KenGen led African Stocks in the weekly Africa 40 Stock index. The index excludes South Africa which is regarded as the most advanced in the continent. Among the top five for second week running was Kenya Airways coming third after KenGen and Telecom Egypt. The table is based on the Nex-Rubica Africa 40 index of African equities.

More Power Generation Plants to be Constructed

Six power generation plants will be constructed at a cost of Ksh. 15 million to increase the country's electricity supply. The project proposal was approved by the World Bank Projects Idea Notes (PIN) review team under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Kenya’s Holiday Inn Opens New Hotels

The Kenya’s Holiday Inn, through its holding company Southern Sun of South Africa will open two new hotels in Dubai in November and December this year. The two hotels with 179 and 185 rooms respectively will target the four star market. 70 Kenyans will be recruited.

Africa Investor Conference

Nairobi will host the Africa Investor Conference in November which will draw participants from across the continent. The participants will discuss ways of linking financiers and investors to projects and provide them with the necessary data and knowledge to guide their decisions.

SAA Introduces Direct Flights

South African Airways introduced direct flights from Johannesburg to Washington DC. SAA, a member of the Star Alliance, has been flying to Washington via Dakar in West Africa. At the same time the airline will introduce their services in Bamako beginning January 2007.

SA and China Signs an MOU

South Africa and China signed an extension to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the labor field agreed to in 2002. The agreement focused on human resources development, job creation strategies, and cooperation in the International Labor Organization (ILO). Chinese Labor and Social Security Vice Minister, Zhang Xiaojian, echoed that the MoU signified enhanced cooperation between South Africa and China, which faced similar challenges in the labor and social security fields.

Recommendations to Unblock the Stalled Peace Process

West African heads of state agreed on recommendations to unblock the stalled peace process in Ivory Coast but kept the details confidential after holding talks behind closed doors in the Nigerian capital. The leaders agreed that time was running out in the war-divided country to decide a new transition arrangement before an existing United Nations- backed interim plan expires at the end of this month.