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REPORT

SIERRA LEONEThe lights go on

DOSSIER

Fisheries.Problems

in ACPwaters

Biofuels More questions

than answers

C urierThe

The magazine of Africa - Caribbean - Pacific & European Union cooperation and relations

N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008

REPORT


DOSSIER

Fisheries.Problems

in ACPwaters


than answers

Not for saleISSN 1784-6803

Editorial CommitteeCo-presidents Sir John Kaputin, Secretary GeneralSecretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States www.acp.intMr Stefano Manservisi, Director General of DG Development European Commission ec.europa.eu/development/

Editorial staffDirector and Editor-in-chief Hegel Goutier

Contributors Debra Percival

Editorial Assistant and ProductionJoshua Massarenti

Contributed in this issueMarie-Martine Buckens, Sandra Federici, Gibril Foday-Musa, T. T. Fons, Béatrice Gorez,Gaoussou Gueye, Andrea Marchesini Reggiani, François Misser

Public Relations and Artistic coordinationPublic RelationsAndrea Marchesini Reggiani (Public Relations Manager and Responsible for NGOs’ andexperts’ network) Joan Ruiz Valero (Responsible for Networking with EU and National Institutions)

Artistic CoordinationSandra Federici

Graphic Conception, LayoutOrazio Metello OrsiniLucia Gervasio - arketipa

Contract ManagerClaudia RechtenTracey D’Afters

CoverMan sells aluminium cooking pots made from recycled material inFreetown, Sierra Leone, 2008 © Debra PercivalBack CoverOn the right: Ismail Farouk, Entrance to the Jack Mincer Taxi Rank &Park Central Filling Station, Shot from the Drill Hall, Video, colour,2006. Courtesy of the artist On the left: Ismail Farouk, GHB626GP, 2006. Courtesy of the artist

ContactThe Courier 45, Rue de Trèves1040 BrusselsBelgium (EU)[email protected] : +32 2 2374392Fax : +32 2 2801406

Published every two months in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese

For information on subscription,Go to our website www.acp-eucourier.info or contact [email protected]

Publisher responsible Hegel Goutier

ConsortiumGopa-Cartermill - Grand Angle - Lai-momo

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the official view of the EC nor ofthe ACP countries.

The consortium and the editorial staff decline all responsibility for the articles written by externalcontributors.

The magazine of Africa - Caribbean - Pacific& European Union cooperation and relations

C urierThe

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EDITORIAL

Old fears return 3

TO THE POINT

In the driving seat of the Caribbean ‘Machinery’. Meeting with Dr Richard Bernal 4

ROUND UP 6

DOSSIER

Fishing: in search of a sustainable model

Open warfare on “illegal, undeclared, unregulated” fishing 11

New Partnership Agreements 13

The controversial example of Mauritania 15

ACP small-scale fishing: the most effective for the new millennium 18

Local fishing in Senegal: quality and traceability challenges 19

INTERACTION

Figureheads of ACP-EU cooperation 21

TRADE

Debate ignites on market for biofuels 25

ZOOM

A day in the life of King Fisher 26

OUR PLANET

Dam under close watch 28

REPORTSierra Leone

From peacebreaking to peacemaking 30

The business of governance 33

A two-way opposition 35

Government digs deep to reform mining 36

Focus on farming as rice price rises 38

Rising to the environmental challenge 40

EU funding to underpin stability 42

Is tourism a stirring lion? 43

DISCOVERING EUROPE Cyprus and Malta

Cyprus – a meeting and mixing of cultures 44

Economic miracle 46

The Planning Bureau, architect of the economic miracle at the service of development 47

Cypriot identities 48

Stelios Ieronimidis. Deputy Mayor of Nicosia 49

The beauty and charm of three continents 50

As if Malta was master of its own history 52

The soul of Malta. Opening and closing 54

A smart economy with no fear of globalisation 56

Malta – past and present 58

CREATIVITY

Contemporary photography from the DRC. Congo Eza – prints of dreams and realities 59

Young art from South Africa 60

Support programme to cultural industries in ACP countries 61

Danzas des deux mondes. Classical music in the mix 62

FOR YOUNG READERS

Goorgoorlou, the fisherman 63

YOUR SAY/CALENDAR 64

Table of contentsTHE COURIER, N. 5 NEW EDITION (N.E.)

C urierThe




EditorialOcchiello

3

Adeeply-rooted ancestral fear – that of suf-fering through famine – was awakened byworldwide skirmishes which were quicklydubbed “hunger riots”. Even better-off

countries that seemed to have protected themselvesagainst this sort of scourge were affected. As newsseeped through, increasingly tense words were used toput across the increasing manifestations of fear:demonstrations in Egypt, riots in Cameroon, BurkinaFaso, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Côte d’Ivoire, and vio-lent clashes in Haiti.

Watching these events unfold, some may recall thatthe rich economic blocs were originally created toprotect against famine. In the past, the EuropeanUnion allocated up to two-thirds of its budget to itsagricultural policy. This was the price for peace ofmind over the fear of hunger that cruelly played onthe minds of those who had known such sufferingand which was stamped on their collective memory.Others recall that while in the past no country hadever become rich through scrupulous respect fornature, good governance or human rights, thedemands placed on poor countries today to meet suchexpectations are unparalleled.

Today still the major economic powers are the onesthat have managed to feed themselves rather thanthose with exportable raw materials, whether oil ordiamonds. This is not simply a matter of good gover-nance. Both China and India are entering the circles ofthe powerful, but only after firstly becoming moresuccessful at feeding their own populations. And Indiahad already been providing engineers and mathemati-cians to the world for some time.

Until recently that which had been little cause for con-cern was quickly shown in its true dimensions: as aglobal disaster. European Development Commissioner,Louis Michel, who in the past had already expressedhis concern, now described this as a “tsunami.”Moreover, the World Food Programme (WFP) alreadysounded the alarm back in March, a month before theoutbreaks.

But how many of the forecasters, economists and ana-lysts saw anything coming, despite the fact that there’snothing really new to all this in the countries affected?In Haiti, for example, under the first presidency ofRené Préval in the late 1990s, rice fields vanished.Haiti is a country that was at one time a net exporterof rice. The blame for this was put on irrigation prob-lems, but was above all it was due to the actions of USagro-food giants that sold their rice below the localproduction price until Haitian farmers were finallyforced out of business.

Of course, explanations existed: bad governance, lackof freedom, low quality education and health. Whilesuch reasons are all valid, they do not alone suffice.Then there were the advice given to many emergingeconomies when it seemed that economic develop-ment was being held back by rising energy prices. Thesolution? More biodiesel had to be produced – but itseems that the soya, palm oil or maize used to manu-facture the product came at the expense of cropsgrown for food. Of course, biodiesel initially won overas it commanded a higher price. This is an economicgame that can prove extremely dangerous and lead tospiralling food prices. The road to hell really is pavedwith good intentions. This issue of The Courier looksat the dilemma.

We also report on Sierra Leone, a country at the verybottom of the UNDP development rankings. It is todaya place of hope: the expansion of electricity in thecountry coinciding with a new government in office.Although the nation’s agriculture minister is beingwooed to produce biofuel from palm oil, he wouldrather think this through before making a final deci-sion. It would appear he is not ready to let the ‘goldencalf’ of energy take the place of staple foodstuffs likerice and cocoa. There is light in such uncertainty.

Hegel GoutierEditor-in-chief

Old fears return

Gulda El Magamba, Sanga divination ceremonies from "Congo Eza", Africalia Editions & Roularta Books.

Courtesy of Africalia. Website: www.africalia.be

Old fears return: suffering from famine. How many of the forecasters,economists and analysts saw anything coming?


To the point Occhiello

54

T o the point

were to resort to the Generalised System ofPreferences (GSP), to negotiate a new marketaccess arrangement for goods only, or to nego-tiate a complete EPA.

The region, recognising the market potential inservices and investment, decided that a full EPAwas its best option. The negotiations were com-pleted on 16 December 2007 not because ofexternal pressure, but rather because the nego-tiators and the heads were confident that theAgreement was a good one and that the man-date had been achieved.

Is the EPA challenge-proof in the WTO?

In law, successful litigation is generally depend-ent upon two variables: the interpretation of thelaw and the credibility of arguments presentedby the challenger and by the defence. The WTOis no exception. Therefore, it is possible thatchallenges to the EPA from WTO membershipcould arise. Some elements of the rules of theWTO are ambiguous and have not been conclu-sively tested and interpreted within WTOjurisprudence. This ambiguity facilitatesavenues for challenge, especially from compet-ing developed countries and non-ACP develop-ing countries. At the same time, legal ambigui-ty provides latitude for liberal interpretationsand the application of the legal principle.

The whole purpose of entering into negotiationswas an arrangement which, in contrast to theCotonou preferences that required a waiver,would be compatible with the rules of theWTO. We have been careful to negotiate anAgreement that would secure our trading inter-ests but that could survive legal scrutiny.

What are the benefits of the EPA for Caribbeanpeople?

One of the most immediate benefits of the EPAis that it allows CARIFORUM to avoid facingthe GSP, which would have been significantlyless advantageous than the EPA. Certainly keyCARIFORUM industries, such as the bananaindustry, would have suffered if no EPA was inplace because there is no coverage for bananasunder the GSP.

Additionally, in the short to medium term, tariffreductions could lead to the depreciation ofsome prices of goods and services, which mayresult in savings to the consumer. Falling retailprices would also lower the production costs ofCARIFORUM producers whose productionprocesses and inputs are highly dependent uponimports.

In the long term, the EPA secures CARIFO-RUM preferential market access to Europe,across both traditional and new sectors in goodsand services in a form that is consistent withWTO rules.

What about the tariff revenue losses for ACPgovernments?

The commitment to liberalise means that bothCARIFORUM and Europe will have to removeimport duties from certain goods. This will leadto a loss of revenue originating from these tar-iffs. CARIFORUM is expected to liberalise asmuch as 80 per cent of all goods imported fromEurope. However, the commitment to removetariffs is not immediate for CARIFORUM.Whereas Europe is expected to immediatelyremove duties and quota restrictions for allgoods except rice and sugar, CARIFORUM isallowed several phasing schedules before it isnecessary for products to become completelyduty free. For some products, CARIFORUM isallowed to delay liberalisation by 5, 10 or 15years, and in some other cases up to 25 years.Furthermore, the EPA provides a list of productswhich will be exempted from liberalisation.

Under a trade agreement like the EPA, it isexpected that any revenue losses will be com-pensated by capitalisation of the market accessopportunities available to firms. However,CARIFORUM adjustment to revenue losscaused by liberalisation can be realised furtherby reforming tax systems with the aim of tran-sitioning away from taxes that impede tradeflows to other forms of taxation.

What sort of development aid is needed tounderpin the EPA?

Successful implementation of the Agreementwithin CARIFORUM hinges upon the expres-

sion and implementation of financial and non-financial development support and cooperation.

The EPA’s development support measures andpriorities are broadly outlined in a chapter ondevelopment but are more specifically detailedin individual chapters related to the particulartrade subjects under the Agreement. Definingthe formulation and implementation of specificdevelopment support projects must be precededby a process of needs assessment. This processof needs assessment, though not complete,started even before the conclusion of the EPAnegotiations. The evaluation of the costs ofimplementation will be determined through thisprocess. It is up to the Member States to deter-mine what these projects will be.

And the monitoring?

Monitoring of the implementation of the EPA isto be facilitated through participatory processesat the national levels of CARIFORUM andEurope. However, the EPA also includes certaininstitutional provisions. Such provisionsinclude the establishment of the Joint CARIFO-RUM-EU Council, the CARIFORUM-EUTrade and Development Committee and theCARIFORUM-EU Parliamentary Committee.�

For further information, go to www.crnm.org andwww.eu.europa.eu/trade

* CRNM Director-General** CARIFORUM is the Caribbean Forum of the African,Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, which includesmembers of the CARICOM regional grouping: Bahamas,Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti,Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Surinam,Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.The EU initialled an EPA on 16 December 2007 with allCARIFORUM States apart from Cuba.

To what extent is the EPA’s successfulconclusion due to the CRNM?

The CRNM has had a coordinatingrole in facilitating the development of regionalnegotiating positions. Such coordination hasincluded facilitating consultations with stake-holders, research and technical work. The suc-cessful conclusion of the EPA is owed thereforein part to the technical labour undertaken by thenegotiators and the CRNM, but more impor-tantly to the Member States, which were ulti-mately responsible for determining the negoti-ating mandate and guiding the negotiatorsthroughout the process.

‘Machinery’ implies an onward march, no mat-ter what.

When one gets into one’s car, there is a reason-able expectation that the car will start once thekey is engaged. Similarly, the expectation of thenegotiating ‘machinery’ is that it too will func-

tion properly and consistently as the nature andscope of CARIFORUM foreign trade policyevolves.

Did you feel rushed into signing up for an EPA?

The implications of the elimination of thenon-reciprocal trade preferences under theCotonou Agreementwere very real for ourregion. The threeprincipal options

IINN TTHHEE DDRRIIVVIINNGG SSEEAATT OOFF TTHHEE CCAARRIIBBBBEEAANN‘‘MMAACCHHIINNEERRYY’’MMEEEETTIINNGG WWIITTHH DDRRRRIICCHHAARRDD BBEERRNNAALL**

Debra Percival

Fourteen members of CARIFORUM** belong to the only regional grouping of ACPnations which have, to date, initialled a fully-fledged European PartnershipAgreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). This is seen as a tribute to theJamaica-based Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), set up in1997 by heads of government of CARICOM – the Guyana-based regional organ-isation promoting integration of the Caribbean people – to pool resources andcoordinate all trade talks with partners. The new CARIFORUM-EU Agreementwas to be signed in spring 2008 with ‘provisional application’ in July. Director-General of the CRNM, economist Dr Richard Bernal, speaks to The Courier.

KeywordsDebra Percival; Richard Bernal; CARICOM;EPA; CRNM.

Bernal (on the right) signingthe EPA agreement with Karl

Falkenberg, the DeputyDirector General for Trade at

the European Commission. To the rear, Kusha Haraksingh,

lead negotiator on EPA legal issues with the

College of Negotiators. Wayne Lewis

Centre: Ambassador Richard Bernal; on his right, Henry Gill, Senior Technical Director of the Caribbean RegionalNegotiating Machinery (CRNM); on his left Junior Lodge, the CRNM’s senior co-ordinator based in Brussels. © Wayne Lewis


Round upOcchiello

7

R ound up

The Solomon Islands’ parliament passed on 13 December amotion of no confidence in the government, prompting the res-ignation of its leader, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. Aweek later, his newly installed successor, Derek Sikua, was

warmly welcomed by the international community and, above all, byAustralia who agreed to step up cooperation, thus putting an end to thetension that has soured relations between the two countries.

Most importantly, one of the new governmentleader’s first actions was to travel toMalaita to offer his apologies to the localpopulation for “the offences and injus-tices” perpetrated against them during therecent ethnic conflicts. Disputes betweennatives of this province and theinhabitants of the island ofGuadalcanal weremainly respon-sible for

plunging the country into a protracted crisis that began in the early 1990s.Derek Sikua’s call for a major reconciliation effort was accompanied by arequest for negotiations with the Malaita Province executive in order toget major development projects back on track, including the Aulauta palmoil project, long-awaited on the island.

> The notion of ‘wantok’When The Courier visited the Solomon Islands a few months ago, for-mer Prime Minister Sogavare (still in office at the time) strongly empha-sised the bitterness of his government’s relations with Australia – insin-uating that the country was seeking to impose solutions which took noaccount of the culture and customs of the Solomon Islands.

It is important to understand how the situation in the Solomons hascome about: the notion of wantok (literally ‘one talk’). Wantok

refers to those who speak the same language and thus ofthe same clan. This means a duty of solidarity to fel-

low clan members often up to the boundaries ofwhat’s lawful. This notion is deeply root-

ed in the Melanesian culture of mostof the inhabitants of the

Solomon Islands. What’smore, the dozen or

so islands thatmake up

SSLLOOWWLLYYEEMMEERRGGIINNGG FFRROOMM AAPPRROOTTRRAACCTTEEDD CCRRIISSIISS

Hegel Goutier

On 13 December, the Solomon Islands’ parliament elected a new prime minister, fol-lowing a motion of no confidence in his predecessor. This time, the democratic ruleswere respected without any skirmishes, unlike unfortunate events in the country’srecent past. Tensions with the nation’s powerful neighbour, Australia, quickly eased.There now finally appears to be progress in the long process of exiting the crisis.

this country – which only came together as one nation with independence– are inhabited by many different clans, many of whom are historicallyantagonistic towards one another. About 70 languages are spoken by thecountry’s estimated 540,000 population, with each language totally dif-ferent from another.

The process of unification only really started during the Second WorldWar, when the region (and Guadalcanal in particular) was the epicentre ofone of the most dramatic and decisive clashes between Japanese and USforces. Here the Japanese finally lost the war and it was the huts at theHoniara military airport that formed the basis of the future capital,Honiara. Together with the other islands grouped around Guadalcanal, thestate of the Solomon Islands was formed, despite having no real sharedhistory, and was granted independence from the United Kingdom in 1978.

The wantok practiced by politicians in positions of power has often beenviewed by donor countries as a symbol of bad governance, which helpsto explain some misunderstandings, if not serious tensions.

> Repeated troubles Tensions between the Malaitans and the population of Guadalcanalquickly marked the short history of the new state. To put this into con-text, the population density on Malaita is relatively high but economicopportunities are relatively low compared to neighbouring Guadalcanal,which is the seat of political power and where a large part of the Malaitapopulation emigrated.

The first major troubles date back to the late 1990s and originate in con-flicts between the inhabitants of Malaita who had settled in the provinceof Guadalcanal and the local indigenous population. The Gwale peopleof Guadalcanal, the most prosperous of the Solomon Islands, started toprotest strongly at what they considered to be an invasion by people fromother islands (especially Malaita), accusing them not only of stealingtheir land but also their jobs. Paramilitary groups were formed. The firstof these was the Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army (GRA) which intimi-dated the Malaitan ‘immigrants’, forcing them to flee the rural areas intheir thousands, to either the capital or their place of origin. In responseto the intimidation by this group of extreme nationalists the MalaitanEagle Force created in June 2000, staged what amounted to a coup d’e-tat when they seized the prime minister. This in turn gave rise to a newGwale paramilitary group, the Isatabu Freedom Fighters (replacing theGRA), who assassinated a member of the new government. The resultingviolence in the country cost hundreds of lives.

Two successive peace agreements between the warring parties pro-duced no lasting solutions and in April 2000 further conflict erupted inthe Western Province. The background to this latest crisis was theunsustainable exploitation of the forests by foreign (principally Asian)companies who – in addition to their impact on the environment, theeconomy and good governance – also affected the country’s cultureand customs. On several of the region’s islands (includingGuadalcanal) land ownership is traditionally handed down among thewomen of the family. The logging companies were however accusedof conducting irregular transactions with some of the village officialsand dispossessing women. This sparked a series of mass demonstra-tions by the female population, who were also reportedly the victimsof violence at the hands of private security guards employed on someof the plantations. Explaining the situation to The Courier, EllaKauhue, Secretary General of the National Council of Women, noted

National Museum and culturalCenter, Honiara. © Hegel Goutier

Guadalcanal Memorial. © Hegel Goutier

Smoke in the bush, near Honiara. © Hegel Goutier The background tothe latest crisis was the unsustainable exploitation of the forest

Parliament, Honiara. © Hegel Goutier"The recent political leadership crisis hasdemonstrated the strength of our fundamentaldemocratic institution", says PM Derek Sikua

6

© South Pacific Tourism organisation


Round upOcchiello

8

that “in Guadalcanal for instance, there is matrilineal rule. Women ownthe land. But often, when they allow foreigners to come, women don’tparticipate in the decision, so the men receive huge amounts of money.They travel, spend the money and then go back to the village.”

In April 2003, the Pacific Island States decided, within the framework ofthe Biketawa Declarationi, to send a policing mission to the SolomonIslands – RAMSI (Regional Assistance to the Solomon Islands) – underthe command of Australia who supplied 80 per cent of the manpower,with units from New Zealand and other Pacific islands also contributingand Australia funding the units from Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

RAMSI managed to restore order, despite sporadic troubles. However,after elections that passed off relatively peacefully in 2006, the primeminister – elected with a large majority based on the country’s three prin-cipal parties – was forced to resign following several days of rioting.Accusations of links with corruption were levelled against the prime min-ister. Particular anger was directed at Asian businesses active in forestmanagement, particularly the Taiwanese. During these riots Honiara’sChinatown among other places, was destroyed.

A new prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare (who was still in office whenThe Courier visited) seemed to meet with the rioter’s approval and waselected. However, his relations with some sections of the internationalcommunity (particularly Australia) were very strained. The main reasonfor this was his appointment to government of two figures who wereaccused of involvement in organising the riots. The European Union dis-approval came in a statement published in May 2006. Under internation-

al pressure, these appointments were finally overturned but relations withAustralia remained acrimonious due to other contested appointments. MrSogavare had previously been prime minister in the wake of a coup d’e-tat in 2000 until December 2001.

On 13 December, a no-confidence vote in parliament forced Sogavare toresign and on 20 December he was replaced by Derek Sikua. Sogavare isnow opposition leader. Rarely since the 1999 crisis has a change of gov-ernment been so peaceful and violence-free in both the towns and sur-rounding countryside. For the new prime minister and his government, thisis a sign that the democratic institutions have gained in strength: “therecent political leadership crisis has demonstrated the strength of our fun-damental democratic institutions to ensure a just and democratic outcome.”

Indeed, since the arrival of the RAMSI forces, the rules of democracyhave been respected but often in a volatile atmosphere and fairly seriousunrest. This does not bode well for a total resolution of the crisis and theeventual departure of the RAMSI forces. Nevertheless, many people sawthe applause of the crowds on Malaita for the new prime minister as asign of the beginning of genuine national reconciliation. It is to be hopedthat the present détente is not followed by further prevarication and hic-cups on the road to democracy. �

1 The Biketawa Declaration, adopted in October 2000 by the Pacific Islands Forum, laidthe basis for a coordinated response to regional crises.

Round up Occhiello

José Manuel Barroso, President of theEuropean Commission, has called on EUMember States to up their respectiveOverseas Development Assistance

(ODA) if the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) are to be met. They includehalving extreme global poverty by 2015.Barroso told a Brussels press conference 9April: “We are doing well on aid effectivenessbut we have to be honest and admit that our2007 aid volume performance is simply notgood enough.”The call for more aid is contained in part an EUpaper, ‘EU as a global partner for development’released by Barroso 9 April to get talks startedon a common EU position for the High LevelForum of Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana inSeptember and the Doha Financing forDevelopment Conference in December.For the first time since 2000 the combinedoverseas aid from 27 EU Member States to alldeveloping nations fell to €46.1 billion in 2007compared with €47.7 billion in 2006.Recent figures from the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation and Development(OECD) reveal that aid fell in 2007 from thefollowing states who are traditionally large con-tributors by volume: Belgium (-11.2 per cent),

France (-15.9 per cent), Italy (-3.6 per cent),Portugal (-9.4 per cent), Sweden (-2.6 per cent)and the United Kingdom (-29.1 per cent).The following states gave more in 2007:Germany (+5.9 per cent), Ireland (+4.6 percent), Luxembourg (+11.7 per cent), Spain(+33.8 per cent), Austria (+7.6 per cent),Denmark (+2.9 per cent), Finland (+5.5 percent), Greece (+5.3 per cent) and theNetherlands (+3.1 per cent).President Barroso said the EuropeanCommission had a leadership role in meetingthe MDGs and asked Member States to specifyannual development spending up to 2015. Thismessage would be taken to the June meeting ofEU Heads of State in Slovenia and the group ofeight most industrialised nations (G8) in July inJapan, he said.Member States were also asked to contribute toa new annual European Commission annualbudget line of €2 billion for ‘Aid for Trade’ upto 2010, half of which will come from theCommission and the rest from EU MemberStates. It will finance such as infrastructure toboost regional trade in developing nations andAfrican, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states areexpected to be big beneficiaries.Larger amounts of aid are just one part of the‘global partner’ paper which also stressesimproved aid effectiveness. Here a lot ofprogress had been made with EU MemberStates taking joint planning decisions, LouisMichel, EU Commissioner for Development,told journalists on 9 April. In Somalia six EUcountries and Norway coordinate aid. Michelalso gave his backing to budget support whichcreated, “a relationship of confidence betweenequals.” Forty-seven per cent of the €22.6 bil-lion 10th EDF (2008-2013) is earmarked forbudget aid in ACP nations.And the paper urges more synergy betweendevelopment and other EU policies to avoid sit-uations where they are at odds with eachother,a case in point being biofuels. (See article onbiofuels in trade rubric). D.P. �

EEUU MMeemmbbeerr SSttaattee aaiidd ccuuttsstthhrreeaatteenn PPOOVVEERRTTYY pplleeddggeess

GGEEEERREEFFAAGGAAIINNSSTT CCLLIIMMAATTEECCHHAANNGGEEGEEREF stands for the Global Energy

Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Fund. It is a new EU fund set up for small-

scale projects that improve energy effi-

ciency or promote renewable energy in

developing countries and economies in

transition, reducing climate change. The

EU Commission is to put in €80M over

the next four years to kick-start the fund

and trigger private investment. Projects

using environmentally sound technology

that has a proven track record will be

given priority. ACP nationals are eligible.

D.P. � �

KeywordsSolomon Islands; Pacific; forestry; governance; Sogavare; Derek Sikua.

KeywordsDebra Percival; MDGs; Aid; José ManuelBarroso; Louis Michel.

9

Save the Children anti-Aidscampaign. © Hegel Goutier

Honiara market.© Hegel Goutier

Petrol station in the Chinese quarter,Honaria. © Hegel Goutier

Particular anger was directed atAsian Business. During the riots,Honiara's Chinatown was destroyed

Out at sea from Honaria. © Hegel Goutier A young girl learning the Koran in

Freetown, 12 August 2004.© IRIN

Climate Action logo. © EC

DossierFishing

10

D ossier

The fishing sector in the coastal states of Africa, the Caribbeanand the Pacific is going through turbulent times and facingmultiple challenges. These include whether to include thesector in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), put-

ting in place adequate structures to ensure sustainable fishing by bothlocal and foreign fleets (particularly European fleets), and the viabilityof local fisheries – vital in coastal countries such as Senegal, Mauritaniaand several Caribbean countries.

As a backdrop to this there is the new proposal put forward by theEuropean Commission in October 2007 to combat illegal fishing – anepidemic of such proportions that it has now become an internationalpriority. Indeed, the challenges are so great that we decided in this dos-sier to focus on three pressing issues: the battle against illegal fishing,the exemplary partnership agreement on fishing between the EU andMauritania, and local fishing activities. �

FISHING,in search of a sustainable model by Marie-Martine Buckens

“For the ACP countries – and our relations with them –the issue of illegal fishing is of great importance,”explains Cesar Deben. He continues, “…in as much aswe are seeing an increase in this type of fishing and

Europe plays a major role in the fact that we are the biggest growthmarket (even with the emergence of Russia and China) for quality pro-ducts.”

The EU is a big player in the international fish product industry. In2003, the quantity imported by the then 25 Member States was more

than 10 million tonnes totalling some €24 billion. In the same year, theEU exported just 6 million tonnes of fish products – a total value ofaround €14 billion. The EU is, hence, a net importer of these productsand this is a growing trend. This is why, over a period of time, the EUhas concluded fishing agreements with various ACP coastal states.

They include mixed agreements (permitting different species to becaught), in particular with West African States close to European coast-lines (especially the Spanish coast), and tuna fishing agreements withIndian Ocean countries (primarily the Seychelles and the Comoros) and

Open warfare on“illegal, undeclared,unregulated” fishing The EU has decided to attack a crisis head-on that could affect almost a fifth of theglobal volume of fishing: illegal practices. This initiative is headed by Cesar DebenAlfonso, Director of monitoring and implementation at the Directorate-General ofFishing and Maritime Affairs at the European Commission.

N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008 1111

Fish drying racks in Cap Skirring,Casamance, Senegal © EU Delegation Senegal

Inspectors arrive to control a fishing boat, 2002. © EC


DossierFishing

1312

countries of the Pacific Ocean (the SolomonIslands, Kiribati and the federated states ofMicronesia), which is one of the regions richin migratory species.

Above all, these agreements aim to ensure reg-ular stocks for the European fleet. However,the international market in fish products hasgrown to such a size that ever-increasing num-bers of pirates roam the seas, lured by thelucrative profits to be made by those whodon’t observe the rules (fishing methods andquotas) which are imposed on legal boats.

> An enormous task

“There are three reasons why we are tacklingthis enormous task,” says Cesar Deben. “Firstof all, it’s about preserving a resource.Secondly, the rules that we put on the table inOctober 2007 offer a framework of coopera-tion, particularly with ACP countries, as theyare the primary victims since they lack thestructural capability to confront this threat anddeal with corruption. Therefore we must bearin mind that controlling fishing activityinvolves huge costs that many countries areunable to meet. Thirdly, we want to putEuropean fleets on an equal footing with third-country fleets.” He continues, “Our fleets arethe most regulated in the world and they mustbe allowed to operate under conditions of faircompetition.”

The toughness of the regulation is illustratedby the requirement for EU boats to carry a‘blue box’ on board (so they can be located bysatellite) and an electronic logbook, to be ingeneral use from 2009.

However, Cesar Deben recognises that illegalfishing affects all fleets, whether in the form ofcompanies created in third countries or the useof certain flags of convenience.

> Restrictive measures

To date, the EU has backed the adoption ofvarious measures of regional fishing organisa-tions to combat illegal fishing, but this is thefirst time that legally binding measures (in theform of EU Council rulings) can be adopted byEuropean Fisheries Ministers. So, what arethey? The first is aimed at attacking the statusof flags of convenience.

Notes Deben: “The Maritime Law states thatcountries are responsible for the activities ofships that sail under their flags and we have toensure that this obligation is fully upheld.”

Happily, says Deben, cases are becoming rareras countries like Equatorial Guinea, theDominican Republic, Belize and Panamaabandon the practice. “But there are still manyothers.” He adds, “We want to deal with thison two fronts. Firstly to compel states tostrengthen their controls – if they don’t coop-erate we will not accept their products atEuropean ports. Then we want to change thelegal framework by reversing the burden ofproof, so that boats wishing to export toEurope must prove that their catches are legal– normal practice in the United States. Tomake this possible, the rules provide for a cer-tification mechanism, which already exists fortuna fishing, and countries that don’t cooper-ate could be ‘decertified’.”

So, it will not be a case of drawing up a black-list of pirate boats, but rather of withdrawingan automatic right. “There are already ade-quate rules, adding a legal requirement suf-fices,” says Deben.

> Accompanying measures

“The mechanisms to make this work,” contin-ues Cesar Deben, “must also respect World

Trade Organisation rules, and must not havenegative repercussions for developing countryexporters. The main ACP exporters of fishproducts to Europe are South Africa andNamibia, followed by various West Africancountries, specifically Mauritania. On thatbasis it is estimated that 80 per cent of fishproducts stay in Africa as frozen products.”

Many of these exporting countries are also themain victims of illegal fishing and the Asianfleets that fish without a licence in their watershave become a real scourge. The EU is nowdrawing up financial incentives to help coun-tries maintain legal fishing activities.Financial aid is included in the PartnershipAgreements drawn up between the EU andsome ACP states (destined, admittedly, tobecome fewer in number).

Suggests Deben: “We can expect long delayswhile waiting for countries to fall in line justlike with the accompanying measures, espe-cially in the training of customs officers.”These measures could be funded by theEuropean Development Fund (EDF) or theCommon Fisheries Policy (CFP).

“Overall these proposals have been wellreceived, both by NGOs and the EuropeanParliament, as well as the European Economicand Social Committee,” concludes CesarDeben. And not just by the Europeans, but alsoby the EU’s prime competitors in the sector,notably Norway, the United States and China.Even the Chinese seem willing to cooperate –an important factor since the rules envisagethe creation of an international network.M.M.B. �

New PartnershipAGREEMENTSThe EU’s former ‘fish, pay and go’ policy for bilateralfishing agreements with ACP countries is no more. It hasbeen replaced by Fishing Partnership Agreements (FPA)focused on sustainable development.

The introduction of these FPAs is forboth commercial and ecologicalreasons. The new generation ofagreements addresses the ongoing

over-exploitation of resources. According tothe European Commission, new World TradeOrganisation (WTO) regulations on aid to thefishing industry do not mean that the, “EU’sfinancial contribution should be considered asa subsidy for European fishermen.” It goes onto say that “…. in future, the EU’s financialcontribution will have to be regarded as an

investment to ensure responsible fishing andtherefore be based on new considerations”.This transformation of fishing agreements intoFishing Partnership Agreements is a recentdevelopment – most of the FPAs have onlybeen in place for a year.

But some things haven’t changed. The mainaim of the FPAs, as with the former previousbilateral agreements, is to provide Europeanfleets with access to the territorial waters ofcertain coastal states. In the 1970s most

coastal states established exclusive economiczones, extending their jurisdiction at sea froma distance of between 3 and 12 nautical milesto 200 nautical miles. This move put almost 90per cent of the world’s fish stocks under thecontrol of these coastal states. As a result, thefishing fleets of the EU Member States, whichtraditionally operated in the waters of thirdcountries, suddenly found themselves exclud-ed from these areas. To solve this issue, the EUsigned fishing agreements with the third coun-tries involved to ensure access for its fleets. Inaddition, ever since Spain and Portugal joinedthe EU in 1986, their national bilateral agree-ments have gradually been replaced by the EUagreements. However, national bilateral agree-ments are still in place where the EU does nothave fishing agreements, for example withSouth Africa.

> Ensuring access

According to the Technical Centre forAgricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), theEU’s policy on fishing in third countries –aimed at protecting the EU’s interests in thefishing sector – has been the driving force inKeywords

Marie-Martine Buckens; illegal fishing;Cesar Deben; European Commission; ACP;WTO; European fleet.

Dossier Fishing

Another inspection on a fishing vessel, 2002. © EC

Octopus © Lauri Dammert. Image from BigstockPhoto.com

Tuna are amongst fish stocks in the waters of ACP coastal states of interest to EU fleets.

© Chrissie Shepherd. Image from BigstockPhoto.com


DossierFishing

1514

ACP-EU relations in the fishing industry. TheEU concluded 14 fishing agreements with ACPcountries in July 2007 involving the paymentof financial compensation. In return, the EUfleets obtained access to resources that, in the-ory, are not used by the coastal state concernedand are often referred to as ‘surplus resources’.

> Primarily Spanish interests

A study carried out in 2005 by the UK’sDepartment for International Development(DFID) gave the main reasons for the EU sign-ing fishing agreements as:

- to supply the EU’s fish processing industrywith raw materials. This took into accountthe huge demand on the EU market and thepoor supply in EU waters mainly caused byoverfishing. Currently, the EU has to importabout 60 per cent of the fish it consumes andsince 2000 has had to import an additional 9million tonnes of fish annually to meet thedemand of the fish processing industry and

EU consumers. The added value created bythe ACP-EU agreements through the pro-cessing and sale of fish in the Member Statesis estimated at €694 million.

- to maintain fishing capacity outside EUwaters. In the 1990s, the ACP-EU fishingagreements authorised 800 EU vessels tofish in the waters of developing countries.This fishing, created through the ACP-EUagreements, has increased over the years fortechnological reasons.

- to protect employment in the EU. Some35,000 jobs depend on the ACP-EU fishingagreements, mainly in the EU’s fish process-ing industry.

The Spanish are the main beneficiaries of theagreements between the ACP countries and theEU, with more than 80 per cent of the addedvalue and the employment. Additionally,France and Portugal receive about 7 per cent.In 2006, the total budget of the fishing agree-ments was €240M and expenditure in 2006 onthe main ACP-EU fishing agreements was:

- €86M for the EU-Mauritania agreement; - €7.2M for the EU-Guinea-Bissau agreement;- €4.12M for the EU-Seychelles agreement; - €3.9M for the EU-Guinea agreement.

Fish stocks in the waters of the ACP coastalstates of interest to the EU fleets can be dividedinto three main categories:

- Demersal species: mainly octopus, sole,prawns, snapper, hake;

- Small pelagic species: sardinellas, horsemackerel/scads, sardines, pilchards;

- All tuna species.

> The FPAs: root of all evil?

Some observers believe that the new FishingPartnership Agreements the EU is currentlynegotiating with ACP coastal countries (toreplace bilateral agreements) will be the “root ofall evil” and will only further encourage illegalfishing. The CTA disagrees, highlighting theexample of Spanish trawlers fishing in SouthAfrican waters with the approval of the SouthAfrican Marine and Coastal Management(MCM), who get around the reduction in thequantities of hake fished (required by currentquotas) by processing the hake into sausage. TheCTA points out that, “in the case of SouthAfrica, the absence of a fishing agreement hasnot prevented some European ship owners fromaccessing South African fishing waters”. Theyconclude that, “Private agreements often resultin situations that are neither beneficial to thelocal populations in the ACP nor to levels of fishstocks.” M.M.B. �

Dossier Fishing

In December 2007, the European Commission revoked the agreementbetween the EU and Mauritania, as “EU ship owners were notmaking full use of the opportunities for fishing.” A series of techni-cal meetings have since been planned to ensure the new agreement

is, in the words of the Commission, “more in line with the size of the EUfishing fleet in Mauritanian waters and better meets Mauritania’s require-ments with regard to the development of its national fishing sector.” On 19February this year, EU fisheries ministers gave their backing to theCommission to determine “fishing opportunities for EU vessels in such away as to ensure a balance between these quotas and the financial reim-bursement to Mauritania. ” In short, this meant reviewing the EU’s finan-cial contribution to allow its fleets to fish in Mauritanian waters. The EUCouncil of Ministers also indicated that the two parties should engage in

“consultation to ensure the adoption of measures aimed at sustainablemanagement of Mauritanian marine resources, taking into account the bestscientific opinion available in particular over the state of fish stocks.” Theinitial Fishing Partnership Agreement (FPA) between the EU andMauritania was drawn up in 1987. The latest agreement was concluded forthe period 2006-2012. The protocol establishing fishing opportunities andfinancial reimbursement was signed for a period of two years and enteredinto force on 1 August 2006. At the end of the first year of this agreement,the European Commission indicated that the fishing opportunities grantedto the Member States were insufficient.

The EU-Mauritania Fishing Partnership Agreement is designed to set anexample. It is the most important fishing agreement that the European

The controversial example of

MAURITANIAProviding access to resources and ensuring sustainable development at the same timecan sometimes prove impossible. This has been highlighted by the difficulties encoun-tered in implementing the partnership agreement between the EU and Mauritania.

KeywordsMarie-Martine Buckens; FishingPartnership Agreements (FPA); ACP;European fleet; overfishing; CTA.

An industrial fishing vessel© iStockphoto.com/rramirez125

Port of Kalaban Koro, near Bamako, Mali. © Anne-SophieCostenoble Courtesy of the photographer. Contact: [email protected]

Boats off the Mauritian coast. © EU Delegation


DossierFishing

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Union has ever concluded with a third country – not least in financialterms, as the EU’s contribution is €86 million a year, or around a third ofMauritania’s national income. In return, about 200 vessels from Spain,Italy, Portugal, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Latvia cur-rently have the right to fish in Mauritanian waters. But the FPA should alsoset a precedent in attempts to control the key issue of the overexploitationof resources (the present agreement provides the right to fish for crus-taceans, prawns, hake and other demersal species, as well as small pelag-ic species, tuna and cephalopods).

> The spectrum of overexploitation

In December 2007, 20 fishing boats from the Spanish Association ofCephalopod Fishing (ANACEF), fishing cephalopods under the current EU-Mauritania agreement, decided to stop their operations owing to losses.According to the association, this was because of inappropriate technicalmeasures written into the agreement. The ANACEF specifically highlightedthe minimum size set for catches of cephalopods (500g), which it considerstoo high and says forced it to fish outside the six-mile limit. It has now beeninvolved in a battle with the Mauritanian authorities for several months toobtain the right to fish for sizes that are prohibited commercially. The Spanishalso complain that they have been prevented access to young cephalopodsunless they pay heavy compensation. According to ANACEF, the Spanishboats returning home will mean the direct loss of 340 jobs and a further 1,600indirect job losses. Furthermore, supplies will be disrupted to the Spanish,Italian and Japanese markets that will be deprived of the seven tonnes ofcephalopods usually brought back from Mauritania by these boats (a tonne ofoctopus can fetch US$7,000-8,000). However, mindful of the concern ofover-fishing, the scientific committee of the Mauritanian Ocean and FisheriesResearch Institute (IMROP) launched a campaign several months agodesigned to protect the regeneration of cephalopods.

Currently, all the fleets working in Mauritanian waters, both local and for-eign, are continually recording losses due to the overexploitation ofcephalopods. Therefore the main aim of the agreement, according to the

Belgian Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA),should be to help Mauritania adjust its fishing capacity to the resourcesavailable, maintaining the principle that the European fleets can only haveaccess to the surplus resources that cannot be fished locally. The centrealso says that it is vital for the EU to continue its efforts to help Mauritaniaestablish a sustainable development policy for the fishery sector.

> The importance of cephalopods

Cephalopods, and octopus in particular, are one of Mauritania’s majorfishing resources. The Mauritanian Fish Marketing Company (SMCP),which sells all of the frozen demersal species and cephalopods broughtin by the national fleet, exported 40,000 tonnes of fish worth almost€119M in 2004. Octopus, which alone accounts for 51.2 per cent of thistotal export tonnage (with a value of almost €98M), makes up 82 percent of SMCP’s turnover. Moreover, the Mauritanian octopus is equal-ly important for the European fishing industry.

In 2004, the European cephalopod trawlers comprised 33 per cent of theturnover generated within the framework of the fishing agreement(compared to 38 per cent for small pelagic species and 16 per cent forprawn trawlers).

> The arrival of the Chinese

Since the beginning of the 1990s when fishing for octopus began itssharp growth, there has also been a huge influx of Chinese vessels intothe local fleet as part of its modernisation programme, despite the warn-ings of CNROP and the Food and Agricultural Organization of theUnited Nations (FAO) about fish stocks being unable to withstand such

pressure. The arrival of the EU cephalopod trawlers between 1994 and1996 further accelerated the depletion of stocks and the subsequentdecline in landings. Béatrice Gorez, spokesperson for CAPE, a non-governmental organisation campaigning for fair fishing agreements,explained that in 2006 the 125 vessels in the national fleet were main-ly of Chinese origin.

In 2006, IMROP, which every four years brings together the leadinginternational experts on Mauritanian fishing, estimated a 31 per centexcess the fishing of octopus, which means a decrease in production of20 per cent. To achieve the goal of maximising income established bythe Mauritanian policy, it would be necessary to reduce the fishingeffort by 40 per cent to return it to the maximum economic level.

According to CAPE, 43 licences for fishing octopus are assigned toEuropean trawlers under the access provided by the current Mauritania-EU agreement. Compared with the previous agreement, the most recentfigures available show that only 46 of the 55 licences provided for bythe 2001-2006 agreement were used during the first quarter of 2005 dueto a lack of resources. According to CAPE, the 46 licences are set to fallto 43, representing a decrease of 6.5 per cent. It is difficult to under-stand how this modest decline adds up to the fall of 30 per cent in theEuropean fishing effort, which is what has been officially announced.M.M.B. �

Dossier Fishing

New agreementwith Côte d’IvoireOn 20 February 2008, the EU Council of Ministers gave the go-

ahead for a new fishing partnership with Côte d’Ivoire. This

agreement, considerably less sizeable than that between the EU

and Mauritania, stipulates an annual financial contribution from

the EU of €455,000. The fishing quotas established by this agree-

ment, for the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2013 (with

retroactive effect), will be divided between the Member States as

follows:

- 25 seiners: Spain (15 vessels) and France (10 vessels);

- 15 surface long liners: Spain (10 vessels) and Portugal (5 vessels).

The financial contribution made by the EU corresponds to a refer-

ence tonnage of 7,000 tonnes per year and an annual sum of

€140,000 to assist with the implementation of the Ivorian govern-

ment’s fishing policy. The new agreement aims to replace the one

concluded in 1990 on fishing off Côte d’Ivoire. The agreement also

contains a revision clause which allows for amendments to the

agreement after three years if necessary. �

16

KeywordsMarie-Martine Buckens; Mauritania; APP; ANACEF; China;cephalopods; CAPE.

The EU-Mauritania Fishing Partnership Agreement is designed toset an example. It is the most important fishing agreement that theEuropean Union has ever concluded with a third country – not leastin financial terms, as the EU’s contribution is €86 million a year, oraround a third of Mauritania’s national income. © EU Delegation Mauritania

Traditional fishing in Mauritania. © EU Delegation Mauritania

18

Dossier Fishing DossierFishing

19

Overall, small-scale – or traditionalfishing – provides over 80 per centof direct and indirect jobs in thesector. Small-scale fishing in the

ACP countries is also vital to the traditional pro-cessing activities that ensure a supply of fish tolocal and regional markets. In sub-SaharanAfrica, for example, FAO statistics show thatsmall-scale fishing accounts for up to 80 percent of the fish landed for direct humanconsumption. In West Africa, small-scalefishing also plays an important role in the

growth of fresh fish supplies to lucrative interna-tional markets, such as Europe, the UnitedStates and Asia.

In 2006, at a meeting of European shipownerswhere they looked at how they could contributeto the sustainable development of ACP coun-tries, Mozambique’s fisheries minister spoke ofthe need for Europe to “better understand theproblems facing countries when they seek tomanage their fisheries in a sustainable manner.”He continued: “The principal struggle is thestruggle against total poverty and the fishingsector has a major role to play in this struggle.”He ended by stressing that, “in this respect, ourprincipal objective is the integrated develop-ment of small-scale fishing.”

The fact that small-scale fishing is an effectivetool in combating poverty is confirmed by allthe coastal ACP states. Far from the bleakimage conveyed by some, small-scale fishingis a dynamic sector engendering innovationand, with the right focus and support, can be amain player in meeting the challenges of thenew millennium.

One of the major challenges for ACP countriesis to restore fragile ecosystems and fish stocksdepleted by intensive and harmful fishing meth-ods. Given fish shortages, ACP fishermen mustnow commit to qualitative rather than quantita-tive fishing, prioritising methods that respect

both the marine environment and product quali-ty. A clear link between product quality and thecatches of traditional fishing fleets has alreadybeen established. In Mauritania, for example,the superiority of small-scale fishing in terms ofthe quality and adding value to a product is aconstant factor. In 2005, octopus caught usingtraditional Mauritanian fishing vessels sold forUS$200 more per tonne than that caught byrefrigerated trawlers. As for the noble seabedspecies, only the product of small-scale fishingprovides the quality for export to Europe, reach-ing an average price of €4.5 per kg. The frozenfish – produced by the industrial fishing chain –sells at under €2 per kg.

Giving priority to investment in small andmedium-sized businesses in the ACP small-scale fishing sector – as well as the servicesectors and infrastructure (ports, access to pro-cessing sites and use of appropriate technolo-gies) – enables this industry to maximise itsfull potential in both combating poverty andensuring food safety. This should be at theheart of measures governing EU involvementin the ACP fishing sector. �

* Coordinator, Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements(CFFA)

ACP small-scale fishing:THE MOST EFFECTIVEfor the new millennium

Local fishing in Senegal:QUALITY AND TRACEABILITY

challenges**

The notion of‘added value’I t is often wrong to speak of ‘added

value’ in the fish processing business.

In many cases, processing does not real-

ly add any value to the product at all.

The opposite is often the case, in that fish

quickly lose their value once they leave

the water. So, to optimise the value of

catches, the product must be kept alive

and fresh for as long as possible.. �

Béatrice Gorez*

Gaoussou Gueye*

Local fishing in Senegal consists of 12,000 pirogues (small, flat-bottomed boats),60,000 fishermen and as many jobs again indirectly linked to local fishing communi-ties where women are working in processing, fish-related activities and as wholesale fishmerchants. Local fishing in Senegal is also the main source of fish products for interna-tional, regional, and local markets. Therefore improvement in the traceability and thequality (especially cleanliness) of our products is of major importance to the industry.


KeywordsKey words: traditional fishing; Coalition forFair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA);Béatrice Gorez.

Wall painting of CAPE, Alex’s beach, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 2008. © Debra Percival

Traditional boats in Djifer, a fishing villagein southern Senegal. © EU Delegation Senegal

N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008 2120

Quality assurance begins at seafrom the moment the fish leavethe water, which is why we mustwork to improve the quality of our

fleet. So now local fishermen take a positiveview on the gradual replacement of the traditio-nal wooden pirogue with fibreglass versions.And this change could turn out to be a positivemove, as our country is now facing deforestationand it requires two large trees to make one woo-den pirogue. More than that, wooden piroguesrequire frequent and costly maintenance – theyneed to be repaired every six months.

The new, fibreglass pirogues are also cleanerand lighter than the traditional boats, are betterequipped for storing and preserving fish, and areeasier to maintain. They also use less fuel, some-thing to bear in mind at a time when fuel costsare an increasing burden on our livelihoods.

> Modern boats and hygiene

But replacing wooden pirogues with fibreglassis expensive for the fishermen, given that afibreglass pirogue costs more than twice asmuch as a wooden one. Therefore, to ensure thegradual renewal of our fleet, and make sure thatthis option is not only available to those who canafford boats, specific aid or credit mechanismsmust be available.

However, replacing wooden pirogues withfibreglass ones will not solve the cleanlinessissue if the local fishing industry does nothingabout changing its methods for handling fish.Today, most of the people handling fish on theboats, as well as the many women involved inthe industry (including those on the landingquays), are not well enough informed about therequirements for traceability and cleanliness,and what that means in terms of changing theirdaily working habits. To meet these require-

ments, information and training are needed.

Many of the people involved in the industry haveno command of French; however the majority areperfectly competent in their national language,both written and spoken. It should therefore bepossible to draw up procedures in their nationallanguage to allow people in the industry to com-plete the necessary documents and provide accu-rate information. In fact, the ‘point of first sale’(the landing quays) is the perfect location forbringing together all the elements required toimproving traceability of fish catches.

> The vital role played by theconsumer

We can already see significant changes that havetaken place in both the professionalism and thespecialisation of people with responsibility fortraceability and cleanliness. For example, thepolystyrene boxes for storing the fish on boardthe boats are no longer cleaned by the fishermenthemselves, but by men and women who spe-cialise in this work and have acquired the skillsto ensure a high level of cleanliness.

Similarly, drivers of refrigerated trucks (whotransport the fish from the landing quays toDakar) are now members of an association andhave undergone training in transporting fish inthe best way possible. This involves, amongstother things, individual approval ratings inrecognition of their specialisation.

There is an enormous task ahead, particularly inthe improvement of working and handling con-ditions for locally processed products that aresold throughout the sub-region. And the prob-lems are numerous: cleanliness and hygiene atprocessing sites; the efforts required by localauthorities to collect rubbish regularly; the pro-vision of drainage and drinking water at these

sites; issues concerning the packing of the mer-chandise and so on.

Finally, I would like to draw attention to theresponsibilities of consumers and the need toeducate them about sustainable fishing, as wellas the need to combat illegal fishing.

On the one hand, consumers want a good quali-ty, wholesome product. On the other hand, theyare still not interested in knowing whether theproduct is legally caught or not. For example,the consumer wants a 300g fish on their plateeven though the law stipulates that in order topreserve stocks the minimum permitted size is400g. The fisherman will then do his utmost tomeet consumer demand, even if this meansbreaking the law and forging the required trace-ability documents.

It is also the case that many hotels demandyoung, small fish, especially with species such aswhite grouper, sea bream, prawns, etc., even ifthis goes against the Senegalese Code of Fishing.But this is also the case in Spain, where, duringour visit to the market in Barcelona, we sawyoung fish of species from our regions on sale.

That is why consumers and customers – includ-ing hotels – must be informed and made aware oftheir responsibilities in relation to their demandfor fish products. These should fall in line withthe laws and regulations linked to conservation.�

* Vice President of the Inter-professional NationalCouncil for Local Fishing in Senegal (CONIPAS).E-mail: [email protected]

** Presentation made at the Fishing Products Summitorganised by the Seafood Choices Alliance,from 27-30 January 2008 in Barcelona (Spain).

Dossier Fishing

Keywordstraditional fishing; Senegal; pirogue; CONI-PAS ; traceability.

21

I nteraction

Sadly, some key names were indisposed or could not be rea-ched while others like Lorenzo Natali (EuropeanCommissioner from 1985 to 1989), Tiéoulé Mamadou Konaté(the first Secretary-General of the ACP Group, 1975-1980),

and Isabelle Bassong (Cameroon’s Ambassador to the European insti-tutions from 1988 to 2006), are no longer with us.

As you can imagine, the list of people who have played either an ad hocrole or a key part throughout the years is a very long one and all theCourier can do is offer an overview. So let’s begin by naming one of thefounders: the legendary head of protocol and head of the press office forthe ACP Group, Alpha Niaka Bary. Sengalese, Niaka Bary was famedboth for his speed at solving a whole host of problems as well as for hisamazing collection of walking sticks! His fellow countryman, SeydinaOumar Sy, former Ambassador and a Minister for Foreign Trade andAffairs, was involved in all the talks on the various Lomé Conventions.From the same era, and heading the ACP negotiating team during thefirst Lomé Convention, the Nigerian Ambassador, Olu Sanu was notedfor his dogged determination.

Royalty had its place too, with the House of Windsor’s Princess Annemaking her mark on the cooperation process during the September 1985meeting in Inverness. There she urged the ACP-EEC Joint Assembly todo more than just talk about aid and to make it effective. Leading polit-ical figures such as the French Home Affairs Minister, MichelPoniatowski, also made a significant contribution. On the eve of LoméIII, in his role as Chair of the European Parliament’s DevelopmentCommittee, he made a call for a renewal of the cooperation policy.

The architects of Lomé also include Edgar Pisani (EuropeanCommissioner for Development, 1981-1984), the father of the politicaldialogue with the ACP countries: the focus on rural development andfood security was a reflection of his earlier experience with France’sMinistry of Agriculture. History will also record Lorenzo Natali’sappointment as Commissioner for Development in 1985, ending whatappeared to be a French monopoly of this post. He was followed byManuel Marin (1989) of Spain, João de Deus Pinheiro (1994) ofPortugal, Poul Nielson (1999) of Denmark and Louis Michel (2004) ofBelgium.

FIGUREHEADSof ACP-EU cooperation

François Misser, Hegel Goutier and Andrea Marchesini

As much as being measured by results, cooperation is the outcome of democraticdebate. However, results of those debates are all down to one thing, individual menand women. While it may not be possible to name every last individual involved overthe years in ACP-EU cooperation, here the Courier attempts to showcase a gallery ofsome of the leading voices in those discussions and debates.

Traditional fishing boats on a beach in Senegal. © EU Delegation Senegal


> Michel Rocard THE TABOO-BREAKER

Known for his commitment to thecampaign against the war inAlgeria, and as a supporter of NewCaledonia’s right to self-determi-nation, Michel Rocard has contin-ued to wage a fight within the JointParliamentary Assembly’s (JPA)Development Committee and asmember of the EuropeanParliament’s DevelopmentCommittee in a bid to lift one ortwo taboos or barriers that he

believes get in the way of today’s reality. These include trafficking inarms, precious stones and human beings being confused, under the head-ing of “ informal” trade, within economies of the ACP countries.Anothertaboo, he claims, is the “misleading and dangerous idea” that “the key todevelopment in Africa is having its products gain access to markets in thedeveloped countries.” This, even though, “two-thirds of African countrieshave nothing to export and the oil revenue being earmarked for develop-ment in the other countries has failed to deliver anything.” Rocard alsocontinues to stress the need to protect food agriculture owing to thedecline of food self-sufficiency in Africa.

> Louis MichelTURNS THE SPOTLIGHT ON INFRASTRUCTURE

At the helm of Europe’sDevelopment Cooperation policysince 2004, Commissioner LouisMichel, a former Belgian ForeignMinister , has already made hismark on relations with theAfrican, Caribbean and Pacific(ACP) partners. First and fore-most, under his leadership theEuropean Commission has boost-ed the level of direct aid to ACPStates’ budgets to create a greatersense of ownership and a biggersense of responsibility in adminis-tering EU-sponsored developmentprogrammes. Moreover, it is under

his guidance and that of his colleague, Peter Mandelson, EuropeanCommissioner for Trade, that Economic Partnership Agreements(EPAs) are due to be concluded with ACP during 2008. These agree-ments should boost regional trade, attract much-needed investmentwhilst taking into account development needs of the ACP countries. Akey element of Louis Michel’s policy to reach the MillenniumDevelopment Goals has been to focus on support to infrastructure, par-ticularly in Africa, so as to give ACP partners the means to becomecompetitive and generate wealth for their citizens.

> Giovanni Bersani BUILDING-BRIDGES BETWEEN THE EU AND ACP

Law graduate, activist againstNazism and fascism in Italy, afterWorld War II, Giovanni Bersaniwas among the founders of theItalian Movement of Christianworkers, vice-president of theACLI and Italian parliamentarianfor seven terms. He was undersec-retary of the Ministry of Workduring De Gasperi’s governmentin 1952-1953.

As a Member of the European Parliament from 1960, he was especial-ly involved in external relations, particularly with Africa, to develop aEuropean policy of peace through strong relations, towards the end ofthe sixties. The aim of his political activity was to affirm Europe,according to the spirit of the founding fathers, as a civil and moralpower rather than a military force.

He was then vice-president of the Development Committee and mem-ber of the External Economic Relations Committee of the EuropeanParliament. At first he joined the Christian Democratic Party, subse-quently moving to the European People’s Party parliamentarian group.From 1976 to 1989, he was President of the ACP-EU JointParliamentary Assembly created by the Lomé Convention and, at theend of his mandate he was appointed President Ad honorem for life.Since the 1980’s he has devoted his political life to relationships withnon-EU Mediterranean countries. In April 1989 he called upon the firstMediterranean Parliamentarian Assembly for “a total cooperation.”This assembly approved a permanent plan of cooperation in which aJoint Parliamentarian Assembly plays a central role, as was the case inthe Lomé conventions.

> Glenys KinnockA LEADING LIGHT

Former teacher Glenys Kinnockwas elected to the EuropeanParliament in 1994 and re-electedin 1999 and 2004 as one of theMEPs representing Wales. She is amember of the EuropeanParliament’s Development andCooperation Committee and Co-President of the Joint ACP-EUParliamentary Assembly (JPA)ensuring that its agenda is livelyand to the point. As a fellow JPA

member noted at the Wiesbaden JPAs in June 2007: “Our meetings wouldjust not be the same without her.” President of the Non GovernmentalOrganisation, One World Action and Patron of the Drop the DebtCampaign, her development activities extend beyond Parliamentary fora.

All JPA members remember her vibrant plea in favour of theMillennium Development Goals at the November 2006 session in

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> Dieter FrischTHE EUROPEAN NEGOTIATOR DURING THE LOMÉ CONVENTIONS

As the European Commission’sDirector-General for Developmentfrom 1983 to 1993, Dieter Frisch,an economic science (BonnUniversity) and modern languagesgraduate (Heidelberg university),joined the European enterprise in1958. After leaving theCommission, Frisch continued tofuel the development debate as oneof the founders of TransparencyInternational, alongside with hisGerman compatriot and formerWorld Bank official, Peter Eigen,

that campaigns against major corruption and the detrimental impact thishas on development. He claims that one of the key lessons to be drawnfrom the Lomé Conventions between the European Community (as itwas at the time) and the ACP countries was that these were break-through pacts that launched a dynamic process leading to later agree-ments with the Mediterranean, Latin American and Asian countries.

> Ghebray Berhane“THE ACP COUNTRIES HAVE TO SEEK ANOTHER ASPIRATION”

Secretary-General of the ACPGroup from 1990 to 1995, thisSorbonne doctor of law had 14years of experience in EU-ACPcooperation as Ethiopia’sAmbassador to the European insti-tutions from 1978 to 1987 wherehe negotiated the Lomé III andLomé IV Conventions.

And his involvement with devel-opment work continues as thehead of an Addis Ababa-based

firm offering legal advice and consultancy services.The firm has pro-vided expert knowledge to the Ethiopian Privatization Agency and theCommonwealth Development Corporation, while operating in the fieldof arbitration on behalf of the World Food Programme and the EU.

Ghebray Berhane believes that while the ACP regions are committed tosigning individual economic partnership agreements with the EU, thetime is ripe for the ACP countries to find “a new momentum, anotheraspiration”. He says the ACP countries would be well advised to faceup to the major challenges that cannot be addressed on a regional basis,such as climate change or the major health issues.

> Claude CheyssonFATHER OF LOMÉ AND STABEX

A former Foreign Minister ofFrance (1981 to 1984), ClaudeCheysson is one of the architectsof the EU’s cooperation policy. Inhis capacity as EuropeanCommissioner for Development,he inaugurated the first LoméConvention (1975), which sig-nalled a radical change in cooper-ation. One key element was thecontractual dimension ensuringthat concessions granted could nolonger be withdrawn.

A further example was Lomé being regarded as a gamble on the ACPpartners’ insistence of how their cooperation with the European Unionis prioritised. What is more, Lomé I was the first international cooper-ation agreement to usher in a compensatory finance scheme to stabilisethe earnings of the ACP countries from their farm exports to the EU:Stabex. None of these decisions were surprising to a man who, eversince he joined the French diplomatic service at the end of the SecondWorld War, understood the former colonies’ desire for independence.An adviser to the Vietnamese President in 1952, Claude Cheysson wasalso a keen supporter of Algerian independence. And he returned from1985 to 1988, as European Commissioner for Mediterranean Policy andNorth-South Relations, to nurture a vibrant Lomé spirit and provide afurther proactive push for cooperation with other countries.

> Edwin Carrington THE PRAGMATIST

The Tobagian economist EdwinCarrington spent 14 years with theACP Secretariat, as AssistantSecretary-General (1976-1985)and as Secretary-General (1985-1990). Regarded as one of theexperts on the Lomé Conventionhe was involved in all the negotia-tions. Later as Secretary-Generalof Caricom, from 1992 he has beenable to keep close track of theevolving cooperation with the EU.

We have no space here to sum up the hours and hours of speeches EdwinCarrington has made on this subject but we should record the call hemade (coinciding with the January 1982 issue of the Courier) for “anincreasingly realistic assessment of what cooperation has the potential tooffer. In a nutshell, the agreements by themselves do not offer any easysolutions to the woes of the ACP countries, even if they provide the soleframework for this type of cooperation. It is up to the ACP countries todiscover the areas they can benefit from and as they themselves help toset the priorities they have to be regarded as bearing a responsibility…”

Interaction Figureheads ACP-EU

25

T rade

N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008 25

The threat of climate change associat-ed with global warning and higheroil prices are driving forward the useof alternative fuels like biofuels

which produce less carbon emissions. Biofuelscan be made from maize, soya, rapeseed, sugarcane and palm, and can either be used pure if anengine is adapted, or mixed with standard dieseland petrol.In March 2007, EU Heads of State andGovernment agreed that by 2020 10 per cent ofall the EU’s transport fuels will be from biofu-els from a sustainable source. A year on and a meeting of the biofuels’ indus-try has said that production needs to be steppedup if this target is to be met. At the 13 Marchcongress of World Biofuels Markets, Industryrepresentative Olivier Schaeffer and PolicyChief at the European Renewable EnergyCouncil (EREC) said: “I believe we can hit thetarget of 10 per cent. And the potential is muchhigher than this.” In other Brussels meeting rooms in March,enthusiasm about the future for biofuels wasmore diluted. Participants at a EuropeanParliament seminar, ‘Biofuels – eco-savioursor destroyers’, raised fears that more landturned over to grow crops for biofuels will

mean less land cultivated for food crops andhikes in food prices.At the same meeting, the fact that huge tracks offorest to grow crops for biofuels will lead to aloss of biodiversity was clearly voiced. And Lester Brown, Director of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute warned at theBrussels’ launch of his book Plan B 3.0Mobilizing to Save Civilisation: “Historicallythe food and energy economies were separate.But with so many ethanol distilleries now beingbuilt to convert grain into fuel, the two aremerging. In this new situation the world price ofgrain is moving towards its oil equivalent value.Suddenly the world is facing a moral and polit-ical issue that has no precedent: should we usegrain to fuel cars or to feed people?”Predicted Brown: “The risk is that rising grainprices will lead to chaos in world grain marketsand to food riots in low and middle-incomecountries that import grain.”

> Knee-jerk reaction

Claire Wenner, Head of the London-basedBiofuels Renewable Energy Association said atthe meeting of biofuel industrialists: “Biofuelsuse about one per cent of global land available

for agriculture (the figure is slightly higheracross Europe). For Wenner, “there is a realdanger that blaming biofuels will become aknee-jerk reaction that stops us from dealingwith the much larger issues of food and energyneeds over the next 50 years.” At the European Parliament conference, otherscalled for more investment in so-called ‘secondgeneration’ biofuels like jatropha, a woodyshrub producing inedible golf ball-sized fruitwith seeds containing oil that can be turned intobiodiesel and – a big plus – which can be grownon waste land. Meanwhile countries like Sierra Leone facedecisions. Interviewed by The Courier inFreetown, Agriculture Minister Dr Sam Sesaysaid he had received many requests frominvestors in palm oil, but cautioned: “Firstly wewant to concentrate on satisfying domesticneeds before we start to think about exports.But we don’t want palm oil to reduce othercrops like rice, coffee and cocoa. We need a bal-ance to make sure that we do not lose otherimportant crops.” D.P. �

Debate ignites on MARKET

for BIOFUELS

Debate ignites on MARKET

for BIOFUELS Palm trees sway majestically in Sierra Leone’s bush signalling the potential market for palm oil to produce biofuels. But in Brussels circles there are warningsabout the flipside…

KeywordsDebra Percival; Sierra Leone; Energy; Biofuels.

24

Barbados where she urged both the ACP countries and the European tofocus on essential public services, arguing that “the market alone can-not and should not take over these vital tasks.” She also insisted that“aid has to be more predictable, flexible and timely so that governmentscan plan and spend on health and education in a concerted and transpar-ent way.” On trade, she then stressed that Europe must have in mindthat it “is negotiating EPAs with an ACP group which includes some ofthe most vulnerable economies in the World.” Finally, she concludedthat “none of us will escape the effects of climate change but it is thepoorest of us who will disproportionately pay the highest price.”

> Jean-Robert Goulongana A CONCILIATOR AT HEART

When Jean-Robert Goulonganawas appointed head of the ACPSecretariat, in the countdown tothe signing of the future LoméConvention, many observers haddeep misgivings about theGroup’s ability to see through cer-tain changes in the cooperativerelationship with the EU. Equally,others did not hold out much hopefor much cooperation betweenACP countries at the end of thetrade talks that were to take place.

However, Goulongana was quick to size up the situation, realising thatthe group’s strength was conditional upon the abilities of theSecretariat, which itself was down to its stand-alone status and aboveall its depoliticisation. Above all, the Secretary General’s role is to servethe states and supervise the group and Goulongana took on this task,rallying flagging spirits whenever there was a risk of losing momentum.

While he might describe himself as a servant, he is, in reality, more ofa conductor - the musicians play and he sets the tempo. His skills as anegotiator, reconciler and facilitator have helped the Group out of sometight corners and allowed the ACP-EU cooperation process to clear oneor two hurdles, to say the least. He has fiercely argued the case of theACP countries, yet never failed to pay close attention to their partner’sviewpoints.

Goulongana brought these conciliatory skills to bear in several areas,including the “political dialogue” between the EU and the ACP coun-tries on human rights, the EPA negotiations, and the WTO consulta-tions. Time and again he has proved to be a master in managing the fol-low-up to negotiations between often disparate parties.

> Sir John KaputinHANDLING CHANGE

Appointed Secretary General of theACP Group of States on March 1,2005, Sir John Kaputin is a lawyerwith a lengthy track record of polit-ical service as an MP in his homecountry for 30 years (Papua NewGuinea from 1972 to 2002). Aknowledgeable expert on the finerpoints of ACP-EU cooperation, hehas been involved in the LoméConventions and the Cotonou

Agreement since 1978 and was Joint President of the ACP-EU JointAssembly from 1995 to 1997.

Sir John joined his government early in his political career and stayedalmost constantly from 1973 to 2002 in a series of ministerial posts(Justice, Planning and Development, Finance, Mines, Energy, ForeignAffairs) and eventually as Minister for International FinancialInstitutions. �

Interaction Figureheads ACP-EU

KeywordsEU; ACP; Dieter Frisch; Sir John Kaputin; Jean-Robert Goulongana; Louis Michel; Giovanni Bersani; Glenys Kinnock ; Michel Rocard ; Edwin Carrington ; Claude Cheysson ; Ghebray Berhane; JPA; Lomé; EPA.

Manuela Carzo, Abbracciamo il mondo,

2007 Manifesta! © Africa e Mediterraneo

© Jim Parkin. Image from BigstockPhoto.com


Zoom

27

ing of the revolution, do you want to go backto war?’ I told them that this one is a positiverevolution.” For Fisher, ‘conscious vibes’ areimportant to each album: “When I did that firstalbum, I told the guys that we have to speakabout things that led us to war.”

> U go si am

“On that album there was a song in Kriocalled, U go si am or You will see, sung byEmmerson,” Fisher continues: “the messagewas that you are corrupt and are misusing thecountry’s resources and one day it will comefall back on you. That one became a very bighit. People so fell in love with that songbecause it said what they wanted to say andcouldn’t.”

Fisher went on to produce a solo album,Borbor Bele for Emmerson Bockarie. Its titletrack also hit a public nerve. “It means ahuman being with a huge stomach, or you areembezzling money, that’s why your stomach isso big.” Fisher claims the song brought downthe last government. So has he ever been cen-sored? “Never,” he replies.

Fisher explains his musical blend: “Most ofthe young guys are into the hip-hop, NotoriousB.I.G and Tupac, all the rap stuff, so I thoughtwhy not bring the rap into the local language,Krio, and blend the hip-hop beat withCaribbean and Jamaican type of music. At firstpeople laughed. Now everybody’s playing it.”

Many young people in Sierra Leone are nowtrying to make money out of music. Fisherfears some of what is produced is sub-stan-

dard. He also intends to do something aboutpiracy. You just have to go to any crossroadsto get hold of a cheap, copied compilation forjust 4,000 Leones – under US$2.

“We’ve formed an organisation, theNational Association of Performing Artists(NAPA).There is an anti-piracy law but theproblem is that it’s outdated. So if you takesomebody who has been pirating your stuffto court you will end up spending morethan what the court will award you. We aregoing to use the power of music again tochange things. We haven’t got the name ofthe song yet. They have to bring that lawinto full functionality.”

Fisher is working on two albums, one of whichis dedicated to children and is to be sung most-ly by kids from an orphanage. Sierra Leonehas signed up to the Child Rights Bill of theUnited Nations, he says, but parliament hasyet to ratify it. “The focus will be on gettingparliament to sit up and pass that bill. Basiceducation is supposed to be free but when yougo to school there are so many charges, likebuying books, that you find out that you arespending more than if it was not free.”

He’s also brought on the current hottest femalestar in Sierra Leone, DJ Lulu: “She wentthrough a lot of things as a kid. She is of mixedrace. Her father is Lebanese and her mother isSierra Leonean. But the Lebanese Communitydoesn’t like those kinds of relationships. Herfather died when she was very young so theLebanese side of her relatives decided to push

her out so she struggled for herself. She has asong about the way she grew up, Na Me KamSo. She is saying: “You thought I wouldn’t gethere but here I am.”

He’s also busy with videos for Search forCommon Ground on local governance. Localcouncil elections will be held in July 2008.“What we are doing is going to locationsacross the regions and capturing footage ofhow councils are performing and trying tocompare them with other councils so whenthey have council workshops with councillorsfrom different areas they can play these videosand the people can comment and say, thiscouncil is doing good with their money, or thiscouncil is not performing.” The aim is to givepeople a voice for change. Another of Fisher’sconcern is a guarantee of a government ofunity including all tribes: “This is going to bethe subject of one of my songs.”

It’s around 7 pm and Fisher leaves his studio tohang out with ‘his men’ and drink a beer. After,he may watch an action film. And he’ll have tofind time, he says, to get his dancing legsworking again for the launch of the newalbums. D.P. �

KeywordsDebra Percival; King Fisher; Sierra LeoneMusician; Rap.

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Z oomZ oom

It’s Saturday and the venue is Body Guard Studio in a backstreet inFreetown with King Fisher, Sierra Leone’s no. 1 DJ turned musi-cian, music producer and documentary maker. He’s just back fromup country where he’s been shooting videos to heighten public

understanding of issues facing Sierra Leoneans.

A passion for his nation and music immerse Fisher. Opportunities torelax are rare. It’s a 6.30 start and after listening to BBC World News,it’s straight to the studio to hook up new equipment for music and videoproduction.

For many Sierra Leoneans like King Fisher, aka Emrys Savage, thecivil war altered the course of the future. The music scene in his coun-try took off during the decade-long conflict of the ’90s, “when every-thing else ceased to function.”

“At that time I was a DJ and we started having rap competitions. Mostof the time, I was chosen to be the judge. At one of them I met a groupcalled Black Roots. They were the first young group to play live music.I was so impressed that I made a promise to help with the albums. Thatwas in 1995.”

In 1997, Fisher started to compose his own songs. He explains how thestudio’s name came about: “There was a British Forces broadcastingstation, with a very powerful DJ who had a group of guys called the

Bodyguard. I just took the name from them. I also saw the name kindof protecting against many things that were to come later.”

He speaks of the influence of Jimmy Bangura (aka Jimmy B), a SierraLeonean with a record deal with EMI who spent most of his youth inthe United States and South Africa, and was the first to bring digitalequipment to Sierra Leone. He set up Paradise Recording Studio afterthe war in 2002 and gave the opportunity to young people, collectivelyknown as the Paradise Family, to release the first album made in SierraLeone. It was a big hit. “I tried to get Black Roots into the ParadiseFamily but couldn’t. But I made a promise to them that one day I wouldset up my own recording studio.”

Another door opened for Fisher when he was working for Search forCommon Ground, a Sierra Leonean NGO with whom he has continuedto work, shooting videos on issues of concern to Sierra Leoneans fromhealth to tackling corruption. “I met an expatriate guy who was settingup the digital equipment there. I thought, wow, I can buy a computer, Ican buy a few things, hook them up and make a studio. And that becamethe digital studio.”

Fisher breaks off for a tea break at 10.30 then heads straight back to thestudio until lunch at 3 pm. He tells us about his first album release.“When we did our first compilation at the Body Guard Studio called theBody Guard Revolution Chapter 1 people asked me, ‘what’s the mean-

KING FISHER A Sierra Leonean musician with ‘conscious vibes’

A day in the life of

Pages 26 & 27King Fisher in the Talking Drum Studio, Search for Common Ground, Freetown (Sierra Leone), 2008. © Alfred Bangura aka Funky Fred, Talking Drum Studio

Emmerson’s popular album produced by King Fisher © Emmerson

SIERRA LEONEBy Debra Percival

To be able to switch on lights for the first time – earlierthis year – brought expectation of change for those cit-izens of Freetown who were used to being in the dark.President Ernest Bai Koroma won a slim victory in therun-off elections in September 2007, and energy gen-eration remains a top priority. The Bumbuna hydroelectric power plant project, which Koroma has himselfdescribed as, “the longest hydro project in human his-tory”, should be completed this year and there is antic-ipation of other projects to boost output beyondFreetown to rural areas. Koroma has told the publicthat he will not stop “until we are in a position of get-

ting 100 megawatts for the country.” It’s now over five years since the end of a brutal 11-yeardiamond-fuelled conflict waged by rebels that displacedalmost half the population, left tens of thousands deadand others suffering, and government bodies and theeconomy in tatters.Sierra Leone is still at the bottom of the United Nations’Human Development (UNDP) Index. Yet with the assis-tance of international donors, including the EU, is build-ing up government institutions and reforming all sectorsof the economy: mining, agriculture and tourism for allSierra Leoneans.


R eport

28

O ur Planet

DAM UNDER CLOSE WATCH

On 7 January, the EIB agreed aUS$136M (€92M) loan to theUgandan company, BujagaliEnergy Limited (BEL). BEL is

responsible for the construction and operationof a dam and hydroelectric plant of 250-mega-watt capacity in Bujagali, on the Upper Nile,downstream from Lake Victoria. In addition tothe EIB, other co-funders will be theInternational Finance Corporation (the WorldBank subsidiary that grants loans to the privatesector), the African Development Bank (ADB)and a group of European financial institutions.In all, the loan comes to the equivalent of€462M. This decision puts an end to the

delays surrounding this project, which hasbeen condemned by a coalition of local organi-sations, both international and Ugandan, andsome riverside dwellers, due to its impact onthe environment.

The project promoters argue that the hydro-electricity produced on the Nile will be thecheapest energy option for a country likeUganda, which has no access to the sea and isone of the poorest African nations. Bujagaliwill in fact provide support for two other dams:the Nalubaale Dam, built by the British in thelate 1950s, and the Kiira Dam, built byKampala authorities in the 1990s. The EIB hasstressed that these two dams do not haveenough capacity to meet a growing demand forelectricity and acknowledges that power outa-ges during periods of low water flow causeserious disruption to the country’s economicactivity. Building a third dam downstream willmake it possible to increase electricity produc-tion and, better still, Bujagali will be reusingthe water already used to produce electricity atthe upstream dams.

> A threat to the health of Lake Victoria?

The Ugandan Dam Development Forum, agroup of ten NGOs, has worries about the pro-ject’s long-term viability. Drawing on a reportby the American NGO International RiverNetworks (IRN), the Forum believes that thedams are partly responsible for falling water

levels in Lake Victoria. It is also concernedthat no study has yet been carried out to assessthe impact of climate change on the lake’shydrological health. A number of studies havesubsequently been carried out to determine theproject’s environmental and social fall-out.

For its part, the EIB says any environmentalimpact will be relatively limited. A study byCanadian consultants Burnside, commis-sioned by the World Bank, suggests that theBujagaly project will not ‘significantly’ impairthe lake, nor the river’s hydrology. It says thatthe only aspect of the project that requires con-tinual monitoring is changes to downstreamwater levels. The consultancy recommends theintroduction of a management plan for this.Whatever the case, the EIB has promised thatthe project is – and will continue to be – mon-itored with measures taken, if necessary, inline with stringent international standardswhich stipulate close consultation with thelocal population, local authorities and all otherassociations affected.M.M.B. �

DAM UNDER CLOSE WATCHUganda’s third dam on the Nile (positioned where the river flows outof Lake Victoria), should enable it to generate the energy it cruciallylacks without any negative environmental effects. This is at least theconclusion of the impact study commissioned by the World Bank. In the wake of the study, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has decided to co-fund the project.

KeywordsMarie-Martine Buckens; Uganda; Lake Victoria; Nile; EIB; Dam.

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Top The Nile. © iStockphoto.com/FrankvandenBergh

Bottom leftVictoria falls, Uganda. ©iStockphoto.com/Lingbeek

Urban farming nearFreetown. Sierra Leone hasgreat agricultural potential

2008. © Debra Percival

ReportSierra Leone

31N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008

abuse of power and mismanagement of the dia-mond resources were rife, both of which weretriggering factors of the civil war that ensued.

Former army corporal, Foday Sankoh, and hisRevolutionary United Front (RUF) campaignedagainst Momoh, capturing towns on the borderwith Liberia. Its initial attacks were on theKailahun District in the diamond-rich east.

Another factor at the start of the conflict waswar in neighbouring Liberia. Charles Taylor,then rebel leader of the National Patriotic Frontof Liberia, allegedly helped the RUF in returnfor Sierra Leonean diamonds.

Due to the government’s failure to deal with therebels at the time, army captain ValentineStrasser launched a military coup sendingMomoh into exile in Guinea in April 1992.Strasser formed the National Provisional RulingCouncil (NPRC), which was to last four years.

> New elections

By 1995, the rebels held much of the diamond-rich eastern province and were on the doorstepof Freetown. The NPRC allegedly hired merce-naries from the private security firm, ExecutiveOutcomes, to repel the rebels. But there wasunhappiness about the handling of the crisis andStrasser was subsequently ousted in a coup ledby his defence minister, Brigadier GeneralJulius Maada Bio. Bio subsequently re-instatedthe constitution and called for elections. SLPPcandidate, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, wasdemocratically elected and voted into office in1996.

An alleged attempt to overthrow Kabbah byMajor General Johnny Koroma resulted inKoroma’s trial and imprisonment. Unhappywith this decision, a group of soldiers, theArmed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC),overthrew the president and released Koroma –who in turn became president and invited theRUF to join him in government on banningpolitical parties, demonstrations and shuttingdown private radio.

These moves led to UN Security Council sanc-tions in 1997 including banning arms and petro-leum products in 1997. In March 1998, the WestAfrican Peackeeping force, ECOMOG, rein-stalled Kabbah. The next year another attempt tooverthrow the government by the AFRC, withRUF backing, left 5,000 dead in Freetown andwidespread devastation.

> UNMSIL

In October 1999, UN peacekeepers restoredorder and disarmed rebel forces. A total of17,000 ‘blue helmets’ of the United NationsMission in Sierra Leone (UNMSIL) were even-tually sent to the country, describes ChristianHolger Stohmann, Information Officer with theUnited Nations Integrated Office in SierraLeone (UNIOSIL) in Freetown. The ensuing1999 ceasefire and peace agreement in theTogolese capital of Lomé ensured positions ingovernment for the rebels.

But Sam Bokari, one of the rebel leaders, retali-ated against the presence of UN troops whowere attacked and abducted in the east. A contin-gent of 800 British paratroopers arrived tosecure the airport for the peacekeepers andFoday Sankoh was captured. In May 2001, thedisarmament of rebels began with the aid ofSierra Leone’s national army.

In January 2002, war was officially over. TheSLPP’s Kabbah won a landslide victory inmulti-party elections the same year. He wasdefeated by APC candidate, Ernest Bai Koroma,in the 2007 Presidential election. Koroma cam-paigned on a ticket of change.

> Mutilation

It is difficult to meet someone who hasn’t beendirectly affected by brutal war crimes. Horrificaccounts of mutilation, with victims chosen atrandom, are still vivid. One young Freetown res-ident, ‘Kenneth’, describes how he was orderedto stand flat against a wall with his hands tiedwhilst rebels argued about whether to sever hislimbs. He was freed, but many others were mul-

tilated, including women and children. Anotheryoung man ‘Kanu’ recounts how his sister dis-appeared for three months in the bush whereyoung women were stolen to cook and clean forrebels. Rape was common. Many child solderswere killed. For victims with missing arms andlegs, it is now doubly hard to find employmentin a country where 65 per cent young men 18-40have no employment.

A Special Court established post-war by theUnited Nations, at the request of the SierraLeonean government, still sits but is due towind up during 2010, explains FrancescaVarlese, project manager at the EU Delegationin Freetown. The EU has been giving financialbacking to the Court since 2003, providingservices such as a live video feed to listen tothe ongoing trial of Charles Taylor from theHague and internships so the Court’s legacywill continue.

Opinion is however divided over the Court’seffectiveness, says Ambrose James who isCountry Director of the NGO, ‘Search forCommon Ground’, which produces videos andradio broadcasts to voice the views of all SierraLeoneans. He says Sierra Leoneans have mixedfeelings about the Court. Firstly, the ‘big rebelleaders’ like Sam Bokari, ‘Mosquito’, and oth-ers either died or fled.

Then there is also confusion about why somemembers of the Civil Defence Force are beforethe Court. After all, they opposed the rebels.“People didn’t realise that they carried out somehuman rights abuses, so this is where there arecomplications,” says Ambrose James in hisFreetown office. He added that there are alsoquestions about the functions of the Special

Report Sierra Leone

By the 16th century, English sailors referred to the country as‘Sierra Leoa’. During the late 1700s, Bunce Island, close toFreetown, became one of the major slave trading operationsalong the West African coast. It was in 1782 that British

philanthropists founded the ‘Province of Freetown’, resettling someof London’s black poor in Sierra Leone in the ‘The Province ofFreedom’. Thousands of freed enslaved Africans were returned toFreetown. They settled from all over Africa and came to be known asthe ‘Krio’ people. The Krio language is spoken widely amongst thecountry’s 15 ethnic groups today.

In 1808, Sierra Leone became an official British crown colony and theseat of government for its other West African colonies along the coast.The establishment of one of the first higher education colleges in WestAfrica in 1827, Fourah Bay College, excelled in medicine, law and edu-cation and led to Freetown being known as the ‘Athens of Africa’.

> One-party state

Sir Milton Margai, leader of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), wasappointed the country’s Chief Minister in 1953. Sierra Leone won itsindependence from the British in 1961 and Margai became its first PrimeMinister. Siaka Stevens, candidate of the All People’s Congress (APC),won the elections of March 1967, but was ousted after just a few hours,only to be returned to power in 1968. In 1971, the country became arepublic with Stevens, then Prime Minister, appointed as ExecutivePresident. In 1978, a new constitution proclaimed Sierra Leone as a one-party state with the APC as the sole legal party. Major Joseph SaiduMomoh became President on Stevens’s retirement in 1985 following aone-party referendum.

President Momoh’s constitutional review recommended re-establishingin 1991 a multi- party democratic constitution. By this time, suspicions of

From PEACEBREAKINGto peacemakingWhen Portuguese explorer Pedro da Cintra came across the mountains surroundingwhat is now the country’s capital Freetown in 1462, he named the land ‘Sierra Lyoa’,meaning ‘lion mountains’. To his eyes, the jagged heights were shaped like a lion’steeth. The new government of Ernest Bai Koroma wants the page to turn on past rageand help his nation make an economic roar.

3030

Child selling bananas, Moyamba.Many children work to relieve

poverty 2008. © Debra Percival

Wall painting. Football is a national passion 2008. ©

Poster of Special Court – punishable crimes 2008. © Debra Percival

Court and a Truth and ReconciliationCommission – a creation of the Lomé Peaceagreement. One metes out forgiveness, theother punishment.

Two million Sierra Leoneans were also dis-placed either internally or in neighbouringcountries. The war and previous upheavals haveleft their legacy on the economy and society.Sierra Leone numbers 177 out of 177 in theUnited Nations’ Human Development Index for2007-2008, having ranked particularly low inchild mortality and other statistics on health andeducation.

Very young children eek out a living on thestreets selling bags of fruit or biscuits. Adult lit-eracy is just 30 per cent and 68 per cent of thepopulation lives on less than a dollar a day.

> High expectations

There’s a lot of hope vested in the new govern-ment of Ernest Bai Koroma. He has pledged togovern in a “business” style and faces a popu-larity test in the upcoming local elections inJuly 2008.

There are other promising changes in govern-ment. An Anti-Corruption Commission createdin 2000 is intent on stamping out corruption inall walks of life, explains Abdul Tejan-Cole,who has been at its helm since December 2007.He suggests radio jingles to encourage the pub-lic to become whistleblowers and wants parlia-mentarians to declare their assets.

There is a lot to do to build the apparatus ofgovernment with the country currently depend-ent on budget support from major donors,which fill the gap in government revenue.

The big four donors in Sierra Leone are theUK’s Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID), the EU, the AfricanDevelopment Bank (ADB) and the World Bank(WB). All meet regularly to discuss “bench-marks” for the disbursal of budget aid such aswhether the government is managing itsfinances and meeting anti-poverty targets.

Together, the four give €52M of budget sup-port annually, or 17 per cent of the Sierra Leonenational budget. In 2007, fiduciary difficultiesinterrupted budget aid, which was largely due tounpredicted fuel price rises, explains HansAllden, the EU’s Head of Delegation in SierraLeone. He stressed the delicate nature of budg-et aid; good financial management on the onehand and a predictable flow of budget aid on theother: “If not, all kinds of payment problemsarise which even affect security. A group ofhungry, unpaid people is not good for stability.”

The EU and DFID, which coordinate their aidstrategy in Sierra Leone, currently provide 42per cent of total donor funding to the country.Each concentrates on what it does best: the EUon infrastructure and governance, and DFID oneducation, health and sanitation. Other EUcountries with bi-lateral aid programmes forSierra Leone are Ireland, Germany, Italy andFrance.

And according to Hans Allden the countrywould eventually like Sierra Leonean nation-als to train as peacekeepers themselves. Thisis, he says, “a matter of immense pride for thecountry.” D.P. �

32

Report Sierra Leone ReportSierra Leone

33N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008

Ernest Bai Koroma won the 8 September 2007 presidential run-off election, defeating the opposition candidate of the SierraLeone People’ Party (SLPP), Solomon Ekuma Berewa. Nosingle candidate won the 55 per cent of the vote needed for a

win in the first round. Koroma has set out to apply his business skillsto running a government. He is a former managing director of theReliance Insurance Trust Corporation, a fellow of the West AfricanInsurance Institute, Associate of the UK’s Institute of RiskManagement and a member of the UK’s Institute of Directors in theUK. Koroma’s All Peoples’ Congress (APC) party holds a majority of59 seats in Parliament following the August 2007 elections. He hassigned ‘contracts’ with his Ministers to ensure the delivery of results,he told us in an interview in State House, Freetown at the end ofFebruary 2008.

You were brought in as a ticket of change. What changes have you madeso far?

I have put in place a mechanism that will lay the basis for a turnaroundwhere we will see the country begin to move again and have investorscome in. We have brought about a peaceful transition from the past gov-ernment to this government. We have also addressed the issue that webelieve should be primary in our objective, that is, providing energy forthis country. Freetown now has a certain amount of electricity. We solicited the partic-ipation of the World Bank and other donors and put into action an

Independent Power Production programme (IPP) where generatingpower was given to the private sector with the National Power Authority(NPA) doing the sales.We inherited six megawatts of power generationand added 15 megawatts. That has given us a situation of 21–22megawatts and we have requisitioned an independent power generator

adding an extra ten megawatts.What’s next is to find a medium-term solution which lies in the comple-tion of Bumbuna hydroelectric station. The donor community has givenus the US$45M required to finish the project this year. As for our com-mitment to having electricity throughout the country, we have to embarkon a rural electrification programme. As we speak, the Chinese are exam-ining our hydroelectric potential. There is a possibility of having minihydro-projects all over if we can successfully harness the five rivers thatflow across the country.

Which sectors will alleviate poverty?

For any country coming out of war you have to address the humanitarianand social stabilisation issues. You must also address issues of theamputees and the displaced. Now is the time for us to go into real econom-ic growth and to create an impact on the economy. In addition to miningthere is tourism, fisheries and agriculture.About 60-70 per cent of our people are engaged in agriculture.We havethe potential of not just feeding ourselves but also exporting our agri-cultural produce. It is only when we will be able to commercialise agri-

The BUSINESSof GOVERNANCEInterview with Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone.

The completion of Bumbuna hydroelectric station

Area: 73,326 sq km

Population: 5.9M (2007)

Forecast: 6.9M (2015)

UNDP Index: 177 out of 177 countries (2007-2008 Human Development Report)

Life expectancy: 41.8 (2005)

Adult literacy rate (% age 15 per cent or older): 34.8 (1995-2005)

Under five mortality rate (per 1,000 births):282 (2005)

Imports: €306M (foodstuffs, machinery,fuels)*

Exports: €163.5M (diamonds, rutile, cocoa, bauxite, coffee, fish, iron ore, palm kernels)*

Political landscape

President: Ernest Bai Koroma sinceSeptember 2007

Unicameral House - President elected bypopular vote every five years. President’stenure is restricted to two terms.Parliamentarians are elected by popularvote every five years.

Main political parties: All People’s Congress(APC), Sierra Leone People’s party (SLPP),People’s Movement for DemocraticChange (PMDC).12 independently electedParamount Chiefs representing the coun-try’s districts also sit in Parliament.

Sources: World Bank, United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP), EuropeanCommission, Sierra Leone Encyclopedia 2007.

Websites: www.sfcg.org, www.sc-sl.org

* 2006 �

Statistics forSierra Leone

KeywordsDebra Percival; Sierra Leone; UN; DFID;Budget Aid.

Selling apples,Freetown 2008. © SLIS

Map of Sierra Leone. Copyright University of Texas.

President of Sierra Leone,Ernest Bai Koroma 2008.

© Debra Percival

Kimberlite mining operationsite in diamondiferous, Koidu town. © Awoko newspaper

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Each has its respective stronghold, theSLPP amongst the population in thesouth and east amongst the Mende eth-nic group, which makes up roughly 30

per cent of the population. Most of the APC’ssupporters are found in the north and westamongst Temnes who also make up 30 per centof the population. The SLPP won 43 seats at the last parliamentaryelections in August 2007. It maintains its candi-date won the 8 September 2007 presidential

run-off elections: “From all indications, wewon the elections. For reasons bestknown to the Electoral Commission, wewere robbed of that victory. Four hundredand seventy-seven stations in our strong-hold were cancelled and never read,”

the party’s NationalAdministrative Secretary,

Brima Koroma, told us inhis Freetown office in

February.* His declaration isin spite of boththe Parliamentaryand Presidential

elections beingdeclared “free

and fair” by a

multitude of international election observerspresent, including those from the EU. Former SLPP President, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah,was in power for 11 years prior to steppingdown before the 2007 elections: “Our first pri-ority as a party was that people give us a man-date to return to peace. This was our pledge.Having said that, we won the election in 1996and had to run the country from exile 1996-1997. We set our target to end war, which wasdelivered,” said Koroma. He went on to add that the SLPP governmentsuccessfully reconstructed the country whenwar officially ended in 2000: “It took a wholelot of our time to repair damage and devastationin the provinces. There were no hospitals orschools. Benchmarks were achieved. In 2002,the economy of the country was stable, even theleone [currency] compared to the dollar.” Hesaid the SLPP government reintroduced localcouncils in 2004. Things now are “unimagin-ably difficult,” Koroma said, singling out thehigh cost of rice.

> A third power

The Peoples’ Movement for DemocraticChange (PMDC) holds 10 parliamentary seatsand four ministerial posts – in return for back-

ing the APC in the September presidential run-off, explained its secretary general, lawyer AnsuLansana. His party gives Sierra Leoneans athird choice: “The two have been playing polit-ical ping-pong for quite a long time so our peo-ple have been clamouring for a third force.”PMDC supporters are largely “…disaffected,unemployed and abandoned Sierra Leoneans,”Lansana told us.He said the 11 years of former SLPP rule werecharacterised by gross inefficiency: “A leader-ship that was also too preoccupied with old pol-itics where your grandfather and father wereborn SLPP, so you must be SLPP. This kind ofapproach to politics is detrimental to nationaldevelopment because it does not encouragegovernance by performance.”And his opinion of the new government: “Theonly problem I have is that they have startedreneging on some of their campaign promises.My perception of the country is one of guardedoptimism. Because there are certain things thatare positive and forward-looking but there areothers that are still reminiscent of the past: job-lessness and disorderliness …” D.P. �* 12 paramount chiefs, one for each district of the country,also sit in parliament

OOPPPPOOSSIITTIIOONNAA TTWWOO--WWAAYY OOPPPPOOSSIITTIIOONNThe largest opposition party, the Sierra Leone’s People’s Party (SLPP), hasdominated the political landscape in Sierra Leone along with the current ruling All People’s Congress (APC). The SLPP came into existence in 1951 andagitated for independence from Britain, won in 1961. It has been in activeopposition to the ruling APC, formed in 1960.

N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008 35

KeywordsDebra Percival; Sierra Leone; Politics;Opposition.

culture that we will be able to address povertyreduction seriously.You have said you want to run Sierra Leone likea business?

We have to be more business-like. We have justcome from a governmental retreat in Bumbunaand identified goals. We have made a promisethat in the next 36 months we should start see-ing a turnaround. That’s why I have initiatedmanagement contracts for ministers. They arenow all talking with State House and agreeingon both their annual targets and those theyshould achieve over the next three years.

How can you attract overseas investors?

We are reviewing our laws, improving the inde-pendence and credibility of the judiciary andputting up a strong fight against corruption toensure that people will be guaranteed fair play.This will bring in investors. We have about thebest diamonds in the world, the largest depositsof rutile, huge deposits of iron ore, bauxite andplatinum, etc. We also have huge potential inthe agricultural sector. On top of this is ourunique tourist potential. With the right invest-ment Sierra Leone can easily become the besttourist destination in the world. Our flora andfauna, topography and beaches are not foundanywhere else.

Sierra Leone is right at the bottom of UNDPindex. How can you move up?

We have just launched the 2008-2010 strategyplan for children and others. We are reviewingour education system and are working onimproving on the number of people who haveaccess to pipe-borne water as well as improvingour medical facilities. When all of that is oncourse, I think the focus will be for us to moti-vate the people in charge of these services,those who deliver; doctors, nurses and teachers.

Are you confident of repeated success in theJuly local elections?

I believe that we will win most of the seats inthe country because in a very short period thecitizens have come to realize that we are aresults-oriented government. We don’t talkpolitics. What we say is what we do, as in thecase with electricity. We will be launchingour agricultural programme and want to

ensure a health programme.You don’t expect to see tangible resultsovernight. What you see is activity in govern-ment: an effort by us to work on the promisesmade to our people, and I think that people havetrust in that. The only difficulty for us is that wehave come in at a time when world marketprices are increasing. The price of fuel is on therise, as are the prices of rice and wheat. It isunfortunate that some of these have a directimpact on the life of the ordinary man. We can-not subsidise, as we do not have the funds. Weare not an oil producing country.

Is your government ethnically biased?

This is not the case. We have people from theother regions; our ministers of Health andMarine Resources, for example. I have alwaysinsisted that it is a government of inclusion andwe have people of every district represented,not only in governance but also at deputy min-ister level. We are appointing people to state-run companies and diplomatic missions, all ofwhom represent the national character.

What is your view about the focus on budget aidin your partnership with the EU?

It is important for it to continue, as our revenuebase is very limited. We are asking for supportto give us an opportunity to stand on our feet.When we kickstart the activities in mining,agriculture and tourism, I think we will haveenough to run our budget and take care of ourdevelopment endeavours. The EU is also play-ing a lead role in infrastructure programmes.Just like energy, an improved road network willfacilitate economic activities in the country. Itwill create free movement of people, help themovement of agricultural commodities andenhance tourism and trade with our neighbours,Guinea and Liberia. D.P. �

Website: www.statehouse.gov.sl

“We have to be morebusiness-like.”

KeywordsDebra Percival; President Ernest BaiKoroma; Sierra Leone; Budget Aid;Electricity.

Kimberlite mining operationsite in diamondiferous,

Koidu town. © Awoko newspaper

Housing, Kroo Bay, Freetown 2008. © Debra Percival

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Report Sierra Leone


mine iron ore and those that want to minebauxite, as they have to use the same rail-way and the same ports,” said Jallon.He added: “The cabinet has empowered meset up a sub-committee to look at all theagreements of the big mining companies,and in the process we will inject that intothe new agreements between us and themining companies.”“The worst thing we have discovered is thatpeople come here and get a mining explo-

ration licence which they take to the stock market and raise money on ourheads. They say it’s legal but we want to change this,” continued Jallon.Alfred Carew, executive secretary of the National Forum on HumanRights and chair of the National Advocacy Coalition on Extraction, toldus that he believes Internet companies are doing the same thing. He’sworried about the social costs of mining, such as the employment ofchild stonecrackers, prostitution, disease in mining areas and the envi-ronmental fallout.The Minister spoke about the current ‘free-for-all’ in the diamond districtof Kono and related smuggling: “We try our best to organise it in a struc-tured way. In most cases you have a dealer who helps the landowner andworkers get machinery. You then have to sell to this man because he’s theone who helped you. This man will give the diamonds to an exporter whohas a licence and is the only one with the authority to export.To get thelicence you have to pay US $40,000. We believe that smuggling takesplace in between this but we can’t prove it.”He said that the country subscribes to the Kimberley Process, which pro-hibits sale of diamonds from the world’s conflict zones: “I sign aKimberley certificate for anybody who is exporting. But you have to go tothe destination to get an end picture. Somebody has to be there howeverto check if the diamonds arrived. There’s heavy administration involved.”D.P. �

* The EITI involves the regular publicaton of revenues paid to governments by all materi-als, oil, gas and mining companies,

37

TTrraaii llbbllaazziinnggSSIIEERRRRAA RRUUTTIILLEE LLTT DD..

A€24M loan grant in part from ‘SYSMIN’, the EC’s former fund toassist the mining sector with the remainder from the European

Development Fund (EDF) has enabled Sierra Rutile Ltd. to start up againin the Bonthe District in the South-west. Rutile (titanium dioxide) ismainly exported to Europe, North America, Brazil, Japan and Russiawhere it is used in paint pigment, with the higher grades going tomanufacture welding rods.The grant for the re-start was passed on to the government, whichthen channelled the monies in the form of a commercial loan to thecompany. Bob Lloyd, the company’s managing director describes it as:“a significant milestone in the re-birth of Sierra Leone at the end of theconflict.” With projected production this year of 180,000 tonnes, thecompany is already on target to beat last year’s 140,000-tonne figure. The extraction process leaves large bodies of water. These can be usedfor other productive purposes, explained Jean-Pierre Milard, who is anEU-funded technical assistant to the Ministry. And since the process isnot toxic, there are many possible ventures. Bob Lloyd explained thatSierra Rutile Ltd. has set up a foundation which is currently funding apilot agriculture reclamation on one of the ‘lakes’. Others includeaquaculture and the pristine white sand left beached by mining is trig-gering thoughts of tourism.It seems the company has many more years in business. Bob Lloydshowed The Courier a map pinpointing the reserves found aroundBonthe. And exploration is also ongoing along the coastline.The capital and interest on the loan amounting to €45M are to berepaid to the government of Sierra Leone 2008–2013, starting with aninitial €716,000 in June this year. The EC is expected to have a say inhow these monies are used. Bob Lloyd said that relations with the localpopulation were good; officials meet regularly with the eight para-mount chiefs of the chiefdoms surrounding the mine. �

KeywordsSierra Leone; Mining; Diamonds; Iron ore; Rutile.

36

“We are the second largest producer of rutile in theworld (and the number one producer of rawrutile). We have big deposits of bauxite and ironore. We have diamonds scattered all over the

country and we are mining the source rock for diamonds, kimberlite andgold,” explained Alhaji Abubakar Jallon, Minister of Mineral Resources,former Executive Director of the National Diamond Company and formergeophysicist.With registered diamond exports worth US$125.3M in 2006, the gem isthe country’s number one export without counting its unregistered trade.Altogether the mining sector provides a livelihood for 250,000 people or14 per cent of the labour force, but the government feels that mining couldbring in more for Sierra Leoneans.The past fiscal regime has not attracted a large number of qualityinvestments, say World Bank officials. Other drawbacks are a lack oftransparency in granting mineral rights, large numbers of unlicensed,informal artisanal miners, as well as smuggling of gold and diamondsand the environmental and social impacts on local communities.According to World Bank figures, just 2 per cent of fiscal revenuescame from the sector in 2000.A World Bank technical assistance project (US$6M viathe International Development Association) isexpected to be approved inJuly 2008 to look at waysof making the industrymore transparent in the current regime,increasing mining revenues for thegovernment and improving governance sup-port for Extractive Industry TransparencyInitiative (EITI)* , which the country committedto in 2006. This will back up steps to regulate the sec-tor so far including the 2003 Core Mineral Policyand collection of geodata.

Minister Jallon wants companies to do more to build up infrastructurearound mines: “If you are mining somewhere, give us an electrical plantthat will serve both you and the people of the area. A recent mining forumheld in Conakry, Guinea, sponsored by the World Bank and AfricanDevelopment Bank (ADB), reached the consensus that we should linkmining with infrastructure.”And there should be no repeat of the old type of agreement, the Ministertold us. One example is Delcros, an iron mining company that when oper-

ating for 20 years built a railway and port to export. When the mine closed,the port and railway were redundant: “This is the sort of situation thatshould not occur anymore,” he said. “If we are going to allow anyone now to develop the mine – because a lotof people are coming to see us and there are other deposits like more than100 million tonnes of bauxite as well as the remnants of the iron ore – weare encouraging them to form a consortium between those who want to

GOVERNMENT DIGS DEEP

to reform mining

GOVERNMENTDIGS DEEP

to reform mining

A sub-committee to look at all the agreements

ReportSierra Leone

Dredger, Sierra Rutile Ltd. 2008. © Debra Percival

Minister of Mineral Resources, Alhaji Abubakar Jallon 2008. © Debra Percival

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Report Sierra Leone

This is one area where you can do a seriousvalue addition and in fact make it a very goodlocal drink that can be processed virtuallyanywhere.” Cashews, a fruitful crop in thenorth, will even out the north-south economicdivide, said Dr Sesay.

> Fair price for land

Improved feeder roads, harmonised productstandards in countries of the West African regio-nal organisation, ECOWAS, and land tenurewere also issues in re-launching the sector, saidSesay who said that in areas where land is forsale “you have to pay a proper price. There isvalue for land and people are not getting a fairprice.”Agriculture is not one of the focal sectors fornew EC funding under the 10th EDF. In thepost-war period, EDF funding channelled torural development went to resettling people inrural areas and promoting food security. Aresettlement and rehabilitation programme(€30M) was launched for social infrastructurein rural areas countrywide, reconstructinghealth centres, wells and other infrastructuredestroyed by war. It was followed by a €24MLink Relief, Rehabilitation & Development(LLRD) project providing tools and seeds,water and sanitation explained GeorgesDehoux, of the Food Security Officer at the EUDelegation in Sierra Leone. He said that in afertile country like Sierra Leone, “food securityshould not be a problem.” Other food securityprojects have followed.With a €4.2M grant from the former EC’sStabilisation of Export Receipt Funding (STA-BEX) which offsets losses on agricultural exportreceipts, value is being added to cash crops inBombali and Tonkolili (rice) and Kono, Kenemaand Kailahun (cocoa). Matthias Reusing, Head

of Rural Development at the EU Delegation inSierra Leone, explained that the country cannotcompete with the bulk cocoa exports of Côted’Ivoire and Ghana, but working with theDutch NGO, AGRO ECO, has improved drying

methods and certified the cocoa as fair tradeand organic. Sold at US$1,000 per tonne pre-dried, it can now fetch upwards of US$1,400–$1,600 per tonne.Reusing suggested that it would be a good timefor the country to hone in on the shortage oforganic Robusta coffee in the global market. Inthe EU there is plenty of good Arabica coffeeon the market grown at high altitude inEthiopia, but not of Robusta, which is grown at

a lower level. As Europeans like a blend ofArabica and Robusta, this could be an upco-ming niche.To keep up the momentum of the STABEX pro-ject, a €12M sum has been set aside under the10th EDF to improve production, processingand marketing of cash crops, also includingstate actors again. And €4M from the 10thEDF will go to decentralisation of the sectorbuilding the capacity of district councils andnon-state actors. Georges Dehoux emphasi-sed the need to act at a local level to moveforward. D.P. �

Websites: www.megapesca.org, www.oceanic-dev.com

* 1US dollar = 3,000 Leones; 1 Euro = 4,789 Leones

AA FFUUTTUURREE II NN FFIISSHHIINNGGI llegal fishing could be costing Sierra Leone as much as €23M per year,

according to an EC- funded report drawn up by the consortium, Oceanic

Développement (France) and MEGAPESCA (Portugal). The study explores

the different options for a fisheries partnership with the EU. Some 8,000

artisanal vessels such as dug-out canoes and planked vessels and 52 ocean-

going trawlers, mainly South-east Asian and Spanish and Greek boats cur-

rently have joint ventures to fish in Sierra Leone’s waters. Chinese vessels

are allegedly fishing illegally in Sierra Leonean waters, say observers.

“Everything close to shore is critical,” said Reusing. One of the four options

explored by the consortium is for EU vessels to fish tuna, deep water

shrimp and small pelagic with such an agreement potentially bringing in

royalties of €2.5M a year.

Since there is currently an EU ban on Sierra Leone’s fish exports – which

could be lifted this year – catches under the joint ventures must be enter-

ing the EU through a third country, suggested Freetown observers. The EU

has just launched a €3M Institutional Support for Fisheries Management

(ISFM) to assess stocks and provide technical advice for the conservation

of resources working with the Institute of Marine Biology and

Oceonography of Sierra Leone. The idea is to establish the current status

quo of stocks and develop a sustainable management plan, said Reusing.

In future the EU wants to continue to improve hygiene standards in the

industry and do more to control and survey fishing in seven West African

states, including Sierra Leone, to stamp out illegal fishing. �

A shortage of organic Robusta coffee

N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008 39

KeywordsDebra Percival; Sierra Leone; Agriculture;Trade; Fishing.

“We will not suceed inpoverty reduction ifwe don’t change thecircumstances of

the farmers,” said President Ernest BaiKoroma, visiting Kenema in the east of thecountry during March this year. Renewablenatural resources such as agro- forestry, agri-culture and fisheries add up to 50 per cent ofgross domestic product (GDP) with 75 percent gaining their livelihood from the sector. The country is heavily reliant on imports forits staples like rice. When we visited at the endof February 2008, the high price of a standardbag of rice caused tempers to flare on thestreets of Freetown. It was then around 80,000leones (approximately $27US), whereas a bagcost 50,000 leones (US$17)* during the elec-tion season in August 2007. The international food crisis was mainly toblame for the price hike, explained PresidentKoroma in Kenema, rather than the newgovernment, and had led to a ban on riceexports in some areas. But he added that the

crisis had put the spotlight on the country’sreliance on imports and need to up home pro-duction. The government is to set up a produce

development agency to look at the whole far-ming sector and strengthen production.Agriculture Minister, Dr Sam Sesay, told TheCourier in his Freetown office he was alsoworried about rice easily getting through thecountry’s porous borders: “We only fulfil 60per cent of our rice requirement domestically.We have traditionally been rice producers andwere in fact exporters in the 1960s. Of concern

to the government is that a lot of our rice isinterestingly going to neighbouring countrieslike Liberia and Guinea. Studies have shownthat Sierra Leone has a comparative advantageof rice production both in the domestic marketand to compete internationally.” He sees a future too in other crops like chilipepper, cashews and ginger beer: “The pro-blem is it [ginger beer] is not properly made.

Focus on farmingas RICE PRICE RISES

A ban on rice exports in some areas

Artisanal fishing, Alex's beach 2008. © Debra Percival

Rural scene, Bonthe district 2008. © Debra Percival

STABEX cocoa project. © EU Delegation Sierra Leone/Matthias Reusing

Focus on farmingas RICE PRICE RISES

Lush and fertile, it’s easy to see why many feel that farming holds huge potential inSierra Leone. As with many areas of the country’s economy, conflict has taken its tolland funds are lacking. Then there’s a problem of getting people to work the land.Farming is seen by some as a punishment rather than way of making a living,explained Agriculture Minister Dr Sam Sesay whose task is to stimulate productionand create jobs in the sector.

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> Environmentally unfriendly

The conflict was over an allegation that thecompany has dispossessed community habi-tants of their land and the dangerous environ-mental impact of the company’s indiscriminateblasting operations. The mining company hasalso come under scathing attacks by a coalitionof civil society groups and NGOs who continueto see the activities of the company as not onlyenvironmentally unfriendly, but contest that nomeasures have been put in place by KoiduHoldings to repair damages done to the envi-ronment after the mining operations. KoiduHoldings is not the alone in this regard.

On the other hand, in the fight against environ-mental degradation the government of SierraLeone and its development partners will need to

address local individual activities like cutting oftrees for charcoal burning, unorganised ‘free-for-all’ illegal mining in diamondiferous areasand timber logging.

Paradoxically, all these activities are also amajor means of livelihood and survival for anumber of people across almost all walks of life.An extensive investigation by one of the leadingnational newspapers, Awoko, published a detai-led account of youths on a mining rampage inthe eastern Kono District. There were graphicpictures showcasing a depleted earth as minersdug under bridges and houses in desperation.More than 100,000 youths are merely searchingthe soil for their daily bread. This is how theysee it. Another newspaper, For Di People, publi-shed a researched article naming names ofsenior politicians who tacitly aid and abetforeign companies in their clandestine loggingactivities notwithstanding the government ban.At local level, the allegation of ‘conspiracy’extends to both local and traditional leaders. �

* Sierra Leonean journalist, Freetown

www.RSPB.org

MMoorreeggrreeeennMMEEAASSUURREESS.. .. ..The EU has earmarked €1M for tech-

nical assistance to build up theNational Commission for Environmentand Forestry (NACEF), explainsMatthias Reusing, head of RuralDevelopment in the EU Delegation inSierra Leone. It will be a focal point forall environmental policy reviews, legis-lation and data and incorporate envi-ronmental issues into main policy-mak-ing areas such as mining, fisheries,water, sanitation and decentralisation.

As part of the Gola Forest Programme,the country is also looking at carbontrading. One possibility is CleanDevelopment Mechanism of the KyotoProtocol. This is aimed at setting upCertified Emission Reduction (CER)credits to developing nations to cutback emissions. Sierra Leone is not cur-rently a Kyoto signatory, but might lookat voluntary carbon markets which sellactivities that reduce greenhouse gasesto companies or individuals who wantto reduce their carbon footprints,explains Reusing.

Sierra Leone is also included in a studyof DG Development due to be launchedin Spring 2008 on legal and illegalcross-border trade of timber and forestproducts in West Africa. The govern-ment recently showed interest in a vol-untary partnership agreement underthe EU’s Forest Law Enforcement,Governance and Trade (FLEGT) toclamp down on illegal logging*. D.P. �

* FLEGT agreements are voluntary licensingschemes with partner countries ensuring thatonly legal timber from partner countries canenter the EU.

KeywordsGibril Foday-Musa; Sierra Leone; environment; forestry; FLEGT; mining.

The hall was colourfully decoratedwith garlands of EU MemberStates’ flags criss-crossing the roofof the British Council in Freetown.

It is 10 December 2007 and the four month-oldpresidency of Ernest Bai Koroma is about tolaunch the Gola Forest Programme. The proj-ect will protect the 75,000 hectares of tropicalforest host to rare mammals like the pygmyhippopotamus, chimpanzee, forest elephantand up to 14 globally threatened bird speciesincluding the strange white-necked Picathartesand the Rufous Fishing-owl.

When fewer than 40 per cent of invited publicofficials turned up at the event, PresidentErnest Bai Koroma had no alternative but toexpress great disappointment and admonishedhis fellow countrymen of the “looming globalthreat” to the country’s natural habitation.

A €3M EU grant over five years was recent-ly earmarked for the Gola Forest Programmethrough the UK-based Royal Society for theProtection of Birds (RSPB). It will start upprotected area management, capacity build-ing on all levels, livelihood programmes andcommunity engagement in forest manage-ment planning, research and biodiversityassessment and environmental education andadvocacy. The target is to protect the GolaForest reserves for biodiversity conservationand community development, creating a newmodel of sustainable natural resource man-agement in Sierra Leone. It will be implemented jointly with partners – theConservation Society of Sierra Leone andthe National Commission for Environmentand Forestry (NACEF). The RSPB is itselfsoliciting donor support for a €10M endow-ment fund to generate annual interest pay-ments to run the Gola conservation project inthe future.

> Gola set to become National Park

President Ernest Koroma was thrilled. Helinked environmental importance to peace,stability and sustainable development. Healso pledged his commitment to a transfor-mation of the Gola Forest into a nationalpark in the future. Koroma ended with a call

to the nation to recognise the devastatingimpact of environmental hazards.

But the challenges facing the new All PeoplesCongress (APC) government in the area ofenvironmental protection is pile-high.Years ofcivil war in the sub-region saw mass migra-tions into virgin settlements which are still aheavy burden on biodiversity and flora andfauna. With little knowledge and experience inhandling refugee situations, scant attention waspaid to the environmental consequences ofthese migrations by governments, NGOs orUnited Nations (UN) agencies which wereresponsible for the establishment of so manynew settlements for people running away fromdanger. This was aggravated by the mercilessplunder of the natural resources and the ravageof biodiversity during the war period.

Democratic order and rule of law have trig-gered governments of the region to attempt tocontrol and regulate activities like logging,mining and hunting, among others, by imple-menting ‘bans’ on some of these activities.Logging and the exportation of timber forinstance, have been banned by PresidentKoroma’s government. A law to combat landdegradation through a National Action Plan hasbeen drafted by the government of SierraLeone in collaboration with the United NationsConvention to Combat Desertification. Theprogramme aims to identify the symptoms,causes and effects of land degradation at bothlocal and national levels. Recently the govern-ment also suspended the activities of the kim-berlite mining company Koidu Holdings after aviolent confrontation with community youthsleft two people dead.

RRiissiinngg ttoo tthhee eennvviirroonnmmeennttaallCCHHAALLLLEENNGGEEBy Gibril Foday-Musa*

Firewood for sale, roadside 2008. © Debra Percival

Free-for-all youth mining, Kaisambo, Kono 2008.© Awoko newspaper

Map of Gola forest project.© Conservation International

ReportSierra Leone

4342

Report Sierra Leone


Nature’s abundance of intensegreen foliage contrasting withthe deep red earth and shelteringa wealth of fauna and flora is

both humbling and enveloping. The govern-ment knows that by nurturing such naturalassets it can pull tourists back to the country(see environment article).

Sierra Leone’s Tourism Minister, HindoloTyre, who has a small office tucked into thenational sports stadium, says the sector willnot be sidelined: “There has always been atourism ministry but it has always beenlooked upon as the forgotten ministry. Infact, there was a joke that when a ministerdoes something wrong he is usually pun-ished by being sent to tourism. For me, it’snot a punishment it’s a challenge. Peoplecan’t count on mining forever.”

It’s only a six hour flight from Europe butthere’s a lot to tackle to turn around theexternal perception of the country. On sandybeach terms, the country can compete withGambia and Senegal with hidden bays likeSussex and River no.2, as well as the longstretch at Lumley. It’s a different case withinfrastructure. Flights to Sierra Leone arecomparatively high-cost and the position ofthe national airport at Lungi on a peninsulameans an extra unique helicopter hop intoFreetown on arrival. At the time of writingthere was no alternative sea transport to thecapital.

> Clean-up day.Other things that put off some tourists: visi-ble destitution, a largely cash economy andenvironmental problems such as waste –mainly plastics – washed up on Lumleybeach. The last Saturday of every month has

been declared environmental ‘clean-up day’by the government when there’s no traffic onthe streets and you are expected to stay athome to tidy your area.

“The sector can become a major foreignexchange earner and an employment genera-tor. To say that we are war torn is not right.What we need is to market and promote ourcountry outside as well as inside,” said theMinister.

For starters, the Minister wants to print amap pinpointing the country’s beauty spots,historical sites and relics. He talks aboutsome spots: Bumbuna’s amazing sceneryand very nice guest rooms and Tiwai Island,a stunning nature reserve.

Old colonial houses with ornate verandasgive a bygone time feel to Freetown. And thecotton tree – an immense tree found growingin the late 18th century by former Americanslaves who won their freedom by fighting forthe British in the American Civil War andnamed their new settlement Freetown – is afocal point in the capital.

“Part of our strategic plan involves havinglegal consultants even just for short periodsof three months to look at rules and regula-tions; for example, the TourismDevelopment Master Plan in 1982. TheMonuments and Relics Act was as far backas 1957. Even some of our agreements withhotels are not pro-Sierra Leone,” saidMinister Tyre.

He said external investment was vital sincedomestic priorities are electricity, food andwater: “When you look at the country it’slike a virgin untouched by investment andinvestors, but the approach we want to use istotally different. One of the failures of thesystem before is political interference. Wewant to de-politicise as much as possible.”D.P. �

Website: www.sierraleone.org

Is TOURISMa STIRRING LION?

Long stretches of white sand, intimate coves, beachside bars, barracuda straight fromthe sea and a laid back feel. It’s a far cry from the war torn label that has stuck for adecade and the government is keen to tear off for good.

KeywordsDebra Percival; Sierra Leone; TourismEnvironment ; Heritage.

There are €242M in the 10th EDF’s ‘A’ envelope focusingon good governance (€37M), rehabilitation of priorityinfrastructure (€95M) and general budget support(€90M). Outside the focal sectors, funds are earmarked

for agriculture (€12M – see article on agriculture); trade, whichincludes funding to underpin an eventual European PartnershipAgreement (€3M); a technical and cooperation facility (€2.5M);and contribution to regional projects (€2M).

An additional €26.4M – initially for two years but renewable – iscontained within a ‘B’ envelope. This covers unforeseen needs suchas emergency assistance, a contribution to internationally agreeddebt relief and adverse effects of instability in export earnings.

EDF monies to Sierra Leone have increased since 1975 when the 4thEDF was on stream. War interrupted planning, so €100M from pre-vious funds is still being spent. Between 1999 and 2002 the EC’shumanitarian aid office, ECHO, pledged €44M for war victims,returnees and Liberian refugees.

Sierra Leone is one of only a handful of ACP countries where the EUis jointly planning its aid strategy with an EU Member State, the

UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). “There ishuge complementarity between DFID, which concentrates on healthand sanitation, and the EU with its focus on transport and infrastruc-ture,” Richard Hogg, head of DFID’s office in Sierra Leone, told us.

Both donors also provide budget support. Under the 10th EDF,€15M has been pledged per year, amounting to 29 per cent of thetotal budget support by donors, or 5 per cent of total government rev-enue. Benchmarks for disbursal of these monies are drawn up withthe AFDB, World Bank, DFID and include good public financialmanagement.

Of the €95M going to infrastructure under the 10th EDF, €48M is forfeeder roads, €15M for overlaying the Songo-Moyamba junctionroad and €7M for construction of the Magbele bridge. Currentlybeing upgraded with EDF funds are a 86 km stretch from Rogberejunction in Sierra Leone to Guinea and the 168 km from Masiaka toBo. Continuation of this road to Liberia is seen as a funding prioritysince it would create a trade-enhancing artery from Liberia to Guinea.

Also included in the budget chapter for infrastructure are funds forthe vital energy sector (€12M), a ‘master plan’ for Freetown (€8M)– including development of urban roads and markets – and the devel-opment of river transport (€2M) including the building of jetties atpoints on the 380 km of inland waterways. There is a support for theMinistry of Transport (€3M).

Out of €37M earmarked for good governance, explained FrancescaVarlese, Project Manager at the EU Delegation in Freetown, €8Mwill go toward continued election support, including €3.7M for theholding of the July local elections and to election bodies – theNational Electoral Commission and Political Parties RegistrationCommission. Chiara Bellini of the Delegation’s governance sectionadds that reform of the civil service (€10M), and decentralisation ofservices (€9M) are also priorities. Additionally, there is continuedfunding for the National Authorising Office which coordinates EUprojects for the government (€5M), sums for environmental gover-nance (€4M) and the building up of civil society (€1M). D.P. �

EU funding toUNDERPIN STABILITYFunding for Sierra Leone under the six-year 10th European Development Fund (EDF)(2008-2013) will build on projects to underpin stability and good governance andhelp get the economy moving.

KeywordsDebra Percival; Sierra Leone; 10th EDF; Infrastructure.

9th EDF-funded road renovation, Masiaka-Bo 2008. © Debra Percival

Long sandy stretch, Lumley beach 2008.© Debra Percival

44

D iscovering Europe


tinued until 30 BC and the beginning of theRoman period that ended in 330 AD. Thecountry then became a province of Byzantiumand remained so for nine centuries, despitesuccessive Arab raids. This period infusedCyprus very markedly with the culture of thisEastern Roman Empire. The Cypriot OrthodoxChurch became autocephalous at the end ofthe 5th century, thus appointing its own head.

Richard 1st (the Lionheart) seized the island atthe end of the 12th century, ceding it to theKnights Templar whose regressive and dictato-rial reign was followed by Venetian dominationin 1489 and Ottoman occupation in 1570. Thislasted until 1878 when Cyprus, which was stillin theory part of the Ottoman Empire, wasceded to British administration in exchange forprotection against the Russian threat.

> One of the 20th century’s tragedies

In 1914, as a reprisal measure for Turkeyaligning with Germany, Great Britain annexedCyprus. The country officially became aBritish colony in 1925. The annexation wasrelatively well accepted as supporters of thefirst enosis (union with Greece), who made upthe majority of the population and saw it as atimely opportunity. Disappointment was tofollow and uprisings which were quicklyquelled. After the Second World War, therewas no recompense for the Greek Cypriotswho had enlisted in large numbers (60,000)alongside the British troops.

In 1955, they embarked on an armed struggle.Thanks to US intervention, in 1959 the Greekand Turkish leaders reached an agreement onthe terms of independence for Cyprus thatruled out any union with Greece and any par-

titioning of the country. A right of veto wasgranted to the Turkish Cypriot minority (about20 per cent of the population) on a number ofsensitive issues, as well as a guaranteed 30 percent representation in the civil service. A finalagreement was reached between the two par-ties and Great Britain. The agreement interalia permitted Great Britain to retain its mili-tary bases on the island, which became inde-pendent on 16 August 1960. Its first presidentwas Archbishop Makarios, one of the greatnon-aligned leaders of the Third World.

> Partition

The most determined members of the twocommunities were dissatisfied with the inde-pendence agreements and successive clashesprompted the UN Security Council to send apeacekeeping force to the island in 1964. Theisland’s partition had already begun whenTurkish Cypriot ministers were resigning fromthe government and fellow members of theircommunity were increasingly moving to thenorth of the island.

The military junta that had seized power inGreece in 1967 helped fuel a coup againstPresident Makarios. In response to this and inthe absence of any reaction from the thirdpower guaranteeing the independence, i.e.Great Britain, Turkey seized the occasion tosend in its army on 20 July 1974.

It was soon to occupy 35 per cent of the terri-tory, representing what was the most econom-ically developed part of Cyprus at the time,with an economic potential estimated to be 70per cent. A line of demarcation was traced thatran right through the city of Nicosia. Todaythis remains the world’s only divided capital.About 140,000 Greek Cypriots, a quarter of

the island’s population, were forced to aban-don their homes and flee to the south. About1,500 also disappeared. Only a few hundredGreek Cypriots and Maronites remained in thenorth.

> Hope reborn

It took the population of the Republic ofCyprus just 20 years to rebuild their economyand regain past splendours, to such a degreethat Cyprus was able to meet the criteria for EUmembership. For the European bodies, thisaccession implied prior reunification of theisland in accordance with the UN’s Annan Planthat was to be adopted by a referendum heldsimultaneously in both parts of the island.Whereas it won 65 per cent of the votes in the‘occupied’ part of the island, it was rejected by76 per cent of the Greek Cypriots, thereby clos-ing the door on Europe for northern Cyprus.This was a rude awakening for the Europeaninstitutions and caused resentment among theTurkish Cypriots. However, the reality wasmuch more complex. Despite the intent it didnot seem that the Greek Cypriots were seekingrevenge but simply regarded the Annan Plan asunbalanced with too many constraints for themand too many prerogatives for the TurkishCypriots, if not for Turkey itself.

The election as president of DimitrisChristofias, the AKEL (Communist Party ofCyprus) candidate on 24 February this year,shows clearly that the Greek Cypriots had nodesire to prolong the disagreement. Theamended corrections to the Annan Planrequested by Christofias earned him the sup-port of the principal election loser, formerPresident Papadopoulos. He had been elimi-nated in the first round despite his economicand social successes, a fact which seemed toreflect that his uncompromising opposition tothe Annan Plan was not widely supported.

Dialogue resumed immediately following theelection of Dimitris Christofias who enteredinto negotiations with Mehmet Ali Talat,President of the Turkish Republic of NorthernCyprus (a state not recognised by the interna-tional community). The first symbol of thesethawed relations was the opening of a LedraStreet crossing point in the demarcation line.Ledra was the original name of Cyprus.H.G. �

Discovering EuropeCyprus

45

The history of Cyprus goes back a long way, with traces ofhuman settlement discovered on the island as early as the9th Millennium BC. Six thousand years later, people haddeveloped now mastering the techniques of copper wor-

king. Cyprus in fact lent its Latin name (cuprum) to this metal. Butthe real foundations of Cyprus were laid with the arrival in around1200 BC of the Mycenaean Greeks who brought their language, cul-ture and skills. Greek culture was to continue to dominate the island,albeit with ups and downs.

Quickly developing into a centre of Greek culture, Cyprus mixed theheritage of the motherland with inputs from many other cultures, allof them still present today in this melting pot of a country. Anothermajor contribution came with the arrival of the Phoenicians in the 9thcentury BC, after being driven from their land (present-day Lebanon)by the Assyrians. This period brought a new flourishing of culturenotably thruogh excellence in creating ceramics and fine jewellery,appreciated on Cyprus to this day. A succession of conquerors fol-lowed, with the Assyrians in the 8th century BC and the Egyptians inthe 6th. The Persians arrived in 525 BC and held the land in an irongrip. This lasted until the victory of Alexander the Great in 333 BC,marking the official entry of Cyprus into its Hellenic era, which con-

It is probably its long history as a placewhere cultures meet and mix that gavethe people of Cyprus their dynamismand charm, including a touching hospi-tality, but above all an eagerness tostrike up a conversation, rare in a coun-try suffering under partial occupation.The most recent political developmentsperhaps herald an end to this tragedy.

CYPRUSand

MALTACYPRUS

a meetingand mixingof cultures

In this issue, The Courier highlights excep-tionally two European Union countries –Cyprus and Malta – to mark their entryinto the eurozone. On 1 January this yearboth adopted the euro.

Malta and Cyprus also have a lot in com-mon, starting with their small but open,flourishing and sound economies thatenabled them to quickly fulfil the EU’sconvergence criteria, notably relating togrowth, inflation rates and the govern-ment debt. The two countries joined theEuropean Exchange Rate Mechanism on 2May 2005. On 16 May 2007, theEuropean Commission and EuropeanCentral Bank gave them the green light tojoin the eurozone, a decision formalisedat the 11 July Council. Both countries hada strong and stable currency at the time,the Cypriot pound (€1 = CYP0.5853) andthe Maltese lira (€1 = MTL0.4293).

Cyprus and Malta are also old Europeancountries, lying on the fringes of the con-tinent and with a long history of beingpermeable to the territories and culture ofAfrica and the Orient.

KeywordsCyprus, history, Greece, Turkey, DemetrisChristofias, Ledra, Hegel Goutier.

Abandoned house close to the demarcation zone, Nicosia, 2008. © Hegel Goutier

46 N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008

Discovering Europe Cyprus Discovering EuropeCyprus

Before 1974, almost three-quarters ofeconomic activity were concentra-ted in the north of the country. Theoccupation caused 40 per cent of the

population to take to the roads, residing inmakeshift shelters. The economy was in free-fall. Yet in less than 15 years Cyprus was anation rebuilt.

Marios Tsiakkis, Director of IndustryDepartment at the Cyprus Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, says this ‘Cypriotmiracle’ is due to a determination by all sec-tions of the population. He speaks emotionallyof how the trade unions spontaneouslyappealed for a cut in wages as their contribu-tion to the reconstruction effort.

By 1990, the feat was achieved. Today, consid-ers Mr. Tsiakkis, Cyprus is facing anotherchallenge: that of competitiveness – on the onehand from Europe and on the other from Chinaand other Asian countries. Agriculture current-ly accounts for 3.5 per cent of the economy,manufacturing industries 10 per cent and serv-ices 74 per cent. “We must evolve furthertowards a knowledge-based industrial econo-my with high added values. We are encourag-ing Cypriot companies to invest in researchand development projects and innovation. TheChamber of Commerce is working with thePublic University of Cyprus. It has set itself

the task of acting as a catalyst between the uni-versity and enterprise.”

Of the 74 per cent share of the economy repre-sented by services, tourism accounts for 20 percent. Other important branches are financialservices, shipping, the booming constructionindustry, and the accounting and audit servicesused by many major international companies.

At 10 per cent, the low level of corporate taxis a big investment draw. What’s more, Cyprushas sealed agreements with about 40 countriesaround the world to avoid double taxation.Last but not least, wages in Cyprus are lowerthan in most EU countries (about 84 per centof the EU average). The quality of the roadsand communication systems, the common-place use of English, the advanced educationand health systems, and a good social environ-ment combine to secure the country’s excel-lent reputation among foreign investors. Anddon’t forget, insists Tsiakkis, the security, anagreeable climate and the beauty of Cyprus.

Cyprus’s attraction for foreign investors andresidents was very evident in the propertyboom. This explains why, within business cir-cles that generally favour reunification, mem-bers of the construction sector are especiallysupportive. They are already looking ahead tothe billions of euros that would flow into the

EconomicMIRACLEOne of the surprising things about Cyprus is its high levelof economic development. Everything is new. Nicosia issparkling. Its shopping and business districts can rival insize and luxury those of the world’s richest cities.Jewellers, luxury boutiques, banks and the offices ofmajor companies are everywhere. In the southern sectionof Nicosia, that is. Although not without its charms, thenorth of the city that lies in the occupied zone has a feelof abandon.

Emmanuela Lambrianides,Senior Coordination Officer,Planning Bureau, Ministry

of Foreign Affairs*

> Initial phase:Sub-contractingproject implementation

In 2007, the percentage of theGDP of Cyprus allocated todevelopment policy reached 0.12per cent. The target is for 0.17 percent by 2010 in line with commit-ments made in the EU Council.

Our strategy is to delegate imple-mentation of our cooperation toother EU Member States. This isnot only because we don’t haveenough local experts but also forefficiency – why spend a lot ofmoney on building up a bigadministration to deliver assis-tance when we can use what’s

already there. Our main partnersare Lesotho and Mali among theACP countries and four countriesin our vicinity in North Africa andthe Middle East.** Smalleramounts of aid go to ten otherrecipients.

> Second phase: CyprusAid start-up

Our sectors of concentration arehealth and education. We havecomparative advantages in theseareas and want to use our skills.We have set up custom-madecourses on agriculture – short-term courses of around six weekscovering research.

After the first phase we can man-age things ourselves, but we alsowork through NGOs. We arepresently working with them topre-empt what we can do on ourown after 2010 at the closure ofthe medium-term strategy(2007–2010). We also have to setup the decision-making mecha-nism to establish ‘CyprusAid’,fostering closer links with thebeneficiary countries and devel-oping links with our NGOs.

We are also working on shippingand banking where we havereceived requests for short-termtraining. Another area is econom-ic planning. We have some expe-rience in this as the economy ofCyprus was itself completely dis-

mantled. Cyprus had to take manyplanning initiatives and the role ofthe Bureau was instrumental. Itcreated a five-year plan andinstructed the private sector. Webrought about a complete recov-ery of the economy after just 15years – a fact the Planning Bureauis proud of.

Georges Virides, Director ofD e v e l o p m e n t a lCooperation and

Humanitarian Aid, Ministry ofForeign Affairs*

> ACP beneficiaries

There are three projects we havebeen involved with. One is inLesotho where a boarding housewas constructed for girls in thedistrict of Mokhotlong. The girlsresiding in the nearby area hadhad to travel a distance of eightkilometres each day on foot to goto school, facing the danger ofbeing attacked by people withfirearms. This project was under-taken in partnership with Irish Aidand the implementing agency wasthe Ministry of Education ofLesotho on the basis of an agree-ment between Ireland andLesotho. The total cost of theproject was €350,000.

In Mali we have completed a proj-ect on sustainable waste manage-ment in the town of Sikasso inpartnership with the government

of Belgium and Mali. The imple-menting agency was BelgianTechnical Cooperation. The townof Sikasso faced major publichealth problems with increasingproduction of all sorts of waste,mainly industrial. The total con-tribution was €151,000 andequipment was delivered at theend of 2006.

Now we are in the process ofanother project with the govern-ment of Mali. This time we willconstruct four small bridgeswhich will provide access to vil-lages in case people are cut offwhen there is rain. H.G. �

* Based on interviews by Hegel Goutier

** Egypt, Yemen, the Lebanon and theautonomous Palestinian Territories areall beneficiaries.

THE PLANNING BUREAUarchitect of the economic miracle atthe service of development To set up its development policy, Cyprus has mobilised both its development depart-ment in its Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Planning Bureau of the government whosetask was to reconstruct the country’s economy in the wake of the Turkish invasion ofthe island.

north of the country in the wake of reunifica-tion. H.G. �

KeywordsCyprus; economic;Emmanuela Lambrianides;Georges Virides; development; policy; NGO;Hegel Goutier.

KeywordsCyprus, economy, Marios Tsiakkis, invest-ments, Emmanuela Lambrianides, GeorgesVirides, Hegel Goutier.

47

Port of Paphos 2008. © Hegel Goutier

Flourishing business district, Nicosia,with the occupied zone in the

background 2008. © Hegel Goutier

Solar heating is everywhere, the symbol of a developed

economy 2008. © Hegel Goutier

Emmanuela Lambrianides, Planning Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs © Hegel Goutier

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nicosia 2008. © Hegel Goutier

How would you attract someone to Nicosia?

If we’re talking about doing business, Cyprushas always been a centre of services and usedto be a business centre, even prior to accessionto the EU. We have a flourishing offshoreindustry.

Now, following EU membership, we have thelowest corporate taxes in the EU so many peo-ple from both within and outside the EU wantto set up business here. The majority of busi-ness activities take place here, in Nicosia.

Nicosia is little known to many people.

Nicosia is the English version of Lefkosia,meaning ‘white city’. Lefko means white. Belalso means white in the Slavic language soBelgrade also means ‘white city’.

Why Lefkosia? Because of the bright weatherand white colours that dominate the buildings.But it is not only the weather that is good allyear round. There are historical monuments. Itis very easy to travel around Cyprus as it issmall. The history of Cyprus dates back to theStone Age. You can see settlements of theStone Age people, as well as historic monu-ments that show the evolution of civilisation inthe Middle East – the Phoenicians, Egyptiansand Babylonians. This makes the country quiteinteresting from an archaeological viewpointand Nicosia has a very interesting museum foranybody that wants to know more about howhistory has evolved, not only for Cyprus, butalso for the whole of the region.

Even though there’s a Christian majority, thereare many Muslim citizens and we havemosques and churches side-by-side. The sur-rounding medieval walls were built by theItalians when Cyprus was occupied by the

Venetians and these are illuminated during thenight. You can also come across British archi-tecture here, dating back to their rule of theisland. Not a lot of people know that theShakespeare classic, Othello, was set inCyprus. Its hero got married in Famugusta.

For visitors, there are beautiful landscapes sur-round Nicosia. Very close by there are highmountains. Even in this Mediterranean cli-mate, the mountains are covered by snow for aperiod of five to six months. If you travel just45 minutes from here, you will find yourself ina snow-covered landscape with more than halfa metre of snow.

How much did Nicosia suffer from the divi-sion?

The most peculiar and sad thing about Nicosiais the division of the city itself. As you know,in 1974 Turkey invaded Cyprus and took halfof the land. This occupation line goes rightthrough the heart of Nicosia and splits it intwo. Nicosia is the only divided city in theworld. In Jerusalem there are sectors, but thereare no walls as there are here.

You feel it strongly here. If you go through thestreets, especially in the built-up old town, youwill always be coming up against a wall. Yousee empty streets that are very different to thelively streets a few metres away.

As a City Council, we try to give incentives topeople living close to the division line to relo-cate to houses that have been deserted. This isto lessen the problems arising from desertionin the area close to the line. The municipalitycompulsorily acquires deserted houses andgives compensation to the owners. We thenfirst invite the previous owners to come andlive there at a very favourable rent. If they

decline, the houses are rented to others whoare interested. We currently cannot meetdemand with the houses that have been re-done. Some eligibility criteria apply for ten-ants, who are usually families with a moderateincome.

How did the Turkish invasion change the soulof the city?

The Turkish invasion forced many people intoleaving their houses in the north. After 1974,the character of the outskirts of Nicosiachanged with many new buildings. Some ofthem are not of the best quality. The city hasexpanded. We have made much effort todemolish part of the walls to have freer acces-sibility but the Turkish invasion army insistson being here, proclaiming they have protec-tive rights over the Turkish Cypriots to keepmilitary quarters in the heart of Nicosia. Ourdream as a local authority is to see the cityreunited. H.G. �

48 N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008


49

> Neshe YasinPOET, FEMALE, TURKISH CYPRIOT*

There is confusion over identity in Cyprus. There are vertical and hori-zontal definitions. There are religions: Christian and Muslim. And thenthere are nationalities: Turkish and Greek. The British asked people todefine themselves. Some of the so-called Turkish Cypriots were blackAfricans, others probably Turkmen rebels brought here who adoptedthe Muslim religion.

In this country you can introduce yourself as Turkish, Turkish Cypriot,Cypriot, Greek, and Greek Cypriot. The way you define yourself islinked to your political perspective on the future. As a Greek person,you might be perceived as right wing. If you say Cypriot, you probablylean towards the left. Greek Cypriot or Turkish Cypriot means in themiddle. But how much Cypriot and how much Greek or Turkish do youactually mean?

Cypriot identity also means being committed to a geographical projectof unity, or not. As an island, Cyprus has no other boarder than the sea.And all Cypriots like the shape of the country. Its form is copied in lapelpins and jewels. We keep the place where we lived in our memory buta lot of us were forced to forget this memory.

Identity is always expecting something. I am a poet. Some poets arelooking for hybridity and consider that Cypriot is a hybridity. In lan-guages, you find the same music. Words are even sometimes shared.You will find Italian words in all of our languages and similarly in themind and character. We have the same memory. The way of thinking isquite similar. The family structure is quite similar, and the way peopletalk, the excitement.

In the villages, you have to help each other to survive. For example, onTurkish religious days, you used to give an animal to a Greek Cypriotto take care of and vice versa. All this came to an end with the conflictover nationality...

> Giorgos MoleskisPOET, MALE, GREEK CYPRIOT*

There are so many identities in Cyprus. There are several religions:Greek orthodox, Muslim, Maronite, Armenian Christian and RomanCatholic. Linguistically speaking, all Christians were assimilated intothe Greek language.

The Roman Catholics are linked to the Maronites from Lebanon. TheMaronites use the Greek language but they have also kept theirMaronite dialect which is spoken in some Cypriot villages. This lan-guage is mixed with Greek words, as well as with Turkish and Arabic.

My wife is Armenian, from Yerevan. The Armenians have a publicationin Armenian and English. From 1996, each citizen has had to specifyhis or her religion.

The perception of a Greek Cypriot or a Turkish Cypriot is not impor-tant. If you use a language, you use a culture. Greek culture for one andTurkish culture for the other. But everyone is part of the story. GreekCypriots and Turkish Cypriots lived for centuries in the same village.One shepherd looked after their flocks. They shared everything, theland and the shepherd. As a student I remember visiting parents of afriend of mine. Greeks and Turkish were together sharing everything:land, cattle, playing in the same neighbourhood. The folk music, thefolk dancing, the food were the same. The same friendship, the samehospitality, the way they cultivated their land. Everything was the same.

A part of identity is language, culture and tradition. But another part iseveryday life. H.G. �

* Based on interviews by Hegel Goutier.

CYPRIOTidentities

STELIOSIERONIMIDISDeputy Mayor of Nicosia Interview by Hegel Goutier

KeywordsStelios Ieronimidis; Nicosia; Cyprus;Famagusta; Hegel Goutier.

KeywordsNeshe Yasin, Giorgos Moleskis, Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot,Hegel Goutier.

Books by Neshe YasinTurkish Cypriot poet and other Cypriot writers 2008. © Hegel Goutier

© Hegel Goutier

50 N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008

Nicosia is home to a rich patrimony, such asthe unique Museum of Byzantine Art. Manycultural associations and foundations, such asthe Symphony Orchestra Foundation, popu-larise the culture. The northern part of Nicosiaalso has much to offer. Of particular note is thecathedral of Ste. Sophie transformed into amosque. Theatres, concert halls, cinemas andfestivals covering all fields of international artand culture combine to make the island a treas-ure for art-lovers and tourists alike. H.G. �


51

Two and a half million tourists visit Cyprus every year. It’s anisland that seems to have something for everyone. Some areattracted by the silence and serenity of the archaeologicalsites, others by the beautiful beaches or snow-covered sum-

mits. There are wonderful museums and other cultural attractions forart-lovers and places of fun and entertainment for partygoers. Withnever more than an hour’s drive between the two, the island also offersa taste of exoticism, having mixed its Greek heritage with so manyOriental and even African influences. All the prestigious archaeologicalsites are in fact Roman and not Greek, its painting is Byzantine and itscraftwork Venetian. Cyprus is in fact truly Cypriot, which is its greatestquality. Christina Mita, a professional tourist guide, sums up her coun-try as follows: “The dance, music, and dialect are different to Greece.The Greek influence prevents Cyprus from being Oriental and the verypresent Orient prevents it from being 100 per cent Greek.”

Since Nicosia airport closed following the occupation, the charmingtown of Larnaca on the southeast coast has become the country’s mainplace of entry. It has the charm of a bygone age, in particular the oldTurkish quarter offering romantic and picturesque walks along theseashore at dusk. The churches and chapels of some of the region’s vil-lages – Pyrga and Kiti for example – bear superb testimony to the pas-sage of the kings of France.

North of Larnaca lies the formerly thriving town of Famagusta. Only asmall part of its southern suburbs is under the control of the Republicof Cyprus. Today it is the sleeping beauty, emptied of all its inhabitants,retained as a possible bargaining chip for a hypothetical recognition ofthe North by the Republic of Cyprus.

On the south coast lies Limassol, an important beach resort with itsthronging crowds and nightclubs. But just outside it is the serenity ofthe archaeological site of the Greco-Roman city of Kourion, long cov-eted by Egypt (Ramses III) and which was first to become Assyrian and

then Persian. Its theatre, with the sea as a backdrop, hosts a major artsfestival, and experts are continuing to unearth whole sections of theRoman city.

Between Limassol and Paphos on the coast further to the west, almostat the entrance to this most fashionable of Cypriot towns, imaginationtakes hold at Petra tou Romiou where Aphrodite, the goddess of love,emerged from the foam (aphros) of the sea. If you have any doubt aboutthe reality of the myth, you can still see the rock that reproduces herprofile and that emerged from the waves at the same time as Aphroditeherself. Further to the north, and inland, is another world. Find the calmof the monasteries in the high mountains of the Troodos which are alsoa destination for skiers.

> The checkpoints as places of culture

With its archaeological sites and monasteries, the past is present every-where on Cyprus. This is especially so in the capital, Nicosia, known asLefkosia in Greece and as Lefkofla in Turkish. Nicosia is probably themost relaxed divided city in history. Even as you approach the demarca-tion line, there is no air of tension, just a moving symbol. On the demar-cation line between the checkpoint for the Republic of Cyprus and forNorthern Cyprus, the UNFICYP forces are based in the Ledra Palace.Once or twice a week the Bi-communal Choir rehearses there. Made upof Greek and Turkish Cypriots, each member has to pass through thecheckpoint to attend choir practice. The two choirmasters, one from eachcommunity, speak mainly in English. The choir, created in April 2003 assoon as the first crossing point was opened, gives concerts in the northand south of the island. The songs are drawn from both communities,sometimes the same song is sung in the two languages, such as NiksarinFidanlari, an old Turkish melody also adopted by the Greeks. LeniaMelanidou and Costis Kyranides, the two choirmasters, recounted thelong history of their choir, the only bi-community association to havelasted so long, despite the trials and tribulations.

THE BEAUTYAND CHARMof three continentsHas culture overcome the checkpoints?

KeywordsCyprus; tourism; culture; Nicosia; byzan-tine; Larnaka; Aphrodite; Hegel Goutier.

On the rightThe Rock of Aphrodite. © EC

Below‘No boarder Underwear.’ Store close to the demarcation

line 2008. © Hegel GoutierOvercoming the checkpoints.

Bottom leftDyonisos House, Paphos 2008. © Hegel Goutier

Bottom rightPaphos Medieval castle and marina 2008. © Hegel Goutier

52 N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008

Charles V at the time. The latter firstlyappealed to the Knights of the Order of theHospital of St. John in Jerusalem to block theMuslim offensive in Malta and finally cededthe island to them in 1530. At first the Knightsof the Order had little interest in settling onthis arid land, its declining population consist-ing now of little more than the old nobility ofMdina who were decendants of the Normansof Sicily.

After losing Tripoli, the Order won the battleof Malta against the Turks in 1565. With thisvictory the Christians had completed theirrecapture of the European Mediterranean. Atthis time a new capital city was built –Valletta, a fortification town whose construc-tion began in 1566. During this time, navalbattles flared between the Turks and the gal-leys of the Order. The knights eventuallytransformed Malta into a huge European navalschool that supplied sailors to France. Thiswas to transform Malta into a massiveEuropean naval school providing sailors toFrance who in 1765 made the island its protec-torate.

The Order found itself stripped of all its assetsby 1792 having backed the French King LouisXIV against the revolution of 1789. Inresponse, the Order elected a German knightas its head. Then in 1798, Napoleon Bonaparteand his fleet of 300 ships conquered Maltawithout a shot being fired. Bonaparte seizedthe Order’s treasury and continued on toEgypt, but the garrison he left behind incurredthe wrath of the population due to its harass-ment of the island’s churchmen. Finally the

French garrison capitulated, assieged by theBritish in 1800. No longer wanting the govern-ment of the Grand Master, in 1882 the Malteseasked to come under British rule, requestingnothing other than the guarantee that theycould retain their constitution and RomanCatholic religion. The agreement betweenMalta and Great Britain was ratified by theTreaty of Paris in 1814.

After a difficult period – mainly due to succes-sive outbreaks of plague and cholera – Maltaentered a period of relative prosperity duringthe second half of the century due to its coalports and geographic location close to thenewly constructed Suez Canal. In particular itwould be shaken by a language disputebetween the partisans of Italian and English,fuelled by the first stirrings of a desire fornational independence. Initially calmed by anumber of concessions, demands for autono-my resurfaced in the climate of economicrecession at the end of the First World War.The British Administration reacted to this witha series of policy changes - one of these con-cessions was to give recognition of Maltese asthe official language of the island from 1934.The Second World War strengthened the bondsbetween the British and Maltese and to resistinvasion attempts by the Germans, the fortressisland was transformed into a defensivebunker. Everything was converted into a shel-ter against attack, including the Neolithiccaves and the catacombs. At the outbreak ofwar, Malta (less than 250 km2 for the mainisland, and just over 300 km2 when Gozo andComino are included) was subjected to around2,500 air raids in just two years resulting in the

destruction of 40,000 homes and 2,000 deaths.The summer of 1942 saw 154 days (andnights) of continual bombardment on Malta(compared to 56 on London). 6,500 tonnes ofbombs fell on Valetta harbour alone (comparedto 260 tonnes dropped on Coventry). Thecountry was decorated with the George Crossfor its heroism. At independence, the Malteseincluded this symbol of courage as part of theirflag.

Malta, the heroic, was granted self-govern-ment in 1947. However, the Nationalist Party,unlike its Liberal rival, was not satisfied andwhen it came to power in 1962, its leader –Gorg Borg Olivier – immediately demandedfull independence. This finally became a real-ity on September 21, 1964.

After being elected to power in 1974, theLabour Party pushed through a republicanconstitution in the same year and the closure ofthe British military base on the island. Thisgovernment, headed by Dom Mintoff, wasalso notable for adopting a Third World stanceand a position of neutrality in the face of thetwo major world power blocs.

The Nationalist Party was returned to power in1984, this time led by Eddie Fenech Adami,who served as prime minister until 1996.During this period, the long-banned Order ofMalta was once again recognised. Moreover,Adami’s economic policy marked a break withthe socialist tendencies of his predecessor,while remaining loyal to the pledge of neutral-ity on international issues. In 1992, Adamiopened negotiations with Brussels with a viewto Malta joining the European Union.However, the introduction of VAT cost him the1996 elections. Labour was then returned topower, led by Alfred Santz. This governmentlasted just two years following the outcry sur-rounding its decision to freeze negotiations onEU membership.

When the Nationalists won the 1998 elections,Eddie Fenech Adami reopened the EU acces-sion process in 2000, culminating in member-ship for Malta on 1 January 2004. TheNationalist Party went on to win the subse-quent elections the most recent on 8 March2008. H.G. �

Discovering EuropeMalta

53

The very first inhabitants most pro-bably arrived during the 7thMillennium BC and immigrantsarrived from Sicily during the 5th

Millennium. The megalithic temples andhypogeums bear testimony to the most ancientof cultures including the remarkable under-ground temple at Hal Saflieni, recognised as aworld heritage site – were built between the4th and 3rd Millennia BC. It was thePhoenicians and the Carthaginians who nextleft their indelible mark on the island’s culture- from 700 to 218 AD, the year Malta becamepart of the Roman Empire. By this time, theCarthaginians had already developed shipbuil-ding there.

> Early conversion to Christianity

At the dawn of the Christian era, in the year60, a ship carrying the future St. Paul (whowas on his way to Rome where he was to beput on trial) ran aground on the island, theevent becoming a key moment in the country’shistory - its conversion to Christianity and itsLatinisation.

After Rome, the Byzantine administrationtook office in 395 AD until the invasion by theAghlabids in 870 AD. The latter remained fortwo centuries, at a time when the Arabs alsoruled in Sicily, Gibraltar and Spain.

> From the Arab world to theSicilian Vespers

Malta was steeped in the history of two cen-turies of Arab occupation. North AfricanArabic was to form the basis of the Malteselanguage. The Arabs were followed by a suc-cession of conquerors for most of the next fivecenturies. First were the Normans from Sicilywho exploited the divisions between Muslimcountries, many of which were also boggeddown in war with the Byzantine Empire. In1090 they absorbed Malta, but without drivingout the Arabs. The island, by now home toChristian, Muslim and Jewish communities,became a stopping off point for pilgrims andcrusaders.

For four centuries Malta was to remain withinSicily’s fold and subject to its vagaries. In1130 Sicily became an autonomous kingdom,when it fell firstly under the authority ofGerman King and Roman Emperor Frederic II(1194) and then under the French EmperorCharles of Anjou (1266). The French weredriven out in 1282 by the Sicilian Vespers andSicily pledged obedience to the Kingdom ofAragon, fully becoming part of the Crown ofAragon in 1409. From the beginning of theSicilian period, Christianity was returned toMalta with the adoption of the Italian language

by the nobility. Finally, in 1479, with its des-tiny still linked to Sicily, Malta came under thecontrol of the Catholic Kings of Spain whoallowed feudal fiefdoms to develop there thattook part in piracy and smuggling.

> The Order takes hold

At the beginning of the 16th century, theOttoman troops of Soliman the Magnificentconquered the Greek island of Rhodes, threat-ening Sicily that was part of the kingdom of

Malta has known seven thousand years of integration rather than occupation, ofadaptation rather than revolt or revolution. Malta has always been an inherent partof the empires that annexed it. Then in the early 19th century it joined the BritishEmpire – this time at Malta’s own request – before peacefully negotiating its independence in 1964. This was an exception to the turmoil of decolonisation. As ifMalta was master of its own history.

KeywordsMalta, history, megalithic, hypogeum,Knights, Hegel Goutier.

AS IF MALTAwas master of its own history

Valletta Grandmasters Palace, 2008. © Hegel Goutier

Valletta Grandmasters Palace (interior) 2008. © Hegel Goutier

At first, the Knights of the order had little interest in settling in Malta.

Discovering Europe Malta

54

Again he takes the example of St John’sCathedral and the sense of duality and ambi-guity. “From the front, it looks like a garage.And the interior looks like a theatre. Theyalways want to portray the image of the impor-tance of Malta.”

> Divisions and consensus

On Malta, public opinion is always initiallydivided. For example, on EU membership, oneof the two big parties, the Labour party was infavour of a partnership, but not full member-ship, while the Liberals advocated the latter. Areferendum was held that produced a clear votein favour of membership, which the socialistsaccepted. “That’s Malta,” says Friggieri, “first itdivides and then it comes together. But thenational consensus is strong.” A dividing lineruns through this large island, with the more lib-eral North and more conservative South. “Wedon’t agree on everything but we need the com-ing together to survive. And when the next chal-lenge comes along, we divide again and thencome together again. Always a boxing session,then peace and then boxing again,” he says.

But this ambiguity reflects a profound truth,that of the wholeness of Malta: “Very smallbut complete, like a small insect with a

whole organism, not half a nation.” The coun-try’s political vision is like the Maltese soul.“There is a sense of attachment to the inner

circle, to the parish, to the party. Who are you?Where are you from? Sect, cast, regions, socialgroups, these are all important in Malta. Soour psychology is older than we are,” he con-tinues.

The Maltese have defined their identity interms of land and sea. A map of the countryshows a small island surrounded by forts.They are always thinking of a possible invad-er, with a fear of being attacked. Says Friggeri:“Valletta is a fortress. The city can be locked.Wherever you are in Malta, you have thoseinside and those outside. Who are you? Wheredo you come from? The people of Malta har-bour the memory of being persecuted inRhodes.”

About 100 years ago the divide was on lin-guistic issues. Should the language be Italian,the language of tradition, or English, the lan-guage of power? The question resurfaced,albeit with less passion force, at the time ofindependence. In the meantime there was theSecond World War during which Malta lentconsiderable support to allied troops, and therecognition shown by England in awarding itthe George Cross medal (the only time a placehas received such an honour). English had nat-urally come to be established as the secondofficial language, Maltese being, in addition,the national language.

But feelings are still divided, smiles Friggieri,especially at a football match when Italy playsEngland: “It’s deeper than just sport. It’s olderthan that. It is something to do with the imageof the father. Our identity precedes us. Islandsmean tradition, identity, and resistance tochange.” Malta is thus very much an islandbut one that has absorbed a great deal from thelarge countries that surround it. It has adopted,compared, and modified a great many thingsto suit its needs.

> Arabic languagefor a European people

Maltese is without doubt a Semitic languageand to be precise, has an Arabic structure. Infact, Malta has almost always been exposedto the arrival of populations from the North,yet paradoxically it is Africa and the MiddleEast that gave it its language, the basis of itsarchitecture and so many other aspects of itsculture.

> Membership ofthe European Union

Friggieri believes that Malta has a sense ofsecurity and self-sufficiency. Coupled withthis is the search for the father as protector.“So, there is a government and there isBrussels which brings an international identi-ty.” But, he adds, many feel that Brussels isvery distant. “Why should I care about it?”The local media speak very little about Europeexcept when giving practical information, therate of the euro or major political events.“Malta is an outer edge, a periphery to itself,on the edge of itself,” he concludes. H.G. �

* Oliver Friggieri is a professor of Maltese and compar-ative literature at the University of Malta. His bookshave been translated into many languages and hispoems are included in several international antholo-gies. His works have won many prestigious literaryprizes all over the world. He is also the composer of anumber of musical works and presents cultural pro-grammes on TV and radio (see, for example, TheInternational Who's Who 2007, London).

Discovering Europe Malta Discovering EuropeMalta

55

Friggieri’s work revolves around the problem of belonging to anation – an island – that lies close to Africa and SouthernEurope, with a mixed Latin and Semitic culture alongside otherinfluences. His view is that, “I don’t write about Malta but

about a human being.” Friggieri has published a considerable numberof books, poems, novels and essays that have been translated into manylanguages. All of his books explore this tiny island which is an obses-sesion, Malta and its multiculturalism.

> Constant duality

“The Malta I grew up in is completely different from the Malta oftoday,” he explains. Today the island resembles a town. At the centre ofthe village there a church used to stand and opposite, a square (misra),then houses and beyond these, fields. The church at the centre was asymbol of power and culture. Huge churches, “because we are small”.Beyond that, there lay yet another village with the same design. Andthen it these villages fused together and interlocked. But inspite of

everything, the nation retained its identity. Malta is a nation whereeverybody lives in close proximity to everybody else. The ‘misra’ under-went a change. Nowadays, the capital, Valletta, is deserted after six inthe evening. The centre is no longer there. Today, people prefer to go outin St Julians with its diverse entertainment and leisure facilities.

The basis of the Maltese nation’s culture is Christianity and language;within each of which there lies a duality. For example, that of the mag-nificence of St John’s Cathedral in Valletta on the one hand and the smallvillage churches on the other.

An important characteristic of the country is that it has always been onthe side of major powers. With Napoleon when he was at his strongest(between 1798 and 1800) and afterwards with the English, alongsideNelson and Alexander. “Malta was always part of a big empire and nowMalta is in the EU…We tend to exaggerate: the biggest, the strongest,and the greatest,” says Friggeri.

Because it is small, Malta has always been a part of larger empires. It opens up to theworld so as to better concentrate on its security. “Malta is at the edge, a periphery toitself.” Divided on everything, it somehow always manages to reach national consensus. That, at least, is the analysis of Oliver Friggieri*, professor of literature,poet and literary critic.

The soul of Malta

OPENINGand CLOSING


KeywordsOliver Friggieri, misra, Malta, Malti,Valetta, Hegel Goutier.

Page 54

Bottom :Cottonera, The Three Cities Cottonera

to protect Valletta, the fortress city, 2008. © Hegel Goutier "Valetta can be locked…Wherever you are

in Malta, you have those inside and those outside”

Page 54Typical bus in Valetta, 2008. © Hegel Goutier

"Malta is an outer edge, a periphery to itself, on the edge of itself"

Oliver Figgieri: © Hegel Goutier


Our Chamber is encouraging ourenterprises to branch out over-seas. What we are saying is, if youcan sell here to Maltese peopleand to tourists, why not inCasablanca and Prague? Theyhave to do that. In the Chamberwe have an expert to assist smalland medium size business. Bigconcerns like Corinthia, are bigenough to do it alone.

> Smart City

Our country is orienting itselftowards IT. Smart City is akin toDubai’s Internet City. The gov-ernment has given the go aheadfor it to be built here in the neigh-bourhood of Ricasoli. This projectwill create 5600 jobs for IT pro-grammers and others. Maltesepeople will work there.Development of the area startedsix months ago. Smart City willbe finished in five or six years.We currently have one computerfor six students. In six monthstime we will have one computerfor four students, the highest ratein the world. All classes will haveweb classes.

> Malta in the movies

The film industry is another grow-ing area of the economy. Famousfilms have already been made inMalta: Gladiators, Troy, Munichand very soon, a big Spanish filmwhose title is still under wraps..We also have cruise liner tourism.In the winter, 15 cruise ships dockevery week. Some of them comein 12 months of the year. Even ifthey come for just one day,tourists spend money. The aver-age tourist stays six to seven days.When it’s too cold in the North,pensioners from UK or Germanystay two, three weeks, sometimesfive weeks or more.

I am very optimistic about theeconomy. The Government canafford to lower taxes. Salaries areincreasing and profits are increas-ing. The overall revenue fromtaxes has increased but the rateshave decreased, from 35 per centto 32 per cent. The Prime Ministerhas announced that the economyis strong enough to cut the toprate of income tax from 35 percent to 25 per cent. And if youcurrently earn €12,000 a year,you don’t pay any income tax.Unemployment is currently 6 percent which is very low. This hasgone down over the last fiveyears. The government deficit hasdecreased as well as the nationaldebt. All these factors opened theway for Malta to join the Eurozone.We believe that our entry

into the euro zone will allow oureconomy to prosper; GDP willgrow and debt will go down.

> Many jobsfor foreigners

Malta has very high numbers ofmigrant workers. As a smallcountry, it is not always easy tofind the right skill sets.Computer specialists, for exam-ple, usually come from Europeand especially the UK. The hotelindustry attracts workers fromItaly and France. Building indus-try workers come from Africanand Mediterranean.Without suchworkers, salaries would go upand companies would be lesscompetitive.

> Housing

Malta has a housing problembecause during the First andSecond World Wars, a lot of hous-es were destroyed in air attacks.The government voted a law to

make it very easy to rent a houseif your building had beendestroyed. This law has notchanged since and is veryfavourabale for tenants. You, yourchildren and even your childrens’children can stay in a house at theoriginal rental price and the owneris responsible for all the mainte-nance. People still live in nicehouses and pay just €100 permonth. The law changed in 1994,but only for new tenants, not forprevious ones. If you are anowner, you often prefer to leavethe house empty. The Chamber ofCommerce is lobbying theGovernment for a change of thislaw but it is hesitating. It is afraidsome people might not be able topay more. All factors have to becarefully studied before the gov-ernment makes any move. �

Discovering Europe Malta Discovering EuropeMalta

57

Malta gained its independence in1964. From 1964-1979 it stillhad a lot of support from UKwhich had military bases on

the island. From 1979, Malta became econo-mically self-sufficient. In the private sector,the government identified two up-and-comingsector; manufacturing and tourism.

> Building a dynamic manufacturing industry

The government created the MaltaDevelopment Cooperation whose role was toattract foreign investment. At that time, wagesand the standard of living were low.Institutions such as the Chamber of Commercewere on the Board of MDC but it was the gov-ernment that took a prominent role.Companies interested in diverse sectors: cloth-ing, textile, spare parts for car, etc., came fromthe UK, Germany and the US.

The government has also given incentives(subsidies, rent facilities, and other kinds ofsupport) to encourage investment. In the

tourism sector, the government subsided thebuilding of hotels and resorts by investors andgave concessions of land and beaches. In the70’s, the government set up ‘Air Malta’ whoseprimary purpose was to promote tourism.

Malta also relied on its people. We were hardworking, spoke English, and could be trainedby foreigners. By the late 90’s, Malta’s stan-dard of living had considerably increased. Inthe beginning, jobs were not created veryquickly in the private sector, but by the publicsector; police, land revenue, etc. There weremany national monopolies at the time: elec-tricity, telephone, TV stations and Air Malta.They all belong to the government.Unemployment was never high in Malta. Youeither worked with the government or servicesor were self-employed. By the late 90’s, wereached today’s level and the standard of liv-ing and and salaries went up. At the same timecompetition for investment from EasternEurope China surfaced. We were always pre-pared for this. In 2004, Malta joined the EUand was eligible for certain funding. With thisaid, Malta was able to train its people, espe-

cially in IT, and we were able to build infra-structure, roads, develop fibre-optics, establishinternet connections and modernise the air-port. The economy has changed, becomingless dependant on manufacturing and more soon services.

Some factories have uprooted to Tunisia andelsewhere but they still belong to the Maltese.Many marketing, design, research and devel-opment businesses remain in Malta. Tomatoprocessing is amongst those that have movedto Tunisia. This used to be done in Gozo. Asfor the Maltese clothing industry, the tailoringis done in Tunisia and design, marketing andbusiness negotiation in Malta.

Malta is part of the globalised world even ifMaltese people do not travel outide the coun-try very much. In the tourism sector, Corinthia(Corinthia Group of Companies) is a big busi-ness. It has a chain of hotels and is soon toopen a big hotel in London. It has alreadylaunched in Gabon, Libya, Turkey, Portugal,Czech Republic, and Hungary.

A smart economywith no fear of GLOBALISATIONBased on interview with Kevin J. Borg, Director General of the Maltese Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise

By Hegel Goutier

Economic overview of Malta

Boat peoplein MaltaF or about the past five years, Malta has been confronted with

the regular arrival of boat people from African countries who

either land on its coastline or are intercepted by Maltese coast-

guards. On average, 1,500 arrive every year, many having crossed

the Sahara before embarking on a flimsy craft in Libya. They are all

initially housed at the Hal Far Open closed centre that has about

600 people in residence at any one time. Located close to the inter-

national airport, the camp consists of tents and offers minimal

comfort at best, provoking protests from some NGOs.

Following transfer to a second open centre, those who are granted

asylum face the problem of a lack of work. Despite its prosperous

economy, Malta has a population of just 400,000 and is only able

to offer between 1,000 and 1,500 jobs a year to foreigners. Few, if

any, of these jobs are accessible to boat people. They either lack

the required skills or are simply rejected, say the local media, for

the very fact of being boat people. �

KeywordsMalta; Kevin J. Borg;trade; economy; tourism;information technology.

56

Vineyard, Malta 2008.© Hegel Goutier

Chamber of Commerce and Industry 2008. © Hegel Goutier "If we can sell here to Maltese people and to tourists, why not in Casablanca and Prague?"

Kevin Borg 2008 © Hegel Goutier

Rarely do you have the opportunityto feast your eyes on such a beauti-ful book of photographs featuringthe work of creative people from

this part of Africa. Congo Eza is the excep-tion that proves the rule – although there havebeen others, like the special edition of RevueNoire in 2001 which extolled the virtues ofart photography. Congo Eza brings togetherthe contemporary reality of Congo, the recentwar and the bustle of everyday life and thecountry’s creativity.

The book is a collection of emotions andsnapshots. Black, white and in colour.Spontaneity, dramatic composition, insolence,revolt, transgression, light-heartedness andhumour: 24 photographers from diverse back-grounds. They have one thing in common:participatation in one of two artistic eventsand training programmes organised by theWallonia-Brussels Delegation in Kinshasaand the Foreign Relations section of theFrench Community of Belgium, amongstwhich ‘Yambi’, the 2007 Congolese Culturefestival in Belgium. The Brussels-basedAFRICALIA association decided to record

the success of their get-togethers in this high-end publication.

Linking the the different sections of the book areselected verbs in lingala which punctuate thevarious chapters. Kokekola, to learn, to bring up,to grow. The primarily black and white idealisedimages evoke people’s desire to learn frombooks, in sports fields and from loved ones.Sadly, also through that most common of chil-dren’s games ‘playing at war’, as singer andpoet, Marie-Louise Bibish Mumbu’s introduc-tion to this chapter explains. Her contribution isa marvellous piece of writing. It is beautifullywritten, as is all the poetry that accompanies thispictorial journey through the kaleidoscope ofCongolese life, its hopes and dreams.

Other verbs in Lingala: kobouger, a word for tomove, to travel; kolingana, to love one another,to make love; kobeta libanga, to survive, to getby; komilakisa, to appear, to pose; kosambela,to pray; kokoma, to write, to mark,to paint.Finally, kopana bakambi, to choose, to vote, toelect, featured in epigraph with a tragic, yetamusing poem by the Congolese author, FistonNasser Mwanza.

The publication’s title is taken fromEx reflecting:

Ex-International Congo Association Ex-Upper Congo Study Committee Ex-Independent State of Congo Ex-Belgian Congo Ex-Democratic Republic of Congo Ex-ZaireRe-Democratic Republic of Congo ………Congo ezalakiCongo ezaCongo ezakoyaIt used to be, it is there, it is coming… …….. (extract)

A book that is truly…How do you say ‘mov-ing’ in Lingala?

Congo Eza, Africalia Edition & RoulartaBooks, Brussels 2007, 264 pages H.G.�


C reativity

59

Contemporary photography FROM THE DRCCongo Eza – prints of dreams and realities

KeywordsHegel Goutier; Congo; Zaire; Eza; Africalia;photography.

58

Discovering Europe Malta

Malta can pride itself on havingthe charms of a Mediterraneancountry and the most eclecticof European cultural heritages.

It has beaches and entertainment, a flavour ofthe east, a Semitic language and unique collec-tions of art. The past, which is evident everyw-here, stands side-by-side with the present andpromises for the future. These include thework of an architectural genius, RichardEngland, who is creating magic with the splen-did buildings of the knights of the order.

With a total surface area of just three hundredsquare kilometres, including the adjacentislands of Gozo and Comino, the country’sattractions can be visited within two or threedays thanks to its excellent road and sea infra-structure. One way of visiting the island is toopt for the ‘Red Tour’ which takes a day forthe south route and another for the north route.

Sights to be seen on the south route include thefortifications of the three cities of Cottonera;inspiring Valetta with its shipyards; the brightfishing village of Marsaxlokk with its colour-ful boats lined up in the harbour; the beautifulbeaches of Bugibba, Qawra and St. Paul’s Baywith their entertainment areas and the crys-talline waters of the Blue Grotto. The northroute features the botanical gardens of SanAnton; the faded charm of the former capital,Mdina, “the silent city” with its graceful mix-ture of medieval and baroque architecture andthe twists and turns of its backstreets; the tallcliffs of Dingli near to the Buskett Gardenswith its vineyards, orangery, olives and citrusfruit plantations and the luxurious, fashionabledistricts of Silema and St Julians.

There are also many treasures within easyreach in the capital, Valetta. The Co-Cathedral

of St John which houses Caravaggio’s ‘TheDecapitation of St John’ is one worth takingtime out to visit; the Grandmaster’s Palace andmany other palaces as well as wonderful ter-raced gardens like those at Upper Baraka.

> Satisfying the soul

In Valetta, there is also the ancient fortress ofSt. James Cavalier, which has been trans-formed into a vibrant centre of culture and cre-ativity by the poet, architect and philosopherRichard England, who brings real soul to theimposing defences of the Knights of Malta,allowing light and dreams to enter into thedepths of the military fortifications.

His influences include the mantra of AxelMunthe: “The soul needs more room than thebody.”* Indeed, England dreams of giving thewhole of Valetta some of the magic of hismajor works which include the Martin LutherKing Memorial in Washington, the ItehakRabin Memorial in Tel Aviv, and other majorarchitectural projects in Moscow, BuenosAires, Wroclaw as well as private homes,churches, theatres and sanctuaries. He wouldlike to give the city “the silence in between”,as he calls it. Something he has achieved in themain lecture hall and the humanities block ofthe University of Malta.

When his ‘Valetta master plan’, is completedthe whole personality of Valetta will be trans-formed. This is already seen in the work he hascarried out at ‘St James Cavalier’ and the‘Central Bank of Malta’, where – with almostsurgical precision – he has created somethingnew while being faithful to the existing struc-tures. H.G. �

* in "The story of San Michele" 1929.

MALTApast andpresent

Midna, a charming town 2008. © Hegel Goutier

Rabbat Midna 2008 © Hegel Goutier

Port of Marsaxlokk 2008 © Hegel Goutier

Carnaval 2008 in Valetta © Hegel Goutier

Carnaval 2008 in Valetta © Hegel Goutier

Blanchard Labakh, Petit Dobakh, Cité Verte, Kinshasa, DRC, 2007.

Courtesy of Africalia

placed in the entrance of the old building. Anactor, dressed in a police uniform, then sitsinside the car and sings “Can’t Take my Eyesoff of You” through speakers mounted on thecar’s roof. It is quite strange (and disturbing) tohear a policeman sing the sweet song, “I loveyou baby! And if it’s quite alright, I need you,baby!”James Webb’s The Black Passage is a narrowdark corridor in which the visitor walks towardthe source of a rumbling sound – the descentinto amine. At the end a light is the suggestionof a half-closed door, but when we arrive wefind out that there is no way to go out. It is ashocking and surreal experience to go into themine tunnel, but also evokes similar ‘no wayout’, both physically and psychologically.Ismail Farouk’s videos give us an interestingrepresentation of life in South African cities.Photographs by Zanele Muholi shift the focusto discrimination and identity issues from the

racial, gender and sexual perspectives. NightJourney by Colleen Alborough, an interac-tive installation: a labyrinth of veil curtainsin which the spectator becomes an activepart of the narrative and sensory path of thedreams and nightmares of a mysterious per-son sleeping. Also, the leather figures by NandiphaMntambo move across the wall to elicit thepast. These figures are linked both to the dis-ruptive and aggressive nature of South Africananimals and to the elegance of 18th centurydresses.In sum, “new South African art” is not exclu-sively related to apartheid anymore, though itretains strong political and social tones. Theartists of .ZA perfectly illustrate the conditionof intellectuals placed in a peripheral positionwithin the new globalised world where –despite everything seeming to be near and pos-sible – peripheries remain peripheries. �

60

Creativity Occhiello

tion’s creator Lorenzo Fusi has joined them.Considering the works presented, what is clearis that the selected artists do not run the risk offollowing African clichés in order to beaccepted or to sell abroad. This interestingcorpus of works – though some slightly imma-ture – is juxtaposed with the venue, which isan amazing 15th century palace of with a suc-cession of rooms, halls and ceilings decoratedwith Renaissance-style paintings. The beautyof the rooms is capped by a turret which,besides offering the best 360-degree view ofSiena, is the location where Galileo had hisprison sentence commuted and was placedunder house arrest after having relinquishedthe Catholic Church.Another important element is the iconographicmaterial that the five artist-curators have pro-vided in order to enhance the exhibition’simage: five dynamic, hard-hitting posters cov-ering both the walls and floor of the entranceroom. This environment introduced the centralperformance by Johan Thom during the open-ing ceremony: for four hours, he endures havingbroken glass and yellow oil poured on top ofhim.The co-curators have also written the cataloguetexts to illustrate the contemporary situation ofSouth African artists. Kendell Geers’analysis ofthe country’s cultural systems is particularlypoignant: “Since the fall of apartheid SouthAfrica has been struggling to come to termswith its violent history, struggling to find a bal-ance between building a future and addressingthe imbalances of the past. […] Instead of artbeing celebrated for its excellence, the work ofart has been reduced to a politically correctdemographic with an emphasis on traditionalcraft.” In essence this is an accusation againstaffirmative action policies that wanted toreverse relations between blacks and whites,and against which art was rebelling.However, for white artists and writers, bridg-ing the gap with their black counterparts oftenresulted in the loss of credibility and by beingperceived to speak on behalf of oppressedblack people. With the end of apartheid, theartists’ most serious problem has been the dis-appearance of a common “enemy” as well asthe need to find a new purpose for their work.The young authors of .ZA, who grew up inMandela and Mbeki’s Rainbow Nation, seemto have positively solved this problem withoutnegative feelings towards their former enemy. The exhibition comprises artwork about SouthAfrican identities and places, and highlightsthe unsolved struggles of this multiethnic soci-ety, while dealing with more universal themesas well. In the performance-installation,Serenade by Simon Gush, a local police car is

Sandra Federici

YOUNG ART from South Africa

“Is it possible to speak of SouthAfrica without falling into thetraps of cliché about race,apartheid, colonialism, class,

poverty and AIDS?” asks Kendell Geers in histext for the exhibition catalogue, .ZA - Youngart from South Africa.This is the very challenge underscoring theexhibition produced by the Centre for

Contemporary Art Palazzo delle Papesse inSiena. As stated by director Marco Pierini,this initiative started with the purpose of“photographing” the country’s young artisticproduction in collaboration with moremature artists (Marlene Dumas, KendellGeers, Bernie Searle, Minnette Vári, SueWilliamson), each of whom has beenrequested to choose three artists. The exhibi-

Support programme to cultural industries in ACP countriesupport gramme to

The ACP Secretariat has elaborated a programme to support culturalindustries of the 79 ACP countries. The programme, managed and

implemented by the ACP Secretariat and a programme managementunit, is funded under the 9th European Development Fund (EDF).The programme aims at reinforcing the capacities of policy decision-makers and cultural operators through an:• ACP Cultural Observatory to improve the policy, legal and institution-

al frameworks of the cultural sector in ACP Member States;• Intra-ACP Support Fund for Culture to reinforce and professionalise

ACP cultural operators;• ACP/ILO/UNCTAD/UNESCO-joint project to strengthen the creative

industries in five countries (Fiji, Mozambique, Senegal, Trinidad andTobago, and Zambia).

“This programme” is the culminating point of a process begun with theDakar Declaration of ACP Ministers of Culture who in 2003 fixed objec-tives for the ACP cultural industries,” says Aya Kasasa, programme

responsible at the ACP Secretariat. “There was a great expectationbetween ACP operators, because information spread a lot through theACP Cultural Festival, which was the first concrete result of DakarDeclaration. Now we are working to a semi-annual work programmethat will fix the objectives and the calendar for the Fund. A call for pro-posals will be published in May 2008.” �

INFO: www.acp.int

The authors:COLLEEN ALBOROUGHBRIDGET BAKERZANDER BLOMDINEO BOPAPEISMAIL FAROUKFRANCES GOODMANSIMON GUSHNICHOLAS HLOBOMOSHEKWA LANGANONTSIKELELO LOLO VELEKOCHURCHILL MADIKIDANANDIPHA MNTAMBOZANELE MUHOLIRUTH SACKSSEAN SLEMONDOREEN SOUTHWOODMIKHAEL SUBOTZKYJOHAN THOMINA VAN ZYLJAMES WEBB

61N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 2008

KeywordsSandra Federici; South Africa; .ZA; Art;Kendell Geers.

Creativity

Kendell Geers, poster realised for the exhibition .ZA

- young art from South Africa, Palazzo delle Papesse

in Siena, 2008.

Top:Johan Thom, Come in peace/Go to pieces, Performance,2008 photo © Ela Bialkowska - Palazzo delle Papesse

Below:Club de Bamako Coura. Courtesy of Alban Baussiat.

This picture is part of a photo-report on the film industryin Mali entitled ‘Cinés cassés’, published by the Belgianphoto agency Contraste. Website: www.albanbiaussat.com.

63

or younger readers

N. 5 N.E. – APRIL MAY 200862

African influences in Caribbean art are now widely acknowl-edged, but European influences were just as much in theblend that would breathe into the essence of the islands andtheir songs and dances, romanticism, sensual melancholy

and broad aspirations. European music (especially that of Central and Eastern Europe) with itsdances – waltzes, mazurkas, pas de deux – and romanticism - especial-ly that of Central and Eastern Europe - as embodied by Brahms andChopin, became part of the Caribbean fusion. At the turn of the 18thcentury in Haiti, for example, the Polish – who often unwillinglyaccompanied Napoleon’s troops – would be the first Europeans to givetheir support to the emerging nation. Their presence contributed tospreading the violin and melancholic music. The influence of the violinis also found in the folk music and dances of Dominica (merengue),Cuba (guaracha), and Guadeloupe and Martinique (the zouk).European heritage would become grounded in the roots of much of themusic of Cuba as well as that of Haiti, Puerto Rico and Martinique.Among the burgeoning bourgeoisie, this classical music of Europe andits local composers came to be known as ‘scholarly music’(‘musiquesavante’). In the first decade of the 19th century it would be taught atthe Milo School of Music, founded by King Christophe, in northern

Haiti and in the musical salons of Santo Domingo. Over time, this blendwould become more exciting with distinctive features.You might say,more romantic, warmer, more mellow.Such are the danzas of the Cuban Ignacio Cervantes (Duchas frias andthree danzas) and Haitian Ludovic Lamothe (Danses espagnoles no. 2in A minor, no. 3 in F minor, Déclaration) and works by FrankLassègue (Chanson du rivage no. 3) and Alain Clérié (Prélude) are inthe second part of the concert by Michel Laurent, which opens withpieces by Brahms (Waltzes, Opus 3) and Chopin (Mazurkas, Opus, 6 no1, Opus 67 nos. 2, 3 and 4). Michel Laurent’s fluid, graceful and pas-sionate interpretation completely captures the sensuality of this famousrepertoire. H.G.�

Theatre Molière, Brussels, 26 April, 20.00‘Danzas des deux mondes’ will be organising regular concerts on the fusion between theclassical music of Europe and the Caribbean. Info: [email protected]

Creativity

DANZASDES DEUX MONDESClassical music in the mix Music has been present since the worlds of Europe, Africa and the Americas first cametogether. Even if it did not bring joy, music was a respite from the harshness of life atthat time. On their decks and in their holds, African slave ships and Europe’s merchantvessels carried not only slaves, buccaneers, settlers and merchandise but also culture– in the form of songs and sad laments.

KeywordsHegel Goutier; Music; classic; Haiti; Cuba; Ignacio Cervantes;Ludovic Lamothe; Frank Lassègue; Alain Clérié; Michel Laurent.

Europe, Caribbean

Ludovic Lamothe. © anonymous

Doreen Southwood, The Dancer, Bronze, enamel paint, fabric, steel, 176x 190 x 292cm, 2007, detail. Courtesy of Michael Stevenson, Cape Town

Photo: Mario Todeschini. .ZA - young art from South Africa, Palazzo delle Papesse in Siena

T.T. Fons

Courtesy of the author

AFRICAAngola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central AfricanRepublic Chad Comoros Congo (Rep. of) Côte d’Ivoire Democratic Republic of theCongo Djibouti Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana GuineaGuinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania MauritiusMozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe SenegalSeychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania TogoUganda Zambia Zimbabwe

CARIBBEANAntigua and Barbuda The Bahamas Barbados Belize Cuba Dominica DominicanRepublic Grenada Guyana Haiti Jamaica Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia SaintVincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago

PACIFICCook Islands Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru NiuePalau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Timor Leste Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu

EUROPEAN UNIONAustria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland FranceGermany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg MaltaNetherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden UnitedKingdom

The lists of countries published by The Courier do not prejudice the status of these countries and territories now or in the future. The Courier uses maps from a variety of sources.Their use does not imply recognition of any particular boundaries nor prejudice the status of any state or territory.

Africa – Caribbean – Pacificand European Union countries

64

Y our say

Many thanks for the issues of Courier sent tothe Lycée Evariste of Parny (Reunion Island).We are putting the articles to very good use.

Christine Fourest

It has been some years since I have had theprivilege of reading the Courier. I think all

politicians and aspiring politicians shouldstudy the articles. If they do, I think they willbetter be able to contribute to the overalldevelopment of their countries.

Courtney Lafleur,

I have just received the last issue of the Courier(on Haiti and Romania). My Compliments for

the good layout and interesting content. Ithas all the potential of becoming a significantpublication. Keep it up!

Andrea Frazzetta, photographer Agenzia Grazia Neri,

Milano, Italy

Words from Readers

We are interested in your point of view and your reactions to the articles. So do tell us what you think.

Address: The Courier - 45, Rue de Trèves 1040 Brussels (Belgium) email: [email protected] - website: www.acp-eucourier.info

June 2008

> 13-5 FAO High level conference onworld food security and the chal-lenges of climate change and bio-energy, Rome, Italy

> 17-18 WHO TRIPS Council in Geneva

> 8-13 87th Session of the ACP Council ofMinisters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

> 8-13 33rd Session of the ACP – ECCouncil of Ministers, Addis Ababa,Ethiopia

> 25-27 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum,Brussels, Belgium

> 26-1 African Union Summit, Sharm elSheik, Egypt

> 30-2 CARIFORUM – EU BusinessSummit and Business Forum,Trinidad

July

> 2-5 Twenty-ninth Regular Meeting ofthe Conference of Heads ofGovernment, Antigua and Barbuda

> 12 CARICOM-Spain Summit,Zaragoza, Spain

> 15-16 CRNM Trade NegotiationsBootcamp, Haiti

> 16-18 ACP-UN Habitat Meeting, Dar esSalaam, Tanzania

> 17-18 WTO Committee on RegionalTrade Agreements in Geneva

> 23-25 WTO Trade Policy Review,Barbados

> 29-30 WTO General Council in Geneva

CARICOM – Canada Summit, in Ottawa(date to be decided)

August

> 19-21 Annual Pacific Forum Meeting,Niue (to be confirmed)

September

> 12-13 Forum for Media andDevelopment, Ouagadougou,Burkina Faso

> 23-25 UN – Africa’s development needs,New York, USA

CARICOM: Caribbean Community (15 MemberStates)CARIFORUM: The forum of the Caribbean ACPStatesCRNM: Caribbean Regional NegotiatingMachinery EU-LAC: European Union-Latin America &CaribbeanWTO: World Trade Organisation

�

CalendarJune – September 2008

Strasbourg, France is the location for thethird edition of European DevelopmentDays (EDD), 15-17 November 2008.

Info:http://eudevdays.eu/Public/index.html

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