Bukiringi, Orientalle Province, Dr Congo (IRIN) – Bandits, militias, and alleged abuses by the army are causing access problems for aid workers trying to help large concentrations of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the territory of Irumu, part of the Ituri region in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Among the 130,000 IDPs in the Ituri region, 89,864 (69 percent) are in the territory of Irumu, about 40 kilometers southwest of Bunia, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Remnants of militia groups which fought for control of Irumu until 2007 remain active, carrying out sporadic attacks against civilians.

Banditry and human rights abuses have reportedly been carried out by the Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), a militia group previously linked to the Lendu-dominated National Integrationist Front (FNI), and a new group that emerged in 2008, the Popular Front for Justice in Congo (FPJC). These militia groups, estimated to have no more than 100 people within their ranks, were responsible for 52 deaths in 2010, prompting a military operation by the DRC army, FARDC, to neutralize their activities and move populations to protected areas.

One such site is Bukiringi where an estimated 2,500 displaced people live in temporary shelters, each consisting of a 4×4 meter rectangle of earth covered by plastic sheeting.

“The war between the Lendu groups and the FARDC was the reason we left our homes. Many people died on the way. Now, we don’t have the same problems, but our biggest problem at the moment is our housing,” Olongwa Daniel, the vice-president of the committee of displaced people, told IRIN. “An NGO came and put these shelters up, but many of the roofs have been torn off. Our children now have to sleep outside and they get a lot of illnesses when it rains. The NGO said they would come back and construct better housing.”

Of Bukiringi’s 20,000 inhabitants, 11,000 have been displaced from conflict areas and have sought refuge among the native population. Excluding the 2,500 IDPs living in camps, most have been welcomed into families and while humanitarian workers say they are encouraged by the peaceful cohabitation of the communities, the stream of new arrivals since 2010 is exerting pressure on the availability of basic resources.

Humanitarian priorities

“The first priority for humanitarian workers is to create security for the displaced to return home. Otherwise, we will have a sustained long-term humanitarian emergency. People here are already vulnerable and the conflict has made them more so,” Séverine Ramis, field manager for Save the Children in Province Orientale, told IRIN. “The other option is to adapt the humanitarian response and target transition funders so that there is a long-term investment involved, especially for those people that have been in Bukiringi since 2010.”

While a number of agencies have intervened to alleviate the conditions in the camps at Bukiringi, some say the humanitarian response in the region of Ituri has been eclipsed by the ongoing attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army and large-scale displacements in the Uélés. Other humanitarian issues in the district also remain neglected by funders.

“In many territories of Ituri, notably Djugu, there are vulnerabilities that do not stem from conflict, but rather, from vulnerability in economic terms, especially with populations that have returned home six months ago or even one or two years ago,” said Ramis. “Also, around the mines of Mongbwalu and near Lake Albert, you have the prostitution of young girls and sexual violence, but all this is hidden behind the humanitarian priorities in Haut and Bas Uélé. A lot more people are made vulnerable from structural causes, than from conflict and displacement of populations in Ituri.”

A number of the displaced communities in Bukiringi arrived before 2008, but are unable to return home until their security is guaranteed, and their current situation remains precarious. “Do we help people who have been there for 6-7 years? Do we continue to consider them displaced?” Ramis told IRIN. “In general, we would say no, but since there are no transition funds, humanitarian agencies respond with short-term emergency treatment.”

Alleged FARDC abuses

According to an OCHA February 2011 bulletin, about 12 percent of Ituri’s IDPs are still out of reach of humanitarian agencies and “access is heavily dependent on improved security, which needs to be guaranteed by the FARDC and MONUSCO [the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo].”

A contingent of the FARDC is stationed beside the camp at Bukiringi. Reports from humanitarian organizations in both Ituri and the Uélés claim that a large percentage of the abuses in the two districts are carried out by the FARDC, including illegal taxation, forced labor, sexual assault and pillage of resources.

“The FARDC is a protective force for the Congolese people, but at the same time they represent both a burden and a threat to the population – first because some of them are not paid and meet their basic needs by illegally taxing the population living in the area, and second because a substantial part of them are highly undisciplined and commit serious abuses, including sexual violence and looting,” said Marcel Stoessel, Oxfam’s country director for DRC.

In Irumu, some agencies say more than 50 percent of exactions are carried out by the FARDC. Col Sikabwe Fall, FARDC commander of the Operational Zone in Ituri, agrees that a lack of discipline among certain troops is responsible for individual cases of abuse, particularly among officers originally part of former rebel groups and who joined the army after the end of the war in Ituri. But, he said, humanitarian agencies often “act in bad faith” and their claims that the army is responsible for 50 percent of abuses are incorrect.

“Let’s take an example: There was one of our men who raped a woman in Aveba. The agencies were informed and we immediately took measures to punish him. But later, the agencies issue a report saying “rape on site by the FARDC”. They only tell part of the story – at least they should tell the truth. If one army officer rapes a woman and on the other side, armed militias take 30 women into the bush as sexual slaves, please analyze, is it 50 percent?”

Camp inmates support militias?

An April bulletin from OCHA holds the FARDC responsible for threats against some of the displaced populations. Fall attributes this to the fact that some individuals in the camps continue to provide support to armed groups.

Olongwa Daniel from Bukiringi says it took a while to convince army officials that they had nothing to do with the militias. “At the beginning we had a lot of problems with the FARDC and they had to be disciplined to understand that we are not conspiring with the militias.”

The identity of Irumu’s armed groups is also a subject of controversy. While most agencies concur that the militia groups are merely bandits without any political ambitions, the FARDC says it is difficult to make out the reasons for their attacks.

“Certain acts are in fact incomprehensible,” said Fall. “For example, there might be an attack on a village and the people of the village recognize their own children among the militias. It’s a bizarre situation where they are in fact attacking their own parents and burning the village.”

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Delta Air Lines, JFKIAT LLC, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey broke ground Friday on a $1.2 billion project slated to enhance and expand Terminal 4 at at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

According to those close to the project the new expansion and addition will create a state-of-the art facility for Delta.

The project is also expected to stimulate the local economy and significantly improve air travel for the nearly 11 million passengers who utilize the Delta terminal at JFK each year

“Delta continues to make substantial investments in New York, and our terminal project at JFK is among the most significant,” said Delta Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson. “Our new facility is designed to meet the needs of the world’s largest and most competitive aviation market with significant benefits to our customers, employees and the city of New York for decades to come.”

Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni said, “Through large and much-needed construction projects, we are able to continue to drive economic development in the region by creating both on-airport jobs and construction-related work. Projects like these not only benefit the travelers that pass through our doors, but also the communities that our facilities call home,” said

The expanded Terminal 4 will have nine new international gates on the B Concourse. Customers also will benefit from enhanced baggage claim areas, and expanded Customs and Border Protection area.

Currently there are two passenger security checkpoints which will be consolidated into one more efficient system.

Delta’s current JFK operation generates 49,000 jobs in the region. The Terminal 4 expansion project will stimulate economic development regionally through direct on-airport jobs and construction related work, creating an additional 10,000 jobs in the New York Metropolitan Region by 2014.

When completed in May 2013, the total economic impact of Delta’s New York operation will contribute more than $19 billion annually to the state.

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Melbourne, Australia (AHN) – As she prepared to meet Sunday with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for a review of U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard expressed willingness to expand Australia’s military partnership with the U.S. in the region.

In an interview with Australia’s Nine Network, Gillard said her talks with Clinton would involve further joint military exercises and collaboration between Australia and the U.S., as the matter was “in the national interest.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop concurred, telling the same network, “I think every port city in Australia, subject to closer consultation, would be delighted to have more American engagement in our port cities.”

Clinton is also scheduled to join on Monday U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ consultation meeting at Victoria’s Government House where the main topic will be China’s rise as a superpower and of the strategic presence of the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific region.

Clinton also praised Sunday peacekeeping efforts of Australia, Malaysia and Singapore in the Asia-Pacific region. In line with this, Australia’s Defense Minister, Stephen Smith, will discuss with Gates Australia’s plan to purchase from the U.S. between 14 and 100 F35 joint strike planes beginning in 2017.

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Tirana, Albania (AHN) – The European Union has called on the Western Balkan countries for internal cooperation among themselves if they want speedy accession to the 27-nation bloc. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the EU was extremely concerned about the region’s stability and security as well as future.

“The European integration of the Western Balkans must be complemented by vigorous efforts to promote regional cooperation,” he said this week during a tour of the region.

Van Rompuy’s comments came after his meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha in Tirana. This was his second Balkan nations’ tour since assuming the post in December. He also called on Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo to jointly work to push reforms in their countries.

Croatia is likely to get EU membership in 2012. Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia are also seeking membership.

All Balkan nations’ EU accession drive received a boost from Greece with only one exception – Macedonia, with which Greece has a naming dispute. Greece supports the others chances of joining the EU and wants them to be part of the bloc before the centenary of the start of World War One in 2014.

But the EU does not consider their accession before 2018. On Wednesday during his stop in Bosnia, Rompuy called on the region’s leaders to seek quick reforms and to cooperate with other regional neighbors for quick EU integration. He said the Balkan countries could not be successful until Bosnia and Herzegovina talk with a single vote to join the bloc.

With the October election, Bosnia-Herzegovina has a new opportunity to generate momentum of the necessary reforms and focus on the EU agenda with renewed vigor, he added.

On Wednesday, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle said he saw positive developments in Montenegro but could not suggest a date for membership talks.

Talking with representatives of the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, he said, “Montenegro did a good job in the last year but we are still far away from a position to start to negotiate about EU membership. We will need at least another year, and one more progress report, to see whether it is possible to open negotiations with Podgorica.”

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States on Wednesday reiterated its call to North Korea to abandon the path of nuclear armament, to pave the path for normalization of relations with the international community.

“If it (North Korea) desires normal relations with the United States and other countries in the region, then it should follow through on commitments it has made but has not yet followed through to abandon its nuclear programs and begin steps to denuclearize,” said PJ Crowley, the State Department spokesman.

“North Korea can have nuclear weapons, but it will not have normal relations with the rest of the world or the United States,” Crowley cautioned.

“For a society that has traditionally been as closed as North Korea, we would hope that North Korea will continue to have the door open so the region and the world can learn more about what is happening there,” Crowley said.

Crowley was commenting on the invitation extended to international media by reclusive regime of Pyongyang to cover the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the foundation of the ruling Workers’ Party.

“North Korea opened its doors ever so slightly for a celebration this weekend,” the spokesman said. “It invited the international news media to come to Pyongyang to observe the country and its parade and so forth.”

The propaganda show was attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his heir apparent, Jong-un, the youngest son.

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Hudur, Somalia (AHN) – Somalia’s Al Shabaab militants arrested five of the local elders in the town of Hudur in the Bakol region of southern Somalia, residents said Tuesday.

Militias loyal to Al Shabaab apprehended the elders after storming their houses in the town. They accused the elders of having links with the Transitional Federal Government’s forces in parts of the Bay, Bakol and Gedo regions in southern Somalia.

Local villagers expressed a deep concern about Al Shabaab’s move against the elders, a resident who asked his name not be used for security reasons told a local radio station. Villagers have called on the hard-line group to release them unconditionally, signaling they have no links with the Somali government, the resident added.

Al Shabaab officials have not released any comments about the elders’ arrest. The group has already warned people in the region against working with Somali government forces in parts of the Gedo and Bakol regions.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States on Friday continued to downplay the closure of a major supply route at the crossing at Torkham Gate along the border of Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan after U.S. helicopters yesterday unknowingly killed several Pakistani border guards.

The Department of Defense spokesman, Col. Dave Lapan, confirmed on Friday to journalists at the Pentagon, “It is still the case, at last reports, that Torkham Gate remains closed,” adding, “We are still discussing with the Pakistan government that Pakistanis resolve this and get it re-opened, but in the meantime, there is still no immediate impact on our operations in Afghanistan.”

At the State Department briefing, spokesman PJ Crowley told journalists about the closed routes, “They’re important. They’re not the only means by which we resupply our efforts in Afghanistan.”

“We’ve got the northern distribution network that we’ve worked out with Russia and other countries in the region as well, but the land supply routes through Pakistan are vitally important,” Crowley added.

Lapan echoed Pakistani reason of “increased tensions” prompting closure of the gate, saying, “What the Pakistani military described to us was that the closure of the gate was due to their concerns over rising tensions.”

The incident is currently under investigation by ISAF and Pakistan’s government, he added.

“The focus of this assessment is defining those activities that happened in the border region,” he said. “The attack implies that the insurgents continue to use that border area to launch attacks, believing that they have refuge.

“Insurgents are attacking from this border region, and we’re countering,” Lapan added. “The exact circumstances of how this came to be and whether protocols were followed — it’s what we’re looking into.”

On the latest attack on NATO convoy in Pakistan, Crowley noted, “We’re not surprised that insurgents have in the past – and have done so again in the past few hours – attacked those routes, and – but they are important and we will work with Pakistan to make sure that we have the best security possible.”

According to reports, a group of militants attacked a NATO convoy carrying fuel and traveling about 250 miles north of Karachi, torching more than two dozen trucks.

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Ok, you ask … what is it and why should I care?

When conventional wisdom is not working any more, we need alternative investment strategies and you should give consideration to a very important region that collectively has a bigger economy than Brazil, Russia, and India … 3 out of the 4 BRIC countries.  And, in terms of growth, this region is growing faster than any of these countries.

Population wise, this region is bigger than the USA and is approximately equal in population to the EU.  In addition, this region has an exploding population (which is good from an engine of growth perspective … reference a key theme in recent presentation from Stuart Varney of Fox News at WizeFEST 2009, a conference this author recently attended).

This region is in the center of a part of the world along the old Silk Road … where we think of a network of traders with caravans loaded with silk, spices, flowers, jewelry, and gold … and trading routes with the romance of the Indian Ocean.  From Perth, Australia to Mombassa, Kenya along the coast of East Africa with passages up and down the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.

There is a political thaw underway in a country in this region that has been the mercantile crossroads between East and West since its days as a link on the old Silk Road.

Examples of this thaw are that the US is sending an ambassador to this country after a four-year absence and the US is easing export bans to this country.

The region is called MENA or the Middle East and North Africa.  Among its largest economies are Saudi Arabia (where this author had a home base for two years) and the United Arab Emirates (which includes the go-go city of Dubai).  As a result, MENA holds 60% of the world’s proven oil reserves and nearly half of its natural gas.

Much has changed in this region over the years and its reach has expanded such that The New Silk Road weaves through Damascus, Riyadh, Dubai, Mumbai, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong.  Along The New Silk Road, key alternative growth strategies include the scarcity of water and food, infrastructure needs, energy (in terms of drilling, pumping, and distribution) and engineering services … and finally, it offers growth not dependent on US trade (which is expected to be quite anemic).

In 2000, China’s exports to the Arab world came to just $6B.  Last year, China’s exports to the Arab world ($48B) nearly matched America’s exports to the Arab world ($50B).  Earlier this year, China finally passed the USA to become the Arab world’s largest trading partner … highlighting how a rising Arab world is turning away from the West and Rediscovering China.

Syria is the country mentioned previously that has a political thaw underway and is the mercantile crossroads of the East and West on the old Silk Road.

The largest investor in Syria is the Chinese company, Haier, that makes washing machines and microwave ovens in the country.  Another Chinese company recently completed a $180M hydroelectric plant.  On the drawing board, there are big real estate projects, including resorts on the Syrian Mediterranean coast.  They are 48,000 hotel beds coming online over the next three years and this will almost double the amount of beds currently available.  Tourism is up significantly in this country and currently accounts for 13% of the economy.

The region benefits from expanded trade with China and the rest of the Asian countries that are in pursuit of the region’s oil.

The most interesting thing about this growth is that it is happening in a part of the world where water is scarce and it is most difficult to grow food.  In Kuwait, one of the countries in the region, annual water consumption is 22 times the rainfall.  Counties in the region import 60% of their food and are phasing out crop production in order to conserve water.

Ironically, many of the countries in the MENA block are investing in farmland overseas with major purchases of farmland in Indonesia, the Sudan, and Pakistan.

One of the key takeaways is that alternative investment opportunities in a growth region like MENA include food and water necessary to feed and meet the thirst of all these people as well as the energy, infrastructure, and engineering services to drill, pump, and distribute oil and natural gas.

Your author lived and worked in the region early in his career and was always impressed with the upside potential in the region once political barriers could be overcome.

In addition, a recent edition of The Economist had a cover story on the Arab world titled “Waking from its sleep” with a 14-page special report containing a collection of articles.  Key points in these articles indicate that there has been two decades of political stagnation but there is a fever under the surface for change.

In the Arab world, its people are starting to speak out, to strike, and to take to the streets in pursuit of their demands.  As more women are educated and as more business people want a say in the state-run economies, the old pattern of the Arab governments that are corrupt, opaque, and authoritarian, are changing.

The democratic and capitalistic movements underway include education, tolerance, and independent institutions such as judiciary and free press.

Once the last failed dictatorship is voted out, the quiet revolution will be complete and the tremendous upside potential from trade will grow the region even faster under the more liberalized economic governments.

I trust this article has introduced you to an emerging economic region … a crossroads where East meets West on The New Silk Road … and the various alternative wealth creating opportunities associated with water, food, infrastructure, energy, and engineering services related to oil and natural gas.

I will continue to monitor developments in the MENA region and report on alternative wealth creating strategies in future articles and updates at my blog which is at http://aspenIbiz.blogspot.com  

Early in his career, Mike was an engineer with a large aerospace company. For many years, he was with a “marquee” consulting firm where he worked extensively with clients all around the world and became know as an American globalist. Most recently he has been providing technology, business, and management advisory services as a self-employed entrepreneur.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/wealth-building-articles/historic-shifts-are-underway-on-the-new-silk-road-where-east-meets-west-creating-alternative-investment-opportunities-1335514.html