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Colombia. The impact of Covid-19 on Afro spirituality.

The coronavirus pandemic is changing how people live and relate to others while deeply influencing Afro-Colombian spirituality.

Colombia has one of the largest Afro populations in Latin America. The Afro-Colombians make up 6.68% of the population (49.65 million). The coastal regions of Colombia may have a significant Afro-Colombian population of up to 90% in the case of the Pacific or 60% on the Atlantic coast. The department of Chocó is the most populated Afro-Colombian state, followed by Magdalena, Bolivar and Sucre. Southern Valle, northern Cauca and Uraba have black majorities. The Afro-Colombians are among the most marginalised communities in the country.
The Coronavirus is changing the way people live and how the Afro population relate to other groups. In the same way, the pandemic has deeply influenced Afro-Colombian spirituality. Afro-Colombian spirituality is prominently manifested in rituals concerning the dead. They are expressions of solidarity with the dead person and their family.

The greatest expression in the funeral rites is the vigil during which people watch over the dead person and accompany their family before the burial. There are usually songs and prayers for the eternal rest of the departed person. Similarly, among the Afro-Colombian communities, love for the dead is shown through the strong manifestation of weeping to express one’s sorrow.
After the burial, the memorial of the deceased is accompanied by a novena both in the house and in church to implore God’s mercy on them. The novena is concluded with a ceremony popularly known as el levantamiento de la tumba (raising the tomb) which is carried out at the house of the dead. During this time of the pandemic, the Afros have not been able to follow their spirituality as regards their accompaniment of the dead. Vigils may not be held either in the home or during the funeral. This amounts to a total breakdown of the culture.
This situation is having a terrible psychological effect on people who are prevented from accompanying the departed ones. It is difficult for Afro people to understand this situation. The aim of the government is to slow the accelerating spread of the virus. Nevertheless, for the Afro, this is a serious blow against an ancient custom that has always defined the way of being of the Afro-Colombian people.
In the Afro-Colombian culture, the dead may not be buried with just a few people present. Neither is it common to cremate the dead. The dead are usually buried and the graves are frequently visited. Indeed, the presence of many people is a show of solidarity towards the family. In this time of the pandemic, those who die of Covid-19 must be cremated. For the Afro, this is incomprehensible. It goes against their vision of the world and their understanding. It is something beyond the Afro imagination. Cremation is something incomprehensible. The Afro custom is to bury the dead and live peacefully the days of mourning.

One important element for the Afro communities is visiting the cemetery. The cemetery is the permanent home of the dead. It contains the tombs of their dear departed ones. The tombs are visited to maintain contact between the dead and their families and friends. People of African descent, in particular, who live in urban centres, are used to visiting their dear departed one in the cemeteries. It is an ancient custom that is followed every weekend and on the anniversary of the dead. When they visit the tombs, they dedicate the songs they liked, they pray for the dead, clean the tombs, place flowers on them, and if the dead person liked beer they pour some on the grave. This is a way of showing solidarity with the dead person and keeping their memory alive in the family. Due to the regulations introduced by the government during the pandemic, they are not allowed to visit the cemeteries frequently. Those given permission may not visit in groups but only individually.

The sense of Family
The social life of the Afro-Colombian people rotates around the family and friends. The family greatly defined the Afro persona. In the Afro view of the world, one is not limited just to blood ties. The family is not just the house in which one was born but the family is broad and includes the whole community. In this sense, all are brothers and sisters. This familiarity is shown also in places where games such as dominos, cards and other traditional games that express friendship between neighbours and common friends. It is also shown in sharing such drinks as viche, curado, arrechón and in workplaces using uramba and manocambiada, (works carried out for the community).

All of this is shattered in this time of the pandemic. Covid-19 has ended social life, an element that characterises somewhat the Afro people. People may not gather to chat or to play games since in this period of the pandemic all have to keep their distance from one another to avoid contagion. The Coronavirus is therefore bad news in terms of the experience of the sense of the family which has always characterised the Afro-Colombian people.
In the Afro view of the world and their way of thinking, the elderly have an essential role in society. In fact, in the extended Afro family, the elderly transmit cultural knowledge to the children and the youth. They are like living libraries due to their accumulated wisdom. The family needs the elderly. However, during this time of the pandemic, they are not authorised to leave their houses and they may not meet their relatives in other places for fear of becoming infected.
The Coronavirus pandemic has caused irreparable damage to Afro-Colombian spirituality and is the worst tragedy ever to afflict the Blacks.

Lawrence Ssimbwa

Arms industry sales rise.

Sales of arms and military services by the sector’s largest 25 companies totalled $361 billion in 2019, 8.5% more than in 2018 according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The largest companies have a geographically diverse international presence the new data from SIPRI’s Arms Industry Database shows with arms sales by the world’s 25 largest arms-producing and military services companies (arms companies) totalled $361 billion in 2019.
This is an 8.5% increase in real terms over arms sales of the top 25 arms companies in 2018.

In 2019 the top five arms companies were all US- based: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics. These five together registered $166 billion in annual arms sales. In total, 12 US companies appear in the top 25 for 2019, accounting for 61% of combined arms sales of the top 25.
For the first time, a Middle Eastern firm appears in the top 25 ranking. EDGE, based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was created in 2019 from the merger of over 25 smaller companies. It ranks at number 22 and accounted for 1,3% of total arms sales of the top 25.
“EDGE is a good illustration of how the combination of high national demand for military products and services with a desire to become less dependent on foreign suppliers is driving growth of arms companies in the Middle East,” said Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.
Another newcomer in the top 25 in 2019 was L3Harris Technologies (ranked 10th). It was created through the merger of two US companies both in the top 25 in 2018: Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies.

The top 25 includes four Chinese companies. Three are in the top 10: Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC; ranked 6th), China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC; ranked 8th) and China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO; ranked 9th). The combined revenue of the four Chinese companies—including China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC; ranked 24th)—grew by 4.8% between 2018 and 2019.
On the rise in the arms sales by Chinese companies, SIPRI Senior Researcher Nan Tian said: “Chinese arms companies are benefiting from military modernisation programmes for the People’s Liberation Army.”
The revenues of the two Russian companies in the top 25 — Almaz-Antey and United Shipbuilding – decreased between 2018 and 2019, by a combined $634 million. A third Russian company, United Aircraft, lost $1.3 billion in sales and dropped out of the top 25 in 2019.

Alexandra Kuimova, Researcher at SIPRI, said: “Domestic competition and reduced government spending on fleet modernisation were two main challenges for United Shipbuilding in 2019.”
After the US, China accounted for the second largest share of 2019 arms sales by the top 25 arms companies, at 16%. The six West European companies together accounted for 18%. The two Russian companies in the ranking accounted for 3.9%.
Nineteen of the top 25 increased arms sales in 2019 compared with 2018. The largest absolute increase in arms revenue was registered by Lockheed Martin: $5.1 billion, equivalent to 11% in real terms.
The largest percentage increase in annual arms sales—105—was reported by French producer Dassault Aviation Group. “A sharp rise in export deliveries of Rafale combat aircraft pushed Dassault Aviation into the top 25 arms companies for the first time,” Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, Director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, said.
The report also looks at the international presence of the 15 largest arms companies in 2019.
These companies are present in 49 countries, through majority-owned subsidiaries, joint ventures and research facilities.

With a global presence spanning 24 countries each, Thales and Airbus are the two most internationalised companies — followed by Boeing (21 countries), Leonardo (21 countries) and Lockheed Martin (19 countries).
The United Kingdom, Australia, the US, Canada and Germany host the largest numbers of these foreign entities. Outside the arms industry hubs of North America and Western Europe, the largest numbers of entities of foreign companies are hosted by Australia (38), Saudi Arabia (24), India (13), Singapore (11), the UAE (11) and Brazil (10).
Alexandra Marksteiner of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme said: “There are many reasons why arms companies might want to establish themselves overseas, including better access to growing markets, collaborative weapon programmes, or policies in the host countries tying arms purchases to technology transfers”.

Of 49 countries hosting foreign entities of the top 15 arms companies, 17 are in low- and middle-income countries. “Countries in the Global South seeking to jump-start arms production programmes welcomed foreign arms companies as a means to benefit from technology transfers,” said Diego Lopes da Silva, Researcher at SIPRI.
Siemon Wezeman, Senior Researcher at SIPRI, said: “The Chinese and Russian arms companies in the top 15 have a limited international presence. Sanctions against Russian firms and government-mandated limits on acquisitions by Chinese firms seem to have constrained their global presence.”
(D.W.)

South Sudan. The tenderness of God.

“As missionaries, we try to share as much as possible the life of our people, creating situations of reconciliation and forgiveness”.

We live in the village of Nyal, in the county of Painjiar, in South Sudan where one can come only by using the helicopters of the World Food Programme (WFP). We live in a small hut built of trees and mud, with a straw roof. We have no electricity or internet. When it gets dark, we use a torch. We fetch water for drinking and washing from a well not far from the huts.The county of Painjiar is surrounded by vast malaria-infected marshes and malaria is the prime cause of death among the population, especially the children. There are not enough hospitals capable of responding to the needs of the people.
During the rainy season, we have to bury a child every week. The village becomes flooded and becomes a big swamp.

People have to wind their way through the pools and in the mud, even for kilometres on end. We have no means of transport and we travel on foot at the same pace as the people. We visit the various communities: it takes an hour and a half to reach some of them while others are more than nine hours’ journey on foot from Nyal. Where the water is deep, we have to use the local canoes made of timber from palm trees, sometimes travelling for three or four days to reach some of the mission chapels.
The Nuer ethnic group is the second-largest in South Sudan after the Denka. They are mainly pastors.
Cattle are at the centre of their culture and milk is the staple food, prepared together with maize or sorghum. Cows are central to marriage agreements: the Nuer are polygamists by tradition and when it comes to marrying a girl they are prepared to ‘pay’ from a minimum of twenty to eighty or even a hundred cows if she is educated.

A woman’s life is very harsh and she has no rights: she has to see to all the domestic chores like cooking, fetching water, chopping firewood and doing the washing; as well as raising an average of seven children. A man may have several wives, according to the number of cattle he has: having many wives and children is a status symbol. Cattle also cause many problems since different ethnic groups are prepared to fight and kill to steal the cattle of other clans. Every year, in the territory of the mission, there are hundreds of deaths connected with this phenomenon that increases hatred, especially between the Denka and the Nuer.

School emergency
In the entire territory of the mission, the educational system is extremely poor. The government considers this area rebellious and there is little by way of development. There is not a single secondary school and the primary school teachers have little training and are volunteers in many cases. They receive no pay from the government but are given some small remuneration by local NGOs. This is why there is a great shortage of teachers and they often leave their schools and students as soon as they get a better-paid job elsewhere.

The pupils also have to bring their own chairs or sit on the floor. Due to the war, many are quite old when they start school. The average age in the eighth class is from 18 to 20 years. Very few girls are sent to school but are usually kept at home to help with housework or are given in marriage by their fathers who need more cattle, perhaps to marry another wife or to pay the dowry of a male child.
Since there is no secondary school anywhere in the mission, many youngsters try to go to Juba, the capital, to enter the UN refugee camps where they can go to secondary school. Others manage to go to Kenya or Uganda where the standards of education are higher but much more expensive. Most of the people are unable to speak English, the official language of the country. We missionaries built a technical school or Vocational Training Centre, at Leer, where agriculture, especially, was taught, but it was completely destroyed during attacks in 2014; all the machinery was stolen along with the people’s hopes of education.

Generous people
After last year’s peace agreement, in February 2020 a new government was formed headed by Salva Kiir and Riek Machar (who returned after a long period of exile in South Africa). However, the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly slowed the process of peace and its implementation. South Sudan is completely incapable of managing a pandemic: the whole country has only one centre (in Juba) where Coronavirus tests are carried out and there are very few beds available for those infected with Covid-19. Meanwhile, clashes continue in various parts of the country.

The Nuer people are extremely generous towards us missionaries. They are people capable of loving and of giving, despite their poverty. They also know how to live joyfully, despite the cross they have to bear. The people truly evangelise us, showing us the tenderness of God. It really is true that the poor are our teachers, showing us the face of God (Cf. Mt 25, 31-46). It is indeed a joy to accompany such people. As missionaries, we try as much as we can to share the life of the people, creating opportunities for reconciliation and forgiveness. We visit the many communities and try to bring a word of hope in the midst of so much suffering. Without doubt, war is a blasphemy against the tenderness of God, a God who is love, tenderness and an embrace.
Here Jesus is known in the Christian communities as Kuär malä, which means ‘The Lord of Peace’.

While on an endless Way of the Cross, these people believe in the God of life as their only hope of emerging from this situation. In a country wounded by tribal hatred, we try to be a presence of peace, the presence of Jesus of Nazareth who never abandons his suffering people, a God who fights for the liberation of his people from the slavery of war; a war caused by corruption and the thirst for power of the few who care nothing for their responsibilities and whose greed causes the deaths of thousands of people every year. We missionaries are here to shout aloud to our people that the Emmanuel, God-with-us, is close to them and that their cry is the cry of Jesus from the Cross, that same Jesus who journeys, struggles and hopes with them. With unwavering hope, we continue to work for the resurrection of South Sudan and of our people so that the dream of God, a dream of peace and life in its fullness for all his children, may be realised.

Fr. Mario Pellegrino

The Persian Gulf, new trends in the oil market.

Crossroads of the world crude oil market, the Persian Gulf has a central role in the international energy market. China, India and Japan are the new drivers of demand while USA dependency diminishes, with important results for regional equilibrium.

According to the estimates of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2019 27% of global oil offers was guaranteed by five Meddle Eastern countries Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Kuwait), three of which belong to the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf – CCG (which unites the monarchies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).

The Gulf region sees as highly strategic the presence of the Strait of Hormuz, situated between Oman and Iran, which represents the more important of the eight world maritime chokepoints (the others are the Malacca Straits, the Suez Canal, Bab el Mandab, the Danish Straits,
the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, Panama Canal and the Cape
of Good Hope).

In 2018, the EIA calculated a transit of 21 million barrels a day for Hormuz, equal to 21% of the total consumption of crude oil and 35% of all oil transported by sea. For the same year, BP analysed the daily production of the main producers in the area, which was around 12.3 million barrels by Saudi Arabia, 4.7 by Iran, 4.6 by Iraq, 3.9 by the Emirates, 3 by Kuwaiti and 1.9 by Qatar.

As regards demand, in 2018 76% of oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz was exported to Asian markets, 65% of which went to China (around 3 million barrels per day), India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. The USA, at present the largest producer of oil, followed by Saudi Arabia and Russia, in 2018 continued to import around 1.4 million barrels a day.

The role of the USA in the world energy market, and consequently the entire geopolitical scenario of the sector, has profoundly changed due to the progressive development of shale technology since the start of the millennium, which has enabled US companies to extract hydrocarbons from bituminous rocks present in a number of States.

The innovative shale technology has had an enormous effect, transforming the USA from a driver of oil demand to a producer, in direct competition with the OPEC Cartel.
The shift of the volume of demand towards the emerging Asian powers has made the dynamics of the market particularly sensitive to the course of their economies, especially that of China.

Due to the high strategic value of the chokepoints, even their temporary blockage would have international economic repercussions causing delivery delays, higher transport costs and higher prices for petroleum products.
In the case of Hormuz, only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have sufficient capacity and oil pipelines to bypass the Strait.

The threat of eventual closure is a recurrent theme in the rhetoric of the leadership of the Islamic Republic, especially in the more acute phases of conflict with the USA, despite it being difficult to carry out due to the enormous harm it would inflict on the Iranian economy. It is clear, however, that even minor actions or accidents would notably affect the interests of various players in the sector.

The petroleum business is going through a complex phase: the contraction of demand due to the Covid-19 crisis and the contrasts between Saudi Arabia and Russia (included in the new enlarged OPEC+) have led to the unprecedented collapse of petroleum prices, even reaching record negative levels. S&P Global Ratings forecasts that due to a combination of these factors, the CCG economies may incur a loss of 490 billion dollars by 2023, a radical challenge for regimes whose social pacts are based upon income from oil.

The reduction in profits from fossil fuels, destined in the long run to give way to less-polluting sources of energy, together with a lower degree of dependence by the USA and the emergence of extra-OPEC producers, will impact the political and economic systems of the countries of the Gulf and their ability to play a role on the
international stage.

Violetta Orban/CgP

Latin America. 2021. Elections in the shadow of Covid-19.

Crisis in the economy, public health and the environment. Six countries will go to the polls to elect their presidents. Will the Bolivia effect lead to new scenarios in the continent? Many unknowns.

Latin America, together with the rest of the world, is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic that has badly affected the region already sorely tried by the economic and public health crisis. The more than ten million cases registered in mid-October 2020 have made the area into a worrying epicentre of the pandemic. According to the WHO, the region accounts for one-third of all confirmed Covid-19 worldwide. This has fuelled the greatest recession of the indicators of human development since 1990 which show alarming social and economic figures. More than 30 million people belonging to the area of Latin America and the Caribbean will experience poverty, 44 million will be unemployed and the collapse of productivity is calculated to be three times that of any other emerging region and, according to analysts, the recovery predicted for the second half of 2021, will take the form of a u-turn.

Ecuador.  Quito from El Panecillo. (Photo: Diego Delso)

On the political front, the return to power of the MAS in Bolivia and the abrogation of the Chilean constitution could redefine the regional political order. Six countries will hold elections in 2021 – Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Haiti.
In Ecuador, elections will be held in February 2021. Andrés Arauz, a former minister of the last Rafael Correa government, a candidate for the presidency, will be supported by the MUNS (National Movement for Hope), made up of the union of the RC (Citizens Revolution) and the CD (Democratic Centre). There is a large number of candidates standing for election including Guillermo Celi, supported by President Lenin Moreno and the candidate of the liberal SUMA (United Society for Action).
In Peru, the speaker of Congress, Francisco Sagasti, took over as interim president in November 2020 on the resignation first of President Martín Vizcarra and then his interim successor Manuel Merino. Elections will take place in April 2021 to elect the president, the vice-president and the members of parliament. In terms of the pandemic, it is the second worst-affected country in the region after Brazil and is therefore opting for voting via the web. Its economy, which was thriving before the crisis, is now suffering serious repercussions which will doubtless weigh upon that portion of the population already living in precarious conditions and stricken with particular ferocity by the Covid-19.

The most recent opinion polls show that George Forsyth is in the lead with 23% of preferences. He is a former goalkeeper of Alleanza Lima football team and the candidate of the right-wing Restoration Nacional party; in second place, with 9% is Daniel Urresti of Podemos Perù who has been accused of the murder of journalist Hugo Bustíos; third, with 7%, is Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto, who belongs to the Fuerza Popular party; fourth, with 4% are Verónika Mendoza, leader of Nuevo Peru and Julio Guzmán of the Purple Party. Generally, the one who is ahead in the opinion polls does not manage to maintain that position up to the end. In Peru, the final ten days of electoral campaigning are often marked by surprises. No doubt, the new president will have to come to terms with the great structural problems gripping the country, one of which is the wide economic gap between the social classes. According to some analysts, victory by George Forsyth and, therefore, of the team of Restoration National led by the Evangelical Pastor Humberto Lay Sun, could prove deleterious to the resolution of such problems and even to geopolitical equilibrium since he would take the side of those forces that are against regional unity.

Protests in Chile in 2019, Plaza Baquedano, Santiago. (Photo: Carlos Figueroa)

Chile is another country that will be involved, in 2021, with several elections. This follows the definitive abrogation, by referendum, of the constitution drawn up in 1980 by the Pinochet dictatorship. The demand for a new constitution started in October 2019, in conjunction with the socio-political revolt unleashed in the country, which was caused by the economic inequality weighing upon a sizeable portion of the population who are forced to make do with very little. Meanwhile, in April 2021, during the administrative elections, Chileans must choose the 155 members of the Constituent Assembly whose work will start in May and the results of its work will be subjected to a popular ratification referendum to be held during the second semester of 2022. If approved, the new constitution will come into force immediately. On 21 November 2021, the presidential elections will take place. If none of the contestants obtains more than 50% of the votes, the elections will be repeated on 19 December.

An anti-government protest in Managua.

On 7 November 2021, people will also vote in Nicaragua. This event will be an object of scrutiny by many international actors due to the crucial strategic importance surrounding the country which, since 2018, has been going through a tremendous political upheaval the consequences of which have generated more than three hundred deaths and thousands of wounded, with eighty thousand forced to leave the country. To all of this, we must add the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The party of Daniel Ortega is working to win its third consecutive election, while the opposition presents itself almost entirely under the banner of the Coalición Opositora and is doing all it can to ensure transparent and secure elections. The General Assembly of the OAS (Organisation of American States) has also intervened in this matter by adopting a resolution asking the government to make electoral reforms before May 2021 to ensure completely transparent elections, to convoke the Supreme Electoral Council, to allow the parties to register as contestants and to allow the presence of international observers.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

In 2021, people will go also to the polls in Honduras where the parties legally enrolled in the National Electoral Council (CNE) have already been called to meet in September in compliance with what is established in article 115 of the present Electoral Law according to which the convocation for the primary elections must be issued six months previous to the electoral process. Due to take part in the primaries, scheduled for March 2021, are the Liberal Party, the National Party, and the Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre), whose numbers are sufficient to present their candidates for the presidency. The remaining parties, though officially enrolled in the CNE, but which do not have sufficient numbers to appoint their candidates, will take part exclusively in the general elections
to be held in November.

In November 2021, elections are also planned in Haiti, one of the poorest countries of the region and stricken by various crises and by the ferocity of criminal gangs. Furthermore, it is also being riddled by furious protests affecting the capital and other large cities. Demonstrations have been called for by the opposition organisations – Organisation of Struggling Peoples (OPL); Fusion of Socialdemocratics (Fusión); Christian Movement for New Haiti (Mochrenah), and the Pitit Dessalines – to protest against the incumbent president Moise whom they ask to resign, before 7 February 2021, to allow the installation of a transition government that can lead the country to the elections in November. Jovenel Moïse, on the contrary, has returned the request to the sender, answering that his five-year mandate will expire
in February 2022.

Filippo Romeo

 

A Special Advocacy Action.

International organisms during this pandemic are under scrutiny and surely for many and good reasons. However, even in the weed fields some good wheat can be harvest. The United Nations has provided many juridical tools and agreements among its member States that support a claim for social justice.

The IMF (International Monetary Fund), for its part, can play a role in providing liquidity and supplementing member countries’ official reserves, preventing the spread of poverty in case of emergency such as during Covid19. It is the Special drawing rights (SDRs) created in 1969 to supplement a shortfall of preferred foreign exchange reserve assets, namely gold and U.S. dollars. It is also a tool for the governments to prevent sovereign risk. A nation is a sovereign entity. Any risk arising on chances of a government failing to make debt repayments or not honoring a loan agreement is a sovereign risk.
IMF allocates SDRs (Special Drawing Rights)  to countries; private parties can neither held nor use it.

In August 2009, the SDRs in existence was around XDR 21.4 billion. During the global financial crisis of 2009, an additional XDR 182.6 billion was allocated to provide liquidity to the global economic system. By October 2014, the number of SDRs in existence was XDR 204 billion and insofar it is SDR 204.2 billion (equivalent to about US$281 billion). The value of the SDR is based on a basket of five currencies – the U.S. dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and
the British pound sterling.

Before its creation, the international community had to face several restrictions in increasing world trade and the level of financial development, as gold and US dollars, which were the only means of trade, were in limited quantities.The IMF created SDR in order to
address the issue.

SDRs are distributed to central banks of countries in proportion to their IMF quotas. Countries can exchange SDRs for freely usable currencies when they are in weak financial positions, as was the case amid the global financial crisis and now during the pandemic crises.  Even though, the SDR is neither a currency nor a claim on the IMF, it is a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of IMF members and Governments can exchange theirs SDRs for preferred foreign currencies.

“We have the tools to enhance global liquidity; I urge you to use them, and especially to consider a new issuance of special drawing rights,” (UN Secretary-General António Guterres, May 28, 2020)

Only US-Congress can authorize the IMF to release the financial resource of Special Drawing Rights at the scale and speed needed even though these resources are not loans to the governments.
This is why in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic, Africa Justice and Peace Network, a faith-based NGO acting in Washington DC (US) called its member to advocate on the US Senate to support the issuance of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) by the IMF for some African countries in need. It asked for 2 Trillion.

The U.S. House of Representatives with a bill of Friday, July 31, “Directs the U.S. to support the IMF’s issuance of 2 trillion special drawing rights and to support debt relief to help countries around the globe recover economically from COVID-19.”
A decision humanitarian, international development, human rights, labor, faith-based, and policy organizations representing tens of millions of people in the U.S. heartily applauded.Of this amount, Togo, South Africa, Somalia, Sierra Leone, and other countries are benefiting.Unfortunately, the financial jargon is often tough.

Actually, ISO 4217 currency code for special drawing rights is XDR and the numeric code is 960. ISO 4217 stands for the standard published by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) that defines codes for the representation of currencies and provides information about the relationships between individual currencies and their minor units. Thus, code is XDR, number 960, and SDR the symbol.

The best way of advocating is, without a doubt, the pro-active Advocacy. It implies, however, to set an agenda and a plan before hand to prevent problems and demands a previous and exhaustive knowledge of the means, juridical tools, documents, agreements, and instances so to use them while claiming a support for an action. Unfortunately, often civil society and the people are not aware of them either for their inadvertence or for intended misinformation by the political power.
See the Remarks by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva During an Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit

John Paul Pezzi, mccj
VIVAT International NGO
with consultative special status at UN

 

Sami. An indigenous European people.

The Sami have always lived in the far north of the continent. Historically oppressed and assimilated, they are today fighting to keep their culture and traditions. All despite advancing modernisation.

The Sami are an indigenous people numbering around 75,000. They are divided by the borders of four countries – Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia – and live in an area they call Sami. It has its own flag whose colours identify its different zones: red for Sweden, green for Finland, yellow for Russia and blue for Norway where most of the Sami live. The natives of this area are commonly known as ‘Lapps’.
In 1989 a Sami parliament was set up by Norway in recognition of Sami rights, located in the city of Karasjok. The establishment of a Sami parliament is especially relevant in that the natives of Sami have suffered what, historically, has affected many native peoples: ‘Norwegianisation’.

Forced assimilation
The fact is that, between 1850 and 1970, the Sami people were subjected to ‘Norwegianisation’.
During that period, the Sami residents in Norway were forbidden to speak their native language and were forced to assume Norwegian surnames in order to buy land and become integrated with the rest of the Norwegian population. The adults were assimilated according to life in the West and it was only with extreme difficulty that some of them, especially the Sami of the tundra, continued to work with the reindeer and keep their traditions.

Children born during the Norwegianisation period often did not learn their own language. In order to protect them and ensure their integration into the Norwegian people, their parents only spoke to them in the new language. Today, many of them are adults who feel they have lost their roots.One of the distinctions to be made when speaking of this people is that between the ‘Sami of the Sea’ and the ‘Sami of the Tundra’. The first group, who live along the fiord-dotted coasts, were among the first to be subjected to the process of Norwegianisation. The percentage who do not speak Sami is very high among them. On average, people between the ages of 30 and 60 years do not know their mother tongue.

To correct this, there are now a number of initiatives aimed at identity recovery: the Sami parliament has, to this end, reintroduced the Sami language in the schools where the children also learn their traditions and history. There are also specific courses for adults who wish to learn the Sami language.The Sami of the Tundra, as nomads involved in rearing their reindeer, were less affected by Norwegianisation and, in Norwegian cities like Karasjok and Kautokeino, 85% of the inhabitants speak Sami as their first language.

The nomads of the tundra
The Sami of the Tundra have as their main occupation the rearing of reindeer and this causes their nomadic life since they have to follow their movements. From childhood, their parents initiate them into this work which involves constant and complete contact with nature.
The reindeer are completely free and people have to conform to their movements. In practice, the animals move from the coast to the tundra, according to the seasons and have followed the same paths for thousands of years: the movement has followed this route ever since the Sami began to live off this activity and the movement is closely connected with the search for food by the reindeer.

The Sami follow the reindeer. In former times, they used to travel on sleighs drawn by reindeer or on skis; today, the reindeer are fitted with a GPS collar and a special App enables the Sami to know exactly where the animals are going. Obviously, this has greatly simplified the work of the Sami: before the introduction of the GPS, it was necessary to keep a constant watch on the herd. Whole Sami families would live for months constantly erecting and dismantling their ovvo as they followed the movements of the animals.
When the herd paused to rest, so too did the family, but if the animals started to move, the family immediately had to follow them. The last reindeer drive using sleighs was made in Norway in 1976.
Today, thanks to modern technology, the Sami have built cabins (small wooden shelters) along the route followed by the reindeer and, with powerful snowmobiles in the winter and quads (a four-wheeled moped) in the summer, they can quickly reach the herds.

In the depths of the fiords
The name ‘Sami of the Sea’ might suggest a fishing tradition but, in fact, their livelihood was, in the past, mostly sheep-rearing and wool-weaving. Fishing was not their main source of food but it was part of the economy which depended mostly on barter. Ties between the Sami of the Sea and those of the tundra were, and still are, very strong. The first roads connecting with the rest of Norway were not built until the seventies, and therefore, up to that time, for reasons of necessity, the economy was based upon exchange between the two Sami populations.

While the first group produced wool, textiles and objects in wood and bone (objects that are usually called duodji and items such as knives, woollen socks, blankets, all of which were strictly hand-made), the second one provided the Sami of the Sea with reindeer hides (an excellent protection against the cold of those areas above the Arctic Circle), and with meat.
Today, the Sami are involved in a great variety of works: perfectly integrated into the fabric of Norwegian society, they no longer live by forms of barter but work as teachers, doctors and cooks.

The nature of the language
Both groups of Sami live in close contact with nature. This leads them to extreme respect and rigour. Even though they have to hunt and raise animals, no Sami will find fault with, for example, fishing or hunting for sport. For these populations, respect for Mother Nature is the basis of all action. Before hunting or fishing, at the start of the pasturing season, Mother Earth is thanked and permission is asked of her to continue one’s activity. Another singular aspect that shows how complicated and, at the same time, how difficult the Sami culture is and how closely tied it is to environmental questions, is their language.

Catalogued in eleven different dialects, one of which became extinct in 1800 and another in 2003, only six of them have any literary history. It is very difficult to understand and learn to speak this language since one word may sometimes have 100 different expressions. One concrete example is the word for snow. Living in the Arctic, where the snow, ice and dim light dominate for six months of the year, it is necessary for the Sami to define precisely this essential component that determines their ability to move and work in such a difficult territory as the tundra. So, to describe snow when it is dry, brittle, floury or frozen, completely different words are used.

Modernity and tradition
In today’s world, it is increasingly difficult for the Sami to continue with their traditional way of life due to various factors that concur to render difficult a life that is nomadic and ‘at the service’ of natural rhythms: climate changes, the reduction of lands assigned to them for rearing reindeer, as well as tourism that often reaches destinations that, up to a short time ago, were off limits to tourists since they were set aside for rearing and pasturing the reindeer, are all elements that make
it hard to preserve tradition.

In cities of Norway and Sweden there have been protests, even some that have prevented the opening of new mines, and some heads of the Sami of the Tundra community have tried to make their voices heard by their governments. Despite all this, it seems inevitable that progress will go ahead, and with it, as often happens, the sacrifice of minority situations dedicated to a life far removed from the frenzy of the modern world. What is hoped is that, in the community, the tenacity, strength of will, and attachment to their roots will enable the younger Samis to continue their traditions, even at the cost of hard work and sacrifice.

Valentina Tamborra/MC. Text and Photos

Asia. 2021. Uncertainties and ambiguities.

How to confront the consequences of Covid-19 as they affect the countries of Asia. China will continue its domination on the various international chessboards. India joins the Security Council. Meanwhile, the Olympics are to be held in Japan.

The management of the first phases of the epidemic and the ambiguity that followed it concerning the causes and the reality of the contagion, filtered by censorship and the opportunities of the moment, have contributed considerably to feed scepticism towards the People’s Republic of China. A contributing factor to this is the increasing intolerance of the Beijing authorities towards criticism of any kind, with a growing emphasis on the repressive potential and ability to wage war proposed by president Xi Jinping, himself, during the final months of the year.Consequently, Asia has seen a drive towards rearmament and strategic realignment, with the development of QUAD, a four-sided alliance: the United States, Japan, India and Australia and renewed and re-found relations of alliance in the Asia-Pacific with Washington, which has as its target that which to an increasing degree is seen as the expansionist ambitions of Beijing in the geographic scenarios over which it claims a historic ‘right’ of control.

With these strategic factors, there are the associated problematics connected with productive revival, of exports and the Chinese initiatives abroad in the second semester of 2020, that have activated suspicions of a certain form of ‘crisis planning’ to launch the People’s Republic into a dominating position in an economically prostrate world in prey to a variety of difficult social problems. Thus leaving the governments with the obligation to mediate between emergency management, democratic fundamentals and the rule of law.
However things turn out, Asia will have to lead the revival of global exchange in 2021. Here, greater use of e-commerce may become structural, acting as a flywheel, especially in the area of consumer goods. During the same period, however, there will be an increased risk of social tensions in a continent where the pandemic, from India to Japan, has reduced the rights of workers and partly silenced civil society. Politics ought to inevitably take these factors into account, with the concrete danger of the withdrawal of human rights and civil liberties, but also – where governments will have failed to limit the damage and guarantee the prospects of renewed growth and development – of significant social changes. One can only guess whether this will be progressive or regressive.

Parliament House of Thailand.

Thailand, from this point of view, is an almost unique example in that the grave situation created by the pandemic, in addition to an acute structural crisis, motivated the prolonged demonstrations in the second half of the year that have created an opening for the restoration of democracy or a deeper submission to military and power interests, like the monarchic or oligarchic monopolies that rely on them.
The year opens with India’s role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, for a term of two years during which the great Asian country will have a positive role in giving greater weight to the developing world and will also relaunch its own influence as a demographic, economic and military giant, increasingly confronting the interests of one of the permanent members of the same institution, namely China, which India confronted last year, running the risk of open conflict, something that had not occurred for a number of years along the 3,000 kilometres of their common border.

With the brief though bloody conflict with Pakistan a half-century ago, India, led by Indira Gandhi, assured the creation of independent Bangladesh at the end of a war of independence fought from 26 March to 16 December 1971. It was one of the bloodiest wars of the modern era and an independence that opened the way to a difficult situation marked by underdevelopment and natural disasters before the country could, as in the last ten years, become one of the more emerging countries in Asia. In 2021, this reality will have to face up to its structural limits, the density of its population and its often repressive management that justifies itself by the need to contain radical Islamic pressure and its foreign influence.

Protesters gather during a rally against the police’s use of tear gas in Hong Kong (AP/Vincent Thian)

In the continent of Asia, from the point of view of politics, the panorama of 2021 has little to offer, following 2020 which was electorally intense, despite the limits imposed by the new coronavirus. A notable event is the elections planned for 5 September in Hong Kong to elect the local parliament (Legislative Council, Legco). This is an important event coming a year after the imposition on the former British colony of the national security law and the postponement of a year of consultations; officially to avoid the further spread of the epidemic but with obvious political and public order implications. The situation imposed on the population and pressure on opposition movements is unlikely to allow seats to be gained with substantial modifications to electoral laws (as demanded by the ‘umbrella revolution’ of autumn 2014 and after the crushing victory of the democrats in the district elections of November). The trial of strength between the parties and the tensions or solutions that derive from it will, in any case, mark the year 2021.
They will also mark Taiwan, seen by many Hong Kong dissidents as a place of refuge or temporary base before expatriating for good. The evolution of the strategic balance of the region, Beijing-Washington relations and pressure from the continent on the leadership of the island will certainly be of interest and under worldwide scrutiny. Even more so with the approach of 25 October, which in 1971 marked the assignment to the People’s Republic of China of the seat for the whole of China, formerly given to Taiwan. The theme of reunification demanded by Beijing will still be a ‘hotly-disputed’ topic after the obvious failure in Hong Kong of the theory of ‘one country, two systems’.

Myanmar. State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

In 2020, South-East Asia has suffered more from the economic, rather than other, consequences of the pandemic. Almost everywhere, the number of victims has been relatively low despite the difficulty in managing the crisis. The highest number of infections and deaths in proportion to the population occurred in Singapore, a well-developed country and well prepared in the area of public health, but characterised by high levels of immigration. In the area, the year 2021 will be a difficult one with possible consequences for social stability. Besides Thailand, the more uncertain situation may be that of Myanmar. The substantial victory on 8 November last, of the parties of the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has opened the way to the perhaps definitive decline of the control exercised by the armed forces ten years (on 30 March) from formally relinquishing of power after a half century of dictatorship, but the role of Nobel Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi and her party may well help towards profound renewal.
The fronts opened in Rakhine (with the unresolved questions of the Rohingya now largely refugees abroad and the accusation of genocide due to their persecution), and also against minorities of different origins and faiths, prevent pacification and development as well as alienating from the country both moral support and essential investment. On the level of strategy, the opening of dialogue with New Delhi is leading the country to a position that is more equidistant between the two neighbouring powers of India and China, in a broader framework of interests and alliances to which the countries of the region are called during a difficult wellbeing and economic contingency.

In Japan, the coming year will be rich in topics and unknowns, starting from the decade of a double catastrophe caused by an earthquake and a tsunami, of 11 March 2011 which created the crisis of the reactors at Fukushima nuclear power station which is still far from being resolved. It was an event that reignited fears and reflections connected with the use of atomic energy after having recovered in 2020 the memory of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 75th anniversary of the event and 50 years after the signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Closely connected with these themes, also due to the high level of US bases and the possibility that, if there were to be heightened regional tensions, they may become essential to US strategy based upon the nuclear deterrent, here will also be, in June, the fiftieth anniversary of the definitive return of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands to Japan after being under allied administration after the war. This anniversary, precedes by a month the planned opening of the Olympics and Paralympics postponed from last year. For the country of the Far East, this sporting event will be an opportunity to recuperate investments, tourists and its image. To mark an improvement in relations between Japan and South Korea – both countries with a relatively low rate of infections and deaths due to the Covid-19 pandemic but with dire economic situations and consequent unemployment – there may be, during the year, a negotiated solution regarding the forced labour imposed on hundreds of thousands of Koreans during the Japanese occupation.

Stefano Vecchia

East Africa. Lake Victoria, a threatened wonder.

Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater surface and a touristic marvel for its fauna, its landscapes and its rock art paintings and a large provider of food and water for the riparian populations is under threat by pollution, overfishing and climate change.

In many ways, Lake Victoria is a jewel of Creation. The Lake which was named, after Queen Victoria in 1858, by John Hanning Speke who correctly identified it as the source of the White Nile is with a surface of 69,484 square kilometres, the second largest freshwater lake in the world after Lake Superior in Canada.
Lake Victoria’s biodiversity is particularly rich. It is home to over 500 species of fish, which is more than anywhere else worldwide except Lake Malawi. It also hosts a sanctuary for chimpanzees on the Ngamba Island in Ugandan waters. The shores of the Ssese islands and of the Ugandan coast are also the home of impressive Nile crocodiles and hippos. Over 230 species of birds have been identified including the famous grey crowned crane which is Uganda’s national emblem.
Besides, the Mfangano Island in Kenyan waters is hosting a 4,000-year-old site of rock art paintings.

Yet, this paradise is facing several threats. The first is overfishing. Since the 1960s, when the Nile perch was first introduced, a tenfold increase of the catches occurred up to about one million tons at present (half of it are « dagaa » or freshwater sardines while the amount of Nile perches is around 230,000 tonnes). This amount is four times higher than sustainable exploitation levels, which were estimated at 250,000 tonnes by Professor Richard Ogutu-Ohwayo from Uganda’s National Fisheries Resource Research Institute. Unsurprisingly, the number of fishermen trebled from 70,000 to 210,000 between 2000 and 2017.
According to studies carried out by the University of Kenya’s Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences and by Uganda’s Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO), overfishing triggered also a decrease of the quantities of other fish species including tilapias and cichlids which was accelerated by the carnivorous Nile perches’ predatory behaviour.
Such observations have been confirmed by the FAO which reports an alarming fall of sardine stocks by 41 % between 2014 and 2017 and a 9.5% decline of Nile perches.

The decline of fish stocks is also caused, according to a 2008 study of the Bergen (Norway), Waterloo (Canada), Wageningen (Netherlands) and Minnesota (United States) universities and the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation, by the eutrophication of the Lake waters. This phenomenon is provoked by the dumping of fertilisers which have even worse effects than overfishing because of the proliferation of water hyacinths and algae which causes the depletion of fishes.
The decrease of the stocks worries the Kenyan authorities which encourage aquaculture as an alternative. The Dunga Beach Management Unit (Dunga BMU) for instance is raising tilapias in cages in the Lake. But scientists and say that faecal material from fishes grown in cages and dead fishes are causing a lot of pollution in similar environments such as Lake Michigan Pollution is the second plague of the Lake whose riparian population has increased tenfold since the 1930s up to 40 million inhabitants today. The pollution is particularly a threat for the fish stocks because of the lack of wastewater sanitation installations, deplores Richard Abila, a researcher at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Institute.

Beside aquaculture and fertilizers, pollution is also caused by pesticides, herbicides and plastic bags. One of the most dangerous ones is the mercury used by the gold panners of the Olini region in Kenya, close to the Tanzanian border which contaminates the local rivers and ultimately the Lake. “If nothing in the next 50 years if nothing radical is done, Lake Victoria will be dead because of what we are pouring into it”,says Peter Nyong’o, the governor of the Kisumu County.
Beside this pollution, the threat of an oil spill is increasing, owing to the project by Total and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Tullow Oil, the Uganda National Oil Corporation (UNOC) and the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) to build a 1,445 km long pipeline between the fields of the Lake Albert area in Uganda and the Tanzanian terminal of Tanga on the Indian Ocean.
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will cross several rivers of the Lake Victoria basin including its main tributary, the Kagera River and run along the Lake for over 450 kilometres. This raises the concern of several environmental NGOs and Oxfam International which accuses the promotors of the pipeline project to have selected a construction method which is the cheapest and the not safest one accordingly.
According to Oxfam, 12,000 families who live either on the shores of Lake Albert or along the pipeline may be negatively affected.
The risk is also to contaminate the White Nile, downstream since Lake Victoria is its main reservoir.

An oil spill would be a catastrophe for the fauna of the lake and the riparian populations which get their water supply from it, either to irrigate fields or provide drinking water to the Uganda capital, Kampala and to the cities of Kisumu (Kenya) and Mwanza (Tanzania). Moreover, in August 2019 the Tanzanian government announced plans to build a 135 km long water pipeline to bring drinking water to 263,000 people who live in 136 villages in the the North of the country.
In a letter published in November 2016, by the Science magazine, 70 researchers from 17 countries warn against the danger of oil exploitation for environment and the local communities of the Great Lake. In the case of Lake Victoria, Sixtus Kayombo from the Prospective College of the University of Dar es Salaam and his danish colleague Sven Jorgensen from the Royal Danish University of Pharmaceutical have established that the flushing time (the time required to replace the freshwater) of the lake is 123 years. This means that the negative effects of an oil spill could be felt during more than one century.
The illegal exploitation of the sand of the banks of the lake by construction companies are provoking their collapse and degrade ecosystems, in particular on the Ugandan coast. It has provoked changes in the stream speed and an acceleration of the erosion in the White Nile, downstream, and also an increase of sediments and perturbations in the development of aquatic fauna which reduce the penetration of light and reduce thereby the breeding opportunities among the fish populations.

Climate change is the ultimate threat for the lake, its fauna and flora and its riparian populations. Scientists predict that temperature will rise in the region by 1° C to 5°C within the next hundred years. As a result, evaporation is expected in increase which may lower the lake levels, especially if lower rainfalls occur at the same time, warns Emily Beverly professor at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science of the Houston University.
Emily Beverly and her team say that in the worse case scenario, within ten years, the lake could stop to flow into the While Nile which is the only outlet of its waters. Consequences could be disastrous for downstream countries since Lake Victoria is the largest provider of water of the Nile River, except during the rainy season on the Ethiopian highlands between July and October. The large Jinja hydropower plant on the While Nile would stop operating.

François Misser

 

Africa 2021. Security and Elections.

Clouds appear on the horizon in Sahel and forthcoming elections in several parts of the continent may contribute alongside with
the economic crisis aggravated by the Covid 19 pandemic
to raise tensions.

The deteriorating security situation in the Sahel region and more particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger is the main concern in West Africa. The challenge for the region and the international community is considerable, even if one considers only the humanitarian situation. According to the UNHCR the number of people internally displaced in the three above-mentioned countries increased from nearly 300,000 in 2018 to almost two million by mid-2020. During 2021, a number of other time-bombs will continue ticking. One is the upsurge in bloody interethnic conflicts exploited by the jihadists. The second is the economic decline caused by increased insecurity and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the third is the recession of Lake Chad which exacerbates tensions between the riparian communities.
A presidential election is scheduled in Benin in February 2021. For the first time, there are fears that the race may not be free and fair in this country which has been seen since 1990 as a paragon of democracy
in West Africa.

Benin president Patrice Talon.

The problem is not so much a risk of rigging the election but rather an impossibility for the challengers of the incumbent, President Patrice Talon, to run against him. The roman catholic bishops conference called specifically for inclusive elections on the 21 October to warn against a controversial system of sponsorship of the candidates who need the support of at least 16 MPs or mayors to be able to run. This quota is difficult to meet since opposition parties were not allowed to present their lists at the last parliament elections in 2019 and they boycotted the local elections in April 2020. The risk is that Talon may find himself as the sole candidate unless the President’s supporters approve another candidate of their choice to allow a pluralistic election. The main opponents may not be able to run since several have been sentenced to prison by courts who are suspected to have been politically biased. In Cape Verde, a new president will replace the incumbent, Jorge Carlos Fonseca whose second and last mandate expires on the 20 October 2021. The former Prime Minister Carlos Veiga who belongs like Fonseca to the ruling Movement for Democracy has announced that he will run for a third time. Against him, the main opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde is likely to present a candidate. Despite speculations that he might use the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to postpone it, the Gambian President Adama Barrow assured in his State of the Nation address of the 18 September 2020 that the presidential election would take place as scheduled on the 4 December 2021. After a draft constitutional bill that was supposed to be submitted to a national referendum was defeated in the National Assembly, it seems that President Adama Barrow should run again for a third term. The defeated bill was setting indeed a presidential two terms limit. In East Africa, Somalia will hold presidential elections on the next 8 February since the collapse of Siad Barre’s Somali Democratic Republic in 1991, after an agreement between President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo’s Mogadishu-based Federal Government of Somalia and the Federal Member States to hold the ballot.
The deal also stipulates the formation of a national conflict resolution committee to settle electoral disputes.

Bobi Wine to run for Uganda president in the February general elections. (AFP)

In Uganda, the presidential election will take place on the next 14 January 2021. Eleven candidates are running, including the incumbent president Yoweri Museveni. His main contender is 38 year-old music pop star Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi. The other aspirants for the top job are former army commander General Mugisha Muntu, former Security Minister General Henry Tumukunde, Norbert Mao, Joseph Kabuleta Kiiza, Patrick Amuriat Oboi, Fred Mwesigye, Willy Mayambala, John Katumba and one lady, Nancy Kalembe. The campaign should not be easy for the challengers. Bobi Wine was arrested briefly on the 3 November 2020 amid violent scuffles between police and his supporters while Patrick Amuriat was arrested at the headquarters of his Forum for Democratic Change party after accusations that he defied restrictions on the number of supporters accompanying him to the electoral commission where he submitted his nomination.

In Central Africa region, 2021 will also be a crucial year in the Central African Republic. Indeed, it may take several days before the results of the first round of the Presidential election and of the legislative elections, held on the 27 December 2020 are known. If necessary, the second round will be held on the 14 February 2021 and the new President, should be sworn in on the 30 March 2021. The question is whether the ballot can be credible in a country where two thirds of the territory are in the hands of 14 rebel groups or more.
One of the rivals of the incumbent President, 63 year-old Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the chairman of the Christian Democratic Party, Aristide Reboas, complained in October about the confusion in the registration of voters. Some voters were missing indeed on the lists. Ten other candidates have announced plans to run, including former Presidents, Gen. François Bozize and Catherine Samba-Panza and former Prime Ministers Anicet Dologuélé and Martin Ziguélé.
During the second semester 2021, a presidential election is also due in São Tomé e Príncipe. The main competitors are expected to be the incumbent, Evaristo Carvalho and the leader of the main opposition party, Patrice Trovoada, Ação Democrática independente which has currently 25 seats in the national assembly out of 55.
In Chad, on the 11 April, President Idriss Déby will try to be re-elected for a sixth mandate, whereas the first parliament elections since 2011 is scheduled for the 24 October.

President Idriss Deby of Chad.

The latter have been postponed several times for a variety of reasons including growing jihadist activity by Boko Haram, the COVID-19 pandemic, the refugee crisis and an insurgency in the north. The fall of the oil price which increased the domestic financial crisis has created a context which could favour the opposition if it stands united. So far, it has been fragmented but the chairman of the National Union for Democracy and Renewal Saleh Kebzabo is actively promoting the idea of a single opposition candidate.
In many African countries the government is planning severe budget cuts for 2021. A case in point is the Democratic Republic of Congo where the government has proposed a  23.2% decrease compared with 2020, following instructions from the international Monetary Fund, which is considering the first formal loan program with Congo in eight years.
It remains to be seen whether the civil servants including the military will accept such sacrifice in a country where salaries are among the world’s lowest. In Southern Africa, all eyes will focus on Zambia where the incumbent President, 63 year-old Edgar Lungu is running for a second term. Presidential and parliament elections will be held on the 12 August 2021. The race looks tight since the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and small parties have formed an alliance against the ruling Patriotic Front. Five years ago, Lungu’s victory against his rival 58-year-old businessman Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the UPND, who is running for the sixth time, was indeed narrow.

President Edgar Lungu of Zambia.

The coronavirus pandemic which contributed to depress copper prices has created a context of economic crisis in Zambia’s mining-heavy economy which could turn Lungu’s re-election difficult. But the President is trying to avert the scenario of his possible defeat with an attempt to amend the Constitution in order to enable the first candidate at the first round of the election to form a coalition with another candidate if none of the candidates gets more than 50% of the total votes cast before the second ballot. Last October the much-criticised amendment, known as Bill number 10, failed to garner the support of the mandatory two-thirds of Members of Parliament. It got 105 votes out of the required 111 votes. The opposition is also accusing Lungu to prepare a massive rigging by abolishing the current voters’ register and replacing it with a new one.

François Misser

Comboni Lay Missionaries. Getting involved.

It is more than 30 years since the Comboni Family has been enriched by the presence of lay people, both single and married who decide to dedicate a period of their lives to work in the mission. Alberto de la Portillas, the general coordinator of the Comboni Lay Missionaries explains  what it is about.

The call of the laity is a call to the service of humanity, a call which, for some, will involve service within our Church. But the Church is called to go out, to go out into the roads with Jesus, to go from village to village, helping in things great and small.  We are called to be the salt that gives taste, the yeast in the dough. We are called to be in the world and contribute to it in a meaningful way. We must not stay at home where we are comfortable, where we all understand one another.
We are called to go out. The Church is not born for itself but to be a community of believers who follow Jesus and serve the neediest. It is for this reason that we feel called to help the growth of human communities (including Christian communities).

For us Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM), having our bags packed is part of our vocation. We are called to accompany people and communities for a given length of time, and then we leave, since our leaving is an essential part of our life. We are called to leave our homelands and travel to other countries and other cultures; we are called to carry out new services, to return to our original homes and to assume new commitments. These are all part of our vocation. We respond to this call, not only as individuals, but also from within a community. We do not travel alone. As Comboni Lay Missionaries, we are called to respond to the needs of our poorest brothers and sisters. This response is so necessary and complex that we are not called to give it individually but as a Church.

As lay people, we are called to create networks of solidarity and relationships that link up society by means of families and communities. We are creators of great networks of relations, collaboration and work. We live as people involved in all these networks and we are called to animate them, to give them spirituality so that they may be at the service of people, especially the weakest. We are called to include all people.
Our gaze must be fixed on the poorest and most abandoned of whom Comboni spoke, on those excluded from society. It must be a gaze that urges us to be present in the peripheries since things are seen differently from below.
We must not be content with a society where not all people have a dignified life, with a society where ‘having’ and not ‘being’ is rewarded, together with ‘consumerism’ that is devastating this wounded planet that cries out, proclaiming our global responsibility.

Our Response
How, as Comboni Lay Missionaries, do we respond to the call we have received? We have lay missionaries who work among the pygmies and the rest of the population of the Central African Republic, a country where we have been present for more than 25 years.
We are in the midst of people who are considered servants by the majority of the population, acting as a bridge of inclusion or assuming responsibility for a network of primary schools in a country which has suffered a number of coups and has been in a state of war for years which prevents the regime from providing these services.

Comboni Lay Missionaries, Aitana, Andrea and Paola in Peru.

In Peru, we accompany the people in the outskirts of the great cities and in the abusive settlements where those coming from the country take a piece of land from the city so as to have a home without electricity, water or sewerage. There are many families struggling for a dignified life, people who have left their small towns to go to the city to find food and give their children a better life.
In Mozambique, we collaborate in the education of the youth, both boys and girls who, leaving their distant communities, hope to gain an education and rebuild their country. They need schools for professional training and hostels where they can live during the school year, since their homes are so far away.

We are also present in Brazil, in the struggle with large mining companies who banish the communities from their lands, pollute the rivers and the air, cut communications and isolate communities with their long trains that carry away the minerals of the area, caring nothing for the environment or the people. Besides all this, in many European countries we are involved in receiving immigrants. We are called to welcome those who flee from poverty and war, those in search of a better future for their families and who, on their arrival, find themselves up against a wall, made not just of concrete or barbed-wire but also of fear and lack of understanding by the population.

New Lifestyles
The way of life in countries with the greatest resources is draining this squandered planet. International commercial relations are impoverishing many for the benefit of the few.
Promoting a new lifestyle is fundamental in changing the paradigms and values that are seen to be the only ones that are valid for a social outcome and for happiness. In a society where ‘possessions and consumption’ are seen as greater than ‘being’, it is necessary to propose new lifestyles. In Europe, we propose new lifestyles of commitment, responsible consumption, a responsible economy, etc.
By doing so, we shall follow activities connected to: education among the excluded of our cities; consideration for the sick, showing them the face of God who accompanies them and the hand of God who heals them; consideration for the homeless, the addicts and others.

As missionaries, we are aware, and we must also make others aware, of the situation of this globalised world that requires joint action in which all our little grains of sand create little hills which we can climb to survey and dream of a different world.
We aim to climb up with the people with whom we live daily. We feel we are called to do so especially with those who are immersed in their inability to see the horizon, to emerge from their difficulties; we are called to look up and go forward, to animate and accompany these communities. We are called to be present where nobody else wants to be. At the centre, we place Jesus, the person who changed our lives. Every man and every woman has a right to God. We feel a duty to make known the Good News, to present a living God who is in our midst, who walks with us and, as Jesus of Nazareth has shown us, never abandons us but is with us always.
Within every person, in the poorest and in the community, God awaits each one of us, to transform our lives and to fill them with joy, a joy that is deep. God is waiting to give us living water, the water that quenches the thirst of every human being.
May the Lord give us the strength to be always present and accompany others, to be instruments that lead others to meet Him and to be always close to Him on our journey.

India. Experiencing Silence in India’s Ashrams.

A Dominican friar shares his experience of spending his yearly vacation in an ashram in India. Under the guidance of a guru and following an exigent daily schedule, the retreatants embark on an inner pilgrimage of contemplation and self-knowledge.

One of my habits, which fortunately I have been able to practice recently, is to spend my yearly month of vacation in an ashram in India (after having lived there for three years). I usually go to the same ashram called Anjali Ashram, which is a Catholic ashram in Mysore in the state of Karnataka (Southern India). The word ashram (or ashrama) in Sanskrit, means “effort” in the sense of continued spiritual practice.

Father Rui Manuel

By extension, an ashram is a spiritual community united around a guru (or teacher), where the common practice of spirituality is facilitated in the everyday life.
Most of the participants are Hindus, but there are also Christian ashrams who join the community for an experience of inner pilgrimage in silence, of self-knowledge and of discovering that person who is “beyond-all-the-Name” (both aspects are interconnected).

Demanding schedule
Life in the ashram proceeds in a simple way. Usually, ashrams are surrounded by Nature, although some of them may be located on the outskirts of cities or a few kilometers from them, as is the case of the one that I usually visit.
The best way to understand what happens inside is to know the plan of activities, according to a demanding schedule. In this Mysore ashram that I attend (Anjali Ashram), we start the day’s activities at around 5:30 am with one-hour meditation (pratah samdhya) in silence (preceded by a brief introduction by the guru, in this case, a Catholic priest totally dedicated to ashram life). This meditation (dhyana) is done amidst trees.

For Indians, Nature is sacred; it is God’s creation, as if it were His “body.” It is then interesting to watch the sunrise, to move from darkness to dawn, sitting silently without moving, in contemplation, and become aware of the noise of animals that begin to appear. Of course, the most complicated thing is not so much the exterior silence but the inner silence, the quietening of our usual “monkey mind.”
The morning Eucharist follows at around 6:30 am in the ashram chapel. A Eucharist in the Indian style (sitting on the floor) with local rites—including elements from nature, fire, water—full of liturgical and spiritual-cosmic symbolism. It lasts approximately an hour. Next we go for breakfast (7:30 am), always in silence, again sitting on the floor together. Food is always simple, vegetarian and Indian.
Then we go to our rooms to do our personal hygiene and, right after, we proceed with manual work (seva ashram): cutting the grass, watering the trees and plants, preparing some gardens, doing our own laundry and other practical works that might be needed.

APA Program
The APA program (Atma Purna Anubhava) consists of a nine-day program called Upadesa, with spiritual conferences in the morning and afternoon which develop various topics. The program is attended by about fifty people, normally, novices, students of religious congregations, lay people, seekers, and even Hindus and Muslims.
At around noon, there is another meditation: madhyan samdhya. Lunch is at 12:30 pm, also in silence, sitting on the floor, followed by siesta and another meditation around 3:30 pm. After tea (4:00 pm), there is again the seva ashram. Thereafter, there is usually hatha-yoga (5:00 pm), typical of ashrams. An upadesa (spiritual talk) follows, plus an hour-long meditation in the chapel around 6:30 pm (saayam samdhya).
Dinner is at 7:30 pm. Around 8:15 pm comes the satsangh, a community meeting where each one shares his/her experiences of the day, with the Guru’s comments. From then, normally at 9:30 pm, we retire to the room. The bed is simple, usually without a mattress. Fridays are days of silence and fasting (usually partial fasting, but one can also do a total fast) and on Sundays there are some small changes in the schedule.

We may say that contemplation is the practice of this day-to-day life done with mindfulness, with seriousness and capacity for community service, with a lot of self-observation and offering the day to Someone Who is within us and permeates us in this space of the ashram in the midst of nature.
The important thing, however, is to practice a dynamic ashram wherever you are, in India, Asia or Europe. Because contemplation is, above all, a state of mind, an inner attitude which can have this institutional support or not, but which permeates our entire life. Contemplation is more about being than doing. From being we proceed to doing. It is about seeing and “tasting” the meaning of things in full and actual delight.

Rui Manuel

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