Shell to sell retail operations in Africa Royal Dutch Shell is selling its downstream businesses in 21 African countries, in line with its strategy to cut its retail operations by 35 percent. The company has had several expressions of interest from potential buyers of its retail, lubricant, liquid petroleum gas and bitumen operations across all of its African markets except fuels, lubricants and refinery activities in South Africa, and the group's lubricants business in Egypt. The company also plans to appoint third-party distributors for its branded lubricants in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Ghana. No exploration and production operations are included in the review. Orascom loses Algeria tax appeal Egyptian telecommunications giant Orascom Telecom says its Algerian subsidiary Djezzy has lost its final appeal over a tax reassessment of almost $600 million. Orascom, which operates Mobinil, Egypt's largest mobile phone service provider by number of subscribers, said in a statement Thursday it “intends to challenge this rejection” by the Algerian tax authority in the country's administrative courts. Tunisia: Launch of New Oil and Gas Portal in Nation “Tunisiaoilonline”, a new portal dedicated to Tunisian oil and gas was recently launched in Tunis. The new website offers professionals, stakeholders and visitors, several services such as “targeted ads”, “environments” and “listings of Tunisian and global companies” in the sector. It also offers the opportunity to be informed of various events, conferences and events related to energy, through an “Agenda” enriched with useful details such as telephone, contact person, website. Arab League renews support for peace efforts Arab leaders have renewed their support for Mideast peace efforts, rejecting pressure from Syria and Libya on the Palestinians to abandon talks with Israel and resume armed resistance. The Arab League’s backing for a land-for-peace initiative with Israel came despite its firm opposition to Israeli plans for Jewish construction in east Jerusalem, land Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state. Sudan: Japanese Ambassador Meets with Unamid Leadership The newly-appointed Japanese Ambassador to Sudan, Mr. Akinori Wada, today visited UNAMID headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur, as part of a two-day tour of the region. He met with the Mission's Deputy Joint Special Representative (DJSR) Mohamed Yonis who briefed him on the security situation. The meeting was attended by the Mission's Director of Communications and Public Information Kemal Saïki, Director of Political Affairs Abiodun Bashua, and Acting Chief of Staff Miguel Martin. Lebanon Prepares for Summer Tourist Invasion Lebanon’s tourism industry saw a major rebound in 2009, the World Tourism Organization announced this week. The tourism monitoring group found inbound tourism to Lebanon in 2009 to have risen by 39 percent over 2008 figures, with 1.8 million tourists entering the 4 million strong country. BM
