Browsing: France

• China signs deal to reopen closed uranium mining site in crisis-hit Niger.
• Niger further agrees to give Chinese Company an oil pipeline deal.
• China to build an industrial park for manufacturing, real estate, mining.

China has signed a deal with troubled West African nation of Niger for the reopening of a controversial uranium mining site. Before China, there was France, and now the question is, will Chinese leave Niger in a better condition than the Frenchmen?

China is actually looking to score a broad-based investment deal that will include the construction of an industrial park, and an oil pipeline among other investments. The industrial park is also to be the site for the development of the uranium mine in question or maybe a site for enrichment, the details of the deal are not yet clear.

Niger China uranium mining

Jiang Feng, the Chinese ambassador to Niger, made the revelations recently. …

The opposition was excluded, the army shot protesters in the post-electoral uprise, and according to Amnesty, at least 5 people were killed during the last election, and several hundred were arrested or exiled.  Since then, nothing has changed.  Repressive laws and regulations that excluded opposition from the past elections are still in place, and opposition leaders are still in prison; a crackdown on dissenting voices is still occurring, except now Talon has blackmailed, corrupted and coerced local politicians into participating in the 2023 election to legitimize his electoral holdup.

Therefore, his August 30th declaration before the Business community in France in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, is not an accident but by design and should be taken seriously because back home, Talon had already started the process of changing the country’s constitution after January 2023.

The January 2023 legislative elections represent another major challenge for the country but …

Along with his diplomatic efforts, the future French President loved the country’s rich culture and has previously danced in public to the music of Fela Kuti, Nigeria’s legendary performer.

Even before his famous Ouagadougou speech, Macron established the Presidential Council for Africa, which comprised African and French representatives from fields such as entrepreneurship, health, sustainable development, sport, and culture to advise him on general issues confronting the continent.

Emmanuel Macron did not hesitate when he was first elected President of France to recognize that France has genuine interests in Africa, which he wanted to pursue through a partner-based strategy based on transparency and reciprocity.…

The Presidential Council for Africa (PCA), founded by President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, is driving this project. Its coordinator, Wilfrid Lauriano do Rego, told RFI that each student’s case will be examined separately.

“Each student presents a different case depending on whether they would like to continue studying in France or not and whether French universities can take them. And we also need to liaise with the French authorities to make this project feasible,” he said.

The initiative is not limited to francophone students but is open to anglophone students too, depending on how fluent they are in French. The project concerns all university courses but may be limited to what is on offer within the French universities participating in this initiative.

“It will also depend on what kind, of course, they are following and the decisions of the French universities giving these courses on the matter,” he said.

Three …

While in France, President Samia attended the One Ocean Summit in Brest. The three-day summit discusses ocean safety and actions against the threats to the ocean. Among other things, initiatives launched at the summit aim to protect the marine ecosystem and develop sustainable fisheries.

The initiatives seek to fight pollution particularly from plastics as well as to respond to the impacts of climate change and to advocate for improved governance of oceans.

This State Visit follows last year’s visit to Tanzania by French Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Franck Riester, who visited the East African economic hub in October  2021.…

By 2022, France plans to reduce and move its troops and will be restricted to regions that are not strategic for combating terrorism, which indicates that they will probably only act in the security of specific points, such as diplomatic and international organizations facilities.

That ends the so-called “Operation Barkhane”, which was a military mission marked by a tactic of permanent occupation of the Sahel countries by French troops.

The French government, however, apparently will try to reorganize its strategy in Africa. It seems that the focus of action will turn to the Gulf of Guinea.…

The Kenyan retail market has not been very kind for foreign investors. Botswana’s Choppies Supermarket came with a promise of adding a sparkle to an industry that was adapting to the advent of online shopping in Kenya.

At that time, Nakumatt Supermarket- the most profitable and successful store in East Africa was in deathbed and the sector was looking for the new supremo. It did not go so well for the South African retailer and it has been riddled with debts and poor sales.

Another South African outfit, Game has struggled to make an impact with just a few stores. The only foreign store that has a greater impact in the Kenyan market is Carrefour which has grown from a single store to taking over space formerly occupied by Nakumatt.

The remaining local supermarket chains have had to come up with innovative ways to stay afloat in a sector that …