JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The South African Reserve Bank&#8217;s mandate to keep inflation low and protect the value of the currency is supportive of economic growth, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Monday.
&#8220;If we can keep inflation lower, anchoring inflation expectations, that should in turn generate a lower rate of interest to support the economy,&#8221; Kganyago told a business gathering.
&#8220;We will continue to honour our constitutional mandate and the trust placed in us by the South African society.&#8221;
His comments came after the Public Protector, an anti-graft agency, recommended constitutional changes to make the central bank promote economic growth rather than currency and price stability.
(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Toby Chopra)
&nbsp;

S.Africa’s cenbank governor: currency, price stability aims are supportive of growth

MOSCOW (Reuters) &#8211; Russian energy group Rosatom is a contender for South Africa&#8217;s nuclear expansion project and the country will award the contract by the end of the year, the chairman of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) said on Monday.
South Africa is planning to build 9,600 megawatts (MW) of nuclear capacity to wean itself off coal, a project that could be one of the world&#8217;s biggest nuclear contracts in decades.
Besides Rosatom, major nuclear firms from South Korea, France, the United States and China are interested in bidding for it.
&#8220;We are aiming for this to be done before the end of the year, and we very imminently want to start,&#8221; Kelvin Kemm, Necsa chairman, told Reuters on the sidelines of a nuclear conference in Moscow, when asked when South Africa would make a decision on which company would build the new nuclear reactors.
&#8220;Rosatom is definitely in there, but a decision has not been finally made. That will be a decision made by the senior politicians in collaboration with the technological and the company people,&#8221; Kemm said.
Earlier on Monday, a Rosatom official said the Russian company was in contact with South African authorities over their plans to increase the country&#8217;s nuclear capacity.
Those plans were disrupted after South Africa&#8217;s High Court earlier this year deemed a nuclear cooperation pact with Russia unlawful.
In May, state-controlled Rosatom said it was still committed to taking part in a competitive bidding process to build nuclear plants in South Africa. Rosatom was created in 2007 from the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry with a view to turning nuclear power into a major export industry for Russia.
Necsa&#8217;s Kemm said on Monday that the court ruling had delayed the country&#8217;s plans by a couple of months.
In response to a question as to whether Rosatom was a leading contender for the planned nuclear expansion, Kemm said: &#8220;Absolutely, Rosatom is a very important player&#8221;.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning. Editing by Jane Merriman)

S.Africa aims to choose company for nuclear project by year-end

BEIJING (Reuters) &#8211; Foreign ministers from BRICS nations called for the use of &#8220;preventative diplomacy&#8221; to tackle the situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to a communique on Monday.
The ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met in Beijing for a two-day conference that ended on Monday. BRICS leaders will meet in the southern Chinese city of Xiamen in September.
&#8220;The foreign ministers support the use of political and diplomatic means to resolve disputes in Libya and on the Korean Peninsula, and the promotion of preventative diplomacy built on common consensus,&#8221; the communique said, according to a version posted on the Chinese foreign ministry website.
The document also condemned unilateral military interventions and economic sanctions that violate international law or internationally accepted norms.
Addressing the ministers after the meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that BRICS cooperation was entering a &#8220;golden decade&#8221;.
&#8220;At present the international situation has complexities and also factors of instability and it is right for the BRICS to speak their voice,&#8221; he said.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated over North Korea&#8217;s nuclear and missile tests and its vow to develop a nuclear-tipped weapon capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. The United States has called for greater action from China to pressure Pyongyang into abandoning its weapons programmes.
China has said repeatedly that it adheres to United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea but does not support unilateral sanctions, instead calling for restraint and diplomacy.
China&#8217;s top diplomat Yang Jiechi is due to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington on Wednesday in talks that the United States says will focus on curbing North Korea&#8217;s nuclear and missile programmes.
Last week, Tillerson said Washington was considering imposing &#8220;secondary sanctions&#8221; on foreign firms doing business with North Korea and had been in discussions with Beijing about the activities of entities inside China.
Libya fell into turmoil following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and now an array of armed groups and competing governments are vying for control.
(Reporting by Christian Shepherd: Editing by Neil Fullick)

BRICS foreign ministers call for diplomacy to tackle Korean tensions

South Africa&#8217;s rand fell more than 1.5 percent on Monday after Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane recommended changes to the constitution to force the central bank to promote economic growth rather than currency and price stability.
By 1222 GMT, the rand was trading 1.44 percent weaker to the dollar at 12.9900, having hit 13.0075.
Mkhwebane said at a news conference that the primary objective of the South African Reserve Bank should be to promote balanced and sustainable economic growth, rather than to target inflation, as it is now.
It is unclear why Mkhwebane, a constitutionally mandated anti-corruption watchdog, should have made the comments, which alarmed currency traders.
&#8220;They want to initiate changes to alter the primary objective of the Reserve Bank. Some of the suggestions being to remove the reference to protect the value of the currency and all this has caused a knee-jerk reaction,&#8221; said Andre Botha, Treasury One currency dealer.
(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg and Olwethu Boso; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Ed Cropley)

S.Africa’s rand weakens 1.5 pct after watchdog comments over cenbank

As South Africa slides into recession, and households have less and less to spend, the number one supermarket group Shoprite is adopting an unlikely strategy: it&#8217;s pushing upmarket.
While the lower-income families that have long been its core customers cut back, the spending of the wealthier class remains undented by the downturn.
In a bid to retain its leading industry position, the discount retailer&#8217;s new boss is driving hard into the upmarket, higher-margin niche dominated by rival Woolworths.
The stage is set for a turf war to win the hearts, minds and wallets of South Africa&#8217;s richest 2 million households &#8211; and ultimately preeminence in the supermarket sector.
Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht told Reuters that affluent areas and customers were where he saw growth in the maturing South African market.
&#8220;A lot of those (wealthier) customers, 2 million of them, actually frequent our stores already, but not exclusively,&#8221; he said in an interview. &#8220;Our job is to get a better share of their wallets when they are in our stores and then impress them so that they come back again.&#8221;
Shoprite is doubling its offering of the kind of high-end convenience foods that Woolworths has built its reputation on &#8211; from gourmet lamb shanks and oxtail stew to teriyaki-and-ginger basted pork ribs. Its range will reach around 500 products by the end of this year, Engelbrecht said.
These products typically cost about 200 rand ($15) for a meal for four &#8211; 10 times the minimum wage of 20 rand an hour as set by new labor laws making their way through parliament.
As part of the drive to expand its range, Engelbrecht said Shoprite had upgraded its food technology and development facilities and gone on a hiring spree for food developers and technologists. He said the department had grown 10-fold in a year, without giving more specific details on staff numbers.
The mainly discount retail group is executing this strategic shift by expanding its higher-end Checkers chain of stores.
It plans to open 23 new outlets, mostly in wealthy suburbs such as Waterfall City north of Johannesburg, by June next year to bring the number of stores to about 230.
Checkers has for years been underrepresented in the wealthiest neighborhoods with the most spending power, according to analysts.
New Checkers stores, and established ones that have been refurbished, resemble Woolworths outlets with sparse lighting and wood-panelled sections boasting extensive wine and gourmet coffee selections, as well as counters selling quality selections of cheese and meat.
NUMBERS GAME
Shoprite&#8217;s core, low-income customer base has been battered by a year of high inflation, stagnant wages and unemployment reaching a 14-year peak. Higher interest rates and currency depreciation have further eroded consumers&#8217; disposable income.
Africa&#8217;s most advanced economy has fallen into recession for the first time since 2009, data showed last week, in a slide that has slowed profits across the grocery sector.
The discount group&#8217;s push upmarket has been driven by its own economics. It is grappling with an internal inflation rate &#8211; the rise in what it pays for its goods &#8211; of 7.4 percent, the highest level in years, but has not been able to fully pass the increase on to poorer consumers.
This has undermined its traditional, mass-market strategy of low margins and high volumes. To absorb the hit, and continue to secure the growth demanded by investors, it is hunting the higher margins and healthier sales growth on offer at the higher-end of the market by expanding Checkers.
While Shoprite-branded stores&#8217; sales have grown by 8.8 percent over the past 12 months, Checkers&#8217; have risen by 11.1 percent.
&#8220;The Checkers supermarkets have reported low double-digit sales growth over the last three years, growing well ahead of the Shoprite brand, which supports management&#8217;s ambition,&#8221; Investec Asset Management analyst Unathi Loos told Reuters.
The Woolworths and Shoprite groups also variously encompass the likes of furniture and clothing. Woolworths Foods&#8217; margin is about 7 percent, according to the company&#8217;s financial reports.
Shoprite does not separate the margin on its supermarket food division from the financial services products offered in-store, but Loos said the consensus view among analysts was that the figure was between 3.5 and 4 percent.
Shoprite did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the food margin figure.
&#8216;I LOVE WOOLIES&#8217;
The country&#8217;s &#8211; and the continent&#8217;s &#8211; two largest retailers have very different backgrounds.
Shoprite, which is 16 percent owned by retail tycoon Christo Wiese, has grown from 8 supermarkets in 1979 to a no-frills mass-market grocer with operations in 15 African countries. Woolworths, which is over 80 years old, morphed from a clothing chain into South Africa&#8217;s fine-foods market leader in the early 2000s.
Engelbrecht took the reins of Shoprite in February from Whitey Basson, who had led the group for 37 years. Part of his strategy is based on a bet that he can lure affluent shoppers away from Woolworths with high-quality convenience products priced slightly below those offered by its rival.
&#8220;Woolworths over time has constantly moved the price of (those products) up and up, because they were virtually the only players in that market, which gives us the opportunity to come in,&#8221; Engelbrecht said.
A crucial question is how will Woolworths respond to defend a market that has delivered handsome profits for the company and whose chief executive Ian Moir said in February its food business continued to grow ahead of the market.
When asked by Reuters about Shoprite&#8217;s push into upmarket convenience food, Woolworths told Reuters that it had an &#8220;incredibly valuable emotional connection&#8221; with its customers.
&#8220;Retail is a dynamic environment and the competition in the Grocery and Food market category means that we will always keep a watching brief on our competitors&#8217; activities,&#8221; it added. &#8220;We conduct weekly basket checks against the prices of competitors to ensure that our prices are comparable.&#8221;
Analysts say the high-end clash between the two industry titans was unlikely to develop into a price war because that part of the market was not as price-sensitive as the lower end.
But Woolworths will be forced to respond and would likely push back with new products and pack sizes, they say.
&#8220;They have been good at introducing new products and other innovations in line with consumer trends and feedback,&#8221; said Old Mutual Invest food retail analyst Kaya Nodada.
It&#8217;s a tall order for Shoprite to break Woolworths&#8217; stranglehold. If it is to prevail, it will have to win over shoppers like JF Fourie.
&#8220;I love Woolies. The microwave meals are a bit overpriced, but they are tasty,&#8221; the 28-year-old who works in marketing said in the Woolworths branch in eastern Pretoria as she added shimeji mushrooms to the baby brinjals in her basket.
But Fourie &#8211; a big fan of Gordon Ramsay &#8211; said she would need some convincing about the quality of Shoprite&#8217;s products, but would give it a go because Checkers adverts feature the British celebrity chef.
&#8220;I like the chef and he hates airplane food,&#8221; she added. &#8220;He&#8217;s fussy and I am too.&#8221;
(Editing by Pravin Char)

Shoprite group adopts unlikely strategy and goes upmarket

PRETORIA (Reuters) &#8211; Barclays Africa Group unduly benefited from apartheid-era bailouts and must repay 1.1 billion rand ($86 million), South Africa&#8217;s anti-graft watchdog said on Monday.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane in January reopened a probe of Barclays South Africa following a wider report published last November by her predecessor.
She said on Monday that the probe had found that the apartheid government breached the constitution by supplying Bankorp, which was acquired by Barclays Africa unit Absa in 1992, with a series of bailouts from 1986 to 1995.
Barclays Africa would have to pay 1.1 billion rand ($86 million), Mkhwebane said, adding that her office had referred the matter to the Special Investigating Unit to help recover the money.
&nbsp;
<h2>Barclays Africa response to Public Protector’s Press Conference</h2>
Absa has noted the Public Protector’s statement today regarding her investigation into the SA Reserve Bank’s assistance to Bankorp between 1985 and 1995. Absa acquired Bankorp in April 1992. We have not yet received a copy of the report and we are urgently requesting the Public Protector’s Office to send it to us. Once we have read it we will consider our legal options including seeking a High Court review.
Absa met all its obligations in respect of the loan provided by the SA Reserve Bank by October 1995. It is our firm position that there is no obligation to pay anything to the SA government.
(Reporting by Dinky Mkhize; writing by Ed Stoddard and Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by James Macharia and Jason Neely)

Barclays Africa says “no obligation” to pay SA govt

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s anti-corruption watchdog will oppose President Jacob Zuma&#8217;s court bid to set aside an influence-peddling report, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said on Monday.
The Public Protector, a constitutionally-mandated watchdog, released the report in November last year, after an extensive probe over allegations of influence-peddling against Zuma, whose administration has been marred by scandals.
The carefully worded report by Thuli Madonsela, Mkhwebane predecessor, stopped short of asserting that crimes had been committed and called for a judge to investigate the allegations. Zuma has denied any wrongdoing, and is challenging the Public Protector&#8217;s report in court.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)

South Africa watchdog to oppose Zuma bid to set aside influence peddling report

KAMPALA (Reuters) &#8211; Uganda&#8217;s central bank lowered its key lending rate to 10.0 percent on Monday from 11.0 percent, saying a stable exchange rate for the shilling and subdued domestic demand had contributed to an easing of core inflationary pressures.
Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile told a news conference the economy expanded by 3.9 percent in 2016/17 (July-June), down from a growth rate of 4.7 percent in the previous year, due to drought and slow implementation of public investment projects.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Uganda central bank cuts lending rate to 10 percent

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The steep decline in South Africa&#8217;s business confidence is a setback to economic growth recovery and will dampen investment, ratings agency Moody&#8217;s said on Monday.
&#8220;Reduced business confidence implies reduced investment, which would negatively affect growth in South Africa’s already-weak economy, and will ultimately make fiscal consolidation more challenging,&#8221; Moody&#8217;s senior analyst Zuzana Brixiova said in a research note.
(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia)
&nbsp;

South Africa’s low business confidence setback to growth recovery: Moody’s

On 28 September 2016, the shareholders of South African born international brewer, SABMiller, approved the company’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/taranurin/2016/10/10/its-final-ab-inbev-closes-on-deal-to-buy-sabmiller/&amp;refURL=https://www.google.co.za/&amp;referrer=https://www.google.co.za/">acquisition</a> by Anheuser-Busch InBev for $104 billion (R1.5 trillion). The deal paved the way for the creation of what is now by far the world’s <a href="http://www.ab-inbev.co.uk/about/about-abinbev/">largest</a> brewing company.
For a company that started out selling beer to miners in Johannesburg during the gold rush of the late 1800s, it’s been quite a journey. But how did a brewing company from a developing country rise to compete with the multinational brewing behemoths from the developed world?
A series of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gsj.1143/full">interviews</a> with senior executives and managers who presided over the growth of what was then South African Breweries’ (SAB) rapid expansion during and after the 1990s are revealing. After building up a monopoly-like position in the beer market in South Africa, the company went in search of new markets. It used its experience in South Africa in its entry strategies abroad.
SAB’s path reflects the differences between multinationals from developed and emerging markets in terms of location choices, sequencing, time horizons and motivation.
A two-phased expansion path emerges to explain the remarkable success story. The first pillar to SAB’s international expansion was a focus on developing markets. Coming from a developing country itself, the company would cope better with emerging market conditions than brewers from the developed world. These ventures became a powerful base for SAB to take on developed markets.
The second was to expand into developed countries. This became necessary as it became clear the company was over exposed to emerging markets.
<h2>The first phase of expansion</h2>
After a few early forays into South Africa’s neighbouring countries prior to 1993, SAB executives realised that the company could exploit its knowledge of institutional shortcomings in its home country. It would use this experience to adapt more easily than its competitors to conditions in developing countries.
And so began the first part of its internationalisation strategy: a rapid expansion into emerging markets worldwide.
Through a series of acquisitions and joint ventures throughout the 1990s, SAB gained a foothold in various countries in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Although many were geographically distant (like Hungary, Czech Republic, China and India), they echoed South Africa in terms of their socioeconomic development. Eastern Europe, for example, was still emerging from political reform in the wake of communism, and infrastructural, institutional and economic weaknesses persisted.
By expanding into countries that shared socioeconomic characteristics with South Africa, SAB was able to make use of its experience to turn a perceived drawback – institutional weakness – into a strength. As one respondent explained:
To be quite frank, we actually accepted that we would live with the political risk and poor institutions. We didn’t really shy away from high-risk countries unless, of course, there was a raging civil war that we would have to wait to subside.
Once it had established this expansion plan, SAB diversified into developed markets such as Italy and the US. As one interviewee put it:
<blockquote>
Investors became sceptical of companies whose only business was in emerging markets.In 2002 it took a step closer to consolidating its position as a multinational brewing giant when it acquired <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2002/05/30/news/deals/miller_sab/">US-based Miller Brewing Company</a>. It became SABMiller.
</blockquote>
<h2></h2>
<h2>Turning weakness into strength</h2>
The advantages that SAB gained from its experience in its home country are many. One was employee aptitude.
SAB employees had built up an extraordinary resilience, flexibility and entrepreneurial spirit through their exposure to the unsteady South African environment of the 1980s. As one executive said:
<blockquote>They survived labour trouble, survived interest rates at 25%, inflation at 16% to 17%, survived political disorder, political violence… That toughened you, toughened us.</blockquote>
This robustness, combined with an ability to connect with many different cultures, gave the company a valuable flexibility in its risk, location and investment choices.
Another strength was its ability to turn around neglected breweries and businesses. The experience it gained in South Africa, with its large rural population and pockets of poor infrastructure, meant that finding innovative ways to overcome challenges was embedded in the company’s DNA.
Another advantage the company gained was brand development and marketing ability. SAB was developed into a major operation without reliance on strong, globally-recognised brands. Using its home experience the company took brands it acquired in distant countries and built them into powerful national brands.
These became a base from which it launched into premium brands such as Grolsch and Peroni through acquisitions. This offset being over-invested in domestic brands.
SAB also had a philosophical edge over many competitors. It’s risk appetite was much bigger. By comparison a company like <a href="http://www.ab-inbev.com/investors/results-center/quarterly-reports.html">Anheuser-Busch </a> had a conservative approach to risk and international expansion.
For example, Anheuser-Busch didn’t react to the rapidly changing global brewer consolidation until it was too late. And when it did, it realised that it had little emerging market experience.
This weakness meant that in 2008 Anheuser-Busch was unable to avoid a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/business/worldbusiness/14beer.html">hostile takeover by InBev</a>. This gave rise to AB Inbev, then the world’s largest brewer. AB Inbev, in turn, was compelled to make an offer for SABMiller to acquire complementary emerging market presence.
SABMiller’s long journey from the mine heaps of Johannesburg to global brewing colossus may appear to have come to an abrupt end after its acquisition by Anheuser-Busch InbevAB Inbev in 2016. But what’s clear is that its extraordinarily successful approach continues to hold many lessons for aspiring global companies from the developing world.
_This piece was adapted from an academic <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gsj.1143/full">article</a> by John Luiz, Dustin Stringfellow and Anthea Jefthas that first appeared in the February 2017 issue of Global Strategy Journal, Volume 7, Issue 1 (83-103).

The story of SABMiller – How the company turned constraints into global strengths

PARIS (Reuters) &#8211; French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to the leader of Mali after Sunday&#8217;s attack on a luxury resort in the country, and pledged France&#8217;s full support for the country, Macron&#8217;s office said on Monday.
&#8220;During their exchange, he conveyed France&#8217;s full support to Mali&#8217;s president during this ordeal,&#8221; said Macron&#8217;s office.
Gunmen on Sunday attacked a luxury resort popular with Western expatriates just outside Mali&#8217;s capital, Bamako, killing two people in what the security minister called a terrorist attack, while 36 guests were rescued.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Richard Lough)
&nbsp;

Macron vows full support of France for Mali after attack

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Sibanye Gold&#8217;s Cooke operation in South Africa will remain shut until at least Thursday as the company goes through an appeals process for workers fired for taking part in a wildcat strike, it said on Monday.
Spokesman James Wellsted said the company was concerned about the safety of its employees after receiving reports of threats of violence against miners not supporting the strike.
Workers at the mine downed tools almost two weeks ago, angered by a company drive to root out illegal miners which has included the arrest of employees for collusion.
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard, editing by Louise Heavebs)
&nbsp;

South Africa’s Sibanye says Cooke mine to remain closed until at least Thursday

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s rand steadied early on Monday after selling in the previous session as rising interest rates in the United States weakened demand for emerging market currencies.
At 0637 GMT, the rand traded at 12.7925 per dollar, compared with its New York close of 12.8050 on Friday.
&#8220;The strong dollar, combined with continued media headlines related to the Mining Charter, makes us believe the rand is biased for weakness,&#8221; Rand Merchant Bank analyst Isaah Mhlanga said in a note.
The revised Mining Charter issued by the government on Thursday raised the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies to 30 percent from 26 percent and gave companies 12 months to meet the target, hitting mining stocks and the rand.
Focus this week on first-quarter current account data due out on Tuesday and May consumer price inflation numbers to be released on Wednesday.
Stocks were set to open higher at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange&#8217;s Top-40 futures index up 0.51 percent.
In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 dipped 1 basis point to 8.475 percent.
(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by John Stonestreet)
&nbsp;

South Africa’s rand steadies, stocks to open higher

LAGOS
At least half of Nigerian government food aid sent northeast for hungry people driven from their homes by Boko Haram has been &#8220;diverted&#8221; and never reached them, a government official said.
Some 1.5 million people are on the brink of famine in the northeast, where the jihadist group has killed more than 20,000 people and forced 2.7 million to flee during its eight-year uprising to create an Islamic caliphate.
A programme was launched on June 8 by Yemi Osinbajo, acting president while President Muhammadu Buhari is in Britain on medical leave, to distribute grain to 1.8 million people still displaced by the insurgency, many of whom live in camps.
&#8220;Over 1,000 trucks of assorted grains are now on course, delivering the grains intact to beneficiaries since the commencement of the present programme as against the reported diversion of over 50 trucks in every 100 trucks sent to the northeast,&#8221; said Osinbajo&#8217;s spokesman Laolu Akande in an emailed statement late on Saturday.
&#8220;The issue of diversion of relief materials, including food and related matters, which has dogged food delivery to the IDPs [internally displaced people] would be significantly curbed under the new distribution matrix.&#8221;
Akande said 1,376 military personnel and 656 armed police would guard the food as it was moved from warehouses and distributed to displaced people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe &#8211; the three states worst hit by the insurgency.
Boko Haram controlled an area of the northeast around the size of Belgium in early 2015 but has since been pushed out of most of the territory by Nigeria&#8217;s army and troops from neighbouring countries.
But the Islamists continue to carry out attacks in the northeast and neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.
Boko Haram killed 14 people in bombings and shootings in the northeastern city of Maiduguri on June 7, in a large-scale attack quelled by the army after several hours.
A U.N. official said this month the World Food Programme had scaled back its emergency plans in the northeast because of lack of funds, now aiming to supply food to 1.4 million people instead of the 1.8 million previously intended.
The U.N. says it needs $1.05 billion this year to deal with the crisis in northeast Nigeria &#8211; which, along with Somalia and South Sudan, is one of three humanitarian emergencies unfolding in Africa &#8211; but has only received about a quarter of that sum.
(Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Andrew Roche)

Nigeria says half of govt food aid never reached victims of Boko Haram

<div id="article-byline">
Idrissa Sangare
BAMAKO (Reuters) &#8211; Unidentified gunmen killed four guests at a Mali luxury resort popular with Western expatriates just outside the capital Bamako, and one other guest is still missing, a security source at the scene said on Monday.
One of the victims of Sunday&#8217;s attack was Portuguese and one Cameroonian, the security source said. Authorities had on Sunday confirmed two deaths and identified one as French-Gabonese. [nL8N1JF0SP] The source said the fourth victim had not been identified.
Security forces backed by French and U.N. troops mobilised quickly when the attack was underway, rescuing 36 residents including 13 French citizens. [nL8N1JF0SP]
Security Minister Salif Traore told Radio France International on Monday that &#8220;five terrorists were killed&#8221; in operations that continued throughout the night.
&#8220;This was without doubt a terrorist attack,&#8221; he told the radio station.
The resort was still cordoned off by late morning on Monday as a Malian anti-terrorist squad combed the area for the missing person, a Reuters witness said. A U.N. mission helicopter was circling overhead.
Traore said the militants had some accomplices who had not been killed or detained. On Sunday night, authorities reported that two of the assailants had been killed.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
French troops and a 10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force have been battling to stabilise Mali, a former French colony, ever since France intervened in 2013 to push back jihadists and allied Tuareg rebels who had taken over the country&#8217;s desert north a year earlier.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb and other Islamist groups have claimed attacks on Western targets in Mali and the wider West Africa region in the past.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to the leader of Mali after the attack and pledged France&#8217;s full support for the country, Macron&#8217;s office said on Monday. [nP6N1IJ021]
&#8220;I am tired, shocked. I have no other words to say,&#8221; the resort owner Manou Morgane, a French national, told Reuters TV overnight. &#8220;All I want to do is to see the list of my clients. I want to find them (anyone missing).&#8221;
(Writing and additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Dakar; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
</div>

Four guests killed in Mali resort attack – security source

CAPE TOWN
South Africa mine&#8217;s minister on Sunday defended new regulations seeking to accelerate black ownership in the key industry as a &#8220;win-win&#8221; situation for all, despite objections from an industry body threatening court action to block the changes.
Minister Mosebenzi Zwane released the government&#8217;s revised Mining Charter on Thursday, raising the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies to 30 percent from 26 percent, and giving resource companies 12 months to meet the target among a raft of other regulations that hit mining stocks.
The Chamber of Mines, which represents mining firms, said it would challenge the new rules in court, arguing that there had been insufficient consultation in drawing up the charter &#8211; which is designed to widen ownership of Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy.
&#8220;We have given due consideration to the submissions made and we will not be held ransom to those views that seek to derail transformation in the minerals sector,&#8221; Zwane said an an opinion piece in the Sunday Times newspaper.
Saying that it was impossible to please everybody, Zwane said a court review by aggrieved parties was expected.
&#8220;Should this happen, we are hopeful that the judiciary, recognising the separation of powers doctrine, does not usurp the role of the executive in exercising its power,&#8221; he said.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf, editing by Louise Heavens)
&nbsp;

South Africa’s mines minister defends new mining charter

Barbara Lewis
LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Anglo American&#8217;s diamond unit De Beers on Thursday launched the world&#8217;s largest diamond exploration vessel off the coast of Namibia as it looks to maintain high production levels until 2035.
The 12,000-tonne, 113-metre-long SS Nujoma was built at a cost of $157 million and is named after Sam Nujoma, Namibia&#8217;s founding president.
&#8220;I am very, very confident this (vessel) will allow us to continue to extract 1.2 million carats a year,&#8221; De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver told Reuters by telephone.
He said he was &#8220;cautiously optimistic&#8221; about diamond sales in 2017 and in terms of value there have been &#8220;some small positive movements&#8221; but it was too early to declare a trend.
Anglo American and De Beers rely heavily on diamonds. Anglo American says they are central to its portfolio of assets as they tend to hold value when bulk commodities fall in price.
Diamonds are also important to Namibia as they generate 20 percent of its foreign export earnings. Namibia receives 80 cents of every Namibian dollar generated by Debmarine Namibia, its 50:50 joint venture with De Beers.
Marine diamonds are particularly prized. They are generally more valuable than land-based stones because lower quality gems are washed away by waves.
Debmarine Namibia produced 1.2 million carats of diamonds in 2016, a level De Beers says it can maintain until 2035 when its licence expires on a 6,000 square km area.
The SS Nujoma is the sixth diamond exploration vessel to join Debmarine Namibia&#8217;s fleet. It can hunt for diamonds at more than double the speed of its predecessor, De Beers said.
De Beers has a budget for land-based exploration of about $35 million to explore in Canada, Botswana and South Africa.
(Editing by Jason Neely)

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