The Ringtone and the Drum

Images of Africa in the western media are often characterised by famine and conflict. The discussion of poverty in African countries often overlooks the facts of everyday life. A new book The Ringtone and the Drumsets out to change this. Its author, an expert on development policy, presents the fast-changing politics and culture in three of the world’s poorest and least visited countries – Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso.

Interview: Mark Weston, author, The Ringtone and the Drum

Why did you decide to travel around three of the world’s poorest countries?

I’ve worked in international development for quite a long time now, trying to work out what’s gone wrong in the world’s poorest countries. What can be done to help improve the lives of people living there? But although I’d spent time in Africa before, and in Asia on short trips, I felt as that I hadn’t really got under the skin of what it’s like to live in poverty. I wanted to find out what the people who lived in the world’s poorest countries talk about. What do they do every day? How are they adjusting to the onrush of modernity and globalisation that’s transforming so much of the developing world?

Radio France Internationale

In one of the first places you go to, the so-called narco-state Guinea Bissau, you come face-to-face with the drugs trade. It doesn’t really seem to make any attempt to hide itself.

No, not really no. The country has more or less been politically taken over by South American cocaine traffickers who are using it as a staging post on the cocaine route to Europe. They fly in, or ship in consignments of drugs from South America. Then they split them up into smaller packages and smuggle them up through the Sahara. If you go out to the islands of Guinea Bissau, where most of this activity is taking place, it’s obvious what’s going on. You hear a planes coming in at night, that can’t possibly be anything other than narco-traffickers’ planes because there aren’t really any tourists or any other businesses flying to the island. The civilians on the island are quiet about it, they don’t tell you about what’s going on. But then if you go back into Bissau, the capital, you can see all these buildings going up and a bit of a building boom, which is widely thought to be fuelled and funded by drug money. In the cafes and bars in the centre you see all these shady looking people around, quite a lot of who look South American, who are consorting and chatting to local people, with whom they have various types of relationships with.

Your trip to Sierra Leone to visit the diamond mines, it sounds kind of desperate. It seems to really dominant things.

Yes, we went to a diamond mine near the city of Bo, in the east of Sierra Leone. We went with a couple who’d come to Sierra Leone from abroad. The guy was born in Sierra Leone, but had spent most of his life in England, and his wife was Australian. They’d gone to set up their own diamond mine in the rural areas around Bo. When we went there, we first of all had to pay our respects to the chief at the nearby village, who granted them the mining concession. The village was basically empty – all the men, in particular, were out at the diamond mine. That was really their only option in life, it was either diamond mining or emigration. So lots of people, all the time, would ask us for assistance in getting visas to Britain. The main prospects for young people were either working in the mines or getting out of Sierra Leone. There was a survey done in 2010, in which more than half of Sierra Leones said that if there was free migration in the world, they would leave their country behind. That’s partly because the government has neglected all other industries, like farming, tourism, etc. But yes, it’s kind of hollowed out the country.

You visit the grave of Burkina Faso’s former President Thomas Sankara. It sounds rather nondescript, but he is still very much a revered figure.

The grave is basically neglected, it’s in wasteland next to a large rubbish tip, really desolate place. One of the most desolate places I’ve ever been to. There was wind blowing dust around, and rubbish and plastic bags flying around. It’s in a state of advanced disrepair. But among the people of Burkina Faso, as opposed to the politicians who ousted Sankara, who were probably responsible for his death, among the people, he is still a hero. You can get Thomas Sankara t-shirts, I bought a Thomas Sankara t-shirt to show my solidarity. He’s a very popular figure, he’s kind of seen as a great hope for Africa. All be it, a hope that was snuffed out. They see him as a kind of Che Guevara figure.

The title of the book, why is it called, The Ringtone and the Drum?

When I went there, I went there mainly to find out about poverty. But it turned out that poverty wasn’t really a stagnant thing. West Africa is constantly changing. So, on the one hand, you’ve got the lure of the modern world – modernisation, mobile phones, the internet, overseas migration, which some people have done. That’s one side that’s pulling West Africans and attracting West Africans to the modern world. But on the other hand you’ve got the old traditions of Africa – magic, secret societies, respect for the elders and the ancient religions – that are kind of pulling them in the other direction. So, you’ve got the ringtone side, which is the modern side, the globalised, westernised side. Then, on the other you’ve got the drum side, the kind of drum beating in the forest, calling them back to the old ways of Africa. It’s in a state of flux between these two positions, the old traditional position and the modern position. So that was where I got the title from really, the ringtone and the drum, the two extremes. It’s a disorientating phase for many young Africans.

In a new book on Niger, Dutch author Klaas van Walraven charts the history of what he calls Africa’s first coup d’état. The Sawaba movement, formed in 1954, was opposed to French colonial rule and pushed for independence. It developed into a militant social movement, aligned with Eastern bloc states, as well as Algeria and Ghana. But it was stopped in its tracks, repressed by France’s fifth republic. Can we really call this Africa’s first coup?

Radio France Internationale

What is the Sawaba movement, or Nigerien Democratic Union?

Sawaba was a social movement that developed in the mid-1950s around a programme aimed at improving the social/economic situation of the little folk, the petit people, people who had recently migrated from the countryside to the cities. This was so effective that by 1955 French colonial officials were alarmed about how Sawaba was penetrating into the countryside with its message of social emancipation and more political autonomy. Sawaba was able, in early 1957, to form Niger’s first autonomous government under French sovereignty.

Why is this Africa’s first coup d’état?

Djibo Bakary the charismatic nationalist leader of Sawaba formed Niger’s first autonomous government. It continued ruling Niger until late 1958. The crisis in Algeria in the spring 1958 led to the formation of fifth republic in France. The Gaullists introduced a new constitution, by which African territories were allowed autonomy, but this fell short of independence. This was politically out-of-tune with the times. In several political circles in West Africa numerous activists were against this – students, trade unions – these people who wanted to vote ‘No’ in the referendum in September 1958 had the majority in Guinea, they also had the majority in Niger. The Sawabists wanted immediate independence but the difference with Guinea was that Niger was of great strategic importance to France. Everyone already knew that there was uranium in huge quantities the north of Niger and the Gaullists proceeded to intervene in the internal political affairs of Niger. The Sawaba government was toppled. Sawaba ministers were emasculated, all their power was taken from them, and that’s what I call Africa’s first modern coup d’état.

You discuss support given by the Algerians, the Ghanaians and Eastern bloc states. It seems the movement’s leadership had far-reaching international networks.

The strength of the Sawaba movement was partly tied to the trade union world and through the trade union world Sawaba had relations with the communist unions in France, the CGT. As a result of that many Sawabists, already before 1958, could travel widely and extensively in the Eastern bloc. When Sawaba was toppled by the Gaullists, Sawabists had little choice but to flee the borders of Niger and go abroad. It not only started having its own men trained in guerrilla war in Algeria, in the People’s Republic of China, in north Vietnam and later in Ghana. But it also began a so-called operation formation cadre. Djibo Bakary because of his international communist networks, he could command over 100 to 200 scholarships in the Eastern bloc. They started to send young Sawaba-orientated youth to enter into vocational training, academic training. The idea was that if they could topple the Nigerien government by violent means then they would have their own counter-cadres with which to take over the administration.

According to the book, there was not mass violence. But the repression by the French administration extended to hundreds of people.

It became impossible for Sawabists to continue with their lives, and political and social activities in Niger. The French put in a client regime, French influence continued long into the 1960s. There was the political police and that committee was run by French officials. When the Sawabists tried to get back by violent means in the mid-1960s and the invasions in 1964 failed, they were of course arrested, they were interrogated. Interrogation started with beatings and those who were not deemed forthcoming were subjected, sometimes to electro shocks, sometimes to so-called truth serums. It’s beyond any doubt that people were severely maltreated. In fact, the interrogation procedures bore an uncanny resemblance to what the French had done in Algeria in the so-called battle of Algiers in 1957.

You say this is a forgotten history – what are you trying to achieve by charting it?

It was only by the early 1990s that Sawabists could finally come out and tell their life stories. In Niger, younger generations have hardly heard about this period in the history of their country. I wrote the book partly for the Sawabist community, as these people told me, it’s hard to live without the public acknowledgement of their fate. These people were not angels, they used violence themselves. But the aspect of Niger’s history that they represent can only enrich the history of that country.

Radio France Internationale

Taleb Ould Abdi Vall. Photo: Agence Mauritanienne d’Information.

As the French military intervention in northern Mali continues, many countries in the region have been affected by the fallout. Mauritania, which shares a 2,000-kilometre border with Mali, has seen the arrival of thousands of refugees and has increased military patrols to try and stop Islamist armed groups from penetrating its territory.

Interview: Taleb Ould Abdi Vall, Mauritania’s Minister of Oil, Energy and Mining, at Ifri think-tank

Radio France Internationale

What are the security challenges to the oil and mining industry in Mauritania at the moment?

The security issue in general is very important for the Mauritanian government at this moment. So we think that all the steps have been taken to secure all the operators in the country, as well as our citizens and our territorial integrity. Since 2009 we haven’t been targeted by those terrorist groups as we have conducted a very aggressive policy to improve our security systems and to make our army more proactive to respond rightly to any potential risks in all the regions and particularly in our border region.

Are there lessons to be learnt from the recent kidnapping at the facility in Algeria?

Yes and no. Yes – so we have to take and to learn from all the weaknesses within any operations in the regions. And no – we don’t have the same situation and same operations. So now any operation conducted in Mauritania by the oil operators are closely followed-up by the army and security troops. And so I think with a real open-book process with those operators, we are confident that there are no measures. Of course there will always be some potential risks, which we should time-to-time, find out the weaknesses and other concerns to be taken into account by the authorities.

We understand that you’ve tightened up the border posts with the help of the European Union and there have been a number of arrests of suspected extremists. What else is being done to ensure the stability of the country at the moment? Could you give us some specific examples maybe?

As I said, since 2008 our territory has been fully secure. As I said also, that’s due mainly to the real and great improvement of our security system and so far we think that all of the situations are under control. Obviously we are working daily to find out our weaknesses and try to deal and cover those weaknesses. There are some checkpoints and some arrests but that’s all.

How worrying is the flow of refugees from Mali? We understand that it’s numbering more than 1,000 a day at some times.

That’s a very critical issue for the local authorities. As you may know the number now is around 70,000. So our mission is to secure their entrance into Mauritania and good conditions, of life and that always what is happening now, there isn’t any major epidemic or any other problems recorded within those refugee camps established in our territory. We are monitoring on a daily basis with a very close relationship and partnership with United Nations organisations and so far we think that the situation is fully under control.

In Mauritania itself opinion over the war in Mali is divided amongst the opposition and maybe certain clerics.

About what’s happening in Mali – we are very supportive towards the policy and the decision undertaken by the Malian government to recover its sovereignty. So we fully support that and we support also the operation conducted by the regional organisation as well as the United Nations’ decisions. Our role now, our major role, is to secure the boundary and to secure the territory from any potential risks, which may compromise or make the operation in Mali very difficult. So we are playing a positive role. We will, we are, available to play a political role to find out the right and legitimate solution for the historic problems known in such areas.

How would you respond to members of the opposition who might say that they don’t support the French mission in Mali? How would you respond to their criticism of that?

To proceed by mapping all the individual opinions you will find they’re very diversified, from fully supporting, to a position against the operation in Mali. But the general position of the Mauritanian population and authorities as well political decision makers, they are really supporting what is ongoing in Mali because it is a response and answer to a legitimate request from the Malian authorities. Of course there will always be one or two voices, or some voices, who don’t agree with main orientation and main positions, and that happens anyway, it’s normal in such situations.

Radio France Internationale

La presse allemande a été critique sur la réaction du gouvernement de Mme Merkel ; il a affiché sa solidarité avec la France mais a passé plus de temps à expliquer qu’il ne pouvait agir plus loin. Les allemands ont-ils compris l’importance du Sahel ?

Réaction différente dans la presse britannique car comme la France, le Royaume-Uni a une longue histoire de guerres en Afrique. Londres apporte son soutien à la France.

Jeudi à Bruxelles, les 27 ministres des Affaires étrangères ont approuvé l’opération Serval, et certains ont annoncé un appui logistique. Tous sont tombés d’accord sur la nécessité d’envoyer vite des instructeurs européens pour la formation de l’armée malienne. Mais cela est-il suffisant ?

France Info

Poster for State of the Nation play. Afri-Talent.

The co-director of a play banned in Uganda has told RFI he’s concerned about the repercussions of continuing to stage his production. But he believes Uganda’s Media Council is on shaky legal ground. John Ssegawa, co-author of State of the Nation, says the Ugandan authorities are limiting freedom of expression.

Radio France Internationale

Interview: John Ssegawa, Co-Director, State of the Nation

Could you describe the play? What is it about?

The play is all about the history of Uganda from 1962, from independence, up to today. We talk about the political journey and what we thought would be, and what is not today.

Is it critical of the government?

There are some bits which are critical. But there are some bits which are positive to government. We talk about their achievements and we talk about their failures.

Are there any particular government figures that you think could maybe be identified in this play? Have you based any of the characters on current ministers or figures within the government?

We have so many characters in the play and it’s just an abstract form of art. The characters are like some of the characters we have in government today. There are characters like some of the opposition people we have in government today. So it’s about so many characters, not particularly government people, officials.

Why has the Media Council taken such exception to this play, State of the Nation?

You know the problem here – too many people are worried about nothing. Everybody is worrying. I don’t know why. Because we talk about corruption, we talk about nepotism, so many other things. What they tell us – we are inciting people, we are sectarian in the play and that we are ridiculing government officials. That’s what they are talking about. But we had requested them to come and watch the play and nobody turned up. So, I don’t know, what’s the problem?

Did you intend for the play to have this kind of incendiary effect?

Yes, because some of the lines talk about a ‘bitter pill’. When you talk about a ‘bitter pill’ then definitely you have to have repercussions, so that’s what we’re feeling today. It is sad, but what can we do?

What will you do now?

We intend not to stop showing this play because what we are saying is, this is some old production. It’s not new. It has been on for about a month now. If they wanted to preview it, they would come and do it. But I don’t know why they are worried. If there are a few lines they wish, we can do away with, then we can discuss it. But we don’t just stop, because we employ a lot of people and we have bills to pay. We have issued cheques, for media houses and so many other things. We cannot just stop. You cannot just deny us employment because you are worried about a certain line or two.

If Ugandans can’t go to the theatre to watch plays that they want, then what are they doing to do for entertainment?

That’s the worry today because if you can stop us today from staging this production, tomorrow you stop a song from playing on a certain radio. Then theatre is dead. Somebody cannot write a political play. There is a lot of comedy in Kampala. And the characters that are comic represent a few government officials here in Kampala. So are you going to stop everything? That’s the question.

Uganda’s Media Council, they aren’t fans of drama?

They have a lot of work to do. They should perhaps do their job and learn about drama. Drama is on a small scale in Kampala and there are bigger radio stations that play not so good music. There are television stations that show not so good programmes for kids and so many other things. Let them go to that. Because drama is such a small scale in Kampala. So why are they worried?

You said that this play has already been staged. What’s been the reception amongst Ugandans? What do they think? Is it a funny play? Is it thought-provoking?

It is both. It is provoking. It is funny. It is entertaining. There is dance. There is comedy. There is sarcasm. I mean, it’s some piece of entertainment! It has that appeal. It represents a few people and when you talk about corruption they don’t like it. There’s a time when we talk about our runner [Stephen] Kiprotich winning the gold medal and we say that’s the best we can show for Uganda. They don’t like it. But it’s the truth.

Do you think the President Yoweri Museveni could maybe identify himself in this play?

I don’t want to talk about him because the directives are not from State House. The directives are from the Media Council. I don’t want to talk about the president.

You’re going to go ahead and stage this production this weekend, I believe, and defy the ban. Are you concerned about the consequences?

We are. We’re worried, we’re concerned. But we have legal representation. If they arrest us then we can talk about the law now, if it is the law. We have legal representation. We are not worried.

Is it unconstitutional, this ban?

We feel it is because what they are quoting from the law is, they are only supposed to censor and they are not supposed to stop. That’s what it reads and that’s what we read. That was the interpretation of our lawyers. You don’t stop. You censor. And censor is about discussion of what you like and what you don’t like. But you don’t stop. The law does not tell them to stop. And what they said, they said they were going to use the police to stop us. This means they don’t have the mandate to do so, if they are using the police.

Will opposition leader Kizza Besigye come and see State of the Nation?

He came and watched it and he liked it. I think maybe that’s the problem. But isn’t he supposed to watch a production, a play?

Radio France Internationale

Whitewashing their own work, but with a difference. Mohamed Mahmoud St, Cairo, 24 May 2012

Cairo’s graffiti artists offered a sarcastic rebuttal to city authorities on Thursday during the last day of voting in Egypt’s presidential elections. Following plans to whitewash street art on Mohamed Mahmoud St, artists instead began the whitewashing themselves spelling out a cynical phrase in Arabic – “forget about the past, focus on the elections”.

Radio France Internationale

An architectural rendering of what the Mormon temple will look like in Le Chesnay. Photo: Intellectual Reserve Inc

As Mitt Romney continues to work toward his goal of replacing Barack Obama, one aspect of his past is achieving success after a long struggle — in France, not the US. French Mormons are preparing to break ground in construction of the country’s first temple, to be built in the leafy Paris suburb of Le Chesnay, right near the Palace of Versailles, one of the country’s major international tourism draws. The plan, though, is not without controversy.

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