Africans In China

TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: If you’ve done some travelling abroad, you may have bought some ethnic arts and crafts for your home. A mask from Mexico, a wood carving from Kenya. But are you sure they’re authentic? Globalization means more and more African arts and crafts are being made in factories not in the countries they claim to be from. Gretchen Wilson reports from Johannesburg that real crafters are struggling to compete.

Gretchen Wilson: This sidewalk serves as a studio for South African artist Boas Manzvenga. He strings wires with tiny beads to make the distinctive sculptures this region’s known for.

Boas Manzvenga: This one is a small, small leopard. And this one is a lion.

He’s asking $35 for this lion, about the size of a house cat. It’s these skills that put bread on the table for his wife and sons. And his extended family.

Manzvenga: I think it’s nearly 20 people. They depend on me. So I need to support them.

Many of the 1 million traditional craft artists in South Africa might otherwise be unemployed. But they pump more than $300 million a year into the economy. It’s tough for them to compete with Chinese manufacturers who flood the market with cheaper replicas.

Manzvenga: They can buy things at cheaper price. Then they can go there and remake it and they make a profit out of us.

And they do, at shopping malls like this one, in Johannesburg, where shelves are loaded with foreign-made baskets, beaded jewelry and wooden giraffes. All mass produced.

Priscilla Nyoni is with Craft Yarona, a company that promotes local artists:

Priscilla Nyoni: It’s something that has been happening for years now, and our government hasn’t been intervening.

She says there’s more at stake than just employment:

Nyoni: That’s African identity, and they’re actually stealing it.

Artists sometimes turn to copyrights and intellectual property laws to protect their work. But that’s expensive. So African artists are easily exploited — especially the rural poor.

Anitra Nettleton is an art historian at Wits University:

Anitra Nettleton: They don’t have access to the kinds of legal ways of protecting their designs, and so anyone can use them. Because there is nothing to stop. And that’s immoral.

South Africa’s artists are trying to innovate to keep one step ahead of look-a-like imports. And they say it’s now up to consumers to make sure they’re buying the real thing.

In Johannesburg, I’m Gretchen Wilson for Marketplace.

()gretchenlwilson.com

Introducing Africa
By Alex Nderitu

I was surprised, and more than a little amused, as I listened to a BBC Radio programme on Africa earlier this year. A field reporter on assignment in mammoth China wanted to know how deep the locals knowledge of the African continent went. The results: It barely scratched the surface. Intermixed with laughter were suggestions that the worlds second-largest continent is composed of lions, elephants and bush. There were mentions of Mandela, South Africa and the film Out of Africa. No, they didnt think there were any towns to speak of. Yes, there were plenty of wild animals. But most shocking of all was the suggestion that Africa is a single country. Even an interviewee who had actually been to Africa guessed that there were at most 14 different countries in all.

Africa is not, nor has it ever been, one vast country. It is a mosaic of 53 autonomous countries, most of them designated by European colonialists during the historical Scramble for Africa. All attempts to marry up all the countries to create a United States of Africa have so far failed. In fact, some individual countries are having the devil of a time staying in one piece as it is: Eritrea was once a province of Ethiopia, Somaliland was once a part of the larger, war-prone, republic of Somalia. Zanzibar wants to cut the umbilical cord from mainland Tanzania.

In terms of acreage, the Sudan is the largest country. From above tiny Uganda in the equatorial regions, the (nearly) 1-million-square-mile Sudan spreads to the North where it rubs shoulders with Libya and the ancient land of Egypt. In terms of population, Nigeria is Africas giant. Over 100 million people call this oil-rich West African country home and there are so many Nigerians in the US, Europe and Asia that when most non-Africans think of Africans, theyre actually thinking of Nigerians. In terms of development, the sprawling republic of South Africa takes the cake. Located in, well, the south of Africa, the mineral-rich home of Castle Lager, De Beers, Cry the Beloved Country, Mandela, Charlize Theron , The Springboks rugby team and the Zulu tribe needs no introduction.

You cant analyse African social life without bringing in the aspect of tribe. Even in the 21st century, tribal relations are the ties that bind. Most marriages take place between people of the same tribe and, for the most part, voters vote along tribal lines. Conflicts also commonly arise from tribal animosity. The infamous 1994 Rwandan genocide between the Hutus and the Tutsis was the ultimate extension of tribal passion and arguably the darkest chapter in the Africas history. You can often tell an Africans tribe from his indigenous name. My surname, Nderitu (pronounced Day-ri-to) is a dead giveaway that I come from the Kikuyu tribe of central Kenya. At first sight, all Africans may look the same but in reality most tribes have distinct features that set them apart height, skin tone, build, dialects, hair, teeth and even talents. Most have their own language and some languages, like Swahili, are understood by different languages. All together, there are over 2,000 different languages.

A common misconception is that all Africans are Negroid (Black). All Negroes may come from Africa but not all Africans are Negroes. The northern rim of the continent (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco) is predominated by Semites (the Arab-Jew persuasion). Think Muammar Gaddafi or Bhoutros-Bhoutros Ghali. Coming down, we find the Negroes who mostly live in what is known as sub-Saharan Africa. In Eritrea and Ethiopia, we again encounter the ubiquitous Semites. Moving towards the southern end of the continent, we find the Capoid race with lighter complexions and hooded eyes (Nelson Mandela and musician Usher Raymond have Capoid features, UN boss Kofi Annan is pure Negroid.) Also in evidence all across the land is a sizeable population of Caucasians and other non-Black people. Not to be confused with tourists and other visitors, these descendants of ancient European settlers, missionaries and Asian traders are as African as the Marula tree. Some are even more African than the original Africans. South Africa has the biggest jambalaya of races Blacks, Whites (including Boers), Browns, Yellows and, for all we know, green people from Mars (that’s why it’s sometimes referred to as he Rainbow Nation). Despite the spectrum of skin colour, it is safe to say that most of Mother Africas children are Black like me.

Eastern Africa is widely believed to be the cradle of human life. Were told that, eons ago, early humans embarked on an epic journey northwards (called the Great Trek). From Tanzania and Kenya, they walked slowly up to Ethiopia, traversed the Sudan, gained Egypt and crossed over to the contested area now covered Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. From there, routes diverged with some pioneers venturing further into Asia, others legging it to Eastern Europe and some (probably due to confusion) returning to North Africa. Facts are sketchy but whichever way you slice it, the earliest human remains were found in East Africa (some as old as 4.2 million years). But this history poses some hard-hitting questions. If Africans were the original owners of the land, then how come they had to wait for the missionaries before they could advance academically and otherwise? Where were the Oprahs, the Michael Jacksons, the Bill Cosbys, the Michael Jordans, the Condolezzas, the Mohammed Alis, the Naomi Campbells, Ben Carsons? Why did the African giant have to be awoken? And why, oh why, is the second-largest continent still the poorest? The question of non-development, of Africans seeming lethargy, is easily answered by Prof. Ali Mazruis famous documentary, The Africans, in which he narrates: If necessity is the mother of invention, then bounty must be the mother of inertia. In a land where you spit out a seed and return to find a fruit tree sprouting, the early Africans were under no pressure to advance technologically. Africa supports, by a mile, the widest VARIETY of plant and animal life a tribute to her fertility.

Modern clothes were another superfluous commodity to early Africans, especially in the tropics (as the missionaries soon found out). The blazing African sun has played havoc with many a foreigner and even though the locals never suffer from sunburn (whatever that is) the temperatures sometimes soar to uncomfortable heights even for Africans. On the question of poverty, I have no ready answer because the continent itself is imbued with wealth. Most of the diamonds you see gleaming in jewellery boutiques around the world come from Africa. And much of the gold. And the coffee and tea and cut flowers and the cocoa many other raw materials, hence the scramble for Africa which led to jealously-guarded colonization. Ghana was formerly known as the ‘Gold Coast’, has the world’s largest gold and diamond deposits. In fact, most of the conflicts and political turmoil that you see in the press are all about controlling mineral and other wealth Sierra Leone (diamonds), the DRC (assorted minerals), Nigeria (oil), Somalia (Heaven knows!).

At any rate, a good many Africans are well off, but the gap between the rich and the poor is the biggest without going as far as the sub-continent of India. While the super-rich command customized cars and even private planes, others are so poor they die from curable diseases like Malaria and their children walk several kilometres to school every day on bare feet. Also on the subject of poverty, we must not lose sight of the fact that the majority of Africans still live in the rural areas (the country if youre American, the sticks if youre British.)In Kenya, for example, more than half the population lives in abject poverty (on less than a dollar a day). You may have heard 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai saying that she was so poor growing up that she and her friends used to play with frog eggs! (Wangari, do you have to tell them EVERYTHING? I want to be able to show my face in public when I tour Europe to promote my books!)

But what does it MEAN to be African? If a Negro was born and lives in the US, can he still claim to be an African? What if a Caucasian (I give you best-selling author Wilbur Smith as an example) is born, lives in, and loves Africa? Does that make him a certifiable African? Heres my circuitous and open-ended answer (and my conclusion to this x-ray of the land of my ancestors):

A long, long, time ago (way before the first man loved the first woman and a child was born) all the continents were stuck together. Various disturbances on the earths crust coupled with the spinning of the earth (which makes it bulge out at the sides) caused cracks and, ultimately, separation. You may take it that all continents and islands are jigsaw pieces and all humankind is one large, chequered, family. As I said earlier, the first people lived in the tectonic fragment now known as Africa. Speaking on KTN TV recently, an American tourist ventured that all people should make a Mecca-like pilgrimage to Kenya at least once in their lives because it is our mutual home (See the Leakey familys work on human origins). This is the reason the lack of interest in Africa expressed in the BBC Radio programme amused me so much. Chinese, American, French, German, Russian, British or whatever our nationality, we may all be Africans in diaspora!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=AlexNderitu
http://EzineArticles.com/?Introducing-Africa&id=246665

By The Citizen Reporter

The immediate chairman of the African Union, President Jakaya Kikwete, has defended African leaders, arguing that they are not responsible for the continent’s backwardness.

He made the remarks at the State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday when he met students from various countries who paid him a courtesy call.

“Development is a process, a very tedious one. You cannot wake up one morning and become a wealthy person just like that,” he said.
The 25 students who visited Mr Kikwete are from Tanzania, German, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Uganda and Rwanda.

They are on an exchange programme involving African and German students known as “Go Africa, Go Germany.” The programme has been arranged by the German President, Mr Horst Kohler.

Reacting to a question from one student who wanted to know why Africa was economically, socially and politically deprived, President Kikwete said:
“History has it that all nations have passed through the underdevelopment stage.

There are factors why political situation in Africa is still bad and one reason in colonialisation, which made Africa a source of raw materials and market for commodities produced by rich countries.”

He said together with unbalanced international political system which tend to favour rich nations economically and commercially, these factors have made things much worse for Africa. “It is not possible that the leadership in all 54 African countries is bad or have no ability. You need a justified international economic structure? we have been saying this for years since Uruguay and now at Doha talks.

“What we are saying is that our farmers cannot redeem themselves from the poverty cycle while they are barred from selling their produce at good prices because rich nations are protecting their markets by giving their farmers subsidy,” he said.

He added: “European countries give their farmers subsidy amounting to 365 billion annually. Our farmers cannot compete with them. That is why we are saying that there is a need to change international systems so as to create a level playing field.”

During the talks, President Kikwete also spoke about formation of one African government, a process of uniting East African economies, East Africa land resource and loans to students in higher learning institutions.
On major challenges which faces Tanzania at the moment, President Kikwete said it is poverty.

Elaborating, he pointed out that it is imperative to improve agricultural production as a way of redeeming farmers from poverty.

(thecitizen.co.tz)

When the Civil War ended, 21 African- American Soldiers wore the Medal of Honor. Blacks have earned our nation’s highest honor in every war since then, except, strangely, during World War II. More than a million blacks served in that conflict and many bravely died in it, yet not one received any of its 433 Medals of Honor.

Finally, on Jan. 13, 1997, a wrong was addressed as seven black heroes joined those ranks. Our state proudly associates with one of them, a California native, the late Army Staff Sgt. Edward Allen Carter Jr. His is a story of a true military man with more than his share of tribulations. Today, the California State Military Museum celebrates his victory over all challenges except that of being physically here to receive our thanks.

A career Army noncommissioned officer, Carter was born May 26, 1916 in Los Angeles, Calif. He was the son of missionary parents who went to the Far East and finally settled in Shanghai, China. Edward ran away from this home when he was a young teen to begin a military odyssey. However, it was not to be an ordinary journey as his material and spiritual paths intertwined.

His first tour was short-lived, yet not too short to prevent the 15-year-old Carter from rising to the rank of lieutenant in the Chinese Army. When he was discovered to still be a child, he was promptly discharged and returned to his parents. It was also long enough for Carter to believe he was visited by a spirit in the Chinese Army, which informed him would be a great warrior, but would not die in war. Now having a spiritual military destiny, as soon as he was old enough, Carter enrolled in a Shanghai military school. There he received extensive combat training and learned at least four languages, including Mandarin Chinese, Hindi and German.

Next he fought in the Spanish Civil War as a corporal in the socialist Abraham Lincoln Brigade. It was an American volunteer unit opposing Gen. Franco’s fascist troops. In 1938, they were forced to flee into France. This led to his return to the United States.

Here he met and married his wife Mildred in Los Angeles in 1940. It wasn’t long, though, before destiny called again. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Sept. 6, 1941, shortly before World War II, and quickly rose to staff sergeant. In 1942, just months after he enlisted, the Army opened a counterintelligence file with his name on it.

On May 18, 1943, an unidentified intelligence officer at Fort Benning, Ga. “deemed it advisable” to put Sergeant Carter under surveillance and start an investigation. The officer did so because Carter had been a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Allegedly, “while not necessarily communist,” he had been “exposed to communism.”

The report further alleged “Subject… capable of having connections with subversive activities due to… early years [until 1938] in the Orient” and had a speaking knowledge of Chinese. Every commander Carter had thereafter secretly reported what he read, where he went and what clubs he joined.

In 1944 he was shipped to Europe and ended up assigned to supply duties. When Gen. Dwight Eisenhower ran short of combat-arms replacements in December 1944, he instituted the volunteer Ground Force Replacement Command for rear-echelon Soldiers of all races. By February 1945, a total of 4,562 black Soldiers were serving in units up to company size attached to previously all-white infantry and armored divisions.

At the height of his career he was even close to Gen. George S. Patton, serving as one of the general’s guards. Patton had no room for prejudice in the ranks. They had a strong bond with the fact they both believed they had been visited by a spirit who foretold accomplishments on the battlefield.

After months of volunteering, Carter’s platoon made it into combat, yet he had to accept demotion to private. This was because his superiors would not allow a black to command white troops. He eventually served in the “Mystery Division” of blacks in Patton’s Third Army. (The Mystery Division performed missions requiring uniforms without identifying unit insignia.)

On March 23, 1945, Private Carter earned his Medal of Honor, was recommended, but received the nation’s second highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross because of his race.

After recovering from his wounds in less than a month, he was restored to his staff sergeant rank and finished the war training troops.

At this point in his career, he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal, Combat Infantry Badge and numerous other citations and honors.

(In 1946, Secretary of War Robert Patterson noted an irregularity in the lack of black recognition and promised to investigate.)

The war over, Carter found himself stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., and politely known as a Negro or colored. A lot of the battlefield camaraderie had faded, however, as black soldiers were becoming increasingly common and were blending into the ranks.

When Carter attempted to re-enlist, his “suspect” background apparently became an issue and the Army barred his enlistment and discharged him without explanation on Sept. 30, 1949. He received an honorable discharge dated October 1949, probably the darkest “honor” of his life.

He moved into a life as a family man and steadily worked in the vehicle tire business the rest of his life. In 1962, although he smoked, he and his doctors attributed the discovery of lung cancer to shrapnel still in his neck. He died peacefully of lung cancer in the UCLA Medical Center, a Los Angeles hospital, on Jan. 30, 1963, at 47 years of age.

Carter was laid to rest in the National Cemetery on the grounds of the Veterans Hospital in West Los Angeles near where he died. His remains have since been moved to Arlington National Cemetery.

***********
In 1992, Secretary of the Army John Shannon commissioned an independent study to identify unrecognized African-American heroes from World War II. In May 1996, the study was completed under the title, The Exclusion of Black Soldiers from the Medal of Honor in World War II. Staff Sergeant Edward Allen Carter Jr. of Los Angeles, Calif., was identified and recommended for honors. On Jan. 10, 1997, Carter was exhumed and honored the next day in Los Angeles. On Jan. 13, President Clinton presented Carter’s posthumous Medal of Honor to his son, Edward Allen Carter III, in Washington, D.C.

(army.mi)

Some people are really resourceful … Check this funny and stupid ways of transport. My favorite one is 2 guys with 3 pig on motorbike Unbelievable hehe

(nuffy.net)

For centuries, restaurants have been making the same fiscal error time and time again: serving delicious food at reasonable prices. Truly a recipe for fiduciary disaster. Here at least are ten restaurants that understand, to truly make a profit in the food business, you want to guarantee your patrons eat as little as possible, then get the hell out. It’s called “high turnover.” Ask an economist.

Modern Toilet Restaurant - TAIWAN

Have you ever heard of people eating out of a bathroom toilet and having great fun? A restaurant named Marton Theme Restaurant, in Kaohsiung (Taiwan) has a toilet theme and is a great hit among people. The restaurant has a bathroom decor, with colorful toilet seat being the standard chairs at the restaurant. It also serves food in plates and bowls shaped like western loo seats and Japanese “squat” toilets. Customers sits by a tables converted from a bathtub with a glass cover while looking at a wall decorated with neon-lit faucets and urinals turned into lamps. The restaurant is named after the Chinese word “Matong” for toilet and is doing really well. The owner Eric Wang says “We not only sell food but also laughter. The food is just as good as any restaurant but we offer additional fun. Most customers think the more disgusting and exaggerated (the restaurant is), the funnier the dining experience is.” The meals are cheaply priced with a meal set including soup and ice cream costs from 150 to 250 Taiwan dollars ($6 - $10).

For Cannibals - JAPAN

“Nyotaimori” (which literally means “female body plate”) is the name of the japanese restaurant that serves sushi and sashimi on a naked woman’s body. The body is made from food and placed on an operating table, much as though in a hospital. You can “operate” anyway and anywhere you want by cutting open the body and eating what you find inside. The body will actually bleed as you cut it and the intestines and organs inside are completely editable. It’s a banquet of Cannibalism.

In the Sky - BELGIUM

“Dinner in the Sky” is a Brussels based restaurant that serves dinner for up to 22 people… 150 feet in the air! The specially-designed table and chairs are lifted by a crane. Dinner anywhere in Belgium will set you back almost 8 thousand euros; other locations are also available. Remember, you must wear your seat belt, and don’t drop your fork!

Complete darkness - CHINA

The first dark restaurant in Asia is officially opened on the 23 December 2006. This restaurant, located in Beijing, China, has its interior painted completely black. Customers are greeted by a brightly lit entrance hall and will be escorted by waiters wearing night vision goggles into the pitch dark dining room to help them find their seats. Flashlights, mobile phones and even luminous watches are prohibited while in this area.

The meal will be taken in this environment with the complete loss of vision. By starving one’s sense, your other senses are stimulated to full alert “all so the theory goes” and your food will taste like it’s never tasted before. In case you are wondering about the washrooms, they are all brightly lit.

Graveyard Restaurant - INDIA

The bustling “New Lucky Restaurant” in Ahmadabad is famous for its milky tea, its buttery rolls, and the graves between the tables. Krishan Kutti Nair has helped run the restaurant built over a centuries-old Muslim cemetery for close to four decades, but he doesn’t know who is buried in the cafe floor. Customers seem to like the graves, which resemble small cement coffins, and that’s enough for him.

“The graveyard is good luck,” Nair said one recent afternoon after the lunch rush. “Our business is better because of the graveyard.” The graves are painted green, stand about shin high, and every day the manager decorates each of them with a single dried flower. They’re scattered randomly across the restaurant - one up front next to the cash register, three in the middle next to a table for two, four along the wall near the kitchen.

Prison - ITALY

A restaurant situated inside the top security prison Fortezza Medicea in Italy is so popular that officials have since opened more branches. Serenaded by Bruno, a pianist doing life for murder, the clientele eat inside a deconsecrated chapel set behind the 60ft high walls, watch towers, searchlights and security cameras of the daunting 500-year-old Fortezza Medicea, at Volterra near Pisa. Under the watchful eye of armed prison warders, a 20-strong team of chefs, kitchen hands and waiters prepares 120 covers for diners who have all undergone strict security checks. Tables are booked up weeks in advance.

Undersea Restaurant - MALDIVES

The first-ever undersea restaurant in the world has been introduced at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa in April 2007. Ithaa (which is pronounced “eet-ha” and means “pearl” in the language of the Maldives, Dhivehi) sits five meters below the waves of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and encased in clear acrylic, offering diners 270 degrees of panoramic underwater views. This innovative restaurant is the first of its kind in the world, and is part of a US $5 million re-build of Rangalifinolhu Island, one of the twin islands that make up Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. This re-build includes the construction of 79 of the most luxurious beach villas in the country as well as the Spa Village, a self-contained, over-water “resort-within-a-resort” consisting of a spa, restaurant and 21 villas.

Condoms- THAILAND

“Cabbages and Condoms” is a chain of restaurants in Thailand. There are condoms on the walls and pictures of condoms printed on the carpets. Instead of after-dinner mints, patrons are offered a bowl of condoms at the counter. Profits from the restaurants go to support the Population and Community Development Association (PDA).

Medical Restaurant - TAIPEI

D.S. Music Restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan is a medical-themed restaurant with crutches on the wall, waitresses dressed a nurses, and drinks served from an IV drip bottle! The owner came up with the idea to express his gratitude for care he received at a local hospital.

Buns and Guns - LEBANON

For the love of God, GET DOWN! Ba-CHKOW! JESUS CHRIST! It’s…a turkey sub on French bread. But what’s that on the side?! GRENADES!!!!! Wa-BOOOOOOOMers! Grenades means potato wedges.

It’s that kind of playful double entendre that makes Buns and Guns the premiere Hezbollah-themed fast food chain in Lebanon. After a lengthy battle with competing chains Burgers and Lugers, Khomeini’s House of Schwarma and Fuck Israel!, Buns and Guns became known nationwide as the “home of the AK-47 Kalashnikov” which you may be perplexed to learn is a beef sandwich.

And at Buns and Guns, it’s not just the item names that get your adrenaline pumping. They’ve gone all out to provide a dining experience as akin as possible to fighting for your life on a bomb-scarred battlefield in the DMZ. Special touches include chefs sporting battle helmets, sandbags out front, and menu items like the “Claymore” pizza, topped with peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, corn and tomato. Pull one of the gooey slices away and watch as vegetarian entrails slop off onto your camo tablecloth! KaBLOOEY! Just don’t step on it!

And to make your dining experience all the more visceral, all Buns and Guns establishments play a continuous loop of rifle fire, mortar fire, and explosion sounds to eat by. And if any of the wait staff happen to have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, who knows what kind of exciting outbursts that could elicit? It’s the only restaurant in Lebanon guaranteed to seamlessly integrate into your daily routine of being bombarded with mortar shells.

The motto says it all: “A Sandwich Can Kill You.” Drop in today to find out how!

(nuffy.net)

The Zambia Mines Safety Department has lifted the suspension on the Chinese Collum Coal Mine (CCCM) in Sinazongwe District in Southern Province in January this year.

Chief inspector for mines Billy Chewe said on Monday that Shaft Two and Shaft Three of the coalmine have been opened following compliance to the 34 safety rules they were given to fulfill.

CCCM marketing manager Lu Haiguan said that all the workers have returned for work and the two shafts have started producing 100 metric tones of coal per day.

He said the close of the mine affected the supply of coal to Konkola Copper Mine (KCM), Chilanga Cement (Lafarge), Amanita Zambia and many breweries across Zambia.

Lu noted that the re-opening of the mine would improve its coal supply to the customers that were affected as a result of the closure.

Last week, Chewe said Shaft One and Shaft Four would remain closed because the owners failed to comply with the safety regulations.

On Jan. 4, Chewe handed a letter to the CCCM management instructing them that operations at the mines have been suspended with immediate effect.

He said it was clear that the mine was no longer safe following the two accidents recorded in less than one month. He said the mine would only be reopened when the 34 safety conditions given to the management was met.

Some of the conditions included the employing of trained personnel such as the shift boss, to provide proof of appointment of a qualified mine manager for the shafts, and to provide proper support methods used in the tunnels.

(news.xinhuanet.com)

Shanghai’s software industry grew rapidly in 2008, when its operating income hit RMB 100.5 billion, representing a 25.3% increase compared with one year earlier, sources reported.

Shanghai’s 109 software enterprises realized over RMB 100 million in operating income last year. The contracted software export volume reached US$600 million, up 42.9% year on year.

Software enterprises hired 210,000 employees and registered 1,782 software products in 2008.

Statistics show that Shanghai’s software industry realized US$757 million in exports last year, 28.7% more than in 2007. Shanghai mainly provides outsourcing for customers from Japan, the U.S., France, Uzbekistan and Angola.
Copyright © 2008 www.chinaknowledge.com

President Hu Jintao counters China’s critics with Africa tour, experts say.

OIsmail Musa Ladu

Kampala

The Chinese business community under the newly formed Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Uganda, intends to start exporting value added goods to China and other regional markets.

This is a step forward in transforming the notion of most of the developing countries in Africa, including Uganda of exporting ‘raw materials’ to the developed countries.

The move means that agricultural produce such as coffee, milk, beans and leather will first undergo processing before exportation to China and the East African regional markets.

The Executive Director of Uganda Investment Authority, Dr Maggie Kigozi said the development will spur economic growth and enhance employment opportunities in the country.

“The government has always preferred such arrangements with the developed economies arguing that it is better than billions of aid flowing from the West,” she told Daily Monitor in an interview recently.

Dr Kigozi said there will be no fears that the Chinese Chamber of Commerce will collide with the Uganda Chamber of Commerce, explaining that the move will instead increase Uganda’s investment potential.

The Minister of State for Planning, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu said the Chinese government has set aside $5billion to take care of the risks of the Chinese businessmen willing to invest in African countries like Uganda.

He said investing in value addition products will bolster Uganda’s economic potential and expose the business community here to the world market.
“We want to transform our economy like yours. What we want is to add value not to export raw materials,” Prof. Kamuntu said.

(monitor.co.ug)

We’ve had Ubuntu and Impi, now there is a new African-named Linux distribution. South African developers today announced the first cut of a new Linux distro which they are calling Kongoni. Named after the Shona word for the GNU, Kongoni has a strong BSD-Unix influence and includes a ports-like package management system. The underlying code is, however, based on Slackware and the makers are promising to keep the distribution free of proprietary software.

The initial “baseline” release of Kongoni is codenamed Aristotle and is more a base for future developments than an end-user-focused release. Lead developer AJ Venter says that the idea behind the baseline release “is to establish a common working platform for the further development of the system. A previous baseline release was made available only to current developers of the system while this second baseline is being made available to the public at large.”

He says that from this point on Kongoni will follow a more traditional release pattern with alpha, beta and stable releases.

“The baseline release is not intended for end-users except as a curiosity but rather for interested developers and GNU/Linux experts. It does not fully represent the ideas or unique features of kongoni, but instead a platform on which those ideas can be created.” Venter says that while the release is aimed at developers it is nevertheless fully installable and usable.

BSD inspiration
Technically, says Venter, Kongoni adopts a BSD ports-like approach to package management. “Ports represent a powerful way to distribute software as a set of tools that automatically fetch the sources of the program and then compile it locally,” he says. “This is more bandwidth friendly for users as source code is usually smaller than prebuilt packages. This benefit is particularly useful in Africa where bandwidth is expensive, and since Kongoni came from Africa this was a major concern.”

Ports also allow power-users to manage the compilation of applications, allowing them greater control over the performance and capabilities of the software, he says.

The core system includes a KDE 4.2 desktop as the default desktop manager but the system intended to be easy to remaster, says Venter. Users can easily build and replicate the system with their own preferred setups and desktops.

The Kongoni baseline release is available as both an installable and live CD for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Torrents for 32-bit and 64-bit systems are also available.

Venter says that Kongoni is intended to be a “truly free distribution” with strict Free Software Foundation compliance. He says that FSF chairman Richard Stallman was involved in the discussions that led to the foundation of the project and his input was sought on critical decisions to ensure the system really was free software.

(tectonic.co.za)

(Reuters) - Ethiopian Airlines said on Monday it was cutting flights to the United States and China as the global financial crisis hit passenger numbers.

Girma Wake, chief executive officer of the airline — one of Africa’s leading carriers — said they had seen a fall in the number of incoming passengers coming from the two countries.

“Ethiopian Airlines began to feel passenger and cargo contraction in November 2008, but December 2008 was when the changes became noticeable,” he said in a statement.

Girma said the six weekly flights to the United States would be cut to four, while the number of weekly flights to China had been cut to 12 from 14. The airline hopes to boost operating revenue by more than 6 percent to $1 billion this year.

Tourism represents just 2.5 percent of Ethiopia’s gross national product. But the government has set an ambitious goal of attracting a million foreign visitors a year by 2010, quadrupling current figures.

(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

((Email: nairobi.newsroom@reuters.com; tel: +254 20 222 4717))#

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/) Keywords: ETHIOPIA AIRLINES/

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(uk.reuters.com)

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – There was strong potential for increased commodity-related mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activity by Chinese players abroad and in Africa, said Frontier Advisory CEO Dr Martyn Davies.

Davies, who is also executive director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at the Stellenbosch University, told Mining Weekly Online that China certainly had the cash to take advantage of acquisitive opportunities.

Any foreign investment in the commodities market in Africa would also be welcome, he asserted, especially during such difficult economic times.

“People need the capital and if China wants to spend it, all the better,” he commented.

Another South African-based economist specialising in Chinese markets, agreed that M&As between Chinese and African companies in the mining sector were likely, as China would require a stable supply of commodities to grow its economy.

Newswire Reuters on Friday quoted the Shanghai Securities News as saying that the Asian giant planned to set aside funds to support local companies wanting to pursue mining resources abroad.

This formed part of a stimulus plan for the country’s steel industry, the newswire reported.

Meanwhile, Davies said that African commodity exporters could potentially see increased demand for its products from China in the second and third quarters of the year.

He explained that China’s growth had not declined just as a result of a drop-off in US consumer spend.

China had sabotaged its own economic growth in 2006/7 as it was growing too rapidly, leading to inflationary concerns, asserted Davies, noting that the country had slowed down its own economy by cutting back on its infrastructure spend.

This had resulted in a drop-off in commodities imports into China.

However, the global economic crisis and the meltdown of the US financial markets had led to a steeper decline in economic growth than anticipated and planned for by China.

The country had now decided that it would need to boost its primary economy again and has spent the last quarter on getting its economy going again, said Davies.

Davies expected China’s growth to pick up again to 7,5% or 8% in the next two quarters, which would be good news for African commodities exporters.

China’s State-owned aluminium producer Chinalco and diversified major Rio Tinto earlier this month announced that they were in talks regarding a $19,5-billion deal, in which the Chinese producer would take a stake in a number of Rio Tinto’s mining operations worldwide.

Further, Australian zinc-miner Oz Minerals has agreed to a $1,7-billion takeover bid from China’s Minmetals.

(miningweekly.com)

y Ashahed M. Muhammad and Brian E. Muhammad
(FinalCall.com)

While images of Africa’s poverty and disease are regularly shown in western media, the corporations responsible for the continuous exploitation of the land’s mineral and human resources resulting in Africa’s dreadful condition see the world’s largest continent as the land of opportunity.

Emira Woods, director of Foreign Policy in Focus for the Washington D.C. based Institute for Policy Studies says the strategic resources coming out the African continent are the prize, the African people are the victims and multinational corporations driven by excessive greed are the culprits.

“The corporations use the labor and land, the people pay the price. It is absolutely modern day slavery. It is exploitation and makes you think about a 500 year history of exploitation of the African continent from its people during the days of slavery and now its resources,” Ms. Woods told The Final Call. “Very few people—those that have—getting more, those that don’t being exploited. That has been the process.”

As an example, Ms. Woods cited Firestone, who for over 82 years has run the world’s largest rubber operation in the world in a financially exploitative relationship using child labor to extract rubber from Liberia without paying proper taxes to the government.

As it relates to available resources, Africa has surpassed the Middle East as the greatest supplier of oil to the United States responsible for 24 percent of the oil used here. Over 80 percent of the coltan used by companies like Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson and Sony for many of the world’s electronic devices such as cell phones, computers and DVD players comes from Africa. Additionally, 80 percent of the cobalt used in lithium ion batteries—a key component in the future development of green technology—including cars—comes from Africa.

In a recent column, Nicole C. Lee, executive director of TransAfrica Forum writes: “As a continent, Africa is still enslaved because of its vast wealth. The mining and extraction of precious materials—oil, natural gas, coltan and cobalt—enrich corporations but cast a shadow of poverty throughout the continent. Whether in the Niger Delta or the Democratic Republic of Congo, the people experience lives of misery and receive very little benefit from the richness of their land. This is known as the “resource curse”—the paradoxical relationship so many Africans have to the richness of Africa.”

According to the United Nations and several human rights organizations, many of the conflicts on the African continent can be traced to the control of mineral resources. However, instead of reaping the financial benefits of their considerable mineral resources, the African people are instead left with a deteriorating quality of life. The multinational corporations leave behind a shameful legacy of the manipulation of African governments, the mistreatment of generations of African people along with toxic waste dumped into the same water they use to bathe and drink.

Africa and the Obama administration

While President Obama has not shied away from addressing issues relevant to the African continent, analysts are waiting to see what actual policy directives resulting in tangible results an Obama administration will pursue in critical African flashpoints such as Kenya, Somalia, the Congo and Zimbabwe.

Long-time Pan-Africanist Dr. Mtangulizi Sanyika told The Final Call he anticipates that Pres. Obama will feel a special connection and obligation to deal with the problems gripping the African continent.

“I would anticipate there is a special place in his heart, in his soul and in his fiber for the obvious reason that he is of African descent, more specifically his father is from Kenya, he still has relatives there and has been back there. He has not shied away from his heritage or disassociated (himself) from it. Sometimes we of African descent have trouble with our emotional links, intellectual and cultural links, but Pres. Obama has all three working for him,” said Dr. Sanyika.

The Obama administration has pledged to double the annual investment in foreign assistance to Africa from $25 billion in 2008 to $50 billion by the end of his first term. The administration had pledged to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 and to advocate debt cancellation for what they call “Heavily Indebted Poor Countries.” Consistent with those goals, the Obama administration has ambitiously pledged to modernize and reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as well as strengthening the African Growth and Opportunity Act to ensure that African producers have access to markets in the United States thus encouraging more American companies to invest on the continent instead of only extracting wealth from it. Currently, U.S. trade policies allow U.S. corporations to send their products to Africa, demanding that African countries lower their tariffs, but does not provide reciprocal means for African farmers to access U.S. markets.

Ms. Woods said there is “tremendous excitement” throughout the African continent resulting from Obama’s victory and his subsequent Inauguration speech indicating that there would be a change in America’s foreign policy, however, the degree to which there are actual policy changes, will determine whether the goodwill will last.

“Those great words have to be met with policy changes and it will take pressure from people in the United States and throughout the African world to demand that those wonderful words of mutual respect and mutual interest are also upheld in terms of U.S. policy with regard to Africa,” said Ms. Woods.

Citing the fact that UN Ambassador Susan Rice has advanced the idea of U.S. and NATO unilateral military action in Darfur as an option, the hawkish presence of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the continued presence of Defense Secretary Robert Gates—a holdover from the Bush administration—Ms. Woods said many on the African continent are still waiting to see if real policy changes are forthcoming under an Obama administration.

AFRICOM

Kwame Nkrumah, the Ghanaian father of Pan-Africanism wrote that Neo-Colonialism will be the last stage of imperialism on the African Continent. According to the American Heritage dictionary, neo-colonialism is a policy whereby a major power uses economic and political means to perpetrate or extend its influence over other nations.

The advent of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) on the continent bears witness to the fulfillment of Dr. Nkrumah’s words. In 2007, former Pres. George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the creation of U.S. Africa Command. The decision was the culmination of a 10-year process within the Department of Defense acknowledging the emerging strategic importance of Africa and recognizing that peace and stability on the continent impacts not only Africans, but the interests of the U.S. and international community.

Some critics of AFRICOM see it as nothing more than an extension of the military wing of the Neo-Conservatives desirous of protecting their strategic interests related to Africa’s resources. Others see AFRICOM as the U.S. attempting to militarize the continent in order to remain an economic competitor against the European Union and China, under the guise of fostering peace and security.

“Domination of Africa’s resources would give America, so the capitalists think, the competitive edge over the rest of the world in the area of trade and the extraction of Africa’s resources,” said Sekou Nkrumah, activist, writer and son of the late Kwame Nkrumah.

The younger Nkrumah further wrote that American neo-colonialism in Africa is equivalent to “international state terrorism,” strangling African economies. America helped enslave African nations to debt from IMF and World Bank loans to enable the “extracting and exploiting of resources, thereby creating starvation, wars, division, disease, poverty, and under development,” all acts of terrorism, he said. In addition, armed reactionary mercenary groups destabilized African governments, inspired coups, fomented ethnic violence, propped up dictatorial puppets, and now AFRICOM is its latest strategy to establishment of U.S. military bases on Africa’s soil in the name of peace and security.

According to a policy statement on Barack Obama’s campaign website, “An Obama administration will pursue significant UN reforms at the same time as it improves the UN’s ability to conduct future peace and stability operations. It will also work with other multinational actors that deploy peacekeeping forces like the African Union, the European Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to help strengthen their capacity to conduct such missions.” Perhaps more importantly, the statement goes on to say that an Obama administration, “believe(s) that the U.S. must provide the political leadership required so that UN missions are backed by workable political strategies. They will lead in the UN Security Council, work with Congress to ensure the U.S. pays its peacekeeping assessments on time, and marry peacekeeping missions with serious diplomatic initiatives.”

Observers say Amb. Rice, who served as undersecretary of state for Africa during Clinton’s administration could play a pivotal role in US-Africa relations but her challenge will be to avoid repeating the mistakes Pres. Clinton made. It was during the Clinton years that a deterioration of America’s involvement on the continent occurred from the illegal bombing of a privately owned pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan to the Somalian fiasco in 1993 when the U.S. attempted to overthrow President Mohammed Farrah Aideed by military force resulting in the infamous “Black Hawk Down” incident. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 also took place on Pres. Clinton’s watch. Amb. Rice is positioned to help shape the Obama administration’s policy in Africa and the relationship of the U.S. to African countries at the UN that are still marginalized by larger nations who dominate the world body.

The African Union

Central to the economic restoration of the African continent is the existence of the African Union. Africa is a critical part of the emerging world economy and the strength of the African Union will allow many of the African nations to be better able to negotiate with multinational corporations.

The African Union (AU) was established in 2002 and is the outgrowth of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) that was started in 1963 by many of the African independence leaders such as Presidents Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea, Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria and others.

The OAU had two primary aims, to promote solidarity between African states and speak as one collective voice for the continent. This was important to secure Africa’s long-term economic and political future. Years of colonialism had weakened it socially, politically and economically. Though rich in ideas, the OAU lacked power to deal with the massive poverty, political corruption and tribal conflicts that gripped many of the nation states.

In 1999 Muammar Gadhafi, leader of the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Great Jamahiriya called an emergency summit of the African heads of state in Libya to discuss the condition of the OAU and the need to transform it into an African Union, with the ultimate goal being the formation of the United States of Africa. The idea of a United States of Africa was a central theme to the OAU from its inception and espoused by Dr. Nkrumah.

The decision to change the OAU to the AU was ratified in Lusaka, Zambia South in July, 2001 and witnessed by 41 member-nations. The only delegation from the African Diaspora was led by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. The vision for the unification of Africa, and its transformation from the OAU into the AU has been consistently advocated by Mr. Gadhafi who was named its chairman on February 2. #

Nigeria recorded the birth of its first set of sextuplets on Saturday at the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital (OOTH), Sagamu, when a woman named Amuda Ajoke Bello, aged 32, gave birth to the six babies around 4: 00 a.m., local media reported Sunday.

Chairman of Board of Directors of the Teaching Hospital, Professor Femi Ajayi said the babies, three boys and three girls, who are under intensive care at the hospital, weighed between 650, 600, 850, while the three others weigh 900 grams respectively.

He disclosed that the woman had two kids before the latest delivery.

The woman, who comes from Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State, is said to be in stable condition. Professor Ajayi attributed the feat and the success of the birth to “pure professionalism.”

This was the first time the nation would be recording this highest birth as four were delivered at one hospital in Minna, Niger State, last year.

The father, a battery charger, was said to have fled when he received the news. The Ogun State Commissioner for Health Abiodun Oduwole was on ground to see the mother and the children.

The management of the Hospital has decided to take care of the medical bill in a bid to lessen the burden of the parents of the sextuplets.

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Hosting a successful World Expo in 2010 is always going to be a tall order. It becomes even more formidable after the splendid Beijing Olympics last August. Now, the world economic crisis has made this “economic and technological Olympics” even more arduous.

To call it an arduous and exciting task reflects the Chinese perception of a crisis, which brings both danger and opportunity.

A triumphant expo would bring much-needed hope and confidence to China and the world to combat sweeping economic woes, which are spreading like wildfires from the developed world into developing countries.

In this sense, the Shanghai Expo could be a great platform for countries and corporations to prove what they are capable of in times of great difficulties. This is indeed challenging and exciting.

Also exciting is the fact that the Shanghai Expo is likely to be the largest of its kind in history, regardless of the economic hardships.

Already 231 countries and international organizations had promised by Feb 4 to attend the extravaganza.

And so far no organization has backed out of its commitment. This will help fulfill China’s pledge to attract 200 countries and international organizations.

The enthusiasm from the participating countries and organizations demonstrates their belief in the importance of fighting the economic disaster together. It also shows their optimism in China and Shanghai, respectively among the fastest growing countries and cities in the world.

The Chinese government has thrown its full weight behind the expo since the very beginning.

It has been keeping its word on offering $100 million to developing countries in assisting them to take part.

China is also building 11 joint pavilions named after Africa, South Pacific, Caribbean Community, South America, Asia, Europe, United Nations and International Organizations to make it easier for more countries and organizations to attend.

Excitement aside, the challenges facing the expo, only 14 months away, are many and not easy.

It won’t be easy to get all the countries, which promised to attend, to finally sign the contracts, in the wake of the financial crisis. The major concern now seems to be the United States, which prohibits government financing of such exhibitions. Private fund-raising has also met great hurdles.

So it is likely that the largest economic and technological power on earth may attend the expo with a reduced budget or even miss the event, as it did in Hanover, Germany, in 2000 and Zaragosa, Spain, last year.

Other countries might also have to scale back their commitments in order to appease public opinion.

The number of international travelers, expected to account for 5 percent of the estimated 70 million visitors during the six-month long party, may also be down.

Declining occupancy at five-star hotels in major Chinese cities is perhaps a portent.

China and host city Shanghai will also need to be cost conscious amid the many social and economic challenges they face.

World Expos have created many miracles in history. Now it is Shanghai’s turn.

(Source: China Daily)

Despite the global air cargo turmoil, carriers are confident that the westbound Asia-Africa trade will continue to offer good prospects. Correspondent Phil Hastings looks at the airlines focusing on the African continent

Chinese investment in African infrastructure has provided a significant boost to air cargo traffic between Asia and Africa over the past two or three years.
At the same time, soaring worldwide demand for Africa’s oil/gas resources, minerals and other commodities has generated more wealth in various parts of that continent, with a resulting increase in African consumer spending on imported goods from China and other Asian sources.
“Air cargo from Asia to Africa has seen double-digit growth in recent years although we have not seen the same trend for Africa-Asia traffic,” said Nely Kusmin, regional manager, Asia Pacific, for South African Airways (SAA) Cargo.
Similarly, Jan de Vegt, Air France-KLM Cargo’s area manager for Asia, said: “The growth of exports from Asia towards Africa has been a reality for the past few years. Our total air cargo traffic from China to Africa showed double-digit growth last year.”
Right now, most of the previous positive industry trends in the Asia-Africa air cargo market are predictably being negatively impacted by the global economic recession.
“As far as infrastructure projects are concerned, we think there will still be traffic growth,” said Vegt. “All other commodities will probably more or less follow the trends of the rest of the world.”
Kusmin delivered a similar assessment: “With the global economic downturn, Asia-Africa traffic flows have somewhat declined over the past few months and we expect this trend to continue for the remainder of this year.”
Longer term, though, carriers claim to be confident that the westbound sector of the Asia-Africa air cargo market, in particular, will continue to offer good prospects, particularly if the recent greater political stability seen in many parts of the latter region continues.
According to Kusmin, Asia-Africa air cargo traffic has to date mainly comprised consumer products and manufactured goods such as mobile phones, electronics, auto parts and sporting goods. She also confirmed that Chinese investment in parts of Africa had generated more project-type air cargo such as telecoms equipment.
Auriel Newman, SAA Cargo’s executive manager, key accounts and customer services, pointed out that SAA currently offered passenger service bellyhold cargo capacity into South Africa from three points in the Asia- Pacific region _ Hong Kong, Mumbai and Perth. In Africa, she added, SAA served around 20 points in the south, east and west of the continent. SAA Cargo additionally operates South African domestic and southern Africa regional freighter services, mainly with B737Fs.
Demand for air cargo capacity between China and Africa has also opened up opportunities for some Middle East-based carriers to exploit the geographical location of their home hubs and win transhipment traffic in that market.
Peter Sedgley, senior vice-president, cargo commercial operations, for Dubai-based Emirates SkyCargo, said that potential had been further boosted by the tendency for Chinese airlines to operate direct to Europe by over-flying Russia “which means Emirates is more attractive to use for Africa and Middle East distribution of China-originating traffic”.
He pointed out that in China, Emirates currently operated B747-400 freighter flights ex-Hong Kong and Shanghai into Dubai, together with bellyhold cargo capacity from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
In Africa, the Middle East airline operated a weekly freighter service from Dubai into Lagos, Nigeria; scheduled freighter flights into Lilongwe, Malawi in conjunction with Air Malawi; and charter flights to Eldoret, Kenya. Other major African points served with bellyhold cargo capacity included Lagos, Accra and Abidjan in West Africa; Nairobi, Entebbe and Dar es Salaam in East Africa; and the two key South African gateways of Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Some major European carriers have also carved out a share of the Asia-Africa air cargo market. Air France-KLM Cargo, for example, has built on the long-established connections of Air France in West Africa. The group’s Asia-West Africa traffic is therefore primarily routed via its Paris CDG hub. It also moves some cargo between Asia and East/South Africa through the group’s second home hub, Amsterdam Schiphol.
UK carrier British Airways World Cargo is developing a particular niche market between South Asia and Africa. Mat Burton, the carrier’s regional commercial manager Middle East and South Asia, explained that BA’s introduction of a five times a week B777 passenger/bellyhold cargo service direct between the Indian city of Hyderabad, an important pharmaceuticals production centre, and London Heathrow at the end of 2008 had opened up new opportunities to capture a share of the growing pharmaceuticals trade between India and Africa.
“In addition to transporting passive pharmaceutical products in tablet or raw powder form which can be moved as general freight, we can also cater for temperature-sensitive traffic with our Constant Climate service for the full through movement from India to Africa,” said Burton.
Ex-India as a whole, BA currently operates 48 passenger/bellyhold cargo services a week to London Heathrow and 10 B747-400 freighter flights as part of its Hong Kong/Shanghai-London Stansted schedule. Into Africa, the UK carrier operates over 50 passenger/bellyhold flights a week. “Cargo on flights from India arriving in the UK in the early morning can connect with evening flights the same day into Africa,” said Burton.

(cargonewsasia.com)