The
African continent is the focus of everyone’s attention. Investors and banks are
attracted by Africa’s experiencing some of the highest economic growth rates
anywhere on the planet, the rapid expansion of its national economies and the
youth of its working population. Searching for profitable investment
opportunities, those financiers are eager to contribute to the growth of the
host States, which are readily offering them special treatment befitting their
expected supplement or replacement of international aid. With the inward flow
of the new investments comes an obvious increase in the risk of disputes.
International arbitration offers all the necessary advantages to be the
privileged dispute resolution method for those financial ventures. However, with
a growing local institutional dispute resolution offer comes a broad disparity
amongst national arbitration statutes. This paper will analyze specific
features of international financial dispute resolution in Africa, underscore
the key factors that investors and other financiers need to take into account
in their choice of international commercial or investment arbitration, discuss
the complex and often contradictory trends in local arbitration frameworks, and
offer an empirical study of the impact of the “investing in Africa” factor on the
allocation of damages.