A Muslim by any other name

Abstract

A crisis is emerging in the Nile Basin, where some 300 million people in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi rely on the Nile directly or indirectly. Egypt and Sudan wish to preserve a regime based on treaties drawn up during the colonial era that allocated the vast majority of the Nile's water to them. Countries upstream are determined to challenge this. In 1999 the countries using the river formed the Nile Basin Initiative to try to resolve these differences. More than a decade of negotiations failed to break the impasse. In May Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda decided to wait no longer and signed a new treaty, without the consent of Egypt and Sudan. The signatories have given the other Nile Basin countries one year to join the pact. For Egypt, which relies on the Nile for 95 per cent of its water, this is a question of life or death. Egypt has, in the past, indicated it will go to war if its share of the Nile is reduced. Talks continue, but the impasse is driving the region towards a crisis to which there is no easy resolution.     

SECURITY BRIEF

Using crime review figures for four randomly selected states in Nigeria, this study examines cases of kidnapping and its implications for the national economy. The findings reveal that kidnapping is consistently on the increase in Nigeria and is not evenly spread across regions. It is shown that 15 cases were recorded in 2005 and 43 cases in 2008. In 2009, 138 cases were officially recorded, of which 22% and 76% occurred in Rivers and Edo states respectively. Findings further showed that modern kidnapping in Nigeria is triggered by resource control disputes directed both at oil expatriate workers and at prominent citizens, politicians and members of their families. The crisis, which came to the fore in 2005, has forced oil production shutdowns of up to 800 000 barrels per day. The study concludes that kidnapping is becoming a serious crime in Nigeria with significant negative implications for foreign investment, national foreign exchange earnings, and revenue generation.