News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

An unusual Ramadaan tradition: prank shows

Posted: 20 Jun 2016 11:33 PM PDT

For almost 30 years Egyptians have been settling down to break their fasts with dates, hearty meals and prank shows on their television set.

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Cairo - However parlous the state of the world, right now it's worse for Muslims, who are abstaining from food, drink and sex from sunrise to sunset this month. And with Ramadaan falling during the longest days, this holy month is proving particularly difficult. But some countries have original ways of helping the virtuous keep their minds off their empty bellies. For almost 30 years Egyptians have been settling down to break their fasts with dates, hearty meals and prank shows on their television set.

Best known for putting the “mad” back into their Ramadaan is a comedian by the name of Ramez Galal. Pranking both Arab and Hollywood celebs since 2011, his high-rating show has become a Ramadaan tradition across the Arab world.

Galal's schtick involves tricking celebrities into terrifying situations and then watching their reactions. Think Jeremy Beadle on speed. And turbo boost. Victims have been led to believe they are about to drown at sea, their plane is on the verge of crashing, or that they have been kidnapped by terrorists (well, if you didn't laugh, you'd cry).

His celeb hit list includes Paris Hilton and Antonio Banderas, as well as numerous Arab superstars. Galal's stunts are so extreme that he's been punched by victims and threatened with lawsuits. This year he took on Hollywood hardman Steven Seagal, conning the actor into thinking the skyscraper he was in was on fire and staging a dramatic rescue. Once the truth was revealed an angry Segal decked Galal.

Now Galal even finds himself in a ratings war against fellow prankster and comedian Hany Ramzi.

(Sample prank: Ramzi invites Arab celebrities to jet off to South Africa for a safari experience, then traps them in caged car with a snake.) But for Mohamed Kamal, a DJ for Hawa Radio in Cairo, there's no competition.

“Prank shows started to be a Ramadaan tradition before I was born,” he says, “but Ramez Galal is the best and most popular one so far. It's really good to watch our superstars in different fields with Ramez, in these hard situations. For example, football stars such as Mido. We don't always have the chance to watch them in Ramadaan. This way, we get to know more about their personalities. Most Egyptians think it's fake, but they keep watching. At the end of the day, we all find it entertaining and funny as hell. It's typical Egyptian humour, we love this type of tricks.”

But these shows can tread a fine line, sometimes crossing into controversial territory. One of Galal's pranks showed Arab singer Heba Magdi being “abducted by Isis”, who then forced her to put on a suicide belt. Another jape, showing a mock-execution by Israelis prompted the Times of Israel to call it “sick”.

Nor are all Egyptians fans of the new wave of pranksters. Ali Amro who is studying for a PhD at Sydney University in Middle Eastern Studies, says his cousins put the show on as they break fast together. “If you compare the evolution of comical Ramadaan TV shows in Egypt, this has really hit rock bottom. Contrast this to a generation ago when something like Ibrahim Nasr's Camera Khafeya was shown. It was cheaply made, but enabled the unsuspecting victims to get into a dialogue and exhibit their wit. Ramez's show dehumanises the victim, be they celebrities or not.

“The show is reflective of Egypts gutter politics and general state of affairs which has long suffered from an imagination crisis.”

But here in the UK, stand-up comedian and writer Sadia Azmat believes we could learn from Egypt. “Ramadaan TV traditions are mainly fundraising appeals on the ethnic channels. I think my friend once counted 36 different appeals at one time,” she says. “It's nice to see such fun programmes, I would love to see more variety in terms of genre catering for all audiences.”

As for the scholars, they are divided over the issue of Ramadaan fun. Says Qari Asim, Imam of the Makkah Masjid in Leeds: “As long as an activity is not unlawful in Islam, Muslims can pretty much carry on.” However, others believe that fooling people and putting them in a state of fear is not a very Islamic principle and therefore best avoided. Imam Usman Butt of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association in Stevenage, Herts., says: “The Qur’an tells us to stay away from falsehood in general and especially during the month of Ramadaan. And this show is based on the premise of falsehood.”

There are those who would argue that in this time of extremism and Islamaphobia, Muslims should stop taking themselves so seriously. But then, the Muslim world is not a homogenous entity and theological ideology should not be confused with cultural norms and practices. Because the truth is that these Ramadaan prank shows have as much to do with Islam as a Downton Abbey Christmas special has to do with the birth of Christ.

The Independent

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DRC declares yellow fever epidemic

Posted: 20 Jun 2016 07:07 PM PDT

Health officials in the DRC have confirmed 67 cases of yellow fever - and another 1 000 people are being monitored for the disease.

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Kinshasa - The Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday declared a yellow fever epidemic in three provinces, including the capital Kinshasa, after confirming 67 cases of the disease, with another 1 000 suspected cases being monitored.

Health Minister Felix Kabange said only seven of the proven cases were indigenous to the Central African country, while 58 were imported from Angola, where the outbreak began. A further two cases came from remote forested areas not linked to the current outbreak. Five people in total have died, Kabange added.

“I declare today a localised epidemic of yellow fever in the provinces of Kinshasa, Kongo Central and Kwango,” Kabange told a news conference.

Kinshasa is the primary concern for global health officials since it has a densely-packed population of more than 12 million and poor healthcare infrastructure.

Yellow fever is transmitted by the same mosquitoes that spread the Zika and dengue viruses, although it is a much more serious disease. The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some infected patients.

The global stockpile of vaccines has already been depleted twice this year to immunise people in Angola, Uganda and Congo. It stands at 6 million doses, but this may not be enough if there are simultaneous outbreaks in multiple highly-populated areas, experts warn.

Almost 18 million doses have been distributed for emergency vaccination campaigns so far in the three African countries.

The current method for making vaccines, using chicken eggs, takes a year.

World Health Organisation (WHO) advisers have recommended using a fifth of the standard dose of vaccine in the event of a global shortage - enough to immunise temporarily but not to give lifelong immunity.

“An epidemic in such a large city (as Kinshasa) is always difficult to handle,” said WHO's Congo representative Yokouide Allarangar.

A vaccination campaign has been staged in two of the city's health zones deemed as high risk because the virus is circulating but is not linked to imported cases, he said.

“We need to quickly try to contain these zones where the virus circulates to prevent the disease from spreading to other zones,” he said, adding that a million of the city's residents have been vaccinated so far.

Manufacturers of the vaccine include the Institut Pasteur, government factories in Brazil and Russia as well as French drugmaker Sanofi.

Congo's outbreak, since January, comes at a time when political tensions linked to an upcoming presidential election and an economic crisis stoked by a slump in global commodity prices is already putting a huge strain on the country's stability.

President Joseph Kabila is facing opposition, which has sometimes turned violent, amid concerns that he will try to cling to power beyond the expiry of his mandate at year-end.

REUTERS

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#WorldRefugeeDay: Immense human suffering recorded

Posted: 20 Jun 2016 12:55 AM PDT

One in every 113 people was affected by forced displacement in 2015. The UNHCR said this was the highest level ever recorded.

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Johannesburg - One in every 113 people was affected by forced displacement in 2015. The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said this was the highest level ever recorded, and represented immense human suffering.

As the globe marks World Refugee Day on Monday, the UNHCR released its global trends report for 2015 on Monday morning.

The report, which tracks forced displacement worldwide, is based on data collected from governments, partners including the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, and the organisation’s own reporting.

By the end of 2015, it was found that 65.3 million people had been displaced compared to 59.5 million 12 months earlier.

“This is the first time that the threshold of 60 million has been crossed,” the UNHCR said in a statement.

The figure comprises 3.2 million people in industrialised countries, who by the end of 2015, were awaiting decisions on asylum; with 21.3 million refugees worldwide; and 40.8 million people forced to flee their homes within the confines of their own countries.

This means that one in every 113 people globally is now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee.

“More people are being displaced by war and persecution and that’s worrying in itself, but the factors that endanger refugees are multiplying too,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

“At sea, a frightening number of refugees and migrants are dying each year; on land people fleeing war are finding their way blocked by closed borders. Politics is gravitating against asylum in some countries.

“The willingness of nations to work together is what’s being tested today, and it’s this spirit of unity that badly needs to prevail,” he explained.

ilanit.chernick@inl.co.za

@Lanc_02

The Star

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