A Coup for a Coup | Amadou Toumani Touré

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 12:49 PM EDT, 22 March 2012

Former President AmadouToure

BAMAKO, Mali - President Amadou Toumani Touré has been deposed following a coup d'etat by soldiers who are members of the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR). In the video below, Lt. Amadou Konare spoke in French to deliver news of the success of their overthrow of the government.

"The CNRDR ... has decided to assume its responsibilities by putting an end to the incompetent regime which has failed to protect our people.”

The military usurpers have dissolved institutions, suspended the constitution and imposed a curfew "until further notice". Captain Amadou Sanogo,who has been appointed as the president of the newly formed CNRDR, appeared on state television to urge calm and condemn any pillaging.

As with most African countries where the government is ousted by a military coup, these types of transitions are pivotal and most often lead to brutal regimes that refuse to relinquish power even after they have achieved their stated goals.

In fact, former President Amadou Touré, 64, also came to power through a coup. In 1991, he overthrew a military ruler, Moussa Traoré, and then handed power to civilian authorities the next year. He won the presidential elections in 2002, with a broad coalition of support, and was easily re-elected in 2007. (Source: Wikipedia)

As the military launched its final assault on the presidential palace in the capital of Bamako, the report of heavy gun fire pierced the early morning air. Although Touré had previously escaped into hiding, his Defense Minister wasn’t as lucky. Both he and the Foreign Minister, Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, are being held by the soldiers.

International condemnation of the coup has been swift. France suspended its cooperation in assisting its former colony with its transition to a more democratic rule, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has stated publicly that they do not condone the actions of these soldiers.

In a statement issued by the White House on Thursday, the US called for the "immediate restoration" of constitutional rule in Mali, while the African Union condemned the actions of the soldiers.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN's secretary-general, called for calm and for grievances to be settled democratically in a statement released hours before the soldiers said they had seized power.

Jean Ping, head of the Commission of the African Union continental grouping, said he was "deeply concerned by the reprehensible acts currently being perpetrated by some elements of the Malian army". (Source: Aljazeera)

Mali, the largest country in West Africa, is heavily Islamic; where approximately 90 percent of its population are adherents of Islam. Of these, the majority of Malians are Sunni, while a small population of Christians resides in the country with relative freedom from persecution. Islam was first introduced to Mali by Muslim Berber and Tuareg merchants traveling south into Sub-Saharan Africa.

One of the grievances of the CNRDR and a stated reason for toppling Touré’s government, was their perceived lack of government response to the returning Tuareg rebel fighters in the north of the country. The military felt that it had not been allocated sufficient weaponry to combat embattled and bitter Tuareg mercenaries who were returning to Mali from Libya.

Many of the Tuareg were ardent supporters of Muammar Gaddhafi, and when the Arab Spring movement swept through Libya, they went to the country to fight for the Gaddhafi regime. Once he was killed, those who were not captured and killed, returned to Mali disgruntled and unwelcomed.

Tuareg-led rebellions have killed numerous civilians and nearly 200,000 have had to flee their homes in advance of the marauding hordes. Mali, a country that has had several military regime changes and coups, has fostered an environment where rebels can easily foment unrest.

The growing instability after the initial steps toward a stable, democratic government has adjacent West African nations worried. If the Tuareg fighters are not contained, the fighting could spill over into neighboring countries like Algeria, as evidenced by the Tuareg's seizure earlier this month of the key garrison in the border town, Tessalit.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dSWdg5kTYHo]

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Migrant Worker Abused in Lebanon Takes Life

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 00:17 AM EDT, 21 March 2012

BEIRUT, Lebanon - An Ethiopian domestic worker, Alem Dechasa, was taken to a psychiatric hospital following an attempt by a group of Lebanese men to kidnap her outside the Ethiopian embassy.

First aired by Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI), the video shows Dechasa lying on the ground, crying while her employer Ali Mahfouz’s repeatedly tries to drag her toward a waiting vehicle.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBf_-QKp6pw&feature=player_embedded]

Asaminew Debelie Bonssa, Ethiopian general consul in Lebanon, told The Daily Star newspaper that Dechasa subsequently committed suicide by hanging herself, despite expressing a desire to return to Ethiopia.

The barbarity of the ill-treatment of migrant workers throughout the Middle East has been of grave concern to human rights watch groups. Many of these workers are in effect indentured servants who are treated more like slaves than domestic help.

Immigrants from Africa and Asia, come to Lebanon seeking opportunities to improve their lives but quickly become disillusioned. They discover that despite promises, Lebanese laws do not protect their rights, and as second class citizen’s they are not guaranteed basic healthcare, vacation, or equitable wages.

Additionally, because the sponsorship system ties the domestic worker to one employer, unscrupulous people can keep workers in bondage by withholding their passports, visas, and work permits ostensibly for ‘safe keeping.’

Rola Abimourched, program coordinator at KAFA (Enough) Violence and Exploitation, spoke passionately about the Dechasa incident. We hope that this case may become the catalyst that galvanizes the Lebanese government to introduce stronger laws to protect migrant workers and other immigrants to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again.

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Death by Marriage | Rape Victim Amina Filali

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 23:31 PM EDT, 18 March 2012

MOROCCO – On Saturday, 17 March 2012, thousands of people around the world awoke to the horror of the suicide of a young girl who had been forced to marry her rapist.

Her rapist was given the option of marrying the girl under Article 475 of the Moroccan penal code. This antiquated law allows for a rapist to marry his victim to escape prosecution. It is a law that has been used to justify a traditional practice of ‘preserving’ the honor of the woman's family by making the victim marry her victimizer or face certain death.

Amina Al Filali, 16, swallowed rat poison yesterday in protest of her marriage to the man who raped her a year earlier. Rape victims face numerous challenges in seeking justice and healing, but in cultures where the ‘honor’ of the family outweighs the rights of its ‘less valued’ members, a rape victim can be placed in an untenable predicament.

Moroccan families of rape victims, who have availed themselves of this resolution, admit that they coerce the victims into marrying their rapists out of fear that she won’t be able to find a husband if the community finds out that she has been raped.

In many societies throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, the loss of a woman's virginity prior to marriage, not only reduces her ‘value,’ but causes a great scandal which ‘injures’ the entire family. The rape victim is thereby sacrificed so that the males who did not protect her can absolve themselves of further responsibility.

In the photo above, a Pakistani woman, Mukhtar Mai, was gang-raped in 2002 on orders of a traditional village council as punishment for acts allegedly committed by her younger brother. Rather than retreat into silence or commit suicide (the expected response when dishonor is brought to a family), Mukhtar Mai testified against the perpetrators. She used the compensation money she later received to build schools and a shelter for abused women.

As in the States, the burden of proof of rape rest solely on the victim’s ability to prove she was attacked and that she didn’t ‘ask’ for it by putting herself in a compromising situation. In countries where ‘honor’ killings are prevalent, a woman risks being prosecuted for debauchery if she is unable to prove that she was raped.

In the case of Amina, according to her father, Lahcen Filali, the court pushed the marriage, even though the perpetrator initially refused. He only consented when faced with a potential 5 to 10 years in prison, which is the penalty under Moroccan law for rape. However, because Amina was a minor when she was raped, her attacker would have faced 10 to 20 years if he chose to go to court.

Immediately after the marriage, Amina complained to her mother that her husband was beating her repeatedly with increasing ferocity during the five short months of their marriage. Her mother as much a victim of societal pressure and expectations as her daughter, counseled patience.

Amina was subjected first to rape, then to a child-marriage, and finally to repeated physical and psychological abuse at the hands of her rapist. In a society where she had no voice, she chose the only option available to her, to take her own life.

Ironically, it may be this act of desperation that is giving voice to the countless others who are stuck in similar nightmares. Though Morocco updated its family code in 2004, Fouzia Assouli, a women’s rights activists and president of Democratic League for Women's Rights, says there remains a long road to achieve equality.

'It is unfortunately a recurring phenomenon,' she said. 'We have been asking for years for the cancellation of Article 475 of the penal code which allows the rapist to escape justice. In Morocco, the law protects public morality but not the individual and legislation outlawing all forms of violence against women, including rape within marriage, has been stuck in the government since 2006.’

In recent years, reports of young women who have been raped, and then sentenced to death by stoning, have been reported from Nigeria to Iran.

Last year the plight of rape victims in Afghanistan was featured in an European Union (EU) commissioned documentary about Afghan woman serving prison time for so-called “moral crimes.” The EU blocked the film’s release – saying it would endanger the women involved in the film. (Source: Aljazeera)

In an unfathomable abuse of justice, Gulnaz, 21, who was brutally raped by her husband’s cousin, was serving a 12-year sentence for adultery. While in prison, she was raising her infant daughter, who is the offspring of her attacker. By contrast, her rapist only received a 7-year sentence.

President Hamid Karzai, under immense international pressure finally agreed to pardon Gulnaz with ‘no conditions.’ Initial petitions for her freedom required that she marry her attacker, a stipulation which she categorically rejected.

Perhaps it was because of Amina’s youth, her parent’s pressure or unrelenting physical abuse, but unlike Gulnaz, Amina was not strong enough to hold onto hope or life. A Facebook page called 'We are all Amina Filali has been formed and an online petition calling for Morocco to end the practice of marrying rapists and their victims has already gathered more than 1,000 signatures.

Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter

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Feast, Fete, Dead Guests | Famadihana Funeral Ritual

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:24 PM EDT, 16 March 2012

AMBOHIMIRARY, Madagascar — When people think of dancing with the dead, they usually picture the New Orleans Carnival pre-Hurricane Katrina. Carnival in that city was an admixture of ghosts, ghouls, scantily clad women and men dancing through aged alleys full of shops selling haints, potions and the occasional voodoo apothecary.

However, in Madagascar, an island in the Indian Ocean off the Coast of East Africa, the inhabitants of the small farming village of Ambohimirary actually dance with their dead. The village is 20 miles west of the nation’s capital, Antananarivo, and it is inhabited by the Malagasy who practice a ritual called famadihana (pronounced fa-ma-dee-an).

This custom entails the exhumation of the shrouded bodies of dead relatives so that they may participate in a celebration which has been organized in their honor. The festival occurs every five, seven, nine or eleven years depending on the family and the amount of resources at their disposal.

The tradition is based on the belief that spirits do not leave their bodies until they completely decompose. Although the Island nation is predominantly Catholic, and the government initially attempted to outlaw the practice, millions of Malagasy still honor their ancestors in this way.

Everyone in the town and the surrounding villages are invited to participate in the three day festival which can cost around $1.2M Malagasy Ariary or $550. It is the responsibility of the families of the deceased to pay for the festivities and provide meals up to three times a day to all the guests who can number in the hundreds.

The fete begins with the bodies being removed from the family crypt. The soiled shrouds are sprinkled with expensive perfume or sparkling wine and then wrapped in woven mats. A marching band then leads a procession of the living, which carries the often cumbersome corpses of the dead to the place designated for the joyous celebration.

The Malagasy who practice famadihana believe that this is an important rite of passage because it honors their ancestors to whom they feel they owe a debt of gratitude. They do not ascribe to the Judeo-Christian belief that man comes from mud. For them, human beings come from the body, and the boundary between life and death is fluid, thus famadihana facilitates spirit travel back and forth across the void.

What makes this custom strange to most Jews, Muslims and even Christians, is the fact that the Malagasy remove and handle the bodies. In Judaism and Islam dead bodies are unclean, and after burial more so and thus should not be touch. In all three faiths the act of removing a dead body from its final resting place is considered desecration.

But every society has its own customs, for instance in India, the Hindus and Buddhist have their unique ceremonial practices in preparing loved ones for their transition.

“In Hinduism, immediately after the death, family members close the mouth and eyes of the deceased, and put the arms straight. Minimal contact with the body is observed because the body is believed to be impure. Then, the body is placed on the floor with the feet pointing towards the south which is the direction of the dead. An oil lamp is lit and placed near the body during a three day wake.

Hindus believe that once the soul sheds the body it prepares to depart immediately on its karmic journey. Because of this, it's very important to cremate the body as soon as practicable so there is no allure for the soul to linger this side of the world.

For this reason, both Buddhists and Hindus cremate the bodies immediately, preferably on the riverbank of the Ganges, the holiest place on earth for both faiths. The Buddhists prefer immediate dispersal of the ashes over the river, while the Hindus collect the ashes in an urn for disposal in a special year-end ceremony.” (Source: Webhealing & Wikipedia)

But, in Madagascar, this small, island nation off the coast of East Africa, after three days of raucous dancing and eating, the conversations with the corpses conclude, and the families prepare to return the bodies to the crypts. Carefully caressing and redressing the bodies; they bid adieu to their relatives, with the assurance that they will be reunited soon.

Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter

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• Famadihana Death Ritual in Madagascar - Madagascar's Malagasy people connect and celebrate with their ancestors long after death. (sevenponds.com)
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Victoria Seeds | Josephine Okot

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 23:23 PM EDT, 13 March 2012

Baskets of Beans in Market, Photo by One.org

KAMPALA, Uganda - With the recent fervor over the viral Joseph Kony video, Uganda has shot to the forefront of many American’s consciousness. There are many tragedies occurring across the Continent, and we have focused most recently on the genocide that is occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In keeping with our mission, we strive for balanced reporting and to present positive stories of Africans making a difference in their lives and the lives of their communities.

Josephine Okot is the type of person of whom we are speaking. She is a Ugandan entrepreneur who invested a lot of sweat equity into building a company that promotes sustainable agriculture through seed delivery. She founded Victoria Seeds Ltd in 2004, and has grown the company from a struggling start-up which could not get bank financing to become Uganda’s leading seed house marketing over 90 seed varieties of cereal, legume, horticultural, oil and forage crops in the domestic and regional market.

Although, Ms. Okot’s business model is based upon helping farmers grow bot staple and cash crops, her company is essentially modeled after agro-dealers in other emerging markets who seek to increase market share and profits by educating their consumers. Victoria Seeds provides management skills and farming techniques to help them increase their yields and bring their product to market more profitably.

In 2006, according to their website they “opened a Sales Outlet in 2006 at Nakivubo place to facilitate seed delivery to agro-dealers. They also established a research facility thereafter at Kawanda in 2007 to research and develop new varieties adapted to our environment. The company commissioned a seed processing and research facility in Gulu in 2008 to improve seed availability to communities resettling in Northern Uganda and started engaging largely women in the regional seed industry supply chain.”

In an interview, Ms. Okot said that one of her beliefs is that business can only survive when society thrives. She is also passionate about women’s empowerment. In a small town bordering Sudan, her company is helping women who were previously living in refugee camps surviving off the UN’s World Food Aid program, can now farm and provide for their food as well as monetary needs.

These women, during the height of the conflict in Northern Uganda, were no longer able to care for themselves or their children. Like the DRC, weaponized rape was used to control and subdue the populace, and when women left the camps in search of firewood or water, they were at great risk of being raped and violently killed.

Victoria’s Seeds also provides training because these women are not professional farmers, and many employ the practice of broadcast planting which is very ineffective. They are instructed in the proper planting of crops in rows that are well spaced. They are also being trained to plant single crops per field to increase yield and quality.

According to the company, ‘in 2011 they opened a third Processing and marketing facility in Masindi Town to expand its processing capacity and meet the increasing country demand for improved seed.” We have featured Ms. Okot and Victoria’s Seeds because of her company’s core mission of empowering rural women.

Visit Victoria’s Seeds official website here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-_X62b-gLk]

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Time to take early action before another Horn of Africa drought

A global alarm has been sounded by several aid NGOs warning of the imminent but avoidable famine that could lead to the deaths of thousands in the Horn of Africa. The United Kingdom organization, The Department for International Development (DFID) reported that between 50,000 and 100,000 people, more than half of them children under five, died in the 2011 Horn of Africa crisis that affected Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

The destruction of livestock, farms, and local market systems contributed to widespread starvation. US government estimated that the greatest number of casualties were among children under the age of five years. According to reports, in the 90 days between May and July of 2011 more than 29,000 children perished.

Save the Children and Oxfam, have both criticized the current emergency response systems operating in West Africa and the Sahel as seriously flawed and thus ill-equipped to manage the impending food shortage crisis.

"Early warning systems in the Sahel region show that overall cereal production is 25% lower than the previous year and food prices are 40% higher than the five-year average. The last food crisis in the region, in 2010, affected 10 million people," the report warns. (Source: Oxfam)

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Joseph Kony viral video campaign clouded in controversy

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The HIV Murders Club

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 18:11 PM EDT,  7 March 2012

MASVINGO PROVINCE, Zimbabwe - Shocking news hit the internet six days ago when a 17-year-old HIV positive maid from Mupandawana, Gutu, was sentenced to a 10-year prison term for trying to infect her employer's four-year-old child with the HIV virus.

People deliberately infecting other people with the virus that causes AIDS is a very real problem both here and abroad. Perpetrators engage in this type of immoral behavior for a number of reasons including denial, anger and revenge.

In the case of Pelagia Mureya, originally from Choto Village in Chief Magonde area in Chinhoyi, she is purported to have sought revenge by putting menstrual blood in porridge which she prepared for her employer's child. She alleged that this was done in retaliation for the ill-treatment to which she was subjected at the hands of her employers. (For information on how HIV is transmitted visit the CDC website here.)

On 11 September 2011, the ABC News program 20/20 featured a report about Philippe Padieu, who was convicted in 2009 for infecting several women with HIV between the years 2004 to 2007. Padieu, actively pursued his victims, convinced them that he was HIV negative, psychologically manipulated them into engaging in unprotected sex with him, and then discarded them when his interest waned or the money ran out.

Padieu was subsequently convicted in a Texas court of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for infecting the women and sentenced to 45-years in prison.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3PA1x8JJkY] In featuring the Mureya case, we also presented Padieu's case to provide balance, because perpetrators of this crime come from all backgrounds. It was especially important to provide this juxtaposition because many of the comments that readers wrote on other sites that reported on Mureya's case were either outright racist or had racial overtones.

This does not excuse the heinous and disgusting manner with which Mureya tried to infect the infant in her care, and from a moral standpoint, both she and Padieu should be considered monsters.

It is alleged by the court and the parents of the 4-year old child that Mureya laced the porridge she was feeding the child with drops of her infected menstrual blood. Even the most callous individual would be incensed at the thought of such an unclean substance being ingested by an innocent and trusting child who is ill-equipped to protect themselves against harm.

This post does not defend Mureya's behavior, and in fact, we believe that the 10-year prison term to which she was sentenced was not harsh enough when a two-year reduction in sentence for good behavior is factored into the equation. Mureya's case would evoke a visceral response in almost anybody, and thus reports of this case have focused on the sensational aspect rather than the fact that a child was used by an adult to exact vengeance on another adult.

The Nahmias Cipher Report's primary mission is to attempt to bring balance in reporting about people of the Continent and in other Emerging Economies. This is why we chose to present an alternative perspective to this story, one that would make readers realize that the deliberate infection of healthy people with the HIV virus is more prevalent than one would think. To that end, though this case is sensational, it is not an isolated occurrence, nor is this crime a uniquely 'black,' 'African,' or 'impoverished people' problem. If you think you are safe, just ask the women assaulted by Padieu.

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Dutch Royal Shell Expands Africa Footprint

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:24 PM EDT, 2 February 2012

TANZANIA, East Africa - When one thinks of Neo-Colonialism in emerging economies, the traditional natural resources usually come to mind – minerals, timber, water rights, and oil. The expansion in Africa by oil companies has increased in recent years as the demand for this finite resource increases.

America is still the largest consumer of crude oil and petroleum-based products. According to a PBS Special Report on the Alaskan pipeline America, followed by the two powerhouses of the emerging economic markets – China and India are now the largest consumers.

“The United States consumes an average of 20.6 million barrels of oil a day. Forty percent of that -- 9.1 million barrels -- is used to power motor vehicles. So how do these numbers measure up globally?

The most recent figures show that China, with a population more than four times that of the United States, consumes nearly seven million barrels a day. However, China's thirst for oil is growing quickly, with India coming up fast behind.

Russia uses nearly three million barrels of oil a day and Canada just over two million. Americans use more oil for their motor vehicles than the total combined amounts used by Russia, Canada, the United Kingdom and France. The U.S. represents about five percent of the human population, but it consumes a quarter of the world's oil.” (Source: PBS: The American Experience, ‘The Alaskan Pipeline.’)

Although, most people know at an intuitive level that Americans are the most gluttonous consumers of this product, to actually read the numbers is stupefying. However, we are all to blame, even I am, because I drive a truck which takes nearly $60 to fill up. I will not go into the reasons why I drive a truck because any explanation will seem self-serving. But, in the interest of full disclosure I felt that it I should accuse myself as I condemn the large oil companies that provide me with this privilege.

As a child I lived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and I clearly remember playing in the white sands of Bahari Beach, when my imaginary meanderings would be abruptly interrupted by a vision at the horizon. I would gape in awe at the supertankers moored off the coast in the deeper waters of the Indian Ocean that stretched before me.

What I didn’t realize then, but know now, was that the large globs of oil which washed ashore hours after their departures were a consequence of the illegal practice of oil tanker operators washing out the tanks in preparation of receiving the next cargo load. This was done by filling the tanks with water and then pumping the resulting mixture of oil and water into the sea.

Because many African nations were not in a position to enforce international rules to prevent oil pollution on their shores, many oil tanker operators would opt to empty the oil cargo or fuel tanks used for ballast water into the ocean off the coast of African nations without fear of sanction. Consequently, oil was discharged into the sea when tankers flushed out the oil-contaminated ballast water to replace it with new oil. (Source: Global Marine Oil Pollution Information Gateway)

As a child I thought of these black, bulbous balls as something to add to my list of playthings. As an adult who witnessed the carnage caused by the Exxon Valdez and most recently the BP Oil spill disaster, I cringe at the memory of my childish naiveté.

What has not changed is the continued interests by foreign oil companies in rich natural resources of East Africa and other countries of the Continent. PR Newswire recently reported that Royal Dutch Shell, the largest European oil company, has initiated a hostile takeover bid for Cove Energy.

If successful, Royal Dutch Shell which is currently active in Tanzania, could expand it holding’s in the region to include Kenya and Mozambique. Cove Energy’s presence in both of these countries would facilitate Shell’s strategic mission of sustainable growth by exploiting the recently gas discoveries in the latter two countries. In addition to this upside for Shell, the downside for Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique is diminished control over these natural resources and a high risk of environmental pollution.

In November 2011 the Guardian UK reported that Shell must pay $1bn to deal with Niger Delta oil spills. At that time Amnesty International issued a report "to mark the 16th anniversary of the execution of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by Nigerian authorities" in which it detailed the breadth of the adverse impact the oil had on Bodo, Ogoniland.

Like the BP Oil spill off the coast of Louisiana in the US, the Royal Dutch Shell spill in Nigeria also caused environmental damage, economic damage, and health issues for the nearly 69,000 people who lived in the region. "The prolonged failure of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria to clean up the oil that was spilled, continues to have catastrophic consequences," according to the Amnesty International report.

I researching for this post, I discovered an incredible website for an organization called Cultural Survival. On 4 March 2010, they published an article titled ”Sharing" the Wealth? Minerals, oil, timber, and now medicines and genetic wealth - all are fair game for governments and corporations," which I felt added more depth to this post and provided an alternate view on this troubling movement.

The except which follows enumerates the complexity of this issue, and I highly recommend that you follow the link above to read the article in its entirety on their website.

“The natural resources located in some of the Earth's most remote placed became open to appropriation when a number of new states sprung up in the post-World War II, postcolonial period of this century, Elites and dominant groups, empowered to maintain security and promote trade, stole natural resources from indigenous nations, igniting open conflict. These clashes led to the need to military assistance, which in turn led to debt and - full circle now - the need to appropriate more saleable resources to pay off the debts."

The report continues by stating:

“States have traditionally received considerable help from other states in appropriating the resources of nation peoples. Ten World Bank - funded colonization project in sub-Saharan Africa financed the occupation of "unoccupied" areas in a number of African countries. Subsequent problems arose; in each instance the areas were already occupied by people who had been living there for generations.

This experience is the rule, not the exception, Worldwide, development industries help states to seize resources and put them up for sale on the world market - through "obvious" projects such as miming, oil exploration, and hydroelectric development, more "subtle" projects such as colonization (which takes land), transportation (which eventually takes land, timber, minerals, and/or other resources), and credit (which finances the appropriation and/or processing of saleable resources)."

The battle against Neo-Colonialism will not occur without significant collateral damages. In order to effect big changes, we each have to make small changes in our lives and actions.  It is not always easy or expeditious to take big actions like giving up one’s car when it is needed for transportation to work and to take children to school.

I do not advocate this course of action for myself or anyone else. But what is necessary is for us to take the time to become aware of these issues. To realize that though the citizens of these countries are most at risk because of the actions of these multinationals, ultimately it will impact us,because but for a happenstance of birth, we could be them.

Just because we live in America doesn’t mean that we are safe from the amoral vagaries of corporation. The last few years have should have disabused us of this belief. Whereas we thought we were different from 'others,' we need only look at the Native American culture and people who suffered great loss of land and natural resources as a direct result of  Colonialism in America. Just because we don’t have something today that is coveted by corporations, doesn’t mean this will always be the case.

It is important to remember the quote attributed to Martin Niemöller which I have referenced before:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Socialist.  Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.”

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Saleh Flees with Riches to Ethiopia

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 18:52 PM EDT, 27 February 2012

SANAA, Yemen – Exiled Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh is rumored to have made plans to live in exile in Ethiopia. News sources have already published photos of the ousted president standing with the Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi.

Saleh and his family, according to an anonymous source but confirmed by a diplomat in Sanaa, said that they would be departing for Ethiopia where they will reside in a villa in the suburb of Addis Ababa. Reportedly, their visas have been issued and their belongings are already in transit to this Horn of Africa nation.

Other family members have left the country and sought refuge in the United Arab Emirates. It doesn’t appear that Saleh, as with most ousted or deposed rulers, willingly relinquished control as evidenced by his refusal to sign the accord for the power handover three times before finally agreeing to it.

After finally agreeing to sign the accord, Saleh did not leave the country or the presidential palace until he was severely injured in June by a rocket attack on the palace. He subsequently spent three months receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, and three weeks ago he received additional treatment in the United States for injuries sustained during the attack.

Yemeni officials and other world leaders felt that Saleh’s continue residence in the country could have a destabilizing effect which could provide Al-Qaeda with entrée into the nascent government and provide more opportunities for them to exert greater control over the country.

President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was sworn in as president on Saturday and requested that Arab leaders and the US pressure Saleh to leave the country. Though the elections were modeled upon a democratic system, Hadi was the only candidate in the vote.

Many Yemeni citizens are angered by Saleh’s ability to depart the country unsanctioned. To add further insult, it is rumored that his family and coterie stripped the presidential palace of many valuables. Saleh’s peaceful departure was actually the result of a Gulf-proposed and U.S. backed power-transfer deal granting him immunity from prosecution in exchange for stepping down.

Ironically, it may have been the threat by the U.N. Security Council to freeze Saleh's and his family's assets that finally persuaded him to depart. In a staged farewell ceremony on Monday, Saleh and Hadi appeared for the first time next to each other. They pledged to lay the foundation for a peaceful power transition. But, the only promises the Yemeni people want from new government is a commitment to bring Saleh to justice.

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Nelson Mandela Doing Well After Procedure

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 23:25 PM EDT, 25 February 2012

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Nelson Mandela, the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African President has been hospitalized. The 93-year old is undergoing test to identify the cause of an undisclosed stomach ailment.

In a statement, President Jacob Zuma said that Mandela isn’t in any immediate danger, but asked that the press respect his privacy. Mandela has “had was had a long-standing abdominal complaint and doctors feel it needs proper specialist medical attention.”

Mandela became South Africa’s first president of color to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Then President F. W. de Klerk bowed to international pressure and freed the anti-apartheid leader on 11 February 1990 after he had served 27 years of a life sentence.

Mandela subsequently led his party, Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC) in the first multi-party negotiations that resulted in the country’s first multi-racial elections. South Africans duly elected Mandela as president, a position which he held from 1994 to 1999.

Mandela continues to be active in numerous causes including the eradication of AIDS, the disease to which his son succumbed in 2005. He is also one of the founding members of a group of world leaders known as, The Elders. This group is comprised of prominent people of diverse backgrounds and heritage who are dedicated to addressing humanitarian issues from around the world.

The current Chairman of The Elders, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 80, is another prominent South African and Noble Laureate. We recently wrote about his visit to India with other Elders to spearhead a global movement called “Girls Not Brides” which is aimed at ending child marriages.

By contrast, Mandela's public appearances have become increasingly rare which may be a consequence of his health issues. According to the Associated Press, he was last publicly seen at the closing ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup, and met privately with First Lady Michelle Obama when she traveled to South Africa in 2011.

Mandela underwent some “planned, diagnostic tests” and is expected to be released from hospital on Sunday or Monday. Though the results of the tests were not released to the public, the doctors believe that the abdominal distress is consistent with someone of Mandela’s age." In an effort to calm the public Zuma concluded by saying, “We are happy that he is not in any danger.”

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The Practical Maxim

We each possess the power to positively or adversely impact our fellow human beings. So, "beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again." ~ Og Mandino

This video was produced by the NGO, Mercy Corps, and it has been featured on the website because of its thought provoking imagery. On the Nahmias Report we strive to present balanced reporting on human rights issues around the globe. In keeping with this mission, inspirational posts are published to challenge our readers to look inward as they look outward, to temper judgment with understanding, and to use every encounter as an opportunity to sow peace instead of dissension.

"One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him." ~ Booker T. Washington

Cuba & US Foreign Intervention in sub-Sahara Africa

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Somali women want a say in government

Somali woman petitions for a greater role in the new government.

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Just A Snip. Now Overreact.

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UNAMID Deputy Chief acts on her commitment to North Darfur returnees

'Heart of Darkness' | DRC Holocaust

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 20:42 p.m. EDT, 12 February 2012

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, Africa - We have written several posts about the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the war crimes that are occurring in a country also known as the heart of Africa.

Previously, we have focused on the human rights abuse of rape to control and terrorize a populace that has been severely victimized by internal and external players.

In the DRC, this heinous act has been defined by human rights group as 'weaponized rape,' because it is used like a gun to maim and kill its victims.

The DRC is the most egregious example of Neo-Colonialism on the Continent today.  Large multinationals encourage and promote destabilization to enable them to freely extract the natural resources of this mineral rich nation.

The rape of the Congo has been a long-running play first documented in the fictional story Heart of Darkness. Written by Joseph Conrad and published in 1903, the exploitation of this country and the subjugation of its people has changed little over the last 100 years.

'Heart of Darkness exposes the dark side of European colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters: the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the Europeans' cruel treatment of the African natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil.^[2]

Although Conrad does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II.' (Source: Wikipedia)

When I was in school this book was required reading, but since we live in an increasingly digital era, I encourage readers to download a free copy of the book here.  Many consider this book racist, but within the context of its time, the prevailing view of black people and Africans, the language is consistent with that era.

Unfortunately, it is also consistent with how some people continue to think of African's today. The twenty-six minute video below provides an in-depth and informative background on the conflict in the DRC, the egregious human rights violations that occur as a consequence, and the massive collateral damage that is tantamount to an unacknowledged Holocaust.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLV9szEu9Ag&feature=player_embedded]

Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter

Twitter: @nahmias_report Editor: @ayannanahmias

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