China exploiting Africans: and faces worker revolts

 

Angola riots, Chinese evacuate

from the Uganda Monitor:

China Under Fire: Angola Riots Trigger Mass Exodus and Factory Closures

a taxi driver strike over high fuel prices has escalated into a protest against Chinese investments:

the anger is by unemployed youth and the unemployed against Chinese businesses, which were looted etc.

 Over a thousand were arrested, and many Chinnese citizens are fleeing the country. 

Over 250 thousand CHinese are estimated living there, embedded into the economy, but the gap between rich and poor has caused a simmering anger that is now erupting

BBC Report here

"The fuel price issue is just the last straw that has reignited widespread public discontent... People are fed up. Hunger is rife, and the poor are becoming miserable," a prominent local activist, Laura Macedo, told the BBC....

AlJazeerah article here.

The Conservativetreehouse blog has a long economic analysis here from a geopolitical standpoint, which is of course from a capitalistic conservative point of view.

But unlike the other articles he puts it into perspective of China's world wide trade network:

 “One-Belt / One-Road” is essentially their ‘bully plan’ to ensure their supply chain and long-term economic viability.

essentially China is replacing colonial powers who were thrown out by the people: 

and like the colonial powers, they are exploiting poor people as cheap labor in their factories etc. and stealing mineral and oil resources to get rich.

but as one Mashona co worker advised me years ago: People get mad. 

And as the African proverb reminds one: Even a small snake has a fang...

US Congo mineral deal in the future?

 Austin Bay, a military strategy writer on StrategyPage, has one of his syndicated columns discussing the story that the DRC asked Trumpieboy to rescue them 

In mid-February, a firm representing a Democratic Republic of the Congo legislator contacted several U.S. officials... . The letter sketched a sub-Saharan version of President Donald Trump's Ukraine minerals peace initiative.

what are they talking about? 

Would the U.S. be interested in acquiring or investing in Congo's enormous and globally unique trove of critical and rare mineral resources? The DRC has gold, copper, cobalt, tin, tantalum (coltan), lithium, gold and diamonds. The uranium for America's World War II atom bombs came from the then-Belgian Congo. Mobile phone and computer manufacturers need coltan (columbite-tantalite). Cobalt is a 21st-century treasure. Congo is the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, a must-have for electric vehicles.

so why not ask China to do this? Their propaganda always assures us that they will be the macho guys to stop the bad guys in Africa etc? Well, as any Filipino could tell you, China Lies.

In 2006 and 2007, Chinese front companies began buying DRC cobalt, copper and rare earth mineral operations. In 2008 and 2009, China signed the so-called China Deal of 2008 the DRC's Kabila dictatorship. The overall deal was supposedly worth billions. China was supposed to build roads and other infrastructure. It built ... next to nothing. In 2021, Congo condemned China and began legal proceedings to end Beijing's fraud.

peacekeepers also were no good.

But then the Rwanda connection:

The most effective militia is M23 - the March 23 Movement. Last time I looked, M23 had taken control of North Kivu's capital, Goma. The DRC government calls M23 as a terrorist organization controlled by Rwanda in order to exploit Congolese mineral resources. Rwanda, currently led by a government dominated by the Tutsi tribe, says M23 is a Congolese Tutsi militia defending Tutsi rights.

One of my human rights newsletter points out they are just trying to protect their people, and warned me not to believe the MSM propaganda that they are bad.

Lots of analysis about this in the essay.

One doubts that the US wants to get involved: The mess should be handled by Europe, by France and Belgium and the UK who used to own these countries, not the US. However, China is trying to get rare earth minerals monopoly, and countering them might inspire Trumpiboy to do something.

And as you can see in the Ukraine, Europe is a paper tiger, and except for a small special forces types units are toothless. In contrast, the US has quite a few experienced combat soldiers.

Read the whole thing.

Pogos, Scams, spies, and the Chinese mafia

when my granddaughter tried to take a plane from Manila to Thailand for a job teaching, the government stopped her, until paper work and investigation of her and her job offer could be investigated.

They explained that Thailand was a center for human trafficking.

Filipinos, especially attractive young women, are hired to be maids or workers and end up as prostitutes. There is also a lot of drug smuggling, where poor folk are enticed to become mules to deliver drugs to their destinations.

Well, everything cleared, and she flew out last week with her mother to check on the job and housing, and everything was fine.

The background of this is organized crime, and the POGOs, gambling casinos linked to organized crime that were opened 20 years ago despite the warnings by the Catholic bishops, President Arroyo allowed the POGOS as a way to get jobs for locals and money for the government.

According to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), POGOs began operating in 2003 but it was only in 2016, after Duterte came to power, that the government began regulating online gaming hubs.

which brings us to this story I found today on twitter/X: 

 from AlJezeerah.

In a world exclusive, imprisoned tycoon She Zhijiang shares explosive allegations about Chinese spies and an international criminal conspiracy: https://t.co/mSOn5klXaJ pic.twitter.com/9OYtVyCkmk

— 101 East (@AJ101East) September 27, 2024

...............

........

wikipedia page:

His company, Yatai International Holdings Group (abbreviated Yatai IHG), is registered in Hong Kong and headquartered in Thailand.[2] He became a fugitive in 2012, after fleeing Chinese authorities.[7] In 2014, a Shandong court convicted him of running an illegal lottery business in the Philippines that targeted Chinese online users, and had netted US$298 million in profits.[8]

so convicted in China 2014, but that didn't slow him down. 

In 2015, he began building a business in Cambodia, involved in the illicit business of helping Chinese gamblers front-load gambling bets made in Cambodian casinos.[2]

From there, he expanded his business interests to the Philippines and acquired ownership of one of Manila's largest spa and entertainment centers.[2]

the US Institute of Peace (a US Govt think tank) in 2020 posted this report on what was going on in Myanmar.

To circumvent Chinese laws against gambling, ethnic Chinese with citizenship in other countries spearhead these projects.

Of concern to Beijing, they have co-opted Chinese government institutions and agencies to present their activities as central to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.  

notice that several of these articles mention the Philippines? that is an ongoing scandal here which I have not been following. 

But recently, instead of watching soap operas, everyone here is following the Senate hearings on Alice Guo, a fake citizen who became mayor of a small town in Pampanga. that has been linked to casinos and crime (and is near a military base but no spying found...yet).

PhilStar reports (9 25):

n what was supposed to be the final hearing on Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO), Guo deviated from her usual responses to assert her innocence—and to hint at a bigger boss.

“Your honor, hindi ako mastermind. Masasabi ko po is isa akong victim (Your honor, I am not a mastermind. I can say that I am a victim) ,” Guo said. 

For most of her appearances in the Senate since being detained by Indonesian authorities in September, Guo has typically given one of three responses: she either claims ignorance, invokes her right against self-incrimination or cites a death threat.

Sen. JV Ejercito then asked Guo if she was a pawn of an international criminal syndicate. Guo responded that she was not exactly used, but acknowledged that she has a reputation for being helpful.

This article from the Straits Time Singapore notes connections with organized crime there.

Guo had incorporated the company behind the scam compound, Baofu Land Development, in 2019 with two convicts in Singapore’s $3 billion money laundering case, Chinese nationals Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying.

and ANC notes

......

alas, I am not an expert on the Chinese Triad but WIKIPEDIA page discusses their long history 

and the liberal Brookings Institute has a long analysis of the relationship between organized crime and the Chinese government

Indeed, these criminal networks provide a variety of services to the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Chinese legal enterprises. They help build networks of corruption and influence among foreign politicians and businesses.

In interviews with Vanda Felbab-Brown, current and former law enforcement officials from the United States, Asia, Australia, and Africa stated that China-linked criminal groups monitor the Chinese diaspora and act as extralegal enforcers on behalf of Chinese authorities against those who speak and act against the Chinese government and CCP. Thus, Chinese government officials often unofficially extend the umbrella of party protection and government authority to these actors.

 Hey Donald, instead of worrying about Haitians eating Garfield you need to check out some of the Chinese ethnics entering the USA illegally.

sorry: I accidentally posted it here, but you know, with all of those Chinese investments in Africa, and now that Africans are being recruited to work overseas, I wonder if there is a story about the Chinese triads in Africa too.

blood cobalt

 

Blood cobalt and the chaos in central Africa

StrategyPage has a long essay on the Congo, and the elections.

but the part I want to quote is this, and I wonder how China managed to control their mineral wealth.

Just defeating Kabila in an election was a remarkable feat because the former president had enriched himself with corrupt dealings. The worst corruption was in eastern Congo (Ituri, North and South Kivu provinces) and southern Congo (Katanga province). These provinces are where foreign firms mine and export valuable minerals.

what it comes down to is that China is investing in the cobalt mining, and it's easy to bribe and let authorities steal the profit (and probably the Chinese firms will also divert some of that money).

In southeastern Congo (Lualaba province) the state-owned cobalt monopoly, Entreprise Generale du Cobalt (EGC), had been paying artisanal, or informal, cobalt miners a minimum price of $30,000 a ton for cobalt that was selling for $50,000 a ton. The government contended that unregulated minral brokers paid artisanal miners much less than $30,000 a ton. For a long time these independent miners have produced about ten percent of Congo’s Cobalt. Most of those mineral brokers work with or for Chinese companies which control an estimated 70 percent of Congo’s mineral deposits and mining industry. The Chinese state-owned CNMC (China Nonferrous Metal Mining Company Ltd.) owns huge cobalt and copper reserves in Congo.,,,

Congo is the world’s biggest cobalt producer, each year producing a growing majority of the world’s total cobalt. In 2020 Congo produced about 100,000 tons of cobalt, which was 71 percent of the world total. By 2021 industry sources estimated that Chinese companies controlled around 40 percent of Congo’s cobalt mining capacity. 

Why cobalt? China is planning to take over the world with their electric cars.

it is not just exploiting the workers and stealing the profits: It is also destroying the environment and displacing people from their traditional land.

Human rights abuses are well documented

AlJazeerah reportAlJazeerah report

In the report Powering Change or Business as Usual? published on Tuesday, Amnesty International and the DRC-based organisation IBGDH, or Initiative pour la Bonne Gouvernance et les Droits Humains (Initiative for Good Governance and Human Rights), detail how the expansion of multinational mining operations has led to communities being forced from their homes and farmland.,,“Climate justice demands a just transition. Decarbonising the global economy must not lead to further human rights violations. The people of the DRC experienced significant exploitation and abuse during the colonial and post-colonial era, and their rights are still being sacrificed as the wealth around them is stripped away.”

Amnesty International report:“The forced evictions taking place as companies seek to expand industrial-scale copper and cobalt mining projects are wrecking lives and must stop now,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

NPR reports:How 'modern-day slavery' in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy

much of the DRC's cobalt is being extracted by so-called "artisanal" miners — freelance workers who do extremelyKara says the mining industry has ravaged the landscape of the DRC. Millions of trees have been cut down, the air around mines is hazy with dust and grit, and the water has been contaminated with toxic effluents from the mining processing. dangerous labor for the equivalent of just a few dollars a day.

 

even Joe Rogan is publicizing this atrocity:

China and food

 The German media looks at how China is "taking over" the UN's food organization and is upset because they are encouraging using herbicides and pesticides.

Alas, say the Germans. Look at the problems.

Ah but does it mean more food for locals? Heck, this is a green ecology report, so who cares about eating. Yes I'm being sarcastic.

Zimbabwe election: disputes as usual

 a new elected government, opposition yells fraud, counter story is that the USA/West is trying to manipulate the opposition, and the elephant in the room: What did China do behind the scenes?

I congratulate President Emmerson Mnangagwa on his re-election. I wish him and the people of Zimbabwe well for the upcoming term.

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) August 28, 2023

🟡Dear @ZECzim,

You have consistently denied summoning polling officers to the command center for the signing of new V.11 forms. However, to expose your dishonesty, our team was deployed this afternoon to Nyika, where they witnessed the opening of ballot boxes in the absence of… pic.twitter.com/yGpCOhSX6s

— Citizens' Coalition for Change (@CCCZimbabwe) August 28, 2023

China's official news story LINK

and they say in other articles that China is willing to help the government, (but not so much the west who are suspicious and cautious about helping).

Background: Article from the Economist 12 22 about China building a surveillence state in Zimbabwe.

most of the article is behind a paywall, but here is how it starts:

Registering to vote in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, isn’t easy. The only registration centre is two bus journeys from the most populous suburbs. Nationwide there are just 71 voter-registration centres, or one for every 216,000 people (though some mobile ones are operating ahead of a general election next year). And this is not the only worry. Since 2018 Zimbabwe has collected fingerprints, photos, addresses and phone numbers to clean up the voters’ roll, which was reportedly full of “ghost voters”. This frightens many Zimbabweans, especially those belonging to the minority Ndebele ethnic group, much of which is concentrated near Bulawayo. In 1983 some 20,000 mostly Ndebele people were massacred by the army. Emmerson Mnangagwa, now the president, was head of the security services at the time. Now, people fear data collection “is a way to re-identify and target us,” says Rodwin Sibanda of the Habakkuk Trust, an ngo in Bulawayo.

China Projects blog has an article about Chinese projects in Zimbabwe: it's the mines, stupid.

China is Zimbabwe’s biggest foreign investor and kept the nation afloat amid Western sanctions, but is now estimated to control 90% of Zimbabwe’s mining industry (with the largest lithium reserves in Africa) and helps keep the economically disastrous Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) in government.

Over the years, Chinese interests have been a power behind the throne — once again, ZANU-PF triumphed in national elections last week; once again, amid accusations of rigging the system — with a hand in making and breaking its leaders.

China in Ethiopia

 Global voices has a long article about China in Ethiopia:

Many of what is reported is what we see here in the Philippines:

Promising jobs but importing their own laborers, pushing vaccine diplomacy, promising infrastructure, flooding shoddy imports.

read the whole thing. 

Neocolonialsm at it's best and something rarely reported in the western media, 

Chinese neocolonialism in Africa

 StrategyPage has a long article about Chinese investments etc. in Asia and Africa.

they invest in projects but bring their own people to do the work (so no local jobs). And afterward, the Chinese stay to take over the economy. They mainly work with corrupt governments who will take their bribes to do so.

and then the locals protest.

Hmm... sounds familiar. they are doing a lot of this in the Philippines. heck, even the last buybust drug raid in our are resulted in the death of a "chinese national" who was running the drug gang.

Because of this, China is increasingly seen as a supporter of evil governments and that has generated widespread African hostility towards all things Chinese.

 

This has led to anti-Chinese riots in some countries and a general animosity towards the Chinese at the grass roots level. Thus when these countries go through their next rebellion, Chinese are likely to be a popular target and a major loser if the rebels win.

 

These problems exist, to a lesser extent, in the Middle East and Asia. China has been at this for since 2002. This really kicked into high gear when China declared 2006 was officially "The Year of Africa." China went all out to make a favorable impression on African governments and increase Chinese economic and diplomatic activity in Africa that year. To that end, about a billion dollars-worth of debts, of African nations to the Chinese government, were forgiven. The year before, Chinese commercial and government organizations invested over $13 billion in Africa. This was less than one percent of China's GDP but by African standards, it was a huge investment.

 

However, there was some blowback. The Chinese were mainly after raw materials, especially oil. A lot of that $13 billion was bribes for local officials.

well, duh. 

As usual, the average African was getting screwed by these deals. China is also flooding African markets with inexpensive goods. This and imported Chinese workers are hurting local businesses and causing unrest among African business owners and workers. As a result, it's become common for opposition parties in Africa to accuse China of "neo-colonial exploitation." The accusation fits, and the Chinese will pay for it down the road, as will peacekeepers brought in to help clean up the mess.

 

blood cobalt

StategyPage discusses the chronic civil war (and refugees and starvation and disease caused by the chaos of the war) in Central Africa, partly tribal and partly because President Kabila refuses to leave. The bishops devised a peaceplan there, but were ignored, so it appears it will continue.

The MSM ignores it (just another civil war, folks, just move on)..

But how many in the MSM will cover this: President Kabila plans to tax mining companies taking out cobalt (and copper).

February 10, 2018: Congo confirmed it intends to raise taxes on minerals as well as raise the royalty rate mining companies must pay the government. Parliament approved legislation to raise mining taxes as part of a new "mining code." ... Most of the mining companies affected are European, North American and Chinese. Cobalt will become more expensive and so will copper. Why? In 2016 the world produced an estimated 123,000 tons of cobalt and 57 percent came from Congo. ..

So what, you might say? Well this is why:

Cobalt has many uses, but it is critical in the production of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the type used to power mobile digital devices and electric vehicles...

 and who is buying all that cobalt?

China has been a major buyer of Congolese cobalt so that increase will hit Chinese manufacturers particularly hard. In the first nine months of 2017 China imported an estimated $1.2 billion worth of Congolese cobalt.

and then there is the corruption angle:

..Gecamines, the stare owned mining company, plays a key role in mismanagement and "diverting" mining revenues. Gecamines officials are beholden to the Kabila government. (Austin Bay)

------------------
so what does this have to do with Zimbabwe?

well, there will be a need to find cobalt elsewhere:

The foremost risk, and perhaps the most challenging to solve, is geopolitical. Sixty-two percent of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and combined with production from Zambia, Madagascar, South Africa and Zimbabwe, the five countries mine more than 71 percent of the world’s cobalt. Companies process ore locally and export more than 90 percent of the total to China for further processing and refining to produce commercial cobalt compounds used in batteries.
This exclusive trade between African countries and China exposes the market to Chinese regulatory volatility and export restrictions, a recent example being that of the rare earths market, which saw extreme shortages after the Chinese enacted export restriction in 2010. Since then, countries and private industries have had to resort to alternate sources and materials, and stockpiling.

------------

Well there is a lot of rare minerals in Zimbabwe too, and the mining companies see the new president as business friendly.

Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s former spy chief, became president in November with military backing and has offered to hold elections by July.
His administration abolished rules that mining operations must be at least 51% owned by black Zimbabweans for all minerals other than platinum and diamonds.
Zimbabwe is geologically rich, with deposits of gold, chrome, lithium, coal, diamonds, platinum and iron ore.
Mine development stalled under Mugabe, whose policies led to a collapse in the economy and hyperinflation.

more here:

‘Zim could become hub of battery mineral revolution’

February 9, 2018 in News

With Zimbabwe sitting on a lucrative mineral treasure trove and angling to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), Australian listed firm, Prospect Resources, is on course to spending an estimated US$55 million on a new lithium plant in the southern African country. Zimbabwe Independent business reporter Tinashe Kairiza (TK) spoke to Prospect Resources executive director Paul Chimbodza (PC, pictured) on how attractive Zimbabwe is as an investment destination and how the lithium plant will add impetus to government’s efforts to grow the economy

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WSJ laments China's race to get rare earth metals including cobalt

e companies dominate the cobalt supply chain that begins at mines in Congo

Miners pushing their cobalt-laden bicycles through a mine near Kolwezi, Congo, last June. They often sell to Chinese wholesalers. PHOTO:DIANA ZEYNEB ALHINDAWI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

By 

Scott Patterson and

 

Russell Gold

Feb. 11, 2018 1:46 p.m. ET

237 COMMENTS

KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo—Miners push bicycles piled high with bags of a grayish-blue ore along a dusty road to a makeshift market. There, they line up at wholesalers with nicknames such as Crazy Jack and Boss Lee.

Most of the buyers are Chinese. Those buyers then sell to Chinese companies that ship the bags, filled with cobalt, to China for processing into rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries that power laptops and smartphones and electric cars.

There is a world-wide race to lock up the supply chain for cobalt, which will likely be in even greater demand as electric-car production rises. So far, China is way ahead.

Chinese imports of cobalt from Congo, the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, totaled $1.2 billion in the first nine months of 2017, compared with just $3.2 million by India, the second-largest importer, government data show.

“We’re realizing that the Congo is to [electric vehicles] what Saudi Arabia is to the internal combustion engine,” says Trent Mell, chief executive of exploration company First CobaltCorp. , based in Toronto. Chinese firms are keenly aware of Congo’s importance to electric vehicles, he says, and “trying to control the whole ecosystem…from cobalt mining to battery production.”

From Congo to China

Lithium-ion battery production is concentrated in four countries.

Much of Congo's cobalt winds up in processed cobalt sulfate.

Congo produces more than half of the global supply of cobalt.

Percentage of raw cobalt production, by country

Percentage of world-wide cobalt sulfate production

Percentage of global production capacity*

Germany

9%

China in Africa investing in land etc.

TPM Barnett also has an essay about a new book and a NYTimes editorial onChina inAfrica.


the book he reviews defends China against charges of neoImperialism, using it's own people instead of local employees, and of course, supporting dictators and corrupt leaders.

Yes, folks someone is shilling for China.

He then adds his opinion:

My take: the more China gets into Africa, the more it enmeshes its interests with the locals, who, in turn, become more demanding of better deals - just like Chinese labor back home. Will it be a nice process? Hardly ever is, judging by history. But an unsurmountable process? Not if China is as highly incentivized regarding back-home stability as Moyo argues here (and I agree).

After ripping African leaders a new one, Moyo ends powerfully with this: With approximately 60 percent of Africa’s population under age 24, foreign investment and job creation are the only forces that can reduce poverty and stave off the sort of political upheaval that has swept the Arab world.

And China’s rush for resources has spawned much-needed trade and investment and created a large market for African exports — a huge benefit for a continent seeking rapid economic growth. No argument from me on that. China is creating connectivity and opportunity - more so than the West right now. The West is still a far bigger player in Africa, but China is the most dynamic agent right now.

Why business should consider Africa

From the Wharton School of business (Univ PA)

Odembo visited the University of Pennsylvania recently for meetings arranged by the U.S.A.-Kenya Chamber of Commerce and spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about the potential rewards and risks of investing in Africa, including Vision 2030, Kenya's plan to become a middle income nation in the next 20 years. ...

If you look at what has happened in the last few years in terms of improved governance, many countries are becoming more democratic. They're having elections more regularly. The typical tensions that would result in risk have been minimized to a great extent -- wars around the time of elections, civil wars between different communities, fighting between one community and another over natural resources -- we've overcome those challenges to a great extent. The continent is looking ahead to being a place where there's a certain amount of predictability. In the past, unpredictability was another risk.

Africa now has all the ingredients to minimize the risks that people feared before. One way to establish that is for a prospective investor to talk to companies already doing business on the continent. They would be able to tell you about changes that have taken place over the last five or 10 years, and how much we, as countries and as regions, have managed to minimize risks to investors. We appreciate now that we've been left behind and we must do what is necessary to create an enabling environment for private-sector business and investment, both local and foreign direct investment.

Knowledge@Wharton: How do you view China's investment strategy in Africa? What does it mean for investors from other parts of the world?

Odembo: I don't know if I can talk about the Chinese investment strategy because I'm not privy to [it], but I can discuss what I have observed. When the Chinese first appeared as investors on the continent about 10 years ago, a lot of African countries were very uneasy about the manner in which they were setting up businesses and the types of investments they were making. The Chinese have become much more sophisticated in the last 10 years. They now have a strategy. It appears to revolve around what they have studied extremely well on the continent. They know the demographics: There is a rising middle class on the continent; there's a very dynamic, young population; and the continent is becoming increasingly urbanized. Therefore, there is a market and purchasing power on the continent. One part of the Chinese strategy is based on the fact that they are reading Africa very well in terms of where we are now and where we are likely to go to in the next few years.

The Chinese also appreciate the riches that the continent has. Most other countries have known the riches that exist here. Some northern countries from North America and Europe have already extracted the valuable minerals and metals that they needed to develop their industries. The Chinese have figured out that over the next 10 years or so, some of the most valuable commodities that the global economy requires are on this continent.

The Chinese are positioning themselves to do business with African countries, and have figured out that in another 10 years, the continent will have a population of one billion people. That's a very sizable market for selling your products, not to mention the human resource capabilities for producing goods that you might want to export to your own country. Again, I'm not sure what the strategy is, but I can imagine that they're seeing it putting them in a very good position in terms of who will benefit the most.

Knowledge@Wharton: What implications will this have for investors from other parts of the world?

Odembo: It's a challenge. Investors will have to compete with somebody who already has a foot in the door, investing heavily in developing infrastructure, which is where African governments will tell you is where the greatest need has been -- infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. In the next 10 years or so, if this infrastructure has been developed, Africa is going to be able to trade within itself quite significantly. We've learned this during the global recession, when our commodities didn't have a ready market because our traditional markets were experiencing the crisis. We turned inward and started trading with each other.

Because of the potential for trading within the continent with a developed infrastructure, people investing in infrastructure will stand to benefit very significantly because they will know the infrastructure very well. Part of being a good business person and investor is knowing how the infrastructure is set up and how things move from point A to point B. ...

videos HERE and HERE