For telecoms-tycoon-turned-philanthropist Mo Ibrahim, it’s one step forward, two steps back. For Benno Ndullu, governor of the central Bank of Tanzania, the whole thing is bound to stall unless problems are ironed out first.

For many Tanzanians, it’s a threat to their jobs, language and prospects.

But for the leaders of the five-member East African Community (EAC), signing the common market protocol on Friday represents the future fortunes of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda combined.

Signing the document — the culmination of a relatively speedy 18 months of negotiation — will mean goods, services and the community’s 126 million people can move freely across their borders, in theory at least.

Together, the five countries muster $60 billion in gross domestic product combined, and believe they can prosper better as one unit than apart.

Already they have a customs union, but by 2012 they foresee sharing a single currency and finally political federation.

“If you don’t get the economic integration process going in Africa you’re dead,” Tim Clarke, head of delegation at the European Commission in Tanzania, told the Mo Ibrahim Foundation meeting on good governance last weekend.

There are plenty of creases to be ironed out, however — whether Rwandans should switch the side of the road they drive on to match up with the region or whether home-made goods are prepared to fight it out against cheaper imports unencumbered by import duties.

Sometimes described as a bowl of spaghetti, many countries belong to overlapping regional economic communities, which makes negotiating as a single bloc tricky.

Other contentious issues include land ownership, common external tariffs, travel documents and protection of ill-prepared local manufacturers and workers.

For EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu, who is also a Tanzanian citizen, it is important to overcome what he calls “this zero-sum mindset that these people are coming to take our jobs”.

“The common market is going to send another right signal to the region in terms of enticing investors,” he told the Mo Ibrahim Foundation at the weekend.

Some think the countries are nevertheless overambitious in their timescale, while also being slowed down by lengthy protocol: among their planning duties, heads of state mulled “a report on the finalisation of the development of the EAC Anthem”.

But as they promote cultural cohesion with EAC football, a new EAC headquarters and yes, the new anthem, many are hoping to put the previous failure of the EAC — which ran for ten years until it was dissolved amid rancour in 1977 — far behind them.

Will it work this time?

When white Zimbabwean farmer Irvin Reid arrived in Nigeria almost five years ago, he was given a set of grid references in the remote bush and told to find water and build a new farm.

His dairy farm now has 300 Jersey cows, some of among 800 imported from South Africa to start cattle farms in the region.

It’s a sharp contrast to things back in Zimbabwe, where campaigners say farmers face their worst year ever.

Reid was one of 13 white farmers invited with their families to Nigeria in 2005 after land seizures in Zimbabwe — which President Robert Mugabe says are necessary to correct the legacy of colonialism — stripped them of their livelihoods.

Farmers from South Korea, Kuwait and the United States have also arrived in Kwara state, which is keen to attract more investors and help Nigeria end its import reliance.

Hoping Zimbabwe’s loss might be its gain, Nigeria gave each farmer 1,000 hectares of land under a 25-year renewable lease in Shonga, the hub of the state’s commercial agriculture project.

Less than five years on, 80 percent of the land is under cultivation and the farmers have asked for  more.

“We arrived to virgin bush. We were basically just given GPS points, told to mark them out, clear the bush and find water, build the house, build the sheds, and import cattle,” Reid said.

“It was right from the grassroots and it was fun. We all lived in tents for a while,” he told Reuters Africa Journal.

Hundreds of tonnes of cassava, maize and soya beans are harvested for both local consumption and export markets.

Residents of Shonga were initially apprehensive when the Zimbabwe farmers first arrived. But that has changed.

Local government officials say the large-scale farming has increased local food supply, brought new skills to local farmers and triggered the emergence of new agricultural industries.

Kwara state’s commissioner of agriculture said 15 new commercial farms had been developed in addition to the 13 at Shonga and that 3,000-4,000 people had found work in the Shonga farms alone.

Nigeria’s agricultural sector has taken a back seat since the country started producing oil more than five decades ago.

The Shonga farms are jointly financed by Nigerian banks, but, with the global credit crunch forcing banks to tighten their lending criteria, access to long-term funds has been difficult.

Nigeria has set aside 200 billion naira to aid commercial farming although the funds have not been forthcoming, slowing down work and potentially affecting next year’s crop.

But the problems have not deterred other investors from streaming into Kwara. One group from Syria is clearing 600 hectares for poultry farming alone.

In scenes more akin to a prelude to war than a soccer match, Algeria won Africa’s last place in next year’s World Cup finals in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Wednesday.

With 15,000 extra security men manning the stadium and heavily armed riot police on virtually every street corner for Algeria’s 1-0 win over Egypt, there was little opportunity for major violence.

Fears of riots in Khartoum spread as some Algerian fans said they were out for revenge after Egyptians stoned their team bus, injuring three players at their previous encounter in Cairo. Twenty Algerians were injured in clashes after that match on Saturday, and the next day Egyptian businesses were ransacked in Algiers.

But the riots never happened and Sudanese police in the stadium were left slightly bewildered by ecstatic Algerian fans blowing them kisses and chanting pro-Sudanese slogans.

There had been only minor scuffles ahead of the match and afterwards a number of buses carrying Egyptian fans were stoned, windows broken and people cut by flying glass as they headed for the airport.

The massive Gad restaurant opposite the airport, draped in Egyptian flags, was invaded after the match by hungry Algerians who ransacked the fridges but attacked no one before Sudanese police threw them out, the manager said.

Khartoum’s major hospitals said they received no injuries or deaths from clashes between fans.

But Egyptian media reports described a very different atmosphere.

Some Egyptian journalists reported near hysterical scenes of their fans under siege by Algerian “militias”, being beaten or stabbed, with armed Algerians chasing Egyptians through the streets and even of deaths.

Khartoum police dismissed the reports. But after some Egyptian media said Sudan had failed to protect its citizens, diplomatic relations between all three countries plummeted.

On Thursday, Egypt recalled its ambassador in Algiers, angered by reports of attacks on Egyptians.

The diplomatic rift split into a chasm after Egyptian ally and match host Sudan summoned Cairo’s ambassador in Khartoum to express a “very strong protest” at Egyptian media reports it said were untrue.

One official said the media was using Sudan as a scapegoat to distract attention from Egypt’s defeat. Egypt had proposed Khartoum as a neutral venue for the decider.

Many fans and Sudanese said they were impressed if somewhat surprised at how organised Khartoum’s security operation was. Fans were bussed out of the stadium at different times and followed separate routes to the airport.

With all the ruckus it was easy to forget about the soccer. The game was rough and technically poor, said fans, but the match was always going to be about emotion rather than technique.

Algerians will now be queueing up for visas to South Africa in the hope that that embassy at least will remain open.

This week has seen a rush of key policymakers and business executives from Africa flocking to London. Apart from Sierra Leone, oil and gas executives have been discussing the outlook for Equatorial Guinea, a small central African state rich in oil.

Equatorial Guinea made a relatively rare foray into the global news earlier this month for a presidential pardon of  former British army officer Simon Mann, who was serving a 34-year prison sentence in the country for his role in a failed coup d'etat in 2004.

Gabriel Obiang Lima, vice minister of mines, industry and energy, was in London to talk about his ambition for the country. "Our aim is not to be the Kuwait of the region. It's to be the Singapore of the region," he told dozens of business executives in a conference in London on Wednesday.

"Equatorial Guinea has to have other industries that are not dependent on oil and gas."

But it has a long way to go towards establishing a Singapore-like country. The U.S. State Department says application of the laws remains selective and corruption among officials is widespread, and many business deals are concluded under nontransparent circumstances.

The vice minister says Equatorial Guinea is investing heavily in ports, health care and infrastructure.

"Talk is cheap but we have to deliver," he said, wrapping up his 40-minute speech.

African countries once again bring up the rear in this year’s Corruption Perceptions Index , a closely watched benchmark of how well – or badly – countries are tackling graft.

Of the 47 countries reviewed in the region, corruption was perceived by executives to be “rampant” in 31, and a “serious challenge” in 13. Only three countries – Botswana, Mauritius and Cape Verde – got anything like a clean bill of health.

But amid the gloom are some interesting developments compared to last year’s table, suggesting the right mix of anti-corruption policy – plus a dose of rosy public relations – can help individual countries shake off the kind of reputation that scares investors off.

Perhaps the most stunning ascent this year was that of Liberia, storming up the chart from 138th to 97th this year, putting it well ahead of relative giants such as Argentina and Indonesia.

Monrovia has long received plaudits for its “zero tolerance” policy on graft, while its effort to buy back outstanding government debt has also soothed investor nerves. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won explicit backing from the United States earlier this year, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stopped off on a trip through Africa to tell her she was on “the right track”.

Over the coming years, the eyes of the world will be on how Liberia uses its share of the the proceeds from a multibillion-barrel offshore oil frontier off its coast and that of neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Likewise, Sierra Leone itself appears to be on a modest role, climbing 12 places to 146th position. The credibility of its anti-corruption drive received a boost earlier this month when it indicted the health minister on suspicion of mishandling a medical supply contract.

Sceptics noted that the indictment – the first involving an acting public official since the creation of the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission in 2000 – came just weeks before a high-profile investor conference in London.

Among the losers, Senegal stands out. Long perceived as one of the easier parts of West Africa to do business in, it even one a U.S. grant worth $540 million from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) this year in recognition of its good governance.

Does the fact that it has slipped from 85th place to 99th position suggest that the accolade is out of kilter with perceptions of those doing business there now?

Transparency International, the Berlin-based watchdog that puts together the report, concludes that the various anti-corruption reforms going on in the region will come to nothing unless there is a genuine will to properly implement them.

In that sense, a U.N.-sponsored deal in Vienna last week under which countries will from 2011 have to file reports what specific action they are taking against corruption may be a step forward – although civil society groups complain that those reports will not be sufficiently independent.

Can anything be done to help Africa shake off the corruption curse?

Sierra Leone is holding an investment conference in London on Wednesday, showing even the world's least developed countries can aspire to become emerging economies.

There are a few tentative signs of money going into the country, which was scarred by a 1991-2002 civil war.

CDC, the UK's development finance arm, said last week it was investing $5 million in private equity in Sierra Leone, in small and medium-sized firms ranging from fishing to financial services.

Billionaire investor George Soros also said his economic development fund was making "significant commitments" to Sierra Leone.

Soros, Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma and former UK prime minister Tony Blair all feature at Wednesday's conference.

Koroma has been in power for the last two years and investors see some stability, which is good for investment.

The government fired two senior ministers earlier this month in an attempt to improve its record on fighting corruption.

A consortium led by Anadarko Petroleum made an oil find off the Sierra Leone coast earlier this year, and the country has diamonds and gold, but analysts say there is little scope for investment outside the mining sector.

The country lacks the financial markets needed to attract investment flows, analysts say.

 "It's probably pre-pre-pre-emerging," says one emerging market analyst.

But as investors start once more to chase higher returns around the world, could Sierra Leone yet become a "frontier" emerging market?

At a meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh this month, China promised to double the aid it gives to Africa and even forgive the debt of some of the continent’s poorest countries.

We’ve known for some time that Chinese are migrating to Africa to exploit business opportunities. But it’s perhaps less known that growing numbers of Africans are also moving to China to live and work.

One of the most visible is Vimbayi Kajese, a 28-year-old Zimbabwean who reads the news on China Central Television - or CCTV - and is the country’s first African news presenter. 

CCTV 9, also known as CCTV International, is China’s state-run English language channel. As well as China, it’s available in more than 80 countries, of which six are in Africa — an increasingly important audience.

“I’ve been in China for over 3 years now,” Kajese told Reuters Africa Journal. “I came after I graduated from the U.S., and the reason why I came to China was because China is the next upcoming emerging market and definitely is the place to be.”

Kajese is one of an increasing number of young Africans heading to China, where a booming economy and ever-closer ties with Africa are creating opportunities as tempting as any in the West.

Tebogo Lefifi left her job as the CEO of a South African mining and property development firm and came to China. Now on a Chinese-funded scholarship to study Chinese economics, the 34-year-old wants to make sure Africans make the most of China’s growth. But some of that may have to wait until she’s mastered the language.
   
Lefifi is setting up an organisation for China-Africa discussion and networking in Beijing. Young African Professionals and Students, or YAPS, will eventually help African professionals and companies trying to get ahead in China.

There are also less formal opportunities. Frank Baelongandi, AKA DJ Kefra, has been playing in Beijing clubs for six years. He’s even been pronounced the capital’s best DJ. The 27-year-old from Kinshasa in the DRC originally came to study business, before taking up a residency at Vic’s, one of the capital’s biggest clubs.    

“I felt the energy, the opportunity, and I felt the magnitude,” he said. “So I just decided ‘OK I think that’s the place I should stay.’”

China’s African community has grown dramatically in the last decade. Experts estimate as many as 250,000 Africans are in the country at any one time, most of them traders in the thriving south. So it looks like ambitious young Africans are likely to keep heading out of Africa, and into China, in the years to come.

A huge dinosaur discovered in South Africa is a previously unknown species that sheds light on the evolution of the largest creatures ever to walk the earth, a scientist said on Wednesday.

Adam Yates, a palaeontologist at Johannesburg’s Wits University, said the seven-metre-long Aardonyx Celestae occupied a “very significant position in the family tree of dinosaurs”.

“This new dinosaur is helping us complete and revise our picture of how the truly giant dinosaurs first got going,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Yates said the almost complete fossil remains of the vegetarian giant that existed in the Jurassic period 195 million years ago were discovered in the town of Senekal in South Africa’s Free State province by a student five years ago. However, they have just classified as a separate species.

“Aardonyx probably walked on its hind legs but could drop to all fours as well. It had flattened feet with large claws that supported its body weight on the inside of the foot and a robust thigh for supporting weight,” he said.

More than a billion people go hungry each day -- about the same number as did in the late 1950s. That's both a "tragedy on a grand scale" and an "astounding success," according to a new report called "Millions Fed," produced by the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
    
While the absolute number of hungry people is the same as it was 40 years ago, the proportion is dramatically smaller -- one in six today, compared to one in three then, the report said. It illustrates 20 successful case studies where progress has been made in the fight against hunger.

Some solutions come from science: new varieties of wheat, rice, beans, maize, cassava, millet and sorghum. Others deal with markets, government policies, or the environment.
    
Two farmers from the Sahel region of Africa, oft plagued by drought and famine, visited Washington last month to talk about solutions they found close to home -- one of the success stories trumpeted in "Millions Fed."
    
Almost 30 years ago, farmers in Burkina Faso experimented with a traditional technique called "zai," digging pits in their plots and adding manure to improve soils before the rainy season, resulting in dramatically better yields.
    
"There was a long period of drought in my village," Yacouba Sawadogo told reporters. "Many people left because their life was very, very difficult. But I decided to stay," he said, explaining how he taught others the technique.
    
In Niger, farmers manage trees on their land to prevent erosion, improve yields, and provide livestock fodder. Before, women had to walk 6 miles to get firewood, but now they have enough for themselves and to sell to others, said Sakina Mati, who coordinates tree projects in six villages.
    
The projects have improved 13 million acres of farmland and fed 3 million people, said Oxfam America, a development group that works with the farmers.
    
It's food for thought as rich nations ramp up efforts to help small farmers grow more food in poor countries. "In our approach toward solutions and programs, we really need to listen as well as talk," said Gawain Kripke of Oxfam.
    
"Solutions don't always come from us."

PHOTO CREDIT: Yacouba Sawadogo on his farm in Burkina Faso /Courtesy of Oxfam America

Five-year-old Onarietta Remet is Nigeria’s most popular child painter. She’s been painting for four years now and has even sold some of her pieces.

Her father, Pius Remet, says everybody in the family is into painting and other artistic pursuits.

“When I grow up, what I want to do is paint,” Onarietta told Reuters Africa Journal in Lagos.

Art critic Dapo Adeniyi says talent such as Onarietta’s should be nurtured. “It’s a plus for us as a country that such energies are coming out.”

Onarietta showed an interest in painting when she was just 18 months old. Her parents have since encouraged her and even organised five exhibitions to show her work.

Onarietta has now done more than 150 paintings. Her parents say one of them has been sold to an international collector for $10,000, although most of her work is not being put up for sale.

How do you rate Onarietta’s paintings?