- The Zambian president, Rupiah Banda has has appointed a seven-man panel to formulate policies that will guide exploration and exploitation of oil resources in the country's northwestern and western provinces.
The committee made up of ministers and members of other top government, parastatal and private sectors mebers will be headed by the Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Maxwell Mwale.
Mr Banda has also confirmed to the committee the responsibility of awarding of exploration and exploitation licenses to possible investors.
Zambia which has over the years pride itself in the rich Copper and cobalt reserves in the Copperbelt province, discovered oil in the western provinces bordering Angola in 2006.
The country which is one of the worst hit by the global slowdown with most of its copper mines having had to close and lay-off workers, is slowly regaining production confidence with new investments coming into the mining sector, mainly from the Chinese investors.
Zambia was yesterday accepted as a new member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Board (EITI) together with Albania, Burkina Faso and Mozambique.
Other African countries signed to the programme are Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Săo Tomé e Príncipe, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.
Under the programme countries commit to a global standard for revenue transparency in the extractive industries. Through implementing the EITI, countries bring together companies, civil society and government representatives to monitor and account for payments being made to governments by extractives companies operating in their country.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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