Chinese President Hu Jintao will make state visits to eight African countries starting at the end of this month, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Hu will visit Cameroon, Sudan, Namibia, South Africa, the Seychelles, Liberia, Zambia and Mozambique from January 30 to Feb 10, said ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

He said the visits were a follow-up to the China-Africa summit held in Beijing last year and aimed to "consolidate traditional friendship" between China and the African countries.