A new year, a new Amandla
Ghana Deforestation Fastest Rate in World Famous Brands at Infamous Wages in Ethiopia CanCoffeeRestoreBatteredZimbabweEconomy? Page 9
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Contact us today for the 2019 Media Kit Volume 18 Issue 5 | Pan-African Community Newspaper | May 15, 2019 | amandlanews.com
Welcome to South Africa! Migrants Build Nations (Fellow Africans Need Not Apply) Prior to the demise of the ignoble apartheid regime in South Africa, African countries led the fight by any means possible to free their fellow Africans from the white-minority rule. Now, African migrants in South Africa are being lynch by some South Africans for allegedly taking over their jobs.
Historically, developed civilizations and nations have been built through migrants. Ancient Egypt was great built by migrants. Western Europe was built mainly by migrants from Africa and other places. The U. S. is the most powerful nation in the world because of collective mosaic of immigrant talents. Any nation that attempts to defy this natural phenomenon risks failure.
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One Less Headache for Ghanaians Living Abroad Ghana ports have been a headache for shippers. Open and clandestine shenanigans of bribery, corruption, and thievery have become a staple. Now, the government has come out with an App that not only tracks consignment, but calculate port duties expected to be paid. PAGE 3
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Ride in Style to the Mountain Top Tanzania wants to facilitate trips to the top of Mountain Kilimanjaro in style. It is aggressively considering a cable car that will lift people who want to see the mountain top without sweating it out. The project is expected to boost tourism.
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Editorial Xenophobia: Intolerance in South Africa and Beyond Xenophobia, the practice of hating anything foreign in one’s country or land, has existed in societies since the dawn of human civilization. One would have wished that this ugly act of inordinate self-preservation was a thing of the past and confined to the doldrums of history books. Alas, petty prejudicial perception of those who look different from us is still alive and kicking. We have seen far too many of such intolerances in Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Libya, and in other Africa countries. In the 1980s, the economic crises in Nigeria fueled xenophobia, mostly against other ECOWAS citizens and especially Ghanaians. In 1969, there was an attack of foreigners in Ghana under the Aliens Compliance Order. The list continues. We can no longer lay the blame on Europeans expressly because we are cognizant of the seeds of “divide and rule,” which they sowed to divide and rule Africa for centuries. Since we have identified the root causes of xenophobia in Africa, African leaders should find remedies to the overgrown weed of wickedness against fellow Africans. We may not be lucky enough to find more Paul Kagames of Rwanda to rebuild after more genocidal ethnic conflicts! Xenophobia has reared its ugly head again in South Africa. Courtesy of efficient information delivery via the social media, we have followed the increasing deadly attacks on immigrants in South Africa between 2008 and 2019.
Publisher & Editor in Chief Kwabena Opong Deputy Publisher & Editor Kofi Ayim P. O. Box 7030 West Orange, NJ 07052 973-731-1339 / 201-704-5838 contact@amandlanews.com Amandla is a monthly publication of the Amandla Company. It is an associate member of the New Jersey Press Association. The publishers may not necessarily share the opinions and viewpoints expressed in the articles that appear in the publication.
The attackers, among other reasons, claim that immigrants have taken their jobs and housing. The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CORMSA) has accused the South African government of doing little to curb the attacks. It is indeed very unfortunate that some ignorant South African nationals have taken the law into their own hands and committed atrocities on fellow Africans for no justifiable reasons. It boggles the mind that this is happening in South Africa, the erstwhile home of the evil Apartheid regime, an evil that all Africans without exception condemned and fought against. Apparently, contemporary black South Africa youths have not been schooled about the unqualified role played by other Africans to end Apartheid. The ignorance, if this is the case, is no excuse. Current leaders, many of whom were in exile in Nigeria, Ghana, and other African countries, must not have soon forgotten the role played by various African governments and peoples in the struggles against the ignoble regime of Apartheid. Obviously, the South African government has failed to highlight the contributions of African governments in the struggles and teach the history. Black South Africans benefitted immensely from the taxpayers and citizens of other Africa countries. Their fellow African brethren fought to support their struggles against the white minority rule. No one is asking for a payback, but the killings as paybacks cannot be coming from a sane society. Africa opened its doors to accommodate (sustain, educate, and support) fellow South African blacks
who were able to find their ways out of Apartheid South Africa. The current treatment of poor Africans in South Africa is despicable. No other African country treated South Africans with anything less than noble. In fact, some countries went out of their way and accorded them preferential treatments. Xenophobia in South Africa is reminiscent to the old USA, where atrocities were visited on African Americans for the mere fact that the color of their skins is black. Africans are mad about the ongoing killings in South Africa and rightly so. Some are already calling for Africa-wide and international boycott of anything South African, until the madness stops. Already, neighboring countries are retaliating by visiting violence on South African interests on their side of the border. Sadly, beyond South Africa, xenophobia exits elsewhere in Africa, albeit different in forms, scopes, and sizes. In Ambazonia, the Anglophone part of the Cameroons, people have and are still experiencing all sorts of xenophobic violence from the greater Francophone Cameroon. In Nigeria’s Pogrom or Rwanda’s Genocide, whether through ethnic enmity, religious bigotry, and or political intolerance, Africans have been at each other’s throat for the past several decades. To sustain the spirit of African Union (AU), laws against xenophobia, ethnic cleansing, religious and political intolerance must be promulgated and effectively enforced in all Africa countries. There is no room or reason for law enforcement agencies to visit brutalities on, say, Nigerians living in Ghana because a law enforcement
officer has been assaulted by a Nigerian or vice versa. In the interest of civility, suspects must be prosecuted to the full rigors of the applicable law when found guilty. Amandla suggests that laws against these shameful acts should be enacted by legal minds at the AU levels and that they be fairly and fully implemented. For example, all non-citizens should register with their host countries, including but not limited to the gainfully employed and business executives. Homeowners must demand and check with the appropriate authorities whether non-citizen renters are duly registered before leasing or renting out apartments or homes. Civil and religious societies in Africa must rise and spearhead efforts to stem xenophobia where governments lack the backbone to do the right thing. In the U.S., deportations of immigrants – legal or illegal – without due process have seen oppositions from civil societies and politicians, even from the President’s own political party. What moral right then, does any African government have to criticize U.S. President Trump on immigration, when xenophobia, ethnic cleansing, and political intolerance fester in his own backyard? It could be argued rightly that all Trump has been saying is to safeguard the interest of Americans first, without lynching or dragging illegal immigrants along streets, as evidenced in South Africa recently. A stitch in time saves nine. AU should step on the brakes and stop all xenophobic tendencies wherever they rear their ugly heads in Africa. Enough is enough already!
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North America Ghanaians Can Now Track Their Shipments KOFI AYIM
The Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged Ghanaians to download Ghana Trade Hub, an app that allows tracking of consignment as well as calculating of port duty on shipments to Ghana. Dr. Bawumia pointed this out in a presentation to the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, USA (GCC-USA) at a meeting held April 11 at the Loews Regency Hotel, New York. Dr. Bawumia strongly advised Ghanaians in the diaspora to invest back home, because all economic indicators are pointing in the right directions. He pointed out that with the discovery of large reserves of petroleum and gas, significant bauxite, as well as iron and manganese deposits, Ghana is poised to be an economic giant in the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, speaks to the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, USA on April 11, 2019 at not-too-distant future. meeting held in New York. country is undergoing extensive digitization of various processes. Human interface is being reduced or eliminated and digitization is taking over. The VP cited examples of how the driver’s license and property and land registration have been digitized, and middlemen, popularly known as “goro boys,” and land guards are being eliminated. Furthermore, the paperless system of goods clearance at the ports as well as digitized online business registration and tax filing and payment are making
business transactions cheaper and more efficient. He observed that government has upped the ante (or has it in the pipeline) in technological developments, such as the transition to solar energy in all government facilities and edifices and the use of drones for medical delivery. Finally, the GPS address system and the ongoing Ghana Card will help identify and locate every Ghanaian and rope everybody into the tax net, which will eventually increase government
revenue. That is why, to make our ports competitive, it has been possible to reduce customs duties on benchmark values of goods by 50%, and duties on vehicles by 30%. All in all, he concluded that policies introduced will bring about efficiency and reduce corruption. The Vice-President fielded questions from members of GCC-USA. He was accompanied by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mr. Mohammad Habibu Tijani, and other dignitaries.
He estimated the bauxite deposit in the neighborhood of some $50 billion with an added value of about $400 billion. The iron and manganese, according to Dr. Bawumia, will enable a steel manufacturing industry to be created. “The best time to invest is now, either on an individual basis or in collaboration with other investors,” he emphasized. He said that with the availability of labor and investor-friendly laws anchored by a liberal business environment, the influx of investment will transform Ghana. Among some prudent measures’ government has taken to encourage investments are the reduction from 90% to 10% and one-time physical inspection (as against undefined number of inspections) of containers at ports of entry, and the introduction of e-visa to facilitate efficiency in visa processing. Dr. Bawumia emphasized that in the government’s endeavor to reduce Members of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, USA listen on as Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, speaks on corruption to the barest minimum, the the tremendouce economic potential of Ghana.
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North America Make Ghana Ports Friendlier for More Revenue, Shipper Suggests KOFI AYIM
Ghana is blessed with two seaports, but bribery and corruption have rendered them ineffective and inefficient. This assessment was made by Mr. Amo Acheampong, proprietor of Trans-Atlantic Container Lines, a shipping company in Newark, New Jersey, in an interview with Amandla April 26, 2019. He lamented that the twopronged economic menace of bribery and corruption is stifling potential revenues that government could have garnered. “Corruption eats more than 50% of revenues from our ports,” he said with melancholy. He suggested, among other ideas, that customs officers and other civil servants at Ghana’s ports should be frequently and randomly transferred to other locations to discourage the tendency of “growing wings” in a given location. “Some customs officers feel the ports are cash cows to milk it,” he observed. He pointed out that major U.S. seaports used to be controlled by organized crime until the government slammed the brakes on them, prosecuted and gave long jail sentences to the kingpins. He believes the fight to reduce corruption at the ports must include minimal human interface and interaction with port officials. He said Ghana ports could do with a toll-free telephone hotline number where callers could report corrupt port officials, anonymously giving detailed information such as the identity of the official, container number, time, date, and basis of bribe request. He recommended that a central communication center at the port be linked with a centralized waiting room equipped with phone banks where customer needs could be addressed in an automated sequential number format. This, he believes, should be supported by a centralized, manned camera command system to monitor activities. Independent, well-resourced crack BNI operatives must be employed to monitor culprits and effect their arrest. He suggested that government can reduce corruption by introducing a flat-rate system in a categorized
A large indoor facility of Trans Atlantic Container Lines makes it a first choice for customers.
system of importers such as commercial, individual cargo consolidators, and international relocators. As an example, he said, a 40-footer consolidated cargo with one vehicle should attract a flat rate duty of a specific amount, and suggested “a three-strike penal system” where importers who under declare goods could be penalized and banned for a given period of time after the third attempt. Further, he observed that government must enable a system where shippers are assigned a unique PIN by the Ghana Revenue Authority so payments can be made directly into an account from any location that consignment is shipped. According to Mr. Amo Acheampong, the elimination of direct physical cash payments will help stem corruption. He decried delays in ships offloading at the two ports of Ghana and their related loss of revenues. He said the one-channel system has been proven to cause untold delays of vessels to offload their cargoes, and suggested a 24/7 operation. According to Mr. Amo Acheampong, RoRo has currently suspended services to Ghana ports because of port delays and opted to offload at Benin, after which goods are reloaded and shipped to Ghana. This, Mr. Amo Acheampong noted, is not only a delay nuisance for importers and shippers, but creates the propensity for in-transit theft and damage before the cargo reaches its
final destination. He said hitherto, when Nigeria had a restriction on imported vehicles that were more than ten years old, Benin reaped hefty revenues because Nigerian importers offloaded their ten-plus year-old vehicles in Cotonou and drove into Nigeria. The restrictions have since been revised. Ghana, he noted, is experiencing the same phenomenon with neighboring Togo, utilizing the ECOWAS protocol of free movement of people and goods. Further, the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso and Mali, which used to patronize Ghana’s ports, have opted to do business with Togo because of inefficiencies, red-tapeism, and corruption at Ghanaian ports. He opined that all commercial trucks that do business with the ports
must be registered and centrally located away from the ports and their movements regulated within port perimeters to mitigate congestion. “A friendly, stress-free, and easily accessible port increases commerce and revenues,” he philosophized. Mr. Amo Acheampong theorized that it will be mutually beneficial for the government of Ghana and Ghanaian shippers to frequently have brainstorming sessions about Best Practice approaches to continually improve port efficiency. “It’s about time government recognizes the role we play in the economy,” he added. Trans-Atlantic Container Lines, one of the busiest and most efficient shipping entities in the Northeast, has been recognized and honored by Grimaldi Lines for top-notch shipping services to West Africa.
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North America International Migrations “Made America Great Before,” KOFI AYIM
International migration, which has historically stemmed from economic pursuit, religious persecution, and violence, among other factors, has contributed immensely to the greatness of the United States. However, the current immigration policies under President Trump have potentially undermined America’s greatness and moral authority even among its traditional allies. Dr. Amadu Jacky Kaba, professor of sociology at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ, made this observation at the Fifth Annual Manley-Yamba Lecture Series, speaking on March 24, 2019, at the First Presbyterian and Trinity Church in South Orange. Speaking on the theme “The Immigration/Migration Phenomena: Myth, Reality and Compassion in Action,” Dr. Kaba pointed out that not only has the Trump administration reversed migrations to the U.S., but the president has also encouraged some of America’s European allies to follow suit. “The role of the United States as a leader in international migrations has been indisputable for many years. But,” he added, “the moral authority of the U.S. under the current administration tends to undermine
Mr. Serges Demefack delivering his remarks. Looking on are Elder David Niles (L) and Dr. Kaba (R
America’s greatness in the eyes of the world.” He cautioned that some initiatives by the U.S. government are making it hard for this country to maintain a leadership role in world affairs. Dr. Kaba supported his argument with elaborate PowerPoint data to demonstrate that immigrants in the U.S. remit more than $400 billion to their countries of origin. This figure, he explained, is more than the foreign aid given by the U.S. He suggested that migration to the U.S. is necessary because of population decline, among other factors. He remarked that the number of refugees to the U.S. nosedived between 2015 and 2018, and emphasized that the notion that immigrants
have any special tendency to commit crimes in the U.S. is a myth. Dr. Kaba also observed that all categories of migrations have been adversely affected, with the exception of the Diversity Lottery. One key implication of these policies, he lamented, is the loss of talent to other countries, particularly Canada. “What happens when smart people like Elon Musk stop coming to the U.S.A?” he quipped. Dr. Kaba commended the First Presbyterian and Trinity congregation for organizing these lectures to highlight current issues in society. “The church is a holy grail where compassion starts. Thank God, the church is still a vital force in this country, unlike places in Europe where many churches have been turned into condos,” he added.
L-R: Dr. Robert Manley, Mr. Serges Demefack, Dr. A Zachary Yamba, Mr. David Niles, Rev. Valencia Norman, and Dr. Amadu Kaba
Contributing to the theme, Mr. Serges Demefack observed that human rights laws in the U.S. guarantee protection for every immigrant. He lamented that immigration policies by the Trump administration are eroding a once-gorgeous mosaic of diverse people in the U.S. He decried the end of former immigration enforcement priorities and their replacement with policies that seek to arrest and deport all undocumented immigrants irrespective of their length of stay in the U.S. and of whether they have U.S.born children and have never had a run-in with law enforcement. “When you destroy the community by arresting parents waiting for their school children on the curb, you are destroying America,” he added. “When did we shift from Mexico building the wall to America building the wall?” asked Mr. Demefack, who is coordinator of the End of Detention and Deportation Project of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Immigrants’ Rights Program, sarcastically and rhetorically. Introducing the event, Mr. David Niles, an elder of the church, said the lecture series was established five years ago to honor the work and contributions of Dr. Robert Manley, founder/president of the Center for Global Responsibility, and former professor of political science at Seton Hall University, and Dr. A. Zachary Yamba, president emeritus of Essex County College, Newark, NJ. The Rev. Valencia Norman, pastor of the church, welcomed and thanked the audience for their continued support.
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North America Sky Is the Limit for Ethiopian Airlines KOFI AYIM
Ethiopian Airlines, one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world, continues to expand in leaps and bounds. As part of its expansion, it has announced a thrice-weekly service from New-York (JFK) to Addis Ababa (ADD) via Abidjan (ABJ). The maiden service on this route begins on June 17, 2019. The new route complements the existing flights from Newark (EWR) to Lomé (LFW) that started some few years back. Travelers from the New York Metropolitan Area to West Africa and beyond now have more options to choose from. In an interview, Ms. Mailli Sandrine, a representative of Ethiopian Airlines, told Amandla that the airline’s goal is to be globally competitive, anchored by modern fleet aircrafts, efficient service, and the best customer service. She said Ethiopian airlines has opened a $363 million terminal at its main hub in Addis Ababa Bole International with its own hotel, a 373room Ethiopian Skylight Hotel.
Ethiopian Airlines currently offers flights to 104 international and 19 local destinations. At the end of 2018, the airline had a fleet of 108 aircraft, over 11,000 employees, and carried over 8 million passengers per year.
The terminal boasts, among other things, self-service at check-in and luggage drop. Airline analysts and observers believe Ethiopian Airlines has chalked successes because it has been able to insulate itself and steer clear of politics. Ethiopian Airlines flies to five continents and boasts of an internationally recognized aviation academy that graduates about two thousand pilots, flight
attendants, maintenance workers, and other aviation specialists annually. Founded in 1945, Ethiopian Airlines owns and operates about one hundred aircrafts and is a member of Star Alliance. It currently operates flights to East and West Africa from WashingtonDulles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Chicago O’Hare, and from New York’s JFK and
Houston, Texas. Ethiopian Airlines is the leading passenger and cargo carrier in Africa to over 120 destinations and has won numerous awards and accolades over the past decades. Meanwhile, a cross-section of Nigerians and Ghanaians in the New York Metro Area are unhappy about the absence of non-stop Ethiopian Airlines’ flights to their home countries.
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Business & Technology
Mogadishu Gets App for Motorcycle Taxi ABDI LATIF DAHIR
You can now hail a motorcycle service in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The Go! app launched in the Indian Ocean city today (May 1) promising affordable and convenient options in the city’s bustling transport sector. The e-hailing service is starting out with 20 motorcycles, allowing customers to order their rides online or hail them on the street after identifying the drivers with their yellow helmet and bikes. The platform was launched by Gulivery, a delivery startup that provides third-party door-to-door services. The moto-taxi service makes the company the first in the Horn of Africa nation to venture into and digitize the motorcycle business. While Uberstyle taxi apps like Waryaa Taxi and Dhaweeye have existed before, those firms only used cars. The increase in digital transportation options comes as life in Mogadishu regains a semblance of normalcy after decades of war. That has led to increased traffic in the city. The city also has a fragmented transportation system, with threewheeled motorized tuk-tuk and hundreds of dilapidated buses servicing a fast-growing population that currently
‘Amazon of Africa’ is a ‘Fraud’, ‘Worthless’: Research Firm TONYA GARCIA
Jumia Technologies AG shares sank more than 20% in Thursday trading after Citron Research’s Andrew Left, a noted short seller, alleged in a report that it has the “smoking gun” that shows why Jumia equity is “worthless.” “In 18 years of publishing, Citron has never seen such an obvious fraud as Jumia,” the report said. Citron goes on to highlight what it calls “material discrepancies” between the confidential investor presentation from October 2018 and what the company told the Securities Exchange Commission. The differences include: inf lating active customer and active merchant numbers by 20% to 30%; and that 41% of orders were returned, not delivered or canceled. Among the risk factors
stands at almost three million people. Getting around African cities like Mogadishu and Nairobi can be demanding given the poor infrastructure, insufficient street addresses, the absence of reliable public transportation, and increasing urbanization that is fueling congestion. As such, motorcycle taxis, locally known as moto or boda bodas, have grown over the last few years. Young entrepreneurs like Go! founder Deeq Mohamed says they want to capitalize on that, moving to bring order to the transit system and also create employment opportunities. The idea for the app was in the
works since last November but was finally implemented, Deeq adds, after his friend Najib almost missed his wedding in December. When the service was done, he told him, “maybe it’s time you start this moto-hailing service.”. The launch is the latest in a budding tech ecosystem in Somalia. The country opened its first tech hub in 2017, and e-commerce services have gained wom3 momentum. This has happened despite the fact internet penetration still remains low in Somalia, insecurity remains high, with the lack of a strong government and weak regulatory policies
hampering the work of both small and big businesses. Finance is also hard to come by, Deeq says. After taking a personal loan from a local bank, he raised the money for the bikes by crowd-funding from friends whom he expects to pay in the next two years. Deeq hopes to have 50-75 motorcycles on the road by the end of the year. If all goes well after that, “We would like to expand into other Somali cities and hopefully East Africa.” Quartz
highlighted in the IPO prospectus was the fact that many deliveries failed. Jumia JMIA, -0.48% said that 14.4% of GMV in 2018 either failed to deliver or was returned. “Assuming 41% of orders were returned, not delivered, or canceled in 2018, this implies that almost 30% of orders were canceled in 2018,” Citron wrote. “Since Jumia primarily sells consumer electronics, which should not have this high of a cancellation rate, it wreaks of fraud.” Just this week, research analysts initiated coverage of Jumia stock with bullish assessments of the company’s future. Many cited the growth potential for Jumia as the African continent currently has less than 1% e-commerce penetration. Moreover, Jumia has created payments and logistical platforms designed to grow digital transactions across the continent, which is still very reliant on cash transactions. “We believe this deep local knowledge and [these] payments
and logistics systems provide Jumia with competitive advantages versus potential new market entrants,” said Raymond James, which rated Raymond James stock market perform. “When a company markets to investors ahead of its IPO and then a few months later omits material facts and makes material changes to its key financial metrics to make the
business seem viable, this is securities fraud,” the report says. Citron also references media from Nigeria, Jumia’s biggest market, accusing Jumia of fraudulent activity. Jumia shares began trading on April 12, and soared 160% as of early this week. Shares were priced at $14.50. MarketWatch
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West Africa
Ghana Ghana Losing Its Rainforest Faster Than All Other Nations KWASI GYAMFI ASIEDU
Ghana’s rainforest is being lost at an alarming rate, according to a new report about the state of forests worldwide. Global Forest Watch (GFW) used updated remote sensing and satellite data from the University of Maryland and estimates that there was a 60% increase in Ghana’s primary rainforest loss in 2018 compared to 2017, the highest in the world. The second highest was neighboring Côte d’Ivoire with a 28% increase. Together, these two countries produce nearly 60% of the world’s cocoa. However, the Democratic Republic of Congo lost the largest size of tropical primary rainforest in Africa and collectively, the world lost 3.6 million hectares of primary rainforest last year—an area the size of Belgium in 2018 alone. The researchers said in 2002, just Brazil and Indonesia accounted for 71% of the tropical primary forest loss. Though those two countries accounted for 46% of total loss in 2018, loss rates in Africa in particular saw a significant increase. Besides providing habitat for
Deforestation in Ghana has reached record levels in recent years.
animals including mountain gorillas, trees in rainforests can be “hundreds or even thousands of years old. They store more carbon than other forests and are irreplaceable when it comes to sustaining biodiversity,” says the World Resources Institute which leads the GFW project. For decades, Ghana was one of the leading timber exporters in the world but its forest cover has shrunk significantly over the years leaving timber processors in the country
contemplating the importation of lumber from neighboring countries and South America. In a 2016 report [pdf p.3], the Forestry Commission, a government agency, said nearly 80% of Ghana’s forest resources under state management had been lost to illegal logging activity since 1990. While clearing for cocoa farming is a leading cause of deforestation, mining is the biggest threat. Illegal small scale mining, known locally as
“galamsey”, has caused massive environmental damage which the government estimates would cost $29 billion to help restore. A ban imposed on all small scale mining activities has now been lifted while an inter-agency committee charged with overseeing adherence to environmental standards has been embroiled in a corruption scandal. The government itself has also come in for criticism. As Quartz Africa has previously reported, local environmentalists fear the 23,000-hectare Atewa Forest Reserve in Ghana’s Eastern Region, will be under threat of deforestation after the government agreed to a $2 billion deal with China to exchange bauxite for infrastructure projects, in the first of many similar ‘resource for roads’ deals to come. Bauxite mining is especially damaging to forests and has been linked to deforestation in Jamaica, one of the world’s largest bauxite producers. The government itself has also come in for criticism. As Quartz Africa has previously reported, local environmentalists fear the 23,000-hectare Atewa Forest Reserve in Ghana’s Eastern Region, will be under threat of deforestation after the government agreed to a $2 billion deal with China to exchange bauxite for infrastructure projects, in the first of many similar ‘resource for roads’ deals to come. Bauxite mining is especially damaging to forests and has been linked to deforestation in Jamaica, one of the world’s largest bauxite producers. Quartz
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West Africa
Nigeria A Conflict Deadlier Than Boko Haram ORJI SUNDAY
Haruna Usman’s biggest worry for many years was the pests that feasted on his harvest of millet, corn and groundnut in the small farming village of Maha-awo in Nigeria’s northwest state of Zamfara. Life was peaceful for the 50-yearold with three wives and 25 children. Then, in April, his life tipped into tragedy. Bandits killed his 22-year-old son Sulaiman and, days later, forced his family to flee Maha-awo. They fell victim to the escalating violence that’s ravaging northwest Nigeria and eclipsing Boko Haram as the biggest security threat to President Muhammadu Buhari’s recently reelected regime. The crisis started as tit-for-tats between rural farmers and herders over cattle destroying crops in 2011. But it has now exploded into a full-fledged ethnic conflict between two of Nigeria’s most prominent communities: the Fulani, traditional herders with a population of seven million, and the Hausa, farmers with an estimated population of 25 million in Africa’s largest nation. The violence has claimed more than 300 lives since the start of 2019, security experts say, threatening to exceed the 411 civilians who died in clashes with Boko Haram in all of
Relatives cry as they mourn during a funeral service for 17 worshippers and two priests, who were allegedly killed by Fulani herdsmen, at Ayati-Ikpayongo in Gwer East district of Benue State, north-central Nigeria.
2018. The Fulani-Hausa conflict has claimed more than 4,000 lives since 2011. More than 500 villages and towns were attacked, and 25,000 cows were stolen in 2018 alone, according to local authorities. These tensions, until now largely confined to Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina states, are now spreading — through abductions, assassinations and raids on villages. The violence is spilling over into the neighboring states of Niger, Kano and Sokoto. And while the federal government has posted special forces in the violence-struck region since 2017, they’ve
been unable to douse the conflict — in fact, both sides are accusing the government of bias. The crisis is exploding at a time where Nigeria is still battling shocks from a crippling recession in 2016. “[The clashes are] the biggest challenge facing Nigeria and the new administration,” says Murtala Abdullahi, a researcher with the Nigerian-based think tank Global Initiative for Civil Stabilization. For sure, the Boko Haram conflict and the ethnic violence involving the Fulani and Hausa — the community to which Usman belongs — are very different, says Luqman Majidadi, vice president of the Northwest National
A member of the security forces stands next to a burnt out vehicle in the Nghar Village, near Jos, in June 2018, after Fulani herdsmen attacked the village.
Youth Council of Nigeria, a pressure group that champions youth-friendly policies and development. While the insurgency that has caused 35,000 deaths is fueled by religion, the ethnic violence is driven by a shortage of resources such as land and water, poverty, unemployment and poor governance that has led to social fissures. But both crises point to a failure by the administration to pick up early signals and resolve tensions in time, analysts and local leaders say. “[In the beginning] the situation demanded a simple dialogue or a fair administration of justice,” says Majidadi. The government did get some bandits to surrender their arms. “That was the closest it came to peace, but it failed,” adds Majidadi. Following the initially limited clashes between herders and farmers, Nigeria’s government responded by closing cattle markets and introducing anti-grazing laws to protect farmland that was turning barren. But these moves infuriated the Fulani. Nigeria has fewer than 225 security personnel for every 100,000 civilians, so authorities often seek help from local militias to govern during conflicts. Buhari’s government has mostly partnered with Hausa militia, which has since been accused of extrajudicial killings of the Fulani. They’ve also been accused of extortion and abductions for ransom. That, in turn, has fed retribution from Fulani bandits, deepening the cycle of violence. But because the government has failed to bring the violence under control, it is also losing support from the
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West Africa
Surveying the damage in the village of Bakin Kogi, in Kaduna state, northwest Nigeria, after it was attacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen in February 2017.
Hausa — some even smell a conspiracy because Buhari’s father was a Fulani community leader. To many Nigerians, the spiraling ethnic conflict is also a reminder of the political neglect that fed the rise of Boko Haram. As internal refugees move to
neighboring states, the parallels are only growing. Refugees escaping Boko Haram are today spread across the Lake Chad region. Major Nigerian cities — from Abuja to Kaduna, the capital of the northwestern province by the same name — have recently witnessed large protests by youth
A Fulani woman leaves her shelter in one of the Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps in Gwoza, Nigeria.
demanding more proactive political engagement from the country’s government to cool the ethnic crisis. “This is a multilayered crisis and the approach adopted has to reflect the nature of the crisis,” says Abdullahi. “The government’s reactive approach is far more expensive,
less comprehensive and probably may never solve the problem.” Ultimately, he says, the government needs to seek long-term fixes to the rural economy, border security — to stop the flow of illicit arms — and unemployment. Buhari certainly has his task cut out for him. The country’s porous border with Niger — which is in a state of civil war — allows the bandits to source heavy weaponry from the neighboring nation. Then, they target regions where the military is absent. If the region’s communities are seen as collaborators with the government, they’re punished. They burn houses and cash crops and demand that locals cook and feed them. The local communities are effectively held hostage by the bandits. Usman escaped to the outskirts of Gusau, the capital city of Zamfara state, but he pines for the more peaceful past he left behind. Even with a huge family, he always had enough to feed all his children and wives. Now, they’re homeless, and he’s forced to beg for food. “I never knew this day [would] come,” he says. OZY
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East Africa
Ethiopia Study Finds Ethiopian Garment Workers are Worst Paid in World Ethiopia’s clothes factory workers, producing items for top fashion brands including Guess, H&M and Calvin Klein, are the worst paid in the world, earning only $26 (23 euros) a month, a report said Tuesday. As Ethiopia seeks to become the continent’s leading manufacturing hub, it has sold investors on workers’ willingness to toil for less than half the salary of tailors in Bangladesh, said the report by New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. The report, entitled “Made in Ethiopia: Challenges in the Garment Industry’s New Frontier,” said that in comparison, notoriously poorly-paid workers in Bangladesh earned $95. Their Kenyan counterparts earn $207 a month, and those in China $326. “Rather than the compliant, cheap workforce promoted in Ethiopia, the foreign-based suppliers have
Sudan Military Rulers Want Sharia Law to Guide Legislation Under Interim Government KHALID ABDELAZIZ
Sudan’s military rulers said on Tuesday they generally agreed with proposals made by protest leaders on the structure of an interim government, but want Islamic Sharia laws and local norms to guide legislation. Protesters whose months of street demonstrations helped force longtime President Omar al-Bashir from office last month have kept up their demands for change, calling on the military officers who took over to hand over power to civilians. Responding to a draft constitutional document presented by a coalition of protest groups and political parties, the ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) noted that the document omitted Sharia law. “Our view is that Islamic Sharia and the local norms and traditions in the Republic of Sudan should be the sources of legislation,” TMC spokesman Lieutenant
Producing garments for such brands as H&M, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, Ethiopian clothing makers are the lowest paid in the world.
encountered employees who are unhappy with their compensation and living conditions and increasingly willing to protest by stopping work or even quitting,” said Paul Barrett, the centre’s deputy director. “In their eagerness to create a ‘Made in Ethiopia’ brand, the government, global brands, and foreign General Shams El Din Kabbashi told reporters. He also said the council believes that the power to declare a state of emergency in the country should go to a sovereign authority, not the Cabinet as the opposition suggested. The transitional period should last two years, not four, which was the opposition’s proposal, he said. Discussions with the opposition were ongoing, but calling early elections within six months would be an option if they could not reach an agreement, Kabbashi said. Former intelligence chief Salah Gosh was under house arrest, he added. Another council member said more than four members of the TMC had resigned and that the TMC was dismantling an unofficial militia group, known as Popular Security, which was operated by Bashir’s party. This came after Sudanese forces seized explosives belts, guns including rifles fitted with silencers, devices used to detonate explosives remotely and satellite telephones in a raid on a property in the capital Khartoum, on Monday The TMC said on Tuesday that those weapons belonged to Popular Security. The Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces, an alliance of activists and opposition groups, sent the
manufacturers failed to anticipate that the base wage was simply too little for workers to live on.” Ethiopia has no official minimum wage for the private sector. The report found that workers, many of them young women, received very little training and faced cultural conflicts with managers from south or east Asia.
The study took place in the Hawassa Industrial Park, the flagship of Ethiopia’s manufacturing drive and one of five hubs inaugurated by the government since 2014. Some 25,000 people work there, making clothes for the most soughtafter brands around the globe, a number expected to grow to about 60,000. Suppliers from China, India and Sri Lanka have opened factories in the park. Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country, with some 105 million people who still largely survive off agriculture, and face punishing droughts and poverty. The government hopes clothing exports will go from $145 million today to about $30 billion per year, a figure the report states is “seemingly unrealistic” not least because low salaries have led to poor productivity, regular strikes and high attrition rates. The report showed that factories replaced all of their workers every 12 months on average. The Stern Centre urged the Ethiopian government to establish a minimum wage and craft a long-term economic plan to strengthen the apparel industry.” AFP
Sudan’s Defence Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf is sworn in as a head of Military
military council the draft constitutional document on Thursday outlining its vision for the transitional period. Earlier on Tuesday the main group spearheading protests in Sudan said that the TMC had responded to its plans for an interim government structure, and it would announce its position once it had studied the reply. Amjad Farid, spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which has played the leading role in the protests, said the council had sent a written reply.
“We will study the response and will announce our position later,” Farid told reporters. The constitutional draft, seen by Reuters, describes the duties of a sovereign transitional council that the opposition groups hope will replace the TMC, but does not specify who would sit on it. It also outlines the responsibilities of the Cabinet and a 120-member legislature. The military removed Bashir on April 11 after months of demonstrations against his 30-year rule. Reuters
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East Africa
Eritrea Is Eritrea Coming in From the Cold? JAMES JEFFREY MILENA BELLONI
For decades, the Eritrean economy has struggled because of a combination of war, authoritarian rule and the impact of United Nations sanctions. But the East African country’s recent rapprochement with its southern neighbour, Ethiopia, and the end of the embargoes, means that its economy now has a chance to grow substantially. The hope is that the nation will export more to the world than people f leeing the country. But as Eritrea continues to be an authoritarian one-party state, with a heavily militarised society, substantial hurdles remain. It is also one of the poorest countries in Africa, with a mostly agriculture-based economy. Yemane, an Eritrean expat living in Europe, is part of the country’s vast diaspora. An estimated 1.5 million Eritreans now live overseas, more often after escaping poverty, or the country’s indefinite military service. This is more than one in five of all Eritreans. Yemane was recently back in Eritrea on holiday, in the city of Massawa on the country’s Red Sea coast. He also used the visit to do some business research. His company imports Ethiopian beer into Europe, and he hopes
Last year Eritrea’s leader, Isaias Afwerki, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed a historic peace deal.
to start being able to export it via Massawa. “This would be much easier for my business,” he says. Presently the entrepreneurial expat has to ship the bottles via the the small coastal country of Djibouti, to Eritrea’s south east. This had been the case for all of land-locked Ethiopia’s ground and sea exports ever since its 1998 to 2000 border war with Eritrea meant the country could no longer access Eritrean ports. It led to a Cold Warstyle standoff between the two countries for the next 18 years. But in July 2018, Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister, signed a historic peace deal with Eritrea’s longstanding President Isaias Afwerki, and the border between the two country’s re-opened.
Goods have been flowing across the Eritrea-Ethiopia border since last summer
It means that Ethiopian merchandise has once again started f lowing into Eritrea, while Eritreans have been heading south to shop in northern Ethiopian towns. Then, in November of last year, the UN lifted its sanctions against Eritrea that had been in place for nine years. These included an arms embargo, an asset freeze, and a travel ban. They had been put in place after Eritrea was accused of supporting Islamist militants in Somalia - something it denied. While the four border crossings between Eritrea and Ethiopia are currently officially closed again, this is said to be a short-term move only. “It appears a temporary closure until they regulate tax, customs and
visa issues,” says Associated Press journalist Elias Meseret, who covers the two countries. It comes as the Ethiopian Ministry of Transport says it is moving ahead with plans for bus services across the border. And another reporter, freelancer Elias Gebreselassie, says that “people and goods are still crossing informally” between the two countries. Eritrea - which gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993 - used to be famous for its entrepreneurialism and trade ties. This owed much to outside inf luence - the country has seen inf luxes of Arabs, Turks and Yemenis throughout its history. Not to forget Italian and British rule. The Italians were in charge from 1890 to 1941, and the British from 1941 to 1950. Eritrea then became part of Ethiopia. “There is a popular saying in Eritrea - ‘let the farmers farm, and the traders trade’,” says Tekle Woldemikael, a sociology professor at Chapman University in California, who was born in Eritrea. “It means that Eritreans value the possibility to do trade in open and unrestricted markets.” Sadly, in recent decades the Eritrean economy has been gutted, first by the country’s 30-year fight for independence, then by the 19982000 border war. And the economy is still being profoundly affected by the government’s far left economics. “Eritrea’s economic stagnation is rooted in the communist government’s profound antipathy to free CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
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East Africa ERITREA COMING IN FROM THE COLD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 trade and capitalism, not the war, and that’s not going to end because of the truce,” says Michela Wrong, who wrote a book on Eritrea’s fight for independence. Currently, the government limits each person to withdrawing 5,000 Nakfa (about $330; £250) a month from banks, ostensibly to
with the Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emanuela Del Re. “Of course, Eritrea has huge potential to export,” says Ms Hirt. “After World War Two, it was one of the most industrialised areas in Africa. “[Today] fish could be exported in large quantities, as well as marble, potash, gold, copper, zinc, textiles, processed food, hides, meat, wine and beer.”
Most of Eritrea’s active labour force is employed in defence, with limited salaries.
tackle the currency black market, but this hinders private initiatives and entrepreneurialism. This is compounded by continued mandatory national service, which leaves most young people “serving the nation” in the military or in government ministries for extremely limited salaries. Nicole Hirt of the GIGA Institute of African Affairs, in Hamburg, is also pessimistic about the possibility of an economic renaissance in Eritrea. “The problem is the infrastructure has been completely neglected,” she says. “I would warn against being over optimistic, because the ruling elite has always tried to control the economy, and has left very little space for private investors.” Currently, the country’s only significant export is gold mined in the western Bisha area and sent to China and South Korea. However, there is growing interest in doing business with Eritrea around the world. At the end of 2018, a group of about 80 Italian investors representing sectors such as energy, construction and agriculture, visited Eritrea
A spokesman for the Eritrean government said that the country’s large diaspora could help boost the economy. Most already send back cash to their families, and, officially, ex-pats have to pay a 2% tax on income earned abroad. In fact, some estimate that about 30% of Eritrea’s gross domestic product is derived from money sent back to the country. But while ex-pats like Yemane are looking at renewing their ties, other commentators warn against any expectation of rapid change in the country. “Eritrea needs to develop its own basic food security before thinking about exports,” says Victoria Bernal, an anthropology professor at the University of California, and an expert on the country. “They also cannot do international business without strengthening their ICT [information and communications] infrastructure.” Ms Hirt adds that most potential international investors are also likely to hold back until they see real political reform in the country. BBC
Tanzania Tanzania Plans Cable Car for Kilimanjaro Tanzania wants to boost tourist numbers by putting a cable car on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain and is in talks about the project with a Chinese and a Western company. Around 50,000 tourists climb Kilimanjaro annually. A cable car could increase tourist numbers by 50 percent by providing access to the mountain for those unable to climb it, Constantine Kanyasu, the deputy minister for tourism, said. The country is conducting feasibility studies on possible routes at the moment, Kanyasu told Reuters. “We are still doing a feasibility study to see if this project works,” he said. “There are two companies one from China and another from a Western country that have shown interest.” “This won’t be the first time in the world, cable cars are there in Sweden, Italy, the Himalayas,” he said. Kanyasu said the government was looking at business plans, potential investors and profits. The length of the route has not
If the plan moves forward, Tanzania would become the fourth country to introduce cable cars in Africa
been finalized, with various options under consideration depending on cost and engineering issues, the minister said. An environmental impact assessment would also be carried out, he said. Porter and guide groups who take tourists up the mountain oppose the project because they fear cable cars will reduce the number of climbers. Loishiye Mollel, head of Tanzania Porters’ Organization, said visitors normally spend a week
climbing the mountain. “One visitor from the US can have a maximum of 15 people behind him, of which 13 are porters, a cook and a guide. All these jobs will be affected by a cable car,” he said. “We are of the view that the mountain should be left as it is.” There are about 20,000 porters working between Mount Kilimanjaro and Meru, another mountain nearby, he said. Tanzania’s earnings from
tourism jumped 7.13 percent last year, helped by an increase in arrivals from foreign visitors. Tourism revenues raised $2.43 billion for the year, up from $2.19 billion in 2017. Tourism is the main source of hard currency in Tanzania, known for its beaches, wildlife safaris and Mount Kilimanjaro, which has three volcanic cones and is nearly 5,000 meters high from its base. Reuters
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Central Africa
Congo-Brazzaville Pres. Daughter Uses $7 Million in Stolen Funds for NYC Trump Building Apartment JOHN CAMPBELL
Globa1 Witness, a non-profit corruption watchdog, is reporting that the daughter of Denis SassouNguesso, president of the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), purchased an apartment for $7 million in a Donald Trump-developed building in New York. Global Witness and a Lisbon newspaper have traced ownership of the apartment to a shell company owned by Claudia Sassou-Nguesso and involving a money trail including Republic of the Congo contracts awarded to a Brazilian company to a shell company in Cyprus to the purchase of the apartment. An author of the Global Witness report is calling on the Department of Justice to seize the apartment because it was purchased with embezzled money. Separately, the French government is actively investigating Sassou-Nguesso for corruption and has identified 60 million euros of various types of property that the family has acquired in France. Because of the association of the New York apartment building with President Donald Trump’s company and the involvement of the daughter of the president of the Republic of the Congo, the Global Witness story is attracting mainstream media coverage; it has been featured on the first page of the business section of the New York Times. However, the Trump Organization, apparently, had nothing to do with the sale of the apartment to Claudia Sassou-Nguesso. The shell-company purchaser acquired the unit from a third party. The use of expensive real estate in the developed world for money laundering by the elite in the developing world is an old song. In New York and London, the practice is extensive enough to distort the real estate market in certain neighborhoods. Money-laundering elites create a market for houses and apartments costing tens of millions of dollars;
International NGO Global Witness has accused the daughter of Congo-Brazzaville’s president, Claudia Sassou-Nguesso, of misappropriating public funds to buy a Trump Tower luxury apartment in New York City.
absent such a market, developers might build housing in a different price range. In New York and London, in areas where such mega-million dollar residential properties are concentrated, owners typically will be in residence only a few days or weeks a year, if at all. Otherwise, the units sit empty. Empty units mean, among other things, lack of customers for the numerous small enterprises that
a residential neighborhood would otherwise support. Of course it is odious when these elites, usually from countries that are among the world’s poorest, spend huge amounts of laundered money stolen from the public on residential units in two or three of the world’s most expensive cities. Municipal authorities in New York and London are considering measures to control, even reduce, the construction of these
pied-à-terres. The U.S. Treasury Department is now requiring title companies to report on all-cash purchases of high-end real estate in certain New York and Miami neighborhoods. Once corruption goes international, certain laws in sought-after destinations can allow foreign governments to play a positive role. In July 2017, the FBI announced that it would seek the forfeiture and recovery of some $144 million, the proceeds of Nigerian corruption allegedly laundered in and through the United States. In June 2018, Nigeria reached an agreement with a number of countries, including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, for the repatriation of $500 million in looted public funds. Prior to that, over $300 million was agreed to be returned from Switzerland. Much of this wealth was connected to the late Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s former military chief of state. Elite money laundering is an aspect of the pervasive problem of failed leadership and lack of accountability to be found in various parts of the developing world. It is an aspect of the alienation of many elites from the people that they ostensibly lead. Council on Foreign Relations
Trump International Hotel & Tower New York, a mix of luxury condominiums and hotel suites that go for more than $2,500 a night.
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Southern Africa
South Africa Post-apartheid South Africa is World’s Most Unequal Country CARA ANNA
Perhaps nowhere in today’s South Africa is the country’s inequality on more dramatic display than in the neighboring Johannesburg suburbs of Sandton and Alexandra. With its gleaming high-rises and lush estates, Sandton is known as Africa’s richest square mile. Alexandra, a onetime home to Nelson Mandela, is a squalid, cramped and crime-infested black township. Many of its residents stream into Sandton every day on a bridge over a highway to work in upscale shops or homes. Angry protests flared in Alexandra last month, stoked in part by campaigning for Wednesday’s national election but mostly by the frustration that South Africa should look far different than the country of haves and have-nots that it has become. Many voters believe the ruling African National Congress has lost its way since Mandela won the first postapartheid presidential election in 1994, and that belief threatens the ANC’s absolute majority grip on power. The ANC has been shaken by widespread allegations of corruption that saw
former President Jacob Zuma forced out a year ago, and many South Africans feel the party can no longer coast on its legacy of fighting the brutal system of apartheid. Unemployment in the country of 56 million people soars past 25%. There are tire-burning protests almost every day over the lack of basic services like working toilets in mostly black neighborhoods. Whites still hold much of the wealth and private levers of power, while blacks trim their lawns and clean their homes. “We find virtually no whites living below the middle class,” Fazila Farouk and Murray Leibbrandt with the Southern Africa Labor and Development Research Unit wrote last year. “Whites have, in fact, comfortably improved their economic status in post-apartheid South Africa because our economy channels such a big share of national income to the top 10%.” Half of South Africans are in households with per capita income of 1,149 rand ($90) or less a month, they wrote, with little chance to change their fortunes despite working hard as maids or security guards. “Put bluntly, they’re stuck,” Farouk and Leibbrandt concluded. Thembeni Manana, an activist who works with the Greater Alexandra Chamber of Commerce, knows the feeling well, describing the inequality that residents of Alexandra feel when then cross the highway bridge into upscale Sandton.
“The air in Sandton is so fresh, you could swear they have air-cons outside,” Manana said, referring to the air-conditioned high-rises in the wealthy enclave. “When you come back to Alex, yo! A most disgusting smell! A sewer that’s overflowing, rats all over the road.” The 28-year-old helped coordinate last month’s protests, saying that the challenges in righting the inequality are more than cosmetic, more than huddling through power outages in Alexandra while the Sandton skyline glows, unaffected. “With us, we decided enough is enough. We want to challenge the system,” she added. She delivered a rapid-fire list of demands: Schools in Alexandra should have a ratio of 30 children per teacher instead of 70. Street vendors should be allowed to supply grocery store chains, giving them access to the wider economy. Children should be able grow up with both parents in homes that have more than one room, allowing for privacy. The World Bank says South Africa is the most unequal nation on the planet, a fact that former President F.W. de Klerk, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, called “the deepest national shame.” It’s cutting criticism by someone who oversaw the end of a system that chilled much of the world by segregating its people by the color of their skin. Current President Cyril Ramaphosa, a Mandela protege, doesn’t shy away from the critique. “Ours is still a deeply unequal
country,” he acknowledged last month in marking 25 years since the end of apartheid . South Africa’s “disturbing” wealth inequality is even more striking than its income disparity, and it threatens democratic values, according to a committee that explored the idea of a wealth tax. Such a tax might help but likely would not change the social relations that create inequality, said Aroop Chatterjee of the Southern Center for Inequality Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. As Ramaphosa wages war on corruption within an ANC divided into the allies of Zuma, the former president, and those who want reform, public exasperation grows and populist movements simmer . Grievances like those cited by Manana are not limited to Alexandra but exist in many of South Africa’s black townships, and Wednesday’s election likely will reflect the weariness of asking again and again for change. While South Africa was famous for its long lines of voters in the first postapartheid election 25 years ago, the sense of national apathy is an ominous sign for the ANC. “I think people are just tired of voting,” Manana said. “They realize the character of the political parties, only out to play during election time,” and then disappear until the next balloting five years later, she said. Associated Press
There are approximately 38,000 people living in Masiphumelele (left) many in small tin shacks. There is no police station, only one small day clinic, and it’s estimated that up to 35% of the population is infected with HIV or TB (Wikipedia + Masicorp). Fires are common in winter, which sweep through the shacks, sometimes displacing residents by the hundreds. Moreover, the entire community of 38,000 is accessed by only one single exit/entrance. Across a narrow wetlands, the community of Lake Michelle (right) is surrounded by an electrified fence and accessed through a guardhouse. Current prices on real estate sites put their value at several million rands, with paddleboarding in the lake a popular pastime for the community. Lake Michelle / Masiphumelele (Cape Town, South Africa) © Johnny Miller / Millefoto
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Southern Africa
Zimbabwe Swiss Company Seeks To Put Zimbabwean Coffee Back On The Table HEATHER FARMBROUGH
Jesca Kagai, a 35-year-old farmer in the Honde Valley in eastern Zimbabwe, near the border with Mozambique, on June 19, 2018.
to receive government compensation this month. President Emerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF government has set aside about US$17 million in its annual budget this year to cover the first
instalment of reparations that will be paid to farmers subjected to land invasions under the former dictator’s regime. Forbes
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Suluja ti SOUTH SUDAN was the first ever coffee to be exported from South Sudan. So successful was it that it became Sudan’s first significant non-oil export in a generation. Coffee became the country’s second export after oil, which at the time accounted for 99% of its exports. Nespresso is also announcing the launch of Reviving Origins, a CHF 10mn programme designed to restore coffee farming in regions where it is under threat, part of its wider global efforts to work with farmers in regions that have been blighted by conflicts, economic hardships or environmental disasters. The U.S.’s National Coffee Association says that the ideal conditions for coffee trees to thrive are those found along the Equatorial zone called “The Bean Belt,” located between latitudes 25 degrees North and 30 degrees South. Arabica, which is difficult to grow, does best at high altitudes in rich soil. Zimbabwe is the most southernly coffee producing region in Africa, lying on the same latitude as parts of Brazil. The photographer Rena Effendi has documented images for National Geographic from Nespresso’s Reviving Origins programme in Zimbabwe and Columbia. Yesterday the Irish Times reported that some 1,000 white farmers from Zimbabwe who were forcibly evicted from their properties under former president Robert Mugabe’s chaotic land reform programme should start
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Zimbabwean coffee was once highly regarded for its quality, a prince among East African coffees. In the late 1980s,Zimbabwean coffee farmers produced over 15,000 tonnes of coffee a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, placing it firmly among the top global coffee producers. Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, the industry has almost disappeared, following a long period of political and economic instability and the seizure of farms, with production volumes down to 430 tonnes in 2017 after a year of particularly volatile prices and high production costs. This could change. Last year, Nespresso bought up approximately 20 tons (95%) of Zimbabwe’s highest quality coffee. This month the Swiss company will introduce a limited edition of a high quality Arabica coffee, TAMUKA mu Zimbabwe, grown by the local coffee farming community in Manicaland Province, Eastern Zimbabwe. The Swiss coffee company has invested in 450 local smallholdings in partnership with the non-profit TechnoServe, bringing in seven agronomists to help train farmers in sustainable farming and skills such as coffee processing and tree management. This is part of a wider commitment to sustainable farming. It is also about business. “Our customers are always looking for new coffee flavours,” says CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin, who adds that the funds go directly to the farmers. Duvoisin has high hopes for this Zimbabwean coffee, whose acidity and fruity tones, he says make it quite the ideal coffee for a Latte Macchiato. “The terroir of Zimbabwe’s coffee is quite different from other East African coffees because of its high altitude and lakes.” “In 2011, we introduced a limited edition of a forgotten coffee from South Sudan, which had a huge effect on the country’s economy and became one of our most successful limited editions,” he recalls.
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Volume 18 Issue 5
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North Africa
Libya Libyan PM Accuses Rival Leader of Seeking a Coup Libyan Prime Minister Fayez alSarraj says his rival for power, General Khalifa Haftar, is trying to stage a coup and take Libya by force. “He’s dreaming of entering Tripoli,” al-Sarraj told France 24 television in Paris Wednesday. “This attack must be clearly condemned because it is an attempt to overthrow the (government’s) legitimacy and seize power ... the destruction of the (political) process was carried out by the Khalifa Haftar, not the government of national accord and we are ready to return to the political process once conditions are met.” Haftar leads a rival government in eastern Libya. His Libyan National Army moved against al-Sarraj’s U.N.installed government last month, but has been bogged down by government forces and their allies in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, unable to take the capital. Some Libyan civilians caught in the fighting have said they don’t care who wins, they just want the fighting to stop.
Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj leaves after an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 29, 2018.
U.N. officials say the fighting has killed 440 people and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. Many are staying in migrant detention centers. Airstrikes reportedly hit one center in eastern Tripoli Tuesday, wounding two. Another report says a hole was blown in an airplane hangar housing women. A baby came within inches of being hit by shrapnel. U.N. authorities are also
Khalifa Haftar, center, the military commander who dominates eastern Libya, leaves after an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 29, 2018.
investigating the suspected use of an armed drone by Haftar’s forces or a possible third party supporting the general. The U.N. says whoever used the drone or sent it to Haftar would be violating the arms embargo against Libya. The U.N. and humanitarian aid
groups say the fighting may lead to a new refugee crisis as civilians try to escape to Europe by attempting the dangerous crossing via the Mediterranean Sea. They also fear terrorist groups, such as Islamic State, will take advantage of the chaos. Voice of America
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