Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
Well what the French have been doing in Francophone Africa for the past fifty years, is by any definition, state capitalism.

I don't know why everyone is ganging up on the Chinese.
Not ganging up on China or France on this end and i hope for the best for Africa; infrastructure, education, business development are to be lauded in my book. My point, however, is that there is a vast and appreciable difference between a SOE (state owned enterprise) and a private company: scale, resources to draw upon, etc.

East Africa will be an interesting place to watch for what form capitalism will take, and how development/growth proceeds, as the proposed port in Lamu and the natural gas finds take shape.

Lamu port project launched for South Sudan and Ethiopia, 2 March 2012 Last updated at 10:35 ET, BBC News

Construction has begun on a $23bn (£14.5bn) port project and oil refinery in south-eastern Kenya's coastal Lamu region near war-torn Somalia's border.

An oil pipeline, railway and motorway will also be built linking Lamu to South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Newly independent South Sudan plans to use Lamu as its main oil export outlet.
Energy giants Statoil and Exxon target East African gas, By Russell Padmore
Business reporter, 19 March 2012 Last updated at 02:19 ET, BBC World Service

Statoil and its American partner Exxon Mobil have made the biggest offshore discovery yet of gas reserves off the coast of Tanzania.
I have been interviewing engineers of late and have noted Chinese training and African experience (on Chinese projects) among some of the candidates...the world grows smaller every day.