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Somalia. The Well.

Friday, 1 March 2019 8:00

A long time ago, there were four families who lived in a small village in Somalia. The first family would argue all of the time, the second family were very greedy, the third family were always away from the village exploring because they were never happy with what they had or where they lived. But the fourth family were calm and patient, and they enjoyed living in their small community.

One night, the daughter of the third family was out exploring when she discovered a well hidden among some trees in the wilderness. The daughter ran back to her family and told them about the well and so they started to use the well to get their water. It was not long before the other families heard news of the well, and very soon all four families were using the well to get their water until it was in danger of running dry.

This went on for some time, and it was obvious that the water in the well was getting lower and lower, yet none of the families wanted to stop using the well as it was close to the village and meant that they did not have to walk so far to get the water which they used to drink and cook and clean with.

One day, the wise chief, who had always known about the secret well, spoke to each family in turn. The chief said to them; “Tonight you must stay in your homes. You must not use the well for one whole night, that way the water will have time to rise once more.”

Each of the families agreed to stay away from the well, especially as the wise chief warned that there would be a severe punishment for any family who disobeyed this simple rule. But when night fell, the son of the first family could not resist visiting the well as he wanted to make sure he had plenty of water for the following day so that his family would not argue over who would walk the long distance to the usual well used by the rest of the villagers. He crept out to the well carrying two large buckets and filled them both to the top before returning to his home and hiding the buckets where they would not be seen.

Not long after, the son of the second family also crept out to the well and filled two large buckets all the way to the top as he was very greedy and wanted the water for his family alone. Then the daughter of the third family also crept out to the well as she could not resist exploring at night and reasoned that it was she who had discovered the well in the first place so it was her family who deserved the extra water despite the warning from the wise chief.

The next day, the chief visited the well and was distressed to find that it was completely dry. He waited until he knew that all of the families were away from their homes, then he visited each home in turn. In the first home he discovered the two buckets, one of which was already empty, but the other still contained the water which was stolen from the well. When he visited the second and third homes he also discovered the buckets of water hidden where nobody would see them. But when he visited the fourth home he discovered that the buckets were dry and realised that the patient family had remained in their beds all night. They had listened to his warning and had stayed away from the well so that the water might rise once more.

The wise chief called all four families to the meeting place in the village where he confronted them about the well. “You three families all stole water from the well even though I told you not to -, said the chief in a stern voice -. I know this because I visited your homes this morning and discovered the buckets of water. Because you defied my instructions you will be forced to remain in your homes for thirty days and nights without food or water as punishment. I hope that you will spend this time thinking about the wrong you have done.”

To the fourth family he said: “You listened to my simple instructions and stayed in your home last night and did not visit the well. Take this letter and open it when you return to your home.” The fourth family took the letter and returned home. When they opened the letter there was a map inside. The family followed the directions on the map and after travelling for many miles they discovered a well surrounded by an abundance of fruit trees and vegetable plants. There was enough food and water to last the family a whole lifetime!

The families who were forced to stay in their homes without food or water learned a valuable lesson that day. They learned that it was always best to listen to the advice of one’s elders and not to take things when you were told not to. They also realised that the fourth family were rewarded for their patience and their willingness to follow the simple rules which benefit a community.

A Somali Story by Milgo Dahir-Hersi

Herbs & Plants. Acacia sieberiana. To relieve back pain.

Friday, 1 March 2019 8:00

It is an important plant for medical use. But it is also used to make furniture and ink.

Acacia, commonly known as paperbark thorn or paperbark acacia, is a small to medium-sized tree native to tropical Africa, in the north to Ethiopia, and in the south to countries including South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. The generic name of this plant ‘acacia’ comes from the Greek word akis, meaning ‘point’ or ‘barb’. The bark is brown to yellow-grey, sitting roughly on the older trunk with a widely spreading flat crown, and it can grow up to about 25m high.
The nodes have paired thorns which are often straight and long, tapering to a sharp point. The leaves are compound and usually sparsely hairy.
The flowers are axillary, globose heads, creamy-white, and the pods are large, thick and woody, sometimes splitting long after they have
fallen and dried.

Acacia sieberiana (Fabaceae family) is used in many communities throughout its distribution range for various purposes. The leaves, stem bark and resin derived from the bark are used for treatment of a variety of diseases and disorders in traditional medicine.
The stem bark decoction/infusion is used to treat tapeworms, oedema, gout, and diarrhoea. The decoction is also administered for the treatment of inflammation of the urinary tract and as a pain reliever. In addition, the bark decoction is also used as an astringent for cold, chest problems, cough, haemorrhage, eye inflammation, and for the treatment of gonorrhoea in some parts of Africa. The stem bark infusions of A. sieberiana are used in enemas to relieve back pain and pounded bark is used to relieve fever in children.

The root of Acacia sieberiana is used for the treatment of acne, tapeworms, urethral problems, oedema and dropsy. The root decoction is taken as a remedy for stomach-ache, inflammation of the urinary tract, pain-killer, ear ache, gout, and as diuretics. The root decoction is also administered as a vermifuges and as a treatment for nasopharyngeal infections. An infusion of the roots is used as an antiseptic and also administered for treatment of cough, epilepsy, and dysentery.The decoction of the leaves is used to treat gonorrhoea, and syphilis, earache, diarrhoea, haemorrhage, and is also administered as a vermifuge. The leaf decoction is also used to treat inflammation and related conditions and the fruit pods serve as an emollient.

Apart from the medicinal uses, Acacia sieberiana wood is fairly hard and hence used to make furniture, and handles for implements such as hoes. The gum obtained from the stem bark is edible and is also used to make ink. The young shoots, leaves, and pods serve as forage for livestock during the dry season. However, the leaves of the tree release toxic chemical compounds especially when wilted, including hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid) which may be lethal to domestic animals when ingested in large quantities.

Richard Komakech

Chad. A Church Committed To Mission.

Friday, 1 March 2019 8:00

The challenge to poverty in an area rich in oil. Young people and the lack of education. We talk with Mgr. Martin Waïngue, first local bishop in charge of the diocese of Doba, in the south of the country.

You are the first local bishop of Doba. You are going to carry on the work started by foreign missionaries, do you think to change something?

As I said during my episcopal ordination in February 2017, we have received the inheritance of the first bishop of the diocese, who was an Italian Comboni Missionary and who established the first pastoral and physical structures of the diocese. Now we have to carry on his work. There are facilities, such as the hospital, that require great responsibility. We have to improve self-financing without relying on outsiders, by involving the faithful much more, and this is not easy.

Doba’s situation is similar to that of many African communities: evangelization was carried out by foreign missionaries but, little by little, the local clergy and religious communities have played an increasingly relevant role. I think that, relying on the coexistence between the missionaries arrived from other places and the local clergy, the Church in Africa will be African or it will not be at all.
There won’t be another option. Local priests are not going to establish another Church, because the Church is only one: the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church with the Pope as its leader. But what we, the local priests, are going to do is develop ecclesial structures based on our culture and our values. We believe in the process of inculturation, and we’ll also try to gain more autonomy, not only from the financial point of view, but also by providing a service according to our African idiosyncrasy. However, the African Church will still be a Church committed to Mission, because if there is no missionary commitment, there is no Church. The missionary Church, in communion with the universal Church, with its African cultural roots,
will be the Church of the future.

You speak of a missionary Church. The Pope has referred to the peripheries of man. What are the existential peripheries of the Doba diocese?

Our Church is young and has grown up in a specific environment: the poor are here; those who do not have the means to defend themselves, or those who are not defended by anybody from oppression and injustice, are here; and those who do not know Jesus Christ, who are many, and whom the Church has to defend working for justice and reconciliation are still here… Young people who receive no education are here … These are the peripheries on which our Church has to focus to develop its mission.

How important are young people for the Church of Doba?

Young people of Chad are those who will build the future of the country and who will be in charge of its development, but in order to do so, they need two basic tools: training and work.

The school system of the country does not work as it should and young people do not receive the proper training that should prepare them for the labour market. More than 60% of young people are unemployed, even those who were able to study in the country or abroad and who were awarded a degree cannot find a job. We, the Church, try to create more opportunities of work for young people, though we have scarce means.

There are large reserves of oil in this diocese. Doba is a rich area…

Though Doba diocese sits atop an oil reserve, it is still a diocese characterized by extreme poverty. Surprisingly for an oil-producing nation, Chad, according to international organizations such as the World Bank is one of the poorest countries in the world.

Chad’s oil wealth, far from relieving poverty, has both become an important element in government strategy to hold on to power and contributed to the country’s endemic instability. Extractive companies hired local farmers to do unskilled work, who, when it was completed, went back to work the land they had abandoned. Besides these people were not able to manage the sums of money they earned and so they remained poor. The crisis due to the fall in the oil prices worsened their situation.

How does it feel when one sees that multinationals make profits by exploiting the resources of Chad, while the population does not benefit at all from their national wealth?

This is a situation that characterizes all African countries, not Chad only. We must denounce that Africa has become a reserve of raw materials, something that affects all bilateral relations, not only the economic ones, because the political relations are also based on this general idea of Africa as a reserve of raw materials without benefits for the local people. Structures should be built in order to transform raw materials directly in the country of origin, this would create more job opportunities for the local people. If the situation does not change, foreign multinationals will keep on benefiting from enormous African wealth while the population of Chad and that of the other African countries will remain poor.

Javier F. Martin

Ethiopia. Solidarity in the shadow of Debre Libanos.

Friday, 1 March 2019 8:00

About 700 Ethiopian refugees survive thanks to the work of an Orthodox priest of the Debre Libanos monastery. The initiative of Abba Kefyalew stands out considering the limited commitment of his Church to the less fortunate.

The Great Rift Valley is a canyon of almost 5,000 kilometres that splits the Horn of Africa into two from north to south. The 13th century Debre Libanos Orthodox monastery stands in this canyon at about 100 kilometres north of the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. According to some Orthodox narrations, Abbot Libans lived and prayed in a cave near the monastery for seven years. Thousands of Ethiopians come to this place every year because they believe that if they bathe in the waterfall next to the temple, the abbot will remove the demon from their body.

The devotion to the abbot is so deeply felt in Ethiopia that hundreds of elderly people, among the thousands of pilgrims who visit the monastery and the cave every month, decided to stay and to live in the surroundings of the monastery for the rest of their life. They set up makeshift camps around the bars that protect the sanctuary. It is as if they have become the guardians of the great secret of the place.
About 20 years ago, a young businessman arrived in Debre Libanos, from the city of Harar and he was affected by diabetes problems. The water from the waterfall made the miracle and healed the businessman who decided to become an abba, which is the name given to Orthodox priests in Ethiopia. His first destination as a priest was Addis Ababa, but as soon as he could, after a year, he returned to the place that changed his life, not only because his body was healed, but most of all because he understood the real sense of life in that place. Therefore he decided to do something for the hundreds of people, mostly elderly, who camped around the monastery with no other sustenance than the alms of the pilgrims who arrived there. The Orthodox Church does not stand out for its social work programs, but Abba Kefyalew decided to do something.

He built some rudimentary shacks furnished with some bunk beds. Over time, little by little, the makeshift camp around Debre Libanos was expanded and its dimensions are currently equal to about two football fields. People from the most marginalized social categories are hosted in the camp near the monastery, such as abandoned children and women, the sick, dying and elderly, people affected by serious mental problems and all those human beings in Ethiopia that are left to their tragic fate. The first thing that strikes when arriving at the refugee shelter is the frenetic activity of the abba’s followers. The place looks like an urban project: ground floor constructions on each side of the area, piles of bricks all around for the numerous works that are underway. There is also a large multipurpose open patio. All the people do something, some peel dry red peppers, while some women wash clothes in a corner and smiling children play on a rusty slide.

People working in the kitchen prepare hundreds of food rations every day. By midmorning, the stoves are at full capacity. Women often prepare the Ethiopian main staple food: the injera, a bread cake made with fermented tef flour. Everyday at noon, about 50 people, mostly elderly and women, arrive. “They are pilgrims who have just purified themselves in the water of the spring and have prayed in the temple”, one of the guardians of the entrance tells us.

Sharing in silence

The people hosted at the refugee house are offered a lunch generally consisting of injera and chicken pieces. Pilgrims arriving at the place often bring the food for the refugees. There is a friendly atmosphere all around. Then the 53 year old abba arrives surrounded by a halo of mysticism which is characteristic of his religious role. He greets everyone who has come close to kiss his hand and the wooden cross he holds.

According to tradition, Abbot Lebanon was the first monk of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The legend says that when he touched rocks with his cane water would gush out from them.
Abba Kefyalew is a pragmatic Orthodox priest because every day he sees the face of hunger and that of human tragedy.
He does not use a cane, but anyone who looks at his eyes immediately understands that in this country of the descendants of the Queen of Sheba, it takes much more than miracles to redeem human beings from misery.

Xaquin Lopez – Photos : Sonsoles Meana

Thailand. Caffè Bruno: A really nice cup of coffee.

Friday, 1 March 2019 8:00

Love for the people and the youth of ethnic minorities has borne fruit in the form of Caffè Bruno, a new brand of coffee now well known and available throughout Thailand.

Chae Hom is a plateau surrounded by mountains and is located in the province of Lampang in the north of the country. Agriculture is the main industry. Maize is grown on the former woodland slopes while tea and opium are grown on the higher ground. The latter has been replaced for some time now, at the request of the sovereign, by coffee plantations.
Father Bruno Rossi, an Italian missionary, who has spent more than twenty years working in the Land of Smiles, says: “It all began with a simple remark. The farmers were following the correct process: cleaning the harvested coffee beans and preparing them according to the washed Arabic process”. They would sell the coffee beans still in their external skin. With the help of some friends we managed to get a rudimentary coffee roasting machine. Unfortunately, we didn’t know how to use it properly and often burned the coffee beans. I well remember the horrible smell. We then looked for a better machine and eventually found a second-hand roasting machine. Using a demonstration video, we learned how to roast the beans without burning them”.
This was how Caffè Bruno came into existence in 2013. Bruno is a common word among the local people for whom it means ‘colour’ in the Thai language. “We began to buy coffee, paying the producers well and adding no pesticides”, the priest continued. “A young man has been trained to roast the coffee and four employees work in the office and in the packing department; once prepared, the coffee is sold”.

At first things were difficult: the new coffee brand was as yet unknown and the first customers were the priests themselves, their friends and the Catholic schools. There were times when the coffee would just accumulate in the store. This state of affairs went on until, in 2014, the high quality of the coffee was confirmed by the International Institute of Coffee Tasters which awarded it first prize.
«Today we sell seven, eight or nine hundred kilos a month – Father Bruno Rossi explains – and what is special about it? Its single origin and organic cultivation. We roast it to two grades: ‘Espresso’, which is best drunk hot, and then the “Dark” roast, best drunk cold. Here in Thailand, 98 per cent of coffee is drunk cold”.
“The business as such is not our priority – the missionary emphasises – This is a quality product and it improves the quality of life”. The slogan chosen for Café Bruno is ‘The Taste of Life’. Last year we bought 130 tons of unshelled coffee beans, providing a number of people with work; we use the profits to finance scholarships for students”.

Faith is manifested and transmitted by example and the project at Chae Hom has become both testimony and ferment. “Meeting with oriental culture, people of other religions and non-believers, has led me to reflect on my own journey of faith, to question myself deeply on what we normally take for granted, to renew my motivation and confirm me in my vocation », the missionary says. More than four hundred children of the “mountain tribes” will now receive special help for their schooling thanks to the mission of Chae Hom and around half of these board full time at the hostels built and run by the missionaries themselves together with their local collaborators. All of this has been possible due only to the generosity of many people but, for the past four years, the project has been self-sustaining, thanks to the sale and diffusion of “Caffè Bruno”.

There has been a hostel at Chae Hom for some years now, for boys and girls, so that they can stay there during the week and attend secondary school. It would be impossible for them to attend school during the rainy season. There are now 65 students belonging to six different tribes, the majority of whom are Buddhists or Animists; some of the students, while living in the hostel, show interest in the Catholic faith.
There is also a day centre for the disabled, run by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Giovanna Antida Thouret.
On the road opposite the Centre there is a small coffee shop where people like to come and taste the new quality coffee.

The first of two Caffè Bruno coffee shops, Caffè Duomo, was opened three years ago close to the cathedral of Chiang Mai and belongs to the diocese. Other products are also sold there. Profits are used for evangelisation and those of the coffee shop at the Bangkok Sacred Heart Institute are used for education grants.
The great demand for Caffè Bruno has caused it to become a powerful and unforeseen means to make the mission known and, through it, the Gospel. “In recent years, contacts have multiplied – Father Bruno concludes -. Many have shown interest in our methods of organic cultivation and we have an ongoing project in collaboration with the University of Lampang”. (P.L.)

Mexico. Poblano Chili here we come.

When most people think of Mexican food, the first thing that comes to mind may be chili peppers and fiery hot dishes that threaten their taste buds.

Although chilis are essential in Mexican cuisine throughout the country, they are not necessarily added for spiciness. More often than not they are used to enhance flavour. Many kinds of chilis give zest to a dish and each type has its own flavour, aroma and texture. As a matter of fact, cookery in colourful Mexico has been classified into hundreds of regional varieties, and each uses chili in its own special way dating back to the country’s pre-Hispanic roots.
When Columbus arrived in the New World, he took the name ‘chilli’ from the Nahulatl language, but called this peculiar vegetable ‘chili peppers’ since he mistook them for the native Asian peppercorn. Eventually, both the word and the ingredient spread as far as Africa, India and across the seas to China, where varieties of chili are used to this day. Historians today consider chili one of the most import finds that Columbus stumbled on in New Spain, along with vanilla, chocolate and allspice.

Chilis are definitely native to Mesoamerica, and there are records of their being cultivated as early as 7000 B.C. They played an important role in pre-Hispanic times, used not only as food, but also as one of the main forms of tribute paid by the natives to their masters, particularly among the Aztecs, and later to their European conquerors. Friar Bartolome’ de las Casas documented the fact that Mexicans did not consider that they had eaten if their meal did not include chili and, although Mexican cuisine has become quite sophisticated over the years, this is still the case. Chili is important not only in cooking, but also in broader aspects of Mexico’s culture. It is an integral part of local sayings, songs, folk medicine, puns and the like. It continues to be cultivated throughout Mexico, although the largest crops are grown in eight states, with Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Nayarit heading up national production.

There are dozens of varieties, and since each has a local name, they can be very confusing to discuss. Among the most popular is the delicious, bright green Poblano chili pepper. It grows from between two to eight inches long and is shaped like a triangle or a child’s toy top, with a narrow, pointed tip. Its mild taste makes it particularly popular among foreigners. It is versatile enough to be prepared in a wide variety of ways. When stuffed with cheese, beans, chicken, fish, shredded pork, mushrooms, or the more elegant crab or lobster, this simple vegetable becomes a meal in itself. In is commonly stuffed in the Mexican tradition, dredged in flour, coated in a light egg batter, fried until golden brown and served in a tomato-chili sauce.
Around Independence Day in September, poblano chilis take on a festive air. They are dressed up in the colours of the Mexican flag, red, white and green, to make chiles en nogada, filled with a sweet, ground beef scuffing, drenched in an off-white, creamy walnut sauce and garnished with deep red pomegranate seeds.
Poblano chilis are often eaten raw, sliced into strips or rounds, diced or chopped to top a salad, soup or main course. When sliced into thin strips, cooked with onions and cream, they become the perfect taco filling. They are also the basis for a staple in the Mexican diet, green rice. There are other varieties of this same chili, such as a deep orange-red one with a more intense flavour. When dried, the light green poblano chili is known as ancho chili and the dark green one, the mulato chili. They both have a rich, smoky flavour, relatively mild yet zesty.
Both the fresh and dried poblanos are readily available in U.S. supermarkets and grocery stores, due to their mildness and popularity. However, it is confusing to shop for the poblano chili, since its name varies in different regions. For example, they are referred to as pasilla chilis in California, whether dried or fresh.

To prepare the poblano chili pepper and bring out in unique flavour, roast it over the direct flame of a gas range. If you have an electric stove, use a comal griddle or heavy skillet. The traditional procedure is to place the roasted chili in a plastic bag to ‘sweat’ which makes it easier to peel the skin. After removing the charred skin, rinse it in running water. Next comes ‘deveining’. This means removing the thin, light coloured veins inside the chili by slitting it carefully on the side. These veins give chilis their potency. The aroma will fill the air, generally giving you an idea of its piquancy. If you want to tone down the spiciness, soak the chili in salt water, or a mixture of salt water and vinegar for 15 or 20 minutes. This will remove some of the bite without affecting the flavour. If you cannot find poblano chili, safe substitutes are fresh Anaheim or mild New Mexican chilis, mild banana peppers or canned mild green chilis. Also common is the jalapeño, a smaller chili often used as condiment, either pickled as a garnish, or in thin strips added to a stew or main course to give the recipe zing.
Smaller than the jalapeño and often hotter is the serrano chili, frequently referred to as ‘green chili’ (chile verde). These long thin triangular chilis are firm, green, full of seeds and piquant. A favourite among fire eaters! Be careful when handling them. And remember that the chili’s spiciness is usually most concentrated in the veins on the inside and the seeds, so be sure to remove them thoroughly if you want to tone down the chili. They can also be soaked in salted water or a water and vinegar mixture for a milder taste.
Chilaca chilis are long, thin and deep green and can grow up to I2 inches in length. Other fresh chilis common to Mexico are manzano and habanero. Ancho, mulato, pasilla, guajillo, cascabel and catarina are all dried chilis produced in central Mexico. Although it is recommended you remove the skin by roasting, many fresh chilis such as the poblano, or dried chilis like the ancho and mulato are toasted or stir-fried before being added to sauces and stews, skins intact.

All dried chilis must be washed and patted dry before use since they are often dehydrated in unprotected, outdoor environments. Seeds are often removed and saved to temper piquancy of sauces and dishes, since it is always easy to add spiciness and almost impossible to tone it down.
To roast, preheat a tonal or heavy skillet without any oil. Once the comal is medium hot, lightly roast the chili, turning regularly with tongs to ensure evenness. Once roasted, the chili gives off an aroma and is somewhat more pliable. Be careful not to over-roast, or you will wind up with a roasted, burned chili. Only when preparing chilis for a mole sauce can they be roasted longer. You can add the whole roasted or stir-fried chili directly to your dish, or you can crumble it. Many recipes call for pureeing it with other ingredients in a blender or food processor. Of course; the traditional, authentic way is to grind it by hand in a volcanic stone mortar called a molcajete or a flat volcanic stone called a metate in Nahuatl.Ancho and mulato chilis are basic ingredients in most Mexican cuisine. They are the basis for Mexican sauces, like adobo, a common chili sauce prepared with onion, garlic, oregano and vinegar, used to marinate meats, poultry or seafood. They can be combined with chipotle or guajillo chili for a special flavour.Ancho chili peppers are traditionally prepared very much like poblano chilis, stuffed with cheese or avocado, and drenched with a vinaigrette sauce; or combined with onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and olive oil to be pickled or as a superb enchilada sauce.

They are also the basic ingredient for mole sauces, soups (like tortilla soup), and for flavouring corn tortilla dough. Coloradito, ‘little red mole’, is one of the famous seven mole sauces from the Oaxacan region, made from the dried ancho chili.
Mulato chili can be used like ancho, but its taste, quite different from the ancho, gives most dishes a distinctive flavour. A combination of chilis, plus sesame seed, almonds, plantains and chocolate make the sauce for Oaxaca’s famous black mole sauce. Ancho and mulato chilis can be used interchangeably in recipes. Substitute dried red California chilis or dried red New Mexican chilis if you can’t find the authentic Mexican variety. These are often referred to as pod, ristra, or chimayo chilis.
Chili peppers are rich in vitamins A and C, enhancing even the poor man’s diet with valuable nutrients. They stimulate the appetite and, by increasing salivation, actually aid digestion. Corn, beans and chili, the staple of Mexico’s ancient and modern diet, complement one another. The interdependence of these components balance the overall nutritional value of the Mexican diet.

Patricia Quintana

Nicaragua. Bosawás Biosphere Reserve, Under Threat.

Illegal logging and deforestation for agriculture and livestock activities are destroying the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve.

The Bosawas Biosphere Reserve in north-eastern Nicaragua, the largest forest reserve in Central America, covers an area of 2,420,000 hectares and constitutes a key element in the Mesoamerican biological corridor connecting protected areas of Belize, Costa Rica, Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. It is also the largest rainforest in America, after the Amazon. The Bosawas National Natural Resource Reserve, whose name comes from the first letters of the Bocay River, Cerro Saslaya and Río Waspuk, was created in 1991. Subsequently, in 1997, the United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Commission (UNESCO) declared Bosawas a World Biosphere Reserve.

But this protected area, inhabited by the indigenous Miskito and Mayangna groups, is at risk. According to the Humboldt Environmental Centre, in 1984, Bosawas had 1.6 million hectares of forest composed of broadleaf trees; from 1984 to 2010 almost 600,000 hectares of the reserve were cleared and replaced with ranch lands and farms. Another 92,000 were cleared, between 2012 and 2017, for the production of basic grains and livestock. The deforestation is driven by an intense internal migration of people from the Pacific coast and the central area of the country looking for fertile land and space. Furthermore, its location, on the border with Honduras, makes this protected area particularly vulnerable to illegal logging.

At the end of last year, army troops seized 6,527 logs of wood that was cut in the Bosawas reserve. In 2014, authorities seized 1.400 m³ of wood extracted illegally, still, from Bosawas. According to the National Institute of Forestry (INAFOR), the wood seized was only a small part compared to the amount that was extracted in the reserve. Most of the wood, whose destination are the Asian markets, is smuggled to Honduras through the border ‘blind spots’.
According to the U.S. organization InSight Crime, ‘The illegal timber trade in Nicaragua has become a major problem in recent years. The export of granadilla – a precious wood used to make musical instruments and furniture – increased to US$6 million from $100.000, between 2008 and 2011. In 2012, authorities seized more than 1.300 m³ of granadilla’.

The timber mafias

China’s voracious demand for wood drives illegal logging and favours the activity of ‘mafias that operate with the help of corrupted officials and carriers in Nicaragua, like in other Latin American countries’, according to InSight Crime. ‘Honduras is the main destination of much of the wood coming from Nicaragua. More recently, Honduran armed groups have crossed into Nicaragua to chop down the precious wood’.
The report: ‘Green Carbon, Black Trade: Illegal Logging, Tax Fraud and Laundering in the Worlds Tropical Forests. A Rapid Response Assessment’, released by INTERPOL and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2012, estimated that the total illegitimate global timber trade is worth between $30 and $100 billion annually.

The 2012 UNEP-INTERPOL report also contends that, ‘Illegal logging is not on the decline, rather it is becoming more advanced as cartels become better organized. Illegal logging accounts for between 15% and 30% of global timber trade… unless national authorities and law enforcement agencies develop responses commensurate with the scale and the complexity of the problem, the crimes of a minority can endanger not only the development of the majority, but also the innovative initiatives that are being implemented to reward those countries and communities that promote ecosystem services aimed at improving forest areas’.
In May 2017, some indigenous leaders in Nicaragua said that loggers offer weapons to their communities in exchange for illegally logging forests in their territory. “They say, ‘you have problems, give me 1,500 cubic meters of wood. We are going to facilitate weapons to you so you can fight against the colonists’”, Hilario Thompson, a representative of the indigenous party Yatama, said. The ‘colonists’ refers to people who occupy indigenous lands without permission.
According to data from Global Forest Watch, the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve lost about 6.5 percent of its tree cover between 2001 and 2014, mostly concentrated in the south.
UNESCO has expressed concern about the accelerated deforestation in Bosawas. Kathleen Rogers, President of the American organization Earth Day Network, has explained the importance of this biosphere reserve for the maintenance of stable climatic conditions throughout Nicaragua. “Tropical rain forests, being the most abundant sources of plant life on earth, play an important role as carbon sinks; trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide, and carbon remains ‘trapped’ in the wood and in the soil itself,” said Kathleen Rogers. “The Bosawas Reserve also helps to generate a cloud cover in the region that regulates the temperature, and that, at the same time, provides rain. The cloud cover is a vital barrier against extreme climates in the region”, she added.

According to biologist Jaime Incer Barquero: “The destruction of the Bosawas Biosphere would affect the entire Nicaragua, because, especially in this era of climate change, the forest can prevent natural calamities such as droughts and floods. Forests, in fact, can soak up excess rainwater, preventing run-offs and damage from flooding. Plants and trees can also help provide clean water and mitigate the effects of droughts by releasing water in the dry season. Forests can even prevent droughts since they produce atmospheric moisture and therefore rainfalls”. They are also natural barriers that reduce the impact of wind and hurricanes.
Incer Barquero urged to halt the invasion of colonists in the reserve in order to prevent the destruction of the Bosawás. “Forests regenerate naturally, but this process takes years”, he said. “Reforestation is not the best solution. The succeeding forest could never have the same dimensions and biodiversity as the original forest. So human beings should protect what is left and let it regenerate naturally”. (N.A.)

Thailand. Much is unknown in the Country of the Smile.

It is now almost five years since the coup d’état that took place in Thailand on 22 May 2014. This year on 24 March, it will hold elections which could have serious consequences for the Country of the Smile, now grim and uncertain, led formally by civil institutions but inflexibly guided by the National Council for Peace and Order (the military junta).

All this hinges on a government made up mostly of generals led by Prayut Chan-ocha who was responsible for the repression of the Red Shirts-led protests in 2010 which cost the lives of around ninety people – mostly demonstrators and two foreign journalists – and hundreds of wounded.Five years ago, the intervention of the men in uniform was justified by the desire to put an end to tensions which, in previous years, more than once found expression on the streets of the capital Bangkok with dramatic effect. This objective was not achieved, as is apparent from the fact that not only do the deep-seated and untreated divisions still exist, but the gap between rich and poor and the discrepancies of opportunity have grown even wider.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha.

Few Asian countries are afflicted with such inequality as Thailand, a country where progress was motivated by abundant confidence from abroad with investment, tourism and strategic interests that fostered the boom of the ‘seventies and ‘eighties. This also encouraged the myth of a quality of life and basic happiness that denies the problems that many of its 67 million inhabitants experience and suffer from.
Today, the world looks at ancient Siam trying to imagine how it will turn out in the near future, with embarrassment or perplexity at the current restoration led by the Prime Minister and former general and head of the Prayuth Chan-ocha regime. It is to him that article 44 of the post-coup Constitution gives the power to intervene unquestioned in all areas and with full impunity for actions past or future, including those of his high and medium-level officials. The outlook is that he – with little or no challenges from the opposition who were substantially prevented from running an electoral campaign with the possibility of reactions – will be brought to power by a pro-military party or be declared premier elect by a parliament without opposition.

The basic thesis of Thailandese policy for a decade has been that of ‘reconciliation’, the pretext for the coup of September 2006 and that of May 2014. The concept of ‘reconciliation’ is one that may be interpreted according to one’s desires and interests but it contains a basic truth: the deep chasm between the administrators of power, based in Bangkok and in central and southern regions, and the majority of the population based in the north and east. These realities are separated by an abyss in opportunity, wellbeing and interests but they are co-participants in a semi-feudal structure with an extensive network of patronage that increases backwardness, incompetence and corruption.
The system runs parallel to political and administrative structures that aim to present the image of an advanced country, affable and open to investment and innovation. It is an image, or rather a reflection of reality that is no longer sustainable as shown by the flight of investors, and of companies already present, towards other goals and the pressures brought by the mass media and international lobbies on the themes of freedom of expression, human rights and democracy.

Whereas these aspects were formerly, in part, taken for granted, they are now more evident and the famous Thai ‘smile’ seems more and more tarnished and less spontaneous while news sources report an increase in social unrest, manifesting itself still more in a society with one of the highest rates of social media penetration in the world.
International pressure on the regime is not concerned only with the development of democracy, respect for rights and civil liberties but also with situations (slave work, human trafficking, illegal fishing, immigration management, the protection of asylum-seeking refugees and the plundering of the environment) due to which the USA, the EU, and various governments and organisations have demanded immediate action and threatening sanctions.

The contribution of perhaps three million foreign workers, often forced into illegal work by obsolete laws that are, in part, difficult to enforce and in part open to occasional abuses, is essential to the construction industry, agriculture and fishing, but it is hardly recognised and even less rewarded. With their pay lower even than the minimum local pay and subject to the needs of the employers and the constant risk of abuse or expulsion, the immigrants suffer the brunt of nationalist and xenophobic inclinations fomented by propaganda on cultural unity and historical dominance in the region.
Indoctrination motivates adherence to roles and institutions that are deeply underlined by the present regime. It starts right from the first years of school with an abundance of associated benefits, unfettered populism and continual pressure, censure and insistent reminders of a national identity based mostly on respect for authority. All these conditions have brought about a lack of participation and the inability to react without parallel as well as backwardness on the cultural level that has become a serious danger to development. (S.V.)

The Maritime Silk Road in South-East Asia.

Friday, 1 February 2019 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

The definition of The Maritime Silk Road seems never ending. The initial interest of the Chinese government in their South-East Asian neighbours is being gradually concretised in the form of a series of projects. Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar are the countries
most involved.

Since its announcement in 2013, the Chinese Maritime Silk Road (MSR) initiative, part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aimed first of all at collaborating with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The reason for this is obvious: its Asian (China-ASEAN) partners represent a market of more than 2 billion consumers and the third largest market in the world by trade volume.
Furthermore, the manifest interest in the ASEAN is in line with a history of close commercial exchanges that reached their peak during the Song Chinese dynasty (960-1279).

The MSR is a project in continual development and is shaped by the needs of the Chinese economy and geostrategy. Among these, and playing a major role, is China’s Blue Economy, which is nothing less than the sustainable use of maritime resources to create economic growth and safeguard the oceans. It is a relevant fact that, in 2017, the Chinese Blue Economy amounted to more than 1,000 billion dollars, almost 10% of the GNP. In fact, about 60% of Chinese international commercial goods are transported on maritime routes. For this reason, China has begun to provide consultancy and financial programmes for the construction of port infrastructure in partner countries, as well as acquiring ports along the MSR through leasing contracts between state-owned companies and local governments.
Among the ASEAN nations, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar have been the more receptive towards the Chinese MSR initiative. Malaysia, as a co-founder of the Association and China’s main trading partner in South-East Asia, has recognised its own dependence on maritime transport and the limited economic resources of the ASEAN financing companies. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has as its main purpose to guarantee funds for local development and to combat social inequality, and cannot guarantee the sums necessary for the optimal development of infrastructure in the entire region. At this juncture, China came in, setting up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), operating since 2015, composed of 86 members with an initial capital of 100 billion dollars. Malaysia, due to its geographical position, is of course a partner which is essential to the project of the New Silk Road.

Around 80% of Chinese imports pass through the Strait of Malacca and this makes the world power extremely dependent on its viability. The synergy between the two countries has led to the investment of 10 billion dollars to enlarge structures in the Strait, led by the Chinese company PowerChina International and its Malaysian partner Melaka Gateway KAJ Development.
A 99-year leasing contract was granted to China for an offshore port structure in Malacca. In addition, among the maxi-projects approved by the Malaysian government along the MSR, there is also the construction of the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP), an industrial estate resulting from a joint venture shared by the two countries. China has agreed to purchase 40% of the quotas of the port structure with a location contract of 60 years. This enthusiasm was recently dampened by the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who has adopted a more cautious stance with respect to the projects promoted by Beijing.

The maritime ambitions of Indonesia

A slightly different approach is used in managing relations with Indonesia where President Joko Widodo (2014) seems to have anticipated the Chinese diplomatic iter, placing at the centre of its policies the geographical potential of the archipelago and the need to work on structural weaknesses.
Widodo insists on a new regional vision in which Indonesia emerges as a maritime power and the guarantor of peace. There is an excellent opportunity, therefore, to cooperate with China in three areas: the development of port structures, the increase of logistical capacity and the facilitation of the transit of international commercial goods.

After his election, the Indonesian President launched a five-year plan to the tune of 50 billion dollars for these areas, thus opening up the country to foreign, and especially Chinese investment. This includes the development of 24 strategic ports along three imaginary routes crossing the archipelago. One of the projects is an industrial centre with an area of 3,000 hectares on the eastern outskirts of Java, made up of an off-shore port and a residential area to create a manufacturing and commercial hub for all the Asiatic area. Other projects involve the expansion of the port of Tanjung Priok, the busiest in the country, and Kuala Tanjung Port to the north of Sumatra. Ports planned for smaller cities like Makassar and Sorong will reduce logistics costs which, at present in Indonesia amount to around 24% of the GNP. The MSR has therefore raised hopes and interest for acts of maritime cooperation in Indonesian territory. The Chinese port of Ningbo Zhoushan and China Communications Construction Engineering Indonesia have signed a memorandum of understanding with the operators of Indonesian ports to develop the new port of Priok and Kendal International Port. Despite the presentation of commercial agreements hitherto, no direct investments have been made.

The strategic vision of Myanmar

The government of Beijing has adopted a tougher stance towards Myanmar, a country with enormous potential: in fact, adequate infrastructure could connect its ports with the Chinese province of Yunnan, allowing goods to by-pass the Strait of Malacca. This integration between the maritime and railway parts of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) would also have other qualities, such as the reduction of problems related to the pro-American countries (like Singapore and Korea) and to piracy in the area of the Strait, and would reduce dependence on maritime transport for the import of energy resources.

Chinese interest is palpable as is seen by the construction of an off-shore port costing 7.3 billion dollars and an industrial area costing 2.7 billion dollars in the Special Economic Zone of Kyaukpyu. This city is also the location of an oil pipeline terminal and a gas pipeline (built with the help of a Chinese company) reaching Kunming in Yunnan province. According to the terms of the contract, China’s CITIC Group Corporation will manage operations in the area for the next 50 years. Nevertheless, the internal political instability of Myanmar and fears of becoming deeply indebted to China have slowed the progress of the contract, even though, since 2017, the CITIC has been officially in possession of 70% of the quotas of the port project.
In conclusion, the advance of the MSR in South-East Asia is proceeding at different speeds but with similar methodologies: large-scale loans and the purchase of infrastructure quotas seem to be the two essential characteristics of the Chinese modus operandi. Some governments, bewitched by the high commercial visibility offered and the economic availability of China, accept the projects proposed while almost ignoring the financial dangers to which their countries may be exposed.

Benedetta Mantoan

China’s Economic Interest in Africa.

China is present and active in almost all countries of Africa. In 2015 China invested about 35 billion Dollars in Africa and so has surpassed Europe or the US as Africa’s main trading partner. The China-Africa Summit of 2018 further demonstrated the growing importance of China in Africa. During the Summit President Xi Jinping offered to invest another 60 billion dollars in Africa during the next three years.

Meanwhile, the influence of the old colonial powers continues to wane. The indications are that China is about to push the ex-colonial powers out of the African market but how Europe intends to save herself from the impending loss of its African marketplace is reserved for history.

The fact that China is making huge investments in Africa and has become the biggest trading partner have available records. However, less known or rather less talked about are the other strategies with which China is using to gain more influence over the African media, the military and even control strategic infrastructures in Africa.

The new Chinese Silk Road is meant to link not only China and Europe but also some 20 African countries. China is supposedly building an impressive infrastructure to connect those counties. The latest example is the 4 billion railway link between Mombasa and Nairobi, which is planned to link eventually five other countries in the region. China now has her own police points called ‘South African-Chinese Community and Police Co-operation Centres’. It has rejected the appellation of ‘Police Stations’ for these centres. The development is still new; only time can tell what it will finally become.

While it seems that Africa will profit from an improved Chinese infrastructure, Chinese loans contribute to a debt crisis for many African countries and create a growing dependence of China. Some of the projects are economically not viable and when a country is unable to repay their debts, China tends to pay itself by taking over their mineral resources, the public energy supply, or seaports and airports. Zambia is on the verge losing its national airport from the Chinese creditors. Some countries like Sierra Leone have seen the danger of accepting such credits and have cancelled contracts to build a new national airport.

Obviously, the goal of an increasing military involvement of China in Africa is to secure its land and sea trade routes. In Djibouti, China has begun with the construction of a huge military base just next to the American base. It is meant to become a hub of the new silk road project. China is also becoming the most important arms supplier and provides military equipment to some 22 African countries. The formation programs for police and army officers strengthen China’s influence in the security sector.

In recent years China has also provided financial and military support to UN-Peacekeeping missions in DR Congo, Mali, Sudan and Southern Sudan. The latest attractive export to Africa could be China’s very efficient electronic surveillance systems which are able to identify people’s faces. Dictatorial regimes in Africa will willingly embrace it.

Meanwhile, a worrisome angle is the quality of the infrastructures that the Chinese build for the African Governments. In Nigeria, the much-applauded Abuja-Kaduna railway commissioned in 2016 has already got stories of breakdown of trains. The Chinese infrastructural development in Africa are designed to keep her in control of these infrastructures. What can be other explanations there? In all these, Africa’s lack of bargaining power has left her very vulnerable both to Europe and China. While relatively keeping her standard, Europe uses here traditional ties to force her wishes down the throat of Africa. However, China uses an unorthodox “as you want it strategy” which has left African nations with substandard infrastructures and debt burden.

Furthermore, in the past, China used to fly in temporarily Chinese workers to realize major projects, like the TANZAM railroad line from Lusaka to Dar-es-Salaam. Nowadays such workers tend to stay in the country and start enterprises or work as craftsmen and even as street hawkers. With their cheap Chinese imports, they enter into direct competition with small local traders, which can create tensions. But in the meantime, African businesspeople have learnt themselves to operate worldwide and import their own goods directly from China. There are no reliable statistics about the number of Chinese living in Africa but estimates vary from one to two million. On the other end, some 200,000 Africans are living in China; 80,000 of them are students.

Additionally, China has for many years invested large sums to buy shares in important media companies to influence communication policies, spread pro-Chinese propaganda and silence critical voices. Chinese-owned media companies, like the StarTimes Group, run TV-Program in 30 countries and are an efficient instrument to propagate China’s interests and Chinese culture. About 50 years ago, the walls of houses in remote African regions were covered with colourful pictures from the magazine “China Today”.

In recent years China has intensified efforts to project a positive image of the country, its political ideology, culture and language. Following the example of western countries, China runs 48 cultural centres in Africa and come second place after France that has 180 centres. These “Confucius Institutes”, which are often linked to national universities, offer cultural programs and language course in Mandarin, which attract a growing number of students.

The trend is, however, becoming a thing of concern because of obvious reasons. Chinese interest seems to be solely about economic gains. Europe exhibited such an interest in times past even though religion was used to blunt its sharp edges. Now we know better! China appears not to have any country economically powerful enough to check its onslaught. This monopoly leaves the historically weakened African countries in a very precarious situation. Hence, journalists and civil society in some countries are beginning to question more brazenly the long-term aims of China on the continent.

They criticise the exploitation and racial discrimination of African workers in Chinese-owned companies. Even though the raised voices are yet to get coordinated and to form a synergy, the concerns are real, and the fears have historical antecedents in the European exploit in the African continent. Perhaps, the new thing is the benevolent ‘win-win’ approach which China temptingly presents to the Africa leaders. The emerging indices show that the African countries must be weary of the baits that China throws.

Wolfgang Schonecke

The Jesuit Refugee Service. The African Microcosm In The Streets Of Addis Ababa.

Friday, 1 February 2019 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

Ethiopia is Africa’s second largest refugee hosting country with more than 800,000 of them in its territory. They are victims of wars, persecutions or natural disasters. There is just one centre for refugees in Addis Ababa and it represents the microcosm of some of the problems that affect the African continent.

The large outdoor patio where several young people play volleyball, table tennis and table football or chat with their friends apparently could be a public space of any city. In reality, this is the courtyard of the only urban refugee centre of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, the sixth largest migrant hosting country in the world, and the second in Africa, after Uganda.The wounds generated by the most serious conflicts that affect Africa are cured in this courtyard. Most of the people who arrive at the centre every day come from Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“The refugees of different nationalities escape from different tragedies and problems. Eritreans flee a brutal and oppressive regime and compulsory military service for life; Somalis escape from Al Shabab’s terrorism, violence and atrocious drought; the Sudanese escape from violence, insecurity and hunger; the South Sudanese from the violent conflict and the famine that are ravaging and emptying the country … “, says Eyesus Mulugeta, director of this centre run by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) along with the Intercultural Foundation, the Jesuit NGO for education and development.
Neway Alemayenu, a manager of the centre, says that the geographical proximity has facilitated also the arrival of a relevant flow of Yemenis seeking refuge in Ethiopia. They try to escape from bombing, famine and cholera. “The situations in Yemen and South Sudan are currently the most dramatic”.

Education and sport

The philosophy of the JRS is based on sport, education and entertainment These are the tools that help to manage the drama lived by each migrant and help them integrate in the new community where they have just arrived.
“We help refugees to integrate until they can return to their cities, which is what the majority of them want”, says Mulugeta.

The JRS is a day centre. Migrants are not supposed to spend the night there, but they can attend Inizio moduloworkshops, courses, and sports during the day. The centre opens very early in the morning and closes at five in the afternoon. Refugees at the JRS can participate in the activities that include training and leisure such as: English and computer lessons, classes of music, education programs for adults, teenagers and children. “Basically we help urban refugees – who usually live in precarious living conditions – to integrate into society and have opportunities”, Alemayenu explains.Besides training and entertainment, the JRS also provides psycho-social support, information and guidance on migrants’ rights, and a service for carrying out legal and social procedures.
“Refugees are often asked to fill out paperwork in order to get help or access to an opportunity of whatever kind, and we help them to fill the forms, and at the same time we offer them psycho-social support and recreational activities.

The JRS, since the 80s

Although the JRS people began to provide assistance in East Africa in the 1980s, they settled down in the region only in the 90s and in the middle of that decade they started to focus efforts on urban refugees of Addis Ababa. “Those were years characterized by the Rwandan genocide, by the wars in the Great Lakes region and by thousands of Sudanese fleeing towards Ethiopia and Uganda.

The current geopolitical situation is not so distant from the recent past of the Horn of Africa. There are still internal armed conflicts going on in Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, and thousands of people are forced to flee their countries, while others have moved internally. Repression and persecution by oppressive regimes is increasing, as is the exodus towards neighbouring Ethiopia, where according to the JRS, there are more than 20,000 Eritreans in Addis Ababa alone.
Inizio moduloOn the other hand, the elections that have taken place in recent years in Uganda, DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi or Kenya have affected, according to Amnesty International, political and human rights developments and have led to serious migrations. According to UNHCR, Ethiopia has currently become home to some 300,000 South Sudanese, who represent the largest group of refugees, which is followed by more than 250,000 Somalis, more than 150,000 Eritreans, 40,000 Sudanese, more than 3,000 Kenyans and some 10,000 refugees from countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Burundi or Djibouti. Ethiopia is one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world. In this context that shows migration flows steadily on the rise, Ethiopia is playing a key role in the geopolitical situation
of the Horn of Africa.

Besides the humanitarian reasons for the reception of refugees, Mulugeta adds those of diplomacy. “We must welcome refugees also for diplomatic reasons. We offer them training and formation so that the day they can go back home, they will be able to help to restore the political situation of their country. In this way, we are also sure that our neighbouring countries will be our friends”.

Sara Cantos

Economy. Risk factors.

Friday, 1 February 2019 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

Bangkok seems to be a champion of futuristic architecture but its lights simply overwhelm without removing either its own multiple dark areas or the darkening shadows of the country.

The present contingency, with the creation of a speculation bubble, the flight of capital, failed investments, populist policies and the rigidity of a self-referential system which pretended to be unique but ended up by being simply obsolete and a failure in the present world, reminds many of the time before the financial crisis of 1997-1998. This, having started in Bangkok, spread through much of Asia with such rapid contagion that it set Thailand back twenty years just when it was about to emerge from under-development, according to international parameters, but in which it still remains today.

The second South-East Asian economy after Indonesia, Thailand has for years been last with respect to growth and, above all, in innovation and entrepreneurship. It is weighed down by political upheaval and even more by the chains of a system which de-motivates participation, creativity and the emergence of new protagonists.
According to official data, the Thailandese economy could grow by 3.8 per cent. These data, however, seem to contain many unknowns, both internal and external. This is lower than the 4.2 per cent which the authorities have optimistically and with ample propaganda continued to sustain for most of last year despite the obvious difficulties in guaranteeing impetus in tourism, production and especially in exports. The Internet, social media and the use of passwords by information networks have helped to undermine considerably the optimistic image of military and civil authorities, bringing to light repression, failures, corruption, latent violence and nationalism, incentivised by those in power which render ineffective the statements and publicity through which they would wish to attract foreign business and individuals without affording them protection and equality of dignity.All these elements have dissolved – assisted by frequent reports on the repression of dissent and the use of ad hoc laws in favour of the status quo and the élite – a capital of trust based too much on easy profits and mostly on the exploitation of a poorly paid workforce and resources that are today much less available and not on the overall growth of the country.

In the economic sphere, the now unstoppable optimism of the public institutions is being contrasted by the pragmatism of private financial operators who, last December, through the words of Sanan Angubolkul, Vice-president of the Commission for Investments, foresaw that “products like sugar, precious stones, gold and rubber will suffer losses given the results of the first ten months of the year”.
In the opinion of Sanan, risk factors in 2019 will include higher prices for petroleum products, unstable exchange rates and clashes over customs duties involving the world powers. The previous electoral campaign will also carry some weight and even more so the election results, just as a role will be played by an economic and foreign policy of delaying. This will prolong the periods of adherence to such treaties as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to which – as confirmed by the minister for Trade – his country will not agree for now, since it did not meet the deadline of 30 December last year. There are limitations to the announced policy of bilateral agreements at regional level with the export of a reduced amount of products to China, India, Southern Asia and Hong Kong.

Faced with a situation which, anywhere else, would demand that adequate countermeasures be identified and implemented, the government has once again upheld the thesis that an economy that is far from its former momentum is the victim of a global slow-down that affects its exports and tourism. Without planning for any concrete measures, even in the monetary field, demanded for years of the regime which – for many observers is not merely a suspicion – has kept the local currency, the Baht, at a level considered unrealistic against the main global currencies to favour the local oligopolies, guarantee luxury imports and raw materials at low prices and to facilitate the purchase of weapons for the armed forces. This, and more, has been done partly to compensate for the reduction in income from exports, tourism and failed investments and partly to shower with monetary rewards those groups which the regime seeks to involve in a twenty-year project guided by the military under the protection and on behalf of the aristocracy and monopoly groups.
This project is not as easy as it once was, being in a situation that is in danger of igniting due to the lack of a prestigious reference point such as the king who guided it for seventy years, providing it with objectives, identity and unity.

The death of the King

On 12 October 2016, with the death of the King, the 67 million Thailandese were deprived of the figure, at once hieratic and paternal, the only one the majority of the people had known. At the age of 88, after ruling for seventy years – the longest reign of the sovereigns of his time – Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, passed away leaving in the country an emptiness perhaps impossible to fill.
Almost always with his camera hung round his neck and his notebook in hand as he travelled around the provinces to discover the needs and feelings of his people, Rama IX was an enlightened technocrat, born in the United States in 1927 and educated abroad up to the age of eighteen when he was recalled to his native country from a life of study and comforts to receive a crown that was certainly heavy due to the circumstances of his accession and his young age.

He was called to lead a poor and backward country that had only with difficulty emerged unscathed from the conflict of a World War, but which, in the following decades, would be of prime importance in blocking the advance of communism in South-East Asia as the base for American operations in Indochina. Under its sovereign, Thailand launched itself into development backed by foreign investment and tourism and also by the use of the territory and a self-sufficient economy developed and promoted by the sovereign himself.
On the night of 1 December 2016, Thailand once again found the certainty essential for a country which had always a close relationship with its monarch. By accepting the hereditary principle of the formal invitation to succeed his father with the official name of Maha Vajralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun and the dynastic name of Rama X, both the express will of his father and that of the elite, who always relied upon the monarchy, were concretised.
The succession of the sixty two-year old prince was not challenged since he was the sole male heir. Sanctioned at the death of his father by the approval of General Prayut Chan-ocha, both head of the junta and Prime Minister but not yet (at the time of writing) sealed by an official enthronement ceremony, this will involve the weighty legacy of the eighty two-year old sovereign, the only one whom the majority of Thailandese knew and loved with the intensity of children towards a father but a father with a semi divine aura nourished by official hagiography. It must be stressed, especially in the present context of the country that the questions regarding the monarchy are subject to a Draconian law of lèse-majesté, increasingly used to stifle any opposition.
The royal palace has just announced that Thailand’s king is to be officially crowned in an elaborate three-day ceremony held on May 4-6 this year. (S.V.)

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