. December 15, 2005 SouthAmerica: I have a very good understanding of why China is making major investments in Africa including in Angola. I had direct experiences in dealing with the Angolan government in the late 1980âs and early 1990âs, and I also published an article about Angola in June 2003 regarding Angola and Brazil. Quoting from that article: I said âIn April 1992, I sent a proposal to the Angolan Ambassador to The United Nations, giving them a plan of action, and the steps necessary for them to develop investment opportunities in Angola, and bring in the necessary capital to help them develop their economy. In June 1993, I had the opportunity to meet in New York Mr. Emanuel Moreira Carneiro, the Angolan Finance Minister. The economic plan covered the development of telecommunications, ports system, rail system, road system, agriculture, the timber industry, and further development of their natural resources (oil, diamond, iron ore, manganese, copper, gold, zinc, tin, lead, uranium, quartz, marble, granite, phosphate, fluorite, sulfur, mica, gypsum, feldspar, kaolin, talc, etc.). The plan also included further development of their fishing industry, since fish were abundant in Angolan waters. The plan described strategies that would have helped rebuild the infrastructure of the country. The project was terminated because of changes in the government and the further escalation of the Angolan civil war at that time.â You can read the entire article at the following website: June 2003 â âBrazil and the Angolan Connectionâ http://www.brazzillog.com/2003/html/articles/jun03/p133jun03.htm *************** December 15, 2005 SouthAmerica: The following is an article published by REUTERS on December 15, 2005: REUTERS âChina muscles in to Africa oil scrambleâ Thu Dec 15, 2005 - 04:49 AM ET By Pascal Fletcher DAKAR, Dec 15 (Reuters) - With a booming economy to match its global ambitions, China is elbowing its way in to join the scramble for Africa's untapped oil riches. On the same continent where Cold War enemies the United States and the Soviet Union once sparred through proxy regimes and armies, Chinese oil executives now jostle with western counterparts to win exploration, output and supply contracts. From the rock-strewn deserts of Sudan and Mauritania to the deep waters off Angola and Nigeria, Chinese energy companies are aggressively hunting for new oil reserves to power the world's fastest growing major economy. China had already blazed a diplomatic trail across Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, offering its support to newly independent states and throwing its weight behind liberation movements and the fight against apartheid. Today, with its expanding economy ever more thirsty for oil and raw materials, Beijing is working to turn that history of diplomatic goodwill into concrete energy and investment deals. "China has had an engagement with Africa for years, originally driven by diplomacy, but now there are real commercial imperatives ... the concern is to secure long-term oil," said Antony Goldman, Africa analyst at London-based Clearwater Research Services. U.S. experts say China now receives 28 percent of its oil imports from Africa, mostly from Angola, Sudan and Congo. Chinese companies are charging into Africa's oil sector, snapping up partnerships in Nigerian and Angolan offshore blocks, building facilities and pipelines in Sudan and prospecting in Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad. "They're everywhere, they're really going for it," said Catriona O'Rourke, Africa analyst for Wood Mackenzie. CONTEST FOR SUPPLIES This newest scramble for Africa's oil resources more than a century after the continent's colonial carve-up puts China in direct competition with the United States, the world's single biggest energy consumer. The United States already gets around 15 percent of its oil imports from the Gulf of Guinea, which groups sub-Saharan Africa's major producers like Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. Analysts predict this share could rise to 25 percent by 2015 as Washington looks for alternate diversified supplies outside the volatile Middle East and currently hostile Venezuela. U.S. experts warn this contest for African oil supplies by the world's No. 1 and No. 2 petroleum guzzlers could become an open conflict of interests between Beijing and Washington. China, they say, is far less choosy about its partners and offers aid, trade and investment unencumbered by demands for transparency, good governance and accountability. "As China is not a beacon of any of these, the Chinese government's practices in Africa can be expected to undermine U.S. goals," Carolyn Bartholomew of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a July 28 report. The Commission, which reports to the U.S. Congress, says that while the United States and other Western countries try to use the leverage of assistance or investment to encourage reform in African countries, "the Chinese government is prepared to fill the investment hole without constraints". SWEETER OIL DEALS Analysts point to the cases of Sudan and Angola, both pillars of Chinese energy investment in Africa. In Sudan, which is under international scrutiny for what Washington calls "genocide" in Darfur, Chinese state firms have taken a major stake in the oil sector, building a refinery in Khartoum and heavily involving themselves in production. In Angola too, where some international lenders have balked at putting up funds, China has weighed in with a $2 billion infrastructure loan programme linked to oil deals in what Chinese diplomats call "a model of cooperation". "I think they come with more offerings," said Wood Mackenzie's O'Rourke, saying the Chinese were able to sweeten their investment bids with state aid and cooperation projects, such as rebuilding Angola's war-ravaged railway network. China's Sinopec company has been allowed to buy into two Angola blocks previously held by European oil majors. Although U.S. giants like Chevron and ExxonMobil have huge investments in Angola, where their deep-water expertise is still much needed, China has now displaced the United States as the country's biggest oil customer. "It's much more difficult for ExxonMobil to say 'we'll build you a railway'," said Clearwater's Goldman. In Nigeria, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is in talks over a possible deal to take over a refinery and get preferential terms in return on some oil exploration blocks. In Equatorial Guinea too, western companies' dominance over the oil sector may not last forever. The country's president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, offered China investment opportunities during a visit to Beijing in October. (Additional reporting by Karen Iley in Luanda and Estelle Shirbon in Abuja) .
. August 26, 2008 SouthAmerica: Today The New York Times published an entire section about Angola â I knew that eventually even Americans would find Angola on the map. Under the headlines âLeading Angola into a bright new futureâ there was a picture of the president of Angola with George W. Bush. As usual if Americans had read my articles they would have found out about the economic potential of Angola a long time ago. I few like I am always light years ahead of the US mainstream media â they take forever to grasp anything. I am glad that the United States is in the leading edge of the information age otherwise it would take at least another century for them to find out about Angola. By the way, Angola is located in Africa. .