O Irão tem quase 80 milhões de habitantes

A comprehensive agreement between Iran and the US on the former's nuclear programme is looking tantalisingly close. While the impact on the nuclear and energy markets are rightly the focus of much analysis, there are two other ways in which the deal may have an even bigger longer-term impact: through deepening the region's Sunni-Shia split and on Iran's emergence as a foreign direct investment hotspot. With Iran, the Middle East's pre-eminent Shia power, firmly on the margins, Sunni regimes have largely dominated. If Iran is able to play a bigger political and economic role in the world, this balance could shift in a substantial way - and with some interesting results, such as creating common ground between Israel and some of the Sunni powers. The economic impact could be even larger. At just under 80m, Iran has the world's 17th largest population while, on a purchasing power parity basis, we estimate that it is the world's 14th biggest economy, ahead of Spain and Canada. It is also a relatively diverse economy compared with the Gulf states. If Iran truly opens up to the world, the opportunities will be immense, though companies will need to navigate a very challenging business environment. Any deal will take time to implement, and there is a lot for Iran to do, so large impacts will be slow to come. The Economist

Mugabe contra EUA, França e Reino Unido

Pretoria (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday launched a wide-ranging attack on Western colonisation in Africa and recent intervention in the Arab world, as he made his first state visit to South Africa in 21 years. The veteran leader, 91, seized the opportunity of a televised press conference with President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria to lambast the United Nations Security Council, the United States and former colonial power Britain. "We want a political environment in which we are not interfered with by outsiders and we become masters of ourselves in Africa," Mugabe told reporters. "We don't think we are getting a fair deal at the United Nations. "The five countries there who are permanent members... control the entire system." Mugabe said the developing world should stand together against the US, France and Britain, who make up three of five permanent members of the UN security council. "They disturb the Arab world and leave (it) torn apart. Look at what they did to Libya," he said, adding that US-led wars in Iraq revealed the "messy, reckless, brutal approach of the West".

"Now we are our own people, and we have President Zuma here and President Mugabe in Zimbabwe -- that is what what you fought for," he said. "African resources belong to Africa. Others may come to assist as our friends and allies but no longer as colonisers or oppressors, no longer as racists." - Seeking investment - Mugabe provoked laughter from some officials when he spoke about a statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes in Cape Town that has been vandalised in recent student protests. Rhodes is buried in Zimbabwe, which was called Rhodesia until independence in 1980 when Mugabe came to power. "We are looking after the corpse. You have the statue of him," Mugabe said. "I don't know what you think we should do -- dig him up? Perhaps his spirit might rise again." Mugabe, who was accompanied by his wife Grace, hopes his visit to South Africa will drum up foreign investment to revive his nation's moribund economy. Zimbabwe has been on a downturn for more than a decade due to low growth and high unemployment. Zimbabwe's economy entered a tailspin after the launch of controversial land reforms 14 years ago. By 2008, inflation had officially peaked at 231 million percent before the government stopped counting. Zuma said a series of agreements signed on Wednesday would help both nations. "The economies of the two countries are historically and inextricably linked," he said. "Opportunities for deeper economic cooperation exist." Mugabe, who is the current chairman of the African Union, has visited South Africa in the past on working trips but has made no state visit since 1994. His wife Grace is seen as one possible successor to her husband. Former vice-president Joice Mujuru was long considered likely to take over, but she fell out with the veteran leader late last year and was sacked in December. Mugabe will attend a bilateral business forum in Pretoria on Thursday.

Mugabe de visita à África do Sul

En Afrique du Sud pour une visite historique de deux jours sous le signe de l'économie, le président zimbabwéen et chef de l'Union africaine, Robert Mugabe, en a profité pour décocher quelques flèches à l'endroit de l'Occident et du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU. Robert Mugabe n'avait pas mis les pieds en Afrique du Sud depuis plus de 20 ans. Le président du Zimbabwe et de l'Union africaine s'y est rendu mercredi pour une première visite d'État depuis 1994, visant à renforcer les relations économiques entre les deux pays. Lors de sa visite officielle, le chef de l'Union africaine a profité de sa tribune pour dénoncer le "pillage" des ressources naturelles par l'Occident. "Les intérêts étrangers ont un appétit insatiable pour les ressources africaines", a-t-il déclaré. Robert Mugabe a également dénoncé la domination des cinq membres permanents du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies. "Seules la Chine et la Russie nous supportent", a-t-il dit avant d'ajouter qu'il s'agissait d'un "cirque". Il a accusé particulièrement les États-Unis, la France et la Grande-Bretagne. "Ils perturbent le monde arabe et le déchirent", a-t-il lancé en citant la Libye et l'Irak en exemple. Par ailleurs, Robert Mugabe a souligné que sa visite officielle à Pretoria était le symbole de la victoire de l'Afrique sur la colonisation. "Cette visite va assurément faire avancer les relations entre l'Afrique du Sud et le Zimbabwe pour le plus grand bénéfice des populations des deux pays", a déclaré Jacob Zuma, président de l'Afrique du Sud. Aux prises avec une économie chancelante, le président zimbabwéen espère inciter des hommes d'affaires sud-africains à investir dans son pays. Des rencontres entre entrepreneurs zimbabwéens et sud-africains sont prévus à l'agenda jeudi. Depuis son élection à la tête de l'Union africaine en février dernier, l'Afrique du Sud n'est pas le premier pays visité. En mars, Robert Mugabe s'est rendu en Algérie pour une visite d'État de trois jours à l'invitation du président algérien Abdelaziz Bouteflicka. Lire l'article sur Jeuneafrique.com : Diplomatie | En Afrique du Sud, Robert Mugabe attaque l'Occident et les Nations unies | Jeuneafrique.com - le premier site d'information et d'actualité sur l'Afrique Follow us: @jeune_afrique on Twitter | jeuneafrique1 on Facebook

Estátua de Rhodes retirada do Cabo

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has voted to remove a statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes that had become the focus of student protests. The monument will be taken down from the campus on Thursday and stored for "safe keeping", UCT's council said. Students have been campaigning for the removal of the statue of the 19th century figure, unveiled in 1934. It was smeared with excrement last month. Other monuments to colonial-era leaders have also been recently vandalised. The campaign has triggered a backlash. On Wednesday, crowds of white South Africans rallied at statues of Paul Kruger in the capital Pretoria, and Jan van Riebeeck in Cape Town, saying they were part of their heritage and should not be targeted. Kruger, a contemporary of Rhodes, was an Afrikaner leader known for his opposition to the British in South Africa. Van Riebeeck was a Dutch coloniser who arrived in South Africa on 5 April 1652. A white protester at his statue held a placard which read: "Hands off our heritage. This is genocide." 'Example to the country' The university's 30-member council governs the institution and is made up of staff and students. In a statement released after the vote on Wednesday, the council said it had immediately applied to the heritage authority to have the Rhodes statue taken down. The council said it would temporarily remove the monument, over concerns for its safety, while the authority considered the application. BBC

Milhões de refugiados sírios

Briefing this Council in 2013, I said the Syrian war not only had unleashed the worst humanitarian crisis of our times but also was posing a terrible threat to regional stability and to global peace and security. This is the reality we face today. Iraq has seen the most frightening and complete spill-over of an internal conflict into a neighbouring country in recent history. Lebanon has been on near-permanent security alert, and there have been increasing threats even to Jordan in the past months. As many as 20,000 foreign fighters from over 50 countries have reportedly traveled to Syria and Iraq since 2011, with their number nearly doubling during the course of last year. Meanwhile, the Syrian refugee crisis has overwhelmed the existing response capacities, with 3.8 million registered refugees in the neighbouring countries. Lebanon and Jordan have seen their populations grow, in the space of a few years, to a point they were prepared to reach only in several decades. One-third of the Lebanese population today is Palestinian or Syrian. Jordan is facing a similar challenge. And Turkey has now become the biggest refugee-hosting country in the world. In addition, more than 2 million Iraqis were internally displaced in 2014, and some 220,000 sought refuge in other countries. The continued growth in displacement is staggering. But at the same time, the nature of the refugee crisis is now changing. As the level of despair rises, and the available protection space shrinks, we are approaching a dangerous turning point. After years in exile, refugees' resources are long depleted, and their living conditions are drastically deteriorating. I have met middle-class families with children who are barely surviving on the streets and praying to make it through the winter. Well over half of Syrian refugees in Lebanon are living in insecure dwellings – up from a third last year. And a survey of 40,000 Syrian families in Jordan found that two-thirds were living below the absolute poverty line. One father of four compared life as a refugee to being stuck in quicksand – every time you move, you sink down further. With humanitarian appeals systematically underfunded, there just isn't enough assistance to provide for Syrian refugees. At the same time, host communities are severely overstretched. The refugee influx has heavily impacted economies and societies, mostly in Lebanon, Jordan and Northern Iraq, overwhelming social services, infrastructure and government resources. International support is far from keeping pace with the magnitude of the needs. As host countries face growing security risks due to the regional spread of the conflict, and do not get the help they need to cope with the refugee influx, Syrians are finding it increasingly difficult to reach safety. UNHCR's monthly registration figures in Lebanon have dropped nearly 80 per cent compared to early 2014, and the number of those entering Jordan has also substantially reduced. Meanwhile, it is important to underline that refugees continue to cross the border into Turkey in significant numbers. The Turkish Government has already spent around six billion dollars in direct assistance to Syrian refugees. In a landmark decision last year, Turkey's temporary protection decree gave Syrians access to the country's labor market as well as free education and health care. But in the global context I described, it is no surprise that growing desperation is forcing more and more Syrian refugees to move further afield. The dramatic situation in the Mediterranean illustrates this, with Syrians accounting for one third of the nearly 220,000 boat arrivals last year. Excellencies, With the refugee situation growing more protracted and more desperate, almost two million Syrian refugees under 18 risk becoming a lost generation. And many of the over 100,000 refugee children born in exile could face the risk of statelessness. If this is not properly addressed, this crisis-in-the-making could have huge consequences for the future, not only of Syria but also of the region. As humanitarian resources dwindle, abandoning refugees to hopelessness only exposes them to even greater suffering, exploitation and dangerous abuse. Abandoning their hosts to manage the situation on their own could result in serious regional destabilization, and more security concerns elsewhere in the world. It should be obvious that in order to prevent this and to preserve the protection space in the region, refugees and host countries need massive international support. The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (or 3RP) aims to bring together the humanitarian and longer-term efforts of the host governments and over 200 UN and NGO partners. Its programmes are designed to be funded not only from humanitarian, but increasingly from development cooperation budgets. I hope the upcoming Kuwait III conference will play a determining role in stabilizing the situation in the refugee hosting countries. Beyond the immediate humanitarian priorities, it is crucial that development actors fund the 3RP's resilience pillar and the host governments' plans. Countries like Lebanon and Jordan need much more financial assistance – not only to local refugee hosting communities, but also through government budget support for necessary structural investments in health systems, education, water and electricity supply and other public infrastructure cracking under the huge pressure. As discussed at length during the Berlin Conference, the Syria situation illustrates the dangerous inadequacy of today's development cooperation policies in a time of multiplying conflicts. To address this, bilateral and multilateral donors, and international financial institutions, should review existing criteria and priorities. It is absurd, for example, that Lebanon or Jordan have no access to World Bank grants because they are considered as middle-income countries. Excellencies, As High Commissioner for Refugees, it breaks my heart to see Syrian families fleeing from a horrible war, forced to risk their lives again, on unsafe boats, to find protection in Europe. Since the start of 2015, over 370 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean – that's one person drowning for every twenty who made it. But Italy's Mare Nostrum operation has ended, and the EU's Triton initiative is limited both in mandate and in resources. Europe must step up its capacity to save lives, with a robust search and rescue operation in the Central Mediterranean – or thousands more, including many, many Syrians, will perish. To reduce the number of people getting on boats in the first place, more legal avenues are needed for Syrians to seek protection in third countries. Several States provide resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes, but the needs far exceed available spaces. We believe one-tenth of the Syrian refugees would require resettlement as the adequate solution for their protection situation. Flexible visa policies, expanded family reunification, academic scholarships and private sponsor schemes must complement these measures. Following the example of countries like Germany and Sweden, other States in Europe and the Gulf region should consider offering legal access with more opportunities, so as to alleviate some of the pressure on Syria's neighbours and give more refugees an alternative way of reaching safety. Without such alternatives, the number of people taking to the seas will continue to grow. And not only are they facing serious human rights violations at the hands of smugglers and traffickers. We now also see armed groups threatening to enter the smuggling business for their own purposes of sowing fear. This should remind us that protecting refugees also means tackling racism and xenophobia. In today's climate of rising panic, it deeply worries me that refugees are becoming mixed up with security concerns, confronting hostility in places where they thought they were safe. In several public debates they are made scapegoats for any number of problems, from terrorism to economic hardship and perceived as threats to their host communities' way of life. But we need to remember that the primary threat is not from refugees, but to them. Syrians are now the biggest refugee population under UNHCR's mandate. As their number keeps growing and they become more vulnerable, the serious repercussions this has across the region only highlight the obvious – the urgent need for the international community to bring together all key actors and to put an end to the conflict.. There are no winners in this war; everyone is losing. But the highest price is paid by the refugees and the other innocent victims inside the country. António Guterres, 26 de Fevereiro de 2015, no Conselho de Segurança da ONU

Mais de 46 milhões de refugiados

The UN helped a record number of refugees in the first half of 2014 – almost one in four of whom were Syrian. The country has become the nation with the most displaced people, surpassing Afghanistan for the first time. The rise of refugees in the first six months of 2014 saw 5.5 million people newly displaced, bringing the total figure to 46.3 million. This is around 3.4 million more than at the end of 2013, when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released its last report. "In 2014 we have seen the number of people under our care grow to unprecedented levels. As long as the international community continues to fail to find political solutions to existing conflicts and to prevent new ones from starting, we will continue to have to deal with the dramatic humanitarian consequences," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, as published on the agency’s website. This is a figure that could yet rise in the next report, due to the current situation in Syria and Iraq, following the onslaught of the Islamic State over the summer months and into the autumn. The most recent report found that for the first time, Syria had the largest refugee population under assistance from the UNCHR. The country surpassed Afghanistan, which held the top position for over three decades. Russia Television

Os judeus Lemba da África Austral

The Lemba are an allegedly Jewish people in southern Africa, many living in modern day Zimbabwe, Malawi and South Africa. The community as a whole numbers close to 70,000. Although they speak the same Bantu languages as their African neighbors, some of the Lemba’s religious practices are similar to those in Judaism. Their tradition suggests they may have migrated to Africa from the Jewish communities in Yemen. Though the Lemba may be descended from Jewish ancestors, they have not practiced Judaism for many centuries. Lately, some have wanted to shift towards mainstream Judaism. Today, many Lemba are Christians or Muslims. Some of the Lemba beliefs and practices that are similar to Judaism include the following: ◾They are monotheists (they call their creator God Nwali). ◾They hold one day of the week to be holy and praise Nwali (similar to the Jewish Shabbat). ◾They praise Nwali for looking after the Lemba, considering themselves a chosen people. ◾They teach their children to honor their mothers and fathers. ◾They refrain from eating pork or other foods forbidden by the Torah, or forbidden combinations of permitted foods. ◾Their form of animal slaughter, which makes meats fit for their consumption, resembles Jewish shechita. ◾They practice male circumcision (models of circumcised male organs were found at Great Zimbabwe). ◾They place a Star of David on their tombstones. ◾Lembas are discouraged from marrying non-Lembas, as Jews are discouraged from marrying non-Jews. ◾Lemba bury their dead in an extended rather than a crouched position. Possible Lemba migration to southern Africa According to the oral history of the Lemba, they had male ancestors who were Jews who left Judea about 2,500 years ago and settled in a place called Senna, later migrating into East Africa. According to the findings of British researcher Tudor Parfitt, Professor of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, the location of Senna was more than likely in Yemen, specifically, in the village of Sanāw, which had a vibrant Jewish population since ancient times, but dwindled to a few hundred people since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. After entering Africa, the tribe is said to have split off into two groups, with one staying in Ethiopia, and the other traveling farther south, along the east coast. The Lemba claim this second group settled in Tanzania and Kenya, and built what was referred to as “Sena II.” Others were said to have settled in Malawi, where descendants reside today. Some settled in Mozambique, and eventually migrated to South Africa and Zimbabwe, where they claim to have constructed or helped construct the “great enclosure.” The Lemba prefer their children to marry other Lembas, with marriage to non-Lembas being discouraged. The restrictions on intermarriage with non-Lemba make it particularly difficult for a male non-Lemba to become a member. A woman who marries a Lemba male must learn the Lemba religion, dietary rules and other customs. She may not bring any cooking equipment from her previous home, as it may have been tainted by inappropriate use. Her children must also be brought up as Lembas. Lemba and “the Drum that Thunders” Lemba tradition tells of a sacred object, the ngoma lungundu or “drum that thunders”, that was brought with them from Yemen. Tudor Parfitt has theorized that it was the Ark of the Covenant, lost from Jerusalem after the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC. In a U.K. Channel 4 television program, Parfitt claimed he had traced a missing copy of the artifact to a museum in Harare, Zimbabwe. Radiocarbon dating showed it to be over 600 years old, and Parfitt suggested that it was a replica made while the Lemba were in Yemen, after the original Ark had been destroyed. The American PBS television broadcast a documentary based on Dr. Parfitt’s work on its NOVA program. There is a written report from the NOVA program, including a brief interview with Dr. Parfitt and NOVA team member David Goldstein on the findings here. A longer, more comprehensive interview by the NOVA team with Parfitt can be found here. DNA Testing

From Wikipedia: A genetic study in 1996 suggested that more than 50% of the Lemba Y-chromosomes are Semitic in origin; a subsequent study in 2000 reported more specifically that a substantial number of Lemba men carry a particular haplotype of the Y-chromosome known as the Kohanim modal haplotype (CMH), as well as, a haplogrup of Y-DNA Haplogroup J found amongst some Jews and in other populations across the Middle East. Studies have also suggested that there is no Semitic female contribution to the Lemba gene pool. One particular sub-clan within the Lemba, the Buba clan, is considered by the Lemba to be their priestly clan. The Buba clan carried most of the CMH found in the Lemba. Among Jews the marker is also most prevalent among Jewish Kohanim, or priests. As recounted in Lemba oral tradition, the Buba clan “had a leadership role in bringing the Lemba out of Israel” and into Southern Africa.