For a long time, the West was Africa’s main partner. This relationship imposed by history seems to be threatened. And as a symbol of the awakening of the countries of the South, nowadays Africa likes to partner with China, for better or for worse, in many sectors starting with the industrial sector.
On July 30th, a new Africa-China agreement was signed in Zimbabwe.
One cannot help but notice the growing importance of Sino-African relations, especially with the most economically advanced countries in black Africa.
The Zimbabwean government, in the wake of the presidential election held in late July 2018, contracted out to China the collection of its citizens’ biometric information. In exchange for Chinese expertise in video surveillance. If, if, if…
The reality of the story sends shivers down one’s spine. On a concrete note, Chinese facial recognition software was not very reliable when it came to dark skinned subjects. As a result, the Chinese needed to enrich their database with hundreds of thousands of dark skinned individuals to improve their artificial intelligence. Fortunately (we understand each other, of course!) by a twist of fate, Zimbabwe was trying to set up a video surveillance system in the country. The Chinese start-up CloudWalk Technology would take care of that. In exchange for the said photos and data. Deal!
Ubiquitous, ironic, scandalous and unethical. Certainly. But this exchange is nonetheless the latest illustration of certain aspects of the new Sino-African relations.
Sometimes these exchanges seem to be win-win. Sometimes.
China’s interest in Africa is not limited to minerals or oil. The potential of the African market in terms of consumption, construction and manufacturing is considered with great interest by the providential new “partners” of Africa. And since lending large sums of money does not scare them…
Nigeria, the most densely populated country on the continent, is the perfect example.
In 2017, Nigeria secured a $7.5 billion loan from China to build a railroad between Lagos and Kano. In 2018, a construction project for a subway in the capital, Abuja, was awarded to the Chinese company China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCEC) for $823 million.
At the same time, still in Nigeria, Exim Bank and the builder China Great Wall established a partnership to finance (entirely!) two telecommunications satellites for Nigeria. In exchange, China will own shares in Nigcomsat. This Nigerian state-owned company aims to become one of the continent’s leading satellite communications companies.
Tell me, is it me, or have they completely lost their minds? Does this not smack of an underhanded trick? Entrusting ad vitam the key to their house (Nigeria) and their neighbors’ (continental satellite) to strangers?
Sorry, I mean “partners”!
Speaking of counterparts, African governments do not seem to have learned from the debt euphoria of the 70s, when overflowing credit with low interest rates allowed the worst “follies”. Followed by the cruel structural adjustments of the 80s/90s. I lived with my family in Benin during these very difficult years and I can testify that the people really suffered. We can only conclude that, under the sun, we must have short memory.
Many African governments have established such agreements for pharaonic projects and multi-million dollar loans.
In August 2018, the IMF was concerned about the growing number of over-indebted countries in Africa. This is all the more worrisome since creditors are often private companies that are less flexible and more expensive than public creditors, as is the case with the Chinese companies in Nigeria…
At the same time, a survey conducted by Afrobarometer in 2016 in 36 African countries showed that, for 63% of Africans, the Chinese influence was “rather positive” or “very positive”. The partnership between the black continent and the old “factory of the world” now goes beyond an industrial relationship and extends to culture, education. There is everything but the kitchen sink in this relationship.
But, if the poll says that China is Africa’s best friend…
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