins tu ons integrated the non-official delega ons of these countries. The forum benefi ed also from the presence of the South African Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, and Higher Educa on and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande.

The debates were organised into plenary sessions followed by parallel discussions on five themes: the role of the BRICS in the Global Economy, the Reform of Ins tu ons of Global Governance, Co-opera on in Africa, Educa on, Research and Skills Development for Building Industrialising Economies as well as the Peace and Security theme. The final declara on – read by Chairman Dr Siphamandla Zondi, Director of the Ins tute for Global Dialogue, and signed by the heads of each delega on – was not finalised without difficulty, tes fying to the differences in perspec ves of the a ending delega ons. The declara on confirms the fact that the forum materialised the aspira ons of countries wan ng to consolidate partnerships with one another, but also with emerging markets and developing countries, so as to reinforce development trajectories and promote integra on and industrialisa on. The recommenda ons also represen ng the adopted themes include: 1 - BRICS and Global Economy: The BRICS should facilitate be er co-opera on in the trade field, par cularly goods and services. They should undertake discussions on the feasibility of se ng up privileged commercial agreements among themselves, as well as reinforcing financial and development co-opera on by establishing a BRICS development bank, and by crea ng mechanisms to manage the vola lity of the global money market.

2 - Reform of Global Governance Ins tu ons: The objec ves of the group are to reform global mul lateral ins tu ons by making them more democra c, representa ve and accountable. As such, the BRICS should endeavour to make their voices heard and to promote the representa on of emerging

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3 – Co-Opera on with Africa: The BRICS should acknowledge the value of diversity and experience found in the separate and joint histories of their own countries and those of African countries. This should include looking for deep coopera on with the African Union and taking into account African priori es, with regional integra on in par cular.

4 – Training, Carrying out Research and Developing Skills to Elaborate Industrialised Economies: The BRICS should intensify their support to academic collabora on. This includes enhancing the status of local languages and cultural prac ces. The BRICS should consider crea ng an independent agency to rate schools and universi es in their countries.

Moreover, the Forum proposes the establishment of a primary data bank on the five countries, as well as a digital pla orm including detailed informa on on the researchers and ins tu ons working on BRICSrelated issues.

5 – Peace and Security: The B R I C S should con nue to promote the importance of the United Na ons, and be more ac ve in promo ng peaceful solu ons in the case of conflicts. Shared safety preoccupa ons such as water, diet, the environment, health and preparedness to disasters must con nue to be a focal point. The BRICS should also promote the peaceful use of space and

use their rela ve power in post-conflict situa ons, under the aegis of the United N a o n s . H o w e v e r, par cipants did not men on once issues concerning for example the situa on in Syria.

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economies and developing countries in mul lateral forums.

The B R I C S should ac vely explore innova ve and complementary partnerships for an equitable and s u s t a i n a b l e development. The c r e a o n o f a parliamentarian forum could intensify poli cal interac on.

C o n c r e t e l y, t h e mee ng of the Think Tanks, which was held on the 8 and 9 of DURBANSOUTH AFRICA March 2013, decided to establish a BRICS Think Tanks Council with the inten on of enhancing coopera on in research, knowledge-sharing, capacitybuilding and policy advice. This Council, made up of ins tu ons leading the delega ons, will be in charge of organising the next academic forums. All addi onal co-opera on func ons and methods will be elaborated during a mee ng held in October 2013.

However, it must be pointed out that, except for the Observer Research Founda on (ORF) in India, all the ins tu ons making up this Council are directly or indirectly linked to the governments of the BRICS: the Ins tute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA, Brazil); the Na onal Commi ee for BRICS Research (BRICS/NRC, Russia); the Chinese Centre for Contemporary World Studies (CCCWS, China) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC, South Africa).

More of a club than a forum, the main points of agreement among the delega ons of the five countries concerned the objec ve for the reform of mul lateral and financial ins tu ons, and the importance of promo ng more interac on and increasing knowledge between countries. Indeed, sharing informa on more efficiently within the group is perceived as a first step towards formula ng common strategies. Reforming the Bre on Woods ins tu ons (the World Bank, the IMF, and the IFC) is considered one of the group's priori es. The World Trade Organiza on (WTO) is also sidelining the

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concerns of the emerging countries . In the Delhi Declara on, a more representa ve interna onal financial architecture has been already called for. In this context, the support shown by BRICS and African countries to elect Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevêdo as the head of the organisa on, can be seen as a posi ve outcome of such coali ons and mee ngs.

Finally, the rela onship of the BRICS with Africa, which is a wide source of media coverage and divergence of opinions in terms of their contribu on to the con nent's ongoing economic and social transforma on, raises many ques ons that will be pointed out in what follows.

The BRICS and Africa Se ng the Debate The shared interest in increasing commitment and coopera on with other emerging and developing countries, as well as with interna onal and regional organisa ons, was envisioned in the Sanya Declara on (2012) and has been evoked during all the mee ngs, including during the Summit of the Heads of States and Governments . Organising the Dialogue between African and BRICS leaders on the theme of “Unlocking Africa's Poten al: BRICS and Africa Co-opera on on Infrastructure” reinforced this discourse. On that occasion, Chinese President Xi Jinping affirmed that the global governance system would weaken without the par cipa on of Africa.

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controversial, in the media in par cular: Chinese coopera on and China's investment prac ces in Africa are not considered by certain authors and leaders as being in accordance with interna onal standards on transparency and good governance . This led the representa ve of the think tank China Centre for Contemporary World Studies to feel that a sort of “sinophobia” had been developing over the years.

Nonetheless, these issues were only superficially dealt with during the academic Forum. Other issues such as the adopted development models were not tackled either.

The plenary and parallel sessions were limited to one presenta on of the main lines of ac on of each country concerning their co-opera on with Africa, highligh ng aspects shared among them, such as historical rela ons and horizontal co-opera on, although not necessarily joint BRICS lines of ac ons towards Africa. Differences were brought forward during a provoca ve interven on read by a representa ve of the Brazilian delega on who was ques oning the sudden interest of the BRICS for Africa. However, neither the stakes nor the cri cisms of this rela on were examined in more detail. In fact, they were suppressed by poli cal declara ons according to which cri cisms against the BRICS as a group could not appreciate the importance of mul polarity for the successful geopoli cal func oning of the interna onal system.

Concerning B R I C S co-opera on with African countries, the grouping does not have an African policy yet. In this sense, the main point of agreement between the delega ons concerned the fact that viewing Africa as a con nent was a priority, always taking into account the con nent's diversity of opinions and characteris cs. As such, the idea was to support the regional integra on process, par cularly through the African Union. As a result, the la er is considered as one of the most important BRICS interlocutors on the African con nent.

The media compared these mee ng declara ons and ini a ves with the “African Rush”, when Europeans colonised the con nent at the end of the 19th century . Grabbing raw materials and lands were part of the ques ons which were frequently asked during the coverage of the Durban Summit .

However, there is li le misunderstanding on the possible neo-colonial rela on with the African con nent, considering the economic context with the high prices of raw materials and an African market in full expansion .

Common Interests of a Heterogeneous Group

The Chinese presence is that which is most

The academic delega ons and the delega ons of the

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Heads of the BRICS States agreed to support, within the framework of NEPAD, the industrialisa on of African countries by promo ng investments, knowledge sharing, capacity building and import diversifica on. The academic delega ons also s u g ge ste d p ro m o n g t h e d e ve l o p m e nt o f infrastructures in Africa, with mutual benefits for the BRICS and African countries, through preferen al financial arrangements in par cular. By priori sing infrastructures, endeavours already carried out by the African Union were recognised, for example in the case of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), NEPAD's Ac on Plan (2010-2015), NEPAD's Presiden al Infrastructure Champion Ini a ve (PICI), as well as the Regional I n f r a s t r u c t u r e Development Master Plans . The possible crea on of a BRICS bank will play an important role in this case, supplemen ng financing and concessional lending towards key infrastructures with funding gaps . The role of the African Union has also been recognised in the peace and regional security fields. This focus on the NEPAD agenda has also been the result of efforts by South Africa in placing herself as a sort of intermediary between the BRICS and the African con nent.

It seems that this agenda is primarily focused on the reform of interna onal financial ins tu ons, rather than on the defini on of a common paradigm of Development Co-opera on of the BRICS towards the African con nent. Despite circumstan al agreements during the mee ng of Busan on support efficiency (November 2011), we cannot find a joint ac on of the BRICS in this domain. The Global Partnership for

Effec ve Development Co-opera on – including both North-South and South-South co-opera on – was considered as the major outcome of that Forum. But so far, li le progress has been made in fully involving the emerging powers in the nego a ons, the BRICS being apparently more interested in the G20 as a forum for discussion about development ⁺ .

Nonetheless, the five emerging countries promote a similar set of points related to this agenda:

Photo: GCIS

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The principles of a South-South co-opera on defending the no ons of “partnerships” for developing and learning instead of “dona ng”; mutual benefits to the detriment of poli cal condi onality.

The importance of trade and foreign direct investments as a legi mate element of development.

Sharing experiences in public policies with low income countries in various fields, from health to agriculture.

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The poli cal discourse held at the conference endeavoured to jus fy this gathering of the BRICS which, according to Minister Nkoana-Mashabane, forms a bloc with a shared history as far as figh ng against colonisa on and underdevelopment is concerned, according to the “spirit of Bandung” ; a bloc of shared challenges against inequality, poverty and unemployment; a bloc led by specific interests and working for a real partnership with Africa . The spirit of Bandung was evoked several mes in the speeches during the various Forum interven ons, even though this iden ty should not include Russia.

The Bandung argument presents the group as being the product of the Cold War and with the poli cal idea peculiar to situa ons of underdevelopment: development projects a emp ng above all to end poverty, precariousness and vulnerability, to overcome the legacy of colonialism, to loosen or break up the constraints imposed by the interna onal poli cal system, its ins tu ons and, more s ll, global capitalism. However, according to Andrew Hurrel , the history of the group does not amount to that of the Cold War. The no on of South remains useful in order to grasp the specificity of iden es (as diverse as they are) in large emerging countries which navigate and posi on themselves within the capitalist order as is – liberal and at the same me structured by the State – while accep ng the main part of the premises and values of this world order. “North” and “South” coexist on the territory of emerging countries, and the recombina on of ideas as well as old and new public policies prevents these countries from le ng themselves being absorbed purely and simply in an extended version of the great liberal West.

What Long Term Vision?

Despite the defini on of shared iden ty and the formula on of a few common objec ves, economic and poli cal rela onships among the BRICS are discon nuous. For example, apart from the fact that China trades a lot with the countries of this bloc, the other countries carry out very li le trade among themselves. They trade more with Africa than among

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themselves. Chinese companies, par cularly as regards mining and gold extrac on and in the telecommunica ons sector, are fierce compe tors for the South Africans . Russia, within the BRICS, is the most atypical actor, seeing that it is not an emerging country per se, but a former superpower wishing to regain part of its lost poli cal status. Russia sees in her status of permanent member of the Security Council one of her main advantages, while on the economic and demographic level, her posi on remains weaker .

These countries have differing visions as far as the role of the group in the interna onal system is concerned. Moreover, the BRICS members are confronted with important challenges, in their own countries, as regards social inequality, economic slowdown, poli cal issues and environmental problems . Also, the idea behind the long term vision of the think tanks is that, despite differences among the members of the group, any priority defined jointly will be followed more naturally if the BRICS set up a coherent and sustainable framework of con nuous commitment. At the same me, poli cal formula on mechanisms should be dynamic and inclusive, with ins tu onal flexibility being the central idea of the BRICS. In this context, the role of pivotal research ins tu ons and think tanks is perceived as being crucial.

The importance of transforming the BRICS into a formal mechanism of strategic interac on, should not a s s u c h fo r c e a n a r fi c i a l ex p a n s i o n a n d ins tu onalisa on process. For some of the academics, establishing a solid func onal base for associa ng its members should be a priority. This includes experience and knowledge sharing ins tu ons, the establishment of data banks and joint training programmes, and the crea on of new communica on channels as well as academic and civil society pla orms. In other words, extremely heterogeneous countries in terms of vision, interest, internal characteris cs and interna onal inser on, forming a bloc of power, seek to form themselves into a group by increasing exchanges. As such, this gathering of very o en compe ng powers is

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nourished by the objec ve of reforming the interna onal system which aims at ensuring their increased par cipa on.

Conclusion The emerging countries which have gained coherence as a result of their increasing economic role in the global economy, par cularly in terms of marketdriven changes, assume likewise a historical iden ty of periphery of the Western world, faced with problems of poverty, inequality and vulnerability.

These countries demand status, recogni on and the means to impact the interna onal system by working through groups or alliances and/or through mul lateral ins tu ons. BRICS' grouping is a result of this logic having become a group of power rather than only an economic grouping, intending to influence and reform interna onal architecture.

Within the framework of its interac on with Africa, this bloc of power is beginning to yield results, the most recent being the elec on of Brazilian na onal Roberto Azevêdo as the head of the World Trade Organisa on (even though Azevêdo was not the candidate of the bloc at the beginning of the

nego a ons). Yet, unlike IBSA which represents a slightly more homogeneous group, and which was already able to implement a greater number of concrete ini a ves, the BRICS somewhat agree on a few guidelines for South-South co-opera on and for contribu ng to the African regional integra on process. Besides, it adds major powers like China and Russia upon the configura on of the interna onal sy s t e m . T h i s c o u l d b e m o v e d fo r w a rd b y implemen ng the development bank project, which is considered a means of advancing B R I C S ins tu onalisa on under a func onal logic, although the nego a on process is on-going and vague. For the moment, efforts are focused on increasing interac ons and knowledge on the different countries making up the BRICS. The Academic Forum ini ated its closing session with a declara on of the head of the Russian delega on, Dr Vyacheslay Nikonov, who summarised the status of the group: “BRICS is now a reality, not a virtuality. We become more and more real”. The poli cal and economic coordina on prospects are under construc on and, to date, advocate the flexibility and autonomy of each country, advancing only the issues under a func onal basis and on which there is agreement.

Soule-Kohndou, F. 2013. Le rôle des Forums IBAS et BRICS dans la diploma e d'émergent de l'Inde. 12ème Congrès Associa on Française de Sciences Poli ques. 9 Juillet 2013. Paris.

Hirst, M. 2012. Emerging powers and global governance. h p://www.udesa.edu.ar/files/UAHUMANIDADES/EVENTOS/PAPERHIRST11112.PDF. Accessed 01/06/2013 Soule-Kohndou, F. 2013. Le role des Forums IBAS et BRICS dans la diploma e d'émergent de l'Inde. 12ème Congrès Associa on Française de Sciences Poli ques. 9 Juillet 2013. Paris.

Fourcade, M., 2013. The material and symbolic construc on of the BRICs: Reflec ons inspired by the RIPE Special Issue.

Review of Interna onal Poli cal Economy 20, 256–267.

BRICS, 2012, The BRICS Report: a study of Brazil , Russia, India, China and South Africa with special focus on synergies and complementari es, OUP India, 21 June 2012.

Jayan, P.A., 2013. BRICS: Advancing Coopera on and Strengthening Regionalism. India Quarterly: A Journal of Interna onal Affairs 68, 363–384. eThinwinki Declara on, h p://www.brics5.co.za/fi h-brics-summit-declara on-and-ac on-plan/, 20/05/2013 RFI, 2013, Sommet des BRICS: une nouvelle «ruée vers l'Afrique»?, h p://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20130327-afrique-sud-bricsvers-une-nouvelle-ruee-vers-afrique-bresil-inde-chine-russie, 20/05/2013 L e M o n d e , 2 0 1 3 , " C h i n a f r i q u e " , l e s q u e s o n s q u i d é r a n g e n t , h p : / / w w w. l e m o n d e . f r / a s i e -

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pacifique/ar cle/2013/03/29/chinafrique-les-ques ons-qui-derangent_3150304_3216.html, 20/05/2013 Boillot Jean-Joseph, « La montée de la « Chindiafrique » et le pionnier du développement A. O. Hirschman », Revue Tiers Monde, 2011/4 n°208, p. 121-138. DOI : 10.3917/rtm.208.0121 Lafargue François, « L'Afrique du Sud et la Chine » Un mariage de raison ?, Afrique contemporaine, 2012/2 n° 242, p. 11-28 See on this subject the ar cle by Agathe Maupin in this same issue.

See insert.

Eyben, R., Savage, L., 2013. Emerging and Submerging Powers: Imagined Geographies in the New Development Partnership at the Busan Fourth High Level Forum. Journal of Development Studies 49, 457–469.

In the case of the IBSA Forum, more concrete mechanisms have already been implemented, such as the IBSA Trust Fund and the Project Allevia on of Poverty and Hunger.

It makes reference to the conference held in the city of the same name in 1955 that cons tuted the origin of the Third World movement (Non-aligned). This was never simply about shared economic characteris cs, but was rather a poli cal project built on a shared experience of marginaliza on.

SAFPI, 2013, BRICS Academic Forum: speech by SA Foreign Minister, h p://www.safpi.org/news/ar cle/2013/brics-academic-forum-speech-sa-foreign-minister, 20/05/2013 Hurrel, 2012, Récits d'émergence : la fin du Tiers Monde ?, Cri que interna onale 2012/3 (N° 56) Lafargue François, « L'Afrique du Sud et la Chine » Un mariage de raison ?, Afrique contemporaine, 2012/2 n° 242, p. 11-28.

Laïdi Zaki, « Les BRICS : un cartel d'ambi ons souverainistes », Le Débat, 2011/5 n° 167, p. 50-59.

Vieira de Jesus, 2013, Os principais pontos na agenda da Cúpula de Durban, B R I C S Policy Center, h p://www.bricspolicycenter.org/homolog/arquivos/Cupuladedurban.pdf, 20/05/2013

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A BRICS Bank Matters At the BRICS conference in Durban last March, focus was firmly on the pending announcement of a BRICS Development Bank (BDB), aimed at “mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies”. A BRICS bank offers other sources of much needed development capital to help overcome the lingering infrastructure deficit in the developing world, and in the BRICS themselves. But more than this, it establishes some level of ins tu onal structure to the BRICS. The group has thus far remained largely informal, ed to annual summits, but without any ins tu onal capacity independent of the five member states. Because of this, the group lacks an independent mechanism with which to turn their summit declara ons into hard ac on, and therefore risks being reduced to a talk-shop or, at best, a useful forum for limited collabora on between the five, with low capacity to stand out as a new global actor. As the World Bank and IMF give the G20 the capacity to act on their discussions, so a BRICS bank could offer a similar channel for ac on for the five BRICS. Debate rages over a secondary set of mo va ons, broadly aimed at challenging the prevailing global economic order, by offering an alterna ve to the Bre on Woods ins tu ons and challenging the status of the US Dollar as the primary global reserve currency. Both seem unlikely. While the scale of the BDB remains uncertain, it is likely to be funded by $50 billion dollars of seed capital, with further lending financed by tapping into global capital markets. While substan al, this is nowhere near on a scale to be anything but complementary to established global financial ins tu ons, given that the World Bank. It is possible that the BDB could offer a challenge to prevailing lending norms, most notably the principles of condi onality. This is not to say that BRICS loans won't have condi ons, but it is possible that their condi ons will be more firmly grounded in the specifics of the development project, avoiding governance requirements. While this might raise concerns of less accountable lending, there remain substan al incen ves to comply with interna onal lending norms, in order to assure access to funds from ins tu ons like the World Bank. These consistent incen ves and a BRICS bank that cannot completely replace the role played by these ins tu ons, means any norm shi will likely be small, perhaps just serving to place current standards under the spotlight of compe ve pressure.

Talk of the bank facilita ng a coup in global currency trade, with the bank assis ng a rise of the Chinese Renminbi to the status of a global reserve currency, is also overstated. China's economic might certainly makes it possible that the Yuan will gain reserve status in the future, but these changes happen very slowly.

Japan was the world's second largest economy for over 40 years, and yet the Yen s ll plays a rela vely minor role in global currency reserves. Even China's ambi ons remain modest, with their short-term aim focusing on securing a greater role for the Yuan in the basket of currencies underpinning the IMF's Special Drawing Rights. For now, using BRICS currencies on some level would be a powerful symbolical gesture, but for most transac ons it would come at the cost of s ll having to convert those funds to US Dollars or IMF SDRs. If a BRICS currency does become a recognized reserve currency, the BDB would certainly use it. But for now, s cking with a recognized global standard is much more likely.

Christopher Wood

is a researcher in Economic Diplomacy at the South African Ins tute of Interna onal Affairs, and an expert in BRICS finance issues.

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A New Trilogy?

BRICS, Infrastructure and Development on the African Continent

Agathe Maupin Agathe Maupin is currently holding a researcher post at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg, and is also Research Associate at the Laboratory Les Afriques dans le Monde (LAM) in Bordeaux. She defended her doctoral thesis in 2010 on water management policies in the transboundary catchment areas of Southern Africa.

The growing posi on of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa on the African scene offers new development opportuni es for the con nent, concerning infrastructures in par cular. By privileging investments in certain domains rather than public development aid, the BRICS are establishing new forms of rela ons. During the last BRICS Summit, the members expressed once more their support to the PIDA. Which infrastructures are privileged and, through these, what interests do the BRICS defend on the African con nent?

Introduc on Why did a future development bank find itself at the centre of the debates during the last BRICS Summit which took place in March 2013 in Durban, South Africa? The BRICS have already invested a lot these last years, in improving and mul plying infrastructures on the African con nent, by relying mainly on bilateral agreements and partnerships. But it is now me for trilateral co-opera on as well as complex and mul lateral projects.

Because many bilateral agreements and projects already exist, as do regional ins tu ons, the need for general frameworks or even standards seems to show: trilateral (or even mul lateral) co-opera on,

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which usually focuses around a project – whether or not including infrastructures – could be facilitated by a bank shared by BRICS members.

Moreover, the African Union Commission, in partnership with NEPAD Planning and Co-ordina ng Agency, the African Development Bank and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, certainly had the c o n n e n t ' s i n te g ra o n , d e ve l o p m e n t a n d socioeconomic co-opera on and their poten al investors in mind when they proposed a Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).

The PIDA has been proposing to interested par es from Africa, a common framework of integra on for infrastructures to be developed on the con nent. As such, the proposal's foreword specifies that “implemen ng PIDA will require solid co-ordina on structures and mobilising all relevant funding sources, both public and private. […] We invite Africa's various development partners and the private sector to consider suppor ng PIDA's delivery.”

Priority projects have already been iden fied and many of them are now ready to be financed and implemented, thereby illustra ng an opportunity for the BRICS to invest in infrastructures on the African con nent. The expression “development partner” used in the PIDA report is far from trivial: from development aid to partner, apprehending such an expression has been evolving over the years.

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The recent advances concerning the crea on of a South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA), in 2013, begs the following ques on: confronted with development as a global issue, are the BRICS going to draw inspira on from USAID, DFID or EuropeAid among others, or are they going to outline a common strategy? Within the BRICS, development aid or partnership is more or less recent, targeted and planned according to several criteria. Moreover, the opportunity to invest in the infrastructures of the African con nent as presented by the PIDA, does not cons tute a ques on mark over previous strategies (bilateral and in other sectors for example) but, rather, the beginning of a more shared and integrated support between actors of development on the con nent.

Return to the Beginning of the BRICS and Development: Aid or Partnership?

As one can easily note, their first forms of investments in the development of the African con nent is not what the BRICS have in common! If China and Russia already had a go at development during the Cold War, Brazil and India, former developing countries and today emerging powers, are more recent investors. As to South Africa, it is only as from the end of apartheid, and therefore from the beginning of the 1990s, that the country was able to begin inves ng officially in the development of the con nent.

Chinese assistance in African countries exists since the beginning of the 1960s: several sectors and countries have benefited from this early assistance with, for example, sending Chinese experts and funds to Egypt (Suez Canal), producing matches and cigare es in Guinea, producing sugar cane and tea in Mali, and supplying medical support in Tanzania and Somalia.

It is from the 1990s onwards that China truly began to invest on the con nent with, today, over 900 infrastructure development projects . Chinese financial resources for foreign aid are essen ally of three types: subsidies, interest-free loans and so

loans. The first two come from State finances, while so loans are supplied by the Import-Export Bank of China. Several Chinese ministries are involved in this regard, those of Foreign Affairs, Science and Technology as well as Trade. The co-opera on privileged by China up to now has been more bilateral, but the opening of a Forum on China-Africa Co-opera on (FOCAC) in 2000 marked a turning point in the growing importance of the dialogue between China and the en re African con nent.

Today, as the first trading partner in Africa, China announced in June 2013 the launch of two addi onal investment funds within the framework of the ChinaAfrica Business Council (CABC) and the China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund). Both funds should gather close to 1 billion USD each, and aim to s mulate the investments of Chinese companies (from the trading and mining sectors) by supplying them with capital. Finally, China is contempla ng moving a step further by reloca ng companies on the African con nent .

Russia experienced several phases in which SinoSoviet and interna onal rela ons during the Cold War played a certain role, i.e. the pre- and post-1989 periods and two financial crises (1998 and 2008), interspersed with recent periods of rapid expansion.

Up un l the beginning of the 1990s, the USSR supported several opposing poli cal par es, then their regimes (in Ethiopia, Sudan, Democra c Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, and the ANC in South Africa), without for all that commi ng herself at the economic level, except for a few imports (cocoa, coffee and bauxite from Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria respec vely).

More recently, a er the 1990-2000 decade during which li le exchange took place (except for the purchase of diamond and hydroelectricity in Angola, Namibia and DRC at the beginning of the 1990s), Russia reinvested on the con nent: imports from Russia always involved specific countries (mainly Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa) and African exports towards Russia concern essen ally metal (uranium and iron), fruits, oil-producing plants and tobacco.

The current global energy context has also been pushing Russia to turn to Africa for gas and oil. Several

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Russian companies in this regard have already been be ng on the African con nent since the beginning of the 2000s: Ÿ Lukoil in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in 2010 (900 million USD in submarine oil prospec on); Ÿ Gazprom in Algeria in 2006 (within the framework of a development and debt cancella on contract) followed by the construc on of the Nigeria-Algeria pipeline (in partnership with the Nigerian na onal oil company); Ÿ Norilsk Nickel, a metallurgic company, owns reserves in South Africa, Gabon, Guinea and Nigeria;

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Rosatom is also on the way to building the first nuclear plants in Egypt and Nigeria . Following the G8 Summit held in Saint-Petersburg in 2006, Russia, through a concept note , proposed several elements to improve its interna onal development aid with, for example, cancelling the debts of African countries which came to 20 billion Dollars . An agency of the Russian government specialised in co-opera on, the Rossitrudnichestvo , was set up in 2008 and was a ributed missions overseas, as in Ethiopia. Figh ng against infec ous diseases or "energy poverty" and reinforcing educa on, are part of the sectors targeted

by Russian aid which operates under a number of ministries, par cularly the Ministry of Finances, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic

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Development, the Ministry of Educa on and Sciences, the Ministry of Health and, finally, EMERCOM. The crea on of a development agency (of the RusAID type) has been officially proposed since 2007 but does not yet exist.

Indian Technical and Economic Co-opera on (ITEC) was launched in 1964 as an aid programme which was part of the Indian Ministry of External Rela ons.

Being essen ally bilateral, ITEC emphasised capacity building, the transfer of technology and experience sharing. From the 1950s to the beginning of the 1990s, India benefited from interna onal aid especially. Becoming a donor is a rela vely recent state of affairs which was marked at the end of 2012 by the announcement that Great-Britain was stopping development aid to India.

More recently, India created a Development Partnership Administra on (DPA) with the energy sector taking the lead in DPA-led projects. In the last decades, the countries which benefited the most from it were Bhutan, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Ethiopia, Mali and Ghana are also among the ten countries benefi ng the most from Indian aid which emphasizes South-South co-opera on, and also favours bilateral agreements.

In 2008, the first Summit of an India-Africa Forum was organised in New-Delhi (IAFS I), followed in 2011 by a second Summit which took place in Ethiopia, under the patronage of the African Union (IAFS II). The PIDA was men oned in the co-opera on framework paragraph dedicated to infrastructure, energy and the environment . Nineteen ins tu ons should also be set up, such as various India-Africa Ins tutes of Foreign Trade (IAIFT) in Uganda, Informa on and Technologie (IAIIT) in Ghana, specialised in diamonds in Botswana and on Educa on, Planning and Administra on issues (IAIEPA) in Burundi.

Today, India is taking on a wider perspec ve concerning South-South partnerships on environmental, technological and other issues within the framework of her commercial interests.

Because of her history, South Africa is a recent actor on the interna onal scene of development aid, privileging perhaps more trilateral or even mul lateral co-opera on since the beginning of the

1990s.

Like India, South Africa is also a beneficiary and a donor at the same me, and the Bri sh Government also announced that it will be stopping development aid to South Africa in 2015. The European Union is also currently reconsidering its co-opera on framework with South Africa, as a strategic partner since 2007.

Does the intermediary status of India and South Africa favour a co-opera ve framework focused more on partnership than development aid? The various declara ons and projects in this regard bring one to think so, insofar as the focus is on mutual benefits. As such, South African investments in the (regional) energy sector include South African benefits such as the guarantee of an addi onal source of energy provision at nego ated tariffs, for example.

Since 1987, the Brazilian Co-opera on Agency (ABC) has been proposing technical aid although not only: Brazilian assistance func ons on a model split between various technical interven on sectors, which also include emergency aid as in Hai .

As such, Brazil has led several projects in Afghanistan (popula on census aid and agricultural aid in 2009), as well as in African Lusophone countries such as Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique, and in the health sector in South Africa. The volume of Brazilian aid, nearing one billion USD, today has placed the country at the same level as China (over 3 billion USD) and India (around 2 billion USD) in 2011.

Brazilian exper se and assistance, like those from India and South Africa, are appreciated because they are perceived as being adapted to the poli cal, economic and socio-environmental context of the countries of the African con nent.

While Brazil is also a beneficiary and at the same me a donor, the fact that many ins tu ons have a hand in Brazilian co-opera on puts a break on its expansion and readability. As such, the ABC is not an aid agency per se but depends on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (known as Itamaraty) . Moreover, many Brazilian companies are inves ng on the con nent, without such investments being for all that listed as development aid, assistance or partnership.

Finally, Brazil today, like South Africa, favours trilateral co-opera on, by using its intermediary posi on: for

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example, development aid projects are conducted with Japan in Mozambique .

As such, the BRICS have progressively implemented forms of bilateral as well as mul lateral co-opera on, which differ from post-WWII development aid models. IBSA and BRICS cons tute innova ve forms of intergovernmental collabora on, insofar as they open discussion areas for governance, development models and other issues between countries facing common challenges. These forms of collabora on have paved the way for South-South co-opera on, centred on trade projects, investments, humanitarian relief, etc. However, compe on is rife, as highlighted in the debates on compe on between China and India, the alloca on of disputed markets, as well as the analysis of partnerships between India and South Africa for example, both countries feeling very strongly about their compe ve commercial interests on the African con nent .

PIDA: an Opportunity to Match the BRICS? What dynamics are inspired by the BRICS as far as infrastructure development on the African con nent is concerned? Beyond BRICS projects, is there a made-in-BRICS thought on development? BRICS investments on the African con nent have increased in the last years mainly, to reach almost 350 billion USD per year. For example, trade between China and the con nent is at least 20 mes more important than at the beginning of the 2000s. Nevertheless, this type of trade remains targeted: infrastructures absorb an important por on of the funds. Whether roads, railroads, ports, communica on lines, dams or power plants among others, each infrastructure contributes to the development of the con nent and the BRICS know this. BRICS financing, loans etc. usually include the exper se and experience of the group's members in each domain. Such investments also concern large hydraulic infrastructures and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have not missed out on such opportuni es: from Merowe in Soudan to Massingir in Mozambique, there is no

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shortage of examples!

Indeed, infrastructure consumes 60 % of the yearly loans and dona ons of 5 billion USD from the African Development Bank (ADB) for example. However, the infrastructure funding gap in Africa remains massive.

In this light, the ADB is planning to launch a funding programme meant only for infrastructure: an African Infrastructure Fund (AIF) which would combine sovereign and non-sovereign, na onal as well as interna onal resources to gather investments suitable for the development of infrastructures on the con nent.

Financing large high-return infrastructure projects in Africa from the considerable surpluses of the BRICS, is currently very topical. Many documents have already put forward the importance of infrastructure in development, such as the Infrastructure Ac on Plan of the G20, the Infrastructure Consor um for Africa (ICA) and the Fonds fiduciaire UE-Afrique pour les infrastructures (FFI). The PIDA has been synthesising into one programme all current or former con nental infrastructure ini a ves, such as the plans and frameworks of the NEPAD and the Infrastructure Master Plans of the AU. The PIDA's Priority Ac on Programme (PAP) has been pu ng forward around fi y urgent projects in the sectors of energy, transports, water as well as Informa on and Communica on Technologies (ICTs). Projects have been selected according to three main criteria: Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

their eligibility and regional integra on; their feasibility and state of prepara on; their impacts on development.

Infrastructure obliga ons, loan guarantees, regional community taxes are part of the financing means envisaged by the PIDA.

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Among PIDA projects in the energy sector, “large hydroelectric projects and the interconnec on of energy exchange systems” (CUA, 2012) are clearly privileged. The large Millennium Dam in Ethiopia , Grand Inga in DRC, as well as more modest construc ons such as the Lom Pangar Dam in Cameroon, are part of the middle- (2025) to longterm (2040) objec ves of the PIDA. China and Brazil are unavoidable investors on the con nent when it comes to hydraulic infrastructure, with the presence of Brazilian company Camargo Correia in the Mphanda Nkuwa Dam consor um in Mozambique (40% of Hidroelectrica de Mphanda Nkuwa), and in the Inga III Dam project in the Democra c Republic of Congo, in which Chinese company Sinohydro might play a major role. Road infrastructures are also of great interest: Brazilian company Vale, for example, invested in the roads and railways of Mozambique. India and South Africa as to them are more present in new communica on technologies and in agrobusiness, as tes fied by the ac vi es of the Indian group Bhar Airtel in Chad and the South African group Vodacom in Southern Africa.

Infrastructure and development con nue to be introduced as a necessary although insufficient tandem: what roles did the BRICS play and are called upon to play in this regard? Several approaches coexist to link infrastructure and development. Since 2011, infrastructures have been the subject of new strategies. Very much associated with development, banks specialising in development aid have very per nently shared an integrated approach relying on public-private partnership, so as to favour the solvability of regional projects. Decentralised solu ons have also been mul plying, notably microprojects based on small infrastructures, par cularly in rural areas or in countries where it has taken a long me to develop a central electrifica on network.

Complex and Mul lateral Projects Other elements have been tes fying to the growing importance of investments in infrastructure on the African con nent. For example, the Mul lateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a World Bank

group, has been concentra ng half of its insurance ac vity between various projects on the African con nent. As such, MIGA's “insured” implement infrastructure development projects matching World Bank specifica ons, i.e. complex and mul lateral projects: these must have various objec ves, e.g. produc on of hydroelectricity and irriga on for a dam, as well as post-conflict reconstruc on etc.; and be mul lateral as in including actors from different countries, and also favour South-South co-opera on, strongly associa ng the BRICS, and South Africa in par cular.

Concerning energy produc on infrastructures, MIGA recently provided a non-honouring of sovereign financial obliga ons cover to Bri sh bank HSBC for its investments in Angola, as part of a project for the rehabilita on and development of the hydroelectric plant of Cambambe, on the Kwanza River (of a capacity of 700 MW). In the long run, the Angolan government planned an increase of its na onal produc on from 1500 to 5000 MW. This project illustrates the growing presence of the BRICS in the development of infrastructures in Africa, all the more since it includes Brazilian building firm Odebrecht as the main builder, as well as German companies Hydro GmBH and KG (from the Voith Group) and Spanish company Elecnor for the supply of mechanical and electrical equipment. This type of complex project, i.e. containing various objec ves – in this case the development of hydroelectric produc on in Angola and the accelera on of post-conflict reconstruc on – as well as mul lateral objec ves, i.e. including several interna onal companies and actors, is increasingly being put forward by interna onal ins tu ons such as the World Bank.

In addi on to building firms, BRICS investments also concern finances. A Chinese and a South African bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and CfC Stanbic respec vely, invested in a project for the produc on of energy in Kenya in 2012. The insurance cover taken out with MIGA guarantees a breach of contract. The project was named Triumph and consists in building an oil-fired power sta on (83MW) to be situated in Kitengela near the Athi River, around 25 km away from Nairobi. Triumph also undertakes to

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conclude a 20-year electricity purchase contract with the Kenya Power and Ligh ng Company (KPLC). The objec ves of this project are to increase and, according to MIGA, diversify Kenya's energy produc on since it relies on hydroelectricity which is threatened by droughts, as well as to facilitate SouthSouth co-opera on. Finally, KPLC has undertaken to facilitate the emergence of three Independent Power Producers (IPP), i.e. Gulf Power, Thika Power and Triumph Power, within the framework of a wider programme for the introduc on of these IPPs led by the World Bank in Kenya.

South Africa has already begun the process of inves ng in infrastructure locally, in its own energy sector, and on a regional scale. Other projects which today are completed, can thus be men oned, such as MIGA's first project in Swaziland: MIGA issued guarantees against financial risks as well as war and unrest-related risks, for 69,4 million USD, to South African electricity company Eskom to cover its own loan guarantees to the Banque européenne d'inves ssement (BEI) and to the Japanese Bank for Interna onal Co-opera on, for their investments in Motraco-Mozambique Transmission Company SARL (Motraco), which included the construc on and includes today the opera on of power lines linking South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique, thereby associa ng the public suppliers of electricity of these three countries, i.e. Eskom for South Africa, Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM) and the Swaziland Electricity Board (SEB).

A last example already men oned and referred to as a classic example of trilateral or even mul lateral partnership involving large hydraulic infrastructures, is that of Grand Inga in the Democra c Republic of Congo. The construc on of this dam which will start with Inga III, should begin in 2015. In addi on to several companies' poten al investments, the agreement signed between the South African and Congolese energy departments on energy trade between the two States, as well as the reinforcement of the role of France (Grand Inga project submi ed and discussed in Paris) do make of them a model of

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complexity and mul lateralism.

Conclusion: In the Poker Game of Development, the BRICS Have Many Cards to Play A domina ng place is now given to the BRICS in many domains on the world agenda. The 5 BRICS Summit contributed not only to ra fying South Africa's December 2010 membership and highligh ng her enthusiasm linked partly to the possibili es of reinforcing her interests, but also to ra fying the growing place given to the African con nent in the agenda of emerging powers.

Yet, other configura ons also exist, such as the IBSA, a diploma c associa on made up of India, Brazil and South Africa since 2003, and already endowed with a development and democracy aid bank. This coali on of major emerging democracies of the South relies on shared values and, through task forces, examines interna onal issues, from the reform of the IMF and the World Bank to climate change. Today, IBSA's development fund, accrued by these countries, is suppor ng over a dozen projects on the three con nents. The future BRICS development bank, supposed to differ from that of the IBSA in terms of administra ve scope and scale, is mo vated by a similar will to mobilise the resources of emerging countries, which has already given rise to the IBSA development fund. The incuba ng role of the IBSA concerning the co-opera on of emerging countries on the one hand, and the use of this role to the benefit of their ci zens on the other, has not been negligible .

T h e re l a o n s h i p b e t we e n d e m o c ra c y a n d development should clearly be situated at the centre of reflec ons ahead of infrastructure projects. In a world oscilla ng between (mul )polari es and where governance issues o en win over sustainability, is it s ll possible to think before inves ng, in order to establish instead of merely building?

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CUA (2012), Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), Interconnec ng, Integra ng and Transforming a Con nent, CUA, NEPAD, ADB, CEA, extract from the Foreword China's Foreign Aid and Aid to Africa: overview, Li Xiaoyun, College of Humani es and Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 2008. h p://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/7/40378067.pdf According to the China Daily: h p://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-06/13/content_16612923.htm AfDB (2011), Russia's economic engagement with Africa, Africa Economic Brief, vol.2, n°7 According to the Rosatom website: h p://www.rosatom.ru/en/presscentre/nuclear_industry/18a661004f5e053689e2fd7ea2a04c6d h p://www.rosatom.ru/en/presscentre/Announcements/b08c7c004b7dd59cb851ff487a5dcd55 Concept on Russia's Par cipa on in Interna onal Development Assistance (2007), available online: h p://www.minfin.ru/common/img/uploaded/library/2007/06/concept_eng.pdf Cancella on concerns debts incurred with the former Soviet Union in par cular, within the framework of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, as well as those under nego a ons with Benin, Guinea, Zambia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and Interna onal Humanitarian Coopera on According to the documents of the second forum: h p://www.indiaafricasummit.nic.in/sta cfile/framework-fr.pdf Cabral, L. et J. Weinstock (2010), « Brazil, an emerging aid player? », Briefing Paper, n°64, Overseas Development Ins tute, London During a conference in South Africa, a few days before the 5 Tokyo Interna onal Conference on African Development in June 2013, a trilateral co-opera on involving Japan, Brazil and Mozambique in the agricultural and health sectors was men oned as being successful.

Sidiropoulos, E. (2011), « India and South Africa as Partners for Development in Africa? », Briefing Paper, Asia Programme and Africa Programme, Chatham House, The Royal ins tute of Interna onal Affairs, ASP/AFP BP 2011/01 This dam with a future total capacity of 5250 MW is a very hot issue between Egypt and Ethiopia within the framework of the recent Entebbe Agreement on sharing the Nile Basin.

According to Chris Alden (2013) for Jeune Afrique Economie: h p://economie.jeuneafrique.com/tribune/408-tribune-interna onal/16230-les-ibsa-dans-un-monde-de-brics.html

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news CNRS Researcher Guillaume Porraz posted at the French Institute of South Africa

We are proud to welcome C NRS Researcher Guillaume Porraz (CR2 – UMR 7041, ArScAn-AnTET) who has been posted at the French Ins tute of South Africa for the next two years. With this pos ng, Guillaume intends to lead an ambi ous archaeological project that will bring even closer the already promising scien fic collabora on between France and South Africa.

The South African archaeological heritage has become the subject of much a en on these past years, par cularly as regards finding answers to the issues of human society evolu ons over very long periods of me. South African academic ins tu ons, especially a er the democra c transi on of the mid1990s, have been highly involved and successful in these major scien fic sites which have been a rac ng researchers from around the world.

Guillaume's research project is at the very core of these issues: examining the technical and cultural transforma ons at work during the MSA, i.e. between 200 000 and 50 000 years ago. This project has been developing since 2006 with Guillaume entertaining privileged rela ons with major South African archaeologists from the Universi es of Cape Town (Department of Archaeology) and the Witwatersrand (Ins tute for Human Evolu on). He has been relying on excava ons carried out in the Western Cape and wishes to compare these with excava ons in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

Within this framework, Guillaume's pos ng in Johannesburg is a real opportunity for the French Ins tute of South Africa, in that it will give yet another dimension to the scien fic exper se of the Ins tute, as was the case in the past with the successive pos ngs of François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar (20032006) and Jean-Loïc Le Quellec (2006-2009). The quality of Guillaume's research and publica ons are affording him established recogni on from our

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partners and could only reinforce our links with the Universi es of the Witwatersrand and Cape Town – our main scien fic interlocutors. More than anyone, he will be in a posi on to help supervising young researchers in Archaeology, whether from French or South African universi es. Furthermore, thanks to his pos ng, Guillaume will also contribute to ensuring the presence of many French academics during all the major scien fic events already programmed in the coming years. Finally, Guillaume's scien fic project carries a regional dimension of which we are very apprecia ve: through the prospec on work he intends to conduct in Southern Africa in the coming years, he will not only ini ate new archaeological excava ons, but also create new ins tu onal partnerships.

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Research Projects of our Long-Term Scholars Daria Tren ni SOAS / IFAS Remembering, Forge ng the Civil War: State Memorialisa on, Witchcra and the Poli cal Imagina on in Northern Mozambique My six-month postdoctoral project at IFAS will examine the ways in which the poli cal violence of the civil war is remembered, or forgo en, in northern Mozambique. How memories of the civil war are transmi ed and how images from the past are used are some of the ques ons this research will a empt to address.

In present-day Mozambique, memories of the civil war are co n s i g n e d to a to ta l oblivion both in public discourse and in everyday discursive memories. The mandatory forge ng, driven by the ruling party FRELIMO, is taking place in the midst of an important transi on for Mozambique, from being one of the poorest countries to one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. This economic growth, fuelled by the recent discoveries of mineral resources, has strengthened the ruling party's resolve to promote poli cal centralisa on, social stability and na onal cohesion. As part of this process, FRELIMO has been rela vely effec ve in controlling the country's recent past and par cularly in silencing debate about the civil war. However, this State-planned strategy of forge ng does not map coherently with local memory.

Drawing on literature on the anthropology of memory, which has largely accounted for the discrepancies and tensions between State memorialism and popular memories, I will seek to explore the ways in which alterna ve spaces of memory challenge this State-planned strategy of forge ng.

The project aims to further develop and divulge one of the key findings of my doctoral thesis on the role and significance of spiritual healing in the city of Nampula, northern Mozambique, which emerged as a conduit for an alterna ve space of memory.

Forgo en as 'history' and absent in prac ces of discursive memory, the civil war was regurgitated in the privacy of healers' spirit houses, during divina ons and healing sessions. The memories of the civil war burst violently into the ways that healers and their pa ents imagined a war of witchcra taking hold of their lives in the neighbourhoods.

Besides forming a contribu on to the study of memory and violence in the field of anthropology, this project hopes to help to build a be er understanding of the current socio-poli cal context in Mozambique.

Following the debates within the anthropology of memory in the postcolonial context, I seek to finally shed light on the ways in which the past – or its nega on – helps to address the present. In this case, I will focus on the ways in which memories of the civil war may have become a powerful instrument of cri que towards the State and its unfulfilled promises. Witchcra and healing as sites of memory, on the one hand, and the State's silence, on the other, cons tute two sides of the same coin. Both speak to a presence characterised by the rising of social, economic inequali es, conflicts and poten al tensions. Furthermore, images of the past and struggles over histories con nue to be vehicles for establishing power or lack of it in the region.

During my six-month postdoctoral fellowship, I will take part in the life of the ins tute. I will also be conduc ng s nts of fieldwork in the neighbourhood of Nampula, the third largest city in Mozambique, where the majority of the popula on fled to during the years of civil war. There, I will conduct interviews with healers and undertake par cipant observa on with a number of healers during their divina on and healing sessions, which will add to my previous data.

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Marina Redondo, Laboratoire TRACES – UMR 5608 University of Toulouse II - Le Mirail / IFAS The Emergence of Bladelet Technology in South African Prehistory: the Status and Lithic Industries of the Robberg Techno-Complex During the end of the 19 century and the beginning of the 20 century, South African archaeologists wanted to form their own Prehistoric chronological models, which are essen ally based on lithic studies.

Influenced by the Abbé Breuil, his travels to Southern Africa as well as his studies, and by European chronological methodology, several South African archaeologists, mainly Goodwin and Van Riet Lowe, began to create the current P r e h i s t o r i c chronology described with Early Stone Age (ESA), Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Late Stone Age (L SA) (Goodwin 1925).

The beginning of the Late Stone Age, characterized by the emergence of bladelet technologies in this part of the world, marks a significant departure from preceding techno-complexes. Nevertheless, this important technological change has received li le a en on, taking a back seat to studies inves ga ng the origins of modern human behaviour in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) (Mc Brearty & Brooks, 2001).

Unfortunately, this has le a significant gap in our understanding of the rise of bladelet technologies in African Prehistory, and how this important technological change relates to other shi s marking the beginning of this period (Redondo 2012).

To understand and try to perceive the emergence of bladelet technologies, we began remedying this situa on by reinves ga ng the Robberg technocomplex, an early LSA bladelet industry.

Regarded for a long me as the first LSA technocomplex before the discovery of ELSA expressions, the Robberg is currently the first techno-complex of

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the beginning of the LSA period defined by bladelet industries. These are characterized by the presence of bladelet cores, standardised unretouched bladelets, few formal tools as scrapers, backed blades or bladelets. Indeed, in terms of lithic industries, this period seems to mark the emergence of bladelet technologies, which represent an important phenomenon in other contexts such as Europe and the Middle East with the Upper Palaeolithic, and which need to be studied and understood in this part of the world.

In trying to explain this change in terms of lithic industries, we began to review Robberg levels of the key-site, Rose Co age Cave (Free State, South Africa) with the kind authorisa on of Professor Lyn Wadley (GAES, University of the Witwatersrand).

Technological innova ons as described by H. J. and J. Deacon (1999) seem to appear during the later MSA in Sub-Saharan Africa. All of these are considered as important features of evolved human culture, because they prove that humans behaved in an cipa on of future needs. With these changes, lithic technology was used to develop weaponry by producing small blanks of standardized dimensions used as projec les. Recently, the Border Cave site yielded an ELSA da ng between 49 and 42 ka BP with a few microliths which were used unretouched, with lumps or traces of adhesive (Villa et al. 2012). These pieces seem to a est to the probable use of bow and arrows since the ELSA (Villa et al. 2012).

What about the Robberg? Contrary to the data defining the techno-complex, the Robberg Rose Co age Cave level yielded more than 250 retouched bladelets and seems to ques on the very defini on of this techno-complex. Beyond this, this discovery ques ons the real status of the Robberg technocomplex within South African Prehistory, the significance of the retouched bladelets in term of weaponry and their implica on in terms of technological changes.

news

Charlo e Grabli PhD Candidate in « Histoire et civilisa ons » - EHESS The Unity of Urban Cultures in Colonised Africa. The History of Musical and Fes ve Prac ces in Brazzaville, Leopoldville and Johannesburg from the 1930s to the 1960s

Most studies dealing with Pan-Africanism concern the legi mate framework of poli cians, as well as the ins tu ons and discourses that have sought to promote Pan-Africanist ideology. They are o en limited to the narrow framework of par es and ac ons led by poli cal and intellectual figures, while postula ng a direct rela onship between popular aspira ons and those of African elites. Such studies do not men on the existence of Pan-Africanism as found in the depths of popular poli cal cultures, with developments tes fying to the complexity of the methods with which African unity is perceived, thought out and built. On the other end of this historiographical gap, many analyses note the number and diversity of circumlocu ons found in the informal language used in the public sphere. As such, Anthropologist Denis-Constant Mar n is proposing to seek out “poli cians” in the profusion of cultural expressions, “right there where Africans have learned to express their reac ons”. In this light, we are looking to study the music, dance and celebra ons which have been livening up the black towns of colonised Africa as privileged popular vectors of PanAfricanism. For this, we intend to conduct a study of urban cultures from the 1930s to the 1960s, from an everyday life viewpoint likely to shed light on the social dimensions, cultural aspects and poli cal manifesta ons which are s ll being ignored.

In order to ques on the unity of these urban cultures, it is possible to carry out a transversal analysis on different scales: more generally that of the black suburbs of Brazzaville and Léopoldville, as well as that of Sophiatown as the main centre of cultural and

poli cal ac vity of Black South Africans, and, more specifically, that of bars, these “other social places” where fes vi es thrive.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, the two regions under study saw the birth of the musical genres that exerted the most influence over the con nent. Briefly, the Congolese rumba prevailed on the music scene in the whole of Central Africa and part of Eastern Africa, while variants of South African jazz (Marabi and Kwela in par cular) represented the most popular genres in Southern Africa. In addi on, the golden age of these musical cultures corresponds to an era of radicalisa on of African libera on movements.

Analysing the ar s c crea vity of these popular classes is, in this context, an excellent means of accessing the experience and posi ons of the colonized people who did not read about or write on the daily turmoil of their ci es. In the two Congos, the 1930s correspond indeed to a decisive step in the “walk towards independence” with, in par cular, the development of unionism. In South Africa, the growing resistance of the Whites to the urbanisa on of the Blacks forced the socie es of the townships to live a very hard life. During that era and un l its destruc on at the end of the 1950s, the community of Sophiatown was symbolic of the struggle for the cultural and poli cal freedom of Black South Africans.

Our study ends with the major events of 1960 which changed completely the Congolese socie es and was a turning point in the history of the fight against racism in South Africa (Independences of the Belgian and Middle-Congo, and the Sharpeville Massacre).

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conferences & seminars The Arts and Crafts of Literacy – Manuscript Cultures in Muslim Sub-Saharan Africa 5-6 September 2013 - University of Cape Town An Interna onal Conference convened by: Dr Dmitry BONDAREV (Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg) Ÿ Dr Andrea BRIGAGLIA (CCI; Department of Religious Studies, UCT) Ÿ Prof Shamil JEPPIE (Tombouctou Manuscripts Project – HUMA, UCT) Ÿ Dr Mauro NOBILI (Post-doctoral Fellow, UCT) Ÿ

Africa has suffered, and s ll suffers, from many academic stereotypes. For a long me, it has been deprived of its past by the assump on that there was no history in Africa before the arrival of the Europeans (Hugh R. Trevor-Roper 1963). With the struggle for independence in the 1950s-1960s, historians – both local and foreign – undertook to return her past to Africa. However, they did it by developing an approach that was almost exclusively based on orality (Vansina 1964). During the last two decades, the (re-) discovery of thousands of manuscripts in different

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regions of the con nent has compelled scholars to abandon the equa on Africa = orality, and legi mately assigned to the con nent the status of a civiliza on of wri en literacy. This new interest is confirmed by recent publica ons such as the mul volume encyclopaedic work The Arabic Literature of Africa (John O. Hunwick et al., 1995).

This conference aims at gathering contribu ons on the different dimensions of the manuscript, i.e. the materials, the technologies, the prac ces and the communi es involved in produc on, commercialisa on, circula on, preserva on and consump on. In doing this, the conference follows in the path of the Tombouctou project, which has already built an extended network of collabora ons in the con nent and beyond, leading to relevant publica ons such as The meanings of Timbuktu (Shamil Jeppie & Bashir Diagne 2008). The focus of the conference will be the Islamic manuscripts produced in sub-Saharan Africa, either in Arabic or in local languages wri en in the Arabic alphabet ('ajami). With the term “Islamic”, the conference refers to manuscripts “that [were] the product of an intellectual tradi on of Islamic learning…

Such documenta on, to be sure, was not always linked to religious ma ers. But to the extent that it was u s u a l l y f ra m e d i n t h e language, perspec ve and calendar of Islam, this knowledge can be qualified as 'Islamic' in nature” (Lydon 2004).

conferences et seminars

Conference on the 2014 General Elections in South Africa 22 November 2013 - IFRI, Paris The French Ins tute of South Africa in partnership with the South African Ins tute of Interna onal Affairs ( S A I I A ) and the French Ins tute of Interna onal Rela ons (I F R I) is organising a conference in Paris on the 2014 South African general elec ons. This event is part of the France-South Africa Seasons 2012 & 2013.

The year 2014 will be a turning point for South Africa, with the organisa on of the 6 general elec ons since the end of apartheid. In this context, this conference will give the French audience an overview of the economic and poli cal context of South Africa a few months before

the general elec ons, and the country's two decades of democracy and freedom.

The objec ve of this conference is to bring together officials and researchers from leading universi es and think tanks in order to propose an overview of the state of South Africa. This conference is also set up to be the star ng point of a partnership between SAIIA and IFRI, with poten al opportuni es for future joint projects.

Closing Symposium of the XenafPol Programme December 2013 - King’s College, Cambridge The interna onal research programme XenAfPol, which focuses on the poli cs of xenophobic exclusion in Africa, relies on an interdisciplinary team of fourteen researchers from France, the UK, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and the DRC. It has entered its final phase and a symposium will be hosted at King's College, Cambridge, in December this year. The inten on is to submit two special issues to peerreviewed journals, one on the everyday prac ces of xenophobic exclusion, the other of the making of violent xenophobic mobiliza ons.

Several African countries offer an ideal lens through which to observe these dynamics as they combine, on the one hand, a variety of xenophobic mobiliza on and counter-mobiliza on histories and, on the other, a set of common features: colonially cra ed ethnic divides in diverse socie es, increasingly acute inequali es, joblessness and rapid urbaniza on.

Drawing on extensive empirical research undertaken

over the past three years across four countries (the Democra c Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa), the aim would be to offer renewed analysis on no ons of xenophobia, autochthony and belonging in Africa. The debates will focus on the everyday manufacture of difference and commonality (such as techniques used, repertoires mobilized and historical antecedents). They will deal with ques oning about the sociology of authori es that claim to have legi macy over the produc on of difference within a specific space; their target groups or individuals; and whether the 'excluded' define themselves as such and how they may accept, AFRICAN CENTRE for refuse or defuse the MIGRATION & SOCIETY 'difference' ascribed to them.

AC

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of Colonial Encounters, with Specific Reference to Wesleyan and Lutheran Publishing on the Transvaal in the 1890

Book History Seminars Ÿ

Global History Workshop Ÿ

Thursday 17 October, French Ins tute for Research in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya Carla Bocche & Adrien Delmas Africa and Global History: New Perspec ves

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Saturday 31 August, Market Theatre, Johannesburg, as part of the M&G Literary Fes val Archie Dick (UP) & Isabel Hofmeyr (Wits)

Ÿ

5-7 September, University of Cape Town, The Arts and Cra s of Literacy: Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa Interna onal Conference

Ÿ

Friday 20 September, University of Cape Town, 14.00 Ananya Kabir (King's College London) & Adrien Delmas (IFAS) Philological Encounters in the Early Modern World

Tuesday 6 August, History department seminar room (UJ), 15.00 Edward Cavanagh Empire's Companies in Southern Africa: How the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie got its Land

Ÿ

Wednesday 28 August, French Ins tute of South Africa, 14.00 Charlo e Grabli The Unity of Urban Cultures in Colonised Africa – The History of Musical and Fes ve Prac ces in Brazzaville, Leopoldville and Johannesburg from the 1930s to the 1960s

Ÿ

Wednesday 11 September, French Ins tute of South Africa, 14.00 Gabrielle Angey A Turkish Network in Africa: the Gülen Movement

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November, French Ins tute of South Africa, Silvia Kamanova Theology of the Afrikaner Reformed Churches, South African Theology and the Phenomenon of the South African Black Theology

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December, French Ins tute of South Africa, Daria Tren ni Remembering, Forge ng the Civil War: State Memorialisa on, Witchcra and the Poli cal Imagina on in Northern Mozambique

Ÿ

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Wednesday 14 August, French Ins tute of South Africa, 14.00 Mauro Nobili (UCT) Re-discovering the de Gironcourt Collec on of West African Arabic Manuscripts

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Wednesday 2 October, University of Pretoria, 14.00 Beth Leroux (UP) The Cronje Report on Undesirable Literature and its Views on Crime Fic on

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Wednesday 9 October, University of Pretoria, 14.00 Lize Kriel (UP) A Cultural Produc on of Fields? Missionary Periodicals and their Conflic ng Construc ons

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FISH - French Ins

tute Seminars in Humani es

publications Adrien Delmas : Les Voyages de l'écrit.

Culture écrite et expansion européenne à l'époque moderne : essais sur la Compagnie Hollandaise des Indes Orientales Although to date the history of books has been more at ease with na onal history than global history, it has neglected one of the fundamental actors of the generalisa on – in modern mes – of scriptural recourse. Yet, trading and colonial companies through which the planet opened up from the 16th century onwards, whether the Portuguese Estado da Índia, the Spanish Carrera de Indias or the Bri sh, Dutch or French East India Companies, played a major role in circula ng the wri en ma er worldwide. Does this mean that we should make of the ship's bridge and the captain's cabin one of the places where, following the example of the State, the Church and University, our modern rela ons to wri en culture were established? In order to shed light on the shared history between the history of wri en culture and that of European expansion, this book explores the scriptural prac ces of the Verenigde Oos ndische Compagnie (VOC), the Dutch East India Company which was created in 1602.

Adrien Delmas, Les Voyages de l'écrit. Culture écrite et expansion européenne à l'époque moderne essais sur la Compagnie Hollandaise des Indes Orientales, Honoré Champion, No 8, 2013, 288 p.

Denis-Constant Mar n : Sounding the Cape.

Music, Iden ty and Poli cs in South Africa For centuries, Cape Town accommodated a great variety of musical genres which were usually associated with specific popula on groups living in and around the city. Over me, musical styles and genres produced in Cape Town were therefore assigned an "iden ty" which were first and foremost a social iden ty. This work examines the rela onship established between musical styles and genres, and social -– in this case pseudo-racial -– iden es. In Sounding the Cape, Denis-Constant Mar n recomposes and examines through the theore cal prism of creolisa on the history of music in Cape Town, deploying analy cal tools borrowed from the most recent studies of iden ty configura ons. He demonstrates that musical crea on in the Mother City, and in South Africa, has always been nurtured by contacts, exchanges and innova ons irrespec ve of the efforts made by racist powers to separate and divide people according to their origin.

Denis-Constant Mar n, Sounding the Cape, Music, Iden ty and Poli cs in South Africa , Stellenbosch, African Minds, 2013, 472 p.

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Lesedi #16 | IFAS Research Newsletter | September 2013