Hello im Kristie Wonderwall come to africa its good to have you along a number of African Leaders are in berlin for an Investment Conference among them all the president s of rwanda and sinegal these countries 12 in total all signatories off the compact with Africa Program it was initiated by jimmy jaring its g 20 presidency and 27. 00 team have sixpence why the chance to is conducting the orchestra such as say now the aim was to increase investment in africa and create jobs germanys chancellor Angela Merkel says Good Progress has been made so fall. So its but it doesnt exist in a 2018 exports to compact countries alone amounting to 330000000 euros have been covered by guarantees applications amounting to 1000000000 euros have been submitted so we are increasing we come from a relatively low level if you compare us with china and other countries and we know that Foreign Trade is often the preliminary stage for a local commitment for example in the form of investment these figures are there for a very promising. Future date of the africa reporter daniel is here to talk with me about the compact with africa and should have hes written several articles on it you can find those on our website at state of the dot com so now its good to have you here. Give us a refresher what was the g. 20 trying to achieve by setting up this compact with Effort Initiative well that initiative is all about bringing more private investment to africa to selected african countries because the notion of the g 20 countries is the Development Aid is not alone and sufficient to to create jobs to create wealth in africa so theres this idea to bring more private investment to Africa Foreign companies setting up a presence there starting manufacturing investing money to to create jobs and to do that in countries that kind of put their house in order that committed term to Macro Economic and for reforms that means bringing inflation down for energy and public debt and the like ok ok but 2 years in right youve got an upbeat chancellor metal shes excited about and shes speaking there positively about it but there are critics who say that this isnt working effectively enough what hasnt gone right well i think one issue is expectations when that initiative was launched and 2016 it was launched with a lot of fanfare and there was all of this talk of review dawn of the dawn of a new era of cooperation between the g. 20 or europe and africa but i think the reality is that Investment Decisions to. Time a few companies will decide to to put millions or billions of euros into any given country anywhere in the world so one thing is we have to wait some more to see if this initiative really works i think the 2nd thing is also Many Companies are still slower to go to africa although the German Government has started various initiatives to help them through to set up a presence in africa but still i think Many Companies as to waiting there traditionally rather risk adverse so setting up a presence in africa is something day they would contemplate about ok so i mean i take the point there is about the timing of all of this so i mean if somebody is sitting in one of these compact african countries senegal and theyre thinking im an entrepreneur i want to start a business how do they access some of the investment that has been committed by g 20 members like germany is that even possible where the German Government has set up a fund and african startups for example can apply to get assistance from this fund if they want to expand the business in africa or set up a business in africa but the big question is whether that is easy or whether theres a lot of bureaucratic red tape i mean often when you talk to the Business Community there are complaints that there is a lot of bureaucratic red tape if you want to get funds from the German Government for example already ok daniel good to have you and as i mentioned top of the u. S. They can reach more fast you articles on our website that study your pulse thank you. Onyx story is in ethiopia where members of the e. C. Damage if any group are preparing to vote in a referendum on autonomy these saddam as want to form their own selfgoverning region in the south of the country they have educated for years to be independent in july this triggered days of unrest that left dozens dead the vote is being closely watched by a bit if the group some of which are considering demanding some of the votes more than 2000000 people have registered to take part in wednesdays referendum. Met head is here to register as a voter for the 1st time in her life on wednesday she will be casting her ballot in favor of the creation of the 10th ethiopian Regional States currently. The saddam ethnic group has been fighting for self rule for decades and the minutes to get to ring im ready to fight and im very happy i hope that everything will be finalized in peace so that we can all live together in harmony best element in. Ethiopia is home to more than 80 ethnic groups more than half of which i found in the south of the country only a few of them have their own Administrative Region as the countrys 5th most numerous at group the saddam as want to create their own semi autonomous state erect and trained in the current constitution with the referendum approaching excitement is growing among the saddam activists. Its a very happy time now for us we were oppressed and because of this we lost our identity our culture and our own administration so now the saddams are fighting to regain their lost autonomy. The pastor ptolemy was beset with episodes of violence from different ethnic groups last july dozens were killed in protests many saddam activists were arrested some are still in jail under pressure the government of abu ahmed decided to grab the referendum cant express my feelings in my words because we support a lot of lives and a lot of. Destruction happened here. A lot of inhuman treatment were conducted in different prisons my hope is that just we will be prosperous in the very near future other nonsi them ethnic groups have also been targeted many fear they could be sidelined after the referendum others are more optimistic and i hope the vote will pass of peacefully. But i mean at 1st we were fearful but a while back they invited us to the local administration and told us that nothing would happen to us they promised to treated equally once the Regional State exists. But the vote could pose a challenge to his philosophy of mathematics or unity at least 10 other ethnic groups have already expressed the wish to conduct a similar referendum to saddam a case sets a clear precedent thats likely to strengthen their calls unless we change the constitution we cannot object that demands for certain 2nd term mission and hopefully as their zones as their missions nationalities might consider this an important experience but you know the political situation of these cancers what is written on the constitution is wanting to politically to be decided. And the political timing is tricky too this is a referendum comes just a few months before National Elections due in 2020 analysts say thats not a threat in itself but another factor playing into the balance showing doubt about whether that can be held on time were going to go of it say that if youre in capital now where journalists call it or one joy is standing by welcome city to hear africa what do the people of saddam out hope to gain with this independence how will it benefits their lives. Well the 2300000 people of saddam overage registered for the refrain them are looking to exercise their constitutional right they say that they have a right to demand for autonomy and they have a right to that so theyre hoping that theyll get autonomy theyll be an independent Regional State and with that theyll be able to manage their own local resources because they have been saying that theyre part of a very big south a nations initial nullity region and of and of that they have to really struggle to get resources with the other people so they hope that with that independence theyll be able to fend for themselves if i may use that word and be able to express themselves as an ethnic grey in the right way ok but some are warning that this could destabilize the country weve already seen violence in the run up to this vote on wednesday whats to be said of that well if you. After speaking to the people of saddam a 0 times theyve said they did not want violence all that want to do is do this peacefully but at the end of the day we are seeing a situation whereby if the managed to get their friend and get it right then we have about 10 out of cutting ethnic groups within that same region who have been talking about autonomy so it might open up i mean a box of demands from other Regional Government i mean from other groups that would want to bring out autonomy how that will be easy for the government is also another question and probably from that we might see some friction between the government and the other the other ethnic groups in case the government says it doesnt have money because your friend takes money or in case the Government Asks them to wait and all this is happening before elections in so anything small might really trigger something really really tragic or ok so i mean there is of course the factor that Prime Minister made granted at this referendum so to say is this can we call this is essential magic of the new way or the new style of governing by this Prime Minister for this country. Well hes trying to project an aspect of democratization where you can speak out and get whatever you want is a citizen and hes trying to do that with saddam or a friend im well at the challenge that he made have is that we start giving people what they should ask them there are also other people who are going to start demanding and already we know that hes facing ethnic contention within different parts and during his film and just within a few years of the one and a half years we have seen more if nic tension coming up so if the saddam the people get what they want yes he will win in terms of democracy or projecting democracy but whether youll be able to sustain that is another is another story then he will be should be able to put strategies to ensure that what people demand should be able to given to them in a strategic way in a way that will not trigger ethnic tension or people feeling that others will fare but in others were not so yes hes setting up is for democracy democracy but yes to take that with strategies strategies that we need him into probably office if it takes over into the 20 ok thats the journalist call it a one joint address of a thank you. And that is it for now from africa you can catch all our stories on our website and Facebook Page so they will leave you with these pictures from ivorian visual artist joe on National Money these pictures won her the prestigious creepy to me feel shamali is the 1st african to win the act in this series it will be ok photographs taken after the terrorist attacks and prong each into the 16 embroidered photographs with. Painstaking process which she says addresses the way ivorian people deal with trauma. What keeps us in shape what makes us see how. My name is dr carlson to try to talk american experience. And then discuss what you can do to improve your home. State huge and lets all try to stay. On the show going to. Over. The river. Drive on. The vocal harmonies of the kings singers whose previous isis founded the group off a century ago. Now the current base jonathan how it is my guest here on culture in just a minute also coming up. With the winner of this is a germany talent show a recent immigrant from indonesia. And the brand new documentary about the handmaids tale all thought margaret atwood. Never. The king sing is a vocal ensemble with a history going back over hoff a century the original members were choral scholars at Kings CollegeCambridge University back in the 960. 00 s. Now the group in the latest incarnation of launching a new project trying to heal divisions in society through the power music its called finding how many lets have a listen. Then. Oh there are