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Ghana. Togoland and the future of the nation.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

In September, separatist attacks took place in the Volta Region of Ghana. These events represented an escalation in terms of action for the autonomist movement. They are the consequence of historic grievances and of an increase in political violence in the country. The competition for the 7th December presidential and political elections could worsen this situation.

During the night between 28th and 29th September 2020, a group of militants attacked a State Transport Corporation bus station in Ho, the capital of Volta Region. In the same region, on 25th September, police stations were attacked in Aveyime and Mepe and several roads were blocked by barricades. Militants stole weapons from police armouries and exchanged fire with agents. Radio stations were occupied. One person died and five others were injured. Security forces intervened to restore order. About 31 presumed militants were arrested shortly after the events and dozens of others were later apprehended.

Responsibility for the attacks was attributed to a separatist group, the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF). HSGF’s supposed political wing, the Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF), issued ultimatums to the institutions during the 25th September offensive. WRTF is led by Togbe Yesu Kwabla Edzuzi I. But the leader of HSGF, Charles Kormi Kudzordzi (known as Papavi), in a video message denied any implication of his group in the attacks. Papavi stated that HSGF is a peaceful organization that cooperates with the police.
According to local press, HSGF is a movement founded in 1994 to reclaim the independence of Togoland from Ghana. Togoland (Western Togoland or British Togoland) is a territory located between Lake Volta and the Ghana-Togo border. According to separatists, it encompasses the Volta and Oti regions and parts of the Upper East and Northern East regions. Togoland was an African territory colonized by the Germans that was split after the First World War. With the division of German spoils, part of it went to France to form what is modern Togo. The other part went to the United Kingdom which attached it to the Gold Coast to form a territory that, in 1957 became independent Ghana. But separatists claim that Togoland is historically and culturally different from the rest of Ghana. And they denounce economic and political marginalization due to the politics implemented by the institutions. They declared the independence of Togoland in 2017 and in 2019. On 16th November 2019 they announced the birth of Western Togoland.

Ghana military airlift 31 arrested suspected Western Togoland secessionists to Accra.

Separatist violence could spread to other parts of Ghana. On 8th October, the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) denounced the infiltration of Togoland separatists belonging to HSGF into the Ashanti Region. This phenomenon is made possible by the presence of people with ancestors in Volta Region. Other independentist entities emerged. In a video broadcast in mid-October, a group called the Dragons of Western Togoland military army claimed to have 4,300 militias ready to enter Volta Region territory and spoke of its fusion with the Gorillas, another independentist group. Extremists claim they received training abroad and have external support but gave no details. In September, their attacks were not particularly sophisticated.

7th December Elections
With the background of these events, there are the 7th December 2020 presidential and political elections. Will the separatists influence the vote in terms of a political agenda? And will the militias be able to disrupt polling operations in Volta and other regions? These relevant issues have brought about an increase in political tension.
The leadership of the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), accused the ruling one, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of tolerating if not exploiting the separatists to influence the December vote in Volta. For its part, the NPP downplayed the separatist danger claiming that militias are in reality only a handful of people and that the security forces will deal with them.

What happened in Volta Region must be seen as a part of a broader picture. In recent years, an increase in political violence has been observed in Ghana, which is still considered a model of democracy in West Africa. Coinciding with elections (local elections, political by-elections, etc.), clashes between supporters of different parties took place, first of all in major cities, even if not on a large scale. Vigilante groups threatened politicians and political activists and tried to disrupt the polls with violence. Both the NPP and the NDC have apparently created their own militias to intimidate their rivals. These dynamics caused people to suspect a hidden hand behind the September attacks, but no real evidence was provided.To reduce these tensions, in 2019 the government introduced the “Vigilantism and Related Offences Act”, that increased the penalties for those committing acts of political violence. But only after 7th December will it be possible to determine whether this law produces concrete results.

Peace and reconciliation
As Samuel Adjei stated in a column on Ghanaweb on 22nd October, Ghana had a basically peaceful life since its independence. The African country did not have to cope with internal conflicts like some of its neighbours (e.g. Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire). That is to say, Ghana could not be prepared for a prolonged and destabilizing conflict, if the attacks in Togoland continued to escalate.
Therefore, the effort to establish peace had to be a priority, first of all for politicians but also for society in general.

In his video message Papavi stated that he tried twice to reach out to the Ghanaian institutions, and especially with the head of state, but to no avail. If the unity of the nation is rightly a precondition for the government, a dialogue with separatists could help to unify the country by co-opting a disenfranchised part of the population. This dialogue could be difficult, also because it seems that there are different competing factions of separatists.
Trying to solve the problem by force alone will prove a wrong strategy. Restoring public order is something undoubtedly good, but recent history has shown that force alone cannot respond to the demands of people (for food, for jobs, for political participation, etc.). And those requests, if unanswered, can feed the violence.

Andrea Carbonari

Special Report/Iraq. Cultural Heritage in Peril.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

The wars in Syria and Iraq are (mostly) over, but the region’s rich cultural heritage remains at risk.

Mosul, Aleppo, Baghdad – whose Iraqi Museum was looted after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 – Damascus and Palmyra are some of the oldest cities in the world. Life and civilization have continued and evolved in those same areas for at least five millennia. However, after surviving multiple invasions from Alexander’s armies in the IV century BC to the Romans, the Muslims, the Mongols and the Turks, in the first twenty years of the 21^st century, they have become symbols of unbridled vandalism. War and ideological fanaticism have combined to destroy the lives as well as the heritage of average Syrians and Iraqis. While some of the artistic and architectural monuments were destroyed as collateral damage during the course of battles, others were destroyed deliberately in fits of fanatical fervor.
The disregard that modern armies (and the policies guiding them) have shown for the culture of Syria and Iraq has also had the effect of reminding the world of the depth and significance of that heritage.
At an archaeological level, the wars were only the latest and directly destructive element. The damage began much earlier. Iraq’s conflicts 1990-91 and 2003-2018 were preceded by periods of intense sanctions, which deprived the State of vital resources to fund even the most basic of services and infrastructure. And, in that sense, as the country focuses on reconstruction now, Iraq’s archaeological heritage will most likely not reach the top of Baghdad’s list of priorities.
Therefore, the effort to protect Iraq’s considerable artistic and cultural heritage, spanning at least 40 centuries and multiple civilizations, faces considerable risk from basic neglect.

If Iraq’s heritage is to be saved, hope rests that foundations and donors from outside – and from a moral perspective those in the countries that contributed to the excessively harsh conditions that Iraq’s people were forced to endure – might be the actors of last resort. Indeed, the lack of financial self-sufficiency and the need to rebuild the country, physically and politically, might represent the biggest threat to Iraq.
The geopolitical risks, considering the continuing tensions between Turkey and the Kurdish militias, and the oil revenue redistribution disputes between Baghdad and Erbil (capital of the Autonomous Kurdish Province) can only mean one thing: the level of risk for Iraq’s heritage is very high. For nationalistic reasons – and upon visiting the site of ancient Babylon, some 70 km. south of Baghdad in 1989, the author of this article witnessed firsthand a painting featuring a portrait of Saddam Hussein and King Nebuchadnezzar and the stela of Hammurabi’s legal Code with its clear message of continuity.

Ba’athist Iraq invested considerable funds to restore major Iraqi archaeological sites. Then, during the embargoes and wars, the institutions in charge of protecting heritage sites were entirely defunded. The Americans and ISIS were just the latest to inflict damage – though it was the most intense damage. Even if the fighting is over now, Iraq’s economic problems perpetuate material difficulties, while the socio-political conditions that fueled the divide between Shiites and Sunnis (which helped foment ISIS) remain, even if temporarily buried under the proverbial dust. Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage is highly competent. But the institute needs funds and technical collaboration from abroad to manage the sheer extent of Iraq’s artistic heritage.

Mosul, Ancient Nineveh, and Hatra
Almost two years since the end of ISIS in Syria and Iraq (at least since President Trump declared ISIS to have been defeated) the artistic heritage in the lands of former Mesopotamia bears witness to the cultural and human devastation that this region has witnessed in one form or another since George W. Bush decided to invade an already humiliated and weak Iraq in 2003. Indeed, quite apart from the damage inflicted during the American military invasion, the occupation itself is responsible for the emergence of ISIS and its radical ideology, which encouraged iconoclastic excess and looting.

Golden Lyre of Ur (the world’s oldest known stringed musical instrument, ca. 2,600 B.C.E.), destroyed in a storeroom of the Iraq Museum in 2003.

Mosul, the ancient Nineveh, Assyrian capital built by Sennacherib, son of Sargon II, in the VII century BC, suffered significant losses. The palace, which survived countless invaders over the centuries, was looted with abandon. Prof. Peter Miglus from Heidelberg University reported significant theft having occurred at the Palace of Sennacherib. ISIS removed reliefs, sculptures, structural pieces to sell them on the black market. And of course, it would not have been possible to establish such functioning sales channels without a high degree of Western complicity.
Indeed, it’s not just Nineveh. Babylon, other royal cities in Assyria, Ur – home of Sumerian civilization – and museums in Iraq and Syria have suffered serious damage.
And while the damage perpetrated by ISIS attracted dismay and attention, the disappearance of archaeological artefacts and damage to many sites have gone unnoticed. One of these is Hatra.

Hatra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located about 80 km south of Mosul is one of Iraq’s most important archaeological sites. Hatra – known as al-Hadr now – is one of the main examples of Parthian civilization that have survived. In its time (approximately 100 BC to 300 AD) it was the capital of the Kingdom of Araba and served as a religious and trade center on the edge that separated the Roman and Persian empire – and often a focus of the conflict between Romans and the Sassanid (who succeeded the Parthians). Hatra’s ruins cover – or better, covered – some 300 hectares of land featuring extant and well-preserved fortifications.

An Assyrian relief displayed at the Iraqi national museum in Baghdad.

Until ISIS damaged them, Hatra also boasted temples similar to those found in the towns with which it was linked (such as Palmyra). An Italian archaeological mission, funded by the Aliph Foundation has taken advantage of the relative calm in post-ISIS Iraq to evaluate and repair the damage caused by the recent wars. Of course, at Hatra, as at Nineveh, unless significant efforts are made toward securing the sites, there will always be incentives for people to steal the many artefacts – some in gold and other precious metals. ISIS raided these areas, but also discarded many objects, which may have proven too small or ‘worn’ to serve their needs. And many of the reliefs have survived. It seems that much of the iconoclastic rage, was actually masking a more practical kind of looting, aimed at securing funds.
Much of the archaeological heritage in Iraq and Syria has survived, but UNESCO has noted damage at least at 66 sites.

Alessandro Bruno

Special Report/ Syria. Destruction, Looting and Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Assets.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

Syria is the Arab country that has best preserved the physical evidence of its pre-Islamic past: from the proto-Semitic cultures of the Levant (such as the Phoenicians to Mesopotamians and Assyrians) to Greek and Roman (the city of Palmyra, as well as Damascus and Aleppo, exemplifying this multifaceted aspect of the Syrian heritage).

In fact, Syria has also preserved the finest examples of western attempts to reconquer the Islamic Middle East such as the Crusader fortresses, and Craq de Chevaliers in particular. Regardless of their faith, the Syrian people have generally not lost awareness of their past. The war in Syria has left some 500,000 deaths according to some estimates.
Aleppo possesses many architectural treasures from the various Muslim periods, from the Umayyad’s to the Ottomans. Palmyra, one of the cities built in the Hellenistic period and linked to the Decapolis, a route connecting present day Syria to present day Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia, passing through Baalbek, Jerash, Pella, and Petra, is marked by some of the grandest temples in the Middle East. These sites testifying to Syria’s rich heritage have also come to symbolize the iconoclastic destruction by ISIS.

The Temple of Baal Shamin at Palmyra was attacked by ISIS fighters using improvised explosives.

While the media highlighted the damage in Palmyra, other sites of no lesser significance also incurred the ideologically fueled wrath of ISIS. Mari, a site of primary importance for the understanding of ancient Assyria, was also attacked. Mari remains one of the most important sites of the Bronze Age in the Middle East. Mari, located in present day Tel Hariri in the Deir ez-Zor area (one of the most affected by the war), rose around the same time as Uruk, at the end of the fourth millennium BC. The city was located at the confluence of important river trade routes along the Euphrates river, linking Sumer with Syria. Mari thrived for centuries and reached its peak in 1761, when King Hammurabi destroyed it. Mari has become very famous for its palace, which yielded a valuable collection of state correspondence in Akkadian, which helped historians understand invaluable archaeological information about geopolitics in the early 2nd millennium BC. Mari, and its palace especially, suffered considerable ‘illegal excavation’, i.e., looting, in the period from 2011 to 2018. ISIS destroyed thousands of manuscripts with the justification that many historical documents or artefacts represent pre-Islamic culture believed to be idolatrous.

Archaeologists and curators have worked to protect, preserve and rebuild these places. But, as with everything else, funds are needed to support restoration projects. In late 2019, the same Russian government which intervened at Damascus’s behest, signed a memorandum to restore Palmyra, which was recaptured by government forces in 2016. ISIS executed Palmyra’s curator Khaled Assas who refused to give up some of the most precious artefacts from the site.
Now, under the direction of Mikhail Petrovsky, from St. Petersburg’s Hermitage, Russia will help fund and organize the restoration of Palmyra and of Damascus. Ideally, the Russians will also welcome Syrian experts in order to ensure the sustainability of the restoration and preservation of Palmyra for more centuries.

Khaled al-Asaad, the Director of Antiquities and Museum in Palmyra, in front of a rare sarcophagus.

The wars in Syria and Iraq have shown that cultural heritage can serve as a target for destruction, looting and illicit trafficking of cultural assets. Cultural heritage is a legacy of the identity, or identities, of the peoples to which the artefacts are linked. The cultural heritage of the Near East is not new to conflicts or theft of artefacts – one need only visit a few famous museums in Europe or North America to realize that. But the asymmetric warfare that has marked the war in Syria has made it more possible and ‘acceptable’ for looting to occur.
No single solution can be adopted to protect the heritage of Syria and Iraq, but toughening laws on smuggling and being more intelligent about intervening in wars that quickly go out of control, helps. The sociopolitical and cultural tensions that emerged during the Syrian war remain; they have not been resolved. But, even if the more extreme elements have been defeated, it’s incumbent on those professing to be civilized now (the West for example) not to aggravate Middle Eastern scenarios for their own strategic games. That might be the best way of all to preserve the legacy of the ancient Near East.

Alessandro Bruno

The Muridiyya Brotherhood. “The Disciple”.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

Touba, the holy city of the Muridiyya Brotherhood, situated in the centre of the country, though a religious city, stands out for its commercial character which comes from the popular motto of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the city and of the Mourides: “Pray as if you were to die tomorrow and work as if you were to live forever”. Prayer as a means of coming close to God and gaining Paradise and work as a means to satisfying material needs: this is the life in which Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba educated his disciples.

Touba, founded in 1888, rises at the intersection of the three historical Wolof kingdoms of Cayor, Baol and Yolof, about 200 kilometres to the east of Dakar. It is said that Ahmadou Bamba wanted to create his brotherhood on that spot, just seven kilometres from his native village of Mbacké Baol, following a vision.
It was in 1883 that thirty-year-old Sheikh Amadou Bamba made a pact of fidelity with the Prophet who appeared to him and ordered him to guide his disciples on the right Way to God. It was at that point that this great man of culture and strict orthodoxy claimed independence from the Qadiri Brotherhood, whose wird he practised, to create his own: this is how the Muridiyya (from the Arabic mourid, ‘disciple’) at Mbacke Cayor, in the Senegalese hinterland north-east of Dakar came about.

Senegal. Mural on a wall in Dakar showing leaders of the Mouride, including Ahmadu Bamba (right, in white) and Ibrahima Fall (right, blue), and El Hadj Malick Sy (left), or Mouhamadou Fadilou Mbacké.

Sheikh Amadou Bamba created a number of villages in the heart of the same region before founding Touba, where the largest mosque in Sub-Saharan Africa was built with the contributions of all the talibés, especially those of the United States and Europe. Each year, millions of the faithful throng the city for the great mourid pilgrimage, the Great Magal.Well versed in the Koran, Amadou Bamba, known as Serigne Touba (Sheikh of Touba), composed more than seven and a half tons of writings in theology, Sufism, grammar, law and good etiquette: some of these he buried or threw into the sea so as not to reveal to others all the secrets gained from God, while another part is kept in the library of Touba located close to the mausoleum. Reading verses of these texts (khasidas) and part of the Koran is the foundation of the Mourid wird.

Consistent with the values of non-violence and forgiveness, Sheikh Amadou Bamba was known for his peaceful opposition to colonisation and to have survived, unlike all his religious predecessors, being abused and exiled by the French authorities. Both legendary anecdotes and factual evidence show what Sheikh Amadou Bamba had to endure during thirty years of persecution, combatting the colonialists by means of his faith alone. He never denied his faith even under threat of death when, in 1895, the French governor in Saint-Louis, the colonial capital in those days, convoked him and another 83 religious leaders, demanding that they abandon their faith. The only response Serigne Touba gave was to recite two series of Islamic prayers. To this day, in Saint-Louis, each year on 5 September a pilgrimage is held (the Magal of the two rakkas) to commemorate the event.
After several years’ exile in Gabon to which he had been condemned by the French governor, other exiles to the Congo and Mauritania and the guarded stays in Thieyene and Djourbel, the French gave in, recognised his qualities and raised Sheikh Amadou Bamba to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honour.

In this aerial photo, pilgrims from the Mouride Brotherhood arrive at the Grand Mosque of Touba during the celebrations of the Grand Magal of Touba, in Senegal, Oct. 6, 2020.

The preaching based on the values of peace in total submission to God and on ethics of work gave the Mourid faithful, who had rapidly grown in number through many conversions from the Tijani faith, the distinction of being the most active emigrants in the world and an economic power in the country. Apart from being the best known and most mediated brotherhood, it is also the most influential, politically speaking, because of the popularity of its many religious leaders who became so out of merit or because they are descendants of Sheikh Amadou Bamba. Being Marabouts, they, in their turn, obey the General Caliph of Touba. Since 2010, that post has been filled by Sheikh Sidy al Moukhtar Mbackè.
Recently, the General Caliph Al Moukhtar Mbackè invited the Moslem faithful to pray and recite the Sacred Koran for an end to the Coronavirus pandemic. In the edict, those Koranic schools with a large number of students are asked to complete the recitation of the entire Koran three times throughout the day while medium-sized schools were asked to recite the Sacred Book twice in one day. Small Koranic schools with just a few students were asked to do so once only.

The Baye Fall, Sufis, ‘The Heretics’
Ibrahima Fall was still young when a voice in a dream suggested he seek out Sheikh Amadou Bamba and dedicate himself entirely to him. Having left everything and travelled much, in 1884 this brilliant student of Islamic studies found his master. From then on, Ibrahima Fall would serve his guide devotedly through reverential submission, until Serigne Touba himself ordered him to withdraw and found his own community.
It was then that Bayefallism (in Wolof baay means, ‘father’) came into being, whose disciples, called Baye Fall, often gather around their Marabouts in genuine communities.
They do not know the meaning of intolerance and have no time for any form of fundamentalism. They make no distinctions based on race, religion, or colour. They are distinguished most for their respect for every human being and their outright pacifism.

They esteem women as much as men: they do not demand they wear the veil and believe education must be equally available to all. They see themselves as totally Islamic. Sometimes criticised within the Senegalese Islamic community for their non-observance of two of the pillars of Islam (the Ramadan fast and praying five times a day); the Baye Fall have nevertheless accentuated the importance of the Zikr. Its repetition has given rise to nocturnal songs in which the talibé, marching in a circle around the drums, try to reach a state of trance. The Mecca Pilgrimage is substituted with that to the great mosque of Touba where the tomb of their founder Ahmadu Bamba is located.
The Baye Fall are proud of their culture and detest all external influence. They have a very strong sense of community. Individual Baye Falls do not own material goods but place all they have at the disposal of the Marabout, the spiritual guide.

The Baye Fall have also instituted the Caliphate among the descendants of Sheikh Ibrahima Fall, based in Mbackè, at the gates of Touba, even though their Caliphs still submit to the General Caliph the Mourides.
Bayefallism presents itself as a real sub-culture, rich in symbolic elements: one can recognise a Baye Fall from their Rasta hairstyle, their ndiakhass (coloured patchwork) tunics, their thiaya (baggy trousers), large belts and black or brown woollen caps with pompoms.
Besides the Great Magal of Touba and the Magal of Saint-Louis, often during the year, there are smaller pilgrimages corresponding to the anniversaries of the deaths of the Caliphs who succeeded Sheikh Amadou Bamba (his children and nephews) and of his mother, Mariama Bousso, whose mausoleum is to be seen in Prokhane (close to Kaolack). In Djourbel it is possible to visit the homes of Sheikh Amadou Bamba and Sheikh Ibrahima Fall. (L.d.M.)

How the Phoenix got her fine plumage.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

A very long time ago before men had learnt how to hunt and set traps, all the birds lived together peacefully in a great forest. Theirs was a happy and carefree existence, the forest supplied all their needs.

There was a plentiful supply of nuts, fruits seeds and berries for the birds to feed on and they had no enemies. Because food was to be found everywhere in seemingly endless supplies, the birds came to be rather wasteful. One would pick at a pear here, another would take a bite out of a blueberry there, dig a few seeds out of a guava, and discard
the rest of the fruit. They all shared the same carefree spirit, except for one, the phoenix.

The phoenix was a real worrier. She was always telling the other birds to be careful and to prepare for a time that food might not be so plentiful. All the other birds ignored her; some even started calling her nasty names. Eventually nobody wanted to have anything to do with phoenix; they thought there was something not quite right about her, always scolding them and giving out advice they considered useless. They carried on with their usual wasteful habits.

Whereas most of the birds had colourful plumage, phoenix was quite ordinary to look at. Some might say a little ugly, even. Her head was a little bit too big compared to her body. Her feathers were a dull brownish grey. She worried about the future.

What if something bad were to happen tomorrow? One day the fruit might stop growing on the trees, or the trees might drop their leaves, or just fall over, even! She determined to prepare for the worst and started collecting all the fruits and berries and seeds other birds discarded. She stowed them away in places like hollow trees, buried them in the ground or underneath the roots. At first one or two of the others were a bit curious, but then they just got bored. They laughed whenever they spotted phoenix scavenging, and mocked her.

One day a great storm hit the forest, and what phoenix had been worrying about all these years came to pass. Leaves and whole branches were blown off the trees and carried far away by the powerful wind. Some trees were blown over altogether, and with the protection of the dense foliage now gone, the heat of the sun penetrated the forest and dried everything up! Suddenly the birds found they had to fight each other for the odd berry or a stray nut.

They pecked at the hard, dry tree trunks, hoping to extract some nourishing sap. Phoenix started sharing out all the scraps of food she had stored up all over the forest. Now every single bird, large and small, wanted to be her friend. Thanks to phoenix all the birds had something to eat every day. Eventually the gods sent some clouds over the land, which cooled things down a bit, and some rain fell.
Green sprouts started to appear again, just as the food stores phoenix had built up started to run out. Slowly the forest returned to its old self, and the birds recovered.

But they didn’t forget their new friend, phoenix. To show their gratitude every bird in the whole forest selected its most beautiful and colourful feather and presented it to phoenix. When they were finished phoenix had been transformed into the most fantastic and multi colourful creature in the forest.

At least that’s what I’m told. I’ve never seen phoenix myself, and I don’t know anybody who has. The friendly bird from the forest who told me this story also told me that phoenix stays hidden deep inside the forest, where no human being can ever penetrate. Perhaps that’s just as well, because if any human ever laid eyes on her, the sheer brilliant beauty of phoenix would surely blind that person’s eyes.

Folktale from Uganda

Islamic Finance. Not Just for the Islamic World Anymore.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

To build an alternative financial model. To employ profit-loss risk-sharing arrangements. To invest in solid assets. To encourage favorable changes for Western consumers and new business opportunities for Western institutions.

The appeal of Islamic finance, which in its modern form began in 1963 in Egypt through the Mit Ghamr Bank according to the ideas of economist Ahmad el-Najjar, is increasing as a tool to ‘fix’ finance. ‘Islamic finance’ addresses the general problem that excessive debt leads to financial crises. Islamic finance refers to all legal institutions, financial instruments or businesses that conform to the principles and traditions of Shari’a – Islamic Law.
The idea of adapting their economies to the Islam might also be interpreted through the range of Islamic nationalism (for lack of a better term) in the wake of the post-colonial reality of the 1950’s and 60’s.

New States, suddenly launched into the world developed a self-awareness or identity that marked the break with the past while having to confront their once ‘colonial masters’ in the world economy that the latter created. Thus, Islamic financial systems rose in large part to nationalisms borne as a reaction to European colonialism.
It’s estimated that the total value of assets compliant with Islamic finance was valued at some $2.2 trillion in 2020. While, the growth rate of such assets has slowed, as has much financial activity in 2020, Shari’a compliant financial activities are expected to grow in the coming years. This is not just because there are about 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. Rather, as many begin to question the ‘reliability’ of traditional finance, a considerable number of finance scholars have become increasingly interested in studying Islamic finance, adapting some of its key principles to build an alternative model to current Western models.

The main obstacle to the adoption of Islamic finance is that attracting the due consideration, let alone consensus in the West, would require a willingness to forego stereotypes about the countries where this model has evolved. Still, the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the economic blow dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic may encourage economists of varied backgrounds to approach Islamic finance as a viable alternative. Because of its roots in the Islamic religious tradition, Shari’a based finance revolves around a set of precepts that govern economic transactions and trade, devised in order to achieve the highest possible degree of fairness and benefit to the ‘Umma (the community at large).
In practical terms, Islamic finance is never detached from the real economy, and it shuns the phenomenon of financial alchemy that western economies have witnessed in the past forty years – and especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Real Assets Rather than Speculation
The focus on the real economy has shielded countries with strong Islamic finance systems from the repercussions of the 2008 crisis. Islamic finance’s two underlying principles are risk-sharing and making credit available for the purchase or manufacturing of real goods and services with severe restrictions on speculation such as selling debt (options, derivatives), the practice of selling-short (betting that the value of an asset will drop rather than rise), associating the latter to gambling (qimar), which violates the faith.

The overall effect is discipline. Islamic finance favors discipline over excessive risk-taking, thereby instilling more financial stability. This is the opposite of the current Wall Street model. And the focus on stability and the real economy is also why there is no need to be Muslim to adopt or appreciate Islamic finance. While Wall Street has encouraged speculation in paper assets (the Sub-prime crisis involved speculation on high risk mortgages), Islamic financing favors investing in solid assets, a practice that mitigates precarious levels of debt, as in current western models, which are entirely based on limitless debt.
The foundation of Islamic finance is that transactions cannot demand interest rate payments on debt. Rather, they employ profit-loss risk-sharing arrangements while customers can still benefit from savings accounts, as they gain value by participating profit-sharing (as these too are prevented from accruing interest). As for lending, banks grant funds/resources while the client, in the case of a company or large entity, provides the expertise to favor growth such that profits are produced, and then shared according to an agreed rate. At its core, the main difference between Western and Islamic finance is that the latter tends to discourage excessive risk. Translating this for the benefit of consumers accustomed to western models, Islamic banks act as money managers that attract deposits and then invest them in projects in accordance with (Shari’a based) rules that reduce exposure to risk for either the lender or the borrower.

Thus, the bank does not pay interest on deposits, nor does it charge interest on loans. Rather, in broad terms, an Islamic lender invests in its customers’ transactions, participating in the risks. In order to ensure that earnings comply with Shari’a, banks deploy appropriate boards, made up of Islamic jurisprudence experts, who certify that transactions are carried out in compliance with Islamic law. Evidently, given such a context, religious ethics inform the entire scope of Islamic finance, which at the basis rests on the core tenet that all resources belong to Allah. Thus, economic growth must also reconcile the protection of Allah’s realm, that is all of creation. Islamic finance, at least in theory (if not always in practice) favors investment and profits only if they produce benefits for the whole community. It grants room for competition, but not the kind of Darwinian winner take-all variety that reigns supreme in the West. Thus, it does not tolerate monopolies. Islamic finance works harmoniously with socialist systems, as it welcomes State intervention through policies and subsidies for essential items to reduce inequalities.

COVID Increase Islamic Finance’s Appeal
The economic and financial crisis, which erupted in 2008 in response to the implosion of subprime mortgages created many effects. These effects linger, despite the distraction that the ‘artificially fueled’ (through corporate tax cuts encouraging share buybacks) bull stock market has caused in the United States, fears of another crash, and or another crisis, have raised questions about the sustainability of the capitalist system itself. Therefore, rather an exotic idiosyncrasy, Islamic finance begs serious consideration as more than an alternative, but as an opportunity to the excessively risk-laden finance practiced in New York, London or Hong Kong. The latter have fueled a climate of distrust, encouraging investors to consider Islamic finance, which has earned a reputation for greater degrees of transparency, controlled speculation, social responsibility and relevance to the real economy.

The crisis has shown that ‘Western’ economic development models must change, and that has stimulated an interest in Islamic finance. Far from being a marginal subject for specialists, Islamic finance has experienced a lively phase, which could encourage favorable changes for Western consumers and new business opportunities for Western institutions. More than culture, the main obstacles to Islamic finance in the West are regulatory. Islamic banking relies on different contractual models, which require changes to the fiscal regimes of market-based systems. Until recently, and especially after October 2008 with the Dodd-Frank Act, aimed at infusing additional layers of transparency and accountability – though often excessively reliant on ‘punishment’ through fines and prison sentences. But, these have proven to be ineffective in controlling the financial system’s built-in, and unavoidable, speculative model. Indeed, the main problem is also the main tenet of market systems: the profit motive. The debate for reform has centered around the idea of what kind of reforms might be applied in order to avoid confining the market’s reach to such an extent as to disincentivise markets altogether.

Such a debate is careful to skirt around the main problem: market crashes affect everyone; especially, the part of the population that owns neither stocks, bonds, nor any other financial instrument. Despite having no stake in their performance, they pay a disproportionate price as happened in October 1929, September 2008, or 2020 with COVID-19. Reduced to its theoretical core, Islamic finance, represents an appealing basis from which to improve current neo-liberal capitalism, infusing a much-needed dimension of ethical and social concerns in the market that extend beyond current ideas of ‘sustainability’ (which try to discourage excessive risk taking without the ethical foundations). Ultimately, Islamic finance, as opposed to Western finance, is better equipped to address the aspects of wealth distribution disparities; especially as many so-called rich countries are having to manage ever larger percentages of unemployed and underemployed in their populations.

Alessandro Bruno

Music. The Sarkodie Generation.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

The head of a musical movement that is both cultural and profitable, Michael Kwesi Owusu Addo, known professionally as Sarkodie, achieved this position due to the stylistic ductility and the quality of his texts in the Twi language.

With the international emergence of modern African music, in the eighties, a number of stars of that continent attracted attention: Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Youssou Ndour, Mory Kanté and Franco, to name but a few. However, while those interested in ‘world music’ had just begun to be familiar with this universe hitherto unknown to the majority, starting with the late eighties, the African music scene began a process of profound transformation. Rap began to attract young Africans and, in the following decades, it took the lead among the new generations of many Sub-Saharan countries, at least in the urban centres while new and original forms of dance music based on electronics also became popular.

Among the former typical names, some are now deceased but others, like Youssou Ndour, are still famous. Any close observer of the African musical panorama over recent decades will have noticed that they have not really been replaced but that the number of great figures also known internationally has been reduced. Anyone looking at African music today through the lens of world music, which with its special labels continues to diffuse the image of the African music most loved in the West, romantic and reassuring, would not realise that many great stars were born once the new trends became established and matured. But they are more like American rappers or popular DJs than the old stars of African music to whom we had grown accustomed.

Rap and Clothing
Sarkodie is the symbol of this new generation. Born in 1988, his original name is Michael Kwesi Owusu Addo. He began to do rap as a boy. He obtained a diploma in graphic design and soon became known in hip-hop circles winning several rap contests. This brought him into contact with Hammer of the Last Two, an important Ghanaian producer who launched him with immediate success.
Released in 2009, ‘Makye’, his debut album, earned him as many as five prizes at the 2010 Ghana Music Awards: ‘artist’, ‘discovery’, ‘hip hop artist’, ‘best rapper’ and ‘album of the year’.
Sarkodie has continued winning Ghanaian and Nigerian awards and has issued four more albums: his latest, ‘Highest’, was released in September. In 2014, he created his own record label, ‘Sarkcess Music’.

Forbes, the USA economy and finance magazine, indicated Sarkodie as one of the ten richest musicians in the continent. Sarkodie has also associated his name with several trademarks: in 2013, he launched his own line of clothes and also a foundation to help underprivileged children. Together with other musicians (among them the Nigerian Davido, another emblematic star) in 2014 he collaborated in composing a song for a campaign to promote participation in communitarian
and social investments.

Sarkodie’s success is due to the smooth style of his rapping with an ability to improvise, his flexible style, and the quality of his texts, mostly in the Twi language, which are concerned with local and daily life situations, and have an uplifting content. The general quality is very high and there is much sophistication in the clips derived from his compositions that are shown on YouTube in an infinity of visual arrangements. To get some idea of this, it is enough to view ‘Trumpet’, released at the end of 2016, in which Sarkodie offers a spot to six emerging rappers in a clip that, by its essential nature, wonderfully holds the attention for the full nine minutes it lasts.

Sarkodie released his fifth studio album Highest on 8 September 2017. It comprises 19 songs, including 3 interludes and a bonus track. Finally, on December 20, 2019, he released his sixth studio album Black Love, where he explores themes of black love and relationships.
Sarkodie married Tracy in a private wedding ceremony held in Tema, Ghana on 17 July 2018. They have two kids: a daughter, Adalyn Owusu Addo and a son; Michael Nana Yaw Owusu Addo Jnr., who is named after the famous rapper.

Franz Coriasco

Kenya. The Diocese of Ngong, The Church of the People.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

Small Christina communities. Inculturation. Lay movements and a growing number of development projects. These are signs of a Christian community that is growing. From a humble beginning, the church among the Maasai is taking its rightful place in Kenya.

Among the first Europeans to reach the East African interior in mid 19th century there were Anglican missionaries. The most famous of them was Johan Ludvig Krapf, a German Lutheran who worked for the Anglican Church. Krapf was gifted in languages and studied various idioms in what today is Kenya. Among them, the Maasai language. His notes have been used by linguists for many decades. However, Krapf and a handful of other missionaries did not make a dent with regard to evangelization.

The Maasai originally occupied the lush highlands in central north Kenya. They also used the lands to the South for pasture and adopted a transhumant style of life. With the arrival of the British colonizers, they were pushed to the plains of the southern territory of the colony. These are the plains of Kajiado, Narok and Trans-Mara, which they occupy even today. These ‘reserves’ were closed to visitors, and Catholic missionaries could have only temporary permits to live within these areas. Thus, evangelization of the Maasai was hampered by this limitation up to 1967, when the reserves were officially abolished.
Fr Cronin, a Mill Hill missionary amongst the first to be given permission to live among the Maasai, often recalled the first days of his missionary experience saying: “The Maasai were curious about our presence and asked why we were coming to live there. When we said that we were missionaries and wanted to talk about God, they simply welcomed us and were ready to listen”. They already knew about Ngai (God) and that he was creator, and who blessed them with cows, pasture, and rain. They were, and still are, a deeply spiritual people.
No activity could be undertaken before praying, staring with the morning prayer and blessing of the enkang, the typical house formed by several units and the kraal for the herds.

The missionaries who visited Maasai land belonged to the diocese of Kisumu, where most of the Mill Hill Missionaries were posted. It took a long time for these missionaries to organize the diocese that would serve the Maasai. Today, the counties of Kajiado, Narok and parts of Trans-Mara form the diocese of Ngong. The formation of the diocese in the late 50’s may be attributed to Fr Ferdinand Fent, who worked at Kaplong – a location just north of the Maasai reserve, near Sotik – and would occasionally visit Kilgoris, one of the few small towns of the area. He saw the need of penetrating the interior of Maasai land which had been kept out of reach of missionaries during the colonial times. Fr Fent requested the Vatican to create an administrative unit that could care directly for the Maasai. In 1959, the Holy See accepted the request and appointed John De Reeper, then Bishop of Kisumu, to take care of the new Prefecture Apostolic of Ngong.
Bishop De Reeper appointed five Mill Hill missionary priests who came to oversee the area; among them was Fr Colin Davis. They worked in the area and later brought other missionaries like Fr Terry Bugatin and Fr Frans Mol who wrote many books about the Maasai and their culture.

St. Joseph Catholic Cathedral Ngong.

In 1964, Fr Davis was appointed to take over from Bishop De Reeper as the Prefect Apostolic. Since there were no local vocations in Ngong, he encouraged young men from the neighbouring dioceses in Tanzania to join seminaries and become priests to serve the Prefecture of Ngong.
In 1977 the Prefecture Apostolic of Ngong became the Diocese of Ngong and the following year Bishop Colin Davis ordained the first two priests for the new diocese.
The ordination of the two African priests later opened the door for many others including priests from the local Maasai community such as Fr John Ntiyesia. “I was ordained on August 19, 2000 and was among the last priests Bishop Davis ordained”. says Fr Ntiyesia, a Maasai who hails from Sultan Hamud Parish. Fr Ntiyesia who was brought up in a Protestant family and says that having Catholic vocations in Maasai land was something new in the community and a bit of a challenge.

Bishop John Oballa Owaa, the first African Bishop of Ngong.

A real engine of development for the diocese, Bishop Davis participated in the Vatican II council and later tried to apply the novelty of that council to his pastoral work in Ngong. He firmly believed in the Church of the people, and not in a hierarchical structure. During his tenure – about forty years – he supported the opening of 26 new parishes, the establishment of a pastoral work based on the jumuiya – the small Christian communities – and the tension to inculturate the Gospel. He founded the Maasai Cultural Centre in Lemek with the purpose of studying the language and culture of the people. All new missionaries were encouraged to learn the Maasai language.
New pastoral issues came with the urbanization of the area. When the first missionaries were allowed to enter Maasailand, not a single fence blocked the movements of people and wild animals in the region. Permanent houses were few, and scattered around. By the late 1990s, many small towns started to become large agglomerates. Today, the area near Ngong – encompassing the towns of Ongata Ronagai, Kiserian and Ngong itself – has a population close to a million people. Kajiado and Narok also grew exponentially. The urbanization of the territory, and the arrival of many non-Maasai people, posed a new challenge.

To respond to the need of being close to the people, the number of parishes is grown to 40, with more in the pipeline. The diocese remains huge, and communication between one end to the other is not always smooth. This is why there is talk of splitting it into two dioceses, one in Kajiado county, with the seat in Ngong town; and the other in Narok county, based in Narok.
Today, the diocese is led by Bishop John Oballa Owaa, the first African Bishop of Ngong. The diocese has seen an influx of religious communities, lay movements and a growing number of development projects aimed at the disadvantaged. These are signs of a Christian community that is growing. From a humble beginning, the church among the Maasai is taking its rightful place in Kenya.

Ntaiya ole Sereni

The Dominican Sisters create their own climate solutions fund.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

In recent years, many faith-based organizations have made bold statements about climate justice being a key component of their faith and stewardship of Earth and her people.

Bill McKibben, a long-time environmentalist, in September 2019 was quoted in The Washington Post: “The gospel call to love one’s neighbor is, in our time and place, most fully a call to do something about climate change, because at the moment, we’re drowning our neighbors, sickening our neighbors, making it impossible for our neighbors
to grow food.”

Answering to these calls, 16 congregations of US-based Dominican nuns began a collaboration with Morgan Stanley to create a $130 million “climate solutions fund.” In a press release, the bank called the fund a “first of its kind collaboration, to find investment solutions which focus on climate change and aiding marginalized communities that are disproportionately impacted by global warming.” Examples of the fund’s “holistic” approach to climate solutions include “investments in energy efficiency software” as well as “more mature opportunities like fruit producers with water-saving hydroponic irrigation systems.”

Sister Patricia Daly, a nun from a congregation in Caldwell, New Jersey, helped create the fund, the nuns began organizing in 2018 after they pooled $46 million. Daly said the sisters have long wanted to invest in companies and technology that are actively working toward the United Nations sustainable development goals, which include ending poverty, improving access to clean energy, curbing climate change.

When they couldn’t find a fund with that focus, since most sustainable investment funds do not holistically address all of the goals, the congregations enlisted Morgan Stanley to create a new fund themselves and set a standard for future investing.

“This fund is engaged in impact investing rather than screening,” said Angelo Collins, a member of the leadership council for the Dominican Sisters in Wisconsin.
“The fund advisors and managers are looking to support and provide investments in corporations that are doing positive good.” Collins said that many Dominican congregations in the US consider social justice a central tenet of practicing their faith, and that the fund will bring social justice to the forefront of the church’s investing efforts.

Daly hopes that their efforts attract investors of all kinds, rather than just faith-based organizations. “We wanted this not just for ourselves but for other investors — not just faith communities.
There are also healthcare systems and other private investors who have joined in this initiative.”

In its press release, Morgan Stanley emphasized that the fund will invest in ventures that are proactively pursuing sustainable and equitable climate goals; “Every dollar invested in our climate program will seek to have a concrete climate impact measurement ranging from tones of CO2 emission offset and litres of water saved, to reduction in air pollution levels, in addition to generating compelling private markets returns”.

This is not the first time Catholic Sisters have engaged themselves in these issues. In December 2019, BlackRock faced heat from an investment fund representing 9,000 nuns from The Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, declaring that it was failing its investors and the planet by refusing to be more active in divestment of fossil fuels from its holdings.

Whether we’re a person of faith or not, there’s never been a better time to be more engaged in climate action, taking the lesson from the Sisters. We have the power to create the sustainable future we wish to see for ourselves and our neighbors. (Angely Mercado)

See: Nuns Dedicated To Social Justice Create Climate Solutions Fund and Meet the Dominican nuns who created their own climate solutions fund

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

India. The search for ‘Black Gold’ in the ‘Rat-Hole’.

Thursday, 1 October 2020 8:00

Thousands risk their lives in the ‘Rat-holes’ in India. Most of them are poor immigrants from Nepal and Bangladesh. Sister Blinda does her best in a desperate situation.

In the almost complete darkness, he makes his way along the narrow tunnel on his hands and feet. As he moves, he pushes his pick ahead of him and drags a barrow to collect the coal.
The clay is damp and the air is bad. He is well aware that, at any moment, the tunnel may collapse and bury him alive. He has no choice. The coal helps him to feed his family.
‘Rat-hole mines’ is the name given to the low, narrow tunnels of the illegal coal mines in the north-east of India. The state of Meghalaya, a strip of mainly mountainous country about 300 Km long, is riddled with tunnels. Deep shafts go down into the depths of the earth and the narrow tunnels radiate in all directions. The shafts are supported by improvised material. Some men pull a wooden cart from one of the tunnels to the shaft where they place the coal in a basket. One of the men takes it on his back and ascends the stairs. The coal may weigh as much as forty kilos. The man stops frequently and leans on a shaky railing. The shaft is 60 metres deep and the man climbs it several times a day, using the damp and slippery wooden stairs.

Like the others in the area, the mine is illegal. The miners who risk their lives on the Jaintia Mountains are mostly immigrants from Bangladesh or Nepal and work for a local mine operator. They live in fear of losing their jobs.A small boy around eight years old emerges from a pit. Thousands of children work in the ‘rat-hole’ mines. Being small, they can easily crawl through crevices just 40 cm high and 70 metres below ground. He tells us he started working at dawn. He crawled into a tunnel with a torch on his head and pulling a small cart. In the narrow tunnels, it is hard to breathe as there is little oxygen. But it is better to dig non-stop without reflecting too much as the miners are paid by the amount of coal they extract. The children earn six Euro a day while the adults may hope to earn up to thirteen. “It is much more than I could earn in Nepal”, 15-year-old Ameesh tells us.
However, he has been here for eight months but has not been able to save a single Rupee. Food and alcohol are very dear. “There are a lot of drugs in circulation. The drugs help us to be strong and not to be afraid”, Ameesh continues.Kiran, a boy of twelve and slim build, already has the calloused hands of an experienced miner. He ran away from Nepal six months ago and he hopes to save up the 150 Euro to pay the one who brought him here and so return home. He knows he will have to work hard for months unless he decides to dig the coal from the deeper mines where life is cheap but the pay is better.

According to the NGO Impulse Network, more than 70,000 boys are working in Indian coal mines similar to rat-holes.
It is not easy to find a way out of this hell-hole. “Many of them go home saying the mine is heaven on earth”, a former miner tells us. “They prefer not to mention the hell-hole, to save embarrassment”.
The heaps of coal build up along the roads. There we see a large number of men, women, and children loading the coal onto lorries. There is an endless line of lorries to be loaded with coal. As they leave, they belch out clouds of exhaust fumes.
From the plateau of Meghalaya they descend to lower Assam. India is hungry for coal. It is the third-largest producer of coal in the world and uses coal to provide 60% of its energy needs.

Sister Blinda Marwein with Chetri family.

Sister Blinda Marwein stops for a moment at the side of the road until a cloud of exhaust fumes disperses. When it is safe to move, she goes on her way to visit the Chetri family who live close to a coal mine. For years now, Sr. Blinda has taken care of a number of people in the area
and visits their families, usually in the evenings when the whole
family can be found at home.
The Chetri family lives not far from the road in a wooden hut with a plastic sheet for a roof. There are many like them in this village of miners without a name. Kumar Chetri is from Nepal. He has worked as a miner for twenty-six years, first in Nepal and now in India. Wherever he goes, he takes with him his wife Yolinda, a member of the Khasi, a local ethnic group, and their seven children.
Seeing Sister Blinda, he offers her a stool to sit on. The mother has a two-year-old child in her arms. The child has a slight fever. Sister Blinda sits down and examines the child. She gives the mother some medicine for the child and tells her it will be well in a few days. Sister Blinda is a nurse. She often treats people with respiratory diseases and skin rashes. Tuberculosis is widespread. During her visits to the families, she listens attentively to the worries of the families. “We talk together. Sometimes we pray. They speak of their problems and difficulties. To tell the truth, many of them no longer want to work in the mines. It is far too dangerous”, the Sister tells us.

During his years as a miner, Kumar, now 41 years old, suffered many accidents. “People are sometimes killed by poisonous gas. Falling rocks also kill people. There is always the fear the mine will collapse and bury people alive. I have seen many people die”. But this is the only work Kumar can find. “I put up with all of this for the sake of my children”, he adds.The memory is still very much alive of the fifteen young men who were drowned in December 2019 when the water from a river flooded a pit. Despite an elaborate rescue operation, help came too late. Only two bodies were recovered. Fatal accidents are happening all the time. In most cases, they are not even recorded. Here, nobody is interested in the immigrants who mostly work in the mines with their children.

The mining work not only claims victims among the workers but also destroys the environment. In many places, people only drink rainwater and not from the river. Illegal mining has been prohibited by law since 2014, but it still goes on secretly in many places. Some members of parliament own mines. In July 2019, the Indian Supreme Court declared that mining could only be carried out with a licence. The aim was to ensure the country was protected from harmful mining practices to guarantee the security of the miners.
Kumar Chetri hopes to continue working as a miner as there is no other work available for him. In her efforts to help the miners, Sr. Belinda is looking for alternative sources of income. “We have organised women’s support groups. We show them other ways to earn their living such as by growing paw-paws, oranges and other fruits a safe distance from the mines”, she tells us. The Chetri children attend the Catholic School. Their father does not want them to go to work in the mines. “I want them to get their school diplomas. I want them to have a better life than I have had”, Kumar says, “a life far away from the ‘rat-hole’ mines”.

Bettina Tiburzy

Burkina Faso: Shadows and dangers.

Thursday, 1 October 2020 8:00

The country is in turmoil. Jihadist violence risks tearing it apart. In November 2020 the country is supposed to choose its new President and new parliamentarians, but the polls may aggravate the situation.

The main threat to Burkina Faso’s security is terrorism, due to two jihadist groups that fight against the government and against each other, the al-Qaeda-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), the local branch of Islamic State. In April 2020, in one day, 60 Jihadists were killed and 40 captured during fights between JNIM and ISGS. Militants are widening their range of operations, and now they reach zones of Burkina Faso that were spared in the past. At this moment, JNIM seems to be prevailing. Since 2015, about 1,100 died due to Jihadist violence.

In the past years, the two groups cooperated. This was not quite common in the Jihadist galaxy. In regions such as the Middle East, supporters of al-Qaeda and IS normally clash. But in West Africa, due to their common background, members of the different fronts shared information or supported each other in logistics. The kidnapping of two French citizens in Benin in May 2019 was an example of this relationship. The two hostages were abducted by a group belonging to JNIM with the cooperation of ISGS militants. They were saved in Burkina Faso by French Special Forces.

But in recent months, ideological differences deepened and clashed started. First, JNIM began a dialogue with the Malian government, while ISGS is against that negotiation. Second, ISGS militants started to infiltrate JNIM’s areas of operations. This dynamic is aggravating Burkina Faso’s situation since those two groups target both the government and the civilian population. On 11th August 2020, a known religious leader, the Grand Imam of Djibo Souaibou Cisse, was kidnapped and killed by unknown gunmen in the Sahel region. The city of Djibo is basically besieged by armed groups and that reduces the influx of food, fuel, and other basic goods. Jihadists are capable of taking control of entire areas of the country and imposing their rule.
The security situation is worsened by other factors. Since 2014, self-defence groups (among them the Koglweogo) were created in different areas to restore security. They fight terrorism and crime but are also responsible for human rights violations. Also, Burkinabe security forces are accused of abuses and extra judiciary executions.

A humanitarian crisis
The increase in violence has a deep impact on Burkina Faso’s frail economy. Fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, forced farmers to stop farming due to security reasons and blocked the distribution of crops. And the measures taken to stop the Covid-19 pandemic (such as the border closure and a ban on public transport) aggravated this situation.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme, in August 3.2 million people in Burkina Faso were suffering from acute food shortage due to violence and the Covid-19 pandemic. That was a 50% increase in comparison with March 2020. In August, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA stated that there are more than 1 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Burkina Faso and 2.9 need humanitarian aid. Displaced people rely on food provided by the government, international organizations, and NGOs.
But this aid cannot reach regions like the Sahel, due to the presence of armed men (jihadists and criminals) who rob convoys and are a heavy burden for the state budget.

Polls in November?
On 22nd November 2020, the Burkinabe people are supposed to vote for their president and MPs. At the end of August, the parliament approved with a strong majority a new controversial electoral law. According to this law, in case of exceptional conditions that prevent the organizations of polls in some areas, the vote will be validated based on the logs of the polling stations that could open.

Newton Ahmed Barry, President of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Clearly, this law was elaborated with an eye on the increasing insecurity in the zones affected by jihadist violence. And this is not wrong, in principle. But, as some politician noted, the new text risks taking away the right to vote from many Burkinabe people. They will not have the possibility to vote due to violence, and therefore will be de facto excluded from the process. That could lead to a president and a parliament that are the expression of a minority of the population due to forced abstention. If this happens, an increase in distrust towards the already weak institutions is to be expected.
Therefore, some politicians proposed a postponement of the elections until an acceptable level of security in the entire country is guaranteed. But it is not clear if and when that will be possible. And a delay in polls could delegitimize the institutions, also in front of the international community. So, a postponement of the vote risks accelerating descent into chaos for Burkina Faso.

Shadows of the past
Despite the increasing insecurity that casts doubts on his ability to rule the country, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré is running for a new mandate. At this moment he seems to be the favourite candidate, mainly because the opposition is divided. Among his rivals are Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, Gilbert Noël Ouédraogo, and Eddie Komboïgo, leader of the Congrès pour la Démocratie et le Progrès (CDP).
These four politicians have something in common. They were part of the regime created by Blaise Compaoré, who ruled Burkina Faso in an authoritarian way for 27 years before being ousted by massive popular protests in 2014. He now lives in exile in Cote d’Ivoire but tries to influence politics in his homeland. Compaoré’s heritage seems to be evident on this occasion. Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo served as a prime minister under Compaoré; Gilbert Noël Ouédraogo was one of his political allies; and the CDP was Compaoré’s party. Even Kaboré served as premier under Compaoré. Compaoré’s regime weakened the institutions of the country and impoverished it, creating the conditions for the infiltration of extremist groups.

President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.

Kaboré, or the new president, will have a dilemma to solve. He will have to promote reconciliation and national unity in Burkina Faso, also to defuse violence. And this will imply some sort of agreement with Compaoré, who hopes to come back to Burkina Faso. But, at the same time, the chief of state will have to deal with those who ousted his predecessor and want him to be judged and sentenced. A process of national reconciliation between those who supported the past regime and those who fought it is therefore needed.
To deal with extremism and other issues (hunger, IDPs, lack of economic development, etc.) Burkina Faso will need to find unity. But to become a united country it needs to be reconciled with what happened under Compaoré’s regime, that divided the country. To solve the problems of the present, Burkina Faso must solve the dilemmas of the past.

Andrea Carbonari

The Dhofar Rebellion and Oman’s Modernity.

Thursday, 1 October 2020 8:00

Clearly, Great Britain has played a fundamental role in the emergence of modern Oman, considering it a priority because of its oil and its geographic location in the middle of the some of the world’s most important trade routes.

Their relationship dates back to the mid-17th century when the East India Company established a base as it traced a route for its imperial interests in Asia. The political and commercial Omani-British relationship also meant that Omani sultans have studied in Britain (the first started in 1913). Qaboos ibn Sa’id, who came to power in 1970 and who died in January 2020 studied at Sundhurst 2 Military Academy.
By the 1960’s, after the riots of the 1950s suppressed with British help, there was a more intense rebellion that occurred in the fertile Dhofar region – once famous as the world’s leading producer of frankincense. As Dhofaris migrated to other parts of the Gulf in search of work, they came into contact with radical ideas. They also felt a sharp contrast in the living conditions they had at home and those of the rapidly evolving neighbors. In the Sultanate of Oman, in the 1960’s living conditions were bad, as the Sultan purposely prevented progress.
Most people were illiterate. And any impetus for reform was repressed by the British backed Omani military.

The Dhofar Rebellion started in 1963.

By 1965 opponents of Sultan Said bin Taimur came together to form the Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) with the backing of the neighboring Democratic People’s Republic of Yemen (South Yemen). The DLF wanted to overthrow the Sultan and expel his British advisors.
Using guerrilla tactics, the DLF resisted years of bloody battles such that by June 1970, they had the upper hand over the Sultan’s forces. They had even succeeded in gaining control of some oil fields near the Strait of Hormuz. The failure on the government side led to the installation of Sultan Qaboos, who led a coup against his father Sultan Sa’id. The war lasted until 1976, when with English help, the sultan managed to suppress the Dhofar rebellion.

The British soldiers from the Special Air Service on patrol in Oman in 1961.

The Shah of Iran, who was the most powerful American ally in the Persian Gulf region at the time, sent some 3,000 troops to help Sultan Qaboos fend off the Dhofar rebels. Iran’s help would establish the close ties to that country that have persisted to the present day. More significantly, perhaps, Sultan Qaboos defeated the Dhofar rebels by noting some of their legitimate grievances. Thus, not only was he using military means, but also social and economic ones. Upon ascending to the throne on 23 July 1970, the Sultan decided to radically modernize the country – which had been the poorest in the Arabian Peninsula. He increased oil exports in time to take advantage of the surge of oil prices in the wake of the 1973 embargo. Qaboos also formally changed his country’s name to ‘Sultanate of Oman’ from ‘The Sultanate of Oman and Muscat’ to symbolically wash away memories of recent divisions. The oil revenue allows the Sultan to encourage education of youth, road and infrastructure projects.

Sultan Qaboos, the new era
Sultan Qaboos bin Said died on 10 January, 2020 after a long illness. After Qaboos’s fifty-year reign of his predecessor, successor Haitham will have to find a balance between upholding diplomatic continuity while balancing delicate social and economic reforms.
Qaboos proved to be an enlightened sultan.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said died aged 79. Ruler of Oman for nearly 50 years.

Thus, did Oman inaugurate a new era, characterized by steady (if not as rapid as its neighbours) modernization, economic development and diplomatic transformation in regional peace broker. These three elements have allowed the Sultanate of Oman to thrive. But, unlike many countries, which decide to adopt ambitious recipes for growth and success, Sultan Qaboos built his strategy, building on the traditions that had long been established in Oman. And in that regard, Oman’s culture and approach to the practice of religion (in an area where the three main monotheistic faiths of the world were born) have served as an essential foundation upon which to build a country. Qaboos was succeeded by his 65-year old cousin Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, the former Minister of Culture on January 11, 2020. Haitham has held various government roles, including minister of culture. The speed with which the successor to the throne was announced suggests – Qaboos had no children – suggests that he had been picked for the role well in advance. Indeed, the most reassuring aspect for those who want to see Oman continue along the path set in 1970 is that Haitham has served as head of the committee that oversees the reform effort known as Oman 2040.

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said succeeded to the throne in January 2020.

As its neighbors have done, Oman has also launched a transformation plan, or a vision, aiming to shift away from oil and gas and devote more resources to developing agriculture, fishing, tourism and industry. More importantly, Oman’s ‘vision’ looks back to its maritime past, as the Sultanate has embarked on an ambitious plan to build new ports, airports, and roads to improve the infrastructure of trade. As for foreign policy, Haitham said he wanted to act in continuity with his predecessor. But he will have to face deepening challenges. He will have to protect Oman’s mediating role in numerous regional crises, not least that between Iran and the United States, while key members of the GCC pursue diplomatic relations with Israel. Yet, the biggest challenges are domestic. The coronavirus pandemic has caused global oil demand to drop amid a Saudi led price war. The global drop in the price of oil in recent years has left Oman with a budget deficit of 6.4 billion dollars. While, Oman’s oil production has not been as dense as it has been in other GCC countries. But, just as the other GCC countries, Omanis may have to endure a drop in living standards. The Pandemic and falling oil revenues have also prompted a reconsideration of ambitious social pact and the very idea of citizenship. The street protests that affected the country in 2011 led the government to respond with an increase in jobs in the public sector, contrasting with what is required by the economic reform plan.
As it moves away from oil, the new cornerstone of Omani’s economy, as outlined in the Vision, will be China. Oman shall manage a growing relationship with China in the context of the latter’s Belt and Road Initiative. Oman was the first country on the Arabian Peninsula to sign an agreement with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in January 2017 to obtain a $265 million loan to build infrastructure in the country. Beijing is fully involved in the development project of the Duqm Special Economic Zone, on the southern coast of the country.

But China’s growing involvement in Oman, and fears that the deep-sea port of Duqm could one day even as a base for the Chinese navy. Therefore, the new Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said’s main challenge may end up being to perform a balancing act between China and the United States. Nevertheless, Sultan Qaboos managed to secure popular support by promoting high employment practices, made possible through the country’s oil wealth. The public sector was swollen with civil servants. While, the effects were often highly reassuring – meticulous roads, gardens and services – the policy of full employment for the population has come under pressure. While the public sector is full, the private sector relies on immigrants (from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries) which now represent some 45 per cent of the population). As welfare can no longer be distributed to the population in general, presently unpredictable oil prices mean that the potential for social unrest – due to the breaking of the ‘social contract’. (A.B.)

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