ANALYSISBy Stephanie Wolters

What is evolving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is not much different from events in neighbouring Burundi. Both presidents are reluctant to respect their constitutional term mandates. While in Burundi the situation has evolved into a full-on crisis, in the DRC it is just starting to escalate.

This week the Burundian government rejected the deployment of a 228-strong UN police force to the country – a compromise solution that took the UN Security Council many months to forge and that most Burundi-watchers agreed was a mere drop in the bucket compared to what is really needed. But the government was not willing to allow a small number of outsiders access to the country, even though this force could have helped end killings on both sides of the political divide.

The time to deal with Burundi was early 2015 – and many would say even earlier. There are now very few options left to persuade Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza to make concessions and return the country to a path of stability and long-term peace.

The impasse in Burundi is proof that when a head of state wants to cling to power, he can, and there is very little the international community can do about it.

Of course there are sanctions, and some countries have already imposed them on Burundi, but these are slow to have an impact, and depending on their nature, often hurt the poor first.

This is a lesson that is growing more acute by the day for those hoping to prevent neighbouring DRC, where presidential elections have been delayed indefinitely, from descending into large-scale violence.

Time to act is quickly running out. The African Union (AU) appointed facilitator, former Togolese prime minister Edem Kodjo, announced his intention to launch preparatory talks on the National Dialogue in late June, but has had to indefinitely postpone them as the largest opposition grouping – the Rassemblement de l’opposition – led by Etienne Tshisekedi, has refused to attend.

The Rassemblement argues that Kodjo determined the date and format of the meeting unilaterally and so violated an understanding he had forged with the opposition in June. Since the Congolese government first mooted the National Dialogue in 2015, the opposition has rejected it as a process whose sole purpose was to rubberstamp the government’s orchestrated election delays.

Presidential elections were due to be held in November this year and President Joseph Kabila’s second and last presidential mandate expires on 19 December. Kodjo, who was appointed by the AU in January upon the Kabila government’s request, has failed to shake off the impression that he is there to do the government’s bidding.

And while the Rassemblement and other opposition groupings have agreed that some sort of dialogue is necessary, they insist they will not participate in a National Dialogue that has been ‘designed’ by Kabila, and in which he may himself participate.

In response to the opposition’s demands that Kodjo accept independent co-facilitators from the UN and the US, and also to speed up the stalled process, the frustrated international community hammered out a new arrangement, announcing in June the formation of a support committee for Kodjo consisting of the UN, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and the European Union (EU). These organisations are joined by the Southern African Development Community and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), of which DRC is a member.

In July the UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, Said Djinnit, and the EU Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, Koen Verwaake, accompanied by AU Peace and Security Council Chairperson Smaïl Chergui, travelled to meet representatives of the Rassemblement in Brussels.

Although the constitution of the support committee was a big step forward, and a clear victory for the opposition, the opposition maintains that Kodjo is biased in favour of Kabila and that it will not engage in a dialogue stage-managed by the Congolese government.

The Congolese government is not helping matters. On the one hand it calls the opposition to negotiations, and on the other it cracks down on freedom of expression, responds violently to protests and continues to harass its political opponents.

Last week a judge in the recent criminal case against Moise Katumbi, the former Katanga governor turned opposition figure, who is now outside the country, revealed that several senior government officials pressured her into finding Katumbi guilty. The indictment means Katumbi would be arrested upon his return to the country, and it also makes him ineligible to stand for the presidency.

But the Rassemblement and other opposition parties that refuse to engage with the dialogue also need a reality check. Less than five months before the end of Kabila’s mandate, some sort of political dialogue to chart the way forward has become inevitable. The government has made minor concessions, notably on the support committee to Kodjo and, although largely a token move, it released some political prisoners last week.

However, compromise from the opposition camp also seems unlikely in the near future. After two years in exile, Tshisekedi returned to Kinshasa to a triumphant welcome last week and then summoned tens of thousands of people to a political meeting on 31 July. Bolstered by this show of force, the Rassemblement’s position is unlikely to budge anytime soon. The opposition’s gamble is that it can scare Kabila out of power by demonstrating that the street is behind it.

Both sides are now locked into their positions. In such a context, it is almost impossible to establish the trust and confidence necessary to foster an open and productive political dialogue.

The creation of the support group for Kodjo also seems to have failed to make significant progress. The ICGLR’s recent decision to send Denis Sassou Nguesso, the President of the Republic of the Congo, to help with the talks is also questionable. Sassou recently stage-managed his own domestic political dialogue in order to push through a new constitution that allowed him to stand for another term. He has also mediated in DRC before – in 2014 in another national dialogue that the opposition boycotted because it was dominated by the Kabila government.

Chergui recently said it is not about the facilitator, but in the end, replacing Kodjo is likely to be the only way to restart the process and have an open political dialogue that charts a credible way forward. That is, provided both sides actually want a peaceful resolution.

Stephanie Wolters, Head, Peace and Security Research Programme, ISS Pretoria

By Timothy Olobulu

Narok — Kenyan betting firm SportPesa have this morning announced an extension of their partnership with English Premier League club Arsenal, a deal that will see the company become the North London club’s official betting partner in Africa.

Previously, in a deal signed in January this year, SportPesa brought Arsenal on board as the official betting partner in Kenya.

The new contract was signed in an elaborate ceremony early Friday morning in a hot air balloon hovering around the Maasai Mara National reserve.

The deal is geared towards nurturing grassroots football and supporting SportPesa’s existing sponsorship of the Kenyan Premier League. This will see local talent get exposure to advanced sporting skills as well as capacity building through interaction with Arsenal and other activities across the continent.

Kenyan football coaches benefited from the first of this partnership late May in a coaching clinic conducted in Nairobi by Arsenal’s community coaches.

The partnership with Arsenal will help the company engage with a huge number of supporters across Africa.

SportPesa will have a presence on a match day at Emirates Stadium, with local football talent that the company is looking to develop offered a number of club related benefits such as official merchandise, tickets to matches and the chance to experience the world class hospitality at Emirates Stadium.

As part of the partnership with Arsenal, additional five-day training camps will be carried out by Arsenal-trained coaching staff.

The training camps have been designed to ensure both footballers and coaches learn to incorporate the key principles of ‘playing the Arsenal way’.

Launching the partnership, SportPesa Chief Executive Officer Ronald Karauri said, “Enhancing and expanding our partnership with Arsenal gives us a wonderful opportunity to connect with more people all over Africa, through both our grassroots coaching and also promotional activities with the club and its players.”

Vinai Venkatesham, Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We are delighted to announce the expansion of our association with SportPesa across Africa following a successful first year of partnership in Kenya.”

The betting firm has been expanding its wings globally, only two weeks ago having signed a contract with English premier League side Hull City as the club’s official sponsors as well as a partnership with Southampton FC which will see the company become the Saints’ official betting partner in the continent

China remains committed to programmes announced in December 2015, at the Johannesburg summit on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
Pan Hejun, the Chinese ambassador to Rwanda said this while briefing journalists about the recent Coordinators’ Meeting of the FOCAC which took place in Beijing in July.
In Johannesburg, China announced 10 initiatives, specifically identified for cooperation over the next three years.
The areas include industrialisation, infrastructure, green development, agricultural modernisation, finance, trade and investment facilitation, poverty eradication and people’s wellbeing.
Others are public health, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and peace and security.
The Beijing Coordinators’ Meeting discussed the implementation of follow-up actions of the FOCAC summit.
Speaking to journalists yesterday in Kigali, Amb. Pan said Rwanda is already benefitting from FOCAC initiatives and is on the right track for more.
“Rwanda is already benefitting from FOCAC,” he said.
“Two documents have already been signed between the governments of Rwanda and China, one for constructing 54km roads in Kigali and the other for expansion of the Masaka Hospital. You can see that Rwanda is already getting its share and in years to come, more will be agreed upon and implemented,” he said.
According to available documents, the Masaka Hospital expansion project covers an area of 36000square metres.
This includes outpatient department, emergency department, medical and technology department, hospitalisation and partial modification of existing building.
The Kigali urban road upgrading project will see the construction and upgrading of 54.56km of urban roads in the city of Kigali.
In this project, nine roads located on the trunk roads of the city of Kigali will be rebuilt to improve the urban road network.
The roads will be internally connected to Kigali International Airport, central business district, and a long distance bus station and stadium.
Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $60 billion in financial support to Africa toward the various initiatives.
Amb. Pan said the cooperation will not only include inter governmental partnerships but also involve partnerships between local and Chinese entrepreneurs and businesses to provide material inputs, technology, production know-how, investment capital, and training.
At the coordinators meeting in Beijing he said, out of the 61 cooperation agreements signed, only 20 were intergovernmental economic and trade cooperation deals signed between Chinese government and relevant African countries.
According to draft statistics, over the past seven months after the conclusion of the summit, China and Africa have signed 243 agreements of various kinds involving a total of $50.1 billion.
The volume of direct investments and commercial loans from Chinese enterprises to Africa reached over $46 billion accounting for more than 91 percent of the total amount.
FOCAC was launched in 2000 in Beijing as a tri annual collective dialogue platform for cooperation between Africa and China.
The 2nd Africa-China Cooperation Forum Summit, in Johannesburg, South Africa was held under the theme “China-Africa Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development.”

Washington, DC — Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) President and CEO, Stephen Hayes will be honored by the Africa-America Institute with the AAI 2016 U.S. Business Leader Award at the AAI 2016 Annual Awards Gala.

Mr. Hayes was selected in recognition for his dedicated leadership and strategic contributions to the growth and strengthening of U.S.-Africa Business Relations. Under his direction, CCA’s work and initiatives have had a domino effect, transforming nascent policy and private sector engagement into greater and broader U.S. engagement with Africa. The award appropriately comes on the eve of President Barack Obama’s Second U.S.-Africa Business Forum.

“There is no greater honor than those from peers, especially when those peers are so highly regarded as is the Africa-America Institute, an organization that has been a leader in building US-Africa relations through education,” said Hayes. “I am deeply appreciative, genuinely surprised and humbled that they would bestow this honor on me. Of course it is really an honor for the Corporate Council on Africa as our contributions over the years have always been through a team effort of staff and board.”

In his 17-year tenure as president, Stephen Hayes has led CCA to become fully engaged in a wide range of economic and political issues affecting commerce between the U.S. and Africa. Mr. Hayes’ personal dedication to African growth, development and prosperity through business and investment is evident in his work, which has garnered several awards. To date, Mr. Hayes and CCA are the only individual and entity in the United States to have been awarded the two highest awards given by the U.S. Government for international economic leadership. In 2008, Mr. Hayes was awarded the Ron Brown Award for International Leadership, the highest individual award possible from the United States Department of Commerce; and in 2015, under Hayes’ leadership, the Corporate Council on Africa was presented with the President’s “E” Award for Excellence in Export Service.

The Award, presented by the United States Department of Commerce, was initiated by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. In addition to these awards, Mr. Hayes has also been honored by the Africa Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.; the Transnet Foundation, South Africa’s largest foundation chaired by Bishop Tutu; and the United Nations Development Programme. He has also been honored for his leadership by Senegal and Kenya.

The AAI 2016 Annual Awards Gala will take place on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 in New York City during the opening week of the 71st United Nations General Assembly and the Second U.S.-Africa Business Forum. The Africa-America Institute is the premier U.S.-based international organization that works to increase the capacity of African individuals and institutions through higher education initiatives, leadership development, professional workforce training, convening activities, program implementation and management.

Other accepted honorees include: AAI 2016 African Business Leader Award: Mr. Aliko Dangote, President and CEO, Dangote Group; AAI 2016 Regional Integration Award and AAI 2016 Distinguished Alumnus Award: Mr. Sunil Benimadhu, Chief Executive, Stock Exchange of Mauritius.

The federal government has denied reports of an imminent increase in pump price of fuel.
There had been speculations of a fresh raise, two months after the government increased the price of petrol from N86.50 to N145 a litre.
Reports said the government was considering new rates as Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis continues to hamper importation of products.
But speaking to journalists on Tuesday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, said the government had no such plans.
“I have not been directed to increase pump price, even the other price was based on recommendation from the regulated body,” he said.
“I’m not aware that they are planning to do any increase; you know there are several factors that necessitated that especially the issue of exchange rate that has moved and we don’t expect any serious changes.
“So far the request for forex for importation of gasoline popularly called petrol has been met, and our own supply situation is robust, we are meeting demands. We have over 1.4 billion liters on ground.
“So I don’t see any basis for increase. However, the review could be done by the right body, you should contact PPPRA; that is the regulatory body as far as petrol pricing is concern.”

South African Airlines (SAA) “tried all the tricks in the book”, but the law has finally prevailed and it “serves them right”, Vernon Bricknell former owner and MD of Nationwide Airlines, told Fin24 on Wednesday.

Although he is disappointed that the South Gauteng High Court did not award the full amount Nationwide requested from SAA, Bricknell is satisfied that the national carrier “got what they rightfully deserved”.

Nationwide claimed R171.5m in damages, plus interest calculated from 2010, but the court has now ordered SAA to pay Nationwide R104.6m plus interest as damages for its uncompetitive practices. Nationwide had to stop operations in April 2008 and is currently in liquidation.

The court agreed with the Competition Tribunal that SAA’s behaviour from 2001 to 2005 was the biggest contributing factor to Nationwide’s loss in passenger volumes. The tribunal found that most of SAA’s abuse was due to certain practices relating to the travel agent sector.

Case had been going since 2001

“At least the case has been finalised now. It has been going since 2001. I was determined that the law should prevail and it has, but not to the extent we had hoped for,” said Bricknell.

“SAA had caused us so much harm and hopefully they will now stop doing what they did to every competitive airline in SA. They certainly won’t be allowed to do this in Europe, where states are not allowed to subsidise airlines.”

He believes it is time for aviation regulations in SA to be revised in this regard too.

“SAA needs a lot more than just a change of board. It must start making a profit instead of just killing their competition,” said Bricknell.

“Hopefully the result of our case and Comair’s upcoming one (will make) SAA start to behave itself. I am thankful they got what they deserved. I wonder if SAA could survive after the outcome of the upcoming Comair case. And we would probably have to wait and see if SAA pays us, I guess.”

He emphasised that it is important for SAA to “stop killing competition”.

“Even after we won our first case against SAA, they blatantly continued with with the same behaviour, but now they got a good smack,” said Bricknell. He added that, although Nationwide was awarded a great deal less in damages than it had asked for, SAA must also pay interest on that amount from 2010 when Nationwide won its case but SAA decided to continue with a dispute on the amount to be paid as damages.

“SAA has tried every trick the law allowed to delay the process, but fortunately we manged to stick it out. At least justice has been done,” said Bricknell.

“Nationwide would still have been operational if SAA had not behaved in this anti-competitive way. Nationwide had 15 years of SAA’s bad behaviour.”

Nationwide’s attorney, Lucinda Verster, who specialises in competition law at Bowman Gilfillan, told Fin24 the matter between Nationwide and SAA has a long history. Nationwide had already filed the first complaint against SAA regarding abuse of dominance in terms of the Competition Act in 2001.

Arising from that Nationwide instituted a damages claim in 2005, which was the first damages claim of this nature in SA. It was, however, settled shortly after the commencement of the trial in February 2006.

“SAA continued with its abusive practices and Nationwide filed a second complaint before the competition authorities. SAA was again found to have continued to abuse its dominant position in contravention of the Competition Act. This resulted in a second damages claim filed by Nationwide,” explained Verster.

“This matter was heard before the South Gauteng High Court in February 2016. The nature of Nationwide’s claim was the second of its kind to be brought in SA law and the third to be litigated, setting a precedent within SA competition law.”

That is why she regards the case as a landmark decision, setting a precedent for future damages claims in SA competition law. The court in the Comair case against SAA, which is based on the same grounds but involves a much longer period of time, will have reference to the Nationwide decision.

“We are not aware whether or not SAA will appeal as it has 15 days to file a notice of appeal,” said Verster.

SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali told Fin24 on Wednesday that SAA is still considering the matter, and must attach weight to both its implications and possible legal options if there are grounds to pursue such options.

By Margaret Wahito

Nairobi — NIC Bank will from Tuesday begin the process of providing access of funds to depositors at Imperial Bank Limited which is under receivership.

This follows an earlier joint agreement between the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) and NIC, to kick start the process.

Imperial Bank depositors will have access to funds of up to a maximum of Sh1.5 million.

“Depositors will be able to access their funds in any of the 33 NIC Bank branches countrywide,” NIC said on Monday.

In the mean time customers will also access through five Imperial Bank branches which will be opened for the first time since October 2015 when the bank went into receivership after huge malpractices. These include Diani, Kilifi, Malindi, Watamu and Parklands.

NIC Bank will also assume the majority of Imperial Bank Limited staff and the branches.

The move comes after the lifting of the court order to suspend the payments.

Last month shareholders of the troubled bank had accused the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) of rushing the liquidation of the bank.

The shareholders complained that the action by CBK to dispose the bank’s assets to NIC Bank as a move to bury evidence of the regulators own role in the saga.