Burundi: En bref ce 25 JUILLET 2006 ...

Rebels demand army positions
July 25, 2006 - Sapa-AFP

Burundi's last active rebel group is demanding to have more than half the slots in the country's army in peace talks with the government that have repeatedly faltered on the issue of the military.

In South Africa-mediated talks being held in Tanzania, representatives of the National Liberation Forces (FNL) are also demanding the post of the national army chief as a pre-condition to reaching a permanent ceasefire with Bujumbura.

"For the first time, the FNL are forwarding concrete conditions. They are demanding the post of army general and 60 percent representation in the army as well as an expanded government," a diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana confirmed the conditions.
"These are our conditions for peace to return to Burundi, but we are in Dar es Salaam to negotiate," he said.

Tunis, 24 July 2006 – The African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, will support the Rwandan government's efforts to revive agricultural production in the drought-affected Bugesera Region with a grant of 10 million Units of Account (UA*), equivalent to US$ 14.79 million, approved by the Board of Directors of the Fund in Tunis on Monday.

The Bugesera Agricultural Development Support Project (PADAB) aims at increasing agricultural production in the Bugesera Region by setting up irrigation infrastructure in a 650- hectare valley. It also seeks to protect water catchment basins and improve rain-fed farming on nearly 5 000 hectares of hills, as well as build the capacity of farmers and supervisory institutions. Overall, the project aims at strengthening food security in Rwanda.

The project involves irrigation and development of the catchment basin, agricultural development and project management.

The first component is expected to:

- Reduce the impact of drought in the Bugesera Region by irrigating the Mwesa Valley (650 hectares net area) in which rice and market-garden crops would be cultivated during two seasons yearly;

- Conserve water and soil (WSP) through erosion control over nearly 5,000 hectares of catchment basins.

The second component will increase food production by:

- Building the capacity of the beneficiaries;

- Extending new technology;

- Distributing improved seeds and plants, and intensifying rain-fed crops and agro-forestry;

- Conducting rural extension schemes;

- Establishing marketing infrastructure;

- Intensifying rain-fed farming and agro-forestry around the Mwesa Valley.

The project will have a direct impact on an estimated 60,750 inhabitants (about 13,500 households) of the region. The main beneficiaries will be women and young heads of households, as well as landless farmers. Other structures will also benefit from project facilities, including decentralized administrative entities, service providers and other development actors.

The project is estimated to cost FRW 10 342 million (about UA 13 million). The ADF grant will finance

77%. The Rwandan government and the beneficiaries will provide the remaining 23 % (UA 3 million).

The ADB Group began operations in Rwanda in 1974. To date, its commitments in the country stand at US$ 586 million (RWF 324 billion) in 71 operations.

Project Brief

- Name of Project: Bugesera Agricultural Development Support Project

- Executing Agency: Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources BP 621 Kigali – Rwanda Tel.: +250 58 46 44; Fax +250 58 46 44

- Start up date: January 2007

- Duration: 6 years

Procurement: Works, goods and services will be procured in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the AfDB.

A. International competitive bidding: irrigation development works.

B. Local competitive bidding: building construction works, rural markets, a rice hulling mill and drying floors. Procurement of office equipment, computer hardware and automotive equipment.

C- National shopping: supplies necessary for project operations.

D- Short list: procurement of the services of NGOs for the training and sensitization of beneficiaries, rural outreach, consulting firms for engineering studies and works supervision, technical assistance, special studies and auditing firms.

* 1 UA = USD 1.47937 as at 24/07/2006

CONTACT: Felix Njoku – Tel.: +216 71 10 26 12 – E-mail: f.njoku@afdb.org

Rwanda Burundi East Africa Integration Key to Economic Development
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 http://www.bloggernews.net
By James Karuhanga Senior Researcher
Great Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies

The issue of economic integration continues to occupy center-stage in the economic agendas of these two sister countries, and economic integration is imperative if Rwanda and Burundi are to succeed in meeting their development goals and becoming effective partners in the global economy.

Both Rwanda and Burundi realize that, among other things, their respective national markets are too small to provide the benefits of economies of scale and specialization. As previously reported by the Great Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies (GLCSS), Rwanda applied to join the regional bloc that now consists of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in 1996. Three years later, in 1999 Burundi also handed in its application for East African Community (EAC) membership. Negotiations on accession of Rwanda and Burundi into the regional bloc are now underway and the mood in the two countries is optimistic.

Arap Koech, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of the EAC recognized the fact that the two countries’ territories are indeed inseparable from the regional bloc.

“Partner States have traditionally shared many things in common with Rwanda and Burundi, including historical, cultural, trade and other beneficial ties”, Koech said during the 8 July launching of the high-level negotiations on the admission of Rwanda and Burundi into the EAC.

A report on the negotiations will be presented to the 12th Meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers scheduled for 21-25 August 2006. EAC Secretary-General Ambassador Mwapachu said that by incorporating Rwanda and Burundi, the EAC regional bloc would unleash a human and physical resource base and potential that will spur and bolster sub-regional economic competitiveness.

The enlarged economic bloc would constitute a viable regional powerhouse able to respond to and muster the challenges posed by globalization," added Ambassador Mwapachu. The envisaged enlargement is expected to turn the EAC into a five-nation regional economic integration bloc with a combined population of about 115 million people.

In a press conference held in Kigali this week, Mary Baine the Commissioner General of Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), pointed out that, “Rwanda and Burundi’s accession will mean an increase in business opportunities for regional industries and commercial activities, and free movement of their people across the five borders.” In actual sense, Rwanda is already actively participating in some of the EAC projects and programmes.

In February 2004, the EAC and Rwanda signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate the efficient management and sustainable development of the Lake Victoria basin and its natural resources, poverty reduction and environment protection.
The Lake Victoria catchment area covers 193,000 sq. km in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania as well as parts of Rwanda and Burundi. This area, invariably described as the Lake Victoria Basin and the East African Lake Region, is the size of an average African country with a population of over 30 million and a gross economic product in the order of US$ 5 billion.

An assessment of resource potential in the basin indicates that there are numerous potentials for investment. The basin boasts a potential market of 84.1 million people within the EAC and with strategic connection to other parts of the Great lakes region. The intra and interstate connectivity through road, rail, air and water makes the region ideal for investment in terms of strategic links with other parts of the world.

Ambassador Richard Sezibera, President Kagame’s Special Envoy in the Great Lakes region and Rwanda’s Technical Team leader in the formal high-level negotiations with the regional bloc believes Rwanda stands to benefit from wide and deepened co-operation in the EAC when it finally joins.

“Co-operation will among other things extend into political, economic and social fields of our mutual benefit and to this extent there shall be established a Customs Union as the entry point of the Community, a common market, a monetary union and ultimately a political federation of the East African States,” added Sezibera.

Rwanda and Burundi also stand to benefit from various areas of co-operation between partner states on their admission. The regional co-operation and integration envisaged in the EAC is wide ranging, involving co-operation in political, economic, social and cultural fields, research, technology and skills development, defense, security and legal affairs for mutual and equitable development in the region.

‘’One of our greatest benefits in joining the regional bloc will be the maintenance of peace, security and stability within our countries,’’ emphasized Sezibera. EAC countries emphasize co-operation in the priority areas of transport and
communication, trade and industry, security, immigration and the promotion of investment in the region.

Whereas regional co-operation is necessary and indispensable to sustainable development, peace and security are a precondition to, indeed the starting point of regional integration and development according to Koech, the experience with regional co-operation shows that so long as countries are co-operating among themselves in pursuit of economic development, they will have neither reason nor cause to resort to conflict among themselves.

“We are looking beyond our borders for sustainable development and regional integration. Rwanda is an active member of and the Chair for COMESA and we are looking forward to joining the East African Community,” the Rwandan Ambassador to Uganda Kamali Karegesa stated his country’s position during Uganda’s last Liberation Day celebrations in Kampala.

The ambassador’s statement unmasks the fact that there are several issues to contend with when looking at Rwanda and Burundi’s accession into the EAC. For example, Rwanda is very optimistic about joining the EAC, a bloc with a Customs Union (CU). However, Rwanda is also a member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and according to the regional bloc’s trade regulations; a country is not allowed to belong to two different CUs.

Some economists argue that multiple or overlapping membership among Regional Economic Communities (RECs) is a hindrance to integration since, among other things, it introduces duplication of effort. It also has a bearing on costs and benefits particularly of deeper integration. Membership in more than one CU is technically impossible. As most RECs in the region wish to move to a Customs Union, member states with multiple membership will have to strike the balance of the costs and benefits of belonging to one or another CU.

Chief among other reasons causing the lack of progress in regional integration has also been the unwillingness by governments to surrender their sovereignty of macroeconomic policy making to a regional authority. Governments find it difficult to face potential consumption costs that may arise by importing from a high cost member country, accept unequal distribution of gains and losses that may follow after integration, and discontinue existing economic ties with non-members when joining a new bloc. Macroeconomic instability and the lack of strong and sustainable political commitment are also on the list. However, there is a new momentum to invigorate the integration of the two countries.

Another important issue is lost revenue from trade tariffs, which will be reduced in CUs. According to Baine, variations in initial condition will not present a problem as the EAC countries themselves are not very far ahead in terms of development. The RRA Commissioner General said, ‘’Competition from relatively more industrialized countries such as Kenya is an issue we cannot entirely ignore but it is again no cause for us (Rwanda) to worry.’’

Other studies indicate the necessity of regional economic integration. Alemayehu Geda and Haile Kibret, in Regional Economic Integration in Africa: A Review of Problems and Prospects with a Case Study of COMESA, see the regional integration as ”an economic survival strategy aimed at combating marginalization from the global economy’’.

The Great Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies is a London-based think tank.

UGANDA

East Africa: Uganda Refuses to Buy Kenya's 'Costly' Surplus Power
The East African (Nairobi) July 25, 2006 Peter Munaita Nairobi

Haggling over the price is endangering a scheme for Kenya to export electricity to neighbouring Uganda, which is undergoing a crippling loadshedding programme.

Uganda describes the proposed arrangement as too expensive, given transmission losses on the Kenyan grid of up to 18 per cent.

Instead, Uganda wants the World Bank to finance the setting up of another 50 Megawatt thermal unit in Kampala instead of leasing the electricity, considered surplus to requirements in Kenya following good precipitation during the March-May long rains season.

At issue is the high level of transmission losses that would arise were the electricity to be sourced from the Aggreko thermal unit in Nairobi.

To cut the losses, Uganda has proposed that the unit be moved to Eldoret and the metering point be moved close to the border so that Uganda only suffers the transmission losses inherent in its system, presently estimated at 38 per cent.

Kenya's Emergency Power Committee, which is steering the negotiations, has however characterised the dispute as a mere "difference" over the tariff at which the electricity will be sold.

"There are capital investments involved and the export has to make business sense to Kenyan utilities," EPC chairman Pradeep Paunrana told The EastAfrican.

As a minimum, the EPC wants the price to be high enough to help the Kenya Electricity Generating company (KenGen) realise a small margin on the Aggreko investment and to help KPLC recover part of the technical losses involved in transmitting the power to Uganda.

"Without that, the export would not be worth the while," Mr Paunrana said.

How soon these issues can be resolved is not clear since Mr Paunrana indicated that the EPC had not met for a while. However, he confirmed that negotiations between the two governments were continuing.

"The issue has been agreed at a political level. It is just sorting out what is best for each country," he said.

Recently, KenGen managing director Eddy Njoroge said Kenya was in negotiations with Uganda to provide 50 Megawatts to alleviate crippling outages.

"We are in talks with the Ugandans to supply part of the emergency power, because they need it more than we do," Mr Njoroge said, adding that all that was left was agreeing on a price.

Since February, power consumers in Uganda have been receiving electricity on alternate days with businesses being forced to run costly diesel generators.

Kenya, on the other hand, finds itself with a rare energy surplus (it historically imports 30 Megawatts of power from Uganda) following good rains that have filled the dams, rendering the 100 Megawatt emergency generator at Embakasi unnecessary for now.

The plant is yet to be commissioned as its fate hinges on the outcome of the talks, with Mr Njoroge saying it could be terminated after the October short rains if no deal with Uganda is struck.

The plant had been hired on a short-term basis to forestall any power rationing in Kenya in case the long rains and the short rains failed.

The World Bank had approached Kenya to provide electricity to Uganda in the belief that the exports would be cheaper than Uganda setting up a thermal unit in Kampala.

Aggreko already has one 50 Megawatt unit running in Uganda and may be considered, should the government prefer a new unit.

Uganda has set aside Ush202 billion ($108.3) in this year's budget for installing thermal generators and for launching an Energy Fund to build two hydro dams on the Nile, in a comprehensive plan to address power shortages that have reduced economic growth from a projected 7 per cent to around 4.5 per cent.

Low water levels in Lake Victoria, blamed largely on drought in the region, have reduced the country's hydroelectricity supply from an installed capacity of 300 Megawatts to 135 Megawatts - and there are fears this could drop to around 80 Megawatts if the drought continues.

Daytime electricity demand is around 260 Megawatts, but rises to 350 Megawatts during the peak evening hours, exposing the inadequacy of a 50 Megawatt thermal power plant that was installed in May 2005 to provide emergency power.

Apart from the drought, a government Paper drawn up to address the energy crisis blames the current situation on the country's failure to invest in new power plants.

The Paper projects that Uganda's electricity demand will grow from the current average peak of 317 Megawatts to 1,334 Megawatts by 2025.

The plan proposes to enhance public-private partnerships in power generation and supply, ensure sustainability of the power sector, increase inter-regional power trade and address the declining water levels in the lake.

The government also plans to build more thermal generation plants to generate 100 Megawatts. The projects are estimated to cost $108 million, of which $6 million is expected from the private sector and $43 million from government coffers.

Deputy minister leads SA observers in DRC
Hans Pienaar July 25 2006

Kinshasa - Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George has replaced safety and security minister Charles Nqakula as head of the 108-person SA observer mission to Democratic Republic of Congo's elections this Sunday.

This followed opposition criticism that Nqakula, already a mediator of the Burundi peace talks, should stay home to fight a rising wave of crime.

The change emerged yesterday when the mission said that George, as head of the observer mission, had "expressed satisfaction" with the progress of preparations for the presidential and legislative elections.

This was after he met the Rev Apollonaire Malumalu, chairperson of the DRC Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad had announced on July 18 that Nqakula would head the mission. SA officials in Kinshasa were surprised on Saturday when George arrived instead of Nqakula.

Government sources were unable to say why George had got the job. One possible explanation could be that Nqakula had to stay at home to participate in the cabinet lekgotla or strategy session, this week.

Spokesperson for the mission, Vincent Hlongwane, said George was an appropriate choice as the SANDF was involved in the DRC, contributing troops to the UN peacekeeping force and providing training for the local military.

Yesterday's statement said George had assured Malumalu that SA, with the SADC and the African Union (AU), would "stay the course in the DRC".

"Malumalu confirmed to George their readiness to hold the elections on July 30."

SA's 108 observers will be stationed in the DRC until August 4, observing campaigns, the voting process and vote counting. They are deployed in 24 designated result centres out of 64 in 11 provinces.

SOUTH AFRICA:

AFRICA / AU :

UN /ONU :

UN struggles to put Somali peace talks on track
Tue Jul 25, 2006 By Guled Mohamed and Mohamed Ali Bile

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Mogadishu's Muslim rulers on Tuesday blamed Ethiopia's "invasion" of Somalia for stalled peace talks with the fragile interim government as a U.N. envoy struggled to kick-start negotiations.

"As long as Ethiopia is in our country, talks with the government cannot go ahead ... Ethiopia has invaded us," the newly powerful Islamists' hardline leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told reporters in Mogadishu.

Anti-Islamist Ethiopia has sent several thousand troops into Somalia, according to witnesses and regional experts, to counter expansion by the Islamists and protect the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf based in the provincial town Baidoa.

The Islamists rose to power in battle against U.S.-backed warlords earlier this year, taking Mogadishu on June 5.

Washington fears they harbour al Qaeda-linked extremists.

In Baidoa, Yusuf's government told the U.N. special envoy to Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, the government would attend a second round of talks in Sudan despite its earlier objection that the Islamists had broken a pact against military expansion.

"We will go to Khartoum without any preconditions," said Yusuf's chief of staff Abdirizak Adam after talks with Fall.

From Baidoa, Fall then flew to Mogadishu, where the Islamists told him they were committed to negotiations in principle but not while Ethiopian troops were on their soil.

ERITREAN BACKING

The international community sees talks -- probably leading to some sort of a power-sharing agreement -- as the only way to prevent the Islamist-government standoff spiralling into war.

"I can talk to you as an African. I am appealing to you ... to continue the dialogue," Fall told the Islamists. They have in fact had a delegation in Khartoum waiting since the government boycotted a second round of talks scheduled for July 15.

As well as involving Ethiopia, any conflict could also drag in Eritrea, which the Islamists said for the first time on Tuesday was backing them.

"The previous Somali government (of President Mohamed Siad Barre) helped Eritrea during its struggle for independence from Ethiopia," Aweys said. "Eritrea helps the Somali people, they are returning back the favour."

Just as Ethiopia denies sending troops to Somalia, so Eritrea has denied helping the Islamists. A U.N. report, however, points the finger at Asmara for sending arms.

Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa's main power, backs Yusuf and says the Islamists are led by terrorists. It has intervened in Somalia in the past to attack radical Islamists near its border.

The Islamists' rise has challenged the authority of Yusuf's government, set up in 2004 in the 14th attempt to restore central rule to Somalia since the 1991 ousting of a dictator by warlords ushered in an era of anarchy.

The Islamists say they are restoring peace to Somalia and drove foreign journalists round Mogadishu on Tuesday to demonstrate the effect of their takeover. There were no roadblocks or gunmen on the streets -- a rarity for Mogadishu in the past 15 years, according to regular visitors.

Fall's shuttle diplomacy came a day after the African Union urged the U.N. Security Council to speed plans to ease an arms embargo on Somalia to allow foreign peacekeepers to deploy.

Backed by Yusuf, the troops plan has been repeatedly rejected by the Islamists, and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has said it would be tantamount to an anti-Islam "crusade".

USA :

Darfur rebel to meet US president
Tuesday, 25 July 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk

US President George Bush is due to hold talks in Washington with the leader of the main rebel group in western Sudan's Darfur region, Minni Minnawi.
Mr Minnawi heads the SLA, which was the only rebel organisation to sign a peace deal with Sudan's government in May.

The talks are intended to show US support for the peace deal and the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force in war-torn Darfur.

Some 2m people have fled their homes in Darfur and violence continues.

Who are Darfur's rebels?

Two other Darfur rebel groups refused to sign up to the peace deal saying the terms were inadequate.

The Sudanese government remains strongly opposed to the idea of a UN force replacing the current African Union force, which is seen as too small and too poorly funded to be effective.

Darfur has been in the grip of violence since the rebellion was launched three and a half years ago.

While the peace agreement has had an effect in some areas, the UN says that fighting between the rival rebel factions is bringing renewed violence.

Angola Elections on Track Despite Impediments, U.S. Officials Say People have "bled enough," are ready for democracy, diplomat asserts
By Jim Fisher-Thompson Washington File Staff Writer 24 July 2006

Washington -- Angola is making significant progress toward long-anticipated elections despite severe "impediments" caused by a 27-year civil war that displaced millions of people and left the country's infrastructure destroyed and its territory strewn with countless land mines, U.S. officials told a Congressional subcommittee July 20.

"The people of Angola have bled enough and are ready to move forward" on their road to democracy and economic prosperity, Dan Mozena, director of the State Department's Office of Southern African Affairs, told the House International Relations Africa Subcommittee, which was looking into "Angola's Long-Delayed Elections."

Mozena said there were "serious impediments to conducting elections in Angola," such as the ongoing resettlement of 4 million citizens displaced by the civil war and clearing of land mines that restrict movement and agriculture.

But these impediments "can be and are being overcome. Progress is being made, and I think these elections can move forward," he told lawmakers.

After Angola achieved independence from Portugal in 1975, a bloody civil war erupted between the central Angolan government and a rebel movement led by Jonas Savimbi. After a cease-fire in 1992, the only election the country experienced was negated that year when loser Savimbi fled to the bush and resumed military action. Peace finally came only after Savimbi was killed in 2002, but the country still suffers the effects of a devastated infrastructure caused by the conflict.

Despite that history, Africa Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith said, "There are some positive signs that this election may succeed." And he added that Congress is "united in our interest in helping Angola enjoy the lasting benefits of peace and achieving the kind of economic development … it deserves after so many decades of war and suffering."

Responding to Representative Barbara Lee's comment that she was "puzzled that the election continues to be postponed," Mozena said the Angolans have "set very high standards" for the balloting -- "maybe too high."

Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos set a deadline of December 31, 2007, for the nation's parliamentary and presidential elections, and "it appears unlikely that elections will be held in 2006," Mozena told the House panel.

However, "while there remains uncertainty regarding the date of elections, the government of Angola continues to take important steps to prepare for the process," Mozena emphasized.

Those steps include passing electoral laws in 2005, establishing an 11-member National Election Commission and passing a press law in 2006 that "provides the initial framework for the licensing of independent radio stations throughout the country," necessary for "the energetic discussion of political issues," Mozena said.

In addition, millions of people have been resettled and land-mine clearance is running apace, with the goal of making Angola "land-mine-risk free" by 2011, he said.

Angolan Ambassador Josefina Diakite told the subcommittee that 360,000 of the 450,000 refugees who fled the country during the civil war have been repatriated and resettled. At the same time, she said, "the issue of land mines has been the government's top priority in the post-conflict era, since they hinder the movement of people across the country. As proof of this commitment, an executive commission for [land mine removal] was established."

Mozena added that there are also "signs of progress on anti-corruption and transparency efforts" -- important, considering that Angola is one of the world’s largest diamond and oil producers, exporting more than 350,000 barrels of oil a day to the United States. "We will continue to assist Angola to reach its potential," he said, "and look forward to working with the Angolan government in building a more democratic, transparent and prosperous society."

Paul Bonicelli, deputy assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, told the House panel, "Decades of civil war have also left Angola in the position of being a relative latecomer to democratic electoral processes."

Yet, "over the past 18 months, the Angolan government has taken concrete steps in preparation for elections," in which civil society played an important role, he said.

Bonicelli said the Bush administration is supporting the electoral process with a $3 million grant, in addition to the close to $8 million already devoted to supporting democracy programs in the southern African nation since 2001.

In Angola, he explained, USAID works through American nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), such as the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), IFES (formerly the International Foundation for Election Systems) and Search for Common Ground, which partner with local NGOs to train election workers.

They have provided technical and project management training, as well as voter education materials, to six civil-society electoral networks in the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Huambo, Bie, Uige and Lund-Sul, emphasizing voter registration, democratic principles and citizen rights and "promoting political dialogue." They also are providing training to Angolan political parties on codes of conduct and dispute resolution techniques, Bonicelli said.

The aid official said U.S. government support for the elections has been limited, "given the Angolan government's substantial ability to directly fund" the elections from its substantial revenues as the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.

But he pledged: "USAID intends to maintain robust support for the Angolan electoral process through election day and will support inclusive political competition and promote good governance at all levels of the Angolan government through the foreseeable future."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

CANADA :

AUSTRALIA :

EUROPE :

CHINA :

African Leader Cautions India, China on Terms of Strategic Partnership
By Steve Herman Tokyo 24 July 2006 http://www.voanews.com

A key African leader wants to see China and India, Africa's significant new Asian trading partners, make real investments, and not behave in the manner of the colonialists who exploited the continent for centuries.

African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare says Africa's new strategic partnerships with China and India will have to go beyond the traditional colonial model.

Speaking at the United Nations University in Tokyo Monday, Konare said resource-hungry economies that desire to extract the continent's resources will have to commit themselves to real investment that benefits Africa.

The former president of Mali says long-term infrastructure programs funded by Asian and other nations are necessary to bring added value to Africa, and to create middle-class jobs.

China-Africa trade has expanded rapidly, and now surpasses $40 billion annually. Africa's trade with India, while also rising significantly, is currently estimated at only one-fourth of that.

The A.U. chairman said he believes that integration into a "United States of Africa" is the formula for the continent's future success. Mr. Konare said some of Africa's nations are failures - too small, too weak and too inexperienced to handle the key tasks of government effectively.

He says these deeply indebted states feel their sovereignty is threatened because they cannot even draft budgets without the consent of international financial institutions. The way to escape this dependency, he says, is for African countries to show solidarity, and present a united front to the world.

Mr. Konare says an African Union commission is to report in January on how to achieve African integration, and he hopes the states will clearly move toward the goal of a united Africa after that.

The A.U. leader is to meet Tuesday with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, to discuss the situation in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. Japan is a major donor to African countries.

INDIA :

BRASIL: