Mali | Infrastructure, Construction and Economic Development

[Hadrami]

Algeria eyes investment in northern Mali
2011-11-08


Algerian energy giant Sonatrach will launch its operations in the Malian section of the Taoudeni basin by mid-2012

NOUAKCHOTT- As part of efforts to boost relations with Mali, the Algerian government has unveiled a new investment plan targeting the country’s northern regions.

The area has "been among Mali’s poorest in terms of development throughout the long years since independence", according to regional expert Sid Ahmed Ould Abdel Kader.

"This has led to the appearance of many rebel movements and attempts by local populations to secede from the central government under the pretext of negligence of development," he added.

The announcement came after a visit by Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré to Algeria in late October. Algerian state energy company Sonatrach will launch its operations in the Malian section of the Taoudeni basin by mid-2012, company CEO Nordine Cherouati said.

The task, however, is compounded by mounting security challenges, including "the return of Touareg fighters and heightened threats by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)", as well as Libya weapons circulation, according to journalist Abdoullah Tchvagha Elmoctar.

"It would be illogical that Algeria venture to invest in the less secure part of the basin, which links Mali, Algeria and Mauritania, without having first established a plan to deal with these challenges," he added.

According to regional analyst Hammadi Ag Ali, the security concerns are exaggerated.

"These are unjustified fears because Touaregs in the end are a group of people who have specific demands, some of which are related to a desire to secede, while others are related to demands for more development," he explained. "If we assume that the group demanding separation is dominating the scene, then there must be some sort of a rear support after the fall of Kadhafi. That support will certainly be the Algerian state."

"Algeria will venture to invest its money in the Taoudeni basin only after it gets guarantees from the actors in that area, who are primarily the Touaregs," he continued. "As for al-Qaeda, their threat will decrease as Touaregs’ influence increases because the latter will tighten the noose on them if they threaten their interests."

Mali and Algeria have had a history of tense relations due to "the growing influence of Islamist militants in the Sahel-Saharan region", according to economic expert Yacoub Moustafa.

"Algeria has repeatedly accused Bamako of being too lenient on the fighters who collected millions of dollars from kidnapping foreigners and demanding ransoms, and who were also launching attacks on regional security forces," he added. "However, the security co-operation between Mali and Mauritania in the recent confrontations with al-Qaeda, as well as the start of Mali’s campaign against extremism in its northern areas through development programmes, made Algeria look differently at Mali."

According to Moustafa, Algeria has had a long-standing interest in working with its southern neighbour. "Sonatrach signed an agreement to explore oil in Mali in 2007, but it hasn’t made any progress in the Taoudeni basin where militants, some of who are linked to al-Qaeda, are active due to Mali’s weak control on those areas and internal corruption," he said.

The geo-strategic and rich Taoudeni basin represents an important area in the border triangle between Mauritania, Algeria and Mali, as well as a promising land in terms of oil and gas exploration opportunities, said Mokhtar Salem, an expert on Salafist ideology.

Algeria and Mali have not yet unveiled their plans to ensure security in exploration operations. Meanwhile, Mauritania has deployed scores of military units on its side of the basin.


source: Magharebia

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[Hadrami]

Mali's economic pillars resist turmoil, for now
Mon Sep 17, 2012

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the chaos that erupted in the months since the military staged a coup d'etat has left the country's twin economic engines - the cotton and gold industries - essentially untouched, in contrast to the vast economic damage caused by coups and conflicts in West African neighbours like Guinea and Ivory Coast.

Africa's top cotton grower and its third-biggest gold miner behind South Africa and Ghana, Mali is expected to produce more cotton and gold in 2012 than it did last year, helping to accelerate economic growth to around 6 percent and bridge a budget gap left by frozen foreign aid since the coup.

The resilience of the two industries may be small consolation to many ordinary Malians suffering from widespread insecurity and food shortages in one of the worst periods in the country's history.

But it is a relief to an interim government seeking to fund what is likely to be a costly and prolonged recovery, as well as the millions of agriculture workers and handful of international mining investors who depend on them for their livelihoods.
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http://af.reuters.com/article/topNew...88G01P20120917

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[Paperyostrich]

I guess this could be considered good at least

Mali to get 520 million euros EU aid, president sees July 28 vote


(Reuters) - The European Union will pledge more than half a billion euros (426 million pounds) to help Mali rebuild after months of conflict, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday.

"Tomorrow we will commit 520 million euros for Mali between 2013 and 2014," Barroso told reporters ahead of a conference of aid donors in Brussels on Wednesday.

Mali's President Dioncounda Traore also told the briefing the country will hold presidential elections on July 28.

Read more at http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/0...94D0Y820130514

[Paperyostrich]

I.Coast's San Pedro port ships first Malian cotton

May 3 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's second port of San Pedro has exported its first shipment of cotton from neighbouring Mali and plans to become the principal point of export for the landlocked West African nation's cotton, a port official said on Friday.

"We've just started exporting cotton coming from Mali. The first convoy of 1,500 tonnes arrived from Mali yesterday," port spokesman Parfait Agbo told Reuters.
Mali's cotton had previously been exported via ports in Dakar, Conakry and Ivory Coast's main port in the commercial capital Abidjan.

"We expect to export the majority of Malian cotton production, which will boost the port's overall traffic," Agbo said.

San Pedro already exports around half of all cocoa produced in Ivory Coast, the top producer of the main chocolate ingredient, and is planning a $230 million expansion of the port in order to boost capacity.

Bollore Africa Logistics, a subsidiary of France's Bollore industrial group, manages both the Abidjan and San Pedro ports.

Hit hard by a market crash in the early 2000s that pushed many farmers to switch to other crops, West Africa's cotton sector is currently witnessing a revival fuelled by attractive prices for farmers.

Burkina Faso's output jumped nearly 58 percent last season to 630,000 tonnes, while Mali produced around 450,000 tonnes of unginned cotton.
Ivory Coast, which had annual output of about 400,000 tonnes before a 2002-2003 civil war halved production, is also making a comeback.

Though final figures are not yet available, the country's ginners association has projected output of 360,000 tonnes for the 2012/13 season, which ended last month. (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Joe Bavier)