The Eeonomist March 21st 2020A crocodile-hunter's tears
MllANDAltA
Hunters are hurt1n1 the rainforest, but they have few optfonsC
ICERON NYALOW~S parents are
disappointed.1beirsontookaboat
from their riverside village to the city of
Mbandalca, in the heart of the Congo
Basin rainforest, where he enrolled in a
teacher-training college. They wanted
him to become a crocodile hunter, like
his father and most of bis ancestors.
"There is a lot of pressure; says Mr Nya-
lowala. Hunting for bush meat is~
ular-and may pay better than teaching.
However, it banns wildlife in the
r.linforest, which spans six countries and
is second in size only to the Amazon.
Around 6m tonnesofbushmeatare
thought to come out of the Congo Basin
each year. The number of animals killed
for the pot has been increasing, accord-
ing to a study from 2016 led by Goethe
University Flankfurt. More bunters are
selling their prey in markets, instead of
eating it themselves. 1be trade bas em~
tied out parts of the forest; 39% of it is at
severe risk of over-bunting, the study
says. Everything from bonobos (an en-
dangered species of ape) to cobras, ante-Pays better than teaching~revolution· that advocates say is necessary
to tailor future policies. All but five African
countries have Jatified the Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
which pledges them to ensure broad legal
equality forthe disabled.
No country stands out as a model.
Policymakers often fret that providing for
disabled people will be expensive and con-
sume scarce resources. But some solutions
lopes and, occasionally, elephants, a~
pear at market stalls inMbandaka.
Over-hunting bas made life more
dangerous for crocodile bunters. The
number of dwarl crocodiles, once com-
mon in the Congo river, is dwindling. so
hunters have to chase the ferocious Nile
crocodile instead. There are plenty of
those. Their scaly bodies stretch to six
metres and they often kill humans.
stalkers in canoes go after them at night,
shining a torch while stirring the water.
"The crocodile does not like that," says
Mr Nyalowala. ·He begins to writhe and
then comes toattadt.u As the animal
pounces so do its pursuers, spearing it.
Alive crocodile fetches more than a
dead one in the markets in Mbandaka, so
hunters bind their jaws and ttansport
them some 200km downstream in their
canoes. They sell for around $iso each. A
teacher at a state school, by comparison,
earns around $t7oamonth, though
many did not get paid at all last year. No
wonderMrNyalowala's parents wanted
him to follow in bis father's footsteps.that do not cost much can make a big im-
pact. Health centres, for example, could
start by installing wider doorways, adjust·
able beds and ramps. And health and edu-
cation departments could do a far better
jobofteacbingtheirownstaffaboutthesex
lives of the disabled, even if it may take
time to remove social stigmas and correct
horrific misapprehensions, such as that
rape is a cure for HIV. •Middle East & Africa 43Coping with covid-19Prayer in a
pandemic
lllElllUT
Closed mosques. shorter sermons and
holy band sanitiserF
OR. CENTURIES the adhan, the Muslim
call to prayer, has been a changeless fea-
ture of life in the Arab world. In war or
peace, prosperity or famine, the same
rhythmic chant echoes across cities and
towns five times each day. Midway through
comes an emort:ation to worship. But on
March 13th a muezzin in Kuwait, his voice
plainly cracking with emotion, made a
small tweak. Instead of ·hayya alas-salahu
(come to prayer), he told the faithful "as-sa·
latu Ji buyutitum" (PRY in your homes).
words that seemed immutable were no
longer such.
COvid-i.g has already disrupted eco-
nomic and socla1 life. Across the Middle
East it is also changing ancient patterns of
worship. There is scriptural precedent for
stopping Friday prayers: for example, an
uncle of the Prophet Muhammad is said to
have urged followers to stay at home dur-
ing foul weather. But Kuwaitis say this is
the first time in their modem histor:y that
prayers were cancelled.
Other countries are following suit.
Egypt, the most populous Arab country,
first capped Friday sermons at 15 minutes.
Then al-Azhar, the Sunni world's most
prestigious scholarly centre, decreed that
they could be halted altogether to stop the
virus from spreading. The United Arab
Emirates stopped them on March isth. Je-
rusalem's al-Aqsa mosque has been closed
indefinitely, though worshippers still
gather on the large esplanade outside.
The scene is even more striking in Mec-
ca. the spiritual centre of the Muslim
world. In nonnal times the city's grand
mosque is a teeming mass of humanity,
filled day and night with thousands of pil-
grims circumambulating the Kaaba, the
imposing granite cube that is Islam's holi-
estsite. on March 4th, though, the authori-
ties in Saudi Arabia suspended the umrah, a
pilgrimage that occurs year-round. As-
tounded Saudis swapped photos of the
mosque's white-marble plM.a, glittering in
the sun-and deserted, save for a few work-
ers spraying disinfectant.
Younger saudis could not recall ever
seeing it so empty; older ones drew a paml-
lel with 1979, when the mosque was seized
by extremists and besieged for two weeks.
1be government has not made any deci-
sion about the annual haj pilgrimage,
which should begin in late July. cancelling
itwouldbeablowbothspiritualandfinan-
cial: it attracts millions of people and con-~