China is the leading player in Nigeria’s construction industry, according to the Chinese embassy in Abuja. However, Nigerian contractors and engineers say Chinese firms force them out of major projects. Alhassan Bala reports from Abuja, Nigeria, in this story narrated by Steve Baragona. Camera and video edit: Awwal Salihu Voice of America
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — Argentina formally announced Friday that it won’t join the BRICS bloc of developing economies, the latest in a dramatic shift in foreign and economic policy by Argentina’s new far-right populist president, Javier Milei. In a letter addressed to the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — the founding members of the alliance — Milei said the moment was not “opportune” for Argentina to join as a full member. The letter was dated a week ago, December 22, but released by the Argentine government…
WASHINGTON — The United States has struck hundreds of deals worth $14.2 billion with African nations over the past year as Washington tries to counter growing influence on the continent by China. The 547 new trade and investment agreements represent a 67% increase from 2022 in the number and value of closed deals, according to British Robinson, coordinator for the Prosper Africa trade and business initiative, a program that connects U.S. and African businesses. Robinson said the presidential and national security initiative is aimed at strengthening strategic and economic partnerships…
As a debate over loans and trade relations with China heats up in Kenya, the Chinese embassy in Nairobi is looking to boost cultural ties with Kenyans by launching food extravaganzas. Victoria Amunga has more from Nairobi. (Camera and Produced by: Jimmy Makhulo) Voice of America
accra, ghana — A Ghanaian court has sentenced a Chinese national to prison for illegal gold mining in the West African nation, her attorney said Monday, ending a case that started in 2017 and shed light on Chinese involvement in the activity. The court in Accra sentenced Aisha Huang to 4-1/2 years in prison and a fine of 48,000 Ghanaian cedis ($4,000) for running an illegal mining operation, the attorney, Hope Agboado, told Reuters. Huang, who could not be reached for comment, initially pleaded not guilty but changed her plea…
johannesburg, south africa — Political analysts and opposition politicians in Africa accuse China of undermining the spread of democracy in the region by propping up entrenched ruling parties and promoting what Beijing sees as the advantages of one-party rule. The beneficiaries in many cases are former liberation movements that won struggles against colonial and white-minority rule decades ago, often with Chinese support. Now organized as governing political parties, they have stayed in power ever since, often while accused of stifling any opposition. A major instrument of Chinese influence is a…
The BRICS group of developing countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — held a virtual summit on the war in Gaza on Tuesday, articulating divergent positions on the conflict that together reflected the reluctance of some nations outside the world’s largest industrialized democracies to fall in behind Washington’s support for Israel. Several other nations that have been invited to join the BRICS group next year also attended the conference — Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates. A joint statement released by the…
Kenya is struggling to repay a massive debt owed to China for the construction of the Standard Gauge Railroad that links the Kenyan cities of Mombasa and the capital, Nairobi. But President William Ruto is asking for an additional billion-dollar loan from China to complete some other stalled development projects in the country. Kennedy Wandera has more from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo Voice of America
BEIJING — A Chinese man wanted for allegedly embezzling millions of yuan (hundreds of thousands of dollars) from his company and then fleeing to Morocco was extradited back to China on Saturday, the Ministry of Public Security said. The man, a financial executive at the company, used passwords for its bank accounts to transfer money to his personal account, the ministry said in a statement. It didn’t name the company but said that Shanghai police filed a case against the man in February 2020. Moroccan police arrested him in April…
In one of his famed self-portraits, Omar Victor Diop, a Senegalese photographer and artist, wears a three-piece suit and an extravagant paisley bow tie, preparing to blow a yellow, plastic whistle. The elaborately staged photograph evokes the memory of Frederick Douglass, the one-time fugitive slave who in the 19th century rose to become a leading abolitionist, activist, writer and orator, as well as the first African American to be nominated for vice president of the United States. Diop is no stranger to portraying the aches and hopes of Black people…