business models by bringing togetherall stakeholders in the economy.

Its focus is on strengthening the con-nection between economic growth andjob growth, the importance of cities asthe key engines of dynamism and inno-vation, the challenges corporate leadersface in a time of volatility and uncer-tainty, and the distinct opportunitiescreated by growth in emerging econo-mies.

The press statement indicated that onJune 11th, The Dialogue for ActionAfrica, hosted by the Cecilia AttiasFoundation for Women, was to engage400 global experts to develop sociallyand economically sustainable solutionsfor the women of Africa. Seven FirstLadies from African nations were toattend the event. (PANA, Libreville 8 ⁄ 6)

IN BRIEFAfrican Mayors: A two-day meeting in La-gos, Nigeria on May 30th–31st with thetheme of ‘‘Managing Africa’s Urban Trans-formation’’ was attended by 150+ peopleincluding mayors, economists, financial andbusiness partners. They discussed how toimprove African cities many of which areunplanned and congested.

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola,explained how the future of the city wasbeing planned. ‘‘Lagos can accommodateabout 40 m people. We are planningtowards that by building upwards ratherthan sideways. We are improving on theinfrastructure through Public Private Part-nership (PPP) initiatives.’’ (PANA, Lagos30 ⁄ 5)COMESA ⁄EAC ⁄SADC: Representatives ofthe 26 member states of the three regionalorganizations met in Mauritius on June 1st–6th for the third time in their ongoing questto harmonize trade regimes through theestablishment of an expanded free tradearea, a larger market and a single economicspace. Negotiations on the Tripartite FreeTrade Area were launched at the secondjoint summit of the three in June 2011 inSouth Africa. (PANA 28 ⁄ 5)

COOPERATION ANDTRADE

NIGERIA – BRAZILChamber of CommerceLaunched

The two countries pledge further toincrease trade.

To further strengthen bilateral tradebetween Nigeria and Brazil, authoritieshave launched a new chamber of com-merce even as trade between the twocountries in the last five years had risento $8.9bn, the Nigerian Guardian news-paper reported on May 24th.

The privately-owned paper said thatthe bilateral trade has all along been infavour of Nigeria, due to crude oilexports.

‘‘Nigeria is the biggest exporter to Bra-zil. We are Brazil’s most important trad-ing partner and the most importantdestination of investment in Africa,’’said Sorronnadi Ezebuiro, the Secre-tary-General of the new chamber, theNigerian-Brazil Chamber of Commerce.

‘‘Nigeria is the second largest tradepartner of Brazil in Sub-Saharan Africaand 11th in the world. Brazil is thethird largest importer of Nigerian crudeoil after US and India. Nigeria’s bal-ance of trade with Brazil is very favour-able’’, Ezebuiro added.

He said Nigeria has a great deal tolearn and tap from the Brazilian experi-ence. The Latin American country’seconomy is currently the sixth largestin the world. It is also among the fiveBRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa.

Brazil’s exports to Nigeria includeautomobiles, chemicals, electronics,while Nigeria exports crude oil, palmoil, hides and skins and some preciousstones. (PANA, Lagos 24 ⁄ 5)

SOUTH SUDAN –SUDANOngoing Oil Conflict

From crisis to catastrophe, SouthSudan is on the brink of disaster,the UN says.

On May 2nd, the UN security councilendorsed a plan demanding that Khar-toum and Juba cease hostilities, with-draw troops from disputed areas andresume talks within two weeks on alloutstanding disputes.

It gave the two countries who are atodds over oil exports, border demarca-tion, citizenship rights and financialarrangements, three months to resolvethe issues, under threat of sanctions.But there is little sign of a peaceful res-olution. On June 6th, the South Suda-nese military said it will soon acquireanti-aircraft missiles to defend its terri-tory against air attacks that it says arefrequently carried out by warplanesfrom Sudan. Meanwhile, South Sudanis facing a humanitarian crisis withmore than half its population threa-tened by food shortages because of itsongoing conflict with Sudan, the UNhas warned.

Fighting on the neighbours’ disputedborder, the halting of oil productionand inter-communal violence have‘‘raised fears that the South Sudanese

are sliding into destitution’’, the UNOffice for the Coordination of Humani-tarian Affairs (OCHA) said. (http://www.unocha.org/south-sudan). Its reportcomes amid fears that South Sudan ison the brink of economic disaster lessthan a year after it gained indepen-dence from Sudan.

The UN says food shortfalls have wors-ened in the first four months of 2012.Based on research from the WorldFood Programme (WFP), it estimatesthat at least 1m people will suffer foodinsecurity in 2012 and a further 3.7mare vulnerable.

It adds that the country is set to suffera shortfall of nearly half a million ton-nes of cereal crops, more than doublethe 2011 deficit.

Lack of infrastructure will hamper aidefforts and humanitarian agencies pre-dict that seasonal rains will exacerbatethe already dire conditions in refugeecamps, restrict travel and access, andheighten the risk of disease. The rains,which have already started in someareas, will make many roads impass-able, trapping people in unstable areasand deepening the crisis.

South Sudan’s four-month-old, self-imposed economic austerity programmehas sent food and fuel prices rocketing,Africa Confidential points out (25 ⁄ 5).Commodity shortages are worsening.The South Sudan pound is in free fallas the Bank of South Sudan has drasti-cally cut its supply of dollars. BeyondJuba, darker clouds are gathering. Asthe six-month rainy season begins, mosttransport in South Sudan will shutdown and Khartoum is operating a‘shoot-to-kill’ policy against peopletransporting goods into the South.

Jon Cunliffe, South Sudan countrydirector for Save the Children, said:‘‘A toxic combination of conflict, ris-ing food and fuel prices, and severecash shortages is having a devastatingeffect on the civilian population inboth countries. With the rains on theway, the situation could not be morecritical. We urgently need the fightingto stop so that we can get access andchildren can be protected from vio-lence, deprivation, displacement andrecruitment.’’

Sudan is also affected. In South Kordo-fan and Blue Nile states, reports sug-gest continued instability means somefamilies have not yet planted theirseeds, which could lead to severe foodshortages later in the year, the agenciessaid. Insecurity also means children arenot going to school.

The continued arrival of southern refu-gees who had been living in the northis adding to the burden on South

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Sudan. Conflict and hunger in SouthKordofan and Blue Nile are drivingrecord numbers of people across theborder, with an estimated 151,000 refu-gees from these states in Ethiopia andSouth Sudan.

Recent arrivals have taken the totalnumber in the Yida camp in SouthSudan’s Unity State to nearly 30,000,increasing the pressure on agencies thatare already struggling to cope withwater stress, sanitation, violence, repro-ductive health and child protection.

In Jamam camp in South Sudan’sUpper Nile, agencies say they are strug-gling to provide 37,000 refugees witheven as little as five litres of water perperson per day, less than the minimum7.5 litres required by emergency stan-dards.

Johnson Byamukama, Oxfam’s deputycountry director for South Sudan, said:‘‘After more than 10 months of fight-ing, with no sign of peace, we’re on thepath from crisis to catastrophe’’www.oxfam.ca/news reported him assaying (15 ⁄ 5).

On June 1st the state-ownded Sudanesenews agency, SUNA, quoted Sudan’sdelegation member in the Addis Ababatalks, Dr Mutrif Siddiq, as saying thatSudan and South Sudan had agreed ona roadmap for negotiations presentedby the African Union High-LevelImplementation Panel (AUHIP) led byThabo Mbeki.

Mutrif pointed out that the AUHIPwill now discuss the UN SecurityCouncil resolution clause on cessationof hostilities and harbouring rebelmovements in order to find mechanismsfor maintaining border security.(Sources as referenced in text)

IN BRIEFAngola – Argentina: A credit line of about$100m aimed at boosting cooperationbetween Angolan and Argentinian entrepre-neurs was to be announced by the Argentinapresident Cristina Kirchner, during her visitto Angola on May 17th–19th. Trade standsat $270m, mainly favouring Argentina,PANA said. During Kirchner’s visit, shepushed for a deal to exchange her country’sfood for Angolan oil, though no agreements

for this were signed. (PANA & AFP Luanda18 ⁄ 5)The South Korean government will grantscholarships to Angolan students wishing tostudy engineering and science courses in-South Korea, the Angolan Foreign minister,Georges Chikoti, announced in Seoul inmid-May after discussions with his Koreancounterpart, Kim Sung-hwan.

In furtherance of the desire to increase tradebetween Seoul and Luanda, some Angolancompanies would attend an internationalIndustrial fair scheduled for October inSouth Korea, Chikoti said. (PANA,Yeosu14 ⁄ 5)Brand Africa: Brand Africa, in associationwith Brand Finance plc, announced the ‘‘Top10 most valuable African Nation Brands’’on Africa Day, May 25th, in Nairobi,Kenya. They are: South Africa – renamedMost Valuable African Brand Nation with218 points, followed by Egypt and Nigeriain second and third spots with 109 and 88points respectively and then Morocco (4),Algeria (5), Angola (6), Tunisia (7), Kenya(8), Ghana (9) and Ethiopia (10).

The awards were followed by a Brand AfricaRoundtable on the results and the ‘‘Implica-tions of the nation’s brand value as a Cata-lyst for Competitiveness’’. (PANA, Nairobi26 ⁄ 5)Cote d’Ivoire – UK: Following the symbolicre-opening of the UK embassy in Abidjanafter seven years, the UK wants to doubletrade of €300m within three years. UnderSecretary of State responsible for Africa,Henry Bellingham, leading a large delegationof British businessmen, said the UK wantedto buy more cocoa, cashews and other agri-cultural products. (African Diplomacy 9 ⁄ 5)DR Congo – Namibia The Namibian busi-ness fraternity is encouraged to capitalise onbusiness prospects, including farming oppor-tunities that exist in the resource-richDRCongo during a business forum with adelegation from the Bas Congo region onMay 30th in Walvis Bay.

The business seminar was organised by theNamibian Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (NCCI) and was intended to boosttrade between the two SADC countries. TheDR Congo delegation was particularly inter-ested in the fishing sector and the Port ofWalvis Bay. They were also keen to discusstransport, agriculture, construction, logistics,finance, hospitality, imports and generaltrade between the two countries. (New Era30 ⁄ 5)ESA – EU: Seychelles is to continue benefit-ting from 0% trade tariffs for its exports tothe European Union (EU) under an interim

Economic Partnership Agreement whichcame into force on May 14th.

The agreement, negotiated between the EUand Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA),was signed in 2009 by Seychelles, Mauritius,Madagascar and Zimbabwe and is the firstof its kind to be implemented in Africa.

Seychelles’ exports to the EU totalled justover €3bn in 2011. The bulk was cannedtuna, which alone was worth €2.9bn, fol-lowed by fresh and frozen fish at €16.5m.Other lesser exports were medical appliances(manufactured by Shell Medical), live tor-toises, coco de mer, rum and cinnamonbark.

European exports to the countries concernedcomprised mainly of machinery, vehicles,pharmaceutical products and chemicals.(Seychelles Nation 14 ⁄ 5)ILO: The International Labour Organiza-tion (ILO) says in a report that about 21 mpeople worldwide are trapped in jobs intowhich they were coerced or deceived andwhich they cannot leave. The report, ‘‘2012Global Estimate of Forced Labour,’’ foundthat Africa has 3.7 m forced labour victims.(PANA, New York 2 ⁄ 6)Libya – Turkey: The two countries havesigned a memorandum of understanding(MoU) for cooperation in industry and tech-nology during a visit by Turkish Science,Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Er-gun on the sidelines of the second edition ofTurkish-Arab Industry Cooperation Confer-ence in Benghazi.

Ergun said the agreement would allow forthe preparation of a strategy document andan action plan, creating financial supportdevices for small and medium scale enter-prises as well as setting up industrial zonesand technology parks. Ergun announcedthat the volume of trade had risen to$2.3bn. (Libya al-Ahrar; Anatolia newsagency, Ankara 4 ⁄ 6)Libya, meanwhile, has expelled 120 Chadiannationals who illegally crossed into thesouthern oasis of Kufra, Al-Jazeerareported. In the past two months, Libya hadexpelled 800 illegal immigrants from Kufraaccording to a local office fighting clandes-tine migration.

Shrugging off the suggestion that somemigrants may have fled their countries forpolitical reasons, Joma’a Gmati, a Libyanpolitician said: ‘‘They are not political refu-gees; they came to Libya for economic rea-sons.’’ He said their presence would ‘‘causedemographic and social problems and willbe a threat to social peace.’’ (Al-Jazeera TV,Doha 29 ⁄ 5)

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