Greenpeace urges more action on central African forest fires

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2019

Active fires in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 24 hours. (AFP Photo/
Sabrina BLANCHARD)

Kinshasa (AFP) - Greenpeace on Tuesday called on governments to take more action to combat central African forest fires that have come into the spotlight since the global outcry over blazes burning in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.

The Congo Basin forests - covering parts of DR Congo, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and Cameroon - are often referred to as the "second green lung" of the planet after the Amazon.

"Greenpeace Africa calls on the Congo Basin governments to take immediate measures to prevent fires from hitting the rainforest," the environmental group said in a statement.

"For the long-term, governments must end all industrial activity within the world’s second largest rainforest."

Since August 21, more than 6,902 fires in Angola and 3,395 fires in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo have been documented, predominantly in the savanna area, the group said without giving any comparisons from past years.

Like the Amazon, Greenpeace said, the Congo Basin rainforest still faces a risk of being hit again by uncontrolled fires.

Experts say fires in the Amazon are mainly because of climate change and drought whereas in central Africa fires are often seasonal and triggered by traditional slash-and-burn farming methods.

Just like the Amazon, the forests of the Congo Basin absorb tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in trees and marshes -- seen by experts as a key way to combat climate change.

Most of the fires shown on NASA satellite maps of central Africa are outside sensitive rainforest areas, analysts say, making drawing comparisons to the current Amazon blazes more complicated.

Sudan generals, protest leaders sign transition deal

i24NEWS – AFP,  August 17, 2019

FILE - In this June 30, 2019, file photo, Sudanese protesters shout slogans as
they march during a demonstration against the military council, in Khartoum, Sudan.

The deal follows a lengthy period of unrest in Sudan, where eight months of protests have gripped the country

Sudan's military council and protest leaders on Saturday signed a landmark power-sharing deal that paves the way for a transition to civilian rule, sparking rapturous crowds to fill the streets of Khartoum in celebration.

The agreement was signed by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, deputy chief of the military council, and Ahmed al-Rabie, representing the Alliance for Freedom and Change protest umbrella group.

Heads of state, prime ministers and dignitaries from several countries attended the Khartoum ceremony.

Thousands of cheering people gathered outside of Friendship Hall where the documents to govern Sudan's 39-month transition were signed

The agreement follows a lengthy period of unrest in Sudan, where eight months of protests have gripped the nation.

The protests began with demands to oust longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir who was eventually deposed in April.

Demonstrations quickly resumed after the military council who ousted Bashir seized power away from voices calling for civilian rule.

Talks between the protesters and the military were mediated by the African Union and Ethiopia, which brought the two sides together again even after a protest sit-in outside military headquarters was brutally dispersed by men in military fatigues on June 3, sparking international outrage and a telecommunications blackout. 

The constitutional declaration formalizes the political agreement reached between the military and  protest leaders on July17 which calls for a transition administration guided by an 11-member council.

Under the transition scheme, six members of the transition council are to be civilians while the remaining five seats will be comprised of military figures.

The signing Saturday of a consitutional declaration paving the way for civilian rule comes nearly eight months after the start of Sudan's protests https://t.co/qZQV2APX6s

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 18 augustus 2019

Religious feast highlights interfaith unity in Senegal

Yahoo – AFP, Anne-Sophie FAIVRE LE CADRE, August 13, 2019

In Senegal, Muslim families join Christians as they prepare for the feast of the
Eid al-Adha (AFP Photo/Seyllou)

Dakar (AFP) - When Senegal's Muslim families gather for the biggest Islamic religious feast of the year, they often encourage the Christian minority to join them in a tradition of tolerance rare in West Africa.

Many Roman Catholics in Dakar were invited Monday to join Muslim friends for Tabaski, the local name for the Eid al-Adha or the Festival of the Sacrifice, which commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to slaughter his own son if God commanded it.

For Senegalese student Grasse Diop, his preparations to welcome Christian friends were placidly watched by Dembel, a family sheep destined for imminent slaughter like the ram God told Ibrahim to sacrifice as reward for obedience.

"They come every year for the Tabaski and I go to the Christmas mass. We spend all our religious feast days together," said Grasse, whose name is derived from Grace, a Christian one.

The family courtyard in Dakar's Ouakam district was turned into both abattoir and kitchen. Women sang as they cut up the freshly killed meat while children played by bowls containing discarded entrails.

"Jacques, Marie, Joseph... All my Christian friends are wishing me a good Tabaski," Grasse said amid a flurry of calls on her mobile phone. "When I visit them, I feel at home. There's no difference."

"When a Christian dies, all the neighbours go to the church for the funeral," added her brother Pape Doudou Diop. Though a Muslim like more than 90 percent of the population, he said he regularly goes to church for communion.

Once their guests settled around a huge platter of barbecued food, Christians could not be told apart from the Muslims, though Yves-Martin Kemden wore a special long robe to honour his hosts during his tenth Tabaski.

"It's a custom," the young dog breeder said. "Here, you're always invited by a neighbour even if you don't share the same religion."

Sheep are slaughtered for family feasts often shared with neighbours (AFP Photo/Seyllou)

'Indivisible'

Hardline Islamist militants have made their mark in other parts of West Africa, trying to impose their more intolerant and often violent vision of Islam on communities in countries like Nigeria and Mali.

For those ultra-conservatives, other religions and even other branches of Islam are often seen as apostates.

Sociologist Fatou Sow Sarr believes Senegal's religious harmony dates back to the preachings of leaders of the widespread Mouride brotherhood, who taught tolerance towards Christians from the 19th century on.

"You find Christians and Muslims in the same family and they intermarry. Religion comes second to blood ties, so the communities have never been antagonists," she said.

"Today there's more risk of dissent among Muslims because of conflict between the Mouridic communities and Wahabi influence than between Muslims and Christians," Sow Sarr said, distinguishing between Senegal's predominant Sufi order and a more conservative Islamic branch.

In their courtyard sheltered by palm trees, the Ndoye family was packing boxes with mutton to take to Christian friends no longer able to get around.

"Our cousins invite us at Easter, making sure not to cook pork," smiled Karim Ndoye, a house painter in his 50s who added that one of his grandmothers was Catholic. "It's family, we're indivisible."

At the clergy house of Dakar Cathedral shaded by a riot of bougainvillea flowers, octogenarian Father Jacques Seck made ready to join Muslim friends for the Tabaski.

A self-styled "Muslim Christian", the elderly priest is known for sprinkling his sermons with verses from the Koran and urging dialogue among religious communities.

"This religious tolerance is at the root of Senegalese society," he said. "The good fortune of this country is that it's rare for a family not to have members from both communities. The diversity built the nation."

Mozambique govt, opposition Renamo sign historic peace pact

Yahoo – AFP, Joaquim Nhamirre, 1 August 2019

Mozambique President Felipe Jacinto Nyusi signed a deal with opposition
Renamo to end hostilities (AFP Photo/THIERRY CHARLIER)

Maputo (AFP) - Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo opposition leader Ossufo Momade on Thursday signed a landmark agreement aimed at formally ending decades of military hostilities, state TV said.

The signing took place in the Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique, nearly 27 years after the end of the southern African country's first civil war.

The two leaders hugged after penning the deal on a mounted stage in Gorongosa where a white tablecloth carried the inscription "Peace: Final agreement on cessation of hostilities", according to live broadcasts of the ceremony.

Thursday's agreement brought an end to a long peace negotiation process initiated by Renamo's historic leader, Afonso Dhlakama, who died in May last year, and comes just months before general elections in October.

"We want to assure our people and the world that we have buried the mindset of using violence as a way of resolving our differences," Momade, the new Renamo leader who succeeded Dhlakama, said.

Nyusi said "this agreement opens a new era in the history of our country in which no Mozambican should use weapons to resolve conflicts."

"The act we have just witnessed shows our commitment to permanent and lasting peace," Nyusi said. "Today, August 1, a new child was born."

Brutal civil war

Soon after Mozambique gained its independence from Portugal in 1975, Renamo fought a brutal 16-year civil war against the Frelimo government, a conflict that left one million people dead before the fighting stopped in 1992.

The rebel movement then entered politics after a 1992 peace pact which was signed in Rome, paving the way for multi-party elections in 1994.

Renamo (the Mozambican National Resistance Movement) lost that vote and subsequent elections and became the official opposition party.

In October 2013 Renamo declared the end of the 1992 peace deal after the military raided its bush camp in central Sathundjira.

Fresh clashes then erupted again between government forces and Renamo soldiers from 2013 to 2016.

Former Mozambican rebel movement "Renamo" will hand over their weapons 

as part of the peace deal (AFP Photo/Jinty Jackson)

Since 2016, the government and Renamo have been in talks, which continued after Dhlakama died from a suspected heart attack.

Despite the end of the civil war and the group transforming into a political party, it retained an armed wing.

On Tuesday Renamo began disarming armed members as part of the peace deal.

Some of the demobilised fighters will be absorbed into the country's army and police, while others will be re-integrated into civilian life.

More than 5,200 Renamo fighters are to expected to surrender their weapons to the government.

The signing of the peace deal comes just months before general elections scheduled for October 15 in the former Portuguese colony, at a time Renamo itself is facing internal divisions.

It also comes as Nyusi's administration is battling a jihadist insurgency in the north, which has claimed more than 250 lives since October 2017, and ahead of the visit to the impoverished country by Pope Francis in September.

'Critical next few days'

Analysts warned that the coming days will be a crucial test of whether the agreement will hold before a final and main agreement scheduled to be signed in Maputo next Tuesday.

Local media reported that unknown gunmen on Wednesday attacked a truck and a bus along the main north-south highway - just hours after Nyusi announced he was going to sign the cessation of hostilities agreement with Renamo.

A small group of disgruntled Renamo members, who have refused to recognise Momade as party chief, last week warned the government against continued negotiations with the new leader.

"Today’s final cessation of hostilities ceremony in Gorongosa is an important stepping stone for peaceful settlement," said Chatham House's research director Alex Vines.

"The next few days are critical as there have been some reports of hostile action in central Mozambique by some disgruntled RENAMO militia," Vines said.

University of South Africa's international law professor emeritus Andre Thomashausen was less optimistic of what he termed an "elitist" agreement.

"This is the fourth demobilisation agreement with Renamo and it is bound to fail just like the preceding three agreements"

"As in the previous cases the arrangements do not offer any attractive outlook for the simple Renamo guerrilla force which remains in part, unstructured and autonomous."

He suggested that the latest agreement provided "retirement comforts" the ageing Renamo leader and "his group of similarly tired generals and commanders, but it offers nothing," to the thousands of fighters being demobilised.