China’s arms trade exposed

While President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised China’s growing relationship with Africa during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) summit in Beijing, a new report has exposed China’s secret arms trade on the continent.

Business risk intelligence group EXX Africa’s report “The Secret Chinese Arms Trade in the Horn of Africa”, published in August, outlines how the Chinese are selling arms to African countries embroiled in conflict and under an arms embargo.

“Beyond the commercial objective of increasing sales of Chinese-manufactured weapons and military equipment, China also seeks to control a greater share of the weapons trade in Africa in order to protect its extensive infrastructure investments on the continent,” says the report.

“On the back of the One Belt, One Road initiative, China has made massive investments in East Africa, including railway lines, hydropower dams, and new port projects in countries such as Kenya, Sudan, and Ethiopia.”

It says central to this strategy is China’s military logistics base in Djibouti, which China is preparing to facilitate shipments of weapons and military equipment to African countries, in particular Sudan and South Sudan.

Djibouti’s own strategically important port, which lies in a major shipping lane, is also set to move towards the centre of the regional arms trade. – ANA

Yesterday marked music superstar Beyonce’s 37th birthday, and since South Africans love Queen Bey as much as the rest of the world, The Citizen joined in on the celebrations with a compilation of some of her most memorable moments.

Crazy In Love (2003)

Beyonce firmly cemented herself as a star on the rise in 2013 when she released her first solo project. The first single, Crazy In Love, led to disastrous hair-ography attempts by fans in front of electrical fans as they tried to emulate the music video’s ending, where Bey and a group of dancers wear vibrant Versace dresses in front of a large fan. The album Dangerously In Love ensured Bey her first five Grammys outside of Destiny’s Child, and also started the Beyhive – an army of dedicated fans that has made Beyonce one of music’s most revered artists. Crazy in Love has also been cemented in the history books. Entertainment Weekly magazine ranked Crazy in Love as one of the Top 50 Greatest Summer Songs recorded to date. It was listed at No 3 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 50 Best Songs of the 2000s. It was also included as one of the 500 greatest songs of all time in 2010 by Rolling Stone.

Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) (2008)

Arguably one of Beyonce’s biggest hits, Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), is not only one of the best-selling singles in history, it has featured on many “best of” lists and is still referenced for its iconic black and white photo. The video also gave the world Kanye-gate – Kanye West defended the video at the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards when then country star Taylor Swift won best music video and not Beyonce. Critics have previously compared the song to Aretha Franklin’s Respect as well as Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive for lyrics that promote female empowerment. The same holds true for the LGBTQI community that sees it as an anthem, with many articles dissecting why it’s the perfect song to listen to before going out for a night on the town.

Formation and Lemonade (2016)

Twitter nearly shut down and the world was forever changed on February 6, 2016 when Beyonce dropped the lead single Formation for her sixth studio album Lemonade. The song was the first time Beyonce unashamedly included pro-black messages in her work. Formation’s music video initially received mixed response for its alleged anti-police stance – while it also was praised for its depiction of African-Americans not frequently seen in mainstream media. The song has become a black resistance anthem. Beyonce dropped the album in April 2016. Lemonade has become one of the best-received offerings in recent memory. It was nominated for nine awards at the 59th Grammy Awards in 2017. The album also won a Peabody Award and Metacritic named it the sec- Formation

The song

is a black resistance anthem