if it was well clear of his rival to a 3rd straight $100.00 metres world. you're watching news live from berlin coming up next we'll talk about the fight to keep the internet on why i made chronic blackouts in africa and is next with monica johnson and t w business news i'm sarah kelly in berlin thanks for watching a great day. story so that people world over information they provide. the fenians they want to express g w on facebook and twitter and up to date in touch follow us.

with each passing day of the continuing conflict in syria more and more children fear their future maybe fading away. with every classroom damaged or destroyed with every child witnessing the horror of war every family fleeing the violence we can't risk losing an entire generation of children to death fear and despair. because they are the future of syria. internet shutdowns are a major problem across africa the cost of blackouts amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars this year alone and telecoms companies could bear the brunt we'll tell you why. also coming up norway says it wants its sovereign wealth funds to become green but environmentalists say that's just lip service either way the

funds investments have become a topic of heated debate. and sudan keeps up its vital exports of gum arabic in spite of the troubles with get you kate. welcome to do business africa and monica jones and berlin good to have you with us and sudan is back on lie in a ban on the internet was recently lifted after the sudanese government had blocked access for over a month so don is just one of several african countries where citizens have been denied internet access there are more than 20 countries that have had some form of restrictions to internet access since 2015 and that is getting expensive just the shutdown in sudan could cost more than $1.00 and a half $1000000000.00 according to one estimate ordinary people and businesses are footing this bill and for telecoms the cost could be more than just the loss of money take africa's biggest telecoms operator m.t.n.

it was accused by a group of n.g.o.s of being complicit in human rights violations in sudan for going along with a government order to shut down the internet quite a complex issue and i'm very happy to have you with me in the studio my colleague chip chamber lou good to have you with us to ponder now you really looked into this issue even wrote an online article about it we'll hear about that in just a moment but why are internet shutdowns increasingly a problem in africa while there of course increasingly a problem because a lot of people are getting online. and a lot of people rely on you know being on the internet for a lot of services actually you know ordinary services like paying bills a lot of africans don't have a bank account and a lot of the actually transactions actually via mobile payments they're way more mobile payments in africa than say bank transactions so that's one issue and of course businesses as well rely on the internet for e-mail communication and other people also communicate via what's up or skype

a lot of countries don't have like proper fixed lines or you know not just the fixed lines but the postal services don't work as they should not as sophisticated as of postal services here in europe or in you know other places in the west so that's their finishes of course when you shut down the internet basically a cutting off a lifeline full of people jobs and of course someone who want to send money to someone to pay school fees or hospital fees that stephanie an issue so it's really like like affecting people where they really need the money and how they exchange the money or communicate so i can see the problem for individuals and businesses in particular but why is it a problem for the telecoms companies yeah that's a tree it's a tricky one they're sort of in between here because they're the ones carrying out the orders to shut the internet and that's where the telecommunications companies have trouble because of course they get the orders from the government and they have to do you know take the order potentially. and because they are seen as complicit in a government order that could you know basically land the whole population in

trouble because they cannot communicate or do anything and they do it the government is saying and do this in the name of state security the telecommunications companies could also be seen as liable for some of the things that have that happen and that's what we saw with m.t.n. like you mentioned before m.t.n. was accused by a group of around 2 dozen n.g.o.s for potentially being complicit you know with the human rights violations that took place in sudan during the internet shutdown so that could have been you know people someone dying as a result of an into that shell demo something linked to it of course whether they can prove that in court is a whole other. question but it's a huge reputational risk for companies nichols to be sued by their shareholders and also customers as well but i mean what are they expected to do like defy the government's wish somehow how can you souls the situation for all parties concerned exactly where we like caught in the middle and that's the problem the thing is that we've seen in 2 different african countries this year people you know ordinary

people a lawyer and sue dunn challenge that decision by the transitional military council to shut down the internet and he was able to win in court and in zimbabwe as well we saw that happen where the courts decided in favor of the people who challenge the decision the same the minister for state security actually didn't have the authority to shut down the internet so the courts are deciding in favor of the people and the problem has been that the telecommunications industry has been sort of taking the backseat they haven't been fighting with the people and the activists the experts the saying you need to be doing something also because it's good for your business essentially that's the message so joining forces with the individual showing that we are one of you know any bad the brunch just like you do would help them now as i mentioned early on as we could clearly hear you really looked into this topic and if you want to know war about this also about the various countries that are involved or impacted by internet shutdowns what can i find out for. you to accomplish business i wrote an article and really enjoyed speaking with 3 different

experts who are quoted in that article there's a tool that was used to you know calculate some of the losses you know incurred potentially as a result of internet shutdowns in 5 different countries the top 5 for this year so far and all the countries are also there so you can take a listen back to its old air and i hope you know enjoy reading that and of course reach out on social media for some reason you have any comments and feedback absolutely to ponder is always a great pleasure to have you here to punish employers from d.w. business thank you. no way is a european country and it's a rich country and has a trillion dollars in the bank and that money was made from the countries vast oil reserves and norway's sovereign wealth fund has become $1.00 of the largest single investors in the welt but now the new the germans i've discovered to their green conscience tough decided to pull many of its investments from companies who make them money with well oil and other fossil fuels and that is a massive endorsement of green energy one could think but environmentalist's still

not happy. the aim of norway sovereign wealth fund is to ensure responsible management of the revenue from the country's oil and natural gas sales for the benefit of current and future generations so what does responsible management mean the funds investments have become a topic of heated debate the norwegian parliament has barred the fund from owning stakes in a range of arms tobacco and fossil fuel firms it has had to sell holdings in hundreds of companies in a major divestment initiative some of those companies are. coal producers either my nurse or our producers based on coal. for for ford those ethical reasons close to 70 coal producers or coal companies have been excluded from the fall that was in 2014 environmental activists at 1st welcome the divestment by such a bigger player as a significant move towards responsible sustainable investing. but some are now

saying that it's premature for politicians to talk up the funds green credentials given that there is still such a long way to go. the indian government here is speaking with 2 tongues. no we've been prime minister i was telling last on the 24th of may while speaking in front of climate striking school kids what they what the norwegian government has done since the previous school strike was actually to divest 134 oil companies from the state on punch and pension funds just she's talking about this in climate terms and and one could ask who is actually the boss of the person in charge here environmental protection me indeed be a concern but the funds core mandate is to preserve the wealth of the norwegian people if the world turns away from fossil fuels holdings in those industries could

collapse in value we are not aiming to send the message to the world that we are aiming to take good care of the region people savings the aim of this process has been to reduce the overall process wisc in the region economy. that's really this one is not instrument of the environment more mental policy it's not an instrumental or foreign policy it's a financial instrument to take care of the russian people savings the sovereign wealth fund has far fewer coal companies and its portfolio now but it's keeping stakes in controversial fossil fuel giants like exxon chevron and how the burton still involved in oil and natural gas exploration. and now to some of the other business stories making the news. seen achieve joke a is that has signed an agreement with the nigerian government to help to triple the country's reliable power supply by 2023 no financial details were disclosed at the talks held in the

capital abuja nigeria saving power infrastructure is often blamed for hampering growth in africa's biggest economy. british airways pilots have voted overwhelmingly in favor of strike action in a dispute over pay the move could disrupt the peak holiday season for the airline pilots association said it had not set any specific dates for industrial action as it holds further talks with management. reason violence in sudan has u.s. officials reconsidering re imposing sanctions on the country which were rolled back 2 years ago but sudan remains on the u.s. list of state sponsors of terrorism which limits its international funding and banking options sudan is the world's largest producer of gum arabic and despite its status the country has managed to keep exporting gum a rabbit which is used extensively in a dust real food processing. workers at sudanese company after tech begin sifting through gum arabic crystals at 6 in the morning sudan is

a major exporter of gum arabic and it has steadily gained fortunes as an export but economic sanctions on sudan now make it harder for companies like africa to collect the payments sanction is the effect to go out of it but the friends of the us fear of the money from the lottery because most of the banks now they don't do so then so you can't export to the usa but how you can get the money in this is that businesses like after tax circumvent this by using euro denominated accounts sudanese banks are barred from opening u.s. dollar accounts despite the importance of gum arabic to merican companies. to use for a big sequoia coca-cola or drinks wine olson's who's in screen the su needs. rising exports of gum arabic already been for sudan's argue cultural sector in spite of the complications of getting paid for it. the south

african government has allocated an extra $59000000000.00 rand or roughly $4200000000.00 to struggling state owned power utility eskom eskom supplies more than 90 percent of the country's electricity budget due to repeated power cuts this year the companies fail to generate enough profits to meet its debt servicing costs in addition to the cash injections south africa is reportedly also weighing other support options for eskom including swapping the debt truck government bonds. and this is business africa here on g.w. for me to team thanks for keeping us company and for more you can always check us out online esteemed at the dot com business or follow us on twitter.

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this is steve every news africa coming up in the next 15 minutes a wounded president to south africa's civil realm of course that is dealt a blow off to risk a body that investigates corruption accuses him of money laundering the time of moses sayes hill fight the allegations. after careful study i have concluded that the report is fundamentally. irretrievably from.

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