For three days from Sunday morning until late on Tuesday night, Cape Town’s firefighters were dispatched to Table Mountain and surrounding areas to battle a blaze that destroyed 600 hectares of land, displaced 4,000 students from the University of Cape Town and left heritage buildings damaged. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

By Yazeed Kamaldien
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Apr 21 2021 (IPS)

Cape Town-based photojournalist Yazeed Kamaldien reported on a massive mountain fire that broke out on Sunday on Table Mountain and near residential areas on its foothills. By this morning, Wednesday 21 April, officials said the fire had been extinguished after three grueling days for firefighters. Firefighters are still monitoring on the ground for any flare-ups.

South African National Parks, which manages the Table Mountain area, estimates that the fire destroyed 600 hectares of land. A total 135 firefighters were dispatched along with 125 mountain rangers and an additional 170 fire and rescue workers.

While there were no deaths in the blaze, at least 4,000 students from the University of Cape Town were evacuated from their university residences. Locals have been assisting students with meals and other necessities.

Residents living on the Table Mountain slopes also had to evacuate their homes as the fire reached closer to their doors. Firefighting teams were deployed to extinguish the flames.
Heritage sites and university buildings were damaged and destroyed. Of the 11 affected buildings, seven are in the University of Cape Town campus.

Among these was the J.W. Jagger Library, which housed special collections that are well over a hundred years old. Other destroyed landmarks are the Mostert Mill and the Rhodes Memorial Restaurant.

Local police have arrested and charge with arson a vagrant while two other suspects are still being sought.

For three days from Sunday morning until late on Tuesday night, Cape Town’s firefighters were dispatched to Table Mountain and surrounding areas to battle a blaze that destroyed 600 hectares of land, displaced 4,000 students from the University of Cape Town and left heritage buildings damaged. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

By Wednesday morning, the fire had been contained and firefighters were still out monitoring areas around Table Mountain and areas nearby. The fire had started on Sunday at 9am around the historical Rhodes Memorial site. The fire destroyed the Rhodes Memorial Restaurant, which overlooks the city. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

Homeless people living on the slopes of Table Mountain lost their shacks and few possessions. They escaped with their lives to find shelter in safer spaces. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

A lone homeless man sits amidst the burnt out grass around him on the slopes of Table Mountain, where Cape Town’s firefighters fought back flames across 600 hectares of land. Local police arrested a vagrant for allegedly starting the fire and charged him with arson. Two more suspects are being sought. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

A lone homeless man sits amidst the burnt out grass around him on the slopes of Table Mountain, where Cape Town’s firefighters fought back flames across 600 hectares of land. Local police arrested a vagrant for allegedly starting the fire and charged him with arson. Two more suspects are being sought. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

A homeless man pulls his few possessions in a suitcase, leaving an area where firefighters were still battling flames on Tuesday afternoon. Homeless people living on the slopes of Table Mountain, where the fire spread for a few kilometers, fled their shacks for safer spaces. By Wednesday morning, officials had extinguished most of the fire that has left a trail of destruction. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

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Communities in rural Papua New Guinea install their own cost effective and energy efficient solar panels. GGGI says that governments should rather invest in renewable energy. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Yazeed Kamaldien
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Jan 11 2019 (IPS)

While growth in the green economy looks promising, government regulation and a business-as-usual approach are among the hurdles inhibiting cleaner energy production.

Dr. Frank Rijsberman, director-general of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), believes shifts are needed to realise more projects. And he believes funding is available.

“We have teams in more than 30 countries. We work on policy barriers and help develop bankable projects. In the last two years we have helped our member countries mobilise at least one billion dollars in green and climate finance,” Rijsberman told IPS. GGGI is a treaty-based international organisation that assists countries develop a green growth model.

Rijsberman was among panelists discussing ‘Unlocking Finance for Sustainability’ at the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) Ministerial Conference being held in Cape Town, South Africa from Jan. 10 to 11. It gathered government leaders, businesses and environmentalists to focus on the challenge to “reduce inequalities, protect the environment and grow the economy”.

The conference focused on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted three years ago.

“It is time now to take these global goals and turn them into real changes in the lives of people and nations. It’s time for action,” stated the conference agenda.

“We can restructure our economic and financial systems to transform them into drivers of sustainability and social inclusion; the two prerequisites for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the Paris Agreement on climate change,” it continued.

At the December United Nations’ Climate Conference in Katowice, Poland, where ministers from around the world negotiated on how best to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement, which outlines commitments to mitigate climate change, accessing finance was a topical issue. IPS reported from the 24th Conference Of The Parties (COP24) that the African team of negotiators had been concerned about who would carry the burden of financing the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

PAGE gathered around 500 innovators and leaders from governments, civil society, private sector, development organisations, media and the general public. The idea was to showcase “the experiences and creativity of first-movers…and engage in an open debate about what it is going to take to for us to have a ‘just transition’ to economics and societies that are more inclusive, stable and sustainable.”

Rijsberman offered his insights gained from working in different countries on accessing financing for green projects.

Excerpts of the interview follow:

Dr. Frank Rijsberman, director-general of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), says the largest amounts of money available is with the private sector and institutional development such as pension funds. This, he says, can be accessed for climate change mitigation. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien/IPS

Inter Press Service (IPS): Where is this money that you mention for green projects?

Frank Rijsberman (FR): There’s a lot more finance available than people think. There tends to be an over focus on development money but the largest amounts of money is with the private sector and institutional development such as pension funds. We need to get the private sector off the sidelines and to invest in renewable energy.

IPS: And how can that be done?

FR: They need to realise that green investments are attractive. If you want to do socially important projects then renewable energy is it. It has become the cheapest, most attractive form of energy.

IPS: What about the role that governments play in this? They are the regulators that sometimes inhibit the private sector.

FR: Sometimes we sit in the room with the private sector and ask them what stops them from investing and they say it’s regulation and policies. We have to find a more welcoming environment.

We talk to governments and they talk about a study they did three years ago and tell us renewable energy is expensive. But we tell them prices have come down. All that governments know is how to build fossil fuel power plants. Fossil fuel project developers are still in their contact lists. The banks know what to do. They need to look at an energy mix.

The Hopefield wind farm in the Western Cape, located 125km north of central Cape Town on the R45 highway, generates approximately 176 600 MWh of clean renewable energy every year. Its 37 wind turbines generate enough electricity to power about 70,000 low-income homes, or 29,000 medium-income homes. Construction on the project began in late 2012. Umoya Energy, a project supported by the South African department of energy, runs the wind farm. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien/IPS

IPS: So what is it about government policies that hinder moves to renewable energy?

FR: Some governments have laws that they use to disconnect companies from power if they put solar on their rooftops. Other countries, like Finland, still have old polices that are bad and that are still on the books. It is also difficult politically when the government subsidises fuel and not renewable energy. Governments need to remove policy barriers.

We are in the middle of such a rapid transition but if you sit in a country where governments don’t see that it’s difficult.

Coal and oil is more certain [to produce power] but for countries that need to import that, where prices are uncertain, it’s a lot more certain to use the sun and wind if you have this in your country.

IPS: How is the prospect for renewable energy looking in the developing world?

FR: If you are using only coal-fired power plants then you will sit with a stranded asset. Countries that already have a lot of investment in fossil fuels will find the change to renewable energy painful.

In Africa, most countries don’t have this. In some countries only 20 percent of people have energy access. These countries can invest in green energy and they can avoid making bad investments and can leapfrog into renewables.

They don’t have to look like Asia where they have rapidly developed economies and sit with coal-fired power stations that pollute their cities.

There is a real opportunity to avoid the problems that other countries have.

IPS: What about developing country examples of renewable energy that worked?

FR: Just two years ago when the Indian government wanted to a build a power plant they found the prices of large-scale solar panels less than coal-fired power plants. They scrapped all their plans. They are looking at solar power projects.

But there is still a lot of inertia. People are still continuing to invest in fossil fuels. We are trying to show governments through information and projects that this is feasible. We want to show how it can reduce risk.

We are working on projects. In Fiji the government gives a subsidy to low-income houses for electricity. We have proposed a project where the government puts solar panels on the roof and uses the same subsidy to finance this. It’s about using that money for sustainability.

Low-income houses have TVs and mobile phones. Making a package for people that puts solar on their roof is better. They can charge their mobile phones and [solar] also connects to their fridge and TV. Social movements have done this in some countries.

Excerpt:

By Yazeed Kamaldien
SANA’A, Jun 1 2011 (IPS)

It was during moments on our rooftop earlier this week – seeing flashes in the air and hearing the heavy pounding of gun fire – when we realised that Yemen’s capital city Sana’a was no longer as safe as we had hoped.

Violent killings were spreading fast and bloodshed was no longer contained within areas where anti- government protesters clashed with security forces.

Opposition parties, their supporters and apolitical protesters had mostly called for a “peaceful revolution” since mid-January. Their tactic has been to place pressure on Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave the office he has held onto since 1978. This week’s battles were a clear message that the fight to eliminate the 69-year-old leader of the Arab world’s poorest and most unstable nation had taken a new direction.

The shootings all apparently started because of a roadblock. Gunmen aligned to tribal leader Sadiq al- Ahmar and government troops clashed when military roadblocks closed in too near the al-Ahmar compound.

Day-after-day of shootings in the al-Hasaba neighbourhood where al-Ahmar lives have plunged the city into further instability.

Already, there have been weeks of fuel, diesel and gas shortages. Long queues of cars waiting to fill up at petrol stations are common at any given hour of the day. The cost of gas used for cooking has doubled. Rattling diesel-powered electricity generators have drowned out the joyous sounds of the capital. Shootings have led al-Hasaba residents to flee the area.

There has yet been no truce to end the shootout between the al-Ahmar and Saleh forces. Al-Ahmar is the leader of the strongest tribe – Hashid – in Yemen and is the brother of main opposition party leader Hamid al-Ahmar. He has the firepower and troops to endure a battle with the president. And he would likely continue doing so since Saleh last week issued a warrant for his arrest.

Hamid al-Ahmar meanwhile is a multi-billionaire who wants the president’s seat. As leader of Islah, a party that claims its basis in Islam, he has partly funded an anti-Saleh movement to gain support for his presidential bid.

This latest battle between the wealthy al-Ahmar family and the government is not widely supported by citizens though. Anti-government protesters at Change Square have started physically marking and moving into spaces that support opposition political parties and those who don’t. The tent village at Change Square is the main anti-Saleh sit-in demonstration site located at the gates of the capital’s Sana’a University.

Youth protesters have said that they would stand with the opposition parties against Saleh but would not blindly accept opposition leadership at protest sites or in government. Protesters have felt disgruntled at being used by the opposition in what Saleh has called a “gradual coup”.

Some have dubbed Yemen’s crisis the ‘endless revolution’ in the Arab world – meanwhile the death toll is climbing. Roaring gun fire between al-Ahmar’s armed men and the government security forces last week reportedly resulted in a body count of 80.

The chaos was anticipated though and had already gripped Sana’a last Sunday when Saleh was expected to sign the regional Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreement outlining his exit. Opposition parties had signed it the previous day but Saleh said that he wanted them to sign it with him at his presidential premises.

That they were not willing to do so was reason enough for the leader to back out of the deal after saying all along – since it was introduced almost two months ago – that he was willing to sign on. The GCC agreement would have guaranteed his exit 30 days after signing. In return, he would be ensured immunity.

Citizen-led road blocks sprang up across Sana’a last week. Saleh’s supporters closed all roads leading to his compound and demanded that he not sign the GCC deal. His conflicting statements indicated first that he was still prepared to sign the deal – which has now been suspended by Gulf leaders – but then also that he intended to stay in power until the end of his elected term in 2013.

The al-Ahmar tribal leaders were clearer on their position. They want Saleh out as soon as possible. To gain a grip on the capital city, al-Ahmar gunmen have taken control of various government buildings. They tried seizing power of the state-run news agency Saba and they set fire to the Yemenia Airlines building. Fears of an impending civil war are forcing Yemenis to seek safety in their villages outside the capital.

Various airlines cancelled incoming and out-bound flights. A tense week of get-out-now amidst water and electricity cuts across the capital unfolded. At a farewell pizza party for a friend who left the country this week we held candles because the lights had been out for hours. The next evening another friend had to stay one more night in Sana’a because his Ethiopian Airlines flight had been cancelled. A close friend who works for the U.N. was evacuated Friday morning. It is just not safe.

A host of governments have urged their nationals to leave Yemen while commercial flights are still available. The airport was believed to be closed as gun battles crept closer to it.

Saleh is facing a crisis that is becoming an international headache while he repeatedly reiterates that the matter can be resolved internally. Even his strongest allies are now urging him to quit. The U.S. has supported Saleh with weapons and a budget of millions to fight al-Qaeda. The U.S. government is now dealing with him as it did Hosni Mubarak, of Egypt – it said last week that he should sign the GCC deal and relinquish power. Yet without regional support and echoes from all quarters for him to step down he refuses to do so. Saleh’s departure is viewed as the one factor that can save Yemen from civil war.

For now, Sana’a is not sleeping easily. One evening this week, we went to bed at 2:30am to the sounds of warfare. When we opened our eyes at 8:30am, the unsettling combat was continuing on unchanged. It was like we had not gone to sleep at all.

All around us, wherever we drive, road blocks and dark streets surround us. Armed neighbourhood watch groups stop cars entering their areas to check if occupants are residents, as looting is now a possibility too. Yemen stands on the brink of – for better or worse.

Excerpt:

By Yazeed Kamaldien
SANA'A, May 17 2011 (IPS)

An estimated 2,555 women in Yemen die annually during childbirth because they do not have access to proper health facilities or experienced medical professionals.

Most of these women live in rural areas of the Arab world’s poorest and least developed country. The National Yemeni Midwives Association (NYMA) said at a seminar in the capital city Sana’a this month that the country would require at least 20,000 midwives – women who are trained to help other women give birth – if it is to combat these preventable deaths.

The association’s statistics show that at least 365 women in Yemen die for every 100,000 who give birth.

Suad Qasem, president of the NYMA, which was established in 2004, said that it wants to ensure that the required number of midwives is available across Yemen by 2012. She said that there were an estimated 5,000 trained midwives currently working in the country. They worked mostly in areas where hospitals are not available.

“We need more midwives saving lives in remote rural areas which are far from hospitals,” Qasem said at the conference. “Any untrained woman delivers babies in these areas. If we train more midwives we can prevent women dying.”

“The association helps midwives to establish a midwife clinic in their homes. We provide her with furniture and delivery instruments,” said Qasem. She related an incident of how one rural midwife was called to a house where a family thought that a baby had died shortly after being born.

“The midwife arrived at a house and the family said that the baby has died and that they were waiting for the father to come and bury the child. The midwife found that the baby wasn’t getting oxygen because there was a lot of water in his mouth and nose. All she had to do was clean the baby. He was only unconscious,” she said.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) office in Yemen confirmed that “more than one in three women in developing countries give birth alone or with only relatives to oversee what is one of the most dangerous passages they will ever undergo.”

Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA executive director, said in a statement that “in some of the poorest countries, as few as 13 percent of all deliveries are assisted by a midwife or a health worker with midwifery skills.

“Every day, 1,000 women die and 5,500 newborns die in the first week of life for lack of adequate medical care…the current global shortage of some 350,000 professional midwives means that women and their newborns die from complications that could have been easily prevented by a health worker with the right skills, the right equipment and the right support,” said Osotimehin.

UNFPA will host the Triennial Midwives Congress in Durban, South Africa, in June to “highlight the crucial role midwives play in saving lives and strengthening national health systems.” At this conference it will release the first ‘State of the World’s Midwifery’ report.

Qasem and a team of midwives here confirmed that they planned to attend the June conference. She said that they hoped to learn from other countries how they were combating maternal mortality.

Fatoom Noor al-Deen, general secretary of the NYMA, said that midwives face a “bad situation” in Yemen as many women do not prioritise antenatal care.

“We tell women that they need to do four visits to our midwives or clinics before they give birth,” said Noor al-Deen. “This happens only in cities but never in rural areas.

“Women only come to us if they have problems during delivery. If they think everything is normal then they will give birth at home and anyone – her mother or grandmother – will wait and wait until the baby comes out. Then they will just cut (the umbilical chord) and then it’s done. They think there are no dangers. They only come to us when there are problems.”

The midwife clinics are seen as a solution. Noor al-Deen explained that a midwife running a clinic with the association should “have experience, a good relationship with her community, be able to refer cases to hospitals and contact doctors who can help.”

Arwa Ahmed Yusufi is a mid-wife running a clinic from her home in the rural outskirts of Sana’a province. She completed midwife training in 1986 and started working in the field that same year. In July 2010 she opened a midwifery clinic as part of the NYMA at her home. She said that in the first three months of operation she assisted 150 women during childbirth.

“Most of the women that I see live in remote areas. If there is an emergency I have to do first aid. If I see that is not effective I have to take them to the hospital. I don’t have a car but we find someone in the community who can help us. Sometimes I even take my own money and take them to the hospital. They are very poor,” she said.

“I have to be available in the community 24 hours every day. I have three children and people keep on knocking at my door for help. It is difficult but God helps us.”

In Yemen, midwives are often called to assist mothers during labour even in areas where hospitals are available – some women prefer to give birth at home. This means that more midwives like Huda Hussein Sinnah, who works in Sana’a, are needed.

“Most of the women even in cities prefer childbirth at home. This is because of traditional and religious reasons. Families believe that there are male doctors at hospitals who will see the women. They say the women want the privacy of their homes,” said Sinnah.

“I work in a hospital and go to women’s houses. Home births are not a problem as long as there is a skilled person with the women during the delivery. If there is a midwife they can refer the woman to the hospital if there is a problem. I think the hospital is best but in the community there are many women who prefer to give birth at home.”

Excerpt:

By Yazeed Kamaldien
SANA'A, May 11 2011 (IPS)

Yemen’s young anti-government protesters have learnt a vital lesson about the world of politics during their seemingly endless revolution – betrayal is inevitable.

Yemen's young protesters in Sana'a are unhappy with opposition parties too. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien/IPS

This controversial initiative was proposed in April by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which comprises six Gulf nations led in the Yemeni talks by Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. – a strong supporter of Saleh – backs the deal and has urged all parties to sign it.

But many young protesters who launched a civil society movement for regime change in mid-January claim allegiance to no political party and strongly reject the GCC exit strategy. Their main contention is that it guarantees immunity to Saleh, some of his allies and relatives who have served during the time that he has been the country’s leader.

In return for immunity, Saleh – the country’s leader since 1978 – would step down a month after signing the deal. This counters the grassroots trend that forced leaders in Tunisia and Egypt to step down with political dishonour.

Hesham Lutf is an unemployed high school graduate who has stayed at Change Square since it was set- up as a tent village in mid-February outside Sana’a University. He said that most youth protesters were disappointed with the JMP.

“We welcomed anyone to the square in the beginning but we saw that the JMP takes everything and does things that we don’t know about,” Lutf told IPS. “They never tell us what they are doing. They just use us to get what they want. Young people have been killed since they joined us.”

He was referring to scores of deaths at Change Square as dissidents have clashed with those who support Saleh. Snipers allegedly supporting Saleh also killed 53 protesters on Mar. 18 – the worst bloodshed at Change Square.

Luft said that protesters wanted to choose new leaders and would not allow the JMP to simply take over from the current leadership.

“We will tell the JMP to go out before the president leaves. We don’t need the president and we don’t need the JMP. The JMP is a copy of the government. We are bored of all these faces. We want new faces and a new modern country,” said Lutf.

Anas Homaid, an English language student at the temporarily closed Sana’a University, said that he was angered by the clause in the GCC deal granting immunity to Saleh.

“Many people said that Saleh will be free but nobody should go free from the law. This should not be,” Homaid told IPS. “Saleh must go to jail. Everyone who is proven guilty of crimes against the people must also go to jail. Such crimes against humanity should be heard at a court.”

Amr al-Khateeb, an electrician, said that the president has done too many bad things to be granted immunity.

“He killed young people,” al-Khateeb told IPS. “There was a lot of blood in the streets. He will never be free after he killed so many people. The families of those who were killed will not allow this.”

Nadia Abdullah, an IT engineer and MBA student, expressed a mistrust of all political parties because they “are part of the same regime”.

“They have taken so much time to negotiate,” she told IPS. “This shows that they are all part of the same regime. From the first days the protesters loved each other. But when the JMP started negotiating with the regime it became an awful situation… It became difficult to talk with them. They started talking about the ignorance of youth. I don’t trust them at all.”

Other clauses of the GCC initiative state that Saleh would hand over power to his deputy who would announce presidential elections, a government of national unity would be formed, and the opposition would take leadership of the country.

This has angered anti-Saleh protesters and pro-Saleh supporters who have taken to the streets across the country to show their dissatisfaction with the plan put forward by the GCC’s foreign ministers. At least a dozen meetings have been held in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital city, to fine-tune the plan but proceedings have stalled.

Delays are apparently due to clarifying certain points of the deal while the opposition’s political ping- pong to save face with anti-Saleh protesters has also side-tracked a swifter closure to the country’s political deadlock. The JMP said at one point that it would not sign the deal, but now is behind it again.

Salah Sharafi, who studies English linguistics at Sana’a University, said that they had lost all hope in the JMP which was “using the youth for their benefit… youth feel very sad about this”. Sharafi told IPS that protesters would ensure chaos if the deal was signed, but for now tolerated the JMP.

“I was disappointed in the JMP from the beginning. They tried to hijack this square but we allowed them to participate because we need them. If they sign then we will see a real crisis in Yemen. We will begin a new revolution against both of them [government and opposition]. They are all part of the same regime,” he said.

Abdullah Sharabi is an engineer who volunteers at Change Square’s media and information centre. He echoed Sharabi’s sentiment and told IPS that the GCC deal was a “dirty game in order to kill this revolution”.

“It does not fulfil the demands of the revolution or its goals. This is a solution only for the president but not for the youth,” Sharabi said. “The opposition has betrayed the youth. We don’t trust the opposition because it’s full of tricks. We want to keep a relationship in harmony with the opposition until we overthrow the regime.”

Yemen is treading on a path of desperate uncertainty. It is still run by a caretaker government – mostly officials who did not defect to the anti-government movement since mid-March.

Saleh heads up the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party that has warned that the JMP – which comprises at least six different parties – wants to seize leadership via a gradual coup.

Saleh supports the Gulf deal as a necessary step to end the political crisis which the country’s finance ministry has said has already cost its economy 5 billion dollars in 2011. Investment projects have been postponed, local currency has dropped against foreign exchange and the conflict has led to limited water, power, gas, fuel and diesel supplies countrywide.

Young protesters are saying that they are ready to escalate anti-government action. In the capital, they have mobilised some shop owners to close down on certain days to ensure that their struggle is felt more widely in the streets.

Civil disobedience campaigns have already escalated in other provinces such as Taiz and Aden, where protesters have stormed government buildings. Clashes with security officials as a result have led to more bloodshed which in turn has fuelled further protester reaction.

Basem Moghram, a computer programmer who contributes photos and reports to an anti-government website, told IPS that protests will continue until they have a “civil state that believes in justice, freedom and separation of authorities”. The GCC deal stipulated that all public protests and sit-in demonstrations should cease if the opposing parties accept it. Youth protesters are not included in these talks and have not been asked to sign the deal either as the JMP and Yemeni government are the only players seen as potential peacemakers.

Excerpt:

By Yazeed Kamaldien
SANA’A, Mar 22 2011 (IPS)

Popcorn, peanuts, protest posters, tons of tea and the ubiquitous Yemeni flag dominate the anti-government sit-in demonstration outside Sana’a University as entrepreneurs have sought to meet the demands of protesters.

Freedom tea for sale as Che Guevara makes an appearance. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien/IPS

The anti-government protests started in mid-January when Tunisia’s grassroots movement successfully ousted that country’s leader and set the Arab world ablaze.

By mid-February, Yemen’s citizens launched sit-in protests across the country. Outside Sana’a University, where student-led demonstrations encouraged more to take to the streets, tents have been set up. Some have brought along televisions and get electricity from neighbouring shops in the streets where they are sleeping.

But the most striking aspect of this somewhat festive atmosphere is the countless creative capitalists – although small time compared to most – that have identified protester needs.

Gassiem al-Shi’ri, 13, sells a variety of badges bearing the Yemeni flag. Protesters might not be happy with their leadership but they still love their country.

“I’ve been here since the first day of the protests. I earn between YR1,000 (four dollars) and YR2,000 (eight) per day,” said al-Shi’ri.

That is a decent income for someone living in the poorest Arab country, where conservative figures indicate that 40 percent of its 24 million people live in poverty. This is the sort of statistic that citizens hope will change once Saleh, who has ruled the country for 32 years, steps down.

“Irhal, irhal, irhal. (Leave, leave, leave.) God willing, the president will leave this country,” shouted al-Shi’ri when asked where the protests would lead.

A number of other vendors were also selling the Yemeni flag reincarnated as scarves and in various sizes. Vendors also sell A4-sized colour paper print-outs depicting anti-Saleh messages. Some mock the leader and others depict deadlier messages; one shows a number of guns pointed at Saleh’s head.

Tea remains the most popular bestseller though. Yemenis enjoy tea and chats, and one tea seller put up a sign to promote his brand: ‘Freedom Tea’.

Tea seller Khaled Khaderi closed his clothing stall to set up a tea shop in the area that protesters have called ‘Change Square’ to reflect their movement.

“This is the taste of freedom,” said Khaderi as he passed cups of tea to customers. “I used to sell clothes near Sana’a University but decided to sell tea so that I could make more money. People didn’t come here to buy clothes. They want tea.”

Other entrepreneurs regularly stationed near Sana’a University, generally a transport and business hub, have also seen an increase in income. Ahmed Saleh who fixes shoes works on the pavement and said that he has been fixing more shoes since the protests started.

Najeeb al-Badri and Shayf Bin Ali said their Qat business has also grown. Qat is the mild narcotic plant that Yemenis chew for pleasure.

A young businessman who recorded the highest sales jump is Dhayfallah al-Sirma. He moved his makeshift mobile popcorn unit from the gates of the Old City in Sana’a to the protest site. He sells popcorn for less than YR100 (about 20 US cents) a packet.

“My income has increased by 80 percent a day,” he said as the show of sloganeering, chanting and politicking continued all around him.

Excerpt:

By Yazeed Kamaldien
SANAA, Feb 15 2011 (IPS)

Many are baffled that Yemen’s anti-government protests have so far failed to deliver revolutionary regime change. But a complex context here demands a different kind of political dialogue with power.

Yemeni protesters in Sanaa carrying pictures of arrested men. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

An Arab revolt was gaining momentum outside. By Jan. 25, Egyptians flooded major cities across their country in a civil society movement that pushed Hosni Mubarak out of office.

On Feb. 11 – the night of Mubarak’s fall – at least 2,000 anti-government protesters rejoiced in the capital. But their seemingly postponed revolution has been like the candles the protesters carried that evening. It brought a little light but never took on the lightning bolt seen in Tunisia and Egypt where protesters forced regime change.

One of the first apparent obstacles to political reform is that the citizens and opposition parties are divided. Thousands demand regime change but there is little by way of a viable political alternative. In Yemen that seems in the way.

Saleh’s proposed national dialogue between his ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) and the opposition coalition known as the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) has not had much success although it is being continued.

The conversation has meanwhile moved to Yemeni streets where thousands of anti-government and pro-Saleh supporters have sloganeered.

People all want food and jobs, but they are divided on the political route to achieving these goals.

There is also growing resentment against the opposition coalition. Anti- government protests were initially ignited by Sanaa University students and encouraged by opposition politicians. The university gates in the capital Sanaa have been a rallying point but since the opposition parties took centre-stage, involvement in the protests has fluctuated.

Students want to separate the general struggle from the opposition. The Revolution of Independent Youths says they “equally accuse GPC and JMP of corruption.” The youth group wants anti-government protests to remain a “march of the people without leaders and middle-persons from the ruling and opposition groups.”

Rana J, a young Yemeni woman who did not want her last name published, was among the crowd that celebrated Egypt’s “sacrifice for a beautiful thing” on Feb. 11 in Sanaa.

“I was a big supporter of the opposition until I went to their protests. They have failed to connect with the street. They asked people to gather and then they shout through a microphone whatever they want to say. Then they ask everyone to leave.

“They’re failing to connect with the grassroots. Political parties in Yemen are playing a game. They’re manipulating the illiterate masses. It’s always been top-down for political parties and elites. It’s just using citizens for political gain.”

Abdulaziz Al-Sakkaf, a student and youth activist who also joined the march to the Egyptian embassy, says the opposition parties “are as incompetent as the ruling party.”

“People get excited about the protests but when they find that the opposition parties are involved, they lose motivation. We don’t believe in the opposition parties. If the opposition parties could have done something good they would have done it already.”

A security crackdown has made protest difficult. Anti-government protesters have been rounded up and arrested since the start of their public dissent in mid-January.

From a peak of about 20,000 who gathered for Yemen’s ‘Day of Rage’ Feb. 3, fewer than 100 persons gathered at Sanaa University the following day. Four student protesters were arrested at this gathering and this prompted a second protest at the police station where they were held.

Khaled Al-Anesi, lawyer and human rights activist in Sanaa, said that the police wanted to use fear to halt anti-government protests, but they were also afraid that this could incite further gatherings.

A young Yemeni woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Yemenis are still getting used to rebelling.

“We don’t really know what it’s like to say no to the government. Egypt especially has had a positive effect in encouraging people to take to the streets and voice what they feel. But we are used to people telling us what to do from a podium,” she said.

“We are happy about what happened in Egypt and hopefully it will happen here. But it’s been tough on students. They don’t have support and there’s been more of a crackdown on them.”

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By Yazeed Kamaldien
ADDIS ABABA, Feb 2 2008 (IPS)

Pressure the Sudanese government to resolve the Darfur conflict and monitor United Nations troops for sexual offences, a delegation of Sudanese women told leaders at the African Union (AU) Summit here.

South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (left), meets with the Darfur women's delegation at the AU Summit Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien/IPS

The “pain of the Darfur woman is the pain of every Sudanese woman,” said Betty Achan, agriculture minister in the Government of South Sudan’s (GoSS) parliament and member of the women’s delegation.

In addition to Achan, the delegation was comprised of three women from Darfur and a fifth member who represented northern Sudan.

“We are all very tired of the conflict,” said Mona Elshareif, from Geneina in west Darfur. “Everybody knows that women and children suffer in Darfur. People on the ground don’t see the politics. They just see the trauma.”

“We need to think about the children,” Elshareif said, stressing that, “Our forum will work with all women’s groups in Sudan.”

The Khartoum-based government in the north has been accused of carrying out development at the expense of other parts of the country – this has allegedly led to widespread conflict in the country.

In 2007 alone over a 250,000 people were forced from their homes, driving the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to well over two million.

Violence has increased in recent weeks, with intensified clashes between rebel groups and government forces in West Darfur.

Meanwhile, deployment of the new U.N.-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) is being hampered by both the failure of the international community to provide crucial equipment like helicopters and obstruction from Khartoum.

The GoSS operates semi-autonomously from the national government in the north – following a 21-year civil war.

Last year the GoSS launched its Darfur Task Force to “unite rebels and have one agenda,” Achan said.

Nawal Hassan called on Darfur’s rebel groups to “unite and have one agenda”. “That way they can put more pressure on our government,” she explained. “Now we have 26 rebel groups on the ground and that’s creating divisions,” said Hassan.

Hassan – an activist from Nyala in south Darfur – said the delegation wants to ensure that “women are represented at the decision-making level for peace in Sudan”.

“We are fed up of war. We want to be involved in bringing peace to Darfur,” Hassan said. “We have suffered the consequences of this war and we want to talk to our brothers who are fighting each other. We want a future for our children. We want peace and prosperous development. But we are also expecting opposition in Sudan from parties who are benefiting from our suffering.”

Achan warned that U.N. troops in Darfur should be watched as there have been rape allegations against those based in south Sudan. “U.N. troops raped boys, girls and women in south Sudan. When they don’t have money for sex they abuse young children,” said Achan.

Our organisation has “means of monitoring the U.N. troops in Darfur and we will take them on if they commit sexual offences,” said Dismas Nkunda, chairperson of the Darfur Consortium, an international group of 60 civil society groups.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon addressed the Darfur issue in his speech at the opening ceremony of AU Summit on Jan. 31. Ban said the “challenges ahead of Darfur are tremendous” and urged peacekeeping troop contributing countries to arrive as soon as possible.

“The people of Darfur depend on your help. The AU and U.N. are working closely to end the Darfur crisis,” Ban assured the gathered heads of state.

Ban held a press briefing and was joined by his special envoy to Darfur, Jan Eliasson.

There is no timeline to securing peace in Darfur, because all efforts were dependent on “halting violence before talks can begin,” Eliasson said.

Previous attempts to gather representatives from the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups have failed, he said.

“We have five main groups that we are attempting to unify. We also plan to get civil society involved [in the peace process],” said Eliasson.

The Darfur women’s delegation met with foreign ministers from various countries – including China and South Africa. The latter’s foreign affairs minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chaired a meeting of African ministers on post-conflict reconstruction in Sudan.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir attended the AU Summit but did not comment on the Darfur crisis. Sudan’s permanent representative to the U.N. said that the Darfur women’s delegation trip was “not a difficulty for the Sudanese government because it is a democracy”.

Femme Africa Solidarity (FAS), a non-governmental organization headquartered in New York and Senegal, assisted the Sudanese women’s delegation to attend the summit. Marema Toure, of FAS, said their aim was to create “dialogue and solidarity among African women”.

We are “optimistic and this is our starting point,” said Elshareif.

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By Yazeed Kamaldien
KHARTOUM, Jan 28 2008 (IPS)

Citizens from Sudan’s southern region, long caught in a power struggle with their country’s northern-controlled government, are looking with a mixture of hope and uncertainty to 2011 when they will vote in a referendum on whether or not the south will remain part of Sudan.

Referendums will be held simultaneously in the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Abyei on whether to become part of Southern Sudan or of Sudan.

Conflicts between the Sudanese government and rebel groups in various parts of Sudan have ensured that the country is home to the world’s largest number of internally displaced persons – six million at last count. This includes citizens from the south, Nuba region, eastern Sudan and Darfur.

Because of inexperience, corruption and the international media&#39s decision to focus on Darfur, Southern Sudan has been slow to build a viable infrastructure after its government was formed following 21 years of north-south civil warfare in 2005.

Southerners who have settled in the north – particularly in the capital city Khartoum – say they want unity for their country. But they also say that unity depends on whether the country’s government implements the decisions outlined in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between it and the former rebel fighters, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), in 2005. One of the CPA’s provisions is the referendum, it also aims to develop democratic governance countrywide and share oil revenues.

"The peace agreement made everybody happy, especially in the south," said Charles Wani Ladu, a journalist at the Khartoum Monitor newspaper based in the capital who left his home in south Sudan to study mass communication at Juba University. "It’s changed things for the better. It has changed people’s feelings. There was a lot of suffering in people’s minds. Now, with peace, there’s rest in their minds."

"This gives a path for unity," Ladu told IPS. "The southerners took up arms because of marginalisation. After the signing there must be rights to services and job opportunities. There should be equality in everything. A united Sudan can be attained. The authorities can do it."

Focusing on the 2011 referendum, Ladu says, the "unity of Sudan or separation of the south depends on the implementation of the CPA on the ground".

"There has been so much conflict in Juba," Ladu says. "We were going to school while there was fighting between the [Sudanese] government and rebels [SPLM]. The rebels injured civilians while attacking the government. But now people are going to school peacefully," he explained.

"For some it will be different to go back [to the south]. They’re used to services that they got in the north. There are no services, maybe a little, in the south. There’s not a lot of public transport. The roads are still few. It’s just beginning to be constructed," Ladu said, stressing, "Others will go back and maybe they will support development."

Sebit Ernest Apuktong, a third-year veterinary student at Bahr al-Ghazal University in Khartoum, was born shortly before the north-south bloodshed began. Apuktong is involved with the Sudanese Association for Youth Development and conducts workshops to encourage trust between youth from the south and north. Although Apuktong saw the southern region only during his childhood, he says he dreams of returning to "start youth groups".

"I saw the south when I was in primary school. I travelled to Upper Nile State. I visited two towns. I stayed there for a few months. But my family decided to stay in Khartoum because there are better services and education here," Apuktong told IPS, alluding to the lack of basic services in the south. The south has not seen which has not seen development since the days of British colonialism, he says.

"My father is a self-employed engineer working in the construction industry. But he’s not a member of any political party so it’s more difficult to find a job. My mother is a nurse. When my parents have no work in Khartoum they go back to the south to find work and me and my siblings stay in Khartoum," he adds. Apuktong says that life in the north ensures that his "needs are filled".

"Right now I am studying to develop myself. And the first area that should benefit from me is south Sudan," says Apuktong.

"To stay in Khartoum is good for me. But if I stay here, what will I give the south? I want to see improvements in the south so I need to go there and make it good. I want to help make it better." He says his friends who have travelled to the south tell him that there "are many resources but there are no services".

"Things are starting to develop and education and health services are improving, but slowly. This makes life difficult. Many southerners stay in the north," he adds. "They have jobs. Their children are at schools here. The north is better. It’s very safe. There are too many problems between tribes in the south. In some places, people carry guns during the day. The only problem in the north is that you cannot say anything against the government."

Apuktong says it is difficult to tell which would be best – unity or independence from the north for the south – because "we don’t know what either would be like". "Too many people have died and too much money has been spent on fighting," he says.

At Angie’s Beauty Salon in Khartoum, two young hairstylists talk about their hopes for Sudan. Susie Taban says she left Juba for Khartoum in 1991. She hasn’t been back to the south but says she has heard that the "situation has changed".

"Peace between north and south is good for Sudan. Before the peace agreement, I preferred separation, but after peace was signed it looks like unity is okay," says Taban.

"We’re all Sudanese citizens. We can solve our problems together. We had a lot of problems in the past. The northerners mistreated us here in Khartoum. It was difficult to find a house or a job. Most of our people lived in camps and to get a good job was difficult. I was young but I saw how my parents suffered," she says.

Peace has also brought a sense of freedom, Taban explained, "we can talk freely about anything without being humiliated. In the past we could not discuss anything. We could be taken to prison."

Taban’s colleague, Esther David, is a college student who helps out at Angie’s on a part-time basis. She was born in Uganda but grew up in Khartoum. "I know that peace is good for Sudan. In the past, we had no chance to visit our relatives in the south, because of insecurity," she said. "I don’t usually go to the south but I visited my family in Juba when we had holidays. I want one Sudan. It’s all the same and we are all the same. There’s no need for differences."

Excerpt:

By Yazeed Kamaldien
KHARTOUM, Dec 28 2007 (IPS)

An oil-fuelled construction boom is giving Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, an ever shinier veneer. However, some fear that this building spree is taking place at environmental cost.

One of the Tuti Island bridges takes shape. Credit: Yazeed Kamaldien

In the absence of guidelines to regulate which building products can be imported, certain contractors are using hazardous materials, he adds.

“These materials will introduce chemicals that can harm the environment and the health of residents. We find that flame retardants used in construction are sources of toxins that can be transferred through the mother’s breast milk to infants. It can also cause cancer. The atmospheric environment is also affected by these chemicals.”

Furthermore, “Construction trends currently allow for too much space between buildings. If buildings are built closer to each other they could conserve cool air better. But they’re not and that means we need more electricity to keep air-conditioning running to keep buildings cool. That also creates more pollution,” says Ahmed, who also serves as a consultant with the university’s environmental watch group, and has worked on feasibility studies for various construction projects in Sudan, ranging from factories to foreign embassies.

These views are echoed by Sharaf Bannaga, the owner of Bannaga Consulting, who served in Khartoum State’s public utilities department from 1989 until 2001.

“Contractors have the freedom to do what they want. They’re not thinking about how they’re endangering the environment. The government runs everything. Once you have its approval nobody cares, and nobody’s supervising the government.”

Ahmed agrees that government’s control over construction needs to improve: “There’s a gap between legislation and the monitoring of projects. We also have legislation that is out of date. We need new legislation that can be applied and enforced.”

But, he says, it must be remembered that environmental management is still in its infancy in this country. “Sudan’s environment ministry was launched only in 1995. It hasn’t had much time but is working very hard. It needs more time to establish and enforce a complete system.”

Bannaga points out that the disregard of the construction industry is part of a broader tendency to sideline the environment in a country that is grappling with widespread poverty – as the shantytowns of Khartoum can attest.

“We…have difficulty in treating water and waste water. Most households provide their own means of discharging waste water into sub-surface soil and water. There are no waste water networks,” he explains.

“We also don’t have systems for refuse collection in many areas. Most of our solid waste is burnt on the ground. We’re dependant on mechanical air-conditioning and there’s no eco-building.”

Many of those who are poor depend on the natural environment for their livelihood, Bannaga says. “But they also aggravate environmental problems. Someone who is poor cuts down trees to sell wood, and nobody’s replanting the trees.”

Embroiled in a war with the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement until 2005, Sudan’s government now finds itself battling rebels in the western region of Darfur – and international condemnation for the war crimes it is accused of perpetrating in the course of this conflict. However, this has had little effect on investment in Sudan.

In addition to environmental sustainability, the matter of land rights has also proved something to be grappled with in the development of Khartoum: take the efforts to construct bridges to Tuti Island.

This project aims to link the Nile River-embedded island with the capital, which surrounds it. A road will also be built across the island to connect the two bridges, and provide another traffic route to ease congestion in the growing metropolis.

The 14 million dollar initiative started in 2003, and was on track until a 13 month delay over the island road.

“We had to stop the project when residents said the road would cross over their land. They wanted a lot of money for the land and we spent all that time negotiating with them. We made a compromise and they agreed with us,” says Abdul-Wahid Abdul-Moniem Abdul-Aziz, who heads the Roads and Bridges Department at Khartoum State’s Ministry of Physical Planning and Public Utilities – and is in charge of completing the ambitious project.

He says that his division makes all contractors aware of Sudanese environmental laws. In addition, “We have a department concerning the environment and it has its own court to judge whether contractors have not obeyed the law.”

But for Bannaga, there is clearly a need for greater oversight. “There might be legislation,” he notes, “but there’s no rule.”

(* This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – the International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)

Excerpt:

By Yazeed Kamaldien
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 8 2005 (IPS)

Human trafficking, particularly of women and children, in South Africa is not slowing down while the country’s government has not yet implemented legislation recognising this vicious flesh trade as a crime.

With legislation, activists like Vanessa Anthony, a researcher and counsellor with child rights non-governmental organisation, Molo Songololo, can see justice for the victims she deals with.

Anthony says it recently ‘’took eight years to jail a man who kidnapped, gang-raped and exploited girls as young as 13’’.

‘’The situation is not getting better,’’ she says. She should know, after having worked with sexually abused children for the past ten years.

’’There are many cases, and more research needs to be done. There is an attempt from government to help. They have said that they do want to implement legislation. We are also creating the awareness about this issue and other organisations are also responding to that,’’ Anthony says.

The South African government has signed and ratified international charters such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. It has also ratified the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, which defines trafficking as ‘’the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force for the purpose of exploitation’’.

Exploitation, according to this protocol, includes ‘’prostitution, forced labour or services, slavery or the removal of organs’’.

These international documents bind signatories to an agreement to outlaw and prevent trafficking, a path that South Africa seems to be wobbling along. And yet South Africa is well-linked in the global human trafficking game. It is a country where illegally bought and sold human beings are recruited, held and also passed on to other countries.

Sexual abuse is a global corporation with a non-stop demand and South Africa, according to research, is a major player. It is a country of origin, transit and destination for human trafficking.

In 2003 the U.S. State Department reported that at least 700,000 people worldwide, mostly women and children, are trafficked across borders annually. Up to four million people have also become human cargo in an industry netting around 20 billion dollars for its frontrunners.

Meanwhile, a 2003 UNICEF study found that children are trafficked at twice the rate of women globally. Molo Songololo also found that trafficked children are often sold by their parents and, like women, they are recruited into the sex industry with false promises of employment, education and also marriage. The NGO estimates that there are up to 38,000 child prostitutes in South Africa and 25 percent of the country’s street children engage in survival sex.

Molo Songololo’s chief researcher Karin Koen says children in Cape Town, South Africa, also ‘’had historically been trafficked as domestic workers’’. She says that there have been reports children from neighbouring Lesotho have been trafficked for labour by farmers in South Africa’s Free State province.

In 2003 a research study by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) also found that South Africa is a main destination for trafficked women and children.

’’Victims come from Angola, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Extra-regional victims are from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda. Others are from Thailand, Taiwan, China and Russia,’’ found the IOM.

Other southern African transit countries revealed are Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Traffickers operating in South Africa include Nigerian networks, Chinese triads, Russian and Bulgarian mafia and various groups of organised criminal syndicates. Victims trafficked in South Africa often end up in Europe and Asia. And those reaching South Africa come from as diverse countries as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Britain, Russia, China, Thailand and various African states.

Local organisations such as Molo Songololo hope that anti-trafficking legislation in South Africa could scare off perpetrators and clients demanding sex with trafficked women and children.

A recent audit of the governments of southern Africa found that measures taken to eliminate violence against women and children were ‘’patchy’’. The audit, conducted by the Gender and Media Southern Africa Network in late 2004, found that ‘’laws, services and resources are patchy to new threats like sex trafficking’’.

In South Africa, traffickers can so far only be tried and sentenced under laws relating to sexual offences, such as the Child Care Act which outlaws sex with a child. The country’s Immigration Act also criminalises trafficking while another law is the Sexual Offences Act, currently under review by the government in an attempt to include legislation and penalties relating to trafficking.

Legislation dealing directly with trafficking could mean that perpetrators are dealt with swiftly. In 2004 the government-affiliated South African Law Commission put forward an ‘Issue Paper’ to criminalise human trafficking. It recommended protocols to ‘’prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children’’. The document has been received by the Justice and Constitutional Development department which has to authorise and rubber-stamp it.

Organisations agree though that laws are not enough as there are other factors hindering efforts to combat trafficking. Researchers say these include ‘’a low level of legislative knowledge on the victim’s behalf, victim’s fears, scarce resources, corruption and complicity as well as poor inter-country information sharing’’.

Poverty is also a major contributing factor. Anthony says that poverty has played a key role in the exploitation, coupled with an increasing demand for sex with children.

Anthony currently heads up a project to free young women trapped in prostitution in Atlantis, an area in Cape Town where prostitution, poverty, drug abuse and alcoholism is rife. She has found that girls are trafficked, sometimes as young as four, into the sex work industry.

Foreigners trafficked into South Africa are being assisted through organisations like the IOM though. As they most likely do not speak any of the country’s eleven official languages, including English, the IOM has set up a 24-hour toll-free helpline (0800-555-999). The line has an automated voice in English which prompts a number of foreign languages. An IOM helpline counsellor is also available to offer trauma counselling telephonically as well as referrals to assistance centres.

A fast-track progress report on South Africa’s efforts to eradicate human trafficking would indicate an effort from a government that acknowledges the crime but has not yet legally committed itself to deal with the problem.

So for now, it seems, it is mostly the job of non-governmental organisations to put an end to the violence of sexual violations.

Excerpt: