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Sierra Leone. Improving the Quality of Life.

Making the most populous city in the country an example of urban planning and environmental balance. To improve the quality of life for all. This is the challenge that Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, as the Mayor of Freetown, has been undertaking for over four years. We met her.

With a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, she worked in the UK in the financial sector. In 2014 Aki-Sawyerr returned to Sierra Leone together with an operational unit in the fight against Ebola. In 2018, with the opposition party to the current government All People’s Congress, she won the elections for mayor of the capital.

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr. The Mayor of Freetown.

Immediately after she took office, she launched the Transform Freetown project. For Aki-Sawyerr, the Transform Freetown project tries to respond with a holistic approach, which is divided into four points: resilience, human development, a healthy city, and mobility.
A strategy that is based on public intervention, on private investments (while also seeking funds from foundations and international organizations)
and on the direct participation of the citizens.

At the heart of its political agenda is climate change. What impact does the latter have on the city and the country?
From my point of view, we must try to break down the question and try to identify the factors that lead to deforestation, the consequent loss of biodiversity and climate change.
The latter actually works like a circle. For example, the increasingly frequent irregularities of meteorological phenomena have an impact on agricultural communities, which are unable to cultivate and are forced to migrate to the urban area, in search of a better life. In the case of Freetown, this has resulted in massive deforestation of the hilly areas, where newly arrived migrants build their homes.

Freetown. ©robertonencini/123RF.COM

So, we see that some actions, caused by climate change, end up exacerbating climate change itself. The loss of forests and biodiversity, in fact, has an impact on the food supply chain, on the collection and availability of water and on the acceleration of natural disasters such as landslides and floods that Freetown has suffered. Another driver of deforestation is government policy. In this country, for example, a logging license was granted to a single operator and, as far as we know as citizens, it imposes no restrictions. In fact, the export of timber exceeds that of any other raw material in terms of volume.

How does the Transform Freetown project intervene in the environmental question?
In designing the Transform Freetown project, we went through a process of identifying the biggest challenges in the city, identifying 11 priority sectors and 19 objectives.

Freetown. View of the city from the university. ©robertonencini/123RF.COM

As far as environmental management is concerned, we have aimed to increase vegetation by at least 50%. Freetown the Tree Town, which aims to plant a million trees, is an initiative that is part of this goal.
Last season we planted 257,000 trees and this year we intend to plant 350,000, despite the government’s delays in providing funding from the World Bank. In addition to planting trees, it is important to make them grow and for this, we have created an application with which everyone can take care of a tree and track its growth. We rely upon community commitment and involvement.

Is it possible, regarding Freetown (which has one million inhabitants) and African cities in general, to speak of what the urban planner Henri Lefebvre called the “right to the city”?
We need to think first of all about the definition and raison d’être of this right, which is based on the premise of the city as a space of opportunity, in which you can have access to a decent home and public space. The fact that, on the contrary, we have a city that grows in an unstructured, sporadic and chaotic way, poses a challenge that makes the concept of the right to the city less applicable.

Freetown. Pedestrians at intersection to the market. ©robertonencini/123RF.COM

This is really a different concept of a city because the city Lefebvre spoke of was the consequence of a sort of urbanization that brought with it an expectation and the right to the improvement of living conditions. This is because we can only really talk about rights when we talk about values. In the context of Freetown, on the other hand, we have a situation where there is a deterioration in the quality of life, the level of economic activity and productivity, the availability and accessibility of services. We see the number of people growing, while the ability to meet that growth decreases. Therefore, it would be necessary to be able to intervene on the lack of urban planning and on the absence of the building permit scheme, essential for improving the quality of life of residents. It is precisely on these two points that the action of the City Council wants to focus. (Open Photo: Freetown.123rf.com)

Luca Onesti

The Catholic Church.

The motto of the 500th anniversary year was ‘Missio ad Gentes’, to show that the story that began with the arrival of Magellan is the epic of a Church which, originally foreign, was able to define the physiognomy of an entire Asian nation and make it
a missionary community, with an important role entrusted
to the large community of migrants.

This aspect was also underlined by the Filipino bishops who, in the message sent to the Holy Father on the occasion, emphasised “The filial love of the Filipinos in the 7,641 islands of our country. There are more than 10 million Filipinos who have emigrated to nearly 100 countries around the world. This morning they join with us”.
In this electoral round, too, indeed perhaps more than in others, the Church presents itself united with a strong moral solicitation for good governance but also divided on the concrete policies proposed by the main candidates. A division that is first of all spread within the episcopal conference, as demonstrated by Duterte’s different positions on ‘legality’ policies, has also been opposed step by step with regard to demographic policies, the lowering of the age for the incarceration of minors, and the persecution of opponents which involved, even with lethal effects, men and women of the Church.

As the elections neared, various pastors took a stand for the different parties involved: in some cases allowing and in others, forbidding, priests to indicate a preference regarding candidates and programs. The archbishop of Cebu, Jose Palma, intervened to remind his clergy that a pulpit is not the place to ‘campaign for any candidate’ and a few days later a homily by Archbishop Socrates Villegas challenged the clergy to take a stand against ‘opportunism and family dynasties’ that pursue ‘sinful politics’. The situation is one that many see as recalling the different visions during the martial law regime imposed by Ferdinand Marcos and, with a singular somersault in history, the most politically accredited heir of the Marcos family, the son ‘Bombong’ Marcos, is today the candidate more likely to win the presidential elections. It is no coincidence that Duterte also rehabilitated the figure of his father, who died in exile in Hawaii in 1989, three years after the ‘Revolution of Flowers and Rosaries’ with which the Filipinos freed themselves from the dictatorship in a non-bloody way.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan visits prisoners at the Caloocan City Jail. (Photo CBCP)

In a different, unitary way, the Philippine Church has taken a position on the situation created by the Russian aggression against Ukraine and has taken action in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and in welcoming refugees. After the appeal of the Philippine Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CBCP) to stop the weapons and start a dialogue between the parties, the vice-president of the Commission for Migrants and Itinerant People, Msgr. Ruperto Cruz Santos, expressed the Church’s support for concrete hospitality initiatives, indicating the Executive Order 163 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte for the reception of Ukrainian refugees, as ‘our gift to the whole world’ that the Bishops’ Conference and the Stella Maris Centre are committed to supporting.
However, even in the Ukrainian ‘case,’ the country’s contradictions in foreign policy emerged. The former Supreme Court judge, Antonio Carpio, urged the government to join the international pressure against Moscow, believing that ‘a mutual defence policy with other states to allow a balance of forces’ is ‘the only antidote that a weak state can use against invasion or annexation by a powerful neighbouring state’.
The closest reference is to China with which Manila has a long-running dispute over home seas. On the other hand, Richard Heydarian, a geopolitical expert and government advisor, spoke of Manila’s ‘deplorable case of toxic neutrality’. Under fire is the policy of non-interference confirmed by President Rodrigo Duterte, who is also hostile to closer strategic relations with his traditional US ally.

A boat sails through the South China Sea. Photo: 123rf.com

Heydarian called for greater involvement that starts with ‘a moral stance’ on the invasion suggested by many, and opens the Philippine territory to hospitality to refugees from the conflict, as it has been in the past for large numbers of people on the run from the Indochinese conflict. Even on this front, however, the president has shown that ‘only Filipinos count’ and that the policy of violent eradication of crime ‘will continue as long as there is even just one drug dealer alive’, reiterating that the international community must keep away from ‘His’ match.
The diplomatic inability that is part of the Duterte character has threatened to isolate the country. The need to confirm his leadership has made the outgoing president blind to the consequences of his attitude abroad, consequences that could have an economic and strategic impact on the whole nation. This begins with the problematic relations with Beijing which, in the South China Sea, pursues a policy of territorial control over large areas also claimed by Manila. Despite the sometimes-tense relations, the country has so far enjoyed military support from the United States.

Stefano Vecchia

 

Archaeology and History in the Sahara / A Journey to Tadmekka.

In Mali seeking the ancient capital of the Tuareg. It was once one of the most populated and richest of the trans-Sahara cities
in West Africa.

Tuareg: the mythical name means ‘abandoned by God’, the name which the medieval Arab conquerors gave to the nomads of the desert. However, the local name of these people is Kel Tamacheq, those who speak tamacheq, an ancient Saharan language with its own script called Tifinagh. Their continual movement from north to south and back again, with the dry and wet seasons, in search of the meagre pastures to be found in the desert, led them to be known as ‘sons of the clouds’. In Malian Sahara, on the border with Algeria, there is a mountainous massif 1,000 metres high and made of basaltic rock and stone: the Adrar des Ifoghas. On this massif, whose capital is Kidal, we find four-thousand-year-old cave paintings due to the place having been crossed by the most frequented trans-Saharan trade routes.

In the Middle Ages, along one of the now-extinct waterways (wadi), a group of Tuareg from Hoggar (Algeria), founded Tadmekka, a rich acculturated city, mentioned and magnified in many of the accounts of medieval Arab travellers. As the centre of trans-Saharan commerce, it was called es-Souk (the market), and its magnificence only began to wane with the emergence of Timbuktu at the end of the Middle Ages.
In 1640, Tadmekka was destroyed by a faction of Tuareg enemies, and the city was forgotten until the 1800s, when a French archaeological expedition reached the ruins of that city in the middle of the desert.
A further two expeditions went to es-Souk in 1935 and 1952. In 1960, when Mali became independent, Adrar was declared a military site and inaccessible to foreigners.

Es-Souk was explored for the first time only at the start of the 2000s, much later than the other trans-Saharan commercial cities, partly due to the civil disorder in Mali in the nineties. The digging began exactly in 2005, guided by the Missione Culturelle Es-Souk, Malian Institut des Sciences Humaines, and Direction Nationale du Patrimoine Culturel. Over the years, there was a series of archaeological expeditions that sought to discover the historical roots of the Tuareg people. Today, due to the instability of the place, archaeological research has been halted.

Es-Souk — The market
As regards Tadmekka, there are various Arabic sources that mention it. This city is spoken of by the Arab historian Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) and by the more ancient Arab geographer el-Bekri (1028-94) who says that, on the Niger, (in an unspecified city of Tiracca) there was an exchange of products coming from Ghana and Tadmekka, in the Adrar des Ifoghas. El-Bekri describes Tadmekka as “Of all the cities in the world, it most resembles Mecca”. Tadmekka was on a route leading, after forty days, from Ghadames (Libya) to Gao (Mali), and the inhabitants of the time used to buy millet in Gao.The origin of this city (whose ruins are close to the present-day site of es-Souk, to the north-west of Kidal) predates the arrival of the Arabs and originates probably from the middle of the first millennium of our era.

View of the Essouk Valley, the location of the Tadmekka ruins. (Photo: Sam Nixon).

The urban criteria followed in its development lead to the idea of sedentary populations. The presence of a river and a commercial route between the markets of the Mediterranean coast and the River Niger rendered the area most favourable. Given that the derivation of the appellative Tadmekka predates the Islamisation of the area, the name does not derive from that of Mecca to which the geographer el-Bekri renders it similar but derives from an ancient Berber tribe, the Tademkiun, and the city may have previously had a different name.
In the late Middle Ages, some of the inhabitants of Tadmekka moved southwards towards the bend of the Niger and, in the XII century, founded Timbuktu. The commercial importance of Timbuktu to Tuareg trade led to it eclipsing Tadmekka and it was finally destroyed by the Iullimmiden Tuareg.
The position of Tadmekka, apart from its commercial value, was strategic from the morphological point of view: the city developed in a valley with steep sides some tens of metres high that provided sound defence and observation points.

The ruins of the necropolis
Along the banks of the es-Souk wadi, a river once navigable and with plenty of fish, there is a vast array of stone blocks. From above, however, one may make out geometric shapes with ancient pathways and house foundations. The ruins are one kilometre long.
The simple structure of the quarters farthest from the river indicates that they were inhabited by the poorer classes, and it is here that the lodgings are found where passing merchants and their dromedaries could rest and quench their thirst.

The base of the walls. (Photo: Sam Nixon).

In the centre of the wadi, there is a former island; here the constructions are in a better state of preservation, the houses are spacious with communicating courtyards in what was probably an area inhabited by the noble classes. Along the bank of the island, a low wall was built in stone blocks to protect the houses from river floods.
The few investigations carried out by archaeologists in the inhabited area did not lead to the discovery of the emporiums, the forges, or the industries renowned throughout the Sahara, or the mint that once struck famous gold coins. These ruins, which perhaps lie under the sand, would enable the reconstruction of the appearance of the city just as the medieval Arab travellers saw it.

The whispering harmattan leads the imagination to clearly hear the rushing waters of the river and the cries of the fishermen, the clanging of the blacksmiths, the chattering of the market and the laughter of children – sounds that, centuries ago, filled the clear air of a more moderate climate and the days of this opulent city – at the crossroads of one of the most important trans-Saharan merchant routes.
In Tadmekka, there are six cemeteries, generally within enclosed areas. Most of the tombs are Islamic and only a few predate the Islamic period. The inscriptions on the tombstones are written in Arabic script and the tombs are made of circles of stones within which, when the skeleton of the dead person emerges from the sand, the face can be seen pointing towards the east.
On the higher areas in the north-west (which dominate one of the cemeteries), Tifinagh inscriptions can be seen as well as paintings of domestic and wild animals such as dromedaries, giraffes, and fish, that testify to a once moderate climate and abundant fauna that ensured the wellbeing and tranquillity of the inhabitants. (View across the central area of Tadmekka/Essouk, showing extensive stone ruins on the surface. Photo: CC BY 3.0/Journal of Archaeological Science.)

Gian Andrea Pagnoni

 

 

“Islam Needs Illuminism”.

Islam must rediscover the tools of reason and the tolerance of origins. Thus, reopening the minds of Muslims on human rights, women, and religious freedom. And updating jurisprudence, says Turkish intellectual Mustafa Akyol.

It all began with his arrest at Kuala Lumpur Airport, a modern Malaysian city where, even today, they have religious police.  Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish intellectual, forced to reside in the United States, landed there in 2017 to attend a conference, but was arrested for suspected apostasy for having declared, in fact, that the religious police should not exist because ‘faith cannot be imposed by the police’.

He would get off with a night in his cell because the former Turkish president Abdullah Gül, still influential within the Malaysian monarchy, intervened on his behalf. But it is from this event that Akyol begins his reflection in his book: ‘Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom and Tolerance’. Explaining complex ideas with engaging prose, Akyol borrows lost visions from medieval thinkers to offer a new vision of the Muslim world on a range of sensitive issues: human rights, women, religion, and religious freedom. Akyol offers a hopeful vision for the future. A third way that is widely discussed in religious and intellectual circles throughout the region, after the advance of the self-styled ‘Islamic state’ catalyzed the debate, clouding the most tolerant views.

How do you view Islamic civilisation?
Islamic civilization has been a crisis civilization for decades. Historian Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) argued that the Islamic world in the modern era can be compared to that of the Jews of the first centuries, during the epoch of Jesus Christ. The Jews had a very high opinion of themselves, but they had to deal with the occupation and government of the Roman Empire.

Turkish intellectual Mustafa Akyol. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Malaoffice

That Roman challenge can be compared to the Western challenge faced by Muslims today. The Jews at the time developed two different reactions: those who imitated the Romans and were co-opted, and those who opposed them. Toynbee saw twentieth-century Muslims at a similar crossroads. In the 21st century, there are regimes that show their modern face, but make use of internal repression, and others that totally reject modernity. These are antithetical positions that are also found in the academic world.
If I, a Muslim, criticize even just some legal interpretations, I am accused of being an orientalist, that is, of seeing my own culture with a distorted lens. This is an anachronistic and obtuse view.

Is there a third way?
Of course. It consists of recognizing this crisis and making progress. I am convinced that the first Islamic interpretations must be recovered, such as those of the Arab theologian of Islamic Spain, Ibn Tufayl (better known as Abubacer Aben Tofai, author of ‘The Self-Taught Philosopher’ and Ibn Rushd (better known as Averroè, ed.). According to all of them, Muslims have every right to study religion, using the tools of reason, because Islam does not forbid it.

Muslim people in mosque reading Quran together. 123rf.com

Theories like these are the oldest, the most open and tolerant. Although less known, they are often forgotten. In the first centuries of Islam, there was much more diversity and intellectual vivacity, especially in the more cosmopolitan centres such as Iraq, where Sunnism and Shiism coexisted side by side with Christianity. It was the most prosperous and glorious era of Islam. But then, those who have managed power over the centuries have considered them uncomfortable theories and labelled them as heretical and giving them a bad name.

Are some reformist interpretations of Islam condemned today?
I am thinking of Nasr Abu Zayd (1943-2010), in Egypt. Convicted of apostasy, he had his marriage annulled because of his liberal views. He was a great defender of religious freedom, convinced that individual freedom is an essential requirement of faith. So, it’s not just me working on this project to reopen Muslim minds. The Islamic Modernist movement has been calling for a reform of the shari’a since 1800. And Islamic feminists have played a decisive role in women’s emancipation, re-reading the scriptures hitherto interpreted only by men.

You are hoping for a new illuminism in Islam. What do you have
in mind?
The illuminism I have in mind is purely religious. Islam must embark on a process similar to that already experienced by Christianity and Judaism. When Christianity had its crisis, it sought a solution internally, questioning some doctrines, attitudes, rediscovering its roots in the
first age of Christianity.

Quran, The Holy Book of Muslims around the world. 123rf.com

There have been Christian and Jewish philosophers and intellectuals who over the years have reinterpreted these religions with a view to tolerance. Now it’s up to Islam to take this path.

Nevertheless, even today people are condemned for blasphemy and apostasy…
There are those who think that Islam is the only source of wisdom and morality, that those who are strangers to it live in a state of ‘jahiliya’ (ignorance of the pre-Islamic era, ed.) and therefore cannot contribute to the development of society with their thinking.
Originally, Islam had a much more universal vision and today we know that there has also been an accumulation of wisdom brought by Christians, Jews, and atheists. When this view becomes prevalent, the condemnation of apostasy will lose its value.

Must there be, then, a strategy of tolerance to reopen Muslim minds?
I prefer to speak of a theology of tolerance. Reading ‘Dabiq’, the magazine of the followers of the self-styled Islamic state, I realized that the worst heresy for them is that of the ‘murji’ah’, a sect known for its tolerance and support for the idea that judgement belongs only to God and not to other Muslims. The theology of tolerance dates back to the first era of Islam: we can go back to cultivating it and even globalizing it. This tolerance must be applied both inside and outside Islam.

Has this phase of illuminism already begun?
Yes. And not just in terms of reflection. There are Muslim communities living in a context where this process is taking place. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is no reference to ‘shari’a’ in the Constitution.
In Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, non-Muslims cannot be called ‘khafir’, infidels.
It is true that there are still radical fringes who want to apply certain rules of Islamic law to the letter, such as cutting off hands.

Arabic Lantern. 123rf.com

The spectrum of Muslims, however, is much broader and many are convinced that there are no longer the conditions to implement those rules. I think that these radical measures should be renounced in principle: not only because they are not applicable in many contexts today, but because the original teachings of Islam did not foresee them. The jurisprudence that has established itself was built up in an era of empires and conquest when the norm was not peace, but war; whoever believed in another religion was considered an enemy. An era that we are happy to have left behind. Now we need to update our case laws. (Open Photo: The Blue Mosque in Istanbul. 123rf.com)

Azzurra Meringolo

 

Bolivia. Socavon, Life is a Joyful Dance.

The pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin of Socavon, in Bolivia, is a process of conversion and a desire for intimacy with God.

The celebration of the Oruro Carnival is an expression of popular religiosity that intertwines Christian feeling with that of all the Andean people. It expresses the relationship of closeness and respect towards the Virgin Mary, in addition to the invocations in the rites of Candelaria and the Virgin of Socavon linked to the mining area.
On Carnival Saturday, the pilgrimage-dance takes place to the Sanctuary of Socavon. Thousands of dancers dance eighteen different types of dances for five kilometres, making their lives a dance offered with great joy. One dance that symbolizes this Andean festival is called Morenada.
In it the search for the freedom of human beings is expressed. This dance dates back to the time when Africans who were taken into slavery in the mines of Bolivia fled to the tropics and integrated into local indigenous cultures in search of freedom.
The Central Morenada, created by the Cocani community, is one of the reference points of this dance and is so called because whoever started it was connected to the production and trade of cocaine leaves, a ritual element that invites dialogue.

©jeremyrichards/123RF.COM

This population, the Cocani in fact, is characterized by making its pilgrimage singing and dancing until it reaches ‘the feet of Mamita Candila’, the loving way of calling the Virgin. Their songs communicate messages of resistance and hope to the participants in the carnival because the words raise questions of life and the rhythmic rhythm is appreciated by both locals and strangers who participate in the pilgrimage. In this sense, there is the song ‘Sombrerito’, composed by Christian Lopez Alarcon and interpreted by the Doble Via group. The verse ‘I dance to my Madonnina in the Carnival … to my Mamita Candila, with Faith and Devotion, I make my pilgrimage without fatigue nor pain until Socavon … ‘, evokes the traditional sense of pilgrimage seen as a duty and with a profound sense of suffering, as appears in the refrain of another popular song, by an anonymous author, which is often heard in the Sanctuary: ‘At your feet, Mother, an unhappy burden of anguish and a thousand pains are laid’.

©rchphoto/123RF.COM

At the same time, this verse of the song ‘Sombrerito’ indicates the pilgrimage as an experience in which each pilgrim becomes aware of his or her promises and sets out on a journey overcoming fatigue and pain. With the rhythm and dance, she expresses her faith and devotion to the maternal and close image of Mary, ‘my Mamita Candila’ with whom she dances familiarly, evoking both an interior and material pilgrimage.
This vision of the pilgrimage is in tune with the document on pilgrimages made in the great Jubilee of the year 2000, where it said that a pilgrimage is a process of conversion, a desire for intimacy with God and a confident plea for material needs to be met.
Each dancer, in fact, while dancing calls to mind their own life, welcoming lights and shadows in the hope of being able to transform and heal negative situations and so live in harmony and equilibrium. (Open Photo: ©rchphoto/123RF.COM)

Tania Ávila Meneses

Climate Change and armed conflict.

Fighting climate change requires a basic condition: peace. Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s decarbonization efforts had progressed in the context of COP 26 as it submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with a target of a 65% reduction below 1990 levels by 2030, a net-zero targets by 2060 and an anticipated coal phase-out from 2050 to 2035.

As of now, as the country faces war and a humanitarian crisis governance is no longer possible. The longer any aggression havocs, the worse will be the environmental degradation and the more challenging the battle against climate change.

Political, economic, and social stability are decisive factors for successfully mitigating climate change in the crucial coming decades – they are a climate solution. That said, the impact of both global warming and armed conflict limits the capacity to deal with the changing climate conditions and environmental disasters caused by war.
This is particularly severe in the context of the recently launched IPCC Sixth Assessment Report alerting those political efforts are
advancing too slow.

The world’s ecosystem is deteriorating, and climate risks are among the most pervasive risks of this next decade. The COP 26 illustrated the historical moment and the need to make structural decisions for the future of mankind and reduce the carbon footprint.

And yet, military action is exempted from the Kyoto Protocol – even though according to Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR), globally, the military, and the weapon supplying industry, are responsible for 6% of all global GHG emissions. Conflicts, their preparation and aftermath, cause environmental impact and require high intensity of energy use. The entire cycle of warfare has intense carbon footprints.

In 2020, there were more than 56 state-based conflicts globally, according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.
Many of the countries facing armed disputes, most of them are developing countries, are simultaneously global warming “hotspots” – facing high exposure to climate-risks and low levels of resilience, as shown by the ND-Gain index.

This is specifically dramatic because apart from the humanitarian crisis already in course, they are less prepared to deal with the side effects of emissions or environmental impacts.Conflict severely impedes the ability of a nation to implement governance mechanisms and deal with the direct or indirect consequences during or in the aftermath of a conflict.

Armed conflict leaves no room for climate change adaption and environmental protection. According to the IRCC, the Gorongosa National Park lost over 90% of its wildlife throughout Mozambique’s 15-year civil war.  Adding to the severe damage to biodiversity, water resources are already under threat due to climate change, but in the situation of conflict are either object of dispute or victim of pollution.

An OCHA report identified water as a determinant factor in conflicts in over 45 countries. Its pollution creates wide-scale impact on agriculture and food security amongst others. Urban areas with interconnected services any sort of water pollution can have extensive health impact.

Maritime pollution, either as direct or indirect consequence of a conflict can be devastating. For example, warnings of an imminent environmental catastrophe concerning the deserted and uninsured oil storage tanker FSO Safer, which is anchored off the Red Sea coast of Yemen with over a million barrels of crude oil, has been repeatedly issued by NGOs and the media.

Due to the Yemen conflict, the vessel remains uninspected, posing a significant danger of catastrophic damage in the region in the near future. More than that, maritime security in the context of military and naval activities must consider the fragility of maritime ecosystems and their interconnectedness.

The case of air pollution shows that the destruction of ecological resilience is not limited to borders or bound to the geographical scope of the conflict. In the context of the Ukraine crisis, the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) points out that Multiple Launch Rocket Systems have been employed to attack urban areas, and beyond the essential threat to human lives, have been causing pollutions due to their composition of asbestos and combustion material.

Attacks on physical infrastructure of a country, its power grids, and transportation can be disastrous. Again, in Ukraine, the Russian invasion is the first time a military conflict has erupted in the midst in nuclear energy facilities of that scale. Any escalation evolving these facilities can cause severe damage, able to cause devastating long-term impacts.

Long-term consequences will also be felt in the context of the European dependency on Russian gas. Global energy price fluctuations could reinforce the reliance on fossil fuels for heating, transportation, industry, and electricity generation – until decarbonizing sources and technologies, renewables and energy storage are more available.

Climate change and environmental pollution are impacting the nature and contributes severity of humanitarian crises – take human displacement. It dramatically perpetuates already existing vulnerabilities and disparities, particularly in armed conflict.

One must only take a glimpse at the Sahel region with its rapidly spreading displacement within and across the borders and the track record of environmental and climate change-related crises, with crisis with temperatures in the region rising 1.5 times faster than the global average, according to UNHCR – the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. As another indirect consequence of the Ukraine war, that increased fertiliser, food and fuel prices hit developing countries with a high risk of climate change exposure, reinforcing interruptions in food supply for example.

How to address harm to ecosystems and people? Countries have protected the natural environment against long-term, and severe destruction since 1977, thanks to Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. It safeguards natural resources from extra conflict-related violence by forbidding assaults on resources essential to the civilian survival, such as agricultural lands and drinking water.

There are currently doubts, however, until which extend these safeguarding measures provide accountability of state and actors. For years, the UN’s International Law Commission has been elaborating a legal framework that safeguards the environment in the context of armed conflicts containing 28 draft principles, published in 2019. Nations will have the possibility to adopt the draft principles at the UN General Assembly in Autumn 2022.

With new types of active warfare, including cybersecurity, new layers of complexity are added. Targeted cyber-attacks carry the capacity to unable energy systems, for example electrical grids, and other systems in place for environmental and resource protection. Compared to other weapons, cyber-attacks are low-cost and easier to employ.

On top of that, other than nuclear energy, there is no centralized controlling mechanism available for cybercrimes and attacks. Such novel relationships between conflict and climate change crisis are only beginning to emerge and will require a targeted strategy, knowledge and joined efforts respond. (Open Photo: Damaged residential buildings in the aftermath of a shelling in Podilskyi district of Kyiv. ©palinchak/123RF.COM)

Alena Profit/Modern Diplomacy

 

Saudi Arabia vs United Arab Emirates. A geopolitical and economic competition.

For more than two decades, the Gulf monarchies have found themselves at the centre of countless geopolitical, economic, and strategic challenges at the regional level.

Among these, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have emerged as pivotal actors in the climate of strong transformations taking place in the whole MENA area.This trend has often led them to act and move in coordination but has also sometimes caused noisy and unthinkable misalignments.

One of the most remarkable occurred in July during the summit of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which was also extended to include international players who are not part of the world energy cartel.
The reason for tension concerned the proposal – mainly supported by Saudi Arabia and Russia – to increase oil production to 400,000 barrels a day from August, combined with the idea of extending the agreement on production cuts (signed in April 2020) until the end of 2022.

These two solutions would avoid large fluctuations in crude oil prices and keep them relatively high for the coming year, but they have been firmly rejected by the UAE.
Indeed, Abu Dhabi is less dependent on oil revenues than its Saudi counterpart – the sector accounts for 42% of Riyadh’s gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 30% of Abu Dhabi’s GDP – and intends to use the discussion to achieve better terms within OPEC+.

These frictions appeared as unprecedented within the energy consensus, immediately driving up the price of oil to $81.13 a barrel (because the war in Ukraine in now at $100)  and prompting its members to quickly seek a compromise. Most importantly, the dispute also revealed different visions between the two major Gulf monarchies. Contrary to popular opinion over the years, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have not always pursued similar objectives, both within OPEC+ and at the local and regional diplomatic levels.

Conversely, the two monarchies have often found themselves in dissonance and competition, which have caused difficulties in finding common solutions to shared problems. While initially, these distinctions stood out above all on a historical-political level – with repercussions on the geopolitical strategies pursued in the regional chessboard – the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has strongly sharpened the economic problems of the two Countries, unravelling their rivalry, especially on this aspect. Consequently, it is important to understand which are the major elements of discontinuity and economic-energy tension between the two Gulf monarchies, to analyse the repercussions and resonances also on the other countries of the region.

The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic has left indelible furrows for the economic setup of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Looking at today’s data, Saudi GDP has fallen to $677 billion from $708 billion in 2019, an aspect that is also reflected in a loss of outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) of $7,722 million, as well as the unemployment rate, to date at 12.2% (for a population of almost 36 million).

The UAE’s current economic figures are also less than comforting, with GDP dropping to $354 billion (compared to $373 billion in 2019), a loss of inward FDI of $1,764 million, and an unemployment rate stuck at 2.6% (still a considerable figure considering the small Emirati population, which reaches only 10 million inhabitants). Furthermore, the general constraints imposed by the pandemic on a global scale – above all the halt to international trade and the strict imposition of lockdowns – have strongly highlighted the economic-structural problems already partly existing in the two Arab Monarchies, such as the need to free themselves from dependence on oil.

The collapse in crude oil prices, accompanied by the changes that the two countries have had to undertake in the domestic labour market, have forced Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to strengthen the ambitious programs of structural reforms already launched in recent years, so as to diversify their economies in the shortest possible time and adapt them to a future less dependent on hydrocarbons (the peak of the oil demand is
looming around 2030).

These adjustments will lead the two countries to find themselves increasingly in competition, having to reconfigure an entire labor market by competing for a scarce resource. A first sign of change emerged last February 16, when Saudi Arabia asked its companies to relocate regional headquarters within the Kingdom’s territory, a move to reduce the UAE’s dominance as a commercial and tertiary hub within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The Saudi goal is to attract up to 500 multinationals to its territory within a decade, thus attempting to rival the UAE, which holds the record on a regional scale by hosting around 140 companies. Despite the short time, the effects of this measure are beginning to be seen – twenty-four large international companies have already announced their intention to transfer their regional offices to Riyadh – and they are not the only wake-up call for the UAE.

In fact, last July, Saudi authorities announced their intention to end preferential tariffs for Gulf states which purchase products in the region’s free zones, stating that all goods manufactured in those areas would no longer be considered as locally produced. Given their significant fiscal advantages, free zones abound on Emirati territories (to date, there are about fifty, the main ones being Ajman, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah, and Sharjah) and are one of the drivers of the UAE’s economy, as evidenced by the case of Dubai, where these areas contributed 31.9% of the emirate’s GDP in 2018 (according to the Dubai Free Zones Council). Moreover, these areas have helped the Emirates become Saudi Arabia’s second-largest trading partner after China in terms of imports, a position that is now, however, severely compromised by Riyadh’s
new trade policy.

The assertiveness of the new Saudi measures thus seems to bring concrete risks to the UAE’s economic superiority, prompting them to respond immediately with several policies benefiting foreign companies. Prominent among these is the UAE’s intention to reduce taxes by up to 94% for companies wishing to open an office in the Federation and invest there, proving how the UAE wants to focus on facilitation in the investment sector in order not to lose the comparative advantage it has held so far over its Saudi counterpart.

To make itself attractive to global investment, up to now the Emirates have put an effort above all on guaranteeing a solid and coordinated supply of essential services for major centres, excellent communication systems, and a financial sector that is well structured and almost free from currency exchange constraints.

Today, however, the government of Abu Dhabi wants to go further, aiming at the development of the real estate and infrastructural sectors – above all transport – in a sustainable manner (this aim clearly emerges with Expo 2020, through which Dubai aims to project a technological and sustainable image of itself). At the same time, also Saudi Arabia considers the attraction of international investors as a priority. However, Riyadh is still far behind Abu Dhabi, given that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced the ambitious plan “Vision 2030” – which includes a willingness to boost the global investment market and an economic diversification strategy – in 2016 only. Nevertheless, Saudi authorities hope to catch up with the delay soon, also planning to implement new legal reforms based on credit structures.

At the same time, several other sectors could be subjected to the KSA-UAE economic competition. The first one is the touristic sector, where Saudi Arabia hopes to strategically insert itself. With its skyscrapers and luxury resorts, Dubai holds the regional record in the tourism industry (especially in the luxury sector), but many of the Emirate’s main attractions are beginning to be outdated, requiring costly renovations that would also involve foreign capital.

Consequently, Riyadh would like to take advantage of this aspect to “steal” tourists from the UAE, also aiming at non-religious forms of tourism. Even though the Hajj and the Umrah, the famous pilgrimages to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, continue to be a preferential channel for Riyadh (attracting in the per-Covid period up to 19 million pilgrims each year for a value of 12 billion dollars, 7% of the Kingdom’s GDP) the country has many natural sites in which to potentially invest and adapt to mass tourism.

Many of these are located in the Aseer region, on the Saudi Red Sea coast, where the Kingdom has already started implementing high-profile financial infrastructure plans. Specifically, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has already launched a $3 billion investment project in February 2020, aiming to build 2,700 hotel rooms, 1,300 residential units, and 30 commercial and entertainment attractions in the region by 2030.

In addition, on September 28, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman declared his intention to expand this project by injecting liquidity into the local market of up to 12 trillion riyals (approximately $3 trillion). Not to mention that, if the construction of the Jeddah Tower is completed in the short term, Saudi Arabia will possess the tallest tower in the world, a clear sign of its ambitions to become competitive in the luxury tourism sector as well.

In this regard, another remarkable example can be found by looking at the case of al-Ula, a city in the northwest of the Kingdom. With more than 27,000 archaeological sites dating back to the Nabatean era, this city carved in stone was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. That is why, to increase its notoriety, Riyad is planning to build a luxury tourist resort within the site itself by 2024, with forty suites, three villas, a conference centre, and fourteen private pavilions.

Furthermore, the defense system constitutes another sector Saudi Arabia wants to invest in, modernizing the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) to compete with the Emirates Defense Industries Company (EDIC). Certainly, this sector has huge potential for the kingdom, but the UAE may still have a comparative advantage in it thanks to the Abraham agreements, which could give them the possibility to use Israeli military technologies that Saudi Arabia may not have direct access to.

Finally, it is impossible to omit the rising rivalry in attracting highly skilled foreign labour, needed by both countries to fill domestic labour and skill gaps. Indeed, the Gulf countries have always heavily relied on migrant labour to drive their economic systems forward. These migrants mostly come from the Middle East region (Egypt and Jordan mostly), South Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka), and Southeast Asia (Indonesia and the Philippines above all) but constitute essentially low-cost and low-skilled labour.

In contrast, the ambitious economic diversification programs to which the petro-monarchies now aspire require cutting-edge skills, an aspect that compels both countries to seek strategies to attract qualified professionals with high skills. To date, both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have already issued special visas to this specific category of workers, and the Emirates have even considered offering them citizenship, a very rare concession in all GCC countries. These two decisions suggest that both Gulf Monarchies may continue to introduce such measures to facilitate the entry of foreign workers and advance their development models.

In conclusion, the highly evolving climate experienced in the Gulf area is spurring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to undertake increasingly autonomous paths at an economic level. These discontinuities have been further accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has inaugurated an unprecedented climate of economic rivalry between the two main Arab members of OPEC+.

The new commercial competition touches multiple sectors (tax system, business locations, investments, tourism, defence, labour) and seems destined to last, given the need for the two monarchies to readjust their economies to a post-hydrocarbon future. In this scenario, it is therefore foreseeable that the two countries will continue to undertake increasingly assertive economic strategies, which will also affect a growing number of labour and production sectors. Thus, all these elements could bring significant changes to the commercial and financial balance that the two Arab Monarchies have held so far, with repercussions throughout the entire Gulf region. (Open Photo: Aerial view oil storage tank with oil refinery factory industrial. ©artitcom/123RF.COM)

Angela Ziccardi/ISPI

Colombia. Afro Centre. A Place of Sharing.

In Tumaco, Colombia, a decade ago, the Afro Youth Centre was established to enable young people to work for social transformation using art, culture, group work and a communitarian experience
of faith.

Tumaco is located in the extreme southwest of Colombia, in the Pacific region bordering Ecuador, far from the political and economic centres of the country. The city has reached only a very low level of development with regard to health, education and quality of life, and at the same time occupies one of the first positions in national statistics regarding violence and drug trafficking. The murder rate is extremely high and most of the victims are young people with more than half of the people murdered in the city aged between 15 and 29.
Of the 217,000 inhabitants of Tumaco, 45% are under the age of 20.  School and work opportunities are scarce. Only six out of ten young people finish secondary school and of these, few manage to enter university or get a decent job. The unemployment rate is 88%.

To respond especially to the needs of young people, the Comboni missionaries present in Tumaco since 2014, along with their other activities, decided to open an Afro Centre, bearing in mind that the majority of the population was of Afro origin. Since its inception, the Afro Centre has seen the growth of various groups for children and the youth, including art and sports groups.
Once a week, the Descuádrate youth group meets to discuss different topics and social activities.
On the basis of an embodied faith and with an open and critical spirit, the members analyse the reality of the city and the country and organize days of cleaning, help to the needy, symbolic acts of resistance, as well as recreational activities with other young people.
In addition to its youth groups, the Afro Centre promotes art as a tool for social transformation. More than 40 girls form the Naidí group, which is dedicated to traditional and contemporary dance. Thanks to a very disciplined education, they have achieved a high artistic level and also a deep sense of belonging to their Afro-Colombian roots. In addition, their collective bodily work has a wonderful healing power, which strengthens them against the many painful realities of their lives.

Six years ago, the rap music group AfroMiTu was born. Its critical sense and the vigour of its songs are impressive. Young people compose their own music and write the lyrics in a collective process based on their experiences and life realities. Under the motto ‘Generating awareness’, their songs are dedicated to the defence of human rights, the promotion of non-violence and peace, respect for women, and care for nature.  Last year, the musicians took advantage of their Covid-19 lockdown to build their own recording studio, which attracts new young people and is used to produce podcasts and radio programs on the pedagogy of peace.
The Afro Centre also uses different circus acts as a pedagogical strategy to get teenagers to use their energy and leisure time for creative fun and teamwork. The Talento Renaciente group began with stilts, something that requires courage, agility, and physical endurance from the children. Today, there is no peace march in Tumaco that is not led by the marchers of the Afro Centre. They have also learned juggling, basic acrobatic techniques, how to ride unicycles, and even fire shows.

In addition to the different groups of children and young people, the Afro Centre also has a library equipped with an internet room.  There is also a group of women who meet weekly at the Afro Centre to spend time happily together making bags, handbags, earrings and, of course, weaving bonds of trust. In the absence of a community hall in the neighbourhood, the Afro Centre also hosts many meetings of the Community Action Board, the Neighbourhood Health Committee, Community Mothers, and other initiatives.
It is because of this open attitude, as well as its ongoing commitment to peace and its neutrality towards controversial issues that the Afro Centre has earned the respect and trust of many organizations.
All the work of the Afro Centre is based on the skills and human resources of the children and young people themselves. They are the ones who keep the place clean, collect rubbish, paint the walls, and help maintain equipment. It’s their home, so they have to take care of it. It is not a service-providing institution, but rather a large family whose members walk hand in hand.

This way of working makes the process a little slower than other better-equipped projects, but at the same time, it is taking decisive and lasting steps. Each member contributes their time, knowledge, and resources; in this way, a truly community process is being built up.
A particularly interesting effort in view of the sustainability of the Centre is a small business organized by the young people themselves under the name of Piqueteadero Centro Afro. Every afternoon, young people prepare cakes, hot dogs, kebabs, and sandwiches that are sold at affordable prices for the neighbourhood and generate funds for the basic expenses of the youth centre.
Finally, what binds and sustains this whole collective process is a deep missionary spirituality.
This means walking in an organized way, sharing dreams and sorrows, recognizing the abilities of others, and learning from each other, forgiving each other, and building a true community of faith.
At the Centre, during the week, the young people of the confirmation catechesis group and the large group of Missionary Childhood meet.
On Sundays, the Centre is transformed into a chapel, both for First Communion catechesis and for the celebration of the community Eucharist.

Ulrike Purrer

 

 

Mission. Life is a gift.

Three young Comboni Sisters talk about their missionary experience.

My name is Sr. Carla Mora from Costa Rica. I have been in Mozambique for almost fifteen years.  I have to say that embracing the missionary life has not been easy, because it implies renunciation, adherence, fidelity and, above all, much faith in the One who has called you.

Today I live my vocation in total availability to Jesus Christ, despite my frailties and weaknesses, letting myself be guided by what he wants from me.It is an inner strength that is difficult to explain, but that helps me, every day, to give myself generously with joy and love.

The fulfillment of my vocation as a Comboni Missionary in Mozambique has been marked by several moments, some good, some not so good. I currently work at Mangunde Hospital, in the centre of the country, not far from the coastal city of Beira. I also collaborate in the parish, accompanying the young students of a college.

I am a nurse and a trained midwife.  Through my profession, I can go where I never imagined going and do things, I never thought I could do. Helping other people makes me happy, especially the patients I meet every day. In them, I see the hope and resilience of these people.

Every day, I discover how great and wonderful Mozambicans are. I admire their strength, their tenacity and their ability to face life, which in these lands is not easy, and I recognize in them the presence of God. The work I do focuses, in most cases, on accompanying women during pregnancy and, above all, during childbirth, so that their babies can be born in the best possible conditions.

Sometimes we witness real miracles! In our hospital, we do not have the medical facilities to help all the children and their mothers and sometimes the situations become dramatic.

Because of the coronavirus, in the last two years, we have been busy with all the Covid patients coming here to the hospital but also with conducting a vast hygiene awareness campaign that involved visiting a number of villages.

That was an impressive experience and I must say that seeing so many women whom I had helped to give birth at the hospital and their children growing up healthy, gives a new meaning to my missionary life. Life is beautiful and it is worth living it helping the poorest and most abandoned.

There was still something missing
I am Sr. Anita C. Concepcion from Binmaley, Pangasinan in the Philippines. I believe God began to form me and slowly plant in my heart the seeds of the religious life long before I was aware of it.
From primary school, I was attracted by the beauty of the church and the singing of the choirs. I joined the Children of Mary, then the Legion of Mary in my Parish.

After I became a midwife, I applied for work in the United Arab Emirates in 1989, first in Abu Dhabi, then in Ras Al Khaimah. The latter is about 115 km. from Dubai where the community of Comboni Missionary Sisters is located. I was happy working abroad and helping my family but I felt something was still missing in my life.

A friend who wanted to become a Comboni Sister invited me to accompany her to the convent of the Comboni Missionary Sisters.
I cannot forget the peace and joy I felt the moment I entered the convent for the first time.

While I was waiting for my friend, a Sister gave me a book about the experiences of the Comboni Sisters in Sudan during the Islamic Fundamentalist Mahdi uprising.
I was touched by the fidelity of the Sisters in that difficult situation. The book also inspired me to learn more about God’s merciful love and the desire to dedicate my life to the mission.

After my experience of discernment, I left my work as a midwife. I was sent to Jerusalem to do my first year of religious formation then to Rome for the second year. I continued my Novitiate for two years in Brescia (Italy) and made my first religious profession on 14th September 2003.

My first mission was in Amman (Jordan) after which I went to Virginia (USA) and then to Uganda, Africa from 2008 to February 2021. I worked as a Health Tutor at the Matany School of Nursing and Midwifery in Karamoja (Uganda). I felt fortunate to be training future optimal health care staff.  Through these years, I have come to believe that my call to religious life is a gift that calls me to be more open to the mission.

Saying “yes” to God is not always easy but with His Grace everything is possible. With this awareness, I look towards the future with a willing spirit, believing that God will always be with me especially in my new assignment as I go back to the Middle East.

To find what is truly necessary.
My name is Sr Beatriz Galán Domingo from Spain. I have been living in Talawakelle in the Central Province of Sri Lanka for five years.  The majority of our population depend on the tea industry, either for harvesting or further processing.

Behind every cup enjoyed in the Western world are the lives of thousands of women. Sunburned and anaemic, women bear the brunt of the tea plantation work under the scorching sun. Humidity favours the presence of animals. Simply out of greed for profit, the tea industry pays three Euros at best for twelve kilos of tea leaves.

With eyes wide open to that reality in which life, especially that of women, is exploited, our mission unfolds. We share the joy of working in a diocesan school where Christians and Hindus (students and teachers) try to form good people and honest citizens.

Education is the most powerful tool to break the cycle of poverty and the stigma of slavery. In addition, it is the appropriate place to discover that ethnic and religious differences, rather than being a threat, can be a mirror of the wealth and plurality of the country.

The other pillar of our presence is the parish. More than 1,500 Christian families spread over 60 communities belong to the parish of St. Patrick. There is a variety of groups: more than 300 kids in catechesis; the Legion of Mary; the Divine Mercy group; the group of San José Vaz; and a group of youngsters.

We work in collaboration with two diocesan priests of our parish, and with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux. Our Christian community looks like a mustard seed.
Despite being the smallest of the religious presences in the country, it has within itself the vocation and the strength to become a tree capable of providing shelter and bearing good fruit.

I thank God and our people. The constant prayer of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians has strengthened my prayer life. The priority accorded to the family in Sri Lankan society has made me value my own even more. The simplicity and poverty with which my neighbours live have led me to try to find what is truly necessary.

The solemnity of some celebrations, the symbolism, the colours, and the smells have made me understand infinite Beauty. The serene joy of seeing the shyness that quickly turns to confidence and many chats with a thousand questions have taught me to appreciate the importance of stopping and talking with people. The life of suffering endured by these people who were once slaves reinforces the promise of Christ: “I have come so that they may have life, and have it in abundance.”

The unshakeable faith of a minority, sometimes persecuted or even massacred, confirms that the Church is mother and body; that she is called to come out of the temples and break the barriers of fear and privilege; that even if it is persecuted, is called to be the announcement of the fullness of  Life in Christ. (C.C.)

Food Security and Advocacy. Ubuntu Project.

The food crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic has opened new ways towards sustainability and self-reliance through vegetable gardens in the less-privileged communities of Johannesburg.

In February 2020, Seed Community’s Green Business College (GBC) in partnership with Tim Nectare Farms launched the Ubuntu Project (www.ubuntuproject. africa) aimed at providing fresh food boxes and setting up food gardens amongst the most vulnerable in the Gauteng communities in South Africa. Ubuntu means ‘I am because you are’. It can also mean ‘We are because the earth is.’ It speaks of our shared humanity and our place on this earth.

Food security is a growing challenge in South Africa and in many parts of Africa and food gardens are a real solution, which contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change that will continue to pose a threat during the post-COVID-19 era. They provide a way for communities to produce their own fresh vegetables and generate some extra income. As households collect and replant their seeds, the extra seedlings and excess produce can be sold.

This initiative came as a result of the unprecedented global crisis of the pandemic which saw a lot of families starving, while small-scale producers were stuck with their produce, unable to sell it in the markets.

Working together with local agro-ecology farmers in the greater Johannesburg, the initiative provided boxes of fresh vegetables and managed to establish food gardens among the more disadvantaged in the communities. It did not only provide the communities with organic produce, feeding needy families, but offered them tools
to grow their own vegetables.

The initiative started with organic farmers in the Orange Farm area. Ubuntu Project supported these farmers as they supplied needy families with food parcels of organic vegetables, seeds, seedlings, compost and, more importantly, training and support – a special component usually lacking in a lot of small gardening projects where beneficiaries are given seeds and then abandoned to continue on their own.

The veggie boxes displayed the true spirit of Ubuntu, which is about empathy, community, and recognising that none can survive without the most vulnerable.
This became such an attractive initiative in the social media that it received a lot of attention from people in affluent areas of Johannesburg. They started purchasing the veggie boxes for their own consumption.

In June 2020, the Ubuntu Veggie Box delivery service was launched. People had the opportunity to order boxes, which were delivered to them. Every box purchased enabled the customer to donate a vegetable garden starter kit – comprised of 30 seedlings and 10 kg of compost – to resource – constraints communities who were keen to grow their own veggies. Customers were also connected to the beneficiary families.

Through the Ubuntu Project, Betty Nkoana and the members of the Thoughtful Path (TP) Non-Profit Community organization, received various forms of support. These included seedlings and seeds for their community allotment gardens in the old township of Munsieville, West Rand, Johannesburg.

Betty is a real champion in the community, as together with the TP members, provides a range of services, which include aftercare for orphans and underprivileged children, and health care services for teenagers and women.

Betty, through a training that she and her colleagues received from the GBC in 2018, developed a passion and love for farming. In 2019, she and other members of TP, were offered a piece of land next to an informal settlement in Johannesburg’s oldest township.

They were able to set up farming allotments for various families and community groups. The Ubuntu Project donated the seedlings and seeds for the allotments and Tim Abba, who was a trainer at the GBC, spent two days providing Betty and her team with technical support
to set up the gardens.

In August 2020, Betty, 20 members of TP and some of the young people and women from Munsieville Township, attended the Ubuntu Project Agri-business course facilitated by the Ubuntu Project. They learned about product pricing, marketing and value-addition and how to turn their small farming project into a profitable business.

They started to farm with determination in September 2020 on their small plot and they implemented what they had learned from both the organic farming training and the business course to set up their agri-business. They also received a second instalment of the donated Ubuntu Project seedlings to augment the production capacity of the plot.

The TP team have been harvesting pumpkins, mealies, spinach, chillies, tomatoes, onions, rosemary, mint and lettuce and have been supplying Ubuntu Veggie Boxes. This team started processing some of their produce to make their unique Chilli-Sauce which they are selling in their community.All of their produce was sold and they were able to buy another set of seedlings and seeds to replant.
This has been a truly transformational story of how to create resilient communities which secure their livelihoods.

This project contributed to assist communities of per urban Johannesburg South through emergency food parcels relief. The contents of the parcels of fresh and locally processed products were made to be flexible, based on the needs and resources of each area and linked to small-scale farmers.

Local small-scale farmers in Johannesburg South collaborated and formed partnerships to supply the needed volumes and a variety of fresh nutritious vegetables, which offered flexibility in the procurement of the goods. The small- scale farmer partnership has the potential for expansion, to supply other food relief efforts and services
to local markets.

During the COVID-19 food relief effort, the Ubuntu Project managed to inspire small and local distribution networks including small logistics enterprises in and around Orange Farm.
These can flexibly procure from their network of small-scale farmers, fresh produce, dry goods assembled into agreed packages, and deliver food relief parcels should it be needed.

Setting up of 150 households and 11 communal food gardens in the communities with supplies of compost and seedlings has been very important to enable households to plant their small food gardens and to small-scale farmers to continue producing. This has been an essential contribution to the community and to the household resilience in these trying times. Some of these are small homesteads, backyard gardens, others are farmers producing on bigger areas.

Over five months – May to September 2020 – the Ubuntu Project assessed the input needs and delivered tailored input packages as required. These have potential to scale up depending on further needs assessments.

This emergency food relief response has shown its potential to catalyse a more enduring production and distribution network, co-ordinated with the demand, to produce more localised food economies. Food sovereignty means much more than putting food on the table. It touches the core of human dignity and enables people to become producers within their own communities.

Dorah Marema

 

 

 

 

Chad. A Mortgaged Country.

The interests of multinationals often coincide with those of the leaders of some countries. Chad and Glencore, among the largest commodity trading companies in the world, could be an example.
The agreement of the government of N’Djamena with the multinational only served to further empty the meagre coffers of the African country.

On the death of President Idriss Déby killed last April on the battlefield leading the army troops against a rebel group, his son Mahamat Idriss Déby assumed power. After taking power, his first trip abroad was to Qatar. An investment fund of this absolute monarchy, rich in gas and hydrocarbons, is the main shareholder – 9% of the ownership – of Glencore, an Anglo-Swiss company based in Baar, Zug, Switzerland and leader in the trading of raw materials. Glencore is now Chad’s creditor, after a manoeuver by the previous president.

Glencore company headquarters building in Zug, Switzerland.

Idriss Déby wanted to fight his Islamist enemies in 2013, which is why he needed to buy weapons but lacked liquidity. With the taps of the banks and large international institutions closed, the Chadian president decided to use the high oil prices to get into debt: Chad would repay the money thanks to the future sale of those barrels of crude oil. When Glencore gave him the loan, the oil was over $100 a barrel; a few years later the price had dropped to $ 26. The result: Chad would have to deliver more barrels of oil to meet its debt to the company. The book ‘The World for Sale’, by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, tells how the austerity measures to pay for Glencore were so severe that even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) considered them ‘dramatic’.
Glencore stipulated that the money must be used for social purposes, but this condition was purely cosmetic: with the budget freed up by the Glencore loan, Chad was able to buy more weapons to fight the various rebel factions.

General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.

According to the Chadian journalist exiled to Paris Makaila Nguebla, Déby’s trip to Qatar was not only for economic reasons: in this small territory of the Persian Gulf, there lives one of the great political figures of Chad, Timane Erdimi, grandson of Idriss Déby, and one of the leaders of a rebel group that does not recognize the authority of N’Djamena. Erdimi lives under surveillance in Qatar, and Nguebla thinks one of the new military junta’s goals is Erdimi’s return to Chad, where he was sentenced to death. Erdimi has lived in Qatar for ten years and has no plans to return to his country at the moment. Since last November, the military junta has been in talks with the various Chadian political actors. The meetings were held in Doha, Cairo and Paris. Erdimi, in a recent interview, stated that he does not intend to return to N’Djamena until there are real negotiations with the regime of Mahamat Idriss Déby.
The growth or decline of the Chadian economy depends almost exclusively on the price of oil. When it is high, the economy grows. When it goes down, many bills go unpaid and Chad has to borrow money from international creditors to meet its most basic expenses. With a very dry climate – and increasingly affected by climate change – agricultural productivity is very low, a fact that prevents food self-sufficiency. Like its other Sahel neighbours, rising food prices are a major source of discontent among the population.
The increase in the price of petrol and transport, coupled with the fact that it is a landlocked country, makes it difficult to bring food to Chad. The country depends on the speed of the ports of neighbouring countries – such as Nigeria – and on the precarious infrastructure for transporting food in rural areas.

Timane Erdimi, leader of a rebel group that does not recognize the authority of N’Djamena.

The main consequence is that traders have to pay more for bags of beans and this cost affects the consumer’s purchasing power. The Chadian press, last August, obtained the testimony of a trader, Ahmat Abdoulaye, who said that the price per bag was already close to 2,000 CFA francs, just over three euros. For many mobile food vendors, the solution is simple: keep prices low and serve smaller portions. Beans are a great source of protein and vitamins for the inhabitants of the capital. The increase in the price of gasoline and transport, coupled with the fact that it is a landlocked country, makes it difficult to bring food to Chad. The country depends on the speed of the ports of neighbouring countries – such as Nigeria – and on the precarious infrastructure for transporting food in rural areas. The main consequence is that traders have to pay more for bean bags and this cost affects the consumer’s purchasing power. The Chadian press, last August, collected the testimony of a trader, Ahmat Abdoulaye, who said that the price per bag was already close to 2,000 CFA francs, just over three euros. For many mobile food vendors, the solution is simple: keep prices low and serve smaller portions. The bean is a great source of protein and vitamins for the inhabitants of the capital.

The history of Glencore is linked to the figure of Marc Rich, its founder. This American businessman made his fortune doing business where no one else dared to go: from apartheid South Africa to Jamaica to post-Berlin Wall Russia. Rich and his commodity speculators are characterized by granting long-term loans to countries in a desperate situation, without alternative sources of financing; once commodity prices were contractually fixed, the company benefited from the price difference at the time of the crisis.
Once it was over, they went back up. In the case of Jamaica, according to Farchy and Blas, this type of move allowed Glencore to obtain bauxite – a basis for producing aluminium – ‘at half its market price’.
The terms of the agreement with Chad are so abusive that even the late President Déby later acknowledged that the loan was a mistake.

Glencore owns 79.5% in the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture in South Africa. (Photo: Pixabay/Diego Trujillo)

Now Chad owes 15% of its GDP to this Swiss company. Marc Rich, in the early 1990s, saw how his partners took over the company after his problems with the law: Rich had done business with Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran, sanctioned by the United States. However, the founder of Glencore has always had friends at the top: Bill Clinton’s last decision, days before leaving the White House, was to grant the businessman a presidential pardon.
The Glencore footprint is present in many countries of the African continent: from the copper mines of Zambia to the national debt of Chad, passing through the platinum mines of South Africa, the oil of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea or the Republic of Congo. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and its market capitalization exceeds $40,000 million, four times the economy of Chad. In other words: a company with 135,000 employees carries more weight economically than a country with 16 million people. And the Chadians, in the next few years, will suffer austerity measures in order to pay them with the little money left.

Jaume Portell Cano

 

The Great Federation.

The Emirate Federation, created in 1971 out of the union of the six monarchies (seven since 1972), is unique in the Arab world since it is made up of absolute hereditary monarchies headed by a sheikh who functions as an absolute sovereign within his own state.

In virtue of its constitution, the Emirates enjoy autonomy from the political, juridical, and economic points of view and their internal dynamics are by nature oligarchic.
Decisions are taken within the Federal Supreme Council which is made up of the hereditary ruling Sheikhs of the country.
Ever since their foundation, Abu Dhabi, the capital since 1996, and Dubai have exerted a predominating influence economically and demographically. This dominance has determined the regular reconfirmation of their respective Emirs, within the Supreme Council, in the posts of president and prime minister of the Federation: Emir Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyān (succeeded in 2004 by his son Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyān) and Rashid bin Said al-Maktoum (replaced in 1990 by his son Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum).

Abu Dhabi City Gate at sunset. ©saiko3p/123RF.COM

One of the tasks of the prime minister is to select the members of the government who are then approved by the President and the Supreme Council of the UAE. Following the economic crisis of 2008, in particular, which hit Dubai most of all and was averted by a plan involving 20 billion dollars advanced by Abu Dhabi, it is the Abu Dhabi that governs the UAE internally as well as in the elaboration of foreign policy and security.
The economic and demographic differences that exist among the smaller Emirates do not lead to their penalisation. The smaller Emirates, instead, are considerably advantaged by the Federation outside of which they would have survived only with difficulty.
The single Emirates adopt economic policies that reflect the differences between the respective economic structures of those belonging to the Federation within which there is a regime of free exchange but also a shrewd redistribution of the income from petroleum, the results of which are to be seen mostly in terms of social welfare.

The Federal National Council (FNC) in Abu Dhabi.

In terms of institutional politics, 1971 also saw the creation of the Federal National Council which functions mainly as a consultative organ even though in recent years it has extended its functions in response to the growing attention to social and economic questions (education, health, small businesses) and to feminine empowerment. The organ has a single house and is composed of forty members (with a percentage of women) of which only half, since 2006, are directly elected while the rest are nominated by the individual Emirs.
Since 2006 there has also been a broadening of the electoral base which, from 6,500 voters showed an increase to 337,000 voters in the 2019 elections when, nevertheless, only 35% of the few existing voters actually went to the polls (there being no universal suffrage).

People visit the Gold Souk in Dubai. The Federation is multi-ethnic and has about 10 million inhabitants of whom only one million are from the country. ©Tupungato/123RF.COM

From the social point of view, the Federation is multi-ethnic and has about 10 million inhabitants of whom only one million are from the country while the rest, about 88.5%, are all expatriates (of whom 2.6 million are Indians, 1.2 million Pakistan, 700,000 Bangladeshi, 525,000 Filipinos, 450,000 Iranians, 400,000 Egyptians, 300,000 Nepalese, 300,000 Sinhalese, 200,000 Chinese) who represent 90% of the workforce in the private sector, the petroleum sector so necessary for the standard of development of the Federation. This heterogeneousness is the result of the economic and construction boom of recent decades that has attracted large numbers of migrant foreign workers, mostly adherents of the Muslim faith from poor areas of South East Asia who have increased the population by a factor of five.
According to reports issued by some humanitarian organisations, working conditions are inhuman and the pandemic has left the workers in an even worse condition since they find themselves with no social security or money to send home to their families. Another important migratory phenomenon is that of the Western community located in Dubai which shows a high rate of increase of 6.3% per annum. This varied ethnic mosaic is a cause for concern partly due to the growing tensions that are developing between the poor social classes also due to the recession caused by the pandemic.
In fact, there has been a worrying increase in aggressive behaviour in the work camps and in the dormitory residences, especially those occupied by the poorer classes within the so-called Kafala work system which shows no particular care for the workers but, on the contrary, imposes inhuman working conditions on them.

The Grand Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhab. ©kasto/123RF.COM

It must also be noted that the Indian community, due to its high numbers, plays an important role both within the Federation and in Dubai, the location of some Indian billionaires engaged in the jewellery industry. From the point of view of religious affiliation, 85% of the population are Sunnis, 15% are Shiites, 9% are Christians and 15% profess other religions, mainly Hinduism and Buddhism. Unlike many other countries in the region, there is respect for religious freedom and cult and it was probably not by accident that the Pope started to dialogue with Islam here when he signed, in 2019 and together with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, a document encouraging interreligious dialogue. (Open Photo: 123RF.COM.). F.R.

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