Focus on Africa

The abduction of children in South Sudan

Over one thousand children are feared still missing in Pibor, South Sudan. An initiative is now underway to try and reunite abducted children with their families. Over the past few weeks, around 200 of them have been brought back home. But why are they being abducted and by whom?

Also why did thousands of young people attempt to cross the border between Morocco and Ceuta, in the northern part of the continent over the weekend? And did you know that Ceuta is still a Spanish territory?

And why has South Africa's famous son, Elon Musk still not agreed a deal with the South African government and his company, Starlink?

Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Rob Wilson, Yvette Twagiramariya and Stefania Okereke Technical Producer: Nick Randell Senior Journalist: Karnie Sharp Editors: Alice Mutehngi and Andre Lombard

Broadcast on:: 19 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

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There were high-level Starlink people in the country because he's having these conversations. This has not been a formal application yet. And so, if it suddenly happens that he goes, "We're actually not going to launch in South Africa." It's certainly going to raise questions about why. It's Thursday, the 19th of September. First, we go to South Sudan. Here on Focus on Africa, you know we try to bring your insights into life across the continent and from hard-to-reach places. With this in mind, come to Pibo, a remote part of South Sudan. We are able to take you there because regular Focus contributor Nicola Mandil has just been visiting the area. He went there with an organization that deals with a long-running issue in Pibo, the abduction of women and children. The issue arises out of tensions between different communities and includes cattle rustling and sometimes outright conflict. But Nicola brings us good news in this conversation. Over 200 children have been reunited with their families as a result of the mediation by a South Sudanese organization called Peace Canal. We began our conversation with the description of what life is like in Pibo for those who live there. So tell us about Pibo. First, how did you get there? Thank you, Audrey. In fact, I got there on Elekopter or Choppa. This is not my first time to be in Pibo, Audrey. I was there for the first time in 2013. You remember there was a fighting between a rebel movement called Cobra Faction and the Government of South Sudan. I was able to travel to Bibor one day trip. So this has been my second time, Audrey. This time I went to Bibor on a very special mission with the UNESCO to go to train journalists for radio community. That is Bibor FM and I spent seven days in Bibor this time. So people are very, very happy to know that. I visited the area during the war to record on the humanitarian situation and this time I was able to go there and spend seven days in Bibor town. One of the areas that was greatly affected by the conflict in South Sudan. Right. Just give us a sense of what life is like there. What does the area look like and what do people do in Pibo? Well, Audrey, if you spend one hour in Bibor will feel that this is the area that has been greatly affected by the conflict. But I can tell you, at least there are few buildings, government offices built using concrete materials. But otherwise, still there are no good houses. But Audrey, Bibor is a hard-to-reach area in the sense that if you cannot travel on UN Chopas, you can't reach Bibor. This is the area which is totally cut off from the major towns like Juba, Torit and the rest. So people, it's very difficult to go to Bibor. Also, when it rains, Audrey, you find yourself in the water and that is the situation I was in. The first four days, Audrey had to walk using gum boots and supporting a stick. Just short distance, you need like 10-15 minutes to cover short distance because the town was partially submerged under water and it was muddy. So the area is hard to reach. It doesn't have roads. But how do people support themselves living there? People mainly depend on the market, Bibor market. If you ask people in Bibor, everybody will tell you I am a hustler. Everybody is a hustler in Bibor. They depend on the market, especially women. They do petty businesses. They are those who have restaurants, small shops, tea stalls, where they sell tea, coffee and milk. Another thing, Audrey is the airstrip. This is a humanitarian hub where food stub of food items are being stockpiled. You would be surprised to hear this Audrey. Mainly, women are the ones at the airstrip who offload goods from the Chopas. Mainly, you find women are the ones doing casual work. I am not surprised at all by anything that women and African women do to keep their families together, to keep heart and soul together. Let's move on to the really serious issues affecting people, child abductions. You were investigating that. What is happening? Why is it happening? Audrey, this is a very difficult question. Child abduction is not a story. If you go to Bibor, they will tell you this is not a story. It is not a secret, Audrey. It is something that has been going on for years, for decades. They abduct children from one another. Each community, the three of the four neighboring community, the Angabore, the Morley, and the lone were. They read areas, they abduct children and women. They read cattle from each other. And it has been going on and on. Why is it happening though? What is the point of it? Well, this is a very big question. I asked people in Bibor. Why is it happening? The Morley, specifically, I was in Bibor. This is the area of the Morley. They say, well, we were taught by our neighbors. They claim they were taught by their neighbors. Neighboring community is the Dingo board and the lone were. They used to come and read the area, abduct children, abduct women, read the cattle. So they say they're doing this as a revenge. They want to pay back. What actually happens to these children and the women? Is this a process of enslavement? What is it? What are the lives of these people like? Well, they live with the people who kidnap them. They keep them as their children. They work for them. They adopt them as their children. So you've been with an organization called Peace Canal. Tell us about the efforts that they are making to reunite children and women that have been abducted. Tell us about those efforts. This is a national organization. And it is just four years old, or we can say four years young. It is working to identify children who have been abducted by the different communities. So they are working to identify those women and children and report to the government. And then the government will ensure that these children are taken back to the areas where they were brought from. And I was able to speak to Mr. Joseph Lilimoy Agosia, is the deputy area coordinate of Peace Canal for Greater Bebora, the conservative area. I asked him to tell me a little bit about the work Peace Organization is doing in jungler and in Greater Bebora. Recently, we have managed to conduct a lot of meetings between those communities through what we call it the ICGS. ICGS is anti-community government structure. We drive the leaders from the communities, like chiefs, youth leaders, and women, plus the local government authorities. We put them together so that they can agree. And since our resolution, how can we resolve the conflict that is between those communities? The reunification of abducted children must be ongoing activity. If we assess the number of the children there was, actually change it. Really, there is a good number above 200 events. Those who are not being united still looking for them, they are above this number. It is above 200, it could be around 1000. And that's Joseph Lilimoy there from Peace Canal. I'm wondering whether people come back and take them again, or do they leave them alone? And the women, if they were married and they have children with the community that abducted them, what happens to them and what happens to those children? I asked a similar question to some youth in Bibor. They say, well, some of these children, after they are united with their families, they come back alone to Bibor because they are used to life there. They speak the language. They know the people in Bibor. So some of them come back. So when you left Bibor, what kind of impressions stayed with you of the area? To be honest, already my overall impression of Bibor is that it remains one of the poorest areas in South Sudan. And it really needs the support of the national government in Juba and the friends of South Sudan from the international community to help the area recover from the effects of war. And one thing that I can say is that education, me, I love education very much. This one thing I love so much is education. I saw in Bibor, these schools are not like they standard in Juba and other areas. So these need to help the people in Bibor improve education. Bibor is one of the poorest areas in South Sudan, we really need the support of the government and their friends in the international community. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you Audrey. Okay bye. And that's Nicola Mandil back in Juba. Thousands of people tried to force their way over the border between Morocco and into Spanish territory over the weekend. They weren't actually on European soil. They were trying to get into Suta, one of two territories, Spain owns in Morocco. The other is called Malia. They're called enclaves, an area that is surrounded by a larger one. For example, Lesotho is an enclave state because South Africa encircles it completely. Like Suta and Malia, they're a product of colonial history. And we'll hear how Spain came to own them in just a moment, but let's get back to the attempts in Morocco over the weekend where the situation now remains tense. It's not the first time undocumented people have tried to enter Spanish territory via these two cities on the north coast of Morocco. There have been several flare-ups in recent years as Spanish and Moroccan police try to stop people from getting into the territories. And they've often been accused of using undue force. Dramatic footage emerged, showing people gathering on top of a hill and throwing things at lines of right police officers, charging them. The desperate hope is that if they make it onto Spanish territory, they are on Spanish soil and can make it across the few kilometers of sea that separate the mainland from the enclaves. Police say hundreds of people from across the continent, including Morocco itself, responded to social media call-outs for them to try and get into the enclaves. Two young Moroccan men shared their reasons for trying to get across to Spain. I think it's good that people want to go to Europe. There are no jobs here, and even those who have jobs are civil servants, with a very low salary that's not enough. They also want to flee to help their families. I want to live a good, good life. I want to family and to help myself and help my family and my spirit is my concern. Our colleagues at BBC Arabic Trending have been monitoring the social media posts that entice people to attempt the crossing. Nida Elgazal explained what they'd been seeing online. This kind of social media posts, they were circulating. It sparked around the beginning of September or a little bit before. We realized that there is a post that was calling for mass immigration, circulating on Facebook and TikTok, and was targeting really the age of between 14 to 18 or 20. And this mass gathering came all on the 15 of September, just together there and to cross from side to another. And the call was to come to realize your dreams in Europe. And we realized there is like lots of posts targeting this age and people they were accepting to come, you know, like they were circulating messages to each other on Facebook and responding. I assumed the government found out about it, but they didn't react it very quickly until the day when they gathered, they were waiting for them. And I, as well read in the newspapers, they say they arrested 60 people. They were behind this social media gathering and mass social media call. But this is needs like more in-depth research regarding like who created these platforms and why they were targeting this age group and why this 15 of September, we couldn't understand why this specific time. Now, I know the question you've been asking yourself is, why does Spain own these territories in Africa? Talk about a colonial overhang. I've been in conversation with Moha Energy, Professor of Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the University of Fez in Morocco. It goes back to history, both of them were under Moroccan control, the Berbers, the Amazir. Then we had the kind of definitions that controlled it and then the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Byzantines, and of course the Arab Muslim rule in the 8th century. And after that, both Sota and Milina were conquered by Portugal in 1415 and 1497. But when Spain and Portugal united under a single crown, Sota became part of Spain as well as Milila. But after Portugal got its independence in 1640, Sota and Milila remains at the Spanish rule. And since then, Sota and Milila have been Spanish. Right, so what is the character of them? Is it Spanish or is it? I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like because these are small bits of territory in a larger country. Yeah, they are smaller cities. Of course, you have their diverse population. You have Amazir, Muslim, Christian, Jewish people living there. And Spanish people. And Spanish people living there. And the official language is Spanish. And both cities actually got their autonomy in 1995. And today, Spain sees both cities as an integral part of its historical legacy and of its territory. What do you mean when you say it got autonomy in 1995? Because when I said are they Spanish, I meant even though they are from Moroccan populations, I was wondering whether they were actually considered citizens of Spain. Yes, they are. Of course, they are all citizens of Spain. But they got some kind of regional autonomy. They have the local parliament, local government. But of course, they remain Spanish and they depend on the Spanish central government. The part and parcel of the Spanish nation. Are they quite well off? Yes, they are quite well off. And the cities, economically, they are thriving. They are hubs for trade. And they benefit also from tax exemptions and their status as free ports. So there's a lot of incentives for businesses to go and invest there because they are exempt from taxes. What does Morocco think of these two territories that is actually in its patch but belongs to a country across the ocean? Yes, well, Morocco has been claiming both cities since Morocco got its independence. But Spain is reluctant to relinquish control because this has strategic and political consequences. And also it may be a precedent if Spain relinquishes both cities. It may be a precedent for other territorial disputes like Gibraltar, for example. And it would also weaken Spain's diplomatic stance in the region. And also because Spain has strategic interests and wants to be very present on the Mediterranean. And the Mediterranean is a very, very essential maritime route for trade. But Morocco has been claiming these territories for a long time. And there are talks in Morocco. People here are keen on regaining those two cities. There is, of course, another territory that used to be Spanish, Western Sahara, or there's a certain historic connection with Spain. And Morocco also has a difficult diplomatic and political history with that. Western Sahara wants to be independent. And it was part of Spanish Sahara, wasn't it? So tell us how do those relate as well? Yeah, well, the issue of Spain's control over Sota and Maria is intricately connected to the Moroccan. We call it the Moroccan Sahara, or the so-called Western Sahara. Because both were colonized by Spain around the same time in history. And when Morocco got independence from the French, because Morocco was occupied by both France and Spain, but Morocco regained the territories colonized by the French in 1956. And regained its Sahara in 1975, Sota and Mililla still have the control. So these are the consequences of colonization. And both Sota and Mililla and the Sahara are very much linked, particularly in the context of Spain's relations with Morocco. And then these relations for today are very good. We have very good bilateral relations with Spain, and we cooperate for the control of illegal migration over the Mediterranean since 2022. Things have been improving now that Spain has recognized the Moroccan sovereignty on the Sahara and has supported the Morocco's option, suggested to the Iran in 2007 for an autonomy of the Moroccan Sahara. This recognition also fosters the bilateral relations between Morocco and Spain. Okay then, thank you very much. Thank you. That's Professor Moha Enagi from the University of Fes in Morocco. This is Focus on Africa from the BBC World. Explaining football to the friend who's just there for the nachos, hard, tailgating from home like a pro with snacks and drinks everyone will love, any easy win. And with Instacart helping deliver the snack time MVPs to your door, you're ready for the game in as fast as 30 minutes. So you never miss a play or lose your seat on the couch or have to go head to head for the last chicken wing. Shop Game Day faves on Instacart and enjoy zero-dollar delivery fees on your first three gross reorders. Offer valid for a limited time, other fees and terms apply. Jewelry can say many things on your wedding day. As a wedding band, it can say this is a forever symbol of our forever love. As a gift to your wedding party, it can say thanks for standing up there with us. Blue Nile can help you find the piece that says it all and says it beautifully. With expert guidance and a wide assortment of jewelry of the highest quality at the best price, go to bluenile.com and experience the convenience of shopping Blue Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999. That's bluenile.com. Service If you had to name famous South Africans, would Elon Musk feature on your list? He should, because he was born there and left in his late teens. He's now a Canadian citizen, but his father and some of his siblings still live in South Africa. President Sir O'Ramaposa told reporters recently that the government is trying to get one of Elon Musk's projects, Star Linked, which is a satellite service to South Africa. I had discussions with him and have said, Elon, you become so successful and you're investing in a variety of countries. I want you to come home and invest here. So he and I are going to have a further discussion about the variety of things. Whatever one may think about him, he is a hugely successful business person and having had those discussions with him to advance the interests of South Africans. Now, Star Link hasn't yet commented on Sir O'Ramaposa's statement, but Elon Musk did say on X Twitter, another company he owns, that Star Link is waiting for regulatory approval to operate in South Africa. The system already operates in South Africa's neighbors Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Botswana and further afield on the continent. So how come it doesn't yet operate in one of the richest and most powerful countries on the continent? Technology expert and editor of My Broadband, South Africa's largest tech news website, Jan Fermilen answered all my questions, including the most basic one. What is Star Link? Star Link is a satellite broadband service, specifically a low-Earth orbit satellite broadband service, and that's distinguished from a geosynchronous satellite broadband service. And what that offers essentially is faster speeds, lower latency, which becomes important in providing something that's sort of more like a regular broadband service that we might know in love like fiber or perhaps like 5G. You said a lot of words, and I have no doubt that our listeners won't understand either. Geosynchronous and low-Earth, for instance, what does that mean? Geosynchronous, let's start there, the traditional ones. That means that essentially the satellite is put in an orbit around the Earth, so that relative to us, it's always in the same spot in the sky. So for folks who are used to satellite pay TV services, for example, they'll be quite familiar with us. You take your dish, you aim it at one spot in the sky, and you always get your signal from that satellite in that spot in the sky. That's geosynchronous. And low-Earth orbit, which is what Star Link is, the satellites are actually orbiting around us and relative to us. They don't stay stationary in the sky. And so because the satellites are constantly moving around us, the antennas have to be designed differently, but the key difference from our perspective as users is those satellites are closer to the ground. So geosynchronous satellites set about 35,000 kilometers up in the air. A low-Earth orbit satellite is much, much closer, and that distance makes all the difference when it comes to the speed that you can get out of the system at the end of the day. And that's why Star Link is faster. How popular is it? And where do we find it? Because I've heard it used in relation to Ukraine when Ukraine was under serious attack from Russia. Yeah, so Star Link is very popular amongst people in more rural or remote areas where you don't get fiber, where you don't get 5G or 4G services. So for those of us who live in cities or even suburban areas where there's a decent fiber connectivity, where you've got good 4G or 5G coverage, the satellite broadband is not something that you even think about. So you'd have to be a very active individual. And so like, for example, we've seen Apple and Google roll out safety features to their phones recently where your phone can now communicate with a satellite up in the sky when you're in a remote area and in an emergency situation. Okay, that sounds like most people in the world, actually, because most people don't live in areas that are well-catered for. So which countries in Southern Africa do we have Star Link? It started slowly, you know, with connectivity rolling out to Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, and now it's exploded. I'm looking at Star Link map right now. Madagascar has Sierra Leone, Ghana, has Benin, has South Sudan, Zambia has Mozambique has, Botswana has, then we've got Angola. Those are the ones that just have. There's plenty of them who are slated for a release. A very near neighbor, Eswatini, also has already. So Tanzania has a roll out date for later this year as does Angola, DRC, and the Republic of Congo. They're looking at coverage in 2025. And those where the launch hasn't yet happened, you're looking at the end of the year or next year that essentially Star Link is looking at lighting up the whole continent of Africa. We can't help but notice that South Africa isn't in that list. Why? I mean, Elon Musk is our compatriot. Yeah, we like to claim him as a South African. But he doesn't claim us though. So South Africa was going to be, if not the first African country, then certainly the first sub-Saharan African country to receive Star Link. You know, when Star Link first launched, South Africa projected roll out date 2022. And then I think Star Link was a bit too ambitious. They changed the roll out dates. And South Africa moved to 2023. And then suddenly we just got taken off. And now it says service date is unknown at this time. Now there was no official coming from Star Link about why this happened. But essentially what happened was there was a regulatory change around local ownership that created a massive amount of regulatory uncertainty in South Africa. And it was around that same time that Star Link changed our service date to unknown. Just explain to people what this local ownership requirement is. So as the regulations stand today in South Africa, for a telecommunications license and the type of licenses that Star Link would need, the company must be 30% owned by what is termed historically disadvantaged groups in South Africa. Now our industry regulator, Ikasa, had gone through a process to amend that regulation. And they were essentially saying that no, no, that's going to be no longer good enough to be any historically disadvantaged group. It must be 30% black owned. And so there was a lot of blowback from the industry. It's a long story about why that is. But it's because these regulations were not actually strictly enforced in the first place. So now Ikasa was talking about firstly strictly enforcing these requirements and secondly making them even more strict. And so this thing is hanging like a sword over the whole industry. There is no certainty about if and when or whether this is even going to happen. We don't know whether this is actually the case. The bottom line is there is no regulatory certainty in South Africa at the moment. Is it going to be 30% HDG? Is it going to be 30% black? And so until and unless the government can give SpaceX some kind of indication of which way the wind is going to blow. It's going to be very difficult for them to structure a deal to come into the country and know that the rug isn't going to get pulled out from underneath them in a year or two. So how desperately does South Africa need Star Link? I say desperately because as a South African and knowing that we were way ahead of the curve when it came to mobile technology and long before other countries did. But it does seem that with the internet we are slightly lagging behind because data is expensive and our mobile networks are intermittent at the moment. So do we need Star Link? Yes for a while the networks were quite intermittent but that's improved a lot. And I dare say our fiber networks and our mobile networks in South Africa right now will rival the best in the world. I'm actually genuinely proud of the South African telecommunications industry but fiber does not reach every way yet and it can never reach every way especially in sparsely populated areas right. For example so challenges we've got here is the level of poverty right. So there's densely populated urban communities in South Africa that we call townships and our local fiber operators are starting to roll out to those communities with products that folks who live in those communities will be able to afford and that's proper fixed line fiber infrastructure. So that broadband technology is moving from the affluent to the less affluent at a very rapid pace. But there is just no business case for doing that in rural areas where the population density is simply too low. How useful will Star Link be in South Africa? Yes incredibly and it's for that reason that we've seen many South Africans kind of ignore regulations but also these regulations are unenforced and so they've gone okay you know what we're going to import kits from neighboring countries. We would import kits from Rwanda. When Mozambique came online we started importing from Mozambique and now with Eswatini online it's become an attractive place to import kits through. So South Africans have been importing kits which is perfectly legal by the way. Then it gets smuggled in or anything. They go through customs, we pay tax on them. The kits themselves are actually approved and legal in South Africa. But where things get fuzzy is the second you connect them to a Star Link satellite you are technically breaking the law. But South Africans have taken that risk. They've jumped through the hoops to get these kits into the country because it's life-changing. I don't know if Elon Musk listens to focus in Africa the podcast. I suggest he does. But do you think he'll be annoyed if he knew? No no no for sure. It's so out in the open. It's even flaunted where we had we have one company that's reselling kits in the country who literally took a kit, posed it outside of the regulator's office just down the road here from where I am, took a photo and posted it on social media. I think we need to get this regularized, legalized and working properly so that everybody feels this is done in a fair way. Do you think it would be a bit of a dis if Elon Musk didn't bring this project to South Africa? Yes because he's been quite open about saying no we're doing this. He's posted on his social network Twitter X on several occasions we're working on this. When we started digging and asking our sources we found out that in fact there were high level styling people in the country because having these conversations this has not been a formal application yet. And so if it suddenly happens that he goes we're actually not going to launch in South Africa. It's certainly going to raise questions about why. Tech expert and editor of My Broadband in South Africa, Jan Vermeerlin. Focusing in Africa was pulled together by Rob Wilson, Yvette Tuagira Maria and Stefania Okareke here in London. Nick Rundell was our technical producer Connie Sharp was the senior journalist in charge. And Ray Lombard and Alice Medengi are our editors. I'm Oji Brown and we'll talk again next time. Expand the way you work and think with Claude by Anthropic. Whether brainstorming solo or working with the team Claude is AI built for you. It's perfect for analyzing images and graphs, generating code, processing multiple languages, and solving complex problems. Plus Claude is incredibly secure trustworthy and reliable so you can focus on what matters. Curious? Visit claud.ai and see how Claude can elevate your work. From the BBC, the 2024 US election. Full coverage from the campaign trail. No agendas, no one-sided opinions, just the issues covered. We're not here to tell you what to think. We're made to make you think. Visit bbc.com/uselection. [BLANK_AUDIO]