KAMPALA (Reuters) &#8211; Uganda’s coffee exports dropped 17 percent year-on-year in February, undercut by scant rains in some coffee growing areas, the state-run regulator Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said.



The beans are one of Uganda’s major exports and a big earner of foreign exchange for the east African country which largely cultivates robusta variety.



Shipments in February totalled 323,828 60-kg bags of coffee, down from 390,677 bags exported in same month a year.



Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa

Coffee exports in this East African country are down 17 percent yr/yr in Feb

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Troubled South African retailer Steinhoff said on Wednesday it had raised 4.8 billion rand ($332 million) from the sale of its 26 percent stake in KAP Industrial to pay off debt and shore up its finances, sending its shares higher. 



Steinhoff admitted “accounting irregularities” in December 2017, shocking investors who had backed its reinvention from a small South African business to a multinational retailer at the vanguard of the European discount furniture retail industry.



This wiped about 85 percent off its market value and threw the company into a liquidity crisis.



Steinhoff said in a statement it sold 694 million KAP shares at 6.85 rand per share, a 9.4 percent discount to Tuesday’s closing price. The book of demand was oversubscribed, it added.



Steinhoff said on Tuesday the placement would be offered to institutional investors only and will result in the company no longer holding an interest in KAP.



Steinhoff shares jumped in early trade on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and were up more than 6 percent by 0725 GMT.



Shares in KAP, a diversified industrial group selling everything from chemicals and auto components to mattresses, were down more than 7 percent.



In South Africa’s biggest corporate scandal, an investigation carried out by PwC found that Steinhoff recorded fictitious or irregular transactions totalling 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) over a period covering the 2009 and 2017 financial years.



Steinhoff sold down its stake in KAP in March 2018 after placing 450 million shares, or a 17 percent stake, also via an accelerated bookbuild in a bid to plug a liquidity gap.



Steinhoff has also raised cash from the sale of stakes in South African investment firm PSG Group, French online retailer Showroomprive.com, as well a property in Austria.



($1 = 14.4535 rand)



($1 = 0.8885 euros)



Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Louise Heavens

Steinhoff exits KAP

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s gold and platinum mines will shed around 90,000 jobs in the next three years as above-inflation electricity price increases by power utility Eskom add to already soaring operating costs, an industry body said on Monday.



“In total, as many as 90,222 jobs would be at risk solely as a result of the MYPD4 tariff increases granted by Eskom,” the Minerals Council South Africa said in a presentation.



Job cuts are politically sensitive in Africa’s most industrialised economy where a quarter of the labour force is unemployed, while power outages and steep price increases by Eskom are set to hurt an already fragile growth outlook.



In February, miner Sibanye-Stillwater said it planned to cut nearly 6,000 jobs in a restructuring of its gold mining operations, while Gold Fields said last year it could slash 1,100 jobs, and Impala Platinum plans to cut its workforce by a third.

What you need to know about Eskom’s price hike that is expected to cost South Africa 90,000 mining jobs

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">By Courtney Connley</a>



Have you spent the past few weeks, or maybe even months, building up the courage to ask for a much-deserved raise, only to have your request denied?



You&#8217;re probably not alone. In a survey of more 7,000 employers conducted by compensation site&nbsp;<a href="https://www.payscale.com/about/press-releases/payscale-research-shows-most-companies-arent-planning-meaningful-pay-increases-in-2019">PayScale</a>, a majority of companies said that they aren&#8217;t planning to provide a meaningful pay increase to their staff this year. In fact,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/companies-need-workers-but-69percent-wont-meaningfully-raise-worker-salaries-payscale-study-finds.html">nearly 70 percent</a>&nbsp;said they plan to provide pay increases of 3 percent or less to some of their employees.



Lydia Frank, vice president of content strategy at PayScale, tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a>&nbsp;that her advice for anyone who has been denied a raise is to &#8220;not take &#8216;no&#8217; as the end of a conversation.&#8221;



&#8220;I think &#8216;no&#8217; should be an opening to ask questions.&#8221;



Frank shares three questions you should ask immediately after being denied a pay increase:



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. Ask why</h4>



If you don&#8217;t understand the reasoning for why you weren&#8217;t given a raise, then Frank says it is perfectly fine to dig deeper into why you were told no.



&#8220;Of course you want to keep it respectful and professional,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Try to divorce emotion from that conversation because you don&#8217;t want it to get heated.&#8221;



As an example, she says you can ask your boss something like, &#8220;I&#8217;d really love to get a better understanding for why my request wasn&#8217;t granted. Is there something I can be doing more of?&#8221; She says that this question will provide you with a clear answer as to whether or not the reasoning is related to your performance or to an outside factor, like budgeting.



&#8220;I do think it&#8217;s fair to ask some questions about why,&#8221; she says. &#8220;And if you feel like you&#8217;re getting stonewalled a bit, then that could be a red flag.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. Ask about variable pay</h4>



If your employer is unable to match your request for a salary increase, then Frank suggests asking about variable pay, such as a bonus tied to a particular project. She says that even if the bonus is already part of your compensation package, you can say something like, &#8220;Hey, I know we&#8217;ve talked about me doing this project. If I kill it and hit these particular metrics, can we talk about a bonus?&#8221;



&#8220;I think more organizations are willing to consider that because they are only on the hook if you perform,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Essentially, it&#8217;s like the result is for the business and they are paying for that result. So, sometimes that&#8217;s more negotiable than the base pay number. &#8220;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. Ask about other benefits</h4>



If a company is unable to grant you a raise or a bonus due to finances, then Frank suggests you negotiate for other benefits that will help to make your work experience more enjoyable.



&#8220;When companies are feeling tapped out, like they&#8217;ve spent what they can in terms of pay increases, then they sometimes look at other ways to compensate employees to keep them happy.&#8221; That&#8217;s why, she says, it&#8217;s completely appropriate to ask about non-monetary benefits, like additional time off or the option to work from home.



&#8220;It really depends on what&#8217;s important to you,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Ask if there is room to do the things that will make your work situation more comfortable and satisfactory to you.&#8221;



In the end, if your request for a bonus or more benefits is denied, and your boss is unable to tell you why, then you may want to consider looking for a new job. Brian Kropp, vice president of research firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/human-resources-leaders">Gartner</a>, says that workers who quit their old job for a new one see an average increase of 15 percent in compensation.



In most cases, he tells <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/13/workers-are-quitting-their-jobs-in-order-to-get-raises.html">CNBC Make It</a>, &#8220;you&#8217;re never going to get that 15 percent by staying at your current job.&#8221;



This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/22/3-questions-to-ask-immediately-after-youre-denied-a-pay-raise.html and is republished with its permission.

Improperly appointed boards spell disaster for organisations

3 questions to ask immediately after you’re denied a pay raise

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) &#8211; Ethiopian Airlines said on Monday it would keep close ties with U.S. planemaker Boeing even though questions remained about its 737 MAX 8 model, after a crash shortly after take off this month killed 157 people. 



CEO Tewolde Gebremariam also promised to work closely with an investigation into the March 10 incident, after reports that the probe was under strain because the Ethiopian authorities were not sharing information with international partners.



Boeing has come under intense scrutiny since the crash, the second in five months involving its new 737 MAX 8 model. But Tewolde said the airline’s relationship with Boeing was sound.



“Despite the tragedy, Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines will continue to be linked well into the future,” he said, in his most extensive written statement since the incident.



“We pledge to work with Boeing and our colleagues in all the airlines to make air travel even safer,” he said, although he added: “Many questions on the B-737 MAX airplane remain without answers.”



He said he did not want to speculate on the cause of the crash, but defended the airline’s training programme.



Boeing’s 737 MAX fleet has been grounded worldwide, wiping $28 billion off the company’s market value and throwing doubt over advance orders of the plane, worth more than $500 billion.



Tewolde said he supported the decision to halt flights of the plane. “Until we have answers, putting one more life at risk is too much,” he said,



Tewolde said both pilots of the doomed Ethiopian Airlines plane had been fully trained “beyond” the requirements of Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.



The airline’s Aviation Academy annually trains more than 2,000 pilots, flight attendants, maintenance workers and other employees for Ethiopian Airlines and other African carriers, he said.



“We are the company others turn to for aviation expertise,” he said, adding the company had invested more than $500 million in the last five years in training and other infrastructure in their Addis Ababa base.



Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Edmund Blair

Here’s why Ethiopian Airlines is committing to Boeing ties despite crash

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa is likely to harvest 16 percent less maize in 2019 compared with the previous season after drought delayed plantings, a Reuters poll showed on Monday.



The government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC), which will provide its second production forecast for the 2019 crop on Tuesday, is seen pegging the harvest at 10.482 million tonnes, down from the 12.510 million tonnes in the 2017/2018 season, the poll six traders and market analysts showed.



The 2019 harvest is expected to consist of 5.317 million tonnes of the food staple white maize and 5.165 million tonnes of yellow maize, which is used mainly in animal feed.



The crop is slightly higher than the country’s annual consumption of around 10 million tonnes but the production outlook could still be dampened by warmer weather.



“The medium term weather outlook still calls&nbsp;for better growing conditions across most production areas. However, frost damage may dampen the production outlook specifically for the late plantings in parts of the Free State and the North,” said FNB senior agricultural economist Paul Makube.



White maize prices are just below highs reached in January of 3,350 rand on fears that yields would be hit by delayed plantings, with the contract ending July closing at 3,052 rand on Friday.



Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; editing by Darren Schuettler

Why South Africa is likely to harvest 16 % less maize in 2019

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s Naspers will float its e-commerce ventures on the Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam, it said on Monday.



The e-commerce ventures include its stakes in China’s Tencent, Russia’s mail.ru and food delivery app iFood, the company said.



Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng, editing by Louise Heavens

Naspers plans to list e-commerce ventures abroad, what you need to know

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mohammed-girma-480174">Mohammed Girma</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-pretoria-1645">University of Pretoria</a>



The recent announcement that a British museum will <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47441042">return</a> two stolen locks of hair from a 19th century Ethiopian king was hailed as an “exemplary gesture of goodwill” by the Ethiopian Embassy in London. The hair was cut from Emperor Tewodros II’s head after he shot himself rather than be taken prisoner by invading British forces. The forces attacked his fortress at Maqdala during Easter in 1868. 

The British forces went on a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/651322.stm#sa-link_location=story-body&amp;intlink_from_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-africa-47441042&amp;intlink_ts=1552471155315-sa">looting spree</a>, taking so much bounty after the Battle of Maqdala that they needed 15 elephants and 200 mules to cart it away. It included more than 500 ancient parchment manuscripts, two gold crowns, crosses and chalices in gold, silver and copper, and religious icons. His seven-year-old son Prince Alemayehu was taken to the UK along with the looted treasures. 

Strands of the Emperor’s hair were given to the National Army Museum in London 60 years ago.

The return of the locks follows a recent <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46324174">report</a> commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron that recommended African treasures in French museums be returned to their countries of origin. During colonial rule in Africa, thousands of cultural artefacts were <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45406557">plundered</a> from the continent by Western countries. 

What makes these 151-year-old Ethiopian artefacts so deeply significant? The answer lies in Tewodros’s subsequent <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41965909?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">symbolism</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/179677?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">significance</a> in the history of Ethiopia – historically known as Abyssinia – a nation that has faced vicious attacks from powerful nations, and still, stands tall in its independence.

Ethiopia is a storytelling nation in which the past is of crucial importance. Tewodros has a special place in the storytelling process.

<h2>King of Kings</h2>

A ferocious warrior, Tewodros rose from being the son of a provincial chief to power, known as Nəguśä Nägäśt or King of Kings. Ending the chaotic period in Ethiopian history known as “Zämänä Mäsafənt” (the era of princes), he aimed to unify and modernise Ethiopia.

Tewodros was deeply religious and saw his political policy as a part of divine mission. The immediate threats that brought about his demise were Islamic Turks threatening to occupy parts of Ethiopia. He assumed that the Christian West would to come to his aid, and made an appeal by a letter to Queen Victoria of England <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/amharic-letters-of-emperor-theodore-of-ethiopia-to-queen-victoria-and-her-special-envoy-by-girmaselassie-asfaw-and-david-l-appleyard-in-collaboration-with-edward-ullendorff-the-british-academy-oriental-documents-series-ii-pp-xxxvii-94-oxford-oxford-university-press-for-the-british-academy-1979-6/8A9DFF1FCE879E5F0C47BD2BE70A3D80">saying</a>, 

<blockquote>
…when I told the Turks to relinquish the soil of my fathers, they refused, and so, by the power of God, here I am about to struggle against them. 
</blockquote>

However, to his utter bewilderment, the queen declined. The emperor could not <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Wanderings-Among-the-Falashas-in-Abyssinia-Together-with-Descriptions-of/Stern/p/book/9781138986886">fathom</a> how a Christian nation like England could uphold the power of Islam in Egypt and Turkey. 

Out of fury, Tewodros jailed the British consul and other foreigners. His calculation was using the detainees as bargaining chips to secure the British support. However, his action led Britain to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3669915/Mad-king-Tewodros-of-Abyssinia.html">see</a> Ethiopia as a “risk without profit”.

They <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jan/12/history.biography">sent</a> 64,000 people (including 12,000 fighting men) under Sir Robert Napier, and invaded Ethiopia to face Tewodros. Called the Napier expedition, it’s been described as the largest military offensive by the British empire in Africa. Rather than being captured, the emperor <a href="https://www.nazret.com/2019/03/04/british-museum-agrees-to-return-emperor-tewodros-hair-to-ethiopia/">killed himself</a>.

<h2>Hero status</h2>

Tewodros’s biographer Philip Marsden <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3669915/Mad-king-Tewodros-of-Abyssinia.html">wrote</a> the impression he got when visiting the region in the early 1980s, which is when <a href="https://biography.yourdictionary.com/mengistu-haile-mariam">Mengistu</a> Haile Mariam’s military junta governed Ethiopia, was that Tewodros was,

<blockquote>
a mad dog let loose, a sort of black reincarnation of Ivan the Terrible.
</blockquote>

But when he returned after the 1990s when the dictatorship had been deposed, a “heroification” of Tewodros had started – this, Marsden found, was necessary because of a vilification of the Ethiopian leader by foreign authors. 

It’s quite debatable if there was such a dramatic shift in the Ethiopian perception Tewodros. 

Less debatable, however, is a clear difference between how Western and Ethiopian writers interpreted and portrayed the man. Like all interpretative projects, this one is not without ideological preoccupation. The Western authors wanted to caricature him in a certain way to justify the British looting of precious historical artefacts as “war trophy”.

In order to restore him, it required the imagination of arts to cement his memory in the Ethiopian history. 

No other leader has influenced popular culture in Ethiopia as Tewodros did. He is a treasure trove for songwriters, playwrights and poets. Once <a href="http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195382075.013.0009">Abbe Gubegna</a>, a prolific writer who uses his literary skills to launch sharp political critiques, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41965909?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">said</a>, 

<blockquote>
Tewodros will continue to sparkle like a jewel in the heart of many generations. 
</blockquote>

Moreover, the dramatic nature of his lifestyle, his rise from an ordinary background and his ambitions of transforming Ethiopia into a modern state adds to the fascination of the literary world in his life and action. He is viewed as a true leader who authored his immortality by refusing to surrender to British forces and taking his own life instead.

The scene of his confrontation with Napier’s forces was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fASZ81ecyZ8&amp;t=191s">re-imagined</a> by renowned playwright, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/may/03/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries">Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin</a>, who was also considered Ethiopia’s poet laureate: 

<blockquote>
‘Hands up,’ says a European

A hand to be raised and surrender

What hand does have a wild fire?

Except that burns and consumes. 
</blockquote>

<figure>
 <iframe loading="lazy" width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uxFE9sRNUNc?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 <figcaption>Teddy Afro’s tribute to Emperor Tewodros.</figcaption>
 </figure>

<a href="http://teddyafro.info/">Teddy Afro</a>, a contemporary singer and songwriter, captures the significance of his hair as a thread that ties all Ethiopians together across ethnic divides:

<blockquote>
Bring a thread from his (Tewodros’s) hair

Let’s tie our covenant so we’re divided no more.
</blockquote>

<h2>A storytelling nation</h2>

Tewodros’s sacrifice has ramifications to both Ethiopia’s projection of itself at home and to the international community. 

In domestic politics, the nation has struggled with leaders who could not see beyond their personal enrichment. For those who failed to put the nation first, Tewodros still stands as a loud critical voice. As for international diplomacy, Tewodros symbolises Ethiopia – a nation that has faced vicious attacks from powerful nations, and still stands tall in its independence.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113382/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mohammed-girma-480174">Mohammed Girma</a>, Research Associate and the author of Understanding Religion and Social Change in Ethiopia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), and the editor of The Healing of Memories (Rowan &#038; Littlefield, 2018). Follow him on Twitter @girma_mohammed, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-pretoria-1645">University of Pretoria</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-significant-that-the-uk-has-returned-the-locks-of-hair-of-an-ethiopian-king-113382">original article</a>.

The UK has returned the locks of hair of an Ethiopian king, here’s why it is significant

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/cat-clifford/">By Cat Clifford</a>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/bill-gates/">Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;reads all the time —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/bill-gates-names-the-5-best-books-he-read-in-2018.html">about 50 books a year</a>&nbsp;— and is an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/31/what-mark-cuban-reads-every-day.html">advocate for its many benefits</a>.



So how does the billionaire book lover remember what he reads? The trick, he says, is context.



&#8220;If you read enough, there&#8217;s a similarity between things that make it easy, because this thing is like this other thing. If you have a broad framework, then you have a place to put everything,&#8221; Gates says in the Quartz video, &#8220;How Bill Gates remembers what he reads.&#8221;



When you come to a topic with a base layer of understanding, then fitting in new tidbits of information makes them easier to remember.



&#8220;So, incremental knowledge is so much easier to maintain in a rich way,&#8221; Gates says. &#8220;At first it is very daunting but then as you get the kind of scope, then all these pieces fit in.&#8221;



If you want to learn about science, for example, Gates says reading the history of scientists and reading about the progress they made can give you the context or framework to help you remember the details.



&#8220;So you have the timeline, or you have the map or you have the branches of science and what&#8217;s known and what&#8217;s not known,&#8221; Gates says in the Quartz interview.



Reading is more than a pastime for Gates. In 2017, Gates told Time that reading is &#8220;absolutely&#8221; essential to success.



&#8220;You don&#8217;t really start getting old until you stop learning,&#8221; Gates told Time. &#8220;Every book teaches me something new or helps me see things differently. I was lucky to have parents who encouraged me to read. Reading fuels a sense of curiosity about the world, which I think helped drive me forward in my career and in the work that I do now with my foundation.&#8221;



Gates is rather fastidious in his reading habits: He always finishes a book he starts, whether he agrees with it or not.



&#8220;I refuse to stop reading a book in the middle, even if I don&#8217;t like it,&#8221;&nbsp;<a href="http://time.com/4786837/bill-gates-books-reading/">Gates told Time</a>. &#8220;And the more I dislike a book, the more time I take to write margin notes. That means I sometimes spend more time reading a book that I can&#8217;t stand than a book that I love.&#8221;



And if material he is reading doesn&#8217;t make sense within his existing understanding of a topic, he will actively seek out an explanation.



&#8220;So it&#8217;s fun to say, okay, this is where this belongs and does this contradict something I knew before? And I better look that up, I better figure it out,&#8221; Gates tells Quartz. 



This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/21/how-bill-gates-remembers-what-he-reads.html and is republished with its permission.

This is the simple trick billionaire Bill Gates uses to remember what he reads

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Severe planned power cuts at South African state-run utility Eskom are expected to shave 0.3 percentage points off first-quarter GDP growth, Goldman Sachs said on Thursday.



The continent’s most industrialised economy has suffered from some of the worst power cuts in several years, presenting President Cyril Ramaphosa with a major challenge two months before an election at which he will try to reverse a decline in voter support for the African National Congress (ANC).



If the current intensity of the planned cuts, known as load-shedding, were to persist in 2019, it could subtract up to 0.9 percentage points from annual growth, Goldman analysts said in a note to clients.



In February South Africa’s national treasury estimated GDP growth of 1.7 percent in 2019.



Eskom supplies more than 90 percent of the power in South Africa but has suffered repeated faults at its coal-fired power stations, along with low water levels at hydroelectric plants and diesel shortages.



“Restoring a reliable supply of energy and ensuring that we have a sustainable model for affordable energy into the future is now one of our most urgent priorities,” Ramaphosa told a gathering at the 25th commemoration of Human Rights Day in Johannesburg on Thursday.



“We are already putting in place a number of measures and making sure that the energy loss that we’ve had from the cyclone in Mozambique should be restored,” he continued, adding that the government is also addressing maintenance challenges at power stations.



Eskom continued to implement rolling blackouts on Thursday with 4,000 megawatts cut from the grid on a rotational basis.



Reporting by Karin Strohecker; Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg; Editing by Helen Reid and David Goodman

Power cuts expected to hit South Africa’s GDP – Goldman Sachs

By Zandre Campos, Chairman and CEO, <a href="https://www.abocapital.net/">ABO Capital</a>



Angola is currently the world’s
fifth-largest producer of diamonds with 60 percent of the country’s diamond
resources not yet utilized. Representing nine percent of the diamond value
throughout the world, the country is mining high quality diamonds. Meanwhile,
diamond mines around world are getting too old to explore. Angola is primed to elevate its status as a
diamond producer in Africa with the guidance of Angolan president João Lourenço who believes the country should flourish with the
untouched natural resources in its mines. The vision by President Lourenço for mining
production in the country will increase revenue and attract more investment
opportunities in the nation.&nbsp; &nbsp;



The country’s plan to double diamond mining initiatives
raises its expectations for growth worldwide in the industry as it affiliates
with global trading center, Antwerp World Diamond Centre. The nation identified
the importance of diversifying its exports to no longer be heavily reliant on
oil, its leading export. Angola’s mining resources are plentiful and bring
promising prospects for the area. While, the country elevates its diamond
production, expanding its exports of minerals with copper and iron ore empowers
the country’s economic growth with new sources of revenue.&nbsp; 



Angola is the next mining hub



Since the
civil war concluded in 2002, the nation has limited the exploration of mines
throughout the country as the business environment was carefully navigated
following the end of the war. Now, President Lourenço plans to double Angola’s
diamond production up to 14 million carats during the next four years, which
has experienced several big discoveries recently, including a 46-carat pink
diamond in its Lulo mine last year. The discovery was made within the same
Angolan mine that uncovered a 404.2-carat diamond in 2016. The mining
commitment and resources in the region emboldens Angloa’s new approach to mine
and export minerals to enrich the region with Lulo mine captivating the mining
spotlight by producing 10 diamonds in excess of 100-carats.



A new national mining code provides
the Angolan mining sector with policies regarding the exploration of its vast
mining resources to utilize the country’s untapped mining territories to grow
and diversify its exports. The rules enable the Angolan mining industry to move
past its previously fragmented and outdated guidelines in the space. 



President Lourenço stated in a 2018
speech, “We recognize that the policies for this sector, established by us, do
not best serve the interests of the country nor of the producers.” 



Under the direction of President
Lourenço, reform to Angola’s secretive diamond industry is taking place to
increase profits and production. The new code will create more diamond flow to
Antwerp World Diamond Centre, which is committed to transparency
within the mining industry. With 70 percent of its diamonds being exported to
the United Arab Emirates, the work with Antwerp World Diamond Centre will escalate its mining resources. 



In 2017, Angolan diamond production
reached 9.4 million carats, for a market value of 1.1 billion dollars. However,
politically connected buyers had previously negotiated the purchase price of
diamonds for below market value. By enabling diamond producers to select their
own buyers with <a href="http://www.mining.com/angola-host-first-competitive-diamond-bid-sale/">prices
comparable to international benchmarks</a>, producers will see a
greater return for their mineral production and investments. The
investor-friendly approach will spawn new projects in the region to take
advantage of the natural resources available to the Angolan mining industry and
broaden its exports. 



The need to explore the untapped
land for mining



Angola’s government is reliant on
oil as an export that brings in <a href="https://www.justlanded.com/english/Angola/Angola-Guide/Money/Investing-in-Angola">nearly 80
percent</a> of the government’s revenue. Meanwhile, only <a href="https://www.miningafrica.net/mining-countries-africa/angola/">40 percent</a>
of its diamond resources have been explored. As the country’s second leading
export behind oil, Angola’s utilization of its land and resources will lead to
more economic stability with a more diversified export market. 



Diamonds are a high priority export
for President Lourenço, but the region represents the opportunity for further
mining assets in copper and iron ore. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Zambia are renowned as leading copper producers in Africa. However, Zambia
doesn’t have access to the Atlantic Ocean for exportation and the Democratic
Republic of Congo is limited by a 25-mile coastline. The Copperbelt extension
into Angola, leads valuable properties for significant copper and iron ore
deposits. In the 1960s, Angola was a major exporter of iron ore. With more than
half of the mining area to be explored in Angola, the region has rich mineral
prospects to increase revenue in the country. 



Endiama opens diamond mining sector
to investors 



<a href="http://www.endiama.co.ao/">Endiama, Angola’s national diamond company</a>, has begun to prospect
opportunities at the Luaxe kimberlite, which exudes a mining life of more than
30 years and potential to double production in five years. The opportunity for
private investors to align in the market leads to greater financial resources
for those that support the latest mining undertaking to produce plentiful
resources in the nation. 



Endiama revealed kimberlite and
alluvial projects are open to investors as part of the rising Angolan diamond
industry. The kimberlite projects include Camafuca-Camazambo, Mulepe, Chiri,
Sangamina, and Tchegi, and the alluvial projects are at Muanga, Cabula,
Sanjungo, and Muriege. Further, Endiama will continue to drive new
opportunities via partnerships with private companies to grow diamond mining
initiatives in Angola.



Angola’s mining outlook 



The Angolan government is making
strides towards having the mining sector create a significant impact on the
future growth of the country. The decades of lost resources and investments
can’t be reversed overnight, but the 4.4 percent growth forecast for the
minoring sector validates its potential to become one of the three largest
diamond producers in the world. The economic and structural constraints must be
overcome with the new direction set on elevating Angola’s position as a leading
diamond provider. With mineral resources beyond diamonds, the country will be
able to reduce its oil dependence, while generating a promising outlook
globally within the mining sector.&nbsp; 



About the Author



<a href="https://africatimes.com/tag/zandre-campos/">Zandre Campos is chairman and
CEO of ABO Capital</a>, an international investment firm that invests in companies in the
healthcare, energy, transportation, hospitality, education, technology and real
estate sectors throughout Africa. ABO’s mission is to create global value for
developing countries in Africa, while contributing to their economic
development.

Op-Ed: What can we expect from the future of Angola’s mining sector ?

SAICA Statement



The South African Institute
of Chartered Accountants will investigate alleged improper conduct and
unethical business practices in contravention of its codes by former Steinhoff
CEO Markus Jooste &amp; CFO Ben la Grange. This comes after their names were mentioned in Parliament for
allegedly overstating profits. A revelation made in PwC’s forensic report
on the collapse of the company. &nbsp;See Saica’s full statement below 



The South African Institute
of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) notes the release of the Overview Forensic
Investigation report into Steinhoff that was released
by the Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. Boards on 15 March 2019. 



Furthermore, following a
discussion between a number of parliamentary committees on Tuesday, 19 March
2019, the names of eight implicated individuals have been published, two of
whom are SAICA members and therefore fall under the Institute’s jurisdiction:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Markus Johannes Jooste</li><li>Andries Benjamin la Grange</li></ul>



SAICA investigates all
instances of alleged improper conduct by members, including member involvement
in unethical business practices which are in contravention of the SAICA Code of
Professional Conduct (SAICA Code). SAICA takes matters like these seriously and
would like to reiterate that any SAICA member found to have contravened the
SAICA Code will be held accountable. 



Considering that more
chartered accountants and therefore SAICA members could be implicated in the
Steinhoff matter, SAICA will request relevant details from Steinhoff in order
to provide input to the Institute’s own investigative and disciplinary
procedures. 



SAICA remains resolute in
its pursuit of its mandate to serve the public interest, promote the interests
of its members, support the development of the South African economy and
society, by insisting on a high standard of professional behaviour on the part
of its members and to preserve and maintain the integrity and status of the accountancy
profession.



How the SAICA disciplinary
process works



While SAICA will not comment in the media on any disciplinary matters that are ongoing as it could jeopardise the administration of justice, we can confirm how the disciplinary process works.  It is important to note that the SAICA Code applies only to its members, namely individual CAs(SA), and not accounting, auditing or consultancy firms. The investigation of firms and individual Registered Auditors for their audit conduct falls under the jurisdiction of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA). As per SAICA by-law 19.2, all complaints in respect of registered auditors are initially referred directly to the IRBA. SAICA will use the findings from the IRBA as part of its disciplinary processes related to CAs(SA) who are registered auditors. All implicated CAs(SA) will be subject to the SAICA investigation and, where appropriate, disciplinary process. SAICA does not have powers of search, seizure or subpoena, so we rely significantly on the investigative capacity and findings of external prosecutorial authorities which have these powers to form input to our hearings. All CAs(SA) are bound by the SAICA Code and, as such, are treated equally and are subject to the same rules. 



More information on SAICA’s
disciplinary process can be found on the SAICA <a href="http://governance.saica.co.za/DISCIPLINARY-PROCESS">website</a>. 
 
“SAICA is working to restore trust in the profession and ensure that our
members, irrespective of the roles they happen to occupy, operate in the public
interest. For this reason, we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to
ensure that any CA(SA) who is found to have transgressed the SAICA Code is
dealt with appropriately. Investigations and disciplinary processes do take
time to ensure appropriate due processes are followed and that a fair and
proper outcome is achieved. SAICA members who fail to uphold the highest
ethical and professional standards compromise our public and private sector
institutions and our economy as a whole,” says Freeman Nomvalo, SAICA’s Chief
Executive Officer.

SAICA to probe Steinhoff’s former directors

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenyan police have seized $20 million of counterfeit banknotes that had been stored in a personal safety deposit box at a branch of Barclays Bank Kenya, the directorate of criminal investigations said.



Police had also arrested six people, including two of the bank’s staff, the directorate said late on Tuesday in a statement posted on its Twitter account.



“Six people were arrested today evening by &#8230; detectives in connection with fake currency amounting to slightly over $20 million (at Barclays Kenya) Queensway Branch,” the statement said.



“The fake notes in $100 denominations were recovered from the bank’s safe room.”



A Reuters witness saw a crowd gathered outside the branch on Tuesday, shouting angrily and demanding officers reveal their identities.



Barclays Kenya, part of South Africa’s Absa Group, confirmed on Tuesday that police had seized fake currency from a customer’s deposit box, and said it was not the bank’s money and that it was cooperating with the investigation.



“The&nbsp;customer&nbsp;had&nbsp;concealed fake&nbsp;currency in his personal safe&nbsp;deposit box&nbsp;against the bank’s rules and regulations which include restrictions of items which can be held in the safe deposit box,” it said in a statement.



The seizure comes at a time when lawmakers are pushing for implementation of amendments to banking laws that would relax the rigorous requirements for recording transactions above $10,000.



The central bank has said the changes could undermine efforts to tackle money laundering, financing of terrorism and proceeds from crime.



A court case challenging the implementation of the amendments is due to be heard on March 29.



($1 = 100.7500 Kenyan shillings)



Reporting by George Obulutsa and Humphrey Malalo; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore

$20 million of counterfeit banknotes seized by Kenyan police, here’s what you need to know…

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">By Courtney Connley</a> 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="page_header"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/get-to-work-with-suzy-welch/">GET TO WORK: WITH SUZY WELCH</a></h4>



Recovering from a major workplace mistake is no easy feat.



But according to bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch, there are a few things you can do to ensure that your reputation remains intact, even after the error has been made. &#8220;You lost a client, missed a deadline or hired the wrong person,&#8221; she tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a>. &#8220;Mistakes happen. You&#8217;re human!&#8221;



However, she warns, you could also end up &#8220;an unemployed human&#8221; if you don&#8217;t take action right away. Here are three things to do immediately after you screw up at work:



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. Own your mistake</h4>



Welch says the No. 1 thing you want to do is own the fact that you messed up. &#8220;The minute you start playing the blame game, you look small, you look defensive.&#8221;



&#8220;Even if you aren&#8217;t the only author of the mistake — and you probably aren&#8217;t — you still have to take responsibility with your boss, colleagues and subordinates,&#8221; she says. Doing this &#8220;is how we demonstrate that we&#8217;re grown-ups, that we get it and that we feel remorse.&#8221;



&#8220;People need to see those things to give you what you need to move on,&#8221; she says, &#8220;which is a second chance.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. Get to the bottom of your mistake</h4>



The next thing you need to do is get a clear understanding of why what you did was wrong.



&#8220;An executive I know didn&#8217;t get a promotion,&#8221; she says. &#8220;So he walked into his boss&#8217;s office, shut the door and asked for an autopsy. That has to be you. You have to ask people, &#8216;Where did I go wrong? What can I learn?'&#8221;



Welch admits that this is a process that &#8220;will definitely take you out of your comfort zone.&#8221; But, she says, &#8220;it&#8217;s also going to show your organization that you have the guts and integrity to grow in ways that ensure your error never happens again.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. Rebrand yourself with a win</h4>



Welch says that one of the best ways to recover from a mistake is to immediately follow it up with a major win that will impress your boss and colleagues.



&#8220;You&#8217;ve got a scarlet &#8216;L&#8217; on your shoulder: &#8216;Loser!&#8217; You want it off fast, and no one will do that for you.&#8221;



She suggests coming up with an achievable victory for yourself like &#8220;a project, an initiative or an assignment&#8221; that has &#8220;good optics that you can nail.&#8221; Use that win to prove that you&#8217;re still a valuable employee who knows how to bounce back.



&#8220;Everybody screws up sometimes,&#8221; Welch says. &#8220;But one mistake isn&#8217;t the end of the game for you unless you let it be. There are three ways back to the winner&#8217;s circle. Grab them and run.&#8221;



Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the <a href="http://jwmi.com/?mcv=jdg469">Jack Welch Management Institute</a>and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.



This article was first published by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/18/suzy-welch-3-things-to-do-immediately-when-you-screw-up-at-work.html and is republished with its permission.

Suzy Welch: 3 things you should do immediately when you screw up at work

MAPUTO/HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; The number of people killed in a powerful storm and preceding floods in Mozambique could exceed 1,000, the president said on Monday, putting the potential death toll greatly more than current figures. 



Only 84 deaths have been confirmed so far in Mozambique as a result of Cyclone Idai, which has also left a trail of death and destruction across Zimbabwe and Malawi, with vast areas of land flooded, roads destroyed and communication wiped out. 



Speaking on Radio Mocambique, President Filipe Nyusi said he had flown over the affected region, where two rivers had overflowed. Villages had disappeared, he said, and bodies were floating in the water.



“Everything indicates that we can register more than one thousand deaths,” he said.



The cyclone has also killed 89 people in Zimbabwe, an official said on Monday, while the death toll in Malawi from heavy rains and flooding stood at 56 as of last week. No new numbers had been released following the cyclone’s arrival in the country.



Caroline Haga, a senior International Federation of the Red Cross official who is in Beira, said the situation could be far worse in the surrounding areas, which remained completely cut off by road and where houses were not as sturdy.



Nyusi flew over areas that were otherwise accessible, and some of which had been hit by flooding before Cyclone Idai.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">RESCUE EFFORT</h3>



In Beira, Mozambique’s fourth-largest city and home to 500,000 people, a large dam had burst, further complicating rescue efforts.



Large swathes of land were completely submerged, and in some streets people waded through knee-high water around piles of mangled metal and other debris.



In the early hours of Monday morning, rescuers launched dinghies onto chest-high waters, navigating through reeds and trees &#8211; where some people perched on branches to escape the water &#8211; to rescue those trapped by the flooding.



Meanwhile, rescuers were struggling to reach people in Zimbabwe’s Chimanimani district, cut off from the rest of the country by torrential rains and winds of up to 170 km per hour that swept away roads, homes and bridges and knocked out power and communication lines.



Zimbabwean information ministry official Nick Mangwana told Reuters the number of confirmed deaths throughout the country was now 89. The body count is expected to rise.



Many people had been sleeping in the mountains since Friday, after their homes were flattened by rock falls and mudslides or washed away by torrential rains.



The Harare government has declared a state of disaster in areas affected by the storm. Zimbabwe, a country of 15 million people, was already suffering a severe drought that has wilted crops.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">SOUTHEASTERN AFRICA GATEWAY</h3>



Beira, which sits at the mouth of the Pungwe River, is also home to Mozambique’s second-largest port, serving as gateway for imports to landlocked countries in southeast Africa.



The director of a company that jointly manages the port, Cornelder, based in the Netherlands, said the port had been closed since last Wednesday but would hopefully resume operations on Tuesday.



Two cranes would be working and the company had two large generators and enough fuel for now, though damage to access routes and roads further inland was more likely to cause a problem, said the director, who asked not to be named.



The fuel pipeline running from Beira to Zimbabwe was believed to be intact, the person said, though communication was still very patchy and therefore the situation at the port remained uncertain.



In February 2000, Cyclone Eline hit Mozambique when it was already devastated by its worst floods in three decades. It killed 350 people and made 650,000 homeless across southern Africa, also hitting Zimbabwe.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Zimbabwe and Manuel Mucari in Mozambique; Additional reporting by Emma Rumney in Johannesburg; Editing by Angus MacSwan

Death toll in Mozambique cyclone could exceed 1000, what you need to know

<figure>
 <img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264320/original/file-20190318-28468-10my1n3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&#038;q=45&#038;auto=format&#038;w=754&#038;fit=clip" alt="File 20190318 28468 10my1n3.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1" />
 <figcaption>
 
 <a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a>
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By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-beloff-176280">Jonathan Beloff</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/soas-university-of-london-975">SOAS, University of London</a>

<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p072pry8">Tensions</a> are mounting dangerously between Rwanda and Uganda. The two African countries <a href="https://newafricanmagazine.com/latest-and-current-affairs/current-posts/museveni-kagame-old-friends-new-foes/">historically have been closely linked</a>, with each playing a key role in the other’s political development. But all that is now in peril.

The current Ugandan government, led by president Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM), gained power during the <a href="http://www.statehouse.go.ug/taxonomy/term/142/all">Ugandan Bush War</a> (1980-1986) thanks in part to the military assistance of Rwandan refugees who fled their home country when the Tutsi ethnic group was persecuted. Among those refugees was current Rwandan president <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/paul-kagame">Paul Kagame</a>, who joined Museveni’s ultimately successful struggle against the government of Milton Obote (1980-1985) and Tito Okello (1985-1986). 

Conversely, by providing a refuge for them, Uganda enabled these displaced Rwandan refugees to create what became, in the late 1980s, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rwandan-Patriotic-Front">Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)</a>. Additionally, it was thanks to Uganda that the RPF’s military wing, the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA), escaped total defeat at the hands of the Rwandan government’s military, the Forces Armées Rwandaises (FAR), following its failed October 1990 invasion of Rwanda. The retreating RPA, led by (then general) Paul Kagame used Ugandan territory to move west and later occupy Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains – and would later fight to stop the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13431486">1994 Rwandan genocide</a> (also referred to as the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi). 

Since the end of the genocide, Rwanda and Uganda (led by the old comrades-in-arms, Kagame and Museveni) have fought together on several occasions. During the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/16/congo">First Congo War (1996-1997)</a>, they battled against the Rwandan genocide perpetrators who fled into Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) after the genocide and helped to overthrew Zairian leader Mobutu Sese Seko. They again fought together during the early stages of the Second Congo War (1998-2003), before turning on each other in the bloody 1999 fight to take control of the Congolese city of Kisangani, which resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths. Since the end of the Second Congo War, relations between the two countries have been inconsistent – although Kagame and Museveni have usually been able to <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201803250017.html">negotiate and reduce tensions</a>.

<h2>Worsening Relations</h2>

On March 5, however, poor relations between the two countries come to a head after the Rwandan foreign minister, Richard Sezibera, held a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgE3WNgp8RA">press conference</a> outlining Rwanda’s concerns with Uganda. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47495476">He briefly closed the border with Uganda</a> and <a href="https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/rwanda-warns-citizens-against-travel-uganda">advised Rwandans residing in Uganda to leave immediately</a>. He accused <a href="https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/another-rwandan-kidnapped-uganda">Uganda of arresting Rwandans</a>, disrupting <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/idAFKCN1QJ08Z-OZATP?utm_source=34553&amp;utm_medium=partner">regional trade</a> and of providing <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/rwanda-accuses-uganda-of-supporting-rebels/4814803.html">support and space for anti-Rwanda groups</a>. Uganda has <a href="https://t.co/C70UvEmMX6">denied all the allegations</a>. 

The final accusation is the most problematic, as the minister specifically accused Uganda of supporting groups such as the <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKCN1QM1TJ-OZATP">Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)</a>. Both organisations are perceived by Rwandan officials to be dangerously intent on overthrowing the current RPF government and bringing back the ethnic divisions that haunted Rwanda <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2014/06/05/rwandan-ponders-own-security-while-fdlr-remains-a-strategic-threat-by-jonathan-beloff/">prior to the genocide</a>. 

<figure class="align-center ">
 <img decoding="async" alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264324/original/file-20190318-28479-1t98h35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264324/original/file-20190318-28479-1t98h35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264324/original/file-20190318-28479-1t98h35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264324/original/file-20190318-28479-1t98h35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264324/original/file-20190318-28479-1t98h35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264324/original/file-20190318-28479-1t98h35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264324/original/file-20190318-28479-1t98h35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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 Rwandan president, Paul Kagame.
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Uganda is not the only country to have been accused of supporting these organisations. Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete hosted RNC and FDLR leaders in <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2016/06/15/friends-forever-again-rwanda-and-tanzania-mend-bridges/">2013 and 2014</a>, and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/rwandas-president-kagame-stokes-tension-with-neighbors/a-46951302">Rwanda has also accused Burundi</a> and its president, Pierre Nkurunziza, of sympathising with the FDLR and providing them with public legitimacy. 

These recent diplomatic problems are nothing unusual, but the rhetoric has started to move up a gear. During the annual National Leadership Retreat, also known as <a href="http://paulkagame.com/?p=14288">“Umwiherero”</a>, Kagame <a href="https://www.newtimes.co.rw/opinions/rwanda-everything-kneeling">said of the mounting crisis with Uganda</a>: 

<blockquote>
You [Uganda] can attempt to destabilise our country, you can do us harm, you can shoot me with a gun and kill me. But there is one thing that is impossible: No one can bring me to my knees. Men and women of my country, you should never accept to be brought to your knees. You are much better than that.
</blockquote>

<h2>‘Bring Rwanda to its knees’</h2>

The phrase “bring me to my knees” is significant – and relates to the concept of “agaciro”. Typically, <a href="https://www.global-engagement.org/destinations/east-africa/agaciro-a-society-in-positive-transition/">agaciro – a Kinyarwanda word meaning self-reliance, dignity and self-respect</a> – is used to describe <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17531055.2016.1250871?casa_token=jTvg-a7_PU0AAAAA%3AegsoSLMbJR3CDSKJtwXtELPZzjYtLSldvzlLZoMUFLznYTd91lqPOp9iyuHHkVLXZozfXuGy4OC8&amp;">Rwanda’s economic policies</a>. But it also central to how Rwanda engages with the international community and promotes its state interests. 

Seen through the lens of agaciro, <a href="http://en.igihe.com/news/seven-rwandans-arrested-in-uganda-repatriated.html">Uganda is seriously disrespecting Rwandan dignity</a> by arresting Rwandans and providing assistance to anti-Rwandan government groups that are, at some level, trying to promote <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201807120092.html">genocide ideology</a>.

For those in the Rwandan government who fought against the genocidal regime in 1994, this is unacceptable and indicates a total lack of respect for Rwandan social development and reconciliation. It will not be tolerated and could lead to a serious escalation of the crisis.

<h2>What does the future hold?</h2>

Easing tensions between the two countries will not be easy without Rwanda believing that Uganda respects its concerns and dignity. When John Magufuli succeeded Kikwete as president of Tanzania in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34713488">November 2015</a>, he was able to reestablish and strengthen ties with Rwanda by expressing his understanding of Rwanda’s concerns <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201604110062.html">regarding the RNC and FDLR</a>. He understood the importance of agaciro. 

President Museveni could now make similar inroads by expressing his understanding of Rwanda’s concerns – and its desire to be treated with respect. He should start with a gesture of goodwill by removing any known FDLR or RNC associates from the country. 

War is unlikely and there is some hope – <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/ea/Will-Uhuru-Kenyatta-mediate-Uganda-Rwanda-row/4552908-5021550-6km9a6z/index.html">Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has met with both leaders</a> and may help to mediate between them. But if nothing is done to ease the current standoff, tensions will remain high, impacting not only regional relations but both countries’ development and integration, too.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113532/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-beloff-176280">Jonathan Beloff</a>, Teaching Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/soas-university-of-london-975">SOAS, University of London</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rwanda-as-tensions-mount-with-uganda-heres-how-to-defuse-the-crisis-113532">original article</a>.

Here’s how to defuse the crisis between Rwanda and Uganda

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe expects to raise $350 million from selling shares in five state-owned telecommunications companies and a bank, as part of economic reforms being pursued by the government, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in a statement.



The southern African nation’s economy is experiencing a severe dollar crunch and faces more headwinds from a drought this year that has wilted crops and left up to 5.3 million people in need of food aid, according to a U.N. humanitarian agency.



Ncube said on Tuesday the government would dispose of shares in its two mobile phone operators NetOne and Telecel Zimbabwe, the country’s sole fixed line telephony company TelOne, postal services Zimpost and state-owned savings bank POSB.



“Work is already under way to identify transaction advisers. Government projects to realise over $350 million from this initial process,” Ncube said in a statement, without giving a timeline.



Ncube was not immediately available to comment but he said in October selling state firms, known locally as parastatals, was one of the ways to reduce government spending.



The government has targeted selling some or all shares in 43 of its companies, most of them loss-making and which have relied on state bailouts over the years.



Rebuilding the troubled economy is the biggest challenge to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was re-elected in a disputed vote last July and is seeking to pivot away from some of the disastrous policies of his predecessor Robert Mugabe.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alison Williams

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