Africa

1. Jakarta’s embrace
2. Black gold
3. Focus on FOCAC
4. Air rage
5. Seeking clarity

Also, meet the young Zimbabweans celebrating Japanese pop culture.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa where we’ll be watching out for news from Beijing all week. That is of course because it is the apotheosis of China-Africa relations with the triennial FOCAC meetings in China’s capital city, starting on Wednesday.

Typically, nearly all African leaders show up, even some faces you never see outside their capital city much less outside the continent. China-Africa relations can often be portrayed as a simple pragmatic game about numbers: how much will China promise Africa this time? How many projects will it support? Is it more or less than the last time? And so on. These remain fair and essential questions but there is something to be said about the consistency and seriousness with which China treats these Africa summits.

Even ahead of the talks, President Xi Jinping had met with several of his counterparts and done photo ops. China Africa Project’s Eric Olander tells me it’s in stark contrast to the US-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022 where President Joe Biden had few one-on-one meetings. This is the seventh FOCAC summit with African leaders since 2006. The US has had two such events in the same time period. Read Alexander’s preview to get a better understanding of what’s at stake for the continent and China this week.

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Indonesia summit yields deals

The value of deals that Indonesia plans to sign with African nations during the second Indonesia-Africa Forum that closes today (Tuesday), according to Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo. He said partnerships between Indonesia and African nations had significantly increased trade volumes and agreements. Deals expected to be signed include a geothermal project involving Indonesia’s state power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara and the Tanzania Electric Supply Company, and an agreement between Indonesian pharmaceutical company Bio Farma and Ghana’s Atlantic Lifesciences.

Turning away from African oil

China is buying less African oil, leaving many nations on the continent short of much-needed earnings to offset liquidity challenges. Chad was the only African country to see its oil exports to China increase between 2019 and 2023 among the Asian giant’s top 22 suppliers. Nigeria, Libya, and Sudan saw their exports fall more than 50% each. China is favoring suppliers from the Gulf, Russia, and Asia — its highest increases in oil imports since 2019 have been from Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan, with the United States in fourth.

China’s trade loans to Africa set stage for FOCAC

President Xi Jinping has begun bilateral talks with African leaders in Beijing this week for a triennial summit with which China shows off its geopolitical and economic ambitions for the world’s fastest-growing region.

The leaders of South Africa, the DR Congo, Djibouti, and Mali are among the African leaders who have already held meetings with the Chinese president before the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) kicks off on Sept. 4, according to reports. Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu, who leads West Africa’s economic bloc, is also in Beijing with his finance and trade ministers, his office said. Long-time FOCAC watchers expect nearly every African country to have senior leadership present by the time things start on Wednesday.

Analysts of China-Africa relations are mostly looking for signals of increased trade and infrastructure financing but not a return to the highs of the mid-2010s. The expectation follows an uptick in Chinese lending to Africa last year after successive annual declines from 2019 to 2022.

The $4.6 billion in 13 new commitments to eight African countries was below the average annual run of $10 billion between 2013 and 2018, Boston University Global Development Policy Center’s data shows.

More than half of last year’s loans went to African banks, compared to barely 5% in previous years, pointing to a shift towards enabling trade between African and Chinese businesses. Half a billion dollars for renewables projects signaled a pick-up in energy sector lending after no activity for two years, the Center noted.

Adani row deepens with Kenya subsidiary

Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprises has registered a subsidiary to operate airports in Kenya amid growing opposition to its controversial proposal.

Several flights were delayed and passengers stranded on Monday at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) as aviation workers staged a protest against Adani’s plans.

Adani disclosed the registration of “Airports Infrastructure PLC (AIP)” in Kenya on Aug. 30, in a filing with the Mumbai-based National Stock Exchange of India. The company is incorporated to operate, construct, and modernize airports.

The registration points to Adani Group’s commitment to its proposal to operate JKIA, Kenya’s biggest airport, under a 30-year concession. It has promised to invest $1.84 billion to build and refurbish terminals, upgrade taxiways, and potentially construct a new runway. It would receive an 18% equity stake at the end of the concession period.

The government is under pressure over the deal amid accusations that the process lacks transparency. Officials insist no deal had been agreed. But, in July, President William Ruto expressed support for “leasing JKIA out to investors who can work with the government to expand the airport and ensure it serves Kenyans better.”

Airport workers announced they would launch an indefinite strike this week over Adani Group’s proposal. They fear job losses and changes to their employment contracts.

— Martin K.N Siele in Nairobi

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Senegal should avoid opaque oil rethink

Energy experts have urged Senegal to ensure any attempts to renegotiate oil and gas contracts are transparent.

It follows the government’s decision to review agreements and “rebalance them in the national interest.”

Senegal is forecast to have one of Africa’s fastest growing economies this year, with an annual rate of 8.8%, according to the World Bank. That forecast was predicated on its oil and gas production coming fully on stream.

The non-profit Natural Resource Governance Institute, in a new report, said renegotiations “could maximize long-term benefits” for Senegal if the process was transparent and well-managed.

“An opaque process could damage relations with partners, discourage future investments, and undermine citizens’ trust in the governance of their natural resources,” the report warned. It also said the timing was “tricky” because “several extractive projects in Senegal are entering production.”

Saul Kavonic, an analyst at equities research firm MST Marquee, told Semafor Africa that making retrospective changes to existing projects “will do irreparable damage to Senegal’s reputation” that could “deter investment in other sectors well beyond oil and gas.”

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye took office in April. His administration has already undone many decisions made by the former administration.

— Joël Té-Léssia Assoko

W. Gyude Moore, a senior fellow at Center for Global Development, is in Beijing for this year’s FOCAC. He is the Visiting Boeing Chair for International Affairs at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Governance

🇬🇦 Gabon’s ruling junta approved the logging of the rare kevazingo tree, a hardwood species that can take 500 years to grow to its full height, to promote local processing.

🇳🇦 Namibia plans to cull more than 700 wild animals, including elephants, hippos, zebras, and buffaloes and distribute the meat to help locals struggling with the worst drought to hit the country in 100 years.

Geopolitics

🇸🇳 Spain and Senegal signed agreements to promote temporary work opportunities and vocational training to tackle irregular migration to Spain’s Canary Islands.

Justice

🇺🇸 A US court fined Nigerian businessman Odogwu ‘Dozy’ Mmobuosi and three of his companies $250 million after failing to answer fraud allegations that stated that a business empire that included fintech Tingo was a “fiction.”

International Finance

🌍 African nations including Ethiopia, Burundi, Malawi and Mozambique are set to benefit from United Nations’ $100 million emergency fund to aid in operations in conflict and climate-affected regions.

🇩🇿 The New Development Bank, set up in 2015 by BRICS nations, approved the formal entry of Algeria following the bank’s annual meeting in Cape Town.

Mining

🇨🇩 DR Congo is seeking new buyers of gold after taking over full ownership of Primera Gold, previously a joint venture with the UAE-based Primera Group, its director-general said.

Tech

🇿🇲 Chinese electric car maker BYD will open a showroom in Zambia on Sept. 5 as part of a launch in the country.

🇪🇹 Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed unveiled the National Public Key Infrastructure, an initiative to coordinate the encryption of digital keys to the country’s public infrastructure.

Young Zimbabweans are tapping into Japanese pop culture. The growing community of anime and manga lovers were out in full force at the second edition of the Otakukon anime festival, held in the capital Harare. The event, a celebration of Japanese culture, united lovers of anime, comics, and video games — hobbyists popularly referred to as the Otaku. Award-winning Zimbabwean comic book artists and writers, including Bill Masuku who participated in the creation of Disney animation “Iwaju,” were the star attendees at the event. Festival organizers said the gathering is fostering a creative space to develop authentic storytelling.

• Democrats are feeling good about the election — but not Florida good.
• Germany’s far right surges in regional elections.
• White US egg donors paid up to eight times more than Black donors.

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— Yinka, Alexis, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, and Muchira Gachenge