CONTENTS

WHAT'S HAPPENING 5 News, analysis, comment on economic events

FEATURES 16 Ethiopia's good housekeeping 17 Western powers sabotage Law of the Sea

21 France fights for predominance

FOCUS ON ZAMBIA 22 ZCCM reflects copper's decline 2 4 Further economic cutbacks forecast

25 Agriculture in transition 26 Central Bank shake-up 2 7 Times Newspapers nationalised

BUSINESS BRIEFS

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28 K en y a 1: Will tough action follow reassuring noises?

29 K enya 2: Faltering fuel saving policy 3 0 Ghana: Moves to rescue cocoa industry

31 Congo: Looking West for investment 32 S ie r r a Leone: On the point of total break-down

33 Sudan: Credit squeeze; Oil policy reverse

3 4 Guinea: Investment drive 35 Burundi: Minerals boost

NIGERIA NOTES

41 Trouble for major rural project; Import control relaxations Banking changes 42 British energy foothold; Textiles crisis

COMPANY NEWS 43 Elf-Gabon boosts exploration 4 4 Sierra Leone industry, PRC Harris in Lesotho; Southern

African small business

45 Company briefs COMMODITIES 48 Africa’s uranium boom fizzles out 49 Coffee pact 50 Timber industry gloom; Forest campaign; West African Iron ore 51 Angola ore; Sugar prospects; Uganda tea; Guinea-EEC Fisheries agreement depressed ^ A a c o p p e r price has the Zambian econom y at its m ercy and the latest annual report o f the Zambian Consolidated Copper Mines reflects this p red icam en t Can Zambia escape from its dependency b y greater diversification into agriculture and industry? What are the im plications o f the nation’ s cash crisis?

NEWSBRIEFS 52 News update, sector by sector

AIRFREIGHT SURVEY 5 7 -5 9 Tough year for freight operators

60 Couriers carry honours 65 Tradewinds battles for air freight rights 67 Kenya 68 Zambia 69 Ghana 71 Zimbabwe

LABOUR

73 Zimbabwe government-union “ partnership” 7 4 Ghana TUC Old Guard fights back; Labour briefs

A / ^ Ethiopia’s I WMarxist-Leninist political system has led Western business interests to tread warily. But the conservative financial policies o f the governm ent and the huge potential o f A fr ica ’ s most populous country are major attractions. Alan Rake, recently in Ethiopia, assesses those attractions and examines new projects.

Q ^ P r e s id e n t Moi f c % /h as provided some cru cia l guidelines fo r Kenya’s econom ic revival. Will the necessary tough action against parastatal inefficien cy and corruption fo l lo w his reassuring w ord s? Industrialists will require an im provem ent o f the business environment b e fo re they undertake further investm ent

African Business November 1982 3