However, among this glimmer of hope we cannot forget the political instability Africa has, the protracted conflicts in Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Libya and the Central African Republic (CAR) remain on the agenda of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC). Tensions sharply rose with attempted armed marches on Bangui before the CAR’s December presidential and legislative elections. The opposition is contesting the poll results while armed groups continue to threaten peace and stability.
According to ISS (Institute for Security Studies) more attention must be paid to the conflicts in northern Cameroon and northern Mozambique. Gruesome killings during 2020 in both countries are a stark reminder that Africa needs to act quickly and decisively on early warnings of violence.
Ethiopia’s fragility has come to the fore with the outbreak of an armed conflict in November 2020 between federal government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Further conflict could undermine stability both in Ethiopia and the entire Horn of Africa region. General elections were postponed from August 2020 to June 2021.
In the Sahel and West Africa, democratic governance deficits have contributed to political tensions and instability, and enabled terrorism. Several ad hoc measures have been taken, but the dynamic nature of the underlying causes continue to present major challenges.
In April this year, French energy giant Total said it was suspending work on a $20bn gas project in northern Mozambique following the latest jihadist assault on a nearby town.
“Considering the evolution of the security situation… Total confirms the withdrawal of all Mozambique LNG [Liquefied Natural Gas] project personnel from the Afungi site,” the company said in a statement.
Total added it was declaring a “force majeure” situation beyond its control, a legal concept meaning it can suspend fulfilling contractual obligations. In March there was a jihadist raid on Palma in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province which prompted Total to remove remaining staff from the natural gas site. It had already evacuated some workers and suspended construction in January following a series of jihadist attacks nearby.
The LNG project includes development of the Golfinho and Atum offshore natural gas fields and the construction of a two-train liquefaction plant.
Marc Kleiner is the managing director, of Condra, based in Johannesburg, which began manufacturing its first
overhead cranes in 1971 after seeing an opportunity for hoists and overhead cranes in the South African market in place of local assembly from imported components.
“Africa’s sporadic insurgencies are a problem. They make things difficult. Witness the recent attack by ISIS in Palma, northern Mozambique. One of the oil companies there declared force majeure because of that attack, so now we have the crane that they ordered stored here at our factory until the situation can be sorted out,” he says.
“In terms of the future, it will continue to remain possible to succeed in the African
lifting equipment market, though it will remain difficult. But Condra is African and understands Africa. Therefore, our success is likely to continue.”
Indeed, it is not all doom and gloom, in March, the UK signed a trade partnership agreement with Ghana that secures tariff-free trade and provides a platform for greater economic and cultural cooperation.
The deal supports a trading relationship worth £1.2bn and reinstates the terms of the economic partnership agreement between the two sides when the UK was part of the European Union.
It means Ghanaian products including bananas, tinned tuna and cocoa will benefit from tariff-free access to the United Kingdom. UK exports are also in line to benefit from tariff liberalisation from 2023, including machinery, electronics and chemical products.
“With tariff-free access for Ghana to the UK, it will enable businesses to scale up their operations, support innovation in markets and create jobs as we recover together from the coronavirus pandemic,” said James Duddridge, UK Minister for Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
“Ghana’s largest exports to the UK include mineral fuels and oil, preparations of fish, fruit, cocoa and cocoa preparations. Its top imports include clothing/textiles, machinery and mechanical appliances, and chemical products from the UK. The deal means the UK has now secured trade agreements with 65 non-EU countries, representing trade worth £217bn in 2019. This accounts for 97% of the value of trade with non-EU countries that we set out to secure agreements with at the start of the trade continuity programme.”
Total UK trade with Ghana was £1.2bn in 2019, of which UK exports were £652m. The UK government has secured trade agreements with 65 countries plus the EU. Total trade with these countries was worth £890bn in 2019. This is equivalent to 63% of UK total trade (Sources: ONS UK Trade).
Another success story is EnerMech, which has operated in Africa for more than ten years, working across the continent from Egypt to South Africa and Angola to Madagascar, providing mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and integrity services to the international energy and infrastructure sectors.
It recently established a presence in Mozambique hiring country manager Celestino Maússe and opening an office in the capital city of Maputo, the gateway to Mozambique’s international energy market.
“EnerMech has already established many successful partnerships across Africa and there is a lot of new activity in Mozambique. I am confident the company’s expertise and track record in local content development will help us develop a sustainable business, building a solid pipeline of new work across the local energy sector,” says Maússe.
The company has secured its first contract providing subsea pre-commissioning services on the Coral South Floating Liquified Natural Gas (FLNG) development. Located in Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin, Coral South is Africa’s first FLNG project and it will be the world’s first ultra-deep-water FLNG facility to operate at water depth of 2,000m.
“The award is highly significant for EnerMech as we look to support the development of the world’s first ultradeep- water FLNG facility, one of several large developments planned offshore Mozambique,” says Ross McHardy, regional director, Europe and Africa, EnerMech.
“Mozambique is fortunate to hold vast natural resources and minerals and with the pace of oil and gas activity in the country, we were eager to engage with and develop the local energy supply chain. With emerging opportunities within large infrastructure projects, we have identified the country as core to our future growth in the continent.”
According to Condra’s Kleiner, the African market is going to continue to evolve through cyclical demand for commodities, especially minerals and especially from China. That said, Africa’s challenge is going to be to resist the temptation to nationalise mining interests, which is counterproductive to meeting that demand.
“I would like to see easier access to some of the newer mines, which are often remote. The infrastructure in some places is not good. An example is an enquiry recently received from a mine in Cameroon, where access for the abnormal-load vehicles usually used to transport the crane girders is inadequate. These vehicles cannot navigate the existing road. So, the only way to deliver that crane will be to design everything for containerisation, including girders of almost 30 metres. The girders will have to be spliced and bolted together on site,” he adds.
The company has just started manufacturing eight coil-handling cranes for a new South African vehicle plant. Further afield, it is manufacturing a 60-ton overhead crane and a portal crane for Botswana, both to be delivered towards the end of this year. It is also supplying a crane to Bulyanhulu gold mine in
Tanzania, where it supplied many of the initial cranes needed at the time of mine development.
Cranes will play an important role in mining development in Africa