Uncertainty over government policies and a slowdown in the private sector cut Tanzania&#8217;s gross domestic product growth to an estimated 6.9 percent in 2016 from 7.2 percent the previous year, the World Bank said on Tuesday.
Growth is still supported by substantial government investment in infrastructure, including a standard gauge railway, new roads and expanding the ports.
But investors have been unnerved by unpredictable policies from the government of President John Magufuli, nicknamed &#8220;The Bulldozer&#8221; for his pugnacious governing style. A steep drop in money supply and a spike in non-performing loans have also hampered private sector credit growth.
&#8220;Policy adjustments, if they occur frequently, could cause uncertainty for the private sector, and this uncertainty could dampen private sector investment decisions,&#8221; the World Bank said in its latest economic update for Tanzania.
&#8220;The government should pay more attention to, and be more explicit about, the potential unintended consequences of government policies on the private sector.&#8221;
It said Tanzania&#8217;s economic growth in 2016 probably slowed to 6.9 percent, slightly below the government forecast of 7.2 percent. Government officials were not immediately available for a comment.
Tanzanian banks have tried to shield themselves against a steep rise in non-performing loans by creating a large buffer in the form of high interest rates, increasing the cost of borrowing, it said.
The World Bank said government cost-cutting measures, including restricting travel for officials, could hurt the private sector.
&#8220;Government meetings in tourist resorts have been banned &#8211; an example of how public administration reforms could also impact the private sector, which relies significantly on government demand,&#8221; it said.
After coming into office in November 2015, Magufuli launched a crackdown on tax evasion targeting large companies. Some foreign investors say they could now scale back operations or expansion plans because of tougher demands placed on firms, including higher tax bills.
&#8220;The negative business sentiment indicators point to the need for the government to promptly engage in public-private dialogue on investment climate,&#8221; the bank said.
(editing by Katharine Houreld/Jeremy Gaunt)

Tanzania’s economic growth slowed by policy uncertainty: World Bank

South Africa&#8217;s top court said on Tuesday it will consider whether a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma should be taken by secret ballot.
The rand extended its gains to 1 percent against the dollar after the announcement, and opposition parties said there could be a better chance that the motion, when taken, would succeed, if it was held by secret ballot.
The ruling African National Congress party, which has a majority in parliament, has said it will vote against the motion, which is due on April 18. A secret ballot, however, would allow for anonymous dissent.
Zuma, 74, has survived four previous no confidence votes. But opponents, led by the main opposition party Democratic Alliance, believe a recent cabinet reshuffle that led to the dismissal of respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan may have angered enough ANC members to desert Zuma.
<blockquote>&#8220;We only need 65 to 70 people from the ANC, and the secret ballot can deliver the votes to remove Zuma,&#8221; Bantu Holomisa, head of the smaller United Democratic Movement (UDM), which is also backing the no-confidence vote against Zuma, said.</blockquote>
He earlier posted a court document on his Twitter feed showing the chief justice of the Constitutional Court had given the go-ahead for the parties in the case to give their written submissions by April 21 &#8211; days after the no-confidence vote is scheduled to take place.
&#8220;The debate on the no-confidence motion against Zuma will have to be postponed, we have written to the Speaker of parliament to pushed it back,&#8221; Holomisa told Reuters. &#8220;In the event that the Speaker fails to do so, we will seek a court order blocking the debate from going ahead.&#8221;
The National Assembly is listed as a respondent in the case.
The ANC Chief Whip&#8217;s office has rejected calls for a secret ballot for the no-confidence motion.
(Reporting by James Macharia Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
&nbsp;

S.Africa’s top court to hear on secret no-confidence ballot on Zuma

Zambian police detained opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema on Tuesday after raiding his home, his spokesman said, but authorities could not immediately say why he was being questioned.
Hichilema, a wealthy economist known as &#8220;HH&#8221;, was defeated by President Edgar Lungu in an election last August, which he described as fraudulent. His attempts to mount a legal challenge have so far been unsuccessful.
<blockquote>&#8220;HH is now at Woodlands police station awaiting processes there. They are questioning him now,&#8221; Hichilema&#8217;s media aide Clayson Hamasaka said in a statement.</blockquote>
Hichilema&#8217;s lawyer Jack Mwiimbu said the opposition leader had been moved to Lilayi Police Training School in the capital for questioning.
&#8220;We have no idea what they want &#8230; we are on our way to Lilayi. This is something strange. It has never happened before. He is not well because of the tear gas. His wife fainted three times last night because of the tear gas,&#8221; Mwiimbu told Reuters.
A spokesman for Hichilema&#8217;s United Party for National Development (UPND), Charles Kakoma, said police broke doors to the opposition leader&#8217;s house in an exclusive suburb of Lusaka and fired tear gas canisters into the mansion. He said police had blocked the access road to the residence but did not say what they were looking for.
&#8220;They broke the doors and teargassed the house,&#8221; Kakoma said. &#8220;They left the home after picking him.&#8221;
Neither police nor Hichilema were available to comment.
On Sunday, presidential spokesman Amos Chanda said Hichilema had obstructed Lungu&#8217;s motorcade, saying Hichilema&#8217;s motorcade maintained its lane instead of getting off the road.
Hichilema was granted bail in October after being charged with sedition, a move his team said was an attempt by the ruling party to silence dissent.
The opposition leader had been accused of assembly without a permit after he gave an impromptu address in the rural town of Mpongwe, police said.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Zambian police raid home, detain opposition leader

After being in draft format for nearly two years, the National Greenhouse Gas Reporting Regulations were published by the Minister of Environmental Affairs on the 3rd of April 2017. This briefing document provides a short summary of part of the regulations and highlights what we believe to be some of the key issues for business.
The full regulations can be downloaded at the following link: <a href="http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/40762_gen275.pdf">www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/40762_gen275.pdf</a>
South Africa is undoubtedly moving to some form of carbon pricing regime. The timing and format (carbon tax, carbon budget or a combination thereof) are still unknown, but the greenhouse gas (GHG) data reported to the government as part of these regulations will form the basis for this carbon pricing regime. Companies impacted by the legislation therefore need to make sure their data is accurate and complete as it will have financial implications.
Few changes have been made to the final regulations so there should be no major surprises. But for companies that have not been following the draft regulations, there are some important considerations that are outlined below.
<h3>Important considerations</h3>
<ul>
<li>Reporting Boundaries. Companies must define their reporting boundaries based on operational control, defined by the regulations as “the full authority to introduce and implement its operating policies at the company”. For companies that have been using the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard for reporting of their GHG emissions historically and have adopted a slightly different approach, either financial control or equity share, this will need to be addressed.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Inclusion / exclusion of certain emissions. The regulations require companies to exclude emissions from mobile combustion (emissions from vehicles) as well as emissions from purchased electricity and refrigerants. Emissions from waste and waste-water treatment are included (provided you exceed the threshold – see the point below on thresholds). If your current GHG emissions inventory is not set up to include or exclude these sources, you may well end up over or under-reporting your emissions.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Emission factors and methodology. The regulations refer to the “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2006)” as the basis for calculating emissions. These guidelines have been translated for South African companies into a slightly easier format by the Technical Guidelines for Monitoring, Reporting, Verification and Validation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Industry (hereafter referred to as the Technical Guidelines). To understand the reporting requirements properly, the regulations and the Technical Guidelines must be read together. The most important methodological considerations are:</li>
</ul>
o   The emission factors to be used must be in line with the IPPC requirements and are mostly provided in the Technical Guidelines. For companies that previously relied on the UK Government’s DEFRA as a source of emission factors, this will need to change. There are also South African specific emission factors for certain fuels, such as diesel and petrol, which companies must be aware of.
o   Companies must report their GHG emissions for carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) separately. Global Warming Potentials (GWP), which are a measure of how much a GHG contributes to global warming relative to CO2 for these gasses, are also specified in the regulations and must be sourced from the IPCC 3rd Assessment Report.
o   The IPCC Guidelines divide emissions into four main categories, termed sectors (which are Energy, Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU), Waste and Agriculture, Forestry and Land-use (AFOLU)), which are further divided into several sub-sectors. Companies will need to determine which sector and sub-sector their emissions fall into.
o   The IPCC Guidelines provide several options for calculating the emissions, described as tiers. There are three levels of tiers: 1, 2 and 3. Each tier has an associated increasing level of detail and accuracy, with the tier 3 method requiring the most accurate approach. The regulations specify which tier to use, usually either tier 2 or 3.
<ul>
<li>Thresholds per source category. The regulations provide thresholds per emission source, above which companies are required to report. In the Energy sector, this is typically 10MW for the energy sources and varies for other categories (e.g. 5 tonnes of waste per day for waste disposal sites and 4 million bricks per month in the brick manufacturing sector). For most companies, the most important part of this is that the 10MW refers to the design capacity and not how much fuel you consumed. In addition, it is not linked to one piece of equipment larger than 10MW. The regulations provide an example of 6 2MW boilers, equating to 12MW, that would then exceed the threshold. Interestingly, this approach may require a company with a number of sites with backup generators to trigger the 10MW threshold, even if no diesel was consumed for that year in those generators.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Calendar year. Reporting needs to be done on a calendar year basis. For companies whose financial year does not end in December, this will require a good system to cater for this requirement.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Timing. The regulations don’t explicitly state this but it is expected that companies will need to report their 2017 data by March 2018. As an aside, the Department of Environmental Affairs is asking companies, through their industry associations, to provide historical data so that the National GHG Inventory is more complete.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Registration. Companies will need to register their company and the facilities that exceed the threshold on the South African National Atmospheric Emission Inventory System (NAEIS) which will serve as the reporting portal for GHG data. Note that the GHG module on the NAEIS is not functioning yet but it is understood that this will be ready by March 2018. The regulations require facilities to register within 30 days of publication of the regulations. Although companies are required to register the facilities that exceed the threshold, it is our understanding that because reporting is done per IPCC category, facility-level reporting is not mandatory. This allows for companies with multiple sites to consolidate their data. For example, the 6 sites with 2MW boilers could then report emissions from coal (assuming they are all coal-fired boilers) collectively under a single line item in the NAEIS.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Validation and verification. The regulations don’t require verified data, but if the competent authority deems the data to not be transparent, complete or correct they may undertake on-site verification and validation which the company will be responsible for paying for.</li>
</ul>
<h3>What actions should you take?</h3>
Companies must register and familiarize themselves with the NAEIS and ensure they are ready to report by March 2018. Many companies have been reporting their GHG emissions data for a number of years so the transition to mandatory reporting should be relatively straightforward. However, it is important that your GHG inventory is set up to allow for:
<ol>
<li>Clarity on your boundary approach, focussed on operational control for mandatory reporting.</li>
<li>Disaggregation of emission sources (e.g. mobile and stationary combustion) per facility.</li>
<li>Transparency on emission factors and GWPs and the ability to easily change these. The IPCC Guidelines and the Technical Guidelines must be consulted in this regard.</li>
<li>Ability to easily include or exclude emission sources (e.g. exclusion of emission from electricity for mandatory reporting but inclusion for voluntary reporting).</li>
<li>Clarity around design capacities of fuel combustion equipment.</li>
<li>Monthly data capture and reporting, particularly for companies with financial year ends that are not in December.</li>
<li>Verification of your GHG data. It is recommended that this is conducted by an organisation that understands the requirements of the IPCC Guideline.</li>
</ol>

Look out for new greenhouse gas regulations

<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/silvia-amaro/" rel="author">Silvia Amaro</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/@Silvia_Amaro">@Silvia_Amaro</a>
Global growth is expected to slow down significantly in the coming months as borrowing levels dominate in both China and Europe and &#8220;Trump-mania&#8221; is set to fade, a chief economist at Danish investment firm Saxo Bank told CNBC on Monday.
&#8220;Our main global macro outlook still maintains that recession is more likely than not in the near future (12 to 18 months) based on the global credit impulse having peaked simultaneously with global inflation,&#8221; Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank, said.
In a recent note, Jakobsen explained that the biggest &#8220;perception-versus-reality gap&#8221; in the market currently remains this risk of recession. He added that his company is not predicting a recession, but that its economic model does indicate a significant slowdown as &#8220;the large credit impulse from China and Europe in the early part of 2016 has not reversed to negative&#8221;, which it says should make the market conservative, risk averse push investors into U.S. fixed income.
&#8220;While the market at large sees less than a 10 percent chance of recession, we at Saxo – together with our friends at South Africa&#8217;s Nedbank – see more than a 60 percent chance,&#8221; he added in the note.
<a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/09/these-stocks-havent-been-this-cheap-in-40-years.html" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/09/these-stocks-havent-been-this-cheap-in-40-years.html" target="_self">Europe is seen as the main region</a> driving global growth, according to Jakobsen, beating the U.S. in the second and third quarters of this year. Jakobsen is not alone in this thesis, with a number of investment houses recently upgrading their outlooks on European stocks as fears recede on the rise of populism and polls indicate that centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron is likely to do well at the upcoming French elections.
Mike Bell, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, told CNBC Monday that European stocks &#8220;look pretty cheap&#8221; compared to U.S. stocks. &#8220;What you&#8217;re starting to see now is that underperformance of earnings that you&#8217;ve seen since the financial crisis is disappearing,&#8221; he said. There&#8217;s been a fundamental acceleration in the euro zone economy, he also noted.
But, according to Jakobsen, Europe&#8217;s momentum is not followed in other parts of the globe.
&#8220;One thing is absolutely clear: Asia is not going to contribute anything in 2017 to growth. China is on total standstill,&#8221; Jakobsen said Monday.
&#8220;They don&#8217;t know what to do with (<a class="inline_asset" title="www.cnbc.com/donald-trump" href="http://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump" target="_self">President Donald) Trump</a> and I think Trump again showed his hand over the weekend that he is not to be relied on in terms of a set-out path for how they conducted themselves,&#8221; he added.
<a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/09/at-us-china-summit-trump-presses-xi-on-trade-n-korea-progress-cited.html" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/09/at-us-china-summit-trump-presses-xi-on-trade-n-korea-progress-cited.html" target="_self">Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed</a> during a summit last week to develop trade talks during the next 100 days to reduce the Chinese trade surplus with the U.S. They also agreed to increase cooperation to curb North Korea&#8217;s nuclear program.
Shortly after the meeting, Trump sent 100,000-ton USS Carl Vinson and U.S. Navy support ships to the Pacific as a show of force <a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/09/trump-team-isnt-afraid-to-use-force-on-syria-north-korea.html" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/09/trump-team-isnt-afraid-to-use-force-on-syria-north-korea.html" target="_self">amid rising fears that North Korea will launch an intercontinental ballistic missile test in the coming days</a>. Last week, Trump approved a missile strike on Syria, after an alleged chemical attack. Such a decision overshadowed the summit with his Chinese counterpart.
Furthermore, the main driver of U.S. equities seems to be hope, Jacobson added. <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/.SPX" target="_self" data-gdsid="593933" data-inline-quote-symbol=".SPX">The S&amp;P 500</a> has reached historic highs since the new president took office on expectations that he will deliver massive tax cuts and infrastructure investments.
&#8220;A dominant part of the equity analysts sees a significantly higher S&amp;P but it&#8217;s based on hope. Hope to me belongs in church on a Sunday,&#8221; Jakobsen said.

More than 60% chance of a global recession in the next 18 mnths – economist

By Katharine Houreld
As the village wells dried up and her livestock died in the scorched scrubland of southern Somalia, Abdir Hussein had one last chance to save her family from starvation: the beauty of her 14-year-old daughter, Zeinab.
Last year, an older man offered $1,000 for her dowry, enough to take her extended family to Dollow, a Somali town on the Ethiopian border where international aid agencies are handing out food and water to families fleeing a devastating drought.
Zeinab refused.
<blockquote>&#8220;I would rather die. It is better that I run into the bush and be eaten by lions,&#8221; said the slender dark-eyed girl in a high, soft voice.
&#8220;Then we will stay and starve to death and the animals will eat all of our bones,&#8221; her mother shot back.</blockquote>
The exchange, related to Reuters by the teenager and her mother, is typical of the choices facing Somali families after two years of poor rains. Crops withered and the white bones of livestock are scattered across the Horn of Africa nation.
The disaster is part of an arc of hunger and violence threatening 20 million people as it stretches across Africa into the Middle East.
It extends from the red soil of Nigeria in the west, where Boko Haram&#8217;s six-year jihadist insurgency has forced 2 million people to flee their homes, to Yemen&#8217;s white deserts in the east, where warring factions block aid while children starve.
Between them lie Somalia&#8217;s parched sands and the swamps of oil-rich South Sudan, where starving families fleeing three years of civil war survive on water-lily roots.
Parts of South Sudan are already suffering famine, the first in six years.
In Somalia, the United Nations says more than half the 12 million population need aid. A similar drought in 2011, exacerbated by years of civil war, sparked the world&#8217;s last famine, which killed 260,000 people. Now the country teeters on the brink again.
At the moment, the death toll is still in the hundreds but the numbers will spike if the March-May rains fail. The forecast is not good.
As U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to slash aid budgets, the United Nations says the drought and conflicts in the four countries are fuelling humanity&#8217;s greatest collective disaster since World War Two.
<blockquote>&#8220;We stand at a critical point in history,&#8221; Undersecretary-General for humanitarian affairs Stephen O&#8217;Brien told the Security Council in March. &#8220;We are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations.&#8221;</blockquote>
The United Nations needs $4.4 billion by July, he said. So far it has received $590 million.
THE CHOICE
Missing from the statistics are the heart-wrenching choices families make every day to survive.
Sheltering under the bare branches of a thorn tree as she waited for a cup of flour, one mother who just arrived in Dollow said she had been feeding her younger children while the older ones went hungry.
Another had left her sick 5-year-old son by the side of the road with distant kinsmen as she led children that could still walk towards help. A third woman bid goodbye to her crippled husband and walked through the desert for a week, carrying their toddler, to the place where there was food.
Hussein traded Zeinab&#8217;s freedom for the lives of her sisters.
&#8220;I felt so bad,&#8221; she told Reuters in the ragged dome of sticks, rags and plastic that shelters her and 14 other relatives. &#8220;I ended the dreams of my baby. But without the money from the dowry, we would all have died.&#8221;
Zeinab, whose henna&#8217;d hands are also covered with her own inky teenage doodles, wears a tight-fitting headscarf and a long, drab skirt. Underneath are a pair of trousers with a spray of coloured rhinestones at the bottom, and an iron will. She wants to be an English teacher. She wants to finish school. She does not want to be married.
&#8220;I want something different to this,&#8221; she said, as her 2-year-old nephew rolled naked in the sand and his baby brother cried weakly.
Weighed against Zeinab&#8217;s dreams were the lives of 20 nieces and nephews, the sons and daughters of her three elder sisters, all married young and all widowed or divorced. There was also her careworn older brother, her gap-toothed younger sister and her middle-aged parents.
Once the family had cows and goats and three donkeys that they hired out with carts for transport. But the animals died around them and Zeinab became their only hope of escape.
For a month, she refused, withdrawing into herself and running away when they forgot to lock her in her room. Finally, faced with her family&#8217;s overwhelming need, Zeinab relented.
&#8220;We didn&#8217;t want to force her,&#8221; her mother said wearily, worry lines etched into her forehead as her daughter sat stony-faced beside her. &#8220;I could not sleep for stress. My eyes were so tired I could not thread a needle.&#8221;
THE MARRIAGE
The dowry was received, the marriage celebrated, and union consummated. Zeinab stayed three days and ran away.
When her family hired cars to drive them the 40 kilometers to Dollow, Zeinab went with them. She enrolled in the local school, where stick walls topped by corrugated iron sheets serve as classrooms for 10 teachers and around 500 students.
Her husband followed.
&#8220;He says, if the girl refuses me I must get my money back. Or I will take her by force,&#8221; Zeinab said quietly. &#8220;He sends me messages saying give me the money or I will be with you as your husband.&#8221;
Her family cannot repay even a fraction of the dowry. Their only assets are their two stained foam mattresses, three cooking pots and the orange tarpaulin that covers their makeshift dome. There is nothing else to sell.
Then Zeinab&#8217;s English teacher Abdiweli Mohammed Hersi decided to step in. Hersi has seen hundreds of students drop out due to the drought.
One girl left to work as a maid to help feed her family. Her generation was the first where the daughters were sent to school. A boy sickened and died; cholera has exploded throughout Somalia as the bacteria infects dwindling water supplies.
Five girls this year also left for forced or early marriages, Hersi said. Young, reluctant brides are not unheard of in Somalia, but they are less common in good times, he said, at least in Dollow.
&#8220;Before the drought, the cases were less,&#8221; he said, an inflatable globe hanging from the ceiling of his classroom. &#8220;Some parents do give their children to other men to get that money.&#8221;
THE END
No one knows how many families are making choices like Zeinab&#8217;s.
&#8220;While we don’t yet have firm data, we understand from some reports that the numbers are small but increasing, particularly in the south and central regions,&#8221; said Jean Lokenga, chief of Child Protection for the United Nations Children&#8217;s Fund in Somalia.
Other aid groups said most drought-stricken families are too poor to pay dowries after their animals died. None knew of a program to help girls like Zeinab.
Hersi took Zeinab to a local aid group, who took her to Italian aid group Cooperazione Internazionale. The regional coordinator, visiting on a trip with EU donors, decided to intervene.
&#8220;We must do something for this girl,&#8221; said Deka Warsame, pouring tea for colleagues gathered to hear the story as the call to prayer sounded through the rooftops. &#8220;Otherwise it will be a rape every night.&#8221;
Her staff held a collection and came up with enough cash to repay the dowry. Warsame told Zeinab the group would mediate a meeting between the men of the two families. Her husband would get back his money if he divorced her in front of witnesses.
Zeinab&#8217;s dark eyes flicked up from the floor.
&#8220;Will I be free?&#8221; she asked.
(Editing by Peter Graff)

Hungry Somalis weigh a daughter’s freedom against siblings’ lives

By Lanre Ola
Nigeria&#8217;s military on Monday released 593 people after clearing them of having ties with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, a spokesman said.
The military has arrested thousands in its fight against the insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in the northeast, now in its eighth year, which has killed over 20,000 people and forced more than two million to flee their homes.
<blockquote>The chief of army staff directed that those arrested be &#8220;released unconditionally if found not to have anything to do with insurgency or Boko Haram&#8221;, said Brigadier General Abdulraman Kuliya.</blockquote>
He added that the 593 who were freed had been arrested in multiple locations, held for varying lengths of time up to three months and were comprised of elderly people, men, women and children.
The military said they were handed over to the state government in Borno &#8211; the birthplace of the insurgency.
Attacks or attempted attacks bearing the hallmarks of Boko Haram in crowded areas have escalated since the end of the rainy season late last year. However, most have either been foiled or the suicide bombers managed only to blow themselves up.
In the most recent attack, two female suicide bombers detonated explosives on the edge of the university in Borno state capital Maiduguri on Monday, blowing themselves up but causing no other casualties.
(Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Nigeria’s military frees 593 people cleared of Boko Haram ties

By Stanley Carvalho and Chijioke Ohuocha
The Nigerian arm of Abu Dhabi telecom group Etisalat is yet to agree a deal on restructuring a $1.2 billion loan with local banks after it missed a payment, a company source told Reuters.
Etisalat Nigeria told Reuters last month that it was in talks with lenders to restructure the loan.
The source, who is not authorised to speak to media, said that Etisalat and the group of 13 Nigerian lenders were yet to agree on a debt restructuring proposal.
The source was speaking on the sidelines of Etisalat&#8217;s annual general meeting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, where Chief Executive Saleh Al Abdooli declined to comment on the debt talks when asked by Reuters.
Etisalat did not respond to a request for comment.
Nigerian regulators agreed with local banks in March to pursue a default deal rather than a receivership for Etisalat Nigeria so as not to deter investors and to avoid a wider debt crisis.
Sources have said that Etisalat would consider selling its stake in the Nigerian entity after the debt deal is agreed.
(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Etisalat Nigeria yet to agree debt deal with lenders: source

Rwanda recently celebrated the opening of its first <a href="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2017-02-08/207821/">peat-fired power plant at Gishoma</a> in the far west of the country, a <a href="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2017-02-08/207821/">$39.2M</a> project. It is the <a href="http://gov.rw/newsdetails2/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=158&amp;cHash=5363dd856cb45bfc79dd1f7ef3c824d3">first of its kind in Africa</a>.
Another larger peat plant, costing <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/rwanda-sets-out-to-develop-80mw-peat-power-plantpeat-power-plant/">$350M</a> is <a href="http://www.enca.com/africa/rwanda-to-construct-350m-peat-fired-power-plant">under development</a> in Gisagara to the east. The plan is for Gishoma to start feeding 15MW of electricity into the national grid imminently, and Gisagara <a href="http://www.enca.com/africa/rwanda-to-construct-350m-peat-fired-power-plant">80MW by 2019</a>.
The Rwandan government is hoping to achieve its goal of connecting 70% of the country’s 11.7 million people to the national grid by 2018. This is a near three-fold increase on the number connected at present. The peat-to-power plant at Gishoma will contribute to this goal, and further increase the <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/rwanda-energy-group-confident-meet-70-electricity-connectivity-target/">installed capacity</a> of the nation. This will reduce Rwanda’s reliance on expensive imports of diesel oil for power generation.
At the moment, <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/alternative-power-represents-2-rwandas-energy-mix/">only 25% of households</a> have access to the <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/rwanda-energy-group-confident-meet-70-electricity-connectivity-target/">190MW</a> of power generated in country. But over the next two years the capacity is projected to <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/rwanda-energy-group-confident-meet-70-electricity-connectivity-target/">reach 563MW</a> in line with national development goals. This increase will be made possible in part through the harnessing of power from peat.
<h2>Peat power</h2>
Peat provides an effective energy source when dried, comprising a minimum of <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4029e.pdf">30% organic matter</a>. It develops under anaerobic conditions, where waterlogging significantly slows or prevents the decomposition of dead vegetation. As the vegetation grows in the surface layers, it absorbs atmospheric carbon through the process of photosynthesis. When it dies, this carbon is stored in the accumulating substrate which is peat.
Peatlands are found <a href="http://www.peatsociety.org/peatlands-and-peat/global-peat-resources-country">across the world</a>. But they are concentrated within certain regions where high humidity or low temperatures reduce the rate of decomposition. These include the coastal lowlands of southeast Asia or northern Russia’s permafrost zones. Despite covering just 3% of the world’s ice-free land surface, peatlands store <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-an762e.pdf">up to 30% of its total soil carbon stock</a>. This makes them the most efficient carbon storage facility we have.
But arguably, not a renewable one. Though <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4029e.pdf">each peatland varies</a>, one centimetre depth of peat may take an average of 10 years to accumulate, and less than 10 minutes to burn.
<h2>Rwanda energy mix</h2>
Rwanda’s energy comes from a diverse <a href="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2016-11-25/205663/">mix of renewable sources</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/rwanda-provides-lessons-on-how-to-narrow-africas-energy-deficit-59474">Hydro-power</a> is the main contributor at 59%, followed by thermal (40%) and methane (1%). There are also ambitious plans for <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/alternative-power-represents-2-rwandas-energy-mix/">off-grid power</a> from <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/rwanda-off-grid-connections-to-light-villages/">solar</a>.
Peat power is considered one of these <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/rwanda-peat-power-plant-reaches-financial-close/">more sustainable indigenous sources of energy</a>. It has the potential to contribute nearly <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/rwanda-sets-out-to-develop-80mw-peat-power-plantpeat-power-plant/">20%</a> to the national energy supply in five years’ time.
It’s <a href="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2017-02-08/207821/">estimated</a> that there will be sufficient peat deposits to power Rwanda for 30 years, or some proportion of the country at least. The enhanced power that will come from the Gishoma and Gisagara peat-to-power plants is seen as an important part of the country’s development provision.
The plans are enabled through financial support from the African Finance Corporation, the Development Bank of Rwanda and Finnfund, the Finnish Development Finance Company, <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/news/rwanda-sets-out-to-develop-80mw-peat-power-plantpeat-power-plant/">among other lenders</a>. Finland has expertise in peat extraction and its use in the energy industry, with an average of <a href="http://www.stat.fi/til/salatuo/2015/salatuo_2015_2016-11-02_tie_001_en.html">5%</a> of its national supply coming from peat. This was encouraged by subsidies <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/10/10/the-peat-monster/">until recently</a>.
<h2>But where is Rwanda’s peat?</h2>
The Gishoma plant is nestled within the <a href="http://www.rwandatourism.com/destinations/nyungwe-national-park">Nyungwe Forest National Park.</a> This is an
<blockquote>untouched natural rainforest that is filled with exciting biodiversity.</blockquote>
The park’s <a href="http://www.rwandatourism.com/destinations/nyungwe-national-park">website</a> boasts of the presence of hundreds of species of <a href="http://www.rwandatourism.com/destinations/nyungwe-national-park">trees and orchids</a> within the park, such as the swamp-dwelling <a href="https://wsbeorchids.org/rwanda/orchids-of-nyungwe/">Eulophia horsfellii</a>. It’s also host to numerous plants species of medicinal value, like the East African satinwood, Zanthoxylum gilletii, and to one of the last <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15937/0">stable</a> populations of chimpanzees in East Africa. But there is no mention of peat. It’s evidently not a key feature for the average tourist.
There are vast areas of peatlands across the <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.533.3876&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf">Tropics</a> that we are only now starting to map and understand their full extent and carbon content. For example, it was only a few months ago that the first map of the world’s largest tropical peat complex was <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7639/full/nature21048.html">published</a>. Around 145,500 square kms of peat swamp forest was found in the central Congo Basin.
There may well be vast resources of peat in Rwanda that local residents have known about for years, or that the Finns have sniffed out recently, of which science has yet to be told or be concerned about. But whatever the scenario defining the nation’s peaty asset and wherever it is exactly, it is unlikely to be there for much longer if peat-to-power generation continues to be Rwanda’s <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X16300086">cost competitive</a> energy solution.
Given that it takes thousands of years to accumulate just hundreds of centimetres of peat, is peat-power really the solution to the nation’s energy needs? Can the <a href="https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/powerwall">Elon Musk’s</a> out there create an energy-storage solution quickly enough that renewables make a serious contribution?
For now though, Rwanda is set to power through its peat.

Rwanda adds to energy mix with first peat-fired power plant in Africa

Nigeria&#8217;s Mosimi oil depot has resumed loading after almost a year, when a major pipeline was vandalised last May, the state oil company said on Monday.
The resumption of loading could help the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) cut losses that stemmed from the damage, as trucks had to drive from Lagos to replace the pipeline, said Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the NNPC, in the statement.
The NNPC also plans to bring back online pipelines from the city of Kaduna to Kano, Jos and Suleja, Baru said, though he gave no further details.
Theft, sabotage and other attacks on oil product pipelines are a major problem for the NNPC. Last year, militant attacks on facilities in the Niger Delta region cut Nigeria&#8217;s oil production by as much as a third.
Nigeria&#8217;s government relies on crude exports for roughly two-thirds of its revenue. (Reporting by Paul Carsten; additional reporting by Libby George in London; editing by Jason Neely)
&nbsp;

Nigeria’s Mosimi oil depot resumes loading after almost one year

As part of his proposed first budget, US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut US aid <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/what-trumps-foreign-aid-budget-means-to-the-rest-of-the-world/521553/">to levels not seen</a> since the 1970s and 1990s. This could have a devastating effect on healthcare in Africa. Alex Ezeh spoke to The Conversation Africa about Trump’s decision and what it means.
How important is US aid been to health?
It’s impossible to overstate the historic importance of US development assistance to Africa. The US provides aid to more than 100 countries to support global peace, security, development efforts and to provide humanitarian relief. Foreign assistance is run through more than 20 different US government agencies. In 2017 alone it planned to spend US$36.6 billion.
The US also contributes to various international organisations such as the Global Fund, which aims to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics, as well as the United Nations aid agencies, for example. The reality is that these donations have made a significant impact.
Health is particularly vulnerable. For instance, the Global Fund and the US president’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (commonly known as PEPFAR) have jointly turned the tide on the epidemic of HIV/AIDS – in sub-Saharan Africa as well as the rest of the world.
Since it was created in 2002 the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria has contributed to saving an estimated <a href="https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/impact/">22 million lives worldwide</a>. Its greatest impact has been in sub-Saharan Africa, which shoulders the world’s highest burdens of the three diseases.
The Global Fund has invested some US$30 billion over the past 15 years, about 65% of which has been directed to the continent. Even so, the epidemics continue to take an unacceptably high toll in terms of health and economic development.
What big funding programmes could face the chop?
The US has historically contributed one-third of the Global Fund’s budget, which flows to countries with high disease burden of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and/or malaria, and the least ability to pay for services and health commodities for prevention, diagnosis and care. In August 2016 the US government said it would contribute up to US$4.3 billion to the Global Fund.
If the US doesn’t follow through on its pledge, one possible scenario is that other countries may step up more, including national governments in low and middle-income countries. But this may affect other development priorities as funds get shifted from other important programs to cover the huge shortfall.
In terms of big funding programmes at stake, the US has already announced that it’s withdrawing <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39487617">US$32 million in funding</a> from the UN Population Fund which directs money to family planning.
The dramatic declines in maternal and child mortality since 1990 cannot continue without sustained investment in maternal and child health, of which family planning is a crucial element.
We know that when women are able to plan and space their children, it protects their lives and those of their children. Given the projected doubling of Africa’s population to 2.5 billion by 2050 and 4.4 billion by 2100, and the commitment of African governments to fast track investments in human capital to achieve the demographic dividend, now is the time to increase investments in family planning programmes in the region.
The US’s contribution amounts to just over 3% of the UN Population Fund’s total annual budget, so the immediate programmatic impact may be offset by other countries increasing their annual contributions, which has started to take place. For example, in March 2017 Sweden announced a US$22 million increase. The country is considered a top funder to the programme. The longer-term impact, however, could be more pervasive.
How can gaps in health financing be filled?
There’s evidence that aid has stifled domestic investment in health and other social sectors including education, and infrastructure. This must change.
There’s a critical need to meet the demand for full health funding. Donor aid helps, but countries on the continent must contribute more money, and must continue to increase funding more rapidly in coming years.
If aid is cut there’s an opportunity for African countries to make good on their pledges to increase domestic financing for health. (This is true regardless of what the US decides).
The Abuja Declaration, now 16 years old, saw African Union countries commit to dedicating 15% of their national budgets to health. Very few have met this target, and unfortunately, in some countries it’s difficult to know for sure whether funding has gone up or down due to poor quality data.
One thing is for sure: this is a rapidly shifting global health development landscape. Now is the time to explore innovative financing mechanisms and partnerships with traditional and non-traditional donors, and also for citizens of African countries and donor countries alike to hold their national decision-makers to account in honouring their commitments.

How Trump’s proposed US aid cuts will affect healthcare in Africa

A big chunk of those &#8220;likes,&#8221; &#8220;retweets,&#8221; and &#8220;followers&#8221; lighting up your <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/TWTR">Twitter </a>account may not be coming from human hands. According to <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.03107.pdf">new research from the University of Southern California and Indiana University</a>, up to 15 percent of Twitter accounts are in fact bots rather than people.
The research could be troubling news for Twitter, which has struggled to grow its user base in the face of growing competition from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and others.
Researchers at USC used more than one thousand features to identify bot accounts on Twitter, in categories including friends, tweet content and sentiment, and time between tweets. Using that framework, researchers wrote that &#8220;our estimates suggest that between 9% and 15% of active Twitter accounts are bots.&#8221;
Since Twitter currently has 319 million monthly active users, that translates to nearly 48 million bot accounts, using USC&#8217;s high-end estimate.
The report goes on to say that complex bots could have shown up as humans in their model, &#8220;making even the 15% figure a conservative estimate.&#8221;
At 15 percent, the evaluation is far greater than Twitter&#8217;s own estimates. In a filing with the SEC last month, Twitter said that up to 8.5 percent of all active accounts contacted Twitter&#8217;s servers &#8220;…without any discernible additional user-initiated action.&#8221;
Since that equates to roughly 20 million more bot accounts than Twitter&#8217;s own assessment, that could be an issue in light of analyst concerns about user growth. In a recent research report, Nomura Instinet analysts wrote that &#8220;Twitter&#8217;s revenue growth has slowed to the mid-single digits, as the platform has struggled to attract new users over the past year…&#8221;
A Twitter spokesperson said that while bots often have negative connotations, &#8220;many bot accounts are extremely beneficial, like those that automatically alert people of natural disasters…or from customer service points of view.&#8221;
USC&#8217;s researchers also highlight the benefits of some bots, writing, &#8220;many social bots perform useful functions, such as dissemination of news and publications…&#8221;
But the USC report also points to the downside of bots, saying, &#8220;there is a growing record of malicious applications of social bots. Some emulate human behaviour to manufacture fake grassroots political support… [and] promote terrorist propaganda and recruitment.&#8221;
Twitter currently has a number of ways to report violations, including impersonation accounts and spam. A number of services also exist which claim to be able to audit followers and identify fake accounts.

As many as 48 million Twitter accounts aren’t people, says study

There was a time that South Africa looked very different to the rest of Africa. The <a href="http://www.scholaradvisor.com/essay-examples/descriptive-essay-south-africa-rainbow-nation/">“rainbow nation”</a> was seen by many – including a lot of its own citizens – to be exceptional, having more in common with the developed states of Europe than some of the countries on its own doorstep.
But, in the wake of a series of destabilising <a href="https://mg.co.za/report/zumaville-a-special-report">corruption scandals</a>, financial mismanagement and the incompetent leadership of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-zumas-actions-point-to-shambolic-management-of-south-africas-economy-52174">President Jacob Zuma</a>, this is no longer the case.
It’s time therefore to look to the rest of the continent for evidence on how the <a href="https://mg.co.za/tag/anc-crisis">crisis</a> within the country’s ruling African National Congress <a href="http://www.anc.org.za/">(ANC)</a> is likely to unfold.
The notion of <a href="http://www.politik.uni-osnabrueck.de/POLSYS/Archive/czada%20sa%20exceptionalism.pdf">South African exceptionalism</a> runs deep. Having suffered white minority rule much longer than most other African states, the country had one of the most stable and <a href="http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/unit.php?id=65-24E-6">successful transitions</a> to democracy on the continent. Following the election of the ANC in 1994, Nelson Mandela’s government promoted <a href="http://www.anc.org.za/content/1994-national-elections-manifesto">tolerance and responsible</a> government.
At that point, South Africa did not look very “African”. While Nigeria was blighted by <a href="http://www.unh.edu/nigerianstudies/articles/Issue2/Political_leadership.pdf">endemic corruption</a>, the ANC was led by a man whose <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/12/20121211124815790365.html">reputation</a> was beyond reproach. When the ZANU-PF government was becoming increasingly brutal in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-mugabes-latest-challenger-will-find-it-hard-to-break-the-mould-57587">Zimbabwe </a>, Mandela’s administration was promoting the rule of law and inclusion. And just as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Somalia were falling apart, the South African state appeared to be growing stronger.
Moreover, the notion of exceptionalism wasn’t just something dreamt up by academics or reporters: it was also deeply felt by South Africans themselves. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02589001.2015.1122870?src=recsys">Some surveys</a> have found that many believe that they are exceptional, and in some cases that they are superior to the rest of the continent. This had some positive consequences, most notably by supporting the reconstruction of a broader national identity.
But it also had its downsides. A <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/research-data/ktree-doc/6253">report</a> by the country’s Human Science Research Council into the xenophobic violence against migrants from Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe in 2008 concluded that, in addition to urban deprivation and intense competition for jobs and housing, a popular understanding of “exclusive citizenship” motivated anti-foreigner sentiment.
The xenophobic violence, and the economic conditions that gave rise to it, were a clue – for those who had their eyes open – that South Africa wasn’t really that exceptional after all.
On the one hand, a number of other countries such as <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Africa-Democracy-Politics-Research/440808-2808336-xorq81/index.html">Ghana and Mauritius</a> were also doing well when it came to consolidating democracy. It was just that these positive stories tended to be ignored.
On the other, some aspects of the South African “miracle” didn’t stand up to closer scrutiny.
Before and after Zuma
After the transition to majority rule the country recorded impressive achievements in terms of its progressive <a href="http://www.gov.za/DOCUMENTS/CONSTITUTION/constitution-republic-south-africa-1996-1">constitution</a> and growing welfare state. But at the same time it soon became clear that many parts of the bureaucracy were prone to rent seeking behaviour.
Similarly, despite its proud history and impressive first four years in office, the ANC was already exhibiting patrimonial tendencies well before Zuma became president in 2009.
As political scientist Tom Lodge <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiWk6zSt4_TAhUhIcAKHdUdAm8QFggdMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fafraf.oxfordjournals.org%2Fcontent%2F113%2F450%2F1.abstract&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkiFPoCLAdxHH2KirJhUuuolDt1A&amp;bvm=bv.151426398,d.d24">has argued</a>, many of those who rose to prominence in the movement during the apartheid era had been born into privileged positions. And the ANC was forced to develop ties to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/113/450/1/48437/Neo-patrimonial-politics-in-the-ANC">criminal networks</a> to operate after it was banned by the National Party in <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/african-national-congress-timeline-1960-1969">1960 </a>and forced into exile.
During the liberation struggle, the imperative of fighting the apartheid regime kept these patrimonial tendencies and criminal connections in check. But after the advent of democracy they started to become more pronounced.
Partly as a result, schemes such as <a href="http://www.dti.gov.za/economic_empowerment/bee.jsp">Black Economic Empowerment</a> were used not transform the underlying structure of the economy, but to generate opportunities for self-enrichment. South African political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki has called this <a href="http://africanarguments.org/2012/09/13/moeletsi-mbeki-on-south-africa-%E2%80%9Cblack-economic-empowerment-is-legalised-corruption-%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-by-magnus-taylor/">“legalised corruption”</a>.
These tendencies were then exacerbated by Zuma’s rise to power, in large part because he’s a leader that understands politics through a patrimonial lens. Lacking the intellect and management skill to lead by example, he has set about entrenching himself in power by <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/face-off-between-zuma-loyalists-and-critics-at-anc-headquarters/a-19528070">promoting loyalists</a> within the party and the state. This while condoning corruption and sacrificing policy for patronage. As a result, the party’s patrimonial tendencies have been sent into overdrive.
In addition to major corruption scandals over the upgrade to his <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/nkandla-corruption-exposed-1607427">Nkandla home</a> and a multi-billion dollar <a href="http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/the-arms-deal-what-you-need-to-know-2/">arms deal</a>, Zuma has drawn fire for his close relationship to <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwi1yOOZuY_TAhVJKMAKHQnlDngQFggcMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-africa-22513410&amp;usg=AFQjCNEv1Od9prhAbBfH8qaCfrNt19-P2w&amp;bvm=bv.151426398,d.d24">the Gupta family</a>. He allegedly allows the family to influence major policy decisions in return for its financial support.
More recently, the president plunged the ANC into a full-blown crisis by removing many of the most competent members of the cabinet and replacing them with <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/fm-fox/2017-03-30-gigaba-new-finance-minister-in-cabinet-bloodbath/">loyalists</a>. As a result, South Africa’s credit rating has been <a href="http://www.fin24.com/Economy/breaking-fitch-downgrades-sa-to-junk-status-20170407">downgraded</a>.
For many, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. In the days that followed, a number of prominent political <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2017/03/31/Save-South-Africa-calls-for-protest-after-Cabinet-reshuffle1">figures</a> and the ANC’s partners in the triple alliance, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2017/04/04/BREAKING-Cosatu-calls-on-Zuma-to-step-down">called on Zuma to go.</a>
Lessons from elsewhere
Putting this process in its historical context is important: it makes it clear that while Zuma has been a disaster, it would be naïve to think that he is the sole source of the ANC’s problems – or that his removal will solve them. It also shows that South Africa is not exceptional, and instead faces similar problems to many other countries on the continent.
One small silver lining to this cloud is that we can use the experience of other states to better understand the prospects for South Africa. One thing we know from Kenya and Nigeria is that the kind of politics practised by the president <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiDiJHKuY_TAhVsAcAKHWyVBwQQFggfMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanguardngr.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fcorruption-cases-nigeria-embedded-budgetary-process%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNHax2IiuZMwgoSzPnMXsAJnP_IBFQ&amp;bvm=bv.151426398,d.d24">quickly embeds clientelism</a> within key parts of the government and bureaucracy.
When this happens, it’s not enough to change just the president. Meaningful reform requires the removal, or at the very least retraining, of an entire tranche of figures put in place during the president’s tenure. Otherwise, patterns of patronage and clientelism have a way of reasserting themselves.
The experience of other states also tells us that some of the solutions that have been promoted as silver bullet solutions for South Africa’s predicament are unlikely to work. It’s been suggested that the direct election of the president (who at present is <a href="https://www.quora.com/Why-are-there-no-presidential-elections-in-South-Africa">elected by the parliament</a> would lead to more accountable and responsible government. But America just directly elected <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-president.html?_r=0">Donald Trump</a>, while Zimbabwe continues to directly elect <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-are-elections-really-rigged-mr-trump-consult-robert-mugabe-68440">Robert Mugabe</a>. Presidential elections are no panacea.
The lesson from other African countries is therefore a worrying one: the road back is a long one.
Distinctive features remain
But these comparisons shouldn’t lead to defeatism. There are a number of ways in which the country remains distinctive. Civil society remains more robust than in many other states, and more independent as the Confederation of South African Trade Union’s criticism of Zuma demonstrates.
Similarly, the <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/388736004c4223ab9542b5f68d25dd2f/SAs-judiciary-continues-to-lead-by-example-in-Africa:-Pillay">judiciary</a> tends to be both of higher quality and more impartial, while the governing ANC itself has <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Thabo-Mbeki-Battle-Soul-ANC/184277848X">more internal checks and balances</a> than most governments on the continent.
These features didn’t prevent the slide towards patrimonialism, and on their own they will not topple Zuma. But they are the foundations on which the struggle for a new South Africa can be fought.

South Africans are learning that they’re not that exceptional after all

Burundian opposition leader and former rebel chief Agathon Rwasa has said he fears for his life and has asked the government to speed up talks to end a crisis that began in 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza said he wanted a third term.
Burundi has been marred by instability since April 2015, when Nkurunziza announced his plan to run for a third term. The opposition said such a move was unconstitutional and violated a peace deal that ended a civil war in 2005.
Nkurunziza cited a court ruling saying he could run, and the government accuses opponents of fomenting unrest and backing rebel groups. At least 450 people have been killed in violence since the crisis began, rights groups say.
Talks between the government and its opponents in Bujumbura in 2015 failed to bridge their differences, and more negotiations mediated by Uganda in 2016 also stalled.
Rwasa accused the government of harassing opposition supporters, including from his National Liberation Forces (FNL) party. He said he feared for his life, claiming that unidentified members of the police and army wanted him dead.
<blockquote>&#8220;Some people believe that once Rwasa is killed they will stay or conquer power easily. But killing Rwasa will not help the country at all,&#8221; he told Reuters at the weekend.</blockquote>
Rwasa, who is also the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, said members of the opposition across the country were also being used as scapegoats.
<blockquote>&#8220;When there is crime committed somewhere, regardless of who committed it, the first thing to do is to arrest people from FNL and find false accusations to keep them in jail,&#8221; he said.</blockquote>
Nkurunziza&#8217;s spokesman, Jean Claude Karerwa, said no one wanted to harm Rwasa and that the courts should decide any accusations he wanted to make.
&#8220;We also ask him to use a type of language which doesn’t cause panic among the population,&#8221; Karerwa said.
Rwasa said the government did not appear keen to participate in talks and that political parties seemed to be unable to find a solution.
The government has said it would not hold talks with parties it said were involved in the violence in 2015-16.
&#8220;The government’s goodwill has never been denied. The last session was held in February, we don’t know when is the next, and it’s not the government to blame,&#8221; said Alain Aimé Nyamitwe, the foreign minister and one of the government&#8217;s negotiators.
Some 390,000 Burundians have fled to neighbouring countries since the crisis began, according to the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.
(Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Paul Tait)

Burundi opposition leader fears for his life

Miner Anglo American said on Monday it would sell its Eskom-tied domestic thermal coal operations in South Africa to a unit of Seriti Resources Holdings for 2.3 billion rand ($166.43 million).
The thermal coal operations that mainly supply coal to Eskom consist of the New Vaal, New Denmark and Kriel collieries, as well as four closed collieries , Anglo American said.
($1 = 13.8200 rand)
(Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru, editing by Louise Heavens)

Mining to be scaled down during South Africa’s 21-day lockdown

Anglo American to sell Eskom-tied coal operations in South Africa

Benin President Patrice Talon said he has abandoned plans to reduce the presidential mandate from two terms to one, after parliament rejected a draft bill to change the constitution.
http://cnbc.africa/news/western-africa/2017/04/05/benin-parliament-rejects-bill-aiming-reduce-presidential-terms/
Talon, who came to power in a peaceful election one year ago, promised to reduce presidential terms from two five-year terms to one six-year term, in a bid to reduce what he called presidential &#8220;complacency&#8221; in the tiny West African country.
But parliament on Tuesday voted down a bill for a referendum to reform the constitution, which included the provision to reduce presidential terms.
<blockquote>&#8220;The revision of the constitution is finished,&#8221; Talon told reporters on Saturday. &#8220;The single mandate is over.&#8221;</blockquote>
Talon&#8217;s effort contrasted with attempts by other rulers in the region, including in Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, to extend their mandates.
Talon also gave forecasts for this season&#8217;s cotton harvest. He said that output for the 2016-17 season could reach 400,000 tonnes, higher than 350,000 tonnes previously expected and up from 260,000 the prior season.
Benin&#8217;s cotton harvest is expected to get a boost due to an increase in land used for planting.
(Reporting By Allegresse Sasse, writing by Edward McAllister, editing by Larry King)

Benin president abandons plan to reduce number of presidential terms

Google launched a fact checking tool in its search and news results on Friday, as the technology giant looks to fight back against the spread of fake news, amid mounting pressure on internet firms to tackle such content.
The search giant will not actually be doing the fact checking itself but instead will surface results from the likes of PolitiFact and Snopes. For example, if someone searches &#8220;27 million people enslaved&#8221;, a result showing the actual claim, who said it, and whether it is true or not, will appear.
In October, Google tested the feature in a handful of countries and specifically in Google News. The announcement on Friday marks the wide-scale roll out of the feature.
The information won&#8217;t be available for every search, Google said, and there could be instances where the same publisher checked the same claim but came to different conclusions. Google emphasized the fact that it was not checking the facts and are &#8220;presented so people can make more informed judgments.&#8221;
&#8220;Even though differing conclusions may be presented, we think it&#8217;s still helpful for people to understand the degree of consensus around a particular claim and have clear information on which sources agree,&#8221; Google explained in a blog post.
Publishers wishing to be included in the fact check feature just need to add some additional code to their websites.
Google&#8217;s move comes amid heightened criticism of internet companies&#8217; inability to tackle fake news and misinformation. Google has been one of the companies under fire and has been making moves to improve how it tackles such content.
Social networking titan <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/technology/2016/11/19/facebook-fake-news-response/">Facebook has also taken steps to tackle fake news content</a> including its own fact checking tool which tells users who are about to post a link to an article, whether the claims in the article have been disputed. Facebook also launched an educational tool to help users spot questionable content.

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