Africa

By Jan Lundius
Stockholm/Rome, Nov 30 2018 (IPS)

A foreign citizen – well-known journalist, author, university lecturer and regime critic – with residence in the US is abducted by a group of professionals employed by a foreign Government – depicted as a stout US ally – and subsequently tortured and killed. In spite of the case being thoroughly investigated by both the CIA and the FBI, which verified that a crime had been committed, the US Government did not take any steps to rebuke the rulers of the allied country.

This is not a description of the Khashoggi case. It is another story commencing 10 PM on March 12, 1956, when Jesús de Galíndez Suárez, lecturer at Columbia University, entered the subway station at 57th Street and disappeared forever.

Galíndez, a Basque nationalist who after supporting the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, had in 1939 fled to the Dominican Republic. Galíndez became legal adviser to the Labour Department and befriended members of the almighty Trujillo family, though Trujillo soon found that Galíndez carried out discrete investigations about his dictatorial rule.

Self-proclaimed five star general and Benefactor of the Fatherland, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo had the Dominican Republic´s capital and highest mountain peak named after him. Trujillo´s power and influence was not exclusively enjoyed by himself, he shared it with his entire family, which controlled almost 60 percent of the fertile land. Trujillo´s bust could be seen everywhere, while every hotel room exhibited a Bible and a Trujillo biography. All published books were dedicated to him, every religious celebration blessed him. All Dominican homes had a plaque declaring: “In this house Trujillo is the boss (El Jefe)”. Trujillo´s influence was not limited to his small island nation. He spent much money to foster goodwill within allied nations.

When Trujillo learned about Galíndez´s inquiries, the Dominican Republic had for 25 years been subdued by his feared secret service, Servicio de Intelligencia Militar (SIM); torturing, jailing and killing opponents, including massacring at least 20,000 immigrants from neighbouring Haiti. Trujillo´s power was maintained by fear, nationalism and racism.

Galíndez fled the country, settled in the US and was going to submit his investigation of Trujillo´s power abuse as a Ph.D. thesis at Columbia University. It was practically finished when Galíndez was abducted by SIM, drugged and in an ambulance brought to a private airfield, where a US pilot and a privately hired plane waited to take him to the Dominican Republic.

Arriving in Ciudad Trujillo, Galíndez was brought to Trujillo´s private residence where El Jefe received his victim, dressed in riding habit and with a whip in his hand. He lashed Galíndez shouting: “Pendejo! Pendejo!” Asshole/idiot. Then he stuffed Galíndez´s mouth with pages from his thesis. “Eat it!” shouted Trujillo before delivering Galíndez to his executioners. Rumours have it that Galíndez was either boiled to death in a cauldron at a sugar plantation or, like many others of the Regime´s victims, was fed to sharks in the sea by Ciudad Trujillo´s biggest slaughterhouse.

In the US, concerns about Galíndez´s fate were raised by the press, but the interest soon died down. However, when Gerald Murphy, the US pilot who had brought Galíndez to the Dominican Republic, where he later settled, proved to be too outspoken and was murdered by SIM, members of the US Congress demanded further investigations of the case. When it was proved that the Trujillo regime had ordered both murders, severe US sanctions were demanded. Trujillo countered these threats by having Murphy´s friend, the hot-blooded Captain Octavio de la Maza, accused of killing Murphy after being subjected to homosexual advances. de la Maza denied all accusations and was as a result found hanged in his cell. Authorities claimed it was suicide. Protests from the US Government forced Trujillo to allow an FBI investigation, which found that de la Maza´s and Murphy´s deaths were a cover-up for the Regime´s murder of Galíndez.

The Galíndez affair resulted in dual disgrace. First, Galíndez´s disclosure of the abuses of the Trujillo regime proved to be accurate. Furthermore, the murder of de la Maza caused a schism within the Trujillo family, since the victim had been a good friend of Trujillo´s oldest son and chosen heir, Ramfis. It was also a disgrace for the US Government, which in spite of vociferous opposition refused to condemn a regime considered to be an important ally in the struggle against Communism. A nation where influential politicians had made investments and which dictator spent vast amounts on public relations, bribes to US policy makers and made generous contributions to electoral campaigns of US presidential candidates.

Similarities with the Khashoggi murder might serve as a reminder that a blatant attack on free speech may prove to be fatal. During his long reign of terror, Trujillo had planned and ordered several murders, though with his wealth and PR machinery he had been able to smoothen international criticism. The ruthless killing of a regime critic, its cover-up and the reluctance of a powerful ally, like the US, to acknowledge a horrendous crime, ignore evidence from its own intelligence agencies, siding with a dictator to protect national interests, resulted not only in the loss of the dictator´s credibility, but also in an erosion of the US´s moral stance in the Western hemisphere.

The post Ignoring the Murder of a Journalist in the Name of National Interest appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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Frank Rijsberman Director-General, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) speaking in Kigali, at a week-long Africa Green Growth Forum 2018 to discuss how to foster green growth. Courtesy: Emmanuel Hitimana

By Emmanuel Hitimana
KIGALI, Nov 30 2018 (IPS)

Over 1000 policy makers, experts, investors and financial specialists from across Africa are gathered this week in Kigali, at a week-long Africa Green Growth Forum 2018 to discuss how to foster green, made-in-Africa innovations to meet the needs of the continent. 

There is no doubt that green growth is a number one priority for governments but many are mistaken if they believe green growth is more costly, Frank Rijsberman Director-General, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) told delegates at the high level policy dialogue session.

Rwanda’s new Bugesera airport, will be the first-ever green airport in Africa, and the government’s biggest-ever project. It will have rain water harvesting and cut water use by 50 percent, and will have enough solar panels to make it zero carbon emission facility said Rijsberman.

“Did the airport become expensive by adopting these changes? No. It became cheaper by five million US dollars,” he said.

The over 800 million dollar project is being funded through a public private partnership, and is one of many green projects the GGGI is working on with the government of Rwanda. GGGI is also supporting the implementation of the government’s plan for green development of six secondary cities as well as eco-friendly tourism by introducing electric motorbikes or e-motorbikes.

The e-motorbikes will be cheaper than petrol-powered ones demonstrating that green products do not have to be expensive said Josh Whale, the Chief Executive Officer of Ampersand, a company that is building electric vehicles and charging stations in East Africa. Supported by GGGI, it has introduced e-motorbikes into Rwanda and has plans for other electric vehicles.

“Assembling all the e-motorcycles in Rwanda will certainly result in several thousand new jobs and will also green existing jobs. So motorcycle and taxis mechanics will become green jobs,” said Whale.

The Forum is showcasing a number of other green-friendly initiatives that promote  environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive economic growth.

There are many opportunities for green entrepreneurship and private investment in transport, infrastructure and agriculture in Africa, said Rijsberman.

“Involving the private sector more, helping to drive innovation, helping to drive entrepreneurship, creating green jobs has to be a growing part of government green growth strategies,” he says.

During different panels and sessions there were comments about a large gap in youth interests in the environment and green technology and the difficulty accessing funding for innovations that could bring affordable green technologies to Africa.

Academic training is one of the best investments to be made right now said Stephen Rodriques, Rwanda’s Country Director at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “We have to start preparing the young generation for green jobs,” Rodriques told delegates. “Many of the industries we have now are based on what we call the brown economy, where people are doing things and in ways that are destroying the environment.”

Rodriques also called for investment in innovative green projects and for stakeholders to improve their understanding and use of finance as a tool for climate resilience.

A common issue is quality projects in need of financing while financial institutions say they have the money for quality projects but can’t find them said Pablo Vieira, Global Director at NDC Partnership. This is a coalition of countries and institutions dedicated to strengthening collaboration among nations to help implement countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement.

“We work in 36 countries right now with governments saying they have many projects ready for financing but find it hard to get finance,” said Vieira. Meanwhile financial institutions are looking to finance quality projects.

Acknowledging that governments afford to support all projects, Vieira calls for a new system to help entrepreneurs build quality projects. He also appealed to financial institutions to change their “business as usual” approach for the way environmental funds are delivered.

The forum started on Monday 26 November and is set to close on Friday November 30.

Related Articles

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• Q&A: Ready to Help India Access Climate Finance for a Greener Economy
• Rwanda Action Plan Aims to Make Cities Green

The post Fostering Green, Made-In-Africa Innovations appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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By Terna Gyuse
NAIROBI, Nov 29 2018 (IPS)

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The post AUDIO: No Blue Economy Without Conserving the Oceans appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Sam Olukoya
NAIROBI, Nov 29 2018 (IPS)

Women make up about half of the over 120 million people whose livelihood depend on the blue economy. But women play only a marginal role in the blue economy with most of them earning subsistence income. Women are mainly excluded from more important aspects of the Blue Economy like shipping and large scale fishing.

The Canadian High Commission to Kenya and the Canadian government funded International Development Research Centre, IDRC, organized a side event at the first global Sustainable Blue Economy Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, with the aim of seeking ways of increasing women participation in the blue economy.

 

The post VIDEO: Seeking Ways to Include Women in the Blue Economy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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By Paul Makin
WASHINGTON DC, Nov 29 2018 (IPS)

Mobile phones are helping millions of low-income customers to access financial services for the first time, but they are also exposing them to new cyber threats they could never have imagined.

A few years ago, a friend of mine in Uganda — let’s call him Jonathon — learned this firsthand. The trouble started when Jonathon happened to glance at his mobile phone and noticed the words “NO SERVICE” on the screen.

At first, he wasn’t concerned. His mobile network occasionally went down, and within a few minutes his phone reconnected to the network.

Later that day, however, he tried to use his mobile money account to send his wife some money so that she could take their son to a doctor, but the transfer failed. When he checked his balance, he learned that the entire amount he thought was in his account — more than $100 — was gone.

What happened to Jonathon is becoming more commonplace in countries where mobile money is popular. For instance, the Serianu 2017 Africa Cyber Security Report estimates that cybercrime in mobile-based transactions costs businesses $140 million per year in Africa.

So, what exactly happened to Jonathon? Why is this becoming more common? And what can providers and policy makers do to prevent it?

This part is easy to explain. A criminal got into Jonathon’s account and sent all his money to a group of friends, perhaps as little as $10 each. After receiving the transfer, each friend went independently to an agent and cashed out.

They gave most of the cash to the criminal, keeping some for themselves. This type of low-level money laundering happens regularly in the modern criminal environment.

A more interesting question is how the criminal got access to Jonathon’s account in the first place. To carry out this type of crime, a criminal needs the victim’s account credentials. Specifically, he or she needs two pieces of information: the victim’s mobile money account number (usually a mobile phone number) and PIN.

Getting someone’s mobile phone number is fairly straightforward. Sometimes the victim is a well-known figure or shares his or her contact details on social media. In other cases, the victim is overheard giving his or her number to a friend in a bar.

Criminals have various ways of obtaining their victims’ PINs too. The old-fashioned way is to stand behind customers at an agent’s shop and watch them complete transactions (i.e. shoulder surfing).

Unfortunately, many people are still unguarded when typing their PINs. Some people even write their PIN on the back of their mobile phone, which displays a disappointing lack of awareness of the implications.

However, industrial-grade PIN harvesting is supplanting these slow approaches to obtaining individual PINs. There are many opportunities to acquire DFS account numbers and the associated PINs without ever meeting (or even knowing) the person whose money is being stolen.

USSD is the most common form of access to mobile money services in developing countries, and it does not offer much protection for these sensitive credentials. Credentials can be collected in a number of ways that providers and policy makers should be aware of.

For example:

• Someone using a laptop in a coffee shop can capture all of the USSD sessions (including PINs) for everyone using a nearby cell tower.

• If a criminal wants to target a specific group of people, such as businesspeople attending a conference in a hotel, he or she can set up a fake cell tower with nothing more than a laptop and a mobile phone attached to it, looking as if it is simply being charged. The criminal can then trick everyone’s cell phones into connecting to the fake cell tower, giving him or her access to the group’s transactions.

• Someone with access to the mobile operator’s network – say, a disgruntled staff member – can connect a laptop to the network and quietly log users’ credentials as they enter them over the network.

• If criminals want to target a particular person (e.g., a high-net worth individual), they can do it from a laptop without even being in the same country. Criminals often do this by using USSD to push a message to the victim’s phone that looks like it is from his or her DFS provider, saying that because of a security issue they need to re-enter their PIN. The information they enter is then returned directly to the criminal.

Obtaining Jonathon’s credentials was only the first part of the attack. In this type of crime, the criminal then has to use the stolen credentials to access his money. For example, through a SIM swap.

A SIM swap is the transfer of a mobile phone number from its original SIM to a new SIM. It is an important service that allows customers to keep their number and account after acquiring a new SIM card.

Unfortunately, the service can be misused to transfer a victim’s mobile phone number to a new SIM (resulting in the “NO SERVICE” message on their mobile phone) without their knowledge or permission.

The new SIM is placed in a mobile phone, at which point the criminal uses the captured PIN to access the target’s account and send money to be cashed out and laundered. Afterwards, the SIM swap is reversed, and the victim’s mobile phone comes back to life — but the money is gone.

By the time Jonathon realized something was wrong, his money was long gone. While it might be possible to trace the people who carried out the money laundering, it is virtually impossible to get Jonathon’s money back – and in his country,

Jonathon is liable for the loss, not the DFS provider. It would have been better if the service had been better secured in the first place. As detailed in the slide deck below, there are some simple measures that providers and policy makers can adopt to protect other mobile financial services users from cyberattacks.

This article was originally published by the Washington-based Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) which is a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organizations that works to advance the lives of poor people through financial inclusion.

The post Mobile Phones Exposed to Growing Cyber Threats appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Paul Makin is the head of mobile money at Consult Hyperion

The post Mobile Phones Exposed to Growing Cyber Threats appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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