Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About
- Thread starter TommyHilltrigga
- Start date
what happenedBurundi
Burundi
Im reading just now because of this post and WTF? shyt can become like the 1994 Rwandan genocide again.
isn't this common?
i got a burundian friend i'd ask him but i don't think he pays much attention to events there
'They're killing them': Burundians flee in fear of president's power play
Conflict and development
With tensions running before a referendum that would allow Pierre Nkurunziza to prolong his hold on power, even those Burundians who have fled to Rwanda are scared
Hannah Summersin Kirehe
Mon 14 May 201806.25 EDTFirst published on Mon 14 May 201805.20 EDT
Mireille, 30 and two of her sons, aged four and one, in Mahama camp in Rwanda, where they have been living since 2015. This camp hosts more than 60,000 refugees from Burundi. Photograph: Courtesy of Hannah Summers
Aline Niragira was five years old when Burundi’s first democratically elected Hutu president was assassinated by Tutsi extremists, sparking mass killings and a brutal civil war that would last 12 years.
During a raid on her home in Ruyigi province the girl was pelted with stones and her neck was slashed with a machete by attackers. Her father and three brothers were murdered but, miraculously, she survived.
Now 30 and with her own young family, Aline finds her life in turmoil once more due to the violence and instability that blights Burundi.
She fled to neighbouring Rwanda in December and now lives among an estimated 64,000 Burundians at the Mahama refugee camp in Kirehe province.
With the nation gripped by violence in the prelude to a controversial referendum vote on 17 May, the conflict in her home country is this time drawn along political rather than ethnic lines.
The vote could allow the extension of Pierre Nkurunziza’s term from five to seven years, paving the way for him to stay in power until 2034, as the proposed changes would allow him to stand for re-election despite having already served three terms. The campaign has been marked by allegations of widespread intimidation and violence against opposition supporters.
“The women of the ruling party tried to make me join their campaign, but I refused. It made it unsafe for me to stay,” says Aline.
“I left because these women threatened me. They said they would cut my neck again,” she explains, running her hand along her scars.
Florida Uwera, education assistant at the camp, says: “We have seen a sharp increase in the number of refugees arriving every day. They are against the referendum and the government is killing them.”
Others have been here since 2015, when the news that Nkurunziza would seek a third term as president – a move his opponents deemed unconstitutional – led to a failed coup.
The clampdown on protesters and ensuing violence led to an estimated 1,200 deaths and has forced 400,000 people into exile.
About 174,000 Burundians reside in Rwanda, with the Mahama camp supporting the biggest share, roughly 64,000 inhabitants.
Since 2015, the camp has been transformed. Emergency tents have given way to hundreds of neat rows of brick huts stretching out along the border with Tanzania, the fringes of Rwandan’s eastern neighbour clearly visible in the distance.
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New semi-permanent shelters are built in Mahama refugee camp. Photograph: Shaban Masengeshoo/UNHCR
Mireille, 30, arrived in the camp in August 2015 with her husband, 32, their eight-year-old son, who is disabled, and his brothers, aged four and one.
“My husband was in a demonstration and the police were looking for him, so we had to get out,” she says. “My eldest son is very sick and it was hard to bring him - he can’t talk or walk.”
Before leaving the couple had been seeking to take him to India for an operation on his spine. Now their hopes for improving his health have been placed on hold. For how long, they do not know.
Inside their hut, Mireille’s eldest son lies on a mat, resting his head in his brother’s lap while she feeds the baby. Their father, who works as a cleaner and gardener at the camp, is not around so she has her hands full.
“Sometimes there is not enough soap to keep the children clean,” she says. “We cook outside on a small stove and we all sleep in one room.
“There are no tensions between refugees but, sometimes, groups of men from the militia group have tried to infiltrate the camp and threaten people.”
The UN has condemned what it has described as a “campaign of terror” by government-backed militia in Burundi calling for the rape and murder of those with perceived links to the opposition.
Hundreds of girls and women have allegedly been raped by members of the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party.
Sandrine, who arrived at Mahama camp alone when she was just 15, is among those who fled in fear of the Imbonerakure.
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Sandrine, 18, has lived at Mahama camp for three years after fleeing the Imbonerakure. Photograph: Courtesy of Hannah Summers
“I was living in Kirundo province with my family, but I was scared of the militia groups who had been torturing people,” she says. “They raped any women they could, and I saw it happen to my friends. I decided to leave without even telling my family. I’ve had no contact with them since.”
Sandrine regrets that she has missed out on years of schooling. She yearns to study again.
Others have had some support to continue their education. Jean Claude studies at Mount Kenya University, commuting more than 80 miles to Kigali for lessons.
Dressed in a pristine white shirt and pressed suit trousers, the 29-year-old says: “We need to study but it’s hard. When night falls it’s completely dark and we have no lamps.”
He had been living in a militia town in Burundi, and saw young people killed and tortured. “I moved to Karuzi, but I still felt in danger,” he says.
“I had been about to start university when I left Burundi and when I reached here I was assisted by the charity, Maison Shalom.”
He is among scores of young people supported by Marguerite Barankitse, a Burundian humanitarian who is living in exile in Kigali after moving her organisation across the border.
During Burundi’s civil war she set up Maison Shalom to support children who had been orphaned. When the conflict ended in 2005, she helped them return to their communities. Some of those children, now adults, have become refugees and need her help once again.
Barankitse is making one of her frequent visits to the site, where dozens of people are building a workshop, singing as they pass buckets of cement and lay bricks.
The construction, funded by money made available after Barankitse won the 2016 Aurora humanitarian prize, will house sewing machines and a cybercafe so that young people can be trained in tailoring and sell clothes online.
“I came to the refugee camp in 2015 and gathered some of the young people who had stopped studying,” Barankitse says. “They began English lessons and in September 2016 they were able to return to university here in Rwanda.
“The goal is they will be able to return to Burundi but, while we wait, we must provide training and create jobs for them.”
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Burundian humanitarian Marguerite Barankitse (in red shirt) takes part in constructing a workshop at Mahama camp. Photograph: Courtesy of Hannah Summers
Aurora prize money has enabled 365 Burundian refugees to graduate in the past two years.
Back in Kigali, at the charity’s Oasis of Peace community centre, Burundian student Jeoffrey Mwihevyi describes his hopes for the future.
He was living at Mahama but, thanks to Maison Shalom, he is now studying law at a university in Kigali.
“My parents worked for the government but turned against the president, so we had to leave,” says the 27-year-old.
“At first I struggled, but now I have a job driving tourists and have started my degree. I want to stay in Rwanda and study international law. I hope one day I might be able to hold the Burundian government to account for what it has done.”
Barankitse adds: “We fled here together, Hutus and Tutsis. We see how people in Rwanda have suffered so much but turned the page. Our government should learn from the leaders here, who have rebuilt the country with love and vision.”
'They're killing them': Burundians flee in fear of president's power play | Hannah Summers
Conflict and development
With tensions running before a referendum that would allow Pierre Nkurunziza to prolong his hold on power, even those Burundians who have fled to Rwanda are scared
Hannah Summersin Kirehe
Mon 14 May 201806.25 EDTFirst published on Mon 14 May 201805.20 EDT
Mireille, 30 and two of her sons, aged four and one, in Mahama camp in Rwanda, where they have been living since 2015. This camp hosts more than 60,000 refugees from Burundi. Photograph: Courtesy of Hannah Summers
Aline Niragira was five years old when Burundi’s first democratically elected Hutu president was assassinated by Tutsi extremists, sparking mass killings and a brutal civil war that would last 12 years.
During a raid on her home in Ruyigi province the girl was pelted with stones and her neck was slashed with a machete by attackers. Her father and three brothers were murdered but, miraculously, she survived.
Now 30 and with her own young family, Aline finds her life in turmoil once more due to the violence and instability that blights Burundi.
She fled to neighbouring Rwanda in December and now lives among an estimated 64,000 Burundians at the Mahama refugee camp in Kirehe province.
With the nation gripped by violence in the prelude to a controversial referendum vote on 17 May, the conflict in her home country is this time drawn along political rather than ethnic lines.
The vote could allow the extension of Pierre Nkurunziza’s term from five to seven years, paving the way for him to stay in power until 2034, as the proposed changes would allow him to stand for re-election despite having already served three terms. The campaign has been marked by allegations of widespread intimidation and violence against opposition supporters.
“The women of the ruling party tried to make me join their campaign, but I refused. It made it unsafe for me to stay,” says Aline.
“I left because these women threatened me. They said they would cut my neck again,” she explains, running her hand along her scars.
Florida Uwera, education assistant at the camp, says: “We have seen a sharp increase in the number of refugees arriving every day. They are against the referendum and the government is killing them.”
Others have been here since 2015, when the news that Nkurunziza would seek a third term as president – a move his opponents deemed unconstitutional – led to a failed coup.
The clampdown on protesters and ensuing violence led to an estimated 1,200 deaths and has forced 400,000 people into exile.
About 174,000 Burundians reside in Rwanda, with the Mahama camp supporting the biggest share, roughly 64,000 inhabitants.
Since 2015, the camp has been transformed. Emergency tents have given way to hundreds of neat rows of brick huts stretching out along the border with Tanzania, the fringes of Rwandan’s eastern neighbour clearly visible in the distance.
FacebookTwitterPinterest
New semi-permanent shelters are built in Mahama refugee camp. Photograph: Shaban Masengeshoo/UNHCR
Mireille, 30, arrived in the camp in August 2015 with her husband, 32, their eight-year-old son, who is disabled, and his brothers, aged four and one.
“My husband was in a demonstration and the police were looking for him, so we had to get out,” she says. “My eldest son is very sick and it was hard to bring him - he can’t talk or walk.”
Before leaving the couple had been seeking to take him to India for an operation on his spine. Now their hopes for improving his health have been placed on hold. For how long, they do not know.
Inside their hut, Mireille’s eldest son lies on a mat, resting his head in his brother’s lap while she feeds the baby. Their father, who works as a cleaner and gardener at the camp, is not around so she has her hands full.
“Sometimes there is not enough soap to keep the children clean,” she says. “We cook outside on a small stove and we all sleep in one room.
“There are no tensions between refugees but, sometimes, groups of men from the militia group have tried to infiltrate the camp and threaten people.”
The UN has condemned what it has described as a “campaign of terror” by government-backed militia in Burundi calling for the rape and murder of those with perceived links to the opposition.
Hundreds of girls and women have allegedly been raped by members of the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party.
Sandrine, who arrived at Mahama camp alone when she was just 15, is among those who fled in fear of the Imbonerakure.
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Sandrine, 18, has lived at Mahama camp for three years after fleeing the Imbonerakure. Photograph: Courtesy of Hannah Summers
“I was living in Kirundo province with my family, but I was scared of the militia groups who had been torturing people,” she says. “They raped any women they could, and I saw it happen to my friends. I decided to leave without even telling my family. I’ve had no contact with them since.”
Sandrine regrets that she has missed out on years of schooling. She yearns to study again.
Others have had some support to continue their education. Jean Claude studies at Mount Kenya University, commuting more than 80 miles to Kigali for lessons.
Dressed in a pristine white shirt and pressed suit trousers, the 29-year-old says: “We need to study but it’s hard. When night falls it’s completely dark and we have no lamps.”
He had been living in a militia town in Burundi, and saw young people killed and tortured. “I moved to Karuzi, but I still felt in danger,” he says.
“I had been about to start university when I left Burundi and when I reached here I was assisted by the charity, Maison Shalom.”
He is among scores of young people supported by Marguerite Barankitse, a Burundian humanitarian who is living in exile in Kigali after moving her organisation across the border.
During Burundi’s civil war she set up Maison Shalom to support children who had been orphaned. When the conflict ended in 2005, she helped them return to their communities. Some of those children, now adults, have become refugees and need her help once again.
Barankitse is making one of her frequent visits to the site, where dozens of people are building a workshop, singing as they pass buckets of cement and lay bricks.
The construction, funded by money made available after Barankitse won the 2016 Aurora humanitarian prize, will house sewing machines and a cybercafe so that young people can be trained in tailoring and sell clothes online.
“I came to the refugee camp in 2015 and gathered some of the young people who had stopped studying,” Barankitse says. “They began English lessons and in September 2016 they were able to return to university here in Rwanda.
“The goal is they will be able to return to Burundi but, while we wait, we must provide training and create jobs for them.”
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Burundian humanitarian Marguerite Barankitse (in red shirt) takes part in constructing a workshop at Mahama camp. Photograph: Courtesy of Hannah Summers
Aurora prize money has enabled 365 Burundian refugees to graduate in the past two years.
Back in Kigali, at the charity’s Oasis of Peace community centre, Burundian student Jeoffrey Mwihevyi describes his hopes for the future.
He was living at Mahama but, thanks to Maison Shalom, he is now studying law at a university in Kigali.
“My parents worked for the government but turned against the president, so we had to leave,” says the 27-year-old.
“At first I struggled, but now I have a job driving tourists and have started my degree. I want to stay in Rwanda and study international law. I hope one day I might be able to hold the Burundian government to account for what it has done.”
Barankitse adds: “We fled here together, Hutus and Tutsis. We see how people in Rwanda have suffered so much but turned the page. Our government should learn from the leaders here, who have rebuilt the country with love and vision.”
'They're killing them': Burundians flee in fear of president's power play | Hannah Summers
Most of these nation's high GDP growth rates don't really amount to much when you consider their GDPs were small to begin with.
What really matters if these nations can maintain high percentage growth consistently for 10-15 years without tumbling. That's where you see real progress.
Angola’s new Private Investment Law removes local partner requirement
18 May 2018
Angola’s new Private Investment Law, approved unanimously by members of the country’s parliament, aims to make the country more attractive to investment, and its main innovations are the removal of the requirement to involve a local partner in every project and the minimum investment of US$1 million, according to official information.
Foreign investors were required to have a local partner with a minimum 35% stake in the business, according to the previous version of the Law, a situation that has been described as a restrictive factor for carrying out investments in the country.
The law does not apply to investments in the oil, mining and financial sectors, which are governed by a specific law, or to commercial companies in the public domain in which the State holds all or a majority of the capital.
The new version of the bill establishes as penalties a single amount of 1.0% of the value of the investment, which is increased three-fold for repeat offences, according to Angolan news agency Angop.
Private investors are obliged to employ Angolan workers, providing them with the necessary professional training and with salary and social conditions compatible with their qualifications, and any type of discrimination is prohibited.
The country was divided into development zones, with Zone A covering Luanda province and the capital municipalities of the provinces of Benguela, Huíla and Lobito, while zone B includes the provinces of Bié, Bengo, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul, Huambo, Namibe and other municipalities in the provinces of Benguela and Huíla.
Zone C covers the provinces of Cuando Cubango, Cunene, Lundas Norte and Sul, Malange, Moxico, Uíge and Zaire and Zone D is the enclave province of Cabinda. (macauhub)
Angola’s new Private Investment Law removes local partner requirement
18 May 2018
Angola’s new Private Investment Law, approved unanimously by members of the country’s parliament, aims to make the country more attractive to investment, and its main innovations are the removal of the requirement to involve a local partner in every project and the minimum investment of US$1 million, according to official information.
Foreign investors were required to have a local partner with a minimum 35% stake in the business, according to the previous version of the Law, a situation that has been described as a restrictive factor for carrying out investments in the country.
The law does not apply to investments in the oil, mining and financial sectors, which are governed by a specific law, or to commercial companies in the public domain in which the State holds all or a majority of the capital.
The new version of the bill establishes as penalties a single amount of 1.0% of the value of the investment, which is increased three-fold for repeat offences, according to Angolan news agency Angop.
Private investors are obliged to employ Angolan workers, providing them with the necessary professional training and with salary and social conditions compatible with their qualifications, and any type of discrimination is prohibited.
The country was divided into development zones, with Zone A covering Luanda province and the capital municipalities of the provinces of Benguela, Huíla and Lobito, while zone B includes the provinces of Bié, Bengo, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul, Huambo, Namibe and other municipalities in the provinces of Benguela and Huíla.
Zone C covers the provinces of Cuando Cubango, Cunene, Lundas Norte and Sul, Malange, Moxico, Uíge and Zaire and Zone D is the enclave province of Cabinda. (macauhub)
Angola’s new Private Investment Law removes local partner requirement
Angola’s new Private Investment Law removes local partner requirement
18 May 2018
Angola’s new Private Investment Law, approved unanimously by members of the country’s parliament, aims to make the country more attractive to investment, and its main innovations are the removal of the requirement to involve a local partner in every project and the minimum investment of US$1 million, according to official information.
Foreign investors were required to have a local partner with a minimum 35% stake in the business, according to the previous version of the Law, a situation that has been described as a restrictive factor for carrying out investments in the country.
The law does not apply to investments in the oil, mining and financial sectors, which are governed by a specific law, or to commercial companies in the public domain in which the State holds all or a majority of the capital.
The new version of the bill establishes as penalties a single amount of 1.0% of the value of the investment, which is increased three-fold for repeat offences, according to Angolan news agency Angop.
Private investors are obliged to employ Angolan workers, providing them with the necessary professional training and with salary and social conditions compatible with their qualifications, and any type of discrimination is prohibited.
The country was divided into development zones, with Zone A covering Luanda province and the capital municipalities of the provinces of Benguela, Huíla and Lobito, while zone B includes the provinces of Bié, Bengo, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul, Huambo, Namibe and other municipalities in the provinces of Benguela and Huíla.
Zone C covers the provinces of Cuando Cubango, Cunene, Lundas Norte and Sul, Malange, Moxico, Uíge and Zaire and Zone D is the enclave province of Cabinda. (macauhub)
Angola’s new Private Investment Law removes local partner requirement
Selling themselves out to foreigners.
TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?
I walk around a little edgy already
They have beating protesters and killing their own citizens for decades
Red Shield
Global Domination
Angola’s new Private Investment Law removes local partner requirement
18 May 2018
Angola’s new Private Investment Law, approved unanimously by members of the country’s parliament, aims to make the country more attractive to investment, and its main innovations are the removal of the requirement to involve a local partner in every project and the minimum investment of US$1 million, according to official information.
Foreign investors were required to have a local partner with a minimum 35% stake in the business, according to the previous version of the Law, a situation that has been described as a restrictive factor for carrying out investments in the country.
The law does not apply to investments in the oil, mining and financial sectors, which are governed by a specific law, or to commercial companies in the public domain in which the State holds all or a majority of the capital.
The new version of the bill establishes as penalties a single amount of 1.0% of the value of the investment, which is increased three-fold for repeat offences, according to Angolan news agency Angop.
Private investors are obliged to employ Angolan workers, providing them with the necessary professional training and with salary and social conditions compatible with their qualifications, and any type of discrimination is prohibited.
The country was divided into development zones, with Zone A covering Luanda province and the capital municipalities of the provinces of Benguela, Huíla and Lobito, while zone B includes the provinces of Bié, Bengo, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul, Huambo, Namibe and other municipalities in the provinces of Benguela and Huíla.
Zone C covers the provinces of Cuando Cubango, Cunene, Lundas Norte and Sul, Malange, Moxico, Uíge and Zaire and Zone D is the enclave province of Cabinda. (macauhub)
Angola’s new Private Investment Law removes local partner requirement
Don't think they should have removed the local partner requirement.
hmmmm
SIERRA LEONE'S SMALL TOWNS LEARN TO FIGHT AGAINST LAND GRABS
BY JAMES COURTRIGHT • MAY 07 2018
On a muggy afternoon in Kegbema, a village of 500 people nestled in the verdant Sula mountains in northern Sierra Leone, Momahed Koroma sits in the shade of a mango tree reminiscing about his childhood. Back then, he helped farm rice in nearby swamps, learned how to hunt in the forest and fetched water from nearby streams. But everything changed, he says, in 2010 when London-based mining company African Minerals Ltd. (AML) leased 227 square kilometers of land adjacent to Kegbema to build what would become one of the largest iron mines in Africa.
Early disagreements between surrounding communities and AML ended in violent police crackdowns in late 2010. Three villages were forced to move. After production began in 2011, Koroma says the water in their streams started tasting strange. During the rainy season, iron tailings — toxic by-products of iron mining — seeped into nearby swamps, poisoning the soil. Farmland was bulldozed, and they were told their forests now belonged to the company. Promises of employment and education came to naught.
Initially, the community felt helpless, recalls Koroma, shaking his head in despair. But in 2016, the village joined a growing tide of community-led legal campaigns — supported by paralegals from a Sierra Leone–based group — against big firms that have pushed them off their land.
In eastern Sierra Leone, communities in Nimiyama Chiefdom won a legal battle in 2016 against Orient Agriculture Ltd., a Chinese company building a rubber plantation there. In the south, communities forced to relocate by an expanding rutile mine, and a village whose water source has been tainted by a nearby bauxite mine, are taking help from the paralegals. In the north, Kegbema and the villages of Ferengbeya, Foria and Wondugu that were displaced in 2011 are fighting for their land in court. Courts are beginning to rule in favor of the displaced communities, and companies are feeling pressured to offer compromises.
“Previously we were amputees, but very recently we are now having our two full hands because the law is with us now,” says Koroma.
At the heart of the deepening battles is a tussle over Sierra Leone’s development model. As the country began to rebuild in the 2000s following a decade of brutal civil war, it experienced a surge of foreign investment in mining and agriculture. But communities that host these massive projects — while keen to see their country develop — began complaining they were losing their land in opaque deals and were victims of industrial pollution, subjected to police harassment when they spoke out.
Construction of a road in Freetown by a Chinese company. SOURCE JEAN CLAUDE MOSCHETTI/REA
In 2013, Orient Agriculture Ltd. bought 1,486 acres of land in Nimiyama for a rubber plantation. Francis Gbindo, one of the landholding families from Nimiyama, says he didn’t know about the deal until surveyors began demarcating the land. Worried, he and other landowners approached their paramount chief — the community leader — and asked him what was going on. “It was very alarming,” he recalls.
The paramount chief, one of the signatories to the sale, ignored them. When they went on the radio, the local authorities had them arrested. Without money and formal education, their prospects for justice appeared dim. Then, in 2014, they heard about Namati, a Sierra Leone–based network of paralegals who live in regional capitals and teach communities about their rights, gather evidence of alleged industrial abuses and forward challenging cases to lawyers in the capital.
“We help negotiate fair, balanced agreements that ensure concerns of communities are reflected and that there are adequate provisions to protect the environment in the areas targeted for investment,” says the group’s director, Sonkita Conteh. “We help communities understand that even if it’s hard, there’s a way to squeeze justice out of a broken system.”
The entrance to Kegbema village, marked by a board that bears the logo of Chinese firm Shandong Iron and Steel. SOURCE JAMES COURTWRIGHT
It wasn’t long before Namati was formally representing a coalition of concerned landowners in Nimiyama. Paralegals collected evidence and formally relayed the communities’ concerns to the company and local authorities. The police harassment stopped, but the land dispute remained. “So, we took them to court,” says Daniel Sesay, a program officer for Namati who worked on the case.
After a yearlong trial, the judge ruled in favor of the community. Gbindo and other landowners got back their land, and the company and local officials were ordered to pay damages. It was the first time in Sierra Leone’s history that a foreign-owned company and local politicians had been held accountable for trampling the rights of a rural community. The paralegals have since taken up the other cases — across the country.
This growing movement could have a larger impact on how the government and multinationals conduct themselves in the future, says Genesis Yengoh, a researcher for the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies. “I think it has the potential of making investors rethink how they engage with local people,” he says. “It sends a message out to other large-scale investors that maybe you can’t have as much impunity as you think.”
Despite these recent gains, communities adversely affected by foreign investment still face an uphill battle, says Abdulai Bangura, director of the business and human rights unit at the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone. “If there’s a legal action against a government interest, the judiciary is not that strong to resist,” says Bangura. “The government will have the interest of the company because they will have direct benefit from what the company is doing, leaving the people.”
Indeed, broken promises litter the landscape, as we walk through rows of company-built houses where former residents of Ferengbeya have been resettled. Suliman Kamara, among those who had to move, points to residences whose roofs were blown off during the last rainy season. “We were promised our new home would be paradise,” says Kamara. “They were not talking the truth.”
Still, there’s a fight in the communities now, and a hope. After pursuing their own investigation, Namati paralegals approached Shandong Steel — the Chinese company that bought out AML in 2015 — with the communities’ complaints last year. Unsatisfied with the company’s response, the communities recently filed class action lawsuits demanding their farmland be rehabilitated and they be awarded damages. Two months ago, Shandong offered a cash settlement.
But the communities wanted their land, not a onetime payment, says Koroma. “We rejected the money,” he says. The case is still in court, but the communities believe they have a shot at the justice they had once given up on.
Sierra Leone's Small Towns Learn To Fight Against Land Grabs
BY JAMES COURTRIGHT • MAY 07 2018
On a muggy afternoon in Kegbema, a village of 500 people nestled in the verdant Sula mountains in northern Sierra Leone, Momahed Koroma sits in the shade of a mango tree reminiscing about his childhood. Back then, he helped farm rice in nearby swamps, learned how to hunt in the forest and fetched water from nearby streams. But everything changed, he says, in 2010 when London-based mining company African Minerals Ltd. (AML) leased 227 square kilometers of land adjacent to Kegbema to build what would become one of the largest iron mines in Africa.
Early disagreements between surrounding communities and AML ended in violent police crackdowns in late 2010. Three villages were forced to move. After production began in 2011, Koroma says the water in their streams started tasting strange. During the rainy season, iron tailings — toxic by-products of iron mining — seeped into nearby swamps, poisoning the soil. Farmland was bulldozed, and they were told their forests now belonged to the company. Promises of employment and education came to naught.
Initially, the community felt helpless, recalls Koroma, shaking his head in despair. But in 2016, the village joined a growing tide of community-led legal campaigns — supported by paralegals from a Sierra Leone–based group — against big firms that have pushed them off their land.
In eastern Sierra Leone, communities in Nimiyama Chiefdom won a legal battle in 2016 against Orient Agriculture Ltd., a Chinese company building a rubber plantation there. In the south, communities forced to relocate by an expanding rutile mine, and a village whose water source has been tainted by a nearby bauxite mine, are taking help from the paralegals. In the north, Kegbema and the villages of Ferengbeya, Foria and Wondugu that were displaced in 2011 are fighting for their land in court. Courts are beginning to rule in favor of the displaced communities, and companies are feeling pressured to offer compromises.
“Previously we were amputees, but very recently we are now having our two full hands because the law is with us now,” says Koroma.
At the heart of the deepening battles is a tussle over Sierra Leone’s development model. As the country began to rebuild in the 2000s following a decade of brutal civil war, it experienced a surge of foreign investment in mining and agriculture. But communities that host these massive projects — while keen to see their country develop — began complaining they were losing their land in opaque deals and were victims of industrial pollution, subjected to police harassment when they spoke out.
Construction of a road in Freetown by a Chinese company. SOURCE JEAN CLAUDE MOSCHETTI/REA
In 2013, Orient Agriculture Ltd. bought 1,486 acres of land in Nimiyama for a rubber plantation. Francis Gbindo, one of the landholding families from Nimiyama, says he didn’t know about the deal until surveyors began demarcating the land. Worried, he and other landowners approached their paramount chief — the community leader — and asked him what was going on. “It was very alarming,” he recalls.
The paramount chief, one of the signatories to the sale, ignored them. When they went on the radio, the local authorities had them arrested. Without money and formal education, their prospects for justice appeared dim. Then, in 2014, they heard about Namati, a Sierra Leone–based network of paralegals who live in regional capitals and teach communities about their rights, gather evidence of alleged industrial abuses and forward challenging cases to lawyers in the capital.
“We help negotiate fair, balanced agreements that ensure concerns of communities are reflected and that there are adequate provisions to protect the environment in the areas targeted for investment,” says the group’s director, Sonkita Conteh. “We help communities understand that even if it’s hard, there’s a way to squeeze justice out of a broken system.”
The entrance to Kegbema village, marked by a board that bears the logo of Chinese firm Shandong Iron and Steel. SOURCE JAMES COURTWRIGHT
It wasn’t long before Namati was formally representing a coalition of concerned landowners in Nimiyama. Paralegals collected evidence and formally relayed the communities’ concerns to the company and local authorities. The police harassment stopped, but the land dispute remained. “So, we took them to court,” says Daniel Sesay, a program officer for Namati who worked on the case.
After a yearlong trial, the judge ruled in favor of the community. Gbindo and other landowners got back their land, and the company and local officials were ordered to pay damages. It was the first time in Sierra Leone’s history that a foreign-owned company and local politicians had been held accountable for trampling the rights of a rural community. The paralegals have since taken up the other cases — across the country.
This growing movement could have a larger impact on how the government and multinationals conduct themselves in the future, says Genesis Yengoh, a researcher for the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies. “I think it has the potential of making investors rethink how they engage with local people,” he says. “It sends a message out to other large-scale investors that maybe you can’t have as much impunity as you think.”
Despite these recent gains, communities adversely affected by foreign investment still face an uphill battle, says Abdulai Bangura, director of the business and human rights unit at the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone. “If there’s a legal action against a government interest, the judiciary is not that strong to resist,” says Bangura. “The government will have the interest of the company because they will have direct benefit from what the company is doing, leaving the people.”
Indeed, broken promises litter the landscape, as we walk through rows of company-built houses where former residents of Ferengbeya have been resettled. Suliman Kamara, among those who had to move, points to residences whose roofs were blown off during the last rainy season. “We were promised our new home would be paradise,” says Kamara. “They were not talking the truth.”
Still, there’s a fight in the communities now, and a hope. After pursuing their own investigation, Namati paralegals approached Shandong Steel — the Chinese company that bought out AML in 2015 — with the communities’ complaints last year. Unsatisfied with the company’s response, the communities recently filed class action lawsuits demanding their farmland be rehabilitated and they be awarded damages. Two months ago, Shandong offered a cash settlement.
But the communities wanted their land, not a onetime payment, says Koroma. “We rejected the money,” he says. The case is still in court, but the communities believe they have a shot at the justice they had once given up on.
Sierra Leone's Small Towns Learn To Fight Against Land Grabs
Zimbabwe begins process to re-join Commonwealth; observers invited to July elections | The Commonwealth
Zimbabwe begins process to re-join Commonwealth; observers invited to July elections
Zimbabwe has applied to re-join the Commonwealth. The proposal came in a letter dated 15 May to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland from Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Secretary-General was delighted to receive the letter. “I whole-heartedly echo the sentiments of Heads of Government who have said twice, in 2009 and subsequently in 2011, that they very much look forward to Zimbabwe’s return when the conditions are right. Zimbabwe’s eventual return to the Commonwealth, following a successful membership application, would be a momentous occasion, given our shared rich history,” she said.
Zimbabwe joined the Commonwealth on its independence in 1980 and withdrew from the organisation in 2003.
To re-join, Zimbabwe must demonstrate that it complies with the fundamental values set out in the Commonwealth Charter, including democracy and rule of law plus protection of human rights such as freedom of expression.
The membership process requires an informal assessment to be undertaken by representatives of the Secretary-General, followed by consultations with other Commonwealth countries.
Zimbabwe has also invited the Commonwealth to observe its forthcoming elections in July. The Secretariat is now mobilising a team of observers to do so – and their observations will form part of the Secretary-General’s informal assessment.
“I urge the government, opposition parties, the election management body, civil society, and all stakeholders, to play their part in ensuring a credible, peaceful and inclusive process that restores citizens’ confidence, trust and hope in the development and democratic trajectory of their country,” stated Secretary-General Scotland.
Zimbabwe begins process to re-join Commonwealth; observers invited to July elections
Zimbabwe has applied to re-join the Commonwealth. The proposal came in a letter dated 15 May to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland from Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Secretary-General was delighted to receive the letter. “I whole-heartedly echo the sentiments of Heads of Government who have said twice, in 2009 and subsequently in 2011, that they very much look forward to Zimbabwe’s return when the conditions are right. Zimbabwe’s eventual return to the Commonwealth, following a successful membership application, would be a momentous occasion, given our shared rich history,” she said.
Zimbabwe joined the Commonwealth on its independence in 1980 and withdrew from the organisation in 2003.
To re-join, Zimbabwe must demonstrate that it complies with the fundamental values set out in the Commonwealth Charter, including democracy and rule of law plus protection of human rights such as freedom of expression.
The membership process requires an informal assessment to be undertaken by representatives of the Secretary-General, followed by consultations with other Commonwealth countries.
Zimbabwe has also invited the Commonwealth to observe its forthcoming elections in July. The Secretariat is now mobilising a team of observers to do so – and their observations will form part of the Secretary-General’s informal assessment.
“I urge the government, opposition parties, the election management body, civil society, and all stakeholders, to play their part in ensuring a credible, peaceful and inclusive process that restores citizens’ confidence, trust and hope in the development and democratic trajectory of their country,” stated Secretary-General Scotland.
From camels to catfish, Algeria boosts fish farming in the Sahara desert
MAY 20, 2018 / 1:00 AM / 2 DAYS AGO
Thin Lei Win
TOUGGOURT, Algeria, May 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In a corner of his sprawling farm, Milouda Mohammed proudly unveiled his latest venture - a pond full of catfish that could herald a new future for farmers like him on the Sahara desert.
He is hoping to earn extra income from selling fresh, farmed fish from the world’s largest and hottest desert and use the water to irrigate his olive and date trees and vegetables.
“Five years from now, I’m expecting different kinds of products from this land,” said Mohammed, 49, clad in thick, long-sleeved overalls, oblivious to the searing afternoon sun.
The 15-hectare farm, some 600 km (370 miles) by car from the capital Algiers, bustled with chickens, quails, ducks, camels, goats and sheep - a hive of activity in this stark landscape where, for miles, there is little else besides sand.
“I’m excited about this. Inshallah, it works,” he added, using the Arabic phrase for “God willing” as he threw some home-made feed of leftover chicken and vegetables into the pond.
Farming fish in the desert might sound counterintuitive but Algeria hopes to tap the huge aquifers beneath the Sahara - that covers about 80 percent of the country - as it seeks new ways to feed its growing population and diversify its oil based economy.
Algeria’s population is forecast by the United Nations to rise 25 percent to nearly 50 million people by 2030, increasing demand for food and jobs in the North African nation, one of many countries battling water scarcity and population growth.
For several years the government has been promoting agriculture in southern Algeria, offering cheap loans and concessions to farmers willing to take up the Sahara challenge - and with some success, according to government officials.
Taha Hammouche, director-general for fisheries at Algeria’s agriculture ministry, said about 13,000 farmers have expressed interest in aquaculture projects, enthused after the Sahara yielded its first harvest of farmed desert shrimp two years ago.
The government is providing training on raising fish and using the waste water on plants instead of chemical fertilisers.
“Fishery resources in the Mediterranean Sea have decreased so we cannot rely on that anymore to increase our production,” Hammouche told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
PLENTY OF FISH IN THE DESERT
Hammouche said Algeria hopes aquaculture in the Sahara will help to nearly double the nation’s annual fish production by 2022 from current levels of about 100,000 tonnes a year.
Currently Algeria’s fish come mostly from along its 1,280 km (800 miles) of Mediterranean coastline which experts fear is in danger from pollution, climate change and overfishing.
Valerio Crespi from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said integrating agriculture and aquaculture could provide protein to rural and isolated desert communities globally but cautioned about over-use of underground water.
Studies have shown consuming fish is particularly beneficial for pregnant women and young children, said Crespi, who has been working with Algerian authorities since desert aquaculture was first mooted in the country a decade ago. “Raising fish in deserts is going to be really critical, even for developed countries, because we’ve got to be more efficient with water,” said Kevin Fitzsimmons, a University of Arizona professor.
Arizona farmers who raise fish improved their soil quality, saved money on fertilisers, and received premium price for their fish, added Fitzsimmons, who has advised desert aquaculture farms in the United States, Mexico, and the Middle East.
Data shows that drylands, including deserts and grasslands, take up about 41 percent of the world’s land surface and are home to more than 2 billion people.
But U.N. studies say climate change means nearly half the world population will live in high water stress areas by 2030.
Fitzsimmons said action is needed now and he is looking to develop aquaculture in dry zones in Myanmar and India.
“Making their agriculture more efficient and their land more productive with more vegetables, more fruits, and more fish, is going to be critical to support the fast-growing populations (in dry areas),” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Raising fish can be more efficient than livestock because less space is needed and fish are edible quicker, he added.
Other advantages include better disease control because fish farms in deserts are not connected to water systems, said Dina Zilberg, an expert on fish disease at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, a pioneer in desert aquaculture.
Critics, however, say aquaculture - the fastest growing agricultural sector for the past 40 years - destroys the environment and put diseases and invasive species into the wild.
Zilberg said while some criticism is warranted, solutions now exist to prevent contamination and besides, she added, there is little alternative, with global fish stocks under strain.
“If we want to continue consuming it, we will have to grow it,” she said. “The thing to do is not (stop) aquaculture but make the farms treat the water properly.”
CULTURAL BARRIERS
Those wanting to try desert aquaculture can expect challenges, ranging from climate change - with average annual rainfall down more than 30 percent in recent decades and temperatures rising - to consumer perceptions.
In Israel’s Negev desert, where costs of water, land and electricity are high, only ornamental fish farms are thriving as these fetch higher prices than fish for eating, Zilberg said.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Ouargla, southern Algeria, a commercial fish farm set up nearly a decade ago has had to reduce production due to a lack of consumer demand.
“People prefer fish from the sea ... but we expect this project to be profitable in the future,” said the farm’s supervisor, who did not want to give his name.
Sometimes supplies are an issue. The high-tech shrimp centre in Ouargla produced its first harvest in 2016 but is yet to reach its potential due to a lack of shrimp larvae locally.
The centre, a joint venture between Korea and Algeria, is importing shrimp larvae from Florida, but that is costly and the quantity is limited, said Kashi Massaoud, the centre’s director.
Still, the converts are forging ahead.
Farmer Kaboussa Mohammed, 52 - no relation to Milouda Mohammed - is optimistic for the tilapia and catfish being raised on his one-hectare farm, saying the nutrient-rich water from his pond has improved his dates.
“I used to use chemical stuff for the plants but this is very natural and they grow faster too,” he said. (Reporting By Thin Lei Win @thinink, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
From camels to catfish, Algeria boosts fish farming in the Sahara desert
MAY 20, 2018 / 1:00 AM / 2 DAYS AGO
Thin Lei Win
TOUGGOURT, Algeria, May 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In a corner of his sprawling farm, Milouda Mohammed proudly unveiled his latest venture - a pond full of catfish that could herald a new future for farmers like him on the Sahara desert.
He is hoping to earn extra income from selling fresh, farmed fish from the world’s largest and hottest desert and use the water to irrigate his olive and date trees and vegetables.
“Five years from now, I’m expecting different kinds of products from this land,” said Mohammed, 49, clad in thick, long-sleeved overalls, oblivious to the searing afternoon sun.
The 15-hectare farm, some 600 km (370 miles) by car from the capital Algiers, bustled with chickens, quails, ducks, camels, goats and sheep - a hive of activity in this stark landscape where, for miles, there is little else besides sand.
“I’m excited about this. Inshallah, it works,” he added, using the Arabic phrase for “God willing” as he threw some home-made feed of leftover chicken and vegetables into the pond.
Farming fish in the desert might sound counterintuitive but Algeria hopes to tap the huge aquifers beneath the Sahara - that covers about 80 percent of the country - as it seeks new ways to feed its growing population and diversify its oil based economy.
Algeria’s population is forecast by the United Nations to rise 25 percent to nearly 50 million people by 2030, increasing demand for food and jobs in the North African nation, one of many countries battling water scarcity and population growth.
For several years the government has been promoting agriculture in southern Algeria, offering cheap loans and concessions to farmers willing to take up the Sahara challenge - and with some success, according to government officials.
Taha Hammouche, director-general for fisheries at Algeria’s agriculture ministry, said about 13,000 farmers have expressed interest in aquaculture projects, enthused after the Sahara yielded its first harvest of farmed desert shrimp two years ago.
The government is providing training on raising fish and using the waste water on plants instead of chemical fertilisers.
“Fishery resources in the Mediterranean Sea have decreased so we cannot rely on that anymore to increase our production,” Hammouche told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
PLENTY OF FISH IN THE DESERT
Hammouche said Algeria hopes aquaculture in the Sahara will help to nearly double the nation’s annual fish production by 2022 from current levels of about 100,000 tonnes a year.
Currently Algeria’s fish come mostly from along its 1,280 km (800 miles) of Mediterranean coastline which experts fear is in danger from pollution, climate change and overfishing.
Valerio Crespi from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said integrating agriculture and aquaculture could provide protein to rural and isolated desert communities globally but cautioned about over-use of underground water.
Studies have shown consuming fish is particularly beneficial for pregnant women and young children, said Crespi, who has been working with Algerian authorities since desert aquaculture was first mooted in the country a decade ago. “Raising fish in deserts is going to be really critical, even for developed countries, because we’ve got to be more efficient with water,” said Kevin Fitzsimmons, a University of Arizona professor.
Arizona farmers who raise fish improved their soil quality, saved money on fertilisers, and received premium price for their fish, added Fitzsimmons, who has advised desert aquaculture farms in the United States, Mexico, and the Middle East.
Data shows that drylands, including deserts and grasslands, take up about 41 percent of the world’s land surface and are home to more than 2 billion people.
But U.N. studies say climate change means nearly half the world population will live in high water stress areas by 2030.
Fitzsimmons said action is needed now and he is looking to develop aquaculture in dry zones in Myanmar and India.
“Making their agriculture more efficient and their land more productive with more vegetables, more fruits, and more fish, is going to be critical to support the fast-growing populations (in dry areas),” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Raising fish can be more efficient than livestock because less space is needed and fish are edible quicker, he added.
Other advantages include better disease control because fish farms in deserts are not connected to water systems, said Dina Zilberg, an expert on fish disease at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, a pioneer in desert aquaculture.
Critics, however, say aquaculture - the fastest growing agricultural sector for the past 40 years - destroys the environment and put diseases and invasive species into the wild.
Zilberg said while some criticism is warranted, solutions now exist to prevent contamination and besides, she added, there is little alternative, with global fish stocks under strain.
“If we want to continue consuming it, we will have to grow it,” she said. “The thing to do is not (stop) aquaculture but make the farms treat the water properly.”
CULTURAL BARRIERS
Those wanting to try desert aquaculture can expect challenges, ranging from climate change - with average annual rainfall down more than 30 percent in recent decades and temperatures rising - to consumer perceptions.
In Israel’s Negev desert, where costs of water, land and electricity are high, only ornamental fish farms are thriving as these fetch higher prices than fish for eating, Zilberg said.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Ouargla, southern Algeria, a commercial fish farm set up nearly a decade ago has had to reduce production due to a lack of consumer demand.
“People prefer fish from the sea ... but we expect this project to be profitable in the future,” said the farm’s supervisor, who did not want to give his name.
Sometimes supplies are an issue. The high-tech shrimp centre in Ouargla produced its first harvest in 2016 but is yet to reach its potential due to a lack of shrimp larvae locally.
The centre, a joint venture between Korea and Algeria, is importing shrimp larvae from Florida, but that is costly and the quantity is limited, said Kashi Massaoud, the centre’s director.
Still, the converts are forging ahead.
Farmer Kaboussa Mohammed, 52 - no relation to Milouda Mohammed - is optimistic for the tilapia and catfish being raised on his one-hectare farm, saying the nutrient-rich water from his pond has improved his dates.
“I used to use chemical stuff for the plants but this is very natural and they grow faster too,” he said. (Reporting By Thin Lei Win @thinink, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
From camels to catfish, Algeria boosts fish farming in the Sahara desert