Latest Posts Page

Child Migrants. Alone with their destiny.

Thursday, 1 July 2021 8:00

They travel alone. They may fall into the hands of human traffickers. They often end up in detention centres without knowing why or for how long. The mental health repercussions may be irreparable.

Maria Lourdes is just seven years old and is travelling with some people she does not know. Together with others she has crossed the Rio Grande. She looks around, not knowing what to do next. Her story is that she travelled by bus to Mexico with her father for twenty-two days but he then went back to Honduras, leaving her in the hands of a young man who was supposed to help her cross the Rio Grande into Texas. “He told me to go on ahead and to look after myself “, she says. It is not known what became of the man who was meant to look after her but the girl joined up with a group heading to the border and travelled with them. They walked across the Rio Grande Valley (Rio Grande in the United States) one Sunday night when the temperature was as low as 10 degrees Celsius and the girl was wearing a yellow jacket with pictures of cartoon trains and a black mask to protect her from the Coronavirus. Seeing her crying, hungry and thirsty, some other migrants took charge of her. They continued their journey on foot to a country where they knew nobody apart from a relative living in South Carolina. “She is a very brave girl”, said Magali, the woman who took care of her.

In the month of March alone, more than 19,000 minors crossed the frontier and there are today around 22,500 of them being held by agents of the frontier police.
Children are kept for months in detention centres where conditions are deplorable. Without their fathers and mothers, the children sleep alone and have lost count of the days. They are disoriented and do not know either where they are or what they are doing there. They do not understand the laws that separate them from their families. The damage caused to their mental health may be irreparable.
Four out of every five of the migrants are from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Most of those from other Central American countries say they are trying to escape from the poverty and violence of their own countries; they intend to seek asylum in the United States.

President Biden has given his Vice President Kamala Harris the task of negotiating with the leaders of those countries to reduce the flow of migrants to the north. The US administration has, however, admitted that it will take a long time to tackle the root causes of migration, poverty and violence.
Father Franciscus Asisi Eka Yuantoro, parish priest of Donna, Texas, the only parish on the border between the United States and Mexico, believes that, with the present situation on the border, his first concern must be for the non-accompanied minors trying to enter the United States.
“It is very important to protect the children as the cartels are involved in the situation. Another serious problem here is human trafficking. Children need to be protected as they are not familiar with the process or do not know how to adapt to this new situation. We need to create a programme that will really help and guide the children”.
Fr Yuantoro is head of the Catholic church of St Joseph which serves 3,000 Catholic families – the total population is around 16,500 – in Donna parish in the south of Texas.
It is located about fifteen miles from the border. He says he also has a chapel in the southern part of the parish about four miles from the border which provides them with ‘direct contact’.

The parish of Donna is part of the Rio Grande Valley, one of the border sections where migrants most frequently try to cross over into Texas.
The priest continues: “The only problem at present is that we need volunteers to protect the children and assist them. The government must have someone in charge of protecting them as they themselves do not know what they can do as migrants with such a difficult process and all the other obstacles. Secondly, the children need protection before they cross the border and the bridge as some of them are in vulnerable situations and need to be protected from the cartels. We have to assist them. I have also seen that the cartels abuse the children and use them for their own ends, so it is essential that we protect the children from these dangers”, he added.

The frontiers of Europe
The problem concerns not only the Mexico-United States border but also those of Europe. An increasing number of minors are boarding boats to cross the Mediterranean or to take the Balkan route.
According to the Lost in Europe association, many of these are small boys and girls who end up in the network of human traffickers as victims of sexual and occupational exploitation.

Even the younger children are not exempt. What they all have in common is that they are foreigners and unaccompanied, forced to leave their countries for such calamitous reasons that vary from war to economic problems. The number of foreign non-accompanied minors who disappear in Europe is truly frightening.
It is said that, in all of Europe, between 2018 and 2020, there were 18,292 disappearances. The association condemns the various governments of Europe that avoid the question. “The question is certainly underestimated – explains one of the leaders of Lost in Europe – often these minors flee from the reception centres, and so become one problem less, especially economically, for the countries that should really have to take care of them”. Europe, the association points out, has failed in one of its most important duties, that of protecting and assisting anyone who is a minor in the continent, as indicated in the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights of the European Union as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
According to data gathered by the 27 EU countries, as well as Norway, Moldova, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the majority of minors who disappear are male and over fifteen, almost all from Morocco, Algeria, Eritrea, Guinea and Afghanistan. Some disappearances are due to children going to look for relatives living in various European countries but many are connected to the criminal network. “We are talking about human trafficking – the association continues– boys and girls who end up in the network of small crime in the large cities, exploited by their fellow countrymen for a little money, both sexually and occupationally”.

There is, however, another point that is often forgotten: the dangers that minors encounter when in search of their families. These dangers involve winter crossings of the mountains between Spain and France close to Bardonecchia in Italy, when the minors place themselves in the hands of ‘passeurs’ (those who lead the children across the borders), paying organised crime that by now “pervades the whole of Europe”. A number of international NGOs seek to help these children, making contact with them, even with great difficulty, including having to gain their trust. What is lacking, and this must be concluded, is certainly the interest and commitment on the part of the investigative system that underestimates the question and fails to thoroughly investigate the organisations that exploit these children.
According to Save the Children, there are more than 200,000 foreign unaccompanied minors fleeing from conflicts, persecution or violence, who have sought asylum in Europe in the past five years, but it is probable that the number of boys and girls who have come in is much greater. Many of them, in fact, are forced to live a hidden life in Europe, in danger of exploitation and abuse. This has been affirmed in the new report ‘Protection Beyond Reach’ of Save the Children. More than 700 minors, new-born infants included, have lost their lives attempting to reach the coasts of Europe during dangerous sea voyages.

Francis Jouan

The fascinating mystery of migrations in the African skies.

Thursday, 1 July 2021 8:00

Hundreds of species of bird migrate seasonally, covering enormous distances, urged on by irresistible instinct. Scientists have discovered the origin of this behaviour and the surprising ability of birds to ‘learn’ from their journeys.

The African skies are full of migrating species of birds that move, according to the season, from one specific place to another to mate, build their nests and reproduce and then return to where they came from. Storks, hawks, cuckoos, kingfishers and dozens of other species yearly set out on their epic journeys, regardless of the enormous distances and dangers.
When summer comes in the southern hemisphere bringing its rains, the trees echo with the call of the cuckoo: the usual call of the red-chested cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius) or the shrill call of the large-beaked cuckoo (Pachycoccyx audeberti), while the grasslands are coloured by the black and white plumage of the Abdim storks (Ciconia abdimii).

Red-chested Cuckoo.

Some of them simply move to different altitudes (altitude migrators), while others migrate across the African continent (intra-African migration), such as the woodland kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis) which moves from northern to southern Africa, arriving in Zimbabwe in October/November where its peculiar song is to be heard all along the Zambesi valley.
Others instead make longer journeys, starting from the southernmost regions of Africa, all the way to the northernmost regions of Europe or Asia (Palearctic migrators). Among these are the cuckoo and some eagles and buzzards like the common buzzard of the steppes (Buteo buteo vulpinus), or the better-known storks such as the white stork (Ciconia ciconia) that fly thousands of kilometres from one continent to another, across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. Some Palearctic migrators constantly travel around seven thousand kilometres while others, like the long-tailed partridge (Sterna Paradisaea), accomplish an exceptionally long journey of fifty thousand kilometres!

Lilac-breasted Roller. (Max Pixel)

The migratory instinct of birds is irresistible, released by complex physiological changes induced by changes in the length of the day, the climate and the temperature, including, in some cases, the increase of predators or parasites, or the reduction of resources such as the availability of food. The physiological causes are mainly attributable to hyperactivity of the reproductive glands which stimulates the production of hormones, preparing the birds for the long journey. Hormonal hyperactivity stimulates hyperfagia which increases food intake and an increase of up to 50% in weight in the form of fat (though not so much as to hamper flying ability) in the smaller species.

Following airstreams
During migration, some bird species fly by the usual beating of their wings: these are generally the smaller species such as sparrows and swallows. Others, of larger dimensions, tend to use thermal updraughts created by the heating of the air by solar radiation and reflection of heat from the ground.

Southern yellowbilled hornbill’s; tockus leucomelas © Can Stock Photo / Byelikova

This particular technique results in a remarkable degree of energy saving, as much as 75%, when the bird, following the updraught, flies using its wings like sails, without having to flap them to keep moving: something like freewheeling on a bicycle. However, this method forces the migrators to follow overland routes (updraughts are created over the continents) that are much longer and more complicated than those of the smaller migrating birds. Furthermore, migration is confined to daytime when the sun warms the air. The small birds, on the contrary, despite their energy-intensive method of flying, travel more direct, shorter routes, travelling overseas and deserts.

Flight plans
Generally speaking, migratory birds land regularly to rest or to feed but here too they differ according to their species, size, their diet and their flying technique. The large sailing birds take off in the morning when the sun rises and starts to warm the land and the air, creating thermal updraughts, using the currents throughout the day and landing at night. The small birds, instead, prefer to fly by night when the temperature is lower and there is less dehydration. Small insect-eating birds manage to feed during flight while the seed-eaters, the storks and birds of prey have to land. But how do migratory birds find their way and every year manage to reach the place where they reproduce, returning home without ever getting lost? To us humans, who sometimes get lost, even in a city, this represents the most mysterious and fascinating aspect of bird migration.

The experience of the journey
Just as with all the more evolved animals, behaviour is the result of two components: instinct and learning, characteristics that are also seen in the migratory activity: the birds follow an inborn instinct but also learn from their elders. For guidance, they use the position of the sun, the stars, the prevailing winds, geomagnetism and inertial forces as well as topographical references, smells and sounds. Some of these elements are determined by instinct but others, such as land references, are learned by the older individuals that guide migrations they have accomplished dozens of times already.

One aspect of migratory birds is their ‘internal clock’, which enables them to know the exact time of day and the right direction from the constantly changing position of the sun and stars. This ability, together with their ability to feel the earth’s magnetism, provides the migrators with a natural ‘compass’ which they use to find the right direction. Practically, we may say that instinct, their innate ability to use the earth’s magnetic field and their sense of time enable the migratory birds to know the right direction, but geographical references and experience enable them to know the right path and so unerringly navigate to and from their destinations.
These are fascinating creatures that we ought to look upon with more respect, looking forward to the day when we are again able to journey to our customary goals or indeed to new destinations.

Gianni Bauce/Africa
Open Photo/ © Can Stock Photo / francovolpato

The puppies of Islamic State.

Thursday, 1 July 2021 8:00

Born in the Caliphate and indoctrinated to believe
in a ‘different world’.

The images are few and taken from a distance. They show boys from 9 to 15 years old with Kalashnikovs in their hands, shooting as they run. They throw themselves to the ground and immediately rise again, shooting all the time. Behind them, an officer of the Islamic State shouts the command to advance and not to be afraid. The guns are heavy and are hard to carry. These are the puppies of IS. The term is used in ISIS propaganda: the males are called puppies and the girls are called ‘the flowers and pearls of the Caliphate’.

They may be married at the age of nine and have the task of building up the community of believers by giving birth to men and sending them to war. UNICEF estimates that they number between 700 and 1,000 children who were born in the surrounding areas of Syria and Iraq and therefore come under the Caliphate of Daesh. However, it is obvious that this estimate is only approximate since it does not take into account the local families. There are three important differences between the child soldier of Sub-Saharan Africa and the puppies of the IS: recruiting, schooling and religion. In Africa, child soldiers are recruited by force by armed groups but the Jihadists never recruit by force. In 90% of the cases, this comes about at the desire of the parents, many of whom are themselves Jihadists.

Once recruited by force, the African children never again go to school. They are trained to shoot, carry ammunition and carry out military tasks. ISIS instead opens the schools: the child Jihadists go to school and have textbooks in which the subjects studied are all filtered through fundamentalist eyes. There is a process of strict indoctrination. The ISIS schools use more than forty different textbooks. Then there is the matter of religion: the child soldiers in Africa undergo brainwashing using some deformed and extreme religious input that is gathered randomly from different religions to which the children belong. In the case of ISIS, everything is based upon the theological, social, juridical and moral study of Islam. In the evenings, before going to bed, the mothers tell the children stories of Islamic martyrs. In the schools, such subjects as music, design and philosophy have made way for exclusively religious subjects such as memorising the Koran, elements of theology and Islamic law. History is restricted to Islamic history; physical education is transformed into ‘Jihadist training’ and includes lessons in shooting, swimming and hand-to-hand combat.

The duties of the puppies
The IS puppies have five tasks based upon the personal characteristics acquired during training. The spy group is a sort of preparatory grade for all before they are called to become specialised in a sector. The families and friends look on and have the duty to report those who do not respect the IS rules. Those who show communicative skills are engaged as preachers to spread the ideology of Islamic State and enrol future combatants. The third level is that of the soldiers who are deployed on the front and also as guards at the headquarters. Then, there are the ‘executioners’ who carry out executions; in this way, acts of atrocity are normalised and power over the children is increased.

They are taught that to be an executioner who kills people by decapitation or by cutting their throats is a privilege and an honour. The highest level is occupied by those called ‘suicides’ who are used in martyr operations. The children are used for this as they usually are less afraid than adults: blindly and loyally, they volunteer for martyrdom, strong in the ideology of those who trained them. Those chosen for this role firmly believe that death on a suicide mission is the greatest of honours. Today, a fourth and new level of Jihadism has been reached, a dimension that involves not only mediated content but really builds up a ‘different’ vision which, by opposing reality, prevents any understanding of it. This is the background against which the phenomenon of child Jihadism moves.

A parallel world
Even though it has been defeated territorially, ISIS has inculcated into its adepts a representation of reality that is so invasive that it continues to survive in the parallel world in which they have been indoctrinated. Nourished by the milk of extremism and having grown up in training camps, the children have been formed in such a way as to leave them dehumanised. The work of ‘de–radicalization’ is difficult since the seed of the Caliphate has been sown in their minds and their world is permeated by a Jihadist view that makes them tend completely
towards Jihadism.

Where do they live after Daesh has been dismantled? Some of them live in confined areas within refugee camps on the border between Syria and Iraq, others live as orphans in some Syrian cities while others are children of foreign fighters who have returned to Europe.
Today, many of these children are held in special sections set apart for them within the refugee camps of Middle Eastern countries. Their being kept apart is understandable given the atrocities perpetrated by Daesh. It is also true that, without a deep and specific de-radicalization, the Jihadist groups of the future will only increase. In this complex situation, the children are the real victims. In fact – as stated by Georges Abou Khazen, Vicar Apostolic of Latin Catholics in Syria – “they exist and do not exist since they are not to be found in the registry of births and, without being registered, they cannot enrol in a school […] and so it is necessary to give a name and a future to these children to help them have a life to which they can look forward”.

Stefano Luca

Justice during COVID and climate change.

Thursday, 1 July 2021 8:00

The impacts from the coronavirus pandemic and climate change manifest longstanding injustices that continue to put corporate profits over and above the benefit of all people.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a longstanding chasm of inequality as deaths have numbered thousands and millions have lost their jobs, healthcare, and meagre life savings. Our broken world’s economic and social system has come clearly into view, along with the ways it prioritizes corporate profits for the few over the health and wellbeing of the many.

The world’s vulnerability to COVID-19 in many ways mirrors our vulnerability to the climate crisis, another global emergency that’s playing out over a longer horizon, but manifesting in equally unjust ways. There is a better way forward. Through visionary, concrete actions that ensure social, racial, and economic justice for everyone, we can protect ourselves, as well as the only planet we will ever have.

Covid and climate change public health experts have warned for years that a pandemic was coming, that we weren’t prepared, and that too many were excluded from the healthcare system. While coronavirus vaccines are slowly distributed, millions continue to shelter arduously from the global pandemic. People’s ability to socially distance themselves, however, reveals vast inequalities.

Some can work from home, but some have no homes at all to shelter in. Others are on the verge of losing the roof over their heads due to sudden unemployment. There are many who must choose between going out to the front lines of this emergency- sometimes even when sick – or risk losing their livelihoods, including delivery drivers, grocery store clerks, farmworkers, warehouse employees, health care workers, nurses and home health aides. They do so often without proper protective gear and among crowded conditions. They are primarily blue-collar workers who are often paid low wages, and likely to be women and black.

Many of the members of these communities are also on the frontlines of the climate crisis, bearing the brunt of devastating storms, wildfires, and crop failure. They are also most likely to experience food and water shortages, disease, and poverty.
The decisions being made around both the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis reveal who is listened to most in our society—and who suffers the consequences of government inaction.

COVID-19 reveals two fundamental things about our world: a lack of a strong social safety net, and the lack of a commitment to equity for all. Both have roots in an economic exclusion. Segregation, isolation, exclusion. For black people, indigenous communities, and tribal nations, social distancing from their communities is an all too familiar concept.

These systemic injustices also impact other vulnerable communities, including migrant communities, de-industrialized communities, depopulated rural areas, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, the incarcerated, people with disabilities
and youth.

Both COVID-19 and climate change underscore a fundamental concept about justice that frontline communities have known and felt for all too long. One cannot separate racial justice, social justice, economic justice, or environmental justice from one another. It’s all justice; both crises can only truly be addressed through broad-based, holistic solutions that tackle the systemic injustices within our society that allowed them to thrive in the first place.

Completely retooling our society is no easy feat, but the key to change is collective action, as history has shown and as we’re seeing yet again. Farmers in India are protesting the dire inequality that has existed across much of the country for decades and has only been exacerbated by COVID-19.

We must rebuild our global economy sustainably and equitably—to lead to a future we all want to see for our families and communities, and particularly for those that have borne the brunt of a historically unjust system that puts profit over people and the planet.

Keith Rushing & Jessica A. Knoblauch/earthjustice.org
© Can Stock Photo / focalpoint

Uganda. The art of dance.

Thursday, 1 July 2021 8:00

For the Karimojong, a pastoral and semi-nomadic tribe living in the north-eastern regions of Uganda, dancing is part of life.
An artistic expression to be found in the various situations and events of the community.

Loud hand-clapping in time with the singing sustains the dance. A young man and woman enter the circle as they move, looking at each other and coming close but never touching. Rhythmically, they try to jump as high as they can. This is the art of the dance!
The Karimojong often dance, both in the villages and the temporary enclosures (nawi) they build when they take their flocks to pasture. They also dance in all circumstances, whether joyful or sad. All they need is a piece of clean, level ground; singing and clapping are used instead of the various musical instruments. Karimojong dancing has a natural simplicity and, at the same time, has an artistic quality.

Karimojong girls. C. C. A/TASHOBYA

When a suitable place is found, the young people take their places according to a plan that has stood the test of time. The men occupy two thirds of the perimeter of the dancing area, leaning slightly forward with their ever-present batons (ebela) under their arms, loudly clapping their hands in time with the singing, and thus directing and sustaining the dance. The rest of the perimeter is occupied by the girls who, one or more, enter the circle and compete ‘artistically’ with one of the youths. The two dancers, now leading the dance, perform their dancing without touching, trying to jump as high as possible. When, usually after two or three minutes, their performance ends, the girl thanks her partner with a gracious curtsy and smiling they move aside, giving way to another couple. The circle will not be left empty for long. Another young man will immediately dash into the centre of the group intoning his song and starting to leap as high as he can into the air; he is immediately joined and imitated by another girl.
Each young man who enters the circle to start a new dance intones his song with which he sings the praises of his favourite ox, and his girl, recalls some important event or lists the characteristics of his totem. In fact, at every singing festival of any standing, a real poetry and music repertoire is performed, following a traditional model. In the world of the Karimojong, the words and melodies of all these sung performances constitute a rich cultural heritage.

The great dance
Dancing is not confined to any particular time. The Karimojong will dance at any time of the year. However, when the community is busy cultivating the fields, they take a break from dancing. However, they will abundantly make up for lost time after the harvest (adaun akilem), towards mid-September. That is when they begin the new ‘lyrical dancing season’, akiwalakin edonga. The ‘great dance’ that will last from evening until dawn the following day. It is also the time, between one dance and another, for arranging one’s matrimony.
During this special season, the dances are held without interruption, in one village after another, preferably in the evening. The young men spend entire nights at them and prepare themselves carefully, showing off the most beautiful hairstyles and ornaments. Their bodies, smeared with butter, emanate a fascinating ebony colour.
The group organising the dance goes around informing, first of all, the people of the area. On the morning before the dance, the girls grind the durra necessary to make the polenta they will serve to the young men and guests from nearby villages. Those invited, their heads decorated with large coloured feathers, start to arrive around four in the afternoon, starting the dance.

Karimojong village

The girls show off all their ornamental beads and, intentionally and gracefully, shake and flap the goatskins they are wearing. The young men use all their physical prowess to show themselves off as they perform the acrobatic jumps required by the rules of the dance.
Towards sunset, some of the girls leave the group and return to the villages to see to the proper preparation of the polenta. The others remain at the dancing area. It is not unusual, however, for the mothers to take the place of their daughters in preparing the polenta that is cooked in a pot containing water and milk. When it is ready, it is put into gourds (ngadere-kai) and seasoned with butter and roast cucumber seeds (ngkolil). The girls from one of the villages pour the polenta into one or more basins (nga-tubae) and season it once more. They then take it to the meeting place where, towards ten in the evening, at their invitation, the young men suspend the dance and take their places to consume the meal. The basins of polenta are placed in front of the dancing area; the girls sit on one side and the young men on the other, happily dipping into the same food. The young men and women of the place — the organisers – do not eat but see to it that all goes well.

Goodwill Speeches
Once the meal is over and the vessels removed, the gathering of young people meets for a brief ceremony of a socio-sacral character: the inaugural invocation of wellbeing for all, especially the young girls. The president, or the one making the speech, having repeated the traditional invocations, focuses them on those present. ‘Ngikosidwe ngulu sapa ka ngapesur adwarum. Pa adwarut a?’ (Our young men and girls are developed (sacred) and mature for marriage. Are they not?). All those present reply: ‘Adwarut ’, (They are developed!). And again: ‘Ngikosidwe ngulu sapa ka ngapesur akiitar. Pa eitasi a?’, (Our young men and girls are ready for marriage. Are they not?). The assembly replies: ‘Eita-si ’, (They are ready!). The verb, however, is used in the past tense, as if the action were already complete: ‘they are sacred, mature, already married’.

The speeches are followed by a special dance, the akimomwor and then the general dancing is resumed with greater enthusiasm and vigour, until morning. The celebration of the akiwalakin edonga is attended almost exclusively by the young men and grown-up girls. The young men use the occasion to seek out a future spouse. Towards evening, while the dancing is going on as usual, a young man may courteously take the hand of a girl, call her to one side and greet her (akiting). The Karimojong say: ‘Erai inges akimal, erai inges akiting apese’, (It is just to greet her and ask her to be his fiancée). In fact, the behaviour of the couple is limited to the exchange of a few words. If they find each other likeable, they will follow the matter up later on, not that evening.

Seeking Pledge
In the morning, the girls of the area return to the villages to grind some more durra and prepare a second meal for those present. The girls who are guests, instead, stay in the dancing area and continue dancing. When the polenta is ready, the dancers are invited to enter a cattle compound (atamanawi) in the nearest village.
The meal is consumed and followed by another ritual dance. At this point something surprising happens. Without warning, the girls who prepared the polenta stand close together and block the exit of the compound, preventing anyone from leaving. Then the young men are forced to push the girls out of the way to open a way out.

Karimojong traditional dance. C. C. A/TASHOBYA

In the chaos that follows, the girls try their best to gain possession of a pledge of some sort: a feather, a sandal or any item belonging to the young men. If the young man from whom the pledge is taken is poor, he will not return to ask for it back. If, instead, he is rich, having many cattle, he returns to the girl and asks for the pledge. The girl will do so only after being promised something, often an animal. After a few days, the young man returns to her bringing the promised animal, killing it with his own spear. The meat of the animal is eaten only by the elders and the young men; the women are excluded.
The invited dancers, having left the cattle compound, no longer mix with the young men of the place. They again dance and then leave for their respective villages. The others continue dancing until late.
At sunset, the girls collect the remaining polenta in a single vessel, season it again and take it to the elders. This polenta is called napuwa, the dust, in memory of the dust raised by the dancing. This marks the close of the akiwalakin edonga. (A.P.)
Open Photo Credit: Uganda High Commission, London

Avoiding the Suez Canal.

Thursday, 1 July 2021 8:00

A single ship lodged in the Suez Canal halted maritime commerce and caused a rise in oil prices. Many countries are looking for alternatives.

All it took was for the container ship Evergreen to become stuck in the Suez Canal, on 23 March 2021, for the global economy to suffer severe repercussions (Bloomberg estimates a loss of 9.6 billion dollars). A sandstorm in Suez produced an earthquake (financial) on Wall Street.
The Suez Canal receives 12% of world goods: 30% of container ships, 10% of goods and 4.4% of world crude. When the accident occurred, the price of crude jumped considerably, almost 6% on the first day after the blockage. During the epidemic, the abundance of supplies, the poor economic outlook, and the decrease in production in line with demand, kept oil prices down.

The cargo ship MV Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal near Suez, Egypt, March 23, 2021.

The fact remains that the Suez Canal, and other narrow straits used by merchant ships, are a source of enormous profits for those who manage them, and the countries where they are located. Toll fees from ships transiting the Panama Canal in 2018 reached a record high of 3.3 billion dollars, constituting the chief source of income of the Central American country. However, at the same time, these passageways are fragile and delicate bottlenecks. Benefits and risks are leading half the countries of the world to seek alternatives.

Container train from China to Europe

There are two railway alternatives to maritime transport. The first involves a journey of 11,000 km from China to the Atlantic, a journey that would take only 15 days while the sea journey takes 60.
However, trains would carry a much smaller amount of goods than container ships.The second alternative would be a high-speed line that would bypass the Suez Canal, running from the Egyptian port of Ain Sokhna, in the south, to El Alamein, on the Mediterranean, in the north, a journey of 500 km that would take but a few hours (though it would be necessary to take into account the time necessary for loading and unloading goods from the ships).

Many countries are working on the problem: Thailand, China…
In the geo-strategic field, other Asian countries are considering new modes of transport. Thailand is working on a project to build two ports on each side of the narrowest part of the country, connected by a railway. This would facilitate the transport of goods from the Gulf of Thailand to the Sea of Andaman, from the western Pacific towards the Middle East. The aim is to avoid one of the narrowest and most congested and dangerous straits in the world: that of Malacca, facing Singapore. More than any other country, China is hard at work to ensure itself alternatives to sea transport for its goods. The more prominent initiative, launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013, is the Belt and Road Initiative. It consists of an impressive series of railways connecting the country to South-East Asia, Central Asia, Pakistan, and Europe.

Arctic shipping routes. Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route. Maritime paths, used by vessels to navigate through the Arctic.

The main railway will connect China to Europe, passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belorussia. Others will connect Xinjiang to Turkey and also to Russia through Mongolia. At present, the railways connecting China to Europe are unable to transport any more than 10% of the total exports of the Chinese colossus.
The Arctic maritime route, which Xi Jinping also supports within the Belt and Road Initiative, promises to take on increasing importance with the advance of global warming which will facilitate navigation from Shanghai to Bergen in Norway, in collaboration with Russia. Nevertheless, the danger of accidents leading to the spillage of oil into the sea and the consequent environmental catastrophes, are not to be underestimated.
Part of this strategy to develop new commercial roads to become less dependent upon the Suez Canal is the agreement between China and Iran to create a land corridor between Central Asia and the Middle East.
Open photo: Suez Canal. ©Byvalet/123RF.COM

Simone Siliani/CgP

The European Union and the COVID-19 crisis in the poorest countries.

Tuesday, 1 June 2021 8:00

Since April 2020, the European Commission has defined the EU strategy to support the fight against COVID-19 globally through an action plan called Team Europe, which combines and coordinates resources from the EU, its Member countries, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other EU financial institutions, in synergy with the actions promoted by the UN and other major international organizations and institutions, such as the G7 and the G20.

The plan aims to guaranteeing immediate support for the World Health Organization and the UN’ actions of to increase the preparedness and response capacity of the emergency in the least developed countries. Team Europe keeps in its focus the most fragile countries in the world that have political-commercial relations with the European Union. For each State, a joint evaluation is carried out with the recipients themselves to establish the different needs for intervention and therefore the exact amount to be allocated to each objective.

In a pandemic and economic crisis scenario, the most vulnerable states of the world are certainly among the first to present structural difficulties and problems, which aggravate their already complicated starting situation. Among these, many are European partner countries, for which there is a real risk of economic and social collapse, with consequent repercussions also on the EU market.

To date, numerous funds have been disbursed for the purchase of health tools, such as ambulances, respirators, masks and material necessary to perform swabs, as well as funded projects for the construction of well-structured sanitation and water systems, to increase awareness of the local population – especially the most vulnerable communities – towards the pandemic risk and for the training
of medical personnel.

As of January 1, 2021, Team Europe had already supported partner countries around the world with over 26 billion euros. This amount corresponds to 65% of the overall envelope of the response package, which now amounts to over € 40 billion and is significantly higher than the initially proposed € 20 billion. Team Europe also intends to promote fair and global access to vaccines and support the dissemination of vaccination campaigns, while exploring possibilities to strengthen local production capacities.

The European Union also played a leading role in the creation of the COVAX tool, the global initiative that allows high-income countries to finance vaccines for low and middle-income countries and in which Team Europe is one of the major donors, with over € 2.2 billion.

However, looking at the vaccination data around the world, it is easy to note that the current action by the EU (as well as by more developed countries) is not enough to promote broad access to vaccines. To date, in fact, over 91% of the administrations are concentrated in North America, Europe and Asia. Latin America does not reach 7%, while Africa only reaches 1.6.

As Pope Francis pointed out in a video message of 8 May 2021 to the participants of “Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World” (a charity concert organized by Global Citizen to support the equitable global distribution of vaccines), it is necessary to find “a spirit of justice that mobilizes us to ensure universal access to the vaccine and the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights; a spirit of communion that allows us to generate a different, more inclusive, fair, sustainable economic model.”

The revocation of intellectual property protection for Covid vaccines was also supported by US President Biden, while the European Union has taken a more cautious stance.
According to the European Commission and some Member States, the intellectual property exemption would not solve the problem. The real issue is solidarity in the distribution of doses.

France co-signed a letter to the Commission together with Belgium, Spain, Denmark and Sweden in which it affirms the need for a European vaccine sharing mechanism with specific commitments from each Member State, and the urgency to relaunch production with public-private cooperation.
These are certainly good proposals that bode well. The European Union is called to go beyond funding for specific projects in the global South, to promote a shared solution between its member-states aimed at ensuring an equitable distribution of vaccines around the world.

Poor countries cannot wait; the economic and social consequences of the pandemic are becoming more serious every day. A vaccine access plan is needed that overcomes and bridges the current gap between rich and more fragile countries. The lives of millions of people are at stake.

John Paul Pezzi, mccj

Chad : Déby’s death opens a pandora box for the entire region.

Tuesday, 1 June 2021 8:00

President Déby’s sudden death has left a huge vacuum. The stability of the country and beyond of the entire Sahel region, is at stake.

President Idriss Déby Itno’s death, announced on the 20 April by the army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna has meant a terrible loss for Chad. Accordingly, the 68 years-old President who was in office since 1990 died in the North of the country in a combat with rebels who had launched an offensive on the 11 April, on the day of the presidential election which was won by Déby by 79%.
But the circumstances of his attempt to obtain a sixth mandate
were controversial.
Observers say that such mandate was a violation of the constitution which limits the number of presidential mandates to only two. Then, according to the US-based NGO Human Rights Watch, the pre-election period was marred by a ruthless crackdown on opponents. On the 22 April, in a communiqué, the Paris-based “Collectif de solidarité avec les luttes sociales et politiques en Afrique”, a coalition of African opposition groups, the French Greens and the leftist Parti de Gauche, stressed that the election was boycotted and did not have more value than previous ones since all were marred with massive fraud. Besides, in 2008, the opposition leader Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh, was assassinated.
Furthermore, Déby’s uncompromising attitude during his 31 years rule provided arguments to rebels who consider that no political change is possible through the ballot, since elections were systematically rigged.

Déby’s death occurred after the rebels of Mahamat Mahadi Ali’s Front for change and concord in Chad (FACT) launched their offensive from the Tibesti mountains. The area is the home of the Gorane tribe of the former President Hissene Habre, who serves a life imprisonment sentence in Senegal for crimes against humanity, who was ousted from power in 1990, by his adviser on defence matters at the time, Idriss Déby. A former political exile in Paris, Mahamat Mahdi Ali, has been involved in rebel activity since 2016. He first operated from Sudan then settled in Libya where he first fought simultaneously against the Islamic State and Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s National Liberation Army before he decided to strike an alliance with the latter in 2017.
From then on, he established a sanctuary near the Chadian border in the Southern Al Djoufrah district.
On the 19 April, the Chadian government first claimed it had stopped the rebel offensive in the provinces of Tibesti and Kanem. Allegedly, 300 rebels died in the combats. But on the 20 April, the FACT denied such toll and added that he wanted to create the conditions of political change and organise a round table of all Chadian political forces. The rebel group also claimed on its facebook page that its forces had begun “the liberation of Kanem region.”
Until now, it has not been possible to independently corroborate the Chadian army’s version given the remote location where the fighting took place. In addition, the Chadian army failed to provide details about the circumstances of Déby’s death such as where, when and how it did occur. The official version was challenged on the social media which claimed that he was assassinated in the context of an internal conflict inside his Zagawa tribe. Yet, these sources do not either provide verifiable details. There is no doubt though that the last election confirmed the divisions inside Déby’s family.

One of his nephews, 47 years-old Yaya Dillo Djérou, stood as presidential candidate against him. Between 2005 and 2008, Dillo participated to an insurrection of Zagawa military against Idriss Deby, before becoming minister of Mines and Energy. In May 2020, he even accused publicly, the President’s wife, Hinda Deby of conflict of interest alleging that her foundation absorbed unduly, funds to fight the Covid pandemics. On the 27 February 2021, the presidential guard besieged his home and 5 people died in the shootings with Dillo’s guard including his mother and his son.
Whatever its circumstances, the President’s death has been followed by a constitutional coup that might increase the fragility of the regime which obviously fears the citizens’ reaction as showed the deployment of armoured vehicles in the streets of Ndjamena on the 19 April. On the following day, an army spokesman announced that free and democratic elections would be organised after a 18 months transition during which the country will be ruled by a military council chaired by Deby’s son, four stars general and commander of the presidential guard, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, who appointed immediately 14 generals to form a transitional military council (CMT) and dissolved the government and the parliament.

Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has been named interim president of Chad by military officers.

Such decision caused an outcry among both African and French civil society organisations. They said that the military violated the constitution which stipulates that in the event of a vacuum of power at the presidency, the national assembly speaker becomes the interim president and elections have to be organised between 45 and 90 days later. In order to defuse such critics, on the 26 April, the transition military council appointed a civilian as Primer Minister, a former MP from Southern Chad, Albert Pahimi Padacké and on the 4 May appointed a transition government including two members of the opposition leader Saleh Kebzabo’s Union nationale pour la démocratie et le renouveau party. Yet, the most strategic portfolios went to the military. The questions is whether Mahamat Deby will manage to impose his authority to the army generals and to the Northern tribes and whether he can replace his father as the main leader of the G5 Sahel coalition.
On the domestic front, the situation of the new government is extremely fragile. Despite the participation of an opposition ministers in it, the grassroots disapprove. Several demonstrations took place on the 27 April in Ndjamena and cities of the South, urging the military junta to resign and hand over power to civilians. At least, nine people died in the incidents and 600 were arrested. On the 8 May, the Chadian police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Ndjamena and open fired on them, injuring one person, reported France-Presse news agency.

According to AFP, a small group of demonstrators burnt French flags to protest against France’s support to the regime, expressed by President Emmanuel Macron who was the only Western leader to attend the funeral. Chad is indeed France’s most precious ally in its war against jihadism in Sahel. It hosts the headquarters of the French Barkhane operation in Ndjamena. Not only did France abstain from condemning the constitutional coup but became also involved in the conflict between the rebels and the Ndjamena authorities, complain the FACT. In a communiqué from the 3 May, the rebel group accused the French Airforce to collaborate with the Chadian army.So far, the new President, Mahamat Déby has taken a hardline against the rebels. On the 24 April, the rebel leader Mahamat Mahadi Ali offered to hold a ceasefire but it could not be implemented because rebel positions were bombed by the Chadian army. Then, on the 25 April, the military junta declared that it would not negotiate with the rebels.
Mahamat Déby also ignored advises for a dialogue and negotiations with the rebels from former President, Goukuni Weddeye whose approach was shared by the African Union which appointed the presidents of Niger Mohamed Bazoum and Mauritania Mohamed Ould Ghazaouani as mediators.Those who urge the government to compromise are aware of some key facts. The FACT is indeed posing a serious military threat.
Its 700 to 1,500 fighters, according estimates, have fought with the troops of Marshall Haftar in Libya, which are supported by Egypt, the UAE and French special forces and boast from a better equipment than average Chadian rebel movements, including armoured vehicles and artillery. This group has three bases in Southern Libya and was established in 2019 on the Brak Al Shati base where the Russian Wagner mercenaries gave them weapons.

The French political scientist Roland Marchal warns about the danger of a potential connection of the crisis in Libya and in North-Eastern Nigeria, the sanctuary of the Boko Haram jihadists. Besides, the other borders are unsafe: the Central African Republic is a collapsed state and in Sudan, Darfur has been a sanctuary in the past for Zagawa rebels. Inside the country, on the shores of Lake Chad, Boko Haram boasts from the support of the Boudouma tribe. In Chad, the Déby regime is unpopular because the dividends of the oil bonanza have not been shared evenly. Déby used most of its 4.5 bn dollars of bonuses from Chevron to buy weapons, expand the military apparatus and pay for mercenaries including helicopter pilots and retired French colonels. Most oil contracts were allocated to feed the patronage network of Idriss Déby Itno and his wife Hinda Abderahim Açyl.
The consequences of Idriss Déby’s death are likely to be felt far beyond the country’s borders. Indeed, the Chadian military also has played a major role in the struggle against the jihadist threat in Sahel, contributing troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali. Chadian troops also have fought against Boko Haram in the volatile Lake Chad area. Some 1,200 soldiers have been deployed in February in the ‘three borders area’ between Chad, Libya and Niger.
If the situation became more critical in Chad itself, Chad’s G5 Sahel allies (Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali) and France, fear that part of its forces would be diverted from operations against the jihadists. There is no doubt that this situation will make it more difficult for the French government to reduce its military presence in Sahel as wish several opposition parties in France. Instead, France risks to be involved in another conflict through its support to the Chadian army since French military intelligence DGSE and COS special forces commandos are present around the Chadian president.

François Misser

Ghana. The ghetto of the ‘witches’.

Tuesday, 1 June 2021 8:00

In the north of the country, at Tamale, there are places where people who are victims of violence and superstition live. They are mostly women, usually elderly and widowed. Rather than rights or dignity, what counts for them is their ancient beliefs.

The witch camps are far from the cities and communities, places to where women accused of witchcraft are banished.They have been stricken by the violence of ignorance, superstition and even physical violence. Their accusers can be anybody: a brother with a sick child who does not take it to hospital but seeks traditional help against the sickness, a ‘rival’ in love, a neighbour who does not understand why they are unfortunate in their business. The hunt for the witch follows.

Almost a thousand women are still ‘detained’ in these witch camps.

Ancient traditions and beliefs are more important than individual rights and dignity. Almost a thousand women are still ‘detained’ in these witch camps. There are no barriers or fences but all these women know they cannot return to their communities. Stigma, fear and danger act as walls and chains. Only two of these camps have ever been closed over the years. Today, six of them remain.
Over the years, associations and NGOs have worked for the rehabilitation of those women, a very difficult and laborious task. The programme of rehabilitation involves long discussions with the village headmen who banished the women and also with their families. It is a real work of dialogue intended to see if the necessary conditions of safety and acceptance exist for their return home.
“ The problem is the persistent belief that there exists the ability to use evil supernatural power to harm others. This power is attributed to women” says Simon Ngona of the Witch Hunt Victims Empowerment Project. He admits it is difficult to uproot beliefs and taboos: “It is not important whether I believe in the power of these women or not. Most people do so. To say ‘it is not true’ is to go against society”. One of the first statements of the new minister for questions of gender, children and social protection Sarah Adwoa Safo was: “I shall work to restructure the witch camps so that the women residents feel at home there”.

Kasua : “I came here to Kukuo Camp 27 years ago.

The associations ask if it is a question of places for protection or prisons. The question is: how can a facelift for these places help to solve a question regarding abuses and the violation of human rights? “Besides violence, these women have also suffered great humiliation”, says Lamnatu Adam, head of the Songtaba ONG. “It is really a violation of human rights – she continues – since they are left with nothing and abandoned. In those camps, they are unable to forget what they have suffered and they often fall into deep depression”.
None of the women we met in the four camps (Gambaga, Gnani, Gushegu, Kukuo) we visited know how old they are but all of them remember, or say they remember, exactly how long they have been there. Kasua is one of these. “I came here to Kukuo Camp 27 years ago. I have grown old here. They said I killed my brother’s son. That was not true but how could I defend myself? My husband was already dead”.

Collateral victims
The women accused of being witches are rejected, always waiting for a son or daughter or benefactor to visit them – bringing some food or a bar of soap – subject to the decisions of the nearby village headman where the camp is located. Regarding children, a tragedy within a tragedy is the presence of boys and girls who are left in the company of the witch who, due to her age, is often unable to look after herself. The children grow up isolated from society and often do not go to school. They are the collateral victims of the stigma that afflicts their mothers or grandmothers. One of these is Waramatu, aged 17, who came here with his mother years ago and has since been to school for just three days.

Salamatu: “ They said I was a witch and now I am here”

Then there is eleven-year-old Fusheina who has been in Kukuo Camp with her grandmother for seven years. There are many more similar cases. “I have been here a long time and I have become used to this place”, recounts Abena, who has been in Gnani Camp for 15 years. “I would like to return home but I don’t want to be beaten or killed. Some women went home to their villages but then came back here. When I am very old and about to die, I will send for my children to come and fetch me, but if they leave me here, that is alright. After all, I am together with other women and we share the same fate”.
Some women try to protest and some have paid the large sum necessary for the ritual to establish their innocence. However, all of them must submit to the judgment of the crowd. After all, they themselves believe in magic and in its power. “There are people who can use your face who take on your identity to commit crimes and then you are unjustly accused”, is the explanation given by Wanduayab who has lived for many years in Gushegu Camp. “There was a woman in my community who fell ill and they accused me. What could I do?”.

Fusheina with her grandmother.

Life is hard in the camps where everyone has to look out for themselves day after day. Not all the women have joined LEAP, a government programme to combat poverty. “I dig other people’s fields and they give me something to eat. When there is a market in the village, I go in the evening to collect the maize and millet that has been left on the ground. I am not sure about wanting to return to my community. It happened once and it may happen again”, says Salamatu who has lived in Gushegu camp for seven years. “My rival – Tanjong, a resident in Gambaga Camp tells us – dreamt that I wanted to use witchcraft against her. The next day, they destroyed my roof. Then they began to beat me. Nobody tried to help me. They said I was a witch and now I am here”.
Many of the women have grown old in these camps. They have seen how the world goes on and changes only through the accounts of other ‘witches’ who came to the camps after them.

Antonella Sinopoli

Ethiopia. That propitious day.

Tuesday, 1 June 2021 8:00

The Gedeo are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. Among the Gedeo, there are three main ways to find a girl to marry.

The first way is called bultane which means in peace and full agreement. The two families are fully involved in the process. The first step is taken by the father of the future husband: the father of the young man, usually alone, goes to the home of the girl to ask for her hand. Approaching the house, he greets the family members who are at home in a generic way and then sits down on a wese (false banana) leaf, a position that shows he desires to meet the family.

The parents of the girl understand the reason for his visit and they prepare to welcome him before he actually enters the house. After the usual exchanges the formal request is made for the girl who is to be married. The response is, however, given in a generic way such as ‘you may come again’ if the formal answer is affirmative, or ‘do not trouble yourself’, an answer that is almost formally negative. In a more extensive manner: if the father of the girl does not wish to give his consent, he says: Faro atebani: higi. Faro hoyitén: daggotte, ‘The propitious day does not give her to you, it has prevented her: go back and do not come again’. If instead he agrees, he says: Lekka abitti, ‘Stop’ which practically means: ‘do not bother coming again. I promise you my daughter’. To confirm the agreement, he invites him inside the house. The father of the girl offers to the father of the young man a vessel full of buno, malebo, so’a (coffee, honey and barley). The father of the young man eats some of it and takes the rest home for his family members to eat.

Running away from home
The second way to obtain a girl to marry is l’addibana (in secret). Unknown to the parents, the young man agrees with the girl, but only through a third party. To gain her consent, he oftentimes must send her a dress (in the past, smaller gifts were sufficient).
In the evening, or at night, when everyone is asleep, she runs away from her home: to the agreed spot where she finds various people who accompany her to the house of friends where she will stay for some days. Usually, the man’s parents are in agreement while those of the girl know nothing of the matter until it is completed.

The following day, a young man goes to the home of the girl (kùlate manan) and, from a distance shouts: ‘Do not search for your daughter: she is at the house of so-and-so‘, and runs away. If the parents of the girl, on guard due to her absence, manage to get hold of him, they keep him prisoner for a while (sometimes they beat him) and the husband, through the elders, must immediately hand over one large and one small blanket (éjjanna’ dùbba). If the messenger is not caught, the payment is not urgent.Then there is the buta (by force) way. This involves kidnapping (sometimes with violence) without the consent of either the girl or any of the parents. They take her to a place far away and hide her there for some days. An elder, called a woyo, goes to the parents of the girl to make peace; he brings some money with him: if they refuse the money (a rare occurrence), the young man must return the girl. Their acceptance of the money signifies their consent.

The dowry
Regarding compensation owed to the parents of the girl (the dowry), this is the procedure. In the case of bultane, after the father of the girl has given the father of the pretender the buno, malebo, so’a, the marriage is considered complete (kako, jilatìka séra birreén). When this is the case, they fix a date (even more than a year later) and only then will the girl go to the house of the husband: It is a closer bond than engagement but not as binding as when they have lived together. The husband buys a dress for the wife only several months after she has entered his house.

Apart from this, there is no dowry paid. In the case of addibana, if the messenger is caught, the elders must immediately bring éjjanná dùbba or the equivalent in money; if he manages to escape, they will bring the blankets one, two or more months later.
When both parties wish to conclude the agreement (always within a year), the father of the man sends the father of the girl the mésano, a small shawl or blanket (netalh), and says: ‘Jala flwo’ (Let us make peace, let us become one family).
The father of the girl accepts the mésano and they establish relations (firoma urrinsén), becoming relatives (firake kandén). He gives some butter to anoint the foreheads of the witnesses and all present; the elders conclude by giving their traditional blessings.
The bride (in the middle) is accompanied by the girls with a candle to the tent of the marriage meal.
In the case of buta, after the woyo has brought the money instead of the éjjanna dùbba to make peace, the mésano is brought as in the case of addibana. Apart from this, there is no other dowry. (C.A.)

Strategic control.

Tuesday, 1 June 2021 8:00

The discovery of oil, together with its geographical position, has brought Guyana to the attention of the major actors, local and distant, that are present in the Latin-American scene.

The United States, in particular, has been working for some time to guarantee the security of the country within which United States oil companies operate, for the added purpose of avoiding its exit from its sphere of influence.
In January 2021, agreements were signed both to consolidate bilateral ties and to send a clear message to Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela which, a few weeks previously, had again raised the question of the province of Essequibo where the enormous Liza deposits are located and which for years has divided the country, claiming sovereignty over this area which is seen to be rich in oil and gold deposits.

President Irfaan Ali and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo hosted a joint news conference at State House last September.

In addition, in September 2021, the Shiprider Agreement, an agreement signed in 2001 and made operative in September 2020, will come into force. This agreement allows the United States Navy and Aeronautics access to the waters and airspace of the Caribbean signatory countries, one of which is Guyana, to carry out arrests and the confiscation of ships suspected of drug trafficking. Nevertheless, according to analysts, since the agreement has not been reciprocated by the Caribbean countries, the ultimate scope of this synergy is oriented not against drug trafficking but at the strategic control of the area and its petroleum reserves.
It is therefore evident that the Agreement with the United States represents for the latter a useful instrument in reinforcing its position in the region where both Russia and China have been established for years, gaining important margins of influence and manoeuvre. Guyana itself, in fact, is within the grand Belt and Road Initiative of Peking. China has already been present in the country for years in the infrastructure sector by means of investments intended to improve the connection with northern Brazil which is the chief partner of China in Latin America.

Hydroelectric installation of Amalia Falls.

Again, in the view of analysts, this would allow Chinese businesses in Brazil to reach the Panama Canal more easily. China has also been the subject of a loan of around 115 million dollars to be used for enlarging the main airport of Guyana and allow the 747s to land there. Besides, as already foreseen, the Chinese oil company CNOOC forms part of the consortium for the extraction of oil deposits while the China Railway First Group also won a contract worth 500 million dollars for setting up the 165 MW hydroelectric installation of Amalia Falls in 2012.
Russia, too, is present in Guyana with the Rusal aluminium company active in the control of the bauxite mines. With reference to Moscow, it must be said that the region in general and Guyana in particular, is of great strategic value to Russia, besides being a means of sending clear signals to Washington, making its presence felt in the Caribbean and in the back yard of the United States.

Georgetown. The Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana.

Furthermore, Guyana has been and still is a landscape of clashes between the Islamic powers. This phenomenon first appeared in the nineteen seventies with the cultural clash between Libya, Saudi Arabia and Iran, fought through financing mosques, Koranic schools and cultural exchanges among students. Libya, especially, founded the Guyana Islamic Trust in 1979 through which it financed the running of primary and secondary schools. Iran and Saudi Arabia were equally active and the radicalisation of Guyanese Muslims has been attributed to them.
Intra-Islamic clashes are often expressed by murders and kidnappings like that of the Iranian religious Shiite Muhammed Hassan Abrahemi, sent by Iran to teach at the International School of Advanced Islamic Studies in Georgetown, carried out in 2004. In 2007, some Guyanese, together with exponents of Jamaat al Muslimeen, carried out a failed attack on John Fitzgerald Kennedy Airport in New York. In recent years, there has been large-scale penetration of dangerous Islamist organisations such as Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Jamaat al-Fuqra and Tablighi Jamaat, favoured also by being close to the Suriname and Trinidadian groups whose activities are increasing conversions to Islam among people of African descent. In addition, it would seem that agreements have been made between these organisations and local crime which facilitate Islamic penetration into the country, a threat which is destined to grow, according to informed analysts, due especially to the social unrest caused by the poverty of which the country is a victim.

Filippo Romeo

Africa’s New Debit Crisis.

Tuesday, 1 June 2021 8:00

One of the most successful campaigns in the year 2000 led to debt relief for 37 of the world’s poorest countries. 20 years later, Africa is once again in a debt crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic.

This new debt crisis has become a burning political issue. How did the crisis come about? How to deal with it?

The first debt crisis
The rise in oil prices in the 1970s flooded banks with “petrodollars”. In order to invest the new capital profitably, they offered cheap and risky loans to developing countries on a large scale.
This changed with the policy of the USA under President Reagan. From being a creditor USA became to a borrower.

The flow of money to Africa stopped; the initially low interest rates rose enormously. Many countries could no longer service their loans. The international financial institutions forced the indebted countries into a drastic austerity programme. Social spending on education and health was cut. A “lost decade of development” followed.

Inspired by the biblical jubilee year, in which debts were forgiven and slaves freed (cf. Lev 24), churches and development organisations launched a successful worldwide campaign for global debt relief at the turn of the millennium. 37 heavily indebted poorest countries (31 of them in Africa) received a debt relief amounting to 76 billion dollars. A new start was possible.

The new debt crisis
Today, 21 countries are in partial default. Other countries are on the verge of national bankruptcy. In Africa, the most affected are Eritrea, Libya, Sao Tome & Principe, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Sudan, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique and DR Congo.

What are the causes of this new debt crisis?

. The debt relief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased the creditworthiness of African countries, especially those where oil (Ghana) or natural gas (Mozambique) was found. Investors were again willing to grant risky loans.

. However, the fresh money was not invested in economically productive projects but served to plug budget holes. Large sums of money disappeared through corruption.
Falling commodity prices meant a drop in income for many countries. They thus lost the ability to service loans.

. Civil wars devastated entire regions and prevented any sustainable development

. Climate change caused storms, droughts and floods which have destroyed the economic foundations of many countries.

. Rapid population growth requires heavy investments in infrastructure, education and health care, which are overwhelming countries.

. As everywhere in the world, the Covid-19 pandemic means economic recession, high unemployment and hunger in major cities.

Africa’s biggest lender is China.

How to deal with the debt crisis
The global covid-19 epidemic is hitting poorer countries particularly hard. To help these countries, which lack the resources to fight the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank proposed to the club of the 20 largest industrialised countries (G20) to grant the poorest countries a deferral of repayments and interest until the end of 2021. 73 countries could benefit from this.

Debt relief organisations welcome this initiative, but criticise three things:

. Cancellation of the debt is only a temporary postponement, but not a solution to the problem, because from 2023 onwards, the suspended repayments and interest payments have to be made up.
. The number of beneficiary countries is too small. Many other countries need the same help.

. Not all creditors participate. Private creditors and the World Bank are left out.

The German debt relief alliance erlassjahr.de has long been calling for a definitive mechanism for over-indebted countries to solve their problems in the long term and give them a real fresh start. The so-called “Paris Club” of creditor states often grants insolvent states a longer payment period and limited relief. But this only postpones the debt problem but does not solve it.

Neterk Afrika Deutschland (NAD)

Photo Gallery – Snapshots from Africa

Advocacy

Baobab

Youth & Mission