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A28 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 30 april 2020
China silent amid global calls to give Africa debt relief

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA As- alyptic moment." Asked
sociated Press whether China would of-
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) fer debt relief to Africa,
— African leaders are ask- Chinese foreign ministry
ing what China can do for spokesman Zhao Lijian on
them as the coronavirus April 7 said he believed
pandemic threatens to de- "China will resolve these
stroy economies and wipe countries' difficulties via
out some 20 million jobs consultation through diplo-
across a continent where matic channels."
Beijing is both the top trad- In a statement emailed to
ing partner and top lender. the AP, the foreign ministry
The World Bank and the In- said China had "overcome
ternational Monetary Fund difficulties" in helping Africa
have announced immedi- with shipments of medical
ate relief measures, includ- supplies to help fight the
ing freeing up billions in pandemic. "China will con-
debt payments and expec- tinue to provide assistance
tations for help from China to Africa within its capa-
are high across resource- bilities and in accordance
rich Africa, but Beijing has with the development of
remained silent. In this Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016 file photo, Kenyan laborers and a Chinese foreman, right, work the epidemic and Africa's
to finish the construction of an existing bridge that goes across a corner of Nairobi National Park
China holds about a third in Nairobi, Kenya. needs," it said.
of Africa's sovereign debt. Associated Press. China's footprint on the con-
Demand for Chinese- tinent has been expanding
backed capital to build ev- Uganda, whose finance Associated Press. global pressure. as some African leaders,
erything from highways to minister says "shocking defi- China has been noncom- Ghana's finance minister favoring the perceived
hydroelectric dams has left cits" in the past year have mittal beyond its support, has said he expects more lack of political strings that
countries heavily indebted, forced authorities to bor- as a member of the G-20 from Beijing. come with Chinese capital,
leading to concerns about row to keep the govern- group of wealthy nations, "My feeling is that China have turned to Beijing while
a debt trap and even loss ment running. Uganda's for a moratorium that frees has to come on stronger," other funders hesitate over
of sovereignty. national debt stood at over up to $20 billion in debt said Ken Ofori-Atta, speak- corruption and other con-
Many of those countries, in- $10 billion in 2018, nearly a payments through 2020 for ing to the Washington- cerns.
cluding oil exporters such as third owed to China, ac- low-income countries. based Center for Global In turn, China has been
Angola, spend a substan- cording to official figures. Some analysts predict that Development. "I think our keen to exploit Africa's vast
tial chunk of their budgets "We have strong bilateral actual debt forgiveness Africa debt to China is over natural resources in coun-
servicing debt while health relations with China, but looks unlikely and that Chi- $145 billion, about $8 billion tries such as war-ravaged
and education suffer. they haven't come to us na, despite its enormous in- in payments required this South Sudan, where Chi-
Any respite would be wel- saying anything," the minis- fluence in Africa, will avoid year ... So that needs to be nese firms dominate the oil
come for a country like ter, Matia Kasaija, told The unilateral measures despite looked at. It's just an apoc- sector. q

Amid health worries, Kim Jong Un’s role looms large

Continued from Page 27 Seoul to the ground. He has also different approach to leadership of "gangster-like" U.S. economic
rolled out the red carpet for a visit than his publicity-shy father, Kim sanctions, and he supervised a se-
There have been no photographs to Pyongyang, North Korea's capi- Jong Il, who died in 2011. ries of weapons launches and mili-
and no videos of the leader in tal, by South Korea's president and Outside governments and experts tary drills in March.
nearly three weeks, only state me- sent his own sister south for the 2018 initially questioned the ability of Much of what happens now will
dia reports of him sending written Olympics. a man then in his 20s to lead, but depend on Kim's health.
greetings to world leaders or citi- In the West, portrayals of Kim often Kim Jong Un quickly consolidated North Korea, despite its poverty,
zens of merit. run to caricature. His broken friend- power. He ordered the 2013 execu- has long commanded world atten-
___ ship with Dennis Rodman, the for- tion of his uncle and mentor, Jang tion because of its sustained, bel-
THE MAN mer basketball star he reportedly Song Thaek, who was accused of ligerent pursuit of what it calls self-
Those looking to understand Kim idolized as a schoolboy; the rumors treason. Kim is also suspected of defensive measures in response to
face a problem. Much of what about his extreme love of cheese ordering the assassination of his es- U.S. hostility — and what critics call
the outside world sees is filtered and his allegedly creative ways of tranged half brother, and potential an illegal accumulation of nuclear
through relentless North Korean disposing of officials who displease rival, at a Malaysian airport in 2017. bombs.
propaganda meant to build him him. Kim has shown a growing confi- There's debate about whether
into an infallible paragon of lead- Then there's the stunning series of dence on the world stage, most North Korea ever intended to give
ership. summits over the last two years clearly with the high-stakes diplo- up its nuclear weapons during
Add to that vaguely sourced or with the leaders of Russia, China, macy that followed a run of nucle- the summits with Washington and
misleading outside media reports the United States and South Korea. ar and missile tests in 2017 that had Seoul. But the diplomacy seems in-
and the extreme difficulty of crack- Kim was likely born in 1984 and at- many fearing war. conceivable without Kim.
ing North Korea's ultra-secrecy tended boarding school for sev- The sight of a North Korean lead- That raises fears, during a poten-
surrounding anything to do with eral years in Switzerland. Early on, er meeting with his South Korean tial moment of massive political
the leader, and the picture that some observers argued that his and U.S. rivals was extraordinary, instability, of a return to threats
emerges of Kim is often more mo- time in the West would lead him to though it's not yet clear whether and increasingly powerful weap-
saic than profile. eventually embrace Chinese-style the diplomacy will settle an uneasy ons tests meant to perfect the
In South Korea, he is seen as both reforms. region. nuclear weapons seen as the only
demon and statesman. He has That has not happened so far, Kim entered 2020 vowing to bolster real guarantee of the Kim family's
repeatedly threatened to burn though he has taken a markedly his nuclear deterrent in the face power.q