„Malheureusement, ce numéro de la revue de presse n’est actuellement disponible qu’en allemand et en anglais.“
Intensified cooperation between Africa and Asia
On Tuesday, the second Indonesia Africa Forum (IAF) in Bali, which took place this year under the motto ‘Bandung Spirit for Africa’s Agenda 2063’, ended. The three-day forum focussed on strengthening economic cooperation between Indonesia and African countries in the key areas of energy, food security, health and strategic minerals. A total of 32 business agreements worth USD 3.5 billion were concluded, a six-fold increase compared to the first forum in 2018.
The agreements include contracts in the energy sector worth USD 1.5 billion and in the food sector worth USD 1.2 billion. In the renewable energy sector, the Indonesian state-owned electricity company PLN signed contracts with the Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC) and the state-owned Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) to develop 225 megawatts of geothermal energy in Luhoi, Natron and Ngozi. The private company PT Energi Mega Persada also concluded a deal with the South African group Vutomi Energy for the construction of Independent Power Plants (IPPs) with a total capacity of 500 megawatts in South Africa. In the food sector, the agreements focused primarily on the production of fertilisers. Agreements were concluded with Tanzania and Nigeria, among others. In the strategic industries sector, which also includes defence and airspace, the contracts and agreements amounted to around 173.5 million US dollars – including an agreement to supply products from the state-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad to South Africa’s Rheinmetall Denel Munition (Pty) Ltd. and the delivery of two CN235 military aircraft and five N219 aircraft by the aviation company PT Dirgantara Indonesia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Meanwhile, agreements totalling USD 91.1 million were concluded in the healthcare sector. In the minerals sector, initial exploratory talks and negotiations also took place between Indonesia, which is rich in nickel deposits and aims to become a production hub for EV batteries, and African countries that have the minerals needed for battery production, such as cobalt and graphite. On Monday, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo announced that an agreement with Zimbabwe to cooperate in lithium mining was about to be finalised.
Around 1,400 delegates took part in the forum, including representatives from 29 African countries and the heads of state and government of Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia and Rwanda as well as the President of Zanzibar, who represented Tanzania, and the Vice President of Zimbabwe. The number of participants was thus far below that of the first IAF in 2018, which was attended by 47 African countries. The main reason for this is the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which began in Beijing on Wednesday, just one day after the IAF.
The FOCAC, which takes place every three years alternately in China and on the African continent, is China’s most important platform for cooperation with African countries. No fewer than 51 African heads of State and Government travelled to the event, as well as the Chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Only the Kingdom of Eswatini, the only African country still maintaining diplomatic relations with Taiwan, was not invited to the forum.
During the summit, China’s President Xi Jinping pledged financial support totalling 50.7 billion US dollars to the African continent, the highest amount since the pandemic. More than half will be provided in the form of loans, while USD 11 billion is earmarked for ‘various types of support’ and USD 10 billion will be used to promote investment by Chinese companies on the continent. Xi also announced his intention to create at least one million new jobs in Africa. At the same time, Beijing pledged 280 million US dollars in aid – including 140 million US dollars in food aid and 140 million US dollars in the form of military aid; the largest sum that China has ever pledged at a FOCAC in this area.
Even before the start of the forum, Xi met numerous African heads of state and government for one-on-one talks, during which a large number of agreements were reached. During these meetings, for example, it was decided with counterparts from Zambia and Tanzania to revive the Tazara railway line, which connects the landlocked country of Zambia with its neighbouring country and thus the Indian Ocean. This railway line was built by China in the early 1970s; there have already been several negotiations about its repair. In addition, China and Zambia agreed on a co-operation between Beijing’s PowerChina and the state-owned energy company ZESCOS for the expansion of solar roof panels in Zambia, as President Hakainde Hichilema announced on Monday. Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe also signed agreements with China to deepen co-operation in the areas of industry, agriculture, infrastructure and trade.
The forum is the largest international event in Beijing since the coronavirus pandemic. Although the USD 50.7 billion promised by President Xi still falls well short of the USD 60 billion pledged in 2015 and 2018, China is showing a significant increase compared to the last FOCAC, where just USD 30 billion in funding was provided, despite its own economic problems. This is also about the competition for influence in Africa and access to important natural resources with the US and Europe, which have recently stepped up their efforts in Africa and increased protectionist measures against China. As a result, the African market is becoming increasingly important for China, which is already Africa’s largest investor and trading partner. However, critics continue to warn that the high loans could further exacerbate the debt situation of many African countries.
Senegal’s parliament rejects constitutional reform
On Monday, the Senegalese parliament rejected a draft constitutional amendment submitted by the government. After a heated debate, a narrow majority of MPs voted 83 to 80 against the planned abolition of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Conseil économique, social et environnemental, CESE) and the High Council of Territorial Authorities (Haut conseil des collectivités territoriales, HCCT). In order to push through the constitutional amendment, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye would have required a majority of 99 votes. The decisive factor was the unanimous rejection of the bill by the opposition coalition Benno Bokk Yaakaar (BBY). The coalition of former President Macky Sall, who was in office from 2012 to 2024, has a clear majority in the Senegalese parliament, whose members were last elected in July 2022, even after its defeat in the presidential election in March of this year
(press review CW 13/2024). In contrast, President Faye’s governing coalition Libérer le peuple (Yewwi Askan Wi, YAW) only holds 56 of the 165 seats in the Senegalese National Assembly.
The abolition of the two state institutions CESE and HCCT was a key election campaign promise of the current governing coalition. It is considered an integral part of the broad reform package that Faye, who was elected president in March, and his prime minister Ousmane Sonko of the formerly banned Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l’éthique et la fraternité (PASTEF) party aim to implement. Both institutions were founded by former President Sall and are headed by close confidants of the former head of state. According to the current government, however, both institutions, which have an advisory function to the government, are politically superfluous and wasteful – around 24 million US dollars are allocated to them. The government says it wants to make better use of its limited resources in future.
According to analysts, however, it will hardly be possible to implement the government’s ambitious reform plans given the current distribution of seats in the National Assembly. Dealing with the defeat in parliament is therefore seen as a serious test of the young president’s governance. According to Prime Minister Sonko, the rejection of the bill by the parliamentary opposition shows that even after the defeat of their presidential candidate Amadou Ba, they had failed to respect the people’s desire for fundamental reforms. The opposition, in turn, accuses Sonko of lacking respect for the legislature. Even several months after taking office, the prime minister has yet to make a government statement to the National Assembly. Furthermore, there are currently no plans to abolish the political budget of the offices of the Prime Minister and President, which amounts to around 33 million US dollars annually. Some parliamentarians, meanwhile, suspect that the government’s bill is merely a pretext for dissolving parliament.
Experts also consider the dissolution of parliament followed by new elections to be a logical next step. The Senegalese constitution allows the president to dissolve the National Assembly after it has been in session for two years. This deadline expires on 12 September. According to the government, it has already consulted the country’s constitutional council on the matter. In addition, the government could circumvent parliamentary opposition by submitting the proposed constitutional amendments to a referendum. However, observers believe that such an approach is unlikely. The opposition is also wrestling with possible next steps in an attempt to avert new elections. A vote of no confidence in his prime minister announced by opposition MP Abdou Mbow was averted by Faye at the last minute. With recourse to Article 84 of the Senegalese constitution, which gives the head of state the prerogative to set the agenda of the National Assembly, the president hastily called a special session of parliament on Thursday to debate a series of legislative proposals, thus preventing the opposition from tabling a vote of no confidence.
In other News
FAME Week Africa 2024 kicked off on Sunday in Cape Town, South Africa. It is considered one of the most important pan-African events for art, film, television, animation, music, fashion and media and is taking place for the third time. Under this year’s motto ‘The Power of African Creativity: Our Time is Now!’, FAME Week Africa offers a platform for the exchange and networking of African artists with its programme items, which include MIP Africa, the Cape Town International Animation Festival (CTIAF), Muziki Africa, the African Fashion Forum and the FAME Shorts Festival. After the US (2022) and Canada (2023), Nigeria was named the country of honour of FAME Week Africa this year, highlighting the growing role of the West African country on the global stage of the creative industries. International organisations, initiatives and government representatives also took part in the fair. Canada and South Africa, for example, renewed their agreement on audiovisual co-productions, which was originally agreed in 1997. FAME Week Africa 2024 comes to an end on Saturday.
Event notice
From 11 September to 2 November 2024, the first solo exhibition of works by the artist René Tavares from São Tomé and Príncipe will be on display at the ARTCO Gallery in Berlin-Schöneberg. The exhibition ‘The Atlantic is Black’ is a research into transatlantic migration flows and their effects on the diaspora. The artist is concerned with the reinterpretation of the historical significance of the African continent and in particular the coastal and archipelago region of West Africa, which has significantly shaped the cultural history of the African diaspora as a hub for transatlantic trade. In his work, Tavares travels the old trade routes between Africa, America and Europe, taking into account the numerous cultures and identities and inviting viewers to actively participate in his knowledge production through the overlapping of experiences, emotions and associations. The works of Tavares, who has already been shortlisted for the prestigious EDP Foundation New Artists Award (2022), are based on research into archives, photographs and literature.