Dogs in Africa

A slightly shorter version of the following piece appeared in the September 2015 edition of the Foreign Service Journal.  I prefer this longer version.

We acquired Mogi in Bangui. He was a feisty little puppy, part Shepherd, who grew into a fifty pound dog.  Admiring his size our Yakoma neighbors advised that he was safe on our eastern side of the city, but had we lived south, “those M’baka” would put him in the pot.  

Late on a Friday, the chargé got a call from former foreign minister Joseph Potolot advising that he was being sent (by irascible and unpredictable President Jean Bedel Bokassa) on an urgent mission to Washington, leaving the next morning.   I checked the files and discovered that the minister’s visa had expired so I went along to the meeting, collected his passport and promised to deliver it, visa included, at the airport the following morning.  I went home grabbed a quick bite, tossed the passport on the coffee table and headed to the airport to meet a visitor on the evening flight. When I returned some hours later, Connie met me with bad news, “Mogi ate Mr. Potolot’s passport.”  She held up a well chewed soggy mess with teeth punctures through several pages. 

I envisaged my imminent departure from the country, if not from life itself.  Bokassa’s government was not to be messed with.  I called the chargé to explain the issue.  I said, “We have a problem.” He heard me out, paused and replied, “Bob, you have a problem.”  I hunkered down with a hair dryer, some cardboard shims, glue and an iron.  Before long I had a more presentable, if obviously mangled document.   In the morning I put a visa in it and took it to the airport, thinking the minister could either laugh or explode. The latter possibility had me worried, but he took it in stride. He did not want to have to explain to his boss why he was not traveling as ordered.   I assured him the visa was valid and I would notify U.S. authorities that he was on his way.  Subsequently, I sent a cable describing the situation, asking for courtesies at the port of entry and noting that the minister’s passport had been “slightly mutilated by the Vice Consul’s dog.”

Two weeks later Potolot sent over a brand new passport for a visa.   

Unfortunately that was not Mogi’s only brush with officialdom. Later he got through the fence into a neighboring compound and killed at least one rabbit that was being raised by the woman that lived there.  The lady in question was one of Bokassa’s mistresses and her security was provided by the army.  Two armed soldiers appeared at the door holding a dead rabbit and demanding restitution and retribution.  Thankfully an adequate payment resolved the matter.  We got Mogi out of country before further mishap.  

Years later in Kampala, when I came home for lunch the gardener carted over a big trash can for my inspection. I assumed he had killed a snake, but instead he had a scrawny, filthy little puppy. He explained that a mother dog with two pups snuck through the fence to drink out of the pool. One fell in, but when he investigated the commotion the others ran off.  We had a new dog.  She was terrified of the world so we held her constantly, when put down she disappeared in a flash. So that became her name.  She grew into a wonderful pet, happy, loving and friendly, who rarely barked.  

Too soon, before we could act, Flash became pregnant - by the Marines’ dog, a fact of which they heartily approved - and had eight puppies.  My son Mark named them all; most with Greek mythological names that he was studying in school. We kept Nike who most closely resembled his mom.  Mark gave Cerebus to a friend, who obviously was not paying attention in class, because he renamed his dog Reebok. 

Upon leaving Kampala in 1991 and uncertain of our next posting, we found a home for Flash and Nike with a Peace Corps staff family.  However, upon my return to neighboring Rwanda five years later I contacted the family and offered to take the dogs back, when/if they might need a new home. Subsequently we did a dog exchange at Mbale in southern Uganda.  I know that Flash recognized me. 

So Flash, Nike and Mash, another part ridgeback, joined us in Kigali.  I quickly learned to tell folks that these were Ugandan dogs, i.e. they had not been in Rwanda during the genocide when local dogs went feral and ate corpses.  Nonetheless we penned the dogs up during events at the residence. During one July Fourth reception as the crowd quieted down for my remarks, Nike, hearing his master’s voice over the loud speaker, joined in - howling until the end. 

Dogs were part of our lives, and despite the hiccups, usually a bonus in interactions with the communities around us. We were blessed for having them.

Conflict and Intrigue in Mali - an inside view?

A review of The Golden Hour by Todd Moss, GP Putnam’s Sons, NY, 2014

This novel of diplomatic intrigue is set in Mali and revolves around a coup d’etat where all is not quite what it seems to be.  The hero of the piece is Judd Ryker a university professor who has elaborated a theory, based apparently on statistics (although that was never explained) , to the effect that to reverse a coup d’etat one must act early before the politics, personalities  and security arrangements of the coup makers can jell, i.e. within the golden hour(s).    Duh...  In any case this codification of common sense has propelled Ryker into a job at the Department of State where he has been given the responsibility to implement his theory.  Mali, a country that he had some academic experience in, conveniently comes along. 

Ryker, a political appointee, has to confront an unwelcoming and unwieldy bureaucratic system. (This gives author Moss, himself from this milieu, the opportunity to satirize the system; both State and CIA. Yet such digs are not spiteful and descriptions of people and processes have the ring of truth).  Ryker finds that he has to go personally to Mali to discover the truth.  Amazingly he already knows most of the players involved, and although the truth is difficult to discern, our hero works his way through and, of course, saves the day.  Although Ryker is a one man show, unknowingly, he is also a pawn. That is a nice twist in the plot.

Because of author Moss’ background there is much inside scoop on how the State Department reacts to a crisis.  Those knowledgeable will be forced to laugh at themselves. The Mali context was accurate as to places and culture.  I thought the portrait of the ambassador, albeit overdrawn, was fun.  Readers do need to be reminded that this book is fiction, the type of power, and ability to marshal resources to the extent described, just does not exist. 

However, the bottom line is that The Golden Hour is a jolly good read.

The Holocaust linked to Rwandan Genocide

A review of The Ambassadors by George Lerner, Pegasus Books. NY, 2014

No this is not The Ambassadors by Henry James, although it has the same title. The origin of Lerner’s  title is a 1533 painting by Hans Holbein also entitled The Ambassadors.  That painting portrays two distinguished gentlemen  gathered  round a panoply of objects including a globe and a skull, which  indicates their worldliness. Characters in the novel cite that painting and hark back to it on several occasions as the story unfolds.  And a rather odd story it is:  

The novel revolves around Jacob, now an elderly Jew, who found his life’s purpose at the end of the Second World War in saving post holocaust Jews from new horrors and helping them escape to Israel.  Subsequently Jacob remained involved in such efforts, including the evacuation of the Falasha from Ethiopia, wherever Jews were persecuted.  Whenever called to duty Jacob abandoned his family in New York and went to serve. 

When the novel opens Jacob has been called again, but this time to aid the Tutsi people, victims of genocide in Rwanda.  Although not Jewish, Jacob’s preservation mandate has been extended to all those who suffer annihilation.   Even though this plot line is essential to the novel, the thrust of the story is to unwind Jacob’s strained relationships with his wife and son.  She is a respected anthropologist and the son a failure, at least in Jacob’s eyes.  Jacob had more or less abandoned them during his zealous pursuit of justice for global victims.  They, in turn, harbor resentments and antagonisms.   However, in eastern Congo where the Hutu/Tutsi conflict has renewed, Jacob comes to realize that harsh boundaries of right and wrong are perhaps too strict to define humankind’s inhumanities and frailties.  With that growing enlightenment, Jacob returns to New York to sort out his family.  

I read the book because of the Africa connection.  I found that, for the most part, the situation was accurately portrayed.  Neither side comes across as sympathetic.  The genocide is never explained, it is just a given.  While some genocidaires are despicable hoodlums, the ruthlessness of revenge is forthrightly depicted.  In sum, that’s the message - tooth for a tooth has limits - afterwards you just have to cope.   

War and Afterwads in Sudan - an extraordinary life

A review of The Red Pelican - Life on Africa’s Last Frontier by Jon Arensen, Old Africa Books, Naivasha, Kenya, 2013.

 This book is a biography with elaborations and dialogue like it might have been.  It tells the tale of Dick Lyth, an Englishman imbued with missionary zeal who, in 1939, set out to minister to Africans in southern Sudan.  Before he could barely get started, World War II began and he offered his services to the crown.   He was commissioned into the Sudan Defense Forces and given the task of securing the south eastern border from aggression from Italian troops based in Ethiopia.  This was not as easy task nor was it easily done because initially Lyth had no troops to command.  However, he recruited among southern tribesmen and soon patched together and trained a small force.   Next was the problem of getting to the border, which was hundreds of miles away across roadless barren desert and waterless plains.  They marched.  Indeed throughout this saga the feats of human endurance that are recounted are amazing.

Climbing to the Boma Plateau on the Ethiopian border, Lyth made friends with the Murle inhabitants and enlisted several in the war effort.  Outgunned by the better equipped Italian led forces, Lyth - completely on his own - devised a hit-and-run guerilla campaign that kept the enemy at bay and in retreat for months until a larger Allied Force could push into Ethiopia and remove the menace.  Lyth subsequently transferred into the colonial administrative service and served as district commissioner for this remote area for the next ten years.  Indeed eastern southern Sudan was then and perhaps still is among the most remote and neglected parts of Africa.  The D.C.’s principal job was to keep the peace and to regulate disputes among the tribes.  Lyth was excellent at this. He understood, listened and was Solomonic in judgment.  As evidence of respect he was given the name Red Pelican by Murle elders. Lyth married his English sweetheart and they raised three children in the isolated administrative towns where they lived.  After an astonishing career, following the independence of Sudan in 1956 Lyth resigned from the colonial service, took Holy Orders and later became the Anglican bishop of Kigezi, Uganda.

This biography is replete with stories of bravery, endurance, cultural tolerance, big game hunting, and governing issues.   It was a time of imperialism, when British rule was uncontested.   The book paints an accurate picture of what life was like, both for the Europeans and the Africans, during this epoch and place. 

The writing was a little turgid at times, but the story line held my interest.  The map in the book was inadequate for the task of locating the action.  Finally, I discovered one geographic error, when the author described Lyth’s initial posting in 1939 to south western Sudan “along the borders of Uganda, Congo and the Central African Republic.”  In those days the CAR was known as Oubangui-Chari.

Those in search of obscure, but real stories about Africa in days gone by will find this a fascinating read.

Ebola - Back from the Hot Zone

 A retired ambassador I was in charge of the U.S. embassy in Freetown, Sierra Leone for several weeks in August and September.  Following is some background on the rapidly changing situation there. I have been home now for more than twenty-one days and did return before the Ebola hysteria mushroomed in the U.S. 

Last August in Sierra Leone the infection rate for Ebola was doubling every week. Hundreds were already dead and a thousand more sick with the deadly disease.  The country was in shock, the populace scared and apprehensive, the government confused and the international community ill prepared to deal with the scourge.  American authorities were slow in understanding how quickly the malady was spreading and what its impact would be.  A crisis of this sort was not something we diplomats trained for, but the first order of business was to put our house -  our embassy -  in order and to re-focus on an appropriate response.   Accordingly, Peace Corps Volunteers were sent home and embassy families were re-located to the U.S.  We advised citizens not to travel to the region and, if they were already there to leave if convenient.  However, most of the approximately four thousand Americans in Sierra Leone are dual nationals and many of them are minors. The embassy declared an “emergency,” a formality that permitted USAID to respond with disaster assistance funding.   At the chancery we began a series of educational discussions designed to insure that all employees, both American and Sierra Leonean, knew what Ebola was, how it was transmitted and how to avoid contamination.  We stressed “don’t touch sick people, don’t touch the dead.”  We also trained a team to wear protective gear and put into place visitor screenings and contingency plans should a contact or an infected person enter the premises.  We deemed that our consular operation where dozens of folks applied for visas daily to be our most vulnerable point, but judged it necessary to continue operations.  Even as we took these precautions at the chancery itself, embassy personnel engaged intensely with Sierra Leonean authorities from the President on down and the donor community with regard to strategies, policies and mechanisms designed to curb the outbreak.   Unfortunately, nobody really knew the dimensions of the problem or how to deal with it on the scale required.  Clearly human resources, i.e. health care workers, the necessary equipment  - protective gear, gloves, body bags, laboratory supplies, disinfectants, etc. - and sufficient beds in properly managed isolation and treatment centers were in short supply. 

By mid-August all were acutely aware that the situation was spiraling out of control.  The numbers of sick and dead from the hard hit eastern regions were growing astronomically and cases were beginning to popup in the densely populated capital.  The international press publicized the situation. African neighbors ostracized the three core countries. Most international flights were cancelled.  The government adopted stringent measures.  Chlorine hand washing stations were required at all buildings.   Public meetings, gatherings and sporting events were banned. Schools closed indefinitely. Travel to and from the interior was constrained.  All illnesses were to be reported to authorities, likewise all deaths.  Traditional funerals and funeral rites were banned. The dead were to be collected and buried by trained teams wearing protective gear. A nation-wide campaign was undertaken to educate the populace about the disease.  In September there was a nationwide stand down so that Ebola education teams could visit every household.  Meanwhile, the government and the World Health Organization (WHO) in conjunction with international partners invigorated the response mechanism with new leadership.  Visits by UN Ebola czar David Nabarro and CDC Director Tom Frieden underscored both the urgency of the crisis and the commitment of the international community to be supportive.   By September that support was beginning to flow in a steady manner. 

Fortunately, CDC was ahead of the curve and by early August already had a number of epidemiologists and other experts, between 20 and 30, on site. They were instrumental in helping to establish the first isolation and treatment centers. Working with the national Emergency Operation Center they helped to define policies and priorities.   They were hands on in establishing laboratories, reporting mechanisms and statistical compilations.  A CDC team worked closely with airport authorities to ensure that screening for travelers met the highest standards. A four person Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) from USAID soon arrived and began the process of ordering and coordinating the delivery of quantities of necessary supplies.  We were also successful in getting five ambulances transferred to the Sierra Leonean army from the Department of State controlled regional peacekeeping stockpile.  We also made arrangements for specialized training for Sierra Leonean military personnel engaged in providing security in and around the isolation and treatment centers in the quarantined zone.    Subsequently all of these undertakings have expanded.  Now, even the U.S. military is deploying personnel and resources to aid in the response.  American efforts have been complimented by other donors, foremost the UN family led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank. Additionally, the U.K. Ireland, China, the EU and others have all played a part.  A number of health professionals from elsewhere in Africa have also volunteered to serve.  Yet the anti-Ebola effort remains mostly a Sierra Leonean affair.  At least ninety percent of the crucial health care providers are locals and health care personnel have borne the brunt of the casualties.  Virtually all of the contact tracers, ambulance personnel and burial teams are local. More people are being recruited and trained for all of these tasks.  The number of treatment beds is expanding. The population is acutely aware of the reality of Ebola.  Hysteria and rumor that characterized earlier times have subsided to be replaced by stoicism while waiting for an uncertain future.   So far, although we may be gaining a little, it is still not enough. New infections continue to outpace the response. 

The cost to Sierra Leonean society is high.  People no longer touch in greeting.  No handshake is a ever present reminder of the crisis. How to reconcile the need to care for sick family with the stricture of not to touch?  How to conform to the directive of don’t wash or bury the dead, when traditional culture requires that?   With no schools families are hard pressed to monitor their children.  Imagine the disruption this generates.  Fear of Ebola has meant the collapse of the non-Ebola health care system.  Hospitals and clinics have closed because staff have no preparation or equipment to deal with feverish walk-ins.  So malaria, measles, flu are untreated not to mention heart attacks, injuries, and maternity cases.  Food is in short supply in the cities as transportation links to rural areas degrade.  Similarly, regional transportation throughout West Africa is stalled, exports affected and the economy spirals downward.  Lack of international personnel, business travelers and visitors has hit the hospitality industry hard.  Hotels and restaurants are empty.  Banks have limited hours. All of this, but especially the specter of the unknown - will I get infected? Will my family? Will I have a job? How safe am I? -  result in great apprehension.  Personal relationships are suffering and discrimination against families with known cases, survivors and even health care workers is evident. People feel victimized by God, by the devil, by fate, by government, by politicians, by the international community, and by neighbors.  So a sense of helplessness grows.  So far this has not yet resulted in social chaos, but it might.  One has to hope that the Sierra Leonean strength of character, tempered as it has been by a terrible civil war, will prevail.   However, at the end - when it comes, when Ebola is conquered - a massive undertaking will be required to heal the national psyche as well as to rebuild the economy.