Well, good on Kenya but the terms of the dozen+ European port deals China has done might make some interesting reading:
Source: Bruegel
And the headline story from The Maritime Executive:
Authorities in Kenya have allayed fears that China will seize the Port of Mombasa if the country defaults on loans procured to finance the loss-making Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
The National Treasury cabinet secretary Ukur Yatani said that Kenya did not offer the strategic national asset as collateral for the $3.2 billion loan sourced from the Export Import Bank of China (Exim China) to finance the SGR project.
“The port of Mombasa has no adverse exposure to any lender or category of lenders through existing loan agreements with the government,” said Yatani.
Though he maintained the government is servicing the SGR loans, concerns are mounting that runaway public debt could see Kenya default on its loan obligations, a risk that could expose the port to seizure by China. In a report to parliament, the Auditor General said that the assets of Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) were used as collateral for the SGR loans.
“The agreement provides that each of the borrowers agree that any proceedings against them or their assets (present or future) in connection with the agreement, no immunity from such proceedings shall be claimed by it or with respect to its assets and they irrevocably waive any right of immunity whether characterized as sovereign immunity or otherwise,” said the report.
In trying to prove the Port of Mombasa is safe from claims by Chinese lenders, Yatani stated that all external loans from bilateral lenders have pari passu provisions in the respective agreements requiring equal treatment in the servicing of all debts. Pari-passu is a financing arrangement that gives multiple lenders equal claim to the assets used to secure a loan....
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Mombasa's location on the Indian Ocean makes it a pretty prime piece of geopolitical real estate.
The next hop up the African coast is the tiny potential entrepôt of Djibouti, which, though nominally a republic is run by a single party, more like the old Sultanate. I have received no response to my suggestion that the President give up that title and adopt the honorific, Sheik.
Sheik, Sheik, Sheik; Sheik Djibouti, Sheik Djibouti.
And, once again, I'll see myself out/
