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China’s Arctic strategy.

To facilitate its Arctic ambitions, China aims to increase bilateral influence over its Arctic pariah, Russia.

China’s northernmost tip is over 1,400 km south of the Arctic Circle. It sees the mass of sea, ice, and land as a new strategic frontier, and as Arctic space becomes increasingly critical for infrastructure and defense, China has set its cap to be a great polar power within the next decade.

There is a hitch: Arctic policy is primarily orchestrated by the eight countries that border the Arctic Ocean. Maritime routes and access are legislated through technical definitions, and without an Arctic border, China lacks inroads through these means.

China already claims to be a “near-Arctic state” with rights in the region. While the Chinese strategy respects the sovereignty of the eight Arctic nations, it asks that these nations also respect China’s relationship to the region. To cement this position, China has multiple inroads.

It can gain Arctic territory, such as part of Russia’s Siberia; by establishing tangible elements in which China has a stake to defend within the Arctic space, e.g., critical infrastructure, maritime routes, or license or ownership of raw materials in the Arctic; and by expanding the de facto or exercised definition of “Arctic” through diplomatic routes or through using Arctic issues to expand the venues
for Arctic discussion and policy.

China facilitates its Arctic ambitions by exercising leverage bi-laterally on the Arctic pariah, Russia. Siberia is huge and sparsely populated by Russians. In 2014, commentators assessed whether the Chinese state would be sending its population north.Making inroads into physical space – like claims to parts of Siberian territory – would be
a blunt move for China.

A gradual process, through requests for access, visa-free zones, zones of preference for Chinese businesses, the licensing, ownership, and extraction of natural resources, and requests to rename Siberian areas under Chinese names, are more in line with China’s ways of manoeuvring. Such actions set a benchmark for Chinese presence in the Arctic and normalize China as an Arctic actor.

Critical infrastructure is another key element of China’s Arctic strategy. China already utilizes Arctic shipping routes and is working to access the critical minerals and other natural resources the Arctic holds. The area is rich with sub-soil resources that can be extracted and used in China’s production and processing of rare earth elements and its access to natural gas.

The discussion over critical infrastructure and gas supplies has taken off most recently in the Russian-Chinese negotiations over the Power of Siberia 2 (PoS-2) pipeline. While China is the only reasonable market destination for eastern Siberian gas carried by 2014’s Power of Siberia pipeline, the PoS-2 is different.

A physical pipeline, which would originate from the Yamal Peninsula in Western Siberia and go on to supply China, would be a decisive shift of Russia’s natural gas market to the east. Yamal gas previously flowed west, carried by pipelines like Nord Stream. But the European desire for Russian hydrocarbons has decidedly taped off.

Both Power of Siberia projects are opaque, and though the Russian state claims Power of Siberia is lucrative, the numbers are not clear enough or public enough to confirm this. As with any critical infrastructure project that is shrouded in secrecy, there are hefty financing risks.

The pipeline infrastructure is not a closed deal, and it does not need to be. Russia and China have alternative ways to trade in natural gas, including through Central Asia (Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have pipelines and significant gas export to China already) and through LNG, which includes Russia’s in-process Arctic LNG project.

China remains reluctant to make such a large commitment to Russia, which could cost China economic leverage in Europe. As a tool of influence, large infrastructure projects can be more powerful before they are confirmed than after the deal is done, and large infrastructure projects have been a double-edged sword for China’s reputation and solvency. China’s reluctance is complimented by – or evidence of – Russia’s weakened negotiating position vis-à-vis the war in Ukraine and the overspread of materials. European countries and the United States should take note.

A precedent of what “Arctic” means could shift. Concerns over further politicization of the Arctic Council is one reason the body is currently operating without Russia, with Russia’s Arctic leadership at a stalemate. The Arctic Council, which was under Russian leadership at the beginning of 2023, suspended all activities and only accepted Russia’s passing the rotating chairpersonship to Norway.

Bringing China further into the equation could deepen this freeze. But it is likely China will apply pressure. Similar to the soft inroads China has made to the Russian Arctic space, China could pick up on key issues for the Arctic Council and lobby to advance them.

Topics like environmental and climate change research, treatment of preserved areas, access to critical raw materials, and maritime routes are all areas where China is a genuine actor and has a stake. Lobbying these positions could result in a strategy where China tries to create parallel consulting groups or institutions – in the Arctic Council or elsewhere – to address these issues.

The other seven Arctic nations can expect China to try to work bi-laterally with them, as well. Aside from this, China might try to leverage other global actors to push for an expansion of the Arctic zone of interest; to this effect, China’s 2018 Arctic White Paper lists the area as a community for all of humankind, not just the Arctic Eight.

China could try to make overtures to the Arctic Council, but it is more likely that China will pursue and suggest alternative places for discussion, diplomacy, and policy. If they want to prevent China from establishing a foothold, other Arctic powers should be aware of these factors, especially China’s pressure on Russia and attempts to negotiate in other avenues on matters where it seeks an interest. The Arctic seven should work to clearly define Arctic policy agenda items, maintain the Arctic Council as the route for legitimate Arctic discussion, and remain true to the notion of an Arctic space. (Open Photo: 123rf.com)

Cordelia Buchanan Ponczek
Finnish Institute of International Affairs

Zimbabwe. “Christians Must Enter Politics”.

What the Catholic Church is doing and what role it is playing in this electoral process.  But above all the Church must motivate Catholics and all people of good will to run as candidates and enter politics.

The question that many are asking is whether the political and administrative elections of 23 August will be peaceful, free, and fair. But this is not the most crucial question. The main one is whether these elections will make a difference in the lives of Zimbabweans.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has already declared that the elections will be free and fair. Meanwhile, Zanu-PF, the ruling party, continues to repeat the usual propaganda slogans: claiming to have freed the country from colonialism and to be committed to dealing with the ‘illegally imposed economic sanctions’.

The Catholic Bishops in Zimbabwe. Photo: JesCom

The main opposition parties offer nothing new as an alternative and simply accuse the party in power for 43 years of having led the country into bankruptcy. Some Churches and the Vapostori (indigenous African religious movements) do everything to present themselves as supporters of the president and the leaders of his party, indicated as people chosen by God. Politicians seize the opportunity of the elections to solicit the consent of Christians who feel inwardly torn between following their own conscience or the directives of their religious leaders.

Open Questions
One wonders what the Catholic Church is doing and what role it is playing in this electoral process. Perhaps the right question is: what should the Church do to ensure that elections produce good leaders who are committed to bringing about change in the lives of the poor, creating new jobs, fixing roads, providing clean water and renovating public hospitals. So far, the Catholic bishops have expressed hope in several pastoral letters that the elections take place regularly.

“One wonders what the Catholic Church is doing and what role it is playing in this electoral process”. Photo: JesCom

In their latest letter for Lent 2023 (Breaking unjust chains), the Bishops’ Conference states: “We are heading towards these important general elections to elect a leader who has a clear plan to put the family first, who creates new dignified jobs of work in such a way as to reduce the number of poor people who have been increasing and live in desperate situations of total deprivation. These voters must be able to elect to the highest office of the state a leader who cares about the health of the poor (…) who is able to start inclusive economies (…) avoiding that one group progresses at the expense of another”.
The bishops not only describe the qualities of the desired president but also outline the type of politicians that are needed. And they wonder: “Can’t we perhaps choose from among the candidates, people who know how to guide our country on the path of economic progress, justice and freedom (…), leaders with the duty to account for their work to the citizens?”. However, with the disappearance of the moral conscience in most of our political leaders (it would suffice just to look at the level of corruption), the pastoral letters of the bishops no longer have the same impact as they once did. Politicians and the government no longer listen to the voice of conscience. I do not believe that the pastoral letters of the bishops influenced the choice of candidates for the primaries of both the government and the opposition party. I also doubt people will heed their pastors’ recommendations when voting.

A change of approach
Instead, I would like to propose a slightly different approach for the voice of the Church to have a greater impact. First, I propose that the Church use its decentralized structures such as parishes, schools, hospitals, etc., to gather information from the concrete life experiences of citizens and then write a pastoral letter addressed to the government and politicians based on the evidence of the facts, asking them to carry out specific interventions to produce a change in the life situations highlighted by the people.

“The Church should encourage the faithful to participate in the electoral process”. Photo: JesCom

Government officials and politicians will be frightened if they see problematic situations made public in their constituencies. In this way, the Church will be able to speak as the voice of the poor with prophetic and moral authority, avoiding the mere rhetorical repetition of generic statements on the situation of the country. Furthermore, the Church should encourage the faithful to participate in the electoral process first of all by registering to qualify to vote and then to choose those politicians who know how to stimulate economic growth, reduce poverty, and start the reconstruction of the country.
Finally, I propose that the Church motivate Catholics and all people of goodwill to run as candidates and enter politics. Many Christians are still grappling with the question of whether or not it is good to engage in politics while others live in a state of apathy and resignation.
In addition to encouraging participation in elections, the bishops should address a pastoral letter directly to those Christians who aspire to become politicians.

“The Church must motivate Catholics and all people of goodwill to run as candidates and enter politics”. Photo: JesCom

All this will favour the formation of candidates so that they know how to respond to the political vocation guided by the principles of the social doctrine of the Church, by the values of the Gospel, and by the life experience of citizens. Consequently, the intervention of the Catholic Church on the eve of the elections will no longer be considered a mere routine exercise by religious leaders, but an action that affects the entire electoral process. In this way, the bishops will make their influence felt on voters and politicians, contributing to economic growth and the reduction of poverty.

Gibson Munyoro,
Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service for Southern Africa

 

Alessandra Korap Munduruku. “ We will continue to resist”.

She organized community efforts to stop mining development by British mining company Anglo American in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.

Brazil is one of the five largest mineral producers in the world, with much of the activity concentrated in the Amazon region. Mining caused nearly 3 million acres of deforestation between 2005 and 2015.

In 2019, the Bolsonaro administration began taking unprecedented measures to decrease the enforcement of environmental protections and encourage the exploitation of natural resources in the Amazon. One proposed piece of legislation – Bill 191 – sought to facilitate the expansion of mining in the Amazon even more quickly, without the right to free, prior, and informed consent of local communities.

The Sawré Muybu Indigenous Territory, located in the state of Para in northern Brazil, contains approximately 439,000 acres of Amazon rainforest along the Tapajós River. The area, home to some communities of the Munduruku people, is not formally recognized by the Brazilian government and, as such, has been under constant threat from mining, hydroelectric projects, logging, and seizing land for cattle ranching.

Between 2011 and 2020, 97 mining applications were filed within the territory – the most of any Indigenous territory in the country. Illegal mining in the territory has also significantly increased since 2020. Contamination of the Tapajós River was increasing – driven in part by mercury used in illegal mining – killing off local fish populations
and poisoning residents.

A 2020 report revealed that Anglo American, one of the world’s largest mining companies, had 13 copper mining research applications in Munduruku territory, with five of those requests submitted
between 2017 and 2019.

Alessandra Korap Munduruku, 38, is a member of the Munduruku Indigenous group of Sawré Muybu. She is the president of the Pariri Indigenous Association, which supports communities in the Tapajós River region. Alessandra previously worked as a teacher and, over the past decade, became involved in the fight against deforestation, hydroelectric development, and contamination of the Tapajós River.

Initially, she encountered stiff resistance to a woman becoming involved in the movement to protect the territory, but she persisted and, gradually, changed the paradigm; she eventually became the first woman coordinator of the Pariri Indigenous Association.

In 2018, Alessandra decided to study law to better represent and protect Munduruku communities and the Amazon rainforest from further illegal extraction by mining, logging, and drilling interests, and other
threats to their territories.

Upon learning of Anglo American’s mining applications, Alessandra immediately raised the alarm at community meetings.
She informed others of the newest mining bids, outlined the risks from mining development, and explained the doctrine of free, prior, and informed consent.

Consulting extensively with elders, traditional chiefs, and healers for guidance, Alessandra developed a campaign strategy and led fundraising efforts. The Munduruku continued to conduct patrols of the territory and measure levels of deforestation. This included the annual demarcation of the boundaries of the Sawré Muybu forest. These efforts often involved gruelling expeditions into remote rainforests.

In a December 2020 assembly, 45 chiefs and 200 participants drafted and published an official declaration against further mining activity and deforestation of the Amazon. Alessandra collaborated with the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and Amazon Watch in crafting an open letter to Anglo American citing the assembly’s declaration and calling for withdrawal of the permits.

In response, Anglo American disingenuously disputed the number of approved applications, claiming to have no exploratory permits in Indigenous territories but not ruling out future mining activities
on those lands.

Working with allies, Alessandra sent a response demanding clarification and immediate action by Anglo American to withdraw the permits. She exclaimed, “We are here, and we will continue here. Anglo American out! The people will continue to resist.”

Alessandra expanded the media campaign to include filmed statements by community members and photos of villages displaying “Anglo American Out of Sawré Muybu” signs. She partnered with Amazon Watch and Greenpeace to draw additional attention and, serving as spokeswoman, spread the message at every possible venue, including conferences and international forums.

After months of intense pressure by Alessandra and her coalition, in May 2021, Anglo American formally announced its commitment to withdraw 27 approved mineral research permits in Indigenous territories in the Amazon, including 13 copper mining research permits located within the rainforests in Sawré Muybu. The company officially informed the Brazilian government of the withdrawal, citing concerns raised by organizations and Indigenous communities.

Alessandra’s successful campaign represents a significant shift in private sector accountability around destructive mining in Brazil amid an intense government push for extraction in the Amazon. Following Anglo American’s decision, mining giant Vale announced a similar withdrawal of all prospecting permits on Indigenous lands in Brazil.

In 2022, an internal survey of the Brazilian Mining Association (Ibram) found that, for the first time in decades, none of its 130 companies had current mining applications in Indigenous territories. Furthermore, Ibram has announced its opposition to Bill 191, which was heavily promoted by former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Experts are hopeful that the protections for Indigenous communities and rainforests will increase during the next administration. Last April, Alessandra received the Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the “Green Nobel Prize”. (The Goldman Environment Report – Photo Goldman Environmental Prize)

The Baboon and the Hare. “What goes around, comes around!”

Once upon a time, there was a baboon and a hare. They lived happily with their families. One day, the Hare decided to have a family party at his house. He invited Baboon and his family.

The Baboon was so excited to get the invitation. “But there is one condition,” the Hare said. “What is it?” asked the Baboon. “You have to wash your hands at the river before you come,” replied the Hare. “That is not a problem,” said the Baboon smiling.
Baboon went home happily and told his wife. They were all overly excited and looking forward to the party.

On the day of the party, Hare’s wife prepared the food. The aroma of the food could be smelt from afar. The Hare’s wife really wanted to please her guests. Meanwhile, the Hare decided to burn all the grass around his house. No one had the slightest idea of why he was burning the grass. They thought, maybe he is trying to clear the way for the guests, or he wanted to get rid of snakes, but Hare had a different plan.

The Baboon and his wife made their way to the Hare’s house. The Baboon’s wife thought she could also learn new cooking tips from her friend. They were all looking forward to a great day ahead. On their way, they had to pass through the river as they had been instructed.

When they arrived at the Hare’s place, they found the Hare waiting at the entrance as if to welcome them. They were so happy to see him, and they thought, “Oh, what a welcome!” “I knew you would come,” said Hare with a big smile, “but first, I have to check if you have washed your hands as I told you to.” “We have washed as you have asked!” they all screamed. “Let me see!” he insisted.

They all showed their hands but to their surprise, they were all covered in ashes from the burnt grass. “As you can see, your hands are all dirty, you need to go back to the river and wash them again,” said Hare. Meanwhile, Hare’s wife and kids had started enjoying the food. They seemed not to care that their guests were still outside.

Baboon and his family went back to the river grumpily. They washed their hands and came back as quickly as they could because the party had already started. When Baboon and his family returned, Hare asked to see their hands one more time.

Once again, their hands were all covered in ashes. “I cannot allow you to come in like that!” shouted Hare, “you will have to go back to the river and wash those hands!”

Though they were upset, they all made their way back to the river because they really wanted to attend the party. Walking on fours again, their hands got dirty once more. They found Hare still standing at the entrance and asking to check their hands again.

“I don’t think you really want to eat my food. You need to go wash your hands again,” he said mockingly. “It’s not worth it!” Baboon snapped, “the food is almost finished, and you expect us to come back? Never!” Disappointed and hungry, Baboon and his family left and went home. “I will surely get him one day!” muttered Baboon.

That night after dinner, Baboon’s family sat quietly thinking of the bad day they had experienced. Baboon told his wife that he was surely going to get revenge. “Time will tell,” he said.

It was now the following year and Hare had forgotten the prank he had pulled on his friend.  Baboon, however, had not forgotten, so he planned his revenge. He then visited the Hare to invite him to a birthday party
for one of his children.

Hare’s family was excited about the invitation. The children sang and danced with joy. Hare’s wife slept early so that they would wake up early to prepare for the party.

The next day they woke up early and prepared for the great day. They did not even eat breakfast as they expected to eat at the party. They left for Baboon’s place full of joy.

On arrival, they found Baboon and his family sitting in a tree. Baboon’s wife and kids were busy eating and singing merrily. Baboon knew that Hare and his family could not climb trees, yet he decided to hold
the party in a tree.

They looked up, not believing what they were seeing. How could Baboon do this to them? “Unfortunately, this is a tree house party, and you have to climb up if you are here for the party,” scoffed Baboon. Hare could not hold his anger. He lashed out at Baboon and told him how he had belittled him in front of his children. Baboon grinned and only said, “What goes around, comes around!”

Hare was so angry and ashamed of what he had done to Baboon’s family before. He told his wife and kids that they should leave. They all left with their heads hanging down with shame. (Photo: Max Pixel)

Folktale from Zimbabwe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music. The Boom of the Afrobeats.

The music industry is experiencing the fastest global growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (+34.7%). The Spotify platform recorded 13.5 billion streams last year.

The musical trend of the moment comes from Africa and is called Afrobeats. One of the genres most in vogue globally. And not just today, but for many years already. Such is the growth that all the 10 most streamed songs have become hits in the last decade. We mention only the first two: Rema with her Calm Down and Ckay with Love Nwantiti, both in the original version and in the remix version.
A fusion of generations and influences, that of Afrobeats, which makes different genres interact and evolve – from highlife to fuji and Juju and then hip hop and reggae.

Fela Kuti during one of his performances. Photo Archive.

It should be noted that there is a difference between Afrobeat and Afrobeats. The first refers to Fela Kuti, legend of the musical genre, who combined highlife, jazz, funk and Yoruba musical influences and whose lyrics were messages and political protests.
The second – which began to be used during the first decade of 2000 – has further musical influences and the lyrics are much less committed and demanding.  Another element is that many Afrobeats songs are in West African languages, or with some lyrics such as Pidgin English, Yoruba, Ibo, Twi, or Ewe. And then, obviously, there is the rhythm, that irresistible rhythm, a derivation of the traditional beats of drums and percussions of various kinds.
According to data from the Global Music Report in 2022, the sub-Saharan region recorded the fastest growth globally in the music industry – as much as 34.7%. This growth was driven largely by a significant increase in revenues in the region’s largest market, South Africa (+31.4%). And naturally marked by the emergence of the genre.
All we need to do is look at Spotify’s numbers. Last year, streaming of Afrobeats songs reached 13.5 billion. A 550% growth since 2017, when online ratings concerned 2 billion people.  An explosion so powerful as to induce the platform to create a satellite site, Afrobeats: Journey of a Billion Streams, is entirely dedicated to this musical genre.

A young woman listening to music on her headphones. 123rf.com

About 35% of listeners are between the ages of 18 and 24, while 25% are between the ages of 25 and 29. Fans of this musical genre are also Millennials with 16% of streaming ratings by thirty-year-olds. And it must be said that the age of Afrobeats enthusiasts goes much further. Boys and adults from Lagos as well as from London or Paris, who live in Rotterdam or Accra, Nairobi, or Toronto.
It is always the data collected by Spotify that tells the story. But this platform is joined by others popular on the continent; not only YouTube but also, for example, Boomplay, a multimedia download and streaming service centred on Africa and born in Africa (Nigeria).

Gyakie is a Ghanaian Singer. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Foster Aggor

After all, today – as Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, head of Spotify for sub-Saharan Africa explains – artists know how to make better use of their talent and know the power of streaming and how to use it. And they will increasingly implement sophisticated marketing strategies not only to reach audiences that already love them but to refine their branding and tailor their music to specific markets. The peculiarities of the style, a better quality – both in the songs and in the arrangements and in the videos – as well as a structured distribution network, but also of collaborations with the artistic world in various parts of the world, have meant that the genre spread.
While earlier, it was mostly concentrated in the UK, USA, Canada, and France due to the high concentration of Nigerians and other Africans in the diaspora in these countries, now more and more Afrobeats artists are finding a solid footing in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. In the Middle East, just as in North Africa, in Asia, just as in India, Rema, Ckay, Libianca and Burna Boy occupy the first places in the charts and as the most listened-to streaming Afrobeats artists.
In this panorama, the great success of the female artistic world must also be considered. From the Nigerian Tems, Ayra Starr, Twina Savage, Fave, Yemi Alade, Simi, to the Anglo-Nigerian Darkoo; from Ghanaian Gyakie to Ghanaian-American Amaarae to Cameroonian-American Libianca. This refers just to the top ten.

Chukwuka Ekweani, known publicly as CKay. He is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and record producer.

The prevalence of Nigerian female artists and pressure from Ghanaian ones brings us back to the age-old question: what is the origin of Afrobeats, where was it born?
While today most fans believe that it was Nigeria that gave birth to it – after all, it gave birth to Fela Kuti – the story tells of clubs where in Accra in the 1920s, bands that were very famous at the time spread the sounds of the highlife. The term is said to derive from the habits of the African elite, from a kind of beautiful life (even in aesthetic terms) carefree and without problems. And much of this ‘ideal’ has no doubt been siphoned off into Afrobeats. (Open Photo: 123rf.com)

 Antonella Sinopoli

Lebanon/Armenian Catholics. The Courage to Exist.

The history of the Armenian Catholic Church is made up of persecution but also of the courage to survive. In Lebanon, the church is engaged in the field of education and social affairs. The difficult political situation in the country. The explosion three years ago in the port of the capital left open wounds. We spoke with Msg Kévork Assadourian, Auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchal Diocese of the Armenian-Catholic Church of Beirut.

When was the Armenian Catholic Church born?
Historically, the Armenian Church was the first Church in the world beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, and the Armenian people were the first to welcome the Christian faith. In fact, it was founded by Saint Gregory the Illuminator in 310, three years before the edict of Constantine (313). Syriac and Greek missionaries had come to Armenia to evangelize the Armenian people. At that time, before the Council of Chalcedon (451), relations between the Armenian Church and the Church of Rome were good.

Msg Kévork Assadourian, Auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchal Diocese of the Armenian-Catholic Church of Beirut. Photo: Jowana Khalil

During the Council, the Persians attacked Armenia, which borders Persia, to force the Armenians to renounce Christianity and embrace the ‘Religion of fire’ (the Persians were considered worshipers of fire in ancient times due to the singular importance fire had in their cults – editor’s note). Armenia revolted and tried to repel the Persians who greatly outnumbered them. The Armenians were forced to disperse, without losing their faith and so remained all the more faithful to Christianity.
Since the aggression of the Persians took place during the Council of Chalcedon, the Armenian patriarch and bishops could not participate in it and the Armenian Church was not represented in it, so it remained Monophysite and, unlike the Latin Church, believed the divine and human natures of Christ were one. In 1740, the Armenian bishop of Aleppo, with two other bishops, abandoned the Armenian Orthodox Church to establish the Armenian Catholic Church. The pope sanctioned this union and so the first patriarch founded three convents in Lebanon.

Why was Lebanon chosen?
That country had a reputation for tolerance, especially in the mountainous part where the seats of the Maronite, Syriac and Armenian Catholic patriarchs were, and are, still located. The majority of Armenians at that time lived in Turkey, but with the genocide (1915) many bishops, priests, nuns, and faithful were killed and our churches destroyed. For this reason, the Armenian people have lost much of their culture and history, but they continue to bear witness to the Christian faith in the world, and in the Middle East in particular.

“The choice of Lebanon was because the country had a reputation for tolerance”. 123rf.com

Today, Catholic Armenians represent about 20 percent of Christian Armenians, 75 percent are Orthodox and 5 percent Protestant. In the 1990s, with the end of the USSR, we Armenians returned to Armenia and began to evangelize our people again. There were already Christian communities in the country, but in the 1920s the Soviet regime expelled all Catholic priests to Siberia, destroying the Armenian Catholic churches and eliminating the Armenian Catholic presence. The Orthodox, however, were able to remain, along with their Catholics.
Currently, there are about 250,000 Catholics in Armenia and 200,000 in Georgia. There are also Armenian Catholic priests in Ukraine, Hungary, Russia, and Romania. In 1991, Pope John Paul II appointed the first Armenian Catholic bishop for Eastern Europe.

How are relations with the Orthodox Armenians today?
They are very good. We keep alive the memory of saints and martyrs, especially on April 24 of each year when we solemnly remember Saint Vartan, the Armenian general, later canonized, who tried to defend Armenia from Persian aggression in the battle of Avarayr (2 June 451), falling on the field of battle.

How do you describe the Armenian Catholic Church in Beirut?
In the city, we have 7 parishes with 25 priests, as well as 2 parishes in the Bekaa Valley where Anjar, a completely Armenian village, is located. We also have 4 schools with thousands of students. Our seminarians study in the convent of Our Lady of Bzommar, which takes its name from the village of the same name.

Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic Cathedral in Beirut. 123rf.com

We, Armenian Catholic priests, are missionaries because we belong to the Institute of the Patriarchal Clergy of Bzommar. Our faithful are truly ‘faithful’; they attend church, pray and participate in the life of the community. I must remind you that the Armenians are not the only Catholics in Lebanon where the Latin, Syriac, Chaldean, Greek-Melkite, and Maronite Catholic Churches are also present. Many frequent the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, where Muslims also come (Mary is venerated by Muslims as the mother of Jesus, and sura XIX of the Koran is dedicated to her – Editor’s note).

In which social works is the diocese active?
Up until four years ago, we could support poor families financially, but now it’s impossible because banks don’t allow companies or associations to withdraw money.
Only private individuals are allowed to do so. I could do it with my personal account, but the dollar/Lebanese lira exchange rate is so unfavourable that I would only get a fifth of the real value.
In this situation, we could no longer distribute money. Therefore, I have devised a different way to help: starting at 7 in the morning, every day we deliver a food package to 150 families, and a clinic is also open where we assist the poor and sick free of charge. We also take care of about forty elderly people who can come to have breakfast, spend the morning up to and including lunch, then go home. Finally, we distribute medicines that have become very expensive in Lebanon, shipping them from Turkey or Syria.

A large explosion in the port area of Beirut on August 4, 2020, killed 218 people and a further 7,000 injured. About 300,000 people, amounting to 2/3 of the population of the city, were left homeless by the disaster.
The seat of the Patriarchate is very close to the port, and we have suffered damage and injuries, with all the doors and windows swept away. An hour after the explosion, I was already at the site trying to help our families whom I know well because I had been a parish priest
in that area.

After the explosion in the port area of Beirut on August 4, 2020. Photo: MECC Communication and PR Department

I tried to accompany some of the wounded to the hospitals, but they were all full, so I took some to the Patriarchate where the nuns and some doctors who were present gave us a hand. Three years after the disaster, however, the investigations are at a dead end. Corruption and the economic and political crises that have plagued the nation for years have prevented those responsible for the disaster from being found.

In what situation is Lebanon today?
In 1975, civil war broke out between the Palestinians and the Lebanese army and Beirut was divided in two. Subsequently, the situation became more complicated, with the birth of armed Christian factions (Pierre Gemayel’s Falange) against the Palestinians and still later with the appearance of Hezbollah, the Shiite ‘Party of God’.
With the end of the civil war (1990), the leaders of the various militias effectively took power, managing public affairs as they pleased, in an organic system of sharing public money and corruption.
Today Lebanon is experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis, politics is very dirty, and politicians think only of themselves. The crisis is such that now banks do not allow account holders to withdraw their money and cheques cannot circulate. There is much fear for the future; even the aid promised by the International Monetary Fund is at risk due to the dominant corruption and party politics. (Open Photo: Headquarters of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate in Bzoummar, Lebanon. CC BY-SA 3.0/Serouj)

Federico Tagliaferri/MO 

 

Europol: How Organized Crime Groups Infiltrate the Ports of Europe.

Of the 90 million containers that find their way through EU ports every year, law enforcement is able to physically inspect only two percent. This, combined with the criminal tricks, makes it almost impossible to detect the enormous amount of illicit goods that enter the continent through ports, according to a new Europol report.

The police agency released its analysis of the challenges law enforcement face in protecting the EU’s ports from criminal networks, who seek to exploit the continent’s shipping hubs to traffic hundreds of tonnes of narcotics across the world.

The report, released jointly with the Security Steering Committee of the ports of Antwerp, Hamburg, Bremerhaven, and Rotterdam, examines the ingenuity employed by transnational crime groups to bypass authorities and smuggle their product across Europe’s transport system.

The freedom of movement granted within the Schengen Area has become part of the European way of life; highways, railways and ports connect cities across 27 countries, for goods as much as for people.

Once infiltrated by crime groups, however, these same interconnected shipping networks become a boon for illicit transnational enterprises such as drug smuggling. And the ports are the infiltration point.

The sheer volumes of shipments they process, and connectivity with the surrounding areas make them an attractive avenue for transporting illicit merchandise across the European market.

Add in the fact that criminal organizations can identify who at the ports can facilitate their goods getting processed as fluidly as possible, and one can see how authorities don’t really even have a chance.

Select corrupt officials, who have access to the proper logistics and shipping manifolds, can label which containers are to be inspected and which are to be waved through. Essentially, routes exiting the ports are pre-selected for which have a greater chance to be searched, or none at all, given the lack of proper manpower. These are referred to by criminals as ‘green lines’, Europol said.

“Criminal networks work closely to evade security at land borders and at air and maritime ports. They have one thing in mind – profit,” said Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle.

As for the trafficking of the drugs itself, there are several modi operandi used to ingeniously conceal them, and no lack of creativity when one authorities get wise to one particular method.

For example, after a container is processed through a routine scan by customs, its registration info is copied and placed onto a replica, thereby allowing it to evade inspections.Europol estimates that no less than 200 tonnes of cocaine have successfully been trafficked through the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam in the past few years thanks to misappropriated container reference codes.

Another example is the more standard “the rip-on/rip-off method.” In the port of departure, the narcotics are concealed in the container, in a place that is easily accessible.
The drugs are then transported along with the goods from a legitimate receiver/importer, who is often unaware of the situation.

Once the container reaches its destination, the drugs are retrieved in or just outside the port by extraction teams. And transnational crime groups do not just target select personnel at a single port, Europol said. Forming a network of corrupt support coordinators in multiple locations “allows the criminals to be flexible in changing their routes depending on control measures or risks to the shipments.”

Corrupting multiple workers also allows them to have people in place to pick up the slack and ensure a continuance of operations should one be discovered and arrested. They can come from several areas within the ports, including shipping agents, terminal officers, transporters, and even law enforcement and customs officials.

But the most expensive is the “essential links in the extraction chain,” workers such as crane operators and those with access to IT systems. Those in charge of extracting the drugs from the ports can receive “between 7 to 15 % of the value of the illicit load,” Europol said.

In order to combat this continental-wide problem, Europol recommends the development of legislation that would streamline security measures across all ports in Europe. “Implementation of such measures at the European level,” the report concluded, “will ensure a level playing field, avoiding competition at the cost of security.” (Photo: A lot of automated cranes at the busy port terminal in Antwerp. 123rf.com/creativenature)

Henry Pope

 

Criminal Networks and Local Allies.

The Latin American cartels, from Bolivians to Mexicans. The Italian ‘Ndrangheta. The ‘friendships’ with African entrepreneurs and politicians. Diffusion and complicity in an expanding market.

It was May 2021 when in an Interpol operation, with the collaboration of 41 African and Middle Eastern countries, narcotics were discovered, especially cocaine and cannabis, worth 100 million euros, and culminating with the arrest of 287 people. The operation had been carried out in Niger, with the seizure of 17 tons of cannabis destined for Libya, to then continue on to Europe (value: 31 million euros). In South Africa, the seizure took place on a boat that was hiding cocaine worth around 32 million euros. In the same operation, 4.5 million tablets of tramadol and 200 kg of amphetamines were also seized. In September 2022, a record seizure was recorded in Nigeria: 1.8 tons of cocaine seized, worth approximately $280 million.

U.S. Maritime Safety and Security Team disposes of illegal narcotics off the coast of Somalia. (Photo: Navy Media Content Services)

The cocaine was intended for European and Asian markets. On that occasion, four Nigerians and a Jamaican were arrested. Finally, 2023 opened with a seizure of 800 kg of cocaine on a ship off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, while on February 6, a Cameroonian was arrested at the international airport of Nosy Be, in northern Madagascar, carrying over 5 kg of hard drugs: 2.25 kg of heroin, 2.35 kg of amphetamine and one kg of methamphetamine. According to the customs, he hid the drugs in spare parts for cars concealed in his luggage. One could continue listing many other cases of confiscation. The route is always the same: Latin America-Europe (in some cases Asia), with African territories serving as a logistics base for sorting (or in some cases even for partial consumption).In the Latin American networks, the drug trade is organized by a powerful worldwide network of criminal gangs.

The Latin American ones are the most influential and feared, from the Mexican to the Bolivian cartels which are in vogue today. The CPC (First Command of the Capital), led by Marcos Camacho, known as Marcola, is an umbrella that brings together the Latin American families who control drug trafficking. Its headquarters is located in the Bolivian region of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Here, as well as in Brazil’s richest state, São Paulo, Bolivians and Brazilians invest undisturbed in precious stones, medical clinics, restaurants and so forth. But the real business is in the drugs that come from Peru and Colombia, and which, in addition to the cocaine produced locally in Bolivia, is sold, usually via Brazil and then Africa, in Europe. 40% of these substances are controlled by the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, the most powerful Italian mafia organization.

The African allies
These criminal networks also have their connections in Africa. Marcola’s friend and historical ally, the Brazilian Gilberto Aparecido dos Santos, known as Fuminho, was arrested in 2020, after almost twenty years on the run, in Mozambique and extradited to Brazil. There are also local drug barons. In Angola, for example, Waldir Carlos was recently sentenced to 4 years in prison by the Luanda court, while in Mozambique, Mohamed Bashir Sulemane, one of the richest and most influential local traders of Asian origin, was on the American blacklist for years because he is considered one of the most influential drug traffickers on the African continent, with very close relations with the former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza. In West Africa, Mexican cocaine cartels – such as Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generación and Zetas – have links in Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, and Senegal, intertwining with jihadist groups that control important parts of the Sahel.

Bissau, the harbour. For years, Guinea Bissau has been considered a narco-state. File swm

The complicity of the military and political authorities of a small country like Guinea-Bissau, for years considered a veritable narco-state, has proved to be decisive in facilitating the trade in drugs from Latin America to Europe. The physical presence of these large Latin American cartels in Africa, however, is generally discreet, unlike what happens in their countries of origin. A few strategic and influential allies, such as – in the case of the Sinaloa cartel – Braima Seidi Ba in Guinea-Bissau, hold passports from their countries and Portugal. In South Africa, the link between government authorities and criminal cartels dedicated to drug trafficking is ancient. In 1999, 4 years after the end of apartheid, the UNODC had drawn up a report with serious accusations against the new South African government, while today new investigations have proven the link between Latin American drug cartels and powerful police officers, such as the ex-Commander Jackie Selebi, a frequent visitor to the family of former President Jacob Zuma. The latter would also appear to have had contact, in the province of the Western Cape, with Muhammad Asif Hafeez, known as ‘The Sultan’, a native of Pakistan and recently arrested in England.

Nearly 160 Chiefs of police and other senior law enforcement officers from 42 countries attended the Interpol African Regional Conference in Kigali (Rwanda) in 2019. (Photo: Interpol)

For the Interpol office in the African Union, faced with such complex relationships of the highest level and consolidated over time, the role of the international authorities involved in the fight against trafficking is difficult. Interpol opened its office at the AU in 2016 and in June 2022, a meeting was held in Cotonou (Benin) between Interpol and the authorities of various African countries, on the subject of international criminal trafficking. In that context, the general secretary of Interpol, Jürgen Stock, presented the program – financed by the United Kingdom – to fight cybercrime in Africa. This is also a very important program in the fight against drug trafficking, given that the trading of these substances on the dark web is also on the rise in Africa. (L.B.) – (Photo: Pixabay)

DR Congo. Lake Kivu. The Explosive Secret.

It is one of the most dangerous basins in the world for the gases contained in its seabed and for the possibility, not only theoretical, of explosions. For once, the extraction of gas would be considered a beneficial action. The first concessions have already been awarded. A danger could come from a possible conflict between Rwanda
and the DR Congo.

“At the bottom of the lake, where it is impossible to see, there are dark waters. According to legends, the darkness extends endlessly; there is no bottom, and that’s where Mami Wata can drag you down”. In a village south of Gisenyi, on the Rwandan shores of Lake Kivu, the old fisherman Maurice Gahanage is arranging his nets after a morning of hard work while evoking in Kinyarwanda the legends associated with this body of water, one of the largest in Africa, located on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Maurice says he knows all the secrets of the lake. He grew up on pirogues which have kept the same shape for hundreds of years, characterized by long wooden arms on the sides which extend into the water to lower the nets and on which oil lanterns are hung to attract the isambaza at night (fish measuring a maximum of 5 cm, which the inhabitants of the lake area are fond of).
“When someone disappears while swimming, we know what has happened”, says the fisherman. “You may get cramps or feel like you are suffocating from strange exhalations that suck you down. It is the guardian deity of Kivu who takes you with her”.

Fishermen in Lake Kivu. CC BY-SA 4.0/Isma250

A few kilometres away, in Nyamyumba, young Samuel Manizabayo – who ferries goods, people and tourists across the lake – also states that it is not uncommon to smell a strange toxic smell coming out of these waters, especially when passing near the ‘Akarwa ka bakobwa’ rocks about 500 meters farther out.
“According to the stories that our grandparents have handed down to us, those who committed serious acts, such as adultery or murder, were once abandoned on those rocks. Legend says that the lake would take them away to punish them”. Along the coast, tourist resorts for the rich and wealthy alternate with modest fishing/farmer villages perched on the hills, covered with terraces, and where bananas, maize, beans, coffee, and tea are grown.
The lake has always been an indispensable source of livelihood for the provinces of Rubavu and Rutsiro and part of the cultural roots of the population, so an aura of mystery has been created about it.

A dangerous lake
Apart from the legends, Lake Kivu really does hide a very ominous secret and is one of the potentially most dangerous lakes in the world. A geological anomaly caused by its depth and the intense volcanic activity surrounding it, this body of water of more than 2,700 km² contains in its depths 300 km³ of dissolved carbon dioxide and 60 km³ of methane, mixed with toxic hydrogen sulphide.
It is a lake in which a rare phenomenon that geologists call a limnic eruption could potentially take place, i.e., the explosive and sudden release of these gases into the atmosphere. According to scholars’ estimates, the lake contains the equivalent of 2.6 gigatonnes of CO2, equal to about 5% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions. In this event, a cloud of toxic gas would spread over the surrounding territories killing millions of people in minutes, as the region is densely populated.

The city of Bukavu & Lake Kivu – South Kivu. CC BY-SA 40/Abel Kavanagh

The city of Gisenyi is located exactly on the border with the DR Congo and if it weren’t for the border, it would be one with Goma, the capital of the Congolese province of North Kivu, with over 2 million inhabitants. These two inhabited centres are at the foot of one of the most active volcanoes in the world, Nyiragongo. On 22 May 2021, the lava lake present in the volcano (which has been erupting since 2002) came out with lava flows that headed for Goma, destroying several villages causing 32 victims and 450,000 displaced people. On that occasion, many experts had feared the worst, but fortunately nothing serious happened.
People have always wondered about the probability of the lake ‘exploding’ and scientists are divided on its stability. Although the lakes in the world thought to be capable of limnic eruptions are quite rare, everyone remembers what happened in 1986 in Cameroon, when Lake Nyos exploded releasing over 100,000 tons of CO2 in the Subum and Fang valleys, killing 1,746 people and thousands of animals.
Environmental physicist Augusta Umutoni, former program manager of the Lake Kivu Monitoring Program (LKMP) and now a consultant, explains that the gases are held back by the pressure of the water at a depth of over 300 metres and that “the risks of eruption are real but reduced, estimated at around 55%, which corresponds to the saturation level of dissolved gases in the lake at present”.

Lake Kivu, boats. CC BY-SA 4.0/Steve Evans

According to a study published in 2015, the last limnic eruption of Kivu occurred between 750 and 1,000 years ago and most scientists believe that a major earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption of Nyiragongo could trigger a gas release, upsetting the structure of gradients in the depths or increasing the saturation of the lake. “These should be events of enormous proportions because the lake is among the deepest in the world and its conformation is different from that of Nyos which was then saturated”, underlines the sceptical Dario Tedesco, a volcanologist at the University of Naples (Italy). For the researcher “it is more probable that a volcanic eruption on the bottom of the Kivu could cause a limnic explosion given that it is located on a branch of the Rift Valley (African Rift Valley, ed) or, and there is really something to fear about this, that ‘human activity’ may disturb the equilibrium of the lake”.

De-saturate the water
The Italian researcher refers to the possible solution proposed by many to prevent a catastrophe, which consists of extracting part of the gas to de-saturate the water. Among other things, methane is a fossil fuel that would produce the electricity that the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda needs. Indeed, the stakes are high: researchers have estimated that methane in Lake Kivu could yield up to $42 billion over 50 years. In a world where the aim is to reduce the use of fossil resources and where people criticise African countries that would like to use them for their development, this could perhaps be the only case in which extraction would even be considered beneficial.

The city Goma and volcano Nyiragongo in background, North Kivu. Photo: CC BY-SA 2.0/Abel Kavanagh

Currently, in Rwanda there is a functioning 26 MW plant operating since 2016 with the KivuWatt project of the Americans of ConturGlobal. This plant extracts the gaseous waters from over 260 meters deep, separates them from the gases and pours the degassed waters down into the various density layers of the lake. The retained methane is then piped to a coastal power plant.

The race for gas and questions arising
After the 2021 eruptions, the Kivu gas rush got a boost. This can be seen as you drive south from Gisenyi along the coast road, along which cranes and barges lay huge steel pipes. These are the construction sites of the new projects of the Rwandan Shema Power and of the Kivu 56 plant which will soon come onstream. Even in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, things are moving, and extraction will soon begin thanks to the concessions granted to three North American companies. There are, however, some question marks.

CC BY-SA 2.0/ Martijn.Munneke

First, not all scientists agree on which gas extraction technique is the best to avoid disturbing the balance of the lake. Secondly, “these operations should be monitored continuously, with data exchanges between companies and between the two countries which, however, are at loggerheads”, says Professor Tedesco.
Umutoni also echoes him: “The competition for the exploitation of the resource combined with the growing tension in the area could interrupt bilateral cooperation on the harmonization of methods and regulations. That’s what we fear the most”.
Lake Kivu is indeed located in an unstable region, battered by decades of conflict and turbulent history due to its immense natural resources. In recent months, clashes between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group have exploded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These actions have caused hundreds of victims and thousands of displaced people. Kinshasa has long accused Rwanda of backing the M23 group, but Kigali has always denied it.

Sunset Lake Kivu. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Bintu utuje

“If this outbreak were to escalate into a direct conflict between Kinshasa and Kigali, there would be serious repercussions for the safety of the lake during the mining operations for which a competitive race has begun”, says Onesphore Sematumba, an analyst at the International Crisis Group. Meanwhile at anchor in a small gulf in Kigufi, the fisherman Maurice and his crewmates prepare for a customary night of fishing. He too observes Goma in the distance and the barges of the gas extraction yards. “We were told that gas extraction should keep us safer and bring down electricity costs. But what if nature rebels one day? What if Mami Wata does something? You can’t fight fate”. (Open Photo:123rf)

Marco Simoncelli

Kenya. The Search for Popular Wisdom.

A group of educators, supported by Tangaza University College, have embarked on a civic education path to prevent violence in Nairobi’s populous neighbourhoods. A path that serves to bring out the Utu culture, full Humanity. With many surprises.

In the Huruma area, on the eastern outskirts of Nairobi, a group of civic educators got together to write the story of a different future. They formed a professional association, called the Wajibika Mashinani Trust, and embarked on a civic education path to prevent violence in the mitaa, that is, the settlements of these densely populated urban suburbs. They do not call them slums, a term full of derogatory, dehumanizing meaning. Instead, they see them as dynamic centres in which new cultures are emerging, rich in energy and creativity, especially among the most enterprising young people, the many groups of women who promote themselves, and various local associations with socio-economic and solidarity purposes.

In the Huruma area, on the eastern outskirts of Nairobi, a group of civic educators got together to write a different story. File swm

Examples of this are the emergence of Sheng (Swahili-English), a real language of the people created by young people, and the mural art of young talented artists, who rework the meaning of life situations and motivate change. Both of these examples are products of ingenuity and collective approaches that provide new insights and paths of social transformation that are both participatory and indigenous. The Wajibika Mashinani initiative aims to bring out the Utu culture (known as Ubuntu in South Africa), at the heart of the cultural and spiritual heritage of peoples in sub-Saharan Africa, to promote humanization paths that restore dignity, rebuild friendship, and nourish universal fraternity.

The leader, Sultan Somjee
With the support of the Institute for Social Transformation, a department of Tangaza University College (Catholic University of East Africa), and led by Sultan Somjee – renowned ethnographer and writer, former founder of the movement for community museums of peace in Kenya – these civic educators are working with various neighbourhood groups and communities in different mitaa in the eastern suburbs of Nairobi. Their work starts from the enhancement of the expressions of full Humanity (Utu) found in local cultures and knowledge.

The Sheng (Swahili-English), the real language created by young people.

The starting point is field research and documentation of these living traditions. This listening phase draws on people’s experiences, their verbal and visual languages, ​​and their material culture. Thus, various generative themes have emerged such as the suffering of women – who end up paying the highest price – during electoral violence, or the divisive and instigating dynamics of violence promoted by some politicians. Other issues that have raised the need to restore the dignity of residents are those of police corruption and violence, which have a significant impact on the lives of ordinary people.
Stories are collected and told which are direct experiences of these realities, and then shared also through street theatrical performances, interpreted by the inhabitants of the settlements where the events occurred. Through dramatic or satirical sketches, songs accompanied by music and dance, proverbs and riddles – that is, taking up again those profoundly communicative expressive forms in local cultures – a critical awareness of reality is promoted, and voice and space are given both to the discovery and to the proposal of a regenerated society.

The Mitaani Festival aims to awaken the ancestral wisdom that humanizes local people and communities. File swm

This gave rise to the Mitaani Festival of the cultures of Utu, or of full humanity. Held in July, this festival aims to awaken the ancestral wisdom that humanizes local people and communities.
In addition to the activities already mentioned, there will be other initiatives for meeting and popular dialogue, such as the involvement of pupils from schools, Churches, and other territorial realities, always starting with the presentation of eloquent elements of ancestral cultures, such as the trees of peace.
Having lost the key to traditions, the new generations, born and raised in the big city – a multicultural environment and subject to the strong influence of the globalization processes – have often lost the key to accessing local wisdom and knowledge, expressed in native languages ​​and traditional cultures. The journey started in these peripheral settlements sets in motion the processes of cultural and spiritual re-appropriation by the people. What is striking is the enthusiasm and psychosocial impact that these activities are arousing in the participants and that they propose an alternative response to the tensions and plots of violence unfortunately recurring in the electoral period.

The Comboni mission of Kariobangi is also involved in this process, in collaboration with the Institute for Social Transformation. Apart from the urgency of the situation that brings together multiple actors for the common good, the approach adopted is very much in tune with the Comboni vision of mission, characterized by a marked interest in African solutions to social issues in Africa, which lead to an experience of rebirth, of life in fullness, not only on a personal but also on a community and social level. Furthermore, the enhancement of the knowledge and spirituality of people helps to overcome situations of dependence and loss of subjectivity on the part of the people, and – in the context of an increasingly interconnected world – it also involves the enhancement of the specifically African contribution that enriches the whole of humanity, in a conviviality of differences open to the world.

Alberto Parise

Chilekwa Mumba. To protect the community and environment.

Alarmed by the pollution produced by the Konkola Copper Mines operation in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, Chilekwa Mumba organized a lawsuit to hold the mine’s parent company, Vedanta Resources, responsible.

Chilekwa’s victory in the UK Supreme Court set a legal precedent – it was the first time an English court ruled that a British company could be held liable for the environmental damage caused by subsidiary-run operations in another country. This precedent has since been applied to hold Shell Global – one of the world’s 10 largest corporations by revenue – liable for its pollution in Nigeria.

Zambia is one of the largest producers and exporters of copper in Africa. Some 77% of the country’s exports come from the mining industry and 25% of government revenue is from mining royalties and taxes. The Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) is one of the largest mining operations in Zambia and the country’s single largest employer.

KCM’s Nchanga copper mine is located just outside of Chingola city limits in the Copperbelt Province, with an operation that spans 11 square miles along the Kafue River. The mine complex includes an open-pit mine, underground mines, a smelter, a sulfuric acid plant, tailings leach plant, and a refinery. The open-pit mine – the second largest in the world – is seven miles long.

In 2004, Vedanta Resources, a company headquartered in the UK, acquired the controlling stake over KCM. After Vedanta’s takeover, residents of four local villages – Shimulala, Kakosa, Hippo Pool, and Hellen – noticed contamination in the Kafue River and its tributaries. The river began emitting foul odors and fish were dying on the riverbanks. Copper, iron, cobalt, and dissolved sulphates were present in the water far beyond legal limits, and, in 2006, the river turned bright blue from copper sulfate and acid pollution.

In 2011, an internal company letter from a medical doctor stated that the water in the Kafue River and local aquifers were not safe for human consumption. The local water supply, down to the water table, had become severely contaminated from toxic waste spills and discharges of effluent into the river and its tributaries.

Local residents relied upon the river water for drinking, bathing, livestock, and crop irrigation. As a result of years of contamination, crop yields were decimated, animals were sickened, and villagers suffered from headaches,rashes, abdominal pain, blood in urine, and burns.

Residents took KCM to court in Zambia in 2006 but, after years of litigation, were unsuccessful in holding the company accountable for its devastating pollution.

Chilekwa Mumba, 38, is a community organizer who grew up in Chingola, in the Copperbelt Province, where his father was a miner-turned-Pentecostal minister. Chilekwa runs an orphanage in Lusaka with his wife. When he learned of the widespread contamination and injustice occurring in Chingola, in 2013, he felt an acute responsibility to protect the community and environment of his childhood.

Having grown up in Chingola, Chilekwa was deeply concerned about the environmental damage from Vedanta’s takeover of KCM. After the Zambian court failed to hold KCM accountable, he decided to spearhead legal action against Vedanta in the UK.

In 2015, Chilekwa reached out to Leigh Day, a UK-based law firm, and persuaded its attorneys to visit and, ultimately, take on a lawsuit to hold Vedanta legally accountable in the UK. While no UK parent company had ever been held liable for environmental damages caused by a subsidiary, he convinced Leigh Day’s lawyers to challenge the legal shield UK companies used to avoid liability for their overseas operations.

From 2015 to 2021, during the legal build-up, Chilekwa served as a facilitator between the Chingola communities and Leigh Day lawyers. He arranged meetings with villagers and the legal team to explain the lawsuit process and to cultivate interest in participating in the case.

Chilekwa translated materials for non-English speakers and gathered information on how each of the 2,000 villagers who participated in the lawsuit was affected by the mine’s pollution. In building the case, he convinced villagers to provide blood samples for analysis of the health impacts of contamination; to do this, he had to overcome doubt sewn by KCM representatives, who misled villagers into believing that their blood samples would be sold.

Chilekwa gathered water quality samples during the rainy season, wading into the flooded river, and braving possible encounters with water cobras, crocodiles, and hippos. He identified and persuaded witnesses to provide information against the company, including a former mine manager who gave testimony about the degree of control Vedanta had over KCM’s operations.

As the lawsuit moved slowly through the UK High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court over nearly six years, Chilekwa worked to reassure villagers who were frustrated with the slowness of the legal process. When the company tried to dissuade residents from taking part in the lawsuit, he helped convince them to stay onboard.

During the long campaign, Chilekwa and his partners were harassed. In 2017, he and a lawyer with Leigh Day were arrested at a public gathering while speaking with villagers about the lawsuit. Police arrived at the meeting in a KCM company jeep.

In April 2019, the UK Supreme Court found that Vedanta, as the parent company of KCM, owed villagers near the mine a duty of care, and Vedanta could be held accountable in UK court for environmental damage from the Nchanga copper mine’s operations.

This ruling meant that the company could not escape liability for environmental damage caused by a subsidiary. In 2021, Vedanta settled with nearly 2,000 people from the four villages near KCM; villagers received undisclosed financial compensation from Vedanta for the pollution that devastated their lives and environment.

The Vedanta case is already being applied in UK courts as a legal precedent. In February 2021, the UK Supreme Court allowed a group of 42,500 Niger Delta residents to sue Shell Global in the UK for years of oil spills that contaminated their land and groundwater, rejecting Shell’s arguments that its Nigerian subsidiary held liability.

In 2019, the Zambian government placed KCM in liquidation, and operations were taken over by the liquidator. Locals report that spills and discharges from the mine have stopped. Chilekwa’s legal victory held Vedanta liable for the grievous harm its environmental pollution caused the villagers near the Nchanga mine.

His case successfully challenged decades of corporate impunity and set a legal precedent that British companies can be held accountable for their overseas operations that extract profits while destroying local environments. Last April, Chilekwa received the Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the “Green Nobel Prize”. (The Goldman Environment Report – Photo Goldman Environmental Prize)

African drug routes.

Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda are the main transit countries for heroin. West Africa, that of cocaine. Morocco is the kingdom of cannabis.

The African continent has experienced significant increases in drug trafficking in recent years. The reason, in addition to the growing worldwide demand, lies in the ever-increasing fragility of the majority of African states (in particular Somalia, Libya, Guinea-Bissau) in the control of their respective territories and, therefore, in the ability to fight the criminal groups that hold the monopoly of drug trafficking internationally. An example: according to UNODC (United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention) data, in 2020-2021 the percentage of cocaine seized in Africa reached around 2% at the world level. However, the demand for this drug has been increasing on the continent in recent years. Even if it remains an inhomogeneous value because the lack of certain data makes it difficult to have a clear
picture of the level of use.

Zimbabwe. Young people. The demand for drugs has been increasing on the continent in recent years. File swm

The basis on which to calculate the importance of Africa in drug trafficking is given by the quantities seized which, according to the UNODC itself, were too low to be true. For cocaine alone, and for West Africa alone, an average of 14.2 tonnes of the drug were seized each year between 2019 and 2022 compared to 5.5 tonnes in 2007 alone.
A note that is by no means irrelevant: according to experts, it is necessary to multiply the seizures by 20 to get an idea of the real amount of drugs trafficked. Since 2019, therefore, approximately 1,140 tonnes of cocaine would have passed through West Africa alone. A market equal to 57 billion euros. This means that annual cocaine trafficking alone accounted for half of Senegal’s GDP, almost all of Niger’s or Guinea’s GDP, and nearly ten times that of Guinea-Bissau.

Heroine and the market
The heroin arrives from Afghanistan, passes through strategic places such as Pakistan, India and Thailand and then reaches East Africa. This would be confirmed by the growing seizures of this substance, in a network that would link Nigeria with East African countries, such as Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. The main hub for the passage of this narcotic is said to be Addis Ababa airport, followed by that of Nairobi. The available information indicates that Tanzanians and Mozambicans are the subjects most involved in trafficking.

Methamphetamine is produced locally, especially in South Africa. Photo: Pixabay

Heroin reaching East African countries is meant to go directly to European and North American markets, although the African market, especially that of South Africa, has been expanding steadily since 2006. Previously, it was concentrated in tourist resorts, such as Zanzibar, or in cities with a large European presence, such as Johannesburg.
The most travelled route for cocaine continues to be, however, that of the South Atlantic, which penetrates Africa both through South Africa and from the ‘Senegambia’ region, to then leave towards the north. Methamphetamine, on the other hand, is produced locally, especially in South Africa, from which it continues to Europe, with a fairly significant internal consumption. The routes of all three major drugs pass through North Africa, thus underlining the strategic function of this region at an international level.

The East African routes
The East African routes for cannabis pass mainly through ports located in Djibouti, Kenya, Eritrea, and Tanzania, although recent surveys indicate Somalia as the main territory of marketing of this substance, together with arms trafficking. Cannabis comes from Afghanistan, stops in East Africa and from there reaches Western Europe. Cocaine, on the other hand, comes mainly from Latin America.

The Port of Dar es Salaam. Containers. Tanzanians and Mozambicans are the subjects most involved in drug trafficking. File swm

Even if an important commercial road has opened up, especially in perspective, on the side of the Indian Ocean, the route of methaqualone – the basis of mandrax, a sedative substance which in the 1970s was used with hypnotic and muscle-relaxing functions – is still that of the east (mostly India, but also China). However, local production has been reported in recent years in African countries that have now become producers and exporters. In 2017, for example, a clandestine mandrax factory, run by a Zambian and four Mozambicans, was seized in southern Mozambique. The mandrax does not usually take western routes but is consumed above all in South Africa (which seems to be the number one world consumer). Local production in neighbouring countries, and without great control by the police, greatly facilitates its disposal.

The Western routes
The history of drug trafficking that passes through West Africa – the so-called Atlantic route – is quite ancient. As early as the 1960s, the expansion of the North American and European markets for cannabis, cocaine and heroin led to a quantum leap in Atlantic trafficking. Two major routes were then formed involving West Africa: one destined for consumption in South Africa, Asia, and Europe. The other, the typically Atlantic one, where cocaine coming from Latin America (especially from Peru and Colombia, via Brazil), together with the oriental one of Afghan heroin, reached Europe and the United States. Almost immediately three countries became the main hubs of these trades: Ghana, Nigeria, and Guinea-Bissau, with the latter defined for a long time as a real ‘narco-state’. According to data from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, the Latin American production of cocaine arriving in West Africa would not have suffered from the stops and controls imposed by Covid-19.

Lagos. The Atlantic Route. Photo: A. Tosatto

This would be confirmed by the quantities seized in recent years, the highest ever on the Atlantic route. According to the latest UNODC report ‘between 2019 and 2022 […] at least 57 tonnes of cocaine were seized in or en route to West Africa, mainly in Cape Verde (16.6 tonnes), Senegal (4.7 tonnes), Benin (3.9 tonnes), Côte d’Ivoire (3.5 tonnes), Gambia (3 tonnes) and Guinea-Bissau (2.7 tonnes)’. 2022 was the year of the mega seizure in Lagos in Nigeria. The Anti-Drug Agency discovered a record 1.8 tons of cocaine, valued at $278 million.
The drugs were found in a warehouse in the Nigerian city. It was the largest seizure ever in the country.
And 2023 began with another important seizure, this time off the Senegalese coast: 805 kg of cocaine were found on January 22 aboard a ‘high seas patrol boat’, 335 km from Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

North African trafficking
North Africa is a territory of production, use and trafficking of various types of drugs. In terms of production, cannabis is the most locally produced substance, with the largest seizures occurring in Egypt and Morocco. 80% of Algerian cannabis is destined for the European market, while 20% is consumed locally. These proportions, according to calculations made by Interpol/Enact (Enhancing Africa’s ability to counter transnational crime) should be valid for the whole area. According to the EMCDDA (European Monitor Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction) about 1,200 tons of cannabis are needed to satisfy the European market annually, for a total value of about 12 billion euros.
From Morocco, considered the largest producer of cannabis in the world, the routes to reach the European markets, the Middle East and North Africa itself would be those of the sea – via the Strait of Gibraltar – with Spain as the main destination, followed by Italy and France; then the terrestrial route to the south, passing through territories such as Mali, Egypt, Niger and Libya; and the mixed land and sea route, which starts from Morocco and reaches Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt
along a west-east axis.

Opium cultivations are known in Egypt and Algeria. File swm

Cocaine from South America represents a growing presence in the North African regions, in transit to Europe. Again, Morocco recorded the most significant seizures by the authorities. An example: the Moroccan authorities recovered, in November 2019, a consignment of 476 kg of cocaine from Colombia hidden in a boat in Temara (south of Rabat, on the Atlantic coast). With regard to heroin, North Africa has a very limited production: opium cultivations are known in Egypt and Algeria, but are not, for the moment, significant. Conversely, the heroin present in the region is imported, mostly from Afghanistan, transiting through Egypt. The route passes through Makran (the coastal part of Balochistan, on the Gulf of Oman), then the Arabian Peninsula, rejoining the Mediterranean via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the Red Sea having rediscovered its centrality for these trades. However, the domestic use of heroin in Egypt is also notable, and is, according to local authorities, the second or third most commonly used narcotic substance locally. This is also why the largest quantities of heroin were recovered in the shadow of the pyramids. Little was discovered in the other countries of the area. Among other drugs, tramadol – originating from India and Sri Lanka – passes essentially through Egypt (where it is also consumed) and Libya. Recently, a type of tramadol of Chinese origin has also been discovered. Italy is strategically important for its sale, especially in the ports of Genoa and Gioia Tauro, with interconnections between local and North African mafias, especially those of Libya. (L. B.) (Map: Enact)

 

 

 

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