The misleading reporting that has recently appeared in the press regarding Qalaa Holdings and its investment in Rift Valley Railways (RVR) has compelled us to respond to the blatant inaccuracies and to clarify any misunderstanding that may have occurred as a result of these false accusations. We clearly and unequivocally state that Qalaa Holdings is committed to adhering to the highest international business standards and to ensuring the success of the project in question. Furthermore, the company has repeatedly demonstrated that it is a staunch advocate of investing in the region as a whole. Qalaa Holdings was, therefore, deeply dismayed by the story that was reported online by Finance Uncovered and published on June 22nd in The Observer. Since 2011, Qalaa Holdings has proudly overseen the renaissance of a strategic infrastructure asset in East Africa which was previously in a state of disrepair. For the past five years, despite significant challenges, Qalaa Holdings has supported RVR's management and its local partners to implement a comprehensive and complex turnaround program. By assembling and leading a consortium of experienced infrastructure financiers, including the IFC, AfDB, KfW, FMO and BIO, Qalaa Holdings has enabled RVR to achieve the following:- 1. Reduce incidents (calculated by million train kilometers) by 40%; 2. Increase its haulage capacity through the acquisition of 20 locomotives and up to 240 high-capacity wagons; 3. Reduce transit time between Mombasa and Kampala (one way) by 29.8%; 4. Introduce the most advanced train operating technologies; 5. Pay $66 million in concession fees...

African countries should unite and form their own common market to bolster preferential trade required to drive economic growth and development, an official has said. African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said this while officially opening the 32nd Ordinary Session of the AU Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday.Dr Dhlamini-Zuma said opening up of markets, liberalization of economies and facilitating free movement of people across the continent were key elements in driving Africa’s economic growth and development. To further Africa’s economic growth and development agenda, the AU is pursuing various initiatives including creating a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) to boost intra-African trade. Another initiative is the launch of the AU Passport, a flagship project of Africa’s Agenda 2063 aimed at facilitating free movement of persons, goods and services around the continent -in order to foster intra-Africa trade, integration and socio-economic development. “The world is moving towards mega trading blocks, that all exclude us, and the Doha development round of negotiations have failed to even start. Unless we unite to form our African common market, the little bit of preferential trade we have at the moment, will be further eroded,” said Dhlaminin-Zuma. “If we continue building momentum on the continental free movement of people and on the Continental Free Trade Area it will create better conditions for our traders, farmers, business, entrepreneurs and innovators to invest trade with each other and build Pan African companies and brand.” The PRC meeting kicked off the mid-term African Union summit which...

It is distressing that South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, is staring at a return to full-scale civil war despite efforts by the international community to pacify it after nearly two years of violence. The fighting between soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir and those allied with Vice President Riek Machar, threatens to escalate and return the nascent republic to another round of violent clashes. After two weeks of tension, direct confrontation between the two forces occurred last Thursday in Juba, the country's capital. With Juba enveloped in senseless violence, the East African region should be ready for any eventuality, given South Sudan culture of solving political differences through the barrel gun. In the past five days alone, the new clashes have claimed the lives of over 300 soldiers, displaced tens of civilians and caused massive destruction. A Chinese peacekeeper is among the victims. The international community, particularly the African Union (AU), cannot simply sit back and watch as violence in South Sudan, one of the East African Community (EAC) member countries, continue to claim lives of innocent civilians. The United Nations, AU and regional bodies must come out forcefully to help quell the spiralling violence and restore peace, unity and sanity in the country. We say so because South Sudan's neighbours have suffered the consequence of instability in that country. This is why they played a key role in negotiating for its independence. Later, they brokered peace when fresh civil war broke out in 2013. Longest civil war South...

Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives has urged the Ugandan business community that has been conducting business in South Sudan to explore other market in region. While addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Center yesterday, Amelia Kyambadde said that the South Sudan market has a highly lucrative business destination; traders need to think twice for their sake of their lives when going there because of the risks. Fresh fighting erupted four days ago in the capital Juba between loyalists of President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, the vice president. The two were to lead under a deal to end a two-year civil war that had started towards the end of 2013. Kyambadde said South Sudan became Uganda’s leading export destination in 2008 following the signing of the comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 with the total exports both formal and informal peaking at US$1.18b (sh3.9 trillion) in 2008 However, due to the fighting that broke out in December 2013, sparking off a civil war in the world’s youngest nation, there was a steady decline in Uganda’s exports from US$414m (sh1.3 trillion) in 2013 to US$385m (sh1.2 trillion) in 2014 and US$353m (sh1.1 trillion) in 2015. Uganda’s leading exports to South Sudan, according to Kyambadde, are cereals, milling products, sugar, iron, cement, steel, and soft drinks, among others. “Government advises the Ugandan business community to explore other markets that were created through regional integration especially in the East African Community and the Common Market for East and Sothern Africa (COMESA) in the...

The military clash in South Sudan has hit a number of Kenya-based cargo firms, forcing them to suspend their operations to the world’s youngest nation. A day after the national carrier Kenya Airways announced cancellation of its flights to Juba, Astral Aviation and Siginon have both suspended their operations to South Sudan citing concerns over safety of their staff. Astral operates three weekly flights to Juba while Siginon has a number of trucks that transport cargo by road to South Sudan. Astral chief executive officer Sunjeev Gadhia said they cancelled operation on Sunday after the airport in Juba was closed but anticipated that they woud resume flights today depending on the security situation. “We had to suspend our cargo flights to Juba because of the ongoing war between the two factions that led to closure of the airport in Juba,” said Mr Gadhia. He said that they started evacuation of passengers from Juba to Nairobi on Tuesday. South Sudan envoy to Kenya Chol Ajongo said that the airport was reopened yesterday, allowing aircraft to fly in and out of the facility. Mr Gadhia noted that the war in South Sudan and the subsequent closure of the airport had created a backlog of 100 tonnes of cargo as of yesterday. The firm normally ferries 50 tonnes of cargo in a week. Meshack Kipturgo, the managing director of Siginon Group said shippers had started cancelling transportation of their goods to the war-torn State. “Customers who regularly send goods to South Sudan have...

Summary Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his four-country trip to East Africa in Uganda on July 4 before heading to Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. It was the first visit by a sitting Israeli prime minister to the region since 1987. In a bid to bolster Israeli-East African ties, the prime minister held talks with his counterparts on increasing cooperation on security and economic matters. Official comments professing mutual dependence aside, the trip is unlikely to yield huge benefits given Israel's relatively small size. Analysis Israel's ambitions in East Africa are modest, with trade remaining low as a result: Israeli exports to all of Africa in 2015 amounted to $1 billion, or just 2 percent of its total exports. Business ties are informal, in most cases offshoots of direct personal relationships. For example, Ugandan officials, including longtime President Yoweri Museveni, made frequent trips to Israel in recent years. During these visits, friendships were forged with powerful Israeli figures, including former Mossad official Rafi Eitan, who is an advocate for more Israeli investment in Uganda. Yet despite these signs of warm relations, neither country has a diplomatic mission in the other. Symbolically, though, Netanyahu's first destination, Uganda, holds great emotional resonance for Israelis — and, most notably, for the prime minister himself. His visit coincided with the 40th anniversary of the famous Entebbe raid, when Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos freed 103 hostages held by Palestinian and Red Army Faction terrorists at the Entebbe International Airport. Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, commander of Sayeret Matkal,...

By Zephania Ubwani Arusha — East African Community (EAC) officials say they are shocked by renewed fighting in South Sudan which until yesterday had claimed hundreds of lives. "We don't know exactly what is happening in Juba and not aware of what's going on," remarked an official of the Secretariat when reached for comment. Nevertheless, he said, the deteriorating security in the country which was recently admitted into the bloc was a setback to the EAC and efforts underway to integrate it into the community. He hinted that senior executives at the Arusha-based secretariat are likely to consult today in order to assess the situation which has raised deep concerns across the entire bloc and possibly issue a statement. "What's happening in South Sudan is not good at all and we hope both sides will lay down arms," he said on condition of anonymity, noting he was encouraged by the televised overtures made by President Salva Kiir and his Vice President Riek Machar on the weekend to end the clashes. He added that renewed fighting had come at a time when EAC was contemplating to send its team of officials to assess the level of readiness of the strife-torn country to integrate with EAC after its admission into EAC on March 2 and signing of an Accession Protocol by President Kiir in Dar es Salaam in April. A business consultant based in Arusha, Mr Simon Mapolu, said the current deadly clashes in South Sudan were enough reflection of the deep...

By Lydia Shekighenda Several scholars and economists have backed the government's move to drop the Economic Agreement Partnership (EPA), saying it is in line with its priority of creating an industrialised economy. Interviewed by the 'Sunday News' separately in Dar es Salaam yesterday, they said that the move will not only protect domestic industries but also the revenue earned by the government through importation of goods from European Union (EU) countries. "If Tanzania will decide to sign the protocol, it would mean allowing the importation of duty free and quota free goods from the EU - thus imposing stiff competition with domestic manufacturers," one of them, Mzumbe University's Professor Honest Ngowi said. He noted that industries within the EU were well protected; meaning that importation of goods from the countries will make local manufacturers fail to compete in the market. Prof Ngowi further explained that the government has been getting revenue from goods imported from the EU, which also means that it stands to lose the earnings if it will endorse the protocol. "This is a right move for the protection of domestic industries and government revenue," Prof Ngowi stressed. He, however, noted that Tanzania, as an East African Community (EAC) member state, agreed to sign the protocol as a bloc. Therefore, its decision to drop the agreement may be received in a different way by other partner states, which might consider it as a slow moving or unwilling partner. He observed that in the long run, the government should...

The African Union is looking into ways to address the ongoing conflict in South Sudan, Smail Chergui, AU’s commissioner for peace and security has said. Chergui, who was speaking to The New Times on the sidelines of the ongoing 27th African Union Summit in Kigali, said they were awaiting outcomes from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting underway in Nairobi for an option on how best to respond to the crisis. South Sudan slipped back into conflict last week as soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir and first vice-president Riek Machar exchanged gunfire in the capital Juba, a repeat of the 2013 fallout. Chergui said AU was concerned by the recent events and was keen to intervene. “We want to see how we can enhance our presence and engagement to help address the South Sudan issue after the IGAD meeting,” he said. Chergui said at the Kigali summit, there would be discussions on how African countries and AU can finance timely peacekeeping interventions in war-torn member states before loss of lfie. The ongoing conflict, which has so far claimed over 200 lives, is said to have been caused by a ‘disagreement’ between pro-Kiir and Machar forces. Meanwhile, speaking to The New Times, James Pitia Morgan, the South Sudanese permanent representative to the AU, described the situation as a “minor incident” that the African Union was currently looking into. Pitia, who is in the country for the AU summit, did not make any objections to intervention by either the African...

Next week the African Union (AU) will issue the first e-passports to allow holders to travel visa-free between its 54 member-states. At first, the heads of state, foreign ministers and permanent representatives of member-states, will be the main passport holders. The ultimate aim of the AU is to gradually issue these passports to all Africans. This would be even more ambitious than the Schengen Area established by the European Union. The free movement of labour and goods is a key goal in the 2063 agenda, the AU’s 50 year action plan, to further continental integration. Much of Africa’s trade is still with European and Asian powers, particularly China, rather than between African countries. But there are regional trends towards free movement. Visa-free travel is already permitted between Ghana and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which includes Nigeria. While the East African Community (EAC) is planning to establish its own regional passport in 2017. Critics have raised concerns of the spread of infectious diseases, as well as terrorist networks and smuggling, across borders. With just six member-states, the EAC is the most advanced union in Africa and may well try to establish a monetary union in coming years. The Financial Times provides an overview of African integration. Source: The World