ELECTIONS

As of December 3, the last day prior to the February legislative elections in which voter registration was possible, a total of 309,617 Cape Verdeans had registered to vote – 271,971 in Cape Verde itself, and 37,644 abroad (A Semana).

Presidential candidate David Hopffer Almada has launched his own website, in Portuguese alas.

PAICV and UCID have already decided who will be leading their list for São Vicente during the 2011 legislative elections: Filomena Martins and António Monteiro, respectively. The MpD is contemplating Jorge Santos to head theirs (AW).

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INTERNATIONAL

Cape Verde has been chosen to hold the chairmanship and secretariat of the Summit of Macaronesian Archipelagoes. The first summit, which was considered historic by various of its participants, was aimed mainly at creating a space for political coordination and cooperation for development among the archipelagoes of Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira (A Semana).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Some 50 metric tons of cocaine circulate every year through Africa, according to a report from the Sahelo-Saharan Geopolitical and Strategic Observatory (OSGS). In the report, Cape Verde is listed as one of the West African countries in which drug seizures have increased the most (A Semana).

From now on, all of the shipping containers arriving in Praia undergo X-ray scans in order to control all of the merchandise coming into the capital city. At the moment, the country is in a position “to prevent the entry of arms,” given that its ports and international airports all have scanners and weapon and explosives detectors (A Semana).

BOA VISTA

The women of Boa Vista have fewer employment opportunities than men, according to a study ordered by the Organization of Women of Cape Verde (OMCV) and the Cape Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity (ICIEG). The study, carried out nearly one year ago, encompassed the areas of João Galego, Barraca and Sal-Rei (A Semana).

The systematic power outages that have plagued Boa Vista over the past several weeks are punishing the island’s economy, according to merchants and business owners in the restaurant and hotel/real-estate sectors, with large quantities of rotten food products thrown away and the flight of tourists to large-scale hotels (A Semana).

SAL

The re-opening of the Djad’Sal Hotel on the island of Sal was scheduled for Wednesday, December 15, but the hotel’s doors remain closed more than two months after activities ceased (A Semana).

ECONOMY

The government of Cape Verde has set up a fund of 100 million Cape Verdean escudos to support the internationalisation of the country’s companies, the chairman of Cabo Verde Investimentos, Carlos Rocha said in Praia (Macauhub).

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AVIATION

Passenger traffic in Cape Verde’s airports was 19.4% higher in November of this year than during the same month in 2009. The volume of domestic passengers rose 24.4%, while international passenger traffic was up 14.2% (A Semana).

On 13 December, the EU Council of Ministers authorised the signature of an aviation agreement between the EU and Cape Verde. The agreement was initiated in July, and will replace the clauses that do not comply with EU law that appear in bilateral air agreements between Cape Verde and several member states (Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom). Thanks to the agreement, all EU airline companies will now have the possibility of offering connections to Cape Verde from these eight countries (Europolitics).

FISHING

20 of Cape Verde’s fishing vessels are now equipped with the Satellite Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), according to the director of the Department of Fishing, Adalberto Vieira (A Semana).

TELECOMS

Internet service has been slow in Cape Verde for more than a week, and sometimes stops altogether for minutes at a time. Users have complained, but net service provider Cabo Verde Multimédia affirms that it has “not detected any problem” on the network (A Semana).

UTILITIES

Cape Verde’s electricity and water company Electra is undergoing restructuring with a view to its being privatised in 2011, said Cape Verde’s prime minister, José Maria Neves, cited by the Cape Verdean press (Macauhub).

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has won an order for turbines with total capacity of 25.5 megawatts for a project in Cape Verde (Reuters).

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ELECTIONS

Political parties and coalitions will have from December 18 to 28 to present their candidates for the February 6 legislative elections in the country’s various electoral circles. The determination is part of the electoral calendar published in Wednesday’s edition of the Official State Bulletin, and is the result of an agreement reached by the National Elections Commission, government representatives and Cape Verde’s political formations, the PAICV, the MpD, the UCID, the PTS and the PSD (A Semana).

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INTERNATIONAL

Cape Verde has been under the careful watch of the United States of America since last year, according to the secret American diplomatic files released this week by the site Wikileaks. Washington, D.C., according to the documents to which A Semana has had access, ordered its agents and diplomats to investigate the archipelago’s propensity for terrorism and drug trafficking. Based on their findings, they were asked to elaborate a data base featuring biographical information, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, travel records, working hours, telephone contacts and e-mail addresses of leaders and individuals with connections to Cape Verde. For the full story see A Semana and for a reaction from the US Embassy on Cape Verde see here.

The Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Project has received powerful Washington backing for efforts to restore Sephardic cemeteries on the island chain, with US Congressman Barney Frank among those attending a benefit for the group last week (Jerusalem Post).

For more info on the Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Project take a look at their website.

SAL

Prime Minister José Maria Neves and Minister of Internal Administration Lívio Lopes presided in Sal over the launch of  the “Safe Tourism” project and the inauguration of the National Police Station (AW).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The Triangle project for Calhao on Sao Vicente Island

ECONOMY

The executive directors of the International Monetary Fund, who recently carried out a mission to Cape Verde, congratulated the country’s authorities for its “strong macroeconomic performance” and for the progress made toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (A Semana).

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EXPORT

Approximately half a ton of fresh fish was exported from the Cova de Inglesa complex, on the island of São Vicente, on a direct flight to Portuguese capital Lisbon. The event was “historic,” according to the director of the Department of Fishing, because it was the first lot of fish from the complex to be exported, by air, to Europe (A Semana).

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POLITICS

The date for Cape Verde’s parliamentary elections has been set by President Pedro Pires for February 6th 2011.

Diplomat Alice Ferreira dos Santos has replaced Arnaldo Lopes as the director of the Department of Consular Affairs and Treaties in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The substitution appears to be the Ministry’s response to a complaint lodged by the governing PAICV against Lopes, whom they suspect of involvement in a “conspiracy” with opposition party MpD regarding the registration of Cape Verdean voters in the diaspora (A Semana).

INTERNATIONAL

Three municipalities in the African island nation of Cape Verde have signed agreements with a preservation group toward maintaining Jewish cemeteries (Jerusalem Post).

BOA VISTA

At 3:00 pm Saturday, November 27, an aircraft with 96 passengers on board was “hit” by a flock of birds, damaging the Boeing 737-800’s motor and forcing it to carry out an emergency landing at Rabil International Airport on the island of Boa Vista. The simulated situation was part of an exercise aimed at testing the airport’s response capacity in the case of an accident (A Semana).

BRAVA

Brava now has near-total coverage in terms of its water and electricity networks, according to Mayor Camilo Gonçalves (A Semana).

SAL

The results of the first phase in expansion work on Palmeira sea port, on the island of Sal, were unveiled by Prime Minister José Maria Neves. The project is being executed in two phases and encompasses investments on the order of 47 million Euros, financed by the European Investment Bank (A Semana).

SANTO ANTAO

The government of Cape Verde is set to launch tenders for the construction of dams on the island of Santo Antão, the island’s delegate for the Ministry of the Environment, Rural Development and Marine Resources announced (Macauhub).

Santo Antão’s Post-Harvest Inspection Center, located in the city of Porto Novo, has yet to become operational due to a lack of interest on the part of the private sector. The tender for the operation of the center has yet to be the object of a single bid (A Semana).

ECONOMY

Cape Verde should improve its level of competitiveness in order to take better advantage of existing opportunities within the context of the international crisis, Bank of Cape Verde governor Carlos Burgo said during the presentation of the annual report on economic perspectives in Africa (A Semana).

AVIATION

TACV Cabo Verde Airlines intends to buy another airplane to increase its fleet, the head of Department of Marketing and Business Communication, Carlos Carvalho announced (AW).

Several European tour operators are setting up extra flights to Cape Verde this northern winter season as the archipelago is becoming more popular among tourists than expected (Afrol).

BANKING

SISP, the entity that operates Cape Verde’s Vinti4 credit and debit card and ATM network, has received the PCI-DSS international payment system security certificate (A Semana).

The United Nations Organisation for Industrial Development (UNIDO/France), promised to create a risk capital firm in Cape Verde in early 2012, to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the country (AW).

Geocapital, the stakeholding company linked to Macau gaming magnate Stanley Ho, is due to start the process of integrating the banks it has been acquiring in Portuguese-speaking African countries. The first banks to become part of the network would be Banco da África Ocidental, of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde’s Caixa Económica (Macauhub).

TOURISM

Yes, tourism is on the rise in Cape Verde. Luckily, the inland areas and huge swaths of coastline remain untouched. The increase in tourism has made it easier for eco-tourists to get to Cape Verde (there are more flights than ever before). The infrastructure — or lack thereof — assures eco-adventurers that there are plenty of sparsely inhabited, relatively untouched places to wander through (Mother Nature Network).

TRANSPORT

The hydrofoil Kriola was handed over to its owners, Cabo Verde Fast Ferry. The first of two high-speed vessels built in Singapore, the boat is scheduled to arrive in Cape Verde between December 25 and 29, three days after which it will make its maiden Praia-Fogo-Brava voyage (A Semana).

POLITICS

MpD-leader Carlos Veiga paid a pre-campaign visit to the Capeverdean communities in the Netherlands and Luxembourg last weekend. A long delay of the plane that brought him to Europe made Veiga arrive four hours late at a Rotterdam venue where his most loyal backers were kept waiting. The built-up tension exploded when Veiga finally entered the hall on the tunes of the catchy song “Nos Lider”. The coming election campaign promises heated struggles among the most far flung communities of the diaspora. Capeverdeans abroad are entitled to vote for six seats in Cape Verde’s parliament (AW).

INTERNATIONAL

The United States government, by way of the US Embassy in Praia, told A Semana Online that it has no knowledge of any specific problem with the bank accounts held by Cape Verde’s diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C. and New York. According to the US Embassy’s third secretary, Michael J. Ralles, the US government’s position is exactly the same as that expressed in a communiqué issued by Cape Verde’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and stated by State Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jorge Borges (A Semana).

The Minister of National Defence, Cristina Fontes Lima advocated a broad maritime security vision, articulated with national security, which includes the issue of sustainability of marine resources, in addition to the classical conventions (Inforpress).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The president of the Public Order Police Socio-Professional Association has submitted his resignation. In a letter addressed to the association’s general assembly, Rufino Lima justifies the decision with “attacks from a number of colleagues” and his own personal “demotion” (A Semana).

FOGO

Elected municipal officials in Mosteiros unanimously approved a deliberation allowing the municipal chamber to take out a 60 million-escudo bank loan aimed at financing the acquisition of vehicles and heavy machinery (A Semana).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

A render of a possible future development in the Praia Negra area of the Capeverdean capital (Tecnicil).

ECONOMY

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 15-month Policy Support Instrument (PSI) for Cape Verde. The PSI for Cape Verde aims to consolidate macroeconomic stability, and achieve sustained broad-based growth. The authorities’ program will build on the macroeconomic success and structural reforms of the previous PSI supported program, and will help maintain macroeconomic discipline (The Financial).

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POWER

The Kingdom of Morocco will provide one million Euros in financing for Praia’s electricity distribution system. This is one of the results of the visit the country’s State Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation made to Cape Verde this week (A Semana).

POLITICS

Carlos Veiga, Cape Verde’s centre-right opposition leader, will be visiting the Rotterdam- and Luxemburg-based Capeverdean communities this weekend, with the aim of fomenting support for his MpD party during the 2011 national elections in Cape Verde (AW).

INTERNATIONAL

Three major American banks have frozen the accounts of diplomatic missions of sixteen African countries in the United States on suspicions of money laundering, terrorism and other illicit activities. Cape Verde, as well as Angola and Mozambique, is among them. The Cape Verdean government has expressed shock at the move, which, from its point of view, is a violation of the Vienna Convention (A Semana).

China is currently in 11th place on Cape Verde’s import index, as opposed to ten years ago, when it occupied 40th place. These numbers lead economist Paulino Dias to believe that the Asian country could become the archipelago’s “main trade partner” (A Semana).

Following last week’s  successfull Cape Verde Business and Investment Seminar in Rotterdam, the city’s Chamber of Commerce is again hosting a business event related to Cape Verde. On November 26th local businessmen wil be informed about business opportunities on Sal island, as a follow up of a Dutch business mission that visited the island late september 2010 (AW).

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SAL

15-year-old Dutch sailor Laura Dekker is making a solo trip around the world, and stopped on the island of Sal, to rest up and refuel her yacht (A Semana).

The final leg in the world windsurfing championship is currently under way on the island of Sal. Athletes finally made their way to the water in Fontona, the alternative found for the usual spot, Ponta Preta, where the lack of wind and waves put the final stage in the circuit in check (A Semana).

SAO VICENTE

National Police and Judiciary Police officers are carrying out plainclothes patrols in Mindelo neighborhoods considered to be experiencing critical levels of delinquency and violence. The announcement was made on the same day in which a review of the police’s violence and crime reduction plan indicated a 18% to 19% reduction in crimes against people and property in 2009 (A Semana).

The third phase of the Mindelo Sanitary Plan has been concluded, and will be officially unveiled. The project encompasses a new sewer network, which was extended by 20 kilometers, and five new pumping stations (A Semana).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The BAI bulding for downtown Praia (Sogei).

ECONOMY

Cape Verde currently registers a 53,268,000-escudo trade deficit, according to figures from the National Statistics Institute (INE) (A Semana).

The 14th edition of the International Cape Verde Trade Fair (FIC), believed to be the largest ever, opened its doors November 17 (A Semana).

The 14th International Fair of Cape Verde (FIC) features approximately 50 Portuguese companies, constituting the largest participation ever from that country (AW).

The European Commission (EC) has approved the donation of a donation of 9 million euros to Cape Verde under the terms of the “Flex Vulnerability” scheme (Macauhub).

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BANKING

Portuguese commercial bank Banco Espírito Santo (BES) has launched a €50 million line of credit to finance exports to Cape Verde (A Semana).

Banco Espírito Santo (BES) Cabo Verde is due open its first branch on the Cape Verdean archipelago in January 2011, on Sal Island (Macauhub).

PORTS

ENAPOR started the procurement process with the objective to select a contractor for the works relating to the implementation of the second phase of Praia’s port expansion (Dredging News Online).

TOURISM

The Hotel Guest Traffic Inquiry indicates that more than 97,000 tourists entered Cape Verde’s hotel establishments in the third quarter of 2010, representing a 17.5% increase over the same period last year (A Semana).

POLITICS

During the ground-breaking ceremony for the expansion and modernization of Vale dos Cavaleiros sea port, Prime Minister José Maria Neves affirmed that Cape Verde is changing with the modernization of its infrastructures. According to the premier, the government remains determined to transform Cape Verde into a modern and competitive country with low unemployment, a goal that requires the modernization and construction of infrastructures (A Semana).

INTERNATIONAL

The Dutch city of Rotterdam, home to a vibrant 17.000 strong Capeverdean community, hosted a highly successfull Cape Verde Business and Music Event on 5 and 6 November. Up to 300 Capeverdean and Dutch businessmen met at a Cape Verde Investment seminar at the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce. The latter had organised the event in conjunction with Cabo Verde Investimentos, the Cape Verde Investment Agency. The Director of Cabo Verde Investimentos, Rui Cardoso-Santos, described the event as “very succesfull”.

Dozens of Capeverdean businessmen had travelled to Rotterdam, among which Sal based top entrepreneur Gualberto do Rosario, several bankers from Caixa and BCA as well as a wide range of real estate developers.

Saturday night was danced away at the prestigous (and soldout) De Doelen concert hall, where a fine line of Capeverdean artists showed their talents, starring among others a knock out Mayra Andrade (Atlantico Weekly).

CULTURE

“O testamento do Senhor Napumoceno” and” A ilha dos Escravos ” were among the films that were shown in London, at a film festival celebrating 35 years of independence for Portuguese-speaking African countries (AW).

BOA VISTA

The “Safe Tourism” project, which began to be implemented three months ago on the island of Boa Vista, has resulted in a considerable reduction in crime against tourists, especially on the island’s beaches. The affirmation comes from the National Police sub-chief on the island, Viriato Baptista, in whose opinion the project has helped bring tranquility and discipline to the busiest beaches, which had been characterized by frequent assaults and muggings targeting tourists (A Semana).

SAL

SOS Tartarugas on the island of Sal is recruiting new volunteers for the protection of turtles next year (Turtle Conservation Jobs).

SANTO ANTAO

A slave registry book is among the most interesting items on display in the exhibition “National Historical Archive Collection of Documents on the Island of Santo Antão: from administration to the economy and aspects of daily life, 1856-1957” (A Semana).

SAO VICENTE

São Vicente mayor Isaura Gomes has requested to suspend her mandate at the helm of the São Vicente municipal chamber for a period of six months, due to health related issues (A Semana).

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BUILDING OF THE WEEK

Picture of a recently completed development on Sal, the Corallo appartment block (Imobrisa).

ECONOMY

Remittances from Cape Verdean émigrés to their home country are expected to total approximately US$ 144 million in 2010, almost US$ 1 million less than in 2009, according to the World Bank (A Semana).

Macau and Cape Verde will sign an agreement to avoid double taxation and tax evasion, Macau secretary for Finance and Economy Francis Tam Pak Yuen said (Macau Daily Times).

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TELECOMS

The much-awaited second underwater fiber optic cable intended to improve Cape Verde’s connection with the rest of the world was tied down on Praia’s Quebra Canela beach. The US$ 50 million investment will increase the country’s communicational capacity, particularly in terms of the Internet (A Semana).

AVIATION

TACV Cabo Verde Airlines’ long-haul fleet, made up of two Boeing 757s, is aging, bringing its maintenance costs to considerable levels. One of the aircrafts has just returned from maintenance work in Germany that proved more lengthy than initially expected, as inspectors detected, among other defects, serious problems in the fuselage due to erosio. But the problem of the renovation of the TACV fleet will only be resolved after the 2011 elections (A Semana).

João Higino do Rosário Silva, Armindo Sousa and João Alberto Pereira, the administrators of TACV Cabo Verde Airlines between 2003 and 2006, have lost the compensation case they lodged against the carrier for the manner in which they were replaced by Gilles Filliatrault upon their exit from the company. The three appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the initial ruling (A Semana).

The Stefanina business group owes TACV Cabo Verde Airlines more than 600,000 Euros (some 66 million escudos) for some 40 charter flights carried out using the airline’s aircrafts from Italy to Cape Verde and vice-versa. 200,000 of the initial debt of 800,000 Euros was paid off following pressure from the airline (A Semana).

TRANSPORT

Cabo Verde Fast Ferry, the company responsible for the construction and operation of the hydrofoils Kriola and Liberdadi, has begun a campaign in Portugal aimed at promoting the purchase of its future bonds on the Cape Verde Stock Exchange (A Semana).

CV Fast Ferry‘s CEO Andy de Andrade told Atlantico Weekly that the first ferry will be shipped from Singapore late this month, arriving in Cape Verde between Christmas and New Year. CV Fast Ferry will be  operational on the Brava-Fogo-Praia-Maio route within a couple of days of the arrival of the Kriola (Atlantico Weekly).

TOURISM

The Independent newspaper published a traveller’s guide for Cape Verde. The isolated, volcanic archipelago offers an adventurous take on the tropical island experience. Read how the reporte, Aisling Irwin, explores the options (Independent).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

Render  of the Sambala Resort for Santiago (Sambala Developments).

ELECTIONS

An MGF Research poll for the month of October forecasts a victory for the PAICV in the 2011 legislative elections, with the current governing party preferred by 38.5% of prospective voters, against 20.6% for the MpD and 2% for the UCID. In comparison with the month of July, all of the parties lost points and the percentage of voters who claimed to undecided rose from 23.5% to 32.4% (A Semana).

Carlos Veiga, the leader of opposition party MpD, told party militants and sympathizers on the island of Santo Antão that the campaign for the 2011 legislative elections “is the toughest political battle the party will ever have fought in its history” (A Semana).

INTERNATIONAL

A summit is slated to take place before the end of this year in Mindelo to “create” the region of Macaronesia, in the presence of the prime ministers of Cape Verde, Portugal and Spain and the presidents of the regional governments of the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira (A Semana).

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DIASPORA

Angolans of Cape Verdean descent are increasingly seeking to obtain their ancestors’ nationality, according to information revealed to A Semana Online by Cape Verde’s consul general in Luanda, José António Delgado.

SAL

The island of Sal will finally saw its dream of having a hospital come true. The facility cost some 345 million escudos and has the dimensions of a regional hospital. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was presided over by Prime Minister José Maria Neves (A Semana).

SANTIAGO

The Minister of State and Health, Basilio Ramos said that the new Maternity Centre and the Centre for Consultations at the Hospital Agostinho Neto (HAN), in Praia, should become operational later this year (Inforpress).

ECONOMY

Rwanda, Cape Verde, and Zambia were among the 10 economies worldwide that most improved the ease of doing business for local firms in the past year. Rwanda moved up 12 places in the global rankings, while Cape Verde and Zambia rose 10 and eight spots, respectively (Visao News).

POWER

The second and last photovoltaic solar power array built by the Portuguese company Martifer in Cape Verde, a project budgeted at 19 million euros with an installed potential of 5 megawatts, was inaugurated in Praia (Visao News).

REAL ESTATE

The Resort Group Plc’s flagship five-star development, the Dunas Beach Resort and Spa, is under construction on the west coast of Sal Island where work has begun on the first properties scheduled for completion next summer. It is being managed by the world’s largest resort hotel group, Sol Meliá, which reported that many of the seven single-storey detached five-bedroom, four-bathroom beachfront villas have already been snapped up by investors (Fly2letgo).

TRANSPORT

Render of one of the two vessels nearing completion for Cape Verde Fast Ferry, coming soon to an island near you…

TOURISM

The Independent newspaper published a traveller’s guide for Cape Verde. The isolated, volcanic archipelago offers an adventurous take on the tropical island experience. Read how the reporte, Aisling Irwin, explores the options (Independent).

Cape Verde is one of the favorite destinations of Portuguese during the winter months. For this year’s winter season, the packages offered by one of Portugal’s tourist agencies are nearly all sold out, as the country’s residents seek to flee from the cold and rain and enjoy Cape Verde’s sunshine and mild climate (A Semana).

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