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From Rumba to Sapeurs.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

Walking around the neighbourhoods of Lemba or Matete in Kinshasa or Bacongo and Makélékélé in Brazzaville, you are immediately taken by music that instinctively invites you to join in the dancing.

In the evening in the many bars on the outskirts of the two capitals, people move to the rhythm of the rumba. A music that unites people from both sides. “The rumba is our most basic sound and the one with which we identify throughout the world”, declared Antoine Manda Tchebwe, director general of the International Centre of Bantas Civilizations, on the occasion of the international symposium on Congolese rumba which was held in March 2020 at the new Kinshasa Museum. For its part, the Joint Scientific Commission on Rumba, made up of the two Congos, in presenting the candidacy of Rumba to UNESCO as the Intangible Heritage of Humanity, declared in one of its documents that the rumba “is the expression par excellence of our passion for life, of our resilience. A travel and struggle companion in the political history of the two countries, it ended up becoming not only a space for celebration, but also a vector for mobilizing popular consciences”. On 14 December 2021, it was included by UNESCO in the list of the
Immortal Heritage of Humanity.

Saxophonist Julien Balona of Vox Africa in concert. On 14 December 2021 Rumba was included by UNESCO in the list of the Immortal Heritage of Humanity. Photo: Lwanga Kakule

Jeannot Bombenga, 89, a famous author and composer, after singing in Joseph Kabasele’s African Jazz founded the Vox Africa orchestra. Today he is the oldest Congolese musician, with the longest career both in Congo and with Ganga Edo, a musician from Congo-Brazza, who died in June 2020 at the age of 87. On several occasions, he shared the podium in Kinshasa and Brazzaville with Brazzavillian artists such as Edo Nganga, Franklin Boukaka and Célestin Kouka.
For him, the recognition of Congolese rumba as a world heritage is a great event: “It is a great joy for me and for the Congolese people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo. It is the recognition of the work of our Congolese ancestors on both sides of the Atlantic, who were deported as slaves to America and yet managed to preserve their culture”. For Jeannot, Congolese music unites the people of Kinshasa and Brazzaville: “Even if politics sometimes seems to divide us, we are one people, the Congolese people, united by our rumba
and our culture”.

Two sapeurs in the street of Brazzaville. Photo: Marco Simoncelli

Ostentatious clothes
Since the 1920s, members of the Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes, or ‘sapeurs’, adepts of high fashion and extravagant clothing, have gracefully roamed the neighbourhoods of Brazzaville and Kinshasa. This clothing culture has created a following of young people who emulate their mentors. They often dress in ostentatious and expensive clothes, in step with fashion trends.

In Congo-Brazzaville, sapeurs have been elevated to the status of ‘cultural heritage’. Photo: Marco Simoncelli

The paradox is sometimes impressive: it is not uncommon to see these sapeurs strutting around the streets of these capitals with very expensive costumes under an oppressive sun, even when they live in slums and in very precarious housing.
In Congo-Brazzaville, in particular, sapeurs have been elevated to the status of ‘cultural heritage’ by President Denis Sassou Nguesso, allowing them to participate in public cultural events such as the Salon Africain de la Mode et de l’Artisanat. (Open Photo: 123rf) – (L.K.)

Africa. Insecurity and Fear.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

If the current dynamics in the security field continue, and there are no signs of a reversal of the trend, there will be no shortage of crisis in Africa in 2024. Some countries will be particularly concerned, but insecurity will have consequences also in those nations that will be spared by terrorism and coups.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo will remain one of the major hotspots in Africa in 2024, due to the complex security framework of this country. The political leadership will struggle to cope with the rebel groups that operate in various provinces (first of all, North and South Kivu and Ituri), but also the ethnic militias that are spreading in the western zone while, at the same time, countering the moves of neighbour states (especially Rwanda) that interfere in DRC’s internal affairs and support armed groups.The natural riches of the country (gold, coltan, diamonds, copper, oil, etc.) will continue to tempt many who will exploit its instability to spoil it.

The decision to withdraw the UN Mission in DRC (MONUSCO), as by request of Kinshasa, will have dire consequences on the security of the northeastern provinces. File swm

The decision to withdraw the UN Mission in DRC (MONUSCO), as by request of Kinshasa, will have dire consequences on the security of the northeastern provinces (especially in North Kivu) in 2024. Even if it did show relevant flaws in its action, MONUSCO provided valuable military support to the government military and in a framework of rule of law. Their supposed inability pushed the local populations to protest, even violently, against the UN peacekeepers. But at this time, it seems not likely that Congolese troops, even if supported by those friendly countries and regional organizations, will neutralize (or, at least, reduce the lethality of) armed groups. For several years Ethiopia has been trying to become the leading country in the Horn of Africa. It is doing so both militarily (for example, sending troops to stabilize Somalia) and politically and economically.The project of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River is aimed at providing power for Ethiopia but also to neighbouring countries.

For several years Ethiopia has been trying to become the leading country in the Horn of Africa. 123rf

The peace agreement signed with Eritrea in 2018 seemed to open an era of peace and development for Ethiopia, but in 2020 the civil war between Addis Ababa and the Tigray minority political leadership erupted. A ceasefire was reached in November 2022, but the conflict is not over, and minor clashes still occur. Then the conflict in Amhara region erupted and it is ongoing. And the armed groups from the Oromo community must still reach an agreement with the government.
In 2023, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed on several occasions the idea that his country is entitled to have access to the sea. A landlocked country, Ethiopia now uses Djibouti port as the main gateway to import and export goods. But Djibouti is an independent country. Ahmed’s words seem to imply that Ethiopia, by means of politics or by those wars, wants to get its own port.
The Eritrean port of Assab on the Red Sea may be in Ahmed’s mind, since it was part of Ethiopia until Eritrea became independent in 1993. But this desire could bring a new war with Eritrea, a war that could reignite the internal conflicts in Ethiopia. Due to these dynamics, in 2024 Ethiopia will be another major hotspot on the continent.

International players and threats
The African countries will have to cope with various levels of intensity with the terrorist threat. The Sahel is actually a sort of gigantic hotspot due to the extremist threat. This is the area of operation of diverse groups linked to Al Qaeda or to the Islamic State that fight with each other and with security forces.
Attacks will presumably take place in countries such as Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon, but also (even if on a smaller scale) in the northern areas of Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire.On the east coast of Africa, the security forces of countries such as Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique will be confronted by jihadism. But insecurity could also reach areas that are considered as safe.

Jihadists in Mali. File swm

Another threat to security could be posed by coups. In 2023 two military coups took place in western and central Africa, one in Niger and one in Gabon. At this time, the putschists are still in command even if the international community in general and African countries in particular reacted in a hostile manner. Those who succeeded in overthrowing institutions in recent years are in power and this sets a negative example to those who are plotting to chase governments in Africa. Some countries are considered more at risk, due to factors such as an autocratic regime (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo) or the presence of leaders who are contested (such as Chad). But it is possible that that experienced and shrewd chief of state will keep on ruling their countries.
In 2024 Africa as a whole will still be the theatre of a turf war between world powers. China is arguably the major player on the continent, due to its massive economic engagement and its support for the ruling regimes, whoever they are, without strings attached in terms of respect for human rights or the rule of law.
In the last years, Moskow’s influence grew considerably on the continent, mainly at the expense of France. Its difficulties in Ukraine and partial isolation notwithstanding, Moskow in 2023 clearly stated that its involvement in Africa (in countries such as the Central African Republic and Mali) is strategic and therefore it will continue. Western powers do not operate in a coordinated way due to their rivalries and this creates friction. But they (and also players such as Turkey, the Gulf States and India) will still vie for power in Africa.

Andrea Carbonari
Security Analyst

Kinshasa-Brazzaville: Separated Twins.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

The Congo River flows between Kinshasa and Brazzaville. The distance between the two capitals is so small that they seem like a single city. With a common history, they have not grown at the same rate.

At the end of the 19th century, the European powers divided the African continent between them. The Congo region was divided by two colonial powers: France on the north bank of the Congo River and Belgium on the south bank. Though their colonial strategies were different, their urban policies were very similar.

Henry Morton Stanley (L) and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (photo: Paul Nadar)

In 1880, the Italian-French Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, sent from France, founded the city of Brazzaville. In 1881, the Anglo-American Henry Morton Stanley, sent by the Belgian King Leopold II, founded Léopoldville, the current city of Kinshasa, on the left bank,
just opposite Brazzaville.
According to the French historian Thierry Buron, the area was frequented by buffaloes, elephants, and hippos. It was a series of villages inhabited by fishermen in simple thatched mud huts, alongside bamboo huts.
The river marked the border between the Kongo and Teke kingdoms. Exchanges between the inhabitants of the two shores were facilitated by the fact that they spoke the same language, Lingala, and had the same habits and customs.

Segregated at birth
Leopoldville and Brazzaville were built on the principle of social and racial separation between whites and blacks. On the one hand, the European neighbourhoods housed the ruling class. There were factories, trading posts and residences for whites. On the other side, there were the black neighbourhoods, which were villages.
In general, these were floodplains with traditional markets. In Brazzaville, blacks settled in the villages surrounding the white neighbourhood, which the French sociologist Georges Balandier called “the black Brazzavilles”, particularly Poto Poto, Bacongo, and Makélékélé. It was a series of rudimentary villages with no services. They were separated from the white-inhabited ‘city’ by a sort of ‘no man’s land’.

The two closest capitals in the world are separated by just four kilometres of fresh water. File swm

According to Belgian historian Emile Capelle, not all blacks had the right to live in Leopoldville. In fact, to slow down the rural exodus, the Belgian colonists applied severe measures. The arrival and departure of villagers to the city were monitored. Blacks moving to the city had to provide proof of registration, a departure and exit permit, a residence permit, and a work permit. Although racial segregation has been abolished, stratification is visible in both cities, although today skin colour has been replaced by another criterion: wealth.
It is wealth that decides the neighbourhood in which to live.
Currently, in the old white neighbourhood, which is the municipality of Gombe in Kinshasa, and in that of Plateau in Brazzaville, live, with few exceptions, the people who direct the state apparatus, public and private companies and international organizations, the embassies,
and high-income people.

Kinshasa. People say: “Let’s go to the city. When they return home, they say: let’s go back to the village”. File swm

When the inhabitants of municipalities such as Lemba, Matete, Selembao, Bandalungwa, etc. go to La Gombe for work, to shop or for other administrative procedures, they say: “Tokei ville“, “let’s go to the city”. When they return home, they say: “Tozongi ndako” or “Tozongi mboka“. “Let’s go home” or, more simply, “let’s go back to the village”. (Open Photo: A young man sitting on the bank of the Congo River in Kinsuka. Kinshasa. Lwanga Kakule)
L.K.

South Korea. Pots, Rice and ‘the Have-Nots’ of Seoul.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

Left a very poor country after the end of the Second World War, South Korea is today at the forefront on a technological, economic, and social level. However, it exists in a world marked by profound contradictions in which young and old remain on the margins, as Father Vincenzo Bordo says from the capital.

“Here everything is rapidly changing and the Korea that I saw when I arrived in 1990 no longer exists, it is another nation, it is almost unrecognizable”. This is what Father Vincenzo Bordo of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate says from Seoul, in what has become his city for 34 years and where many know him for his work on behalf of the marginalized: from soup kitchens to shelters for children on the street; and from accompanying the sick and lonely to assisting the elderly. It is a world of people in difficulty living in the shadow of one of the most technological, richest, and futuristic cities in Asia; the iconic capital of one of the ten most industrialized nations on the planet.

Fr. Vincenzo has set up a canteen that serves about 500 meals a day. Photo OMI

Father Bordo recounts the incredible “economic development of these decades, accompanied by many social changes. What is noticed less but has the greatest impact is the cultural change, viewed in a positive way when you observe the affirmation of ‘K culture’: songs, films, food, and widespread well-being. But we can also see its negative side if we focus on other data: South Korea is the country with the highest number of suicides and the lowest birth rate; there is a high divorce rate (around 30%) and a very rapid ageing of the population, with elderly people often alone and in marginal conditions. But what is most noticeable is the transition from the culture of ‘we’ to that of ‘I’ “.
The missionary recalls the values that made him fall in love with these people: the ability to sacrifice for the community, for the nation, the devotion, and the popular religious soul – “great values that no longer exist today”. “When I arrived, there was a very strong sense of belonging, everyone was committed and sacrificed for the good of the community. Now what matters is nothing but happiness and personal fulfilment. Korean society is becoming more and more individualistic, closed in on itself, and pays little attention to development in common with others”.

Young people live at a fast pace. Photo: Pixabay

Life in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula is very different from that across the border marked by the famous 38th Parallel, that is, from the North Korea of dictator Kim Jong-Un and his regime. After Japan’s defeat in the Second World War in 1945, the Asian country was divided into a zone of US influence (the Republic of Korea with its capital in Seoul) and a pro-Soviet zone (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with the seat of government in Pyongyang). Since then, families separated by a conventional border have lived in two parallel and very different cultures that have shaped lifestyles and political, economic, and social systems that are much different from each other: one is the capitalist, Western and democratic in the South; in the North, we find the state-based, totalitarian system that holds the record for investments in weapons. After the clashes of the Korean War in 1950, an armistice was signed, but peace was not formalized. A large strip on the border between the two states remained militarized and mined three kilometres deep in the north. Despite everything, however, relations between the parties remained fluctuating, with moments of rapprochement and air alerts in Seoul due to the missiles launched by Pyongyang.

Anna’s House. A non-profit organization that welcomes homeless and marginalized people, lonely elderly people, and street children. Photo OMI

But now few remember the division that occurred almost 70 years ago. “People have other things to worry about, they have forgotten – explains Bordo -. North Korea launches many missiles, sirens are heard, and people have to take refuge in cellars and shelters. But they know that if there was a nuclear attack from the neighbouring country, this would be the first to be wiped out. Even the fact that the post-war armistice between the two Koreas was never completed by a declaration of peace is of no interest to anyone. While we are talking, people are walking about, and the streets are full of youngsters talking on their cell phones and listening to music”.
In Samsung’s Korea we live according to Western standards of life and the youngsters are children of modernity, of a globalized culture that goes beyond states and continents. And in what was a young country, the birth rate has now plummeted, and the population is ageing at a rapid rate. “Now the young people are individualists, capitalists, consumerists – Father Vincenzo continues. – Young people who get married don’t want to have children. They live at a fast pace; contemporary civilization is articulated, complex, and without respite. Anyone who can’t keep up with the pace stays out: solitary and ageing street children, lonely and marginalized people. These are the new forms of poverty in a rich world”.

Seoul. “In Samsung’s Korea we live according to Western standards of life and the youngsters are children of modernity”. Pixabay

Father Vincenzo knows these realities well and has set up an assistance network with six homes for the homeless, and a canteen that offers around 500 meals a day to people who in 70% of cases have only one meal a day. Then there is the “Anna’s House “, a non-profit organization that welcomes homeless and marginalized people, lonely elderly people, and street children. Father Vincenzo explains that “Many marriages end in divorce and the children are entrusted to the father who often finds it difficult to manage the children alone. When he remarries and has children with his new wife, she takes care of her children and neglects the others. Most kids end up on the streets due to family violence. We do a lot of psychological therapy and recovery programs to help them get a diploma so they can work and fit into society. The problem is to help them regain confidence in the adult world. We have a travelling team on a bus. We don’t wait for them to knock on our door, we go out and look for them”. (Open Photo: Seoul. Downtown shopping street. Pixabay)

Miela Fagiolo D’Attilia/PM

Chima Williams. To hold transnational corporations accountable.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

In the aftermath of disastrous oil spills in Nigeria, environmental lawyer Chima Williams worked with two communities to hold
Royal Dutch Shell accountable for the resultant widespread
environmental damage.

On January 29, 2021, the Court of Appeal of the Hague ruled that not only was Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary responsible for the oil spills, but, as a parent company, Royal Dutch Shell also had an obligation to prevent the spills.

This is the first time a Dutch transnational corporation has been held accountable for the violations of its subsidiary in another country, opening Shell to legal action from communities across Nigeria devastated by the company’s disregard for environmental safety.

Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, is the continent’s largest oil producer and the 13th largest oil producer in the world. More than half of the country’s revenue is derived from the oil sector and crude oil comprises 90% of export revenue.

Most of Nigeria’s oil fields are found in the Niger Delta, the 27,000-square-mile region forming Africa’s largest wetland, where the Niger River drains into the Gulf of Guinea. The region’s 30 million residents are mainly small-scale farmers and fishermen, who, not long ago, were able to live sustainably in harmony with their natural environment.

Today, despite the Niger Delta’s oil wealth, the region’s residents face high levels of poverty—some 70% of residents—and must navigate the environmental degradation caused by oil spills, pollution from oil wells, and gas flares on a daily basis.

Each year, about 240,000 barrels of crude oil spill from pipelines and oil wells into the Niger Delta environment, contaminating water supplies, crops, mangrove forests, and fisheries that people depend on for their livelihoods. Moreover, more than two million people live within 2.5 miles of a gas flare, which can produce 10-story flames burning day and night.

Royal Dutch Shell and its subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria (SPDC), operate 50 oil fields and more than 3,700 miles of pipelines in the Niger Delta. Among many oil disasters, in 2004 a leak from Shell’s Trans-Niger pipeline near the community of Goi caught fire, incinerating farmland and mangroves and polluting a nearby lake.

In 2005, a pipeline leak near Oruma polluted the land and drinking water for 12 days before SPDC contained the spill. Shell claimed that the two spills were the result of sabotage by armed gangs, but in 2008 an oil company executive revealed that 73% of pipelines in Nigeria were corroded and needed replacement, and that many were more than a decade overdue for replacement—exposing a disturbing
and preventable trend.

Chima Williams joined the Nigerian environmental movement in the 1990s as a student volunteer for Environmental Rights Action (ERA), an NGO founded in 1993 that advocates for environmental rights in Nigeria. In 1998, Chima founded the Students Environmental Assembly Nigeria, the first-ever student-run environmental justice group in the country. Now the executive director of ERA (ERA/Friends of the Earth Nigeria), he serves as an environmental lawyer prosecuting transnational corporations on environmental pollution cases in Nigeria.

Chima learned of the Goi and Oruma oil spills through his work with other Niger Delta communities and, deeply concerned about the environmental devastation, he worked with affected residents on options for remediation and prevention.

Chima knew that it was difficult to hold oil companies accountable in the Nigerian court system – corporations were often able to delay legal proceedings indefinitely and government authorities were sometimes vulnerable to corruption – and, even with positive judgments, enforcement is a herculean task. In this case, Shell used its subsidiary, SPDC, to insulate itself from liability, claiming that it had no responsibility for oil spills in Nigeria because SPDC is the operator. Previous attempts to hold multinationals accountable for their Nigerian operations in their home countries had failed.

After many community meetings, workshops, and surveys of the pipelines and oil spill damage, Chima and the communities of Goi and Oruma decided together to pursue legal remedies against Royal Dutch Shell and SPDC in the Netherlands.

In 2008, partnering with Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Chima helped the victims sue both entities on behalf of Goi and Oruma farmers and fishermen, seeking payment for lost income due to contaminated land and waterways, and demanded that the companies improve
pipeline maintenance.

In 2013, the District Court of the Hague ruled that Royal Dutch Shell could not be held liable for SPDC’s actions. Chima helped the communities appeal the ruling. As they awaited their next hearing, in 2014 Chima and his legal team gained access to internal Shell documents that revealed that Royal Dutch Shell knew that the Goi pipeline was poorly maintained and needed replacement and executives had lied about it in court.

In 2015, the Court of Appeal of the Hague overturned the previous ruling, finding that Royal Dutch Shell can in fact be sued for its activities in Nigeria. Finally, in 2020, after numerous stalling tactics by Royal Dutch Shell’s lawyers, the case against the company was heard in court.

On January 29, 2021, the Court of Appeal of the Hague ruled that Royal Dutch Shell ultimately has oversight and control over SPDC’s operations to the point that it has a duty to prevent oil spills. The ruling means that Goi and Oruma farmers are owed compensation for the oil spills, with amounts yet to be determined. Shell was held accountable for failing to install a leak detection system on the Oruma pipeline standard practice in oil pipeline operations in Western nations.

Chima also supported a third community – Ikot Ada Udo – with a related lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell, but the case is still pending.

The Court’s ruling has ramifications for communities across the Niger Delta because Shell is responsible for approximately 50% of the region’s oil production. This landmark decision paves the way for other communities affected by oil spills to sue Royal Dutch Shell for environmental destruction caused by its operations. Previously, Shell had settled out of court and provided compensation, but this is the first time that it has been held accountable in Dutch court.

In 2022, Chima received the Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the “Green Nobel Prize”, for his role in helping the Goi and Oruma communities of the oil-rich Niger Delta region get justice. (The Goldman Environment Report – Photo Goldman Environmental Prize).

Africa. Political forecast 2024.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

The ongoing jihadist expansion in the Sahel region and attempts to stop it, the aftermath of the general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the projected decline of the ANC in the South African polls, are the main trends expected for this year.

In 2024, the main concern in West Africa will be whether the member countries of the G5 Sahel block will be able to stop the ongoing dramatic jihadist expansion. According to a UN report leaked in August 2023, the size of the areas controlled by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) has doubled within a year, while the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam al-Muslimin (JNIM), a coalition of four Al Qaida linked groups is also gaining influence. Two Gulf of Guinea countries, Togo and Benin, are particularly worried. Since 2021, they have become increasingly under the threat of jihadist incursions after the collapse of the government control over most of neighbouring Burkina-Faso.

Jihadists in the Sahel. File swm

It is difficult to predict in such context, whether the presidential election can take place as promised in Mali this year. The government doesn’t control half of the national territory. And the junta announced in September 2023 that the election, scheduled for February 2024 would be postponed, owing to a dispute with the French company that managed the voters’ data register.
Meanwhile, in Mauritania, pundits predict a comfortable victory for the incumbent, 66-year-old General Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani who, is running for a second mandate at the next presidential election scheduled for June 2024.
The candidate of the anti-slavery movement, Biram Dah Abeid who is also running, is unlikely to defeat the head of state.

Senegalese voters queueing in Grand Yoff (Dakar) for the presidential election in 2019. VOA / Seydina Aba Gueye

In Senegal, where the incumbent Macky Sall has decided not to run again for the presidential election scheduled for February 2024, the paradox is that the most popular politician, 49-year-old Ousmane Sonko has not been allowed to participate in the race. In June, a court sentenced him to two years in jail for allegedly “corrupting youth” prompting Sonko’s supporters to claim that the accusation is a plot staged by the Sall regime to prevent him from running.
On 11 October, a judge of the Southern city of Ziguinchor ruled that Sonko who has been jailed since July 2023 should be allowed to be part of the 30 candidates who are campaigning. But President Sall’s lawyers have appealed the decision in front of the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Interior has refused to allow Sonko to register as a candidate on 31 October. Sixty-year-old Prime Minister, Amadou Ba was appointed by Sall as the candidate of his Benno Bokk Yakaar party last September. But his chances are eroded by the decision from the Minister of Agriculture, Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, to run anyway.

John Dramani Mahama. CC BY 2.0/ Chatham House

In Ghana, the outcome of the forthcoming presidential election on the next 7 December, seems undecided. The main opposition party the National Democratic Congress (NDC) picked former President John Mahama as the presidential candidate in May 2023 while Vice-President Mahumudu Bawumia seems the most likely to be on the ticket of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). Both parties are neck and neck. Both have an equal number of MPs in the parliament. And both have given cash and other inducements during by-elections to buy the people’s vote. Yet, the NPP is facing apathy among its base as the government is faced with waning support because of the disenchantment of the citizens caused by its lack of success in front of the economic crisis. The NPP has also been weakened by the decision Ghana’s former trade minister Alan Kyeremanten to resign from the party and run as an independent candidate.
Chad should organize as well general election by November 2024, according to the promises of Interim’s President Mahamat Idriss Deby who declared in October 2023 that political parties should prepare
for free elections.

Chad’s military leader, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno. File swm

Deby who was named head of an 18-month transitional council in April 2021, has been declared eligible to run for the presidency by the Inclusive and Sovereign National Dialogue. According to Chadian political scientist Tama Ahamat, the fragmented opposition will find it difficult to beat Deby because of its divisions.
In Eastern Africa, the Somaliland Electoral Commission announced last July that the presidential election of this self-proclaimed republic will take place in November 2024. The issue is to put an end to the crisis created by the postponement of this election which should have taken place after the expiration of President Muse Bihi Abdi’s term in November 2022. The delay has threatened political gains won by Somaliland, which since its unilateral independence in 1991, has enjoyed relative peace in the Horn of Africa. In 2022, reluctance from the incumbent President to organize the polls led to anti-government demonstrations in several cities.
Thirteen years after the independence referendum in 2011, Southern Sudan expects to hold its first elections in December 2024. Some citizens fear that the campaign might be violent, that elections could be held without sufficient preparations, or that the transitional period could be extended again. Surveys show however that a majority of South Sudanese are opposed to any further delays to elections.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. CC BY 3.0/Hildenbrand /MSC

In Rwanda, everyone expects President Paul Kagame to be reelected for a fourth term in August since the Rwandan opposition has a narrow margin of maneuver and not much to offer in a country which is one of the most stable in Africa despite complaints from rights groups about an alleged climate of fear. Kagame announced in September 2023 his intention to run again without causing much surprise since controversial constitutional amendments in 2015 allowed him to run for more terms and stay in power until 2034.

In South Africa, for the first time since the end of the apartheid, the ruling African National Congress is expected to score below 50% and might not retain a majority in the parliament. File swm

In South Africa, for the first time since the end of the apartheid, the ruling African National Congress is expected to score below 50% and might not retain a majority in the parliament after the general elections in May 2024. The rival Multi-Party Charter (MPC) coalition led by the opposition Democratic Alliance which gathers six other parties including the Zulu-based Inkhata Freedom Party, FF Plus, ActionSA and ACDP, is a serious challenger. Should the MPC win, the consequences could be enormous including at the global level, since unlike the ANC-led government, the DA has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has expressed its concern about the recent admission of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the BRICS. This scenario, however, could be averted if the ANC forms a coalition with Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters. The EFF portrays itself as the true custodian of the values of the ANC and as an anti-capitalist party which pushes for land reform and scares the white farmers. Joblessness, crime, and intensifying corruption coupled with the deterioration of public infrastructure, such as the supply of electricity and the decline of the quality of public services have given the opposition a platform to challenge the ANC’s dominance.
The most likely scenario is that the ANC would remain the first party while Ramaphosa looks as his probable own successor but it still remains to be seen if it will need the EFF support in the parliament and in the government to remain in power.
In Botswana, the opposition is hoping to defeat the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), led by Mokgweetsi Masisi, which has remained in power since independence in 1966 but is now faced with accusations of corruption. The opposition is encouraged by its success in 2022 when the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) coalition won by-elections. The opposition is expected to make gains at the November general elections but President Hage Geingob’s successor, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is likely to become the first female President.

Mozambique. An internally displaced family in a camp in the district of Metuge, in the province of Cabo Delgado. File swm

In Mozambique, President Felipe Nyusi’s ruling FRELIMO party is expected to secure victory at the October 2024 general election. But social unrest could follow the election due to Nyusi’s pursuit of a controversial third presidential term. Analysts do not rule out the possibility of a rise in violence caused by the armed wing of the major opposition party, RENAMO. It is also uncertain that elections will take place in the Northern Cabo Delgado province owing to the ongoing violence perpetrated by the jihadist insurrection.
In Comoros, the first round of the presidential elections will be held on January 14, with the incumbent head of state and current president of the African Union, Azali Assoumani, standing for re-election. A second round is scheduled for February 25 but the division of the opposition which denounced a ballot “played out in advance” and “another electoral farce”, and threatened to boycott the election, makes it unlikely. Opponents have little space to campaign anyway. Since he took power in 1999, after the coup, Azali Assoumani has jailed many opponents.
General elections are due to be held in Mauritius by the end of 2024 or at the latest, by mid-2025. For the first time in the history of the Republic, the opposition is united behind the 76-year-old former PM Navin Rangoolam, leader of the Labour Party allied with Paul Béranger’s Mauritian Militant Movement and Xavier Duval’s Social-Democratic party. The opposition coalition hopes to defeat the ruling Militant Socialist Movement whose leader, the current Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth is accused of corruption and power abuses by his rivals. (Open Photo: Pixabay)

François Misser
African Affairs Analyst

Chad. Koupor. Mission of Hope.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

In a remote corner of Chad, three missionaries of the Immaculate Conception give a simple Christian testimony.
Walking alongside people.

Hilda, Shephali, and Irene are three Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception present in Koupor, in the south-west of Chad, on the border with Cameroon, where they arrived in February 2019.
In the past, there had been some Burundian sisters, but none had been there for five years. “They gave us a big party when we arrived!”, they remember. Even though no one knew them, and most people aren’t even Christians. Yet these three nuns, with their great simplicity and unbelievably poor means, manage to make people experience, through small gestures, a sense of respect and care for the people with whom they share their lives.

Everything is lacking: roads, water, schools, health centres… File swm

Just being there is a great sign because in Koupor, as well as in the surrounding villages, there is nothing and no one. There are no state works of any kind and no NGOs. Everything is lacking: roads, water, schools, health centres… People live in extreme poverty and are increasingly at the mercy of a changeable climate, balanced between terrible droughts and devastating floods. Either there is no water or there is too much.
Now is the time of the floods, but until a few weeks ago the savannah was scorched by temperatures above 50 degrees, and water and millet – the basic element of nutrition – had become very rare commodities.
In the rainy season, however, when the earth appears wrinkled and furrowed by deep cracks, real lakes are created that further accentuate the isolation of this village and the entire area. Even the missionaries, who normally travel by bicycle or motorbike on sandy paths, must use the canoe to travel over these expanses of water that are increasingly associated with devastating climatic events that cause destruction and displacement of people.
It is a land of extremes in which these three nuns from different countries, generations and experiences live their mission, and today find themselves sharing the joy of bearing witness to the Gospel in this part of the world also through gestures of closeness and charity.

Sr. Shephali. Her main commitment is to the group of girls. Photo: A. Pozzi

Sister Hilda, from India, is a veteran of the group. She has 36 years of experience in Cameroon, first in the South in Ambam, and then in the Far North. “When I arrived, it was a very poor and abandoned region, but I saw great changes. Here, however, there is nothing”.
This mission in Koupor is a constant challenge. Not only due to the climate but especially due to the backwardness of the place. Even the simplest things become complicated. She experiences this every day in the dispensary they renovated. Everything is very basic but clean and tidy: there is even a small laboratory, solar panels, and a water pump. “But there are no medicines”, Sister Hilda says, showing us the almost empty warehouse. “The government doesn’t give anything except vaccines and it’s not easy to get them because transportation is extremely difficult. Normally we get them from Caritas which also pays the salaries of the staff”.
There are currently two nurses and a midwife. But the patients are very few as are the women who come to give birth – five in the last month. Almost all of them continue to have their babies at home and go to the dispensary only in case of complications, sometimes making difficult journeys by motorbike or on the back of a donkey.
Nurse Valentin shows us the register of visits: fewer than three thousand patients a year, an average of nine a day. “People don’t come to the dispensary because often they don’t even have the few pennies needed to pay for medical tests or medicine, but also because they don’t even know that they can get treatment here. This is why we are doing a lot of awareness work and vaccination campaigns in the villages”, explains Sister Hilda. “But it’s a question of mentality. People often don’t understand the importance of going to the dispensary or even of sending children to school”.

A mother with her child. Almost all women continue to have their babies at home. They only go to the dispensary if there are complications. File swm

The other two nuns who dedicate themselves to the education of girls and to pastoral care, as well as to mission schools, also experience this. Sister Shephali has just returned from Bangladesh, where she went on holiday after a long-forced absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She also has 17 years of experience in Cameroon behind her. Then she got back into work in Koupor, just across the border in a similar territory and with similar people, but with very different challenges. Her main commitment is with the group of girls in the cutting and sewing course which also becomes an opportunity for broader training, also carried out in extra-curricular moments in a small house within the mission.
“The course is spread over three years. The first two are attended by about fifteen girls each. The third only from the best”, explains Sister Shephali, while she tries to start the lesson with girls who arrive late, some children crying and others running away. “It is not easy to give continuity to this course, because they themselves live in precariousness. Some start and then stop coming, others get married, and others have children. There is one now who comes with her child”. Everything must be managed with a lot of patience and determination.

Sister Irene is in charge of pastoral activities, catechesis for children and young people. Photo: A. Pozzi

Sister Shephali knows well that for these girls it is a unique opportunity not only to learn a trade and contribute to their families’ meagre finances, but also to have a minimum amount of training. She adds “Many of them are illiterate and so, in addition to cutting and sewing courses, we do some literacy, French language, hygiene and cooking courses, and what is called ‘Eva’ here: education in life and love”.
Unfortunately, in these areas, girls are often excluded from the education system, which in Chad is very precarious. The mission is building several schools or replacing classrooms made of millet stalks and straw with brick buildings. But then there is a lack of qualified teachers and those who exist are not paid. The Koupor school – the first in the entire area, founded by Oblate missionaries – and the surrounding ones all belong to the community. That is, they are managed by a committee of families who have to pay all the expenses, including salaries. In Koupor, where there are 230 students, the staff is complete and usually manages to keep to the schedule. But this is an exception. The mission also provides most of the books, but there are not always enough for all the teachers. For this reason, there is also a small library that is managed by some volunteers, together with Sister Irene.

The father with his two sons sitting outside the home. File swm

Originally from Papua New Guinea, Sister Irene is the youngest of the group. Before arriving in Chad, she spent a few years in Italy and seven months in Cameroon. She now takes care of pastoral activities, and the catechesis of children and young people. She reflects “Koupor is a very isolated and closed context, in every sense, which develops very slowly. We continually experience this by going to the villages for pastoral work. What we do is first of all is to give support to the catechists who carry out the bulk of the work and we verify the progress made by the Christian communities. The people are always welcoming, even if they often have nothing”.
The children, then, are always very much enjoying themselves. Above all, it is their voices that fill the silence of the evening, when darkness descends and envelops everything. A single faint light, that of the mission chapel, illuminates the darkness and is soon filled with songs and prayers. The parish priest and the three missionaries of the Immaculate lead a small procession of children, women and young people who gather in this circular building, similar to the local homes. The sound of the tom-tom gives rhythm to the songs. And prayer gives meaning to the day. It is a precious moment of thanks, trust, and hope in the flow of lives marked by precariousness. (Open Photo: Sister Hilda has worked in Africa for 36 years. A.Pozzi)
Anna Pozzi/MM

Nicaragua. El Güegüense. A People’s Resistance.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

A Nicaraguan mask play that defies the arrogance of the powerful with style and creativity. An extraordinary portrait of non-violent resistance. It is an essential part of Nicaraguan culture.

The January wind cuts a path through the peaceful town of Diriamba, 45Km from the capital Managua. Diriamba owes its name to Cacique Diriangen, the legendary Nahuati Indian chief.
On 19 January people come from all over the country to celebrate the feast of the city patron, San Sebastián (St Sebastian). Thousands take to the streets of Diriamba to accompany their saint to the meeting (tope) with the other saints of the nearby towns: Santiago (Jinitepe), San Marco (St Mark) and the Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows).

Diriamba owes its name to Cacique Diriangen, the legendary Nahuati Indian chief. File swm

Accompanying San Sebastián there is a group of people all wearing a mask typical of the Diriamba culture, the Güegüense. Also known as Macho Raton, the Güegüense is a satirical drama and a synthesis of the American Indian culture and that of Spain. It is a combination of drama, music, and dance and it is also the name of the main character of the drama. There are various versions of this theatrical work for a total of 314 stories centred upon the conflict between the Spanish colonial authorities and the Indians of America. The Güegüense (a name that in the American Indian language Nahuati refers to an old and powerful personality of pre-Hispanic Nicaragua) defends himself by means of clever verbal devices against the accusations levelled at him by the colonial authorities.
He does not challenge the authority and neither does he seek to directly answer the accusations but uses every possible device to undermine Spanish authority. Unlike the carnival in other cities that lasts only one day, the festival of Diriamba lasts a full week.
The theatrical presentation is carried out within the city with processions in the streets and public dances. Musical accompaniment is provided by violins, guitars and drums; the various characters are distinguished by their costumes, wooden masks, hair-dos and other accessories.

Güegüense is a work that is full of life and expresses the resistance of a nation against foreign invasion. (Photo Julio Molina)

The main characters with a role in the various stories are Güegüense, his children, the Spanish authorities and some mythical animals. Güegüense ought to be a respectable elder but is depicted here as a rascal, at least with regard to the Spanish conquistadors. His comments are cynical, he is pretentious and full of deceit. The actor playing this role wears a mask, in itself a sign that he does not wish to reveal his true identity. Don Forcico and Don Ambrosio, the two sons of Güegüense, do not seem to be brothers.Forcico is a villain who approves of the tricks and lies of his father. Ambrosio is honest and tries to unmask the dishonesty of his father. Sometimes Suchi Malinche appears in the plays. She is the daughter of the governor. Her name comes from a Nahuati word meaning flower and from the name Malinche, the name of the Indian girl who was Cortes’ interpreter during his first Mexican campaign, afterwards becoming his lover. At the end of the play, two horses (or mules) appear surmounted by goat horns and framed by wicker baskets decked with ribbons.

Accompanying San Sebastián there is a group of people all wearing a mask typical of the Diriamba culture, the Güegüense. Also known as Macho Raton. (Photo Julio Molina)

There is a relationship between the symbols to be found in the local superstitions and the horse (mule) that arrived in Nicaragua with the Spanish conquest. They represent both a warning to understand the false accusations and the new elements that might be used for the benefit of the local population. Many stories reach the royal Council within the palace of the governor. Güegüense is accused of something illegal, usually of having entered the province without permission.
By means of many promises and assurances, the old fox succeeds not only in avoiding punishment but even receives a substantial reward, usually a marriage between his son and the daughter of the governor. The language used is a mixture of old Spanish and non-grammatical Nahuati.At first, this jargon was used as a means of communication between the conquistadors and their subjects but then came into common use among the Spanish who lived in Central America. True Aztecs speak with disdain of this dialect as the language of the slaves. This language was used by Güegüense to his advantage. Pretending not to understand, he avoids direct questions, answers in ways unconnected with the questions put to him, and distorts everything in a comical way. Nobody knows for certain when this play was composed. Some indications refer to the arrival of Captain Fernandez Davila (1522 ca). Davila met the local tribe whose chief was Diriangen.

Unlike the carnival in other cities that lasts only one day, the festival of Diriamba lasts a full week. (Photo: Julio Molina)

The indigenous people received the foreigners courteously and listened to their requests which included ceding their sovereignty to the Spanish crown and their conversion to Christianity. Having asked for a short period to consider, the indigenous people decided to attack the invaders. The Spanish decimated the Diriangen tribe and the survivors were subjected to Spanish rule.
Perhaps only a hundred years later, some of the descendants of these survivors managed to create a theatrical representation that showed peaceful resistance to the foreign rulers. Acted out under the very noses of the conquistadors, the play makes fun of them and their inability to truly conquer the spirit of the local population.
Güegüense is a work that is full of life and expresses the resistance of a nation against foreign invasion and makes up one of the most important cultural patrimonies of the Nicaraguan population.
It was for this reason that, in 2005, UNESCO recognised Güegüense worldwide and proclaimed it a world heritage. It is an extraordinary portrait of non-violent resistance against a more powerful enemy and, at the same time, testimony to the creativity of the Nicaraguan people. (Open Photo: Julio Molina)

Joseph Santacruz

A Bridge in 2028?

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

“Ebale ya Congo ezali lopango te, ezali nzela” (The Congo River is not a barrier, it is a road), sang the famous Congolese musician
Joseph Kabasele.

Today this statement must be taken with a pinch of salt. People have strong cultural and linguistic ties, but access to capital is no longer automatic. Over time, the river has become a difficult wall to cross, and relationships are increasingly similar to those of ‘cat and mouse’.
We remember, for example, the operation ‘Mbata ya bakolo’ (the slap of the elderly), which took place in 2014. The Brazzaville police violently and brutally forced back more than 100,000 ‘Zairians’ in Kinshasa.
The Congolese from the Democratic Republic of Congo were accused of various crimes, including not having valid documents.
Some of them had lived in Brazzaville for more than 30 years and had already started families.

DRC citizens deported from Brazzaville wait to be transferred to their place of origin in a transit camp in Maluku, the 23rd of May 2014. © MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti

This operation had a before and after. It had led to the closure of the borders between the two countries and had contributed to the cooling of relations, and even mistrust, between the two capitals. Authorities on both sides of the border had also tightened conditions for crossing. Relations stabilized only in 2019 after long negotiations between the two governments.In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic led to the closure of the borders between the two capitals, reducing the number of visitors from Kinshasa to Brazzaville and vice versa.
Two years later in February 2022, the governments of Kinshasa and Brazzaville announced the reopening of the river and land borders.
Crossing the river on a half-hour boat costs between $25 and $30. Add to this the harassment of government officials, especially in Kinshasa. This makes the step even more difficult, which has remained a prerogative of the rich. The river, which once linked the economies of the two cities, is now subject to a border regime which is costly for the population. To get to the other shore, citizens often use rudimentary boats, so accidents are not uncommon.

The road and rail bridge project
The project to build a bridge connecting Brazzaville and Kinshasa dates back more than thirty years. Since then, many conferences have been organized and campaigns launched to explain the benefits for people on both sides of the river. Cédric Kalala, a border police officer in Kinsuka, Kinshasa, looks forward to the completion of the project: “This bridge would be of great help to us. The Congolese on the other side of the river are not just our neighbours, they are our brothers. In Brazzaville and Kinshasa, it is difficult to distinguish between those who come from Kinshasa and those from Brazzaville, because we speak the same languages: Lingala and French. If the authorities built a bridge over this river, it would facilitate trade between us. Furthermore, the bridge would not only reduce the cost of the crossing but also the risk of shipwrecks that we see on the river. People could walk to and from Brazzaville to visit their family. For the people of Brazzaville, the dream of this bridge is the same”, says Cédric.

Brazzaville. The construction of this bridge is part of the Central African States Partnership (CEAC).
CC BY 3.0/Creative Studio

On 11 November 2019, Congolese leaders from both sides of the river signed an agreement in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the financing and implementation of the project. The estimated cost was at least $600 million. The 1,575-meter-long bridge will include a railway, a dual carriageway, pedestrian pathways, and a border control post on each side. Work was scheduled to begin in August 2020, but has now been postponed to 2024, while commissioning is scheduled for 2028.
The construction of this bridge is part of the Central African States Partnership (CEAC). It offers a number of advantages. It would make trade between the two capitals more fluid, facilitate the import and export of goods between Matadi and Pointe-Noire and harmonize immigration procedures between the two countries.

View of the Brazzaville Bridge from Kinshasa. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Kimmyfari

The project also falls under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) framework for Africa’s connectivity overall. It would guarantee the continuity of the transport system along the Tripoli (Libya) – Windhoek corridor, which crosses Chad, Cameroon, the two Congos, and Angola. Experts estimate that traffic, currently around 750,000 passengers and 340,000 tons of cargo per year, would increase to more than 4 million passengers and 3 million tons of cargo per year. This could boost the economies of the beneficiary countries.
(Open Photo: Lwanga Kakule)

Lwanga Kakule

The face of the two cities.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is experiencing a demographic explosion due to a still high birth rate and migratory flows encouraged by rural poverty and the insecurity of war zones.

Today, Kinshasa has 17.07 million inhabitants. It is currently the third most populous city in Africa, after Cairo in Egypt and Lagos in Nigeria. It has 24 municipalities. It is considered the largest French-speaking conurbation in the world, having surpassed Paris.
Kinshasa is everyone’s favourite centre of attraction and opportunity, especially for young people. As a business centre that controls the majority of activities, the capital is renowned for its prosperity within the country and is a bridge that connects DR Congo with other countries.

Kinshasa’s Boulevard du 30 Juin. The city has 17.07 million inhabitants. Photo: Lwanga Kakule

“Today, like many African cities, it is seen as the place where all hopes come true. Everyone hopes for something good for themselves and for those around them. It is mainly young people who go there to study (especially at university), in search of economic abundance, electric light, and employed work”, explains Professor Jean-Pierre Bwalwel of the Catholic University of Kinshasa.
Others move to the capital for trips within and outside the country, for medical treatment and so forth.
Finally, it often happens that their goals change and they decide to settle in ‘Kin la Belle’, where music and light shows abound.

Kinshasa. Market. The capital is renowned for its prosperity. File swm

But life is difficult for many people. Thousands of families survive in cramped accommodation with poor hygienic conditions, malnutrition, and transport problems. Despite this, the population of Kinshasa is recognized for its dynamism and resilience. They strive to create a tone of joy and what they call ‘atmosphere’. They are known for their hospitality and constant human warmth. In most cases, they rely on themselves to solve their problems.
On the other side of the river, Brazzaville today has a population of 2.5 million, out of 5.4 million in the entire country. Congo-Brazzaville is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa, with almost 70% of the Congolese population living in urban areas, resulting in an urban-rural imbalance and poor agricultural, livestock, and fisheries production.
The population is concentrated in the south-west of the country, mainly in Brazzaville, the capital and Pointe-Noire, the financial capital and along the railroad that links the two largest cities in the country.

Nabemba Tower in Brazzaville. The capital has a population of 2.5 million. Photo: Lwanga Kakule

Brazzaville began to develop during the decolonization process, particularly when the new authorities decided to make it the official capital, to the detriment of Pointe-Noire. But in the first half of the 1970s the country fell into a deep economic crisis when the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank reduced aid and credits, forcing the government to make a series of budget cuts, especially in social spending.
Transport infrastructure was progressively abandoned and all urbanization policies, such as access to drinking water, electricity, healthcare, and education, were reduced to almost nothing.
The civil war in the Republic of Congo from 1997 to 1999 was particularly ruthless, and Brazzaville was the centre of fighting between the late president Pascal Lissouba and the current president
Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Poto Poto is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Brazzaville. It is currently the centre of important companies and businesses. Since its foundation, the capital has welcomed many foreigners. Senegalese, Malians, Togolese, Beninese, Burkines, Nigerians, and Guineans who had accompanied Savorgnan de Brazza and settled in Brazzaville. Many of them never returned to their homeland and some became naturalized Congolese. For decades they specialized in fishing and trading and had virtually unchallenged dominance over trade in Congo-Brazzaville. Now they are gradually entering into competition with the Congolese of the DRC, the Chinese, and the Indians.

Trade between Kinshasa and Brazzaville
Due to their proximity and high population concentration, Kinshasa and Brazzaville have generated a significant volume of commercial exchange. Traders from both banks cross the river to stock up and do business. According to analysts, informal cross-border trade represents a very high percentage of trade between the two capitals. Food products are by far the largest items of trade between the two populations.
From Kinshasa, fish, cassava, palm oil, coffee, frozen chicken, spaghetti, and biscuits are unloaded in Brazzaville. Some of these products come from within the DRC, especially from the provinces of Kwilu,
Kwango, and Maindombe.

A group of people in the street at Pompage. The population of Kinshasa is recognized for its dynamism and resilience. Photo: Lwanga Kakule

The FIMA pier and the port of Yoro are the supply points for the people of Brazzaville, while the Ngobila beach serves the inhabitants of Kinshasa. The latter import clothes and fabrics from Brazzaville, mainly wax fabrics made in the Republic of Congo which they then sell in the provinces of Ecuador and Kasai, and in the rest of the country across the river.Judith Singa is from Pointe Noire, the second largest city in Congo-Brazza. A 40-year-old widow and mother of three children, she runs a shop in Poto Poto where she has lived for 11 years: “I made regular return trips from Brazzaville to Kinshasa”, she explains. “I used to buy frozen chickens and the business was thriving. Four years ago, I changed my business: I opened a fabric shop. Most of my customers are from Kinshasa”.In 2021, Brazzaville writer Gaston M’Bemba-Ndumba published a book titled ‘Femmes et petits commerces du fleuve Congo entre Brazzaville et Kinshasa’, in which he analyses small-scale trade and exchanges between women in both cities. As a result of observations, he discovered that most of the products used for skin whitening, for example, come from Kinshasa and those who sell them in Brazzaville are women who have used these products. According to his analysis, small women’s trading is the most representative part of the commercial sector between Brazzaville and Kinshasa, which, for the most part, remains informal. Its commercial activities focus on catering, the sale of fresh food and clothing.

A woman selling chicken in Pompage, Kinshasa. Photo: Lwanga Kakule

At Port Nzimbi, named after a former army general of Mobutu, in Kinshasa, around 50 women from the capital display pondu ‘hard leaves’, a staple food in the country, which they buy wholesale on the islands of the Congo River and they retail it early in the morning.
Maman Nicole, 43, mother of four, explains: “For six years I have been selling pondu, cassava and sometimes tomatoes and aubergines. Almost every day I take a motorized pirogue. Sometimes I make a crossing to Brazzaville, where I have some customers. It is thanks to this work that I can send my children to school”. The police officer, who monitors the movements of the pondu sellers, tells us that she has been working for over ten years in various border posts along the Congo River, confirming that most of the small trade on the Congo River between the two capitals is carried out by women.
Trade between the two capitals has given rise to jobs for people such as salesmen, porters, loaders, truck drivers, mechanics and so on.
Ports on both sides of the border have also become notorious for organized smuggling, sometimes with the complicity of government officials from customs and other enforcement services. Many goods – fabrics, minerals, fuel, coffee, etc. – cross the river without paying taxes. This is without taking into account the clandestine passage of migrants on both sides. (L.K.)

Leadership in African Culture. Between Fear and Respect.

Monday, 1 January 2024 8:00

African traditional political leaders cover both the temporal and the religious spheres. They represent the exigencies of the ancestors before the community of the living and the exigencies of the same community before the ancestors.

This double responsibility before the people and before the ancestors confer on them both authority and power. The Congolese philosopher Nkombe Oleko explains the relations between the chief and his people using two Tetela proverbs, an ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of Congo: “The chief is a leopard, he is not afraid of anybody”; “All have neighbours but the ear lives alone”.
The first character of the chief is his incontestability. Once one is invested with authority, he is placed in an incontestable relationship with others. He has to impose himself on the others and to inspire fear and respect. His authority is exercised over all the people. He knows neither preferences nor discrimination. The incontestable character that power gives him isolates him from the others. The chief is a lonely man.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Asantehene, the King of the Asante Kingdom. “People regard them as God’s earthly viceroys” Photo: The Kingdom of Asante

While the lion is the king in the savannah, the leopard is the king in the forest zones but the idea behind the two symbols of power is the same. Africans in general see in their chief a force that enables a man to dominate others. It confers on him both nobility and the right to govern. The same force enables him to keep order in society and in the cosmos, making him a priest of its cult.
However, other Tetela proverbs are there to show that despite the general submission to the chief (Ears [human] do not rise above the head), things are not all that smooth. A goat does not eat the leaves imposed on it by force. There is a tendency to contest the incontestable as a manifestation of freedom.This contestation of authority has two faces: the refusal to be dominated by the other and the exigency of participation and reciprocity in authority.

The head chief of a village in Burkina Faso. CC BY-SA 3.0/Adam Jones

According to Nkombe Oleko, what the muntu looks for in his relations with his superiors is the establishment of a conscious educative circle, in which everyone is instructed by contact with the other and in which the act of hetero education is not the monopoly of one person. When this is achieved, authority is modified. It is no longer an egocentric power of self-valorisation at the detriment of the other; it does not suffocate donation, acceptance and respect anymore the freedom of the other.
It becomes as John Samuel Mbiti, a Kenyan philosopher, notes African kings are not simply political heads, they are mystical and religious heads. Thus, they are divine or sacral rulers, the shadow or reflection of God’s rule in the universe.
People regard them as God’s earthly viceroys. However, despite all the qualities attributed to them, Kings belong to the category of shameful and impure beings. They become monsters whose personality has been violated by, and in favour of, power. If we take into account the royal incest and the fact that some kings used to be anointed with human blood, as the anthropologists Louis-Vincent Thomas and René Luneau pointed out investiture pushes the king out of normal human relations giving him the solitude proper to wizards.
This monstrosity needed in order to face the equally monstrous powers inherent in the universe is a kind of positive wizardry meant to protect the people and protection goes hand in hand with the king’s quality
as father of his people. The Baganda, the ethnic group in Central Uganda, call their king Goats are sacrificed a hen a large family or clan is at risk, but when the whole tribe is attacked by sickness or any form of common enemy, it is a bull.

Traditional Basotho chief. “The first character of the chief is his incontestability”. Photo: Pixabay

‘Nnamunswa’ (queen ant) and the Tetela people refer to their chief as the ‘mother hen’ who covers her chicks. Authority is hereby associated with paternity and maternity. The aim of this authority is the protection of all the subjects from external and internal dangers.
Paternity then counterbalances monstrosity bringing about the ambivalence Africans perceive in political power as it is sung by the people Mossi of Benin to their new king immediately after his investiture: “You are a heap of dung! You are a heap of rubbish! You come to kill us; you come to save us!” “The qualities of the king are always raised to the highest degree and so his negative aspects”. He is, as it were, the human dispenser of these qualities for all his subjects.
The person of the king is so important that when a Murundi (from Burundi) would say: Gir’umwami (literally meaning, have the king!), he would wish that the inner personality of the king may possess his interlocutor; that his interlocutor may participate more fully in the life of the monarch Leadership implies interdependence.
“The face does not grow fat without the cheeks”. Nkombe Oleko applies this Tetela proverb to authority.

The San are the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa. “The chief is a lonely man”. File swm

Thus, without his subjects, the chief cannot be chief. Authority is not at the service of one’s own self. Its paternal dimension essentially puts it at the service of others. The chief, in virtue of his ‘being head,’ depends on his subjects. In African thought, power is the principle of participation in communal life. Every individual, from the king or chief to the latest initiate has power in a given field thanks to his or her ontological, physical, intellectual, spiritual, and moral qualities. But all of them, specialists and ordinary citizens, young and old, men and women, participate in the same power invested in the ruling organ. (Open Photo:Gabon. Village Chief Jerome Likassou is seen in his traditional wear. © Brent Stirton/Getty Images for FAO, CIRAD, CIFOR, WCS)

Edward Kanyike

Ghana. ‘Dipo’ Puberty Rites: Transitioning into Womanhood.

Friday, 1 December 2023 8:00

The Dipo rite is an integral part of the Krobo culture. Over the years it has been used to inculcate useful values into adolescent girls as they prepare to assume their marital responsibilities.

The Krobos are part of the Ga-Dangbe ethno linguistic group and they are the largest group of the seven Dangbe ethnic groups of South-Eastern Ghana. Dipo is a historical rite of passage for young females transitioning into womanhood among the Krobo people
in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
Dipo is not unique to the Krobos alone, but it is celebrated by the people of Manya and Yilo Krobo, in Krobo Odumase and Somanya.
The inhabitants of Odumase Krobo area therefore celebrate the Dipo as an annual ritual intended to launch puberty-aged girls and virgins into womanhood. The ritual, which is traditionally performed on a young girl, denotes that she has matured into a woman and is ready to marry.
The ritual which is usually marked as festival is held in the month of April every year, a time where parents send their qualified girl children to the town’s top priest after the event is announced.

The goal of Dipo is to assist pubertal girls in transitioning into adulthood by shaping moral values and social responsibilities. File swm

Parents upon hearing the Dipo initiation dates send their adolescent girls to the chief priest under whose tutelage the girls would have to go through various tests and rituals to prove that they are qualified
for the Dipo rites.
The qualified initiates are then adorned with a bead-necklace and strand of leaves. Little cuts are also made on the arms and one by one they lift up a small grinding stone and place it on larger stone. Their introduction to the grinding stone marks the beginning of the Dipo rite. They are kept for a while till they are sent to another part of the mountain ‘Tegbe te’ or ‘Tegbe rock’ and given Dipo- headwear, a tall straw hat.
These young girls are subsequently put through a series of procedures to verify their chastity and eligibility for the rites, which are exclusively open to virgins and girls in puberty.
The goal of Dipo is therefore to assist pubertal girls in transitioning into adulthood by shaping moral values and social responsibilities, learning home management skills, and preventing risky sexual behaviours.
One theory has it that Dipo was introduced by the priestess of Krobo land, Nana Kloweki. Historically, Dipo was instituted to mark the stage of puberty and was intended for young females of marriageable age, although it is now performed with girls younger than puberty.
During the rites, Krobo participants acquire skills to fulfil roles as responsible female adults, including vocational training, house-keeping skills, and preparation for married life.’

During the rites, participants acquire skills to fulfil roles as responsible female adults. File swm

The significance and symbolic nature of ‘Dipo’ is enormous and intriguing including the propagation of a lineage, status, and family organisation. Others believed that Dipo was a traditional method of preventing promiscuity, infidelity, premarital sex, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections.
Dipo involves several symbolic actions. Exposure of a person’s body, such as the breast and stomach, is used to distinguish initiates from non-initiates, and help identify those ready for marriage, and detect pregnancy.Libation is poured at the beginning of most rites to ask the ‘gods’ to bless all Dipo participants. Blood of castrated goats, which is usually poured on initiates’ feet, is believed to wash away bad omens. This is also to drive away any spirit of barrenness.
Different types of beads used during Dipo rites have specific names and meanings. Those with many types of beads signify wealth. Blue beads are called ‘Koli’, meaning something valuable. Yellow beads represent maturity and prosperity, whereas large yellow beads are known as ‘Boredom’ and are believed to possess magical powers. White beads signify respect for gods and ancestors. Finally, while not compulsory, an incision may be done as a form of identity on the back of the left hand for those who have successfully completed Dipo rites.
There are stages where a Dipo rite of passage can be classified based on specific activities. The first stage, known as the stripping stage, involves replacing everyday home attire with a string of multiple beads and dressed with cloth around their waist to just their knee level. Dipo participants also have their heads shaved during this period.
This is done by a special ritual mother, and it signifies their transition from childhood to adulthood. They are paraded to the entire community as the initiates (‘dipo-yo’- Dipo girl).
The second and third stages (middle and climax, respectively) emphasise different symbolic activities, including having a special meal (fufu), taking a ritual bath, and smearing the body with a white substance.

The girls who go through the rites receive a mark on their hands as a sign of participation. File swm

The climax phase involves the pouring of libation (three consecutive times) and climbing a sacred stone. The final stage consists of activities that include body marks and the last dance. Dipo includes other rituals such as eating particular types of meals. Dipo initiates learn a special dance known as ‘Klama’, where the dead and the living are believed to participate. Participants usually undergo a ritual bath and are required to sit on a stone before the ceremony ends to determine their virginity in the past. This is to prove their virginity. However, any girl found to be pregnant or not a virgin is detested by the community and does not entice a man from the tribe.
No girl who has sat on the stone has seen what it looks like as they are made to close their eyes. As soon as the girls step out of the stone enclosure, parents run as a sign of victory to carry their daughters, and rush out of the area. The stone serves as a stool for kings in the olden days because there were no proper stools. The forefathers brought the stone with them during their migration to their present place.
As traditions demand, when the girls sit on the stone, they receive blessings from their ancestors. And therefore become ‘oheneba’ (the daughter of a king).
Adolescent girls who did not go through the rites could neither be queen mothers nor serve the community while girls who went through the rites received a mark on their hands as a sign of participation.
Following all of this, the young girls are sheltered for a week and taught about femininity, marriage, and the people’s customs and traditions. The children are then returned to their parents. The Dipo ceremony culminates in a large durbar in the community, during which the girls are dressed in Kente (specially woven cloth) and given exquisite jewels by their parents. Any male present at the durbar who is interested in one of the girls might start looking into her past and family at this time before making an official approach.

Dipo involves several symbolic actions. File swm

With singing and drumming, they perform the Klama dance. At this point, any man interested in any one of them can start investigating into her family. It is believed that any lady who partakes in the rites not only brings honour to herself but to her family at large.
In as much as the Krobo people practice Dipo, not all Ghanaian or even the Krobo people accept Dipo rites, and there have been disagreements about its value and actual essence. While some people believe it is a cultural practice that should be continued, others believe it has no significance in modern Ghanaian society. Because Dipo is conducted within traditional African religion and culture, Ghanaians influenced by Western culture and Christianity may believe it to be unacceptable. Another aspect of the debate is the initiates exposing certain parts of their bodies to the public to signal Krobo men of their readiness for marriage. Today in some communities, Dipo initiates are allowed to cover their breasts with a ‘wax-print cloth’. This change was made to cater for current societal opposition of exposure of private body parts.
Finally, Christians may view Dipo rites as a practice that is traditional and unacceptable to Christian beliefs. For example, Dipo rites include practices, such as ancestral worship, incisions, and ritual baths, practices opposing to Christianity. Many communities in Ghana today do not have rites of passage. However, traditional leadership and customary law among some ethnic groups have retained the cultural legitimacy of rites of passage, such as in the Krobo community.

Damian Dieu Donne Avevor

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