Atlantico Weekly

Cape Verde Politics & Regional News

In Cape Verde on January 26, 2012 at 8:32 pm

INTERNATIONAL

The International Criminal Court (ICC) held a ceremony on 19 January 2012 at the seat of the Court in The Hague to welcome Cape Verde as the 119th State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty. Cape Verde is also the 33rd African State Party, the first Lusophone country in Africa and the 12th member of the Economic Community of West African States to adhere to the Rome Statute, which took effect in the country on 1 January 2012 (ICC).

Cape Verde has risen to an amazing 9th place on the Reporters Without Frontiers Press Freedom Index 2011. Norway, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands, Austria, Iceland, Luxembourg and Switzerland are leading the top 10, with Canada trailing Cape Verde at 10th place.

A Boston University’s fellowship has served a different but perhaps very important purpose: to highlight the small but growing group of countries in Africa that have already built successful democracies. It has served as a kind of think-tank and support system for well-run nations you almost never hear about: Cape Verde, Botswana, and Mauritius (Boston.com).

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SPLIT SECOND POLL

DEFENSE & SECURITY

A 17-year-old male was killed in the early morning hours of Saturday in the capital city during a confrontation between rival gangs from the Praia neighborhoods of Várzea and Achadinha. The boy was hit in the neck by a bullet fired from a homemade pistol (A Semana).

CULTURE

Most anyone who knows the music of Cape Verde, an archipelago nestled 500km off the coast of West Africa, first learned of these sublime sounds through the music of Cesária Évora. She popularised morna, the melancholy strains that are unmistakably the Cape-Verdean style of blues. Évora passed away last month, but the emotional essence of morna lives on through one of the country’s most celebrated sirens—27-year-old Mayra Andrade (The Economist).

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BOA VISTA

Current Boa Vista mayor José Pinto Almeida has beat José Luís Santos in the internal party dispute of which the two were protagonists, and is now the MpD’s candidate in this year’s municipal elections on the island (A Semana).

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Cape Verde on January 26, 2012 at 8:31 pm

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of a new Aparthotel for Mindelo, Sao Vicente, boasting 120 apartments and a rooftop swimming pool (source).

ECONOMY

The World Bank plans to loan Cape Verde US$1 million for its Growth and Competitiveness Fund (FCC), which is focused on supporting Cape Verdean companies, said the FCC’s representative at the Sotavento Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCISS) (Macauhub).

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ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign. The latest interview was with Emanuel Spencer of SCI, Cape Verde’s  first multinational company.

And yes, Atlantico Weekly is looking for more entrepreneurs of Cape Verde to interview. Those interested may contact Atlantico Weekly (atlanticoweekly at gmail.com).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

TOURISM

Thirty-five percent of the funding to build a cruise terminal and ancillary services in Sao Vicente has been approved, the National Administration of Ports of Cape Verde (Enapor) reported (AW).

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THE GRAND TOUR OF CAPE VERDE

Read The Grand Tour of Cape Verde, Atlantico Weekly’s travel guide to the country’s main islands, updated in January 2012.

Atlantico Weekly’s Angola Business News

In Angola on January 26, 2012 at 8:30 pm

POLITICS

The Parliament of Angola canceled a session that would have sworn in the head of a national elections commission whom opposition parties have rejected (Bloomberg).

Angola’s ruling MPLA party defended the re-appointment of the electoral commission chief and said opposition criticism was aimed at causing instability before an election this year (Reuters).

INTERNATIONAL

The strategic plan to set up the Cross-border Maiombe Forest Conservation Area, between Angola, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo, requires US$40 million in investment, the project’s regional coordinator said (Macauhub).

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ECONOMY

The economy of Angola grew 3.4 percent last year with “prudent” policies, the International Monetary Fund said in a review of a $1.4 billion loan program (Bloomberg).

Angola is making “concerted efforts” to explain a $32bn gap in the government’s accounts, which apparently was caused by undocumented spending on infrastructure projects, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said (BusinessDay).

The Angolan government does not plan to take out another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when its US$1.4 billion loan under the terms of a stand by agreement is concluded this year, Angola’s Economy Minister said (Macauhub).

BUSINESS

Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonangol EP and some of the country’s banks are interested in stakes in Portuguese companies, Angolan Economy Minister Abraao Gourgel said (Bloomberg).

AGRI ETC

Angolan state company Mecanegro will be the target of a modernisation programme that will be funded by a US$40 million loan provided by the Export Import (ExIm) Bank of China, the chairman of the company said (Macauhub).

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MINING

Prospecting work to re-open the iron ore and manganese mines in Kassala-Kitungo, in Angola’s Kwanza Norte province, began last week. The project, which is part of public-private partnership involving state mining company Empresa Nacional de Ferro de Angola (Ferrangol) and Angola Exploration Mining Resources (AEMR), was launched in the first half of 2011 (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

March loading cargoes of Angolan crude oil have nearly sold out, following relatively strong demand from Asia and a fall in the export volume for the month, traders said (Reuters).

Angola plans to reduce its daily crude oil exports in March by 12 percent to 1.61 million barrels a day, the lowest in nine months, according to a final loading program obtained by Bloomberg News.

Engen Petroleum Limited, the African downstream petroleum products refiner and marketer, has acquired the assets of Chevron in seven countries in sub-Sahara Africa, namely Nigeria and Angola. “We have completed the integration process, now the sky is the limit as we seek to become the champion in Africa,” Henry Akwaboah, managing director of Engen, Ghana, stated at an award ceremony in Accra (Businessdayonline) .

TELECOMS

Vodacom Group Ltd. plans to pull out of the Democratic Republic of Congo by selling its 51 percent stake in a local mobile-phone business to MTN Group Ltd. or Unitel SA of Angola (Businessweek).

TOURISM

Angola is expected to register until 2020 a movement of four million tourists, the minister of Hotel and Tourism, Pedro Mutindi, said in Luanda  (ANGOP).

 

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