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Aborigine Myth. The creation of the world.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

A long time ago, Yhi, the goddess of the Sun, created the animals. She brought them to life by removing them from the icy depths of the earth. After that, she distributed them everywhere in the waters, on the surface of the earth or in the freedom of the heavens.

But as time went by, a subtle unease began to creep in among the animals: none of them felt satisfied with their form and way of life. Those who had been destined for water longed to live on earth; those who walked or crawled on the ground longed to possess wings that would enable them to fly in the skies. There was not a single animal in the world that could be saved from the contagion of discontent.

The beasts grew and multiplied, but they grew further and further away from Yhi, their common mother, the Sun goddess. They were hiding; they had lost their joy, their will to live. No more singing or shouting or chirping could be heard in the forest. Even the plants, herbs and flowers suffered to see their friends so melancholy.

One day when Yhi was strolling through the heavens, she noticed, looking towards the earth, that something had changed: every trace of joy and life seemed to have been erased. An inert and cold world, utterly uniform and unimaginative, offered itself to the goddess’s view.

Worried Yhi descended and landed on the plain of Nullabor. Someone in the distance saw her and sent a message: “She is back. Yhi is back among us!” A tide of animals rushed and surrounded the goddess. Anxious anticipation seemed to hover over the impromptu assembly.

“Come closer, – invited the goddess softly. – Tell me what afflicts you”. A chorus of confused voices rose up; at first faint, then more and more determined. Each one expressed its desires, its hopes, its frustrations. Higher and higher waves of sound overwhelmed the goddess.
“Enough! Enough! – Yhi suddenly shouted, raising her arms over the noisy crowd. – If you all speak at once, how can I understand you? Please speak one at a time.”

The goddess then turned to a fawn that was standing beside her and looking at her with the sweetest of eyes. She said to him: “What is your wish”. The fawn replied: “Mother, give me a quick and swift body that will enable me to reach even the most inaccessible places and to hide in ravines when I am pursued”.

After the fawn came to the kangaroo: he asked for strong legs to support him in his leaps and a tail with which he could balance his body. The bat applied for a pair of wings that would allow him to fly like a bird. The lazy lizard, in turn, confessed that he was tired of crawling painfully on his belly: he asked for a gift of legs on which he could stand. Shy, in a corner, the platypus meanwhile watched as his companions got what they asked for from the goddess. He felt confused; he really did not know what desire to express.

In her wisdom, the Sun Goddess smiled as she listened to that tumultuous blossoming of desires. Her animals were being enriched with different parts, but she knew that as a result, their living habits would change somewhat. Nevertheless, her motherly love could not resist those insistent requests.

The owl, which had asked for large, sparkling eyes, would in the future be forced to hide in dark places during the day and only come out in search of food in the darkness of the night. The silkworm would have to spend days and days imprisoned in its cocoon before transforming into a multi-coloured butterfly. In turn, the pelican would be condemned to remain motionless for hours on end, standing upright on its legs and submerged in water, to be able to swallow a few small fish.

Yhi smiled because she knew well that, should their wishes be granted, the animals she loved so much would have to face a hard life that would require sacrifice, courage and perseverance. The Sun Goddess greeted her friends, inviting them to scatter to the four corners of the world. Times would follow times, imperceptibly producing remarkable changes in the animals – in their forms and in their kinds of life.

One day the king of creation, man, would be called upon by the gods to rule the world. And even today, seeing the endless species of beasts that populate the earth, man wonders in amazement where such diversity and abundance came from. Animals crawl, run, swim, leap, fly. Perhaps man does not know that one day a strange assembly was held on the plain of Nullabor.

“Where does man come from? “ The children ask the wise old men of the villages scattered over the endless expanse of the desert. After her intervention with the animals of the earth Yhi, the goddess of the Sun, returned to heaven to Baiame, the Great Spirit. He was thought, intelligence, life. But he had no body.

From on high Baiame had followed the assembly of animals with curiosity and when Yhi stood before him, sighing, he said: “It would please me too if the beasts would look at me and listen. Unfortunately, this is not possible because I am pure spirit. But I have an idea: I will clothe a piece of my spirit in flesh and place it on the earth. Then the animals will recognise me and love me as their father”.

“It seems to me, – replied Yhi – that if you place a little of your Spirit in an animal, the other beasts will not esteem you, and I am sure they will not give you the honour and love that you deserve.”

“I will put a little piece of the Spirit in them too, – he, the Baiame God concluded resignedly. And so, he did. The elephants, swans, snakes, every bird in the sky and every fish in the sea received a tiny part of God. This is the force that governs every animal, and that is called instinct. It was at that time that the Great Spirit secluded Himself in a secret place to ponder upon the new creature that would be begotten of Him.

During his absence, indeed precisely because the Spirit of God was far away, a terrible storm was unleashed upon the earth, which grew more and more violent and lasted for days on end. It was a real deluge. As the water level rose and became more and more threatening, the frightened animals pushed themselves higher and higher up the mountainside. Finally, they found refuge in a vast cave that opened up almost to the top of the mountain. Here they lay dormant, silent, waiting for the storm to cease and for the waters to recede.

Meanwhile, in the mind of the god Baiame, the design of the new creature had matured: he would call it ‘man’. The form was not very dissimilar to that of an animal, but it would be more graceful, more harmonious. Above all, two things would distinguish the new being from all the others that populated the world: he would be upright on his legs and endowed with a lively intelligence, therefore able to understand things and with the ability to choose; he would not be a slave to instinct like all the other beasts that lived on earth.

As soon as God Baiame set his eyes upon the world again, the storm ceased. The waters retreated into their confines and a vast peace invaded the land. The animals looked at all the changes that took place. At last, as if emerging from a long hibernation, they decided
to leave their shelter.

But they did not go far. Before they each reached their natural habitat, the eyes of them all fell on something they had never seen before: a strange animal stood in the middle of a clearing; it was beautiful,
quiet, confident.

“Who is this stranger?” asked the kangaroo, whose surprise prevented a further leap. They were petrified: such a beast had never been seen on earth. Each animal recognised a small part of itself in the newcomer. But it was the whole thing that gave the impression of a marvellous creature: there must have been something extraordinary in that stranger.

The animals could not realise what that ‘something’ was; it was the Spirit of the god Baiame, the Creator of the world, who made himself visible on earth through man.

Gradually man learned to know the world. He did not know it, but he was the master, the king of creation, for this had been the will of the Great Spirit. Man enjoyed the company of animals, joked and had fun with them. But every evening a veil of sadness overshadowed his happiness: when the shadows covered the earth and every animal returned to its lair, man felt terribly lonely. He thought of the beauty of nature, smelt the scent of flowers and the sweet taste of fruit… then the sting of a strange dissatisfaction revealed to man that something was missing.

God Baiame soon realised that his favourite son was not happy: the man sympathised with animals, but this did not satisfy him. He realised, with a deep sense of disappointment, that the beasts possessed only a small piece of God’s Spirit, totally insufficient for a truly rewarding deep relationship. Finally, Baiame understood: man needed someone like him. And once again the god intervened.

That night the man slept an agitated sleep. Strange dreams raced through his mind, while an increasingly violent impulse drove him towards desires he did not know how to fulfil.

In the morning, when the first light of dawn opened the man’s eyes, he discovered with wonder that a new creature stood beside him; even more beautiful than himself, sweeter. Her roundness bewitched the man and her smile spoke a language completely unknown to him.

The two of them took each other by the hand and very naturally walked into the forest, while a thousand curious eyes flourished among the grasses and leaves. Man’s loneliness was over; the season of love was beginning for him. On the prairies and in the woods the animals, driven by that spark of the Spirit within them, gathered and danced at length, praising the God of Life in their own way. (Illustration: 123rf.com)

Folktale from Australia

Getting out. The purification of the mother.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

The life of the Kunama, from birth to old age – and even after death, is a tapestry of traditional rites and ceremonies handed down from the ancient fathers (ande) and scrupulously observed.

The first of these rites is the celebration of the Isata Olà, (Gettng out), the purification of the mother after childbirth (dagosa) and the washing of the newborn (deda niarca).
This rite inserts the newborn into the Kunama tribe; it is like an enrolment recognising the child as a citizen among its people.
Children that don’t undergo the rite, once adults, however long they live among the people, will always be excluded from tribal life and considered foreigners. They lose their rights and are not allowed to perform the other rites during their life: celebrate a ritual marriage or be buried in the common cemetery.

The Isata Olà, (Gettng out), is the purification of the mother after childbirth (dagosa).

The Isata Olà rite is the gateway to Kunama life, even if it means the “way out.” The newborn came out of its mother’s womb and now, through this rite, it will get out of its nest to where family life continues.It’s not important whether the mother is legally married or not, or whether the child is male or female; it is a living being coming from the family – the cell where the tribe grows and multiplies. Not performing the rite creates the fear that the spirits, or, more precisely, the souls of the ancestors, may exact revenge on the newborn, suffocating it, making it blind, or causing some other horrible misfortune. One has to follow traditions.When the time comes for a woman to give birth, she can only leave her house after carrying out the prescribed rite. For personal needs she can leave the house by a small door, avoiding looking at or meeting other people. When she leaves the house, she has to use the arkubà (camel) stick made of asabà or aitarà (types of tree), tied together with doum palm leaves (laca).
For some days she will not be given stodgy food but thin aifa, flour that is diluted and cooked. After birth, the umbilical cord still attached to the baby will be anointed with a paste made of oil, butter, and ashes. When it falls off, the mother will have a ritual bracelet of doum palma leaves (laca furda) tied to her wrist.

For some days she will not be given stodgy food but thin aifa, flour that is diluted and cooked.

On the following second or fourth day, the mother removes the bracelet and carries out the other ritual ceremonies. That piece of umbilical cord won’t be thrown away, just like the lock of hair which will be kept in a small container. At the time prescribed for the Isata Olà rite, apart from the mother, father, maternal aunt, also relatives and friends participate. It is usually the newborn’s mother who carries out the rituals. First, leaving the house. The mother who has given birth, together with the baby and the celebrant, her head covered with a white veil, comes to the house’s entrance. Outside, some people sprinkle the women and children with water as a sign of purification. The maternal aunt fetched this water in the morning from the river or the village well before anyone else. They eventually come out of the house: the mother sits down on a mat on the ground and the relatives sit in a circle on stools to witness the completion of the ritual.

The maternal aunt fetched the water in the morning from the river or the village well before anyone else.

At this point, the celebrant unties the mother’s tresses and hangs a string of small shells around her head. She then immerses some necklaces in the ritual water and with these touches the mother’s forehead and breast. She immerses them in the water again and then touches her shoulders and back. This is repeated three or four times.
She carries out a similar rite with the child and dips its head and then its bottom into the ritual water. The necklaces are then placed around the necks of the mother and the newborn child and the celebrant marks their foreheads, eyelashes, and eyebrows with black powder.
Choosing the name is an important part of the ritual. The name is, in general, associated with events or periods of the year during which the child was born. One born in the rainy season will be called Galla, meaning rain. The word sena (grass) is given to those who are born when the field is being cleared of grass.
Those born during the harvesting of dura (Kina) are called Kini. Unfortunately, war and the difficulties it causes are also remembered in names: Masi (male) from masa (wages war) is the name of one born when the country or area are devastated by war, and Agiagi (female) from agia (flight) or matuda (one who flees), if the birth takes places during flight or when people are obliged to move.

Choosing the name is an important part of the ritual.

When the participants have conferred the name on the baby, the mother offers everyone aifa (Kunama beer). The celebrant, with the baby in her arms, uses a conical filter lacagià, to pour the beer to be used for the rite’s concluding toast onto the mother’s head.
Two or four days later, the mother’s hair is newly arranged as she prepares for the second part of the Isata Olà. The ceremony is called Bia co-ghira (fetching water) because, when the rite is over, the mother is declared free to leave the house and go to the river to fetch water. The woman puts the wooden carrier on her shoulders with the balancing ropes (assuma) to which the two containers are attached: one has water, the other some lit coals on terracotta fragments.
When she is a certain distance from the house, the celebrant crushes the coals and prepares a paste with which she traces a cross on the mother’s breast, back, hands, and feet. The mother then washes her hands and feet in the water remaining in the container.
This concludes Isata Olà. The mother is now free to leave the house and take up her daily tasks. When the child grows up, he or she will undergo other traditional rites. (A.F.M.)

Kenya. Savings and Credits in Cooperative.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

An initiative of the Huruma Self-Help Group, it makes credit accessible to that segment of the population excluded from formal economic circuits. It all started in the Christian communities of Kariobangi, a suburb of Nairobi.

In 1991 Verona Huruma Savings and Credit Cooperative (VH Sacco) was founded, an informal savings group made up of 15 people who met regularly in one of the small Christian communities of the Comboni mission of Kariobangi, in one of the difficult suburbs of Nairobi, more precisely in the Huruma area.
It was a common practice among the most disadvantaged social classes on the outskirts of Kenyan cities, a practice that is called ‘merry-go-round’, that is, a small carousel that spins and makes people happy.
Every week, each member of the group deposits a small amount, and the members take turns collecting contributions. In this way, each member of the group manages to generate a small amount of capital to satisfy needs or make small investments that otherwise would not be possible.

Every week, each member of the group deposits a small amount and the members take turns collecting contributions.

Huruma’s group works well and has grown, so much so that in 1994 it transformed into Huruma Self-Help Group, a formally constituted mutual aid group. The conviction, based on experience, is that even small sums can make a difference in the living conditions in which many people in the suburbs of Nairobi find themselves.
The group is enjoying rapid success thanks to the large social capital of trust and integrity linked to the parish context. Thus, the residents of the area mobilize en masse and join the association to protect family savings and facilitate access to credit.
The self-help initiative makes credit accessible to that large part of the population who are unable to obtain it from the formal banking sector, as they have a minimal, unstable income and live in conditions of great vulnerability. This model is so successful that in 2013, thanks to its great expansion, it has managed to make an important leap forward: the project is transformed into SACCO (a savings and credit cooperative), with the possibility of also making investments. In 2017, there was a further step: from the local dimension to the national scale.

Financing slam projects.

Today, the cooperative has over 15,000 members from various social backgrounds and offers a wide range of services: first of all, the collection of savings (in the form of shares in the cooperative’s capital, which can only be withdrawn by leaving the cooperative) and various subsidized loan arrangements; from loans covered by a guarantee (at an interest rate of 0.8%), to those guaranteed by other shareholders (at a rate of 1.28%), to those self-secured by one’s own shares, to instant loans through a mobile app.
And all this in the face of a banking loan market with interest rates ranging from 8% to 12% on average. In addition, the cooperative pays its members dividends on savings. Financial and real estate investments have become an important part of the balance sheet. In particular, investments in land and residential properties make this market accessible to shareholders, thanks to fair and long-term rates, as well as economies of scale. This factor has significantly contributed to the opening of the cooperative beyond the borders of Kariobangi-Huruma. Furthermore, the social dimension of the cooperative’s activity also emerges in the insurance and financing plans for healthcare costs, in a scholarship program for needy children and young people, and a corporate social responsibility initiative which addresses
the needs of the most destitute.

Improving the living conditions.

A fount of trust and integrity, since the beginning of its journey, the group has been concerned with providing support to the Church, sharing its evangelical values, and acknowledging that it expresses that social capital of trust and integrity which values every social action. In fact, open spirituality – which welcomes everyone regardless of socio-cultural and religious affiliations – is not a secondary aspect of the organization’s journey. The budgetary results of the initiative are truly significant. Dividends in recent years (before the Covid-19 pandemic) were over 13%, with a capitalization of 1.4 billion shillings (about 12 million euros, between shares and investments) despite the strong competition, the recurring economic crises over the years, and inflation. But what matters most is the ability to know how to respond to the needs of those who normally remain excluded from formal economic circuits. And the social impact of the cooperative’s activities is there to testify to the effectiveness of this initiative. (Open Photo: 123rf)
(A.P.)

Unbreakable jars.

Monday, 1 May 2023 9:39

Once upon a time, there was a potter, honest and diligent, who made jars of excellent quality and many sizes. He was also a very religious man: in his spare time, he prayed and went to the temple every evening to participate in the ceremonies and sing hymns. Once a week he fasted and always offered alms to the poor people.

But there was something that tormented him, a desire that did not make him entirely happy: he wanted to build perfect, unbreakable jars. However, despite his best efforts, he came close to his ideal but never reached it. Unbreakable jars just didn’t come to him!

One night, while he was sleeping, God himself appeared to him and asked: “Do you really want to make jars that will never break?”. “Of course, Lord! – replied the potter. – This would be my ideal. If I really achieved it, I would be the happiest man in the world.”

“Think about it first – continued the Lord -, because, if you really want it, I could also fulfil you with a miracle of my own.” The potter reiterated: “That’s just what I want … to be able to make at least a perfect jar!” “All right – said the Lord. – You asked for this gift and you shall have it.”

Having said this, God disappeared. The potter could no longer sleep and waited impatiently for dawn. The next morning, he got up in a hurry and ran to make a small clay jar. Then he picked it up and threw it against a wall. The jar remained whole, without a single scratch. The potter began to sing and shout aloud: “I did it! I did it! I am the best potter in the world. No one can surpass me. To me the fame! To me the riches!”

The neighbours, convinced that he had gone mad, ran to help him, but were astonished when they saw that the jar just would not break.

From that day on, the potter’s life changed. He became the most sought-after man in the area. People queued up in front of his workshop. As his fame spread, soon the inhabitants of other villages also flocked to buy the jars that did not break.

The potter became rich and famous, as he had predicted. In the meantime, news of the unbreakable jars ran through the whole country and even reached the capital, Kathmandu. When it reached the ears of a rich merchant, he was at first sceptical: fairy tales, hearsay! But with the fine business sense he had, he told himself that no chance should be overlooked.

So, he set off for the potter’s village to see for himself. And what was not his astonishment when he saw with his own eyes that the jars were not only beautiful but were truly unbreakable. He wanted to enter into a partnership with the potter, offering him his capital, his experience in trade and all the workshops he had in the village. Not only that but to show the potter all his enthusiasm he offered him his only beautiful daughter in marriage.

The potter gladly accepted and also agreed to move to Kathmandu: here the young bride would be able to stay with her mother, this was the obvious reason; but there was another, more secret reason: he wanted to attain in the city that fame and honours that until now had only been bestowed on him in the villages. The wedding was soon celebrated with great pomp and great joy for all.

A large workshop was then opened in the capital and the precious jars sold like hotcakes here and throughout the nation. When, sometime later, news of an heir also reached the potter, he thought he had reached the height of happiness. But – there is always a but in human affairs – the demand for jars at some point began to wane. Since these did not break, no one needed to replace them. The queue in front of his shop diminished every day until the time came when he could no longer sell a single jar. “This is not necessary,” the potter thought to himself and set about designing new jar models, in the hope that they would be liked and bought instead of the others. But to no avail! The new models were liked, they were admired, but no one was buying. And what would they do with new jars, when the old ones were perfect?

So, the potter put his hands in his hair and began to despair, worried about his future and that of his family.

One night, as he was about to fall asleep absorbed in dark thoughts, God appeared to him again and asked: “How are you? I am curious to know how it went. Tell me everything.” “I am the saddest man on earth,” replied the potter. “How come? Didn’t you want to make perfect jars? Then what’s wrong?” The man spoke sadly: “I was wrong. I would love to make jars that break as soon as they are thrown against a rock!”

“I don’t get it – said God. – Once you wanted jars that wouldn’t break; now you want jars that will break … Why?” “You know everything – replied the potter. – You know my thoughts. You know the reason for my despair. People bought the jars, but now they don’t want any more because they are unbreakable. I can no longer sell anything and the profit I have made will only last me for a while. Then what will happen to my family? What future will I be able to offer my son?”

“Think about it! – God repeated the advice the first time. – If I cancel my gift, you will no longer be able to make perfect jars. Think it over!” “I will be happy to make normal jars. That way, every time one breaks, people will come back to me or go to other potters and we can all learn something. Please make me a normal potter again!”

The man pleaded and suddenly woke up. Seized with anxiety, he could not wait until morning. In the middle of the night, he went to the workshop and made a terracotta moulded into the shape of a jar.
Then he took it and hurled it against the wall. The jar broke into a thousand pieces.

So, the potter returned happy. And he became even more religious because he had understood that happiness does not lie in trying to make perfect things, but in doing one’s work with honesty and simplicity, trying to have a big heart towards everyone and doing charitable works. (Photo: 123rf.com)

Folktale from Nepal

Music. Sounds of Kazakhstan.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

Q-pop is the Kazakh-language musical genre that is becoming widespread. A mix of western pop, electronic dance, rhythm’n’blues and hip-hop.

A land where the Silk Road passes, Kazakhstan gained independence in 1990 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A complex and multi-ethnic land – in addition to the Russians and Kazakhs, there are Uzbeks, Slavs, Ukrainians, Tatars, Belarusians -, allied to Russia (but not in the Ukrainian conflict), with a rich culture, also in the musical field.
And here the genre that is most popular today is Q-pop: songs sung in the Kazakh language that incorporate typical elements of Western pop, electronic dance, rhythm’n’blues and hip-hop. A genre – but also an approach and a school of thought applied to music – not far from K-pop that North Koreans have been exporting all over the world for years.

The Kazakh band Ninety One. (Photo: The Astana Times)

This phenomenon emerged in the middle of the last decade and found its first flagship group in the boy band Ninety One. And they were the first fans to coin the term (the letter Q derives from the name of the country, Qazaqstan, as it should be written according to the Latin script of Kazakh). A quartet typical of teenage bands from all over the world, adored by little girls and mocked by mainstream lovers. And yet their career is still going on, with the ambition of demonstrating to young Kazakhs the modernity of their mother tongue. To get to know them, just listen to Jurak, their single of last year. If among the stars of the old guard, the best known is probably Roza Rymbayeva (15 albums released and several international awards) who offers a rather traditionalist electronic pop with some deviations towards local folk and jazz.

Dımash Qudaıbergen (Photo: Turkystan.kz)

The most significant artists of today’s scene must include the following two. Starting with Dımash Qudaıbergen. Born into a family in 1994, with a strong voice (endowed with perfect pitch, a range of more than six octaves and a remarkable talent for whistling), he has had a solid classical training and has won the admiration of many international critics, some of whom did not hesitate to judge him “the most beautiful voice in the world”. To get an idea of it you need to listen to his 2019 album iD: imagine an almost impossible cross between Andrea Bocelli and Antony Hegarty and a style that crosses popular international pop with classical elements of traditional Kazakh and classical music.
The other emerging name is that of the very young Daneliya Tuleshova. Born in the capital Astana in 2009, she showed her talent as a child by winning the Hopes of Europe competition in 2017 and then honourably represented her country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2018. She then took part in 2020 in America’s Got Talents; a dozen singles to date and, if she can resist the pressures of the business, a bright future awaits her. (Open Photo: Musical notes lined up in even rows against the backdrop of the National Flag of Kazakhstan .123rf.com)

Franz Coriasco

Between terrorist threats and Unsolved problems.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

The political instability seen before, the ethnic tensions both in the country and in the region, the collapse of the institutions in some of the neighbouring countries (first Mali then Burkina Faso) and other factors created the conditions for an increase of the terrorist
risk in Ivory Coast

Jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda or the Islamic State have been targeting the Gulf of Guinea country for years. On 13 March 2016 Al Qaeda militias attacked in Grand Bassam and killed 19 people. The fact that the attack took place on the coast near Abidjan proved that extremists based in the Sahel region (especially in Algeria and Mali) had the capabilities to strike in all of West Africa. It is true that there was no new attack in the south of Ivory Coast since then, and that there was no major attack. But the risk is still there and increased in the latest years.
The absence of institutions that could defend law and order in Sahel countries gave jihadists the possibility to set up their bases, to recruit new militants, to spread their propaganda and in some cases to take control of swaths of territory. Jihadists exploit the weaknesses of the states of the region, and especially of their security forces. First of all, they take advantage of the insufficient checks at the borders to move from country to country. So, they could attack in Ivory Coast and then retreat to their bases on the other side of the border.
This is what is happening, as an example, in northern areas of Benin and, on a smaller scale, in Togo.

Jihadists exploit the weaknesses of the states of the region, and especially of their security forces.(Photo Swm Archive)

Even if Ivory Coast is still not a target like Benin or Togo, the situation could worsen dramatically and rapidly. Jihadism in the country is not yet an indigenous phenomenon, even if extremists are trying to gain some foothold. But the armed groups based elsewhere can sustain the offensives of Ivorian security forces due to their resources. At this moment, on a strategical level jihadist seem to focus their attention and efforts on Benin and Togo, where there have been several terrorist attacks. But Ivory Coast is one of the most influential countries of the region, and therefore is a major target.
And its weaknesses can be easily exploited by extremist. A terrorist escalation in Ivory Coast may be only a matter of time, despite the efforts to avoid it put in place by the government.
Another worrying trend is the increase in shipments of cocaine coming from South America in Ivorian ports. Criminal gangs seem to use West African countries as hubs in the routes towards Europe. Ivorian authorities are concerned by this dynamic because they discovered that international crime organizations established networks in the country and bribed Ivorian public officials. They acted swiftly to neutralize those networks. But the infiltration of those structures in the institutions and the economy could have a devastating effect.

The increase in shipments of cocaine coming from South America in Ivorian ports. Warehouses and transport trucks at the port of Abidjan. CC BY-SA 2.0/Romain Seaf

An economist by training, Ouattara seems to think that in the long term the economic development will solve the problems for Ivory Coast. But the experience shows that this idea is tricky since in fact the new wealth could create more reasons to fight. Ivory Coast continued to be one of the leading economies of the region even during the moments of civil war. But the economic relative prosperity did not help to bring peace. The exploitation of oil reserves in the next years could bring new resources and new wealth but could also exacerbate the existing tensions. The discontent over how oil revenues will be distributed could add up to the existing grievances, such as the abuses endured during the civil wars.The mutual mistrust among the ethnicities could end delegitimizing the institutions. It is fostered by the sentiment of impunity since a vast part of those who committed crimes (such as killings and rapes) during the civil wars was neither judged nor convicted. In these days many political leaders are preaching for peace and reconciliation. But some of them in the past called for violence and have not been punished for that. Therefore, they could return to incite confrontation if they deem it useful.

Ivory Coast continues to be one of the leading economies of the region.

With different levels of involvement, all of the three leaders are politically responsible for what happened in the past decades. Their rivalry for power risked tearing their country apart. Konan Bédié created the ideology of Ivoirité, that is a form of institutionalised racism and worsened the rifts between the ethnic groups. Gbagbo espoused this ideology when he was at the top. He also refused to cede power after the electoral commission proclaimed a result he did not like and therefore created the conditions for a new civil war. This civil war was won by the armed groups that supported Ouattara and committed abuses against the part of population that was pro-Gbagbo. But the incumbent chief of state seems to have shied away from any judgement about the behaviour of his militias. If the Ivorian political elite will not be able to break free from this circle of rivalry and conflict and to come to terms with the recent past on political and judiciary level the future will end up resembling the past, but for the worse.

Andrea Carbonari

Interreligious Dialogue. “We are all in the same boat”.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

Share your faith. Approach the other without fear. Look to the future with hope. The document on ‘Human Fraternity’ signed in Abu Dhabi, a new road map for Humanity.
We spoke with Comboni Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

What is the meaning of interreligious dialogue?
It is mainly a sharing of one’s religious tradition, one’s faith. We look for common spaces based on diversity. We meet to look at the world together and see what we can do. There is a wounded humanity out there and we talk about how to join forces to create a better world. It’s about not standing in front of each other but next to each other.

Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

There are many elements that are necessary, such as religious freedom, social cohesion, and human dignity. It is interesting to see that on the thorniest issues, between different religious traditions or even at a political level, there are usually shared points of view. For example, we see how the Holy See and Muslim countries feel very close in defence of life and the family.

Can religion be a useful tool for addressing political issues?
I think so. My predecessor, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, repeatedly stated that religion is not a problem but part of the solution to today’s problems. The world of politics and society should not look suspiciously at religion or at the various religious denominations but should see them as a source from which to obtain positive results. There has been some kind of meddling in recent years. Even if sometimes politics has entered the religious sphere and vice versa, and this creates conflict, division, and unpleasant reactions, we cannot ignore one another.

Do you detect a certain refusal to dialogue with those who are different from the other?
I have seen fear exists, and fear is the greatest enemy of dialogue. In meetings and rallies, they sometimes tell me that there are many Muslims in Europe and that they are going to invade and Islamise the continent.I have always said that we must not be afraid of this foreign presence from a social, identity, intercultural and interreligious point of view, but that we must experience the inclusion mentioned by Pope Francis. What we have to do is know how to welcome, accept and integrate them starting from their diversity.
Instead, what scares me as a Christian is the abandonment of the faith by the Christian world. I am afraid of aggressive secularization and of secularization that fights against Christian values. This is what causes our identity to disintegrate. If we in the West had a deep-rooted faith, we wouldn’t be afraid of this.

Is this fear more typical of adults or young people?
This fear and rejection reaction that we adults have, vanishes when I meet young people. They don’t feel bad because they live integrated and accept that integration with respect, friendship, and collaboration.

The seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur Sultan (Photo: Vatican Media)

Sometimes we are too concerned about this matter. We must recognize that there is a new generation that is growing up and that they must learn these values in order to live in diversity while respecting their own identity. Healthy diversity strengthens our identity. What we believe to be a problem, or what we fear, actually has enormous potential wealth as long as it leads us to a culture of acceptance and inclusion of the other. However, we know that this, unfortunately, very often coexists with an evident culture of exclusion.

You spoke of abandoning the faith. Are we dealing with an eminently Western phenomenon?
Yes. Even though among other religious confessions there is the feeling that this process of secularization, which promotes a model of society centred on well-being from a materialistic point of view and which cancels the religious dimension that human beings have, may cause the loss of their traditions.

How important is the document on ‘Human Fraternity’ signed in Abu Dhabi in February 2019 in interreligious dialogue?
It is a document that has marked a milestone in history. It has had a great reception all over the world at all levels because it is not a religious document, it is not a document for Christians or Muslims only, but for humanity. It is addressed to political and economic leaders, to those responsible for society, to religious communities, so that a sort of peaceful coexistence can be established.

Pope Francis shakes hands with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb after signing the Document on Human Fraternity. (Photo Vatican Media)

All the participants in the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions held in September last year in Kazakhstan, and which was attended by the Pope, adopted the document. Although the text, which is by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, does not have the signature of other people or institutions, it is important to see how the participants in the Kazakhstan Congress expressed their desire to follow the steps proposed in it. And furthermore, the President of East Timor, in his first appearance before the country’s parliament, proposed this document as a road map for the work of his government.

When the Pope went to Bangui, he asked for permission and prayed in the mosque. In interfaith relationships, how important are gestures?
They are fundamental. These are moments that have a great impact, like seeing Pope Francis in the Vatican Gardens with Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian leaders in an atmosphere of prayer.
They are gestures of communion and not of division, confusion, or renunciation of one’s faith.

Members of the Ecumenical Women Organisation of Liberia in Monrovia. (Photo Albin Hillert/ Life On Earth)

As Christians what are the challenges of interreligious dialogue
we have to face?
We live in societies where different traditions, and ours in particular, need to bear witness to their faith. If we really want to identify with our faith, with our culture, with our way of being, then we have to open ourselves up to others. When we go out of ourselves and discover other realities and cultures, we look at each other again and we rediscover ourselves and strengthen our identity. Instead of fearing the loss of part of who we are, we feel identified and, at the same time, different from others, but full of humanity in this world in which we live. As the Pope said during the pandemic, we are all in the same boat, with a view to welcoming each other to build a better society together. (Illustration: Luis Henrique Alves Pinto)

Javier Fariñas Martin

DR Congo. North and South Kivu, Security Companies, Business as Usual.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

In the eastern regions of the country, strong presence of Wagner paramilitaries, arms traffickers, and former soldiers
of the Foreign Legion.

Former soldiers of the Soviet Armed Forces, veterans of the French Foreign Legion, businessmen engaged in arms trafficking and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are used as a front to finance rebel militias. It looks like the script of a spy story but instead, it is a snapshot of the situation between North Kivu and South Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In Goma, the capital of North Kivu, Africa Intelligence reported the presence of paramilitaries from the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private security company currently engaged in Donbass, in Ukraine, in support of Russian troops, as well as in several African countries.
At the city’s international airport, however, there is a local branch of Agemira, a company based in Sofia.
The Bulgarian company deals with the maintenance of fighter aircraft of the FARDC, the Armed Forces of the DR Congo.

Mi-24 attack helicopter.

It is led by the French Olivier Bazin, nicknamed ‘Colonel Mario’, for about thirty years a consultant in various branches – from military supplies to oil & gas – between Chad, Angola, Congo, Ivory Coast and, precisely, DR Congo. About forty technicians from his company, mostly Belarussian and Georgian, experts in the use of Soviet-made aircraft, are trying to restore two Sukhoi Su-25 fighters, purchased by former president Joseph Kabila more than ten years ago in Ukraine, and two Mi-24 attack helicopters. The last outing of these aircraft dates back to last November in a raid against the M23 rebels.
Furthermore, in recent months, Bazin managed to get two Mi-8 transport helicopters to Goma, and now he is allegedly trying to find more Mi-24s and Su-25s, which are increasingly difficult to find on the market. Meanwhile, he is in talks with another Bulgarian company, Metalika AB, to arm the fighters, a company that has already worked in Africa, in particular with the Ivory Coast in the early 2000s despite the fact that at the time the country was under a UN embargo.

M23 rebels. CC BY-SA 2.0/ Al Jazeera

Again, at the end of 2022, about a hundred military instructors from Bucharest landed at Goma airport. Their boss is Horatiu Potra, a former soldier of the French Foreign Legion who has been a consultant for various private security agencies for years. Potra has experience in Chad and in the Central African Republic, a country where he was involved, for a certain period, in the training of the presidential guard of former president Ange-Félix Patassé.
Last November, with his Kalashnikov on his shoulder, he was seen in Goma surrounded by FARDC soldiers. President Félix Tshisekedi has assigned him and his men the task of ensuring the security of the airport. Formally, however, Potra did not work for the regular armed forces but for a local company, Congo Protection, owned by Patrick Bologna, an Italian-Congolese politician and entrepreneur as well as the Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Kinshasa, and the Congolese Bijou Eliya.
In the South Kivu region, the United States is monitoring the Banyamulenge Tutsi community, whose militias, according to the FBI, have received hundreds of thousands of dollars through the Mahoro Peace Association, a US-based NGO.
Leading the armed wing of the Banyamulenge community is the warlord Michel Rukunda, known by the name of ‘Makanika’.

A Russian Sukhoi Su-25. CC BY-SA 2.0/ Aleksandr Markin

Rukunda has spent time in the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo and the Congolese Rally for Democracy. In 2019 he defected from the FARDC and approached the M23 rebels. Since then, he has lived holed up in the highlands overlooking Lake Tanganyika at the head of a militia called Twigwaneho, made up of about a thousand guerrillas, most of whom were recruited in refugee camps scattered between Burundi, Uganda, and Rwanda. The liaison between this militia and the Mahoro Peace Association is Alexis Nkurunziza, a member of the association’s executive committee and a former intelligence officer of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Nkurunziza is suspected of having supplied military equipment to the Rukunda militia and set up a headquarters for it in the Bijabo area. These movements were also intercepted by the UN Monusco mission in the DR Congo, which in a June 2021 report confirmed the existence of ‘significant financial support for members of the Banyamulenge community living inside or outside the DR Congo’. Since 2020, almost 1.5 million dollars would have been paid into accounts belonging to members of the Banyamulenge community established in the DR Congo (Kinshasa, Goma, Bukavu, Uvira and Minembwe), Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, and South Africa.
(Open Photo: Goma and volcano Nyiragongo in background, North Kivu. CC BY-SA 2.0/Abel Kavanagh)

Rocco Bellantone

Africa. The New Eldorado of Beer.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

Competing for the continent are the French Groupe Castel and the Dutch Heineken.

An informal economy strongly rooted not only in the villages but also in the big cities, slow and insufficiently extensive distribution channels for goods, and low purchasing power on the part of the local populations are the three factors that in recent decades have kept many of the most powerful beer producers on the planet at a safe distance from the African market. However, there are those who have decided to believe in this challenge, and today, often with aggressive entrepreneurial manoeuvres they are reaping the fruits of this choice.

Johannesburg. Barman pouring a pint of draft beer. (Photo:123rf)

Although African demand covers only 3% of the global market for this product, its growth rate in recent years has been confirmed as one of the highest. To the point that, according to estimates reported by Jeune Afrique, by 2025 this percentage will rise to 37%. Competing for the market are four foreign giants: the French Groupe Castel, the Dutch Heineken, the Belgian-Brazilian AB InBev, and the British Diageo. Collectively, these multinationals share 93% of African beer demand. The confrontation – made up of acquisitions of breweries at a rapid pace, acquisitions of local brands, mergers, and alliances that are made and unmade in the space of a couple of pints – is tight and sees especially Groupe Castel and Heineken opposing each other.

The empire of Pierre Castel
Present in fifteen African countries through its subsidiary Brasseries et Glacières Internationales, born from the acquisition of Brasseries et Glacières d’Indochine, Groupe Castel holds the monopoly in the sector in a dozen African countries. It has about sixty breweries employing 30,000 workers. Behind this preference of Groupe Castel for Africa, which in 2021 contributed over 70% of its turnover of 4.4 billion euros, there are the excellent relationships that for years have linked its founder Pierre Castel with many African heads of state. In recent times, Groupe Castel has increased its influence both on Diageo, from which it acquired two production sites in Ethiopia (Meta Abo Brewery) and Cameroon (Guinness Cameroon), and on AB InBev, of which it holds 38% of the assets in Africa.

Heineken in Africa. Photo: Olivier van Beemen.

If anything, some judicial squabbles are holding back the course of the French business. News at the end of December is the payment of 286 million Swiss francs that Pierre Castel will have to pay to the Swiss tax authorities for having failed to declare part of its assets in 2007 and 2008. While last July the French judiciary launched an investigation against a company controlled in the Central African Republic by Somdiaa, a leading agri-food company in Africa and partner of the Castel Group, accused of supporting local armed groups.

Heineken creates pressure
In 2011, Heineken officially launched the challenge to Groupe Castel by breaking into the Ethiopian market and snatching the leadership from the French company within a few years. In 2017, the Dutch giant landed in Ivory Coast with the Brassivoire brand, breaking here too the monopoly of Groupe Castel which had lasted for sixty years. Last year, it first acquired Distell Group, a South African company specializing in the production of high-end cider and liqueurs and, subsequently, Namibia Breweries Limited. In 2018, the book ‘Heineken in Africa’ by the Dutch journalist Olivier Van Beemen recounted this rise in detail: ‘In 2005 – writes the author – with the appointment of Van Boxmeer as chairman of the board of directors, the group found itself led by someone with a passion for Africa who restored strategic importance to the continent through a series of acquisitions and expansions.

Ethiopia. A girl from Dassanech ethnic group wears a beautiful hat made of beer caps. (Photo:123rf)

Heineken first established itself in Algeria, Tunisia, Ethiopia, and the Ivory Coast and invested tens of millions in breweries: in Lubumbashi (DR Congo), Sedibeng (South Africa), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and Maputo (Mozambique). In Africa, for over a century, Heineken has shown impressive determination and perseverance, even in the most difficult moments. At the same time, controversial and fraudulent practices have played a significant role in its survival strategy’. Witness to this are some aggressive marketing campaigns, such as the one implemented in Nigeria where prostitutes were hired as hostesses to attract customers into bars that served Dutch beer. In the face of all this, the consumption of traditional alcoholic beverages, such as tchapalo millet beer, the bili-bili popular in Cameroon, or the chibuku sorghum beer drunk in East African countries, risks disappearing. (Photo: Credit: Olivier van Beemen for Africa is a Country, under Creative Commons License)

Rocco Bellantone

Sixty Years Later. The Encyclical ‘Pacem in Terris’ Taught that War Is always Irrational.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

Today, the atomic threat is less feared, but the risk of an increasingly widespread and devastating conflict is real: from Europe to the Pacific, from the Middle East to Africa.

Sixty years ago, John XXIII’s encyclical ‘Pacem in Terris’ was published, arousing surprise and enthusiasm throughout the world. Everything about that encyclical seemed new and it was emphasized as the first pontifical document dedicated exclusively to peace and as the first that was addressed to all men of goodwill even if it was not so. There were, however, many innovations and one, in particular, was very important: the encyclical ruled out that, in the atomic age, war could bring justice. For some time now the Church had taught that war was evil, admitting it however as a legitimate defence and to restore a violated right. But John XXIII highlighted that the radically unbalanced relationship that had arisen between the means (nuclear weapon) and the end (restoring justice) now made it impossible to speak of a ‘just war’.

Pope John XXIII signs his encyclical “Peace on Earth” (“Pacem in Terris”) at the Vatican in 1963.

War had become an impracticable, counterproductive, irrational tool and, therefore, to be eliminated. It was what hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of men and women wanted to hear from such a high moral authority. Not only that: it was also what the top political leaders of the time, Kennedy and Khrushchev, wanted someone to say in order to deal more easily with internal resistance to an agreement with the ‘enemy’. It seemed as if the world was speaking with one voice, that of the Pope.
In ‘Pacem in Terris’, the novelty of the contents arose from a novelty of approach. That pontifical pronouncement was not based only on the Gospel and on Tradition but also on reading the signs of the times; that is, it was also based on the analysis of historical reality. This marked a detachment from a doctrine of the Church based on a theological and providential reading of history which, while judging war as an evil, considered it a punishment from God and therefore impossible to eliminate. With Pope John’s encyclical, the Church changed nothing of the evangelical message of which she is guardian and herald, but the encyclical has shown that even on the crucial themes of war and peace the Gospel is incarnated in ever new ways and resounds in forms unpublished in different historical contexts.
Today, war appears to many to be not only legitimate, but also useful and, in its own way, rational. It is rather peace that seems to have to be justified. When the first conflict after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, broke out in 1991, it was said that ‘it would be the last’ or that it was ‘necessary to avoid more ruinous future wars’. At the time, there were people who rightly denounced the hypocrisy of such statements, but today, in some respects, there would be some reason to regret them: they implicitly recognized peace as a principle to be made prevail, even if they served to cover choices of just the opposite.

Photo: 123rf

Behind that hypocrisy, in fact, there were many important things: the memory of the two world wars, the continuity with an unprecedented system of international organizations to safeguard peace, the desire to avoid a Third World War at all costs. That war should be banned was still a widespread belief in 2003, when millions of people demonstrated around the world against the one in Iraq. Then something broke and war became ‘normal’. If today no one says that the war in Ukraine will be the last or that it is necessary to avoid others (and no one has said it even for those in Syria, Yemen, Georgia) it is because of the diminishment, after 1989, of the moral, political, institutional architecture built up after the Second World War.
Does this mean that the Gospel of peace no longer interprets the meaning of history? Quite the opposite: if the urgency for peace is no longer felt, it is because the signs of the times are no longer read and the history in which we are immersed is not questioned in depth. John XXIII’s lesson is more timely than ever as war rages in Ukraine and in other parts of the world. Even today, there is a Pope who insistently proclaims the Gospel of peace, in full continuity with the spirit of Pope John. But questioning the history of our time is not only the Pope’s responsibility. Supporters of peace should not only underline (rightly) its urgency, but also contribute to building a solid culture of peace interwoven with historical knowledge.

Photo: 123rf

The culture of the time in which ‘Pacem in Terris’ was written was able to combine eschatological hope and historical realism and show convincingly that war was no longer reasonably usable.
A similar effort is also needed today. Those who believe in peace cannot ignore the task of exploring – together with all ‘men of good will’ – the rational, concrete, compelling reasons, i.e, the historical reasons, why it is urgent to end the wars in Ukraine and elsewhere. Obviously, the millions of refugees from Ukraine – the relatives of the victims of Russian aggression, those who live daily under bombs – do not find it difficult to read the signs of the times.
But if those who suffer from war grasp more than others that the future of humanity passes along the road to peace, this must also be understood by those who live far from war and, above all, by the ruling classes of many countries which, directly or indirectly, can contribute to peace. In short, even by the Kennedys and Khrushchevs of today and, above all, by their more modest followers.

While the atomic threat is no longer as frightening as it was sixty years ago – though the danger of nuclear weapons has far from disappeared – the risk of an increasingly widespread and devastating conflict is dramatically real, from Europe to the Pacific, from the Middle East to Africa. Many do not understand that war always produces unpredictable outcomes, despite the fact that this has been clearly seen in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places. But it is in everyone’s interest to prevent the world from plunging towards catastrophic outcomes and a culture is needed that clearly highlights the many reasons – human, political, economic – for this interest that is capable of revealing the irrationality of indifference. Undoubtedly, the prevalence of a single thought that today imprisons peoples and the elite, based on immediate interests, on the threat of violence, on the logic of bipolar opposition is only one of the causes of the increasingly frequent recourse to war. But it is a cause that reflects all others and a different culture is essential to find that peace which today is hard even to imagine.(Photo: 123rf)

Agostino Giovagnoli
Catholic University of Milan

Libya. The missing Uranium: a boomerang effect of NATO’s attack of 2011.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

The revelation that 2.5 tonnes of uranium were missing from a warehouse in Southern Libya, by the International Atomic Energy Agency provides one more example of the damaging consequences of the 2011 attack by NATO to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

In 2016, President Barrack Obama admitted that this Libyan episode was the worst mistake of his second mandate, referring to the attack by NATO led by France and the U.K. which received US logistical support and was initially designed to implement Security Council resolution 1973. The text allowed air strikes to protect civilians by imposing a no-flight area but not a foreign occupation or the Jamahiriya’s leader’s toppling. In a matter of months, Libya which had managed to improve its relations with the West after being accused of sponsoring terrorism was disintegrated by the NATO attack. Libya which hosted the Tripoli AU-EU summit of 2010, prevented migrants to cross “en masse” the Mediterranean Sea towards Sicily and renounced 2003 its nuclear weapons programme, became “a mess” as deplored later Obama.

Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA). (Archive)

Up till now, the consequences are still being felt. The country remains split between the Tripoli-based and UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Benghazi-based Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who took part in the coup that brought Gaddafi to power in 1969 and is loyal to the Libyan House of Representatives, a coalition of military units, local, tribal and Salafi militias. Both sides have left large areas of the country in the hands of jihadists or foreign armed groups. In such context, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi raised the alarm by mid-March. Grossi announced that IAEA inspectors had found that 10 drums containing 2.5 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate “were not present as previously declared”, somewhere in Southern Libya.
Experts tried to avert panic, arguing that natural uranium cannot be immediately used for energy production or bomb fuel, owing to the complexity of the enrichment process, which requires the metal to be converted into a gas, and then spun in centrifuges to reach the levels needed. Nevertheless, natural uranium, if obtained by a group with the technological means and resources, can be refined to weapons-grade material over time, accordingly.
The missing uranium is a concentrate called “yellow cake” (isotope U-238) which “doesn’t really have any radiation in its current form”, said Scott Roecker from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a global security organisation working on nuclear issues to the BBC but accordingly, it could be used as “feedstock” for a nuclear weapons programme. Yet, the enrichment process for such use is a long one: the material has to be treated by a cascade of 50,000 centrifuges to achieve the required level.

The IAEA headquarters in Vienna. (Photo: IAEA)

According to a confidential statement from Grossi, the inspection which concluded that the drums were missing was planned initially for last year but was “postponed because of the security situation in the region” because of fighting between rival Libyan militias.
Eventually, the suspense did not last for long. Shortly after the IAEA statement, Gen. Khaled al-Mahjoub, commander of the LNA communications division said in a Facebook statement that the missing drums had been recovered at 5 kilometres from the warehouse where they were originally kept, in an area which was not in government-controlled territory, near the Chadian border.
The general suggested that they were stolen by Chadian rebels who mistook them for ammunition or weapons and abandoned them when they realized the drums were of little use to them.
There are plenty of plausible suspects since many Chadian and Sudanese armed groups are proliferating in the Southern Fezzan area. One of these is the Union des forces de la Résistance (UFR), whose leader Timam Erdimi lives in exile in Qatar. Another is the Front pour l’alternance et la concorde au Tchad (FACT), which struck a pact of non-aggression with the LNA but split in 2016 in two groups: General Mahamat Nouri’s Union des forces pour la démocratie et le développement (UFDD) and Mahamat Hassane Boulmaye’s Conseil de Commandement Militaire pour le Salut de la République (CCMSR).

Landscape in the Tibesti mountains east of the village of Bardai, Chad. (Photo: Michael Kerling)

All these groups are spread between the Kufra oasis and the Murzuq basin, near the Tibesti mountains of Chad. Further to the east, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army are also present. According to UN experts, these armed groups are involved in the smuggling of weapons, drugs and the trafficking of human beings.
Ethnic connections make it easy for the Chadians whose ethnic groups, namely Tubus, are spread on both sides of the border.
The Libyan “mess” has provided a golden opportunity for the jihadists across Northern Africa and the Sahel. In November 2011, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, head of the North Africa-based al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) told the Mauritanian news agency ANI: “We have been one of the main beneficiaries of the revolutions in the Arab world”. In an article published in 2017, titled “Brothers Came Back with Weapons. The Effects of Arms Proliferation from Libya”, Nicholas Marsh from the Oslo Peace Research Institute, reminds that large quantities of arms from Libya have been trafficked to Gaza, Mali, the Sinai, and Syria. Such proliferation has been facilitated by Colonel Gaddafi’s creation of arms and ammunition depots disseminated throughout Libya, in the context of a “people’s war” strategy planning the distribution of weapons to the militias and general population to fight a potential invasion.

Nuclear military program
After Gaddafi’s fall, hundreds of Tuareg fighters left Libya and drove across the desert to Mali and Niger, taking with them all sorts of weapons, including anti-tank weapons, mortars, and heavy machine guns. In 2014, a UN Security Council report documented that a “wide range of materiel including rifles and SA–7b antiaircraft missiles were smuggled out of the country by arms traffickers, criminal groups and armed groups”. At the time, Tunisian and Algerian armies intercepted several convoys transporting arms to Mali.
The networks are there. The possibility that uranium under whatever form can be smuggled out of Libya is high since for decades until 2003, Libya tried to acquire means to build its own nuclear bomb.

Hundreds of Tuareg fighters left Libya and drove across the desert to Mali and Niger. (Archive)

According to the IAEA, Libya acquired Yellowcake from Niger between 1978 and 1981. A Swiss engineer Urs Tinner, estimated that Libya received its first gas centrifuges in 2007 to treat 200 tonnes of yellow cake imported from Niger.
From 1984, Pakistan began contributing to Libya’s nuclear programme in exchange for the supply of uranium from a mine of the Aouzou strip, in northern Chad.
Libya, at that time, was in touch with the father of the Pakistani nuclear military programme, Abdul Qader Khan. In 2001, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet in a “top secret” report to President George H. Bush warned that Libya could boast from an atomic bomb by 2007. In such a context, it is likely that more than ten drums may have disappeared. Another detail adds to the confusion: the video shared by the LNA on social media on 16 March shows 18 drums, rather than the 10 mentioned both by the IAEA, raising this question: does anyone have the correct account?

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. (Archive)

What if the thieves had found a buyer? After all, the planet is not short of states which want to develop their own military nuclear capacity despite NATO’s attempts to prevent them to do so. Anyway, the incident is the last straw on the camel’s back for France whose 2011 intervention decided by President Nicolas Sarkozy had a terrible boomerang effect. It boosted jihadist activities in the Sahel and ended with a French military presence in Mali and Burkina Faso in 2022. That is a very high price for a decision which wrote one of her advisers to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an e-mail sent in April 2011, had little to do with humanitarian concerns. This view is shared by the French investigative news website Mediapart which claims, like Gaddafi’s son, Saif al Islam and former Libyan PM Baghdadi Mahmudi that Libya bankrolled Sarkozy’s presidential campaign of 2007 and later tried to eliminate evidence of it. Such claim is also sustained by mentions of the payments in the late former oil minister Shukri Ghanem’s diaries. (Open Photo:123rf)

François Misser

Africa and the Synod. Walking Together.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

The upcoming World Synod of Bishops and its preparations in synodal processes around the world show how the signs of the times challenge the Church today in the light of the Gospel. We can no longer hide the great general problems currently shaking it.
Sr. Anne Béatrice Faye, Senegalese, a religious of the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception of Castres, reflects on the challenges of the African Church.

First of all, in these reflections of mine, I would like to make three affirmations on the synodal process of the Church in Africa. Despite all the advances, there are still clerical, patriarchal, and hierarchical imprints. The first statement is rather an admission. I must openly admit that, in certain socio-cultural contexts, it is not at all obvious to ask the question about ‘travelling companions’, as is done in preparation for the World Synod of Bishops, let alone listen to one another as equals and speak boldly to the hierarchical Church.
In the Church, God’s family in Africa, bishops, priests, faithful, religious, and young people should openly acknowledge that they are equal in the Church and that they have different opinions. Indeed, in everyday life, it is the laity and above all women who make the life of the Church progress. However, in some countries, despite evident progress, the Church still appears to be very clerical, patriarchal and hierarchical.

Sr. Anne Béatrice Faye, Senegalese, a religious of the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception of Castres.

Second, I realize that concern for the preservation of ecclesiastical institutions is often at odds with proclaiming the kingdom of God.
The centrality of the episcopal or priestly ministry makes coherent pastoral action possible, provided however that those in leadership positions are willing to work together when it comes to the mission of the Church. Difficulties arise when their way of leading is too focused on their person and their authority. Rather, we need to collaborate and work as a team to create a climate of openness and ‘certain spaces’ for meeting and exchanging ideas in which no one finds themselves in difficulty.My third observation concerns the synodal process itself, which has surprisingly aroused much enthusiasm and mutual openness in many local Churches.

The working document for the continental stage of the World Synod of Bishops states that the method of spiritual dialogue has found wide acceptance because it has allowed many to take a clear look at the reality of the life of the Church and to call its lights and shadows by name.
Already this sincere evaluation immediately produced fruits projected towards the mission. Most of the responses emphasized that this was the first time the Church had asked people for their opinion and that she intended to continue on this path. In this regard, I quote the Bishops’ Conference of the Central African Republic: ‘We note a strong mobilization in the people of God, the joy of coming together, of walking together and of speaking freely. Some Christians, who had felt hurt and had distanced themselves from the Church, returned during
this phase of consultation’.

Listening to quiet voices
It is clear, therefore, that the synodal process in Africa can effectively contribute to greater equality within the Church. This requires the ability to radically involve all groups, a common sense of belonging and a profound acceptance of Jesus’ teaching. It is necessary to adopt an attitude of listening to the subdued voices of women, young people, children, the marginalized and the excluded.
In following the synodal path, the Church, God’s family in Africa, is particularly called to address those people who live in precarious conditions and whose voice is rarely heard because they are too far away. Although they are widely supported by Christian communities, they are rarely listened to, let alone asked for advice. This is easily explained by their condition of extreme poverty.

In my opinion, the debate on the abuse crisis and its systemic causes is also part of the synodal process in Africa.
In this regard, I want to avoid any misunderstanding of the meaning of the word ‘systemic’. This term does not mean, as many think, that the Church intentionally and systematically committed sexual abuse on a large scale. Rather, it refers to the fact that the Church, in general, has failed to adequately respond to the numerous, repeated and well-known cases of abuse and do what is necessary, namely, to put an end to the abuses and prevent further abuses. We can therefore speak of a systemic phenomenon due to persistent passivity, omissions, lack of vigilance, concealments, and the inability to listen to the victims.
Personally, I believe that the ability of the Church to remedy the situations that arise within her should not be questioned. For this reason, the abuse crisis and the voices of victims and survivors are at the heart of the synodal process. This is one of the signs of the times that the Church is currently facing in the light of the Gospel.

Moreover – as the working document for the continental stage of the World Synod of Bishops shows – in most of the synodal processes carried out at local and national levels, clericalism, abuse of power and sexual abuse have been identified as key factors in the perception of the Church and understood, not only by the media but by Catholics themselves.
The faithful also affirm that the Church must be freed from clericalism so that all her members – consecrated and lay – can carry out their mission together. It is clear that it is no longer possible to ignore, deny, underestimate or neglect any type of abuse: sexual, spiritual, of power or of conscience. It is rather a matter of the total disregard for human dignity.Unless the Church provides a credible answer to this problem, Catholics in many countries will increasingly question whether to stay in the Church or leave.
The vast majority of Catholics react sensitively to this crisis, but they also want to preserve the unity of the Catholic Church.

Invitation to Conversion
And so, what must be done? The Synod is a process in which the Church must listen. It should listen better to the hushed voices denouncing the prevailing clericalism, as the Report of the Central African Republic shows: “Some parish priests behave like ‘people who give orders’ and impose their will without listening to anyone. Secular Christians do not feel like members of the people of God. Initiatives that are too ‘clerical’ must be stigmatized. Some pastoral collaborators, both clerical and lay, sometimes prefer to surround themselves with those who share their opinions, keeping their distance from those who hold unfavourable or contrary beliefs.”

photo: 123rf

It should also be recognized that clericalism is a form of spiritual impoverishment, a loss of what consecrated ministry is really about, and that it is a culture that isolates the clergy and harms the laity. This culture separates from the living experience of God, damages fraternal relationships and favours rigidity, legalistic submission to power and the exercise of authority which becomes more power than service.
The invitation to convert to the culture of the Church for the salvation of the world is concretely linked to the possibility of anchoring a new culture with new practices and structures. One church group in the United States put it very well: “Rather than acting like bouncers trying to exclude others from the table, we need to put more effort into making sure people know that everyone here has a place and a home.”
We can therefore hypothesize a reform of the Church that will breathe new life into the existing structures. But it would be better if the Church had the courage to leave useless structures that have no future. All of this must take place in a sincere spiritual decision-making process.

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