ESTRELLA, Tom Lui M.

TUMANDA, Laur Cris II L.

MANALO, Edmond C.
DEGUMA, Stuart Marcus L.
IS 1243

ISSUES IN AFRICA CONCERNING FOREIGN RELATIONS

I. SINO-AFRICAN RELATIONS
At the 6th Forum on China–Africa Cooperation last December 4, 2015 in
Johannesburg, a new relationship was brewing between the world’s second-largest economy and
its fastest rising continent. The forum is the main platform for official high-level political and
economic dialogue between Africa and China, held once every three years. China made headlines
at the event by announcing a $60 billion package of loans, aid, investment, and other financial
support to Africa. Despite the media attention, the relationship between China and Africa is on the
ropes, so one solution would be that China to focus less on the size and number of commitments
it offers and more on sustainability of the government.
On the brighter side, in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping signalled Africa’s
importance to Chinese foreign policy by visiting the Republic of Congo, South Africa,
and Tanzania on his first presidential trip overseas. African governments have welcomed China’s
“no-strings attached” political approach, which broadly gives Africa an alternative to conditional
aid from Western donors and allows China to leverage its economic position on the continent.
African oil and minerals make up nearly half of the total trade with China, but Beijing has also
singlehandedly revitalized Africa’s infrastructure network by financing and building sorely needed
roads, bridges, and telecommunication infrastructure. Beijing contributes medical and engineering
personnel to the majority of UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, but in recent years has elevated
its involvement by sending military troops to support missions in Mali and South Sudan. At the
70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York in September, Xi captured the spotlight by
announcing China’s commitment of $100 million in military assistance to the African Union over
the next five years and 8,000 troops for a new UN peacekeeping standby force. Chinese destroyers
are also part of multinational efforts to counter Somali piracy in the Gulf of Aden, where China
recently announced it is establishing its first overseas navy logistics facility in the tiny nation
of Djibouti.
However, the Sino–African relationship is facing challenges. African leaders
have criticized China’s relationship with Africa. South African President Jacob Zuma put on a
diplomatic smile as host of the recent forum, but at the last summit in Beijing, Zuma called
Africa’s relationship with China “unsustainable” if it continued to follow the neocolonialist pattern
of trading African raw materials for Chinese manufactured goods. From Chinese textiles crowding
out local competition in Nigeria to labor disputes in Zambia and oil spills in Chad, social and
environmental scandals have dogged Chinese investment in Africa.
 As for resolving the other issues in the Sino–African relationship, the solutions
for Beijing will start at home. Promoting an understanding of specific African laws, customs, and
norms before Chinese firms invest in the country will be essential to preventing labor and
environmental violations. Prioritizing security and social issues may not always be compatible
with political and economic objectives, but they will certainly improve the sustainability of the
partnership.

II. ERITEA’S MIGRATION CRISIS

Tens of thousands of Eritreans have arrived at Europe's shores in recent years
seeking asylum. They make up a significant share of the unprecedented stream of migrants and
refugees making their way to the European Union, undertaking dangerous journeys
while challenging the bloc to find a collective response consistent with refugee law. Many more
Eritreans reside in neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan, bringing the refugee population to about half
a million, and making the country of six million people "one of the world’s fastest-emptying
nations ," according to the Wall Street Journal. The scale of the migration has heightened Western
interest in conditions inside what is one of the world's most closed countries, where those who
have fled describe a long-standing system of forced labor, among other human rights violations,
that a UN commission said "may constitute crimes against humanity."

Eritrea's political culture was forged in the liberation struggle, when the
guerrilla movement had little international backing and considered any dissent a threat to its
survival, according to the International Crisis Group. A UN Human Rights Council commission
of inquiry established in 2014 characterized the regime's methods as "rule by fear." According to
the UN inquiry and research by rights groups, the country has widespread networks of informants,
coerced by the state, and those suspected of treasonous behavior are subject to arbitrary arrest,
forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and torture. Individuals who run afoul of the
authorities are often held in harsh conditions in makeshift prisons. Citizens face restrictions on
internal movement and speech, and domestic media is controlled by the state.

Eritreans have prima facie designations from the UN refugee agency, meaning
they are presumed to have legitimate asylum claims, a policy that most European governments
have adopted. Eritrea denounced the designation, saying it misrepresented national service as
forced labor and made the UN an " unwitting catalyst" of the exodus, putting it in league with the
country's adversaries. U.S. refugee policy prioritizes those Eritreans seeking protection on the
basis of religious persecution. In its October 2015 report to Congress, the Obama administration
called attention to what it says is Eritrea's repression of those subscribing to evangelical sects, as
well as government control of state-sanctioned Christian and Muslim denominations. In all, the
United States admitted 1,488 Eritreans in FY 2015, just over 2 percent of its total refugee
admissions. The EU is reportedly considering a five-year aid program worth 200 million euros
($214 million). By easing Eritreans' economic plight at home, it hopes to reduce the migrant and
refugee outflow toward Europe. Meanwhile, some Africa experts call for ending Eritrea's isolation,
which they believe could allay the ruling party's sense of siege and begin a process toward
domestic reforms. Others point to normalization of Ethiopia-Eritrea relations as a way to provide
both countries with savings to transfer to domestic spending.