Following last week’s meeting in Berlin with the UWC German Committee and my fellow UWC Heads, I have spent six days of this week in Australia seeing my family. To be frank, this was not really long enough (I am now back in Hong Kong), especially as my mother has been in and out of hospital after breaking her hip, my daughter is seven months pregnant, one of my sons is hobbling around in an ankle brace after an accident, and the other sons … well, they are healthy but busy.
Nonetheless, I was able to catch up with everyone, climaxing in Di’s and my joint birthday celebration over dinner in Sydney last night. It was a wonderful time of relaxing, laughing, story-telling and, of course, great eating, with all our children being present with us.
On the afternoon of the morning that I arrived in Australia from Berlin (last Sunday 25th July), I delivered an illustrated address to the Geographical Society of New South Wales on the topic of “Guardians of the Red Sea”. This was the latest in a series of lectures which I initiated way back in 1989 when I was President of the Geographical Society that was designed to raise awareness of geography in the eyes of the general public. Clearly, it has been a successful initiative that has withstood the tests of time!
The focus of my lecture last Sunday was a comparative study of the three small counties – Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen – that share boundaries with the narrow Strait of Bab al-Mandab which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden to the south. It is a volatile and strategically important part of the world, one that is often in the news, largely because of the actions of Somali pirates.
Despite their close proximity to each other, the three countries are very different from each other. Eritrea is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking 202nd out of the 209 countries surveyed by the World Bank according to GNP per capita. Djibouti, which is one of the world’s least known countries, is more wealthy due to large investments and aid received from overseas, especially from the US and France. Yemen is one of the world’s least stable countries, having numerous internal armed conflicts and being an important centre of Al-Qaida activity. All three countries have been conquered over the centuries by various foreign powers, but recent influence in Eritrea has been Italian, contrasting with French influence in Djibouti and a combination British and Soviet influence in Yemen.
My address analysed each of the three counties, beginning with Eritrea.
I mentioned that Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, was a pleasant, slow-paced provincial type of city. The recent history of Asmara is evident almost everywhere, such as in the Italian Fascist era art deco buildings, and the large field filled with war-damaged weapons and machinery. Indeed, Asmara’s art deco buildings are a distinctive feature of the city, even though many are now in a sad state of disrepair. Particularly noteworthy are the Fiat Tagliero Building, (which is a disused petrol station resembling an aircraft in flight) and the nearby Irga Building.
Asmara enjoys a relatively cool climate considering its equatorial latitude (15°N) due to its high altitude (2325 metres, higher than the summit of Australia’s highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko). A very different part of Eritrea lies on a narrow coastal plain at a much lower elevation. This coastal plain is connected to the higher plateau by just a few narrow, winding roads that are still lined in places with burned out tanks from the war of independence with Ethiopia in the late 1990s.
Eritrea’s coastal plain is a hot, arid area with sparse desert scenery, nomadic graziers and fuelwood gatherers, and just a few settlements. The largest coastal settlement is the port city of Massawa, with a population of about 35,000 people. Massawa has many grand buildings from the optimistic early period of Italian colonisation, but sadly many of them remain badly damaged bombed out shells from the war with Ethiopia in the 1990s. Consequently, the provision of housing in Massawa is very poor, with many families still living in damaged buildings or in the streets.
In marked contrast with Eritrea, Djibouti is a moderately affluent country (by North-east African standards) whose capital city (also called Djibouti) is dominated by tree-lined streets and crumbling French colonial-era buildings in its centre. In keeping with the significant French and American funds being received, the presence of multinational corporations such as Coca-Cola and Blédina is very evident throughout the city.
The outskirts of Djibouti city contain large areas of shanty settlements, with many of the people being refugees from war-torn areas in nearby Somalia, and to a lesser extent, from the border areas of Eritrea with Ethiopia and Djibouti. The shanty areas lack basic services such as running water, creating significant heath issues for the population.
To the west of Djibouti city lies one of north-east Africa’s most remarkable sights, the heavily saline Lake Assal. At 150 metres below sea level, Lake Assal is the lowest point on the African continent, and marks one of the most northerly points of the Great Rift Valley that runs through East Africa. The waters of the lake contain the highest concentration of salt in any natural water body in the world, being 34.8% saline (compared with 33.7% for the Dead Sea and an average of 3.5% for the world’s oceans).
The third country discussed in my address, Yemen, has a long history of political instability and conflict that continues to this day. I began my discussion of Yemen in the country’s capital city, Sana’a. With a population of 1.8 million people, it is claimed that Sana’a is the world’s oldest city, having been started by Shem, one of Noah’s sons.
Today, the city is distinguished by its distinctive, old high-rise buildings, elaborately decorated with lace-like patterns around the windows, balconies and exterior walls. In many ways, the old section of Sana’a retains some of the features of a traditional Yemeni village, albeit a very large one, including areas of crop cultivation, the raising of livestock, as well as traditional crafts and manufacturing,
Another interesting facet of Sana’a’s traditions is the absence of women from public places and outside areas. As I demonstrated in the photos I shared, it is indeed very rare to see women outside in the streets of Sana’a, or even in the markets.
After looking at Sana’a, I then described Yemen’s rural areas, beginning in the Haraz Mountains to the west of Sana’a, which are said to be a significant recruiting area for Al-Qaida.
The rural areas of Yemen are breathtaking in their beauty. The mountains are high and steep, but very arid and often terraced for farming to make use of the thin, rocky soils. A major crop in Yemen is the qat plant, also known by various names such as khat and gat in Yemen, chat in Ethiopia, jaad in Somalia, and miraa in Kenya and Tanzania. When chewed, the leaves release amphetamines which act as a narcotic. It is estimated that about 80% of Yemenis chew qat on an almost daily basis, and its cultivation has taken over many areas of land previously used for growing food. As a result, Yemen faces something of a food crisis, importing about 85% of its food, as well as serious water shortages because of the demands made by qat cultivation.
I described a variety of Yemeni towns and villages, some of which are located on rocky mountaintops for defence, while others are situated at the base of escarpments to tap into water supplies. Regardless of their location, however, the towns and villages were spectacular for their architecture, outlooks, inaccessibility and lifestyles.
I hope that my address to the Geographical Society was able to provide an insight into this seldom-visited yet highly significant part of the world. Certainly the appreciative comments from many in the audience at the end of the lecture and during the afternoon that followed were extremely encouraging. As one person commented to me, given the difficulties of obtaining visas, the challenges of transport, the uncomfortable climate and the occasional risks of kidnapping, hostage-taking, torture and beheading, they could not think of a better way to experience this part of the world than through my lecture!
I travelled to Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen with my youngest son, Andrew, in summer 2008. A daily diary of the trip can be viewed on days 25 to 29 and 32 to 34 HERE, and a gallery of photos taken on the trip can be viewed HERE.