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Nigeria.Oil theft is sinking Africa’s first economy.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Whereas other oil producers are boasting from substantial revenues as a result of high crude prices triggered by the Ukraine war; theft, shut-ins and lack of investment are hitting badly a sector which represents, 89 percent of Nigeria’s export revenues and more than 50 percent of the national budget.

Last August, Nigeria faced a record low production of only 980,000 barrels a day, well below its OPEC quota of 1,55 m b/d. The figure calculated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries corresponds to half of Nigeria’s export capacity of 2 million bpd.
As a result, Nigeria once Africa’s first producer dropped to the fourth rank, behind Angola, Algeria and Libya.
On the 9 September, President Muhammadu Buhari said such decline was putting the economy in a precarious situation. Crude oil exports accounted indeed in 2021 for 89 percent of Nigeria’s export revenues and for more than 50 percent of the national budget.

Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari. CC BY-SA 4.0/Bayo Omoboriowo

According to Nigerian officials, the main cause for this decline is theft which is carried out at an industrial-scale. It poses an “existential” threat to the sector, claims a Shell executive. Theft and the related sabotage of pipelines by criminal gangs to siphon the crude are causing a loss of more than 200,000 barrels per day, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
In August 2022, the NNPC claimed that up to 700,0000 bpd were missing from its exports as a result of theft and of the decision by oil companies operating locally to shut operations to avoid the thieves. Some companies reported even that 80 percent of the oil they put into pipelines was stolen. And the situation can still deteriorate since oil workers unions threaten to call for a strike if the government does not take action against the oil bunkering gangs.
The NNPC estimated in early September that losses may reach up to US $ 700 million per month which represents the equivalent of $ 8.4 billion per year. The Nigerian Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative estimated that Nigeria lost, between 2009 and 2018, $ 42 billion owing to oil theft and its consequences; The figure is higher than Nigeria’s external debt estimated at $ 39 bn by March 2022.

Headquarters of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. It is government oil company. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Simoniwodi

In an interview with the French daily Le Monde, Alexander Sewell, researcher for the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), which supports local populations affected by the extractive industries, describes two methods to steal oil.
The first consists in diverting oil from a pipeline to convey it by smaller pipes to barges which in turn, can either supply local refineries or bring the crude to larger vessels which can head out to the sea in order to refuel a tanker that can sail directly to South America, Europe or Asia or transfer its cargo to other vessels on the high seas.
The authorities claim to clamp down on perpetrators. In June 2022, the Special Anti-Vandal Unit of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) arrested 88 people accused of having caused pollution and health hazards posed by illegal refining. But sources in the Niger Delta say that bunkering cannot stop because the military, the police and even the NSDC are involved. Some speak of a “sophisticated mafia of powerful Nigerians and foreigners”, including government officials, retired oil industry personnel, politicians and businessmen. In 2019, the governor of Rivers state himself, Nyesom Wike confirmed that top military officers were involved and sponsoring oil bunkering. The damage inflicted by small-time oil bunkers in Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa and other states, is peanuts compared with the havoc caused by the cartels that own giant vessels and equipment.

Woman walking on the Shell oil pipelines.

The second technique of stealing, called “topping”, is far more difficult to detect and even more damaging. It consists in adding undeclared crude to a shipment for which the export permits have been issued, allowing traffickers to resell the extra oil without being noticed. International oil companies involved in this business pay no royalties on the crude illegally bunkered, says a report from the British Chatham House Institute. Perpetrators benefit from official protections. According to Sewell, sometimes, the ships transporting this stolen oil through the Niger Delta are even escorted by the military.On top of that, the bunkering cartels have huge means. On the 25 August 2022, President Buhari’s Special Assistant on Digital & New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi reported that the MT Heroic Idun, a very large crude carrier registered in the Marshall Islands, owned by the Norwegian company Hunter Tankers AS and operated by the Dutch-based company Trafigura, with a capacity of 3 million barrels of crude, entered Nigerian waters a fortnight before with “the obvious intention of lifting crude illegally.”
The tanker was then asked to follow a Nigerian Navy ship to Bonny anchorage pending when she would be cleared for loading. But the tanker “refused to cooperate” and fled southwards in a bid to evade arrest. Moreover, the tanker made a false broadcast to the International Maritime Bureau alleging it was under attack by pirates. Eventually, the vessel was seized in the Equatorial Guinea waters.

Motor Tanker (MT) Heroic Idun. Photo: af24news

This failed attempt is just one example of the large-scale theft orchestrated by Nigerian and foreign big players. According oil firms and Ministry of Petroleum estimates 90 percent of the oil snatched is sold on world markets while only 10 percent is refined locally by gangs operating in the creeks and swamps of the Delta.
This high scale theft has led the NNPC to raise the issue with the European Union. In July 2022, the EU promised to work with Nigeria to help tackle oil theft and the illegal refining menace after a fact-finding mission in the Niger Delta of the European Commission Deputy Director General on Mobility and Transport, Mathew Baldwin. According to former presidential advisor, Dele Cole, the main buyers of Nigerian stolen oil are organised criminal networks in the Balkans and refiners in Singapore.
In a report entitled “Nigeria’s Criminal Crude”, the London-based Chatham House policy institute estimated that much of the proceeds of Nigeria’s stolen oil were laundered in Britain, United States, Dubai, Indonesia, India and Switzerland. The US, Brazil, China, Thailand and Indonesia are the other likely destination of the stolen crude.
The stolen oil which goes to local refineries operated by local gangs is being processed in extremely poor safety conditions. In April 2022, more than 100 people were burned alive in the explosion of an illegal refinery in the Abaezi forest between Imo and Rivers, in South-eastern Nigeria.

However, observers on the spot don’t believe this trend will end anytime soon since there are social and political reasons behind the importance of the illegal bunkering and refining, despite the industrial accidents and the pollution caused by these activities in farmlands, swamps and rivers. Some communities even justify their practices. A local oil refiner told the SDN that “the government and oil companies are collecting our oil, and we don’t have jobs, no money, so we have to collect the oil and refine our own”. Such industry fills an economic vacuum where local communities suffer the negative impacts of oil extraction but see none of the economic benefits since the Federal State fails to provide basic public services and security.
Yet, the sharp decline of Nigeria’s crude oil production and exports is not only owed to theft, argues Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo who disputes NNPC’s oil theft figures of 200,000 to 400,000 barrels per day. According to Gambo, the government makes the mistake of calculating losses due to force majeure as well as shut-ins as part of oil being stolen.

François Misser

Jamaica. ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

This year Jamaica is celebrating 60 years of independence from the United Kingdom. A country that is constantly living in a political and economic crisis. High crime rate. It is one of the most important cannabis producers. Reggae music.

The island of Jamaica, located in the Caribbean Sea, belongs to the Greater Antilles Archipelago. The location gives the island great strategic importance: its northern coast is 145 km from Cuba and the eastern coast about 190 km from Haiti; from the capital, Kingston, across the Caribbean Sea, to the mouth of the Panama Canal, is a distance of 938 km. Its territory is mainly mountainous while not exceeding 1,000 meters above sea level. An exception to this is the chain of the Blue Mountains, located on the eastern side of the island, whose peaks reach 2,256m in height and extend for about 50 km. The few plains present on the island can be found in the southern coastal strip, while the coasts of the northern strip are more rugged and elevated. Small islands located in the southern coastal strip also belong to the territory of the country, the dimensions of which, however, are quite modest.

123rf.com

There are numerous water sources on the island and, in the opinion of some scholars, the name Jamaica derives from a corruption of the name ‘Arawak Xaymaca’ alluding to them. Furthermore, the island is crossed by a hundred rivers whose length, due to the arrangement of the mountain ranges, does not exceed 100 km. Among these is the Rio Minho which, at 93 km, is the longest river in Jamaica. It rises near the geographic centre of the island, flows generally south-southwest and reaches the Caribbean Sea at Carlisle Bay on the south-central coast, west of the island’s southernmost point, Portland Point. While the Black River, whose name refers to the darkness of its bed caused by thick layers of decaying vegetation, flows for about 53 km west and then flows into the Caribbean Sea, near Negril.

The climate is tropical and is generally hot and humid. With the exception of the higher and temperate areas, temperatures undergo decidedly limited seasonal variations and the average maximums in the capital vary from 30 ° to 33 ° C, with minimums from 21 ° to 24 ° C. Precipitation is quite consistent in the hinterland and, in particular, in mountainous areas where it reaches peaks of 5,000-6,000 mm every year. On the other hand, it is less in the coastal strip and, in particular, in the southern one, where it may reach as little as 800 mm per year. The country is also in an area frequently struck by hurricanes.
The discovery of the island took place on May 3, 1494 by Christopher Columbus who called it Santiago. At that time the island was already inhabited by the Arawaks, a population originally from South America who had settled there between 1000 and 400 BC. They died out at the end of the sixteenth century due both to the hard work imposed by the colonists and the European ill-treatment and diseases against which they had no defence.

In fact, the Spanish colonists, who arrived on the island beginning in 1510, introduced slavery together with the cultivation of sugar cane, thus modifying the layout of the island.In 1597 the English raids began though they managed to obtain effective control only in 1654. Under English domination, Jamaica became the first nation in the world for sugar exports thanks to the massive use of slaves imported from Africa. The insurrections of the latter, however, were constantly transforming, with the passage of time, into actions by guerrillas whose attacks forced the British to grant them a greater degree of autonomy in 1739. But, despite these concessions, the struggles continued in a very bloody manner even in the following decades. In particular, at Christmas 1831 an action of passive resistance infused by Daddy ‘Sam’ Scarpe, an educated slave and lay preacher, took on the character of extreme violence resulting in the destruction of the landowners’ plantations which ended with the hanging of about 400 rioters. This caused a wave of outrage in England itself that eventually forced parliament to abolish slavery on August 1, 1834.

@KhosroKalbasi 123rf.com

Although this system was abolished, the government of the rich, who were the only ones with the right to vote, maintained its political weight. The slaves freed from slavery at that point abandoned the work of the plantations and settled on the island and this, in addition to causing economic decline due to lack of manpower, generated new struggles with the ancient masters that persisted over time.
In the history of the country, an undoubtedly important date was 1958, the year in which the island acquired its first independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a province belonging to the Federation of West Indies, that is, an organization in which all the British West Indies took part. However, full independence came on August 6, 1962 with the separation from the Federation of West Indies and the United Kingdom while remaining within the Commonwealth and joining the UN and the OAS. In the years that followed there was a policy of alternating between Labour and Nationalists, the latter led by M. Manley. The economic and social conditions of the country recorded continuous and constant worsening with organized crime acquiring ever greater room for manoeuvre thanks also to collusion between the political class and the various gangs that faced each other and were duly armed by Kingston.
Jamaica, which today has 2,961,000 inhabitants, is the third most populous English-speaking country in the Americas, after the USA and Canada. Its population is mainly composed of descendants of populations from the sub-Saharan area and enslaved by the British.(Photo: 123rf.com) – (F.R.)

Ethiopia. The Circus, Art that Gives Dignity.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Through circus art, Kine Circus helps boys and girls in danger of exclusion to find themselves and have a life plan.

“Kine in Amharic has several meanings, including ‘secret’. With our art, we try to convey a message. We talk about the problems that surround us and how to solve them, using the language of the circus, which acts as a social transformer. This is the ‘secret’ of this art”, explains Shimelis Getachew, actor, director, clown and founder of Kine Circus, together with Eyob Teshom. He continues: “Kine Circus was started two years ago in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to give a concrete response to the many boys and girls in danger of exclusion. For them, we used a department store inside the Zoma Museum complex, an open space on the outskirts of the city frequented by minors interested in the circus, with special needs or with no fixed abode”.

Shimelis Getachew, actor, director, clown and founder of Kine Circus. (Photo: Javier Sánchez Salcedo).

Getachew points out: “We want it to be a home for them. The intention is not for children to simply learn coordination, balance, and expressiveness through circus techniques, but for them to have a protected space where they can talk about things that happen to them”.
Kine Circus is the result of a previous project, Fekat Circus, which brought together nearly 600 children. After 17 years, Fekat disbanded, partly because some of its artists became professionals and went to work in countries like France or Germany, and partly because local authorities took away its spaces because they wanted to create an area for commercial and industrial activities. Consequently, some former Fekat members decided to find a new place and start a new project.

Kine Circus members. (Photo: Javier Sánchez Salcedo)

We ask Shimelis how the circus can possibly change someone’s life. “In Addis Ababa, there are no activities for children who are on the street or live in broken families and have problems such as the use of khat or glue”, Shimelis replies.
“The circus has many things that can benefit them. They learn to care for each other, to trust, to communicate, to develop mental and physical skills and to stay safe from addictive substances”.
Kine Circus members also work with children admitted to the hospital in Addis Ababa. “With the ‘Doctors with Smile project’ we help children to laugh and have fun and forget their illness for a while”, says Shimelis.
Recently some members of the circus have been working a lot with children with autism. “We had no experience of working with autistic children. We started and saw that the effect the circus has on them is wonderful. Children with autism are integrated and participate in the activities together with the rest of the children. Each has their own challenges, and everyone forms an equal part of the project, under the motto ‘I help you and you help me’.

“We want it to be a home for them” (Photo Kine Circus)

With some of them, what is being worked on is overcoming the trauma. There are boys and girls who have gone through terrible experiences living on the street and who express hysterical emotions when they are in a group”.Shimelis and the rest of the performers know how to accompany them. They tell us: “To do a stunt I have to count on you being by my side and helping me. For a child used to living in distrust, the idea that ‘you will not let me fall’ is something new. Furthermore, they also realise that they deserve a better life. They deserve to be taken to the doctor. They deserve to be on tour. There are boys and girls who, when they enter the project at the age of eight or nine, are full of emotions. But there they find a group of people who help them break free, they start going to class and taking care of themselves.
They wash their hands, sit, and take their food and talk about their problems. They make a great effort to succeed in a place where they feel protected and safe and know they can make it. A transformation takes place in their lives”.

“They learn to care for each other, to trust, to communicate, to develop mental and physical skills” (Photo Kine Circus)

In Ethiopia, the circus is not highly regarded and receives no government support, Shimelis complains. “In football, Ethiopia always loses, but it is a sport that is supported. On the other hand, there are very good circus artists all over the world, and they are not appreciated”.
Shimelis recalls that Fekat Circus once performed in 2018 at the last edition of the Rototom festival, in Benicasim. They had their show on the big stage in front of more than 10,000 people, but it had no repercussions in the Ethiopian media. Instead, the media talked about an Ethiopian singer performing at the same festival, on a small stage, in front of 500 spectators. “The Ethiopian Ministry of Tourism does not believe that our culture can be expressed through the circus. There is still a lot to do”, adds the artist.
Shimelis concludes: “The circus is my life. As a child, my dream was to make films. I worked as an actor and directed two films. But the circus always calls me. And now I have left everything to dedicate myself to this project. Because what I want is to help, and through the circus, it is very easy to reach people”. (Open Photo: Javier Sánchez Salcedo)

Javier Sánchez Salcedo

Ethiopia. Churches join hands to promote a deal on the Nile Waters sharing.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

The Coptic Church of Egypt and the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia are joining hands to incite the leaders of both countries to find a consensus on a fair settlement that preserves the interest of all riparian countries.

On the 4 September, the patriarch of the Egyptian Coptic Church, Tawadros II received a large delegation from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church led by Pope Abuna Yosef, the archbishop of Bale, including heads of monasteries, deacons, monks and nuns.
The aim of the meeting was to mend the gap between the governments of both countries about the construction of the 6000 MW and US $ 4.5 billion worth Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the blue Nile, which was started in 2011 by the Italian company Salini and which is the largest hydropower project in Africa.
The meeting follows the announcement, last August, by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of the completion of the third phase of the filling of the GERD’s reservoir. According to the Ethiopian authorities, the dam is now holding 22 billion cubic meters of water, which represents about 30 percent of the planned capacity of 74 bn cubic meters which should provide a 6000 MW capacity of electricity by 2027.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Guba,Ethiopia. AFP

However, the two downstream countries, Sudan and Egypt are complaining that these filling plans are implemented without their prior consent and continue their diplomatic efforts to get Ethiopia to sign a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.
Egypt stresses that the Renaissance Dam could lead to a permanent lowering of the water level in Lake Nasser if floods are stored instead in Ethiopia. Accordingly, the filling of the Renaissance dam reservoir could mean also a 100 MW loss of the generating capacity of the Aswan Dam hydropower plant. Egyptian officials stress that the Nile River provides 97 percent of its edible water supply and that the filling of the GERD reservoir would affect considerably its supply since 85 percent of the waters of the Nile River come from the Blue Nile whose source is
on the Abyssinia highlands.
The Cairo authorities also point out that Ethiopia is ignoring the colonial agreements of 1929 and 1959 between Egypt and Britain. Egypt and Sudan consider that Ethiopia’s decision to proceed with filling the GERD reservoir is posing an ‘existential threat’.
The matter was taken in July 2021 to the UN Security Council which encouraged the three riparian states to negotiate and to reach an agreement under the aegis of the African Union.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pressing the start button to generate power from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam s (GERD) second turbine during a ceremony held on August 11, 2022. Photo courtesy of Ethiopian Prime Minister s official Twitter account

Ethiopia rejects the colonial Anglo-Egyptian deals since they did not take her interests into account. Ethiopia engineers and geographers also argue that the filling of the GERD reservoir on the temperate Ethiopian Highlands would have positive consequences since it will experience much less evaporation than downstream reservoirs such as Lake Nasser in Egypt, which loses 12% of its water flow annually due to evaporation as the water sits in the lake for 10 months. The controlled release of water from the GERD reservoir to downstream, would even facilitate an increase of up to 5% in Egypt’s water supply, and presumably that of Sudan as well, argue Ethiopian engineers and geographers.
Moreover, since the Renaissance dam will also retain substantial amounts of silt, it will increase the useful lifetime of the Roseires, Sennar and Merowe dams in Sudan and of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt,
say Ethiopian officials.
It is in such context that the Egyptian Coptic Church Pope Tawadros II welcomed the Ethiopian Orthodox Church delegation. “We pray for the Nile water and for the rain that falls in Ethiopia as it brings good to many countries,” Pope Tawadros said. “In Egypt, we consider the Nile our father and the land around it our mother”, he pursued.
During the meeting, Tawadros reminded the tight historical, and spiritual links between both churches, since indeed Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church remained under the umbrella of the Coptic Patriarchate of Alexandria until 1959. For Pope Tawadros, the Nile water is a gift from God, which should not be disputed which is why he called on several occasions the parties in the GERD dispute to seek a consensual solution that ensures development for their peoples.

The High Dam in Aswan for hydroelectric power generation, Nubia, Egypt. Photo: 123rf.com

This is not the first attempt of mediation by the churches of both countries. In September 2015, Ethiopian Patriarch Mathias I of Ethiopia’s Tewahedo Church received Pope Tawadros at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa. Just before, Mathias I paid a visit to Egypt where he met with President Abd-el Fattah Al Sissi who told him that while Egypt cannot hinder the right to development of the Ethiopian people, it is a source of life, not just development, for Egyptians.
In 2010, the then Egyptian Coptic Church said its leader, Pope Shenouda III, prayed together with Ethiopian Bishop Boules during the latter’s visit to Egypt in an effort to help resolve the dispute. Egypt is seeking to improve bilateral ties, drawing on historical relations that have linked both churches since the 14th century until their separation in 1959. This comes as part of Egypt’s penchant of using soft power in order to improve also the perception in upstream countries that depicts Egypt as stealing Nile water.

Felucca boats on Nile River at sunset. Photo: 123rf.com

The opinion of politicians and Copts in Egypt on the role that the church can play to resolve the crisis between both countries varies. Some consider it an undesirable overlap between politics and religion. But Coptic thinker Kamal Zakher begs to differ.
In an interview with the American news website Al-Monitor, he commented that “The Egyptian Church believes in the principle of not intervening in politics. However, it cannot turn a blind eye to its national role, which goes beyond the political one”. Furthermore, Kamal Zakher said that “The role of the church as a soft power is helpful and the Egyptian government should play other roles, such as helping Ethiopians with their development needs.”
Other churches also try to promote dialogue. On the 15 August 2020, Pope Francis in a message after the Angelus prayer at the Vatican, asked the leaderships of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to “continue on the path of dialogue so that the Eternal River might continue to be a source of life that unites, not divides, that always nourishes friendship, prosperity, fraternity, and never enmity, misunderstanding or conflict.” In July 2021, the Protestant World Council of Churches acting general secretary, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca appealed to all WCC member churches around the world to pray for a peaceful solution to the problem. (Egypt’s Pope Tawadros II (R) and Abune Yosef of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Photo: Coptic Orthodox Church)

François Misser

In the Hands of Local Gangs.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Within Kingston, gangs involved in drug trafficking, extortion, robbery, and the exploitation of prostitution have their own well-defined geography of crime which, moreover, has undergone changes and changed its structure compared to the past.

To date, in fact, the ‘Dons’ of the urban areas have disappeared from the Jamaican criminal scene, including the infamous Christopher Michael Coke, better known as ‘Dudus’, head of the Shower Posse, sentenced a few months ago to 23 years of prison by the New York Court. The Shower Posse is a group halfway between organized crime and collusion with the political world. It was formed around the 1970s to launch and support the political career of the Jamaican Labour Party, with which it still maintains relationships and ties today. Immediately distinguished from the other Jamaican gangsters, it moved from controlling the streets and the local political electorate to business in North America, starting to create a small drug trafficking circuit.

Kingston. Soldiers in the city on duty in the car. 123rf.com

The disappearance of the big bosses has given rise to a phenomenon of smaller aggregations that traffic on the local market, headed by the ‘Corner Dons’, small bosses who make the balance of power even more fluid and, consequently, less manageable.
However, some of the historical aggregations remain standing and well rooted in the territories to which they belong. Among these there is One Order, present predominantly in Spanish Town and strongly supported by the JLP which is opposed by Klansman, which is the garrison of the PNP.
In 2006, following the killing of boss Bun Man Hope, members of the organization razed the courthouse to the ground, giving a clear demonstration of their strength. The group also has branches abroad and in particular in New York, Toronto, and London.
In addition, the gangs also control the production and trafficking of drugs, thus generating an annual income of about 560 million. The country is a large cannabis producer, as well as an exporter to the US and Canadian markets. In particular, in the period between 1968 and 1980, production reached truly important figures, placing Jamaica among the top global producers. In the 1990s, the flow of cocaine and the production of marijuana constituted 7.6% of the national economy. In the early 2000s, albeit reduced compared to the period taken in question, activities related to the trafficking and production of drugs recorded important data, however, with revenues equal to 210 million dollars per year, 160 of which came from exports alone. In 2013 it was estimated that the hectares set aside for the cultivation of cannabis amounted to 15,000 distributed throughout the national territory and mainly in mountainous areas and along the tributaries of the Nera River.

Young cannabis plants. Green background of marijuana leaves. 123rf.com

Furthermore, Jamaica, together with the Bahamas, represents an important transit corridor for cocaine bound for the United States and through which approximately 40 MT per year are said to pass. The security of this corridor is entrusted to the Jamaican gangs.
In addition to cocaine and marijuana, Jamaican hashish oil is also very popular on the market, the main target market of which is Canada, where large communities of Jamaicans reside who provide for the subsequent local sorting.
However, it must be pointed out that the extensive cultivation of hemp also corresponds to a vast internal consumption since, from a cultural point of view, it is understood as a singularly accepted phenomenon. This also explains the involvement in the production of many small producers for whom the cultivation of hemp becomes an obligatory productive choice. As a cultural element, it seems that hemp was introduced by immigrant Indian labourers who came to work in the sugar cane plantations abandoned by the Africans in 1838, after the end of slavery throughout the British Empire.
In fact, it seems that it was not previously known on the island and was assimilated by the rest of the population during this time span due to the cultural contact between the two ethnic groups on the plantations and between neighbouring communities.

Young Man. Hairstyle Rasta Braids Hair (Max Pixel)

In the early 2000s, to deal with this phenomenon, the Jamaican Senate unanimously decided to set up a ‘National Commission on Ganja’ led by Professor Barry Chevannes, who in a few months developed a series of very clear recommendations, including the decriminalization of cannabis for personal and religious use, as well as the development of prevention aimed at young people and schools and, above all, the modification of the approach of the police forces. The top priority was to crack down on crack and cocaine trafficking and not persecute ganja users.
A final report was thus drawn up which was delivered to a special committee (Joint Select Committee) in charge of sifting through the proposals before presenting them to Parliament. In 2003, the committee forwarded the proposed decriminalization of hemp to Parliament but, although the majority of Parliament agreed, the examination of the project stalled due to the opposition of influential sectors of society represented by Attorney General Michael Hylton (who appealed to respect for international conventions).
That, above all, was due to pressure from the US government which interpreted this reform as a yielding to the war on drugs policy, under penalty of the threat to suspend economic aid.
Nevertheless, there is a steady commitment on the part of the institutions aimed at curbing the use of drugs among the population and in particular, among young people. In fact, it is estimated that over 187,000 Jamaicans consume hard drugs, particularly in the age group between 12 and 55 years.(Photo:123rf.com)

(F.R.)

Music. Stromae, the Master of pop.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

A heart that beats to the rhythm of Africa

Paul Van Haver was born in Etterbeek, a small town near Brussels, in 1985. Yet his story really begins only nine years later, in Rwanda, where his father, an architect of Tutsi ethnicity, was killed that year during one of the most terrible genocides of the twentieth century.
Little Paul thus grows up with his mother, who is Flemish, along with four brothers and a sister.
As a boy he began to study music, as a teenager he discovered rap, hip-hop subculture, the soul of the masters and electronics. The recording debut came in 2009 with the pseudonym destined to make him a world-famous pop star: Stromae, which in verlan means “master”.

But Rwanda and that tragedy remained indelibly marked on his heart, and well before he revealed it, in 2013, in the poignant Papaoutai (Daddy where are you?), a song dedicated to that father he had only seen a dozen times in his life. That song was part of his second album, that of consecration among the trendiest artists of European pop.
He sings mostly in French, and plays drums and piano. And this year he launches his third album Multitude: one of the most anticipated and relevant works of this year overflowing with war-founding nightmares. Also, because it comes after eight years of silence. And once again Stromae hits hard. Because he was never the type to limit himself to writing supermarket platitudes: in his records he sang about alienation from social networks, about cancer and alcoholism, about marginalization, about migrants, about the hells of the last, about racism and homophobia, and he always did it with a poetic and often autobiographical slant: “Yes, at times I have had suicidal thoughts. And I’m not proud of it. Sometimes we think it is the only way to silence them. These thoughts that make me go through hell “he sings in the brand-new L’ Enfer.

And in an interview, he explains: “This record is my journey from darkness to light, an album about healing”; from a bad disease that kept him away from the scene for years, but also from the never perfectly healed wounds of his family tragedy. This is also why he does not hesitate to judge the violence of the war that is raging in the heart of Europe as “unsustainable”. Stromae is a chansonnier with both feet in the multi-ethnic postmodernity of his Belgium, but his heart still beats to the rhythm of his Africa.
Especially among these 12 new songs. And if Rwandan roots rarely blossom into folkloric moods (little more than a few reverberations here and there), they feed the soul of all the work, especially when the sweetness of the choirs and colours of his homeland. It is no coincidence that Brussels today welcomes one of the largest Rwandan communities in the world that found refuge here from the horrors of the 1990s genocide: the one that even Paul-Stromae cannot and does not want to forget, but from which he is slowly trying to heal. (Photos: Mosaert)

Franz Coriasco

Reggae, a Jamaican soft power.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Jamaica is a Parliamentary democracy and, as a member of the Commonwealth, it is also a constitutional monarchy. Therefore, Charles III of England is also ‘King of Jamaica’.

The internal institutional set-up is democratic, with a two-party structure and a bicameral structure composed of a House of Representatives directly elected by the people and the Senate whose 21 members are directly appointed by the prime minister. From an administrative point of view, the country is divided into 3 counties and 14 ‘parishes’ (as the administrative divisions are called).
Its economy enjoys the incalculable bauxite reserves that place the country among the largest holders globally, contributing to the formation of almost a third of the national GDP. In addition to bauxite, another important item of the Jamaican economy is represented by tourism which generates 70% of GDP, while in the agricultural sector, sugar cane, coffee, bananas, and tobacco constitute further important items among exports.

Tropical Holiday, Ochos Rios. 123rf.com

As to energy, the country lacks its own resources and, therefore, is forced to import them to satisfy its consumption. Those activities that make up the nerve centre assets of the country’s economy, infrastructure, raw material extraction and tourism, are managed by both local and foreign private sectors. The central state, in fact, due to the high public debt that has gripped it for years (117% of GDP), as well as the heavy interest it has to pay to the IMF and the World Bank, has extremely limited room for manoeuvre. This has also brought about the privatisation of the health and education sectors, to which only a few have access. Furthermore, foreign investments are discouraged by both security issues and the high costs of services and taxes.
As far as international relations are concerned, Jamaica is heavily dependent on the United States, due also to strong trade ties, for direct foreign investments, development assistance and the numerous and constant migratory flows. The country, however, has also established economic relations with China for the development of the internal infrastructural and logistic system. China has also expanded its control in the port of Kingston, which was recently dredged to start the project, supported mainly by the state, to transform the island into an important integrated logistics water, land and air hub – similar to that of Dubai or Singapore, and equipped with special economic zones, the first of which has already been activated.

Regarding relations with Great Britain, it is felt that the death of Queen Elizabeth could generate the desire of Jamaica to re-evaluate matters, placing itself in the wake of Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados which, respectively, in April 2022 and 2021 decided to break the last links, albeit formal, with London. The Caribbean peoples, in fact, have been fighting for some time to obtain an apology for the ‘horrors of slavery’, as well as compensation.
In fact, in 2014, Caricom (Caribbean Commission for Reparations), an intergovernmental organization that includes 15 Caribbean states (including Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda), issued a document asking for reparations from the governments of all the former colonial powers and the most important institutions of those countries, to the Caribbean nations and people for crimes against humanity of genocide, slavery, and trafficking on the basis of race.

Queen Elizabeth II greets Prime Minister Michael Manley during her visit to Jamaica in 1975. Queen visited Jamaica, on six occasions. Those visits came in 1953, 1966, 1975, 1983, 1994 and 2002. (Photo Jamaica Observer)

Furthermore, it should be added that in the international arena the country is always known for reggae music which is a characterizing element of the country, a sort of Jamaican soft power. Music that is an expression of the Rastafarian religious movement, which echoes African sounds transforming them into something original. Furthermore, reggae also represents a way to express a form of dissent against the harsh oppressions suffered over the centuries by these populations and therefore a request for justice against abuses. Undoubtedly the icon par excellence of this musical genre was the Jamaican Bob Marley who more than any other was a global diffuser of both reggae and Rastafarianism, two typical Afro-Jamaican elements that in the 70s became central as symbols of identity and pride. Rastafarianism, which developed in the 1930s, has become widespread since the 1980s. More precisely, it is a spiritual and cultural movement, born on the inspiration of the Ethiopian Orthodox religious faith, and in particular of ‘Ethiopianism’ preached by the leader Marcus Garvey.

The name derives from Ras Tafari, the emperor who ascended the throne of Ethiopia in 1930 with the name of Hailé Selassié I and with the title of King of Kings (Negus Neghesti). After his voluntary exile, due to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and his return to his homeland five years later, some believers recognized him as Christ in his ‘second coming’, being a direct descendant of the Tribe of Judah which has its roots in the meeting between King Solomon (son of David) and the queen of Sheba. For the followers of Rastafarianism, therefore, Ethiopia represents the Promised Land, the return of the black people scattered throughout the world to their homeland, and Selassie is the messiah and bearer of this message.

Filippo Romeo

Morocco. Rabat. Capital of Lights.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

‘City of Lights’, as Rabat, the administrative capital of Morocco, is called. The name is not prosaic, but full of symbolism to describe a city undergoing a complete metamorphosis that tries to show its mastery while maintaining a balance between tradition and modernity. We visit the city.

In recent years Rabat has made an effort to shake off its reputation among Moroccans for being a ‘boring’ city – ‘with inhabitants, most of them civil servants, who go to sleep early’ – unable to match the dynamic economic capital of the country, Casablanca, or Marrakech, the main tourist destination. However, this reputation is undeserved. The coastal city, founded in the 12th century by the Almohads, has much to offer by way of culture and entertainment with the creation of multiple museums, restaurants, shopping centres and entertainment venues.

Seafront and Kasbah in medina of Rabat. Photo: 123rf.com

A destination for Moroccans who have administrative issues to settle, and where they turn to solve serious health problems as it has the best hospitals, Rabat is also a social loudspeaker, especially its Mohamed V boulevard, considered a refuge for protests and a stage for performances during national holidays.
This boulevard has been for years the Mecca of Rabatís who wear their best clothes to take a stroll in the area. What has always been the busiest place in Rabat now has rivals: Fal Ould Oumeir avenue, in the Agdal district, and Mahaj, from the luxurious Riad, also called the District of Lights for its illumination at sunset. Both make up the new centre
of the Moroccan capital.

Mausoleum of Muhammed V, Rabat. Photo: 123rf.com

There is no comparison between the current situation and that of 30 years ago in Rabat. The area around the Bouregreg River, which separates Rabat from its sister city Salé, has become an important tourist destination.The famous flouka (feluccas) of river fishermen no longer exercise their former role as a means of transport for officials between Rabat and Salé. Bouregreg was also a place of recreation for young people and children from the popular districts of the old Medina – such as Melah, Boukroune or Souika – who used to swim the river to Salé
to play football.

Friends having lunch together in restaurant in Rabat. Photo: 123rf.com

The entire Bouregreg Valley has been modernized with projects such as the Grand Theatre of Rabat, designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, and the Mohamed VI Tower. The two works have views of the Kasbah of the Oudayas and the Hassan tower, the most emblematic historical monuments of Rabatí, a scenario that shows the new face of modern Rabat that also wants to keep its traditions.
This development has caused an increase in the cost of living without solving the problem of public transport that has arisen in recent years due to the growth of the city. The price of real estate is one of the highest in the country, forcing much of the public administration to rent or buy in Salé. But the inhabitants of the capital adapt as best they can to these problems because Rabat continues to be an elegant, inclusive, and comfortable city to live in.(Open Photo: Traditional souvenir Moroccan lamps.123rf.com)

Fatima Zohra Bouaziz

The Dove’s Egg.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

A dove laid an egg in the hollow of a big tree in front of the blacksmith’s house. When she flew away from her nest in search of food, the blacksmith’s wife stole the egg.

The dove came back to her nest and found the egg missing. The dove knew at once that the blacksmith’s wife must have taken it. So, she went to the woman and pleaded, “Give me back my egg, please.” The blacksmith’s wife pretended that she knew nothing about it and said, “What egg are you talking about? I didn’t see any egg.”

The dove was heartbroken and flew about looking for help. On the way she met a pig, who asked, “Why are you crying, little bird?” She said, “0h pig, can you help me? Will you dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” “No, not I,” grunted the pig, walking away.

She then met a hunter, who asked, “Why are you in tears, little bird?” The bird said, “Will you shoot an arrow at the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” “Why should I? Leave me out of this,” said the hunter, walking away.

The dove wept some more and flew on till she met a rat, who also asked why she was in tears. The dove said, “Will you gnaw and cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” The rat too said, “Not I,” and went his own way.

Next, she met a cat, who asked, “What’s the matter, little bird?” “Will you catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” The cat would rather mind her own business.

The poor dove was beside herself with anger and grief. Her wails attracted the attention of a passing dog, who asked her what was bothering her. She said: “Will you bite the cat who wouldn’t catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” “No, not I,” said the dog and ran away. The dove’s wails grew louder and louder.

An old man with a long white beard came that way and asked the crying bird what the matter was. She said: “Grandfather, will you beat the dog who wouldn’t bite the cat who wouldn’t catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?”
The old man didn’t want to do anything of the sort and shook his head and went his way.

The dove next went to the fire for help and asked it to burn the white beard of the old man, but the fire wouldn’t do it. Next the dove went to the water and asked it to put out the fire which wouldn’t burn the beard of the old man who refused to beat the dog who wouldn’t bite the cat who wouldn’t catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole the egg. Water too was unwilling to help.

Not long afterwards, the dove met an elephant and asked if he would stir up the water which wouldn’t put out the fire which refused to burn the beard of the old man who wouldn’t . . .The elephant said: “No, not I.” Then the dove looked about and found a black ant, who also asked her what was troubling her.

“0h ant! I know you can help me. Will you go into the elephant’s trunk and bite him for not stirring up the water which wouldn’t put out the fire which wouldn’t burn the beard of the old man who wouldn’t beat the dog who wouldn’t bite the cat who wouldn’t catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?”

“Why not? Here I go,” said the ant and crawled inside the elephant’s trunk and bit it in the softest place, very hard. This made the elephant dash into the pool of water and stir it up. The water splashed and began to put out the fire, which went mad and burned the white beard of the old man, who beat the dog, who ran after the cat and bit her. The cat caught the rat, who gnawed the bowstring of the hunter’s bow. The hunter tied on a new one and shot an arrow at the pig, who went and dug up all the yams of the blacksmith’s wife.

The blacksmith’s wife knew at once what she had to do and carefully put the dove’s egg back in the nest in the hollow of the big tree. That’s how the dove got her egg back. (Photo Max Pixel) –

Folktale from Malaysia

Political and social instability.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

During the 60 years in which the country has made itself autonomous from the motherland, there was no lack of bitter suffering that has greatly afflicted the population, the cause of which is to be traced to the serious problems of a socio-economic nature: corruption, a weak administrative and judicial structure, high unemployment, inflation, and poor economic growth.

This situation, which has its roots in the years immediately following independence, was mainly provoked, exploited, and protected by the parties in perennial conflict with the PNP (People National Party) and the JLP (Jamaican Labour Party), which hired and funded, covering their trafficking in arms and drugs, the various heads of the Don-ruled areas, for the purpose of protection and sabotage against the rival party. A situation which, associated with the intertwining of a series of elements – including the restrictions on the admission of migrants from the Commonwealth introduced in 1973 by Great Britain (which as a result produced a significant increase in unemployment on the island since the Jamaicans look to their former motherland as a place to which to migrate and find a job) – produced a terrifying economic and social situation turning the island into one of the countries with the highest crime rate of all Caribbean areas, despite the fact that in those years the tourism industry was on the rise.

Kingston Central Bank.

The leadership of the government, in those years, was in the hands of Manley, who was one of the major protagonists of the Jamaican political scene. Manley took on a nationalist imprint, hostile to the US, accused, perhaps not wrongly, of exploiting the riches of the island, and very close to Fidel Castro’s Cuba. His work was characterized by a growing deficit in the trade balance and debt with foreign countries, as well as by strong conflicts with foreign investors and international creditors. This situation, in addition to determining the worsening of socio-economic conditions, led his government to adopt austerity measures whose effects aggravated the situation extremely, turning into serious unrest with hundreds of victims which determined the defeat of the nationalists in the 1980 elections. They were replaced by the liberals of the JLP led by E. Seaga who overturned the international equilibrium defined by his predecessor by engaging in the restoration of relations with the USA and in the breaking off of relations with Cuba.

View on Kingston Harbour in Jamaica is the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world. 123rf.com

From an economic point of view, it committed itself to the relaunch of foreign investments and the implementation of a privatization policy with an increase in incoming foreign capital. This, however, did not produce much change since even the liberals, as demonstrated by their intertwining with local gangs, were no different from their predecessors. Furthermore, Seaga also had to deal with the serious international economic situation that determined the collapse of the demand for bauxite and aluminium, two important drivers of the Jamaican economy, and with the violent hurricane that hit the island in 1988, inflicting a severe blow also to agricultural production.
In the years that followed there were no particular improvements; on the contrary, the growth of the external debt under the Manley government, which returned to power in 1989, caused new austerity measures to be imposed by the International Monetary Fund. Manley, however, assumed a different posture than in the past and, more specifically, in the international arena he maintained relations with the United States and other Western partners as well as forging economic pacts with Caribbean countries. However, this did not lead to an improvement in the situation even with the governments that came after him, while organized crime continued to play an increasingly predominant role.

The Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Michael Holness. (Photo. Gov. Media)

In those years, in fact, Jamaica was an important cocaine hub that caused frequent episodes of violence that contributed to the impoverishment of part of the Jamaican population. This resulted in a ferocious gang war that took place on the streets of Kingston from the mid-1990s onwards. During these events, the Jamaican police forces themselves were accused of complicity.
Even today in Jamaica there are numerous gangs that maintain control of drug trafficking and entire areas of the city. In Kingston, in fact, the areas of Tivoli Gardens, Trench Town and Denham Town, as well as the entire neighbouring city of Spanish Town, are under the iron control of local gangs that impose bribes and laws to the utter indifference of the state. The phenomenon, known as ‘garrison’, which means outpost or presidium, has made the capital Kingston a city that, although marvellous for its naturalistic beauties, holds the sad record of being among the twenty most dangerous cities in the world and with the highest percentage of homicides per capita: 60 homicides for every 100,000 residents, a very high rate if we consider the reintroduction, in 2008, of the death penalty by hanging. (Kingston. The Jamaican Parliament.Photo Gov. Media)

(F.R.)

FIFA World Cup/Africa. Dreaming Qatar.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, and Senegal will represent Africa in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They will be led by a local coach. For the first time a Rwandese woman referee has been named to officiate at the men’s World Cup.

The Indomitable Lions will make their eighth World Cup appearance in Qatar. Cameroon first appeared in a World Cup in 1982 but lost all three matches in Spain. Eight years later they were a surprise team in Italy, beating Argentina (1 – 0) in the opening game and going on to reach the quarterfinals. Roger Milla dancing pitch side in celebration of his goals became a totem of football history. Cameroon have not won a match at the World Cup since 2002, when they defeated Saudi Arabia in Japan. This year, they qualified after beating Cote D’Ivoire 1 – 0.

Vincent Aboubakar will be joined in attack by Karl Toko Ekambi, who has scored 11 goals in 49 appearances with the national team. The Britain-based duo Oliver Ntcham and Bryan Mbeumo want to impress in the tournament. In Group G, the Indomitable Lions face Brazil, Serbia, and Switzerland. The coach: Rigobert Song.
Ghana. The Black Stars return to the World Cup after missing out in 2018. Ghana won their qualification by the narrowest of margins. They held on to a crucial 1-1 draw at Nigeria and qualified for the 2022 World Cup on away goals. This Ghana team does not have the big talents of Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari, but it has Thomas Partey. The Arsenal midfielder is the team’s sole world-class star.
Ghana’s national football team captain Andre Ayew is confident that the Black Stars will be a tough team to beat at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He said: “We have a chance. Nobody sees us as favourites, which is expected. So, we know we’re not going into any of the matches as favourites but we’re there to fight and make an impact. No doubt it will be a very difficult group for every team and all we have to do is be ready, focused, determined, full squad and have a bit of luck”. The Group H includes Portugal, South Korea, and Uruguay. The coach: Otoo Addo.

Moroccan international football star Achraf Hakimi. (Photo: Morocco World News)

Morocco. One of Africa’s most frequent representatives at the finals. The Atlas Lions will return for their sixth World Cup appearance with the hopes of reaching Round 16 for the first time since 1986. The Atlas Lions have a lot of confidence in their strikers Ayoub El Kaabi and Ryan Mmaee; the attackers struck nine goals between them. However, the most important player will be Achraf Hakimi. He plays for French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. The opening match on 23 November against Croatia is vital. They must gain at least a point if they want to go ahead. The Group F include Belgium and Canada. Walid Regragui is the head coach.
Senegal. Much hope surrounds the Teranga Lions to reach the latter stages of the tournament. The first appearance was in the 2002 edition held in Japan and South Korea. In the opening match they beat France 1 – 0, the goal scored by Papa Bouba Diop. Then they drew with Denmark and Uruguay and beat Sweden 2-1 to reach the quarterfinals, before being eliminated 1-0 by Turkey after a golden goal in the fourth minute of extra time. In 2018, they returned to the World Cup in Russia.

Senegal National Team (Twitter @Papy_Mendy)

The coach, Aliou Cissé has built his team around Sadio Mane who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. He is known for his pressing, dribbling, and speed. Also Kalidou Koulibaly, who plays as centre-back for Premier League club Chelsea. Additionally, goalkeeper Edouard Mendy who plays for Premier League club Chelsea. The Group A includes Qatar, Ecuador, Netherlands.
Tunisia. For the Carthage Eagles this will be the sixth appearance at the World Cup. They made their debut in 1978, in Argentina, where they defeated Mexico 3-1 in their first game, thus becoming the first African team to be victorious at the World Cup.
Then again in 1998, 2002 and 2006. In Russia 2018, they won against Panama, but they lost to Belgium and England.
They qualified for the World Cup in Qatar by beating Mali 1 – 0. Wahbi Khazri and Youssef Msakni will lead the attack. The group D includes France, Denmark, and Australia. The coach: Jalel Kadri.

Referee Salima Rhadia Mukansanga of Rwanda. (Photo: Skysports)

African referee
Rwanda referee Salima Mukansanga will be among three women referees named by the world governing body FIFA to officiate at the men’s World Cup. The 33-year-old, Mukansanga has been listed in the final list which includes other women referees, Stephanie Frappart from France and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita. Also on the list are three women assistant referees – Neuza Back from Brazil, Mexico’s Karen Diaz Medina, and American Kathryn Nesbitt.
“I’m really happy because it is a big achievement and honour. It’s a privilege, it’s a first step for women – that we have made as women”, said Mukansanga
At the World Cup, there will be 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials (VMOs). (J.M.)

Egypt’s challenges.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

In recent years, Egyptians seemed to have become resigned to their country’s social, economic, and political trajectory. Under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the country has undergone massive aesthetic changes through an infrastructure overhaul and experienced bursts of economic revival amid a widespread malaise regarding
social and political issues.

For much of the past decade, Egyptians have been a society traumatized by the seismic political shifts between 2011-13, and were broadly accepting of the proposition made in 2013 through the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, consenting to the forfeiture of political rights and social development in the hope of peace and stability,
in whatever form it came.

Today, however, the calculation has changed. While Egyptians initially welcomed the new infrastructure that would ease daily commutes and travel within the country, the overhaul is decimating the country’s cultural heritage, most notably in its sprawling capital, Cairo.
That decimation has led to the questioning of the regime’s response to almost any issue with bricks and mortar—or in Egypt’s case,
with steel and concrete.

Nondescript buildings in identical “new” cities connected via multilane highways have severely damaged Egypt’s cultural identity and traditional architecture. A new form of cultural identity is being manufactured, as the well-known chaos of Cairo collides with urban planning suggestive of a second-rate attempt to mimic modern cities in the Gulf states. Around the Great Pyramid of Giza stretches of highways remove any sense of urban living among the pharaohs.

Meanwhile, as many elites have spent much of the last ten years relocating to satellite cities that afford the luxury of green spaces and large villas, new highways further cut them off from Cairo’s middle class and poor, as they traverse highways around the city, without ever actually entering it, or watch from the new bridges that weave among the city’s high-rise buildings.

Down below, the things that have always made Cairo the “City Victorious” are slowly being erased. Colourful Nile houseboats have been the latest victims of development. Despite a weeks-long global campaign effort to save them, the houseboats were hauled off and destroyed earlier this summer, leaving their residents – some of whom had been born on the boats and lived on them for decades – to fend for themselves, with little recourse to compensation from the state.

Proclaiming that the “Nile is for everyone,” the government now seeks to replace the boats with restaurants and cafés. That kind of eradication has already occurred across most of Cairo’s green spaces. Roundabouts and small parks have been replaced with parking spaces or kiosks for food and goods to accommodate drivers.

The Nile redevelopment has resulted in thousands of residents being forcibly displaced to make way for high-rise apartment buildings that they cannot afford. Citizens evicted from Cairo’s slum areas have been rehoused in characterless state-subsidized housing on the outskirts of the city, removing them from their neighbourhoods, taking away their livelihoods, and effectively erasing them from public spaces and sight.

Cairo is not the only city subject to this strange new reality. In Alexandria – Egypt’s second-largest city – the Corniche and surrounding areas have been destroyed to make way for larger, wider highways that connect the city, and bridges are being built on the beach itself. As in Cairo, the regime is redesigning the Corniche walkway – in Cairo along the Nile, in Alexandria along the Mediterranean coastline – and will charge citizens to access public spaces.

These are examples of the broader state agenda and the regime’s erasure of the past. For many, this agenda was evident early on with the 2020 redesign of Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square and the banning of gatherings there, signs of the revisionist history that has sought to remove opportunity and hope from Egyptians by removing the symbol of its 2011 uprising. In the years since the Arab Spring, the redesign has been on a scale that arguably seeks to change citizens’ relationship with the state, and with their own identity.

El-Sisi has regularly deployed negative and disparaging language to signify his frustration with the population. In various speeches since 2013, the president has described Egyptians as lazy, wasteful, entitled, selfish, and unappreciative.
It is somewhat ironic, then, that after years of deriding the people, shoring up power within the institutions, and weakening the remaining ones that are there to represent the people, el-Sisi is now exhorting Egyptians to support his efforts to revive the economy, and – within regime limits – to engage more, politically and socially.

In 2019 Egypt was successfully riding an economic revival without precedent since 2010. As with many countries, in the Global North and South alike, the pandemic halted major development plans and growth, and the economic recovery has been further affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Put simply, the country is broken.

After years of supporting an economic model that pitted the military apparatus against domestic and foreign business entities and investors, el-Sisi has found the model unsustainable.
Now, imploring the business elite to work with him and promising to listen to their demands and advice, the president seeks new constituencies and support to soften the blow as the military may be forced to loosen at least part of its grip on Egypt’s economy.

That also entails weakening the almost decade-long crackdown and erasure of political rights in the country. With the renewal of talks with the International Monetary Fund over yet another bailout, and the knowledge that this one will damage his reputation due to its severe conditions, namely a significant currency devaluation being demanded by the IMF and other lending states (including Gulf partners), el-Sisi has begun a course of political engagement with opposition figures and known civic actors.

This should by no means be seen as a form of course correction or the opening of politics in the country but rather as an attempt to weaken expected opposition in the coming months. With an eye on the 2024 presidential election, el-Sisi has decided that divestment of lucrative state and military investments requires broader buy-in, at least temporarily, by larger constituencies.

Opposition leaders are arguably right in choosing not to trust the president’s promises or his commitments, and instead demanding acts of good faith – most notably, the release of political prisoners – and debate on the most contentious issues: elections
and political participation.

While the regime may feel it beneficial to stoke disagreements within the Civil Democratic Movement, the opposition has remained firmly united and committed to achieving small but important goals. As such, el-Sisi is finding it difficult to engineer the process. Although the regime is committed to certain procedures – yet never eager to see them through – the media scrutiny at home and international focus abroad on the national dialogue has painted the establishment into a corner. It is struggling to find compromises it can absorb, ones that can both silence its detractors and repair the reputational damage.

Meanwhile, the country is battling a femicide epidemic that has brought violence against women to the forefront of social discussions. After a longstanding fight to prevent the question of women’s rights being elevated to a contentious social issue, amendments to the Personal Status Law now sit at Parliament’s door under the watchful eye of a mobilized women’s movement.

These were presented by some of the most ardent state actors, who demanded the president approve changes that, once enacted, are believed could change the landscape for women in Egypt. All this happens as the country faces climate challenges, including shock weather events like floods and drought, that have not been a part of the political, social, or economic calculation until recently.

Despite the numerous challenges, el-Sisi and his regime have remained confident of Egypt’s social cohesion. The country has always been seen by its citizens and outside observers as too homogenous for major rupture, rifts, or worse, conflict. Despite the periodic rise of militant extremism, and even amid continued structural sectarianism and marginalization of a large Christian minority, Egypt has remained comparatively cohesive, with social fractures labelled “interruptions” rather than embedded unconscious biases.

As the economic situation worsens, with few to no political rights, a stifled media, and persistent brutal crackdowns on youth and youth culture, however, there is significant evidence that no matter the current solutions the regime provides, the situation will become unsustainable.

Egypt’s challenges are many, some of them undeniably of its own making. The social fabric is now battling a number of crucial and emerging issues – climate change, the national redesign, Egyptian women’s fight for freedom and accountability – and those more traditional markers: the economy, civil society mobilisation, demands for political organizing, and demographics. The resolute and fearless leadership needed to address these challenges simultaneously is unlikely to be found in the current regime.

There is neither the desire to empower Egyptian citizens nor the confidence in sustainable policies being able to secure and uphold the regime. While small changes here and there may give the impression of growth, and minor solutions to specific problems may indeed provide some respite, the larger, more existential challenges will remain, with continued diminishing confidence that the regime will seek to empower positive change and implement long-term sustainable growth for its population. (Photo: 123rf.com)

Hafsa Halawa/ISPI

Photo Gallery – Comboni Youth Movement at World Youth Day

Advocacy

Baobab

Youth & Mission