Day: July 9, 2021

Zimbabwe recently scrapped rules requiring sole state ownership for cannabis farming to encourage investment in the plant for industrial and medicinal uses. Zimbabwe is Africa’s largest tobacco producer, but authorities expect hemp export earnings to start replacing tobacco as farmers seek higher earnings from the crop.

Farmer Jesper Kirk has been growing mainly tobacco since he moved to a 250-hectare farm five years ago. He now plans to increase his hectarage of hemp, a type of cannabis plant that has very low levels of THC — the intoxicating substance in marijuana — when the growing season begins in a few months.

“I went for hemp because it is an export crop,” he said. “Much more reliable market. Whereas, for example potatoes, local market crop is a little more unstable market in terms of the number of people growing it. So, I wanted a slightly stable market in terms of demand.”

About five years ago, Zimbabwe Industrial Hemp Trust led experiments raising cannabis and the project has spread to several parts of Zimbabwe.

The trust is providing technical assistance and looking for markets for farmers, said the group’s head, Dr. Zorodzai Maroveke.

She said Zimbabwe is making a smart choice with cannabis, since the tobacco market is shrinking because of anti-smoking campaigns.

“It’s most relevant now considering the threat that the tobacco industry faces and knowing very well that Zimbabwe heavily depends on tobacco production,” she said. “It’s relevant that our economy has to start looking for alternatives. And I think industrial hemp tops the list. It’s a green crop and there is a lot of social impact in comparison to tobacco. I think in 10 years you will see the value chains that will come out of this sector are way more than tobacco.”

While Kirk is thinking of exporting his crop, Walter Ruprecht has used some hemp produced by farmers this year to produce paper. He said cannabis has a lot of potential for Zimbabwe, both for industrial and even medicinal use.

“The advantages are that it is obviously going to create thousands of jobs in the farming areas, just like what tobacco has done for decades,” he said. “Hemp has many advantages for its medicinal interests at the moment. However, there are other composites that can be available that it can be used such as textiles, pulp and paper. It’s a nitrogen supplement to the soil, it eliminates weeds. It has so many advantages to the small farmers and of course the value chains, which stretches to hundreds of thousands of dollars of opportunities.”

The global cannabis industry is expected to be a $46 billion business worldwide in three years — up from $16.47 billion this year, said Tino Kambasha of the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency.

“So, it’s a market that is growing fast and we think it’s going to be a game-changer for this country,” Kambasha said. “And Zimbabwe has gone a little step further to show that it is willing work with its partners and investors. By coming up with an investor agreement which further protects you against anything like expropriation and change or changes in law, which is quite great.”

Because of the new cannabis regulations, Kambasha added, Zimbabwe has attracted investors from the U.S., Britain, Germany, Switzerland and other countries.

That might be a needed shot in the arm for Zimbabwe’s economy, which has been stuck in the doldrums for more than 20 years.

Source: Voice of America

South Sudan marks a decade of independence on Friday but there is little to celebrate in a country crippled by civil war, chronic instability and desperate hunger.

At midnight on July 9, 2011, raucous celebrations erupted as the world’s newest nation was born and the people of South Sudan cheered the end of a decades-long struggle for statehood from Sudan.

But the revelry was short-lived.

Just two years later South Sudan was at war, the task of nation-building forgotten as its liberators tore the country apart, dashing the great expectations of a peaceful and prosperous future.

Close to 400,000 people would die before a cease-fire was declared in 2018, but the country has struggled to heal and is more fragile than ever, confronting looming starvation, political insecurity, economic ruin and natural calamities.

“The first 10 years of this young country’s history have seen much suffering,” said a joint statement from Britain, Norway and the United States.

“We commend the commitment many have shown in working together to build a brighter future, so it is deeply saddening that the promise of peace and prosperity that independence represented remains unfulfilled.”

President Salva Kiir is expected to address the nation, but there are no government events to commemorate the tortured decade that has passed.

The anniversary has been marked only a few times since the great expectations of independence, with the last formal celebrations in 2014.

Friday’s 10-year milestone will be equally as muted, with a fun run in the capital Juba likely to be the only nod to the day.

The government has instructed the public to celebrate in their homes, citing the risk of the coronavirus pandemic.

But Kiir said the cash-strapped state was in no position to celebrate, blaming international sanctions for keeping South Sudan poor and prosperity out of reach.

“People are hungry. Whatever resources that we have can be mobilized for the celebration (but) that would disappoint our people,” he told Kenyan broadcaster Citizen TV on Wednesday.

South Sudan enjoyed immense international goodwill and billions of dollars in financial support when its people voted overwhelmingly in a 2011 referendum to secede from the north.

But its leaders failed to stem corruption, and the new South Sudan was looted rather than rebuilt, as huge sums from its vast oil fields were siphoned off and squandered.

The political leaders who led South Sudan to independence — and then back to war — are still in power today, ruling in a tenuous coalition forged under a peace deal.

The power-sharing arrangement between Kiir, a former military commander from the Dinka ethnic group, and his deputy Riek Machar, a rebel leader from the Nuer people, has kept fighting between their forces largely at bay since the cease-fire in 2018.

But the old foes have violated past truces and progress on this latest accord has drifted, exacerbating distrust between the pair and raising fears of a return to fighting.

The “unity” government they belatedly formed in February 2020 under great international pressure is weak, while other crucial measures designed to avert another war have not been fulfilled.

Though the peace accords paused the worst of the bloodshed between conventional armies, armed conflict between rival ethnic groups has surged in ungoverned areas, exacting a civilian death toll not seen since the war.

The political inertia and broken promises also come as South Sudan reels from economic chaos, with soaring inflation and a currency crisis, and faces its worst hunger crisis since independence.

Conflict, drought, floods and a record bad locust plague have combined to ruin harvests and leave 60% of South Sudan’s 12 million people facing severe levels of food shortages.

Of those, 108,000 are on the very edge of famine, the World Food Program (WFP) says.

“Despite some lost opportunities, it is never too late to invigorate the peace process so that humanitarian assistance is more effective, and conditions are created where development activities can have broader and greater impact,” said Matthew Hollingworth, country director for WFP.

Source: Voice of America

During a grueling, weekslong mission in northern Mali, French soldiers were confronted by a familiar threat: Extremists trying to impose the same strict Islamic rule that preceded France’s military intervention here more than eight years ago.

Traumatized residents showed scars on their shoulders and backs from whippings they endured after failing to submit to the jihadis’ authority.

“We were witness to the presence of the enemy trying to impose Shariah law, banning young children from playing soccer and imposing a dress code,” said Col. Stephane Gouvernet, battalion commander for the recent French mission dubbed Equinoxe.

France is preparing to reduce its military presence here in West Africa’s Sahel region — the vast area south of the Sahara Desert where extremist groups are fighting for control. In June, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the end of Operation Barkhane, France’s seven-year effort fighting extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Africa’s Sahel region. France’s more than 5,000 troops will be reduced in the coming months, although no timeframe has been given.

Instead, France will participate in a special forces unit with other European countries and African countries will be responsible for patrolling the Sahel.

The move comes after years of criticism that France’s military operation is simply another reiteration of colonial rule. But the shift also takes place amid a worsening political and security crisis in the region. In May, Mali had its second coup in nine months.

Although officials of Mali’s government have been able to return to some towns once overrun by jihadis, for the first time since 2012, there are reports of extremists amputating hands to punish suspected thieves — a throwback to the Shariah law imposed in northern Mali prior to the French military intervention.

There have been spikes, too, in extremist attacks in Burkina Faso and Niger, sparking concern that the reduction of the French force will create a security void in the Sahel region that will be quickly filled by the jihadis.

“If an adequate plan is not finalized and in place, the tempo of attacks on local forces could rise across the region over the coming weeks, as jihadists attempt to benefit from a security vacuum,” said Liam Morrissey, chief executive officer for MS Risk Limited, a British security consultancy operating in the Sahel for 12 years.

While France has spent billions on its anti-jihadi campaign, called Operation Barkhane, Sahel experts say that it never dedicated the necessary resources to defeat the extremists, said Michael Shurkin, director of global programs at 14 North Strategies, a consultancy based in Dakar, Senegal.

“They have always been aware that their force in the Sahel is far too undersized to accomplish anything like a counterinsurgency campaign,” he said.

France has several thousand troops covering more than 1,000 kilometers of terrain in the volatile region where the borders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso meet. Alerts about attacks are often missed or responded to hours later, especially in remote villages. Operations rely heavily on the French air force, which conduct airstrikes, transport troops and deliver equipment. The desert is harsh with temperatures reaching near 50 degrees Celsius, exhausting troops and requiring additional maintenance for equipment.

The Associated Press spent the days before Macron’s announcement accompanying the French military in the field, where pilots navigated hostile terrain in the pitch dark to retrieve troops after a long operation.

Some soldiers questioned if the fight was worth it. “What are we doing here anyway?” asked one soldier after Macron’s announcement. The AP is not using his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Others acknowledged the jihadis are a long-term threat. “We are facing something that is going to be for years. For the next 10 years you will have terrorists in the area,” Col. Yann Malard, airbase commander and Operation Barkhane’s representative in Niger, told the AP.

The French strategy has been to weaken the jihadis and train local forces to secure their own countries. Since arriving, it has trained some 18,000 soldiers, mostly Malians, according to a Barkhane spokesperson, but progress is slow. Most Sahelian states are still too poor and understaffed to deliver the security and services that communities desperately need, analysts and activists say.

State forces have also been accused of committing human rights abuses against civilians, deepening the mistrust, said Alex Thurston, assistant professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati.

Since 2019 there have been more than 600 unlawful killings by security forces in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger during counterterrorism operations, according to Human Rights Watch. France’s Barkhane, too, has been accused of possible violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, after an airstrike in Mali in January killed 22 people, 19 of whom were civilians, according to a report by the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali.

Soldiers agree that there are limits to what can be achieved militarily and without political stability in the Sahel, jihadis have the edge.

“We don’t have an example of a big win in counterinsurgency, and it’s difficult to achieve that in the current environment because for an insurgency to win they just need to stay alive,” said Vjatseslav Senin, senior national representative for the 70 Estonian troops who are fighting alongside the French in Barkhane.

Some of those living in the Sahel fear what hard-fought gains have been made will unravel all too quickly.

Ali Toure, a Malian working in the French military base in Gao warned that “if the French army leaves Mali, jihadis will enter within two weeks and destroy the country.”

Source: Voice of America