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The Ankole cultural spots.

Monday, 1 November 2021 8:00

Places, legends, instruments, dances, to preserve the Ankole’s rich and diverse culture. At a glance some of these sites.

Nkokojeru tombs: these are the resting places of the Ankole’s last two kings: Mugabe Edward Solomon Kahaya II buried in 1944 and Omugabe sir Charles Godfrey Rutahaba Gasyonga II, who ruled from 1944, and who died in 1982. There are also other tombstones in this area marking the graves of other royal family members.
Igongo cultural centre: this is for the preservation of Ankole’s rich and diverse culture, and is located where Mugabe’s palace once stood.

The Igongo Cultural Centre. Photo: Daily Monitor

Itaaba Kyabanyoro: this is Ankole’s most significant cultural site for it is where the last king of the Bachwezi crafted the sacred Ankole royal drum called the Bagyendanwa. Itaaba Kyabanyoro is the birthplace of the founder of the Ankole kingdom. This drum was a sign of power and legitimacy owned by a Mugabe on the royal seat. This is in Kitagata Hot spring, whose hot springs are believed by many to have healing powers. One of the springs known as the Ekitangata ky’omugabe: it is very significant for it is believed to be the only spring which was used by the omugabe of Ankole. There is another spring known as Mulango named after the Mulango referral hospital, Uganda’s largest referral hospital.
Sanga cultural village: this cultural centre is known as the great Ankole culture and customs centre.
It lies around lake Mburo National Park and is inhabited by the Hima community of Bahima people, the Ankole cattle pastoralists.

Karegyeya Stone is an historical monument found in Kategyega Village in Ntugamo District. Photo: CC BY-NC 4.0/ Tonny Mpagi

The Karegyeya Rock: known locally as Eibare rya Karegyeya, can be found just over a mile outside of Ntungamo in Karegyeya village. The legend of the rock encompasses local traditions of the ancient Bachwezi; semi-gods who took on human appearance but did not die and simply disappeared into the underworld. They were said to be the original, traditional rulers of the empire of Kitara, a probably mythical kingdom that existed in the 14th and 15th centuries and covered parts of modern-day Uganda (including Ntungamo), Tanzania, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The Bachwezi were in turn believed to be related to the Batembuzi, a dynasty founded by Ruhanga, the creator. The last of the Batembuzi rulers, Isaza, is believed in tradition to have married and had a child with Nyamata, the daughter of the king of the underworld, Nyamiyonga. Nyamiyonga was later to seek vengeance on King Isaza for attempting to deceive him over a pact and lured him into the underworld from where he was never to return to the world of men.
The Karegyeya Rock is believed to form an entrance to this underworld and it is believed that the Bachwezi still reside down there, a legend perpetuated by rumors of fires seen at night emanating from the rocks with ashes and worldly goods scattered around them at day break. In order to keep the locals away and to prevent them from exploring the secrets of Karegyeya Rock further, another legend of a giant snake that lurks under the rock also exists.
A snake so large its belly contains a lake, a lake so large that if the rock was ever destroyed the waters from the lake would break free and devastate the surrounding areas like a dam breaking.

Ankole Long-Horned Cattle: (also known as inyambo), these have a dark brown coat and long white horns that curve outwards in the shape of a lyre. They are majestic, elegant animals, able to travel long distances in search of pasture and water.
Their horns are very impressive, almost six times longer than those of European cattle breeds). This breed continues to have a sacred role in the community of Ankole and were once considered the incarnation of divine beauty, a yardstick for women and warriors.
Ekitaguro (Ankole traditional dance): the Ankole people have their most treasured dance participated in by both women and men who dance imitating the movement of their long-horned cattle. Women dance with their arms prolonged above their head forming a symbol of two long horns of their cattle inyambo, while the men jump with vigor holding spears as they stamp the ground imitating the movement of the Ankole long horned cattle. This magnificent dance is accompanied with songs and mimes praising the cattle for providing milk and beef, and making their mooing sound and the sound of the milk pouring into the gourd. (Open Photo: © Can Stock Photo / robin_ph)

Gaaba Lucky Maria

Five proposals. So that everyone has enough food?

Monday, 1 November 2021 8:00

The UN Food Systems Summit was set out to review food systems to see if they ensure that the goal well defined by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, is achieved: “Build a world in which healthy and nutritious food is available and affordable for everyone, everywhere. But this should not be at the expense of nature.”

The Summit brought together ideas from leaders, businessmen, academics, producers, consumers, and environmentalists; however, not from small farmers or representatives of the hungry peoples. It was held in the context of the 76^th UN General Assembly, last September 2021. The contributions of the participants to this summit were summarized in five proposals-objectives (See the five proposals of the summit).

The first objective/response is to guarantee access to healthy and nutritious food for all 811 million people who suffer from hunger. “The most vulnerable suffer the most, not because food is scarce (the world produces enough to feed all people), but because of political and logistical factors that make it too expensive or difficult to obtain,”
said a report presented by the Program of the United Nations for Development (UNDP).

The second objective/response is to adopt sustainable consumption patterns for the 7,800 million inhabitants of the planet who suffer from malnutrition and the 1.9 billion who are overweight. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) wants to promote a coalition between States, the private sector, and multilateral entities to guarantee the sustainable production of nutritious foods that ensure healthy diets, which implies improving transportation, storage, distribution and educate consumer families with “food values.” It should be remembered that each year more than 900 million tons of food are thrown into landfills around the world.

The third objective/proposal is to promote a respectful production of nature, based on studies and debates on the environmental and climate impact of agriculture, livestock, and fishing activity. Guterres has therefore called for “ending the war with the planet” and recalled the role of food systems in global warming: they produce a third of greenhouse gas emissions and are responsible for 80% of loss of biodiversity.

The fourth objective/proposal is the promotion of equitable livelihoods in which, according to Guterres, include the defense of agricultural producers and transport and distribution workers, in particular those who have worked during this time of the pandemic carrying food to markets and homes. “These men and women have been the forgotten heroes of the last 18 months. Too often, they are underpaid workers, even exploited, and to change this situation it is necessary to re-evaluate the approach of agricultural subsidies and employment support for these workers,” said the Secretary General.

Studies by UN agencies indicate that of the 540,000 million dollars that go into agricultural subsidies each year, 87% distort prices and promote practices that are harmful to the environment, and mainly benefit large producers, at the expense of small farmers.
And this when these small farmers who work on average less than two hectares produce a third of the food consumed worldwide, and up to 80% in regions of Africa and Asia.

The fifth objective/proposal is then the creation of resilience in the face of vulnerabilities that range from natural disasters such as floods and prolonged droughts to the persistence of pests such as African locusts and the Covid-19 crisis. In addition, there are the armed conflicts that cause the displacement of farmers and herders in areas of chronic poverty, and the sharp ups and downs in food prices. “Food systems have incredible power to end hunger, build healthier lives and sustain our beautiful planet,” said Agnes Kalibata, special envoy of the Secretary General for the Summit on Food Systems, in summary.

However, for two years, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, has been the main promoter of this summit. During this time, in 148 countries and all over the world more than 600 meetings have been held, with the participation of some 45,000 people to update proposals aimed at sustainable food systems. So, what to say in front of this explosion of agreements?

The newspaper El Salto writes: “Food prices have risen around the world by 40% during the last year” [read the time of the pandemic]. And he explains that on the African continent, one in five people is in a situation of food insecurity.” In The New Humanitarian it is stated that: “They demand sex in exchange for food from women in Burkina Faso.”

Reading these texts, by association of ideas, one goes back to the essay El hambre (Anagrama, 2015), by the Argentine journalist Martín Caparrós, where he explains what the Chicago Stock Exchange is.

“Chicago is no longer the place where everything is bought and sold, but it is still the one that sets the prices that will later be paid and charged all over the world. The prices that will define who wins and who loses, who eats and who does not eat” (p. 287). “Before it was a market for producers and consumers, and now it has become a place for financial gambling & speculation” (p. 288).

“The history of food took an ominous turn in 1991 (…). It was the year that Goldman Sachs decided that our daily bread could be an excellent investment” (p. 289). So, “Food became an investment, like oil, gold, silver or any other action. The higher the price, the better the investment. The better the investment, the more expensive the food. And those who cannot pay the price must pay it with hunger” (p. 290).

There are no clearer quotations and, of course, as usual, the UN analyzes the problems well, makes optimal diagnoses and draws valid principles to solve the problems. However, it does not risk going to the bottom of the spring, where the earth has turned into a putrid sludge that infects the water that is then drawn, distributed and drunk. So, what’s the use of talking?

Jean Paul Pezzi

Climate migrants. The great exodus.

Monday, 1 November 2021 8:00

The great climate migration has already begun. The number of people fleeing their birth country is expected to grow over the next thirty years, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Experts warn: governments and the international community must act now.

By 2050, at least 216 million people could be forced from their homes by the impacts of climate change. Sub-Saharan Africa alone could see as many as 86 million internal climate migrants, 4.2 percent of the total population, East Asia and the Pacific area 49 million, and South Asia 40 million. Internal climate migration is also expected to grow, though with lower but not less dramatic percentages in North Africa, Latin America and also in old Europe, especially Eastern Europe. North Africa, however, is expected to have the highest proportion of climate migrants, with 19 million people on the move, equivalent to around 9 percent of its population, mainly due to the increasing water scarcity in the north-east of Tunisia, north-west of Algeria, west and south of Morocco, and the central foothills of the Atlas.

Despite security risks, the number of migrants travelling from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia through Yemen had been on the increase over the past four years. Photo: IOM.

According to the World Bank’s second Groundswell Report, such forced migrations will be inevitable if urgent action is not taken to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Especially if far-reaching initiatives, to bridge the gap between that part of the world that produces more pollution to the detriment of that other part that mainly seems to be affected by it, are not implemented.
In the next thirty years, individuals and entire communities are destined to become climate migrants who will have to face water scarcity, decreased crop productivity, and rising sea levels. Climate stress due to rising temperatures (the years 2016, 2019 and 2020 were the hottest on a global level), but also extreme events – floods, continuous rains, typhoons, long periods of drought – will cause the constant reduction of cultivable areas. Fleeing is the only option when there is no fertile land and water. However, the scenarios proposed by the study are not totally pessimistic: whoever wrote the report seems to want to send a message: ‘We still have time. It all depends on what initiatives will be taken’.

Devastating floods in Bujumbura Rural. Photo:Lauriane Wolfe, OCHA.

The number of people forced to leave their homes could be reduced by 80% – about 44 million people, which in any case are not few – if we reduced greenhouse gases, started working on truly green development projects, and planned the phases of a migration which is now impossible to contain in order at least to ensure forms of adaptation in other areas and climates.The issue of international protection laws for ‘climate migrants’ should also be addressed. And speaking of greenhouse gases, it should be remembered that five years after the Paris Agreement, the world is still dangerously on track to warm by almost 3 degrees Celsius by 2100, while we should be aiming to limit global warming to just 1.5C.
Impacts of climate change have already been observed for some time. They are destined to change the use and availability of livelihoods, and resources in rural, coastal, and urban systems in all regions. Consequently, the distribution of the population and the dynamics of mobility that have always characterized the sub-Saharan populations are also destined to change.

Over 26,000 migrants have been rescued in the desert since 2017 through IOM’s humanitarian search and rescue operations in Niger. Photo: IOM.

According to the authors of the report, it would be a big mistake to be caught unprepared, which would make the problem even bigger. For example, governments and local and international organizations should already start creating hotspots to manage exceptional migratory flows and at the same time they should devise forms of assistance for those who remain. Of course, these are transitional measures that do not take into account the enormous social impact on safety, as well as the psychological impact that migration induced by climatic events causes to the people who experience this tragedy.
Sub-Saharan Africa is more vulnerable than any other region to climate change, due to desertification, the fragile coasts – erosion is another problem – and the dependence of the population on agriculture. Despite increasing urbanization, the rural population still exceeds that of the cities. The experts also point out that many areas are not only affected by the climate change but also by other crisis factors such as conflicts, insecurity, the presence of terrorist groups, poverty, and social inequality. All these factors of social crisis would be stressed and fuelled by the climate change issue.

Climate migrants, just like the economic ones, are moving within national borders or towards neighbouring countries, and this trend is expected to continue; three migrants out of four will likely remain in their country. They will have to face many difficulties concerning migrant acceptance, assistance, or finding a job.
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), conflict and disasters triggered 40.5 million new internal displacements at the end of 2020, 30.7 million as a result of disasters related to weather conditions such as storms (14.6 million), and floods (14 million). Most new displacements triggered by disasters in 2020 were recorded in East Asia and the Pacific (12.1 million) as well as South Asia (9.2 million). Tropical cyclones, monsoon rains and floods hit highly exposed areas that are home to millions of people. Moreover, now, for the first time in a generation, the quest to end poverty has suffered a setback.
Global extreme poverty rose in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years as the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the forces of conflict and climate change, which were already slowing poverty reduction progress. About 120 million additional people are living in poverty as a result of the pandemic, with the total expected to rise to about 150 million by the end of 2021.

Climate change effects on the most vulnerable populations and categories are happening faster than expected. Suffice it to say that just three years ago, the World Bank’s first Groundswell Report predicted that, by 2050, climate change would cause the migration of 143 million people (South Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa).
Juergen Voegele, vice president of the World Bank for sustainable development said: “The impacts of climate change are increasingly visible. We have just experienced the hottest decade on record, and we are witnessing extreme weather events all over the world”. Many people who had barely escaped extreme poverty could be forced back into it by the convergence of COVID-19, conflict, and climate change. (Open photo: Migrants walking in the desert. IOM/Alexander Bee)

Antonella Sinopoli

Herbs & Plants. Blighia unijugata. A Plant with a remarkable healing potentiality.

Monday, 1 November 2021 8:00

A genus Blighia comprises only three species and is endemic in tropical Africa. It can be distinguished from the other two species by its leaflets having tufts of hairs in the axils of lateral veins. It is an indigenous tree widely distributed in the tropical forests in the Sub-Saharan Africa. It is commonly referred to as triangle top.

The plant grows to form a dense crown, usually up to 30 m in height. The bole is often quite short, usually straight, and with a girth of up to 1.80 m in diameter, slightly fluted at the base. The compound, alternate leaves are 80 to 300 mm long. The main vein of the leaf (rachis) and 40 mm stalk are both hairy. The leaflets can be found in 1(2)-4(5) opposite pairs, with the uppermost pair usually the largest. The shiny, dark green leaves are hairy and paler underneath, with wavy margins. It also has a drip tip and the midrib and veins stand out.

Photo credit: CC BY-SA 3.0/ Michael Hermann

The young leaves can be distinguished by their shine and pinkish red colour. The small, sweetly scented, whitish to yellow flowers are in spike-like, axillary sprays. When ripe, the fruits split into woody, red-lined valves to expose shiny, black seeds resting on a soft yellow base. With age, the seeds will hang from the dried capsules. It is found mostly in moist evergreen forest, but also in semi-deciduous forest, in more dry areas in riverine forest, and in wooded grassland and is often associated with termite mounds, at about 1,900 m above sea level.

The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as food, medicine and source of wood. It is sometimes grown to provide shade for coffee and is commonly planted as a shade tree.
Ethno-medicinally, Blighia unijugata (Family Sapindaceae) has been used in folk medicine to treat and manage various health conditions including rheumatism, kidney pain, stiffness, leprosy, eye aches, cough, headaches, nausea, fever, vomiting, dizziness, as well as high blood pressure. The plant has been reported to enhance childbirth process due to its oxytocic action. It is also recognized for its sedative and analgesic properties.
As an analgesic plant, it is used in treatment of rheumatism. The seed infusion is given to prevent vomiting. The concentrated decoction/infusion liquor resulting from heating or boiling the bark, is taken to treat fever, and is also used as a purgative. The bark pulp is applied as an enema. The leaf decoction is used to treat vertigo; a feeling of being in motion when not. Leaf pulp is administered as an embrocation to serve as rejuvenator and relaxant.
The leaf infusion is used in vapour baths for the treatment of fever in children, and as tonic. The leaf decoction is also used to treat fatigue. The roots are used to treat postpartum bleeding (haemorrhage) and boils. The fruits have also been used in some communities for the treatment of nausea and vomiting.

Photo credit: CC BY-NC 4.0/Wayne Fidler.

The leaves of the Blighia unijugata medicinal plant are traditionally used in the management of depressive psychosis. The numerous medicinal activities of Blighia unijugata plant may be attributed to a number of phytochemicals in it including polyphenols, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, alkanoids, sterols, polyterpenes, reduced sugar, coumarins, quinones, and cardiotonic glycosides.
Apart from its uses in traditional medicine, the leaves of Blighia unijugata can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable. The pleasantly scented flowers are sometimes soaked in water and used as a fragrance. Its other social applications are in soap making; the seeds, because of their oil content, and the seed coat because of its potash content, are burned and the ashes used in making soap. The wood of this tree is durable, with a reddish heartwood, and is used for furniture and building. Twigs, leaves, flowers and fruits are softened by soaking in a liquid and used as fish poison. (Open photo: CC BY-SA 3.0/Jerome Walker)

Richard Komakech

Uganda. Journey into the Ankole cultural heritage.

Monday, 1 November 2021 8:00

Ankole is one of the oldest and most famous dynasties in Uganda. It is believed to have been created back in the early 15th century. The people of Ankole Kingdom are called the Banyankole and they speak a language called Runyankole.

The Banyankole are inhabits of the present-day districts of Mbarara, Bushenyi, Sheema, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Ibanda, Mitooma, Rubirizi, Buhweju, and Isingiro situated in Western Uganda.
The Ankole community is divided into two stratified castes; the Bahima (known for pastoralism) and the Bairu (known for agriculture) who live together in the land of Ankole.

This region is located in the south-west part of the country with over 400,000 people, according to the latest Uganda Bureau of statistics. Most of the districts in this region depend mainly on agriculture as a source of food and the commercial production of tea, coffee, tea, sweet bananas and Matooke, especially in the districts of Bushenyi,
Sheema, and Isingiro.
Currently, the significant economic activity in this region is ranching for beef, and dairy farming for milk production, both widely practiced especially in districts of Ntugamo, Kiruhura, Isingiro, and Bushenyi.

The History of Ankole
Before the kingdom of Nkore’s name came to be, the Nkore land was known as Karo Karungi (‘the beautiful land’) till the 17th century when the name Nkore was adopted due to several invasions by the then powerful Omukama of the Bunyoro-Kitaara kingdom, Cwamali, which was seeking good pasture in the strategically located Karo Karungi. It’s believed that Nkore was first occupied by the agriculturalist Bairu for a very long time, who cultivated and occupied the land peacefully until the invasion of the Bahima people who are said to have come from Ethiopia. This noble pastoralist clan invaded and took over the ruling of Nkore as kings (abagabe) and chiefs forcing the Bairu to submit to them. For a very long time, the two groups of Bairu and Bahima lived peacefully with each other, with the Bairu submitting to the Bahima. However numerous they were, Bahima still remained the dominant ruling class among them.

The last Omugabe Charles Godfrey Gasyonga who ruled from 1944 till 1982.

Nkore existed as a small kingdom under the rulership of an omugabe (‘king’) till 1901 when British rulers declared Uganda a protectorate, merging the similar small kingdoms of Mpororo, Igara, Buhweju, and Busongora to Nkore. The name then changed from Nkore to Ankole to describe the now large Nkore kingdom. This made it easy for the British rulers to curtail the powers of the omugabe and control him though his titles. Dignities and dominance in the community were maintained in the traditional realm according to the customs and laws of Ankole.
Thus, with the British rule, Bairu became less marginalized.
The kingdom had a centralized administration system headed by the omugabe (king) who came from the nobility of the Bahima clan, assisted by abakuru b’ebyanga (local chiefs) and an overall appointed enganzi (prime minister). The pastoralist Hima people established a close relationship with the Iru people based on trade and symbolic recognition, though only Bahima could rule.

John Patrick Baringye was crowned as Ntare VI in November 1993. This coronation was nullified by the Ugandan government in December 1993.

The Bairu remained socially and legally inferior to Bahima with the cattle being the symbol of their power; cattle were only owned by the Bahima as the Bairu only engaged in agriculture. The two groups maintained their identities by prohibiting intermarriages and keeping their relationship based on trade. The Bahima provided milk, milk products, and beef to the Bairu and in return the latter provided agricultural products.Cattle were offered by people of Ankole to the omugabe to show their loyalty and they also gave him protection and security through military service; only Bahima men could train and serve in the army. This kept any Bairu attempt to rebel well in control.
The Ankole kingdom survived in its ceremonial form under British rule till 1967 when it was officially abolished by the then Ugandan
president Milton Obote.
The last omugabe (23rd) of the dynasty was Charles Gasyonga who ruled from 1944 till 1982 when he was then forced to abdicate and the role was abolished as part of the new constitution of the Republic of Uganda. After an interregnum lasting until 1993 with Gasyonga II who died in the interim, his son John Patrick Baringye was crowned as Ntare VI in November 1993. However, this coronation was nullified by the Ugandan government in December 1993 and the kingdom has never been restored to date. Open photo: Ankole Flag. Can Stock Photo / daniel0 (G.L.M.)

Uganda. Ekipeyos. The prayer of the elders.

Monday, 1 November 2021 8:00

Stricken by adversity a Karimojong man, a member of an ethnic group of northern Uganda, does not keep it to himself but renders the entire community participants in his sorrow. Above all, he entrusts himself to the prayers of the elders who come to his aid with a traditional community celebration called the ekipeyos.

The Ekipeyos is a traditional ceremony consisting in the slaughter of a steer to celebrate and honour the elders gathered for the traditional assembly (akiriket) or to render homage to one’s own father or mother, one’s father or mother-in-law. On other occasions, the Ekipeyos takes on a deeper, more religious meaning, becoming an invitation to the elders to pray, during their assembly, for a particular member of the community who is in difficulty.

When an individual or an entire family is stricken by adversity, sickness or death, when their flocks become a cause for deep concern or their harvest is totally inadequate, the Karimojong can do nothing but recognise and accept their impotence and turn to God to free them from their troubles.However, the Karimojong man will never address God by himself. His strong feeling of belonging to a group or a people and the unlimited confidence he has in the efficacy of the prayers of the elders move him to share his troubles with the entire community and to seek the intervention of the elders that they may be intermediaries between himself and the divinity. With this in mind, he visits the elders of his area one by one and explains his problems to them.

The ox for the sacrifice
On the established day, the elders go to the village of the person seeking their intercession who meets them in front of the corral where he has his cattle. Only men who have been initiated may participate in this ceremony. All those present sit on the ground in a circle at the centre of which is the ox chosen for the sacrifice. When they are all in their places, the person requesting the prayers stands, holding the spear in his hand and with cautious gestures he approaches the victim. With a lightning-fast and extremely precise blow of the spear, he despatches the ox which falls to the ground.

While those appointed collect the blood in special vessels, an elder (ekasikout) approaches the animal and, with a few precise strokes of the spear, opens its abdomen and extracts the stomach; taking some of its contents, he approaches the man who requested and organised the ceremony and covers his entire body with the viscous material taken from the stomach of the ox. He then repeats the operation for the male members of the unfortunate family and all those present.
Meanwhile, a young man brings a pipe and fills it with tobacco. Another lights it by placing on it some coals from a fire that has been lit in a corner of the compound. Once the pipe is prepared, the young men hand it to the elders who pass it from one to the other for ritual smoking.
A piece of flesh is then taken from below the anus of the beast (elamacar), reserved for the elders, and the servants quickly cut it into four parts. The elder presiding over the rite turns to two young men saying: “take this meat and put it on the fire”.
They carry out these orders and when the meat is sufficiently roasted, they remove it from the fire and hand it to the two most esteemed elders at the assembly who are seated in the centre of the group. These two take the four pieces of meat and give a portion to each of their two co-elders sitting beside them.

When the elders have finished eating the elamacar, those responsible hand them vessels (ngwito) full of milk. They taste it and spray some of it into the vessel used to collect the blood of the slaughtered animal. This is the traditional form of blessing and reconciliation (akimwar).
At this point, the elders call the one who has asked them to pray and tell him: “gather all your people together. Come and sit down; we will now supplicate God”. All the male members of the family gather close to elders and crouch on the ground close to the pot of blood and milk, in front of the whole assembly.
One of the more elderly men gets up from his place and begins the prayer of exorcism (akigat): “O you, a being who are evil for the cattle, for men, for this corral and this village! You, evil being, leave, get out, go far away!” To convince the assembly even more as to the efficacy of his exorcism, he directly addresses it saying: “Has the evil spirit not gone away yet?” All those present, with a very loud vocal burst, accompanied by hand gestures answer: “It has gone away, it has gone away!”
The verbal tense used in this dialogue between the elder and the assembly: the past perfect, a tense that expressed an action already finished. He is praying for the liberation from adversity that has brought down a family and now he speaks of a past experience, of something no longer present. This is the most tangible demonstration of the unlimited trust the people place in the prayer of their elders.
Using the same tone of voice, the elder continues: “Will the grain not sprout? Has it not already sprouted?” Those present respond: “Alomut!”, “It has sprouted!” “Have the cattle not come back in the evening?” “They have come back!”

Having finished the dialogue with the assembly, the elder continues speaking, using formulas of swearing and exorcism unaltered for centuries, about the presence of the Karimojong in the region, their riches and their power: “The Karimojong are present; the Ngimoru (class in power) are present; the Ngigetei (the class below the one in power) are present; the Ngimiryo (children of the Ngigetei) are present”, etc.
The akigat is a form of prayer that is truly communitarian. All those present may indeed suggest, after the imprecation formulas, their own needs and desires to the presiding elder; he interprets them and proposes them to the assembly. For example, a boy may ask the elders and the assembly to pray for him as he has lost a cow. “Will the cow lost by this boy — the elder intones — not reappear in the evening?” And the people respond: “It has been found, it has already reappeared!”

The final banquet
When the prayers are over, those taking part in the ceremony begin the closing banquet. The meat of the ox is distributed to all present, always giving precedence to the most elderly. The same is done with the mixture of milk and blood: the first to drink are the elders Ngimoru (the class in power) and then the others in descending order.

Moroto Mountain in Northern Region of Uganda.

The assembly becomes enlivened and everybody becomes busy with their portions of meat that they cut with their spears or with an egolu, a round knife held in the right hand.
By the time people disperse to go to their homes, the sun is already going down. The only person who remains in the corral is the person who asked for the prayers, convinced of the effectiveness of the mediation of the elders. He has again found peace and confidence in the future: “I am very happy and satisfied! God will help me and free me from all my troubles!” The people going to their homes are also similarly convinced and repeat to themselves: “God has heard the prayers of the elders!” (A.P.)

The Ungrateful Cobra.

Friday, 1 October 2021 8:00

One day a cobra fell down a deep crack in the ground and couldn’t get out. A man passed by, and heard a strangled voice calling:
“Help! Save me!”

The man peered down the crack, and immediately jumped back in alarm. The cobra is man’s great enemy. The cobra said: “Please, pull me out!” Still quaking, the man answered: “I won’t. You’d bite me.” “No, – the cobra pleaded -. Could I bite the hand that saves me?”

The man thought a while. Then, slowly, he lowered himself into the crack. Close to the cobra, he drew back again; but the snake wrapped itself gently around his waist. When they were both out, the man said: “Now you can get down; you’re safe.”

With a scowl the cobra replied: “Should I give up a meal that luck has thrown my way? Never!” The man couldn’t do a thing; the cobra was still wrapped round his waist.

He considered a moment. All he could think of was to say to the cobra: “All right. So, you’ll eat me. But first I’d like to ask some animals what I have done wrong to deserve it. If I have done wrong, then you
will eat me.”

The cobra agreed. First, they went to the camel’s house. Standing at the door, the man said: “Listen. While I was walking along the road, I saw this cobra down a crack in the ground, and saved him. Now he wants to bite me; have I done wrong, perhaps?” “Of course, – replied the camel, keeping well out of the way, – of course you’ve done wrong.”

The answer saddened the man, but the cobra grinned. Then the man went slowly along to the baobab to ask the same question: “Listen – he said to the tree -, while going along the road I saw this cobra in a deep crack; I saved him, and now he wants to bite me. Have I done wrong, by any chance?” “Yes, – came the reply -. Something very wrong indeed.”

Sadder than ever, the man went off with the cobra (who wasn’t sad at all) to the squirrel’s house. “Listen, friend. While on a journey. I saved this cobra from a deep crack in the ground. Now he wants to bite me and kill me. Have I done something wrong?”

The squirrel reflected for quite a while, then said: “It doesn’t seem possible that you could have done such a thing.”
Then he turned to the cobra: “Friend cobra, why don’t you get down and tell me the truth of the matter?”

The cobra slipped down at once. But while he was getting into a position to speak, the squirrel yelled: “Quick, hit him on the head with your stick!” The man didn’t wait to be told twice; thus, the squirrel saved his life.

Ever since that day we have had a saying: Keep your enemy at a distance, because he has two words.

Folktale from Borana People. Kenya

Nigeria. Dashed hopes.

Friday, 1 October 2021 8:00

A year after the youth protests that shook the most populated country of Africa. The justice and peace commissions are not functioning except in Lagos; the youth are disillusioned; the police are licking their wounds; insecurity has increased. The government is still
afraid of Twitter.

On 8 October 2020, a peaceful protest began in Nigeria called End SARS. It was prevalently a youth movement that broke out in many cities of the country around the same time. Especially in Lagos, the commercial and economic centre par excellence. The initial objective was to induce the government of President Muhammad Buhari to disband the infamous police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

Protesters at the endSARS in Lagos. Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0/Kaizenify

The unit had a long history of abuse of power: it had been accused of brutality against citizens all over the country. The youth protest then raised the bar by demanding that those in power carry out a total reform of the police, an end to misgovernment and the payment of damages to victims of brutality for the forces of law and order. Even before taking to the streets, the End SARS movement exploded on Twitter. Its hashtag was adopted and spread by the Afro-pop icons, by political (Joe Biden) and economic personalities and the delegate administrator of Twitter (Jack Dorsey) and then retransmitted by the greatest international influencers. In October of last year, #EndSARS was for two days the most shared hashtag in the world.

A tragic end
However, what was described as one of the best organised and peaceful protests ever seen in Nigeria ended in tragedy. On 20 October 2020, a military ambush at the motorway toll booth at Lekki, in the north of Lagos, left dozens of fatalities and injured. What is now known internationally as the massacre of Lekki subsequently caused the total breakdown of social rules with Nigerian cities and towns attacked, plundered, and destroyed. It is interesting to note how quickly the Lagos administration denied any involvement. After the event, they quickly denied the presence of soldiers at the scene.

Protesters at the endSARS in Lagos. Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0/ Kaizenify.

A few days later, they made a u-turn, saying that the soldiers had not fired on the demonstrators. They ended up with “no comment”. President Buhari himself seemed reluctant to comment, taking several days before speaking to the nation to explain what happened. Just one month after the massacre of Lekki, the Nigerian authorities began to oppress the leaders and organisers of the End SARS protests. They accused important supporters of financing terrorism, suspended the bank accounts of some of them on foot of a court order obtained by the Nigerian Central Bank. Furthermore, they penalised the newspapers and communication agencies, accusing them of publishing exaggerated and inexact news.

The impact lives on
Today, a year on from the mass mobilisation, the impact of those demonstrations and their suppression lives on in the country. The federal government has tried to respond to the demands from the grassroots. The first thing it did was to disband the SARS (for the fourth time in five years). It then promised justice and fair compensation for the victims of violence. Enquiries were instigated in the states involved. However, most of the demands have yet to be met.
The administration of the state of Lagos, the epicentre of the clashes, has been concretely involved.

Nigeria. #EndSARS protests. Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0/ Salako Ayoola.

The governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, inaugurated the commission on 27 October 2020. According to Doris Akuwobi, president of the same commission, the number of victims of police brutality they heard during their meetings was over 100. Other persons were also heard such as key actors in the Lekki massacre such as high-ranking officers of the army and the director-general of the Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC), Abayomi Omomuwa. In the meantime, the concern of Sanwo-Olu and his colleagues has been to compensate as well, and as soon as possible, the victims of violence: usually, not more than two days after sentence
is pronounced.

Rebuilding
In the long wake of the blood-letting and violence following 20 October 2020, some cities have become ghost towns and derelict, with enormous economic damage. Lagos was the worst-hit area. The governor was said to have been gravely upset by the level of devastation. He told how more than a hundred police stations were destroyed or burned as well as the High Court and the taxation offices. According to the president of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, the amount of damage caused is estimated to be in the region of 2.5 billion dollars. To assist in reconstruction efforts, Sanwo-Olu has instituted the Lagos State Rebuilding Trust Fund, a trust fund of the state of Lagos.

Insecurity
One of the worst consequences following the post-End SARS demonstrations is the total lack of confidence in the forces of law and order. The local press says that after the massacre of Lekki, in Lagos state alone, 22 policemen were killed and 42 in the whole of Nigeria. The number of police stations destroyed in the country is estimated at 350. Many arms have been stolen.

EndSARS Brutality protest in Abeokuta. Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0/ Asokeretope.

The attack on the police has led to the resignation of some officers. Many roadblocks, stop and search activities, and routine patrols have been suspended. This situation has created a security vacuum with an increase in armed robberies, auto theft, kidnappings, and murders. The recent episodes of violence in the south and south-east of the country are considered an offshoot of the End SARS demonstrations. Together with this increase in criminality, there is the failure of the government to oppose bandits and terrorists.

The youth and the social media
The arrogance of the government, together with its lack of empathy towards the victims of the massacre of Lekki, has seriously wounded the psyche and morale of many young Nigerians who were formerly optimistic that the protest would gain a series of political results. There is a growing lack of confidence.
The hoped-for second wave of End SARS has been a failure: many young people now live far from the gathering points.

Nigeria. End SARS protester in Abuja. Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0/ Aliyu Dahiru Aliyu

Many electoral polls were ignored as if those young people who asked for change were now reluctant to seek it by means of their polling cards. They are taking refuge in the social media, especially Twitter. And the response of the government? On 4 June, it indefinitely suspended this platform, inviting the audio-visual media to cancel its account as a ‘patriotic’ gesture, something that completely disturbed Nigeria. The social media had cancelled a tweet by the president in which he threatened to use violence against the Biafra separatist groups.
The government had accused them of interference in the affairs of the state, also referring to the little bird that chirps at the End SARS demonstrations.
More than 120 million Nigerians have access to the internet and almost 20% of them, about 40 million people, say they have a Twitter account, according to the NOI Polls Society for statistical research, based in Lagos. Clearly,
End SARS causes fear even today, even though the young people no longer take to the streets. Open Photo: Protest against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lagos. CC BY-SA 4.0/TobiJamesCandids

Victor Gotevbe

Mission. To the last breath.

Friday, 1 October 2021 8:00

Sixty Comboni Missionaries have died due to the Coronavirus with around 350 infected. Many of them spent their whole lives in Africa or Latin America. We remember three of them.

The sun is setting at Lachor Hospital in Northern Uganda. Brother Elio makes his way home after a long day’s work. He is worried at the dreadful news coming from Europe. A virus from China is infecting thousands of people and claiming hundreds of victims. The virus is spreading rapidly. Brother Elio still has vivid memories of what happened in 2000 when the Ebola virus struck Northern Uganda causing hundreds of deaths. Lachor hospital was hit hard. The doctors and nurses were among the first to die. He knows the new virus will soon appear in Africa. He wonders how he can prepare for the virus, but details are still lacking. Going to his room, he turns on the old wireless that has been his companion for so many years.
Brother Elio Croce first went to Uganda in 1975. He has spent forty-five years in Africa, first as technical director of Kitgum Hospital and then, starting in 1985, of Lachor Hospital.
Bro. Elio has shared all the events affecting the Acholi people. For them and with them, he built hospital buildings, dug wells, and set up technical and agricultural projects.
He shared with the Acholi people the terrible decades of the guerrilla war and buried their dead. He has lost count of how many kilometres he travelled throughout the area driving his old Toyota.

Bro. Elio was always attracted, moved and upheld by his faith in Divine Providence, an unrelenting and solid faith that was the indestructible nourishment of a life given totally for the African people. His was a world of building-sites and workshops for carpentry and mechanics and the maintenance of the electrical medical equipment.
During the war years, when no supplies were available, everything had to be made on the spot. Bro. Elio was very capable. He knew how to do things and how to teach others, but he insisted on having everything done properly. By so doing, he helped in the development of the local area. Many were trained at his school, learning a trade and acquiring the mentality of work as an art form. At his urging, many small activities were established. His workers worked hard and well, becoming independent. They knew they could count on Elio. Many pursued their studies thanks to him. His simple and concrete manner was sometimes sweetly rough though totally honest, with no frills and the experience of a life dedicated to Africa that seemed to exude from the man in dust-covered sandals, challenged and won over (often for life) anyone who approached him. He left no one indifferent; there was always an encounter with his choice of life and a feeling of being at one with him, even when people disagreed with him. Brother Elio, a survivor of massacres and Ebola, was taken to heaven by Covid 19 on 11 November 2020, at the age of 74 years.

On the day of his funeral, Mons. John Baptist Odama, Archbishop of Gulu said: “During the most difficult period of crisis in our local Acholi region, Bro. Elio risked his life to save many people whose lives were threatened. The community of this region can testify that, during the conflict between the rebels and the government forces, Bro. Elio courageously followed the rebels into the bush to rescue those who had been kidnapped, especially the school children. During the outbreak of Ebola, Bro. Elio stayed with the people he served. Most of all, Bro. Elio used his technical ability as a builder and engineer to develop Lachor Hospital. The modern buildings we see today at St. Mary’s Hospital were planned and supervised by him. In his work, Bro. Elio shared his knowledge and ability with many young Africans in such a way that they could follow in his footsteps. He taught many needy children in the schools to accept the responsibility of serving their brothers and sisters. In the Archdiocese of Gulu, we see Bro. Elio as our hero. His legacy of duty and dedication to the poor, the sick and the most disadvantaged of our community will always be a source of inspiration for us”.

Father Bascarán, wearing the shoes of the mission
He is known by everyone for his long hair and sandals as he walks the streets of Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. Wearing the ‘shoes of the mission’ for him meant being on the side of the poor and humble people. It meant keeping one’s feet firmly on the ground, in the dust of the roads that brings home the situation of the people. As he walks, he sees the small boys playing football. They see him and kick the ball to him. He controls it perfectly and skilfully passes it back.
The sound of music is coming from one of the houses. He knows that tune; he has played it often.

His two great interests: football and music. As a young man, Spanish Father Carlos Bascarán Collantes was a professional footballer and fascinated spectators with his skills. Some believed he would have a wonderful future playing for one of the teams in the La Liga Espanola. His musical talents were also well known, and his guitar was always by his side. His presence was always a celebration. Cheerful and enthusiastic, he made friends easily, especially with the youth and especially through his music. He would say to the young people: “You must always be in harmony and sing the right notes to be together without being afraid of making mistakes. Music brings us together and makes us feel more like children of God and members of our communities. Music always carries with it love and liberation”.
For six years, he was provincial superior of the Comboni Missionaries in Brazil. His colleagues remember him well: “Those were complicated and difficult times for him. His critical attitude towards the civil and religious authorities led to clashes but he was always spontaneous and sincere”.

A man of great ideas, both during and after his mandate he gave new vigour to the Province both in the field of formation and missionary animation, while aware of the limits. He would say: “The mission is like a performance of a symphony. The music is perfectly written but the musicians are limited and often out of tune. However, this does not mean we can’t try to play perfect music”.
Brazil had been struck by the Coronavirus for several months, reaping thousands of victims and infections. During all that time, Fr. Carlos refused to stay indoors but went to visit the communities, offering advice and support. It was important that people should see their priest among them in those difficult times. For some days he had not felt well and was taken to João Pessoa Hospital suffering from the virus. He died late in the afternoon of Tuesday 22 September 2020. He was 77 years of age and had spent forty of them walking the side-streets of Brazil in his dusty missionary sandals.

Father Aranda Nava. Sharing life
The sound of gunfire is coming closer. Billowing smoke can be seen in the distance. The area has become a battlefield between the government forces and the rebels. The missionaries realise it is time to go. They gather their few possessions and start walking towards the Ugandan border. Amid the many dangers and ever-present fears, Father Aranda writes: “After walking for days, we reached the Bidi Bidi refugee camp. Living like refugees is a new experience for us as a missionary community. We have left our mission of Kajo-Keji in South Sudan and now we are with our people who live in the refugee camps in the north of Uganda. Like them, we are homeless people and refugees”.

Mexican Father José de Jesús Aranda Nava first went to Sudan in 1984. His main apostolate was the training of the Comboni postulants in Juba and Khartoum. In 1992, he was expelled with other Combonis by the Muslim government of Khartoum, in Sudan. Once back in Mexico, he worked in the formation of future missionaries as well as in missionary animation. He is remembered as a man who was always smiling. He would always speak enthusiastically of his missionary work in Africa.
In 1999, he returned to Africa and devoted himself to the formation of young missionaries first in Sudan and then in Kenya. Lastly, in 2007, he arrived in the parish of Kajo Keji, South Sudan.
There he worked tirelessly training catechists and managing a number of schools for boys and girls.
On the feast of Saint Daniel Comboni, he wrote on Facebook: “Comboni Day: 10 October 2020. The holiness of Comboni is lived out in communion with suffering humanity. Saint Daniel lived his holiness in solidarity with the suffering and the ill-treated. In the course of our history, the sons and daughters of Saint Daniel Comboni have sought to follow the path of holiness, sharing the daily life of their suffering brothers and sisters. We have great people who are fine examples of making common cause with the people: Father Giuseppe Ambrosoli, Father Ezekiel Ramin and many more. Today, we are called to share in holiness, the life of so many people who are faced with the crisis of the Coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. We are in communion with the migrants and refugees, the populations in areas of conflict and war. Let us carry in our hearts the burden of suffering of the Church and the sad situation of the environment and all creation. Pray for peace and brotherhood between our people and South Sudan”.
He was urgently taken to Lachor Hospital in Gulu where he was admitted with the Coronavirus infection. He died on 4 November 2020. He was 68 years of age. His dream was to be a missionary in Africa. This dream of his came true and he not only lived as a missionary in Africa but also died and was buried in the land he loved. (C.C.)

Malawi. Dancing with the Spirit.

Friday, 1 October 2021 8:00

It is a country with over 10 ethnic groups, each with different cultural traditions and beliefs. The dance represents one of the highest cultural performances of these cultural groups.
A glance at some of the dances.

In the central region of Malawi live the Ngoni people and they are around 750 thousand people in all. One of their famous dances is called the Ingoma. It was originally a war dance performed after a successful battle.
The men in the Ingoma are dressed in an elaborate and decorative way. Their costume includes headgear made of feathers, ornaments worn on the limbs, a network of beads wrapped across the chest and stomach, and around the neck various types of animal skin hang. They carry a spear or club, and a shield. The women instead wear an ordinary Chilundu (a piece of cloth) from the waist downwards, and a blouse and headgear called duku. In the Ingoma dance, men dance in straight lines while women form lines on the side of the men.
The men sing and stamp their feet, wielding their shields, spears and clubs symbolising a war scene while the women sing, clap and ululate in unison with the men’s dance performance.

Gule Wamkulu dance. Photo: CC-BY-SA-4.0/ Twiggalite

The Chewa people live also in the central region of the country. One of the important dances of the Chewa is called Gule Wamkulu (‘great dance’). The people involved in the dance are believed to be communicating with the ancestral spirits as part of the religion. The Gule Wamkulu ritual includes songs and dances performed by masked individuals disguised as animals. It is a symbolic representation of the invisible spirit world performed for various events, such as initiation ceremonies, healing rituals, funerals, and so on.
The Gule Wamkulu dance was, and is, a secret cult which the Chewa people highly respect. The people who perform this dance are only those who have been initiated into Nyau tradition and the dancers are all men.

Women performing Chisamba dance. Photo: CC-BY-SA-4.0/ Andrew Datu

The Chisamba dance, instead, is a female initiation ritual which is a complement of the male initiation in Gule Wamkulu. Its purpose is to turn girls into attractive women and takes place at a tree of maidenhood (Mtengo Wa Anamwali). Here, girls receive instructions on the protocols of womanhood. The Chisamba dance is led by a senior woman, usually the chief’s sister and known as Namkungwi. This dance is also performed at the funerals of chiefs and important individuals in the village.Another common dance among the Chewa is the Mganda dance. This is probably the second most popular dance after the Gule Wamkulu, among the Chewa.
It is primarily an entertainment dance performed during wedding ceremonies. The dancers are usually in a group of 6 to 10, sometimes more, with a drummer in front of the dancers.
Men who form two or three lines facing in the same direction perform it but, as they dance, they systematically face all directions. The dancers hold small flags and a ‘badza’ (made from a gourd).
During wedding ceremony performances, entertained viewers throw money to the most entertaining dancer.
The Mganda is also performed merely for entertainment at functions such as political party rallies.

Vimbuza healing dance. Photo:Francois-Xavier Freland/UNESCO

In the north of the country among the Tumbuka people, a popular dance is called the Vimbuza. It is a healing dance. After being diagnosed, patients undergo a healing ritual.
For this purpose, women and children of the village form a circle around the patient, who slowly enters into a trance, and sing songs to call helping spirits. The only men taking part are those who beat spirit-specific drum rhythms and, in some cases, a male healer.
Singing and drumming combine to create a powerful experience, providing a space for patients to ‘dance their disease’. The Vimbuza healing ritual goes back to the mid-nineteenth century, when it developed as a means of overcoming traumatic experiences of oppression, and it further developed as a healing dance.
For the Tumbuka, the Vimbuza has artistic value and a therapeutic function that complements other forms of medical treatment. It is still practised in rural areas where the Tumbuku live and is performed by both men and women, usually at night.
The Sendemule is a traditional dance performed by the Balambia people of Chitipa in northern Malawi during funerals, chief installation ceremonies, and for entertainment. When it is performed at funerals, the songs are appropriately mournful, and when it is performed at a chief’s installation ceremony, or when a dangerous animal like a lion is killed, the songs depict triumph. Today the Sendemule is performed at many social gatherings, where the dancers usually dress casually.

At each New Year’s Day, men and women congregate at the village arena to entertain the village with the Chilimika dance. Photo. Fotoferm/123RF.com

In the Nkhata Bay District in the Northern Region the Chilimika (meaning year) is performed mostly by Tonga women and youth.
At each New Year’s Day, young men and women congregate at the village arena to entertain the village with the Chilimika. It is actually a very humorous dance and is mostly performed by men.
The Manganje is an initiation dance performed by the Yao people in the central and south region and is performed at the initiation of boys. When boys (initiates) leave for, and then come out of the (Jando) enclosure, the dance is performed to celebrate the occasion. Today the Manganje is also performed for entertainment.
In the south, among the Lomwe people the Tchopa dance is performed. In the past the dance was performed during a tribal war as well as the Nsembe (sacrifice offering) ceremonies when a calamity has struck. During tribal wars, men used to dance, informing the folks that they were back with news of victory. It is now mostly performed for entertainment. Another popular form of dance practiced in the villages around the country is the Chitelera. It is mostly performed for entertainment on full-moon nights by young girls, but is also used as a form of inter-village competition. Teams of girls travel to neighboring villages to see which village has the more talented dancers. The girls form circles as they dance.

Patrick Limbani
Open Photo: Gule Wamkulu dance. CC-BY-SA-4.0/Harrymagalasi6

The Talibans’ victory is boosting the jihadists’ morale in Africa.

Friday, 1 October 2021 8:00

The defeat of the US and their allies in Afghanistan is having consequences in Africa. It is boosting the morale of local jihadists and it has shown America’s allies on the continent that corrupt and unpopular regimes don’t last forever even when they are supported by a superpower.

The American defeat in Kabul is having consequences elsewhere in the world and particularly in Africa, which is another important front of the global jihad. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is aware about it and worries about an “alarming” expansion of affiliates of the so-called “Islamic State” throughout Africa on the back of the situation in Afghanistan.The Talibans’ victory in Kabul has galvanised African jihadists. On the 10 August, before the fall of Kabul, Iyad Ag Ghali, the leader of the Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (Group of Support of Islam and Moslems), the Sahara branch of Al Qaeda, praised the victory of the Talibans’ Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In his preach, Ag Ghali highlighted what he called “the bitter failure” of France’s military operations in the Sahel area. “We are winning,” he said, drawing comparisons between the withdrawal of NATO troops in Afghanistan and France’s decision in June to reduce by half the number of its troops of about 5,100 who participate to the anti-jihadist Barkhane operation in the Sahel and to close three bases in northern Mali, in Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu by early 2022.

Evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

“Should we brace for the same scenario as in Kabul?” asked a headline of the Malian daily Le Soir de Bamako on the last 18 August. The question is relevant. Many observers in Paris, think that soon or later anyhow, the French will pull out from Sahel. The former editor of the Liberation Paris daily, Serge July predicted by mid-August that soon or later, France will have to leave the Sahel while African leaders of the region have started talks with the jihadists in the name of national reconciliation. Moreover, some in Mali – including the ruling military – support indeed such kind of dialogue to find a political solution to the conflict.
In some intellectual circles of the region, like in Niamey, prevails an attitude of resignation as if the victory of the jihadists was foretold. It looks like the atmosphere in Saigon before the arrival of the Viet Cong, comments a European expatriate in the capital of Niger.
The feeling is amplified by the fact that “the French presence in the Sahel has not necessarily lead to either a decrease in operational capacity of extremists groups in this region”, says security analyst for Signal Risk in South Africa, Ryan Cummings, in an interview with the German radio Deutsche Welle.

Observers also point out that Mali’s government is weak and has a reputation of being corrupt while its armed forces, who are trained by EU officers are underpaid and poorly motivated, like the defeated Afghan army. “If there’s any lesson to draw, it’s that indefinite military solutions aren’t sustainable,” said Bakary Sambe, director of the Senegal-based to the Voice of America.
In Somalia, media affiliated with Al-Shabab hailed as well the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan. Security Experts warn that when international forces will hand over security to the weak Mogadishu government, there could be a repetition of what happened in Afghanistan. Indeed, a withdrawal of African peacekeepers is foreseen by the Somalia Transition Plan approved in April 1991 by the government and the African Union Mission in Somalia, (AMISOM).

Former Somali intelligence official Abdulsalam Gulaid claims that although Al-Shabab does not have the military power of the Taliban, nothing should really stop them. In August 2021, Al Shabab fighters stormed a military base in central Somalia and recaptured a town it had lost to government troops. And fatalities linked to Al Shabab attacks are projected to rise by 16 % in 2021, according to US Department of Defence sources.
The developments in Afghanistan “can potentially put all of us in Africa and the Sahel at risk,” told the director of the faculty of academic affairs and research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Kwesi Aning on the Accra-based Citi FM radio.
Optimists however stress that some successes have been scored recently in the war against jihadists in Mozambique. A Rwandan Defence Force-led operation allowed last August the Maputo authorities to reclaim the port of Mocimboa da Praia from the local jihadists who also call themselves Al Shabab but are not formally linked to the Somali group of the same name. In Nigeria, 1,500 Boko Haram activists and relatives surrendered by mid-August while several hundred more did the same in Cameroon. But according to local sources, the move is the consequence of fights between Boko Haram and the Islamic State in the West African Province (ISWAP) rather than decisive victories accomplished by the Nigerian or Cameroonian armies.

Despite the major defeat it has just suffered in Afghanistan, the US war against the jihadists is not over. Over the last months, the US military have been increasing their air strikes against Al Shabab after some 700 American military personnel were withdrawn from Somalia in early 2021. Despite the withdrawal of the US army from Kabul, the Joe Biden administration claims it has a continued willingness to act against the jihadists worldwide.
“Today, the terrorist threat has metastasised well beyond Afghanistan: Al Shabab in Somalia, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Al Nusra in Syria, ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia. These threats warrant our attention and our resources”, said President Biden
However, it seems that the US have not drawn all conclusions from the Afghan disaster. For instance, in August, they sent 20 Special Forces to assist the Congolese armed forces in their fight in Eastern DRC against the Ugandan-born Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State in 2017.
But the challenge is enormous: since independence, the Congolese army has received assistance from many partners ranging from Belgium, North Korea, China, France and Israel to the US, South Africa, the UN and others. Until now, none of these training teams has succeeded in transforming the rag tag rogue Congolese army into an efficient defence force. Despite the deployment of one of its largest military operations, with over 14,000 blue helmets on the ground the UN have been unable so far to put an end to the activities or armed groups in Congo.

François Misser

Africa. Islamic finance. Followed only by a few.

Friday, 1 October 2021 8:00

Even though a significant increase in the numbers of those following Islam is expected, there are but a few governments in Sub Saharan Africa that invest in banking services in conformity with Sharia Law.

According to estimates by the United States Think Tank Pew Research, during the next decades, the Islamic population in Sub Saharan Africa is expected to increase to 27% by 2060. This increase would place the region ahead of the Middle East and North Africa, behind Pacific Asia. But what are the implications of such a demographic increase in the Islamic population? There are challenges in the field of governance, obviously; also, in the social and economic fields, for which the governments of the area, however, do not seem to be at all prepared. Among the phenomena that may help to foresee the direction being taken by Sub Saharan Africa, is that of Islamic finance.

Three levels of penetration
According to the Moody rating agency, only 1% of the total volume of banking and financial activity in the region is conducted according to Sharia Law. In Sub Saharan Africa, we may distinguish three distinct levels of penetration of this financial model. The first includes countries like Sudan, Senegal, and Djibouti where the local actors of Islamic finance – banks, companies, start-ups, private citizens – do not operate only with reference to a specific normative plan but are also taken seriously by the governments. The second level concerns countries like Kenya and South Africa which are still behind from the normative point of view but represent considerable potential.

Dubai Islamic Bank in Kenya.

On the third and last level is the uncertain country of Nigeria. In this most populated country with the strongest economy of the whole continent, Islamic finance is still viewed non-committedly by politicians. Abuja has all the qualities to head the field, even beyond continental boundaries: 48% of its population profess Islam (a large majority of whom are Sunni). Since 1991, a normative framework has been in force which presently covers not only the banking sector but also that of insurance, regulating the distribution of Takaful (Islamic insurance specifically for Muslims). Since 2009, the local Central Bank has formed part of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) and, in 2011, the Nigerian Islamic Jaiz Bank first opened its doors.

Businesses not coming on board
Nevertheless, businesses connected with Islamic finance are reluctant to fully come on board in Nigeria as in other countries. This does not depend, as many believe, on the fear that many foreign investors may have, of introducing the term Sharia into the world of banking and finance. This reluctance is due rather to the state apparati which, under extra-continental pressure, prefer to maintain the economic status quo, postponing any legislative reform that might question it, even to a minimal degree.

Saba Islamic Bank in Djibouti.

This, too, is one of the reasons why the Sukuk (certificates of investment according to Sharia law) have not yet gained a foothold. This despite the positive view regarding their usefulness expressed by the G20 leaders, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, and despite the fact that the government of Nigeria, between 2017 and 2020, collected and conveyed 362.557 billion Nigerian Naira (more than 745 million Euro) in three sovereigns Sukuk with which it financed the construction or modernisation of 25 road networks.
Outside Nigeria things are moving, especially in Senegal and South Africa. However, the models of Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey are still far from being achieved. Here the penetration into the traditional markets of Islamic finance has been governed by local governments by the purchase of shares, the launching of normative reforms, the use of taxation and, an aspect of no small importance, the implementation of informative programmes about this sort of finance.

Kaduna. Ja’iz Bank. Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0/ Anasskoko.

In Sub Saharan Africa, instead, little or nothing of this sort is happening. This is also true for the northern part of the continent where more than 90% of the population are Muslim, again according to Moody estimates, there are only thirteen Islamic banks out of a total of 107 and the activities connected with Islamic finance amounts only to 0.5% in Morocco, 2.8% in Algeria, 5% in Egypt, and 5.5% in Tunisia.
The experts say that it is only by streamlining bureaucracy, enlarging the range of services and products, making them more attractive by comparison with their conventional counterparts, and encouraging the issue of green and social Sukuk for carrying out environmental and inclusive social projects that Islamic finance in Sub Saharan Africa can aspire to become available to all, and capable of attracting the attention of foreign investors.

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