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Africa. Beyond Conflict diamonds.

The conflict diamonds issue is dying down, but new challenges are emerging. Will Africa be able to add value to the rough product ? Will the industry be able to cope with the threat of synthetic diamonds ? Should there be a new role for the Kimberley Process ?

Nearly 16 years after the creation of the Kimberley Process, conflict diamonds, whose exploitation and trade, finance rebel groups, have become a marginal problem or the diamond industry at large and for African diamond producers in particular.
A blackspot remains however, as points out the Canadian NGO Impact, formerly known as Partnership Africa Canada (PAC). Indeed, diamonds produced in the rebel areas of the Central African Republic (CAR) are still being smuggled out to Cameroon, or the DRC and Côte d’Ivoire. Yet, even assuming that the entire production of the CAR is being smuggled, it only represents 0.2% of the world production (134 m. carats).

Nevertheless, a number of NGOs including Impact are campaigning to expand the mandate of the Kimberley Process (KP) which bring together producing and consuming countries, the industry and the civil society. At the last Kimberley Process plenary which took place in Brisbane (Australia) between the 9th and the 14th December, consumer countries said they wanted the KP not only to guarantee that diamonds are conflict free but beyond, should contribute to end poverty and achieve SDG. NGOs want also the KP to prevent all forms of human rights violations including when it is perpetrated by governmental forces or private security companies. Beyond, the KP should contribute to greater transparency of revenues and statistics and fight tax evasionClearly, there is a stormy debate between consuming countries such as the EU which took the command of the KP for 2018, which is under the pressure of the ethical lobbies on the one hand and the producing countries, such as Africa, which accounts for the 50% of the world’s production, but also Russia and Australia, which take in consideration the interests of the mining companies, but also of one million alluvial miners in Africa alone.

In the opinion of the chairman of the African Diamond Council and of the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA), M’Zee Fula Ngenge, in the first place, Non-diamond producing countries should not even lead the Kimberley Process (KP), he told the Rough & Polished newsletter on the sidelines of the De Beers diamond conference in Gaborone, which took place in November 2017. The ADPA chairman voiced his reservation to the U.S. State Department’s proposal to host the Kimberley Process headquarters in America.

Domestic production

The Minister of Mines and Energy of the World’s second largest product in value (after Russia), Botswana, Sadique Kebonang, at the African Diamond Conference held in Brussels on the last November stated that the definitions of human rights violations « unfortunately differ from one country to another »). He also warned against the risks of politizing the problem.

The chairman of the largest diamond trade and expertise hub, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), Stéphane Fischler told SouthWorld, however that in the exceptional event of systematic violations by official forces, there should be a possibility for the KP to act preventively. According to Fischler, the industry’s objective is to make sure consumers cannot say they do not want African diamonds. That would be a catastrophy for the diamond industry in Africa and the millions of people who depend from it. The beneficiation in African countries of their domestic production is another challenge. South Africa, which was represented in Brussels by the Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources, Godfrey Oliphant, is particularly concerned by the issue but also Botswanaa and Namibia which reserve significant quotas of their production to their national polishing industry. In front of the harsh competition of the Indian polishing industry and its very low wages, which employs more than one million people, African producers’ challenge to add value to their gems, is not easy. Yet, under certain conditions, it can succeed, says Stéphane Fischler. There a new elements which didn’t exist before, which can play a positive role, Those include technological innovation and robotics which help to slash the costs, but these require advance technical know how and sizeable investments.

Yet, in Southern Africa, there is a political will to embark in this direction, admits Fischler who mentions that foreign manpower has been recruited in Namibia and Botswana to meet those challenges. Namibia is probably the country which has shown the greatest political will so far.
In 2017, the Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC), the joint venture between the Namibian government and De Beers, decided to allocate a fixed supply of diamonds worth $430 million under a new 10-year deal to eleven sight holders. Moreover, under the deal all gems exceeding 10.8 carats will be processed locally, securing the jobs of 1,000 domestic workers. Indeed, the proportion of labour costs in the final price of a gem, is lower in the case of large diamonds, and thereby reduces the comparative advantage of the Indian industry This means that about 40 percent of the production will be reserved for the local market, as against 10 percent previouslyFinally, African producers are also concerned by the competition of synthetic diamonds such as those produced by General Electric. On that regard, the Botswanaian Minister advocated for a more aggressive marketing of African diamonds. Similar concerns were expressed In October at the Dubai Diamond Conference. Panelists spoke about the large rise in the quantity and quality of lab-grown stones in recent years.

The Geological Institute of America’s Executive Vice President Tom Moses, warned that synthetic diamonds which are being produced in China would not only not going to go away, but production will continue growing. Yet, the GIA like the Antwerp’s HRD, the leading authority in diamond certification have developed equipments and technologies equipment to detect synthetic diamonds and distinguish them from natural ones that is reasonably inexpensive, The World Federation of Diamond Bourses President Ernie Blom says he doesn’t have a problem with synthetics as far as they are disclosed as such and says that the WFDB imposes traders to guaranteed that the gems they sell are natural. In his view, lab diamonds don not compare with natural diamonds, even if they look like. The value of synthetic diamonds which are made by machines is declining whereas natural diamonds formed billions of years ago in the Earth which are finite in number will, therefore, have an ever-increasing value.
Yet, there are indications that fraud can be a problem and a threat. The India’s Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council and the Bharat Diamond Bourse have indicated that illegal practices of undisclosed mixing of lab-grown diamonds in packages of natural diamonds with natural ones.

François Misser

Neo Pan-Africanism As An Alternative.

Africa is experiencing an ideological crisis that is expressed by the current adhesion of African governments to either neoliberalism or monetarism that destroy human solidarity, erode the welfare state and increase human suffering.

After the failure of imported ideologies, the future of Africa lies in the adoption of a new unifying ideology of development, Neo Pan-Africanism, which has to do with an approach of supranational and maximalist African unity, in the form of a federation or confederation, a sort of United States of Africa, in order to face the problems of development and security in the continent and the challenges of globalization.

Pan-Africanism, as it exists today, despite its attractive force, remains a nebulous, undefined concept, which each one interprets in their own way. Despite the unanimity over the need for African unity, there are discrepancies in the methods and means for its implementation: some think unity should be reached by proceeding from the foundations (regional unity, national unity, and continental unity). Others, instead, are convinced that the pressing problems faced by Africa require an immediate continental unity in the form of a federation or confederation.

It is up to the enlightened African intellectuals committed to the social causes of their people to take steps towards Neo Pan-Africanism, as an ideology of development and supranational unity of the continent, or simply ‘ideology of the defence of the interests of Africa’. In other words, the policies and the theories of development conceived and elaborated in the ‘north’ should be changed, through the creation of an African think-tank, composed of the political, intellectual and economic elite and the members of civil society who would be in charge of finding ‘African solutions to African problems’, and the promotion of knowledge and endogenous practices.

African unity, as Moussa Konaté rightly points out, does not necessarily have to be inspired by the EU model, but by the new African personality that would be formed by political and social reforms, and by the strengthening of South-South cooperation, in particular with the emerging countries of Asia and Latin America. Basically, a different model of political and economic integration should be adopted, a model more suitable for African realities, and at the same time, different from the current ‘open regionalism’, the goal being to switch from the current African States to the ‘African State’.

The annihilation of the idea of a possible alternative, not only to globalization, but simply to capitalism itself is one of the serious problems generated by globalization. Now it is necessary to reconstruct what the Berlin Conference and the colonization destroyed through the politics of ‘balkanization’, and to promote the political, economic and social development of the African people. A new model must be implemented that is conceived not for the African people, but with them. A self-thought, self-defined and self-financed model which can be an antidote to the State-Nation model that is in crisis.

These objectives are not stated in the OAU charter, and neither in that of the African Union, nor that of NEPAD (the technical body of the African Union). All these organizations have turned into vectors of globalized neoliberalism. The 2063 Agenda of the African Union Commission (which falls on the centennial anniversary of the birth of the OAU), seems to walk, even if feebly, towards the supranational unity of the continent, by giving priority to regional integration and the creation of the United States of Africa.

Mbuyi Kabunda

Pope Francis. Young People, “Important Responsibility Inside The Church”.

In his message for the next World Youth Day, of March 25^th ,the Pope called upon young people not to be closed in the digital rationale and to carry out a “discernment” of their own vocation by showing courage in the present moment. Young people must be given “important responsibilities” inside the Church.

“I want important responsibilities to be given to you within the Church; that there may be the courage to make space for you; and that you may be prepared to take on these responsibilities.” The Pope’s message for the next World Youth Day – to be celebrated at diocesan level on March 25, Palm Sunday, on the theme, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God” – is under the banner of mutual trust between Francis and young people.

“Courage” is the key word for “discernment” on one’s vocation, in the present moment, and thus prepare for the two events with the Synod in October and the WYD in Panama: “Mary walks with us.” It’s important to avert the risk of being absorbed by digital rationale, spending one’s life facing the screen of a smartphone or a computer.

When we are faced with the fundamental choices on which depend who we will be and what we will do in this world we feel a “shudder”, said the Pope mentioning the “underlying fear” of many young people of not being accepted for who they are. Continuous “photo-shops” of their images almost make them become “fake-selves”, obsessed by receiving as many “likes” as possible. Not to mention emotional insecurity, the fear of remaining alone and the uncertainty of work. In the face of these doubts and fears – Francis went on – discernment becomes necessary “to bring order to the confusion of our thoughts and feelings, to act in a just and prudent way.” The first step to overcome fears is to name them, looking within ourselves, for in many cases the obstacle to faith is not scepticism but fear.

“For us Christians in particular, fear must never have the last word but rather should be an occasion to make an act of faith in God… and in life! Never close yourself in! In the Sacred Scriptures the expression “do not be afraid” is repeated 365 times with different variations, as if to tell us that the Lord wants us to be free from fear, every day of the year”, Francis said.

When searching for one’s vocation in life discernment should not be seen as “an individual effort at introspection”: it is “a call from above.” God knocks at the door of our hearts, as he did with Mary. The answer consists in not only prayer, in the Sacred Scriptures, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. It is also important to dialogue with and encounter those who have more experience, for they help us to see better and to choose wisely from the various possibilities. “In your doubts know that you can rely on the Church”, writes the Pope mentioning the many “good priests”, consecrated men and woman, who can give support like older brothers and sisters in the faith.

“Dear young people, do not allow the spark of youth to be extinguished in the darkness of a closed room in which the only window to the outside world is a computer and smartphone. Open wide the doors of your life! May your time and space be filled with meaningful relationships, real people, with whom to share your authentic and concrete experiences of daily life”, is the message’s central invitation.

“Create spaces in our cities and communities to grow, to dream and to look at new horizons!”, is the Pope’s appeal, along with “the courage to disentangle ourselves from the pressure of being shaped by conforming patterns”, for God calls each one of us by name we do not have to earn His closeness and help by presenting a “Curriculum Vitae of excellence.” “WYD is for the courageous!”, concluded Francis, calling upon young people to have courage in the present moment. (M.M.Nicholais)

The Unaccepted Advocacy Precursors.

The tenure of agricultural land is at the core of many disputes and advocacy actions nowadays.

The common lands tenure is foreseen as the only way to counteract land grabbing. Such a common tenure, however, was put aside when Roman law Act introduced the concept of dominium and exploded in our modern times with the Enclosures Act in 19^th Century England.
As Alanna Hartzok writes, “Over several hundred years 4,000 Private Acts of Enclosure were passed covering some 7,000,000 acres. Probably the same sized area was enclosed without application to Parliament. About two thirds involved fields belonging to cottagers while one third involved commons such as woodland and heath. In the census of 1086, more than half the arable land belonged to the villagers. By 1876, only 2,225 people owned half the agricultural land in England and Wales and that 0.6 per cent of population owned 98.5 per cent of it.
As newer agricultural methods and technologies were applied, landowners could raise the rents of their lands by phenomenal amounts. As the cash economy developed, the rent money accumulated into the hands of the landholders and the plight of the people worsened. To survive, they sometimes were forced to borrow money from the handholds at high rates of interest.” (The Earth Belongs to Everyone, 2008, p. 36)
Enclosure was the legal – it does not mean just – process in England of enclosing a number of small landholdings to create one larger farm. Once enclosed, use of the land became restricted to the owner, and it ceased to be common land for communal use. The Enclosures were introduced after the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and marked “the violent direct suppression of the indigenous people of Europe. Between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, masses of peasants were evicted from their holding or saw their common land fenced off for sheep” (ib. p. 31). In the other part of England, Ireland’s story was an anticipation of modern land grabbing, i.e. “of many in the Third World today.
In 1801, Britain made Ireland part of its empire and dissolved the Irish Parliament. By now, the Protestants had the upper hand and were given a voice in the British Parliament while the Catholic majority had none. Heavy taxation was placed on Irish goods, and the British controlled almost all of Ireland’s farmland. Tenant farmers had to give their entire crops to the landlords as rent. When their subsistence potato crops failed from blight, there was nothing to fall back on. Some three million people died of starvation and disease between 1845 and 1849, while one million fled to US and Canada. Ireland’s population of eight million was cut in half. During the famine Ireland exported to England enough grain, cattle, pigs, butter and eggs “To feed the Irish people twice over” (Elisabeth Ward, When Ireland was Europe’s Ethiopia, quoted p. 36).
Nevertheless, this coming reality encountered opposition from advocacy precursor leaders before time. In 17^th century England, there appeared the Diggers who “were sounding a lot like land-rights prophets.” The Diggers were a group of Protestant radicals, sometimes seen as forerunners of modern anarchism, and associated with agrarian socialism. Gerrard Winstanley‘s followers, they were known as True Levellers, because they wanted (by “levelling” land) to reform the existing social order with an agrarian lifestyle based on the ideas of small egalitarian rural communities with economic equality based upon the Book of Acts. Later they became known as Diggers. Gerrard Winstanley, in his “New Law of Righteousness,” clearly saw the forces at play when he said, “The rich, in their enclosure saying ‘this is mine’ and the poor upon the common saying ‘this is ours, the earth and its fruits are common.’ Leave off dominion and lordship one over another for the whole bulk of mankind are but one living earth!”
Even before Diggers, Thomas More (1478-1535), Chancellor of England, “made passionate pleas against the cruel injustices when whole villages were being pulled down to make way for the more profitable industry of sheep farming and families were turned adrift onto the roads to starve. His plan for a better England was based upon a thorough Common Ownership. More was murdered as a martyr. The root meaning of this word martyr is one who remembers and cares.” (Ib. p. 35)
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9) – why then is human kind is so slow to learn from its own history? Maybe because “Human kind cannot bear very much reality” (T.S. Eliot)

How The Stars Were Born.

One day, two friends named Ebopp and Mbaw went off in search of a good site to establish a farm with fine fields of grain
and peanuts. They looked here and they looked there until they
finally found the right place.

They immediately began to fell trees and break up the soil. They worded for two days and two nights without stopping; on the third day they rested. Then at daybreak on the fourth day, they went back to work, and each of them built his own little house. And once again they worked for two days and two nights without a break, and on the third day they rested. But at daybreak on the fourth day, they took up their tools again and built a little temple in the middle of the farm. In two days, the little temple was finished, and on the third day they rested.
So, following the same pattern, barns, kitchens, granaries, and a well arose. When the farm was almost ready, they went to summon their wives who had remained behind in the old village, and they made merry all day to celebrate the fruits of their labour.
With their wives ‘help, they planted the banana seedlings, and sowed the grain and peanuts. It was long, hard work, but finally Ebopp said: “I’m finished and so is my wife.” “I’m finished, too, and so is my wife,” Mbaw echoed. “Now all we have to do is wait for the harvest. May it be a success and may we live in comfort!” concluded Ebopp.
Nevertheless, things did not all go smoothly. One evening, when Ebopp was sitting at the table with his wife, Anwan, with the soup steaming in their bowls, someone knocked at the door. It was a messenger sent by Obassi Osaw, the leader of Anwant village. Panting, the messenger said: “Ebopp, I have to speak to you alone!” So his wife left the room, and the messenger spoke: “Be strong, Ebopp. I bring you word that your sister-in-law is dead.”
Ebopp wept tears of sorrow not only for his sister-in-law; whom he loved very much, but especially for his wife, the dead woman’ sister. Then he sent for his friend Mbaw to get some comfort and advice. “I am sorry for you and for your wife, Ebopp . . . but have you thought about how we are going to bear the costs of the funeral? The farm has just been set up and the harvest is still far off.” “But, dear Mbaw, we must do everything we can, because it is my duty as a relative. How will I be able to look Chief Obassi Osaw in the face again if I don’t at least have a funeral banquet?” “You’re right – said Mbaw – we must do what is required.”
Ebopp thanked his friend and told the messenger, “Go back to Obassi Osaw and tell him that I will come to his village in six days.” Then he said good-bye to his friend, arranging to meet him the next day, and went to break the news to his wife.
It would take too long to describe the woman’s despair at the news of her sister’s death. For the next six days Anwan did not stop crying and grieving for an instant. Nonetheless, the next day the two friends, having scraped together the few pennies in their mutual coffers, went to the city and spent all that they had to arrange the funeral banquet. Then they went back to the farm and figured out where they stood.
“So, – said Ebopp – we’ve spent it all and we still lack the two most important things: The palm wine and the rum for the ceremony. What are we going to do without any money?” “Why don’t you try going back to the city and making the rounds of your relatives and acquaintances? Maybe you can get a loan,” Mbaw advised him.
“I will try,” replied Ebopp, and he began to travel around the city, from this one’s house to that one’ house, asking all his relatives and friends for loans. But with a variety of excuses, they all refused to help him. It was already night time when Ebopp, frustrated, began to retrace his steps. He had just left the city and was slowly walking along the river when, in a fit of depression, he sat down on a rock, rested his chin on his hand, and began to complain. A firefly casually alighted on his knee and Ebopp, seeking some relief began to talk to it as if the pretty little light could actually hear him.
“My dear firefly – he said – if you only knew how cruel the world of man is! When you’re successful, everybody’ your friend; but beware if things change. You lucky animals! You don’t even know what falseness is!” And he carried on in this fashion for quite some time until, to his great astonishment, he heard the firefly answer him: “Ah, in truth, I am very sorry for you!” “Oh river gods! – exclaimed Ebopp. – That’s it. Sorrow has gone to my brain and, as if I didn’t have enough problems, now I’ve also gone crazy. I’m hearing voices!” “What do you mean crazy?” the firefly went on. “It really is me who’s talking! Listen Ebopp, I am the spirit of one of your ancestors, and it has been your great good fortune to meet me.” Ebopp rejoiced greatly at this news, and asked the firefly how he could properly honour her.
“You have an upright and generous heart, Ebopp, – said the firefly -. Even in your distress, you have not forgotten the respect you owe to your ancestors. For this reason, I will give you the help that your fellow men have denied you.”
The firefly’s light dimmed a bit, and she handed Ebopp a sparkling little stone, saying:
“Take this. You will be able to buy all that you need and much, much more with it”. And this is why, from that day forward, only half of the firefly’s body shines (excluding the head, which did not glitter even then).Touched and happy, Ebopp clutched the little stone in his fist and ran to the farm, though not without first trying to thank the luminous little insect. But she had already taken flight. When he got back home, he summoned his wife and friend and showed them the stone. Now their worries were over.
The following day they set off for the village of Obassi Osaw, with each of them carrying a share of the supplies that they had purchased in the city for the banquet. When they reached the entrance to the village, they separated. Anwan ran off to weep at her sister’s grave, while Ebopp and Mbaw went to appear before Obassi and the elders of the tribe. “Have you brought everything necessary for the banquet in honour of your sister-in-law?” they immediately asked.
“I only have the food with me. I will buy everything else I need here in your village,” replied Ebopp. The elders didn’t say anything, but they looked at one another doubtfully. The village, and all the surrounding area, had been stricken by a grievous famine. It was almost impossible to find anything to ear or drink.
“Don’t lose heart, – said Mbaw to his friend – I believe that at the sight of this beautiful little stone, the supplies will spring forth. Better still, try this: Put the stone in a mortar and crush it up really well. You will have more of it and you will be in a position to buy more stuff.”
So Ebopp followed his friend’s advice. He put the stone in a mortar and crushed it until it was reduced to a powder, and he saw that the result was truly extraordinary. Their eyes could scarcely tolerate the brilliant twinkling! Mbaw got his friend a little black sack, and they put the powder inside of it. Together they went off in search of everything else they needed to worthily mark the occasion.
They walked and walked until they found themselves at the edge of town in front of Effion’s fine hut. Effion was one of the richest warriors in the tribe and, therefore, as always happens in times of famine, he also had one of the largest supplies of food. Ebopp said to him: “Sell me the goatskins of wine and the barrels of rum that you have hidden away, and in exchange I will give you something that will make you so rich and powerful that all of your peers will have to bow down before you”.
Effion thought about it for a minute and then replied: “All right. But you will only get half of what you’re asking, since I have to live myself, you know!”
“Agreed, – said Ebopp with a hint of a smile -. Half will be enough for the funeral banquet. But listen: Don’t open up the sack I’m going to give you until I have returned to my farm. And rest assured: When you open it, your fellow citizens will have to bow down before you.”
And so the funeral service and the banquet took place according to custom, and everyone was pleased because absolutely nothing was lacking. When the ceremony was over, the tribal chieftain, Obassi Osaw, went up to Ebopp and thanked him in the name of his people and begged him to stay the night. But Ebopp politely declined the invitation, and with his friend Mbaw and his wife, Anwan, he headed back home.
When they got back to their farm, Ebopp sent a messenger to Effion, the rich big shot, with the following message:” I am back home again, and you can open the sack now”. As soon as he received the message, Effion, despite the fact that it was starting to get dark, summoned all of his fellow citizens by shouting at the top of his lungs: “Come quick! I have something extraordinary to show you.” “Here we are, Effion – an old warrior replied for all of them-. Now show us what you are talking about.” “I have in my possession,” Effion went on, – make you fall on your knees before me, whether you want to or not”.Everybody looked at him with suspicion. But he swiftly took the sack out of his pocket and emptied it at their feet.
They saw a stream of brilliant light and a general ‘ahhh’ of astonishment escaped their throats; but at that instant, a gust of wind blew. The powder flew everywhere – down the streets, onto the roofs, into the trees-covering everything with its sparkle.
Effion was very disappointed even though his fellow citizens did bow down before him. They had all thrown themselves to the ground in an attempt to catch some of the miraculous powder. Only Effion remained standing straight as an arrow, struck dumb with amazement.
The children in particular distinguished themselves in picking up the shiny powder because they were faster and more nimble. Every evening, since during the day it was impossible to see the powder’s twinkling, the children ran about, gradually gathering up those tiny little stars. When they caught them, they put them in a box.
Over the course of a month, the box grew to full that they had trouble closing it. But the wind brought an end to that frenzied chase. One day it blew harder than usual, knocking the box wide open, and scattering the sparkling particles into the air. They flew upward and came to a stop in the vault of the heavens, where until that time there had been nothing but darkness. (A.Ceni)

Folktale from Ekoi people. Cameroon

DR Congo. How Long Can Kabila Resist To The Catholic-Led Mobilization For Democracy ?

Despite the bloody repression of the pro-democracy marches organised by roman catholic organizations and the profanation of churches on the last 31 December, the number of demonstrators was even larger on the 21 following January. And they are increasingly joined by other christians and moslems.

At least 12 people were killed by the police and the military on the 31 December, according to the Catholic Secular Coordination Committee (CLC) during the demonstrations it organised throughout the country on that day. They were calling for the resignation of President Joseph Kabila, whose mandate expired on the 19 December 2016 and for free and fair election before end 2018, without his participation since the constitution does not allow the incumbent to run for a third mandate. According to the U.N., at least six people also died on the following 21 January.

From the start, the authorities were prepared for the clash. On the dawn of the 31 December, the premises of 134 parishes were besieged by the army and police. Five masses were interrupted by the police who used teargases against the faithful. In some of them, the police and the military shot with real bullets on faithful who were praying, holding rosaries and crucifixes. At the end of that day, 88 arrests were reported in Kinshasa and Kananga, including six priests and altar boys. The authorities justified the repression, arguing without providing evidence that the demonstrations were part of a «terrorist plot».

Three weeks later, about a thousand faithful who were praying on their knees, near the Notre Dame du Congo cathedral were shot at by National Legion of Intervention policemen, told SouthWorld a UN source who saw several bodies lying on the ground. In the Bandalungwa populous area of Kinshasa, Kabila’s Republican guards arrested hundred people including priests fromt the St Christophe parish and tore their clerical clothings. The mobilisation was strong as well in the provinces, namely in Kisangani.
One of the keys of the success of the mobilisation is that it came as a new hope after the loss of impetus of earlier protests which had been organised bythe pro-democracy youth movements Lucha and Filimbi.
At the beginning, the regime had been caught by surprise, but then it clamped down on these activists, arresting some and disrupting internet connectivity which was crucial to coordinate the protestors’ movements.
Since the death of its charismatic leader, Etienne Tshisekedi on the 1st February 2017 in Brussels, the political opposition attempts to organize stay away protests were not successful, partly because of its divisions.

The trigger of the mobilization of roman catholic secular organisations such as the CLC, was Kabila’s refusal to abide by the agreement sealed on the 31 December 2016, between his supporters and the political opposition, under the aegis of the Congo’s National Episcopal Conference (CENCO), for a transition to the elections before end 2017. Besides, many Congolese think that if the CLC managed to mobilize huge crowds, it is because the Roman Catholic Church which gathers more than half of the Congolese population, is one the last institution which Congolese do still trust.
Its clinics and schools are much appreciated in a country where public health and education are in shambles. Through its various structures, such as the Justice and Peace Commission, the Church is one of the few entities which still dares to speak against human rights violations, and the plunder of natural resources by transnationals by the complicity of the local elite. In 2011, CENCO with its 3,000 observers on the ground, was instrumental to expose the massive fraud of the presidential and parliament elections.

Elders remember as well that the Roman Catholic Church was the main focus of resistance during Mobutu’s dictatorship. At the beginning of the 1970s Cardinal Joseph Malula opposed Mobutu’s so-called authenticity policies which forced his compatriots to abandon their christian names. In 1990, roman catholic bishops plaid an instrumental role during the transition from the one party state to pluralism. The then bishop of Kisangani, Mgr Laurent Monsengwo Pasinyia, who is now archbishop of Kinshasa and cardinal, chaired the National Sovereign Conference which led the path to democratization. Mobutu’s attempt to stop the momentum by closing the Conference, led to the Christians’ March of the 16 February 1992. which was brutally repressed. by Mobutu’s police. The death toll was estimated at 49 by Médecins Sans Frontières.
Twenty six years later, the mobilisation continues. On the 2 January, Cardinal Monsengwo condemned the «police brutality,” and likened its victims to the martyrs of the country’s independence. “It’s time that truth won out over systematic lies, that mediocre figures stand down and that peace and justice reign in DRC,” he declared. The CLC called for « resistance and perseverance » while every thursday evening, throughout the country, priests ring the bells to demand the respect of the 31 December agreement and Joseph Kabila’s departure.

Other christians are increasingly joining the protests. On the 31 December, members of the protestant and kimbanguist churches could be seen among the demonstrators. On the 20 January, the Congolese Islamic Community leader, cheikh Ali Mwinyi N’Kuu urged the authorities to avoid to repress the roman catholic marches.
But the reaction of the regime has only been to intensify the intimidations of church leaders. On the 31 January, at 5 am, security guards found a suspect military in the premises of the Kinshasa archbishop’s residence. This context prompted the Vatican to appoint the chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission, Mgr Fridolin Ambongo as coadjutor bishop to assist 78 year old Mgr Monsengwo who is particularly targeted by the regime. Priests speak of a climate of fear and intimidations by the ANR state security. On the 4 February a Kinshasa priest was kidnapped then released by unidentified men after the mass. Three days later, the protestant Church of Christ in the Congo released a communiqué expressing concern for Rev François Ekofo’s disappeance since the 4 February. Rev. Ekofo who is the chaplain of the Presidential family, had urged Kabila to step down in a sermon on the 16 January. He was living in clandestinity since that day. There is still a long way to go before the churches manage to lead the flock to the promised of democracy.

François Misser

Visible And Invisible Walls.

In the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis has not ceased to fight against the walls of the world, the result of fear, aggression and selfishness, pointing the finger at those ‘visible and invisible walls’ that break the world into incoherent pieces, a world which, paradoxically, is increasingly globalised.
From the so-called Israeli security barrier that tears the Biblical land of Canaan in two, to the wire fences and barbed wire that mark the frontiers of Europe that is more and more a fortress and less and less a Union; to the wall of humiliation between the USA and Mexico.
It was not by chance that Pope Francis decided to end his pastoral visit in Mexico, in February, 2016, with a Mass celebrated in Ciudad Juárez; a frontier city, the true outskirts of the world where thousands of migrants from Mexico and central America are gathered, all of whom have in their hearts the American dream, a dream of a better life.

Pope Francis systematically contrasts the idea of the wall with its most natural antithesis, the bridge, nemesis by definition of all barriers. Walls are born of fear that, in turn, generates paralysis. He said: “Feeling paralysed, feeling that, in this world, in our cities, in our communities, that there is no longer any room to grow, to dream, to create, to gaze at the horizon, even to live, is one of the greatest evils that can befall us in life. Paralysis makes us lose the will to enjoy an encounter, friendship, the will to dream together and to walk together with others”.
The bridge is the instrument that, built upon the bricks of solidarity between people, is capable of assembling the incoherent fragments of an ever more divided world.

It is the first step in the pursuit of peace. But, as the Pope says: “To make peace requires courage, much more than to make war. We need courage to say yes to the encounter and no to conflict; yes to dialogue and no to violence; yes to negotiation and no to hostility; yes to respect for agreements and no to provocations; yes to sincerity and no to duplicity. For all of this we need courage and great strength of soul”. Then, the Pope continues: “We need the courage of peace, the strength to persevere in dialogue at all costs, and the patience to weave day by day the ever stronger material of respectful and peaceful coexistence”.

There are many local churches that have declared their opposition to the ‘walls’, especially those most affected by this reality, most significantly Mexico. Alfonso G. Miranda Guardiola, General Secretary of the Conference of Bishops of Mexico remarks how the Church “sustains all who search for peace, work and a dignified life. Christianity is a religion of peace created to build bridges, not walls. This is our mission: to suffer with those who suffer, to accompany the human being in whatever condition, without any kind of distinction, embracing all without reserve”, the bishop concludes.
In September 2016, the 193 members of the general Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted a text entitled ‘New York Declaration on refugees and Migrants’, destined to improve the international management of the reception and assistance of persons who migrate for various reasons. On the basis of this declaration, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was charged with proposing a World Pact on Migrants and refugees which should be ready before September 2018. If it is approved, the Pact must guarantee a series of key issues such as the guarantee of human rights of migrants and shared responsibility among nations and between local and state governments.

Meanwhile, the Churches in Latin America have prepared specific documents and concrete guidelines to implement four tasks – to welcome, protect, promote and integrate, indicated by Pope Francis – that give rise to attitudes and initiatives on the part of the Christian communities on behalf of the displaced peoples. This effort is intended to have its impact on international politics.

Chiara Bottazzi and Danilo Feliciangeli

Latin American Elections 2018. A Number Of Unknowns.

The largest Latin American countries go to the polls to elect their presidents. Almost 80% of the Latin American population are eligible to vote.

Elections will be held in Brazil with its 208 million inhabitants, in Mexico at the other end of the continent with 127 million, as well as Colombia (48.65 million) and Venezuela (32 million). These are the largest countries in the region and they will be joined during the year by Paraguay (6.7 million) and Costa Rica (4.8 million). Almost 80% of the Latin American population will elect their respective presidents. If we also take into account the eighty six-year-old Raúl Castro who has announced his retirement from the presidency next April, we are witnessing a truly continental plebiscite. The mid-December 2017 victory of conservative Sebastián Piñera in Chile has confirmed a swing to the right in the region after Mauricio Macri leading the government in Argentina, Michel Temer in Brasil and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in Peru. However, we cannot take for granted that this trend will continue. In Mexico and Brazil, and also in Colombia, the outcome may well be different.

The series of elections will start on 4 February with Costa Rica, a country with a long tradition of democracy – it has not suffered any interruption of democracy or military government since 1948 – holding presidential and parliamentary elections and a possible second presidential round on 1 April. The main candidates are the social democrat Antonio Álvarez Desanti, of the traditional Partido Liberación Nacional (PlN), and the conservative Juan Diego Castro. It is worth noting that Luis Guillermo Solís, the present head of state who has been decidedly progressive, has not succeeded in imposing his own man: Carlos Alvarado Quesada.In Paraguay, presidential elections will be held on 22 April. After the proposal to allow the re-election of the outgoing president was defeated in a bitter contest that took place early last year and saw the outgoing president Horacio Cartes and the former president Fernando Lugo joining forces, the chances are that the election will be marked by a clash between an exponent of the traditional (and conservative) Partido Colorado, and Efraín Alegre, representing the alliance between liberals and the left.

In Colombia where the year 2017 ended with a peace and disarmament agreement with the main guerrilla organisation (negotiations are still taking place with the ELN in Ecuador), the population will go to the polls on three occasions: 11 March for Congress, 27 May and 17 June (a possible second round) for the new president. The confrontation will probably be between conservative Germán Vargas Lleras, the former vice-president to President Juan Manuel Santos who at the moment heads the opinion polls, and Sergio Fajardo. The latter, formerly mayor of Medellin, is supported by a civic movement known for its populist, ecological and progressive types of policy.

At the presidential elections on 1 July in Mexico, the candidate indicated as the favourite both by rumours and opinion polls, is the progressive Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Movement for National regeneration (MORENA). The former mayor of Mexico City, who was a presidential candidate in 2006 and 2012, ought to defeat Ricardo Anaya Cortés, representative of the conservative Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), regardless of the alliances of his political group. “If López Obrador wins, helped, perhaps, by a nationalist reaction to the pretensions of President Donald Trump towards Mexico, the United States may, for the first time in history, have a neighbour who is politically distant, if not hostile”, comments the political analyst Andrés Oppenheimer.
The presidential elections in Brazil on 7 October, possibly in the second round of voting, on 28 of the same month, may well favour the former head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Opinion polls make him the favourite but there are judicial problems and there are still reservations even concerning his candidacy.

On Wednesday 24 January, all three judges at the appeals court in the city of Porto Alegre said Lula had broken the law by accepting special favours over a seafront apartment from a construction company involved in a major corruption scheme. They increased his original sentence from nine-and-a-half years to 12 years and one month in jail. Even though the 72-year-old was sentenced in July 2017 and that conviction has now been upheld, he could remain out of prison for many months if he takes his appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.
In the same month of October, in Venezuela, Maduro will run as will the opposition. Forecasts of the outcome are pointless. Any representative of the Mesa de la unidad democrática (MUD), possibly Henry Ramos Allup, the outgoing president, who has no judicial impediments, on paper, ought to go through to the second round. However, opinion polls have been shown to be unreliable like the democratic assurances of the government in power.

Ecuador and Bolivia – like Uruguay, Peru and Argentina – will not be electing their presidents in 2018, but there will be no shortage of elections or pre-elections also in these countries: Ecuador will decide, with popular consultation, whether to veto the indefinite re-election of the president (thus opening the way for the future return of Rafael Correa).On 4 March, the citizens of El Salvador will go to the polls to renew the legislative and common Assemblies. The FMLN has created different coalitions with other small parties, including those of the right, in order to wrest the victory from ARENA. According to one poll, 73.3% of the citizens have a poor opinion of the situation of the country. The conservatives should have a lead of seven per cent over the governing party. In Peru there will be regional and municipal elections in October while Argentina and Uruguay will be warming up for the 2019 presidential elections.

Alan P. Durante

Europe. The New Interest For Africa?

The German Federal Government did not show much interest in African affairs in the period after World War II and preferred to leave Africa to the French and the English who had much closer connections to their former colonies.

One exception was Horst Köhler. As President of the Republic, he frequently travelled to Africa, brought Africa‘s concerns to the attention of the German public. He will always be remembered for his statement: for a new relationship between Europe and Africa “on equal level”. The government used his rhetoric but did not take up his concerns.

That the German government and the European Union have made some attempts to shape a different relationship with our neighbouring continent, is due to the geopolitical changes since the turn of the century. Now, China is present and active in almost all countries in Africa, and in 2015 invested some 35 Billion Dollars and has surpassed the US as Africa‘s main trading partner. China and other countries from the global South are about to push the ex-colonial powers out of the African market. Europe is trying to save what can from the impending loss of its market place.

Indeed, what makes Africa so attractive for all industrialised nations is its abundance of raw materials, especially those needed for the digital age. One aim of the EU-Africa policy is to assure access to Africa mineral resources. The recent Africa-initiatives follow one common strategy: to attract private capital to invest in development project. Thanks to the loose finance policies of the US, Japan and the EU, the capital market is flooded with money that looks for profitable investment opportunities. At the same time, African countries have a huge need for foreign capital. Adequate infrastructure development alone would require an estimated 100-billion-dollar capital investment every year. The obvious solution is to bring the offer and the demand together with the help of public development agencies.

Thus, the more immediate trigger for the recent interest in Africa is, without doubt, the increasing number of Africans reaching the European Union. What frightens Europeans, in particular, is the rapid population increases in Africa. Africa‘s population is at present about 1.2 billion and could, according to some estimates, increase to over 4 billion in the year 2100. Added to this, is the likelihood that climate change will affect Africa more than any other region in the world and that dryness will make agricultural production impossible in some areas. All these factors are likely to increase migration of people within Africa and towards Europe at a scale that could threaten its political stability. The different initiatives in favour of African development have the intention to kick off economic development with the help of private investment and so increase employment possibilities for young people to keep migration within acceptable limits.

A G20 Project

To give Africa a more prominent place on the international agenda, the German Government used the G20 Summit of 2017, where it held the Chair and could influence the agenda. During the summit in Hamburg in July 2017, the 20 leaders mostly industrialised countries accepted the Compact with Africa (CwA) as a priority programme to push economic development in Africa. The idea had been developed by the German Ministry of Finance whereas the Cooperation and Economic Development had proposed an ambitious Marshall Plan with Africa. In the end, the two were joined to form one master plan. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Marshall Plan and the CwA ?

The Marshall Plan with Africa

The introduction to the Marshall Plan – a new partnership for development and peace says: “ Our aim is an Africa that is both prosperous and at peace, where development benefits all nd is powered by the African people. We want African solutions to African challenges.” The document is rather comprehensive but presents an idealistic vision of a true partnership between Africa and Europe. It has taken up many ideas and proposals of the German and African civil society.

Remarkable is that, it mentions the responsibility of the industrialised nations for some of the problems of the continent, like unfair trade agreements, tax avoidance and arms exports. The main aims and priorities make up the ten theses. (10 starting points for a Marshall Plan with Africa 1. We need a new pact on the future of Europe and Africa 2. Africa needs African solutions 3. Prioritising jobs and opportunities for young people 4. Investment in entrepreneurship 5. Value creation not exploitation 6. Demanding the right political environment and supporting its development 7. Reform partnerships, not a blanket approach 8. Equitable global structures and institutions 9. ODA cannot provide all the answers 10. We will leave no one behind).

The “future contract with Africa” rests on three pillars: economy, trade and employment; peace and security; and democracy and the rule of law. Areas that will receive special attention are: food security and agriculture; sustainability; energy and infrastructure; heath, education and social security. For each area, the document spells out what are the roots problems, what Africa has to do and what Germany and the international community should contribute. The conclusion sums up the key issue: “The most important question that must be answered by the Marshall Plan is: How can 20 million new jobs be created that give young people prospects for their future without destroying the environment.”

Both the analysis of the situation and the action proposals go in the right direction. The title Marshall Plan has earned much criticism especially from Africa and is indeed misleading. The conditions in Europe after the war are very different from those in Africa today and funds involved are not comparable. The invitation to the German civil society to comment on the first draft was very exemplary but why representatives from Africa were not involved in the preparation, remains a mystery.

Compact with Africa

The G20 summit did not focus on the Marshall Plan, but on the Compact with Africa. The word compact means concluding a pact with someone. The G20 countries will conclude a pact with some willing African countries. Up to now, ten countries have applied for it: Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Egypt, Benin and Guinea. Eventually, each one will eventually sign an investment treaty with one of the G20 states.

The responsibility of the African partner is, in cooperation with the international finance institutions, to execute reforms which make the country attractive for investors and propose to potential investors concrete projects in the areas that it considers most important: e.g. infrastructure, energy, water or agriculture. The G20 partners must look for interested investors or companies and provide guarantees that diminish the risks for the investor. In the case of Germany which has chosen Ghana, Tunisia and Ivory Coast as future partners, there is a division of labour within the different ministries. The Ministry of Finance will accompany the reform proposals, the ministry of Development will use the funds foreseen by the Marshall Plan to finance the investment risks and follow up the realisation of the projects.

Critical comments

Often, these initiatives to boost Africa’s economy come clothed as win-win situations. Many civil society organisations in Africa and Europe are rather sceptical. Radical critics doubt whether a programme based on a neo-liberal economic model can bring about sustainable development and fear that it will rather lead to greater social inequality.

A recent study of Südwind comments: “Whereas the Marshall Plan contains elements of a social orientation, the Compact with Africa reads like a neo-liberal catalogue of the usual policies such as privatising state enterprises, abolishing all barriers for foreign investment, deregulating and liberalising trade as well as cutting down government structures…” The suspicion that the aim of these initiatives is not so much about development of Africa but rather promoting German exports. To end poverty and hunger worldwide, which are the first two aims of the SDGs, do not play a significant role in the compact. Church development organisations criticise the absence of clear social and environmental criteria, labour regulations and human rights obligations. The planned projects will most likely be via Private – Public – Partnerships (PPP) channel. Experience in many countries shows that PPPs are not without risks and often turn out to be more expensive.

There are also criticisms from the Africa side. In a common press statement, the organisations AFRODAD and ADIN express their fear that the new initiatives could be a revised version of the disastrous Structural Adjustment Programmes of the 80s and 90s or may function as an appendix to the Economic Partnership Agreements. If they are to succeed, the African civil societies must be carried along at all stages, and the investment projects integrated into existing national, regional and continental development plans, such as the Agenda 2063 of the African Union. Private investment is the new magic formula for development.

The history of private investment in Africa, most of it in the mining sector, so far is indeed sobering. Usually, the companies pocket the lion’s share of profits while a small and often corrupt elite enriches itself by taking the rest. Rarely does the population profit from the large – scale investments whether in mining or agriculture. Too often they are the great losers; they lose the use of their environment. That the credits taken up by the African partner countries to finance the projects, increase their debts, is usually ignored.

Organisations like EURODAT and AFRODAT which specialise on sovereign debt warn since a long time that a new debt crisis is coming. Germany’s partner countries Ghana, Tunisia and Ivory Coast, have all critical levels of indebtedness, which could worsen if they take up new credits. There are other reasons to doubt whether the Compact with Africa can boost the development of the African partner countries. The interest of German and European companies to invest in Africa is so far very limited. Markets in Asia and Latin America offer better and safer chances.

Whether African governments have truly the political will to respect an independent judiciary and to fight corruption effectively, the biggest obstacle to development is still debatable! There have been a dozen similar Africa-Initiatives in the last two decades; none of them has resulted in a break-through. Despite all the legitimate critique, Europe’s new interest in Africa is welcome. European governments have understood more clearly that a new approach in development cooperation with Africa is badly needed to prevent that more countries turn into failed states; more young people join terroristic movements or risk their lived in the attempt to seek a future in other countries. Marshall Plan and Compact with Africa are unfinished attempts to formulate a new development strategy. They need a clear focus on the Agenda 2030 to become effective instruments for Africa’s development.

Fr. Wolfgang Schonecke, MAfr
Netzwerk Afrika Deutschland

In The Shadow Of The Wall.

Twenty nine years have passed since the most famous wall in Europe ceased to divide the German capital in two.
It was 1989 and the imminent entry into the nineties seemed to be the dawn of a new world; the fall of the wall had indeed decreed the unification of Germany together with the crush of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) that would soon crumble to the ground in a myriad of post-communist statelets.
The fall of the Berlin wall brought with it the destruction of geo-political arrangements that hitherto seemed impregnable and set out the premises of Europe and the world of the time, a world that had never before seemed so united.

However, since that time, the number of barriers built by people to separate themselves from other people has increased exponentially. While in 1989 there were fifteen control/defence walls, the number has now increased to over seventy.
According to a study published in 2016 by experts at Quebec University, Elizabeth Vallet, Zoe Barry and Josselyn Guillarmou, when the Berlin wall was knocked down, there were 16 barriers in the world. Today there are 63, involving 67 countries, whether complete or being planned.
Globalisation which ought to have brought about the gradual removal of the remaining barriers has instead been the cause of renewed security fears. One third of the countries of the world today have barriers of one kind or another along their borders. While in the continent of Africa there are twelve, there are two in America, dividing the USA from Mexico and the latter from Guatemala.

As many as 36 walls fragment Asia and the Middle East, most of which are located in the east of the old continent; 14 of these barriers were constructed since 2013, relatively recently. One of the main causes of their construction has to do with the management of immigrants. Following the reopening of the Balkan route during 2015, work began on more barriers than all those constructed in the previous 27 years. They amounted to 17 barriers in all continents, to which we may add the four constructed in 2016.All this amounts to growth in fortification in recent years: since the year 2000, around ten thousand kilometres of cement and barbed wire have segregated lands and affirmed borders. From Hungary to Bulgaria, from the two Koreas to Jordan, from Saudi Arabia to India and Trump’s wall on the Mexican border, countries are locking their doors to keep away migrants and protect themselves from terrorism. Globalisation and wars have brought about the movement of millions of human beings, embittering the terms of collective co-existence and spreading fear and insecurity.

International politics has reacted to the crisis of the new millennium with a reactionary involution, building physical and psychological barriers. In practice, in the imagination of people, these walls are essentially of two kinds: those against migratory movements, conceived to protect sovereign states from invasion by the new ‘Barbarian hordes’, and those barriers raised against hostile people with the purpose of protecting their territory against war and terrorism brought by bordering populations for political, economic or religious reasons. To these examples we may add the appearance of a new sort of barrier, an example of which is that of Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, in June of last year. The mayor of the city proposed the construction of a wall to separate two communities, after seeing the tensions between the inhabitants of the rich residential area of Mamelodi and those of the township (a shanty town without basic amenities) called Mountain View. This wall to separate rich and poor seems all the more absurd since it exists in a country that only in 1994 succeeded in shedding its apartheid skin. It is a reflection of a situation in which the dreams of those who fought against the policies of racial segregation and for equal opportunity for all are shattered by the aridity of a few. It is a situation in which riches, in practical terms, mark the border between ‘us’ and ‘them’, between those who live in one part of the world and those who find it hard to survive in the other.

(CB/DF)

Latin America, A Treasure Called Lithium.

Thursday, 1 February 2018 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

Argentina, Bolivia and Chile boast the world’s largest reserves of lithium. The three countries, however, have taken different approaches to this source of wealth. Australia and Afghanistan have also large deposits of this precious metal.

Experts consider lithium one of the most promising commodities, in fact this is a reactive metal with a high heat capacity and a low atomic mass. It has become a critical component for battery electrolytes and electrodes due to its high electrode potential and high charge- and power-to-weight ratio. Lithium-ion batteries, in particular, have a high energy density and are rechargeable. Demand for this metal in recent years has been driven by proliferation of personal technology, including smart phones and tablets. While this is expected to continue, future demand will be also propelled by the production of electric vehicles.

Lithium demand is expected to nearly triple by 2025, and this will lead to a major boom in lithium mining. Over half of the earth’s identified resources of the mineral are found in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, South America’s ‘lithium triangle’.
The three countries have taken very different approaches to exploiting the ‘white gold’.
Chile is the country with the largest lithium reserve, which is located in the Atacama desert, one of the most arid places in the world and therefore ideal for lithium extraction and storage (the metal is highly flammable and potentially explosive when exposed to water). Atacama is also close to the town of Antofagasta, one of the main industrial ports in the country.

These logistical advantages, along with the Chilean government’s liberal policies and low corruption rates, have made Chile dominate the lithium market for decades. In 2016, 76,000 tons of lithium were produced in the country. In recent times, however, Chile has not been able to meet lithium’s skyrocketing demand. This is due to several factors to which we must also add the regulatory measures in Chile, where this metal is considered as a strategic resource, and the limiting of lithium concessions and the levels of extraction also to protect the ecosystem of the area.

In order to develop local lithium production, the Chilean government has signed an agreement with the US company Albemarle (a premier specialty chemicals’ company and leader in the production of lithium and lithium derivatives). The US company was granted permission to increase its currently authorized lithium brine extraction rate at the company’s facility in the Salar de Atacama in Chile. According to this agreement Albemarle is supposed to sell, at favourable prices, a certain amount of the lithium extracted in the Salar de Atacama to Chilean companies that manufacture lithium-based products.
As far as Argentina is concerned, the country’s lithium production amounted to 30,000 tons in 2016, less than half of the Chilean production, though the country boasts vast lithium deposits which are located mainly in the northern provinces of Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca.

Argentina’s reserves have long been under-exploited as a result of investor worries about the government of Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) followed by that of his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015). Both of the Kirchners leaned heavily on the rhetoric of economic nationalism, which was often translated into restriction policies such as controversial nationalizations (for instance the YPF oil company), import limitations and foreign currency control. The investment climate, however, changed when market-oriented businessman Mauricio Macri was voted into the presidency in 2015. Since then, President Macri has used executive decrees in an effort to increase the amount of foreign direct investment in Argentina, particularly in the extractive industries.

Investors, including those interested in lithium extraction, have responded to Macri’s new policies. In 2016 lithium production increased by 60% compared to that of the previous years. At the same time, a number of major projects involving international companies for the development of new mining sites, including Salar del Chauchari Olaroz, Salar del Rincón and Salar del Hombre Muerto, are being studied and implemented in order to triple lithium production by 2021. But there is still much to do in order to unlock the Argentine market.

Macri’s ability to promote lasting change is blunted by several obstacles such as Argentina’s mining code, which allows individual provinces to determine whether or not their lithium deposits are ‘strategic’, with strategic deposits being off-limits to private investment. The law also allows provinces to enact regulations designed to limit, or even prohibit, extractive ventures within their territory. In addition, the emphasis on production and foreign investment is likely to lead to policies that maximize short-term profit, with the consequence of ‘selling off’ part of its wealth. This is the story of the $280 million lithium mine Lithea which was sold off for only $15 million.

Bolivia has the largest deposits of the three countries of the lithium triangle, which are located in the Salar de Uyuni area, not far from Potosí, and in Salar de Coipasa. Although lithium reserves are estimated to be among the largest, if not the world’s largest, the production of this metal contributes only to a small extent to the country’s economy. In fact, Bolivia was able to sell only 25 tons of the precious metal in 2016. The reason for this limited exploitation is primarily political: in 2010, Bolivian President Evo Morales declared that his government intended to oppose the ‘neocolonialist’ exploitation by foreign multinationals, and to promote, instead, national production.

Inizio moduloLithium deposits along with other strategic resources (primarily hydrocarbons), were therefore nationalized and their exploitation was managed by local companies. Despite good intentions, investment and national technological research have not been up to the challenge, so Bolivian production is now at death’s door, while all development plans of pilot projects are running behind schedule. Furthermore environmental and geopolitical issues make things more difficult, in fact. Unlike its neighbours’ regions, in the Salar de Uyuni, there is the ever present possibility of floods because of the regular heavy rains making the lithium extraction more complicated, while bad relations with Chile prevent Bolivia from using the nearby port of Antofagasta for export.

Recently, the Bolivian government has taken remedial measures by establishing the state-owned firm Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), in order to develop lithium production and marketing and to seek partnerships with foreign investors on the Chilean model. However, the high rate of corruption and legal uncertainty concerning investment and business makes some hesitant to invest and, as a consequence, Bolivia lacks foreign capital and technology of which the country is in great need.
In this white gold race of the 21st century, the three Latin American countries are not the only competitors. In recent years, Australia has attracted a number of foreign investments for its reserves, becoming the world’s second lithium producer and threatening Chilean supremacy.

However, it is worth noting that intense underground exploitation might have a negative impact on the environment and on local communities.
Afghanistan could become the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium’.
Seven years ago, a group of experts from the United States identified untapped mineral deposits in northern Afghanistan.
The previously unknown deposits – including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium – are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world: a prospect that could become the driving force that would make the war continue.

Umberto Guzzardi

Walls Separating Peoples.

Thursday, 1 February 2018 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

Walls are like an infection, made of bricks, nets and barbed wire that prevent the wound of neighbouring peoples from healing. Wounds that separate groups of people or persons would need connecting bridges based upon dialogue and knowing each other.
Nevertheless, the train of barriers breaking up the world, renewing and making visible the fear that is transformed into hatred between peoples, is still very long.
The burdensome legacy of the clash between east and West, between Moslems and Christians in the time of Ottoman domination, is still strong in the memory of the people of Greece, taking the material form of two walls that reaffirm the historical differences between the two enemies: the River Evros in what regards the continent; and above all the divided island of Cyprus, cut in two by the ‘green line’, a demilitarised zone controlled by UN troops which, since 1974, separates the Greek republic of Cyprus from the Turkish republic of Cyprus.

In the European context, there follows the Belfast Peace-Line, built in 1969, that still separates the Catholic and Protestant parts of Belfast; a wall that is emblematic of a low-intensity generations-long civil war that has its roots in religious motivations but has been nourished by eight centuries of social, economic and ethno-national components.
An offshoot of the Cold War, located between the communist and capitalist blocs, we find the barrier of the 38th parallel that, ever since 1948, divides North Korea from South Korea. One of the most enduring barriers is the wall of sand in Morocco which, since 1982, has divided Western Sahara in two and extends for over 2,700 kilometres: its purpose is to defend Morocco from attacks by the Polisario Front of the Saharawi people.

The list goes on, including the Asian walls that have their lowest common denominator in India which has built barriers both with neighbouring Pakistan for control of the rich area of Kashmir and with Bangladesh, 4,000 kilometres long, with the dual purpose of stemming the flow of immigrants and to end Bengal terrorism. Then there are the militarised borders between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, constructed by the Rihad government in 2013 to prevent terrorist infiltration and the drugs trade with Yemen.
Finally, it would seem necessary to present the symbolic case, represented by Israel. Beginning in the year 2000, Israel has literally fenced itself in. Today, Israel is completely surrounded by barriers isolating it both externally, from the bordering nations (Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan) and internally, reaffirming the eternal conflicts of the land of Canaan, as witnessed to by the Jordan and Gaza walls. The political and emotive reasons underlying the progressive watertight Israeli closure are to be seen in the declarations of Premier Netanyahu. In his view, Israel is a “villa in the jungle” surrounded by “wild animals” and the only way to defend the country is to close it in a giant cage. Reinforced concrete, fences and anti-personnel mines. It is a billion-dollar project to “defend Israel from the Middle East as it is today and as it may become in the future”.

Historical Palestine seems more and more to resemble an intricate ball of barbed wire: to the north, the border with Lebanon is sealed as is that with Syria in the Golan Heights. On the border with Egypt there is a barbed wire barrier, five metres high, which runs from Eilat to Rafah, while the wall facing Jordan is motivated by the desire to defend itself against an invasion of Syrian refugees, illegal immigrants and potential terrorists. As stated by Mr. Netanyahu, Israel must not “lose control of its own borders” because “it is a very small country”.
As a result, it is necessary for it to build a new wall and barricade itself within its own ‘confines’.
As for the inside of its territory, hundreds of kilometres of walls separate Tel Aviv from the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territory. Within two years, a wall will be built around Gaza that will run along the 96 kilometres of the border between the Strip and the south of Israel. The wall will be both on the surface and about ten metres underground; it will be made of concrete and equipped with sensors. Israel explains how the barrier will serve the purpose of preventing infiltration from Gaza through tunnels built by the Hamas Islamic movement and other Palestinian organisations.

On the Jordanian front, instead, the construction of a ‘security barrier’ to separate Israeli from Palestinian territory goes back to 2002. With its 730 kilometres of wire and concrete, it winds its way through the quarters of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with 85% within Palestinian territory and only 15% close to the border line. Initially conceived with the intention of separating the Jewish state from Jordan to protect it from possible terrorist attacks, in actual fact, the eight-metre-high cement wall penetrates far beyond the ‘green line’ set out by the United Nations in 1967, creating Palestinian islands inside Israeli territory. For this reason, in 2004 Israel’s wall was condemned as ‘contrary to international law’ by the United Nations Court of Justice.

The Israel-Palestine wall seems more and more like a ‘living’ wall that is implemented in new ways as hostility between the two peoples increases. In fact, another stretch of the wall 42 kilometres long was completed last August; it affects the hills south of Hebron and the south of Jordan at the Tarquimiya checkpoint. According to Israeli media, work on the new stretch began in early 2017 in reprisal for an attack on Tel Aviv, carried out the previous year by Palestinians from the city of Yatta, to the south of Hebron. The 42 kilometres in question were built with cement blocks to a height of six metres, with interspersed towers and cameras.
(CB/DF)

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