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Saudi Arabia. A Church of Migrants.

Saturday, 1 July 2023 8:00

This month of July, Monsignor Paolo Martinelli celebrates one year since the beginning of his ministry as a bishop in the Vicariate of Southern Arabia. “The Arabian Peninsula challenges the Church to live her mission authentically, supporting the faith of migrants, so that in this complex society they may be witnesses of the joy of the Gospel”.

The Vicariate of Southern Arabia is made up of the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. The Catholic faithful numbered about a million. In the United Arab Emirates, we have nine parishes and four in Oman. In the Emirates, we also have a significant number of Catholic schools that are attended by students of different religions. Some of the schools are directly managed by the Vicariate while others belong to some female religious institutes. In Yemen, unfortunately, after seven years of war, the situation is extremely difficult. The remaining Christians are few and the structure of the Church is at a minimum.

Monsignor Paolo Martinelli. (Twitter)

In the Vicariate there are currently a total of 75 priests, mostly religious and belonging to the Capuchin Franciscan order.
We are a Church of migrants. There are very few natives or those who possess citizenship. Almost all of the faithful are workers. Most Catholics come from the Philippines and India. But there is no shortage of Christians from the Arab world, mostly from Lebanon and Jordan. The faithful from Africa is evidently increasing. Although not numerous, the presence of Latin Americans, Europeans, and North Americans is also significant. Most of our Catholics are simple people; they do menial jobs and lead sober life. Although there is no shortage of high-level people who come to bring their professional expertise to these countries.

The Filipino festival in Saudi Arabia. Photo: Department of Foreign Affairs.

Given this varied composition, ours is also a pluriform Church. Our people come from different countries. They have different languages, traditions, cultures, and rites. The great challenge is to be so varied and yet form a single Church, to experience multiformity in unity. Obviously, this is not easy and sometimes leads to tensions in the parishes. It is a question of working all the time to keep ecclesial life in equilibrium between valuing the different gifts and the unity of the Church. In fact, since they are all migrants, the faithful are not only called to hold fast to their traditions of origin but to demonstrate their ability to walk together with all the members of God’s people. If the different traditions are simply preserved, the risk is that the Church may be reduced to an assemblage of linguistic communities without communication, of an exclusive nature. The authentic challenge, on the other hand, is that of the shared and inclusive journey. Respecting diversity, learning from each other, and getting to know and respect one another.

African migrates after Sunday Mass in St. Joseph Cathedral (Twitter). “We are a Church of migrants”

Priests and consecrated persons play a fundamental role in the life of this unique Church. They, in turn, come from different cultures and rites. The parishes themselves are staffed by priests who come from different countries. Many are members of the Capuchin Franciscan family but belong to different areas: India, the Philippines, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. There is no shortage of religious from other institutes with the same characteristics. The communities of consecrated life, to which the parishes of the vicariate belong, are decidedly intercultural, just as the communities of the faithful are intercultural. The consecrated women are a minority, but they have similar characteristics. Their contribution is essentially expressed in parishes and in the management of Catholic schools, which represent a great cultural challenge. The model of consecrated life is therefore very different from the classic one we are used to seeing in the West.
In this land, interculturality and structural collaboration between different institutes for the mission of the Church constitutes the specific face of consecrated persons in the Apostolic Vicariate.

United Arab Emirates
Most of the Catholics live in the UAE. It is an extremely evolved society which has experienced impressive development since its foundation (1971) to today. It is well organized with an excellent infrastructure. The general perception is that everyone is welcome. This rapid and complex development was possible thanks to the foresight of the emirs who invested heavily in training the ruling class abroad, particularly in the United Kingdom and the USA. Furthermore, an essential contribution to development is certainly to be attributed to the immense number of migrants who make up the country’s workforce. The UAE presents itself as a country characterized by tolerance and peaceful coexistence among all who inhabit this land.
It is a country clearly characterized by the Islamic religion. However, there is freedom of worship for the Catholic Church and for other Christian denominations, as well as for other religions.

Dubai downtown at night, UAE. Photo: 123rf

The state controls all these activities to ensure that there is tolerance, and no fundamentalist or violent groups are formed. It is striking to see a country so deeply rooted in Islam and yet extremely modern, at times even hyper-modern. One can see this while visiting Dubai, an industrial city that is also a tourist attraction, dotted with an enormous number of the most varied and original skyscrapers. For those coming from Europe, a place where the contrast between religion and modernity has dominated for centuries, one is amazed to see people being faithful to the precepts of the Koran and at the same time being engaged in major development projects in all sectors of social and cultural life.
The international reputation of the United Arab Emirates from a cultural and religious point of view, experienced a moment of particular development thanks to the visit of Pope Francis in February 2019. The fundamental reason for the visit was the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity. It is an extraordinary and prophetic document. It had never previously happened that the head of the Catholic Church and a great Muslim authority, the Grand Imam of Al Ahzar, signed together a document of this magnitude.

Oman and Yemen
The Apostolic Vicariate also includes Oman, a different reality in many respects from the Emirates. Omani society offers a reassuring and mild image. The country is strongly marked by Islam, but freedom of worship is granted. We do not find hyper-modern centres like those in Dubai. The landscape is varied and invites contemplation. The pandemic crisis has significantly reduced the presence of Catholics.

Sultanate of Oman. White houses in an Omani fishing village. Photo 123rf

Recently the Holy See and the Sultanate of Oman have established full diplomatic relations. It is a process that had begun in 1999, was subsequently interrupted, and has reached its completion in recent months. This important step could also lead to a season of greater collaboration for the Church in Oman. Our Christians, in fact, are eager to be able to give their contribution to Omani society for the good of all.
Finally, the Vicariate of Southern Arabia also includes Yemen. A land tormented by a civil war that has afflicted it for over seven years now. In reality, the Christian presence in Yemen has ancient roots. The city of Aden was the first residence of the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia. In recent months the internal situation has improved after a few months of respite. However, situations of great suffering still remain, especially for the elderly, the sick, and children. Many Christians have fled the country because of persecution or because they have lost their jobs.

Panorama of Sanaa, capital of Yemen. Photo 123rf

At the moment, the Catholic presence consists of a few hundred faithful, significantly including some natives of Yemen. The churches were damaged during the conflicts and are currently unusable. A particularly precious presence in this country is that of the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. They have two religious communities and carry out the important service of welcoming disabled and elderly people. They are assisted by a priest belonging to the male branch of the institute founded by Mother Teresa.
In conclusion, the Arabian Peninsula challenges the Church to live her mission in an authentic way: by supporting the simple faith of all the migrant faithful so that they may be witnesses of the joy of the Gospel in this complex and constantly changing society, and by giving a decisive contribution to the good of all while building up a more humane and fraternal society. (Photo: Abu Dhabi. St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Twitter)

Mexico. The Priest who Challenges the Narcos with the News.

Saturday, 1 July 2023 8:00

Being both a priest and a journalist represents the two most dangerous missions ever. This is the experience of Father Omar Sotelo Aguilar, an energetic Mexican priest of the Society of San Paolo who for years has been at the forefront of reporting on the criminal system that entraps his country.

In Mexico, last year alone, fourteen journalists have, while in the last decade as many as thirty religious, lost their lives because of their commitment to working alongside the people. But ‘information can help change things’. Father Omar has always been convinced of this, ever since, as a boy, he felt this ‘double vocation’ for the first time. He says: “Since I loved playing soccer, a priest from the diocesan seminary of Mexico City invited me to participate in a tournament. By mistake, however, I ended up at the Pauline seminary and there, as well as the enormous football pitch, I was struck by the printing press run by priests: the congregation founded by Don Giacomo Alberione in fact has the mission of spreading the message of Jesus precisely through the means of social communication”.

Father Joaquín Mora and Father Javier Campos were murdered on June 20, 2022. (Photo: Aid to the Church in Need)

Everything else came as a consequence of that meeting: young Omar began his training to become a priest, while in him the fascination for what he calls ‘the art of journalism’, especially investigative, grew. Newly ordained, he began working with the Mexican episcopal conference for which he helped set up the Multimedia Catholic Centre: “Originally it was a project to unite the communication efforts of over one hundred Mexican dioceses – he says – but soon we began to aggregate a group of independent professionals with the aim of working on the
hottest topics of current events”.
Today, the Centre of which Father Sotelo Aguilar is the director, represents a point of reference at a national level – and beyond – on reporting information, in particular of the violence against ecclesial operators. His role has also been confirmed by important awards, such as the National Journalism Award for the ‘Human Rights’ section thanks to an investigation into the ‘Tragedy of the priesthood in Mexico.’

Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Mexican armed forces during operations in north eastern Mexico. Photo: 123rf

Father Omar says: “In recent years we have carried out various journalistic projects, also through videos or short films, to denounce what is wrong in Mexico. For example, we produced a series of thirteen documentaries entitled ‘Hermano narco’ (‘Brother narco’) with the aim of giving a voice to witnesses who have unfortunately fallen into the trap of organized crime, to demonstrate that responding to violence with more violence only multiplies suffering. The only way to change things is to draw on one of the most proper qualities of the human being, and that is the ability to forgive; forgiveness is not only a religious concept, but it is the only human feeling that can break the barriers of hate. So, with our work, we have tried to get this message across to those men and women whose lives have been turned upside down by crime, to try to rehumanize what had been dehumanized”.
The Pauline priest insists that using language “that touches the experience of both the victims and the perpetrators can transform the context. Here, this is precisely our task: to have an impact on people’s lives, on public opinion, on society. Then, of course, our commitment also focuses on denouncing attacks on the Church, given that in the last decade Mexico has confirmed itself as one of the most dangerous countries for religious. In the period of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government alone, i.e., just over four years, we have already had seven priests murdered, in addition to another eight who survived attacks”.

Mexico City. The Supreme Court building. Photo: Thelmadatter

But why such fury against the Catholic Church? “The Church in Mexico has often been attacked since the times of the ‘cristera’ war of 1929 when attempts were made to eliminate it from the national territory. Today we are not faced with real persecution, yet the situation is in some ways more dangerous than a hundred years ago because religious are targeted to sow a culture of death, terror, and corruption in society. Let me explain: in Mexico, when a priest is assassinated, it affects not just a person but an entire community, in the midst of which he acts as a social stabilizer. In fact, religious do not only provide a pastoral and spiritual service but also work in education, the protection of health and the protection of human rights. Just think of the enormous work alongside the masses of desperate people who reach Mexico from Central America seeking the mirage of the United States and who very often end up in the mesh of organized crime. Here, when a priest is eliminated,
society is destabilized”.
Father Omar recognizes that in many parts of the country, there is now a narcoculture, a narcoeconomy and even a narcogovernment; organized crime has managed to infiltrate organizations such as the army, the navy and even federal and state governments. And he gives an example: “The former Mexican Secretary of Public Security, Genaro Garcia Luna, is currently detained in the United States for conspiracy to drug trafficking; he allegedly received millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel of ‘Chapo’ Guzmán. There are governors, deputies and ministers linked to crime and those who denounce this anomaly, which directly impacts the country’s progress, ending up in the crosshairs. Last year there were more than 850 death threats against priests, and I personally know many journalists who have suffered these same attacks”.

On the evening of 26 September 2014, a group of 43 Mexican students disappeared in south-western Guerrero state. “There are more than 100,000 disappeared and 350,000 victims due to organized crime”Photo: File Swm

But often the perpetrators of assaults and murders are not found. The priest says: “There are several factors. On the one hand, there is so much violence – more than 100,000 disappeared and 350,000 victims due to organized crime – that public security institutions cannot keep up. Obviously then there is also the political aspect: I am only mentioning the case of Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo, the archbishop of Guadalajara assassinated in 1993 by the will of the Tijuana cartel for his inexhaustible fight against drug trafficking. A cardinal was killed in an international airport, and thirty years later we have not a single culprit detained for this crime! A monument to impunity. And so, in 80% of cases, the investigations into the murders of priests have led nowhere. The scene is one in which the inability and lack of preparation of the security forces are all too evident”.

Mexico City. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. “When a priest is assassinated, it affects not just a person but an entire community”. Photo File Swm

Regarding the reason why the perpetrators of assaults and murders are not found, Father Omar, who was repeatedly threatened with death says: There are several factors: “Everyone is exposed to violence in some way; every Mexican is afraid. However, we who are engaged in communication and evangelization have the obligation and the privilege to continue to announce and denounce. It’s true, we do expose ourselves to danger, but someone has to do it, right? And I love what I do. Organized crime tries to keep us silent and to trap us in the culture of silence; we must be the voice – as the prophet says – that cries out in the desert, influencing public opinion to change things. Mexico is a beautiful place, and it doesn’t deserve what it’s going through”. (Photo:123rf – Aid to the Church in Need)

Chiara Zappa/MM

Egypt. Between Crisis and Ambition.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

The country is trying everything to recover from the deep economic crisis deriving, first, from the Covid-19 pandemic, then from the continuation of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and is also trying to strengthen its international relations.

The Covid-19 pandemic, first, and then the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, is having a strong impact on Cairo’s economy, whose inflation rate reached 33.9% on an annual basis in May, a new record in the African country since the beginning of registrations, compared to 12.1% in the same period of 2022, due to the increase in food prices.Egypt’s official statistical agency CAPMAS attributed the price increase to food groups, especially cereals and bread (6.5%), meat and poultry (5%), fish and seafood (4.9%), cheese and dairy products and eggs (2.5%), fruit (6.2%) and coffee, tea and cocoa (4.4%). “The general consumer price index (CPI) for the whole of the Republic reached 165.5 points in March, registering an increase of 3.2 points compared to February 2023,” CAPMAS said in a statement.

At the end of March, the Egyptian central bank decided to increase interest rates by 200 basis points, or two percentage points, bringing them to 18.75%, in an attempt to counter rising inflation in the African country. In light of these data, an external helping hand seemed to be required to limit the effects of the economic crisis on the population. Some basic help came from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which in December 2022 granted a loan of 3 billion dollars to revive the Egyptian economy and limit the growth of public debt.
The IMF’s goal was also to channel towards the North African country a total of 14 billion dollars from regional and international partners in the near future. This help, however, did not come without conditions. In fact, the IMF wants Egypt to grant more room for movement to the private sector, reducing the influence of the army in economic matters.

Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil al-Sisi, president of Egypt since 2014. CC BY-SA 4.0/M.amer

For his part, Egyptian president al-Sisi is also trying to develop new policies to revive the country. From the beginning of April, in fact, increases in pensions and salaries should apply, while, with the approval of the economic plan for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the Ministry of Finance has foreseen a 28% increase in funds allocated to social benefits, compared to 17% in the last fiscal year. On the other hand, the government has not given up on a series of expensive mega-projects. It is estimated that the construction of the “New Administrative Capital”, where all the administrative offices of the Government will be moved, will cost about 59 billion dollars, while, at the same time, the construction of the new high-speed railway line continues
Al-Sisi is also trying to exploit foreign relations to his advantage, first of all, those with the European Union. Since 2016, the Egyptian government has begun to block all ships leaving for Europe used to transport migrants. The launch of this cooperation provided for funding of around 11 million euros in favour of Cairo, which is why a meeting was held at the end of March 2023 between the Vice-President of the European Commission, Schinas, and the Minister of Egyptian Foreign Affairs, Shoukry, with the aim both of strengthening diplomacy between the countries, as well as economic cooperation between the EU and Egypt, through a series of projects related to energy supply with the northern Mediterranean countries, counter-terrorism and food security.

Again, with this in mind, at the end of March, Brussels and Cairo signed an agreement which provides for the allocation of 40 million Euro to guarantee food security in Egypt. Around the same time, al-Sisi decided to join the BRICS’ New Development Bank, which will allow him to get around the problem of obtaining US dollars for imports, as the members of the latter use their own currency for trade. To this end, rapprochement with Turkey with which the restoration of full formal relations is essential, seems imminent. With this new approach, the Egyptian government would obtain great benefits in commercial terms. Turkish companies, in fact, have allegedly undertaken to make investments worth 50 million dollars on Egyptian soil, a considerable factor, given, among other things, Cairo’s need to acquire foreign currency, which it lacks.

Alessia Mazzaferro/Cgp

Sara Raymi. Feast of the Sun, Andean New Year’s Day.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

On 21 June, the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, Andean cultures celebrate the new year. Fire, music, fruit and corn are the symbols. And open palms to thank and welcome.

On 21 June, the winter solstice, Andean cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year, 5531. In Cochabamba-Bolivia, in the province of Quillacollo, the celebration has a particular meaning, because it recalls the festival of corn, Sara Raymi and dates back to pre-colonial-Inca times. On the rocky hill, there are the Qolcas, built of mud with a thatched roof whose shape and position made it possible to preserve cereals, mainly corn, for a long time in order to guarantee food for the population. The hill is, therefore, the ritual space where the preciousness of the sun is celebrated and thanks are rendered to Tayta Dios, God the Father, for the renewal of the energy it releases.
The ritual begins on the night of June 20, when different groups of people gather to accompany the dawn and ends when the sun shines its first rays at the dawn of the new day. There are numerous components of the ritual but we mention only five: bonfires, music, fruit offerings, hands with open palms and corn.

123rf

The night of June 20 is considered the coldest of the year and, the people gathered on the hill light bonfires to warm themselves and, at the same time, to protect the sun that is rising with the new day and fight against the intense cold. The musical groups, mainly sikuris, with their wind instruments, accompany the people who dance around the bonfires in an atmosphere of expectation reminiscent of the Easter vigil.
When the colours of the sky announce that the sun is about to rise, someplace on the bonfire their offerings of apples, pears, honey, flowers, grapes accompanied by coca leaves and a few drops of alcohol poured on the ground. In this way, they give thanks for what they received the previous year, ask forgiveness from the earth and welcome the return of the sun.
When the cold and the colours of the sky intensify, the noise and the music cease and a contemplative silence fall: all eyes are turned to the east where the sun rises and the participants stretch out their hands with open palms to receive the energy of the first rays while, with strongly beating hearts, they beg for health for their bodies and an abundance of food for the community.

Women in traditional clothes in the square San Francisco in La Paz, Bolivia. 123rf

This divine time of encounter between the human being and the cosmos expressed by the rays of the rising sun closes with embraces and good wishes, while the music of the sikuris becomes stronger and more joyful. With the light of day, stalls offering food based on ancestral corn recipes appear, while some elderly women offer other varieties of corn not present in the market.
Thus, with the experience of co-care between human beings, the cosmos and the simplicity of corn, which reminds us that we are seeds to blossom and bear fruit in this life and a new year begins. (Photo 123rf)

Tania Ávila Meneses

Rare Earths: four recipes for safe supply chains.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

The growing demand for Rare Earths for energy transition requires more resilient supply chains. Are stockpiling and recycling
part of the solution?

In the coming years, energy transition and the progressive electrification of our economies will increase the consumption of Rare Earths and other elements, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper collectively indicated as critical raw materials. The growth in demand for critical raw materials, coupled with their production concentrated in a few countries, raises concerns about the security of their supply.

Rare Earths, despite their name, are not earths and are not rare, but a group of 17 elements of the periodic table: yttrium and scandium to which is added the lanthanide family. Elements such as praseodymium, neodymium, gadolinium, and holmium belong to the lanthanides, generally unknown to non-adepts of Mendeleev’s periodic table.

However, although little known, Rare Earths are needed for the construction of wind turbines, electric motors, magnets and electronic equipment, such as our smartphones. According to the American Chemical Society, an iPhone contains 16 Rare Earths even if, in total, they do not exceed 1% of the weight of a mobile phone.

The relative chemical similarity of the lanthanides makes them not easily separable from each other and consequently expensive to produce. The term rare, therefore, does not derive from the rarity of the earth, but from the complexity of the extraction process of the specific element from the mineral that contains it.

Then there are other critical raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper that do not belong to the Rare Earths, but whose demand will grow in an economy that will become increasingly electrified
and decarbonized.

For example, lithium-ion batteries, used in most electric cars, need around 10 kilograms of this element per battery. The manufacture of an electric car also requires tens of kilograms of copper. According to the International Energy Agency, the demand for lithium together with that of copper is destined to double between now and 2040.

More than 60% of Rare Earths are produced by China, but if we include refining processes, the percentage controlled by that country reaches almost 90%, generating concerns about our dependence on a substantial monopolist. It can be anecdotally recalled that in the 1980s the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping clairvoyantly stated: “the Middle East has oil and we have Rare Earths”.

For other critical raw materials, the centre of gravity is located in Latin America, which has 50% of lithium reserves, 40% of copper and a quarter of nickel. Lithium, in particular, is concentrated in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil and these countries are discussing the creation of a lithium cartel modelled on the OPEC oil cartel.

It is therefore vital that our energy security mechanisms, designed for hydrocarbon supplies, are modernized considering the new risks of a more electrified, more decarbonised society with an increasingly important role for critical raw materials. In this regard, it may be useful to analyze similarities and differences between the market dynamics of oil, the strategic commodity par excellence, and critical raw materials, the new commodities of the energy transition.

Firstly, as with oil, reserves and production of critical raw materials are concentrated in a limited number of countries. However, while for oil OPEC, a cartel of 13 countries, controls only a third of global production, for some critical commodities production is concentrated in a smaller number of countries. For lithium, cobalt and Rare Earths, the three largest producers control three-quarters of global production.

Secondly, both critical raw materials and oil require more than a decade between the discovery and the start of production in new fields. This dynamic can trigger the so-called commodity supercycle whereby the price of raw material continues to increase due to growing demand and a supply that is unable to satisfy it in the short term.
One example of a supercycle was the rise in the price of oil from $10 to $140 a barrel between 1999 and 2008 as a result of growing demand and supply that could not keep up.

A third analogy is the decline in the quality of resources and reserves which can in some cases, but not always, be compensated for by technological developments. For example, at the end of the 19th century in Andalusia, the Rio Tinto company produced copper from rocks with a percentage amount of copper in the rock mass, the so-called “tenor”, of 15%. In current mines, the content is less than 1% and to obtain a few kilos of copper it is necessary to process a ton of rock, with significantly high cost and environmental

However, there are also differences between oil and critical raw materials. Petroleum is not recyclable, except for a percentage of about 10% used for plastic materials. The remaining 90% is burned in various forms and therefore cannot be reused. For critical raw materials, however, in many cases, there is the possibility of recycling.

Finally, the dynamics of use are different: if the oil supply were to be interrupted, our transport and therefore our economies would immediately be blocked.
In the case of critical raw materials, only new productions would be interrupted, but the already existing fleet of wind turbines and electric motors, to cite two examples, would continue to operate.

Considering the similarities between oil and critical raw materials, we could take as a model the policies implemented after the oil shocks of the 1970s to increase the security of supplies of these materials.

In the 1970s when oil soared from $3 to $40 a barrel, new fields were brought into production in the North Sea, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. These fields put 6 million barrels of non-OPEC oil on the market, helping to push the price of crude below $10. Similarly, the production of critical raw materials in the European Union should be encouraged in the coming years. The discovery of significant quantities of lithium in the Czech Republic, estimated at 3% of global deposits, was recently announced. If these resources are not available in Europe, it will be necessary to ensure diversified supplies from reliable third countries.

Another policy from the 1970s aimed at reducing oil consumption by replacing it with other sources of energy and implementing energy-saving initiatives.
In the case of critical raw materials, efforts should be made to use them more efficiently and to recycle them in a circular economy perspective, consequently reducing imports from third countries.

Furthermore, in the 1970s strategic oil stocks were created with which importing countries acquired sufficient resources to compensate for a 90-day import cancellation.
Consideration should be given to building strategic stockpiles of critical raw materials both in the EU and in OECD countries, modelled on the oil stockpiles created in the 1970s.

Finally, it may be recalled that on 16 March 2023, as part of the Green Deal industrial plan, the European Commission adopted a legislative package on critical raw materials. The package includes initiatives to ensure secure, diversified, affordable and sustainable access to the critical raw materials needed precisely for the energy transition. (Photo:123rf)

Massimo Lombardini
ISPI

Rajagopal. Towards a dignified life.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

As Gandhi’s heir, he brought the method of non-violence to the conflicts of youth gangs and peasant marches for land rights. In May he was awarded the 2023 Niwano Prize.

He has himself called just by his first name to avoid being identified with a caste. And for fifty years in India – following the example of Mahatma Gandhi – he has been fighting with non-violent methods for the rights of the poorest and most marginalized populations.

Rajagopal P.V., is the 74-year-old Indian activist chosen for the 2023 Niwano Prize, the prestigious award for his commitment to peace awarded every year by the foundation of the same name.

Considered the “Nobel of Religions”, the prize – which commemorates the figure of Nikkyo Niwano, first president of the Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei-kat – was officially presented in Tokyo on 11 May at the end of a selection process that involves 600 people and organizations representing 125 countries and many faiths.

Originally from Kerala, Rajagopal began his social activism in the Chambal valley, in Madhya Pradesh, dedicating himself to the boys of the dacoits, the violent youth gangs of the most marginalized sections
of the population.

The culmination of these efforts was the foundation in 1991 of the Ekta Parrshad (the “Forum of Unity”), a coordination of realities that proposes to promote the right through non-violent methods to land and dignified life for the most marginalized communities.

In collaboration with other groups, this movement has managed to ensure property rights on the land for about 500,000 families and to get the Forest Rights Act approved, the most important law on the rights of tribal populations in India.

In 2019 he launched the Global Peace Yatra with the aim of walking from New Delhi to the UN headquarters in Geneva to relaunch the Sustainable Development Goals; however, the pandemic stopped him when he arrived in Armenia.
Rajagopal and his association then diverted their commitment to actions to alleviate the consequences of Covid-19 in India.

Regarding the motivation for the award, the Niwano Foundation speaks of Rajagopal’s struggle “for the recognition of the equal human dignity of every man and woman, regardless of caste or sex, which arouses great admiration. Among the particular results of his action are the negotiation of surrender and the rehabilitation of gangs, the education of young people to serve the needy and, in the awareness that the basic needs of the poor are water, land and forests and its commitment to caring for the environment.”

The Niwano Peace Foundation was chartered in 1978 to contribute to the realization of world peace and the enhancement of a culture of peace, promoting research and other activities based on the spirit of religious principles and serves the cause of peace in such fields as education, science, religion and philosophy.

Former recipients of the Prize include Lutheran Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, late Brazilian Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, Anglican missionary priest and anti-apartheid activist Michael Lapsley, and the Community of Sant’Egidio. (G.B.)

Netflix. African Folktales, Reimagined.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

It is a series of six short films produced by Netflix made by young directors of the Continent. The project, supported by UNESCO, aims to enhance African cultural wealth.

The young African cinema grows and develops in a feminine way. Netflix has produced six short films shot by six young male and female directors from the continent, under the title African Folktales Reimagined.The chosen ones were selected from 2,000 participants in a competition organized on a continental scale by UNESCO to showcase the richness of African cultural heritage through the presentation of local stories told by a new generation of filmmakers.

The six winners of the Netflix-Unesco film competition. Photo: Netflix

The six short films of about 15-20 minutes each are surprising for their work with images, music and light and for the creation of the magical atmospheres within which the characters move.
The stories are told by new voices from sub-Saharan Africa, all inspired by the local culture and set in villages and cities or in nature, but in order to connect with the rest of the world.

Stories of women and more besides
The stories created by young directors – three out of six are women – often have female protagonists at the centre of the action, almost like a new gender awareness that is advancing.
The young Nigerian author Korede Azeez has decided to evoke a female story in Hausa: in her short film, Halima’s Choice, she touches on the fantastic by filming a girl from an isolated Fulani village, the victim of a forced marriage from which she flees by seeking for help from a stranger and the virtual world.

A scene from the Kenyan film Anyango and The Ogre. Photo: Netflix

The Kenyan Voline Ogutu, with Anyango and the Ogre tells the story of three children and their mother, who, through transmigration in a popular fairy tale, try to escape from an abusive father.
The South African director Gcobisa Yako, on the other hand, with MaMlambo, takes us into the mystical world of river creatures, who watch over women in difficulty.
The work of Ugandan director Loukman Ali with Katera of the Punishment Islandal centres on a woman who is abandoned on an island for having conceived outside of marriage, but who will manage to take revenge on the powerful man who kidnapped her by transforming into a kind Wonder Woman.
She is an elderly woman grappling with a djinn – a supernatural entity in the pre-Islamic and Muslim religions – the protagonist of the short film by the Mauritanian director Mohamed Echkouna, in Enmity Djinn, reinvented the stories that she heard as a child from her grandmother and her uncles. Finally, a story with an environmental aspect, that of the Tanzanian director Walt Mzengi, with Katope whose protagonist is a little girl born on the arrival of a wave of drought who meets
a mysterious rainbird.

UNESCO, Africa as a priority.

Tendeka Matatu, Netflix’s Director of Film in Africa said: “We are excited to bring this anthology of short films created by the next generation of African storytellers to Netflix members around the world.
This initiative is a testament to our ongoing efforts to strengthen the pipeline of African storytelling and to include voices from underrepresented communities.”
Ernesto Ottone R., the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, pointed out: “UNESCO is proud to present the tales of Africa, reimagined by its emerging, homegrown talents. At the crossroads of tradition, innovation, heritage and creativity, African expressions in the twenty-first century are as diverse and dynamic as its people. The UNESCO-Netflix partnership represents our shared commitment to the audiovisual industries of Africa, which have the potential to generate US$20 billion in revenues annually. African creativity is a force for sustainable development, and we cannot wait for the audiences around the world to feel its unstoppable energy.”

Adam Garba and Habiba Ummi Mohammed in Halima’s Choice. Photo: Netflix

Each winner received a $25,000 prize and a grant to produce the short film. The works were officially put online on March 29 on the Netflix paid platform, on the occasion of the sixth edition of the Kalasha International Film & TV Festival in Kenya. UNESCO, wants to make Africa one of its priorities, with particular attention to cinema.
Among other things, UNESCO itself has published on its website the first report dedicated to the trends and possibilities of this industry, stating that it would have the potential to create 20 million jobs and generate 20 billion dollars in revenue for the continent. Not bad, and these short films seem to go in the desired direction, presenting themselves as the cultural expression of 21^st– century Africa, as diverse and dynamic as its population. (Photo: Netflix)

Milena Nebbia & John Mutesa

Ecuador. June Festivals.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

During the month of June, various traditional festivals are celebrated, including Inti Raymi, thanksgiving to the sun and the earth, for the abundance of crops.

The history of these festivals dates back to the Inca empire when they were established to venerate the Sun King and Mother Earth (Pachamama) for the favours received in the harvests. The ritual has remained in force despite the strong Spanish colonization and the imposition of their Catholic religion in these lands.
Faithful to their ancestors, every June 21 Ecuadorians, and in particular the indigenous communities of Kichua origin, dance and go to rivers and waterfalls to purify the human spirit, recover energy and renew their commitment to the land that provides their livelihood.
These events start the national festivities, which last until 1 July and cover the whole territory with traditional dances and music, danced and performed in traditional costumes and accompanied by shared food, including mote, cheese, meat and drinks such as the chicha.

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One of the first rites is the Intiwatana ceremony, with various offerings such as grains, flowers, fruits, spices and musical instruments, which are then brought to be blessed on the altar and seek, as the name suggests, watana and Inti (sun).
The Inti Raymi, on the other hand, is the beginning of the summer solstice, which represents the end of one cycle and the beginning of another, but always with the recognition of father sun and mother earth. Over the years, the Inti Raymi commemoration has also incorporated traditional Andean games, involving everyone present.
Music, dance and ritual acts filled the ceremonial and sacred places, located along the inter-Andean Road because it was believed that in these places the energy of the gods and nature come together to energize those who participate in this celebration.
Traditionally on these dates, different Andean communities get together and prepare different activities and rituals to honour Taita Inti; an example is the Cotacachi, where the spiritual and symbolic ritual of taking over the square summons dancers and musicians, who turn in a circle with strength and courage to keep the earth awake and to receive the offerings of human beings.

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Another important activity on this date is the purification and energy renewal bath, guided by the shamans. Inti Raymi also includes the traditional pampamesa, an ancestral ritual in which typical Andean foods are shared, such as corn, potatoes, malloc, beans and others, combined with different meats, especially that of the guinea pig. The food reflects the togetherness of the community.
The festival has a main character, the Aya Uma (devil’s head), who has important spiritual significance for indigenous communities.
The Inti Raymi shows the syncretism of Andean and Western culture, and the Aya Uma is an example of this. The name of the devil was assigned in the process of the Spanish conquest to sow fear in the indigenous culture, for the celebration of festivals in honour of the divinities of nature such as the Sun, the Moon and the Earth. Over the centuries its name has been handed down as Diablo Huma, but its meaning transcends the evil connotation of the Spanish religion because its function on the day of maximum celebration (June 22) is to gather good energy and to be the connection between the cosmos and earthly life.

Inti Raymi indigenous celebration in Cayambe, Ecuador.123rf

During the festival, the Diablo Huma dances in three tempos to connect with the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon. The man who represents him becomes a spiritual being who breaks the myth to transcend reality and embodies the energies of the deities.
His costume consists of a colourful mask with two faces. He shows the duality of the cosmos (good and evil, sun and moon, day and night, future and present, north and south). He also has hair that symbolizes wisdom and a wheat flower. His mask also has four types of ears which refer to the four directions and four elements of nature: air, water, fire, and earth. His clothing also consists of a whip, a symbol of power and authority. His legs are covered with a zamarro (a garment made of different animal skins) to guide those attending the Inti Raymi festival. In some indigenous communities, the Diablo Huma plays wind instruments while dancing to the rhythm of drums, guitars and the songs of indigenous women.
Over time, many of these festivals have become tourist attractions, with music, dance and the sale of handicrafts and local gastronomy. Despite the changes, the initial goal is always to thank the Earth and the Sun for having blessed and allowed an abundant harvest.(Photo: 123rf)

Pedro Santacruz

Benin. The Artists of Abomey. ‘The Oral Historians’.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

Between 1600 and 1900 the city of Abomey was the pride of the kingdom of Dahomey (today’s Benin). Court art developed there, in which genius, talent, and inspiration served above all to exalt the figure of the king.

Dahomey, also known as the kingdom of Abomey, after the capital, occupied the south-central part of what is now Benin. Founded in 1625 by the Fon ethnic group, it lasted until November 1892 when Gbéhanzin, the last king, was defeated by French colonial forces.
The solidity of the kingdom of Adomey, its social and political organization and the richness of its culture made it one of the most famous realities of the Gulf of Guinea. From the frescoes to the tapestries celebrating the war exploits of the sovereigns, the art of the palace in Abomey was an exceptional witness to the history of the kingdom which nourished and enlivened it.

Royal statues from Benin’s historic Kingdom of Dahomey. Quai Branly museum in Paris.

If in other kingdoms it was the griots, or official narrators, who praised the feats of the kings, in Abomey this task fell to the court artists. In this they can be considered authentic ‘oral historians’, as they created allegorical figures that transmitted messages intended to impress the visitor to the palace, to be disseminated throughout the kingdom and to intimidate enemies on the battlefield.
Each object was made by a family of artists, whose knowledge was passed down from father to son, and was ‘signed’.
From the foundation of Abomey to its fall, 15 kings succeeded each other on the throne and all, with no exceptions, surrounded themselves with artists of different origins: Yoruba, Fon, Mahi, Haussa. Once the genius and talent of an artist were recognized by the king, he then hurried to set up a workshop for him near the palace and to provide him with the materials for the work, helpers, some wives and a piece of land to cultivate. This proximity to the royal palace facilitated contacts, more or less discreet, between the king and the artist for commissions of works to be created.

Half-man, half-fish statue (called bochio), Fon style. Provenance : Abomey, ancient kingdom of Dahomey. This statue would represent Béhanzin, the last king of Dahomey. Quai Branly museum in Paris.

The artist was known by the name of adawunzowato (Fon language: ‘one who makes beautiful works’) and was believed to be ‘possessed’ by Aziza, the spirit responsible for creation. However, although he enjoyed great freedom in the execution of his work, once he became court, he was subservient to the monarchy: each of his works – bas-relief, tapestry or sculpture – was intended to glorify the king.
He never resorted to a real portrait. The representations of the monarchs did not have human form, but rather alluded to the animal world since, according to tradition, the Abomey dynasty descended from Agassou, the son that Princess Aligbonon, daughter of the king of Tado, had given birth to after being fertilized by a leopard.

Showcase of the Kingdom
From the time of Aho Houégbadja, believed to be the true founder of the kingdom of Abomey (actually, he was the third king and reigned from 1645 to 1685), up to the reign of Agoli-Agbo (1894-1900), as many as 10 royal palaces were built. Of these, only those of King Guézo (1818-1958) and King Glèlè (1858-1889) remain, which since 1944 have become the headquarters of the Abomey Historical Museum. Authentic ‘kingdoms within the kingdom’, the royal palaces were forts, universes jealously protected from prying eyes and from enemy attacks. Centres of political life, they embodied both the power and stability of the kingdom and its immutable and sacred character. Emblematic in this regard are the access doors to the adjalala (the reception hall) of King Glèlè. Sculpted by the Sossa Dede family, they depict elephants, horses, dogs, rifles, sabres, eyes, and toads – symbols of the strength, safety and peace that characterized the kingdom.

A wooden door from the king’s palace Gele of the Dahomey kingdom, dated 19th century, displayed at Quai Branly museum in Paris, France

Even the walls of Abomey’s buildings have stories to tell. The facades are adorned with magnificent earthenware bas-reliefs, authentic visual chronicles of Dahomey. The technique is that of sunken relief: the artists carved out a square or rectangular niche in a very thick wall inside which they modelled the desired shape with clay. Once completed, this assumed the appearance of a half-round figure, protected from the rain and perfectly integrated into the structure. Works mostly by artists of the Houndo and Assobakpé families contain all the memory of the Dahomean dynasty and today offer it to the enchanted eye of the visitor. One can admire the silhouette of a buffalo, the emblem of King Guézo, proud to equate his strength to that of the mighty animal, or of a lion, as a disguised message from King Glèlè to enemies intending to attack his kingdom.But the genius of the artists is best seen in the creation of some hieroglyph-like signs. In them we distinguish the furious Amazons (women who formed the army of Dahomey) and war trophies, such as chameleons brandishing a sword or pine cones coming out of the sun. They are probably well-known graphically depicted proverbs, full of political and moralizing messages.

Chronicles on cloth
Tapestries were widely used in the Abomey kingdom, first to make military maps, then to celebrate friendship or to convey the titles of kings.They were also used in religious centres and places of worship, where they served as skirts for voodoo adepts. The masters of tapestry art were members of the Hantan, Zinflou and Yémadjé families, who became famous for the technique used: they inserted pieces of cut-out fabric of different colours into a single-colour canvas, so as to allow the tapestry to be admired from both sides.

Fon banner from the Kingdom of Dahomey.

The results were amazing. It depicted scenes of war or the simple meaning of the king’s nickname. For the most part, the sovereign was exalted in an allegorical form: he was represented as a man out of the ordinary, capable of killing a buffalo by the horns or in the act of subduing enemies with weapons and handcuffing them. Salpata, the voodoo of smallpox, which sows death among the population, is on the scene in a tapestry. In another, against a black background, there are scenes of war between the Fon and the Yoruba. In a third, with a certain amount of macabre in some details, we see people defeated and torn apart, victims of the glorious army of the Amazons.
Unlike metalworking, tapestry-making was not a Dahomean art. It is thought to have been introduced during the reign of King Agadja (1711-1740), who captured two master craftsmen of the Hantan and Zinflou lineages in the Avrankou region, north of Porto-Novo.

Glory to the King
The term ‘regalia’ meant all the precious objects intended to glorify the sovereigns and court dignitaries. Chairs and thrones, batons, decorations, musical instruments, sandals, caps and fans. Nothing escaped the cult of appearances.
Also exceptional is the statue of the god Gou, made by Ekplékendo Akati, a prisoner of war and certainly an adept of Gou. Life sized, the figure appears dressed in a soldier’s tunic and wears a hat, resembling an asen (portable altar), which allows him to receive libations and sacrifices.Combining human and animal forms, the court artists of King Guézo and King Glélé sculpted statues depicting the moral and physical qualities attributed to their rulers. Placed in front of troops during battles, these effigies also served as a bogeyman against enemies.

Benin Bronzes were taken from the ancient city in Nigeria by the British army. British Museum

Very well-known is the asen of king Gbéhanzin, made by Vincent Lanmandoucelo Aissi, of the Hountondji family: it represents the meaning of the name of the last king, Gbéhanzin, (‘the universe has the egg that the earth desires’): it alludes to fragility of the kingdom and the diplomacy with which a king must reign. Also beautiful are the royal drums, the akatahounto, specialties of the well-known families of artists Houeglo, Djotohou and Hountonvo.
Artists also worked for court dignitaries (especially the prime minister) and soldiers (the Amazons). Owning works from royal workshops was a privilege. The king’s soothsayers also used tools prepared by the court artists. The polychrome trays and ivory hammers carved by a Yoruba craftsman, of the Houndo family, for the soothsayer Guedegbe are beautiful. On the edge of the tray, the face of a legba (intermediary between gods and men) is reproduced 16 times. 16 is a magical figure: in addition to being quadruple of 4, multiplied by itself it gives 256, which is the number of ‘signs of divination’ (fa), which collect all the myths and traditional knowledge.

The Return of the Treasures of Abomey
The history of the ‘Treasures of Abomey’ is as dramatic as their sculpted forms. In November 1892, the French general Alfred Amédée Dodds entered Abomey, the capital of the Danxomè kingdom, after two years of ruthless warfare. French troops sacked the palaces and the city. Dodds and his troops seized important royal objects, including the 26 artefacts that Dodds donated to the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro in Paris in the 1890s. Since the 2000s, the objects have been kept at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac.

Over the years, the Benin government demanded the return of the items. Only in 2016 did France admit that the Beninese government’s request for President Patrice Talon was legitimate, although restitution remained legally impossible under French property law. In November 2017, President Emmanuel Macron affirmed in his speech at the University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) the French willingness to undertake restitutions. The return process finally began.
On December 24, 2020, the law relating to the restitution of 26 cultural assets to Benin was promulgated in France, in derogation from the principle of inalienability of French public collections. On November 9, 2021, the deed of physical transfer of ownership of these 26 assets to the Republic of Benin by the French Republic was signed at the Elysee Palace, in the presence of President Patrice Talon and President Emmanuel Macron. The following day, the 26 works of the royal treasury of Abomey were transported to Cotonou. It took 130 years for the Abomey Treasury to be returned to the homeland. (Open Photo:King Behanzin of Dahomey and his household. New World Encyclopedia.)

Flavien Amouro

DRC – China. The honeymoon is over.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

The honeymoon is over between the World’s first cobalt producer, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the main consumer and producer of batteries for electric vehicles, China. The terms of the existing infrastructure-for-minerals deals may change but both countries need badly each other.

For about a year, a major conflict opposes the two main players in the world cobalt market: the DRC which provides about 70% of the world production and China, its main client which not only absorbs 80% of all Congolese mineral exports, whose companies dominate the Congolese mining scene. A new peak was reached on 11 April 2023, when the DRC’s National Assembly called for a review of the mining agreements with China. The Assembly Speaker, Christophe Mboso, claimed that certain partners such as the Chinese, were not paying their fair share.
Mboso was referring especially to the mining contract signed between the Congolese government in 2008 and the Sicomines joint-venture which is 68% controlled by a Chinese consortium including China Railways and Sinohydro, with the Congolese state-owned company Gécamines holding the remaining 32% stake.

China is everywhere in Congo. Photo: Simon Kupferschmied/Missio

This contract gave the Sino-Congolese joint venture access to 10.6 million tons of copper and to 630,000 tons of cobalt, worth $ 90 billion against the construction by the Chinese firms of 3,500 km of roads, 3,500 km of the railway infrastructure, 31 hospitals, 145 health centres and hydropower plants. The investments foreseen by the contract referred to as the “contract of the century” were initially worth $9 billion but the amount was reduced to $ 6.5 billion after the International Monetary Fund expressed its opposition to the deal because it could accordingly generate too much debts for the Congo.
According to a report from the Congolese Inspectorate General of Finance, released in February, the dividends were not shared evenly. The Chinese companies cashed at least $10 billion from the contracts over the last decade while they built a total amount of infrastructure for only $822 million. Yet, the IGF admitted that none of the parties did violate the Congolese Mining Code.
According to the Finance Minister, Nicolas Kazadi, Sicomines is failing to pay a tax of $ 200 million on super profits revealed by an audit from the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) last February 2023. The Congolese authorities claim that the joint venture has to pay such a sum since this tax is not one of those exempted in the 2008 contract, including customs duties, direct and indirect taxes. The Minister also stated that this contract signed under the Joseph Kabila presidency was biased in favour of Chinese interests.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi. Photo: Congo gov.

Furthermore, the IGF director Jules Alingete revealed “an imbroglio” in the repayment periods of the investments which served to reduce the number of infrastructure investments from $6.5 billion to $3 billion”. Owing to the wide gap between the revenues of the Chinese consortium and the benefits for the DRC, President Tshisekedi pushed for negotiations on a new settlement, with an aim to increase the investments from $ 3 billion to $20bn.Clearly, the Congolese president considers that his predecessor and his staff did not serve properly national interests. On 7 April 2023, three executives of the state-run Agence Congolaise des Grands Travaux (ACGT), which was created by the Congolese government to manage the transport and health programmes financed by the 2008 deal, were arrested on charges of embezzlement.
Furthermore, the Public Debt Expenditure Observatory (ODEP) civil society organisation accused on 12 April in a communiqué the Group of Chinese Enterprises of having tried to bribe its president, Florimond Muteba, by offering him the job of representative of its interests in the DRC. The China Embassy rejected the IGF report allegations. In a communiqué released on 17 February 2023, it termed them as “unfounded” and claimed that they did not correspond to reality. The Embassy also stressed that the contract provided a good example of a win-win partnership. It mentioned a list of projects including the 240 MW Busanga power dam, which represents an investment of $ 660 million, inaugurated in January 2022.

Kolwezi sits atop some of the world’s richest mineral reserves. Photo: CGTN

The Chinese government said it would defend the rights and interests of the Chinese companies of the Sicomines joint venture. Sicomines questioned the competence of the IGF and deplored that the IGF ignored the dispute resolution mechanism created to settle conflicts between the members of the joint venture and deplored that Sicomines was not even heard by the authors of the report. In a statement, Sicomines said that the “unjustified measures” would harm the operations of the company and thereby damage the interests of the DRC and its people.
Unsurprisingly, the coordinator of the Office for the Monitoring of the Sino-Congolese contract, Senator Moise Ekanga, appointed when it was signed by Kabila, claimed that it was a win-win deal.
“We did not negotiate on our knees”, told Ekanga to the Kinshasa-based Top Congo FM Radio. “We didn’t sell out our mining reserves to the Chinese companies. We made them available for common exploitation”, he argued.The Chinese corporations consider that the dissatisfaction on the Congolese side is largely owed to the lack of governance in the sharing of the funds they paid to the DRC state. They consider indeed that the AGCT and Ekanga are to blame after the Congolese State Control Technical Office revealed by the end of March 2023 that out of the $ 822 million released by Sicomines to finance infrastructures, only 300 million could be tracked, whereas the rest appears to have vanished.
Yet, in order to ease tensions with the Congolese authorities, China Railways accepted to disburse an additional amount of $ 500 million
said Congolese officials.

Sicomines General Manager Li Sheng posing with DRC Minister of Infrastructure and Public Works, Alexis Gisaro, in Kinshasa. Image via Sicomines.

Observers stress as well that tensions between the DRC and China over the infrastructures for minerals deal have been encouraged by the United States. In September 2021, the former US Special Envoy to the Great Lakes and Sahel, Peter Pham, endorsed President Tshisekedi’s plan to renegotiate the infrastructure-for-minerals deal. “Non-transparent agreements that swap real mineral resources for inferior or non-existent infrastructure are not in the interests of society even if they benefit those who signed the contracts,” says Pham, now a fellow at the Washington-based think tank the Atlantic Council.
Although Pham did not hold anymore any official position in the US administration when he made this statement, the Paris-based Africa Intelligence newsletter reported that the US government did put pressure on the DRC to revise the Chinese contracts. The Congolese Mining and Policy analyst, Christian-Geraud Neema, said that the review of the Chinese contracts was an unofficial condition for the US backing of an IMF financial support of $ 1.5 billion to the DRC, in July 2021.

Yet, it is not certain the tug of war will go on indefinitely. The DRC and the Chinese find themselves indeed in a catch-22 position. They need each other as the first global supplier and first global client respectively. The Congolese Finance Minister declared on 20 February 2023, that China remained an important partner for the DRC and
would remain one for a long time.
Should the dispute continue, the consequences could inevitably affect world markets. In September 2022, the Kinshasa government suspended contractual tax exemptions on Sicomines imports. This might impact negatively Sicomines’ production levels which reached 155,000 tons of copper and 886 tons of cobalt in 2020 while the financing of infrastructures could decrease substantially and the business climate could further deteriorate, warns the Chinese consortium.
Now, the dispute with Sicomines is not the only one between the DRC and large Chinese companies.
For months, there has been another row over the payment of royalties to Gécamines with the China Molybdenum Company (CMOC), its partner in the copper and cobalt Tenke Fungurume Mining company (TFM).

The Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt mine. Photo: Lundin Mining

On the 19 April 2023, a deal on this issue was signed, reported a Hong-Kong Stock Exchange filing. Such an arrangement should pave the way for the release of a $ 1.5 billion stockpile of battery metals which had been blocked since July 2022 because of this dispute. The issue was followed closely on world markets since TFM accounts for some 15% of the global production of cobalt.
In such a context, the revision of the Congolese contracts with Chinese corporations could backfire and push cobalt and batteries prices upward. Even if eventually, Australian, Canadian and South African competitors acquire stakes in the Congolese mines at the expense of Chinese miners, it is unlikely that the world batteries market structure will change significantly. Indeed, the minerals are sold anyway eventually to China which represented in 2022, 77% of the global supply and produces them at lower costs than in the US or in Europe. (Illustration: 123rf)

François Misser

Brazil. Manaus. Sister Liliana and children of the favelas.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

On the outskirts of the capital of the state of Amazonas, the Casa Mamãe Margarida school helps vulnerable girls to find hope and the concreteness of the Gospel in education and training. Sr. Liliana Daou Lindoso, the Salesian Sister in charge of the house, tells us about it.

St. Joseph the Worker is a dormitory neighbourhood of Manaus, capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. In the morning, many men from the favela go to work in the industrial district, leaving the women and children in the shanty town where people live in extremely poor conditions. In the factory, you earn very little, not even enough to make ends meet. And the little money raised is often spent on drink, so much so that alcoholism is a widespread scourge here.

“Many of them were on the street, abandoned to a life full of all kinds of dangers.” Photo: William Costa/Portal Amazônia

“When I came in 1987, the situation was bleak with families in difficulty, people suffering from mental illnesses, the lack of food and malnourishment among children. Many of them were on the street, abandoned to a life full of all kinds of dangers.” The story of Sr. Liliana Daou Lindoso, a member of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also known as Salesians, who manages the Casa Mamãe Margarida in Manaus, is a journey into juvenile distress seen through the lens of reception facilities and the Santa Maria Mazzarello school opened in 1997. This suburb sprang up in a hurry and social problems have multiplied together with the inhabitants: dilapidated housing, poverty, hunger, petty crime and drug trafficking are the reality in which young people grow up. “Our girls are children who belong to a reality of material and also spiritual poverty – says Sister Liliana -. They are people who have no basis of faith, no moral structure. Many are weak and influenced by superstition: they range from attendance at sects to spiritism and the macumba.”

Poverty and Violence
The children “need lots of love – explains the Salesian -. They need time to open up and talk about their problems. They must believe in God and be able to distinguish God the Father the Creator from the flesh and blood father who hurts and uses them. For them, we are sowers of hope in building a life project that will make them protagonists of their own history. Our service was born for children and has developed to fit families. The community asked us to help young people with serious existing problems and difficulties in attending school. Girls on the margins, poor, from the countryside, without documents: truly an educational challenge.”

“I was already back on the street when three young girls told me about a place where they had been welcomed and respected”. Photo: William Costa/Portal Amazônia

Maria was one of them. She is now a psychologist and coordinator of school activities, where she trained herself. She tells us: “I arrived at Casa Mamãe Margarida at the age of nine, after running away from a state kindergarten where I ended up because I lived on the street. I suffered all sorts of violence but I had to survive. At home, my mother and stepfather treated me badly. I then ran away to the centre of Manaus, to the port on the Rio Negro River where there were boats. Every now and then I would get into one and set off not knowing where I was going.”
She continues: “Every time I came home it was worse, for seven years I suffered physical violence from my mother’s man and she would beat me with a piece of wood for not taking care of my siblings. I was already back on the street when three young girls told me about a place where they had been welcomed and respected. At first, I didn’t believe it, but then I decided to give it a try.”
“When I arrived at Casa Mamãe Margarida, I was in a terrible state, without hope. But there, for the first time in my life I felt loved and had the opportunity to become the protagonist of my life. I learned to read and write at the age of 10 and I never stopped learning.”

Photo: William Costa/Portal Amazônia

Like Maria, many little girls are the protagonists of Sister Liliana’s testimony. “From 14-year-old girls with a child in their arms to the teenager who comes to us with self-harm problems”. Sister Liliana’s voice slows down, her tone is lower. She sighs and then concludes: “But we are daughters of dreamers and so we carry on our work with great faith in providence. And in the human person’s ability to recover.” (Sr. Sister Liliana with children of the favelas – Photo: William Costa/Portal Amazônia)

Miela Fagiolo D’Attilia/PM

Chad. Promoting Integral Health.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

At St Michael’s Hospital in Donomanga, Chad, a team of health professionals, co-ordinated by the Mexican Comboni Missionary Brother and medical doctor, Juan Carlos Salgado, does everything possible to ensure that patients are treated with respect and professionalism, healing them and helping them to have hope. We went to visit the Hospital.

We left Laï, in the south of Chad, at six o’clock in the morning, while it was still dawn. We were travelling to Donomanga, a small town 80 km away, where we were going to see the work done at St Michael’s Hospital. The institution belongs to the diocese of Laï and is part of the network of health services run by the local Caritas.
Along the roadside, villagers, mostly women and children, carry buckets and basins with water that they collect from the communal well and the firewood they use for cooking. Some children walk to school, under a scorching sun, as the temperature starts to rise and soon exceeds 35°C.

Serving the sick with joy
After a bumpy three-hour drive, we pass through the main gate of St Michael’s hospital. The first thing we see are groups of people sitting in the shade under leafy trees. Others occupy the corridors outside the various wards. “It is the patients’ families who take care of them. Each family takes responsibility for their patient, cooks for them and keeps a close eye on their health,” explains Brother Juan Carlos Salgado, a Comboni missionary and the only doctor practicing in these facilities.

Each family takes responsibility for their patient, cooks for them and keeps a close eye on their health.

Sister Angela, a Mexican nurse who has been in Chad since 2008, belongs to the congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She collaborates with the administration of the hospital and takes us on a tour of the facilities. She tells us that the hospital has a capacity for 70 inpatients, divided between paediatrics, maternity, general medicine and infectious diseases. The hospital is the only one for more than one hundred thousand inhabitants of the Donomanga district. Sister Maria Oralia, also Mexican and who arrived in Chad just over a year ago, tells us that the logistics of storing the medicines were demanding and complicated, as there is no public electricity service and they had to use a diesel generator and batteries. However, “this task is now easier – she says with a smile -, because a few days ago 24 solar panels were installed and guarantee energy throughout the day and allow us, for example, to preserve medicines which need low temperatures for storage.” Bro. Juan Carlos adds that it can be difficult to understand how a hospital can function without energy, but “they have adapted to working with scarce resources”. He says they can now “have a blood bank, keep basic services running for 24 hours and even perform some operations with more peace of mind in case of emergency”.

Daily challenges
The hospital does not have many staff members, since, including all the employees, only 38 people work there. When we arrived, Bro. Juan Carlos was in his consulting room attending to the outpatients arriving that day. He says that many people arrive at the hospital already very sick, because “first they resort to local medicines and healers and only after that, if there are no positive results, they come to the hospital”. Many patients arrive already very ill, for example, with major infections resulting from accidents or injuries with knives, machetes or weapons, or very advanced diseases. The most common diseases in the region are infectious diseases, namely tuberculosis and malaria, child malnutrition and respiratory diseases. During the rainy season from May to September, malaria frequently affects children and the recovery process is more complicated, as many suffer from severe anaemia.

Sister Maria Oralia in charge of the logistics of storing the medicines.

The missionary doctor’s working day starts early with visits to patients in the different wards; it continues with outpatient consultations, ultrasound scans and minor surgeries. “The more complex and time-consuming surgeries are scheduled for Thursday and Friday each week. However, in case of emergency, they are done at any time, even during the night,” explains the missionary. For this, there are two operating theatres, equipped with the essential equipment. Before coming to Chad, Bro. Juan Carlos worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
For the past two years, he has been carrying out a difficult service, but one that fulfils him as a person, as a missionary brother and as a doctor. “I am happy to be here. I like the quiet life of the countryside better than the stress and hustle and bustle of the big cities,” he explains. However, working in this remote location has its limitations, drawbacks and challenges. The biggest challenge he faces as a doctor “is the lack of support from other experienced colleagues, with whom I could talk and discuss the more complicated clinical cases”. Nevertheless, he says that over the years of practice, he has gained “confidence to make decisions” and, whenever possible, he has tried to consult “friendly colleagues using communication platforms, as new technologies allow this teamwork”. He adds that, despite being in a remote location, this does not prevent solidarity. There is a group of Spanish ophthalmologists who come every year to work, with great dedication, for two weeks as volunteers at the hospital. His dream is to have teams of volunteer doctors from other specialties, especially in oral health, as “this service is practically non-existent in this country”.

He says that when he first arrived in Chad, he had difficulty adjusting to the climate and the extreme temperatures. With such an intense workload, it is easy to become dehydrated in this climate, so “I often suffer from kidney stones”. As malaria is endemic, he is also recurrently infected, and this year he has already suffered three characteristic bouts of the disease. Helping hands of brotherhood and solidarity due to the limited resources of the people in the region—most of them are engaged in subsistence farming—consultations and hospitalization cost very little. As the hospital receives no state funding, finding the funds to keep it running is always a major challenge, requiring ‘creativity and budgetary discipline’. Among the most urgent needs, Bro. Juan Carlos mentions are an X-ray machine; a unit for sterilizing clothes and surgical instruments; a new refrigerator for the blood bank; and a repair of the leaking water tank. He adds that “working with limited resources is not easy,” but they have learned to manage them so that “everything works well”.

In addition, everyone at the hospital is aware of recycling and minimizing waste as much as possible. Bro. Juan Carlos has many projects in mind for the future of the hospital, especially those aimed at ensuring its sustainability. Among these, he mentions the planting of cashew nuts to sell the fruit and the purchase of a tractor to till and cultivate the land owned by the hospital. Bro. Juan Carlos’ face shows the serene joy of a life given out of love for God and our most vulnerable brothers and sisters. “With my service, I do everything I can to make people healthy and happy. Everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. My greatest joy is to see patients going home cured,” he confesses shyly.
The missionary doctor ends his days tired and often stays at the hospital even at night because he has to perform urgent operations. Despite the difficulties, Bro. Juan Carlos is a happy person, for the mission he carries out with his competent, fraternal and supportive hands, which help to give life and hope to the inhabitants of this remote village in Chad.(Open Photo: Br. Juan Carlos with two hospital nurses.)

Bernardino Frutuoso

Photo Gallery – Jubilee 2025. Pilgrims of Hope

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