Botswana loses court bid to revoke gay rights

Yahoo – AFP, November 29, 2021 

Rainbow campaign: Activists gathered outside the Botswana High Court
on October 12 to press their case (AFP/Monirul Bhuiyan)

Botswana's government on Monday lost a legal attempt to overturn a landmark ruling that decriminalised homosexuality. 

The country's High Court in 2019 ruled in favour of campaigners seeking to strike down jail sentences for same-sex relationships, declaring the punishment to be unconstitutional. 

But the government sought to revoke the ruling, arguing that the courts had no jurisdiction in this matter. 

"Since the appellant's grounds of appeal have been unsuccessful... the appeal must fall," Botswana's Court of Appeal ruled on Monday. 

It had started hearing the case in October. 

Homosexuality had been banned since 1965 in conservative Botswana, where offenders could face up to seven years in prison. 

The 2019 judgement was hailed internationally as a major victory for gay rights. 

Judge Ian Kirby, who read out the ruling on Monday, said gay citizens had long lived in "constant fear of discovery or arrest" when expressing "love for their partners." 

"This sometimes led to depression, suicidal behaviour, alcoholism or substance abuse," he said. 

Botswana is one of only a handful of African countries to have decriminalised homosexuality. 

Others are Lesotho, Mozambique, Angola and the Seychelles. 

South Africa is the sole nation on the continent to allow same-sex marriage, which it legalised in 2006.

Master KG - Jerusalema [Feat. Nomcebo] (Official Music Video)

Angola vows to bring back billionaire dos Santos over graft claims

Yahoo – AFP, in London, January 20, 2020

A trove of leaked documents allege that Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daught
of Angola's ex-president, amassed her wealth by plundering state funds (AFP Photo/
FERNANDO VELUDO)

Luanda (AFP) - Angolan prosecutors vowed on Monday to use "all possible" means to bring back Isabel dos Santos, the former president's billionaire daughter, after thousands of leaked documents revealed new allegations she siphoned off hundreds of millions in public money.

Dubbed Africa's richest woman, dos Santos is accused of using her father's backing to plunder state funds from the oil-rich but impoverished southern African country and -- with the help of Western consulting firms -- move the money offshore.

She stopped living in Angola after her authoritarian father Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country for nearly 40 years, stepped down in 2017 for his anointed successor Joao Lourenco.

She now spends her time between London and Dubai.

"We will use all possible means and activate international mechanisms to bring Isabel dos Santos back to the country," prosecutor general Helder Pitra Gros told public radio.

"We have asked for international support from Portugal, Dubai and other countries," he added.

The 46-year-old dos Santos is already being investigated as part of an anti-graft campaign launched by Lourenco, who has vowed to root out corruption.

Prosecutors last month froze bank accounts and holdings owned by the businesswoman and her Congolese-Danish husband Sindika Dokolo, a move dos Santos described as motivated by a groundless political vendetta.

Gros' remarks came after a trove of 715,000 files dubbed the "Luanda Leaks" on Sunday revealed how the eldest daughter of the former president allegedly moved the vast sums into overseas assets.

The award-winning New York-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) behind the release alleged the international system has allowed powerful individuals like her to move assets around the world, without questions.

Prosecutors have already frozen the bank accounts and holdings owned by dos 

Santos and her Congolese husband Sindika Dokolo (AFP Photo/FERNANDO VELUDO)

"Based on a trove of more than 715,000 files, our investigation highlights a broken international regulatory system that allows professional services firms to serve the powerful with almost no questions asked," the ICIJ wrote.

The group said its team of 120 reporters in 20 countries was able to trace "how an army of Western financial firms, lawyers, accountants, government officials and management companies helped (dos Santos and Dokolo) hide assets from tax authorities".

'Highly coordinated attack'

Dos Santos took to Twitter to refute the claims, launching a salvo of around 30 tweets in Portuguese and English, accusing journalists involved in the investigation of telling "lies".

"My fortune is built on my character, my intelligence, education, capacity for work, perseverance," she wrote.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and educated in Britain, dos Santos -- scornfully nicknamed "the princess" -- was named Africa's first female billionaire in 2013 by Forbes, which estimates her current wealth at $2.1 billion.

Her lawyer dismissed the ICIJ findings as a "highly coordinated attack" orchestrated by Angola's current rulers, in a statement quoted by The Guardian newspaper.

Dos Santos herself told BBC Africa the file dump was part of a "witch hunt" meant to discredit her and her father.

She headed Angola's national oil company Sonangol until her father's successor forced her out after becoming president in 2017.

"Red flags really went up when she was appointed head of the state oil company at a time when her father still had significant influence," said Daniel Bruce, who heads the UK branch of anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International.

Former Angolan president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos ruled for nearly 40 years 

before stepping down in 2017 (AFP Photo/Adalberto ROQUE)

"You could see there were major conflicts of interest starting to emerge," he added.

Dos Santos said on Wednesday that she would consider running for president in the next election in 2022.

Western consultants

The ICIJ investigation said Western consulting firms such as PwC and Boston Consulting Group were "apparently ignoring red flags" while helping her stash away public assets.

"Regulators around the globe have virtually ignored the key role Western professionals play in maintaining an offshore industry that drives money laundering and drains trillions from public coffers," the report said.

Its document trove included redacted letters allegedly showing how consultants sought out ways to open non-transparent bank accounts.

London-based firm PwC was among those advising her businesses.

The consultancy said it had "immediately initiated an investigation" in the wake of the "very serious and concerning allegations."

"We have also taken action to terminate any ongoing work for entities controlled by members of the dos Santos family," it added in a statement.

The Boston Consulting Group did not immediately respond to an attempt to get comment by AFP.

One confidential document allegedly drafted by Boston Consulting in September 2015 outlined a complex scheme for the oil company to move its money offshore.

The investigation also published a similar 99-page presentation from KPMG.

"UK firms... have played a role both in helping her to amass this fortune but also to invest the proceeds of these suspicious deals," said Bruce.

"There are questions to answer," he added. "Particularly for those who helped her acquire property."

Dos Santos and Dokolo have invested in several luxurious London houses and amassed an impressive collection of valuable artwork.

Her husband, a well-known collector of African arts, developed that passion from his billionaire banker father Augustin Dokolo Sanu.

Van Oord involved in Luanda building plan that involved human rights abuses: Trouw

DutchNews, January 20, 2020

Luanda is a mix of new and old. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Dutch dredging group Van Oord may have been involved in human rights abuses and corruption in Angola in connection with the development of an urban development project near the capital Luanda in 2013, Trouw reported on Monday. 

The paper says its own research on the ground and documents leaked to the international investigative journalists’ group ICIJ suggest that some 3,000 families were driven from their homes to make way for the development. 

ING and Atradis, the Dutch government’s credit insurance agency, were also involved with the project, Trouw says. ING lent the equivalent of €360m to the Angolan state and Atradis acted as guarantor. 

Van Oord and ING told Trouw in a reaction that they would now focus on compensating the locals who have been made homeless and that they were completely unaware people had been forcibly moved. 

Trouw says Van Oord worked on the project together with Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former president of Angola. According to the ICIJ, she has become the richest woman in Africa by exploiting family ties, shell companies and being involved in unscrupulous deals. 

Legal experts told the paper that Dutch companies are often lax in the research they do before getting involved with controversial partners such as Isabel dos Santos, who had been the subject of rumours about possible corruption for years.

Central African countries in talks on boosting anti-Ebola fight

Yahoo – AFP, October 22, 2019

Vaccination is playing a key role in the fight against DR Congo's Ebola epidemic.
Two tested but unlicensed vaccines are being given to frontline health workers
and other people at risk (AFP Photo/Augustin WAMENYA)

Goma (DR Congo) (AFP) - Health ministers in 10 central African countries have held talks on boosting data sharing and cross-border surveillance in the fight against Ebola, the Democratic Republic of Congo announced Tuesday.

Health Minister Eteni Longondo and counterparts from the nine countries bordering the DRC met on Monday to swap views on "developing a framework for cross-border collaboration," the health ministry said.

The strategy aims at ensuring "timely sharing of critical information for rapid response and control of the epidemic... (and) strengthening cross-border health surveillance", it said in a statement.

The DRC's latest Ebola epidemic, the 10th in the country's history, has killed 2,171 people since August 2018, according to official figures.

It is the world's deadliest outbreak of the haemorrhagic virus after a pandemic in three West African countries that ran from 2014 to 2016 and claimed more than 11,300 lives.

On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the DRC epidemic remains a global "public health emergency," a status that ensures a heightened response from among WHO members.

The meeting of health ministers was organised in the eastern city of Goma in partnership with the WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a health arm of the African Union.

Representatives from Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia attended.

Of the DRC's neighbours, Uganda is the only one to have recorded cases of Ebola on its territory, registering four cases, but thousands of people cross the DRC's borders each day.

Greenpeace urges more action on central African forest fires

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2019

Active fires in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 24 hours. (AFP Photo/
Sabrina BLANCHARD)

Kinshasa (AFP) - Greenpeace on Tuesday called on governments to take more action to combat central African forest fires that have come into the spotlight since the global outcry over blazes burning in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.

The Congo Basin forests - covering parts of DR Congo, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and Cameroon - are often referred to as the "second green lung" of the planet after the Amazon.

"Greenpeace Africa calls on the Congo Basin governments to take immediate measures to prevent fires from hitting the rainforest," the environmental group said in a statement.

"For the long-term, governments must end all industrial activity within the world’s second largest rainforest."

Since August 21, more than 6,902 fires in Angola and 3,395 fires in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo have been documented, predominantly in the savanna area, the group said without giving any comparisons from past years.

Like the Amazon, Greenpeace said, the Congo Basin rainforest still faces a risk of being hit again by uncontrolled fires.

Experts say fires in the Amazon are mainly because of climate change and drought whereas in central Africa fires are often seasonal and triggered by traditional slash-and-burn farming methods.

Just like the Amazon, the forests of the Congo Basin absorb tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in trees and marshes -- seen by experts as a key way to combat climate change.

Most of the fires shown on NASA satellite maps of central Africa are outside sensitive rainforest areas, analysts say, making drawing comparisons to the current Amazon blazes more complicated.

Daughter of Angola's ex-president sacked as state oil chief

Yahoo – AFP, Daniel Garelo Pensador, November 15, 2017

Angola's newly elected president Joao Lourenco delivers his first speech at the
Angola Nation Assembly in Luanda on October 16, 2017 (AFP Photo/AMPE ROGERIO)

Luanda (AFP) - Angolan President Joao Lourenco on Wednesday fired his predecessor's daughter from her influential post as head of the Sonangol state oil company, the presidency said in a statement.

The sacking marks a watershed moment in Lourenco's young presidency as he seeks to assert his authority and clear-out the legacy of his controversial predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled with an iron grip for 38 years.

Lourenco swept to power as the ruling party's candidate in August elections after pledging to clean up Angola's endemic graft, tackle nepotism and revive its listless economy.

"Under the powers vested in him by the constitution, the president... has decided to relieve the following directors who make up the board of Sonangol," said the statement, which named the former president's daughter Isabel.

During his campaign to win the presidency, Lourenco, the 63-year-old former defence minister, vowed to distance himself from his all-powerful predecessor who remains head of the ruling party.

"Nobody will be above the law," he told foreign media on the eve of his election victory.

Known derisively as "the princess", 44-year-old Isabel became the public face of the Dos Santos business empire during her father's presidency.

'I want to continue'

Isabel dos Santos described herself as an "entrepreneur" on her Twitter account and the US-based Forbes magazine claims that she is Africa's richest woman.

It estimates that her personal fortune could be as much as $3.3 billion (2.8 billion euros).

She is also active in the telecoms sector and notably controls Unitel, Angola's leading mobile phone operator, as well as satellite TV network Zap.

She also holds 25 percent of the capital of Portuguese media giant NOS and has invested heavily in the banking sector.

Isabel's removal from Sonangol's top job comes as a surprise, for she had often stated that she wanted to remain in the top job.

"The job of Sonangol is not dependent on the electoral process... I want to continue," she said ahead of the August elections.

The opposition accuses the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party of suppressing dissent and the Dos Santos family of bleeding the country dry through corruption and decades of mismanagement.

Black gold provides 70 percent of Angola's revenues and almost all of its hard currency, but many of the country's citizens are mired in poverty.

Even through the collapse in the oil price in recent years, crude has remained Angola's leading revenue source.

Angola, which along with Nigeria is one of Africa's top oil producers, has been in the grip of an economic crisis since 2014 as the global price of oil has remained flat.

Gambia's Jammeh concedes defeat, congratulates opponent Barrow

Yahoo – AFP, December 2, 2016

Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh (centre) leaves a polling booth in Banjul
on December 1, 2016 (AFP Photo/MARCO LONGARI)

Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh conceded defeat to opposition leader Adama Barrow on Friday night, accepting that Gambians had "decided that I should take the backseat".

Speaking to the public on Gambian television after Thursday's presidential poll, Jammeh congratulated Barrow for his "clear victory", adding: "I wish him all the best and I wish all Gambians the best."

Official results earlier showed Barrow, a businessman and political unknown until six months ago, comfortably winning Thursday's poll with 45.54 percent, capping a remarkable rise to prominence.

"I have always made it very clear that I will never rule this country without your mandate, since we started elections," Jammeh told Gambians, many of whom have only ever known him as president.

"I will never cheat or dispute the election because this is the most transparent, rig-proof elections in the whole world," he added, referring to The Gambia's unique system of voting with marbles.

Jammeh, who has ruled The Gambia since taking power in a 1994 coup and is a devout Muslim, said he "would never question Allah's decision today or at any material time," ultimately putting the decision down to fate.

He had a jovial coversation with Barrow by phone that was also broadcast, in which he joked of a possible future career as a farmer back in his hometown of Kanilai.

According to the Gambian constitution Jammeh has 60 days to leave power.

Gambians take to the streets in outpouring of joy after election defeat of President Yahya Jammeh https://t.co/HLYwmsAQgv pic.twitter.com/I4WA5bHZSU

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 2, 2016

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Angola's dos Santos says to quit after 36 years in power

Angola's dos Santos says to quit after 36 years in power

Yahoo – AFP, Daniel Garela-Pensador, March 11, 2016

Jose Eduardo dos Santos has been president of Angola since 1979 (AFP
Photo/Alain Jocard)

Luanda (AFP) - Angola's iron-fisted ruler Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Africa's second-longest serving leader, on Friday said he would quit in 2018 after his current mandate ends, but experts were sceptical about his latest pledge to step down.

"I have taken the decision to quit political life in 2018," he told the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party politburo in the capital Luanda.

It was the 73-year-old's third such announcement since he came to office in 1979. He has been in office just one month less than Africa's record-holder, Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The president's tenure ends in late 2017, but he did not elaborate why he would leave the year after. Analysts suggest he may run for re-election, leaving only once he feels secure about the future.

In power for almost four decades as president, dos Santos has consolidated political power while his family has amassed a vast business empire.

He added another five years to his reign by taking a large victory in a disputed election in 2012, but since has faced growing discontent from the nation's youth.

Critics accuse dos Santos of overseeing corruption, misrule, arbitrary arrests and intimidation.

Paula Roque, expert researcher on Angola with the University of Oxford, believes that the announcement offers "no assurance that one of Africa longest heads of state will finally step down."

"What he is saying by announcing that he will step down in 2018 is that he will run in the next poll and then decide if the country is stable enough to step down," said Roque.

Dos Santos came to power in 1979, following the unexpected death from cancer of Angola's liberation president Agostinho Neto.

As head of the military, police and cabinet, the leader has an iron grip on all aspects of power in Africa's second biggest oil producer.

He names the senior judges and has MPLA allies in all public agencies, including the supposedly independent electoral commission.

Analysts believe that Dos Santos could be grooming one of his children to succeed him, or will ensure that whoever succeeds him protects his family interests and will not go after him or his family for looting state coffers.

Iron fisted rule

Few publicly criticise him. Independent journalists who express their opinions risk criminal charges.

A group of youth activists are currently standing trial on charges of "rebellion" and attempting to carry out a "coup".

Dos Santos's lengthy term in office has been marked by tense relations between his MPLA party and war time rebels turned opposition, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

UNITA has been significantly weakened since the killing of its founder Jonas Savimbi by MPLA forces in 2002. His death paved the way for a peace deal that brought an end to one of Africa's longest and bloodiest conflicts.

In 2014, UNITA voiced concern over what it called the deteriorating state of democracy under Dos Santos's rule.

"Dos Santos was never elected, he will leave a negative legacy, having led Angola to an alarming crisis," said Makuta Nkondo, a former UNITA opposition lawmaker.

Although he shuns the spotlight, the elderly leader's family has built up a vast business empire, with his daughter Isabel dos Santos ranked Africa's richest woman.

Despite the country's oil and diamond riches, the majority of the population live in abject poverty, with an enormous gap between the rich and poor.

The fall in oil prices has hit the economy, with the kwanza currency losing 35 percent if its value against the dollar this year.

Chinese company fights for flamingos in Angola

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-27

Flamingos at a park in Nanchang, Jiangxi province,
March 27, 2003. (File photo/Xinhua)

A Chinese company is actively involved in preserving the wetlands of the southern harbor city of Lobito, Angola a key part of the migration route of flamingos from neighboring Namibia to Kenya.

Thousands upon thousands of flamingos can be seen on the wetlands during the peak time of migration though only hundreds of flamingos stopped by the wetland during the past week due to torrential rains, said Zhang Huaqiang, a project manager of China Harbor Engineering Company (China Harbor).

China Harbor, a key player in the reconstruction of harbors in the formerly war-torn African country, joined hands with local volunteers and governmental environmental protection organizations in safeguarding the wetlands, removed dustbins, and levelled the banks of the two lakes to provide a better environment for the migrating birds.

The Chinese company also organized on-spot awareness campaigns on wetlands to educate local residents and Chinese expats working in Lobito on the breeding, growth and habits of flamingos. The group also joined local volunteers to patrol the area to guard against poaching of the birds, which were a symbol of Lobito city.

Zhang said his company entered Angola in 2006 and constructed or rebuilt 16 harbors there, and the protection of flamingos and conservation of the wetlands in Lobito is part of his company's efforts to shoulder its social responsibilities and pay back to local societies.

China Harbor is not only actively involved in the post-war reconstruction process but also became a part of local society, and his company is willing to share the dividends of economic development with the local population, Zhang said.

China Harbor is now building a new oil tanker terminal in Lobito with an investment of US$120 million from the Angolan government. Before this, it reconstructed the container terminal and the terminal for bulk minerals at Lobito, 550 kilometers south of the capital city of Luanda.

Chinese-built railway in Angola opens

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-02-15

A train at Lobito station in Benguela, Angola, Feb. 11. (Photo/Xinhua)

A 1,344-kilometer railway built by China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) for Angola was completed and open to traffic on Saturday, the company told Xinhua.

The railway linking the coastal city of Lobito in the west and Luau bordering DR Congo is the second longest railway built by a Chinese company for Africa, after the Tanzania-Zambia railway.

The Tanzania-Zambia railway was built in the 1970s.

The railway, built since 2004, will be linked with the Angola-Zambian railway and the Tanzania-Zambia railway in the future, according to the company.

Public prosecutor presses foreign countries to prosecute SBM Offshore staff

DutchNews.nl,  November 13, 2014

The public prosecution department wants to see former SBM Offshore workers prosecuted for their role in the recent bribery scandal, the department’s chief Marianne Blos told the NRC newspaper.

Yesterday the department announced that the marine services company had agreed to pay $240m in an out of court settlement on bribery and corruption charges. The deal is made up of a $40m fine and a penalty of $200m for financial gain and focuses on corrupt deals made in Brazil, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

Because the workers involved are not in the Netherlands, they will have to be pursued through the local courts in the countries concerned.

Blos said the Netherlands is in talks with various countries to ensure this is ‘organised’, the paper reported. Less than a handful of former workers is involved but their number does include ‘people whom SBM Offshore has taken disciplinary measures against’.

The prosecution of staff coupled with the record fine would send out a ‘very powerful signal’, Blos said.

Related Article:

SBM Offshore to pay $240m in out of court deal on bribery charges

Japan vows to provide aid to Africa as Li Keqiang begins tour

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-05-05

Li Keqiang holds a press conference with Ethiopian prime minister
Hailemariam Desalegn, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May. 4. (Photo/Xinhua)

As China's premier, Li Keqiang, began his week-long trip to Africa on May. 4, Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister pledged on the same day that Tokyo is ready to provide US$31 billion in aid to Africa over the next five years, reports the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao.

Kishida made the comments during an official visit to Republic of Cameroon for a two-day meeting to promote development in Africa, with the foreign minister telling senior officials from 50 African countries that Japan will increase aid to the continent. The timing of the Cameroon visit is no coincidence, the paper said, as Kishida's comments come as China has pledged $20 billion in aid to Africa.

Meanwhile, Li Keqiang arrived in Ethiopia on May 4 on the first leg of his four-nation tour, he will visit Nigeria, Angola and Kenya before leaving for China on May 11. During the trip, the premier will also attend the 24th World Economic Forum on Africa taking place in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on May 8.

According to China's state broadcaster CCTV, Li will sign around 60 agreements with the nation's partners in Africa, which will cover trade, health, culture, agriculture and training.

"I wish to assure our African friends in all seriousness that China will never pursue a colonialist path like some countries did, or allow colonialism, which belongs to the past, to reappear in Africa," Li told the state-run Xinhua News Agency at a press conference prior to his trip. Li stated that he expected to expand exchanges and cooperation on poverty reduction for common development with the African nations that he is visiting.

Li is also seeking to strengthen industrial and commercial cooperation by helping promote Africa's industrial and manufacturing sector, Ta Kung Pao said.

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Li Keqiang's Africa visit set to promote new ties

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-05-04

Chinese premier Li Keqiang chairs a forum in Chongqing, April 28. (File photo/CNS)

China and Africa will sign cooperation agreements in fields of road, railway, aviation and electric power during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Africa, according to a press release on Sunday.

Li will pay official visits to Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya from May 4 to 11. This is the first time for Li to visit Africa since taking office last year.

The relations between the two sides have entered a "golden period", said Li in an interview with African media before the trip. He said China is the largest developing country and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries. Both China and Africa face the urgent task of developing economy and realizing modernization.

Since entering the new century, China and Africa have seized the historic opportunities presented by the deepening of globalization, worked together and helped each other achieve win-win outcome, he said, adding that both China and Africa have benefited a lot from cooperation.

China is at the critical stage of comprehensively deepening reform and speeding up the transformation of the economic development model. Africa, on its part, has also started its new path of seeking strength through unity and promoting development for renewal, said the premier.

China-Africa cooperation is thus faced with new opportunities of making great strides forward, he said.

"During my visit, I will work with leaders of the African states and the AU, and Chinese and African business representatives in an earnest, practical and enterprising spirit to review the past experience, identify room for improvement and discuss new areas, channels and formalities of China-Africa comprehensive cooperation so as to upgrade our cooperation," he said.

According to Li, China and Africa will expand exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction for common development. Over 100 million people in China still live below the poverty line.

Africa is also faced with many difficulties and challenges on the road toward the Millennium Development Goals, the premier said, adding that all sides are committed to developing economy and improving people's livelihood, which makes poverty reduction one of the highlights of China-Africa cooperation.

China is ready to share with Africa its experience on poverty reduction and agricultural development, enhance agricultural cooperation with Africa and help Africa train technical and managerial personnel on agriculture, he said. "We hope poverty reduction will help Africa achieve sustainable development and bring the African people a more dignified life."

Li said China and Africa will strengthen industrial and commercial cooperation and promote Africa's industrialization and manufacturing sector.

Africa has entered the fast track of growth and its modernization process is gaining momentum, he said, noting that China is ready to bring into full play its advantages and take an active part in Africa's infrastructure development so as to promote connectivity on the African continent.

"Through infrastructure building, we will promote industrial cooperation and help Africa to focus on developing labor-intensive manufacturing, which will create jobs and boost consumption," he said.

China will also create new ways of investment and financing cooperation to help Africa address the funding shortfalls, and the two countries will enhance cooperation in human resources and eco-environment so as to sustain the momentum of Africa's long-term development, Li said.

Africa has the biggest potential in human resources. China is ready to train more professionals of multiple types for African countries, and provide more vocational education tailored for African young people, so as to help Africa fully and durably unleash the population dividends.

As one saying goes, the key to people-to-people exchanges lies in heart-to-heart communication, Li said, noting that China will roll out a series of projects on people-to-people exchanges and cooperation to enrich exchanges between the two peoples and promote mutual understanding and friendship.

Green has always been the true color of Africa. China will have closer cooperation with Africa in this field and provide funding to promote Africa's efforts to protect its wild animal resources and address the challenges of climate change, so that a beautiful China and a beautiful Africa will go hand in hand as we assist each other in development, said the premier.

Cheng Hong, who is accompanying her
husband Li Keqiang during his Africa tour,
arrives in Ethiopia on May 4. (Photo/Xinhua)

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Xi Jinping shakes hands with European Council president Herman

Van Rompuy, right, during his visit to Brussels on March 31.

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader. Remember where you heard it... in a strange, esoteric meeting with a guy in a chair pretending to channel. [Kryon being factious... Kryon humor] Then when you hear it, you'll know better, won't you? "Maybe there was something really there," you'll say. "Maybe it was real," you'll say. Perhaps you can skip all the drama of the years to come and consider that now? [Kryon humor again]

These leaders are going to fall over. You'll have a slow developing leadership coming to you all over the earth where there is a new energy of caring about the public. "That's just too much to ask for in politics, Kryon." Watch for it. That's just the beginning of this last phase. So many things are coming. The next one is related to this, for a country in survival with sickness cannot sustain a leadership of high consciousness. There is just too much opportunity for power and greed. But when a continent is healed, everything changes.

The next one: You're going to heal a continent. Watch for it. It begins. Watch for major shift in Africa. We have said this before, even within the meetings I spoke in what you call the United Nations. Africa has never even been a potential player in the economic field, because it has been sick. What happens when you heal a continent? I'm going to tell you. Suddenly, the people on that continent also want what you have - government that works, peace, their own homes, schools, hospitals, and even banks where they can borrow from. They don't have any of those now, not really. Everything with substance is from somewhere else. That means you're going to have a continent that's going to arise that will become a major player on the stage of Earth's finances and political influence - an entire continent with all the resources on it, with even the potential for unification of common purpose, much like what you have now in your EU. I'm giving you information, and when it happens, again, I say you'll remember where you heard it.

Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently.. ...”