Rajpriya Gautam

Travelers are making their way back to Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railways, especially the line between Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa,  according to new data published by the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC). 43,235 people took the Mombasa line in September, reported KRC, which is more than double the number from earlier this summer when the SGR was forced to reduce service due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Cargo traffic, however, fell slightly in September. The SGR is bleeding money at a rate of almost  $9.2 million a month , there’s a  billion-dollar loan payment due  and the state-owned railway has already  missed $380 million in payments to Chinese creditors , due earlier this year. So, with that in mind, one has to wonder if the current passenger and cargo loads will be sufficient to finance those obligations. The emerging consensus is that it probably won’t and the company is going to have to confront the reality of defaulting on some or all of its...

China’s ambassador to Egypt, Liao Liqiang, welcomed the return of 31 ancient coins that were handed over yesterday by the Egyptian government. “The Chinese side sincerely thanks Egypt for protecting and returning cultural property stolen from the country of origin,” s aid Ambassador Liao on Twitter. This is a highly contentious issue among many African countries, and China, who’ve expressed anger that artwork and other antiquities taken from their countries during the colonial period have not been returned. France, for its part, has promised to hand back African artifacts but has apparently been very slow to do so,  according to a report in The New York Times. U.S. and European museums have long used the excuse of the lack of modern museum facilities in Africa to house these antiquities, fearing they would be ruined if they’re not properly handled and stored.  That problem was partially resolved back in 2018 when China financed and built  the Museum of Black Civilizati...

Zambia’s default over the weekend on a portion of its Eurobond debt prompted renewed concerns about the lack of transparency in Chinese lending and whether weak governance systems in a number of African countries are up to the challenge of managing the burgeoning financial crisis. Latest Commentary and Coverage of the Zambian Debt Crisis: THE AFRICA REPORT:  “The long-term consequence of Zambia’s default may be to deter Western lending to countries where China is already a creditor. “Zambia should come clean on its Chinese public and private debt,” said Steve Hanke, a monetary policy expert and professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University. “Zambia has been playing with smoke and mirrors on its Chinese debt, and its other creditors are rightfully fed up.””  — David Whitehouse, Business Editor   (READ MORE) DAILY MAVERICK:  “As Zambia battles to repay its debt obligations, the continent and international community are reminded of...

The next stage of the Zambian debt default crisis may play out in a London court. NGOs like  Oxfam  and the  Jubilee Debt Campaign  contend that because the vast majority of Eurobonds are covered by English law, the British government could play a unique role in preventing private creditors from forcing highly-indebted poor countries to repay bonds and other loans at the expense of more pressing social services.  Jubilee’s Head of Policy, Tim Jones,  spoke out on the issue on Twitter  and noted that the British government, not the Chinese, is now the biggest obstacle in the way of successful implementation of the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI): Bondholders are threatening to sue Zambia in London following the country’s default. The speculators rejected Zambia and the G20s debt suspension request. The UK must take responsibility and change the law to prevent them from suing. The bondholders say : “Members of the Committee reser...

There has so far been a total blackout of any Chinese online discussion, media coverage, and comment from government officials on Zambia’s recent debt default. Neither the embassy in Lusaka nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing has commented publicly on the issue. It’s quite likely that Chinese officials are now preparing a position statement on the issue, which often takes up to a week to complete. We’ll know when that messaging is ready when a Chinese journalist poses a question about it at the foreign ministry’s regular press briefing in Beijing. From there the messaging will make its way out to official media, diplomatic Twitter feeds and so on, with everyone restating the foreign ministry’s position. Because there’s so little public communication from Chinese stakeholders on these issues, it can be difficult to gain a nuanced understanding of how Chinese policymakers, scholars, and analysts frame issues like what’s going on now in Zambia. So, it was noteworthy when the...

The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. hosted a fascinating webinar this week that explored the complex social issues surrounding Black life in China. CSIS Africa Program Director Judd Devermont together with Georgetown University lecturer Travis Atkins hosted the discussion, with an interesting panel that included a scholar, an online content creator, and a business leader. Key Highlights From the CSIS Webinar: “Race and Diplomacy — African Experiences in China” SARON TAMERAT, CO-MANAGER, BLACKLIVITY CHINA:  “We often refrain from using the words “African migrant” because it tends to be very loaded. It doesn’t paint a clear and nuanced image about who are these Africans are going to China. So, when you look at the African diaspora in China, there are diplomats, there are self-funded students, academics who go there to teach, there are expats… so you have to consider the different experiences all these people are having.”  [1:26] HUANG GU...

The Zambian finance ministry a nnounced that it has reached a deal with the China Exim Bank to defer the repayment of loans totaling $110 million that were scheduled to come due through the end of 2021. The deal was concluded within the framework of the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative and includes both interest and principal payments. It also marks the second time in less than a month that the government has restructured debts with China’s policy banks. In October, the China Development Bank agreed to a six-month deferral of a single loan of undetermined size. The finance ministry said in its statement that it will continue to “ engage private Chinese lenders based on friendly consultations ” to pursue “transparent” debt relief. The news of the China Exim Bank deal came on the same day that the Zambian government got into a tussle with its bondholders over who was responsible for the country defaulting on $3 billion of Eurobond notes. On Saturday, Zambia became the first ...