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The Bird that Colours the Zambezi River in Red.

Monday, 1 July 2024 8:00

When the flocks of the carmine bee-eater arrive in the Zambezi Valley, at the height of the dry season, the bush is tinged with the red colour of its feathers, brushing the arid colours of the winter landscape
with renewed brilliance.

It is already the middle of September, and the dry season is coming to an end: in the Zambezi Valley everything is parched and arid, and water is scarce in the few remaining pools. Only in the great perennial rivers does it continue to flow and refresh thirsty animals. But in this panorama of scorched and faded colours, suddenly the bush and the banks of the Zambezi River are tinged with red.
This is, in fact, the time in which a wonderful intertropical migratory bird with characteristic carmine plumage arrives in the wooded savannas of northern Zimbabwe to mate and nest, coming from northern South Africa and Mozambique, where it spends the winter – the southern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicoides).

Adult White-fronted Bee-eater (Merops bullockoides)at the Zambezi near Livingstone, Zambia. CC BY-SA 4.0/Hans Hillewaert

It is a graceful bird with colourful plumage and ranges in size from 30 to 38 centimetres. Its dazzling colours are its main characteristic, making it unmistakable: the back and chest of adult specimens are red, as is the forked tail. The head and lower abdomen are instead blue, while a black band runs from the base of the beak to the ear area, creating a characteristic black mask, which probably attenuates the glare of light during hunting.
From a perched position on a branch near the colony, Bee-eaters identify the flying insects they feed on. From there they swoop down, taking flight and chasing their prey in admirable flying acrobatics that their long, thin wings allow them. When the prey is finally captured and held firmly in its beak, the bee-eater returns to the branch it left to consume its meal. If this consists of an insect with a stinger, such as bees or wasps, the bee-eater slams it repeatedly against the branch, with rapid head movements, until the stinger is removed.

Southern carmine bee-eater, Merops nubicoides, Chobe National Park, Botswana. CC BY 2.0/ Derek Keats

When these colourful birds arrive in the Zambezi Valley, their white-fronted bee-eater cousins have just weaned their clutches and abandoned the nests dug in the river banks. Carmines, which live in large colonies, occupy abandoned nests, clean them and prepare for their brood, where the female, after mating, lays two to five eggs.
Both parents take turns in brooding, which lasts about three weeks, and in the subsequent feeding of the chicks. After a month, the young bee-eaters are able to leave the nest and take flight. The chick feeding period is a time of intense hunting for the carmine bee-eaters and the skies above the Zambezi, at this juncture, are brushed with the red plumage of these graceful birds, engaged in their wonderful aerial acrobatics. (Open Photo: Two southern carmine bee eaters in flight. CC BY-SA 3.0/ Uncovery)

Gianni Bauce/Africa

India. The life of the tea pickers.

Monday, 1 July 2024 8:00

Grasping the fresh, light green shoots in her hand, she separates them from the plants and tosses them into the cloth bag tied with a band around her forehead. A gesture that the women of Darjeeling will repeat thousands of times. A life made of sacrifices and suffering.
But the Salesian schools try to give hope to the children
of many tea pickers.

When the siren sounds breaking the silence, the morning fog has already disappeared. Piyari had already prepared breakfast for her children in the dark except for the light of a small lamp. Like every other day, she got up before the others from the bed where the family sleeps together. She fetched water and boiled it on a small wood stove. While her family were still asleep, she swept the yard in front of the cabin, fed the rabbits and washed the clothes. The siren sounded at seven. Time to go to work.
Half an hour earlier the women of the village emerged from their huts and headed towards their work: an endless field of the intense green of the tea that flourishes here. The bushes reach up to the women’s waists while they seem to turn round this way and that almost automatically for hours and hours. They choose and fold the leaves, again and again. Each leaf has “two leaves and a bud,” just as British colonial rulers intended 150 years ago. Piyari stoops, taking the fresh, light green shoot in her hand, separates it from the plant and tosses it into the cloth tied with a ribbon on her forehead. At noon you will have a break of one hour for lunch. It’s not worth going home.

The same gesture over and over again. 123rf

And then she starts again. The same gesture over and over again. Until the heavy sack on her back is filled for the second time that day. It must weigh at least 18 kilograms. To do this she must have stooped over thousands of times. And she will receive a payment of 230 rupees, the equivalent of 2.57 euros. Translated into one kilogram, this is 1.4% of the price for which the precious tea will eventually be sold in Europe.The English used to wonder if the tea from their Indian colony would ever become a viable business. At the time, the noble drink, long reserved for the upper classes, came mainly from China and was subject to a monopoly. To break it, the English even took up arms in the mid-19th century and launched the Opium Wars. They later smuggled tea seeds across the border from China and began experimenting with growing them themselves.
North of their then capital, Calcutta, in the foothills of the Himalayas, conditions seemed ideal for this since tea requires the right combination of enough sunshine, plenty of rain and temperatures between 18 and a maximum of 30 degrees.

Woman picking tea leaves in a tea plantation. 123rf

When the siren sounds again, it is 5 pm and Piyari and her companions drag themselves with their full bags to the collection point where they empty and weigh them. Supervisors note whether each of the women has reached the 40-pound goal. When Piyari returns home it is already dusk. By the light of a candle she prays with her family, she looks at the images of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus and thanks the Lord for the day. Like all the villagers, Piyari’s family belongs to an Indian ethnic minority, many of whom are Catholic. After preparing food for dinner, Piyari chats with her husband for a while before going to bed. He works in a nearby factory. There, the tea leaves are left to wither immediately after harvesting, then rolled and fermented, turning green tea into black tea. This is then followed by sieving, drying and packaging. Then, without delay, it is sent abroad.
India is a major tea power and, after China, the largest producer in the world. Tea, and not coffee, is the most consumed drink globally. Tea is a most lucrative business but a business that leaves little for those who collect it, at least for Piyari and the half-million or so people who toil in tea cultivation in the Indian state of West Bengal. Their wages are low by Indian standards, where, according to studies, pickers’ earnings are the lowest of all occupational groups.

Worker carrying tea leaves in bag at tea plantation. 123rf

Just how bitter is the taste of this fine drink becomes evident as you make your way up a path to the “champagne of tea”, Darjeeling. While Piyari and others work lower down, in an area tea connoisseurs will call Dooars, the picture now changes with terraces perched as high as 2,000 meters above sea level. The only road ascends steeply. Like a soft, green carpet, tea covers the intermediate slopes.
Darjeeling tea is regarded by connoisseurs as the most delicious in the world. Fine in aroma, in the earliest harvest, the legendary “first flush”, “delicate and floral”. Later, when new leaves and shoots appear and the monsoon does its work, it is “strong,” “bitterly nutty,” and “copper-coloured in the cup,” just as connoisseurs of fine wines would say. Only one thing remains the same about Piyari and those who work below: their wages and their suffering.
“It’s a job that slowly wears you out. I have seen it with my mother over the years,” says Nikita, a young 19-year-old student. Like Piyari, her mother will not utter a word of complaint. Many young people are trying to get out so that fate does not repeat itself. And it is their parents who want nothing more than their success. “Otherwise, you get trapped like a frog in a well, as they say in India,” says Father José, a Salesian priest and rector of a nearby school. The Salesian is very concerned at the plight of the pickers. And he continues: “They are exploited and paid starvation wages. Although they work harder than almost anyone else, they live in poor huts, rarely have electricity and often don’t even have a bathroom. And so it is for generations.”

The Salesian school in Sonada. Photo ANS

Nikita attends the Salesian school in Sonada, the last town before Darjeeling. She confesses: “For me, going there was as real as a trip to the moon. Something far away, unimaginable. Such a good reputation, and such a fantastic lineup. How could my parents, who both work on plantations, afford such a thing?” The girl’s path therefore seemed predetermined. Only a few years of public school: reading, writing, a little arithmetic, nothing more. And then, if you’re lucky, you get your mother’s contract with the tea plantation, signed for life. A life already sealed before it even begins.
Thanks to scholarships from the Salesians, Nikita and other friends attend the Salesian school. The young girl dreams of a career far away from exploitation. The fact that something like this is possible was inspired by Father Jose: “Our colleges should be among the best in the Western Himalayas. We pay teachers good salaries, we hire high-calibre people, and we can afford to charge high college fees. The children of the plantation owners come to us. And the children of their collectors also come to us. Through school fees, we can sponsor many students who would otherwise not have a chance in life.”

Landscape of tea plantations.123rf

Away from Sonada lies one of Darjeeling’s 84 tea terraces. Its inhabitants, including those with Nepalese ancestry, are almost all Catholic and have gathered in church to pray. They joyfully welcome Father Tomy, another Salesian into the wooden building. They later praise him for their children, who are making such great progress. They also owe it to Stella and Ronit, students of the Salesian school and children of tea pickers from Darjeeling who regularly make the long journey to the village. “To give something back,” as they say, “because with our scholarships we have been given an incalculable opportunity. We will receive free training that will open completely new doors for us. So, we come here to tutor the children because we know how little they learn in state schools.” The Salesians urge young students to “Grow yourself but don’t leave others behind on your path. Learn on your own and do something for your community. You may go away but never forget Darjeeling when you sip a cup of expensive tea in Kolkata, Delhi or wherever. Because only you know what’s inside your cup.” (Open Photo: Tea picker woman collect leaves at plantation. 123rf)

Christoph Lehermayr/allewelt

African Ports. Competitiveness and Positioning in Global Supply Chains.

Monday, 1 July 2024 8:00

Since colonial times, African ports have been the main gateway to coastal countries and their vast hinterland. We examined the performance, challenges and development prospects of three of the largest ports in sub-Saharan Africa: Lagos in West Africa, Mombasa in East Africa and Durban in South Africa.

In this globalised economy, where ports are gateways for 80% of the world’s trade, Africa’s booming economy needs to accelerate its market access and improve its congested infrastructure to meet the challenge. This is important to stimulate economic growth, diversify economies, help them become globally competitive, create jobs and reduce poverty.
One of the main problems highlighted is that, despite its size, Africa represents only a fraction of the world’s value.
One of the reasons for this is that it still has a lot of beneficiations to do, as its exports are still largely commodity-based (minerals, hydrocarbons, cocoa, palm oil and timber).

Port of Tanger Med. It is the largest port in Morocco and Africa. CC BY-SA 4.0/ NAC

Ports are not only the gateways that provide access to these exported commodities, but they can also provide platforms to transform them and add value to these products.
PwC Africa’s Capital Projects and Infrastructure (CP&I) transport and logistics consultant recently published a report concluding that it is imperative that Africa harnesses the economic potential of its ports and shipping sector if it is to realise its growth ambitions.
Competitiveness and positioning in global supply chains determine Africa’s ability to export, and improving imports supports greater economic resilience. One of the challenges facing African ports is that shipment sizes are smaller than elsewhere, which inevitably increases the unit cost of a shipment. In this context, the lack of infrastructure hampers competitiveness and diversification.
The key challenge is therefore to attract investment and create the right environment for it. PwC argues that governments can significantly improve the investment environment in a number of ways. One is to increase cooperation between countries to create efficient trade flows and to recognize the role of specific ports.

The container terminal at the Port of Djibouti. The multipurpose port of Djibouti connects Europe, the Far East, the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Skilla1st

Accordingly, investments should enhance competitive advantage and avoid white elephant redundancies that can be caused by hub wars leading to overcapacity of infrastructure in competing ports. To attract more infrastructure investment, governments are urged to move towards a landlord ownership model that allows private operators to drive port efficiency by investing in better equipment, logistics processes and systems. For example, streamlining customs processes can reduce container dwell time bottlenecks.
Increased trade volumes and more productive ports are expected to accelerate changes in global shipping routes serving Africa. The current crisis in the Red Sea, caused by Houthi attacks on Israeli-linked ships forcing many ships to divert through the Cape of Good Hope, has suddenly highlighted the global need to invest in African ports to receive ships from around the world for refueling or repairs when needed. Other challenges include reducing maritime insecurity in the Red Sea, the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, and mitigating the effects of more frequent and severe climate events. (François Misser).

The Ten most Important Ports of Africa.

According to the African Union, 38 of the 54 African states are coastal or island states and over 90% of African imports and exports are transported by sea, making the continent a strategic gateway for international trade, currently in crisis due to instability in the Red Sea.

There are around a hundred African ports and they are competing for an ever-larger slice of the global maritime trade pie. The opening of Nigeria’s “revolutionary” billion-dollar deepwater seaport in Lekki in early 2023 reflects an increasingly competitive race for major shipping hubs in Africa. Currently, a number of other major multi-billion-dollar investments are underway in some countries, including South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Angola, Egypt and Senegal. Bird Story Agency is a specialized news agency, designed to support African media. At the end of 2023, it published the ranking of the main African ports, based on the volume they can handle and their efficiency.

Morocco. Tanger Med. It is the largest port in Morocco and Africa. It has an annual handling capacity of 9 million 20-foot containers (TEU, Twenty-foot equivalent unit), exports of 1 million new vehicles and the transit of 7 million passengers and 700 thousand trucks per year. The World Bank and Standard and Poor’s Global Market Intelligence have ranked it sixth globally in terms of port efficiency with infrastructure that surpasses both African and many European ports.

Headquarters of Suez Canal Authority in Port Said. It ranks 15th in the world in terms of performance based on port calls and ships. Photo: Daniel Csörföly

Egypt. Port Said. It is Egypt’s busiest, with a capacity to handle around 5 million tons of 20-foot containers per year. Globally, it ranks 15th in terms of performance based on port calls and ships.

South Africa. Durban. It is the largest and busiest marine terminal in Southern Africa with a container handling capacity of 2.9 million TEUs and the capacity to handle over 600 thousand units of shipped vehicles. Every year more than 5,000 ships dock at the port, generating around 60% of South Africa’s trade revenue. A contract for the modernization and management of the container port was recently signed with Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services Inc.

Nigeria. Leek Deep Sea. This recently expanded port is now Nigeria’s first deep-sea maritime port and one of the largest in West Africa. It can handle 2.7 million 20-foot TEUs and is designed to handle ships with a capacity exceeding 18 thousand TEUs.

South Africa. Ngqura. It is a South African deep-water container port, strategically located within a special economic zone, with a handling capacity of approximately 2 million TEUs. It has the longest breakwater (2.7 km) in South Africa.

Ivory Coast. Abidjan. After adding a second container terminal in December 2022, Ivory Coast’s main port has increased its total container handling capacity to 2.5 million TEUs per year.

Casablanca container port. It is one of the largest artificial ports in the world. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Niels Johannes

Morocco. Casablanca. With a handling capacity of approximately 1.3 million TEUs, it is one of the largest artificial ports in the world. The Moroccan port can handle 21.3 million tons of cargo per year.

Kenya. Mombasa. Considered the main gateway to East Africa for over a century, Kenya’s port has a handling capacity of 1.65 million containers. It consists of four ports: Port Reitz, Old Port, Kilindini and Port Tudor. Its title as “gateway” is increasingly contested in the region by Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Djibouti. Doraleh. The multipurpose port of Djibouti, with a capacity to handle 1.6 million containers per year, connects Europe, the Far East, the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf. The latest 2020 Global Container Port Performance Index from the World Bank and IHS Markit recognized Djibouti as the leading container port in Africa and 61st globally in terms of efficiency. A new railway connects the port with landlocked Ethiopia.

Ghana. Tema. The busiest port in Ghana. It recently added a new terminal that can accommodate ships of up to 22 thousand TEUs, compared to the previous 5 thousand. The new terminal also increases Ghana’s container handling capacity from 800,000 to approximately 3.7 million TEUs per year.

The African Dance. The celebration of the life.

Monday, 1 July 2024 8:00

In traditional Africa, dance is more than entertainment. It is a celebration of life. This is why, watching Africans dance can give a clue of both their core values and main economic activities.
It even gives insight into the geography of their land and
the history of their tribe.

Cattle keepers dance jumping. These are men of the spear; they are fighters by nature since they have to defend themselves and their cattle against raiders and predators. It seems as if they jump as high as possible to detect enemies from afar.
Their women folk imitate the domestic animals by fixing something that looks like an animal tail on their skirts or by raising and extending their hands over their heads. These look like horns. The Karimojong and the Bahima in Uganda perform such dances. Farmers and keepers of goats or sheep carry out fertility dances.

Tanzania. The Maasai. Cattle keepers dance jumping. It seems as if they jump as high as possible to detect enemies from afar. Pixabay

The Bantu and some Nilotics fall under this group. Their dance consists of shaking the waist and the backside. Some of these dances are overtly sexy. They indicate the fertility of people, animals and the land. These dances call for the participation of all. While dancers and the drummers perform, the spectators sing and clap hands. A fisherman’s dance is centred on the chest. You need a good chest to raw loaded boats or canoes without an engine.
Sometimes the imitation of pulling nets is not missing in their dance. This type of dance is sometimes mixed with elements of fertility dances because some fishing communities do agriculture too. People around Lake Kyoga in Uganda and other water bodies dance this way.
Mountain people dance by either stamping hard on the ground or agitating their shoulders. Climbing daily, one has to take a firm grip on the ground and keep bending. These two actions involve especially the feet and the shoulders. Note that mountain people do not carry loads on the head or children on the back; the load is carried on the back and the children on the side, next to the ribs.
The Tswana dance in Southern Africa is a dance of footsteps. This is the dance of hunters. While hunting, especially where one has to run after the animal, it is the legs and the feet that are most active both for the hunter and the hunted; the swifter, the better.

Kenya. Turkana dance. Dancing does not only connect humans to nature, it connects them to the spiritual world too. File swm

People who migrated, fighting their way to the land they now call their own perform war dances. The Bwola of the Acholi in Uganda and the Zulu dance in South Africa are examples of a war dance. Before the creation of multi-tribal countries, such people used to carry out raids on their neighbours. Their survival depended very much on war tactics and the courage of their menfolk. Such dances are warlike and the songs are military. The dancers are grouped in rows.
Rows are lines and lines are joined points with an infinite possibility of continuity. Society lives on despite the presence of the enemies of life. In kingdoms or large chiefdoms, apart from the dances that imitate the main economic activity, there will always be a war dance. Some African dances are cosmic.
The dancers hold tree branches or sticks, put on animal skins and feathers of particular birds and paint themselves with chalk. Whether the dance takes place under the sun or the moon and the stars around a fire, such dances have most of the cosmic elements represented. Nature is called upon to enhance life. Some sicknesses are cured through dances. Therapeutic dances, like the Vimbuza of the Tumbuka in Malawi, are known all over Africa. People dance around the patient in circles until he/she shows signs of recovery. Among the Baganda in Uganda, people get rid of mumps by dancing around the jjirikiti tree!
Funeral dances are common in Africa, especially at the death of prominent elders, chiefs, and kings. This is the celebration of a life well lived and the afterlife of one who is destined to be an ancestor. Africans call upon spirits and divinities while singing and dancing. Therefore, one should not be surprised to see that Africans have introduced dances into Christian liturgy, for African religions are danced-out religions.

Niger. The Bororo. The Gerewol festival. With painted faces, smiling and with their lips painted black, begin the first moves of a ritual dance.File swm

To dance is to celebrate life and life is lived in common. Many African people dance in circular groups. Therefore, those who dance alone are called witches and wizards. The symbolism of unity is very clear here. A circle is a universal symbol of unity and harmony. It also represents birth, survival, and death. In dance, it is a circle of life where every individual should find his or her place.
It has the dynamism of a constant loop pointing to the continuity and perfection to which every human group aspires.
Dancing does not only connect humans to nature, it connects them to the spiritual world too. Dance enables an encounter with the divine and expresses a relationship that already exists. Sometimes, through possession and the phenomenon of masked dancers, the spiritual world joins the social one in dance. The horizontal dimension where people are united among themselves and the vertical one where people are united with the spiritual world make up what we can call the fullness of life. A dancing community is often a healthy community. (Open Photo: Zulu dancers on beach. 123rf)

Edward Kanyike

South Africa. Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu.

Monday, 1 July 2024 8:00

Activists Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu have stopped destructive seismic testing for oil and gas off South Africa’s Eastern Cape, in an area known as the Wild Coast.

Organizing their community, Nonhle and Sinegugu secured their victory by asserting the rights of the local community to protect their marine environment. By halting oil and gas exploration in a particularly biodiverse area, they protected migratory whales, dolphins, and other wildlife from the harmful effects of seismic testing.

The Wild Coast is unusually rich in marine biodiversity due to the Agulhas Current, which churns up nutrients. The area provides habitat for migratory humpback and southern right whales that calve offshore, and is a hub for many endemic and migratory fish species that have been depleted elsewhere in their range. The 360,000-acre Mpondoland marine protected area is a major sanctuary and boon to species survival.

In October 2021, media reported that Shell planned to launch seismic surveys in December off the Wild Coast to prospect for oil and gas reserves below the seabed. The South African government granted the company exploration rights in 2014 and renewed them in 2021. However, the process of conducting seismic surveys to map offshore oil and gas reserves can severely damage marine ecosystems.

The surveys include blasting the seafloor with high-powered sonic air guns that reach 250 decibels. The high-decibel blasts can be heard for miles and directly harm zooplankton, fish eggs and larvae, and, especially, marine mammals, which can suffer hearing loss and disrupted communication, struggle to locate prey during seismic surveys, and may be forced away from foraging and mating habitats. Scientists assert that establishing offshore gas and oil drilling platforms also increases the likelihood of a potentially devastating oil spill along the Wild Coast.

Nonhle Mbuthuma, 46, and Sinegugu Zukulu, 54, are Mpondo people from the Amadiba administrative area of Mpondoland, the traditional territory of the Mpondo people, located within the Wild Coast region. Amadiba is home to about 3,000 families. From 2007 to 2018, Nonhle and Sinegugu worked together on a campaign against a proposed titanium mine along the Amadiba shoreline.

Nonhle is the cofounder and spokesperson for the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), a community-based social movement that formed to fight the proposed mine. Her grandfather was a traditional healer and she learned early on that nature takes care of those who take care of it.

Sinegugu is a program manager for Sustaining the Wild Coast, an NGO that works with Indigenous communities to promote environmental sustainability, and earns income from ecotourism in the Wild Coast.
He grew up understanding that “natural life is intertwined with our lives,” and published a book documenting the traditional medicinal uses of plants by the Mpondo people, highlighting their deep relationship
with the natural world.

In November 2021, Sinegugu learned – via social media – about the imminent seismic testing. Within two weeks, he joined forces with Nonhle and the ACC to organize a meeting of the entire coastal community of Amadiba to decide how to proceed. Because Nonhle and Sinegugu had campaigned successfully against the proposed titanium mine, they were able to mobilize the community quickly and raise awareness about the threats posed by seismic testing.

Shell had consulted some commercial fishermen and predominantly white recreational fishing associations in the region. The company claimed to have consulted traditional Mpondo leaders as well, but none of the coastal communities in Amadiba and elsewhere on the Wild Coast had been consulted nor made aware of the plan.

To build their case, Nonhle and Sinegugu met with Amadiba community members and recorded affidavits of their objections to the seismic testing. Community members stated that, according to their traditional spiritual beliefs, their ancestors live in the sea.

Portals along the Wild Coast allow Mpondo healers and elders to communicate with their ancestors. The Mpondo people have a duty to protect these portals, which would be disturbed by the seismic blasts from Shell’s oil and gas exploration.
As Nonhle notes, there is no distinction between people and nature: “The ocean is a sacred place for us.”

As part of the campaign, Nonhle and Sinegugu organized a seven-kilometre “community walk” along the coast, summoning ancestors to support their legal case. They released videos and media statements urging other coastal communities to join in protest against the proposed seismic survey. In December 2021, the campaign submitted 400 pages of affidavits, including community and expert testimony that Nonhle
and Sinegugu had collected.
On December 28, 2021, the High Court ruled in their favour, mandating an immediate cessation of Shell’s seismic survey operations.

With a stop order in place, Nonhle and Sinegugu lodged a legal challenge to the environmental approval the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy had granted Shell. The duo partnered with Sustaining the Wild Coast, All Rise Law Firm, Greenpeace, Natural Justice, Amnesty International, and fishing communities along the coast to draw more attention to the campaign.
Nonhle organized rallies to assert the community’s right to say no to the offshore oil and gas exploration, and Sinegugu gave media interviews laying out their case. In May 2022, the High Court held hearings to determine the validity of Shell’s exploration permit.

On September 1, 2022, the High Court ruled that Shell’s permission to conduct seismic surveys on the Wild Coast had been granted unlawfully—and the permit was rescinded. The court found that Shell’s consultations with select leaders were inadequate and should have included the entire affected coastal communities. The court further ruled that, when granting approval to Shell, the government had failed to consider the potential harm to local fishermen’s livelihoods, the impact on Mpondo cultural and spiritual rights, and the contribution of gas and oil exploitation to climate change.

Nonhle and Sinegugu’s achievement also brought broader legal recognition of the cultural and spiritual rights of South African Indigenous communities that seek to protect their environments—the first time a successful environmental challenge was made based on ties to customary cultural, spiritual, and economic rights.

Last April, Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu received the Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the “Green Nobel Prize”. (The Goldman Environment Report – Photo Goldman Environmental Prize)

The Red Sea: how fragile global trade is.

Saturday, 1 June 2024 8:00

The threats from the Houthis in the Red Sea persist: the crisis continues to heavily impact global transport and trade, with significant repercussions on the world economy.

Eight months, two naval missions and dozens of missiles later, the crisis in the Red Sea continues. The Houthis continue to threaten the world’s commercial fleet, so much so that last month the traffic of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and methane tankers through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait was down by almost 70% compared to November.

The cost of commercial freight, which exploded in the uncertainty of the first weeks of the crisis, has now settled at a much higher value than in the recent past: transporting a container from Shanghai to Genoa costs over 2.5 times more, and also routes not directly affected by the crisis have seen costs increase by 50% or more. The more time passes, the more it seems that the crisis is destined to last a long time.

Who are the Houthis and why this crisis?
The ongoing trade and transportation crisis in the Red Sea is the consequence of Houthi attacks on commercial ships transiting the region. The term Houthis refers to the Ansar Allah movement, also known as Ansarullah (or from the Arabic “partisans of God”), an armed and political group active in northern Yemen.
Founded in the 1990s, the movement is mainly made up of Zaydis, a minority branch of Shiite Islam.

The Houthis have historically opposed the United States and Israel, intensifying their activities after the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Over the years they became protagonists of an open conflict with the regime of the president and dictator of Yemen from 1990 to 2012, Ali Abdallah Saleh.

In 2015 they took control of important regions of Yemen, leading the country towards civil war. Backed by Iran, the Houthis are fighting against Saleh’s internationally recognized government backed by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

Over the years, there has never been a stable peace despite mediation efforts. With the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the Houthis began missile launches against Israel and systematic attacks against ships off the coast of Yemen, in the Red Sea, in a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians.

What is the economic impact of this crisis?
Europe and the Middle East are the regions that could suffer the greatest impact, for several reasons. Egypt, whose economy depends significantly on revenues from passages through the Suez Canal, is already
suffering heavily.

The Suez Canal is the shortest shipping route between Asia and Europe, with around 12% of global maritime trade passing through it, and represents a key source of foreign exchange earnings for Cairo, contributing $9.4 billion to the national budget in fiscal year 2022/23, approximately 2.3% of the country’s GDP.

According to the government in Cairo, revenues from the management of the Canal have decreased by more than 50% since the outbreak of the crisis. In addition to problems in balancing the accounts, this crisis represents a problem due to the lack of inflow of dollars.

As far as Europe is concerned, the main problems depend on some factors, which are more fully exposed here. In summary, it concerns (1) the risk of seeing the Mediterranean excluded from the main trade routes in favour of the route that passes through the Cape of Good Hope; (2) the increase in transportation costs; (3) the fact that these increases could translate into a more general increase in inflation.

Beyond this particular case, this crisis represents yet another shock for the world economy in a few years, with an impact in particular on the energy and logistics sectors. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, we can record, in succession, the grounding of the Evergiven container ship in the Suez Canal, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza and the Houthi attacks up to the Iranian attack on Israel, all in a growing context of competition between great powers, the USA and China, which leads to the fragmentation of the global economy. Such a scenario requires a strong adaptation of companies to unexpected events and greater regionalization chains of value.

Furthermore, these shocks do not only have a cyclical effect, but risk slowing down growth for a prolonged time. The most significant data, as indicated by the International Monetary Fund, is a decisive increase precisely from the pandemic onwards – compared to the previous three decades – in the volatility of commodity prices (starting with gas,
oil and coal).

However, again according to the International Monetary Fund, the growth prospects for 2024 are improving compared to what was hypothesized six months ago (3.2% against 3%) and remain stable also for 2025. The future, however, is still uncertain and an escalation in the Middle East could cause a negative impact of up to 0.5% on global growth.

What was the international reaction?
Amid the initial uncertainty, at the end of last year, the United States and its Western allies first tried to use regional partners (first and foremost Egypt, the country most involved in the crisis) to try to find a negotiated solution. However, the Houthi leadership has always clearly refused any attempt to moderate its demands, which remain those of an end to the current conflict between Israel and Hamas and the lifting of the
siege by Israeli forces.

The United States waited until the end of December to begin responding in a military manner, first with attacks aimed at the group’s maritime actions (such as the attempted boarding of some commercial ships) and then, at the beginning of January, actively launching the military operation Prosperity Guardian, in which the United Kingdom and 11 other countries participate. Since mid-February, the EU has also launched its own operation, Aspides (“shield” in Greek). The mission, led by Italy and Greece, involves the active participation of Italian, French, German, Greek and Belgian military assets.

Despite the joint efforts of the navies of two dozen countries, however, the operations have not yet succeeded in achieving their goal of restoring freedom of navigation along the strait. Although Houthi attacks have significantly reduced over the last month, commercial companies are still reluctant to resume transit along the Red Sea at full speed. In short, the Houthis only needed to use means that were not excessively expensive to constitute a credible and lasting threat to those operating in the region, putting 12% of world trade at risk. (ISPI) – (123rf)

DR. Congo. New Patriots.

Saturday, 1 June 2024 8:00

Violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has intensified in recent months. With the M23 rebels occupying more and more space and the United Nations mission (MONUSCO) expected to end before 2025, self-defence groups are increasingly
taking centre stage.

They want arms. They don’t care what sort they are, who sells them to them or where they come from, as long as they end up in their hands. They want weapons to wipe out those hiding on the other side of the bush, but also to save their families and protect their land from the war that is spreading in North Kivu province in eastern DRC. They are the Wazalendo (“patriot” in Swahili), a new local defence militia that has been fighting against the M23 guerrillas since the summer of 2023 and is trying to replace the role of the Mai-Mai militias in the area.
There is no age range or “limit” to being a Wazalendo. In the battalions, retired soldiers mix with young farmers, shopkeepers, unemployed men, mechanics, patriots and girls who are approaching adulthood and who avoid the furtive glances of their companions. At road checkpoints, crowded into positions close to the front and playing cards in the rear, dozens of teenagers are integrated into the militia.

The city of Goma with Nyiragongo volcano in the background. CC BY-SA 2.0/MONUSCO Photos

These militiamen are not part of any government military force and collaborate with the regular army. Wazalendo is the nickname given to dozens of armed groups divided into neighbourhoods, villages and cities that come together with the sole purpose of protecting their land. They put aside their differences to face a common enemy. The neighbourhoods and villages threatened by the M23 have organized themselves, armed themselves as much as possible and are fighting.
This is the case of former general Mbokani Kimanuka, who currently commands 2,780 men and 70 women divided into five regiments. Kimanuka was a military man until he retired to take up farming. But when war knocked on his door, he buttoned up his old uniform and recruited the force that today protects Goma on the slopes of the Nyiragongo volcano. The government asked him to use half of his men to prevent the M23 from conquering the volcano since its summit would become the ideal point for the guerrillas to launch the final offensive against the city. The fighting occurs almost daily. It is Intense, with few victims, but equally mourned by everyone.

The Congolese National Armed Forces (FARDC) are reinforcing their positions around Goma. CC BY-SA 2.0/ © MONUSCO/Clara Padovan

Every loss means the death of a fighter, but also that of a neighbour, a childhood friend, or a brother. The former general states that the very essence of Wazalendo lies in this very human aspect: “We have a strong collaborative relationship with civilians. They are the ones who give us food, water, blankets and wood for the fire to keep us warm. We eat because our women come every day to bring food for us to the base.”
He adds that family and friendship ties between the militia and civilians explain part of their effectiveness. “We are in the front line of battle – he says – and we don’t back down. While the military can fall into the abyss of panic during the fighting, a Wazalendo cannot retreat because he has his home behind him and retreating would mean giving up his home.”

Two waterways
The Wazalendo was born from a double necessity: the inability of the Congolese army to face the M23 in the past two years and the inertia of the United Nations mission in the country (MONUSCO) after almost 25 years from its inception and a few months from its departure from the country. The Wazalendo base their actions on Article 41 of the Congolese Constitution, which states that “every citizen has the right to a healthy, satisfying and lasting environment and must defend it.” The country’s legal framework allows the creation of armed militias, provided that their purpose is in line with the interests of the state and that they do not increase national instability.

Population fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebels groups. MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti

As for MONUSCO, Kimanuka expresses his disappointment by saying that he would like “them to leave Congo” and criticizes them saying “The fact is that they did not fight on the front line with us”. He wants the UN out of his country and is happy that the mission will technically end before 2025. As for the M23, the former general cites Rwandans, Ugandans and ‘white mercenaries’ in the ranks of the M23. For him, this is a war that the Congolese must fight without help because the help that comes to them is often counterproductive due to the interests linked to third countries in the riches of the DRC.
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi is aware of the risk of entrusting the security of North Kivu to the militias. One of his promises during the election campaign preceding the December 2023 elections was to ensure the integration of militias into the army and to this end he proposed creating a reserve force. Former general Kimanuka agrees, although he believes that it would be more appropriate for the Wazalendo to be integrated into the army at the end of the conflict, rather than
during the course of it.

Shortage of material
To avoid improper use of weapons, militiamen receive very little military equipment with which to engage in combat. When a Wazalendo prepares for battle, he holds his machete close and a sorcerer applies the gri-gri spell that makes him ‘invisible.’
Only one in four uses an AK-47 instead of a machete. They fight and die, win or lose. When the latter happens, enemies flee and it’s time to desecrate the dead. The militiamen can keep the rings and the few banknotes they find during the looting, but the weapons they seize from the fallen are sent to the military authorities who decide how many the Wazalendo are to keep and how many are to be allocated to the state arsenal. Kimanuka states that “there are very strict rules regarding the movement of weapons, especially to avoid abuse. A Wazalendo who misuses his weapons will be tried by a military court, not a civilian one.”

People on the road from Virunga National Park to the city of Goma. iStock/ guenterguni

The Tshisekedi government’s restriction on the movement of weapons would appear to be a welcome measure, but both the former soldier and other militia members interviewed suggest a sense of frustration on their part. The scarcity of weapons among the militias and the government’s control over them hinders any hint of initiative on the part of the Wazalendo. Their offensive actions are limited to those directed by regular army commanders.
“If it weren’t for us, the M23 would already be in Goma. We are the only possible defence; we are the front line.” This is how the former general responds when questioned about the usefulness of his militiamen. The army almost never participates in actions in rural areas and the bulk of the troops are stationed in the cities, awaiting the final attack, if it comes. The militiamen’s motivation is strong, based on land and family, but Kimanuka believes Kinshasa could offer them incentives to make their actions even more decisive. He asks for adequate pay and equipment. A salary, however symbolic, replacing, to some extent, the jobs that the militiamen left to offer their lives for their country. Starting with boots without holes, rain ponchos, food, machete-sharpening stones and above all weapons. Without them, they cannot win the war.

A dangerous game
The DRC government is playing a dangerous game with the militiamen. On the one hand, looking at previous experiences, it limits the actions of the Wazalendo and reduces the flow of weapons in their direction; on the other hand, precisely for this reason, it arouses frustrations among these militiamen eager to liberate their land, but who see their government containing them, imposing deprivations on them. The gri-gri is ‘very effective’ until it is pierced by a bullet. The machete is useful in close combat, but useless during a forest firefight. And the lack of means translates into victims. Losses turn into tears. And the tears of the militias can evaporate, leaving behind a corrosive salt that repeats the history of the Mai-Mai militias.

The United Nations mission (MONUSCO) is expected to end before 2025. UN Photo/Clara Padovan

It can be establihed that the direct culprit for each of the victims would be the M23 guerrilla who fired the shots, but the Wazalendo is starting to understand that there is also an indirect culprit or a culprit by omission: the government.
The promise to integrate the members of these armed groups did not materialize, but it allowed President Tshisekedi to receive the support of these in the presidential elections that led to his re-election.
Eyewitnesses speak of militiamen, led by commanders who have not had formal military training, who often become protagonists of violence against the very populations they say they want to defend. Furthermore, bloody clashes have been recorded between different factions of the Wazalendo. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kinshasa, recently declared that “Armed groups ultimately become a danger to the population, extorting money from citizens, committing thefts and murders and in the business of illegal trading of minerals extracted from artisanal mines in the area”.

Alfonso Masoliver

The European elections.

Saturday, 1 June 2024 8:00

Upcoming European elections: challenges and prospects for the European Commission. Analysis of the political landscape and industrial strategies in view of the new parliamentary cycle.

Elections for the renewal of the European Parliament will be held on 8 and 9 June, followed by a new European Commission. Outgoing President Ursula Von der Leyen is the official candidate of the relative majority party, the European People’s Party (EPP).

Almost all the other groups have also already expressed preferences, but it is worth underlining that these candidacies are expressed in the context of the “head candidate system” (also known as Spitzenkandidaten, in German) introduced in 2014 to make the election of the President of the European Commission more transparent.

However, these indications are not binding, and an alternative name may emerge, as happened after the 2019 elections when Ursula von der Leyen was chosen by the governments of the 27 and then confirmed by the European Parliament despite her not being a leading candidate.

According to the most recent projections, the composition of the Parliament will be significantly renewed compared to the closing cycle. In fact, right-wing or centre-right parties are expected to gain support and seats, while centre-left and green parties that are accredited could also suffer significant losses.

In the event of a “turn to the right” of the EU, it could potentially pave the way for an exclusively centre-right coalition. However, this is a very remote hypothesis: in the past, coalitions have always hinged on the “grand coalition” agreement between the EPP and the European Socialist Party (PES), to which, in the last decade, the centrist group of ALDE / Renew Europe, aggregated itself.

Whatever the electoral outcome, the new Commission and the new Parliament will have to face increasingly global challenges. Over the last five years, in fact, the EU has witnessed a return to industrial policy to free itself as much as possible from dependence on politically sensitive individual suppliers (Russia and China first and foremost) for the import of critical goods (for the double green and digital transition).

Brussels has thus proposed several packages of measures in a short time: the European Chips Act on semiconductors, the Net Zero Industry Act on strategic green technologies, the Critical Raw Materials Act on critical raw materials and the European Economic Security Strategy.

The underlying principle is the desire to maintain commercial ties with Beijing, while reducing dependence on the import of technologies with strong military or strategic implications, such as advanced semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

However, these intentions clash with the financial capacity available for the different measures. For example, if we really want to achieve the objective of the Chips Act, i.e. to increase Europe’s share of global semiconductor production from 10% to 20% by 2030, it is estimated that the EU would need to invest over 260 billion dollars by the end of the decade: almost six times the amount currently announced by Brussels.

Added to the resources necessary to achieve diversification in critical sectors are the additional defence expenditure hypothesized as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Trump’s doubts about NATO (and, more generally, the role of the United States in Europe). However, these increased expenses will have to take into account the new Stability Pact approved in April 2024, which for many countries with a high debt will limit the space for new investments.

In light of this context, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has commissioned the former Italian Prime Ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta to draw up two reports, respectively on the Future of European Competitiveness and on the Future of the Single Market, which aim to indicate the political agenda
of the next Commission.

The focus of these two documents is on the exhortation to abandon a too-isolated European position and to think of competitiveness not as an internal issue (i.e. competition between member states), but as an economic challenge with global players such as the United States and China – despite the differences between a democracy and an autocracy – which are carrying out massive industrialisation campaigns that put the EU’s economic interests at risk.

Letta, for his part, mentioned the need for European rules on M&A operations, which allow for the creation of true European champions capable of competing in the highly competitive global context just described. (ISPI) – (Photo: Shutterstock/PP Photos)

Mali. Ten years of the Amazons of music.

Saturday, 1 June 2024 8:00

The music of the Amazones d’Afrique, a collective of female musicians started in Mali in 2014, is powerful, blending wide-ranging melodies, pan-African styles, gritty pop and an exuberant stage presence.

It is impossible to stop listening to them, not to be overwhelmed by the pop rhythms, by the electro-futuristic sounds combined with the traditional. But above all, it is impossible to remain indifferent to the message that their music and their voices carry on their continent and throughout the world. They are Les Amazones d’Afrique who celebrate their tenth anniversary this year. A group – or rather a supergroup – that has become an icon of the feminist movement in African music. A fusion of established artists and young talents of the new generation who use this art form to help women gain awareness and fight real social evils: early marriage, female genital mutilation, inequality and gender violence.

The year of birth of this all-female collective is 2014, the place is Bamako, Mali. Here, three Malian music stars and social change activists, Mamani Keïta, Oumou Sangaré and Mariam Doumbia, gave life to the first nucleus of the Amazones.
Since then, the movement has continued to expand to include many other African and diaspora artists. A celebration of culture and identity that passes through mother tongues. The songs, in fact, are a melange of Fon, Ewe, Pidgin, Mande, Lingala, Bambara, Yoruba, and Bede words because this is precisely what expanding means for Les Amazones: speaking to an ever-wider world and at the same time giving freedom of expression to African voices and women.
Yes, for the sake of clarity: the name of the group refers to the Amazons of Dahomey, a female military regiment that operated from the 17th to the 19th century in what is now Benin.
Another interesting thing is that the composition of this supergroup is constantly evolving and so many others have been added to the names of the founders and participants in the project in the early years. All exceptional figures of the West African female musical scene.

In 2015, in Marseille, their first concert and in the first song published – I play the kora which will be included in the first album – their manifesto: I’m your mother/Love me/I’m your sister/Love me/I’m your wife/You do not have the right to beat me/We women, all women/We want to be respected. We remember, among other things, that playing the kora, an instrument native to West Africa, was traditionally denied to women. Then it was the turn of the 2016 concert in the United Kingdom, while their message was now spreading very quickly. A rallying cry
for women’s rights.
In a recent interview on TV5 Monde Fafa Ruffino said: “We are not a movement against men, but our aim is to denounce the violence perpetrated against women and motivate them so that they make mothers, grandmothers and fathers understand that young women are not commodities; let’s talk for example about forced marriages. But another important fight is the one against excisions. We are addressing the young generations, who will have to decide the future. Young people must become aware that it is up to them to take control of their lives.” And again: “Women are strong, they have power, and the power we have is scary. But this is not a revolution, it is an awareness.” Music as a means of empowerment, therefore, as a celebration of female strength. And as a vehicle for change and unity.

Their first album, “République Amazone” (2017), saw the contribution of highly renowned artists, such as the Beninese Angélique Kidjo and the Nigerian singer-songwriter Nneka. In 2020, “Amazones Power” was released, in which the voices of the founder, Mamani Keïta, and the rising star of Mali, Rokia Koné, appear alongside a younger generation of African singers. Musow Danse (2024) is their third album, with electrofuturistic sounds. All published by Real World – a label founded by Peter Gabriel to promote ethnic and world music. (Les Amazones d’Afrique during the recording of their album République Amazone in Bamako, Mali in 2017. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Valerie Marlot – Real World Records

Antonella Sinopoli

Cheetah and the Rock Dassie.

Saturday, 1 June 2024 8:00

The world was a very pleasant place in which to live. All the animals were friends and, although they occasionally had disagreements, they would never think of fighting, or harming each other.

Indeed, there was only one thing to be feared – and that was fire. Not the safe, warm fire that Man kept in his cave and beside which the animals loved to lie, feeling its heat seeping into them during the cold winter nights – but the cruel, all-consuming fire that sometimes occurred when the bushveld was dry and brown.

The fire that sprang up from nowhere, roaring and crackling across the land, destroying everything in its path. When this happened, all the creatures could do was run, never stopping until they had put a wide river between themselves and the flames.

One late afternoon, when most of the animals were dozing, the rhinoceros, who had a very keen sense of smell, raised his head, wondering what had awakened him. Scrambling to his feet he stood with his head in the air, sniffing first this way and then that.

He lumbered across to the sleeping giraffe and nudged him with his horned nose. “Giraffe – he said -, I smell smoke. You are taller than anyone else. Have a look around to see where it is coming from.”

The giraffe spread his long legs wide and at the third attempt rose to his feet. She stretched to his full height and even stood on tip-toe but she could not see above the trees that were all about them.
“I am sorry, Rhino – she said -, I cannot see, but I am sure you are right, I can smell the smoke myself.”

The rhinoceros snorted and trotted over to where the baboons were sleeping, all lying in a big heap together. “Hey, wake up – he called -. Wake up.” The baboons, annoyed at having their rest disturbed, untangled themselves from each other and jumped up, chattering angrily. “Quiet – shouted the rhinoceros, and when there was silence – he said -, Giraffe and I can smell smoke. One of you shin up the tallest tree you can find and see if you can locate a fire.”

At the word ‘fire’ panic broke out among the noisy creatures but one of the young males, with more presence of mind than the others, shinned up a nearby tree and with one hand to his forehead, shielding his eyes from the sun, he looked out over the landscape. He looked to the South, to the West, to the North – and he remained looking to the North, staring for all he was worth.

“It is a fire – he shrieked -, the biggest I have ever seen. Quickly, he slid down the tree. “We must tell all the) other creatures.”

Bounding and hopping across the ground he ran to where he had seen the elephant sleeping. Pulling the huge animal’s trunk, a thing he would never have dared to do had it not been an emergency, he woke him up.

“Elephant – he cried as the big beast opened his eyes -, Elephant, there is a big fire coming from the North. The animals must be warned to run to the river as fast as they can go.”

The elephant was wide awake immediately, and as he always slept standing up he had only to raise his trunk and let out a call that could be heard far away in all directions. Again and again, he trumpeted, and as all the animals hurried to see what was happening the baboon
told them of the fire.

In no time at all the whole area was full of animals crashing and leaping on their way to the river. The larger, faster animals carry the smaller ones on their backs. Fortunately, the river was quite shallow and slow-running and was easy to cross. Secretary Bird stood on the far bank, ticking each animal off on his list as they crossed to safety.

By now, the thick, black smoke was rolling across the river in a dark, choking cloud and all the animals had been accounted for except the little rock dassie. Secretary Bird called the information back to the others. “Oh dear – coughed the lion, his eyes smarting from the smoke -, where can the dassie be? If he does not hurry, he will never escape. Look, the flames have reached the edge of the forest and will
soon be at the river.”

With a hop and a jump, the keen-eyed kite took off from the ground and was soon gliding over the oncoming fire. Suddenly, he swooped down and rose again, wheeling twice in the air before flying back to the others.

“I have seen the dassie – he cried -. He is sitting on the large rock by the forest’s edge and seems too terrified to move. Even now the flames are licking at the foot of the rock. Someone will have to rescue him.”

The animals looked at each other fearfully. They were all frightened of the fire and did not want to risk being caught in a bid to rescue the little rock animal. “Hurry – screamed the kite -, or it will be too late.”

Suddenly, there was a flash of tawny fur, and the cheetah, whose coat was all one colour in those days, ran from the group of frightened animals and, without a word, plunged into the river, bounding through the water until he reached the other bank. Straight towards the fire, he ran, sometimes disappearing from view in the swirling smoke, on and on until he reached the rock where the kite had seen the dassie.

The sparks, jumping ahead of the flames had already reached the area and small fires were burning everywhere. There, on top of the rock, with tears streaming from his eyes stood the poor, terrified, little animal. “Quickly – shouted the brave cheetah -. Jump onto my back. Hurry, there is no time to lose.”

Peering through the smoke, Dassie saw Cheetah and with a mighty leap landed on his back and clung tightly to him. Through the sparks and the flames and the smoke ran Cheetah, running as he had never run before. Just before he reached the river the fire surged forward with a hollow roar and to the watching animals it appeared that he would be caught. But putting on a fantastic burst of speed Cheetah reached the river a split-second before the fire did.

Depositing the little dassie at the feet of the others, the cheetah stood before them, his sides heaving as a result of his noble effort. “Well done, well done – the animals cried -. How fast you ran! No other animal could have run so fast. But look at your beautiful, tawny coat. The sparks have scorched it in hundreds of places. Oh dear, oh dear!”

It was quite true. There were so many scorch marks that his coat looked quite different. Cheetah was quite upset about it at first but in the days that followed, when he saw the animals pointing out the scorch-marks to each other he became proud to possess a coat with such
distinctive markings.

The scorch marks are still there today and anyone who has ever seen Cheetah run will agree that only he could have rescued Dassie on that fateful day.

What the other animals did not notice was that Dassie was also scorched by a large spark! Of course, they were far too busy praising the cheetah, but if ever you are fortunate enough to see the shy rock dassie, you will notice the black mark caused by the spark, right in the middle of his back, the black mark standing out from the brown fur. (Illustration: Pixabay)

Folktale from Lango People. Uganda

Angola. Cristo Rey Seminary. A formation centre of excellence.

Saturday, 1 June 2024 8:00

Since its foundation by the Spiritan Missionaries in 1928, the Cristo Rey Major Seminary of Huambo has trained dozens of bishops, hundreds of priests and many young people who today serve Angolan society. We paid it a visit.

Not far from the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in the centre of Huambo stands the Cristo Rey Major Seminary. We were welcomed by Father Agostinho Ekongo, a professor of Church History. As he shows us around, we are reminded of the importance of the Huambo Seminary for the Church and Angolan society. He tells us: “The history of this training centre is inextricably linked to the Spiritan Missionaries, who arrived for the first time in the territory of present-day Angola in 1866 and who soon discovered the need to train the native clergy for the success of their evangelising mission. In 1921 a minor seminary was opened in the Sambo mission. However, 1928 is the year commemorated as the foundation year of the Major Seminary of Christ the King. The first group of young Angolans began their philosophy studies in the Galangue mission. The centre would then move to Ganda and then to Quipeio, until its definitive transfer to Huambo in 1947.”

Over the years, the Cristo Rey Major Seminary has maintained its prestige as a training centre of excellence.

Seven years earlier, in 1940, a concordat had been signed between Portugal and the Holy See which allowed the creation of three large dioceses in the country, including that of New Lisbon, the name
given to Huambo at the time.
In January 1941, Msgr. Daniel Gomes Junquiera, a Portuguese Spiritan missionary, was consecrated as the first diocesan bishop. According to Fr. Ekongo, “Bishop Junqueira had in his heart the desire to form an Angolan Church and to equip it with indigenous clergy, so during his 30 years of episcopate he consolidated the seminary of Huambo, which trained many priests for the diocese of Huambo and other locations of Angola”.Between the country’s independence in 1975 and the start of the civil war led by the MPLA and UNITA, Cristo Rey Major Seminary continued to play a fundamental role in the training of the Angolan clergy. The Marxist MPLA government expropriated all the seminaries, but, as Professor Ekongo points out, “Inexplicably and fortunately because even today the motivation is not well known, the Huambo seminary was not affected and remained the only one in the country to function throughout the 1980s.”
Initially, philosophy and theology students studied in the same structure, but in 1992, given the increase in the number of students from every corner of the country, it was decided to separate philosophy from theology. With independent management, the two centres share the same name and form a single large structure.

About 256 diocesan seminarians are pursuing their studies.

This year, 256 diocesan seminarians and seminarians from religious congregations, 148 of whom are in philosophy and 107 in theology,
are pursuing their studies.
Over the years, the Cristo Rey Major Seminary has maintained its prestige as a training centre of excellence and continues to welcome seminarians from 12 other Angolan dioceses.
The Angolan church is growing strongly, but the number of priests and religious is still limited in proportion to its needs. Mgr. Zeferino Zeca Martins, a Divine Word missionary who has been Archbishop of Huambo since October 2018, says: “The priority is the training of the clergy because we have 58 parishes and 41 missions and pastoral centres, and we need priests to take care of them adequately. There are currently 130 diocesan priests, 23 of whom are outside Angola for studies. It’s obvious there aren’t enough of them.”The Archdiocese of Huambo, which coincides territorially with the province of the same name, has a population of over four million inhabitants, with 63% Catholics, according to the archbishop’s statistics. Mgr. Zeca adds: “The Christian communities are growing and we are planning to open another four or five parishes, but I have no priests to send them.”

Seminarians in their work after class. The Angolan church is growing strongly, but the number of priests and religious is still limited in proportion to its needs.

The prelate’s words are at the same time a sign of joy but also of regret. The archbishop is convinced that “the specialization studies of priests is important to better serve the faithful”. For this reason, after a few years of pastoral service in the diocese after their time in the seminary, he does not hesitate to send them to Europe, even if they spend a few years away from the diocese. It is a necessary evil because according to Msgr. Zeca, “They must be well prepared to accompany the training of seminarians, hold courses, coordinate the professionalisation of the Caritas service, the diocesan secretariat and the other diocesan offices that we are creating, such as those of Economy and Communication.”
In the Archdiocese of Huambo, there are various congregations. Besides the Spiritan Missionaries, there are Benedictines and Capuchins, Passionists, Dominicans, the Brothers of the Holy Family, and more recently the Salesians.
An important aspect for Msgr. Zeca is the formation of laypeople. The archbishop recognizes that “the formation of lay people is still very lacking and that it is necessary to work on this aspect so that they can take their place in the Church.”

Enrique Bayo
Photos: José Luis Silván Sen

Senegal. Stories of colours and pains.

Saturday, 1 June 2024 8:00

In Saint Louis, in the north of Senegal, boat building is one of the most deeply rooted activities among the population at large.
The bright colours and texture say a lot about their owners, their profession and their goals. Fishermen and migrants share both space
and an uncertain future.

Mamadou is sitting on a wooden bench, looking at his artwork. He gets up, hands smeared with white and red paint and runs a paintbrush along the bottom of one of the boats covered with sketches of the rivers, beaches and sea of Senegal. Although there is still a lot of work of this kind Mamadou is one of the few to practice this craft, and he is fuelled by enthusiasm. “It’s an honour to be a painter. There are no more than ten of us left in this city,” he says proudly.
His family has lived in St Louis for over fifty years. His father was also a boat painter. When he was younger, Mamadou said he wanted to become like his father. “It’s a very common profession in my family; almost all of us did the same thing,” he adds. Despite efforts to continue the family tradition, Mamadou insists that wages are still low. “I would like to continue painting, but I wouldn’t be able to feed myself,” he explains. The young man says that it is usually necessary, first of all, to negotiate the price with the boat builder and, in this tug-of-war, the price does not exceed around 150 euros per boat. “Sometimes it takes up to three weeks to paint an entire boat. It depends on the weather, but also on the paint available,” he says.

To make a boat you need a special wood and it is found more than 400 kilometres away, near the border with Guinea Bissau. 123rf

To make a boat you need a special wood and it is found more than 400 kilometres away, near the border with Guinea Bissau. It is from there that the main material for the boats that Mamadou paints comes: teak wood from the Casamance region, one of the richest in vegetation and
forests in the whole country.
Teak wood, also known as a luxury wood, is so durable that it is in demand by builders in Saint Louis, one of the country’s busiest fishing spots. “Casamance wood can take days or weeks to get here, and when it arrives, not everyone can afford it,” says Sidi, one of the locals surrounding Mamadou’s canoe.

When boats are used to transport migrants, they are usually using old boats that have lost their colour and are restored for that last journey. File swm

After buying the lumber and paint, construction of the canoe begins. On the banks of the port, the noise of the hammers merges with that of the waves. A group of young men fix rusty bolts to one of the precious wooden planks. From bottom to top, stylizing the two ends, bow and stern, they are working on one of the many boats stranded on the beach in this corner of West Africa. The boats may all seem similar but in reality, they are not. The construction or reconditioning processes are different, depending on the intended use of each vessel.
In those used only for fishing, wooden planks are arranged horizontally so that the crew can sit on them. In this case, fishermen go out to sea with brand new boats, with new teak wood and shiny paint. When boats are used to transport migrants, they are usually using old boats that have lost their colour and are restored for that last journey. The owners are looking for boats with deeper hulls, so they can carry more people on one of the deadliest migratory routes in the Atlantic.

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Ibra Niang has lived in Lepe (Huelva, Spain) since 2019. He is a 36-year-old Senegalese migrant who left the country because a physical disability in his leg and the shortage of fish prevented him from working. He was a fisherman and a painter, just like Mamadou. Ibra keeps his artistic talent alive and sells his artwork. On the canvas, on a white wooden easel, there is no shortage of colours. His palette, like Mamadou’s, is stained with red, yellow, green and white, the colours he says are the most popular among Senegalese boatmen. “Red symbolizes spilled blood; yellow is the symbol of gold and success; green is the colour of hope, while white is the light that accompanies us”, he explains. Among the dozens of moored boats one can see some white stars positioned at the highest points. Almost as if to preside over the exit into the sea.
“When there is no star, the owner of the boat wants to highlight the colours of Pan-Africanism. On the other hand, the star highlights the Senegalese flag,” says the artist.

Young people, waiting to go to Europe. File swm

Thousands of miles away, in Saint Louis, boats travel along the canal until they reach the open sea in what becomes a parade of art and colour. The United States flag is wrapped around the bow of a young man’s boat as he sets off alone. Then, amidst applause and laughter, a group of fishermen point to the logo of the Chicago Bulls, Chicago’s professional basketball team. There is not only praise for the United States. Every now and then there is an illustration with allusions to Europe, particularly Spain or France. “Boat owners paint these flags because that’s where they want to travel or where they dream of living in the future,” Niang says.

Fishermen go out to sea with brand new boats, with new teak wood and shiny paint. Photo: Michele Cattani

Niang remembers his crossing to reach Spain: “I didn’t travel on a boat like the ones you see in Senegal. I started my journey in Morocco. In a plastic boat, with no colours”, says Niang. The young man arrived in Spain in 2019, together with 32 other people. His brother welcomed him to the peninsula. Today he dedicates himself to art and exhibits paintings that he sells in Lepe, in the province of Huelva or in different parts of the country. He also does so online using his website. He is one of the lucky ones who managed to cross along one of the deadliest migratory routes and now his dream is coming true. In his village, a few meters from Mamadou, dozens of young people gather on the beach of Ndar Toute. Some of the canoes that sail the Atlantic towards the Canary Islands depart from there, all looking for a better life.
“It’s incredible that on the boats I paint there are so many young people, women and children who want to get to Europe. I will never understand it,” says Mamadou. Last year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 186,000 people arrived by sea in southern Europe – Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta. The data also indicate that more than 2,500 migrants have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean in the same period. (Open Photo: Traditional painted wooden fishing boat. 123rf)

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