The shadowy joint venture between Angola's state-owned
oil company and the nebulous China International Fund has reached
a new stumbling block in its three-year-old pursuit of a major
stake in Tanzania's national airline. Infrastructure Minister
Shukuru Kawambwa announced on 29 June that negotiations
with China Sonangol had reached a stalemate over Air Tanzania
Corporation Limited's (ATCL) debt obligations and that the government
would have to look elsewhere. Yet sources at the talks tell Africa-Asia
Confidential that the two sides are actually very close to
signing a deal and that Kawambwa's statement was simply a final
show of dissatisfaction. Formed after the breakup of the East
African Community in 1977, Air Tanzania has struggled ever since.
Its performance is far behind that of Tanzania's privately-owned
Precision Air, which has teamed up with Kenya Airways in
a code-sharing deal....
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