The African Studies Association of India is proud to announce a seminar; South Africa under Globalization: Issues in Foreign Policy and Development, to be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, on 11 to 12 November 2009.he proposed seminar seeks to address the issues related to foreign policy and development in South Africa under globalisation.

Tensions over the future of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and trade relations with the EU are rising, as reflected in the plethora of recent media reports. Unfortunately they are so complex that they defy simple categorisation. The most difficult problem concerns the future of revenue distribution within SACU. South Africa substantially subsidises the smaller members - particularly Lesotho and Swaziland - and the South African Treasury is uncomfortable with the subsidy’s extent, given competing domestic fiscal demands.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/445/58272_Kakuma_camp.tmb.jpgAs part of a global campaign to end the ‘warehousing’ of refugees, Merrill Smith, director of government relations and international advocacy for the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, speaks to KANERE (Kakuma News Reflector) about the UNHCR’s position on the practice, the campaign’s most significant successes so far, and the role of a free refugee press in ending warehousing.

Since the global financial crisis hit the mining industry, a dramatic decline in the demand for commodities and the closure of certain operations have seen an increase in the illegal mining trade in Africa. Angola’s law enforcement authorities have reported that more than 6 000 foreign nationals, who were caught illegally digging for diamonds in the country’s north-eastern region of Lunda Norte, have been deported since the beginning of 2009.

Human development is about putting people at the centre of development. It is about people realizing their potential, increasing their choices and enjoying the freedom to lead lives they value. Since 1990, annual Human Development Reports have explored challenges including poverty, gender, democracy, human rights, cultural liberty, globalization, water scarcity and climate change.

Gabon is a sparsely populated country covered mostly in rainforest – just 1½ million people live here. That, and the fact that oil wealth has made per capita income higher in Gabon than most other African countries, are some of the reasons why its natural wonders are so well preserved. But the oil is running out and the government has started selling other mineral resources to foreign investors, which means destroying large tracts of forest.

Moremi Initiative proudly announces the 2009-2010 MILEAD Fellows. The MILEAD Fellows were selected through a highly competitive selection process and criteria, including their outstanding leadership potential and demonstration of commitment to the advancement of women in Africa. The 26 selected fellows represent some of Africa’s most extra-ordinary young women leaders with the courage and commitment to lead/effect change in their communities.

A 2006 study by several Chinese research institutions showed that almost 90 percent of the country's top leaders in sectors encompassing finance, foreign trade, property development, construction, and stock trading were princelings, and China's ambitious $124 billion effort to provide basic health coverage for the vast majority of its 1.3 billion citizens by 2011 is a brimming opportunity for large global drugmakers.

The main focus of this publication by Peter Kagwanja is the link between South Africa’s grand pan-African ambitions, especially in the area of peace, security and governance, and its own capacity to pursue these objectives. Specifically, the paper examines Pretoria’s involvement in Africa, and internal capacity to support its mediation, peacekeeping and strengthening the abilities of African institutions for peacemaking.

In the context of widespread interest in the impact of Chinese investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this paper focuses on SSA’s engagement with large state-owned Chinese firms investing in SSA’s resource and infrastructure sectors. Evidence is provided on the extent of different types of Chinese investment, before focusing on the distinctive character of large-scale state-owned Chinese investors whose investments are closely bundled with aid and trade. The paper concludes that SSA countries should maximise the opportunities opened to them by their resource-base by adopting a similarly integrated and focused response to Chinese (and other large) investors who seek to draw on the continent’s natural resources.

Proceedings of the Fifth Southern African Forum on Trade (SAFT) held in Pretoria, South Africa, on 6–7 August 2008. Hosted by the Institute of Global Dialogue and the Friedrich Erbert Stiftung (FES) Namibia. The publication has a collection of articles from the workshop that explores, inter alia, issues relating regional integration process in the SADC region, questions of the North-South Corridor and the role of China and India in southern Africa.

China Development Bank plans Brazil, Russia, Egypt Offices, increasing its economic and political footprint in Latin America and elsewhere, and Beijing courts the Middle East with Arabic TV channel.

This increasing interest in Africa demonstrated by rising Chinese FDI to the continent, presents opportunities and challenges to the development prospects of sub-Saharan African countries. There is therefore a need to carefully identify and analyse these developments if sub-Saharan African countries are to maximize the positive effects of the opportunities and ameliorate the adverse effects of the challenges. This paper by Olu Ajakaiye, Raphael Kaplinsky, Mike Morris and Felix F. N’Zue, focuses on China–Africa investment relations drawing insights from the AERC scoping studies.

A global trade deal at the WTO would lead to significant cuts in China’s already-low agricultural tariffs, new research shows, and Beijing and Washington continue to butt heads over a five-year-old US ban on imports of chicken from China.

In April 2008, a Chinese ship carrying arms destined for Zimbabwe’s Defence Force attempted to offload those weapons in Durban’s harbour, so that they might be transported across South African territory to land-locked Zimbabwe. South African civil society, alerted to the existence of the arms and anxious that they might be used to suppress democratic forces in the aftermath of Zimbabwe’s controversial elections, undertook a number of actions to stop delivery.

In trade, investment and development assistance news this week, China signs a construction contract with the Tanzanian government to build a cardiac surgery treatment and training center in Dar es Salaam, and funds a car plant in Angola.

This week, the International Finance Corporation expects closer future cooperation with China to provide funding in Africa's growing oil and gas sector, China provides assistance to Ethiopia for Expo 2010, and FOCAC Media Seminar 2009 opens in Beijing.

61 families living in the settlement of Tumbleweed, Howick, have been threatened with imminent, unlawful eviction by the municipality and the local Inkosi. Three armed police officers and a representative of the municipality told the community that they had 24 hours to vacate the area, or an eviction team would return tomorrow and on Friday with bulldozers to demolish their homes. All will be left homeless.

The Moroccan government reshuffled its cabinet on Wednesday (July 29th) to restore its parliamentary majority. King Mohammed VI appointed one minister of state and three junior ministers.

Cairo's airport has been unusually busy the past month as Egypt's security apparatus steps up its campaign against online political activists. Several prominent Egyptian bloggers have "disappeared" from the airport's arrivals hall, while others report suspiciously long delays that they claim were cover for state security officers to search their laptops and luggage.