Tar80 drc focus

NigeRiA

The Power

50

• South Africa Inside the Zuma system • DRC The Kabila Konundrum

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the africa report

President Kenyatta

monthly • n° 80 • may 2016

“We were right”

Kenyatta confident of poll victory after ICC case collapses

east africa edition

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanz • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € •Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 8 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira • Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 40 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 30 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,000 F CFA

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MONEY A SUPPLEMENT

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• South Africa Inside the Zuma system • DRC The Kabila Konundrum

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Who runs Nigeria?

Inside the Zuma system

MUHAMMADU BUHARI LAMIDO SANUSI KEMI ADEOSUN

TB JOSHUA TUKUR YUSUF BURATAI

ADE AYEYEMI

President Kenyatta

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE NASIR AHMAD EL-RUFAI

IBRAHIM MAGU

THE POWER LIST

“We were right”

ALIKO DANGOTE

AKINWUNMI AMBODE

WOLE SOYINKA

THE AFRICA REPORT # 80 - MAY 2016

Kenyatta confident of poll victory after ICC case collapses

From backroom to front of house, the dealmakers and kingpins controlling Africa’s biggest economy GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE SOUTHERN AFRICA EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanz • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € •Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 8 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira • Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 40 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 30 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,000 F CFA

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

EAST AFRICA EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € • Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 8 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira • Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 40 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 30 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,000 F CFA

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanz • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € •Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 8 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira • Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 40 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 30 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,000 F CFA

Not to be sold separately

FREE with this issue: a MONEY supplement on finance and investment.

Not to be sold separately

06 EDITORIAL The three wise monkeys of Panama 08 LETTERS

MUHAMMADU BUHARI LAMIDO SANUSI KEMI ADEOSUN

T.B. JOSHUA TUKUR YUSUF BURATAI

ADE AYEYEMI

10 THE QUESTION

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE NASIR AHMAD EL-RUFAI

BRIEFING

IBRAHIM MAGU

THE POWER LIST

22

12 SIGNPOSTS

ALIKO DANGOTE

14 INTERNATIONAL

AKINWUNMI AMBODE

16 PEOPLE 18 CALENDAR 20 OPINION Gado, Kenya’s favourite pen

WOLE SOYINKA

34

FRONTLINE 22 WHO RUNS NIGERIA? The Power 50 The big beasts who dominate the political, economic and cultural landscape of Africa’s biggest economy

COVER CREDITS: SOUTHERN: GALLO/GETTY IMAGES; EAST AFRICA: NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS

74 FOO OTBALL Cas shing in on the beautiful game 76 LEA ADERS Gro oupe Loukil chief exe ecutive, Bassem Loukil 78 HAN NNIBAL IN ABIDJAN DOSSIER: INSURANCE Car flood the Kingdom 80 Cars With the recent boom in car ownership comes opportunities for insurance companies operating in Morocco

86 ANALYSIS ‘Green fields’ of insurance growth

34 SOUTH AFRICA Zuma’s great escape Despite fresh scandal tainting the divisive president, his position appears secure

ART & LIFE

40 INTERVIEW Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta

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44 OPINION Nana Yaa Ofori-Atta 46 ZANZIBAR Trouble in paradise 47 BENIN An insider’s outsider 47 EGYPT-ITALY Troubled ties

88 LITERATURE ‘Sexuality is omnipresent in the Arab world’ Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun’s new book on infidelity, sexual intimacy and racism in Northern Africa 92 BRIEFS From street traders in Cairo to life beyond jollof rice 94 LIFESTYLE Behind the scenes with 2manysiblings

48 ANANSI

96 TRAVEL Laid-back living in Namibia

COUNTRY FOCUS 51 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Stay or go?

President Kabila is doing everything in his power to avoid holding elections in November •

70 REG GIONAL INTEGRATION Trad de starts at home Afric ca does not trade enough with h itself, despite the real possibilities for greater growth and security. However, things now w seem to be changing

83 INTERVIEW BIMA’s regional manager for Africa, Paddy Partridge

POLITICS

THE AFRICA REPORT

BUSIN NESS

N° 80

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98 DAY IN THE LIFE Fatou Wurie, Sierra Leone Ebola fighter

This issue carries an insert between 66-67 for selected countries

3

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EDITORIAL

THE AFRICA REPORT A Groupe Jeune Afrique publication

BY PATRICK SMITH

57-BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL – 75016 PARIS – FRANCE TEL: (33) 1 44 30 19 60 – FAX: (33) 1 44 30 19 30 www.theafricareport.com

The three wise monkeys of Panama

A

s we all know by now Mossack Fonseca, the law firm that carelessly left 11.5m secret files lying around, employs the three wise monkeys of Panama City: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. The firm claims it knew the real owners of 204 of the 14,068 companies it incorporated in the African offshore financial centre of the Seychelles.

As one of the founding partners, Jürgen Mossack, who must qualify as the tax-haven lawyer from central casting, said: “People forget that a crime has been committed […] our data has been stolen.”

Indeed. But let’s talk for a moment about some of the other crimes that have been committed, such as the outflow from Africa each year of more than $60bn in corrupt payments alongside the illegal export of hundreds of millions of dollars of capital through trade mispricing and tax-evasion schemes from Africa and other developing economies. For context, the lobby group Tax Justice Network reckons that some $21trn-$32trn of laundered money, channelled out of the some of the weakest economies in the world, is sitting in offshore entities.

In the Mossack Fonseca moment, it is possible in some cases to join the dots between shadow banking and offshore banking to find who is laundering what money for whom and where. It’s of particular interest for Africa, which suffers unduly at the hands of subterranean finance.

It’s good news that South Africa and Britain – which warehouses enormous amounts of money stolen from Africa – have announced investigations into all the individuals whose Mossack Fonseca accounts have surfaced.

CHA I R M A N A ND F O UND E R BÉCHIR BEN YAHMED P UB L I S HE R DANIELLE BEN YAHMED publisher@theafricareport.com E X E CUT I VE P UB L I S HE R JÉRÔME MILLAN

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, politically on the back foot after details of his family’s dealings with Mossack Fonseca emerged, has even proposed that company directors whose employees facilitate tax evasion be liable to criminal prosecution.

This could begin to chip away at the impunity enjoyed by the pinstripe army of banks, law firms and company-formation agents who facilitate the financial laundromat. Mossack Fonseca alone was dealing with 14,000 such companSome believe ies, many of which deserve close scrutiny. $21trnMossack Fonseca’s $32trn in data explosion could laundered accelerate momentum for reform. The internamoney may tional financial instibe sitting tutions in Washington DC should put serious in offshore effort into investigatentities ing the amount and exact provenance of stolen capital, given its growing threat to financial stability. More should also be done on the prosecutorial side. So far, the African Union (AU) has been silent on the implications of the Panama Papers exposé, but it should give serious consideration to a people’s continental anti-corruption court.

As the Panama Papers exposed the enforced silence over collusion between corrupt companies and governments in many jurisdictions, one way to circumvent this omertà would be to give citizens access to a multi-jurisdictional court for cases of grand corruption. Why not put it at the top of the agenda for the AU summit in June, while the Panama revelations are ringing in our ears? ●

edit editorial@theafricareport.com THE AFRICA REPORT

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M A R K E T I NG & D E VE L O P M E NT ALISON KINGSLEY-HALL E D I T O R I N CHI E F PATRICK SMITH M A NA G I NG E D I T O R NICHOLAS NORBROOK editorial@theafricareport.com A S S I S TA NT E D I T O R CHARLIE HAMILTON A S S O CI AT E E D I T O R MARSHALL VAN VALEN BUS I NE S S E D I T O R MARK ANDERSON E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA NT OHENEBA AMA NTI OSEI RE G IO NA L E D I T O R S CRYSTAL ORDERSON (SOUTHERN AFRICA) BILLIE ADWOA MCTERNAN (GHANA) S UB - E D I T O R ALISON CULLIFORD PERRY LEOPARD P R O O F R E A D I NG KATHLEEN GRAY A RT DI R E CT O R MARC TRENSON DESIGN VALÉRIE OLIVIER (LEAD DESIGNER) SAMA DANAN CHRISTOPHE CHAUVIN (INFOGRAPHICS) P R O D UCT I O N PHILIPPE MARTIN CHRISTIAN KASONGO RE S EA R CH SYLVIE FOURNIER P HO T O G R A P HY PIERANGÉLIQUE SCHOULER O NL I NE PRINCE OFORI-ATTA SALES SANDRA DROUET Tel: (33) 1 44 30 18 07 – Fax: (33) 1 45 20 09 67 sales@theafricareport.com CONTACT FOR SUBSCRIPTION: Webscribe Ltd Unit 8 The Old Silk Mill Brook Street, Tring Hertfordshire HP23 5EF United Kingdom Tel: + 44 (0) 1442 820580 Fax: + 44 (0) 1442 827912 Email: subs@webscribe.co.uk 1 year subscription (10 issues): All destinations: €39 - $60 - £35 TO ORDER ONLINE: www.theafricareportstore.com D I F CO M INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING AND COMMUNICATION AGENCY 57-BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL 75016 PARIS - FRANCE Tel: (33) 1 44 30 19-60 – Fax: (33) 1 44 30 18 34 advertising@theafricareport.com A D VE RT I S I NG D I R E CT O R NATHALIE GUILLERY WITH JEANNY CHABON RE G IO NA L M A NA G E R S IBIJOKE FABORODE PASCALE LALLEMAND CÉCILE LOUEDEC PRINTER: SIEP 77 - FRANCE N° DE COMMISSION PARITAIRE : 0720 I 86885 Dépôt légal à parution / ISSN 1950-4810 THE AFRICA REPORT is published by GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

8

LETTERS For all your comments, suggestions and queries, please write to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil - Paris 75016 - France. or editorial@theafricareport.com

NOT ENOUGH POWER FOR AFRICA

W

Rwanda Focus Stepping out of the neighbours’ shadows

• Nigeria: Can Buhari put out Delta blaze?

• Kenyatta/Ruto: End of the Bromance • Power: Green energy is the real deal

hen President Obama announced Power Africa he said the programme would deliver “light where currently there is darkness” [‘The lights come on slowly’, TAR79 Apr 2016]. The goal of doubling the amount of power to the African continent was hailed all over Growth Africa; however, critics argue Power Africa will After the crash, result in the expansion of lucrative energy deals for US corporations. Almost three years on, the lack of progress emphasises the gap between Obama’s lofty aspiration and the challenge of getting things done on a continent often hindered by Washington’s tepid commitment in Africa. The reality is that Africa remains a somewhat lower priority issue for most of the political establishment in Washington. Has Obama failed to maximize his opportunity as America’s first black president to make African development a US priority? You be the judge.

Foday Darboe PhD. candidate, Nova Southeastern University, US w w w.t h e a fr ica r e p o r t. c om

N ° 7 9 • A P R I L 2 016

the fightback African leaders try economic nationalism to beat the commodity trap INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 8 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway 60 NK• Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 40 rand(tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 30 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,000 F CFA

EL NIÑO’S EFFECT ON COCOA CROPS The impact of this year’s El Niño is being felt beyond the grain sector, with West Africa’s cocoa crop also struggling [‘Farmers warned the worst is yet to come’, TAR78 Mar 2016]. This season’s Harmattan – the dry wind that blows between December and March – is reportedly the strongest in 30 years, bringing the main crop production to a standstill. Cocoa deliveries in Côte d’Ivoire – the world’s largest cocoa producer – have gone from 20% ahead of last season in October to 5% behind in late January. Although the slump in output could help drive up international prices, it will put further

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

blocks to which they belonged. A key part of the iROKO and Canal+ deal is that it defies those linguistic borders.

The arrival of Netflix has brought new competition. It’s survival of the fittest and this partnership between iROKO and Canal+ may be the first of many, as players will need to venture into new territories to stay alive. The other lesson from this story is that the appetite for African content is growing across the board from the biggest to the smallest screens and that’s a good thing!

Serge Noukoué Co-founder & Executive Director, NollywoodWeek Film Festival, Paris

WHO DATAS, WINS

The telecoms market in sub-Saharan Africa is transitioning from voice to pressure on Ghana’s cocoa grinders, data [‘Talk is cheap, but data leads the who are struggling to source way’, TAR77 Feb 2016]. Mobile handset discounted light-crop beans and data revenue across the sub-Saharan are being forced to import beans from Africa region has the potential to neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire, eating increase from $5bn in 2014 to $13bn away at their already thin margins. in 2020, driven by growing demand Edward George for internet services, availability of Head of Group Research, Ecobank low-price smartphones and expanding 3G and 4G coverage. The appeal of social media apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook coupled with innovative AFRICAN CONTENT ON mobile data offers continues to BIG AND SMALL SCREENS stimulate data usage among the mass Over the past five years, we have seen market. It’s therefore no wonder telcos an increase in VOD and SVOD across the sub-region are focused on platforms across the African continent rolling out 4G data networks to further [‘Nollywood’s French kiss’, TAR77 Feb maximise this opportunity.

Devine Kofiloto 2016], but these platforms have so Senior Analyst, Analysys Mason far been extremely loyal to the linguistic

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ETHIOPIA: SHAMA PLC, Aisha Mohammed, +251 11 554 5290, aisham@shamaethiopia.com – GHANA: TM HUDU ENTERPRISE, T. M. Hudu, +233 (0)209 007 620, +233 (0)247 584 290, tmhuduenterprise@gmail.com – KENYA: NATION MEDIA GROUP, Antony Mutunga, +254 (0)20 328 8000, amutunga@ke.nationmedia.com – NIGERIA: NEWSSTAND AGENCIES LTD, Marketing manager, +234 (0) 702 7997 288, newsstand2008@gmail.com – SIERRA LEONE: RAI GERB ENTERPRISES, Mohammad Gerber, +232 (0)336 72 469, raigerbenterprise@ gmail.com – SOUTHERN AFRICA: RNA DISTRIBUTION, Butch Courtney, +27 (0)11 602 9800, butchc@mad.co.za • SUBSCRIPTIONS: RAMSAY MEDIA, Karin Mulder, +27 860 100 204, subs@ramsaymedia.co.za – TANZANIA: MWANANCHI COMMUNICATIONS, Emmanuel J Lyimo, +255 716 500 500, elyimo@tz.nationmedia.com – UGANDA: MONITOR PUBLICATIONS LTD, Micheal Kazinda, +256 (0)702 178 198, mkazinda@ug.nationmedia.com – UNITED KINGDOM: COMAG, Mark Swan, +44 (0)1895 433791, Mark.Swan@comag. co.uk – UNITED STATES & CANADA: LMPI, Sylvain Fournier, +1 514 355 5610, lmpi@lmpi.com – ZAMBIA: BOOKWORLD LTD, Shivani Patel, +260 (0)211 230 606, bookworld@ For other regions go to www.theafricareport.com realtime.zm – ZIMBABWE: PRINT MEDIA DISTRIBUTION, Ian Munn, +263 778 075 147, ianmunn@mweb.co.zw

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

AIR FRANCE KLM p 2; LIQUID TELECOM p 4-5; DANGOTE GROUP p 7; FORD p 9; ALLIANZ p 11; ANAIM p 15; SAHAM INSURANCE p 19 ; NICO VAN DER MEULEN INT. p 27; CONTOURGLOBAL SA p 39; CHANNELS TV p 49; KEMPINSKI FLEUVE CONGO p 50; ORANGE RDC p 54-55; RAWBANK p 57; DRC PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE p 59-62; CONGO INVEST CONSULTING p 65 ; TAR SUBSCRIPTION p 65; HASSON AFRICA p 68-69; AFRICA RE p 84-85 OIL AND GAS COUNCIL p 95; BILE-AKA BRIZOUA BI & ASSOCIES p 97; DDP OUTDOOR p 97; TAR DIGITAL p 97; CNN p 99; CONGO AIRWAYS p 100

MONEY ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

MCB GROUP p 2; ECOBANK p 6-7; AFRICAN GUARANTEE FUND p 11; TAR SUBSCRIPTION p 15; CELLULANT p 25; SAFARICOM p 27; STANDARD BANK p 28 THE AFRICA REPORT

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THE QUESTION To respond to this month’s Question, visit www.theafricareport.com. You can also find The Africa Report on Facebook and on Twitter @theafricareport. Comments, suggestions and queries can also be sent to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil, Paris 75016, France or editorial@theafricareport.com

At the Global Education & Skills Forum in Dubai in March 2016, delegates debated whether focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to the detriment of arts fully equips children for the world ahead

Should Africa prioritise maths and science education over arts?

Yes OLEY DIBBAWADDA Executive Secretary, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)

Africa’s march towards the much-touted ‘Continent of the 21st Century’ presupposes putting in place mechanisms for sustained growth and harnessing its human capital. But is this happening? Evidence on the ground points to the contrary: STEM uptake, a key indicator, is far from adequate. The continent requires robust policies and strategies for effective and efficient STEM implementation that promotes the production of high-end professionals required to manage our resources and add value to our products and services.

We are importing ‘technical assistance expertise’ whose interest may not necessarily serve the interest of the African continent. Conflict and instability in some of our rich natural resource countries make it difficult to improve our production sectors. The low volume of patents emanating from the continent point to the dearth of innovators and inventors. We need to promote scientific innovation in our education and research institutions, have more trained, qualified and competent STEM teachers and better-equipped research laboratories. Africa must increase the number of centres of excellence promoting STEM, encourage more women into STEM education and provide incentives to enhance ‘brain gain’. ●

No MIRIAM MASONSESAY Country Director, EducAid, Sierra Leone

In a word, No! Wherever education becomes utilitarian rather than an opportunity for fuller realisation of our humanity, the whole community loses and so does the individual. The drive for education to be more focused on STEM is understandable because it seems to serve the needs of the economy. Poverty is bad; the logic follows that wealth is good so everything must focus on the creation of that wealth.

The trouble with this logic is that when money is the driving focus, we lose sight of other values and we lose sight of community. We even start justifying all sorts of inhuman behaviour in the name of defeating poverty. When the only poverty we defeat is our own individual poverty though, we end up passing it on to someone else. In order to genuinely defeat poverty we have to have a ‘we’ not ‘me’ focus.

The arts are a humanising force when well taught. Literature: the opening of new horizons, fuelling empathy, developing imagination.

History: the opportunity to learn from peoples and civilisations gone before so we can avoid the mistakes of the past, etc. However, more important than a battle between STEM and the arts would be a genuine pursuit of education to make the world a better place.

The greatest scientists knew that they needed the arts to make their science human and creative. Let’s avoid the divide and pursue a truly humanising education for Africa as for everywhere else in the world! ●

YOUR VIEWS:

The main reason that we need more focus on STEM than arts in Africa is because of imbalance. […] For Africa to take an economic leap, STEM must be prioritised as a matter of urgency. We need the equivalents of the technology and industrial multinationals, from Africa by Africans, to create jobs and prosperity for our people.

Matano WaChao Both are needed. [...] We would not be here without art, we would not be here without technology. As Africans we need to invest in both.

It just all depends on whether we have the capital or not.

Merhawi Haile Africa should do as it thinks best for the good and progress of Africans!!

Verna M. Davis No it should not!

Nations need scientists and artists for whole and inclusive development.

Yvon A. Edoumou No. We should strike a balance between them. Africans are naturally artistic and we must encourage expression.

Bill Dindi I think the former.

Maths and science is the answer to our living style, understanding the universe and its future. @Simacoder THE AFRICA REPORT

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briefing

SigNpoStS

South africa Cylists riding near Wellington in the Western Cape on 16 March in the Absa Cape Epic eightday, 652km mountain-bike race, which ran 19-26 March.

?

In conjunction with GeoPoll, The Africa Report asked 100 South Africans across the country the question: Who should be the next leader of the ANC? Cyril Ramaphosa

27% 73%

Nkosazana DlaminiZuma

GeoPoll is the world’s largest mobile surveying platform and sample provider in Africa, enabling companies and organisations to gather quick, accurate and in-depth insights.

To conduct your own mobile survey using GeoPoll’s easy-to-use platform visit Research.GeoPoll.com.

eLectioNS preSideNtiaL LiferS

Nigeria A screengrab from a

video showing Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014.

Zimbabwe More than 10,000 supporters of the

opposition party Movement for Democratic Change marched in Harare on 14 April.

Libya

Sarraj comes to town

L

ibya’s new government has made a series of promising steps to consolidate its control over the capital, Tripoli, as world leaders call for more stability in a country that has been overrun by armed groups.

The country’s United Nations-backed unity government, which had been operating from Tunisia, relocated to a naval base in Tripoli on 31 March, defying threats from armed militias.

Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj hosted Italy’s foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, on 12 April at the base, making him the first senior Western official to visit since Sarraj arrived in the capital. The European Union is now debating how best to help the

new government to improve security, as more and more migrants are seeking to arrive in Europe via Libya due to the closure of the Greek-Turkey border.

Sarraj’s government has been open to talks with homegrown militias to build up support but has yet to signal if it will take Western countries up on their offers of aid and training, which analysts say could lead to another substantial armed intervention.

US armed forces sources say that Islamic State rebels are having difficulties recruiting in Libya because they are seen as a foreign force, but they could get a boost if there is another Western intervention in the country.

Some of Africa’s longest-serving presidents were up for re-election in April. Among them: Djibouti’s Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, Chad’s Idriss Déby and Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Obiang

36 years

Guelleh

17 years

CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA

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Déby

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Côte D’ivoire A hotel

CHaD Supporters of President Idriss Déby at a campaign rally in N’Djamena on 8 April. Déby, in power since 1999, is expected to win a fifth term.

in Grand Bassam was attacked

by Jihadist gunmen on 14 March.

DJiboUti A woman votes on 8 April in Djibouti’s presidential election, in which President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh won a fourth term, extending his 17-year rule.

KIM LUDBROOK/ePA; CNN/AfP; JeKeSAI NJIKIZANA/AfP; LUC GNAGO/ReUteRS; ISSOUf SANOGO/AfP; KARIM LeBHOUR/AfP

“We have a few people in

eNtrePreNeUrS worlD-leaDiNg womeN

this country who live as if they are angels residing in heaven ”

South

Africa the africa report

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27.9

Ecuador

Ghana

27.3 25.1

source: WeF

Uganda Indonesia

Malawi

19.9

19

Botswana

Chile

18

20.4 Angola

19.6 Peru

Philippines

OIL

13.3 16.7 17.4

22.9 25.7 26.3

37.4 40.9 41.8

Central

2014 2015 (e) 2016 (f)

East

A strong dollar combined with weak commodity prices is putting pressure on many countries’ economic stability. Ghana and Mozambique need IMF help to pay their bills.

Analysts are speculating Zambia could be next.

Nigeria Zambia

33.6 34.8 35.1

27.6 29 30.8

24 24.7 24 29.1 32.1 20.4

10.4 13.3 14.3

Westt

as a % of GDP

32.6

FiNaNCe iNDebteD aFriCa

North

African debt

40.7

KHALfAN SAID/AP/SIPA

Tanzanian President John Magufuli announcing large controversial cuts to civil service salaries as part of his drive to even out the pay disparity between high- and low-earning public sector employees.

Percentage of women in each country who are either “nascent entrepreneurs” or business owner-managers.

exporting countries

traNSPort eaSier-riDiNg Nigeria

importing countries

The taxi smartphone application Uber launched operations in Nigeria’s federal capital, Abuja, on 23 March, bringing to 400 the number of cities where the service is active. Uber launched services in Lagos in 2013.

13

briefing

InternAtIOnAL 1

$2trn

1 2

4

SAUDI ArABIA

3 5

The Gulf oil monarchy plans to create a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) to reduce its reliance on oil exports. If fully funded, it would be the world’s largest SWF. There are other signs of change: Riyadh will also float public shares of the state oil giant Aramco.

4

COLOMBIA

Peace in our times?

AdRIA FRuIToS FoR jA

Hopes were high that a long-anticipated peace deal between the government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) rebels could be agreed after a new round of negotiations were launched on 5 April. A self-imposed 23 March deadline to sign an accord was missed after the sides were unable to agree details of the demobilisation of FARC’s 6,500 guerrillas. The talks to end the half-century-long conflict also come shortly after the government announced it will open discussions with another militant faction, the Ejército de Liberación Nacional, Colombia’s second-largest guerrilla group.

2

PAnAMA

Trouble via tax havens

The 11.5m confidential files leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca – which revealed ploys to avoid tax by some of the world’s most powerful figures and their allies – continue to make waves worldwide. Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was the first to resign in March, closely followed by Spain’s industry minister José Manuel Soria.

Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin faced criticism after the data dump showed his friend, professional cellist Sergei Roldugin, in control of a series of offshore companies. Putin’s friends were revealed to control some $2bn in assets.

The documents from Mossack Fonseca revealed that Khulubuse Zuma, a nephew of South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, was linked to an offshore firm that bought oilfields in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Elsewhere, Kenya’s deputy chief justice Kalpana Rawal was tied to 11 British Virgin Islands companies.

Nigeria’s disgraced former Delta State governor James Ibori, who is currently serving a 13-year jail term for fraud in Britain, also featured in the documents, as did DRC President Joseph Kabila’s twin sister Jaynet Désirée Kabila Kyungu and Angola’s oil minister José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos.

3

MALAYSIA

5

Missing billions

After fending off trouble around Saudi Arabian cash in his personal accounts, Prime Minister Najib Razak is fighting off another scandal.

The board of state investment fund 1MDB offered to resign in March. The fund, controlled by Razak, made payments totalling $3.5bn to a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. However, records suggest the cash went to a British Virgin Islands-registered company not connected to the United Arab Emirates. 1MDB said it was a victim of fraud.

BrAzIL

“I will

never resign under any circumstances ”

PLANET PIX/ZuMA-REA

14

Brazil’s troubled President Dilma Rousseff stood firm despite being impeached amid claims that she manipulated government accounts

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ADVERTORIAL

MinistRy of Mines And GeoloGy of the RepubliC of GuineA Continuing to consolidate the mining sector to make it a real driver of development

I

n 2013 the mining sector represented over 80% of Guinea’s exports, 19% of state revenues and 12.5% of GDP. With the aim of reviving this strategic sector, the President of the Republic, Prof. Alpha Condé, tasked the government of Mr. Mamady Youla and, in particular, the new Minister of Mines and Geology, Mr. Abdoulaye Magassouba, with completing the reforms underway and boosting mining activities.

The Republic of Guinea derives most of its revenues from its highpotential mining sector.

The current process of streamlining its administration and improving its business climate will attract more investors and help develop a profitable relationship with all stakeholders.

Ministry of Mines and Geology of the Republic of Guinea immeuble ofAb Almamya, Kaloum - bp 295 Conakry, République de Guinée tel.: (+224) 631416042

The Mining Code enacted in September 2011 and amended in April 2013 is more attractive, modern and efficient. It strengthens transparency, the fight against corruption and the protection of local communities and the environment. The drawing up of the legislation for its implementation is a government priority.

The advances made in the context of these reforms include:

Bauxite is one of the minerals least affected by the global decline in mineral prices, contrary to iron ore. For this reason the government has helped seven companies to start or expand their operations. The success of these companies, most of which are “junior” firms, could significantly increase production, which currently stands at 18 million tonnes per year. At the same time, the Ministry of Mines is engaged in discussions for the restructuring of firms in difficulty.

• Reviewing mining titles and agreements signed before 2011: this task began in the second half of 2013 and is expected to end in April.

• Modernising the land registry: started in 2014, with the support of the World Bank, to enhance transparency in the management of mining titles by improving access to information, especially online.

• Conducting an institutional audit: undertaken in 2015 to set up a structure capable of meeting the new challenges of the Guinean mining sector. The findings of this audit are currently being implemented.

• Artisanal mining reforms: an analysis of artisanal gold and diamond mining, which has social and environmental repercussions, is ongoing. In addition to improving artisanal miners’ quality of life, the reform should support the collection of mining revenues.

• Capacity building: the Ministry of Mines receives financial assistance from the African Development Bank to improve the skills of its managers in monitoring increasingly complex projects.

Development of major mining projects After the signing and ratification of the investment framework of the Simandou South project in 2014, Guinea is implementing a major mining projects management mechanism. This includes the creation of the Inter-Ministerial Monitoring Committee for Integrated Mining Projects that will serve as a Single Window. With support from the World Bank, the Government has also set up a master plan that aims to pool the use of rail and port infrastructure linked to mining. In addition, it is working on boosting the sector’s competitiveness on the international market, the capacity of local SME/SMIs and the processing of minerals, as well as improving relations between mining companies and communities.

DIFCOM/DF - PHOTOS : DR.

Mr. Abdoulaye Magassouba, Guinea’s Minister of Mines and Geology.

Increasing short-term output: focus on bauxite

BRIEFING

CALENDAR

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ON AFRICA 11-13 May KIGALI | RWANDA weforum.org

LEFTY SHIVAMBU/GALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

18

VODAFONE GHANA MUSIC AWARDS 7 May ACCRA | GHANA All eyes will be on reggae and dancehall supremo Stonebwoy to see if he can scoop the artiste of the year gong for the second year running at the 17th edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA). The internationally acclaimed musician also won the Best International Act: Africa prize at last year’s Black Entertainment Television awards. True to tradition, this year’s VGMA is not without controversy. Multiple-award winning musician and fellow dancehall artiste Shatta Wale’s exclusion from the event has stirred up tensions among his loyal fans. Wale himself responded to the announcement of his disqualification with disdain, questioning the credibility of the organisers, Charterhouse Productions, who are demanding he “complete the process of officially apologising for maligning the VGMA board”. The artist has yet to show any signs of remorse. ghanamusicawards.com

MAY

NEW YORK AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL 1-30 May NEW YORK | US 50 years of celebrating African film-making. africanfilmny.org

SOUTHERN AFRICA ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE SUMMIT 4-6 May MAPUTO | MOZAMBIQUE “Hastening the pace of investment” is the theme. energynet.co.uk

AFRICA FINANCIAL SERVICES INVESTMENT CONFERENCE 5-6 May LONDON | UK More than 100 expert speakers will be at the fourth annual AFSIC. afsic.net

AFRICA BUSINESS SUMMIT 7 May LONDON | UK Mo Ibrahim gives the keynote speech at the conference, organized by the London Business School Africa Club. conferences.london.edu

MINING COPPERBELT TRADE EXPO & CONFERENCE 12-13 May KITWE | ZAMBIA A meeting for mining service and equipment firms. cbm-tec.com

EAST AFRICACOM 18-19 May NAIROBI | KENYA The ICT event covers mobile and digital communications, broadcasting and mobile money. eaafrica.comworldseries.com

AFDB ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS 23-27 May LUSAKA | ZAMBIA The focus is on energy and climate change. afdb.org

AIO CONFERENCE & GENERAL ASSEMBLY 8-11 May MARRAKESH | MOROCCO “African Insurance amidst current and emerging challenges” is the theme of this year’s event, organised by the African Insurance Organisation. aio2016.com

NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR 9-14 May LAGOS | NIGERIA The NIBF promotes literacy and the book trade in Nigeria. nibfng.org

AFRICA INDEPENDENTS FORUM 25-26 May LONDON | UK Leaders from Africa’s oil and gas industry discuss “New Ventures, Strategies & Deal Flow”. africa-independentsforum.com JUNE

NIGERIA OIL & GAS 13-16 June ABUJA | NIGERIA cwcnog.com

THE AFRICA REPORT

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Our Rooms

!"#$ %$&'()* +(,-)#($.

COUNTRY FOCUS

Democratic Republic of Congo

TUTONDELE MIANKEN/AFP

President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Stay or go?

As the DRC’s economy begins to struggle, the country’s political debate is focused on elections that must take place by November and the constitution’s presidential term limits. It seems impossible to meet that deadline, but President Kabila is not letting on about how he will play the crisis

By Aaron Ross in Kinshasa

THE AFRICA REPORT

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S

uspended from the towering monument dedicated to Belgium’s King Albert I opposite Kinshasa’s iconic central train station,abluebannerscreams at the traffic below: “LET’S DIALOGUE FOR THE GOOD OF CONGO.” For more than four months, tropical squalls have felled it from its perch – sometimes several times a week. Each time, it has been promptly restored, a beacon of persistence against gathering storms.

The banner is an apt metaphor for the political initiative it touts. Announced to great pomp last November by ● ● ●

51

COUNTRY FOCUS | DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC CAMEROON

REP. OF GABON THE CONGO KINSHASA

Atlantic Ocean

SOUTH SUDAN

President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the vast Central African country since his father’s assassination in 2001, the so-called “national inclusive dialogue” has had an uneven start. The government presented the talks as an urgent measure to set the conditions for peaceful elections after votes in 2006 and 2011 were marred by bloodshed.

The first progress came only in April when an international facilitator, Togo’s former prime minister, Edem Kodjo, announced the imminent installation of a preparatory committee. The vast majority of major opposition parties have rejected the dialogue and said it is a pretext to delay the presidential election slated for 27 November and to allow the term-limited Kabila to cling to power.

Kisangani Goma

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

UGANDA RWANDA BURUNDI TANZANIA

Lubumbashi ANGOLA 400 km

ZAMBIA

DRC AT A GLANCE POPULATION URBAN POPULATION (% of total)

42%1

LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH

50.32 $2.06 billion3

GDP

$33.12 billion1

GDP GROWTH

9%1

INDUSTRY (value added, % of GDP)

33.2%1

CONSUMER-PRICE INFLATION

1.2%2

INTERNET USERS (% of population)

3%1

MOBILE CELLULAR SUBSCRIPTIONS (per 100 people)

531

SOURCES: WORLD BANK 20141, AFDB 20142, UNCTAD 20143

74.88 million1

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

STATE OF THE ECONOMY Real GDP growth and contributions by sector 10 5 0

-10 -15

7

agriculture industry services indirect taxes GDP growth

-5

2000 02

04

06

08

10

12

2014

EXTRACTING VALUE Exports of minerals (percent of GDP)

70

zinc cobalt cassiterite

gold copper diamonds

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2002

2004

2006

2008

ector, Kalev Mutond (see page 56), and the interior minister, Evariste Boshab – instrumental in negotiations over financing the elections – have been drafted into key political roles, even as they oversee a crackdown on Kabila’s critics.

The strategy of glissement has taken few by surprise. As soon as the January 2015 protests against alleged efforts by Kabila to cling to power ended in the government withdrawing a controversial reform to the electoral law, opponents warned that Kabila would next look to technical delays based on a lack of money, an obsolete voter registry and security problems. Even so, they have been unable to do much to stop it.

“The glissement is already a fact – the opposition has [done] nothing really to counteract this,” says Hans Hoebeke, a DRC analyst for the International Crisis SLOWDOWN TACTICS And yet, few of Kabila’s allies seem Group (ICG), a non-governmental organisation. “Thus far, through the [electoverly concerned. Indeed, if the masoral commission and] the courts, the ter plan, as the president’s opponents majority has succeeded in controlling charge, is glissement, or a slippage of the playing field with very little effective the election calendar, then Kabila’s reaction from either the opposition or coalition could hardly have hoped for better. More than just a delaying tactic, the international community.” it has also become a one-size-fits-all In March, the president of the electrhetorical cudgel for Kabila’s defendoral commission, Corneille Nangaa, ers. Asked by The Africa Report if Kabila told the media that he would request would be willing to commit to leaving a “small extension” to the presidential power after the election in order to election in order to update voter rolls, reassure the opposition that his real said to exclude more than seven milstrategy is not to change the constilion eligible voters who have turned tution, the ruling coalition’s spokes18 since the 2011 election and to conman, André-Alain Atundu, tain the names of millions replied with a trusty retort: of dead people. Previously, “The dialogue is there prethe commission said that revising the rolls would take cisely to build confidence.” between 13 and 16 months.

The current stalemate The government has failed to marks a reversal for Kabclarify how it plans to raise ila’s foes, who seemed to the funding for a planned begin 2016 with a spring in slate of local, provincial and their step as the dialogue national elections estimated floundered. Kabila’s comillion to cost some $1.2bn. alition dealt with several high-profile defections and people aged 18-22 are While the United States not included on voter the country’s fractious opambassador to the United rolls, according to the position formed a new platNations, Samantha Power, electoral commission form committed to the prespushed back against the SOURCE: CENI ident’s departure this year. commission’s time estimWell aware of the country’s ates, the position of Western continuing fragility and Kabila’s acute powers on the elections seems to be political weaknesses, the president’s alsoftening. “Behind the scenes, everylies only briefly countenanced the bruteone knows it’s not going to happen force method used by other presidents in [this year],” says Stephanie Wolters, a the region to stay in power. Instead, they Congo analyst at the Institute for Sehave rallied around an apparent strategy curity Studies in South Africa. of delay to extend Kabila’s time in office All of this has forced the opposiuntil they can find a long-term solution. tion to recalibrate its approach. Several leaders have even begun to speak Top allies like national intelligence dir●●●

2010

2012

SOURCE: IMF, SEPTEMBER 2015

52

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GWENN DUBOURTHOUMIEU/AFP

53

openly about the possibility of a transition if November’s election is missed, though they insist that Kabila cannot be the one to lead it.

If the wily Kabila appears to be winning the parlour game so far, it would be a mistake to ignore the DRC that dwells beyond the corridors of power. Nearly the size of western Europe and with a population of more than 70 million, the DRC has defied firm centralised control in the best of times. Kabila, never popular in the west of the country, now faces growing discontent in his traditional eastern fiefs too. Protests in January 2015 resulted in more than 40 deaths, hinting at widespread disaffection with the results of Kabila’s 15-year rule. Despite some of the fastest economic growth rates in the world – averaging 8% over the past five years – poverty reduction has remained anaemic and inner-city residents complain of worsening overcrowding and deteriorating infrastructure. Youth activist groups have emerged to channel the largely inchoate anger that percolates on the streets, leading to brutal crackdowns by authorities.

Deterioratingeconomicconditionsare likely to amplify tensions. Sharp drops in the price of commodities like copper, cobalt and oil that the DRC depends on for some 98% of its export revenues are just starting to be felt. Mines in the copper-producing southeast have started THE AFRICA REPORT

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laying off workers, the central bank has slashed its 2016 growth forecast from 9% to 6.6%, and foreign-currency reserves are at their lowest levels in years. After five years of remarkable macroeconomic stability, the Congolese franc is slowly but surely losing ground to the United States dollar. A return to the hyperinflation of the 1990s might not be on the cards, but Kinshasa residents say they are starting to feel the pinch in the price of basic staples. “The direct social impact of the economic crisis is likely to contribute more to the instability than the political uncertainty,” says the ICG’s Hoebeke.

“The combination of both makes for a dangerously unpredictable cocktail.”

UNDER PRESSURE

The opposition is keen to harness this discontent and steadily increase the pressure on Kabila. “Joseph Kabila needs to understand that he can no longer hold the electoral process hostage,” says Olivier Kamitatu, whose G7 opposition coalition endorsed the powerful former governor from the DRC’s copper-mining south-east, Moïse Katumbi (see page 66), to represent it in the presidential election. Katumbi has not yet officially declared his candidacy, saying he is trying to first unite the different wings of the opposition. He has said the opposition will organise a series of marches in July to pressure Kabila to commit to leaving.

A 2011 billboard in Kinshasa promotes President Kabila’s public-works projects

Despite murmurings of discontent within the ranks of the armed forces, it is still Kabila who controls the guns.

With Kabila known for his silence, the answers to the most important questions of all remain exasperatingly elusive.

What are his true intentions? Can he be gently coaxed into retirement with the right mix of personal protections and incentives? Or is he – as many analysts believe – quietly weighing the balance of forces, keeping his options open until the very last possible moment?

Then, there is the question of his allies and family members, whom analysts say could fear material loss and even potential prosecution if Kabila is no longer president. A proposal in the senate would extend far-reaching immunities to Kabila’s collaborators, but the measure has yet to be taken up formally.

Over bottles of Tembo and Primus beer, speculation over these questions mixes these days with rumba to form the new soundtrack of Kinshasa’s bars.

But, says Pascal Kambale, the former DRC country director for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa: “Anyone trying to predict outcomes or what it will look like process-wise has learned nothing from the complex political history of the country.” ●

ADVERTORIAL

COUNTRY FOCUS | DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

PEOPLE TO WATCH

W

1 ith the will-he-stay-or-willhe-go speculation swirling around President Joseph Kabila, spy chief Kalev Mutond (1) is a crucialoperatorinKabila’scorner.Onone front, the director of the Agence Nationale deRenseignementshasbeenquashingopposition protests about the possibility of Kabila staying beyond the end of his last constitutional term, and on the other he has been the government’s envoy, trying 3 2 to get opposition parties around the table for a national dialogue. Oppositionist and hiring of a personal public relations firm former Kabila ally Moïse Katumbi has are signs that Ponyo could be considcriticised Mutond, saying he is behind ering a run for the presidency. Even if the shrinking of freedoms and political he does not, political insiders say that space of recent months. he now has enough money to remain a New civil society groups like political force for some time. (which means ‘whistle’ in Kiswahili) and Lutte pour le changement (LUCHA) The government has said that its rushed programme of decentralisation, have been some of the victims of the which came into force in July 2015 with government crackdown. Both are part the establishment of 26 provinces to reof the umbrella alliance of non-governplace the previous 11, was a precondition mental organisations and parties in the for the holding of national elections. One Front Citoyen 2016. This was formed in December 2015 to force the government of the apparent goals of the plan for new to hold presidential elections before 2016. provinces was to divide up Katumbi’s Filimbi leaders Yves Makwambala and Fred Bauma His book launch and hiring of are in prison awaiting trial a personal PR firm suggest on charges of threatening state security after participPonyo may run for president ating in a conference with similar groups from across the continent, base, Katanga Province, where he served including Senegal’s Y’en a Marre and as governor from 2007 to 2015.

Home to much of the country’s copper Burkina Faso’s Le Balai Citoyen. Other Filimbi leaders including Floribert Anzuand cobalt reserves, Katanga became luni, Yangu Kiakwama and Franck Otete four new provinces. Ruling party stalwart have fled the country due to safety fears Richard Muyej stood unopposed and but say that they will continue to fight to won the late March indirect governorship election for one of them – Lualaba – and strengthen the country’s democracy.

Despite repeated claims of an upcomhas quickly run into problems with the ing government reshuffle, prime minister region’s miners. They are not backing Augustin Matata Ponyo remains in his his plans for a toll road to Zambia and post and seems to be manoeuvring to imare worried about the new provinces’ prove his political future. The Kinshasa demands for taxes and other fees (see page 58). He says his immediate priorities rumour mill says that the launch of his book, Pour un Congo Emergent, and the are fighting insecurity in the provincial

MAXPPP

The constitution is clear that Kabila must organise elections and step down before 2016, and forces are aligning to prepare for any eventuality

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Elections on their minds

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

56

capital of Kolwezi and raising as much revenue as possible.

The DRC’s artist class has been divided about its political engagement, with musicians often accused of taking money to sing in support of political causes.

Founder of the ‘Tchatcho’ musical wave Koffi Olomidé (2) has come out against Kabila attempting to outstay his rights.

His song ‘Congo Mon Amour’, which was released in February, says the government must hand over power and respect the constitution. Despite his claims in November 2015 that he would one day like to become the president of Africa, Olomidé is sticking to music for now.

His late 2015 album 13ème Apôtre was a success on the back of the song ‘Selfie’.

Crisis does not have politics as an exclusivedomain.InlateMarch,theBanque Internationale pour l’Afrique au Congo (BIAC) – one of the country’s largest banks –sackedCEOMichelLosembeand replaced him with its public sector and Kinshasa director, Anne Mbuguje (3).

The bank has admitted to suffering from serious – but “temporary” – liquidity problems after the central bank cut off a financing deal that had been in place for years. Mbuguje now faces a public fearful of a bank collapse and the difficult task of raising funds amidst global growth concerns and the recent dips in the price of mining commodities. ● Honoré Banda in Kinshasa THE AFRICA REPORT

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COUNTRY FOCUS

Banro, owner of the Twangiza mine, is keen to retain the status quo

MINING

A code you can live by

PHILIP MOSTERT

58

Reforms of mining legislation have stalled once again after an angry reaction by companies who say taxes are still too high while commodity prices are low

M

ines minister Martin Kabwelulu strode about this year’s Mining Indaba, which took place as usual in Cape Town in early February, with an unusually confident swagger.

True, a collapse in mining revenue has left a gaping hole in the government’s budget, but Kabwelulu was celebrating nine years in his position, making him the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) longest-serving cabinet minister.

“I don’t know why I’ve stayed in position so long,” Kabwelulu said modestly, “but the fact that I have shows that we have stability in governance in our country.” In an apparent stab at his host government, which had recently changed mines and finance ministers in controversial circumstances, Kabwelulu added: “We do not just change our ministers on a whim.”

Investors and mining companies at the Mining Indaba were eager to hear what exactly was going on with a drawnout process the government launched in 2013 to review its mining code. The initial drafts of a revised code hiked taxes, increased the size of the stakes miners had to give the state in joint ventures, and reduced the time period before which the state could seek to amend contracts.

Companies reacted furiously in 2015, with Randgold leading the charge, saying that the proposed changes would choke off new investment and cost both the company and the country dearly. The government initially stuck to its guns,

and Kamituga. Both these sites, however, are the work sites of artisanal miners reluctant to move out, as well as numerous militiamen and soldiers who prey on the diggers and tax their but the drastic collapse in mineral commeagre earnings.

Meanwhile, in the volatile Nord-Kivu modity prices caused it to lose its nerve.

Province territory of Walikale, TorontoThe government then reduced the proposed increase in taxes, but the comlisted Alphamin is seeking to build an underground tin mine at Bisie. Bisie, where panies insisted it was not enough. In late the tin deposit reportedly runs hundreds 2015, the draft of a new code made it of metres deep at eye-wateringly good through the council of ministers and to grades, was notorious for years for its the national assembly, where it sits, we are told, with its mining sub-committee. tens of thousands of artisanal miners and an endless procession of violent, rent-seeking military forces. Today, howJOINT VENTURES The news Kabwelulu took to the Mining ever, most of the diggers have given up, in large part because of the fall in the tin Indaba was that in the interim the old price, making Bisie less interesting too for code would remain in force. His mesthe soldiers and militiamen. In a major sage was exactly what Randgold chief boost for the project, South executive Mark Bristow, Africa’s Industrial Developfor one, had been wantment Corporation took a ing to hear. On 19 Janu15% stake in Alphamin in ary, Bristow reported November 2015. that he had signed three joint-venture exploration Down in the Copperbelt, agreements with junior miners are reeling from miners that hold permits falls in the price of copnext to Randgold’s Kibali per and cobalt. A further headache for miners there gold mine. The new joint Percentage mineral is the proliferation of disventures, Bristow said, processing plants more than double the size putes between the authorin Katanga Province owned by of Randgold’s holdings in ities of the new provinces Chinese companies the DRC. of Haut Katanga and LuSOURCE: KPMG Keeping the mining alaba, where their mining code as is will also beneassets lie, about who gets fit Toronto-listed Banro Corporation, to tax the companies and for what. The the country’s only other industrial provincial authorities are pushing for gold miner. Banro is in production at companies to pay both of them. The Twangiza in Sud-Kivu and at Namoya companies are resisting, and matters in Maniema Province and plans to start are already starting to get messy. ● producing at two other sites: Lugushwa Gregory Mthembu-Salter in Kinshasa

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ADVERTORIAL

FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH IN DRC

DEMOCRATIC C Agriculture,

R EPU U BLIC C a necessary step!

OF CONGO CONGO

T

he Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) boasts a huge agricultural potential.

That is why the go vernment has rolled out a strategy to structurally transform and diversify the economy as a way of boosting its resilience in an increasingly hostile international economic environment.

From top to bottom Bukanga-Lonzo Agro-Industrial Park.

H.E. Mr. Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Route One between Kinshasa and Kikwit.

The Prime Minister (left) exchanging ideas with the Ministers of Agriculture and Industry.

DEMOCRATIC C

R EPU U BLIC C

OF CONGO CONGO

“

The government opted to promote and modernize agriculture by developing AgroIndustrial Parks.

T

he crisis that rocked the raw materials market prompted African countries to downwardly revise their respective economies’ growth forecasts. Based primarily on extractive industries— gold, diamonds, oil, copper and cobalt—they mainly hitched their stars to one wagon, China, whose appetite seemed insatiable. Until it wasn’t anymore.

Prices did not take a temporary tumble; they collapsed due to the slowdown in China’s consumption. Oil lost up to half its value.

To deal with the bleak economic outlook, African leaders rolled out measures ranging from theorems to technical principles and even prayer, as in Zambia.

But every cloud has a silver lining. They learned their lesson and agreed that a sustainable solution needed to be found: few countries had emerged from the crisis unscathed. So the crisis spawned resilience—in other words, the ability of economies to withstand endogenous and exogenous shocks. The only way forward was economic diversification. Agriculture was naturally a topic of discussion.

Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, had a clear vision when he became head of the AfDB in May 2015. He wanted Africa to engage into agricultural transformation—and let everybody know it.

In his view, everything had changed. Opportunities were cropping up on a swiftly-growing continent.

Production equipment had evolved. Tractors now had air conditioning. What’s more, agriculture offered many job opportunities, especially for young people: Africa spends nearly $35 billion a year on food imports! All that remained was to encourage them to design and invest in agricultural projects.

A tractor and combine for harvesting maize.

The DRC’s leaders did not wait for the crisis to hit and raw materials prices to bottom out before deciding to focus on agriculture. The President had long advocated food self-sufficiency. His Prime Minister, Matata Ponyo, dreamed of feeding the huge country and limiting food imports, for which it pays nearly three billion dollars a year.

The concept, which eventually will be rolled out nationwide, is based on three key components: (1) development of commercial farms; (2) support for smallholders living on the edges of selected sites; and (3) creation of capital-, technology- and labour-intensive agricultural cooperatives. More specifically, AIPs will be production parks bringing together different agricultural players (professionals, farmers, etc.) who farm variously-sized plots while pooling basic infrastructure (roads, water, energy, telecommunications, etc.), local services (finance, quality control laboratories, transport, maintenance, waste management, refrigerated storage facilities, etc.), agricultural knowledge and good practices (training, research, support, technology transfers), etc.

The Prime Minister with the Minister of Industry (left), Deputy Minister of Finance (right), Minister of Agriculture and General Manager of the Bukanga-Lonzo Agro-Industrial Park (facing).

“

80,000 HA Size of the BukangaLonzo AgroIndustrial Park”

“

The BukangaLonzo AIP is an agricultural production, processing, packaging and sales complex.”

Ida Naserwa, General Manager, Bukanga-Lonzo AIP

ADVERTORIAL

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT PLAN Adopted by the Government in May 2013, DR Congo’s National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) covers the period 2013-2020. It has four objectives:

AIPs will also have agro-industrial and logistical activity zones and structures with the aim of improving collaboration and synergy between all the players. They will help to integrate all the links in the value chain from top to bottom and offer investors and food companies a comprehensive range of services. Each park will foster a business-friendly environment including specialised consulting services, mentoring for entrepreneurs, support for innovation, services to consolidate and develop markets, access to secure financing and smart partnerships that spur local economic development depending on local and regional potential.

In compliance with the President’s instructions, Congolese experts developed the AIP initiative under the Prime Minister’s leadership. The government funded the first stage of the BukangaLonzo pilot AIP.

the international market for sales. The Congolese State owns a majority stake in all those entities.

South African partners contribute know-how, technology and training. Land in the park is set aside for small-scale manioc growers employed by the AIP. Local producers receive support, including technology transfers, and supply food products meeting the same international standards as those produced by the AIP. Bukanga-Lonzo did not come out of thin air.

The site was chosen for its location, which allows products, eventually including poultry, cattle and sheep, to be easily shipped out. A thousand irrigated hectares will be put aside for the production of vegetables, expected to reach 500 tonnes a day! Nearly 50,000 hectares will be

strengthening the country’s food security; diversifying the population’s diet; developing agricultural and agro-industrial sectors so that they become the main drivers of economic growth and exports; and halving the poverty rate (63% in 2013).

At a cost estimated at $5.73 billion over seven years, the NAIP is structured around five

The Bukanga-Lonzo Agro-industrial Park The Bukanga-Lonzo Agro-Industrial Park is a huge, approximately 80,000-hectare project.

Land stretching out as far as the eye can see is expected to produce enough food to feed not just Congo, but also neighbouring countries in the sub-region.

On 15 July 2014, the President officially launched the project, which already employs nearly 500 people even though less than half of its planned activities are up and running. At least 5,000 permanent jobs are expected to be created in the coming months.

The huge project has three separate but complementary components, illustrating a public-private partnership that is bearing fruit.

The Bukanga-Lonzo AIP is responsible for the site’s development, the Société d’Exploitation du PAI (the operating company) for production and

programmes: development of agricultural and agro-industrial zones ($3.65 billion); Harvesting maize in Bukanga-Lonzo.

devoted to growing maize. With a minimum yield of five tonnes per hectare, the Bukanga-Lonzo AIP will produce at least 250,000 tonnes of maize a year within three years. In addition to chicken, eggs, meats and fish, 1,000 ha will be devoted to the production of vegetables under irrigations.

As General Manager Ida Naserwa points out, the Bukanga-Lonzo AIP is not a farm but an agroindustrial park, a veritable modern city where farm products are grown and processed. It is an intersection of services deployed and developed along the entire food value chain—in other words, an agricultural production, processing, packaging and sales complex.

agricultural product and food security management ($536.9 million); research and development and training ($738.3 million); governance and strengthening human and institutional capacity ($607.3 million); adaptation to climate change ($195.8 million).

ADVERTORIAL

DEMOCRATIC C

R EPU U BLIC C

OF CONGO CONGO

The transformer station in Bukanga-Lonzo.

Supplying the AIP with power is key to its success. Infrastructure has been developed to ensure a steady flow of 56 MW. Instead of a simple connection, the Bukanga-Lonzo AIP has a substation that transforms high-voltage into medium-voltage current.

The Bukanga-Lonzo AIP also has a social dimension. It does not produce manioc, the main crop grown by local small-scale farmers. The AIP buys their output, ensuring their survival.

Around 22 agro-industrial park sites have been identified nationwide, but they will be developed gradually. In 2016, the focus will be on sites in Kalemie (Tanganyika Province), Kindu (Maniema Province), Luiza (Central Kasai) and Nkundi (Central Kongo Province).

The DRC offers many investment opportunities. It has tremendous potential, room to spare and is waiting for interested investors to mount projects based on win-win partnerships.

Land, Congo’s new source of wealth DEMOCRATIC C

R EPU U BLIC C

OF CONGO CONGO

After basing its economic growth on mining, Congo is going back to its roots. The government has decided to develop the country’s most valuable resource: land. Fertile, arable land accounts for nearly 80% of its 2,345,000 square kilometres.

Until now, agriculture has mainly consisted of subsistence farming. The government has opted for industrialisation to make it competitive. But small-scale growers are protected no matter what. At Bukanga-Lonzo for example, they provide manpower while taking advantage of support as well as of the South African partner’s technology transfers.

So far, the government has funded Bukanga Lonzo, a trial balloon currently producing seven tonnes of maize per hectare. The project is successful.

The DRC is expecting more investors to take part in developing the other identified sites.

Producing and processing food products will enable not just the local population but also the whole country to be fed. Crossed by the Equator in its midsection, the DRC offers an appreciable diversity of climates. The seasons alternate between north and south, balancing the flow of waterways. The country’s many rivers make it easy to ship products.

What’s more, the DRC shares its border with nine countries, an essential advantage for access to markets—nine potential outlets likely to make it a food hub in the heart of Africa.

The development of agriculture will spur the growth of transport infrastructure and other activity sectors. As the sites become agro-industrial parks, the government hopes to attract investment to build roads and find ways to transport finished products. Congo’s officials set the goal of developing multimodal transport several years ago.

With help from the African Development Bank, Congo is trying to attract young people to farming— a sector with a decidedly bright outlook.

THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

5 avenue du roi Baudouin - Gombe-Kinshasa - Email:cabinet@prilmature.cd - http://www.primature.cd/public/

DIFCOM/DF - PHOTOS: MDMM / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

“

The development of agriculture will spur the growth of transport and power production infrastructure, considerably enhancing the Congolese people’s quality of life.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO | COUNTRY FOCUS

DEBATE

Is a national dialogue really necessary?

Is President Kabila’s call for a new round of political discussions the way to peaceful elections, or a ruse to delay the electoral process? Politicians offer their views

Samy Badibanga

Henri Mova Sakanyi

President, Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social (UDPS) parliamentary group

Secretary general, Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie (PPRD)

Whyhaveyou refused to participateinthe dialogue the government has suggested?

We want to participate in the dialogue but under certain conditions: the government first has to commit to upholding the constitution, especially regarding the length and the number of terms. We also want the appointment of an impartial mediator who will supervise the process.

Was it really necessary to convene a national dialogue?

Dialogue is the only solution that can pave the way for peaceful and credible elections. […] Remember the first elections in our history? They led to the secession of Katanga and Kasaï, to the coup of September 1960, the assassination of [Patrice] Lumumba […]. The 1965 elections didn’t even take place because of a military coup.

The 2006 presidential elections were accompanied by violence in Kinshasa, and there were also some deaths in 2011.

For how long will we continue this infernal cycle?

So you’re not happy with the African Union (AU)’s appointment of Edem Kodjo as mediator?

It’s not about the person but rather the method used. Why did the AU take this initiative instead of joining the ongoing process? The United Nations had already launched consultations to initiate a dialogue that [UDPS leader] Étienne Tshisekedi had agreed to take part in.

Isitstillpossibletoorganisethepresidentialelectionswithin the constitutional framework – that is, before December?

It’s up to the Commission Électorale Nationale Indépendente to decide, but in my humble opinion it’s no longer possible […].

Haven’t we parliamentarians voted budgets to the commission that ended up not being allocated?

I think the government intentionally refused to organise the elections.

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Kabila was the country’s first democratically elected president. Can he also be the first Congolese president to transfer power peacefully?

Why not? That’s how it shouldbe.Andthosewho want this to happen had better participate in the dialogue so that we can get things going now.

This will complete the democratic process that Joseph Kabila started himself. ● M RTHOU DUBOU

THE AFRICA REPORT

Is it still possible to organise the presidential elections within the scheduled time frame?

The inclusive dialogue is supposed torespondtothatquestion.Iwantto make clear that the dialogue is not intendedtochangetheconstitution.

GWENN

In December 2015, you and Félix Tshisekedi met with oppositionist Moïse Katumbi. Is the UDPS considering backing a single candidate?

We agree with [Moïse Katumbi] on upholding the constitution and on changing governments in 2016. This is the battle that we first have to win.

It’s too soon to talk about candidates.

It can divide us, and we risk losing everything. Having said that, I believe the days of an individual leadership are gone, as the current situation calls for unity. ●

Can there be a dialogue if the UDPS, the main opposition party, refuses to participate in it?

We would like all the key Congolese stakeholders, including Étienne Tshisekedi, to gather around the negotiating table.

However, he is not our sole interlocutor and even if the dialogue is not met with unanimous approval, we are counting on the presence of many participants.

Interview by Pierre Boisselet and Trésor Kibangula This article first appeared in Jeune Afrique

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COUNTRY FOCUS | DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

THE EAST

Rebel stalemate An estimated 70 militia groups are active in eastern DRC, with a spate of clashes in recent months. As the tally of displaced people rises, UN and government forces seem unable to shift the balance of power

S

torm clouds are gathering menthe likely reason being that they have acingly once more in the Demobeen whisked off to military training cratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s camps, as has happened for years to troubled east, threatening to rain down young men from camps of Nord-Kivu more conflict and misery. Sources in Tutsi refugees in Rwanda. the United Nations (UN) mission in the The Congo Research Group, a think DRC say that combatants of the Rwandatank, reckons that at least 70 armed backed anti-government Mouvement groups are active in eastern DRC and that around 1.6 million people are disdu 23 mars (M23) militia are circulatplaced in Nord- and Sud-Kivu. There ing in the Nord-Kivu provincial caphas been a spate of clashes in recent ital of Goma but reckon they currently pose little threat. However, the governmonths in the north of Nord-Kivu near ment’s often tense relationship with the town of Lubero, where militias the UN could begin a drawn from Nande new phase this year, and Hutu communitAround ies have been attacking with spillover effects for conflict in the Kivus. villagers, resulting in M23 troops took confew casualties but sigmillion nificant displacement. trol of Goma in 2012, people have been The UN mission and but UN and Forces displaced in Nordcommunity leaders Armées de la Répuband Sud-Kivu say that politicians lique Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) solare manipulating the SOURCE: THE CONGO RESEARCH GROUP diers beat them back. At violence. present, say UN sources, there is no inThere has been continued violence dication that the Rwandan government too around Beni, to the north of Lubero, is interested in offering its support to a which the FARDC and, initially, UN fresh armed insurgency. forces have habitually blamed on the Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF), TRAINING CAMPS a militia reported to be fighting for an Instead, the Rwandan government apIslamic government in neighbouring pears far more concerned about develUganda. Research and analysis by the opments in Burundi, where the governUN Group of Experts, which the UN’s DRC mission now seems to agree with, ment accuses Kigali of giving succour suggests that the real reason for much to, and arming, an anti-government of the fighting around Beni is ethnic militia that aims to topple Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza. Rwanda’s factionalism within the FARDC, again mostly pitting Hutus against the Nande.

President Paul Kagame has denied the The UN peacekeeping missionand the claims, but stories circulate nonetheFARDC are in theory conducting joint less in Rwanda of Burundian refugee operations against the ADF. In practice, camps where there are no young men,

1.6

JAMES AKENA/REUTERS

64

With the surrender of M23 in 2013, the vacuum has been filled by dozens of other armed groups

say insiders, they work “in parallel”.

“They do their thing”, explains one UN source, “and we do ours.”

In early February, the UN and the FARDC announced the resumption of joint operations against the pro-Hutu Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR). The FARDC suspended joint operations in 2014 in protest at UN complaints about the presence of two FARDC commanders previously implicated in serious human-rights abuses.

NEW MISSION COMMANDER

The FDLR is a shadow of its former self.

It counts fewer than 2,000 combatants, according to most estimates, but has nonetheless retained a fighting capacity.

In late December, the UN mission appointed a new force commander, Lieutenant General Derrick Mbuyiselo Mgwebi, a South African. Two months earlier, Maman Sidikou of Niger was appointed the new political head of the UN mission. Sidikou took office in January but has so far kept a low profile, in marked contrast to his predecessor, the Twitter-obsessed Martin Kobler, who now heads up the UN’s Libya mission. Sidikou has been well received by both UN and government senior staff but he faces a new crisis, as Kinshasa requested in March that the number of blue helmets be cut in half to 10,000 by the end of the year. ● Gregory Mthembu-Salter in Goma and Gisenyi THE AFRICA REPORT

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The company has a solid academic and business track record with companies like mining operators, Diplomatic Missions based in Kinshasa for which CIC develops studies and lead business missions. To name but few of its portfolio, in the retail sector, CIC also mobilizes multimillion dollars financial facilities to support SMEs for their development.

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Now in 2016, while Europe and North America’s countries are barely reaching a 3% growth rate, the Democratic Republic of Congo now display a flourish 1% inflation and a more than 8% growth.* Confident with such steady macroeconomic track record, Congo-Invest Consulting is determined to serve as facilitator and catalyst of investments in the country.

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Rwanda Focus Stepping out of the neighbours’ shadows

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66

COUNTRY FOCUS | DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

PROFILE

Moïse Katumbi

Former governor, Katanga Province

A rabble rouser considers his chances The popular ruling party baron turned oppositionist could be a serious contender in elections scheduled for November.

But to get that far, he will need to unite the opposition

A

ffable, urbane and a great rabble rouser while campaigning in his native province of Katanga, Moïse Katumbi is quiet and considered in private. Given his stewardship of the football club TP Mazembe, the defending CAF Champions League winners, he is asked what he thinks of suggestions that Arsène Wenger might leave at the end of a disappointing season for the London club Arsenal. “They would be crazy to let him go,” he tells The Africa Report. “Look at the club, look what he has built.”

When it comes to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Joseph Kabila, his political arch-rival and erstwhile friend, Katumbi is less forgiving. In his resignation letter from Kabila’s ruling Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie in September 2015, he rails against the regime for stalling over upcoming elections set for the end of this year, “with everything being done to avoid respecting the constitution.” He also points to the rising tide of violence against ordinary citizens and pro-democracy activists.

Kabila’s response was crude: he parked his tanks on Katumbi’s

home territory. The Congolese army has moved several military vehicles, including tanks, into positions around Lubumbashi, Katumbi’s base. The former governor has told journalists that his kids have been followed back from school by security agents, but that he is not intimidated. In December 2014, upon his return from a medical trip to London, he was mobbed by a huge crowd of supporters, many of whom assumed he had survived an attempted poisoning.

WHEELING AND DEALING

Lubumbashi is the basis of Katumbi’s reputation, for better or for worse. Better run than other Congolese cities, it houses some of the country’s biggest mining companies. “When I arrived at the head of the government in Katanga, the province was in ruins,” says Katumbi, who focused on critical mining infrastructure like roads. “In the rainy season, it took two months to get an articulated lorry from the Zambian border to Kolwezi.

Now it takes five hours.”

Katumbi’s fortune was made selling services to miners. His Mining Company Katanga (MCK) has gone through various permutations and helps transport the

SWITCHING SIDES 28 December 1964 Born in Kashobwe 1997 Became chairman of the TP Mazembe football team 2006 Elected governor of Katanga Province September 2015 Stepped down as governor and quit the ruling party

ore from rich cobalt and copper mines out of the country. French logistics company Necotrans bought MCK from him for an undisclosed sum in November 2015.

This overlap of his public and private personas – Belgian filmmaker Thierry Michel calls Katumbi “a blend of Chavez and Berlusconi” – comes with its weaknesses. Various Wikileaks cables as well as the Congolese financial regulator raised questions about his management of provincial finances as well as the opacity of his business dealings. And a report by the Carter Centre on pollution in Lubumbashi’s poorer districts caused by the Indian company Chemaf suggests the administration did not leap forward to protect the citizenry.

Katumbi has always claimed probity, which has not stopped the THE AFRICA REPORT

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ment has not yet come,” he added, for talk about candidates. Others point out that Katumbi had said the same thing 24 hours earlier.

The G7 grouping is not the force that it was in September 2015, when it first split from the ruling party, taking 100 or so members of parliament with it out of a total of 500 Congolese MPs. Following harassment and inducements from the regime, only 40 MPs remain. They maintain heavyweight ground organisations, however, especially the Mouvement Social pour le Renouveau of ex-Kabila security adviser Pierre Lumbi.

FEDERICO SCOPPA/AFP

WHO WILL RUN?

rumour mill from cycling through the usual run of hearsay, much of which centres on the many years in which Kabila and Katumbi worked together closely.

But beyond personal issues, Katumbi’s path to the presidency is complicated by other potential opposition candidates. If he plans to run and win, he would have to, for example, win over the eternal oppositionist Etienne Tshisekedi, whose masses of supporters in the Kasaï provinces and Kinshasa are a real vote bank. Katumbi recognises this, and he recently spent two hours meeting with the ageing Tshisekedi in Brussels.

On 30 March, a group of Congolese political parties – known as the G7 and composed of previous Kabila allies – said it wants Katumbi as its presidential candidate. This signals the beginTHE AFRICA REPORT

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ning of the campaign for the November polls, which may yet see the fractured opposition unite around a single man.

The former governor refused to accept the G7 endorsement for fear of angering Tshisekedi and the other main Kabila opponent,

Belgian filmmaker Thierry Michel calls Katumbi ‘a blend of Chavez and Berlusconi’ Vital Kamerhe. Kamerhe, who orchestrated Kabila’s successful 2006 election campaign but then, like Katumbi, fell out with the president, did not appear to take the G7 pronouncement lightly.

“These questions of personnel will divide us, which will only help the ruling party,” said Kamerhe on French television. “The mo-

Nevertheless, the extent to which the opposition is able to fall behind one candidate is critical to any attempt to dislodge a Kabila clan seemingly set on holding on to power. Optimists point to splinters within that clan, the ambitions of Antoine Gizenga’s Parti Lumumbiste Unifié and other fights for control in the ruling coalition.

Katumbi says that he is not willing to countenance the prospect of Kabila delaying the choice of successor this year.

One of his lieutenants told Jeune Afrique magazine that the G7 was right to press ahead: “They have to be ready for November, that way they won’t be taken by surprise if the regime tries to hold snap elections.”

If he were to win the elections, Katumbi would be the first president without a military background since Mobutu Sese Seko deposed the country’s firstpresident,Joseph Kasa-Vubu, in 1965. Katumbi’s credo on foreign relations in a tense neighbourhood is to follow the lessons of the post-Second World War period. “Europe had understood this well”, explains Katumbi. “In our Great Lakes region, where there are lots of conflicts and wars, there is nearly no cross-border trade. Security needs jobs. We built these jobs along our Angola and Zambia borders even though we had so much violence here in the past.” ● Interview by Nicholas Norbrook in Abidjan

67

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A KEY PLAYER IN THE CONGOLESE ECONOMY The establishment of the LEON HASSON & FRERE Group in 1936 marked the beginning of a family’s success story, with at its heart, two visionary brothers, Léon and Acher Hasson.Their shrewd ability to grasp the opportunities offered by the country enabled them to build an extensive distribution network: initially through retail shops, not least the famous Kinshasa-based ‘Au Chic’, and then with their first wholesale distribution centre as early as in 1952.

Quickly they found success by linking the needs of the population with a wide range of items. Its presence spread in the country, with outlets in Kinshasa , Kananga, Kisangani, Lubumbashi, Matadi, Boma, Goma and Bukavu, in addition to a ‘floating-shop’ along the Congo River to meet the needs of the isolated local population. The brothers followed their success by moving towards industrial activities: first of all to the textile industry with manufacturing plants Linda, Sofatex, Elre and Novatex (draps, tergal, shirts, uniforms and socks); then to electric batteries with the American company Ray-O-Vac’s Electric Storage Battery Company (ESB Inc.).

After, in the 1980’s, they started activities in the agri-food industry: food products, (maize, paddy, coffee, rubber, papain, etc...).Their entrepreneurial spirit has contributed to the rise and development of the Congolese economy. Even in times of war, the Hasson Group held a steady course.

In 2016, Léon Hasson & Frère became HASSON AFRICA and they maintain their values to their employees: confidence, passion for work and the willingness to learn.

Its leaders give opportunities to local staff to train and employ more than hundreds of workers.The HASSON AFRICA Group purchases quality goods across 4 continents, with the aim to offer selected brands that suit the taste of the local people.

THE MOST RECOGNIZED FAMILY BUSINESS IN DRC Respected both locally and internationally, HASSON AFRICA is a dynamic group that has always had faith in Congo’s future.

Much to the discontent of colonial authorities, it was founded in 1947 to provide local and European clients diverse products, earning them the respect and friendship

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Moreover, since its earlier days, the company has always paid more attention to public interest in order to provide quality services at the lowest prices to all its clients.

Armed with a solid and dynamic international workforce that is firmly united by the Group’s ethical values, the latter has benefitted from a management team that is conversant with the many mechanisms of the Congolese administration.

REAL ESTATE AND PROPERTY EXPERTISE The import, distribution and marketing activities of HASSON AFRICA is closely linked to the Group’s real estate department.The Group owns two real estate companies (Linda and Build up) managed by the same leaders whose expertise have helped to put together a remarkable portfolio. Several real estate acquisitions in the capital and in the provinces have added an important value to the Group’s assets.

A TOTAL MASTERY OF SOURCING PROCESS, IMPORT, DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING The Group controls the entire production chain which helps to safeguard supplies and have a better control of customer relations.

DIVERSITY AND HIGH QUALITY GLOBAL BRANDS HASSON AFRICA offers a wide variety of unparalleled products which attracts and retains an increasing number of customers. Their range has 25 000 items. With a long presence in the Congolese market, its know-how is recognised and a flawless grasp of Congolese reality enables the Group to count high-profile international brands among its partners: BEIERDORF (ex : Nivea), KRAFT, Henkel, DIAGEO (Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, etc..), PERNOD RICARD (ex : Chivas), UNILEVER France, KIMBERLEYCLARK, PUMA and FERRERO.

The Group provides the best visibility to brand names which have already selected HASSON AFRICA to be their ‘commercial bridge-head’ in the heart of the secondlargest country in Africa.

The total commercial floor space available in Kinshasa makes HASSON AFRICA the sector’s biggest player. It meets massmarket needs, as well as those of the middle class and the upper class.

Espace Hasson Central Station is the jewel of Hasson Africa network: it is the first and the most popular commercial center of Kinshasa offering on two floors the biggest variety of services and items in the heart of Africa.

Covering 24,000 m2, the Plaza Village offers a wide range of activities, services and leisure in Kinshasa. These include a hypermarket, shops, banks, restaurants, leisure centre for children, petrol station and a secured car-park. The third and the newly born shopping centre of Hasson Africa is KCC (Kitambo Commercial Center) with 2,500 m² of multidimensional space including restaurants and stylish bars.

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HASSON AFRICA SARL chasing behaviours of local consumers.

The Group HASSON AFRICA remains true to the pioneering spirit of its founders: moral worthiness and unwavering integrity. HASSON AFRICA has cemented its strong establishment in the DRC, helping to secure the Group’s reputation as the trusted economic partner in the country.

ESPACE HASSON, AVENUE DES AVIATEURS, GARE CENTRALE.

Professionals choose and bring all the items to the DRC with remarkable efficiency, with the target to turn them into flagship products. Fully open-minded and close to its local market, a dynamic business team promotes products in almost all supermarkets. The Group is well-acquainted with Congolese Marketing and it has a high-level expertise.

Having foreseen the emergence of an African middle class, HASSON AFRICA has acted as a pioneer since 2005,replacing its traditional retail floor areas with‘Europeanstyle’ shopping centres. The brands are distributed in supermarkets owned by the Group or third parties, in boutiques, in the Kinshasha central market and also in hotels and restaurants. Today certain brands are distributed in more than 550 sales outlets.

THE LARGEST COMMERCIAL FLOORSPACE AND PRO-ACTIVE PROPERTY DEPARTMENT All the hypermarkets are located in the main strategic crossroads of the megalopolis, thereby covering most significant areas.

KITAMBO COMMERCIAL CENTER.

EXCEPTIONALLY DYNAMIC AND PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTISES Beyond the acquired expertise in the sector, the Group has consolidated its knowledge of business in different sectors, be it in the management of brands sold, in marketing or studying the pur-

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DAY IN THE LIFE

THE FATOU BLOG

EXTRAORDINARY STORIES OF ORDINARY PEOPLE

OLIVIA ACLAND FOR TAR

Fight not flight When Ebola hit Sierra Leone, activist Fatou Wurie stood her ground, creating a space for women to overcome their challenges in the aftermath of the virus

I

was born in Bo, Sierra Leone, where I was raised by my grandmother, but when I was about three my dad got an international job and we moved to Zambia.

Afterwards, we lived all around the world. At 18 I graduated from the International School of Islamabad in Pakistan and then went to Canada for university.

Everywhere I went I wasn’t enough. In North Africa I was too black, and not Muslim enough; in Asia I was too black, too fat. In North America I was dealing with race and religion. It was always being the foreigner that made me want to embrace being Sierra Leonean.

After I graduated I got up one day and thought: “I can’t be sitting here talking about the African experience and African discourse without really having discovered my roots.” So for the first time in over 20-something years, in 2011, May 10, my birthday, I landed in Sierra Leone.

There is a divide between Sierra Leoneans who stayed during the war and those who weren’t there: “You did not see this, you did not feel fear. Now you’re coming here with your accent and your access and you wanna tell us how to live?” There was no way, when Ebola hit Sierra Leone, that I’d pack my bags and go and sit somewhere.

So I stayed. I was there in the fight playing my part.

Ebola is a poverty-driven disease that disproportionately affects women, who are nurses, who are community leaders, who are mothers; it affects them and I just felt like we didn’t do enough for our women. The healthcare system crumbled. Antenatal visits went down, delivery

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at health facilities went down, access to sexual reproductive services went down. Women and girls were getting pregnant and dying. So that’s where the Survivor Dream Project [SDP] started, I wanted women to know that they weren’t alone.

We provide a safe space for the women to discuss sexual reproductive rights and domestic violence. We have ‘eating right’ programmes and wellbeing inspiration classes. We also do skill-set training where they learn to take their businesses to the next level, as many of them are petty traders. [The women’s] stories will be used for a policy paper on how Ebola affected women’s lives.

As a country we are moving on, but I think we are forgetting a little too quickly. When Sierra Leone first met its 42 days, there was a huge celebration. While everyone who wasn’t directly impacted by Ebola was out there dancing and making speeches, my women were crying. Some of them left, they were like: ‘You can stand there and dance and celebrate and talk about Ebola ending, it hasn’t ended for us.’ Salamatu is 16 years old, she lost her mother, her father and her four siblings, the world can move on but she can’t.

There’s a lot of trauma in the world, but how you channel that into something that creates positive social change is what I’m interested in. My art – writing and spoken word – and my work are not separate, they are a complete expression of who I am, where I’ve been and what I want to see. ● Interview by Billie McTernan THE AFRICA REPORT

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