Monday, July 18, 2011

Senegal

Natural Resources: Fish, Phosphates, Iron, Ore.

Industries: agricultural and fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining; iron ore, zircon, and gold mining, construction materials, ship construction and repair

Senegal is a nation in western-Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea-Bissau and Guinea to the south and Mauritania to the north. The nation of Gambia is a coast enclave with Senegal. Senegal is generally low, rolling, plains rising to foothills in southeast. It represents the western edge of the Sahel. About 45% of Senegal is forest or woodland.
Senegal's major environmental issues include: wildlife populations being threatened by poaching; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; and overfishing. It is susceptible to having its lowlands seasonally flooded; and to periodic droughts.
The French colonies of Senegal and the French Sudan were merged in 1959 and granted their independence as the Mali Federation in 1960. The union broke up after only a few months. Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation of Senegambia in 1982, but the envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out, and the union was dissolved in 1989. The Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC) has led a low-level separatist insurgency in southern Senegal since the 1980s, and several peace deals have failed to resolve the conflict. Nevertheless, Senegal remains one of the most stable democracies in Africa. Senegal was ruled by a Socialist Party for 40 years until current President Abdoulaye Wade was elected in 2000. He was reelected in February 2007, but complaints of fraud led opposition parties to boycott June 2007 legislative polls. Senegal has a long history of participating in international peacekeeping.

Economy

In January 1994, Senegal undertook a bold and ambitious economic reform program with the support of the international donor community. This reform began with a 50% devaluation of Senegal's currency, the CFA franc, which was linked at a fixed rate to the French franc. Government price controls and subsidies have been steadily dismantled. After seeing its economy contract by 2.1% in 1993, Senegal made an important turnaround, thanks to the reform program, with real growth in GDP averaging over 5% annually during 1995-2007. Annual inflation had been pushed down to the low single digits. As a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Senegal is working toward greater regional integration with a unified external tariff and a more stable monetary policy. High unemployment, however, continues to prompt illegal migrants to flee Senegal in search of better job opportunities in Europe. Senegal was also beset by an energy crisis that caused widespread blackouts in 2006 and 2007. The phosphate industry has struggled for two years to secure capital, and reduced output has directly impacted GDP. In 2007, Senegal signed agreements for major new mining concessions for iron, zircon, and gold with foreign companies. Firms from Dubai have agreed to manage and modernize Dakar's maritime port, and create a new special economic zone. Senegal still relies heavily upon outside donor assistance. Under the IMF's Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief program, Senegal has benefited from eradication of two-thirds of its bilateral, multilateral, and private-sector debt. In 2007, Senegal and the IMF agreed to a new, non-disbursing, Policy Support Initiative program.

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Rwanda

Natural Resources: gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore), methane, hydropower, arable land.

Rwanda is a small nation in central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo, west of Tanzania, south of Uganda and north of Burundi. Most of the country is high savanna grassland with a predominantly rural population. Western Rwanda includes part of the highlands that separate the two greatest river basins of Africa, the Nile and the Congo. Much of the boder with the Democratic Republic of the Congo lies through Lake Kiva, one of Africa's Great Lakes, which within the Albertine Rift of the Africa's Great Rift System, and ultimately feeds the Congo River. The volcanic Virunga mountains are in the northwest, also along the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo. Moving east from the mountainous, the mostly grassy uplands and hills decline in altitude from west to east.

Economy
Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa and is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry. Primary foreign exchange earners are coffee and tea. The 1994 genocide decimated Rwanda's fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population, particularly women, and eroded the country's ability to attract private and external investment. However, Rwanda has made substantial progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy to pre-1994 levels, although poverty levels are higher now. GDP has rebounded and inflation has been curbed. Despite Rwanda's fertile ecosystem, food production often does not keep pace with population growth, requiring food imports. Rwanda continues to receive substantial aid money and obtained IMF-World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative debt relief in 2005-06. Rwanda also received Millennium Challenge Account Threshold status in 2006. The government has embraced an expansionary fiscal policy to reduce poverty by improving education, infrastructure, and foreign and domestic investment and pursuing market-oriented reforms, although energy shortages, instability in neighboring states, and lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries continue to handicap growth.

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