News digest

African Union steps up Ebola fight with $28.5m fund

The African Union raised $28.5 million on Nov 8 from the continent's wealthiest individuals and firms to fight the Ebola outbreak ravaging three West African nations.

AU officials and business executives gathered in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to launch the emergency response fund. They said the money committed would be disbursed immediately.

"Our immediate concern is to respond to the appeal for 1,000 healthcare workers," said Strive Masiyiwa, chairman of Econet Wireless, an African telecom operator.

"We have also received considerable contributions in kind, which may well ... exceed what we have received in cash."

Ebola has killed 4,950 people of the 13,241 infected since the outbreak started earlier this year, according to the World Health Organization, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

While countries such as the United States, China and Cuba have deployed resources and health personnel in a UN-led aid surge, fast-growing African states and institutions have faced questions about the level and speed of their own contributions.

US eyes China partnership to boost power in Africa

The United States is considering partnering with China on improving electricity in Africa, two sources said.

The proposal could include $5 billion to $7 billion in commitments to improve the generation of electricity and transmission in several African countries, one source involved in the initiative said.

"Plans have been discussed and outline ideas drawn up but there are understandably nerves given the delicate relationship with China," one of the sources said. The 48 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a combined population of 800 million, produce roughly the same amount of power as Spain, a country of 46 million.

The shortage imposes a massive burden on economies in the continent, constraining growth and leading to hundreds of millions of people remaining mired in poverty.

South Africa, China sign nuclear energy deal

South Africa has signed a nuclear energy agreement with China as the government looks to expand its power supply system, officials said on Nov 7.

Pretoria said the agreement was a "preparatory phase for a possible utilization of Chinese nuclear technology in South Africa".

The energy ministry said the government had committed to expanding nuclear power generation by an additional 9.6 gigawatts by 2030.

The country has already signed similar agreements with Russia and France, potentially putting firms Rosatom and Areva in line for the development of nuclear reactors worth billions of dollars.

South Africa currently has only one nuclear plant, located outside Cape Town, and the country relies heavily on coal-fired power stations for electricity generation.

Power supply has come under severe strain in Africa's second-biggest economy as the state-owned electricity producer Eskom battles to meet rising demand, often resulting in blackouts.

Washington, Beijing reach landmark pacts

Beijing and Washington strove to narrow differences by reaching landmark agreements on Nov 12 on a flurry of issues that had remained points of tension between them.

The agreements, mainly on climate change, military cooperation and trade, underpin the major sectors where the world's two largest economies will improve cooperation, analysts said.

The countries pledged to reduce the possibility of military accidents by early notification of major military operations and establishing guidelines of behavior on naval and air military encounters.

They also agreed on an ambitious action plan to cap greenhouse gas emissions, a move that throws the weight of the two countries behind a new global climate pact to be negotiated in Paris in 2015. Progress was also announced on talks over a bilateral investment treaty. "China would like to work with the US to implement the principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, cooperation and common prosperity, and make a new type of relationship between major countries to produce more benefits to people in the two countries and the world," President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart, Barack Obama, who arrived in China on Nov 10 to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting and make a state visit to China.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/14/2014 page2)