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China: which foreign policy?

The People’s Republic of China urgently needs to revive the national economy after GDP growth stopped at 3% last year, marking the second-worst performance in the last 50 years.

However, Beijing’s ambitions have to deal with an extremely unstable and conflictual international context, marked by the persistence of the war in Ukraine, the slowdown of the global economy and the risks relating to the possible emergence of new variants of Covid-19.

In this framework, Beijing would seem to intend to make a series of changes of an essentially tactical nature to its foreign policy, in order to adapt it to current challenges and to achieve long-term strategic objectives which remain unchanged.

In particular, Chinese diplomacy could adopt a more conciliatory approach, setting aside the confrontational and combative rhetoric characteristic of the so-called wolf warriors diplomacy.

Signs of a change in this direction have emerged with the removal of the “hawk” Zhao Lijian from the role of Foreign Ministry spokesman, with the first soothing statements by the new Minister Qin Gang and, above all, with the speech by Vice Premier Liu He at the Davos Forum in which there was once again strong talk of an opening of the Chinese market to foreign investors and capital.

The objective of the changed diplomatic approach underway is to put an end to the progressive deterioration of relations between China and the Euro-Atlantic bloc that began with the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 and intensified following Beijing’s failure to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In particular, the Chinese leadership wants to try to reverse the trend that sees EU states increasingly committed to strengthening strategic autonomy, through diversification plans for the supply of raw materials useful for the development of critical technologies,
the systematic use of golden power and the implementation of innovative legislation aimed at making it more difficult for Chinese companies to enter the European market.

With these tactical changes, however, the priorities of Chinese external action should not change in the course of 2023. In particular, the theme of re-unification with Taiwan, the revival of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will remain at the centre of Beijing’s foreign policy, especially in its Asian segments, the development of strategic partnerships with Central Asian and African actors and, more generally, the support of international fora, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which aim to develop a multipolar international system.

In this context, the plan to modernize the People’s Liberation Army should also continue unabated, aimed at consolidating China’s position as a global player and developing its projection and
deterrence capabilities.

The Taiwan dossier, in particular, will occupy a prominent place in Chinese foreign policy. From this point of view, Chinese military pressure in the Strait should remain high during 2023, just as the People’s Republic’s “blow-for-blow” response strategy to the moves of the USA and their partners in the region should remain unchanged.

However, it seems unlikely, in the short to medium term, to see an escalation since strong Chinese action, at the moment, would complicate the plans to relaunch the domestic economy underway which remain absolute priorities.

On the BRI, it is reasonable to expect a progressive relaunch of infrastructure development plans related to connectivity and trade, after two years in which the focus was mainly on supporting partner states in tackling the health emergency linked to COVID-19.

However, Beijing’s projects will have to deal with the complicated internal economic situation and with the series of economic crises underway, especially in South Asia, where a key BRI state like Pakistan even risks default if not promptly supported by the international community.

In Asia, competition with India should remain high and could manifest itself, with increasing force, in territories considered “disputed” such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
At the moment, it seems unlikely that there will be substantial changes in the situation in Ladakh, on the Sino-Indian border.

In fact, in this area, China would seem to have an interest, at least in the short term, in leaving the current balance of forces unchanged, which allows it to maintain the ground gained and consolidate its control through the construction of infrastructures useful for troop mobility.

Meanwhile, Beijing has recently relaunched its commitment to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, with an agreement on oil extraction, a possible prelude to a greater presence also aimed at countering the growing terrorist threat. Complex dossiers remain those of North Korea and Myanmar. In fact, although the two countries are useful to China in countering the US “integrated deterrence” strategy in the Indo-Pacific, they are going through critical phases that could create problems for Beijing even in the short to medium term.

In Africa, 2023 will see a consolidation of the Chinese position while the relaunch of any investment plans remains linked to the performance of the Chinese domestic economy. However, the overall strategy for the region should not change and China remains ready to exploit, as it has done in recent years, any spaces left open by the other international players present on the continent.

Overall, the effectiveness of Xi Jinping’s external action by China in the course of the new year should in any case remain linked to the performance of the domestic economy and developments
in the conflict in Ukraine.

The continuation of the war, in particular, could further distance Beijing from its European partners, further degrade relations with the USA and widen the polarization of the international context. This scenario could frustrate the efforts made by Chinese diplomacy and complicate the plans to revive the economy, a real challenge for the People’s Republic in 2023. (Photo: Foreign Minister Qin Gang (left) meets Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Jan 11, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Tiziano Marino/CeSI

 

Cinema. Irreducible Women.

 In the film ‘Nanny’, Nikyatu Jusu’s debut horror explores the dark side of the American dream. ‘Hawa’ by Maimouna Doucouré tells all about the world of adolescents without pity. Two films that represent the new wave of contemporary Afro-descendant cinema.

‘Nanny’ by director Nikyatu Jusu is the first horror film to win the prestigious Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, confirming the potential of films that use the genre to tackle political and social issues in an unprecedented way. In this case, the director, born in New York to Sierra Leonean parents, mixes horror and social drama to reveal the dark side of the American dream.

Aisha, masterfully played by Anna Diop, works as a babysitter in a wealthy New York family. The woman is saving up to bring her son Lamine from Senegal, from a relationship with a married man whom she then abandoned. As in Sembène Ousmane’s masterpiece, La Noire de…, which appears here in filigree, what initially seems like a good job opportunity slowly transforms into a relationship of first psychological and then economic exploitation. While the ambiguities of her employers emerge, Aisha is haunted by disturbing dreams and visions that throw her into a state of anguish and insecurity.
The woman can’t breathe, she feels suffocated by a system that turns out to be increasingly classist and racist. It is then that the siren Mami Wata and the spider Anansi, two figures of traditional African folklore, burst into her life as signs of premonition and alarm and then guide her in the painful process of self-determination and awareness.
They are supernatural presences that become resistance and rebellion against a capitalist system that systematically exploits immigrant and African-American women by throwing them on the margins of society or at worst into a mental hospital. The film, says the director, is a dark but hopeful love letter addressed to all mothers who have been systematically excluded from the American dream.

Water and memory
The story of the film originates from the experience of her own mother who, forced to work as a maid to support the family, sacrificed her creative and artistic potential. And the theme of motherhood is strong in all its nuances and contradictions.
Aisha forms a strong bond with Rose, the rich little girl she babysits. With her, she shares chebu yapp, a traditional Senegalese dish but also the adventures of the spider Anansi. She teaches her French while she has to settle for short phone calls with her son Lamine.
Rose’s mother, Amy, is forced to go out drinking on Friday nights with her male colleagues in order to advance her career and to endure the constant betrayals of her photographer husband. And it is precisely the realism of the characters and the strong political reading of American society that allows the supernatural dimension to break into history without falling into banal folklore.

Nanny director Nikyatu Jusu (Photo: Sundance Film Festival)

Mami Wata and Anansi are contemporary reinterpretations of tradition. They appear in a children’s picture book or in a postmodernist painting. The horror element slowly creeps into the hyper-modern spaces of the house where Aisha works. The water springs from the walls, it floods her dreams. Source of life, death and rebirth, water is also a memory of trafficking. Water that attracts and can kill as well as save.
But the horrific element also manifests itself in the reportage photographs of the girl’s father who travels the world immortalizing riots in the suburbs, clashes with the police and corners of Africa while his career wife, increasingly neurotically worried about her daughter, systematically forgets to pay Aisha. But it’s not just the images that fill the story with tension.
A stratified sound fabric (music, silence but also the chatter of Harlem, where Wolof is spoken) helps to create a complex narrative that incorporates political denunciation and refined psychological investigation.‘Nanny’ is a remarkable debut for a director who is not afraid to denounce the racism present in academic and cinematic circles where black women are often forced to shoot social dramas due to a lack of big budgets. Nikyatu Jusu’s new project will be the adaptation of her short, Suicide by Sunlight, a story of black vampires who can run in the sunlight because they are protected by melanin.
And in the future, she foresees nothing less than a remake of Romero’s ‘Night of the Living Dead’.

Bittersweet comedy
‘Hawa’, on the other hand, is the new film by Maimouna Doucouré who, after the controversy sparked by her first feature film ‘Mignonnes’, chooses a bittersweet comedy to once again tell the story of the world of adolescents. Hawa (Sania Halifa) is a fifteen-year-old albino of African origin who lives alone with her grandmother Maminata (Oumou Sangaré) who, although seriously ill, still works.
Grumpy and always ready to attack, Hawa scans the world through her thick glasses and darts through her streets on her scooter.She works as a cashier in a small neighbourhood grocery store but dreams of being adopted by Michelle Obama.

When she learns that her heroine will be in Paris to present her latest book, she sets off on a mad dash to meet her and fulfil her wish. Like her, in all training trips along the way, she will meet obstacles and opponents but also singular helpers such as the singer Yseult, the astronaut Pesquet and above all the very shy friend Erwann. A painful journey that will end with the acceptance of reality and with a tribute to one’s African roots. The story is not convincing and is guilty of naivety but the film has the merit of describing an outsider without pity or rhetorical overtones. And behind the patina of the Frank Capra comedy one can glimpse the same desperate desire to be accepted as Amy, who in ‘Mignonnes’ rebelled against the traditions of her own family and her father’s polygamy by choosing to be part of a dance, grew willing to do anything to win a contest. The director is preparing her third film, an ambitious biopic about Josephine Baker produced by Studio Canals. There are common traits in the films of these two ambitious young directors who look at their African origins from the right distance and use the genre, be it horror or comedy, to tell of powerful and indomitable female characters and tackle crucial issues such as cultural alienation and capitalist exploitation. (Open Photo: Anna Diop stars in Nanny. (Photo: Sundance Film Festival).

Simona Cella

Girls and Young Women. Broken Lives.

The waves break gently on the shore. The crystal-clear water glistens invitingly under the rays of the sun. Eleanor sits on the shore and looks out to sea. Her palms shade her face. Eleanor is twelve years old and she can’t wait to be grown up.

Some distance from the sea stands her wooden house. It is a traditional stilt house with a roof of leaves. The house is surrounded by red and orange flowers. Birds chirp as the trees sway gently to the rhythm of the wind. Eleanor has a happy childhood. The family lives on a small island near the coastal city of Madang not far from Alexishafen in Papua New Guinea. Her father, a Filipino, is a fisherman. Eleanor is the third of six children.The sun slowly descends on the horizon.
It’s time to go home. Curiously from a distance, she sees people she hadn’t seen before in front of the house. An elderly gentleman enters and talks to her father and uncle.

The family lives on a small island. 123rf.com

They talk agitatedly and finally shake hands. The old man gives some money to her father. Eleanor is at the door. The father tells her to take her things that her mother had already prepared and go and live with that man. Protesting, she turns to flee but the man stops her in front of the door. Bursting into tears, she lets herself be carried away. She hasn’t the strength to lift her head and see her mother.
She is taken on board a boat and after two hours they arrive at a village. People stare curiously. They enter the house where there are other children and a woman. That evening, she is abused. The next morning the other woman tells her that it hasn’t rained for weeks and she has to go get water from a well several kilometres away. A little boy accompanies her. Along the way no words are spoken; only the memories of the violence of the night. The days pass and the abuse continues. Three months later she is pregnant. She feels ashamed and desperate. She thought: “but how is it possible that I am expecting a child if I am still a child too?”

She no longer dreams; she just waits for another day with no hope and no future. 123rf.com

After eight months, a baby girl was born and Eleanor gave her the name Marie-Therese. She looked at the baby with sad eyes. A life born of violence. With each passing day, the man becomes more and more violent. He often comes home drunk in the evening.
To add to the abuse she suffers from the man, the woman who lives there often beats her for not doing the housework.
One day, the man tells Eleanor that she has to go to work because he can’t support her and the little girl. So in the early hours of the morning when the sun is not yet high, Eleanor, with a large basket full of bananas, coconuts and sweet potatoes goes to the market. The only consolation is that she can take little Marie-Therese with her.
In the early afternoon, she returns with the money and gives it to her husband. She starts cleaning the house, fetching water and firewood.
Finally, she can sit down. She looks at the sea, gazing into the distance. She sees a group of children who, after climbing the bent trunk of a palm tree, dive into the turquoise water shouting with joy. Big tears appear on Eleanor’s face. She no longer dreams, she just waits for another day with no hope and no future.

Huali Leret

Africa. Close to the People.

Three African women speak of their social commitment.

Kenyan Catherine Ngila is one of the most prestigious scientists on the African continent. In 2016 she was named South Africa’s best scientist and in 2021 she received the L’Oréal / UNESCO Prize for Women in Science.

She was born in Kitui, 62 years ago, the first of the family of 27 brothers and sisters to attend high school and university, although she was the daughter of her father’s fourth wife. She was orphaned at the age of six, “I realized very early on that I had to study to be able to take care of myself because I wouldn’t have my mother to take care of me”.
During her childhood and adolescence, Catherine combined long journeys to and from school with the daily transport of water from the river to the family home. What she took from the river was a cloudy, reddish liquid which she had to filter through a piece of cloth and dilute with calcium bicarbonate to try to remove the impurities. This rudimentary water treatment didn’t ease Ngila’s doubts, “and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was enough to make the water clean”.

Catherine Ngila is the director of the Department of Chemical Sciences at the University of Johannesburg. (Photo: Twitter)

Professionally, Ngila graduated from Kenyatta University in Nairobi, received her PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of New South Wales (Australia) and worked as a lecturer in Botswana and several South African universities, where she became one of the first black faculty members. Today Ngila is the director of the Department of Chemical Sciences at the University of Johannesburg and is the acting executive director of the African Academy of Sciences and a member of the South African Academy of Sciences.
The team she leads at the University of Johannesburg is working on using nanotechnology to detect and remove toxic substances and trace metals from water. “My dream – she says – is to produce a commercially viable water nanofilter accessible to rural African households”.
The other major challenge is access to higher education for girls. When she majored in chemistry, she was aware of the tendency to think that girls couldn’t pursue science. This reality prompted her to ask governments, and UNESCO itself, to promote campaigns to encourage girls to choose scientific studies. (Javier Fariñas Martín)

Eliana Silva, telling stories
In October 2020, Eliana Silva took her cue from the ‘Voices of African Women’ dossier, published by the New African magazine, to talk about the ‘inspirational story of Bina’.

At the end of the collaboration, and as a digital corollary, Silva left four tags that serve to define her as a communicator: #storytelling, #narratives, #representation, and #belonging.
Silva’s cultural heritage – the daughter of a Portuguese father and Angolan mother – led her to learn and feed on the values and riches of the metropolis and the former colony. And from this knowledge, with the help of the net, in 2014 her desire to live and work in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, developed. Maputo was another colonial mirror in which to look at oneself. But, due to your breadth of vision, you also understand the other great point of reference for the Lusophone world: Brazil. Because of her predilection for that country, she has declared: “I have a Bahian body, a Paulist brain and a Carioca soul”.
If we take for granted the definition of storytelling as the art or ability of a person to tell stories, we understand that this concept fits Eliana Silva’s personal and professional life. This is demonstrated, for example, by her latest editorial project, Marcas por Escribir, presented in February last year, through which she wanted to position companies from the Lusophone world on the market. The initiative aimed to become a space where the stories of Mozambique, Angola, and Cape Verde converge, but which also had a reflection in São Tomé and Príncipe and Guinea-Bissau. Silva has also worked in the world of institutional communication, marketing and advertising, a path that led her to the Create advertising agency, or to Índico, the official magazine of Mozambican Airlines.

Eliana Silva has also worked in the world of institutional communication, marketing and advertising. (Photo: Marcas por Escribir)

However, it is in the literature that Silva’s main references are found. In the midst of the pandemic, the author has decided to present “Bina, the discoverer of the Indian Ocean”, her first foray into the world of fiction for children and teenagers. Through this work, you approach the world of albinism, with a significant impact on societies such as that of Mozambique – it is estimated that 30,000 people in the country suffer from this genetic alteration – and also that of Angola. Bina is the result of almost ten years of work, observation and conversations with friends and acquaintances. About the book, Eliana Silva said that “it’s a book with a lot of empathy, a lot of travel, a lot of courage and a lot of colour. I wanted to share the message that all girls and boys can go anywhere” as the protagonist of this story.
In the book, it is said that Bina was born on the island of Mozambique, the island of coral origin where the Portuguese established the first capital of the colony, and with a bicycle, she crosses Brazil, France, Japan and Angola. And in this South West African country, she meets Milu. An Albino like herself, Milu helps the protagonist of this story to discover and value the uniqueness of each person, regardless of skin colour, identity, or characteristics. “Cycling will be the most fun” of this story created by Eliana Silva, who Eugenio Scalfari, a historical Italian journalist and co-founder of La Repubblica, would say are “people who tell what happens to people”. (J.F.M.)

Helena Ndume. Ophthalmologist by vocation
A person’s true calling sometimes has little to do with the first impulses of the heart. This is the case of Helena Ndume who, as a teenager, dreamed of becoming a fashion designer; instead, she finishes studying medicine.

Helena received her medical doctorate from the University of Leipzig in 1989. She later specialized in ophthalmology, realizing that this specialization was the most necessary to address blindness, a major problem in her home country of Namibia, where there were just six ophthalmologists working in the public health system. Since then, Dr Ndume has dedicated her life and her career to the treatment of blindness and visual impairment, not only in Namibia but also in neighbouring countries in southern Africa. Since 2005 she has been the head of the ophthalmology department of the public hospital in Windhoek, the capital of her country.

Helena Ndume has received important awards. (Photo: SEE International)

Years previously, supported by her husband, Dr Solomon Guramatunhu, also an ophthalmologist, she joined the Surgical Eye Expedition-SEE, an international charity with 600 ophthalmologists. With them, at least twice a year, she organizes week-long clinics in which she provides free eye surgeries to several hundred people in need.
For Dr. Ndume, “there is no money in the world that can repay the joy of those who, after being blind for many years, suddenly regain their sight. It’s not nice to stay in private practice, earning money, while there are thousands of blind people around you”, she says.
Dr. Elena Ndume has received important awards. Among them, the Nelson Mandela Prize in 2015, awarded by the United Nations in recognition of her dedication to the service of humanity. In 2022 she obtained two important awards: the Lions Club International Humanitarian Award and the Forbes Woman Africa Social Impact Award. (Celin Avel)

Africa. The French Group Bolloré Changes Strategy.

The sale of the logistics segment to the Mediterranean Shipping Company of the Italian-Swiss shipowner Gianluigi Aponte opens up new scenarios. The Bolloré dynasty looks to communication, agriculture and energy.

The change had been in the air for a while now, but the official announcement came shortly before Christmas: Bolloré sold its transport and logistics activities in Africa to the Italian-Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The sale of Bolloré Africa Logistics (BAL), for a total value of 5.7 billion euros, represents a significant turnaround for the French group. 250 branches in 47 countries, 16 container terminals, river ports, 74 shipping agencies, three railway concessions and a turnover of more than two billion euros: these are the numbers of the company, the flagship of the group. According to the words of the new owner, Bolloré Africa Logistics will remain autonomous and will keep the current president while only the brand will change.

Cyrille Bolloré, third son of the tycoon Vincent is head of the group.

The declared objective of the Italian-Swiss shipowner Aponte is to improve the connectivity of the continent with the rest of the world and guarantee internal trade. The MSC, in fact, in addition to ensuring continuity in the management of the ports, has announced new investments: shipyards, container terminals, storage facilities, roads and railways.
Many hypotheses have emerged in recent months to explain the reasons for the sale: from the increased Chinese competition in the logistics sector to the legal troubles linked to the port concessions, up to the difficult political relations with French president Emmanuel Macron. Equally complex is being able to identify the group’s new strategies on the continent. The only certainty is that Bolloré will not leave Africa. ‘The Bolloré group will maintain an important presence in Africa, in particular through Canal+’, reads the press release that formalizes the sale ‘and will also continue to develop sectors such as communication, entertainment, telecommunications and publishing’.

Canal + Multichoice
The development strategy, once the money from the sale has been collected, seems therefore to be directed toward communication and entertainment. Today Bolloré owns nearly 30% of Vivendi, a French media company, and about 18% of Universal Music Group, a record label considered one of the leaders in the music industry.
In 2019 it also acquired the Editis publishing group. To corroborate the hypothesis of a greater commitment by Bolloré in the entertainment sector there are: the performance of Canal + and the participation in Multichoice. Canal + has become one of the leaders in cinema and TV and made a 6% profit in the first half of 2022.
Active for 30 years in Africa, it now reaches 7 million subscribers in French-speaking countries. It offers 35 channels, many of which are in official African languages. The group has also recently set up in Ethiopia with 9 channels in the Amharic language. The company has also invested in the production of local dramas, to ensure new annual releases.
The Bolloré group’s interest in television entertainment is also expressed in its involvement in Multichoice, a South African company that manages a satellite TV system in English-speaking African countries.

Today the shares of Multichoice in the hands of Canal + amount to 26%. In the field of communication, Vivendi Africa is responsible for extending the fibre optic network. Since 2015, it has connected one and a half million users belonging to the middle class, in countries where Canal+ also operates. It is present in 12 cities in 7 African countries. The goal is to become a reference player for the very high-speed internet network in Africa. The entertainment and media sector is not the only one the group plans to focus on.
In the words of Cyrille Bolloré, third son of the tycoon Vincent, now head of the group, logistics remains one of the key areas in which the Puteaux-based company will continue together with the development of supply chains. The agricultural experience of the group in Africa, until now, has been limited to the cultivation and transformation of palm oil and rubber, through participation in the Belgian-Luxembourg Socfin.

Container terminal in Tema, Ghana. CC BY-SA 3.0/ SteKrueBe

The company is accused by local and international NGOs of land grabbing, pollution and violation of human rights. The latest investment front is energy storage through the subsidiary Blue Solutions.
According to Fabricio Protti, deputy CEO of the group, this activity is an opportunity for the African continent in search of solutions to conserve the energy also produced from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. There is another company that remains firmly in family hands. This is the Havas advertising dealership. An activity that Vincent used to strengthen his network of relationships with African heads of state. Cyrille Bolloré belongs to a different generation than that of African leaders, but it is realistic to think that he will maintain the relationships started by Vincent. A demonstration of how to operate: it is a matter of switching from port concessions to freight forwarding and, in particular, to the management of transport and logistics services for large companies.

Generational change
Cyrille Bolloré, who took over from his father after his official retirement in February 2022, also wants to explore the agricultural sector. The project provides for the technical and financial support of the farmers. This hypothesis comes from the words of Deputy Protti, who guarantees continuity in the countries in which BAL operates as insurance for future investments. Further confirmation is the news of the visit of Cyrille Bolloré to Alassane Ouattara, in the Ivory Coast, accompanied by the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy in the role of mediator. The meeting, held last January, was supposed to help the Ivorian authorities digest the sale to MSC and ensure continuity. (Open Photo: Container ship MSC Zoe. CC BY-SA 2.0/ kees torn)

Marta Gatti

 

Zimbabwe. Big Brother is watching you with a little help from China.

The country is embarking on a vast Cybercity project and on the promotion of digital technology. The downside of it is that this technology is used to build a surveillance state.

Zimbabwe is entering the digital age with determination. On the last 20 July, President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched the US. $ 500 million Cybercity project in the Mount Hampden area, 26 km northwest of Harare which will be financed by the United Arab Emirates-based Mulk International company. The future city will be surrounded by surveillance cameras for purposes of security. Similar initiatives should take place elsewhere in the country over the next years with an aim to create a society with industrial, commercial, and residential areas, driven by digital technology. For such purpose, the government relies mainly on Chinese companies which are developing surveillance technology.

Harare City.

Chinese companies such as Huawei and Hikvision are installing everywhere facial recognition close-circuit television cameras on behalf of the Zimbabwean police in Harare and Bulawayo. Facial recognition technology from the Chinese firm Hikvision is already operational at airports and international border posts.
Zimbabwe’s state-owned fixed-line telephony operator TelOne inaugurated 2017, two data centres with cloud facilities in Harare and Mazowe as part of a wider US. $ 98 million network upgrading project implemented with Huawei. This Chinese company’s involvement in Zimbabwe traces back to 2013, when Huawei helped to upgrade the Zimbabwe’s mobile network of the state-owned mobile phone company, NetOne with a $ 218 million dollar loan from the China Exim Bank. In 2017, Net-One secured another $ 71 dollar million loan from the same bank for further network expansion, also by Huawei.
Obviously, the Zimbabwean authorities do not care about the concerns over the security of Huawei’s telecommunication equipment voiced by the U.S. and U.K. governments which banned its use. It’s even the opposite: the tense relations between Harare on the one hand and the U.S. and the U.K. on the other, which imposed sanctions against Zimbabwe since 2002, only contributed to strengthening ties between the African country and China.
In February 2020, the Chinese company was even given an absolute tax exemption by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Finance.

President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa. (Photo: Gov. Ag.)

Under a $100 dollar million deal, Hikvision and the artificial intelligence Guangzhou-based start-up Clouldwalk will supply facial recognition technology, to store and process in China biometric data of millions of Zimbabweans and set up a mass police state surveillance grid in collaboration with Huawei. Cloudwalk’s access to these biometric data will enable this company to correct common race-related errors in facial-recognition software and gain new market shares in other countries. The Zimbabwean state has insisted that these technologies would empower the state to fight crime and advance the state’s law enforcement ambitions. Yet, facial recognition technology poses risk to privacy and civil liberties, warn human rights organizations.
The process is based on an algorithm that detects a face and compares it to faces from a biometric dataset. Such an algorithm also captures skin pigmentation and eye colour.
Critics point out that these systems do not always operate perfectly and may result in false matches which can undermine civil liberties or in failures to match correct identification which can provoke a denial of access to services or jobs.
In 2015, Google Photos tagged two African-Americans as gorillas through facial recognition, discovered Forbes. Another source found that Google Photos was also confusing white faces with dogs and seals. In this context, CloudWalk’s penetration of the Zimbabwe market can help the Chinese start-up to improve its means of facial recognition, by gaining access to a black population, which can improve the identification of dark-skinned people worldwide and open new business opportunities. In a way, Zimbabweans have become the guinea pigs of the Chinese facial recognition industry in its quest for a comparative advantage over Western competitors.

photo: 123rf

Zimbabwe is only one of the targets of the Chinese facial recognition industry. In 2021, the Washington-based Heritage Foundation revealed that China had built or renovated more than 280 government, presidential, parliament, military offices and foreign affairs buildings in Africa. Namibia, Ghana, Angola, Uganda and Equatorial Guinea are amongst the largest recipients of official buildings built by Chinese firms. In Zimbabwe, China built namely the National Defence College and also financed the 650-seater Parliament House.
With the use of digital spyware, a few state security officers can trace a vast number of citizens, and capture and store their data without any controls, warns the anti-censorship network “global voices advocacy”. Accordingly, section 57 of Zimbabwe’s constitution provides for the right to privacy, yet this provision is being blatantly violated by the Harare government which spies on citizens and stores their information under the guise of biometric voter registration and likely uses this
data for political ends.
Such fear is not mere paranoia. During former President Mugabe’s rule, the government used laws and security structures to carry out surveillance of opponents and generalised mass surveillance of the population. The Interception of Communications Act as well as mandatory SIM-card registration regulations made it easier for the state to monitor communications.  Since 2018, Zimbabwe collected fingerprints, photos, addresses, and phone numbers, allegedly to clean up the voters’ roll, which was reportedly full of “ghost voters”. But this frightens members of the minority Ndebele ethnic group, who are still traumatized by the massacre in 1983 of some 20,000 people by the army when Mnangagwa  was head of the security. People fear data collection “is a way to re-identify and target us,” says Rodwin Sibanda of the Habakkuk Trust, a Christian NGO founded by church leaders in Bulawayo. The fact that in China itself, these technologies were used to steal data from the Uyghur community, adds to the anxiety of Zimbabwean rights activists.

Photo: Bulawayo News

Reports from Zambia and Uganda implicated Huawei employees in assisting governments in spying on their political opponents, subsequently leading to opponents’ arrests.
Steven Feldstein considers that China’s influence is driving the proliferation of AI surveillance technology and thereby contributes to the rise of authoritarianism in Africa.  The gap between the adoption of novel facial recognition tools and robust legal measures that prevent abuses – along with citizens’ inability to provide input on how this technology should be used  – allows for rampant exploitation by private companies and state actors in the facial recognition space, writes Bulelani Jili, Meta Research Ph.D. at Harvard University, in an article published by the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Centre. Another victim in the process is Africa’s sovereignty.
In 2018, the French newspaper Le Monde revealed that servers in the African Union’s building in Addis Ababa were secretly sending data to a computer in Shanghai.
In December 2020, Reuters reported that Chinese hackers secretly redirected surveillance footage from the AU headquarters so it could be viewed abroad. Prior to the 33rd AU Summit in February of that year, the Japanese cybersecurity firm Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) alerted AU technicians of the security breach, after it spotted unusual traffic between the AU and a Chinese hacking group known as “Bronze President”, pursues Reuters. The chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki, denied however that any Chinese hacking took place while the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin dismissed the Reuters report as “an attempt to harm China-Africa relations”.

During the repression in Matabeland of 1983, China was Zimbabwe’s largest arms supplier.

China’s involvement in Zimbabwe’s cyber surveillance systems does not come as a coincidence. It aims at strengthening a strong relationship that traces back to the struggle for independence period, with the links between Robert Mugabe’s party, the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and China. The Harare government has described the giant Asian country as an “all-weather-friend”.
During the repression in Matabeland of 1983, China was Zimbabwe’s largest arms supplier. Between 1980 and 1999, Zimbabwe imported 35 percent of its arms from China and the bilateral relationship deepened, as the EU and the US imposed sanctions to protest against the human rights violations under the Mugabe regime.
In 2015, Zimbabwe became the first foreign country to adopt the Chinese yuan as its primary international currency.
Bilateral trade is an important dimension of these links. In 2022, it amounted to US $ 2.24 billion with a $ 180 million surplus for Zimbabwe, making China, its third largest trading partner after South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Zimbabwe’s main exports include gold, nickel ores, platinum group minerals, ferrochromium, tobacco and diamonds, while its main imports are machinery, vehicles, as well as iron and steel. China is also an important investor. The list includes the US$1 billion dollar steel manufacturing plant being constructed by Dinson Iron and Steel Company, a Zimbabwe-based subsidiary of the giant Chinese steel producer, Tsingshan Holdings whose subsidiary AfroChine, has made sizeable investments in the construction of chrome smelters.

Zimbabweans have become the guinea pigs of the Chinese facial recognition industry.

China also financed the US$ 1.4 billion Hwange Thermal Power Station expansion project. Beijing’s ambassador in Harare Guo Shaochun reminded that China also financed the National Pharmaceutical Warehouse, the Kariba South Hydro PowerStation Expansion and the upgrading of the Victoria Falls and Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airports, besides donating millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
China also heavily invested in the mining sector, especially in the highly strategic lithium mines particularly coveted by the automotive industry for the production of electric cars. According to the United States Geological Survey, Zimbabwe is currently Africa’s first producer and hosts the second-largest reserves on the continent.
In 2021, the Chinese company Zhejiang Huayou acquired controlling rights to the Arcadia mine. And in 2022, President Mnangagwa officiated the launch of Sinomine’s 200-million-dollar project to build another lithium mine and processing plant in Bikita, in the Masvingo Province. The Marange diamond fields which are one of the world’s richest deposits are being mined by a joint venture formed by the Chinese company Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group and the Zimbabwean military’s investment vehicle Matt Bronze. Chinese investors are also involved in gold and nickel mining. China has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, whatever the price. The stakes are just too high. (Open Photo: 123rf)

François Misser

DR Congo. North Kivu. The Word that Sets you Free.

Every Saturday they meet in a modest place where they share their creations and subject themselves to criticism from others.
They learn to express feelings, reality or their outlook on life while improving their pronunciation, bodily expression
and expanding their daily references.

Slam poetry (a mix of poetry recital, rap, comedy and performance) has become a business tool, a much more powerful weapon than those they are used to seeing in Goma, the capital of North Kivu (in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo). Anyone who proudly supports it and says that slam is the art of listening to each other, ‘the encounter between mouth and ear’, knows no rest because it was born between the 90s and the early years of this century.
From the hand of Depaul Bukulu, co-founder of Goma Slam Session, we access one of his regular Saturday rehearsals. Three hours in which they test their written, oral or bodily expression and submit to the verdict of their companions who, amidst applause or boos, express in real time what they are feeling, and what causes them. Subsequently, in a more detailed analysis, they recall words whose diction was incorrect or moments when the music overlapped the text.

Depaul Bukulu (R), with another of the founders of Goma Slam Session. (Photo: Carla Fibla García-Sala).

The veterans support those who have a hard time overcoming the shame of putting themselves in front of the pack. They are the centre of all eyes and capture the attention of all those who, in addition to putting their creativity to the test, are there to learn and improve their technique. It is a space of freedom where a critical spirit and self-esteem are cultivated and values such as peace and tolerance are promoted. An oasis where the 143 members who make up the collective – 30 of them are women – allow themselves to stop thinking about the conflict that has been afflicting eastern DRC for three decades and focus on writing workshops and projects that are bearing fruit. It is the power of the word – the strength it acquires when you sing it with determination and rely on a catchy musical rhythm – that ensures that no one dares to disconnect from the moment it is shared.
“The slam session is one of our activities, of our programs, in the collective. There are weekly workshops that we organize to comment on the texts and the recital that slammers or aspiring slammers are working on. It’s about giving our opinion so that everyone can learn from others and that we evolve together. We read the texts, we share our experiences and our ideas in relation to writing or society. The goal is to bring our daily life, our way of thinking and of cultivating the word closer together”, explains one of the founders of Goma Slam Session.

Freedom and its rules
There are two specific guidelines at the Goma Slam Session: ‘beware of plagiarism’ and ‘it is prudent to point out and tolerate, respecting our different points of view’.
The style is free because they don’t want to limit the creativity of those who come to the clubs trying to be themselves. But there are rules in the construction of oral poems, spoken stories in rhyme, which they learn little by little as they are corrected by their peers, or observe their reactions during their performance.
In the Saturday sessions, they feel at ease and let go. Just because someone praises a work does not mean that whoever expresses himself will then support it, and this meeting of different opinions creates a climate of trust and complicity in which criticism is constructive and everyone is aware of the good that having become slammers does them.

One of the slammers attends the workshops every Saturday to perfect the rhythm of his recital as well as his pronunciation and syntax. (Photo: Carla Fibla García-Sala).

In addition to Saturdays, the collective organizes maarifa (thinking) meetings which are a moment of discussion and exchange based on a theme related to peace or conflict in the region where they often touch on current issues that concern the young participants.
The activity takes place around a bonfire, which brings improvisation closer to the construction of the traditional African story, where the power of storytelling reigns.
They also hold a slam night at the end of each month for those who feel prepared to face an unfamiliar audience. Here, the theme usually focuses on the daily difficulties they face. With the ‘Slam in Schools’ program they have taught more than 20,000 boys and girls in more than 20 schools in Goma what slam poetry is. “Learning to express ourselves in the context of conflict in which we live and in which we have learned to accept everything without asking questions” is, according to Bukulu, the goal. They also focus on minors who have suffered sexual violence using slamotherapy, to ‘heal with words’ and learn to free themselves from what oppresses them and return to being themselves after the trauma.

DR Congo. North Kivu: A child plays near peacekeepers. Photo MONUSCO/Abel Kavanagh

This initiative is accompanied by ‘Slam en feminino’ – writing and acting workshops exclusively for them – and ‘Slam Elikya’ – which means ‘hope’ – because they are convinced that poetry can generate smiles and ensure that young people do not throw in the towel.
They also go to juvenile detention centres and homes for homeless children to show them that by writing and expressing their feelings aloud, they not only force them to reflect on their situation but also ‘feel free’, adds Bukulu. They are also starting to work in centres with people with special abilities who often feel left out.

A five-year period
The works began to consolidate in 2017 when they acquired the premises. Each member puts in a dollar a month to pay the rent and create a small fund that they set aside for travel and the purchase of equipment for activities. It is a horizontal organization in which everyone assumes responsibility and takes possession of the place. An incipient library for consulting new words and reading that is receiving donations occupies one of the rooms. The space is open from Monday to Sunday, at any time. “I like to write about violence, justice, and love. With slam poetry, I feel able to defend my way of thinking and acting in front of men”, explains Vanesa, who has been practising for two and a half years and considers it a complement to her studies, even if her parents do not fully understand what she is doing. (Open Photo: Goma with Mount Nyiragongo in the background. CC BY-SA 2.0/ MONUSCO / Abel Kavanagh)
Carla Fibla García-Sala

 

Education for Girls. A Challenge to Learning Poverty.

Despite the extraordinary progress made in the last 25 years, there are still 129 million girls who do not have access to education (32 million in primary, 97 million in secondary).

Globally, primary and secondary school enrolment rates are approaching parity (90% male and 89% female). However, the gender gap widens if school completion rates, which are lower for girls, are taken into account. In low-income countries, only 63% of female students complete primary school (against 67% of males) and only 36% finish secondary school (against 44% of boys).
The gap remains similar when looking at upper secondary completion rates: 26% for young men, and 21% for young women.
The differences are seen mainly on a regional basis. Even today, in sub-Saharan African countries, one in three girls does not complete primary school, one in four in South Asian countries, and one in 12 in the Mena area (Middle East and North Africa). In India, only 4% of girls between 5 and 14 do not finish this school cycle: a small figure, in percentage terms, but equal to 4.6 million girl students.

In East Asia, only half of the girls complete upper secondary school. (Photo: Unicef/KPanday)

The gender gap widens further with subsequent school cycles: in East Asia and the Mena area, only half of girls complete upper secondary school. A figure that drops to 30% in South Asia and 20% in Sub-Saharan Africa. The progress toward gender equality in education was slowed by Covid-19. At the ‘peak’ of the pandemic in 2020, the closure of schools affected approximately 1.6 billion girl students in over 190 countries around the world and in October 2021 – more than 18 months after the start of the emergency – 128 million young people could not attend classes.“Beyond the impact on learning, this unprecedented disruption represents an immediate and long-term threat to gender equality and can have detrimental effects on some specific aspects such as the health, well-being and protection of the female component”, writes UNICEF ​​in the report ‘When schools shut. Gender impact of Covid-19 school closures’.Although the lack of consolidated data does not yet allow an overall picture to be taken, there are some elements that can help us understand how much the pandemic has impacted access to education and the well-being of girls.

(Photo: Unicef/Wamala)

The first is an early school leaving: according to UNESCO estimates, 23.8 million students (from kindergarten to high school) are at risk of dropping out of their schooling. Of these, 11.2 million are girls. The figure seems low at the Malala Foundation, which considers the number of 20 million more realistic. A study by the Population Council of Bangladesh showed that after the reopening of schools in that country, one in ten girls in the 12-15 age group never went back to school.
Going to Africa, in the state of Ghana 97% of the students resumed attending classes after the end of the state of emergency, but among those who ‘gave up’, 60% were girls.
In a survey conducted between February and March 2021, the Kenyan authorities highlighted that 16% of girls and 8% of boys between the ages of 15 and 19 had not returned to class in the two months following the reopening of schools. The prolonged closure of schools has had, and will have in the future, an even greater impact on the skills acquired by this generation of boys and girls.

In low-income countries, only 63% of female students complete primary school. (Photo: Unicef/Mulala)

An alarming study conducted by UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank recently highlighted how the share of children in conditions of ‘learning poverty’ (i.e., the inability of a child under 10 to read and understand a text appropriate to their age) in middle- and low-income countries went from 57% before the pandemic to 70%.
“This generation of students is likely to lose $ 21 trillion in earnings over their lifetime,” the report reads. Again, there are no global data or studies to detect gender differences. What is certain and that emerges from surveys carried out in some countries is, for example, that girls have had greater difficulty following online lessons during lockdowns “due to the limited access to PCs, tablets and smartphones, the lack of digital skills and social norms that limit their access to digital devices”.

In Ghana 97% of the students resumed attending classes after the end of the state of emergency, but among those who ‘gave up’, 60% were girls. (Photo: Mirko Delazzari)

The UN agency report collects evidence from various regional surveys. As part of a survey conducted among 322 adolescents in five African countries (Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), 23% of male students replied that they were able to continue studying without problems during the pandemic compared to 12% of the girls. Another study conducted in India found that only 26% of female students said they had free access to a smartphone compared to 37% of males.
An additional obstacle for girls and boys was the increased burden of housework during the lockdown (house cleaning, meal preparation, care of younger siblings and assistance with homework) that some research has highlighted in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Niger and Pakistan.

‘NEET’ in the world: girls are in the majority
The repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic are also beginning to be seen with regard to the ‘NEET’, (‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’) or young people aged between 18 and 24 who do not study and do not work.

At the ‘peak’ of the pandemic in 2020, the closure of schools affected approximately 1.6 billion girl students in over 190 countries around the world. (Photo: Unicef/Mulala)

According to the estimates contained in the latest ‘Education at a Glance’ report, OECD countries have gone from 14.4% in 2019 to 16.1% in 2020. While in the 25-29 age group the percentage increased from 16.4% in 2019 to 18.6% in 2020. “Young women are more likely to be ‘NEET’ than men”, the report reads. “In OECD countries, 16.5% of women between 18 and 24 do not study or work, while the percentage among men of the same age is slightly lower (14%)”.“The reasons that force young women not to undertake training courses and not to have a job are varied. In the OSCE countries, 70% of young ‘NEET’ women are not active in looking for a job and one of the main causes of this condition is their commitments related to the care of children. In addition, the share of unemployed ‘NEET’ (i.e., not looking for work) increases with age and this is particularly true for the female population, which in fact passes from 11.2 % in the 18-24 age group (against 7.5% among men) to 17.3% between 25 and 29 years (6.4% among men).

In Europe, the job market favours the hiring of young men over young women.

The gender disparity is also confirmed at the European level by the most recent Eurostat data: in 2021, 14.5% of girls and young women aged between 15 and 29 were classified as ‘NEET’ compared to 11.8% of men. A specific situation, by social conventions or pressures that tend to give greater importance to the role of women within the family, on the one hand; a job market that favours the hiring of young men over young women, which makes it difficult to reconcile work with childcare, on the other hand. Also in Europe, the share of ‘NEET’ unemployed young women (15-29 years), who are not actively looking for a job, is higher (10.2%) than the male component (6.3%). With an average gap of about 4 percentage points, in some countries (such as the Czech Republic and Romania) it exceeds 10%. (Open photo: Unicef/ Markonda)

I.Sesana, R.Panuzzo, P.Ferrera
Terre des Hommes

The qualities of a Tuareg sheikh.

At the foot of the Atlas Mountains, a mountainous massif in the Western Sahara, there was a powerful kingdom ruled by a sheikh as wise as he was good. He had married the princess Hamida,
which means gazelle.

The young queen deserved that name because of her grace and fragility. A year after the wedding she gave birth to triplets, and her father and subjects were filled with joy. But the joy was soon mingled with mourning because after a few months, the queen died.

Still, under the weight of threefold joy and great mourning, the ruler gathered his ministers and advisers to hear their opinion on the problem that was already worrying him.

Three princes, heirs to the throne, were a great hope but also a source of fear: they could in future be the cause of tensions and fratricidal wars. What to do? The cruellest minister suggested exposing the three new-borns to the blazing sun: the heir would be the survivor. But the sheik refused such a barbaric solution.

One of the councillors suggested kicking all three of them out, but the ruler did not listen to him. Another suggested drawing lots to see who would be the heir, but this idea was also disliked.

Then the ruler reflected and made his decision: “They will live together and have the same education – he said -. When they grow up, they will prove their prowess and I will be able to choose the worthiest to sit on my throne. The tree is judged by its fruit!”.

Twenty years passed and the three princes, although educated in the same way, showed an obvious difference in character. One loved game of strength and dexterity: he could take a camel in a short time, break a reed at a hundred paces with a single arrow, and surpass the strongest warriors in the kingdom. That is why he was called Ben Haid,
the strong prince.

The second loved studies and spoke several languages, knew the movement of the stars and the origin of the world. He was called Ben Huksen, the wise prince. The third ignored all these things but could sing and played the harp divinely. They called him El Gazil,
the nice prince.

The time had therefore come to put them to the test. One day the sheikh invited the three princes and nobles of the kingdom to the palace and said: “My sons, all three of you have a right to the throne and I do not know whom to choose. To remove this uncertainty, I will put you to the test: I propose that you leave the court and perform a deed worthy of a king, and then I will choose the one who has performed the most meritorious deed. I will give you one week’s time.”

The valiant prince saddled his battle horse, took his bow, arrow and scimitar, and departed, disappearing in a cloud of dust. The wise prince took the pen, paper and inkwell, and a bundle of books, and set off on his peaceful donkey.

The sympathetic prince set off quietly on foot with his harp slung over his shoulder and walked along a stream. The eight days seemed interminable to the impatient sheikh, so he jumped with joy when they announced the arrival of Ben Haid.

He was covered in dust and blood and said: “I travelled three days to the borders of the kingdom until I met a platoon of soldiers who barred my way. I defeated them all and their heads hang from the saddle of my horse. Am I not as strong as a king?” “Of course – replied the sovereign -, but we await the return of your brothers.”

He had not finished speaking when Ben Huksen entered. He had been studying all week, so much so that his hair had turned white. “I have studied the theories of the ancient sages and astronomers – he said – I have observed for three nights a star of Ophiucus conjoining with Aldebaran, the smallest star of Taurus. I can therefore predict with certainty the march of hurricanes and the rainfall for the next sixty years. Is not such wisdom worthy of a king?” “Of course – said the ruler -, but let us wait for the third brother.”

The sun was setting and the courtiers were already congratulating the two brothers, one of whom, they thought, would certainly be king. And suddenly, carried on the evening breeze, came the song of El Gazil accompanied by the chords of the harp. “Here comes the last suitor, “said the sheikh jokingly.

El Gazil looked tired but in his gaze shone the usual joy. “Alas! – he exclaimed with a sigh -. I fear, sire, that I bring you great disappointment because I have wasted my time.

A murmur of disapproval went up from the crowd of people present. He continued: “I went to Beni Unif, six kilometres from your palace.It is a poor village, and I stopped to drink at the well. But the well was without water. An old man who kept a scrawny little goat gave me some milk and advised me to leave because I would find nothing good in those ruins. And he explained to me that last winter a sandstorm had
plugged the well.”

“The people, discouraged, had dispersed, taking their cattle with them, and now the wind was the only master of the place. So, I began to play. The men who remained around came to hear my harp. I sang of the nobility of life, the beauty of being together and helping each other through difficulties. They joined me, first the young and then the old. We cleared the well and the water returned; we put the walls of the houses back up and repaired the roofs that had caved in. Then we sang of new-found joy. That is why I came late”.

The old sheikh shook his head thoughtfully and said: “Surely it seems less noble to dig a well than to know the motion of the stars or to slaughter twenty soldiers. But I say to you: you will be my successor, for you know how to guide men and help them to live happily.”

The whole court applauded the ruler’s wise judgment and so El Gazil became lord of the Atlas Mountains and grand sheikh of the Tuareg-Azjer.

Folktale from Morocco

 

South Sudan. Pope Francis. “We want to give wings to your Hope”.

To politicians: “It is time to move from words to deeds. It’s time to move on, it’s time to commit to an urgent and necessary transformation”. To refugees: “You are the seed of a new South Sudan”. To the church: “We cannot remain neutral in the face of the pain caused by injustice and violence”. From Juba, Helen Khalida

Ajou left Rumbek for Juba nine days ago to meet the Pope together with sixty young people and his bishop Msgr. Christian Carlassare. He travelled a total of 400 km. He then walked the last 5 kilometres from the city centre to the airport. He is very emotional and he no longer feels tired.In the blue sky you can see the outline of the aircraft small at first and then slowly becoming larger. The plane lands on the
only runway of the airport.

Pope Francis at the Juba airport. It will be an ecumenical visit.

It will be an ecumenical visit: Pope Francis, the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Moderator General of the Church of Scotland, Pastor Iain Greenshields.
The Pope was welcomed by President Salva Kiir and a group of bishops. At a distance, a group of women are calling loudly and excitedly. This is the first time for a Pope to visit the land of South Sudan.
After the formal greetings, the Pope sets off by car on the road named His Holiness Pope Francis Road in his honour. People lining the road watch the large convoy as it moves. All of them want to see, greet and sing for the visitors.
The cortege heads for the Presidential Palace for a courtesy visit to the President which is also attended by Archbishop Welby and Pastor Greenshields. Subsequently, Pope Francis will meet the Vice-Presidents of the Republic and lastly, in the garden of the Presidential Palace, he will meet with the authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps.
In his first official speech, Francis says that South Sudan is a land that he carries in his heart, where he arrives on an ecumenical pilgrimage. On the book of honour signed during the courtesy visit to the presidential palace, he writes: “Coming here as a pilgrim, I pray that rivers of peace may flow in this dear country, the gift of the Nile; may the inhabitants of South Sudan, a land of great abundance, see reconciliation blossom
and prosperity germinate”.

Photo: Vatican Media

The Nile will be the backdrop for the broad discourse. The image that inspired him to launch an unequivocal, frank, and direct message of peace is that of the watercourse that crosses the African country. The Pope’s wish is that South Sudan “be reconciled and change course”: “Its vital course will no longer be impeded by the flood of violence, hindered by the swamps of corruption or thwarted by overflowing poverty”.
“It is time to say enough, with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’: enough bloodshed, enough conflict, enough violence and mutual accusations against those who commit them, enough of leaving the people thirsting for peace. No more destruction, it’s time to build! Put the time of war behind you and let there be a time of peace!”
“It is time to move from words to deeds. It’s time to move on, it’s time to commit to an urgent and necessary transformation. The peace and reconciliation process demands a new leap. Let us understand each other and carry forward the Peace Agreement, as well as the Road Map!”
In his greeting to the Pope, the President of the South Sudanese Republic defines the visit as a ‘historic milestone’ and announces his willingness to resume talks mediated by the Community of Saint Egidio with non-signatory opposition groups.

The Church in South Sudan
In the cathedral of Saint Teresa in Juba, the Pope meets the bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women and seminarians. “I had long desired to meet you; I want to thank the Lord for this today”, are the first words of Pope Francis. Saying that he wants to look at the waters of the Nile from the biblical perspective that often associates water with God’s action on behalf of his people, the Pope then observes how these waters today represent “the tears of a people immersed in suffering and in pain, tortured by violence”.

Juba. Cathedral Saint Teresa. The Pope meets the bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and seminarians. Photo: Vatican Media

The Pope explains: “The waters of the great river, in fact, collect the suffering cries of your communities, they collect the cries of pain of so many broken lives, they collect the drama of a fleeing people, the affliction of women’s hearts and the fear imprinted in children’s eyes. At the same time, however, the waters of the great river take us back to the story of Moses and, therefore, are a sign of liberation and salvation: in fact, Moses was saved from those waters and, leading his family into the middle of the Red Sea, it has become an instrument of liberation, an icon of God’s help who sees the affliction of his children, hears their cry and comes down to free them”.
Pope Francis continues: Pastors are asked to “develop precisely this art of walking in the midst of suffering and tears, in the midst of the hunger for God and the thirst for love of brothers and sisters”.
The pope recalls that as pastors “we are called to intercede on behalf of our people and we are called to raise our voices against injustice and the abuse of power, things that crush people and use violence to manage affairs under the cover of conflict”.
And finally, “We can recall – said the Pope at the end of his speech – St. Daniel Comboni, who with his missionary brothers carried out a great work of evangelization in this land: he said that the missionary must be willing to do everything for Christ and for the Gospel, and that there is a need for daring and generous souls who know how to suffer and
die for Africa”.

Hope and peace for refugees
The next day, under a large white tent at the Freedom Hall, a crowd in white T-shirts, representing the over 4 million displaced people in front of the Pope, the Anglican Archbishop and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, listened to the moving testimony of children speaking out on behalf of the thousands of suffering refugees. “My name is Johnson Juma Alex. I belong to the Episcopal Church of South Sudan. I’m 14 years old. I live in a refugee camp. I came in 2014 due to the destruction that happened in my hometown of Malakal. Peace is good, problems are not. We want peace so that people can return to the city of Malakal, to their homes. I want to have a good future, where peace reigns and
children can go to school”.

“My name is Nyakuor Rebecca. I am very happy to meet you. We know that you love children and that you always say that we are important for our country and for the Church.” Photo: Vatican Media

And then a little girl spoke: “My name is Nyakuor Rebecca. I am a parishioner of Holy Trinity and I live in the refugee camp of Juba. I am very happy to meet you. On behalf of the children of South Sudan, I want to thank you for visiting. We know that you love children and that you always say that we are important for our country and for the Church. In the name of Jesus, I want to ask you to give us a special blessing for all the children of South Sudan, so that we can grow up together in peace and love”. “I am here, together with the brothers with whom I share this pilgrimage of peace to tell you how close we are to you … We are with you; we suffer for you and with you. In meeting you today – said Pope Francis – we would like to give wings to your hope”. And he continued: “We would like to tell you: you are the seed of a new South Sudan… It is you, of all the different ethnic groups, who have suffered and are suffering, but who do not want to respond to evil with more evil”.

The ecumenical meeting
It is already evening when the three religious leaders move to the park of the mausoleum of John Garang for ecumenical prayer in the presence of over 50,000 people.The Christian Churches are still today the only national institutions working for reconciliation and peace. “There is a strong legacy of Churches working together for peace and reconciliation in South Sudan that have played a vital role in achieving the nation’s independence in a peaceful way. We hope to encourage the continued unity of the Churches for the common good in South Sudan, for justice and fullness of life for all the people”, underlined the moderator
of the Church of Scotland.

The Anglican archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Pope Francis, and the Moderator General of the Church of Scotland, Pastor Iain Greenshields at the Ecumenical Prayer. Photo: Vatican Media

“The ecumenical heritage of South Sudan is a precious treasure, a praise to the name of Jesus, an act of love for the Church his spouse, a universal example for the journey of Christian unity – the Pope continued – It is a heritage that it must be kept in the same spirit: the ecclesial divisions of past centuries do not affect those who are evangelized, but the sowing of the Gospel contributes to spreading greater unity”. “That “all may be one”; this is Jesus’ heartfelt prayer to the Father for us believers. Those who choose to follow Christ enter a new community, where there are no divisions. They enter into new relationships and a completely new way of living – said the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury Welby – because being a Christian brings everyone into the communion of believers”.

On the large square adjacent to the John Garang mausoleum, the pope was welcomed by over 100,000 people for Mass. “May everyone become “salt and light” to bring hope and peace to South Sudan”. Photo: Vatican Media

The next day before boarding his flight to Rome on the large square and in the area adjacent to the John Garang mausoleum, the pope was welcomed by over 100,000 people for Mass. In his homily, the Pope renewed his appeal: “Put down the weapons of hatred and revenge”. May everyone become “salt and light” to bring hope and peace to South Sudan. That peace of God which is not “just a truce between conflicts, but a fraternal communion, which comes from uniting, not from absorbing; from forgiving, not from overcoming; from reconciling and not from imposing oneself”.
At the airport, together with the Anglican primate Welby and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland Greenshields, he said: “We have come here and we will continue to accompany your steps, all three together, doing everything we can so that they are steps of peace, steps towards peace. You are in our hearts; you are in the hearts of Christians all over the world. Never lose hope. And do not miss the opportunity to build peace”. (Open Photo: Vatican Media)

Precocious Marriages. Increasing Due to Crises.

The terrible drought which – for the third year in a row – plagues the Horn of Africa region and the rise in food prices caused by the war in Ukraine, have led to an increase in child marriages in several
countries of the region.

The alarm was raised by UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, which citing Ethiopian sources, reports that in the districts most affected by the famine, the number of girls forced to marry before the age of 18 has increased by 119% between January and April 2022 compared to the same period of the previous year. Once again, poverty and impoverishment are confirmed among the main causes of this phenomenon. “Due to the drought, the value of the dowry (in cash, food and livestock that is paid by the future husband’s family to that of the bride, ed.) is decreasing. This means that, in order to survive, families will consider the possibility of giving more of their daughters in marriage”, UNICEF reports.

Djibouti. Afar Girl. Around the world today, there are over 650 million girls and women who were married as children. (Photo Andrea Semplici).

Across the region, the rate of pre-adolescent girls forced to marry (a ritual that, in many countries, is preceded by the practice of genital mutilation) is growing “at a worrying level”, the United Nations agency warns. The famine is also causing the failure of another factor of protection for girls: school. In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the number of children who may drop out of school is rising from 1.1 to 3.3 million, putting huge numbers of teenage girls at risk. “We are seeing alarming rates of child marriage and female genital mutilation across the Horn of Africa, with some destitute families arranging the marriage of girls as young as twelve to men who are more than five times their age”, commented Andy Brooks, UNICEF ​​regional consultant.
In Kenya, 14 of the 23 districts most affected by drought are also those where the highest rates of female genital mutilation are recorded: “These girls run the risk of undergoing the ‘cut’ at a very young age, while their families prepare them for marriage”, warns the UN agency. This new crisis – adding to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic – risks nullifying the efforts made in recent years in the region to combat child marriages, the incidence of which had decreased from 70% thirty years ago to 40%. According to UNICEF ​​estimates, around 12 million girls get married every year before they reach the age of 18 (equal to 21% of the total number of brides).  Around the world today, there are over 650 million girls and women who were married as children.

Kenya. Pokot girls. In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the number of children who may drop out of school is rising from 1.1 to 3.3 million, putting huge numbers of teenage girls at risk. (Photo K. Zebik).

Countering this phenomenon is possible, as evidenced by the progress made between 2010 and 2020, which made it possible to save 25 million girls and adolescents. Only in South Asian countries did the incidence of early marriages decrease from 49% to 30%. Forecasts for the future, however, were not rosy even before the pandemic: due to the demographic increase in some continents where the incidence of the phenomenon is particularly high (such as sub-Saharan Africa), UNICEF ​​estimated that by 2030, a further 100 million teenagers would have been forced to marry before they came of age.
The economic crisis unleashed by Covid-19 and the decision by many governments to close schools for months – in some countries even for more than a year – have created conditions that have placed additional 10 million girls at risk.

Indian girls. Only in South Asian countries did the incidence of early marriages decrease from 49% to 30%. (Photo Unicef)

One case in point is Bangladesh. In March 2020, to limit infection from Covid-19, the government decided to close schools and, for 18 months – even when all other activities in the country had recommenced – children and young people were forced to stay at home. According to some estimates, this situation, combined with the impoverishment of many families, would have increased early marriages by 13%. Although there are no in-depth data to assess the situation in the country as a whole, some studies conducted by local NGOs shed some light on a worrying situation: research by the Manusher Jonno Foundation, conducted in a third of the districts of Bangladesh, found at least 14,000 precocious marriages in the first months of the pandemic alone. In the Rajshahi district, more than 6,500 female students were forced to marry while schools were closed. In the districts of Khulna, Kurigram, and Bagerhat the girls who did not return to their desks when the schools reopened numbered about 9,000. These numbers almost certainly represent only the tip of the iceberg of a much wider phenomenon.
Another example is that of Jordan, which has published official data on the phenomenon of early marriages, showing an increase in incidence from 10.6% in 2019 to 11.7% in 2020. This increase also affected the refugee camp of Zaatari where, according to the latest estimates, there are about 80,000 Syrian refugees.

In Guatemala, almost 30% of girls bond in a more or less formal way before they come of age to a man, often several years older than them.

The only continent where in the last 25 years there has been no progress in the fight against child marriage, is Latin America and the Caribbean. Here the often-informal nature of unions (characterized by coexistence without legal registration) contrasts with the more formalized practices found in other parts of the world and therefore makes them less visible. However, the rate of early unions is significant and involves one in four minors and 10% of children under the age of 18. In countries like Guatemala, almost 30% of girls bond in a more or less formal way before they come of age to a man, often several years older than them. The phenomenon is more present in the poorest and least educated sections of the population, where a union with a wealthier man, even if only apparently, may seem like a good strategy to get out of the condition of social exclusion. But it is precisely the informality of unions that can bring additional problems to the more vulnerable component of the couple. Many unions end after a few months because the man moves away and often does not recognize the children born of that relationship. (Open Photo: Pedro Pablo Hernández)

I.Sesana, R.Panuzzo, P.Ferrera
Terre des Hommes

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The War in Ukraine Calls for an Increased African Unity.

“How Africans voted on the Ukraine War is an indication of the plurality of views [in the continent]. If the weather forecast is a cold front, it is likely immense pressure will be exerted on African countries to choose sides. We know what follows, and we have been there. Better be united and cautious.”

The above quote from Carlos Lopes, a professor at the University of Cape Town, illustrates the impact the war in Ukraine has had on Africa’s international relations. Since February 2022, Russia and the Western powers have increased their presence on the continent. Africa showed a wide range of views on the war, Russia, Ukraine, and the world. Still, a degree of unity can increase the continent’s ability to avoid a concerning trend of being part of global disputes as a proxy.

Africa is a theatre for disputes between the West, China and Russia. In 2022, leaders from Germany, France, the United States, and Russia visited some of their key African allies. Since then, African states were pushed to take sides. While a unified position on every subject is unlikely to happen, this is an opportunity for African states to identify areas of agreement if they want to survive an ideological battleground,
like that of the Cold War.

With an increasing number of African countries facing food security issues, the war has exacerbated an already tenuous situation. It’s directly affected global food supply chains, particularly grains and fertilisers, where Ukraine and Russia are major international players. In April, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) showed that its Food Price Index reached its highest level since the 1990s, which is primarily affecting African countries.

The visit to Russia in June of Senegalese President Macky Sall and AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat shows that when the continent undertakes a coordinated approach,it may gain more leverage. African pressure – exemplified by this visit to Moscow – led to the mediated process by the UN and Turkey to ensure continuous access to grains and fertilisers from Russia and Ukraine. The Black Sea Grains Initiative, often under threat, reduced food prices by 15%, providing essential relief during a period of increasing global inflation.

The war in Ukraine impacted the political ties between African countries, the West and Russia. For Russia, its deteriorating relationship with the West forced a new political offence on the continent, hoping to regain its global influence, exploit new markets, and boost political support. The West aims to counter what it calls “malign influence” from Russia in Africa and created a new impetus to gain Africa’s support.

The sanctions imposed by the West on Russia have created an opportunity in Africa for Russian businesses that lack access to many global markets. With a growing population, massive space for development, and vast resources, the continent is an ideal space for Russian businesses looking to survive.
However, Russia’s trade with Africa is dwarfed by other global powers. With only 14 billion USD in total trade with the continent in 2021, it’s a fraction of what is seen in the West or China.

Economic relations do not reflect the entirety of Africa-Russia connections. Instead, most of Russia’s actions in Africa are of a political or military nature. Over 20 African countries have signed military agreements with Russia in the past decade. Many are facing political instability and armed conflicts. Cameroon, for instance, was one of the latest to sign a military deal with Russia in April 2022. Since 2016, Cameroon has faced a separatist civil war between its francophone and anglophone communities. 44% of all arms traded by African countries came from Russia in 2022, according to the Swedish think tank SIPRI.

In addition to traditional military agreements, Russia is notorious for using mercenaries in conflict zones on the continent.
The Wagner Group, an infamous Russian private military corporation, has played controversial roles in Mali, Sudan, Libya and the Central
African Republic (CAR).

Wagner is accused of assisting Russia by gaining influence by exploiting instability, with several allegations of human rights abuses and economic exploitation. In October 2021, the UN stated that civilians in CAR were harassed and intimidated by Wagner members. Reports allege that the Wagner Group has colluded with Sudan’s military junta to exploit gold mines in the country.

African responses to the war in Ukraine have been far from cohesive. In March and October 2022, the UN General Assembly cast votes on resolutions condemning the invasion of Ukraine and the Russian annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
In March, 26 African countries voted against, abstained or were not in the room during the vote; in October, 24 African countries abstained from voting or were absent from the room. The similar numbers in both votes showcase that the continent showed the most divided within any region regarding the war in Ukraine.

The challenges of using voting patterns to explain African positions is exemplified by South Africa, one of the countries that advocate for an “active non-alignment” approach. South Africa abstained from voting on all resolutions condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine. On the one hand, senior South African officials, including the defence minister, visited Russia during this period. On the other hand, the country also engaged in high-level dialogue with Western countries, including presidential visits to the United States and the United Kingdom in recent months. Is Pretoria hedging its bets?

It’s important to note that the African governments’ engagements in international organisations do not necessarily reflect public opinion. Relationships between African countries and Russia tend to be centralised in high-level interactions. An upcoming paper from the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) reflects on how Africans perceive the role of Russia on the continent. The study assesses sentiments in social media in several African countries, which show that while many in the continent have strong opinions in favour of or against Russia, feelings proved to be largely indifferent.

The future of the African role in international relations amidst a global dispute is difficult to predict. Much will depend on how the Ukrainian war ends and Russia’s overall capabilities to project influence. Regardless of the war’s outcome, it is vital that the continent ensure that it does not become a pawn of global power competition. And for that to happen, African countries must know what they want from their international relationships and promote clear efforts to achieve their goals. (Photo: Russian mercenaries provide security for convoy with the president of the Central African Republic. Clément Di Roma/VOA)

Gustavo de Carvalho
South African Institute of International Affairs.

 

 

 

 

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