40 Middle East & Africa The EconomistAugust 3rd 2019
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arub ikhdehand his friends had been
waiting half their lives to get on a bus.
The six young men had never left Gaza,
which has been blockaded by Israel and
Egypt since 2007. They grew up in a territo-
ry where half the population is jobless and
at least 70% rely on aid to survive. “We’re all
recent graduates in business and it,” says
Mr Ikhdeh. “And we’re all unemployed.”
Early on a recent morning the friends
sat in a sun-baked car park in Rafah, on the
border with Egypt. Each had crammed his
life into a single suitcase. They would soon
board a bus for Cairo, then a flight to Dubai
in the United Arab Emirates (uae). None
had a job waiting in the uae. Their tourist
visas would be valid for only a month. But
the mere prospect of work was enough to
make them leave home.
Gazans wanting to leave the territory
have two main exits. Only a few may use
the crossing at Erez, on the border with Is-
rael. The rest are limited to Rafah. Poor re-
lations between Egypt and Hamas, the mil-
itant Islamist group that controls Gaza,
meant that it was largely sealed for years.
Egypt opened the crossing for just 36 days
in 2017. But since last spring, when thou-
sands of Gazans started to protest at the
border with Israel to demand the removal
of the blockade, Egypt has loosened its re-
strictions. Last year the Rafah crossing was
open for 198 days.
The change set off an exodus from Gaza,
which has a population of 2m. Last year
there were 60,900 crossings into Egypt,
three-and-a-half times more than in 2017
(see chart). About 24,000 people seem notto have returned. There were another
33,000 crossings in the first half of this
year. Some of those leaving, like Mr Ikhdeh,
hope to find work in the Gulf. Others fly to
Turkey and attempt the perilous journey
across the Mediterranean to Europe.
Emigration has long carried a stigma
among some Palestinians, a people who
have fought for generations to stay on their
land. Hamas does not release statistics on
emigration, lest they highlight how bad life
in Gaza has become during its rule. But
those leaving seem to be mostly recent uni-
versity graduates. Youth unemployment is
thought to be about 70%. Earlier this year
the education ministry advertised 300 new
teaching positions. It received 43,000 ap-
plications. Those who do find work are of-
ten stuck in dead-end jobs. “I’ve been at the
same company for eight years and I onlyRAFAH
With the border open at last, young Palestinians are leaving Gaza in drovesGazaAn exodus in reverse
Getting out moreSource:UNOCHA *ToJune30thCrossings of people from Gaza to Egypt
AtRafahbordercrossing,’00002040602015 16 17 18 19*Numberofdays
crossing open32 44 36 198 118J
ohn magufuli, Tanzania’s presi-
dent, is known as “the Bulldozer”.
When he took office in 2015 the nick-
name was seen as a compliment: at last
the East African country of 57m people
had a leader who would take on graft
and get things done. In his first months
in charge Mr Magufuli wasted no time
in cracking down on corruption (at
least among his enemies). But since
then the only things being squashed in
Tanzania are civil liberties.
One observer who knows this well is
Erick Kabendera. A journalist, Mr Ka-
bendera has written for the Economist
Intelligence Unit, our sister company,
and many other international outlets.
He has documented Mr Magufuli’s
abuses of power, including a proposal
last year that would make it illegal to
contradict official statistics.
On July 29th Mr Kabendera was
forcibly removed from his home on the
outskirts of Dar es Salaam, the com-
mercial capital, by plain-clothes
policemen. His phone, and those of his
wife and neighbours, were taken. The
premise for the abduction is unclear
and his whereabouts are unknown.
Mr Kabendera’s arrest is not the first
attack on journalists in Tanzania under
Mr Magufuli. Azory Gwanda, a free-
lance, was abducted in 2017 and has not
been seen since. At least four news-
papers and two radio stations have
been closed. Legislation enacted in
2016 made it harder to criticise those in
power. (The East African Court of Jus-
tice says it violates press freedom.)
Other critics of the regime, includ-
ing opposition mps, are frequently
arrested. One mp, Tundu Lussu, was
shot in 2017 in an assassination at-
tempt. Companies such as Acacia
Mining have been shaken down for
huge tax bills.
The repression is hurting Tanzania.
Earlier this year the imf warned that
authoritarianism and arbitrary policies
were crimping growth in what was
once one of the continent’s fastest-
growing economies. Mr Magufuli,
naturally, blocked the report’s release.
But it is the human cost that is most
apparent. Tanzania was until recently a
relatively liberal country in a region
dotted with tyrannies. Under Mr Magu-
fuli that reputation is in tatters. It is a
story that Mr Kabendera has told. He
seems to be paying the price for that.Ta ke n
Tyranny in TanzaniaJOHANNESBURG
Another critic of the president is silenced