Chinese leaders' kin stash riches in offshore holdings: probe

Google – AFP, 22 January 2014

Relatives of top Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping, shown on October 4,

 2013, and former premier Wen Jiabao have used offshore tax havens to hide their wealth,

a mammoth investigation reveals (AFP/File, Mohd Rasfan)

Hong Kong — Relatives of top Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping and former premier Wen Jiabao have used offshore tax havens to hide their wealth, according to a mammoth investigation released Wednesday.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), citing information culled from 2.5 million leaked documents, said that Xi's brother-in-law and Wen's son and son-in-law were among those with offshore holdings.

It is the latest revelation to shine a light on the hidden wealth of family members of China's top officials, a topic considered off-limits by Communist Party leaders.

China's former premier Wen Jiabao is

shown at the Great Hall of the People in

Beijing on May 13, 2012 (POOL/AFP/

File, Petar Kujundzic)

Offshore entities can be legal and there was no evidence that the politicians were aware of their relatives' actions.

The release came days after Wen reportedly penned a letter to a Hong Kong columnist proclaiming his "innocence" over previous claims that his family amassed huge wealth during his decade in power.

The ICIJ cited nearly 22,000 offshore clients from mainland China and Hong Kong, including relatives of former president Hu Jintao, former premier Li Peng and late leader Deng Xiaoping, the man credited with opening up China's economy in the 1980s.

Also included were members of China's National People's Congress, heads of state-owned enterprises and some of the country's wealthiest men and women, including real estate mogul Zhang Xin; Pony Ma and Zhang Zhidong, co-founders of Chinese Internet giant Tencent; and Yang Huiyan, China's richest woman.

ICIJ said that it sent letters to the government officials, wealthy individuals and others named in its report.

"Their response in most cases was to not respond, a standard practice in China," ICIJ said.

The confidential files leaked to the organisation also include the names of 16,000 clients from Taiwan.

Ninety percent of the mainland Chinese clients set up offshore entities in the British Virgin Islands, often with the help of Western firms such as UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the investigation said. Seven percent were established in Samoa, and three percent in other areas.

The British Virgin Islands was the destination of choice for Xi's brother-in-law Deng Jiagui, a wealthy real estate developer and investor who married Xi's older sister in 1996. According to the report, Deng owns a 50 percent stake in a BVI-based company named Excellence Effort Property Development.

While such offshore trusts and companies "may not be strictly illegal", they are often linked to "conflict of interest and covert use of government power", Minxin Pei, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in California, told the ICIJ.

In 2012, the New York Times and Bloomberg news agency published investigations into the vast wealth said to have been amassed by family members of Wen and Xi.

Both news organisations have since had their websites blocked in China, and authorities have denounced the reports as an effort to "smear" China's leadership. The ICIJ website was in turn blocked within China on Wednesday.

In November, the New York Times found that US bank JPMorgan hired a daughter of Wen as a consultant, part of a broader strategy that the newspaper said was aimed at accumulating influence in China by employing relatives of the nation's leaders.

According to the Times report, JPMorgan paid a total of $1.8 million to Fullmark Consultants, a firm set up by Wen's daughter, Wen Ruchun, who also goes by the alias "Lily Chang".

The files leaked to ICIJ give further insight into how Wen Runchun was able to obscure her connection to the firm: Fullmark Consultants was set up in the British Virgin Islands in 2004 by her husband, who was its sole director and shareholder until 2006.

Chinese para-military police march

 beneath a portrait of late leader Mao

 Zedong beside Tiananmen Square

 in Beijing on December 13, 2013

(AFP/File, Mark Ralston)

The ICIJ said it collaborated with more than 50 partner organisations across the globe in sifting through the data, including The Guardian, Le Monde in France and Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper.

The websites of all three were not accessible within China on Wednesday.

Ming Pao on Saturday quoted Wen as writing in a letter to a columnist: "I have never been involved and would not get involved in one single deal of abusing my power for personal gain.

"I want to walk the last journey in this world well. I came to this world with bare hands and I want to leave this world clean."

It headlined its story on the ICIJ revelations on Wen but omitted any reference to Xi, suggesting a hesitance to examine the family wealth of China's current leadership.

One of the ICIJ partners, a mainland Chinese news organisation, withdrew in November after "authorities had warned it not to publish anything about the material", the ICIJ report said.

Offshore Secrets

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China Offshore Secrets

Chinese oil giants make use of offshore shell companies in Caribbean

China's cash haven in the British Virgin islands – the key points
China's princelings storing riches in Caribbean offshore haven

EU Offshore Secrets

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100 of UK's richest people concealing billions in offshore tax havens

The 'who's who' of European tax havens

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The nation at the heart of the offshore scandal: Britain

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Former Shining Path leader 'Presidente Gonzalo' faces Peru court

Abimael Guzmán, 79, who is already serving a life sentence, charged with Lima bombing 22 years ago

The Guardian, Dan Collyns in Lima,  Tuesday 21 January 2014

Abimael Guzman, founder of Peru's Shining Path, and his wife Elena
Iparraguirre, attend the trial in Lima. Photograph: /Reuters

After eight years hidden from the public view, Abimael Guzmán, 79, the one-time Shining Path leader, has appeared in court to face charges for the bombing of an upmarket street in Peru's capital Lima 22 years ago.

Already serving a life sentence, only Guzmán's grey hair and hunched figure was visible through the bullet-proof glass separating the gallery from the courtroom in the high-security naval base prison in Lima's port of Callao, where he is held.

Once the most feared man in Peru, Presidente Gonzalo, as he was known to his fanatical followers, unleashed a bloody internecine conflict in which 69,280 people were killed, according to Peru's truth and reconciliation commission. It concluded that the Shining Path was the main perpetrator.

Far from the defiant fist-waving figure of his last court appearance in 2006, Guzman was a diminished figure who did not turn to face the press and twice declined to address the court.

Also on trial were Guzmán's wife, Elena Iparraguirre – his one-time second-in-command – and nine other members of the guerrilla group's leadership, or central committee, including Comrade Artemio, who was captured in 2011 after more than two decades hiding in Peru's jungle.

In July 1992, about half a tonne of explosives were detonated in two car bombs in Tarata, a narrow one-block street, in the prosperous Miraflores neighbourhood, killing 25 people and injuring more than 150. It was the Shining Path's single most deadly attack on the capital. Two months later, on 12 September 1992, Guzmán was captured.

Guzmán's lawyer, Alfredo Crespo, said his client denied the charges: "There isn't a single piece of evidence that Abimael Guzmán or the central committee gave the order to execute this act in Tarata."

Crespo, who leads the Shining Path's successor group Movadee, argued his client was a political prisoner who had accepted the "mistakes, excesses and limitations" of his movement.

State prosecutor Johnny Soto said only the group's central committee could have given the order to carry out the bombing, given the Shining Path's hierarchical structure.

"As everyone knows, it was under the command of Abimael Guzmán, 'Presidente Gonzalo'," he said.

For orthodox members of the Shining Path, Guzmán is the fourth sword of communism after Marx, Lenin and Mao. According to Guzman's philosophy, blood was necessary to irrigate the revolution.

The outcome of this trial will be somewhat academic. Guzmán and his wife are already serving life sentences in prison.

Mexico disarms 1,200 police accused of gang ties

Google – AFP, 20 January 2014

Mexican federal police patrol during a march for peace in Apatzingan, 

Michoacan State, Mexico, on January 18, 2014 (AFP/File, Hector Guerrero)

Morelia — Mexico has disarmed more than 1,200 local police officers suspected of colluding with drug traffickers in Michoacan state and arrested 38 members of the notorious Knights Templar drug cartel active in the region.

Among those arrested was Jesus Vasquez Macias, 37, who goes by the alias "El Toro," a leading figure in the cartel, Monte Alejandro Rubido Garcia, a top federal security official, announced late Sunday.

Garcia said federal forces have taken control of 27 municipalities in the western Mexico state and disarmed 1,209 of the local police officers.

The officers will undergo investigations, Garcia said.

They are accused of colluding with gangs by the vigilante militias that have taken up arms in recent months in restive Michoacan state.

The self-defense groups, made up of farmers and other local people, aimed to take over from local police to oust the Knights Templar from the region to stop the group's violence, kidnapping and extortion rackets.

Since February 2013, the self-defense groups have taken control over some 20 towns.

In recent days, federal forces launched a major operation in the state and tried to disarm the vigilantes as well as flush out the Knights Templar gang.

The capture of Vasquez Macias and other Knights Templar leaders was among the conditions the vigilante groups demanded before giving in to government demands they turn over their own weapons.

Vasquez Macias, who was picked up in the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, was charged with offenses related to organized crime, Rubido Garcia said.

Michoacan, where much of the population lives in poverty, has become the most pressing security issue facing Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, who inherited a bloody war on drugs from his predecessor in 2012 that has left more than 77,000 people dead since it was launched in 2006.

Brazil militants slam bid to bar poor teens from malls

Google – AFP, Gérard Aziakou (AFP), 18 January 2014

Members of social and student movements protest against the restriction of access

 to massive gatherings known as "rolezinhos" to the JK Iguatemi shopping mall in 

Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 18, 2014 (AFP, Nelson Almeida)

Sao Paulo — Scores of black and leftist militants staged a boisterous rally here Saturday to protest attempts to bar underprivileged youths from shopping malls in middle-class areas.

An estimated 150 protesters, waving banners proclaiming "Enough with apartheid" and "End the genocide of Black people" massed outside the JK Iguatemi shopping mall and demanded to be let in.

The political protest was called in support of the so-called "rolezinhos," mall gatherings of hundreds of low-income teens that have at times degenerated into disturbances and store looting.

Members of social and student movements

 surround the pavement reading "JK racist" 

as they protest against the restriction of 

access to massive gatherings known as

 "rolezinhos" to the JK Iguatemi shopping

mall in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 18, 

2014 (AFP, Nelson Almeida)

Ahead of the crowd's arrival, security was bolstered at the JK Iguatemi mall and the management decided to close it down.

The angry demonstrators unfurled a banner proclaiming "In the World Cup country, racist malls deny entry to black and poor people."

The World Cup is to kick off in Sao Paulo on June 12.

"They are denying us the constitutional right to enter any commercial space," Douglas Melchior, an activist of the UNEafro black civil rights group, told AFP.

"We are going to take legal action to reverse this violation of the constitution."

The protesters also denounced "police assassinations of black youths" in the country's slums.

In a statement, the JK IGuatemi management said it decided to temporarily close the mall "to guarantee the security of its clients, store owners and collaborators."

It added that while it respected "democratic and peaceful demonstrations, the mall's premises and activities are not adequate for any type of demonstration."

A week ago, the mall secured a court injunction to block a rolezinho.

Police also used tear gas and rubber bullets last Saturday to disperse 1,000 teenagers taking part in a similar flash mob in an eastern Sao Paulo shopping center, according to videos taped by the participants and posted on social media networks.

Joselicino Junias, a member of the anti-racism organization Circulo Palmarino, said the rolezinhos or flash mobs aimed to challenge the "fundamentally racist, segregationist nature" of Brazilian society.

They also seek to touch off a debate over "the urgent need for the state to provide recreational and cultural activities for underprivileged youths," he added.

Several local shopping centers have secured court injunctions to deny entry to troublemakers but they deny charges of discrimination and racial profiling.

Members of social and student movements hold a banner outside the JK

Iguatemi shopping mall in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 18, 2014 (AFP,

Nelson Almeida)

Sao Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin insisted that the rolezinhos, which are coordinated via social media, are not illegal. But he vowed that police would intervene if the gatherings degenerated into violence and vandalism.

Local officials, meanwhile, are trying to arrange meetings with both sides to defuse tension and work out an acceptable compromise.

Late Thursday, the Shopping Jardim Sul in southern Sao Paulo was evacuated and security beefed up after 200 militants of the Homeless Workers' Movement rallied outside in support of the rolezinhos.

More rolezinhos are being planned in Sao Paulo and other Brazilian cities, including one calling thousands of youths to go to Shopping Leblon, in Rio's posh southern zone, on Sunday.

Colombia gets tough on drunk driving

Google – AFP, Lissy De Abreu (AFP), 17 January 2014

Police officers stand guard along the road between Cali and Yumbo, Colombia,

on August 26, 2013 (AFP/File, Luis Robayo)

Bogota — Colombia is cracking down on drunk driving, imposing a fine nearly 50 times the country's minimum monthly wage as it tries to set an example for Latin America.

After a series of deadly accidents last year, Colombia's Congress used the holiday period -- usually a well-lubricated one -- to pass the tough new law against people who drink and drive.

Until now, the fine could be the equivalent of $900 and 20 hours of community service.

But now, depending on the driver's blood-alcohol level, the fine can reach as much as $14,600 -- in a country where the minimum monthly wage is about $320.

In general, Latin America is not known for road safety.

The mortality rate stemming from highway accidents was 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012, according to a report by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). That compares to 10.3 in Europe, according to the World Health Organization, and 5.8 in France.

In the Andean region, where roads are poorly maintained, cars are in bad condition and police checkpoints are rare, the figure goes up to 22.1.

"The two risk factors, which are our top priority, are driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding," said Eugenia Rodrigues, an official with the Pan American Health Organization who works on road safety issues.

The organization, which recommends a maximum permitted blood alcohol level of 0.5 grams per liter of blood, is constantly urging Latin American countries to set up more drunk driving checkpoints and toughen penalties for offenders.

The psychological effect

The PAHO delegate in Colombia, Teofilo Monteiro, welcomed the new legislation in the country, saying the astronomical new fines will surely have a stinging psychological effect on drivers.

"People are going to be very careful not to be hit with such a big fine," Monteiro said. "The main thing is to set up checkpoints."

The PAHO cites Brazil as an example, with its zero tolerance law: 0.05 gram of alcohol per liter of blood and fines of up to $830 for repeat offenders.

Another country cracking down is Chile. Since March 2012, the blood alcohol level there has been reduced from 0.5 to 0.3 grams. A drunk driver is jailed, fined up to a relatively mild amount starting at $80 and their driver's license is suspended.

In the Caribbean, Panama is also preparing Colombia-style punishment, with fines ranging from $1,500 to $12,000, license suspension and outright revocation for a fourth offense.

Uruguay opts for community service as punishment, while Cuba decided last year to suspend drunk drivers' licenses for a period ranging from six months to five years.

In other countries, such as Venezuela or Paraguay, the legislation looks tough, with fines and prison sentences. But civic associations complain that these measures are rarely applied.

Take this example: a Paraguayan representative of the regional trading bloc Mercosur was caught fleeing the scene of an accident after leaving a young man seriously injured last May. But his immunity protected him from prosecution.

Mexico anti-drug militias return land to villagers

Google – AFP, 17 January 2014

Mexican soldiers patrol the streets of Apatzingan, in Michoacan State,

Mexico (AFP, Alfredo Estrella)

Tancitaro (México) — Mexican vigilante militias battling drug-traffickers in the restive state of Michoacan said Thursday they had returned several hundred acres of land seized from villagers by the notorious Knights Templar cartel.

The symbolic handover of some 654 acres (265 hectares) of land, which included many avocado and lemon orchards, took place in the village square of Tancitaro in the Michoacan highlands.

"Citizens, businessmen, farmers, people in the communities are bewildered by these narcos. Let's get them out of our land," militia leader Estanislao Beltran told AFP at the end of the ceremony.

View of the arms belonging to members

of the citizens' self-protection police in 

Paracuaro community, Michoacan State, 

Mexico, on January 16, 2014 (AFP, Hector

Guerrero)

Civilians first took up arms in February 2013 to oust the Knights Templar from the region, saying local police were either colluding with gangs or unable to deal with the violence and extortion rackets.

Since then, officials have alleged that at least some civilian militias were backed by a cartel, with critics noting that they used unlawful assault rifles that gangs usually own.

Mexico's federal police and army troops are currently waging a major operation aimed at wresting back control of Michoacan from the Knights Templar gang.

Federal security forces have also clashed with vigilantes who have refused to give up their weapons.

Beltran said Thursday his militia group would not lay down their arms and would continue to try and recover land seized by cartels, demanding the capture of drug lords before any disarmament.

Michoacan, where much of the population lives in poverty, has become the most pressing security issue facing Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, who inherited a bloody war on drugs from his predecessor in 2012 that has left more than 77,000 people dead since it was launched in 2006.

At talks, Colombian rebels urge regulated drug farms

Google – AFP, Carlos Batista (AFP), 14 January 2014

Commander of the FARC-EP leftist guerrillas Rodrigo Granda gestures at the

 Convention Palace in Havana before peace talks with the Colombian government,

on January 13, 2014 (AFP/File, Yamil Lage)

Havana — Colombia's FARC rebels on Tuesday called for the regulated cultivation and sale of illegal crops like coca leaf, opium poppies and marijuana as a fresh round of peace talks with government negotiators got under way.

Rebel negotiator Pablo Catatumbo unveiled the proposal before the start of a negotiating session dealing with drug trafficking, the industry that has long fuelled Colombia's brutal civil war.

He said the proposal would "regulate the production and marketing of coca leaf, poppies and marijuana, in recognition of their nutritional, medicinal, therapeutic and cultural qualities... as well as their artisanal and industrial possibilities."

He called for the de-militarization of areas where small farmers would be allowed to grow the crops under UN supervision, and an end to the crop eradication programs that have been a central feature of US-financed counter-drug programs in Colombia.

A Colombian police officer raids a coca

 plantation seized from the Revolutionary

 Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in

 Puerto Concordia, on January 25, 2011

(AFP, Guillermo Legaria)

Catatumbo said the latest proposal was based on a pilot project advanced during a previous unsuccessful set of peace talks in 2000 by FARC founder Manuel Marulanda.

"The amounts produced would be based on studies of the potential domestic as well as international demand," said Catatumbo.

"That involves creating a legal market for coca leaf, poppies and marijuana, controlled by the state through a system of price supports and state purchases," he said.

Under the FARC's proposal, the program would be funded by the government with the savings that come from eliminating the military presence in those areas, he said.

Funding should also come from international sources, including the countries that are the biggest consumers of illicit drugs, he said.

Catatumbo denounced what he said were "criminal state policies based on the persecution, stigmatization and criminalization of peasant farmers."

There was no immediate reaction to the proposal from the government of President Juan Manuel Santos.

But the FARC initiative echoed a recent move by Uruguay to legalize and regulate the cultivation and sale of marijuana, as well as drug legalization proposals elsewhere in the Americas.

Last November, the FARC's top leader, Timoleon Jimenez, alias "Timochenko," said he was in favor of drug legalization in Colombia, arguing that eradication programs had created social problems by depriving poor farmers of a source of income.

The government, meanwhile, accuses the FARC of financing its operations through the drug trade in areas where it holds sway.

Founded in 1964, the FARC is Latin America's longest insurgency and biggest guerrilla army, with an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 fighters.

Colombia is one of the world's top producers of cocaine.

The Santos government and the FARC opened peace talks in November 2012, taking up the issue of drug trafficking in the past two months.

Negotiators have so far reached consensus on just two agenda topics -- rural development, and the rebels' participation in the country's political life once a comprehensive peace agreement is reached.

But two other agenda items have yet to be discussed: compensation for victims of the conflict and the disarmament of the rebel forces.

World Bank's ethics under scrutiny after Honduras loan investigation

Private lending arm lent millions to palm oil company accused of links to assassinations and forced evictions, audit reveals

theguardian.com, Nina Lakhani, 13 January 2014

Members of the Peasant Unified Movement of Bajo Aguán, in Tegucigalpa,
 carry mock coffins bearing pictures of people murdered in land clashes.
Photograph: AFP/Getty

The verdict could not have been clearer: the World Bank's private lending arm failed to comply with its own ethical standards when it lent millions of dollars to a Honduran palm oil company accused of links to assassinations and forced evictions.

This was the damning verdict by the World Bank's Office of the Compliance Adviser/ Ombudsman (CAO) on Friday. It had investigated whether a $30m (£18.2m) loan by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Corporation Dinant, an agribusiness owned by one of Honduras's richest and most powerful men Miguel Facussé, was made after proper environmental and social due diligence.

The investigation was triggered by local NGOs accusing Dinant of direct and indirect involvement in a campaign of terror against campesinos, or peasant farmers, in the fertile Bajo Aguán valley in the north. Dinant claimed any violence was either unconnected to the company or legitimate self-defence.

The audit, one of the most critical issued by the Bank's internal watchdog, was unequivocal. The IFC failed to spot the serious social, political and human rights context in which Dinant operates, or if it did, failed to act effectively on the information; and failed to disclose vital project information, consult with local communities, or to identify the project as a high-risk investment.

The CAO also said staff were incentivised "to overlook, fail to articulate, or even conceal potential environmental, social and conflict risk". They warned that such incentives could lead to, as indicated by the loan to Dinant, the IFC taking "uninformed risks with serious consequences for people, the environment and/or the Bank Group's reputation". The CAO refers to allegations that 102 campesino leaders have been murdered since 2010 in Bajo Aguán, 40 of which were linked to Dinant properties or security guards. This is vigorously denied by Dinant.

Strong stuff from the CAO, but the IFC's written response, also published on Friday, was predictably weak.

In the first paragraph the IFC rejects some of the CAO findings, though fails to specify which ones or provide evidence to support its rebuff. The IFC states that at the time it approved the loan to Dinant in 2008 the project risks were manageable and there was no evidence of land claims. But this is not correct. The Bajo Aguán land disputes date back two decades to another World Bank-funded land modernisation programme, when campesinos claimed thousands of acres used for subsistence farming were transferred fraudulently and coercively to Facussé and other palm oil industrialists.

The IFC goes on to say that it could not have foreseen the coup d'état in June 2009 that toppled president Manuel Zelaya, days after he ordered an investigation into the land conflicts, nor the social unrest, arms and drugs trafficking, and violence that have since plagued the region.

But the IFC gave Dinant its first instalment of $15m in November 2009, when there was already evidence of worsening security problems relating to the land disputes in Bajo Aguán.

Add to that the US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks, which suggests Facussé backed the 2009 coup, which he denies. What's more in 2011, by which time Honduras was officially the most murderous country in the world, the Bajo Aguán had been militarised by US-trained troops, and allegations of human rights abuses perpetrated by Dinant security guards in conjunction with state security forces were piling up – the IFC approved a $70 loan to one of Dinant's biggest creditors, Banco Financiera Comercial Hondureña.

This loan, which gave the IFC a 10% stake in the bank, is subject to another CAO investigation, due to report before the end of June. The IFC's pattern of investing in financial intermediaries over the past decade is criticised by some observers as a way of circumventing its own safeguard policies.

Dinant, whose lucrative African palm plantations dominate the Bajo Aguán, issued a statement rejecting some of the CAO findings. The company, which pointed to multiple killings of its security guards since 2010, said it would continue working with the IFC to comply with its performance standards. The problem is, according to the CAO audit, in practice these standards are not very high.

Many civil society organisations believe continued support from the World Bank is grossly negligent and endorses violence with impunity. The IFC generally prefers to effect change from within, and says it will steer Dinant to collaborate with the authorities if credible allegations emerge against its security forces.

But across Honduras state authorities are implicated in countless human rights abuses, especially in the Bajo Aguán, where operations are reportedly conducted jointly between state and private security forces. Impunity is the norm; the justice system is broken.

The CAO has pledged to keep the case open until it is satisfied the IFC is compliant with its own ethical standards. The only lever it has for exacting change is through reporting its findings to the World Bank president, board and public. The president, Jim Yong Kim, has pledged that the Bank will learn from past mistakes. Half of the IFC loan, $15m, is yet to be paid to Dinant. Now is the time for Kim to put his money where his mouth is.

An EU in East Africa?

Deutsche Welle, 12 January 2014

Passport-free travel, a common market, and a single currency. Sound like the EU? It's Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and they're being warned to take things slowly.

Traveling without a passport or visa, which is a right within the European Union, may soon be possible for around 135 million people in East Africa. Since January 1, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have allowed their citizens to travel freely across the three countries. At border control stations, an identity card, whether for work, school or voting, is all that's required. Travelers no longer suffer high visa costs and nerve-wracking administrative processes.

That's because Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda are members of the East African Community (EAC). Their goal: more inter-African trade through a common market with unified immigration and custom laws. “We must deepen trade amongst each other," said Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, current EAC chair. "This way our private sectors will develop the strength, resilience and stature needed to take on the world."

Safety concerns

A September 2013 terror attack in Nairobi,
Kenya added to fears of terrorism

Burundi and Tanzania also belong to the EAC. At this point, both countries have kept their borders closed due to fears of terrorist attacks by members of the Somali al-Shabaab militia. Tanzania is the only country bordering all four EAC countries, says Samuel Sitta, Tanzania's minister for East African Cooperation.

Sitta criticizes that technical requirements for free travel have not yet been mastered: As before, border control machines cannot read all passports. "Fragilearrangements are a security threat," he said. "Our region has no peace, and as we speak, there is war in South Sudan."

Tanzanian security forces believe members and sympathizers of al-Shabaab would be able to obtain identity cards and travel within EAC countries. Some are even thought to be current EAC citizens. With new freedom to travel comes an increased risk of attacks and assassinations.

Boom times?

Security concerns are also rife in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. There, however, the fears are trumped by potential trade benefits. Freedom of movement for workers, goods, services and capital have awoken hope for more investments in the region: streets, rail lines and power grids.

"The infrastructure has been a challenge obviously," economist Martin Otieno told DW from Nairobi. "But what we've seen in recent years is that governments have renewed their commitment to making the free movement of goods, people, commerce, trade and investment much easier." Otieno added that it's the private sector which is the chief driver of regional integration and which is now pressing governments to hold to their promises.

The five states of the EAC are now working on their next large-scale project: They want to establish a currency union like the eurozone, with the hope that it would strengthen the economies and make East Africa more attractive to foreign investors. Governments signed a framework agreement in December 2013 in Uganda's capital, Kampala, with the currency zone to be implemented within ten years.

Don't rush it

However, each country must meet specific criteria, such as inflation targets. Countries will have to establish independent institutions to manage the currency. A look toward Europe is helpful - but only to an extent.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde meets with
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta

On a trip to Kenya in January, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, advised countries to look at Europe's experience - but to "hasten slowly" and "not rush."

"Make sure you learn from our mistakes," she said, adding that East Africans can even teach Europeans how to do things correctly.

Stumbling blocks on the road to integration, the IMF chief said, include non-tariff trade barriers such as import quotas or export restrictions. But differences in member economies can also pose a problem. The extent of the strain a currency zone can be forced to endure is something Europe learned only recently during its - still lingering - debt crisis.

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A Latin American Euro? The Region’s First Steps Towards A Unique Currency -- What Is The Sucre?

ASEAN has good single currency prospect


"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“…. Human Nature is Changing

There's a new concept afoot, a change in Human nature. We've spoken about this before. How many of you studied European history? And in school, did your mind fill up with all of the dates you had to memorize? Who conquered whom and when? Over and over and over, every single country had their turn conquering another country. Borders moved constantly. As far back as you want to go, that's what Humans did. They separated, gathered, and conquered. But as little as 50 years ago, it all stopped.

We've said this before. Fifty years ago, a seed, an idea, was planted at the end of World War II. "Let's put these European countries together," they said. "Let's even drop the borders and eventually give them one currency." Do this and they'll never war again, they predicted, for countries with common economic sources don't go to war! And that's exactly what's happened. Did it work? It's fairly fresh, but their money is threatening to take over the strength of your money, did you notice? It's worth more than yours. They still struggle to make it work and balance it. But then again, you do the same in the United States, always fine tuning the unity.

South America is considering the same thing right now. The seeds are being planted in Brazil. Within a generation, they would love to see the borders dropped and one currency. Can they do it? Perhaps. Perhaps it will take longer. Why do it? Because they see the European Union with the strongest currency on Earth. We've said this before. Here is a prediction: Perhaps not in your time, but there'll come a day when there are only five currencies in the world, because continents will start understanding that unification creates peace and prosperity. Separation creates chaos. What a concept.  …”

Africa - "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

"..  Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit. …."