AngloGold Ashanti is considering laying off 8,500 workers, some 30 percent of its workforce, Africa&#8217;s biggest gold miner said on Wednesday, as it looks to restructure its South African mines.
&#8220;It is critical that we act to protect the long-term sustainability of this business and the majority of our workforce,&#8221; Chief Executive Officer Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, said in a statement.
It said its South African gold mining operations had experienced &#8220;heavy, and ultimately unsustainable, losses&#8221;.
The company, which employs 28,000 people, said the potential lay-offs were part of its efforts to improve production and the cost base of its South African business.
In May, AngloGold reported a 16 percent drop in first-quarter profit following a decline in South African production and said it was reviewing its operations to restore margins and ensure their recovery.
AngloGold shares fell 4.29 percent to 132.23 rand.
The biggest union in the gold sector by membership, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it would &#8220;fight tooth and nail to make sure that its members are not retrenched cheaply.&#8221;
&#8220;The NUM is extremely angry and shocked that Anglogold Asanti is likely to retrench such a huge number of workers at the time when there is a high rate of unemployment in the country,&#8221; spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said in a statement.
Trade union Solidarity said it would work with the company to try to retain as many jobs as possible.
However, the union expressed concern about the potential for further job cuts across the sector due to new rules announced by the government to raise the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies to 30 percent from 26 percent.
(With additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla; editing by Louise Heavens and David Evans)

AngloGold considers 8,500 job cuts in South Africa revamp

The surge in the number of African students in China is remarkable. In less than 15 years the African student body has grown 26-fold – from just under <a href="http://old.moe.gov.cn//publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77826.html">2,000</a> in 2003 to almost <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201604/t20160414_238263.html">50,000</a> in 2015.
According to the <a href="http://data.uis.unesco.org/">UNESCO Institute for Statistics</a>, the US and UK host around 40,000 African students a year. China surpassed this number in 2014, making it the second most popular destination for African students studying abroad, after France which hosts just over 95,000 students.
For years, these numbers have remained untranslated in the online archives of the Chinese Ministry of Education. But a <a href="https://breezegeography.wordpress.com/2017/06/23/stats-on-international-students-studying-in-china/">recent initiative</a> by Michigan State University researchers to translate them introduces the reports to a wider audience.
Not only have these reports revealed the growth in China-Africa ties. They also make it possible to compare China’s international education trends in a global context.
<h2>China’s targeted focus</h2>
Chinese universities are filled with international students from around the world, including Asia, the Americas, Europe and Oceania. The proportion of Asian international students still dwarfs the number of Africans, who make up 13% of the student body. But this number, which is up from 2% in 2003, is growing every year, and much faster than other regions. Proportionally more African students are coming to China each year than students from anywhere else in the world.
This dramatic increase in students from Africa can be explained in part by the Chinese government’s targeted focus on African human resource and education development. Starting in 2000, China’s <a href="http://www.focac.org/eng/">Forum on China-Africa Cooperation</a> summits have promised financial and political support for African education at home and abroad in China.
Since 2006, China has set scholarship targets to aid African students coming to China for study. For example, at the most recent 2015 summit, China pledged to provide <a href="http://www.focac.org/eng/ltda/dwjbzjjhys_1/hywj/t1327961.htm">30,000 scholarships</a> to African students by 2018.
Although China stopped publishing regional scholarship data in 2008, our data analysis using the 2003-2008 data to generate scholarship estimates suggests that this target is on the way to being met. China seems to be upholding the pledges made towards African education.
<h2>Mutual Benefit &#8211; in education and business</h2>
For the Chinese government, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/china-africa-students-scholarship-programme">providing education</a> to Africans is an extension of <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt2tt1tp">China’s soft power</a> – cultivating the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/apr/29/africa-future-leaders-china-aid-programme">next generation</a> of African scholars and elites. The experience that these students get in China can translate into a willingness to work with China and view China’s internal or external policies favourably in the future.
But what do African students gain in return? <a href="http://china-africa.ssrc.org/">China-Africa scholars</a> have <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14767724.2012.750492">found</a> that students head to China for many reasons. Some simply go to pursue an education that is affordable, even without a scholarship, while others go for the chance to develop business connections or learn the language of a country presumed to be a rising power.
Based on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266296514_African_Students_in_China">several</a> <a href="http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/70764">surveys</a>, most students tend to be enrolled in Chinese-language courses or engineering degrees. The preference for engineering may be due to the fact that many engineering programs offered by Chinese universities for international students are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266296514_African_Students_in_China">taught in English</a>.
The quality of education has received mixed reviews. Some studies have shown that African students are <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/614089/summary">generally</a> <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/ifepsyc/12/2/EJC38604">satisfied</a> with their Chinese education, as long as they can overcome the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smi.978/full">language barriers</a>. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14767724.2012.750492">Others</a> found that even if students were not impressed with their education, they appreciated the <a href="http://www.sais-cari.org/data-china-africa-trade/">trade</a> and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Chinas-Engagement-with-Africa-David-Dollar-July-2016.pdf">business</a> opportunities that a Chinese education made available to them back home.
<h2>The next generation</h2>
It’s difficult to know exactly which African countries are sending the most students to China. These details are not kept by the Chinese Ministry of Education. But the statistics from <a href="http://is.tsinghua.edu.cn/publish/is/9281/2014/20141223111837219723176/20141223111837219723176_.html">Tsinghua University</a> provide an insight. In the 2015-2016 academic year, the majority of the university’s 111 African students came from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Morocco, Eritrea, and Cameroon – slightly favouring East Africa.
African students in France <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130705203103913">overwhelmingly come from</a> francophone West Africa. If Tsinghua’s profile holds true for the larger African student body in China, it means China is an increasingly important player in the education of countries outside of West Africa.
Due to Chinese visa rules, most international students cannot stay in China after their education is complete. This prevents <a href="https://theconversation.com/stemming-reverse-brain-drain-what-would-make-foreign-students-stay-in-the-us-39148">brain-drain</a> and means that China is educating a generation of African students who – unlike their counterparts in France, the US or UK – are <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt2tt1tp">more likely</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266296514_African_Students_in_China">to return home</a> and bring their new education and skills with them.
It’s still too early to tell how these new dynamics might be shaping geopolitics on the continent.
Note: The original, untranslated Chinese Ministry of Education reports are available as follows: <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77826.html">2003</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A20/moe_850/200502/t20050206_77817.html">2004</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77808.html">2005</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77799.html">2006</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s3124/201002/82570.html">2007</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s3124/201002/82571.html">2008</a>, <a href="http://www.gov.cn/gzdt/2010-03/22/content_1562026.htm">2009</a>, 2010, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s5987/201202/131117.html">2011</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201303/t20130307_148379.html">2012</a>, 2013, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s5987/201503/184959.html">2014</a>, and <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201604/t20160414_238263.html">2015</a>. The Ministry archives were missing reports for 2010 and 2013. Student numbers for these years were calculated using the percent-growth reported in 2011 and 2014 reports, respectively.

China tops US and UK as destination for anglophone African students

By Daniel Wesangula
Kenya is the first African country to start using a generic version of the latest AIDS drug that can improve and prolong the lives of tens of thousands of people who suffer severe side effects and resistance to other treatments.
A generic of Dolutegravir (DTG), first approved in the United States in 2013, is being given to 20,000 patients in Kenya before being rolled out in Nigeria and Uganda later this year, with the backing of the health agency UNITAID.
DTG is the drug of choice for people with HIV in high-income countries who have never taken antiretroviral therapy before and for those who have developed resistance to other treatment.
&#8220;I had constant nightmares and no appetite,&#8221; said Nairobi resident Doughtiest Ogutu, who started taking the drug this year because of her resistance to other treatments.
&#8220;My appetite has come back&#8230; My body is working well with it.&#8221;
Ogutu, who has been living with HIV for 15 years, said her viral load &#8211; the amount of HIV in her blood &#8211; has fallen tenfold from 450,000 to 40,000 since she started on DTG.
Sub-Saharan Africa has been at the epicenter of the HIV epidemic for decades and home to nearly three quarters of all people with HIV/AIDS.
UNAIDS aims for 90 percent of people diagnosed with HIV to receive antiretroviral treatment by 2020.
The brand name version of DTG is Tivicay, produced by ViiV Healthcare, which is majority-owned by GlaxoSmithKline.
About 15 percent of HIV patients are resistant, which means the medicines do not work on them, said Sylvia Ojoo, Kenya country director for the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who is monitoring the introduction of DTG.
UNITAID works to bring medicines to market quickly and to reduce manufacturing costs by allowing generic companies to access patents for a small royalty and produce them cheaply for the developing world.
Kenya, with one of the world&#8217;s largest HIV positive populations, has made great strides in addressing HIV in its public medical facilities.
&#8220;The health systems we have in place allow for rapid deployment,&#8221; said Ojoo. &#8220;It makes it relatively easy to introduce new interventions.&#8221;
About 1.5 million Kenyans are HIV positive, with more than two-thirds on treatment, said Martin Sirengo, head of Kenya&#8217;s National AIDS and STI Control Program.
The number of new infections in Kenya has almost halved over the last decade to 80,000 a year, he said, thanks to increased testing, treatment and awareness.
(Reporting by Daniel Wesangula, Editing by Katy Migiro and Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change.

Kenyans are first in Africa to get generic of latest AIDS drug

South Africa&#8217;s competition watchdog denied on Wednesday withdrawing charges against some of the 14 banks accused of rigging the rand currency, its spokesman said.
Bloomberg reported late on Tuesday that the Competition Commission would revoke its complaint against some of the lenders.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not true, we are fairly content with how our litigation is going and we&#8217;re not going to withdraw charges against any bank,&#8221; the Commission&#8217;s spokesman Sipho Ngwenya said.
The Commission is seeking to impose fines on more than a dozen local and foreign banks that it alleges colluded to coordinate trading in the rand and the U.S. dollar.
The case was referred to the Competition Tribunal, which holds hearings on anti-trust matters before making a ruling.
The watchdog began its investigation in April 2015, joining global probe into the manipulation of foreign exchange rates that has led to big banks paying more that $10 billion in settlements.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng, editing by Louise Heavens)

South Africa denies withdrawing FX rigging charges against some banks

Botswana&#8217;s Debswana Diamond Mining, a joint venture between De Beers and the southern Africa country&#8217;s government, plans to extend the lifespan of its Jwaneng mine beyond 2024, a mines minister said.
The project, known as Cut 9, follows a $3 billion expansion of Botswana&#8217;s richest diamond mine in 2010 to uncover 100 million carats of diamond and extend the life of the mine to 2024.
&#8220;Cut 9 will be a huge investment by De Beers as it will require a significant capital outlay,&#8221; mines minister Sadique Kebonang said late on Tuesday. &#8220;We should be able to start Cut 9 in the next two to three years.&#8221;
Debswana owns three other diamond mines in the country, one of which was placed under care and maintenance at the beginning of 2016.
Kebonang also said his government and De Beers have also started talks about the extension of their ten-year marketing and sales agreement, which is due to lapse in 2020.
Under the agreement signed in 2010, De Beers shifted more than $6 billion of annual rough diamond sales from London to a Gaborone-based joint venture called DTC to sort, value and sell diamonds to the global market.
(Writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng, editing by Louise Heavens)

Botswana’s Debswana to extend Jwaneng diamond mine life beyond 2024

It happened as many suspected it would. South Africa’s Constitutional Court <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-22-constitutional-court-delivering-ruling-on-motion-of-no-confidence-secret-ballot">ordered</a> that, despite the Constitution’s silence on the matter, the speaker of parliament has the constitutional power to prescribe that a vote on a motion of no confidence in the country’s president may take place by way of a secret ballot.
It also found that <a href="http://www.news24.com/Tags/People/baleka_mbete">Baleka Mbete</a>, the speaker of South Africa’s parliament, was mistaken when she decided earlier this year that she did not have this power. The court set aside her decision.
But the court didn’t go as far as the <a href="http://udm.org.za/">United Democratic Movement</a>, and other opposition parties that had challenged Mbete’s decision, had hoped. It would not force Mbete to order a secret ballot in the upcoming motion of no confidence in <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/jacob-gedleyihlekisa-zuma">President Jacob Zuma</a>. It felt that this would go against the separation of powers, by unduly prescribing to parliament how it should carry out its functions.
Accordingly, the court ordered Mbete to retake the decision on whether to allow the secret ballot. It emphasised that in doing so, she must act rationally. It ordered that she has to take account of all surrounding circumstances, including the possibility that MPs may feel intimidated by their political parties to vote in a particular way.
The court emphasised that parliament has a constitutional obligation to hold the executive to account. Members must therefore act in accordance with their constitutional obligations, their consciences and their oaths of office.
From a constitutional law perspective, the court’s stance is undoubtedly correct. As always, it has shown great respect for parliament’s power to guide its own processes. At the same time, the court has clarified the extent of the speaker’s discretion in a way that aims to ensure that she, and parliament as a whole, exercise their powers in a way that is consistent with their constitutional obligations.
What the opposition asked for was always going to be a long shot. Wanting a court to order the speaker to exercise a discretion that is legitimately hers alone, before she has even applied her mind to the question, would involve a real stretch of the separation of powers.
So, what will Mbete decide? And will her decision, if it was to go against a secret ballot, be challenged? More pertinently, ought it?
<h2>Competing notions of accountability</h2>
Many believe that a decision not to hold the vote secretly would simply be a thinly veiled attempt to shield Zuma from accountability. Such a decision would therefore, if not irrational and unconstitutional, at least be unconscionable. But, as the Constitutional Court acknowledged, there are different, and perhaps competing, notions of accountability at stake here.
On the one hand, the dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) in parliament and its own internal structures of political accountability have seemingly compromised the constitutionally designed accountability of the executive to parliament. An open ballot could only exacerbate this.
On the other hand, a secret ballot would sacrifice MPs’ accountability not only to their party peers, but also to the country’s citizens.
How can we be assured that an ANC politician who votes differently under a secret ballot than she would under an open one is doing so based on her conscience rather than on some other, less honourable whim? What is to stop a cynical group of <a href="https://www.da.org.za/">Democratic Alliance</a> (DA) opposition politicians from voting in favour of retaining Zuma because they believe that his continued scandal-prone presidency would better serve their chances in the 2019 election? Would it not make it more difficult for such politicians to subvert the public interest in these ways if the citizenry, and their fellow MPs, could see them?
Perhaps South Africa’s <a href="http://www.polity.org.za/article/the-reshuffle-junk-status-and-south-africa-in-crisis-2017-04-05">current political crisis</a> is so dire that these seemingly far-fetched hypotheticals don’t matter. Perhaps they represent bridges the country should cross sometime in the future.
But making rules (and rulings), especially for the naughty kid in class, is seldom wise.
South Africa is moving into an era in national politics where the ANC is <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-survey-data-shows-zuma-cost-the-anc-dearly-in-the-2016-election-75811?sr=2">not nearly as dominant</a>. This means that coalitions will be the order of the day. In this new era, one or two votes in a parliamentary motion may make all the difference. Will the country still think secret ballots were such a good idea?
<h2>Danger of destabilisation</h2>
Early in June DA mayor Michael Holenstein was <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-06-da-opposes-secret-ballot-on-a-motion-against-its-mayor">removed</a> by a motion of no confidence through a secret ballot in Mogale City, west of Johannesburg. Both the motion and the secret ballot were called for by ANC councillors. The ballot was granted by the ANC-affiliated speaker.
The DA and their coalition partners unsuccessfully opposed the secret ballot. As it happened, the secret ballot provided the opportunity for <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-06-08-coalition-governing-is-there-a-da-traitor-in-mogale-city/#.WUtuWeuGP4Y">one of their own</a> to betray the coalition and led to the motion being carried with 39 votes to 38.
Near-comical irony and intrigue aside, this saga illustrates all too vividly how the diminished accountability (to both electorate and party-political peers) afforded by a secret ballot opens motions of no confidence not only to a politics of conscience, but also potentially to one of backstabbing and pettiness.
On top of this, governance in Mogale City is said to be <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-09-00-mogale-citys-secret-ballot-spat-is-parliament-in-reverse">suffering</a> as a result of the successful motion. There are fears that service delivery is being paralysed and that the destabilised, hung council may be put under administration.
The consequences of a motion of no confidence in the president will, of course, be far more destabilising. For one thing, <a href="https://www.acts.co.za/constitu/102_motions_of_no_confidence">Section 102</a> of the constitution requires the entire cabinet to resign alongside the president, should the motion pass. A member of parliament deciding how to vote on a motion of no confidence in Zuma is therefore also deciding whether to throw the entire national government into disarray, however temporarily.
This might well be preferable over another day of a patently compromised, Zuma-led government. But there is value in ensuring that such a hefty decision is made only after due deliberation, and is made openly and with courage of conviction. If such courage should prove to be lacking in the members of the majority party, should South Africans not be allowed to see this and to think, in turn, about the vote that in a constitutional democracy can and should matter far more: their own?

Op-Ed: The dangers behind giving South African MPs the right to a secret ballot

<div id="article-byline">By <a href="http://www.reuters.com/journalists/fumbuka-ngwanakilala">Fumbuka Ng&#8217;wanakilala</a> | DAR ES SALAAM</div>
Tanzania said on Tuesday it plans to build a long-delayed 2,100-megawatt hydroelectric plant in a World Heritage site renowned for its animal populations and variety of wildlife habitats despite opposition from environmentalists.
The East African nation considers the project at Stiegler&#8217;s Gorge in the UNESCO-designated Selous Game Reserve as vital in its bid to diversify its energy mix as part of plans to end chronic energy shortages.
Covering 50,000 sq km, the reserve is one of the largest protected areas in Africa, according to UNESCO. It is know for its elephants, black rhinoceroses and giraffes, among many other species.
President John Magufuli &#8220;wants construction of this project to start as quickly as possible and produce an abundant supply of electricity to speed up the development of the country&#8221;, his office said in a statement.
It did not give the cost of the project.
The statement said a team of experts from Ethiopia would arrive in the country this week to provide advice on its implementation.
Ethiopia has an array of hydropower projects under construction, including the $4.1 billion Grand Renaissance Dam along the Nile River that will churn out 6,000 MW upon completion.
Authorities say hydropower projects will ease shortage in a country where demand for power currently outpaces supply. Tanzania also aims to add about 2,000 MW in gas-fired generation by 2018.
However, critics say construction of a hydropower dam in a major river that runs through the Selous Game Reserve could affect wildlife and their habitats downstream.
The government has previously come under criticism for granting Australia-based miner Mantra Resources to build a $400 million uranium mine in the same sanctuary despite pressure from environmental groups who opposed to the project.
(Editing by Aaron Maasho and Alison Williams)

Tanzania eyes hydropower project in game reserve despite criticism

When G20 leaders meet in <a href="http://www.hamburg.com/g20-2017/">Hamburg in early July</a> they face a problem not on their formal agenda: how to work around Donald Trump. The US president disdains multilateral financial cooperation, is opposed to US participation in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/time-for-china-and-europe-to-lead-as-trump-dumps-the-paris-climate-deal-78709">Paris Agreement on climate change</a> , has shown little interest in, knowledge of, or desire to partner with African countries.
These core issues frame the 2017 <a href="http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/EN/Standardartikel/Topics/Featured/G20/2017-03-30-g20-compact-with-africa.html">G20 agenda</a> with a proposed <a href="http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2017/161130-agenda.html">“Compact with Africa”</a> slated as the summit’s big initiative. It’s aims will be to encourage private sector investment, support infrastructure development, and greater economic participation and employment in Africa.
In addition to South Africa, the G20’s only African member, the leaders of Guinea, Kenya and Senegal have been invited as guests.
The US convened the first <a href="http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/summits/2008washington.html">2008 G20 Summit</a> in Washington in response to the global financial crisis and has played a leading and constructive role ever since. Such experiments in informal global governance are an anathema to Trump, although he lacks <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/opinion/donald-trump-poisons-the-world.html?action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;clickSource=story-heading&amp;module=opinion-%E2%80%A6">any experience</a> in such matters.
If Africa is to gain the attention in Hamburg the agenda promises, this will have to be without the support and cooperation of the US, at least while Trump is president. But can anything be achieved while this is the case?
If the G20 is to remain relevant in the quest for more inclusive and fair global governance, Africa offers an historic opportunity for collective action, despite US absence. Most urgent is alleviating <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/no-one-is-paying-attention-to-the-worst-humanitarian-crisis-since-world-war-ii/2017/06/25/70d055f8-5767-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&amp;utm_term=.44e26a3031b">the famine in East Africa</a> while China, India, and others among the G20 are showing fresh interest in Africa’s long-term peace and development.
<h2>The Trump factor</h2>
Trump’s first and <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/24/politics/trump-nato-brussels/index.html">only exposure to multilateral summit diplomacy</a> was at NATO’s Brussels headquarters on 25 May. Then immediately to a two-day <a href="http://www.g7italy.it/en/the-taormina-g7-summit">G-7 summit</a> in Sicily. Neither went well. More significant than all the negative media coverage of Trump’s performance, was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/28/world/europe/angela-merkel-trump-alliances-g7-leaders.html?_r=0">veiled warning</a> that after 70 years, the US under Trump was no longer a credible ally and Europe
<blockquote>must be ready to take our fate into our own hands.</blockquote>
Merkel’s comments were probably intended for a global and American domestic audience as well. The US foreign policy elite and public continue to support close ties to Europe. Cooperation with Africa also has been generally popular in America. It is one area of foreign assistance that has enjoyed enduring bi-partisan support <a href="https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/01/25/u-s-africa-policy-recommendations-for-president-trump/">since the early 1990s</a>.
Trump’s antics in Hamburg could detract from the summit and his recalcitrance may complicate setting and slow implementation of the G20 agenda. But, progress on the <a href="http://www.euronews.com/2017/03/13/view-germany-the-g20-protectionism-and-the-compact-with-africa">Africa Compact</a> is still possible with support from the US private and non-governmental sectors. The same goes for climate change and economic cooperation.
How G20 leaders interact with Trump, and comment publicly on the progress or lack of progress in Hamburg will resonate domestically in the US. In deciding what to say publicly, G20 leaders may want to consider recent and escalating US domestic constraints impinging Trump’s presidency.
<h2>Trump’s domestic constraints</h2>
Trump meets all the definitional criteria of a demagogue. His appeal to popular passions and prejudices rather than reason and facts, secured him a base of support that remains loyal.
He has not broadened his popular appeal, polling favourability ratings around 36%, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/06/20/the-other-number-that-might-inspire-some-panic-among-congressional-republicans/?utm_term=.6d7e2861fbe9&amp;wpisrc=nl_finance202&amp;wpmm%20=1">lowest ever recorded</a> this early in a first term.
Trump has shown <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-leadership-traits-are-bad-news-for-democrats-in-Aafrica-69745%20Among%20G-20">authoritarian traits</a>. And the leaders he appears he will get along with best are those G20 leaders heading authoritarian regimes in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The US still has the world’s biggest military and economy, but Trump has yet to earn the respect and deference of his G20 peers.
Politicians sometimes lie, but not all to the same degree. The Washington Post’s nonpartisan Fact Checkers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/?tid=a_inl&amp;utm_term=.c1081f9b2c96">recently documented</a> 623 false and misleading claims by Trump in just his first 137 days in office.
Many Americans may be inured to Trump’s off-hand lies, or view it as a cleaver strategy to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/of-course-trump-called-comey-a-liar-thats-his-strategy/2017/06/12/6ff4b4a8-4fa6-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html?utm_term=.026ff1a843bf">keep opponents off balance</a>.
Allegations that Trump may now be under investigation by an independent special counsel for obstructing justice in the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, possibly in collusion with the Trump campaign, have put his presidency <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-would-a-real-gop-break-from-trump-look-like/?ex_cid=newsletter-top-stories">in even greater peril</a>.
If his own head of intelligence, and other senior officials of his administration, cannot trust him to keep his word, how can foreign leaders? Whatever Trump says at the G20, has to be discounted in light of this, including concurrence with a final joint statement.
<h2>Referees Matter</h2>
Trump’s mendacity points to a much bigger problem. In an era of big data and contested statistical evidence <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/19/crisis-of-statistics-big-data-democracy">how can opinion be informed</a> by agreed facts to achieve consensus at any political level?
He has ridden rough-shod over decades of research findings regarding the human causes of climate change.
To inform and help frame democratic debate, about such scientifically complicated contested topics as climate, public health, national security, and a raft of other vital policy issues, the public used at least rely on professional journalists to arrive at the <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21706498-dishonesty-politics-nothing-new-manner-which-some-politicians-nw-lie-and">best obtainable version of the truth</a>.
This is no longer sufficient. Trump has advanced politically by questioning scientific evidence, those who produce it and dismisses as “fake news” any journalistic reporting he disagrees with. G20 leaders should not be diplomatic in calling attention to this.
And a positive counter-note to Trump’s cavalier claims would be for the G20 leaders to make clear that they believe in evidence based policymaking, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of recommendations.
<h2>Cooperation without America</h2>
The leaders, individually and together, need to show their commitment to unbiased, honest, and rigorously informed judgements on such issues as the design, priorities, and implementation of their new “Compact with Africa.”
Doing so without US backing adds to the challenge, but is also an opportunity for demonstrating cooperation <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/global-leadership-successor-to-america-by-richard-n--haass-2017-06">without America playing a central role</a>. So long as Trump is US president, this is likely to also be popular in most G20 countries.
A just released Pew global survey of public attitudes in 37 countries (including six in Africa &#8211; Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana) toward the US under Trump shows a 15% drop in positive views of the US (64%-49%) <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2017/06/26/u-s-image-suffers-as-publics-around-world-question-trumps-leadership/">since Barack Obama left office</a>. Confidence in the US presidency under Trump, however, fell a stunning 41%. Only in Russia, and Israel is Trump regarded more favourably than Obama.
Far more important that thwarting Trump, however, will be gaining public support for the “Compact with Africa” and the rest of the Hamburg agenda. Justifying these costly and complex commitments in positive ways will be a tougher political challenge; but one perhaps rendered easier without Trump or his representative claiming a seat at the head of the table.

Africa is high on the G20 summit agenda. But will Trump thwart progress?

South Africa&#8217;s Treasury is in talks with banks to roll over 9 billion rand (545.52 million pounds) in debt due to be paid this month by struggling state airline South African Airways (SAA), a senior official said on Tuesday.
SAA, which is reliant on government debt guarantees of almost 20 billion rand, has been cited as a threat to South Africa&#8217;s economy by rating agencies that have recently downgraded the country&#8217;s sovereign rating to &#8220;junk&#8221;.
If SAA fails to meet its debt obligations, it may have ripple effects on the government&#8217;s wider guarantee framework, Treasury Director General Dondo Mogajane told legislators.
&#8220;So we understand the urgency and importance of acting carefully and in a very responsible way, so we are seized with the matter,&#8221; Mogajane said in response to questions during a presentation by state-owned SAA to parliament.
SAA&#8217;s chief financial officer, Phumeza Nhantsi, told journalists that around 9 billion rand of debt was maturing in a few days time, with around 6 or 7 lenders involved.
She did not name any of the lenders due to confidentiality clauses, but confirmed that they were looking to the Public Investment Corporation, Africa&#8217;s largest pension fund, as a possible lender in future.
According to the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), Standard Chartered Bank has declined to renew its loan facilities of 2.3 billion rand to SAA due on June 30.
ABSA and Standard Bank are among other lenders, the DA says.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Joe Brock)

SAA_Wikimedia

South Africa in talks to roll over $695 mln of state airline debt

South African telecommunications firm Blue Label Telecoms said on Tuesday it would buy a mobile device supplier for 1.9 billion rand ($148 million) to expand its existing business in that field.
Blue Label, the largest distributor of pre-paid voice and data airtime in South Africa, said it would buy shares in unlisted 3G Mobile Proprietary Limited in two stages with its subsidiary, The Prepaid Company Proprietary, initially acquiring 47.37 percent for 900 million rand followed by 52.63 percent to be acquired for 1 billion rand.
Blue Label said 3G Mobile would be used to expand into the financing and supply of mobile devices, handsets and allied products to distribute into the low cost smartphone market.
&#8220;Both of these functions supplement Blue Label&#8217;s strategic objectives to provide value added services to both Cell C and its own customer base. 3G Mobile provides the ideal platform to consolidate Blue Label&#8217;s low cost and certified pre-owned mobile handset divisions into a consolidated group,&#8221; the company said in a statement.
South Africa&#8217;s third largest mobile phone company, Cell C, and its creditors agreed a deal where Blue Label would pay 5.5 billion rand for a 45 percent stake in the debt-laden mobile firm.
The deal will give Blue Label a share of profits on a product it distributes as well as a major stake in a company facing a consumer backlash due to slow network speeds.
3G Mobile, which is one of Africa’s largest distributors, and financiers, of mobile devices and handsets, operates in 8 African countries.
By 0758 GMT, shares in Blue Label were treading water at 15.15 rand following the announcement.
($1 = 12.8401 rand)
(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Mark Potter)

South Africa’s Blue Label Telecom to buy mobile device supplier

Tanzania&#8217;s current account deficit halved in the year to April, helped by a decline in imports and surging tourism and gold export earnings, the central bank said on Tuesday.
The trade gap narrowed to $1.6 billion, from $3.21 billion in the previous 12-month period, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said in its monthly economic report.
Earnings from tourism, the main foreign exchange earner, rose slightly, buoyed by more visitor arrivals, it said.
Foreign exchange reserves rose to $4.4 billion in the year to April from $3.8 billion previously, equivalent to about four months of import cover.
Tanzania&#8217;s 2017 economic growth is now seen at 7.1 percent from a previous projection of 7.4 percent, cooled by slowing private-sector credit growth and public spending cuts.
The central bank said gold earned Tanzania $1.51 billion for the year to April, up from $1.19 billion in the previous period, reflecting higher export volumes and global prices.
Tanzania is Africa&#8217;s fourth-largest gold producer after South Africa, Ghana and Mali.
(Reporting by Fumbuka Ng&#8217;wanakilala; Editing by Elias Biryabarema and Robin Pomeroy)

Tanzania current account deficit narrows 50% in year to April

South Africa&#8217;s Chamber of Mines has applied to a high court for an interdict to prevent the implementation of a new charter that increases the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies, the industry body said on Monday.
&#8220;The vast and systemic damage which the publication and threatened enforcement of the 2017 Charter has and continues to inflict &#8230; requires, it is submitted, urgent redress,&#8221; the chamber said in a statement.
A court application to have the new mining charter reviewed in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act will follow in due course, the chamber said.
(Reporting by Joe Brock; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng)

South Africa’s Chamber of Mines challenges new charter in court

Democratic Republic of Congo raised its key interest rate to 20 percent from 14 percent on Monday as it sought to stabilise its volatile franc currency, the central bank said in a statement.
The Congolese franc has lost half of its value against the dollar over the past year due to low tax revenues from foreign investors and high government deficits.
&#8220;In the aim of confronting the rising exchange rate trend of the Congolese franc and reducing the pace of interior price increases, the Central Bank of Congo has just, once more, tightened its monetary policy,&#8221; the statement said.
The bank last adjusted rates in February.
The economy of Congo &#8211; Africa&#8217;s top copper producer &#8211; has been hit hard by low commodity prices over the last two years that have reduced government revenues.
The central bank said this month it expects economic growth of 3.1 percent this year with year-end inflation on track to reach 33.12 percent, up from 25.04 percent in 2016, as the franc continues to lose ground against the dollar.
(Reporting by Amedee Mwarabu; writing by Joe Bavier; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

DRC hikes key rate to 20% to stabilise franc: central bank

Kenya&#8217;s ruling party promised to expand free education and healthcare in a manifesto published on Monday, but did not acknowledge problems in existing social services that have triggered strikes as elections approach.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, the head of the Jubilee Party, is seeking a second and final five-year term in office in the Aug. 8 polls. Voters will choose a president, legislators and local representatives.
Public debates have focused on social services and the cost of living, although some voters will cleave to tribal allegiances. More than 1,200 people were killed after the 2007 polls when political protests unleashed ethnic violence.
Kenyatta&#8217;s chief rival, veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, is heading the National Super Alliance, a coalition of opposition parties that has yet to publish its manifesto.
In its new policy pledges, Jubilee promised to provide free, quality primary healthcare for all Kenyans; free secondary education; affordable housing and connect every citizen to the electricity grid by 2020.
Kenyatta, the wealthy 55-year-old son of the country&#8217;s first president, said he has slashed maternal mortality, overseen devolution, built new roads and opened a new Chinese-built railway linking the port of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi.
&#8220;Employment creation is at the heart of the next Jubilee administration&#8217;s priorities,&#8221; he wrote in a preface to the manifesto.
Reuters was not able to independently verify all the president&#8217;s assertions, but maternal mortality has been falling in Kenya since 2003, and the Kenya Power Company said it has 6.1 million connections, up from 2.26 million in March 2013, just before Kenyatta took office. Many new roads have been built and the first phase of railway opened last month.
The Kenyan economy grew at 5.8 percent last year, far outstripping the sub-Saharan average of 1.3 percent.
But challenges remain, the cost of living chief among them. Annual inflation was at 11.7 percent in May, the highest for five years. High prices and a regional drought have caused a national shortage of the staple maize flour.
&#8220;How can we vote for this government when people&#8217;s children are hungry?&#8221; asked mother-of-three and registered voter Mercy Indiazi.
Education standards also concerned her: Kenya introduced free primary education in 2003, but media reports about absent teachers, missing classroom materials and poor standards are also common.
The manifesto also highlighted advances in healthcare, although Kenyan doctors went on strike for four months, beginning last December, over poor pay and conditions.
Union officials said that doctors often had to conduct operations without basic equipment such as gloves. University professors have also mounted sporadic strikes over pay and conditions.
(Additional reporting by George Obulutsa; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Alison Williams)

Kenya ruling party promises to expand free education, healthcare

China plans to pour almost $7 billion into floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) projects in Africa, betting on a largely untested technology in the hope that energy markets will recover by the time they start production in the early 2020s.
Western banks are wary due to the depressed state of the shipping and gas markets, as well as the technical difficulties of pumping gas extracted from below the ocean floor, chilling it into liquid form on a floating platform and transferring it into tankers for export.
China, however, is making a strategic push into FLNG, aiming to become the lowest cost seller of the complex floating plants and lead the global rollout of a technique that remains in its infancy, with only one project in commercial production so far.
The country needs gas as a cleaner alternative to coal under a drive to improve air quality in its cities, and has already lent $12 billion to Russia&#8217;s conventional Yamal LNG project in the Arctic as U.S. sanctions scared away Western banks.
It has also lent or committed almost $4 billion to three FLNG schemes off the African coast. In two more African projects costing a total of $3 billion, it plans not only to provide the funding, but also build the production platforms.
&#8220;We see a real commitment to FLNG in China both from the construction side and from the LNG consumption side where decreasing costs mean potentially lower cost LNG,&#8221; said Steve Lowden, chairman of Jersey-based NewAge which is planning FLNG projects off Congo Republic and Cameroon.
China already dominates the global market for solar panels and is a major supplier of coal-fired power plants, aided by easy money, cheaper labor and state support.
Now, with Beijing pushing President Xi Jinping&#8217;s &#8220;Belt and Road&#8221; vision of expanding trade links between Asia, Africa and Europe, it is turning to FLNG to bring high technology work to its shipyards and create jobs &#8211; a strategic priority.
FLNG is also attractive to resource-rich but debt-burdened African countries. Projects can sail into place, drop anchor, and begin exporting for much less than the cost of onshore plants, the price of which quadrupled in the decade to 2013.
That, at least, is the theory. The reality is that the technology remains complex. Royal Dutch Shell&#8217;s mammoth Prelude FLNG plant, for example will be aboard the world&#8217;s biggest floating structure, but must squeeze the equipment into a quarter of the space occupied by an LNG plant on dry land.
Wave motion and ocean currents add to the difficulties.
The $12.6 billion Prelude project, which is due to start operating off Australia in 2018, is typical of those conceived during the era of high energy prices. However, spot LNG prices have fallen 70 percent since early 2014 and are expected to remain under pressure or drop further due to extra supply from new conventional plants in Australia and the United States.
Despite this, some producers and buyers are banking on the glut ending early in the next decade, although they don&#8217;t want to lock themselves into big projects, preferring smaller, more flexible ones like in Africa.
The only operational FLNG project launched in Malaysia last year, with construction of the floating platform costing around $1.6-$1.7 billion. Bankers say this is still too expensive and if the Chinese can build one for $1 billion, they would corner the market.
ESTABLISHED SHIPYARDS
With new investments in costly conventional LNG plants on hold, the only two production projects to advance this year are floating types, in Mozambique and Equatorial Guinea. Both are largely backed by Chinese loans although the platforms are being built by more established Asian shipyards.
Lowden said the two NewAge projects will be wholly financed by Chinese companies and this time also built in Chinese shipyards. &#8220;They are more than fully able to handle such projects,&#8221; he said.
Still, Dutch offshore engineer SBM and JGC of Japan will partner with the Chinese players, including China Offshore Oil Engineering &amp; Construction Ltd.
NewAge expects to sanction both the projects next year.
Last year, China&#8217;s Wison Offshore &amp; Marine completed the first-ever FLNG ship but it remains unused following the cancellation of a project in Colombia it was intended for.
VERY DEEP POCKETS
As typical Western sources of funding have slowed due to the weak state of the shipping business, highly-capitalized Chinese players believe the market has reached the bottom and are keen to step up lending before the cycle turns and pushes up costs.
&#8220;The difference is that in the West banks lend at the top of the market when they have most liquidity, but in China they&#8217;re smarter and put money in at the bottom,&#8221; a financier who advises Chinese lenders on LNG shipping deals said.
This month, Chinese banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Bank of China committed around 1.75 billion to project finance the Coral South FLNG project in Mozambique, bankers said. ICBC declined comment while BOC did not respond to a request for comment.
By contrast Western commercial banks provided just $200 million in uncovered debt to Coral, to be developed by Italy&#8217;s Eni, instead of an originally proposed $1.9 billion. They cited uncertainties around FLNG technology and a public debt crisis in Mozambique.
Adam Byrne, Managing Director at ING Bank, said Chinese lenders &#8220;have very deep pockets indeed&#8221;.
&#8220;If they decide to, they can support something for even a billion or a billion and a half dollars,&#8221; Byrne told a shipping conference earlier this month.
AFRICA AND BEYOND
The next big African deal, in Equatorial Guinea, is being financed by China State Shipbuilding Corp with a $1.2 billion loan for Fortuna FLNG, bankers say. This project &#8211; which is being developed by UK-listed Ophir Energy, shipping firm Golar LNG and oil services group Schlumberger &#8211; will produce 2.2 million tonnes of LNG a year and is expected to be sanctioned within weeks.
China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) also lent $960 million to Golar LNG in 2015 for the first-ever conversion of a conventional LNG tanker into an FLNG platform, which is set to enter operation this year in Cameroon. CSSC declined comment.
All these projects were awarded to established shipbuilders in South Korea, Singapore or Japan, but the experience sets up Chinese developers to take the lead on other projects in Africa and beyond, say consultants and industry sources.
Equatorial Guinea sees scope for another two FLNG projects, its petroleum minister has said, while BP and joint venture partner Kosmos Energy are also eyeing two in the waters of Senegal and Mauritania.
China also has plans for conventional LNG production in Africa. Chinese conglomerate Poly-GCL has begun construction of an onshore LNG facility in Djibouti which will export Ethiopian gas to China, according to Poly-GCL&#8217;s website.
(Colin Leopold reports for Project Finance International, a Thomson Reuters company; Additional reporting by Shu Zhang and Brenda Goh in Beijing; Editing by Veronica Brown and David Stamp)

China pumps cash into African floating LNG projects in strategic push

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Making agriculture profitable and &#8220;cool&#8221; for young people in Africa is key to lifting millions out of poverty and stemming migration to Europe, said the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Akinwumi Adesina was named the winner of this year&#8217;s World Food Prize on Monday for his decades-long work to boost food production in his native Nigeria, increase access to credit for small farmers across Africa and transform the continent&#8217;s agriculture.
Kenneth Quinn, president of the Des Moines, Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation, said the $250,000 award reflected Adesina&#8217;s &#8220;breakthrough achievements&#8221; as Nigeria&#8217;s minister of agriculture and his critical role in the development of the nonprofit Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
Adesina, 57, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation he was humbled by the award but felt his work to ensure Africa could feed itself was &#8220;uncompleted business&#8221;.
Almost 30 percent of the 795 million people in the world who do not have enough to eat are in Africa, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
&#8220;When I look at Africa today I see that many rural areas unfortunately have become zones of economic misery,&#8221; Adesina said in a phone interview ahead of the award&#8217;s announcement.
No sector has greater potential to revive those areas than agriculture, but investments are needed to make it attractive for young people, many of whom risk their lives migrating in search of better opportunities in Europe, Adesina said.
&#8220;We must make agriculture cool for young people,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;The key is to make agriculture a business. Agriculture is not a way of life, is not a development activity, it&#8217;s a business.&#8221;
Africa has 65 percent of the world&#8217;s uncultivated arable land but imports food for $35 billion every year, a bill that is expected to swell to $110 billion by 2025, he said.
&#8220;It makes no sense. That is food Africa should be producing, processing, selling and exporting,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Africa in the future should not only feed itself but it must contribute to feeding the world.&#8221;
Toward this end, agriculture must become more industrialized, with farmers gaining better access to seeds, fertilizer, credit, power and infrastructure, he said.
Farmers should be supported to transform from producers of raw materials, such as cocoa and cotton, to manufacturers of finished goods such as chocolate and garments, which have less volatile prices, Adesina said.
To accelerate growth, the AfDB aimed to invest $12 billion in the energy sector, hoping to leverage another $50 billion from the private sector, he said.
Last year, AfDB had invested $800 million to support young agro-entrepreneurs in eight countries and planned to extend the scheme to 30 nations, he added.
Adesina called on governments and institutional investors, such as pension and insurance funds, to &#8220;see the gold&#8221; in African agriculture and invest in it to unlock its potential.
He said he was convinced the future billionaires of Africa would come from agriculture.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe that the future of African youth lies at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;The future of African young people lies in a more prosperous and inclusive Africa, and there is no other sector that has greater power to create growth than the agricultural sector.&#8221;
Adesina was named winner of the World Food Prize, regarded as the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for agriculture, in a ceremony on Monday at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington.
(Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Alisa Tang. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience.

Future of African youth lies in agriculture, not Europe: AfDB President

The International Monetary Fund&#8217;s executive board on Monday approved a $666 million, three-year extended credit facility for Cameroon to support economic and financial reforms, an IMF statement said.
The nations of central Africa&#8217;s CEMAC currency union have struggled in the face of low oil prices, which have slashed state revenues. Cameroon has also been forced to concentrate resources on combating the threat of Islamist Boko Haram militants along its northwestern border with Nigeria.
&#8220;Having initially shown resilience owing to its greater diversification, the Cameroonian economy is now facing decelerating growth, declining fiscal and external buffers, and rapidly-rising public debt,&#8221; IMF Deputy Managing director Mitsuhiro Furusawa said in the statement.
The board&#8217;s decision allows for the immediate disbursement of $171 million as part of a program aimed at restoring fiscal and external sustainability and unlocking private sector-driven growth.
The IMF approved a similar $642 million loan agreement for Cameroon&#8217;s neighbor Gabon, another CEMAC member state, last week.
(Reporting by Joe Bavier; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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China pumps cash into African floating LNG projects in strategic push

Future of African youth lies in agriculture, not Europe: AfDB President

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News

AngloGold considers 8,500 job cuts in South Africa revamp

China tops US and UK as destination for anglophone African students

Kenyans are first in Africa to get generic of latest AIDS drug

South Africa denies withdrawing FX rigging charges against some banks

Botswana’s Debswana to extend Jwaneng diamond mine life beyond 2024

Op-Ed: The dangers behind giving South African MPs the right to a secret ballot

Tanzania eyes hydropower project in game reserve despite criticism

Africa is high on the G20 summit agenda. But will Trump thwart progress?

South Africa in talks to roll over $695 mln of state airline debt

South Africa’s Blue Label Telecom to buy mobile device supplier

Tanzania current account deficit narrows 50% in year to April

South Africa’s Chamber of Mines challenges new charter in court

DRC hikes key rate to 20% to stabilise franc: central bank

Kenya ruling party promises to expand free education, healthcare

China pumps cash into African floating LNG projects in strategic push

Future of African youth lies in agriculture, not Europe: AfDB President

IMF approves three-year, $666 million loan deal for Cameroon

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