Switzerland wrestles with immigration

Switzerland is a mountainous country set in the middle of Western Europe, maintaining a studied, though cordial, distinctiveness from its neighbors for the past several hundred years. Today, for example, Switzerland is not a European Union country, and in World War II and I, maintained an armed neutrality that irritated allied forces, yet provided some space for safe havens, and lines of communications between the belligerents.

Switzerland, with a population of around 8 million, is prosperous, respected, and intriguing to Teatree as each citizen, statistically, reportedly consumes more than 19 lbs of chocolate per year. Factoid and photo from www.countryreports.org

Click on image for full picture
Switzerland is also one of the most visited countries of the world due to its storied mountainous terrain. Photo from http://german.fansshare.com

According to a Reuters article, "Swiss voters on Sunday narrowly backed proposals to reintroduce immigration quotas with the European Union, Swiss television reported - a result that calls into question bilateral accords with the EU and could irk multinational companies. While neutral Switzerland is not a member of the EU, its immigration policy is based on free movement of citizens to and from the EU, with some exceptions, as well as allowing in a restricted number of non-EU citizens.

That pact on free movement of people, which came into force 12 years ago, was signed as part of a package of agreements with the EU, some of which could now be in danger of unraveling, to say nothing of the effect on a globally oriented economy that employs large numbers of foreign professionals."

Click on image for full picture
A poster against the ‘mass immigration initiative’, in Lausanne Switzerland, depicting the fear than unlimited immigration would undermine Swiss "alpine culture." Photo from www.themalaymailonline.com

The article continues, "In a nail-biting vote, 50.3 percent backed the "Stop mass immigration" initiative, which also won the required majority approval in more than half of Swiss cantons or regions, Swiss television said. The outcome obliges the government to turn the initiative, spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), into law within three years.

It reflects growing concern among the Swiss population that immigrants are eroding the nation's distinctive Alpine culture and contributing to rising rents, crowded transport and more crime. Net immigration runs at around 70,000 people per year on average. Foreigners make up 23 percent of the population of 8 million, second in Europe only to Luxembourg."

So, the margin of the win was razor-thin, reflecting perhaps more of the torn-nature of the Swiss over the issue than a clear direction. According the Reuters article, "The provisions of the initiative require the restriction of residence permits for foreign nationals, including cross-border commuters and asylum seekers, according to quotas, the government said in a statement. These limits will now need to be defined at a legislative level ..." But the specifics are left for discussion, and three years into the future for implementation.

Immigration and borders are stressed around the world

The multiple issues of national identity, culture, assimilation, and border control are not limited to the Swiss. The US has long been embroiled in the concerns over Mexican and Central American immigration along its southern border.

The irony behind America's current debate over illegal immigration. Graphic from un-named facebook source ...

Illegal immigration is usually one where a country resists inflows into its national space, the most graphic exception was during the Soviet Union, where citizens within the workers paradise were closely watched to prevent their leaving.

In this famous picture, East German soldier, Conrad Schuman, leaps to freedom in West Berlin in August 1961. Photo from http://photographoftheday.blogspot.com

Click on image for full picture
Far from elections and effective governance, the latest surge of immigration is into Chad from the horrific violence in neighboring Central African Republic. Here, Muslim citizens chaotically gather into convoys to leave their CAR homeland under Chadian armed escort. They are suffering retribution for the brief but savage misrule by a now-deposed Islamic leader who brutalized Christians in the CAR during much of 2013. Photo from cnn.com

The examples of border tensions are everywhere - Australia and Southeast Asia neighbors; North Africa to Southern Europe, Eastern Europe to Western Europe, etc. Borders and visions of greater freedoms or flight from persecution do not mix well.

Click on image for full picture
Another surge of immigration (or in this case, emigration from the Syrian civil war) creates the danger of permanent refugee camps. Here, Syrian refugees in a Turkey camp, protected by, one assumes, Turkish soldiers. Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org

Assuming there is a reasonable responsive governance to begin with, Teatree tends to side with stronger border controls linked with generous legal immigration quotas. The absence of which places illegal immigrants at risk in any country where though they contribute to the specific nation's economy, yet they are "second class" - without access to the full complement of citizens rights: voting,citizenship papers, social security benefits, etc.

Central African Republic and South Sudan torn

Tribal and religious divides have torn up fragile lives in two African countries the past weeks.

The CAR, a former french colony, with a population of nearly 5 million. Graphic from New York Times

The Central African Republic - one of the most poverty stricken countries of the world - is in trouble from an increasingly religion-tainted conflict between Islamists and non ... From a Deutsch Welle article, "Some 10 to 15 percent of the Central African Republic's population are Muslims. Most of them live in the far north, on the other side of swampland that is impassable for six months of the year. The region is regarded as an underdeveloped enclave in an already poor nation: No schools, no hospitals, no roads." The article goes on to explain that much of this region looks north to Sudan and Chad, "They seek medical treatment in a hospital in Nyala, Sudan. They send their children to Quran schools in Khartoum."

The [latest round of] conflict began in March this year, when previous president, Francois Bozize, was ousted in a coup when the Seleka alliance took over. The Seleka opposition was led by Michel Djotodia, who declared himself the new President. However, in the months that have followed, a stricter brand of Islam began to emerge at least as the excuse of what were increasingly lawless actions by Seleka soldiers and allies. In November, when Christian groups were being brutally attacked, Christian militias formed and fought back. France intervened, sending in a peacekeeping force trying to separate the two sides. There it stands, as the German article says, "Once again, a country the size of Texas rich in natural resources faces a dismaying choice. Should the brutal Muslim rebels be ousted, the likely winner will be the country's unpopular kleptocratic former Christian president. Regardless of religion, it is the population that is suffering in this civil war."

Click on image for full picture
In these brutal, ethnic and religious conflicts, the middle ground erodes, people are forced to take sides, and are at risk either way for their choice. Photo from Al-jazeera.com

South Sudan, the world's newest independent state, suddenly sees tribal hostilities boiling over.

South Sudan, often portrayed in terms of its break from The Republic of Sudan to the north, and adjacent to the heartbreak in Darfur. Graphic from www.medicalteams.org

South Sudan erupted in hostilities between the two largest ethnic groups in the country, the Dinka and the Nuer. While there are some subtle religious overtones to this conflict, the identity of both groups is much more aligned to their tribal heritage, which has much in common.

Last week, soldiers from the Nuer tribe revolted in their barracks and over the past several days, declared they had seized control of Bor, Jonglei State's capital city, located in central South Sudan. The Nuer revolt is headed (kind of) by Riek Machar, the South Sudanese Vice President who was sacked in July this year by President Salva Kiir. But as with all these conflicts, clarity is precious. As a BBC article describes it, "While acknowledging that forces loyal to Riek Machar had taken control of Bor, the army also said Maj-Gen Peter Gadet Yak had mutinied, taking with him some troops. What is not clear is if troops loyal to Mr Machar are working together with those of Maj-Gen Gadet, or if in fact they are the same soldiers. But it is likely, because of the history of relations between the two, and because of their background. They are both Nuers, while President Salva Kiir is Dinka.

If the two are indeed in control of Jonglei, it is possible that they might try to overrun the neighbouring oil-producing states of Unity and Upper Nile. This will mean the oil-reliant economy could come under their control."

Click on image for full picture
The conflict threatens the cohesiveness of South Sudan, along with oil fields the backbone of this newest country. Graphic from Voice of America

Click on image for full picture
An anxious father holds his daughter .. photo from the NY Times

Two conflicts - both could legitimately be called civil wars, joining similar conflict in Libya and Syria as 2013 winds down.

Teatree has emphasized this Christmas song in the past years - "I heard the Bells on Christmas Day" written by the American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as our country's civil war raged in 1863. His wife had died two years earlier and one of their sons was gravely wounded in one of the Civil War battles ...

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th'unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
'There is no peace on earth, ' I said
'For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.'

verse - see link below,
verse - see link below,

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.'

This year, if one can get to this youtube presentation, there are other darker and less sanitized verses to the poem which seem apropos this conflict ridden season ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8br_t4rp5NU

May our prayers and actions be to this end.

Another country, another coup ...

At first glance, one could mistake this scenario as one describing Mali: poor governance, lack of attention and responsiveness to ethnic groups or regions - often tribal based - which then leads to bitterness, lack of connection to the concept of a nation, ending in a coup. Islam providing a convenient unifying vision, at least unifying enough for the rebels.

But no, the country, this time, is the Central African Republic (the CAR). The previous president, Mr. Bozize, has been run off by the new coup leader, Mr. Djotodia. CAR is an impoverished landlocked country in Central Africa that indeed has a fault line running through it, with Bantu tribes in the more fertile south, and nomadic, often Muslim-oriented tribes in the more-arid north. But unlike Mali, the underlying reasons behind the latest coup are primarily a reversion to the old days where poor governance, lack of institutional strength, regional neglects leave rulers vulnerable, and in this case some vague meddling by neighbors, both near and far.

And, one might say this coup also represents yet another ripple from Libya's 2011 war that flooded the region with arms Governments in neighboring countries and ethnic groups that transcend so many country boundaries, are all jockeying for their new places in the upended order of power centers.

From Hutchinson Encyclopaedia country facts - Capital: Bangui; Language: French (official), Sangho (national), Arabic, Hunsa, Swahili; Religion: Protestant 25%, Roman Catholic 25%, animist 24%, Muslim 15%; Physical features: landlocked flat plateau, with rivers flowing north and south, and hills in northeast and southwest; dry in north; Population around 4 million; Life expectancy: 39 (men), 40 (women).

Central African Republic's northern lands are drier, typical of the Sahel gradation that leads to the deserts of the Sahara. The land supports more cattle, grazing, and a pastoral lifestyle.

CAR's history - primarily from Hutchinson Encyclopaedia:

16th century Part of the Gaoga Empire.
16th-18th centuries: Population reduced greatly by slave raids both by coastal traders and Arab empires in Sudan and Chad.
1889-1903 The French established control over the area, quelling insurrections; a French colony known as Ubangi-Shari was formed and partitioned among commercial concessionaries.
1920-30 Series of rebellions against forced labour on coffee and cotton plantations savagely repressed by the French.
1958 Achieved self-government within French Equatorial Africa.
1960 Achieved independence as Central African Republic;

1966 Jean-Bedel Bokassa came to power in a coup in 1966, and(from Wikipedia)"then began a reign of terror, taking all important government posts for himself. He personally supervised judicial beatings and introduced a rule that thieves would have an ear cut off for the first two offenses and a hand for the third. In 1977, in emulation of his hero Napoleon, he crowned himself emperor of the Central African Empire in a ceremony costing $20 million, practically bankrupting the country. His diamond-encrusted crown alone cost $5 million. In 1979 he had hundreds of schoolchildren arrested for refusing to wear uniforms made in a factory he owned, and personally supervised the massacre of 100 of the schoolchildren by his Imperial Guard. In September, 1979, French paratroopers finally deposed him ..."

Emperor Bokassa holding court - another parody of enlightened self government so common among African leaders ... Comical except for the impoverishment of his people, setting them back generations.

2003 Army chief Franois Bozize deposes President Patasse in a coup. (Bozizé rose to become a high-ranking army officer in the 1970s, under the rule of Jean-Bédel Bokassa. After Bokassa was ousted, Bozizé served in the government as Minister of Defense from 1979 to 1981 and as Minister of Information from 1981 to 1982. He participated in a failed 1982 coup attempt against President André Kolingba and subsequently fled the country. Years later, he served as Army Chief of Staff under President Ange-Félix Patassé, but he began a rebellion against Patassé in 2001.)

2004 New constitution approved in referendum.
2005 Bozize won presidential elections; his Convergence movement became largest parliamentary grouping;
2006 French military forces supported his government offensive against rebel positions in northeast of country.

Which brings us up to the coup that occurred in late March, 2013. From the New York Times, "The leader of the coup in the Central African Republic, Michel Djotodia, solidified his hold on the government on Monday after announcing that he would serve as both president and defense minister and that fellow rebels would fill other top posts. Mr. Djotodia, who rose to prominence as a rebel leader in 2006, had already served as defense minister in an ill-fated unity government formed in January. But the rebels accused President François Bozizé of failing to deliver on promises related to the January accord and ousted him last month."

Click on image for full picture
Michel Djotodia, the rebel leader who declared himself president of the Central African Republic, arrives on Republic Plaza in Bangui, the capital city, on March 30.

The same Michel Djotodia in war costume, shedding the western style suit worn during his inaugural walk through the capital Bangui.

While there are some similarities between Mali's Toureg people and the Seleka coalition if ethnic groups that Djotodia leads(similar in that they perceive they have been neglected or frozen out of national participation) there seems to be more involvement/interference from neighboring Chad in this case. From a UK Daily Mail report, "The people of this riverside capital [Bangui] are not strangers to violence. Apart from an almost constantly simmering rebellion usually in more than one part of the country at the same time, Bangui residents have come to expect a military coup virtually every 10 years. Ten years ago Bozizé was the instigator, this year he was the target. This time around, [however] it's less clear who is in charge. There are far too many uniformed Chadians racing through the streets and manning impromptu roadblocks for this to feel like an internal conflict."

From the German news agency, Deutsche Welle, we read the question, "What possible motives could Chad have for backing a coup in the Central African Republic?

Chad has always been very involved in the politics of the Central African Republic. In 2003 when President Bozize organized a coup, he did it from Chad. So it's quite ironic that now he's accusing Chad of being behind his fall. Chad has a lot of economic interests in CAR, there are a lot of traders moving between the two countries, the economies of the two are very much linked. Last year President Deby went to Bangui and tried to reconcile the opposition and President Bozize. He didn't succeed but this shows how influential and important N'Djamena is in the politics of the Central African Republic."

So, what we do know is this:
* A leader who came to power 10 years ago, was deposed in another coup a few days ago.
* Chad seems involved to some degree.
* Ethnic and religious distinctions are at play.
* Libyan arms and re-aligning coalitions are also still rippling through the Sahel.
* South Africa - whom former President Bozize had cultivated as a new backer for his regime - lost over a dozen soldiers in fighting while they tried and failed to protect his government in Bangui. SA, though, has since maintained virtual silence in this latest powerplay.
* France, historically quick to intervene in its many former colonies - as it did in Mali earlier this year - has not moved significantly in this coup other than to protect its French citizens in the country.
* Looting and poor discipline among the victorious rebels are not setting the stage for a positive outcome.

Once again, stoic CAR civilians on the move trying to steer clear of random violence, and in the process being further impoverished...

Sigh.