tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335633782024-03-13T21:24:52.656+00:00Pastoral Food Security in the Sahara/SahelThis blog has been created in partial fulfillment with the National Science Foundation DDRI grant no. 0622892. It is a forum for making research findings about pastoral issues relating to food security, livelihoods and natural resource management available regarding Sahelian and Saharan nations. It is for the public and to allow others to add their inputs, comments and questions regarding this region. Welcome everyone! Bienvenue tout le monde! مرحبا بكم اجميعاFranklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-21504500945608245672014-10-10T14:20:00.001+00:002014-10-10T14:35:26.495+00:00Lying on Questionnaires<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rXp-Wh5aQNQ/VDfq26uCq8I/AAAAAAAAB9U/Ci0tnjLNYMU/s1600/141002-thomas-eric-duncan-jsw-1049a_b994520e4e773f52311a0ea9e0bc4395.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rXp-Wh5aQNQ/VDfq26uCq8I/AAAAAAAAB9U/Ci0tnjLNYMU/s1600/141002-thomas-eric-duncan-jsw-1049a_b994520e4e773f52311a0ea9e0bc4395.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: white;">People in the United States are alarmed that an African infected with the Ebola virus, Thomas Eric Duncan, managed to pass U.S. immigration without detainment or quarantine. Unknowingly to Duncan, he had contracted the virus in Liberia and died in the United States from the disease. His temperature was taken both at his departure gate in Monrovia, Liberia and the arriving gate in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas but what is disturbing for most Americans is that he marked ‘No’ on a screening questionnaire as to whether he had been in contact with patients, alive or dead, diagnosed with Ebola or showing symptoms of the disease. Symptoms include fever, diarrhea and vomiting. After five days of his arrival to the United States, he showed these symptoms and regressed to the point of kidney failure before dying two weeks after arriving in the United States. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: white;">Why did Duncan fail to admit on his questionnaire that he had helped an Ebola infected patient in Paynesville City, just outside of Monrovia, days before his flight to the United States? Well, Duncan’s passing makes all theories speculative at this point, but those who have worked with African immigrants in Europe and North America know that absolute transparency with immigration officials brings difficulties, foils plans regarding visiting family or work opportunities and can lead to detainment and worse, deportation. Western immigration protocols do not create an atmosphere where individuals coming from developing nations are at ease to honestly discuss their health, their financial means or their plans when arriving to a wealthier country. And because of this, many coming from poorer nations do their best to omit details that will cause problems at the immigration gate or even lie in order to receive entry into the country.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: justify;">Duncan came to Dallas to visit family: his son and the mother of his son. It is safe to assume he did not wish to harm them nor anyone he came into contact with on his travels to the United States. But the risk he took in helping a neighbor in Liberia who contracted Ebola cost him his life, and now has Americans in a panic regarding those he came into contact with and the current screening of people coming from West Africa. It is very likely West Africans, and others coming from the developing world, will be confronted with a more suspicious immigration control and as I argue, pushed to conceal any information that will raise alarms to authorities. It is the systematic discrimination by Western immigration controls, that made liars out of visitors and immigrants from developing nations long before the Ebola virus became a threat. </span></div>
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Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-36126658532916345832014-07-19T22:22:00.000+00:002014-07-19T22:22:24.529+00:00Kendall Jones and the Spector of Colonialism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g5irnm3HTrw/U8ruMOnK_RI/AAAAAAAAB8Q/At0W05Aiyg8/s1600/Kendall+Jones_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g5irnm3HTrw/U8ruMOnK_RI/AAAAAAAAB8Q/At0W05Aiyg8/s1600/Kendall+Jones_001.jpg" height="232" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: white;">Source:</span> </span><a href="http://www.bookwormroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Kendall-Jones.jpg" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">http://www.bookwormroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Kendall-Jones.jpg</span></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: white;">The controversy over a 19 year-old US citizen, a student attending Texas Tech University, Kendall Jones visiting South Africa and Zimbabwe to hunt and kill big game such as lions, leopards, rhinos and later posting her conquests on Facebook is alarming in ways that people are not discussing. Yes, I agree with those protesting that it is horrible to view her postings as these are animals that have not recovered completely from their threatened or endangered status, and despite the fact that she paid the necessary fees to legally hunt and kill these animals, her publicizing it through Facebook only encourages others (both legally and illegally) to hunt/poach these animals. This is the issue that the media, her supporters and those in protest are talking about. But there is more at hand here. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: white;">For one, the comparison of her to Theodore « Teddy » Roosevelt and his achievements during an African safari is an inappropriate comparison. The circumstances of Roosevelt’s era and Kendall Jones’s are not the same. 100 years ago, elephants, lions, rhinos, and leopards were not endangered or a threatened species. They became one or the other by the 1960s, and while their numbers may have increased and hunting is allowed under strict regulations (granted conditions that Kendall Jones abided by), this does not prevent poachers and other illegal acts from occurring. Elephant ivory is in great demand in the production of souvenirs and jewelry, rhinoceros horn is used in Asian traditional medicine and in the making of ornamental knives in Oman and Yemen, the pelts of cheetahs and leopards are highly prized as well as the meat from all African animals to supply an exotic meat industry. Other animal parts are in demand for traditional medicinal use, sold at local apothecaries. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: white;">Source:</span></span><span style="color: #0433ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> <a href="http://watchloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/kendall-jones-rhino.jpg"><span style="font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 0px;">http://watchloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/kendall-jones-rhino.jpg</span></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: white;">Second, Teddy Roosevelt was hunting big game in the wild; Kendall Jones was hunting in a game park where the animals are fed at specific locations, conditioning the animals to appear for hunters in order to facilitate a kill. Despite the fact that these animals are dangerous, they are certainly not living the same lives as their ancestors. It is true there is a certain amount of danger in moving through a wild animal’s habitat and these animals are not domesticated like sheep, yet they are placed in situations where they are brought in for the slaughter. One can argue whether this situation is a form of domestication, but one cannot dispute that lions, elephants and rhinos are limited in their escape routes and the hunter’s bullet has greater chance of ending their lives. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: white;">Source:</span></span><span style="color: #0433ff; letter-spacing: 0px;"> <a href="https://achangingwildworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/kendall-jones-8.jpg"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">https://achangingwildworld.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/kendall-jones-8.jpg</span></a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: white;">What is perhaps, the greatest consequence of Kendall Jones’s callous actions and pride in presenting them on Facebook will be response of people both outside and in Africa. It was already mentioned above that such grandstanding will encourage other game hunters like her and poachers to follow in her tracks. This creates problems for the conservation effort to bring these animals’ populations up to a healthy number. Non-Americans sympathetic to animal rights movements will point to the arrogance and audacity of Americans in displaying these slain animals. And the average African, as well, will only view this as a typical act of Neo-colonialism, where privileged White people can take, consume, waste and kill any resource in Africa without repercussion. After all, they have watched for sixty years now, their states and authorities go to great length to attract such individuals and groups (like Kendall Jones and her family), foreign donors and corporations for income. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: white;">Kendall Jones defends her actions by pointing out that her costs in hunting these game go for conservation efforts of the same species she killed. This justification overlooks the possibility that the money she spent in Africa could have been used in more productive way. It could have been used directly through her touring game parks and safaris without the purpose of hunting, essentially shooting photographs, not bullets or arrows. It could have also gone indirectly in aiding conservation efforts by helping out local African communities that neighbor game parks. Money could have been used in supplying basic needs like the construction of a well, supplying medicine and vaccinations to a near by hospital or the installation of a solar energy project. But then such actions would deprive Kendall Jones of displaying narcissistic, ‘macho’ photographs of her and her victims on social media. Well, she could have had photos with local Africans, farmers, nurses and community leaders, but with no blowback from the people outraged by her conquests. </span></span></div>
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Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-2195710689461215242013-12-25T10:37:00.000+00:002013-12-25T10:37:45.013+00:00Bilan de la Mauritanie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I recently concluded a three month research project in Mauritania. As someone who lived and worked in Mauritania as a Peace Corps volunteer twelve years ago (1999-2001), I noticed the changes as well as the maintenance of some parts of Mauritanian society, both the good and bad. At the risk of imposing my own cultural biases, I present them here to reflect on the good, the bad, the blessings, and the chronic ills that I observed from August to October 2013. </div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(1)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Solar
power is expanding. It is obviously present in the recent construction of
cellphone towers, but it is also replacing gasoline-powered motor pumps in the
gardens and is seen powering more and more street lights in urban areas
(observed in the cities of Nouakchott and Akjoujt). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(2)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People’s
diets are diversifying. Mauritanians, especially Moor groups who were resistant
in eating foods from outside their communities in the past, are eating more
fruits, vegetables, fish and now even chicken (which was a taboo in Moor society
in the past). However, there is a catch to this. See No. 1 in Things that
changed in Mauritania … for the Worse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9p83WCCXFRc/UrqvhXRpeaI/AAAAAAAABio/ZdRz5qX3koo/s1600/IMG_6277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9p83WCCXFRc/UrqvhXRpeaI/AAAAAAAABio/ZdRz5qX3koo/s400/IMG_6277.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peanuts, Fruit of the Baobab and other Wild Fruit (Atâr, Mauritania)</td></tr>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(3)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mentioned
above but worth elaborating on more is the expansion of fish markets to
remote/peripheral neighborhoods in regional towns and to villages (not all but
the number is growing). Fish with rice is growing as the main meal and if
households have the means the dish includes tomatoes, yam, cabbage, eggplant,
bell pepper, cayenne pepper, and/or lime. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(4)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With
the exception of the Tiris Zemmour region which has not seen rain in the past
two years, the rains are more frequent and abundant. During my Peace Corps
experience there were moderate droughts in the Adrar Region. During this recent
research I saw and abundance of rain in the Dakhlet-Nouadhibou, Nouakchott,
Inchiri and Adrar regions. I did not go to the South, Central and Eastern
Regions of Mauritania but from what people told me and what was broadcasted on
television they witnessed record rainfalls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-80TNUnUiHSU/UrqscBJ9bAI/AAAAAAAABh8/FlqHU16xf3w/s1600/%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%B1+%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%86_001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="307" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-80TNUnUiHSU/UrqscBJ9bAI/AAAAAAAABh8/FlqHU16xf3w/s400/%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%B1+%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%86_001.JPG" title="Rainwater collected between the rocks at Loqseir Terchane, Mauritania" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water caught between the rocks (North of Loqsier Terchane, Mauritania)</td></tr>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(5)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
media has improved by leaps and bounds. Thanks to satellite and dish receivers,
Mauritanians are viewing programs from the Arabian Gulf, Turkey, India and
other parts of North Africa/Middle East. Some of these are dubbed into Arabic;
others have Arabic subtitles. There is a downside to this. See No. 6 in Things
that changed in Mauritania … for the Worse. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(6)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Improvements
have come to transportation, although there still is room for improvement here.
Transport from cities between urban areas involves an air-conditioned van. The
Peugeot 504s are almost extinct except for the run between Nouakchott and
Nouadhibou which involves some hard bargaining and patience for an all-day
commitment to travel. There are now also Toyota Hiluxes that travel between
Nouakchott and Zouerât. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(7)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cellphones
are affordable. Every Mauritanian has one or two … or four! The universal
ownership of cellphones put téléboutiques out of business but if one does not
have a phone and needs to make a phone call, generally, anyone on the street
will help. Should the number be the same carrier as the cellphone owner’s service
that makes it much easier (as the cost is low). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(8)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mauritanians
are more rigorous about washing their hands with soap both before and after
their meals. There are public announcements on television that promote this
practice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Things
that changed in Mauritania … for the Worse<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(1)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
cost of food has risen and with it, the dependence on imported foods is
increasing. This is not to say that Mauritania was once a self-sufficient food
producer. It has a heritage, through the Trans-Saharan trade, of importing
foods from the North and the South. But the benefit of people diversifying
their diets (see No. 2 in Things that changed in Mauritania … for the Better)
brings in foods that for some are a luxury and for many unobtainable.
Furthermore, with many people moving to urban environments for better
opportunities, few remain in the countryside to engage in food production. This
cripples local food production while contributing to the dependency on imported
foods. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(2)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People
are not as hospitable as they were before to outsiders. A few reasons may be
contributing to this. One, urbanization may have the consequence of unraveling
a sense of community and the norm of welcoming strangers. Two, tourists, aid
workers and other foreigners may have taken advantage of Mauritanian
hospitality one too many times without any effort at reciprocity. Three, the
vilification of Islam in most Western media equating conservative Muslims,
which most Mauritanians are, with terrorism may be diminishing the desire to
interact with foreigners. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(3)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
change in climate, although bringing more water, pasture and cultivatable land
to the countryside, is devastating to urban environments, particularly
Nouakchott’s original neighborhoods of Tefragh Zeina, Ksar, Cinquième and El
Mina that have no sewage and lack topography. The result of more and heavy
rainfall results in stagnant water, damage to electricity poles and cables, not
to mention the increases in mosquito and fly populations. Residents of urban
environments face the risk of electrocution, damage to their homes from
flooding, exposure to molds, and outbreaks of malaria, cholera, and other
diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and flies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(4)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With
a moratorium on tourism because of the scare of terrorism, some working in the
tourist industry have grown more aggressive in landing clients and in
increasing incidents, steal or trick tourists out of their money. This is not
to say that touts did not exist in Mauritania before, but the frequency and
exposure tourists have to hustlers is growing more frequent at places where
tourists arrive, particularly borders and transportation parks. Legitimate tour
operators also suffer from this as they lose clients and tourists who have bad
experiences are unlikely to return to Mauritania. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(5)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Processed
foods are starting to replace natural ones. For example, the drink Bissap,
which is sold in all corners of Mauritania, is not necessarily prepared the way
as it was in the past. Before, and admittedly some still continue this practice,
it is prepared by boiling water, adding flowers from the <i>Hibiscus sabdarrifa</i> plant to the boiling water, cooling the
concoction, straining the solid parts out and adding sugar. Today, however,
there are merchants selling Bissap using the same name but actually preparing
powdered fruit drinks like the brand name “Foster Clark.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S8kjZRblQ-k/UrqwggQfgXI/AAAAAAAABi0/0-ZMI0vPGbA/s1600/Hibiscus_sabdariffa%5B001_--------%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S8kjZRblQ-k/UrqwggQfgXI/AAAAAAAABi0/0-ZMI0vPGbA/s400/Hibiscus_sabdariffa%5B001_--------%5D.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hibiscus Plant (Oum Labouir, Western Sahara)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(6)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Women
of all Mauritanian groups are using more and more bleaching crèmes on the faces
and the rest of their skin. There is nothing wrong or unattractive about having
a dark complexion but the commercials for beauty products do their best to make
dark complexions seem unnatural and unappealing. They promote their products as
removing blemishes, and more importantly, as ‘fairness treatments.’ The use of
bleaching crèmes by Mauritanian women is probably, sadly, a negative
consequence of the expansion of the media (See No. 5 in Things that have
changed in Mauritania … for the Better).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Things
that did not change in Mauritania … and Shouldn’t<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(1)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
absence of spices in cooking. With the exception of Fish with Rice, most
Mauritanian dishes are prepared with Saharan salt (which does not contain
Iodine) or sugar, and, in a few exceptions for a savory dish, pepper. This may
sound repulsive at first but look at the other cuisines around the world that
use a variety of spices, sometimes so many in one dish that one does not know
the true flavor of meat, chicken, fish or vegetables. The minimal use of spices
makes Saharan food unique, and for people visiting Mauritania it is a reminder
of what food tastes like. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(2)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Leben
(yoghurt) and Zrig (a curdled milk drink). When I mention these two I do not
mean the powdered or canned milk versions (Relative to No. 5 in Things that
changed in Mauritania … for the Worse). I mean the curdled camel’s or goat’s
milk, and in regards to Zrig, diluted with water and seasoned with sugar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(3)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
music Moor culture produces. A claim like this should receive some blowback
from my former Peace Corps peers who had to endure agonizing taxi brousse rides
listening to the driver’s love of women wailing and erratic riffs of an
electric guitar. But placing cultural bias aside, it is a unique music, unlike
other genres in the world, and I have listened to this music enough to know
there are talented musicians that convey spirituality through their art form
that moves other Mauritanians. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(4)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mauritania’s
ethnic diversity. Within its borders are White and Black Moors (Bidan and
Haratin respectively), Wolof, Hal Pulaar/Peulh, Soninké (Sarakolé), Bambara,
and a handful of Tuareg (Kel Tamacheq) in the Eastern regions of the country.
Add to this other African groups like Moroccans, Nigerians and Ghanaians in the
large and regional towns and it makes for a rich mix of languages, clothing,
music, food, dance and splendor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(5)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
use of Khenev (traditional toilet) waste or town sewage in the gardens as
fertilizer. I used to be vehemently opposed to this when I was a Peace Corps
volunteer but after learning, through my PhD studies, about the chronic
problems of waste management worldwide, I have to commend places like Atâr that
use the fecal waste of Khenevs in gardens and Zouerât, using the city’s sewage run-off for the same
purpose. As long as the produce from these gardens is properly washed and/or
thoroughly cooked using sewage to produce food is a benefit to the local
communities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MqBG7nijkvI/Urqt0U-S8II/AAAAAAAABiM/KNA6zpTGUJs/s1600/Mentha_spicata%5B003_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%B9%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MqBG7nijkvI/Urqt0U-S8II/AAAAAAAABiM/KNA6zpTGUJs/s400/Mentha_spicata%5B003_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%B9%5D.JPG" title="Mint grown in soil fertilized with black water, Zouerât, Mauritania" width="307" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mint fertilized with Black Water in the Gardens (Zouerât, Mauritania)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(6)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
usage of things other people generally throw away. This includes packaging,
plastic containers, thread, wire, cable, tin and aluminum cans, broken appliances,
etc. (the list goes on and on). Africans, more than other societies, can look
at something that is considered not useful or waste and do something practical
with it. However, there are Africans, influenced by globalization, who cease
such behavior as they see it as shameful or the actions of poor people, but the
drive to consume and waste has to change in other societies. This is a lesson
that Africa can offer to the rest of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(7)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
knowledge and use of wild plants as food and medications. While those in the
cities have forgotten or do not know this practice, those in the countryside
still do. This is not to say all wild foods are tasty and or nutritional or
that all traditional medicines work, but some do, and efforts should be made to
maintain this knowledge and use in diet and health. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Things
that have not changed in Mauritania … and Need To <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(1)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Poverty.
Easier said than done, especially when the rest of the continent is in the same
state. But poverty contributes to the other chronic ills plaguing Mauritania
like slavery, poor political representation, and even contributing to the
dismantlement of local food production. To elaborate on this last point, look
at the standard of living for a mechanic, car washer, janitor or a guardian in
the urban environments of Mauritania compared to the small scale farmer or
herder in the countryside. In addition, improving people’s conditions and
standard of living can drive Mauritanians to eradicate other social problems
(See below).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(2)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ignorance
and little knowledge of the outside world. This is a two-way street, and
foreigners who visit Mauritania but disregard the norms and customs of the
country are failing to do their part in ending this ignorance. But in regards
to Mauritanians, and particularly those inhabiting the northern regions, little
is known of the outside world and this often leads to xenophobic behavior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(3)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Racism
where Bidan are discriminating against Haratin and other Black Mauritanians.
This is also interlinked with poverty and ignorance (See above) as well as
racism (See below), but there needs to be a recognition among all Mauritanians
to stop judging people by the color of their skin and recognizing that all
people have merit and the right to receive respect. Bidan are not defined by
their skin color, either. One is Bidan if one’s father is/was Bidan. There are
a good number of Bidan in Mauritania who resemble Haratin/Black Mauritanians in
their complexion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(4)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Slavery.
As it was reported to me during my interviews, slavery is not abusive as it was
in the 1970s but it still persists. Every Haratin knows their master and every Bidan
knows their slaves. There are both Bidan who have liberated their slaves in the
past and there are Haratin who have broken their ties to their masters. But
unfortunately, there are Bidan who try to maintain their hold over their slaves
and there are Haratin who seek out their masters in order to survive through
working for them. Ignorance and poverty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(5)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Poor
political representation. Mauritania had a brief encounter with dramatic
democratic reforms in the local and national elections in 2007. Previously
Mauritania claimed to be a democratic country but in practice it was run by a Bidan
oligarchy. 2007 changed this and Haratin/Black Mauritanians began winning local
elections and filling key posts. But the coup d’état in 2008 put an end to this
‘wind of change.’ Except for a few individuals who refused to step down, local
and national offices were reclaimed by the former the Bidan elite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3O6FZLfRCv4/Urquo4Z6QSI/AAAAAAAABic/3LQ_kGpStII/s1600/%D8%A3%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B1_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3O6FZLfRCv4/Urquo4Z6QSI/AAAAAAAABic/3LQ_kGpStII/s400/%D8%A3%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B1_003.jpg" title="Bureau for the Current Mauritanian Ruling Party, Atâr, Mauritania" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bureau of <i>Parti de la Justice et le Mouvement Démocratique</i> (Atâr, Mauritania)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(6)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Superiority-inferiority
complex. This is always a losing battle for me, both when I was a Peace Corps
volunteer and also during my research in 2013, but Mauritanians need to stop
viewing everything that comes from the West (and now even the Arabian
Peninsula) as the best and things that come from Mauritania (and the rest of
Africa for that matter) as the worst. It is hard to have an earnest dialogue,
one free from colonial relics or imperialism, with such a complex dominating
Mauritanian mentalities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(7)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Attitudes
regarding litter and waste. It is not just Mauritanians, and even the continent
of Africa, but also the rest of the world. Even the industrialized nations,
although they have controls in place for litter, they are still the producers
of many of the disposable products that are thrown away in the developing
world. But in Mauritania’s case, the age old belief in throwing waste to the
desert and letting the wind, sand and sun take care of it has to stop as there
is too much inorganic waste in the countryside and the problem is growing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(8)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Domestic
animals eating garbage in urban environments. The tragedy of this is some
animal owners promote such behavior by breaking up cardboard boxes and feeding
it to their animals. In an effort to support small scale farming and foraging
by herders, people in urban environments who own livestock could purchase
animal feed from these food producers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-56133167838894812532013-07-05T15:08:00.000+00:002013-07-05T15:08:00.596+00:00Eulogy for an Interpreter, a Friend and a Con Artist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">The
man pictured up above on the left (and in other photos of the slide shows
entitled ‘Interviews’ for December 2006, January and February 2007) was my
first interpreter when I started my research in Mali. I use the past tense
here, with heavy heart, because I was informed recently that he was killed in
Tin Hama (located in the Ansongo Cercle of Mali) in 2012 by the Islamists. What
exactly transpired between him and the Islamists remains a mystery but my
recollections of him may shed some light as to what could have gone wrong. No
matter what, however, I find it a loss and regret that he died prematurely during
this tumultuous time in Mali. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">His
real name will not be used here. I will refer to him as ‘Ag Bahanga,’ the last
name of the Tuareg Rebel leader Ibrahim ag Bahanga from Tin Zaouatîn, Mali. I use
this name because some of his friends in Gao, Mali often called him by this
name when seeing him on the streets. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I
met Ag Bahanga in October 2006 through my collaborator. He appeared quiet and
shy at first but after a few tea sessions at my collaborator’s house and
negotiating on a salary for assisting me in my interviews he opened up. I
learned that he was from the Gourma Region of Mali (In Tillit and the regions
surrounding) and that his heritage was Kel Tamasheq. He knew Kel Tamasheq,
Songhaï and French very well and also a little Peulh. We communicated in French
and he sometimes taught me words in Songhaï and Kel Tamasheq languages. At the end of
October and into November we interviewed pastoralists and ex-pastoralists in
Gao and even walked eight kilometers outside of Gao to find a pastoral
encampment called Billalkawoul.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">As
an interpreter, Ag Bahanga was fantastic. He had an interest in my research,
that being looking at food security for the region as a whole and the changes
in pastoral livelihoods. He often invited me back to his room for tea and to
discuss the interviews after they were over. It was during these sessions that
I learned that the Kel Tamasheq commonly name places after the plant species found
there in order to manage their herds, seek out wild foods during periods of
stress and find plants used in traditional medicine. This was what brought me
into studying ethno-botanical issues for the Sahara and Sahel. He even helped
me collect firewood for tea and warmth when the chief of the Billalkawoul encampment
demanded such. He didn’t have to, but between us grew a feeling of solidarity. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Ag
Bahanga, however, was not perfect. I certainly learned this later in our
experiences as we traveled in December 2006 – February 2007 to Ansongo, Ménaka
and Anderamboukane to interview more groups. First, in Ansongo, while visiting
some relatives of his, he had a dispute with a younger cousin. Angered, he
began strangling her while other family members and I begged him to stop and
pulled both of them apart. I had a discussion with him later that night on the
rooftop of his relative’s house. I counseled him to control his anger as such
outbursts would be detrimental to our presence and relationship with the
communities we were about to visit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">In
Ménaka, however, Ag Bahanga did something that ended our researcher –
interpreter relationship and freindship. When we first arrived there at 3 o’clock in the
morning, we stayed with a friend of his during his school days, a very kind man
who welcomed us to stay with him and his family for a week-and-a-half. Practically
everyone we met in Ménaka showed a genuine curiosity and were very generous with us.
One family in Essakan II (a neighborhood of Ménaka) actually gave me a goat. Ag
Bahanga and I both agreed to give the goat to his friend who provided us
lodging, as a sign of appreciation for the hospitality. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">The
day when we were leaving Ménaka, we were given the goat and we brought it to
his friend’s house. His friend was not there but his wife was. I heard Ag
Bahanga talk to the wife in Kel Tamasheq. I thought this was a little odd as
other times he talked to her in Songhaï, as his friend and she were both from Songhaï
communities. Also, my comprehension of Songhaï was, at the time, better than
Kel Tamasheq. We left the goat and then went to find a group of friends giving
us a ride back to Gao. Our friends were not at their house so it was necessary
to wait. Ag Bahanga said he needed to go to the market to purchase some
cigarettes so I stayed. I waited for our friends to return. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">After
45 minutes our friends returned, but Ag Bahanga had not. We all left for the
market looking for him. I was the one who found him acting oddly as he had a
big smile on his face and seemed more joyous than usual. We caught up with our
friends and drove back to Gao. I paid him for the interviews and returned to my
residence. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I
couldn’t sleep that night. Things just didn’t add up and I was constantly
thinking over what had transpired in Ménaka before we left. I couldn’t figure
out what was wrong but I could sense something was. I didn’t own a cell phone
so I could not call people. But I drew up a plan. I met with Ag Bahanga a few
days later and told him that I received an emergency email from my advisor and
that I needed to travel to Bamako immediately. This was a lie. Instead, early
one morning I travelled back to Ménaka to see what had happened. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">When
I returned to Ménaka, I met up with his friend from school. He and his wife did
not have the goat. After talking to his wife that day when Ag Bahanga and I
were returning to Gao, she had said that Ag Bahanga asked her to only look
after the goat, and that he would be back soon to take the goat. All of us realized
that he had found a buyer for the goat at the market and made the transaction
when I was waiting for our friends to return at the other house. I felt bad
over the whole situation as Ag Bahanga did more than deceive me. He profited
from the people who had welcomed us and shown us hospitality. I could not
continue to work with him. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I
found another interpreter in Ménaka and conducted more interviews. Later, when
I returned to Gao, I met with Ag Bahanga and told him my funding was cut and
that I did not have sufficient funds to pay him for future interviews. This,
although necessary, ended our day-to-day interactions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I
did not see him around town soon after this, partially because I was conducting
interviews elsewhere but also because he was pursuing other opportunities
outside of Gao. I would see him once more in Gao, face-to-face, before I
concluded my research in Mali. I had an altercation with a crazy, homeless
person who attacked me on the streets and he aided me after the incident. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">When
I had the opportunity during the summer of 2007 to make photos of my research,
I printed off photos of my interviewees and Ag Bahanga (which, as mentioned
above, can also be seen in the slide shows entitled ‘Interviews’ for December
2006, January and February 2007). I wasn’t sure when I was going to return
to Mali but I wanted them just in case I had the chance to visit again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I
did visit Mali soon after. I traveled to Niger in October 2007 but ran into difficulties
in conducting research there because of the MNJ rebellion. Despite my efforts I
was pushed to leave Niger by January 2008. I chose to visit Mali again. I
handed out pictures of my interviewees in Anderamboukane, Ménaka and eventually
Gao. Some of my friends asked to see other photos I still possessed. When I showed
photos of Ag Bahanga to them and if they knew him, they made comments that he
drinks and uses drugs. I knew that he drank. I would sometimes see the beer and
liquor bottles at his place when visiting. I also suspected in the past he used drugs,
but then this only added to his complexity. During this visit, I couldn’t find Ag
Bahanga in Gao as he was likely running a scam in another Malian town, but I
did find his brother. I handed the photos to him to pass on to his brother when
he returned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I
was told last month (June 2<sup>nd</sup>) of his demise. You will be missed ‘Ag
Bahanga.’ I did not like your temper, your chemical addictions, and the tricks
you pulled on my interviewees, but these became valuable lessons, and the
introduction you gave me to Tuareg society was invaluable. I hope your spirit
is resting in peace and should a day of judgment come, I hope that Allah shows
great mercy for your transgressions. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-25696460908073652942012-10-19T15:37:00.000+00:002012-10-19T15:40:04.343+00:00Criticism in Development … how academics can alter policy and the consequences of its deconstruction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I have attacked many on this blog who hold the reigns of
African Development: Western Powers (like the USA, China, European Union, and
France), International Lending Institutions (namely the World Bank and IMF),
Non-Governmental Organizations, African Governments, and even local communities
(although my allegiance often lies in this camp). But in this post I am going
after a group that I belong to, namely academics. They have less power than
most groups in African Development but still, from time to time, shape the
policies and direction through their investigation and criticism of past and
current trends.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">IRIN recently printed an article entitled, <i>Aid
Policy: Resisting the mantra of resilience </i>(Available at: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96549/AID-POLICY-Resisting-the-mantra-of-resilience">http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96549/AID-POLICY-Resisting-the-mantra-of-resilience</a>
). In this report an academic by the name of Christophe Béné from the Institute
of Development Studies is named, but there are others like him who began
critiquing the use of ‘resilience’ in African Development. Like other terms in
the past (sustainability, vulnerability and poverty alleviation to name a few),
resilience is expanding in definition and perhaps overused in both development
and academic circles. Béné and others, however, find the expansion abusive and
leading to a barrier of improving the quality of lives for many. While I agree
with Béné and the others that this is occurring, I hold concern that their
critiques can be used by those in development circles to scrap efforts at
improving resilience in local African communities that need it. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">As an example, I cite the following passage from
the IRIN news story, “… The wartime collapse of public services in West Africa
in the 1990s initially had less impact on the poor – who never had electricity,
were already dependent on well water, and had no need for automobile fuel.
Those in the countryside were better able to survive a lack of rice because
they knew how to make use of wild food sources. <i>Yet this kind of resilience
does not improve the quality of life</i> [emphasis added].” This passage is
subjective and very much based on Western models of development, i.e. the
quality of life of West Africans would improve if all of them were
sedentarised, wage laborers who owned automobiles and used their salaries to
purchase imported rice and to pay their electricity and water bills. It is very
suggestive of the development models international lending institutions and
some governments tried to push on African communities starting in the 1960s and
continuing in some places even today. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It is not my intention to place local African
communities in a display case. African societies are dynamic and change but in
an age where the citizens of industrial nations are waking up to the health and
environmental consequences of a mismanaged, wasteful and technologically-driven
global food production system by promoting diverse, locally-produced, organic,
fair-trade, heirloom foods shouldn’t development policy makers in Africa do the
same? Resilience has its place in African Development. Béné and others are
right in saying that African Development should not be simplified to one ‘buzz
word’ when attempting to improve the living standard of Africans, however, Béné
is wrong when he says, “Resilience is a very technical, neutral, apolitical
term.” Resilience is in fact a means in which Africans resist not only natural
hazards when they occur but also development programmes that are not compatible
or welcome in their society. It is very much a political strategy. </span></div>
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Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-33910420564323173682012-10-05T13:12:00.000+00:002012-10-05T13:13:48.367+00:00The Incomplete Picture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Agricultural Season for two sub-climate zones in West
Africa</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAWCamRsdsA/UG7bdXom37I/AAAAAAAABXs/zK8oRi05Va4/s1600/Agricultural_Timeline.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAWCamRsdsA/UG7bdXom37I/AAAAAAAABXs/zK8oRi05Va4/s400/Agricultural_Timeline.gif" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Downloaded<b> </b>from: <a href="http://www.fews.net/Pages/timelineview.aspx?gb=r1&tln=en&l=en">http://www.fews.net/Pages/timelineview.aspx?gb=r1&tln=en&l=en</a> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
FAO (Food and Agricultural
Organization, a branch of the United Nations) came out recently with a report
called “Why Has Africa Become a Net Food Importer?” (Accessible at: <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2497e/i2497e00.pdf">http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2497e/i2497e00.pdf</a>).
This report looks at how Africa went from being once a net food exporter
(before 1970) to a net food importer (starting in the 1970s). This has great
consequence on food security for the continent and thus an investigation into
the reasons for this shift is important to both policymakers and the general
population of Africa as a whole. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The report indicates that
population growth, low to stagnating agricultural productivity, policy
distortions, weak institutions, and poor infrastructure as the main causes for
the shift from food exporter to food importer. It also explains that countries
that are faring better economically (Nigeria, Gabon and Angola for example) are
capable of importing foods as they have revenue from other primary resources
(i.e. minerals and petrol) to pay for food imports. Most African countries,
however, despite what primary resources they possess are not faring as well (Mali,
Niger and Zambia to name a few). As a consequence these countries have lived
with chronic food insecurity for decades. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The picture is incomplete. No
mention is made of the role external actors had and have in contributing to making
Africa a net food importer and the tragic consequence of generating greater food
insecurity among the poorest of African nations. First off London, Paris and
Lisbon have kept strong trade relations with their former colonies, perpetuating
the retardation of trade between neighboring African countries. Tokyo,
Washington and Beijing have only exacerbated this in pursing their
self-interests in exploiting African natural resources. All this competition between
stronger economies to capture Africa’s natural resources makes intra-trade in
Africa abysmal. Since intra-trade is poor, the infrastructure and markets are
not there for food producers. Milk and cheese from Mauritanian herds is not
found in Guinea-Bissau and rice and fruits from Guinea-Bissauan mangroves and
orchards are not found in Mauritania. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Second, international lending
institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund impose
policies that retard (if not block altogether) the efforts African governments make
in promoting local food production. Tariffs on food imports are contradictory
to the lending institutes’ aim at liberalizing African economies and subsidies
to local African producers are viewed as wasteful and often scrapped in order
for African nations to receive loans. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Third, since there are no subsidies to promote
local food production and tariffs are not imposed on imports, North America and
Western Europe dumps their cheap, subsidized food products on African markets
(showing the hypocrisy of world economy … free markets in Africa but
protectionism for North American and European farmers). Food products such as
meat and milk products, cooking oils and cereals flood into African markets and
as a consequence retard local food production. NGOs and their media sources do
a decent job in reporting on this (<i>see:</i> <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96427/MAURITANIA-Foreign-subsidies-sour-domestic-milk-industry">http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96427/MAURITANIA-Foreign-subsidies-sour-domestic-milk-industry</a>
), but overall the reporting of external forces contributing to Africa’s food
insecurity are downplayed for local, national and regional factors. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The FAO report suggests two directions that
Africa could pursue to alleviate food insecurity and develop a better standard
of living. One is to reduce the trade deficit regarding food by finding ways to
reduce agricultural imports and boost local agricultural production and
exports. For most countries in Africa, the author of this blog sides with this
policy. How to do this in an economic environment where external forces both
explicitly and subtlety promote their own imports to Africa is difficult. The
other is to ignore the agricultural trade imbalance and find ways to increase
African exports of non-food or non-agricultural sectors (like services,
tourism, oil and mining, etc.). This external forces promoted for years and
what has created greater vulnerability to food insecurity for the poorer
nations of Africa. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In fairness, the second option (which this author
opposes in general) might be the only path to take for some African countries,
particularly when dramatic changes in climate are affecting food production. The
first option, however, should not be seen as an unrealistic goal. It is
possible and should be promoted in as many communities, countries and regions
as possible. Self-reliance, not greater vulnerability and dependability on the
global economy, is a direction Africa needs to take for greater food security.</div>
</div>
Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-3138554120844894862011-09-05T17:29:00.000+00:002011-09-05T17:29:16.763+00:00Regional Ties<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QuTfXk4SOhA/TmUFSkulHoI/AAAAAAAAAxU/GZJ8OkaL3is/s1600/Muammar_Gaddafi_Libya_Revolt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QuTfXk4SOhA/TmUFSkulHoI/AAAAAAAAAxU/GZJ8OkaL3is/s400/Muammar_Gaddafi_Libya_Revolt.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Downloaded from <a href="http://whydtinogo.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: blue;">http://whydtinogo.blogspot.com</span></a> on 5
September 2011</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<span lang="EN-US">The two African countries
receiving press these days are Libya and Somalia. The standoff between Muammar
Gadhafi and his opposition that began in Benghazi and spread westward in Libya receives
a good amount of attention from the press and Western policy makers. Somalia, too,
has its share of political turmoil as a central authority has been absent for
the past twenty years and the only groups able to make headway in the fighting
are pan-Islamist fundamentalists like </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (often shortened
to Al Shabaab)</span><span lang="EN-US">. Somalia also experienced a drought this
year. This, in combination with its on-going civil strife, is exacerbating
conditions of famine, Diaspora, and the spread of disease. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div align="justify" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Problems such as these, however,
do not remain separate from each other or uniform over space. Libya is
certainly in a state of disrepair but so are its neighbours: Algeria, Mali,
Niger and Chad. Algeria is silently supporting Gadhafi and suppressing any
forms of dissidence as the Bouteflika administration is fearful that the ‘Arab
Spring’ will reach its territory. Mali, Niger and Chad are witnessing large
crowds of people coming from Libya who left because of the turmoil or because their
previous relationship with the Gadhafi regime will foster acts of revenge if
the rebels should succeed in ousting Gadhafi. These groups place strains on the
limited infrastructure, food resources, and health services that are in place.
Chad is right now trying to contain cholera and measles outbreaks in addition
to their grain reserves quickly depleting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div align="justify" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The events in Somalia also
influence the stability of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Somali
groups live in the first three of these countries. While the drought was most
severe in the southern central region of Somalia, kinship ties allow large
movements of people around East Africa where water resources were sufficient
for local populations before, but now are strained through the arrival of more
consumers. Such depletion leads to the use of contaminated water and poor
sanitation. Kenya and Ethiopia are fighting outbreaks of cholera and malaria at
the moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tanzania is an interesting
case as certain regions in its territory were affected by poor rains this year
but the country still produced enough food for its population. The concern,
however, is in Tanzanian grain being smuggled north to Kenya and Somalia where
returns will be higher. Regional ties exist, they are strong, and a crisis in
one country is influential on many neighbouring countries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="justify" style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div align="justify" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This said, it should be noted there are
countries, and regions, experiencing the same turmoil as Libya and Somalia at
the moment that receive little or no attention from the press and Western
policy makers. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe are obvious
examples that experience crises affecting the food security, health, and human
rights of populations in these countries as well as those in Uganda, Rwanda,
Burundi in the case of the DRC and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique when talking
of Zimbabwe. People, commodities and ideas move easily over all parts of
Africa. So too, do crises and the escalation of problems when focus is placed
on only one or two states.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-75603847006626220452011-06-01T21:42:00.000+00:002011-09-05T15:32:50.094+00:00Cures Instead of Prevention<div id="internal-source-marker_0.7234722937270287" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Policy makers are frustrated with the lackadaisical to non-existent relationship they share with pastoralists in Sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to many issues but especially with veterinary care. In general, pastoralists only come to veterinarians and immunize their flocks as a secondary or last resort. They evade these government agents and programs because of the cost, the mixed in results in disease prevention, and because the veterinarians and medicines are viewed with suspicion. Pastoralists instead prefer customary African practices that aid in prevention because they cost little to no money, are learned over time from contact with their parents and other relatives, and the results are often acceptable and factored into the maintenance of their flocks. Western science and pharmaceutical cures fall short of such expectations. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white;">To bring pastoralists into the fold, policy makers are now lowering the prices of drugs, vaccinations and making access easier to diagnostics and other forms of veterinary care. As benign as this may seem, it is not given the history. Veterinary care in Sub-Saharan Africa is rooted in colonialism where such practices cloaked efforts to control and bring pastoral groups into submission. Campaigns to eradicate trypanosomosis (sleeping sickness), rinderpest (steppe murrain), foot and mouth disease, and other infectious diseases are often short-lived as newer strains that are resistant to such medications and immunizations take their toll on flocks. If policy makers are sincere in their efforts to integrate pastoralists into their respective states, a suggestion is made to integrate pastoral customary practices into veterinary care and veterinary research. Otherwise pastoralists will continue their aversion to veterinary care, in addition to other dimensions of society that they have no stake in.</span> </span></div>
Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-23949622413993478992011-05-20T18:31:00.000+00:002011-09-05T15:34:14.750+00:00Going it alone in a Changing Global Climate<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">For some time now proponents of the global economy coming from the industrialized world, pushed people from Africa, Asia and Latin America into dependency on global commodities. Products like corn, wheat, rice, coffee, tea, powdered milk, and vegetable oils are produced in Europe, North America and Australia and flood the markets of the developing world in both times of crises and times of stability. In times of crisis, these bulk goods are called aid and are meant to provide humanitarian relief to people who are facing famine or malnourishment. And in normal times, the governments of industrialized nations and international loan agencies like the World Bank and IMF dictate the terms of trade through pressuring the national governments in the developing world to remove protective tariffs for local food industries while simultaneously flooding their markets with the industrialized world’s bulk foods. With agribusinesses in the industrialized world receiving subsidies for their crops and the developing world slashing protective tariffs to their local food companies, this undermined the development of local food companies in the developing world and removes incentive for local producers to engage in agriculture. It is a subservient relationship that the developing world has with the industrialized world, one that keeps countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America vulnerable to food crises. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lately, political international organizations are calling upon the developing world to establish national climate change policies in order to reduce the risks to natural hazards like drought, floods, and earthquakes when they occur. Despite the dilemma that most voicing this need are geopolitical agents coming from the industrialized world, there is also the expectation that the developing world will become ‘resilient’ to the natural hazards when they occur. The developing world already goes it alone when there are recessions in the world economy. This is one of the many factors that make a developing world country vulnerable when crises occur. But now they are expected to go it alone when a natural hazard takes its toll on regions and their citizens. There was a time when the industrialized world was there during a natural hazard with aid, granted tainted with the long-term problem of creating dependency on the commodities distributed, but still helping people and saving lives. Now with greater variations in global climate, the industrialized world is telling the developing world to prepare and go it alone when a drought, flood, earthquake or other natural hazard hits. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Aside from the problem that this is unjust given the entrenched dependency between the industrialized and developing world, there are two concerns to pushing countries in the developing world to plan out national climate change policies. One is whether or not countries that have well-written policies in place are favored in terms of receiving assistance and help when it is available from industrial countries while those that have poor policies or none at all are denied available aid. This is reflective of how development funds from the World Bank and IMF dictate development assistance in the past and present. The second is climate change is not restricted to the artificial boundaries of countries. Each country is likely to have their own ideas of mitigation and response during natural hazards that perhaps will be complimentary, but in all likelihood conflict if other countries do not have compatibility with their neighbors. In order to have an effective climate change policy in place, one that benefits and empowers the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, it is necessary for regional plans to be drafted and agreed upon by countries in the region. Any drafting of plans, too, needs the collaboration and input from the actual actors themselves, whether they are national or local. It is time to end the monopoly powerful actors from the industrialized world have over those from the developing world, and begin working towards equity in aid and development.</span> </div>
Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-2430573274831456562011-05-11T01:03:00.000+00:002011-09-05T15:34:41.133+00:00Money Crippling a Crisis Response<br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The latest crisis relief operations occurring in Somalia are not going well. There are reports of assistance efforts falling apart because supplies of water cannot be delivered due to ‘lack of funds.’ Once again the appeal for aid agencies, particularly international ones that have wealthy supporters, are asked to come to the rescue. While the world of aid waits for richer groups to save their aid efforts, 2.4 million Somalis are affected by the drought with another 1.4 million displaced because of the late or insufficient rains. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Since when does innovation and crisis response become so needy on money as the major factor motivating people to action? Since 1991, the destruction of Somalia’s social networks, when civil war pitted Somali against Somali, unraveled their society and peace. This breakdown allowed multinational organizations, like private companies, aid organizations and even terrorists, to enter Somali territory in order to advance their own agendas often at the cost of Somalia’s ecology, society and security. The response by Somalis to these intrusions were various with few collaborating, many abstaining, and some fighting against outside intervention. Civil groups resurface from time to time to help out in health, security and other social services but they remain weak and tenuous, vulnerable to falling apart when the next natural hazard or human crisis occurs. They cannot grow and become a secure social good when the time and commitment individuals bring to such services detracts them from their need to feed, cloth, and house their families and themselves. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">There are parts of the world that are under serious crisis where people are volunteering their time and effort to help the common good, many times without financial compensation. The civil service workers backing the rebel factions fighting Qaddafi in Libya are a good example of this. Libya, however, is just starting out in a civil war. If the half-hearted efforts the United Nations provides to the rebels keeps them afloat and if Qaddafi is able to keep preying upon poor Libyans and other Africans to fight for his side, it will be no surprise years from now when Libyan society unravels and people watch various outsiders exploit their resources, like the petroleum fields lying inland and fish reserves off its coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prolonging of this civil war only weakens Libya, like it did Somalia, for private corporations, geopolitical powers, and other international actors to take advantage of Libya when the violence recedes.</span></div>
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Disaster response is a money game that continues to keep Somalia and other parts of the world that are politically unstable, weak and dependent on the larger geopolitical actors. It is under-funded, it is a guessing game in effective coordination, and in the end it is shaped and exploited by larger powerful actors that have no affiliation or allegiance to the local people affected by the crisis. Throwing money at a disaster, while it has shaped Somali’s society for the past 20 years, will not solve the long-term problem of reconstructing Somali civil society. This is a project that needs Somalis themselves in shaping human response to disaster without the end goal constantly being monetary gain. </div>
</span>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-90379239541309524752011-04-24T22:13:00.000+00:002011-04-24T22:13:34.056+00:00One Direction Development<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-43nOPCq_A74/TbSf5JHWa8I/AAAAAAAAAwU/xR7MXozi79o/s1600/Bourdatan_03.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" i8="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-43nOPCq_A74/TbSf5JHWa8I/AAAAAAAAAwU/xR7MXozi79o/s640/Bourdatan_03.JPG" width="425" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The long term history of development has a common theme: those who hold more power influence, if not control, the direction of development in areas where people have less power. It is the prevalent direction of development. Agents at the top make the decisions, plan the projects, and control the processes until the development is complete, at least from the viewpoint of such agents. It is no wonder, then, that those with less power are alienated, non-compliant, and at times resistant with the development that is imposed on them. This alienation leads to development projects not reaching their objectives, most often with the communities receiving the assistance but also by the standards of the more powerful agents responsible for the development projects. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since the 1980s, there has been talk among various agents at all levels of development looking to change this ‘direction’ and involve groups that hold less power in shaping, designing and implementing development projects. When crises occur and action is needed, however, this alternative design of development is shelved for a return to the more powerful agents directing relief and assistance, and the less powerful forced to either comply or endure without assistance through the crises. When media reports on a crisis, the more powerful development agents are championed as saviors and heroes. Less powerful agents are either depicted as victims of a tragic circumstance or villains exacerbating the crisis. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A good example of this is the recent food insecurity in Niger. The press poses the question, “Is Niger ready to make the necessary changes to reduce their vulnerability to drought?” Imagery of its vastness, its emptiness, and its ‘non-productive’ land are commonly threaded into such coverage. Some accounts pressure the national government to adapt and accept the plans and programs that are written and promoted among international NGOs and other powerful agents in foreign aid. These programs, coincidentally or intentionally, resemble the agendas of multinational corporations promoting the import of foods, machinery, other products and services from overseas. While such assistance can provide a quick fix to the recent food crisis, it will also continue to undermine local food production and push Niger to fully integrate into the erratic and unstable environment of international food commodities. Nigériens have already experienced a partial immersion into such markets. The drop in uranium prices and the inevitable spiral of debt from World Bank loans set them up for the famines in the 1980s when drought returned. Local food production was already retarded from export-led development policies the Nigérien government pursued from 1960 through the 1980s. Today the Nigérien government complies with international aid agencies’ agendas, but many Nigériens do not. There are cases of individuals who comply and profit from external aid, those who are hostile to development agents and programs, while most Nigériens abstain from assistance programs for various reasons. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Niger is not alone in this one-way dilemma of development. In other crises, both natural and human-induced, the opportunity to drive Sub-Saharan nations further into global market integration is masked by assistance, the goal of sustainability and empowering Africans. Images of heroic efforts by donors and international organizations fill the headlines, as does the portrait of saving a primitive people from a harsh landscape. Somalia and the Sudan are obvious examples. Aid workers on the ground are however many times unaware of the power relations their agencies have, and surprised if not shocked when local people do not welcome their presence. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">At a time when we recognize that humans are responsible for the destruction of local ecologies, contributing to a changing global climate, and reducing biodiversity and the diets of so many peoples across the globe, is it not in the best interest to empower African communities through the promotion of local food production? There are products and foods in an international arena that have their purpose and place in Africa, particularly when food crises change into famines. But the infusion of global food commodities into local Africa markets should not be the end goal of development agents, who through good or Machiavellian intentions, are further eroding the mechanisms that are needed to make Niger and other African nations food secure.</div>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-11268869593005568332011-03-10T19:30:00.001+00:002011-03-10T19:35:58.472+00:00Upcoming Fragmentation of the Sahara and Sahel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4yJvgjdumbw/TXklt0xXNOI/AAAAAAAAAvU/_GTd2EjK60I/s1600/Libyan+Dinar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" q6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4yJvgjdumbw/TXklt0xXNOI/AAAAAAAAAvU/_GTd2EjK60I/s400/Libyan+Dinar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Libyan Dinar with Muammar Kaddafi </span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Muammar Kaddafi and Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the heads of state for Libya and Algeria respectively, have played upon the poverty and divisions among Tuareg communities both within their own countries and to the south of them (Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso) for decades as a means to keep their countries stable and to destabilize their neighbors. Kaddafi’s and Bouteflika’s meddling into Tuareg society for their own political gains, however, was one of many policies that overlooked the greater problem of dissatisfaction that many Libyans and Algerians have with their governments today. </div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">The chronic problems of high unemployment rates, rising costs of food and other living expenses, and the effective dictatorship in both countries inspired many Libyans and Algerians to take to the streets and demand regime change. Now that this has turned into turmoil for Libya and an expected future crisis for Algeria, these governments are once again exploiting the situation of poverty and state alienation that Tuaregs experience in other countries to the South. Algeria is silently supporting the Kaddafi regime through transporting Tuareg young men from their Saharan territory, but also Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to Libya. They have also facilitated the deployment of former Tunisian sharpshooters that killed people in the streets of Tunis, Sfax and Bizerte, and, military cadres of the Polisario, the Western Saharan independence movement that was ignored too long by regional and superpowers over the past ten years. Bouteflika has taken these actions in the hopes that Kaddafi will regain his country and the grassroots protests that affected Libya can be averted in Algeria. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">In the meantime, Kaddafi encourages young Tuareg men to fight alongside his loyalists and mercenaries through the economic incentive of 10000 USD at enlistment and an additional 1000 USD for each day of fighting. It is believed that such an offer has attracted 2300 Tuareg, coming not only from southwest Libya but also Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The payment of 23 million plus will not make a dent in Kaddafi’s family assets, which are estimated at 117 billion. It will, however, destabilize the Sahara and Sahel despite what happens to Kaddafi. Rumors are already circulating that Kaddafi and his family are looking to exit Libya, which would very likely leave his paid mercenaries at the hands of mob justice. How the opposition, the Islamic Councils that run eastern Libya at the moment, would receive the Tuareg communities if they were to take power over the entire country is another major concern, considering Tuareg participation with the loyalists against the opposition. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The greater problem from my perspective, however, rests with the arming and organizing of young Tuareg men to fight in Libya. Win or lose, these men are going to return to Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, most likely with their arms and ambitions of striking back against Bamako, Niamey, and perhaps, Ouagadougou. Money does not solve the crises of poverty and alienation that the Tuareg have experienced for so long in the Sahel. It only brings incentives to start new insurgencies against states that have ignored their northern territories for decades. In a worse case scenario, these Tuareg fighters will organize and strike military installments at home leading once again to rebellions and violence. Although, strategies could detour because of previous experience by limiting their actions to banditry and kidnappings, what has occurred during the Global War on Terror for the past eight years in mostly the Sahara, and with a few incidents, in the Sahel. I do not doubt that early on in the Libyan crisis, Tuareg communities sympathized with the Libyans protesters. The Tuareg, after all, voice similar grievances with their national leaders. Poverty and petrodollars, however, have brought people with similar experiences into opposite trenches. One can only hope that Kaddafi abandons Libya as soon as possible before too many die in combat and animosities grow deep between the Tuareg and the Libyans wanting political change. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--_TYRsQdYDI/TXkmSodP1GI/AAAAAAAAAvY/QZMmMIGlk4U/s1600/bouteflika_cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" q6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--_TYRsQdYDI/TXkmSodP1GI/AAAAAAAAAvY/QZMmMIGlk4U/s400/bouteflika_cartoon.jpg" width="385" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Translated, the title reads: “The Western Powers call for Bouteflika to step down,” and </div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;">Bouteflika says, “I don’t care, if they pull (shoot), I shoot back!”</div>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-47539162752533350962011-02-28T02:10:00.001+00:002011-03-01T16:56:14.680+00:00When the Global War on Terror Becomes a Global War on Democracy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--RKheZO7EI0/TWsCdpL7rqI/AAAAAAAAAvM/N6bS89vKdpg/s1600/Libyan_Protest_Flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" l6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--RKheZO7EI0/TWsCdpL7rqI/AAAAAAAAAvM/N6bS89vKdpg/s400/Libyan_Protest_Flag.png" width="400" /></a></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Flag of the former monarchy in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Libya</place></country-region> 1951-1969</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What do the tragic events currently taking place in Libya and the United States/European Union’s Global War On Terror (GWOT) have in common? … possibly the special commandos and foreign mercenaries that Kaddafi has unleashed on the large, peaceful protesters that had little choice but fight back in Zwara, Misratah and Benghazi. Please allow me to explain. </div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">What the Global War on Terror and the fragmenting state of Libya might possibly have in common are the soldiers coming to the aid of Mummar Qaddafi, the aging leader of Libya for over 40 years now. There are the obvious loyalists of Qaddafi who possibly have received preferential treatment during his rule. These are not the link. Instead, there are various reports from Al Jazeera and other news agencies of Black African special commandos and foreign mercenaries coming from Niger, Chad and as far away as Zimbabwe. This should not be a surprise. Qaddafi for the past couple of decades has been showering West and Central African states with philanthropy in order to create a better position for Libya in the African Union and also in the larger geopolitical arena. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Now that his regime faces collapse, he is certainly calling on those countries to assist him with soldiers and equipment and what certainly is a part of his persuasiveness, rewarding these states and soldiers handsomely with beaucoup d’argent. Brace yourself because here comes the punch line. These forces that Qaddafi has called upon and are protecting him now … the ones coming from at least Niger and Chad, wearing ‘yellow hats’ by Al Jazeera’s accounts, and speaking French among each other as they hunt down protesters in Libyan cities to shoot, kill and rape may very well be the forces trained by US and European Special Forces to fight terrorism in the Sahara and Sahel. Surprise! Just like the tear gas canisters that were made in the USA and thrown into the crowds of thousands that assembled in Tahrir Square neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt, Western Nations have, once again, contributed to needless violence against a genuine democratic movement. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Before writing angry letters to Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Madrid, let me clarify something. If my theory rings true and these special forces Qaddafi is using to save himself and his cronies are, in fact, the same soldiers trained by US and European Special Forces in GWOT, then we must be fair to our short-sighted politicians. It was certainly not their intentions to train soldiers to protect Qaddafi’s dictatorship. That was not then, and not now, their goal. They did intend, however, on supporting the weak democracies and brutal dictatorships that exist in West and Central Africa. After all, these are their allies against terrorism, or at least they designate these regimes as their GWOT allies. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The major problem with GWOT is it has failed in its efforts to reduce violence in the Sahara and Sahel. In fact, it has increased the number of violent incidents. In our efforts to train the national militaries in West and Central Africa, we (Americans and Europeans) have provided West and Central African regimes the tools and training to suppress their political rivals, and, more importantly, their own citizenry. Meanwhile kidnappings and attacks on Western interests have increased since September 11th. Meanwhile, flukes and unintended consequences like Qaddafi calling upon US and European trained special forces from Niger and Chad have found a market for their skills by protecting a brutal dictator, who by conservative estimates, has killed over 300 of his citizenry (some of them while attending the funerals of Libyans that were killed earlier).</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">One last rant (this one is especially for the Governor Walker of Wisconsin and new members of the US Congress). At a time when you are claiming it is in America’s best interest to give up what few social safety nets they have, cut their wages and benefits, and scrap any future efforts at collective bargaining, do you think it is in your best interests to keep shoveling funds into failed military programs like GWOT while cutting what little benefits Americans have at home? … (GWOT) funds that inadvertently undermine real, democratic, social change organized by peaceful Libyans, Egyptians and Tunisians? Or will you wrap a terrorist label around these people as you cut the modest benefits of teachers, fire fighters, janitors, and other public employees? And if this was not enough, you also want to strip them of their rights to assemble, strike and bargain? I don’t want to be cynical about this, but it truly looks like GWOT and the agendas of politicians for 2011 are really just fronts for a Global War on Democracy both at home and abroad. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wECk_cLiSfs/TWsDKGtbMtI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/fLt47BoqueY/s1600/Libyan_Protest_Flag_2011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" l6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wECk_cLiSfs/TWsDKGtbMtI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/fLt47BoqueY/s400/Libyan_Protest_Flag_2011.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Flag for the Libyan Protesters of 2011</span></div>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-40828591925543294262011-02-15T16:49:00.000+00:002011-02-15T16:49:36.328+00:00Blaming the Rains is an Old Con Game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vsumaCCDGgY/TVqqV2uH2TI/AAAAAAAAAvI/PrTSKzIx2TE/s1600/FEWS_East+Africa+Food+Crisis.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="312" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vsumaCCDGgY/TVqqV2uH2TI/AAAAAAAAAvI/PrTSKzIx2TE/s400/FEWS_East+Africa+Food+Crisis.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Source: FEWS Net</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This will sound familiar: ‘it is unfortunate what is happening in East Africa.’ It has an air of redundancy in this blog because I wrote about another food crisis back in September 2010, when the Sahel faced food shortages (<em>see the September 2010 archives</em> “Vulnerability Does Not Happen over Night” or “Still Thinking ‘Inside the Box’”). Yet I am writing again on this topic because of the recent article in IRIN, “Ethiopia: Aid appeal for pastoralist regions,” <u><span style="color: blue;">http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=91865</span></u>. This is not the region I study but it shares similar climate and livelihood patterns of the people I do study in the Sahara and Sahel. I also empathize with the people experiencing this crisis and the obstacles aid workers face in saving lives. I do, however, have concerns with how the media and their interviewees are portraying the current crisis. </div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">First, as one can see from the map above, found at the Famine Early Warning Systems website this month, the areas experiencing the most vulnerability are northern and central Somalia, not eastern Ethiopia as the article indicates. The instability in Somalia currently, however, may be motivating the media to focus on vulnerable regions that are more accessible to aid workers, like the Ogaden and Oromiya Regions in Ethiopia. The Somali populations here have cultural and economic connections to those affected in Somalia. Thus, helping people here may have spillover effects for those affected in Somalia as well. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Second and more importantly, the opening paragraph of the article reads as follows, <em>“Poor rains, especially in the Somali and Oromiya regions of Ethiopia, have led to food shortages and prompted the government and its international partners to appeal for US$226.5 million in relief aid for almost three million people, a government official said.”</em> Later in the article it continues to vilify the climate, <em>“Poor performance of short rains [has led] to increased beneficiary numbers in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of southern and southeastern parts of the country, especially the Somali Regional State," Mitiku [Ethiopian state minister of agriculture] added. "There is a critical problem due to the failure of ‘deyr’ and 'hagaya' rains [October-December] in Somali, Borena and Guji."</em> </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">I do not wish to deflate the severity of this crisis. This is a serious matter for many East Africans, particularly the pastoral communities in Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. Even regions that received adequate rainfall or have access to groundwater will likely come under great stress or conflicts over natural resources. The news article and the Ethiopian state minister of agriculture, Mitiku Kassa, however are duping the general public into believing the failure of the ‘deyr’ and ‘hagaya’ rains are the only culprits in this food crisis. I argue that the economic and social transformations in the region over the past twenty years are the culprits responsible for local peoples’ food insecurity, not the region’s natural climatic variability. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">This region of the world, like the Sahel of West Africa, is a zone of disequilibrium, where there are periods of drought and even cases of flooding from time to time (<em>see</em> R.H. Behnke, I. Scoones and C. Kerven, editors, <strong><u>Range Ecology at Disequilibrium: New Models of Natural Variability and Pastoral Adaptation in African Savannas</u></strong> [London: Overseas Development Institute], 1993). In the past, people of the region adjusted for these climatic fluctuations by migration and managing the pasture, water and other natural resources through social ties, negotiation, and yes … through warfare. It was not an ideal system and there is no need to romanticize what no longer exists. The transformations that began during European Colonialism and continue under the modern African State, however, have physically constricted the commons, severed social ties and created greater conditions of vulnerability in the name of integrating East Africa into the global economy. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Mitiku Kassa is a recent appointment to the Ethiopian state minister of agriculture, but this is the same bureau that has seized land that was deemed by the government as ‘unproductive,’ leasing the land to multinational corporations to grow cash crops like tea, coffee, or food for export to the Gulf States. This seizure of land was done with little or no compensation to the people who use the land seasonally or in times when the rains fail in other territories. I find it unjust that the media and Mitiku Kassa appeal to the United Nations and other aid organizations to finance and coordinate food relief for the region when the real culprits who created this vulnerability are the multinational corporations and ministers who took land that was alternative fields and pastures for local peoples in the first place. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">In my opinion it is the responsibility of the foreign corporations and Ethiopian national ministers who received ‘compensation’ from these multinational corporations to supply immediate relief to local populations. Also, the accountability should not end there. It is also the responsibility of these agents to either return the land they seized from local farmers and herders, or, provide local communities compensation through alternative income generating activities and infrastructure (clinics, schools, roads, wells, and other agricultural and pastoral implements) to reduce future food insecurity. Is it so wrong to ask the arsonists to put out the fires they started? Or will we continue to blame nature for man-made catastrophes? At a time when it is important to start preparing for greater variations in climate, it is time to stop blaming nature for tragedies and start recognizing the consequences of a callous global economy and how it undermines peoples’ food security, their control over natural resources and their livelihoods altogether. </div>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-82102482385380128732011-01-28T16:53:00.000+00:002011-01-28T16:53:40.064+00:00The Catastrophe of Private PropertyJohn Clark recently gave a much-needed critique of Garrett Hardin's essays <em>Lifeboat Ethics</em> and <em>Tragedy of the Commons</em> in the September 2010 issue of <strong><u>Capitalism Nature Socialism</u></strong> under the title, <em>The Tragedy of Common Sense Part One: The Power of Myth</em> (unfortunately this is not an open access article). Clark omitted Hardin's background to a certain degree as the nature of the article was to deconstruct fallacies in Hardin's analyses. His ‘ideologies' as Clark calls them permeate academia and into wider audiences. Hardin was very much a product of his time. He was brought up in a Christian household, believing in self-reliance and individuality. This certainly reinforced a mythology of small-holder entrepreneurship where individuals or families improve the land through title, hard work and adapting proven technologies and techniques. For his professional career he was trained as a zoologist, a discipline that in his age reduced complexities to a contained, laboratory experiment where inputs are controlled and designed for observation or to shape the behaviors of animals. What John Clark critiques well is Hardin's influence on his peers in academia, his students and later on public policy through the guise of scholarly authority. Hardin's writings are neo-Malthusian, unethical and racist when addressing the morality of world hunger, immigration, foreign aid, land use, and population growth. But before throwing out the bathwater with the omen child taking the bath, let's see what can be salvaged from Hardin's predictions. <br />
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Hardin in <em>Lifeboat Ethics</em> explained that rich nations have the difficult but necessary action of denying food aid to poorer nations when famines occur. Such policy will also result in immigration of people from poor famine-prone nations to rich self-sufficient (at least in terms of food production) ones. Here also, rich nations must follow draconian practices by allowing only educated, industrious individuals to their 'lifeboats' if food surpluses and room allows. He prophesizes that to constantly come to the assistance of poor, famine-prone nations will impoverish all and eventually undermine all humans in what he calls 'ratchet theory.' In order to avoid this, the over-breeding poor must 'drown' in order to curb high population growth rates and bring stability back. This ideology is not a remnant of the 19th and 20th centuries. It prevails in current United States politics where the Dream Act Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives this past December. It is in the decision-making of international lenders like the World Bank and IMF who hold many poor nations hostage with the terms of their loans and the debt incurred from them. It is very much alive in the business practices of many multi-national corporations in exploiting raw materials to the degradation of local ecologies in the third world while exploiting the cheap labor of men, women and children in these countries. Hardin’s assumption that the world’s rich nations are self-sufficient is also a fallacy. They became rich through the manipulation of global economics and exploitation of weaker, poorer nations and are dependent on such exploitation to maintain their wealth. Last, in regards to the Lifeboat Ethics essay, the idea of those on the ‘lifeboat’ practicing ethics is preposterous. It is in fact a silent, slow genocide that continues to thrive since media audiences are apathetic to these injustices. <br />
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John Clark mentions less concerning Hardin's essay, <em>Tragedy of the Commons</em>, but given the title he will likely talk more about this work in future entries to <strong><u>Capitalism Nature Socialism</u></strong>. Without assuming too much regarding Clark's direction in talking about this ‘groundbreaking’ piece published in <strong><u>Science</u></strong> during 1968, I wish to address the fallacies in Tragedy here, with reference to my area of study: West Africa. Much like in <em>Lifeboat Ethics</em>, Hardin once again creates an environment of containment regarding an undefined natural resource exploited by multiple actors under conditions of common property rights, where stakeholders have equal access to the resource. Hardin makes assumptions that under such a system, each individual will act out of selfish interest and exploit the resource to excess. The combined over-exploitation by each stakeholder will result in the tragedy, where the depleted, degraded resource is no longer available and all stakeholders lose. Alternatives to this land tenure system were not given but free market advocates and neoconservatives in development agencies use Hardin’s argument constantly to promote the issuance of titles in developing nations. <br />
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A large omission exists in Hardin’s argument. Given his background and training, he failed to see differences in societies regarding land tenure systems. Open access resources, though viewed as highly vulnerable to people coming from societies where private property laws are entrenched, generally have social controls that regulate exploitation. For him private land holdings and the titles protecting resources were a necessary control to protect against the consequences of resource degradation through a collective selfishness. For Hardin, Texas Ranches with barbed wire separating neighbors are civilized while land that is open access would eventually be spoilt by the ‘increasing hoards.’ This certainly has relevance to the changing demographics in the Sahel and the diminishing commons that pastoral communities continue to face for the past 100 years. But this does not justify the privatization of lands in order to ‘protect’ local communities from diminishing pasture and water resources. The Sahel is an environment of inconsistency where rains come and go and mobility is necessary to adapt to this variability. To privatize land and resources makes people at greater risk to ruin when drought arrives. <br />
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Though this was not a part of Hardin’s analysis in <em>Tragedy of the Commons</em>, private property has a dark side to it, what I call the Catastrophe of Private Property. The idea of a title holder as concerned with the maintenance or improvement of land is not always the case, particularly if the land was obtained with the goal of immediate profit for what is on or underneath it. Private property owners can and do deforest, mine, and extract other resources without regard to the sustainability of the natural resources on the land, or, others around it. The myth of a small-holder maintaining the land or improving it is becoming rare in rich nations where economies are based on profit, and individual owners are gradually replaced by large corporations. In regards to the developing world it has only proved disastrous. Multi-national corporations gain property, in either ownership or lease, and then extract resources and pollute local environments with little to no concern for the effects on local ecologies and populations. Hardin was not wrong for analyzing the evils of greed and consequences when people as a collective degrade natural resources. He was wrong, however, in applying the evils of his own society upon open access land management systems that were in the past not susceptible to the consequences of greed and profit. Today this is changing, however. Private property practices are creeping into the Sahel, as well as other parts of the world where individual ownership is at times impractical to the maintenance of land and the natural resources present on it.Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-26714791753080750632011-01-21T05:02:00.000+00:002011-01-21T05:02:28.246+00:00War Organizations replacing Peaceful Ones in North and West Africa<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">Peace Corps withdrew its program and volunteers in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Chad</place></country-region> during 2006, its Mauritania Program in 2009, and now its Niger Program as of January 17, 2011. The only Peace Corps Programs remaining in Maghreb and northern <placename w:st="on">Sahelian</placename> <placetype w:st="on">States</placetype> are <country-region w:st="on">Morocco</country-region>, <country-region w:st="on">Burkina Faso</country-region> and <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Mali</place></country-region>. Considering that ‘experts’ on the War on Terror have drawn maps depicting northern Mali as the ‘hotbed of terrorism’ I do not give Mali too long before it joins the Peace Corps’s dustbin of incomplete missions. Abductors, whether they are coming from northern <country-region w:st="on">Mali</country-region> or other parts of <place w:st="on">West Africa</place>, are kidnapping people and then transporting their hostages to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cercles</i> of Abeïbara, Kidal, Tessalit and Tin Essako. What is ironic about this is that Peace Corps Mali has never placed volunteers in these locations because of lack of infrastructure, security and concerns over the personal health of their volunteers. While these certainly are legitimate concerns, they add to the irony as Abeïbara, Kidal, Tessalit and Tin Essako are where one can find some of the poorest communities in all of <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Mali</country-region></place>. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">I can vouch for this from my travels and stays in these regions during 2006-2007. From my own conversations and observations with local people, I can say the people that live here are not terrorists but instead antagonistic to a government that offers them no relief during drought and famine, kills their animals and family members during rebellions, bars NGOs and other relief organizations from operating there, but, has no qualms accepting gifts and payments from multi-national corporations to conduct mineral exploration and extraction. Is it so shocking then that AQIM and other extremists have found someone who will listen to them here? Isolate a people, make them vulnerable to climatic and economic shocks, destroy their shrinking natural resource base, and offer them no alternatives of survival. This has happened not only to northern <country-region w:st="on">Mali</country-region> but to many parts of <country-region w:st="on">Mauritania</country-region>, <country-region w:st="on">Niger</country-region>, and <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Chad</place></country-region>. Watch how soon they seek out the enemy of the people who impoverish them, whether it is a local official, a national government, a multinational corporation or a military superpower. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">Oh yes … wait! The military is where Western nations have stepped up their presence in the region. The <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">United States</country-region></place> and European Union, in their efforts to stamp out global terrorism, have committed money, Special Forces, advisors, equipment and intelligence gathering to aid, assist and help allies, like, the Malian national government. A government that has a nasty record of human rights abuses against the very communities that are depicted as a ‘safe haven for terrorists.’ <country-region w:st="on">Mauritania</country-region> has its share of abuses with the Reguibat and Saharwis in the North, <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Niger</place></country-region> until the recent coup d’état of 2010 isolated and impoverished their remote Tuareg, Toubou and Mahmid Arab communities in the North and East. <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Chad</place></country-region>’s problems and human rights’ violations are too numerous to even mention here. I will mention, however that <span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Hassan Habré</span><span lang="FR"> </span>was recently brought up on charges at Den Hague for his autocratic rule from 1982-1990. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">In all fairness, these military buildups in the region and lockdown of space have a humanitarian component to them. This relief effort is secondary and not given the importance that fighting terrorism through hard power has, but there are efforts to build schools, hospitals, vaccinate animals and inoculate children. In terms of implementation, though, the communities that have prospered are not the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cercles</i> of Abeïbara, Kidal, Tessalit and Tin Essako. They are instead the communities to the south. This is familiar. Oh yes, they implement these humanitarian missions in the safer regions where Peace Corps and other aid organizations operate. So … this lop-sided effort brings ‘food parachutes’ in the south and bullets in the north. But of course all this is smoothed over in national statistics and bureaucratic channels. It makes one wonder when, not if, local communities of the north will start complying fully with the extremists that moved in and set up shop. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A message for AFRICOM (African Command, a branch of War on Terror) and SOCEUR (Special Operations Command, another vital branch of the War on Terror): If you really want to end terrorism in the region then drop the hard power tactics, be patient with the incidents that trickle through after the policy change, and role up your sleeves and start working on the problems of poverty and state integration in the northern Mali, the northern and eastern regions of Mauritania and Niger, and throughout Chad. Lest we omit, this needs to involve the local communities that have experienced the marginalization of their governments, aid organizations, and your own foreign and unwelcomed presence on their lands. It’s hard, I know. After all, the people you and your recent friends in the Sahelian militaries are shooting at look like Osama bin Laden. But trust me, they are not.</div>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-25180011644927869042010-09-30T16:27:00.000+00:002010-09-30T16:27:16.228+00:00Culling and Pastoral Resistance to Thinning Herds during the Current Crisis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/TKS5Q6Z-k3I/AAAAAAAAAuM/sBqiJ_FjIq0/s1600/Culling+and+Pastoral+Resistance+to+Thinning+Herds+during+the+Current+Crisis.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" px="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/TKS5Q6Z-k3I/AAAAAAAAAuM/sBqiJ_FjIq0/s400/Culling+and+Pastoral+Resistance+to+Thinning+Herds+during+the+Current+Crisis.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NGOs are recently frustrated over pastoralist non-compliance in selling animals to cull their herds during the current drought in the central and eastern Sahel. From the NGO perspective, they are empowering pastoralists through allowing a market where herders can receive the needed cash to buy essential grains. NGOs are attempting to buy sheep and goats for 20,000 F CFA (~ 40 USD) each and cattle for 75, 000 F CFA (~150 USD) each as reported from IRIN News (see http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=90566 ).These figures, if reported accurately, are not the average prices for these animals and may be contributing to the difficulties experienced by NGOs. The money being offered for sheep and goats is 150 to 200% the average price during non-drought periods. Sheep and goats are commonly owned by women and lower castes in pastoral societies. By contrast, the price being offered for cattle which men of noble standing own is 50% the average price. This may be an attempt by NGOs to empower those more vulnerable in this crisis, but it may also contribute to gender and societal conflicts within these societies. There are, however, other forces with political roots working against a healthy relation between NGOs and pastoralists. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">NGO administrations as well as other key policy makers have notions of the Sahel as a ‘fragile ecosystem’ and, that social and ethnic customs encourage the overstocking of flocks. NGOs are certainly well-intentioned in terms of their goals of poverty alleviation and the proper stewardship of natural resources, but their misunderstanding and misinterpretation of pastoral actions is nothing new. They are repeating the same discourse of colonial and post-colonial agents who used these arguments to impose their power and jurisdiction over natural resources upon local populations in the past. It is tragic that they are reverting to these old doctrines while a crisis unfolds as there is a need to take action to save lives and peoples’ livelihoods. Pastoralists, in response to the NGO presence, have shown and continue to show a considerable amount of resistance to outside interference. They have seen outsiders come to their encampments before, and expect them to leave in the immediate future. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the risk of over-generalizing the gravity of the current situation in the Sahel, I would like to provide some insight from my own research regarding why pastoralists maintain their herd sizes, even at the risk of losing most if not all their animals. They have coped with crises before and while the situation is bad in places like Tombouctou and Gao for the moment, herders in these regions have experienced worse and are dealing appropriately to seasonal variability. Some parts of the Sahara and Sahel experienced insufficient rains but other areas are now receiving ample rainfall and many pastoralists are migrating to these locations. This involves more work, greater distances to travel and with some families sending a member to the urban areas for wage labor or other income generating activities. Holding onto their animals is both a means of socioeconomic security and an act of cultural and familial stability. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pastoralists prefer to maintain their flocks more so than reduce them during periods of stress. NGOs may have their own ideas as to what number is a ‘healthy stock number’ but they are not generally reporting these figures unless there is a crisis like drought or disease. Animals die in both good and bad periods, but pastoralists are more likely to cull during a good season when their flocks are not endangered. Pastoralists, of course, have concerns of losing animals without any returns. If they are struggling with a flock size that is already reduced like what is happening in northern Mali at present, however, pastoralists prefer to maintain their animals instead of selling them. This is because of near future concerns like losing what remains of their flocks when ‘non-drought’ incidents like accidents, disease or theft strike their encampments. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other factors contributing to pastoral abstinence to culling is experiences pastoralists have had with NGOs in the past. The record with NGOs is not stellar as aid that came in the 1970s drought-famine was riddled with mismanagement, favoritism, and corruption working to government employees’ favor. Aid in the 1980s drought-famine saw adjustments and improvements in management but difficulties still existed. The distribution was riddled with high transportation costs and rarely arrived to numbers greatly affected by the drought. In addition, nonfood aid in the 1970s and 1980s was often incompatible with pastoral livelihoods. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The rebellions of the 1990s in Mali and Niger and on-and-off civil wars in Sudan and Chad have also created a fragmentation of projects and NGO presence. NGOs that are interested in improving living conditions of large numbers of Africans are likely to withdraw from areas such as these for not only security reasons but to devote their limited resources to areas where personnel, funds, and resources produce greater results. Pastoralists are no strangers to this experience, as NGOs have come in and out of their territories for over 40 years. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So from a pastoralist perspective, to cull their herds even when prices are subsidized by NGOs and government agencies is a greater risk than enduring the latest drought. Most choose instead to migrate large distances for pasture and water, stretch out their food supplies, and work laboriously to maintain the health of their animals. To sell their animals, while it may provide the money needed to buy staple food products, creates a situation of greater vulnerability to the drought if it continues, or to non-related climatic events like banditry, disease and accidents claiming the remainder of their herds.</div>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-40075568932594818372010-09-22T02:46:00.000+00:002010-09-22T02:46:40.381+00:00Vulnerability Does Not Happen Overnight<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">It is unfortunate what is happening in the central and eastern Sahel (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IRIN News</b>, “<place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Mali</country-region></place>: Pockets of Extreme Vulnerability Still Persist” <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=90522">http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=90522</a>). This is not the first time, however, that Sahelian countries have endured chronic drought and long periods of desiccation. In the past 100 years, drought affected the interior of <place w:st="on">West Africa</place> during 1911-1914, 1927-1928, 1931-1932, 1940-1941, 1968-1974, 1983-1985, 2005 and now in 2010. The Russian and Levant droughts and other extremities like the floods in <country-region w:st="on">Pakistan</country-region> this year are signs of an approaching change in climatic events in areas like Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and <place w:st="on">South Asia</place>. A question remains if these and the regions within them are prepared for the demographic changes that will accompany such extreme shifts in climate. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">The <place w:st="on">Sahel</place> is not. Sahelian communities have lived with vulnerability in both good and bad years for decades. The article mentioned above is reporting on an immediate crisis and not on the chronic problems that have manifested into a long-term susceptibility to food shortages, malnutrition and famine. In the realm of academia Michael Watts’s book, “Silent Violence” and Alex de Waal’s work in the Sudan have showed the factors (both internal and external) that manifest into debt and dependency during good times and later exacerbate a crisis like food shortages and famines when natural or man-made disasters strike. In my reading of the IRIN news story I found points that omit information and need addressing, not just by spectators (like I am for the moment) but by policy makers and aid workers on the ground in the Sahel. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">First, the above citied article makes an assumption that pastoral groups can subsist on the milk of their animals for an undefined period as long as pasture is adequate. This may hold true for part of the year, but to subsist exclusively on milk is a practice only able-bodied adults can manage for moderate periods. In pastoral societies, adults who are fit enough will live exclusively off of milk: ranging from a few weeks to extreme cases of five months out of the year. Malnutrition will become evident first in children and later in others the longer grain products are unobtainable. Pastoralists have always had a dependency on neighboring agricultural communities and any retardation of rice, millet and sorghum harvests affects their food security. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Second, the article talks of “…extreme stress as the preharvest lean season continues,” when discussing sedentary, farming communities. Periods of stress exist for all groups dependent on natural resources each year but their ‘lean seasons’ are usually not identical. Generally for the northern <place w:st="on">Sahel</place> farmers experience the hardest of times at the start of the cold season (September to November). It is when granaries are emptying and work is essential to ensure a successful harvest. April through June is the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">saison soudure</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> for pastoralists. This is the end of the hot-dry season when pasture is exhausted, an animal’s value drops significantly at the markets and drawing water from the wells becomes crucial and a contest for herd survival. Fisherman experience difficulties at the height of the rainy season (August-October) as catches are difficult and meager due to the recharging of rivers and other large bodies of water. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Third, the article acknowledges the efforts the Malian government and aid agencies are making to subsidize grain prices but omits the constant competition between local grain production and the imported staples and aid that is dumped on African markets in good years and times of crises (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> a previous blog here entitled, “Food Aid Convention [FAC] in Madrid, Spain,” posted February 02, 2009). The consequence of importing grain which is encouraged by agencies like the International Grains Council is the retardation of local food production. Since farmers have to compete with imports the incentive for them and their children is not to continue farming but to seek out other income opportunities. The younger generations are not well represented among the local food producers in Tombouctou, Gao and Kidal (the three provincial towns mentioned in the article) and who can blame them? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They migrate to urban environments at home or abroad and enter into wage-labor opportunities that at first are lucrative but are dependent on a booming global economy. Problem: we have been in a global recession since 2008. In fact, Mali was one of the first countries to experience spikes in unemployment. Thus the subsidized prices, while a blessing to some, will only be an insult to young people who are out of work and struggling to return to their families to assist them in raising and harvesting the crops by December.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Fourth and perhaps the greatest tragedy, is urgency the article makes to find seasonal or temporary employment opportunities for agro-pastoralists living along or near the Niger River without any mention as to what type of work. To offer agro-pastoralists work opportunities like what their counterparts found in the urban environments is the same dependency treadmill that has brought Mali once again to the brinks of a food crisis. The global economy will continue to go through boom and bust cycles and when they are abandoned once more the effects of neglected local food production will be evident. In my opinion this is an excellent time for Mali and other Sahelian nations to use these labor pools to develop water infrastructure so that river water, ground water and temporary sources can be utilized in local food production. It is a chance to improve roads so food transport costs drop. The government and aid agencies need to pool their resources in order to offer wages, food and other incentives to these vulnerable groups to improve such infrastructures. It is a chance for these intelligent young people who lost their jobs in France, Bamako and Abidjan to return to Tombouctou, Gao and Kidal and apply their skills at tillage, pest management, and nutrient management. To offer locals a participatory role in improving local natural resources is a vital step in promoting food security. </span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In conclusion given the extremities in climate change happening across the globe, this article will likely reappear in the near future with a different title, a different set of people interviewed, but the same underlying message, “The Sahel needs help!” This is a true statement but the omission of long-term factors that amplified this vulnerability does not expedite a solution. It only perpetuates the story of Africans victims of their climate when in truth they are constrained by political, social and economic forces that retard local food production. Food producers, whether they are farmers, herders or fishermen experience tough times, be they seasonal or generational, but this does not mean they must abandon what independence they have for towns, wage labor, and imported foodstuffs. Subsidizing food prices and distributing food aid has its place but to constantly commit to this in ‘bad times’ and ignore the systematic problems occurring even when the rains are adequate is an injustice. New work opportunities should be directed at projects that encourage local food production and not directly and indirectly promote the importation of food. To bring back incentives for local farmers to produce will have ripple effects regarding reductions in illegal immigration and proper stewardship over natural resource management. Committing to a gradual withdrawal of grain imports on Africa’s markets will help but policy makers also must simultaneously encourage the local production of agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing. To empower a local food producer in <place w:st="on">Africa</place> is to take a healthy direction in long-term food security. </span></span></span></span></span></div>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-42342165089680362272010-09-02T15:50:00.004+00:002010-09-02T15:54:44.041+00:00Still Thinking ‘Inside the Box’<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/TH_IGZVYibI/AAAAAAAAAFw/Pfo21JPTjs4/s1600/FEWS_Sahel_Aout_2010.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 313px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/TH_IGZVYibI/AAAAAAAAAFw/Pfo21JPTjs4/s400/FEWS_Sahel_Aout_2010.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512344481130121650" /></a><br /> Source: FEWS Net<br /><br />With famine again threatening the Sahel region, the same time-worn and flawed responses to the looming crisis appear to be in the making. According to Nigerien government (IRIN news reporting), 50% of its population (7 million) at risk of famine in its central and eastern parts and Chad is reporting 20% (2 million) are at the same levels of vulnerability in the central and northern parts of its territory. Updates from FEWS (Famine Early Warning Systems) verifies these reports as a belt of high to extreme food insecurity stretches from eastern Mali to western Sudan (see the image above). The media interviews officials at national agencies in an effort to find solutions. These officials urge NGOs and wealthy nations to provide immediate food aid and long-term assistance to their agricultural, livestock and irrigation sectors. Once again by thinking ‘inside the box,’ expectations rest on the central government to be the gatekeeper and manager of external aid as was the case with the droughts and famines of the 1970s and 1980s. This reliance on external donations and national governments to individually manage their own food crises accomplishes little to end food insecurity in the region, however.<br /> <br />Solutions are obviously not easy or immediate. But there are two realities that are under reported and need greater attention. One is the growing conditions of regional climate change and how this will affect the area. With greater extremities of weather, particularly drought and flooding, land use and migration patterns will need greater flexibility and promotion by West African states. Regional opportunities for temporary work and migration to bordering states are needed to allow vulnerable groups to stave off future crises. This is a tactic that local populations, particularly nomadic pastoralists, adjusted for in the past but the creation of arbitrary borders and confinement of populations through border closures and discrimination have retarded the fluidity that West Africans once engaged in to feed their families and maintain their livelihoods.<br /> <br />The other is allowing local populations to manage their natural resources. The policy of decentralization is promoted by many international actors including non-governmental organizations, bilateral and multilateral agencies. Decentralization is the process of the central state transferring various powers of development and natural resource management to local communities. Most West African states have balked on passing decision making powers and releasing the needed funds for development projects to the local level. There are obviously concerns over defining representatives and dividing powers fairly among two or more groups who share the same natural resource(s). These concerns are not justification for dismissing the goal of decentralization, however. Central governments in the Sahel have made few steps towards overcoming these obstacles and implementing decentralization in the region.<br /> <br />Where the national level can have a participatory role in ending food insecurity is in eradicating laws relating to food production that conflict and cancel out one another and eliminate the competition that exists between different bureaus. In addition, Sahelian governments must promote agendas that maintain natural resources and are complimentary to stable food production. To do so, the central government will have to play a pragmatic arbiter to the diverse populations it represents instead of heavy-handed patriarch. The stalemate of the national government overseeing and controlling natural resources while maintaining a top-down approach to development is not working to improve agriculture, steward pasture and manage water resources. Even if the food aid arrives delivery will be late as much as five months in the more remote Sahel. Crops have already failed, livestock is dying, seed banks are empty, and pasture is depleted. The region has prolonged its risk of food insecurity for too long by relying on the central government to solve this issue. There must be greater cooperation not only at the national level but also the regional and local. Giving West Africans a significant stake in the land they inhabit is the first step.Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-25989045487597604602010-05-13T11:22:00.002+00:002010-05-13T11:25:12.116+00:00The 1990s Malian Rebellion<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/S-vhIXmD5UI/AAAAAAAAAFg/o37ORqGookE/s1600/Gao_112.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/S-vhIXmD5UI/AAAAAAAAAFg/o37ORqGookE/s400/Gao_112.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470713706260456770" /></a><br /><br />I recently had a conversation with a former aid worker in Mali. The dialogue was quite informative as this person resided and worked there for ten years from the conclusion of the 1980s famine to the end of the 1990s rebellion. As a foreigner he/she found the actions taken by some Tamasheq individuals during these crises as irrational and ungrateful regarding the presence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It is understandable to have such reactions considering this person was there to help, particularly the Tamasheq who had more vulnerability than most in the droughts and revolt. His/her thoughts however showed little understanding regarding the Tamasheq grievances and actions during these events.<br /> <br />The first situation explained by the former aid worker involved the start of the rebellion. Much literature uses 1990 as the starting point. It is actually difficult to assign when the Malian Rebellion actually began considering the fighting was not so much conventional warfare. Hit and run tactics were used by the rebel factions while the Malian military patrolled during the day. According to this source, however, it started in Ménaka in 1989, an eastern sub-prefecture town 1502 km from Bamako and where I conducted a fair amount of my research in 2006-2008. Rebels had descended on the town during the day and caught many by surprise, killing ten soldiers and one aid worker that worked for the narrator’s organization. Some of my interviewees confirmed this but more important, this was the start of an estranged relationship between many NGO workers and Arab/Tamasheq groups in during the Malian Rebellion.<br /> <br />The narrator had a personal experience with two individuals perceived to be rebels. Early on in the revolt he/she had been approached by two Tamasheq, one of which brandished a pistol. The gun was placed at his/her head and it was apparent to the narrator that the assailants wanted his/her vehicle: a new Toyota Land Cruiser parked right in front of them. He/she offered the keys but this was not good enough. The two men insisted he/she came along with them under the threat of death if he/she refused.<br /> <br />All of them climbed into the Land Cruiser and sped away. The one assailant who took the wheel drove as fast as he could without slowing down for the check post at the edge of town. The gendarme at the post apparently flashed his gun but never took a shot. The NGO worker pleaded with his/her abductors to stop and let him/her out by explaining the mission of the organization and the importance it had on ordinary Tamasheq people. To no avail they did not stop but instead raced through the sands. At about 15 km out of Gao, the driver finally stopped the Land Cruiser and the other with the pistol ordered the narrator of the story out.<br /> <br />The story did not end there. Apparently the vehicle was spotted at another relief camp weeks later in Mauritania thousands of kilometers away, by an aid worker who knew the narrator and the vehicle. The appearance of the vehicle had not changed much except for the fact that the Malian license plates had been removed from the bumpers and placed on the dash.<br /> <br />The third experience involved the negotiations and assistance the Malian government and NGOs offered the ex-combatants after the rebellion. The aid worker traveled to Kidal (1539 km from Bamako in northeastern Mali) to conduct a needs and assessment evaluation. Since the Malian government conducted a war of attrition in the North, expectations were high for implementing programs of food aid and child relief programs. Instead, however, the only programs that were popular with the ex-combatants were work projects and small enterprise loans. This was part of how NGOs contributed to the disarmament and reconciliation between the rebels and the Malian government.<br /> <br />These incidents were seen by the narrator with anger, confusion, and frustration. As an aid worker, he/she viewed their mission as non-partisan, democratic, and beneficial to all Malians including the Tamasheq. This, however, was not the case. NGOs are structured much like central governments where decisions and revenue allocation is a top-down approach. Since NGOs are based in the capitals and constantly under the auspices of the national government, they can often unknowingly play into the agendas and biases of political elites. In this case educated members from the Bambara ethnic group occupied national bureaus, and were well-seated to take advantage of NGO employment opportunities and influence project implementation. This was further exacerbated by the ‘Africanization’ of NGO management. NGOs since 1982 have been replacing Westerners in lower and higher management positions with African counterparts. Once again in Mali, the Bambara had larger advantages over other ethnic groups, particularly the Tamasheq who have seen the Bambara having greater opportunities and interfering in their territories since the arrival of the French in the early 1900s.<br /> <br />The death of the NGO worker in Ménaka was unfortunate. The narrator who told me this story did not elaborate on whether the worker was just in the wrong place – wrong time or if his death was deliberate. If it was the later, it would be safe to assume the worker was likely to have come from Bamako and the Bambara ethnic group (many did at this point of time). The narrator of this story would not have made this observation nor seen it as important. For him/her the mission of the worker was to help and assist the local community be they Tamasheq or other ethnic groups. This however has not always been the case in Bambara – Tamasheq relations as stories of discrimination, harassment and even sexual assaults on Tamasheq women have been periodic and circulating among Tamasheq encampments for decades. Furthermore the little to no representation of Tamasheq peoples in national government and NGOs was one of the rebels’ grievances at this period. It is still one that is voiced today in Mali.<br /> <br />The abduction of the narrator and carjacking was also unfortunate but this was another area of misunderstanding. Whether the two men were rebels or not is the first point that needs deconstruction. The rebellion was a difficult time; more for the non-participants than it was for the military or rebels. The combatants after all possessed the guns and could forcibly requisition whatever they needed or wanted. Victims of such scenarios included Tamasheq men and women who had no involvement in the rebellion. The men themselves could have been desperate or possibly taking advantage of the situation itself. Still, as the narrator assumed, they could have been rebels themselves.<br /> <br />The aid worker did not want to go with the men and did not understand why they were so insistent that he/she come yet dropped him/her off after driving 15 km from Gao. Living in this part of Africa for some time now, I believe I understand why it was important for the abductee to accompany them for a short time. If it had been the two Tamasheq men by themselves, there would have been no hesitation by the gendarme to open fire at them, particularly since they were speeding by with no effort to slow down or stop in the midst of a Tamasheq rebellion. But because there was a Westerner in the vehicle with the two men, the check post guard hesitated. This was the carjackers insurance policy.<br /> <br />The final situation where the aid worker traveled to Kidal must have been disappointing. I say this because in my talk with him/her there was a hope of helping women and children who were certainly the greater victims of the rebellion. Instead the only assistance given was to the men, the ex-combatants, themselves. The national government was not likely to change this agreement simply because they wanted peace. Bamako did not have the funds to continue suppressing the rebellion and were undergoing some rapid changes themselves. The narrator of the story had to settle in the hope of a trickledown effect from the work and microcredit projects given to the men somehow assisting women and children indirectly. He/she had no control over this gender inequality but had no choice but to carry through with it simply because peace was needed and some assistance to the local communities is better than none. Perhaps trepidation had set in at this point recognizing that top-down approaches had failed in making the Tamasheq Malians before the rebellions and NGOs, though well-intentioned, have only reinforced inequality between different groups. Like other places across the globe, power relations consistently are abused on all scales, be it globally, in a modern African state, or even at the household level.Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-34970205003909447892010-04-05T03:10:00.001+00:002010-04-05T03:12:45.913+00:00What the Nigerien Coup d’Etat Means to the United StatesNiger has a tumultuous record of dictatorship, human rights’ abuses, corruption and nepotism for the past fifty years. It has experienced four coup d’etats, two rebellions, various protests and strikes from youth organizations in the major cities and two large famines in the 1970s and 1980s. On the surface it appears that its problems stem from self-contained rivalries between different ethnic groups but such a view fails to see the larger geopolitical view that is changing and becoming more difficult for Niger’s political elite to manage. <br /> <br />Two weeks ago the world learned that a group of soldiers calling themselves the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy seized power from Mohammedou Tandia, the president-elect for Niger from 1999-2009. By Nigerien law, Tandia was expected to step down from power in December but as the election approached, he dissolved parliament and created a referendum that allowed him to remain the head of state until 2012. UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon condemned Tandia’s actions last year, but also came out against the recent coup d’etat, which leaves the world to contemplate if Niger is moving in a healthy political direction.<br /><br />As people who are cognizant of the Niger’s situation debate the direction the country will take, one fact remains clear. Niger remains an unknown to many Americans. Most would be hard pressed to find it on a map. A few Americans who are familiar with it have served there for Peace Corps or with missionary work. American companies have little or no presence here with notable exceptions of Non Governmental Organizations like World Vision and Save the Children. On average, ten percent of Niger’s annual revenue is aid assistance. Regionally its biggest trading partner is Nigeria with food and livestock flowing out and electricity and consumable goods flowing in. <br /><br />American eyebrows rise when mention is made at the largest revenue maker for the country. Uranium is mined in the North. President George Bush, Jr. in 2003 used this as political chip to convince Americans that Saddam Hussein was purchasing Nigerien uranium to develop weapons of mass destruction. Those who were aware of Nigerien uranium operations knew better, however. The French Company, Areva, has had a hold over the production, transport and processing of this resource for over twenty years. For Saddam Hussein to have any part of this production was ludicrous. <br /><br />It did not matter. As mentioned, Niger was in 2003 and is today not known by Americans. Its anonymity will remain an option for American foreign policy makers to play if needed. Furthermore, Niger’s national leaders use their geopolitical position to attract military aid. Since Niger shares borders with Algeria, Libya, and has 85% Muslim population, the government received and seeks more assistance and training from AFRICOM, the US Military’s presence in the Sahara and Sahel in the Global War on Terror. The threat of Al Qaeda Maghreb, a small group of extremists from Algeria who patrol the Sahara, gives Niger political leverage in appropriating funds and munitions from AFRICOM, though people who have worked and lived in the Sahara are aware this group is more hype than a threat. <br /><br />What is the greater tragedy of American ignorance about Niger is the consequence of this military training, equipment, and funding has on Nigerien citizens. Niger, like many geographical unknowns across the globe, uses it to subjugate their own populations. Mohammedou Tandia for the past three years has fought a dirty little war against a group calling themselves, Nigerien Movement for Justice (in French, Mouvement des nigériens pour la justice). The rebel group’s numbers are primarily Tuareg, the ethnic group that inhabits the North where uranium is mined. And similar with other resource conflicts across the globe the Tuareg are infuriated with the lack of local development and denial of local participation in the management of this resource. The Tuareg and neighboring Arab populations in northern Niger have little allegiance to Al Qaeda Maghreb, but how long will it take before Tuareg leadership connects the geopolitical dots and resents the West for providing military support to Niger? They already know but for some reason keep their targets confined to the Nigerien military and uranium operations. How long this tolerance of ‘outsiders’ will continue is anybody’s guess. <br /><br />The recent coup d’etat was not the maneuver by the Tuareg rebel group but instead the plot of junior military officers who were disinterested with Mohammedou Tandia’s rule. Tandia attracted not enough assistance from AFRICOM to suppress the Tuareg rebels, squandered the uranium revenues on the war in the North, came under criticism by other groups in the South for neglecting development, and seized power illegally. The Nigerien president is limited to two terms under the laws of the constitution. The only aspect surprising about the coup was that it did not happen sooner. Perhaps Mohammedou Tandia expected it sooner more than later as well.<br /> <br />The new leadership could possibly go forward with constitutional reform and free and fair elections. But whether Niger receives a popularly elected president or stays a military dictatorship does not matter. The new leadership will likely fall into the same geopolitical trap that Tandia did. They will need to attract money through the exploitation of natural resources and through eminent domain seize local peoples’ land to earn those revenues. The conflicts that arise from this will require military assistance from the US and European Union. The vicious circle will continue. Niger will implode and its obscurity and richness in uranium will keep it a card that Western politicians can use to promote their agendas. Welcome to the third world. Expect more injustices soon.Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-79076929305916146452009-06-24T02:33:00.027+00:002009-06-24T02:46:44.369+00:00Sketches from Francis NicolasFrancis Nicholas was a French colonial administrator who spent a considerable amount of time in the region around Tahoua, Niger, traveling through the valley of Azawagh and other parts of the Tamesna (the customary pasture for many Tamasheq groups). He wrote an ethnography called Tamesna: Les Ioulemmenden de l’Est ou Touareg « Kel Dinnik » (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale), 1950. The work itself is but a sample of all the information he gathered regarding the society of the Kel Dinnik and does not contain many of the sketches he made traveling through the Tamesna in 1944 when employed by the colonial service. I post them here for those interested in the views of these villages back in the 1940s. The source is in French: Documentation Française, Notes et Documents 2112 (Dossier 02). <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGTbRQVLUI/AAAAAAAAAFM/x3SG-n6MYzE/s1600-h/1944_ty%C3%AEmia_02.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGTbRQVLUI/AAAAAAAAAFM/x3SG-n6MYzE/s400/1944_ty%C3%AEmia_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350719928990510402" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGTVI7_cGI/AAAAAAAAAFE/CfU6FbarsmA/s1600-h/1944_ty%C3%AEmia_01.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGTVI7_cGI/AAAAAAAAAFE/CfU6FbarsmA/s400/1944_ty%C3%AEmia_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350719823678500962" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGTLe4SQAI/AAAAAAAAAE8/gIx8qYHFM_w/s1600-h/1944_ti-n-tar%E2%80%99%C3%B4d%C3%A4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGTLe4SQAI/AAAAAAAAAE8/gIx8qYHFM_w/s400/1944_ti-n-tar%E2%80%99%C3%B4d%C3%A4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350719657769844738" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGTFJEQhzI/AAAAAAAAAE0/hHtxSlUEEAQ/s1600-h/1944_t%C3%A8wat_02.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGTFJEQhzI/AAAAAAAAAE0/hHtxSlUEEAQ/s400/1944_t%C3%A8wat_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350719548835268402" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGS-ICcSyI/AAAAAAAAAEs/WDkyMezEvNM/s1600-h/1944_t%C3%A8wat_01.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGS-ICcSyI/AAAAAAAAAEs/WDkyMezEvNM/s400/1944_t%C3%A8wat_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350719428300131106" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSw0VYYqI/AAAAAAAAAEc/6075LUjYOs0/s1600-h/1944_t%C3%A9fis.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSw0VYYqI/AAAAAAAAAEc/6075LUjYOs0/s400/1944_t%C3%A9fis.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350719199672558242" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSq7rs6pI/AAAAAAAAAEU/g34u813pZYY/s1600-h/1944_t%C3%A2nout_les+puits.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSq7rs6pI/AAAAAAAAAEU/g34u813pZYY/s400/1944_t%C3%A2nout_les+puits.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350719098566011538" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSl-GDyRI/AAAAAAAAAEM/yMO_nsPGQtA/s1600-h/1944_tal%C3%A2t.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSl-GDyRI/AAAAAAAAAEM/yMO_nsPGQtA/s400/1944_tal%C3%A2t.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350719013314087186" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSe-CT4OI/AAAAAAAAAEE/U0umohvxW2E/s1600-h/1944_t%C3%A2kriza_02.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 258px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSe-CT4OI/AAAAAAAAAEE/U0umohvxW2E/s400/1944_t%C3%A2kriza_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350718893039280354" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSXgncxZI/AAAAAAAAAD8/_gAQ6RIkQ9g/s1600-h/1944_t%C3%A2kriza_01.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSXgncxZI/AAAAAAAAAD8/_gAQ6RIkQ9g/s400/1944_t%C3%A2kriza_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350718764882904466" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSR5IreiI/AAAAAAAAAD0/6CdE0_R6tME/s1600-h/1944_tak%C3%A8mest.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSR5IreiI/AAAAAAAAAD0/6CdE0_R6tME/s400/1944_tak%C3%A8mest.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350718668385516066" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSKRvsbuI/AAAAAAAAADs/X9dHF4OrKuo/s1600-h/1944_tabelot.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSKRvsbuI/AAAAAAAAADs/X9dHF4OrKuo/s400/1944_tabelot.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350718537552654050" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSEpIhfPI/AAAAAAAAADk/rDhlvSaNK_M/s1600-h/1944_j%C3%A9kat_la+mosqu%C3%A9e.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 258px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGSEpIhfPI/AAAAAAAAADk/rDhlvSaNK_M/s400/1944_j%C3%A9kat_la+mosqu%C3%A9e.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350718440751594738" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGR-DAMnDI/AAAAAAAAADc/y1DtN94Qn08/s1600-h/1944_j%C3%A9kat.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 256px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGR-DAMnDI/AAAAAAAAADc/y1DtN94Qn08/s400/1944_j%C3%A9kat.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350718327436909618" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGR3FqHtYI/AAAAAAAAADU/2H5cXx7Hwls/s1600-h/1944_i-n-gaggalen.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGR3FqHtYI/AAAAAAAAADU/2H5cXx7Hwls/s400/1944_i-n-gaggalen.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350718207890535810" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRwGAGv-I/AAAAAAAAADM/yxjYwaCYB8E/s1600-h/1944_%C3%A9bser%E2%80%99an.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRwGAGv-I/AAAAAAAAADM/yxjYwaCYB8E/s400/1944_%C3%A9bser%E2%80%99an.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350718087723663330" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRpAOjwQI/AAAAAAAAADE/4p8lYT3eQ1c/s1600-h/1944_avi+d%C3%A4ras.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRpAOjwQI/AAAAAAAAADE/4p8lYT3eQ1c/s400/1944_avi+d%C3%A4ras.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350717965914587394" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRiaxJkRI/AAAAAAAAAC8/ZEePMU19M70/s1600-h/1944_aker%C3%AAreb.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRiaxJkRI/AAAAAAAAAC8/ZEePMU19M70/s400/1944_aker%C3%AAreb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350717852779909394" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRaT9NR-I/AAAAAAAAAC0/d5IKHDJX-fY/s1600-h/1944_agalanr%27a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 253px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRaT9NR-I/AAAAAAAAAC0/d5IKHDJX-fY/s400/1944_agalanr%27a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350717713512482786" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRSXEPDEI/AAAAAAAAACs/xw82mmtySyI/s1600-h/1944_agalal_03.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRSXEPDEI/AAAAAAAAACs/xw82mmtySyI/s400/1944_agalal_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350717576908311618" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRMapFGEI/AAAAAAAAACk/xgRu3mOx1d0/s1600-h/1944_agalal_02.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRMapFGEI/AAAAAAAAACk/xgRu3mOx1d0/s400/1944_agalal_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350717474788939842" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRFgJpHQI/AAAAAAAAACc/YWS_mjKEuqw/s1600-h/1944_agalal_01.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGRFgJpHQI/AAAAAAAAACc/YWS_mjKEuqw/s400/1944_agalal_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350717356008611074" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGQ7gRlYVI/AAAAAAAAACU/txnGcu2QBcE/s1600-h/1944_%C3%A2fis.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGQ7gRlYVI/AAAAAAAAACU/txnGcu2QBcE/s400/1944_%C3%A2fis.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350717184243229010" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGQy2zcQfI/AAAAAAAAACM/1Z_b2Mu_KNY/s1600-h/1944_abarakk%C3%A2n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SkGQy2zcQfI/AAAAAAAAACM/1Z_b2Mu_KNY/s400/1944_abarakk%C3%A2n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350717035671994866" /></a>Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-21687327887689458072009-02-02T14:05:00.002+00:002009-02-02T14:10:10.763+00:00Food Aid Convention [FAC] in Madrid, Spain<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SYb-JCEhVnI/AAAAAAAAABw/FDXFuwhl_D8/s1600-h/Mopti_02.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SYb-JCEhVnI/AAAAAAAAABw/FDXFuwhl_D8/s400/Mopti_02.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298201442776077938" /></a><br />The rice grown along the Niger River in Mali is extraordinary in its quality and nutritional value. Anyone aware of this local produced grain can identify the rice from others as the grains are short and have a pinkish hue. Locals are aware of the high nutritional value and the rice is easily available during the cold season, November through March. The price of locally grown rice during this season is 40% lower than its imported counterparts coming from Pakistan and China and rice both local and imported are the same price during the hot-dry season of April through July. Only in July through October is the locally grown rice more expensive as the granaries empty and scarcity raises the price. <br /><br />With such advantages one would expect Malian rice producers to be fairing well in income and locals eating well. This is hardly the case. The communities along the Niger River are a mixed patchwork of struggling cultivators, individuals working in the service sector and small elite involved in the import-export business with malnourishment a reality affecting a number of families both rich and poor. Despite the positive qualities of local rice production many residents prefer to spend more money during the cold season and prepare the imported rice for their families. When conducting my research I often asked families why they preferred the Chinese and Pakistani imported rice over their local rice. Two responses were common. People complained that the local rice was either too ‘heavy’ in taste or that only poor people consume the locally produced rice. <br /><br />Last week the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and donor countries responsible for food aid met in Madrid, Spain from January 26th-28th to discuss the future role of food aid on a global scale. Called the Food Aid Convention or FAC, the meeting was held to approach two major concerns: the food price crisis of 2008, and for 2009 and following years to come a set of rules regarding the appropriate type of food aid and which circumstances merit food assistance. Basically FAC is trying to do more with less and with a number of agencies working at the same goals and/or competing for a shrinking resource base, the convention assembled as a means to set an agenda and parameters for participants.<br /><br />This is nothing new or revolutionary for governments and aid organizations. Often the neediest and most destitute receive no aid as violence and/or difficulty in transportation retards aid workers’ efforts to distribute aid evenly. At times the political climate can affect the distribution of food aid as national governments may refuse distribution as local militias/rebels may benefit from such operations. The crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the Lord’s Resistance Army is one example of where politics stifles food assistance and other forms of aid and civilians receive no assistance. Furthermore, corruption is both a reality and obstacle as food donations are often sold off to merchants in major cities and trucked to local stores for purchase, though labeled as “Not for Resale.” <br /><br />FAC since the late 1960s has acknowledged the difficulties of food aid and does not ensure that assistance will reach the neediest groups or countries. But as it tightens its fiscal belt and focuses more on areas of vulnerability and potential food insecurity instead of crisis, I implore those in attendance at FAC to implement policies that promote local food production (rice cultivation along the Niger River as one example) instead of creating markets for imports as has happened with past assistance. With groups such as the International Grains Council having influence in FAC over the past three decades, however, I will remain skeptical of food aid’s benevolent hand until I see more Malians eating their own locally cultivated rice.Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-78297183803496595232009-01-17T23:39:00.004+00:002009-01-17T23:58:36.599+00:00« Ajébhah » and its Impact on the Community of Takanmba, Mali<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SXJvsh2LuHI/AAAAAAAAABk/Zu2WPqxQ20g/s1600-h/Takanmba.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 378px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SXJvsh2LuHI/AAAAAAAAABk/Zu2WPqxQ20g/s400/Takanmba.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292415322904311922" /></a><br />Source: Ministère des travaux publics et des transports de la République Française, Institut Géographique National, Dakar, 1961<br />UTM Projection; Clark 1880 Ellipsoid<br /><br />I learned this community’s history thanks to some displaced herders living in Gao in late 2006. One of them, a customary chief of a Tuareg fraction was visiting Gao during my interviews and between his narrative, the interviews of other ex-residents of Takanmba and my archival research conducted in October 2008 in France, I was able to piece together the events that shaped this community and then divided it during the rebellion of the 1990s. <br /> <br />Bordering the banks of the Niger River and located at 16° 59’ 50” N; 0° 57’ 25” W, Takanmba, Mali is a local administration unit in the Department of Bourèm; Region of Gao. Its origins are rooted in the historical background I posted in my last blog, Tuareg Hostility towards a Central Authority, as an Arab trader interested in trading with nomadic groups built a house in the area. His heritage and mother tongue assured him connections to the Kounta herders circulating the territory and his proximity to the Niger River assured other prospective Fulani and Tuareg clients to pass his store in the dry season to water their animals. The community grew, first with support from the Kounta and later with the French administration. The place was originally called El Sheikh, after the founder but as more groups moved into the community and the majority became Tuareg, the name gradually changed to Takanmba. <br /><br />Harmony was not always the norm between groups. Ethnic rivalry between the Kountas and certain Tuareg groups like the Chérifan and Oulliminden were the most intense, particularly up until World War I. Tension also existed between different occupations as merchants came into conflict with herders and cultivators over the exchanges of animals and grains for goods. But given Takanmba’s proximity to the Niger River, the French were able to maintain security and order in the town from the 1900s until the end in colonial rule in 1960. They viewed Soudan Français as the breadbasket to the territories part of Afrique Occidental Française and promoted the cultivation of rice along the river. Takanmba grew as Songhaï and Bella Bella [former vassals of the Tuareg and also known as Tamasheq Noire in French] moved into the area to plant rice and peace was assured by the French garrison installed at the bank of the river.<br /><br />The land for centuries was a customary water source for herders’ animals during the dry season and pasture-water source during droughts. Now, the area had transformed into a large settlement with the installation of merchants and farmers. Outside its limits herding remained the primary activity but Takanmba had become an island of commerce, farming, and later education as the French built a school after World War II. Herders knew of the benefits of education as they had seen other Africans from the southern part of Soudan Français in the military and administration of the colony. Some families chose to settle with their herds on the outskirts of town in order to send some if not all their children to school with the hopes that they would have a secure future in the government or armed forces.<br /><br />The population of Takanmba swelled with the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s. Herders in the northern regions of Mali, whether they abandoned pastoralism altogether or if they used Takanmba as a center for feeding and watering their herds while seeking out temporary jobs or assistance moved into the town. This placed strains on Takanmba’s infrastructure and natural resources. The farmers living in the town for generations were running into conflicts with herders using the river water to maintain their animals or into conflicts with other farmers [new or settled] who competed for land and water as the Niger River diminished in size and volume. But by the late 1980s, the conflict over natural resources was subsiding as rains returned in the northern regions and water levels of the Niger returned to pre-drought measurements.<br /><br />Disaster hit Takanmba before farmers had the chance to restock their granaries, before herders had accomplished regaining their flocks and before merchants had debtors pay back their credit from the droughts. The rebellion of 1990-1996, known as « Ajébhah » in the Tamasheq language, was not the first rebellion in post-colonial Mali. Groups in the north rebelled against Bamako’s authority in the 1960s over a tax imposed on the exploitation of wood and also after the 1970s drought but these incidents were small in scale and short-lived. The rebellion of 1990-1996 was large in scale affecting the northern and eastern parts of Mali, initially well-organized [though it deteriorated into factionalism and anarchy after a couple of years], and destructive for some communities like Takanmba. <br /><br />Bamako’s hold on communities north and east of Tombouctou was weak at best and as the rebel cause divided over purpose and tactics, communities like Takanmba were left vulnerable to banditry, theft and killing by various actors. Accounts of the rebels or bandits posing as rebels commandeering peoples’ animals by force were numerous and those who refused were often beaten to submission. Eight people were killed in such confrontations. For some in the town this was evidence of how ineffective the Malian military was in small towns. People started to migrate to larger towns up the river like Mopti and Ségou where security was more reliable. The Ganda Koï, a vigilante group armed themselves with anything from assault rifles to batons, organized to protect communities living along the Niger River and passed through towns like Takanmba periodically. Their purpose was to maintain order where the Malian government had weak holds but their tactics often shifted into harassing local groups that had the same heritage as rebels, i.e. the Arabs and Tamasheq. The Malian army occupied with operations in the countryside had little means to stop this abuse and more people fled Takanmba. On the eve of the rebellion the town was home to four different Tuareg groups, Arabs and Songhaï. Within the Tuareg there were the Tamasheq Rouge (Imerat) and three different types of Tamasheq Noire fractions (Iborlitan, Tagharlifit and Chamamach). At the end of 1994 the only groups that remained in Takanmba were the Songhaï, a few Imerat and families from another Tamasheq Noire group, the Igelhad, who moved from the countryside into the town due to the greater instability and violence occurring north of the area. <br /><br />For most of my interviewees the rebellion had little impact or was a nuisance to their routines [circulation for herders was difficult if not impossible in several regions]. For some of them confronting drought with little means to maintain their herds and selling their animals for pittances, or, famine impacting their families and reducing the number of eligible income providers in a household during the 1970s and 1980s was more devastating than the bullets coming from rebels’ and soldiers’ guns. For all of them, both those who lost their livelihoods or family members during the political violence and those affected by environmental/economic crises, what mattered was the vulnerability they faced before these shocks; a phenomena that Michael Watts appropriately titles in his work on food security in the Hausa States of Northern Nigeria and Southern Niger “A Silent Violence.” One must put aside the low numbers of herders impacted by the rebellion as it would be unjust to let the story of Takanmba and those displaced herders living in Gao remain untold.Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33563378.post-53654240971318576702008-12-30T22:24:00.005+00:002008-12-30T22:31:45.814+00:00Tuareg Hostility towards a Central Authority <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SVqgclvYM6I/AAAAAAAAABc/fzFMwHWHFT0/s1600-h/Carte_Pays_Touareg.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 332px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hVEuEROorVI/SVqgclvYM6I/AAAAAAAAABc/fzFMwHWHFT0/s400/Carte_Pays_Touareg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285713525700309922" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Taken from Boubou Hama, 1967, <i style=""><span lang="FR">Recherche sur l'histoire des touaregs sahariens et soudanais </span></i></span><span lang="FR" style="font-size:78%;">[Présence Africaine, Paris]</span><span style="font-size:9;"><span style="font-size:78%;">.</span></span>
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<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This is an excerpt of research I undertook at the <i style=""><span style="" lang="FR">Centre Archives d’Outre Mer</span></i> in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Aix-en-Provence</st1:city>, <st1:country-region st="on">France</st1:country-region></st1:place> in October of this year.<span style=""> </span>Thanks to this opportunity, my dissertation will include background regarding <st1:country-region st="on">France</st1:country-region>’s colonial policies and their influence on food security among pastoralists in the regions of <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Gao</span> and <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span></st1:city><span style="" lang="FR-ML">,</span> <st1:country-region st="on">Mali</st1:country-region></st1:place> where the majority of my interviews took place.<span style=""> </span>I have Dr. Brent McCusker to thank for this opportunity as he helped me with logistics of the research and I would like to thank <span style="" lang="FR">Chloé Sugier</span>, <span style="" lang="FR">Simon Louwet</span>, Erika Kaufmann and Atika Moha for their assistance and hospitality during my visit to Aix.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In the year 1960, when African states gained their independence from European colonial powers almost ‘every minute,’ one group that had debate and skepticism over the benefits of decolonization were the Tuareg.<span style=""> </span>Basil Davidson speaks in many of his books of the optimism and hope in the future that Africans had during the period of decolonization, but it would be difficult to rank the Tuareg in with this celebration.<span style=""> </span>Tuareg chiefs were not happy to see the French leave, though one would assume they would have considering the history their fathers and grandfathers shared with the French.<span style=""> </span>It was violent half the time and other half involved an attempt by the French to undermine Tuareg society (more about this in a moment).<span style=""> </span>The reason for their disdain during the independence movement lay in the dominance of a foreign ethnic group in the African political parties about to receive the reigns of the colonial administration.<span style=""> </span>The Bambara were both the colonial officials and the majority of the independence movement in <st1:city st="on">Bamako</st1:city>, the Zarma in <st1:city st="on">Niamey</st1:city> and though <st1:country-region st="on">Algeria</st1:country-region> was further complicated with a war, the Arabs in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Algiers</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style=""> </span>What directions these groups were going to take the former French colonies was difficult to predict and the Tuareg, though the proprietors of the large part of the Saharan desert, were about to fall into the hands of yet another alien central authority.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></p><span style="font-size:9;"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span><o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The Tuareg themselves are not a centralized ethnic group though there are similarities in language and custom between regions.<span style=""> </span>In the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the French, Italians and English moved into the interior of Africa they found six major Tuareg political territories: Touareg Ajjer, Touareg du Hoggar, Touareg de<span style="" lang="FR-ML"> l’Aïr</span>, Touareg de<span style=""> <span lang="FR-ML">l’Adrar</span></span> des<span style="" lang="FR-ML"> Ifoghas</span>, Touareg du Niger, and Touareg Kel Gress (see map).<span style=""> </span>Within these regions existed many confederations of Tuareg groups, sometimes living symbiotically next to each other and other times raiding and pillaging each others’ camps.<span style=""> </span>In addition, these territories were not solely occupied by the Tuareg as there were and are distinct groups of Arabs (Kounta, Mahamid and Bérabich to name a few), Tubu and Fulani living in the same region.<span style=""> </span>The Tuareg, however, were the local power elites in terms of their military strength and their roles in the Saharan trade.<span style=""> </span>The French recognized this and as they encroached on Tuareg lands they played on the rivalries other groups had with the Tuareg as well as divisions that existed in Tuareg society.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">An example of this divide and rule came with the French expansion along the Niger River and their relations with the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Oulliminden Tuareg</span>, a group that claimed jurisdiction on the east side [left bank] of the river from <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Bourem</span>, Mali to <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Tillabéry</span>, Niger and further east to the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Tamesna</span> Region though their territory would be reduced to the lands around <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span> with the installation of the French.<span style=""> </span>In the 1890s as French soldiers and officers moved further up the river, they found the Oulliminden in a bitter rivalry with the Kounta [an Arab group] that also claimed the territory around Bourem.<span style=""> </span>The Kounta and the Oulliminden were not at a full scale war but instead conducted raids on each others’ camps from time to time, with those victimized seeking retribution through counter raids.<span style=""> </span>Further complicating the picture were settled groups of <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Songhaï </span>and Bella Bella [slaves of the Tuareg] who were most vulnerable to these raids and banditry from raiding Kounta and Oulliminden.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The French, though their initial presence was weak, had the military and resources to bring stability to the region and they did this by first befriending the settled peoples along the river and later the Kounta.<span style=""> </span>The Kounta debated little over allying with the French as they saw their presence as an opportunity to secure the territory around Bourem from the Oulliminden.<span style=""> </span>Their alliance to the foreigners would pay off in the long run as the French committed to the region and suppressed any resistance while rewarding groups that aided them in securing their control over the region.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The first collective effort by the Oulliminden to push out the French came in 1899 when the Europeans placed soldiers and built posts in Gao, Ansongo, Sinder and Dounzou.<span style=""> </span>The Tuareg not only attacked these remote colonial posts but also raided Kounta camps near Bourem which were violent but lucrative attacks for the Oulliminden.<span style=""> </span>The region had been experiencing famine for several years not due to drought because the raids destabilized trade and food production.<span style=""> </span>A year later, the Oulliminden ceased their military campaigns in the hope that the French would stop their expansion and guarantee their rights to lands around Bourem.<span style=""> </span>The French did not concede their posts along the river but did (temporarily) create a protectorate for the Oulliminden as they shifted their military operations to the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Hoggar</span> and <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on"><span style="" lang="FR-ML">Aïr</span></st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Mountains</st1:placetype></st1:place> to suppress other Tuareg resistance.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The protectorate meant nothing to the Kounta.<span style=""> </span>Angered at the sacking of several of their camps during the Oulliminden uprising, they retaliated in 1901 by raiding a large camp of Oulliminden at Tiguirirt, killing men, capturing slaves and women and taking animals, equipment and weapons.<span style=""> </span>The Oulliminden would strike back but the French did little to bring peace between the two for the next ten years.<span style=""> </span>Only in 1912 did the French impose sanctions on the Oulliminden for conducting raiding parties.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As it became apparent that the protectorate existed only on paper, the Oulliminden approached the French once more in an effort to secure what few rights possibly remained.<span style=""> </span>The Oulliminden were weakened by the earlier clash with the French and by the current Kounta raids.<span style=""> </span>Yet the French were also in no position to implement their policies in Oulliminden territory just yet.<span style=""> </span>For a brief period from 1906-08, the French were considering making the Oulliminden territory, at this point reduced to the region of <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka,</span> a <i style=""><span style="" lang="FR-ML">Secteur Nomade</span></i><span style="" lang="FR-ML"> </span>where colonial policies would favor the preservation of nomad customs and livelihoods.<span style=""> </span>This idea, however, was never realized at least not intentionally.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Many of the colonial policies implemented in Francophone Africa fractured Tuareg society further (at least for the next ten years).<span style=""> </span>The French emancipated the slaves and vassals of the Tuareg on moral, diplomatic and economic grounds.<span style=""> </span>Many of the settled peoples along the <st1:place st="on">Niger River</st1:place> that the French allied with during colonial expansion were slaves of the Tuareg or paying tithes to the Tuareg to ensure their security.<span style=""> </span>Tithes to Tuareg nobles became taxes to French administrators as these communities were potential revenue makers and a source of food production for the colony.<span style=""> </span>Raiding and banditry did not end under French rule but the scale and frequency was reduced dramatically to the point that this was not a viable strategy for many Tuareg.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The Oulliminden did not passively relinquish their military authority in the region but were delayed in any resistance to French dominion for several years.<span style=""> </span>First, their involvement with raids against the Kounta occupied the Oulliminden and delayed any organized resistance to foreign domination.<span style=""> </span>Second the French, influenced by Kounta leaders, imposed economic sanctions on Oulliminden territory in order to punish the group seen as responsible for the region’s instability.<span style=""> </span>Finally few rains came to the region on the summer months of 1912.<span style=""> </span>The Oulliminden faced vulnerability to famine in 1913 with the violence of Kounta raiding parties, the suppression of regional trade by the French, and the failure of rains to renew pasture reserves for their animals.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Despite the drawbacks the Oulliminden armed for a future revolt to French rule in 1914.<span style=""> </span>Misguided by inaccurate intelligence of the French weakening due to other insurgencies up river, the Oulliminden commenced small-scale attacks on French forts in May.<span style=""> </span>The French were swift in their response, arresting the leaders of the revolt before a large assault ensued but in 1916 the incarcerated leaders escaped their captors and organized their forces for a large scale assault to the northeast of <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Andéramboukane, </span>a military post situated on a permanent lake.<span style=""> </span>The lake was and still is an important water source for the Tuareg and other pastoralists in the region.<span style=""> </span>Rebel leaders must have viewed the control of this water source as vital to regain their authority in the territory and in the maintenance of their herds during the revolt.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The French, guided by accurate intelligence, sent an expeditionary force backed up by Kounta <span style="" lang="FR-ML">méharistes</span> around the lake to outflank the Oulliminden and in doing so, surprised the Tuareg camps.<span style=""> </span>The battle was completely one-sided as the French ended the Oulliminden revolt and the Kounta received for their assistance <i style=""><span style="" lang="FR-ML">carte blanche</span></i> in dividing up the spoils of the disbanded Oulliminden camps.<span style=""> </span>Once again the Kounta profited from their allegiance and partnership with the French while the Oulliminden experienced hardship and loss to their resistance to colonial rule.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">With other Tuareg revolts ending in defeat and submission to French rule in <st1:country-region st="on">Algeria</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on">Niger</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region st="on">Upper Volta</st1:country-region> [today known as <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Burkina Faso</st1:place></st1:country-region>], the French pursued a general policy of converting the Tuareg from pastoral livelihoods to farming.<span style=""> </span>Colonial officials viewed the Tuareg nomadic way of life as backward and an obstacle to the development of their colonies.<span style=""> </span>Furthermore, tax collection and policing of African communities was more difficult to conduct with mobile populations as was learned through the intrigues and revolts that took place from 1914-17.<span style=""> </span>In the case of Oulliminden territory, plans and programs to develop irrigation and privatize land in the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span> region were proposed but little was implemented as the limited revenues collected in the French colonies often went to grand projects in the south like the Malian cotton growing schemes around <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Koutiala</span> and <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Bougouni</span> or the major rice growing project known as <i style=""><span style="" lang="FR-ML">l’Office du Niger</span></i> near <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Mopti</span>. <span style=""> </span>This neglect allowed many Tuareg the opportunity to restock their herds and continue their livelihoods with minimal interference from colonial officials.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The little funding that trickled into the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span> region often went to policing and the maintenance of roads.<span style=""> </span>At the height of the Great Depression, French colonial officials began a debate over whether to keep the region in the administration of <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Soudan Français</span> where <st1:city st="on">Bamako</st1:city> was the capital (1400 km from <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span>) or to integrate it into the colony of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Niger</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>Proponents of the change argued that <st1:city st="on">Niamey</st1:city> (the capital of the <st1:country-region st="on">Niger</st1:country-region> colony by 1926 and 250 km from <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span>) was closer to Oulliminden territory and had greater economic ties to Western Niger, more so than the rest of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Mali</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>Another argument voiced later by officials on the ground was the difficulty in regulating the black market activities that developed in <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span> and extended into the Anglophone colonies of <st1:country-region st="on">Nigeria</st1:country-region> and the Gold Coast [the country known as <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ghana</st1:place></st1:country-region> today].</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Any possibility of connecting the region of <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka to <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Niger</st1:place></st1:country-region></span> ended with the start of World War II and the Malian nationalist movement that appeared shortly after the war.<span style=""> </span>Colonial officials shifted their priorities to the maintenance of African loyalty to the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">French</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Republic</st1:placetype></st1:place> and to the recruitment of colonial subjects into Charles De Gaulle’s resistance to German occupation after 1940.<span style=""> </span>The same ethnic group that filled the ranks of Soudan’s colonial administration was also recruited into De Gaulle’s infantry.<span style=""> </span>The Bambara dominated the ranks of Africans working in the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Soudan Français</span>, they were the majority of troops coming from the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Soudan </span>to fight against the Germans, and they would dominate the leadership and membership of the political party calling for an end to French rule in the late 1940s and 1950s.<span style=""> </span>The independence movement in <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Soudan</span> would not accept any reorganization of territory that did not favor their inheritance and when independence came, the new political elite had ideas of how to integrate <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Mali</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s diverse population into one nationality and grand schemes to develop the remoter regions and its resources.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">For most Oulliminden the changing political picture had little to no consequence on their lives.<span style=""> </span>French rule, though initially brutal, had little influence on their lives from 1917 to the 1950s. They were able to maintain their society, restock their herds from the violence of the 1910s and redevelop their market links to the south due to the underfunding, understaffing and lack of interest officials in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bamako</st1:place></st1:city> had in the remote and drier parts of <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Soudan Français</span>.<span style=""> </span>The only exception to this was the development of nomadic schools in the 1950s where Tuareg parents began gradually to send one or all of their children.<span style=""> </span>As long as the government did not interfere with their society and access to local resources, the Oulliminden were indifferent to either a European or African administration.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>For a few individuals in Oulliminden society, the new political elite was an opportunity for advancement and their participation in the independence movement in many situations rewarded them local seats of power in the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span> region or modest administrative posts in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bamako</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style=""> </span>Many in Oulliminden leadership however, held concerns over what future plans the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Bambara-</span>dominated government held for the <span style="" lang="FR-ML">Ménaka</span> region and they would be the forefathers and foundation of Tuareg resistance to the central authority of the Malian state in decades to come.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p> Franklin Charles Graham IVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179658807543238487noreply@blogger.com0