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Mauritians on the Move, American Style

Celebrating Independence, la Francophonie

The Mauritian community in Washington came together to celebrate two important events that occur each March: Independence Day of Mauritius on March 12, and the International Day of the Francophonie on March 24.

The venue for celebrating the 37th anniversary of Mauritian independence from Great Britain was an Indian restaurant in Washington, DC. On the menu were Indian delicacies that made many Mauritians feel right at home, such as a variety of curries and Indian desserts. A disc jockey provided non-stop music that included many Sega tunes that got everyone on the dance floor. The Friends of Mauritius, an association of Mauritians and their friends living in the Washington, D.C. area organized the evening.

Vinod Busjeet, the newly appointed Trade Commissioner at the Mauritius Embassy in Washington, spoke to the 50 guests about the government's priorities in Washington and the need for the Mauritian community to promote their country and "get the word out" about Mauritius, which is not well-known in the United States. He said this type of public relations on behalf of Mauritius would help the government's efforts to win some textile concessions it seeks with the United States, among other issues.

On a chilly Friday night on March 24, the Friends of Mauritius (FOM) joined some 30 other countries in celebrating the cultural diversity of the French-speaking world at the International Day of the Francophonie.

The stand that promoted Mauritius greeted visitors with a colorful display of posters showing beautiful mountain and beach scenes of the island, anthurium flowers, and a delicious array of Mauritian foods. The Friends of Mauritius were busy in days before the event cooking gateaux piment and gateaux coco, which were made in the colors of the Mauritian flag.

The table also offered visitors samples of Mauritian stamps, vanilla tea and brochures about the Freeport, flights to Mauritius and the Cyber Island concept, provided by both the Embassy and Air Mauritius' office in New Jersey. A special addition was a large hand-painted tableau of the Dodo bird, done by Ghislaine Dalais Dittberner, one of the organizers.

"The community really came together to provide the food and organize this evening", said Gérard Balancy, president of FOM.

Other countries showcasing their cultures and culinary traditions included just about all the French-speaking countries in Africa, Canada, Switzerland and Belgium, as well as Slovakia and Lithuania.

Textile and apparel imports from Africa collapse

The news continues to be bad for the Mauritian textile industry. Latest figures from the U.S. government for January 2006 show a deep drop of 39 percent in U.S. apparel and textile imports from Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Especially troubling is the fact that the rate of declining textile and apparel imports from Africa continued accelerate, despite the imposition of safeguard quotas on imports from China, according got the Mauritius-U.S. Business Association.

Imports from Mauritius dropped a whopping 47 percent from January 2005 to January 2006. But other countries suffered far worse: Cape Verde was down 100 percent, Ghana down 84 percent, Malawi down 61 percent and Swaziland down 56 percent. South Africa, a big exporter, was down 34 percent.

By contrast, U.S. imports from China during January 2006 were up 20 percent over a year ago. In January, China accounted for 33 percent of total U.S. imports of textiles and apparel.

"In apparel import statistics for January 2006, which show a 39 percent drop in imports from African countries are sobering, even shocking especially following on the heels of the 15 percent drop in 2005 and 2004", said Paul Ryberg, head of the Mauritius-U.S. Business Association (MUSBA) and a Washington DC lawyer.

"This clearly illustrates the phenomenal market power of China since the end of the MFA quotas", he added. "We hope that January 2006 data represent the "bottom of the trough" and that subsequent months will show an improvement. But the 39 percent drop is a serious "wake-up call" for what African apparel manufacturers will face when the safeguard quotas on China expire in 2008. This is why we are pursuing the proposed value-added rule of origin amendments to AGOA, to help Mauritian apparel manufacturers adapt to the new challenges of the Post-MFA world."

On Thursday, Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat and friend of Mauritius, introduced a new package of trade-related measures in the U.S. Congress that includes several changes to AGOA that would benefit Mauritius. Among the amendments are renewal of the temporary LDC (lesser-developed country) status for Mauritius, an extension of the third-country fabric provision through Sept. 30, 2007, and a new value-added rule of origin.

U.S. couple helps restore French fort in Mauritius

A Massachusetts couple that participated in the restoration of the French fort on l'Ile de la Passe has described their archeological and cultural discoveries of Mauritius in an article in the Boston Globe newspaper.

The Ile de la Passe contains of the finest Napoleonic coastal defenses that have been preserved in the southern hemisphere. The Bay was the site of the last naval battle in which the Napoleonic forced defeated the British at the Battle of Grand Port in 1810.

Jack and Meg Holmes, retired teachers, joined an archeological dig last August sponsored by Earthwatch, an international non-profit organization that supports scientific field research by offering volunteers the chance to join research teams around the world. The expedition is headed by Francoise and Geoffrey Summers. Francoise, an architect and teacher at the Middle East Tehcnical University in Turkey, is a native of Mauritius.

The Holmes spent two weeks helping to prepare a detailed inventory of the remains of the fort, which is in an excellent state of preservation, according to a description of the expedition on the Earthwatch website. This inventory "will also be useful in comparing and contrasting the lot of Napoleonic forces on the islet with those of the first Dutch settlers and the slightly later French civilians, which are now being investigated by the Dutch archaeological expedition team at Fore Frederik Hendrik at Vieux Grand Port".

The Ile de la Passe is a coral islet that protects the main entrance though the reef to Grand Port, the former capital of Mauritius. The Mauritian government, through the Mauritian National Heritage Trust, is preparing an application to have the islets and the bay inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The objective of this project is to develop and implement a program of conservation that will soften the impact on the islet of a very large increase in the number of visitors, under a tourism promotion plan devised by the Mauritian government. There are many rare species of lizards and flora and fauna on the islet. Another objective is to better understand the lives of the soldiers assigned to the military garrisons during the French and British periods.

In their article for the Boston Globe, the Holmes recalled how they took the bus daily from Mahebourg to Ile de la Passe. "They were trying to find the foundation and corner post of the building, and we also were locating and recording graffiti form 19th century British sailors", wrote Jack Holmes.

On observing life in Mauritius, Holmes said: "One of the disconcerting things when we got there was having this high Indian population speaking French."

The Ile de Passe expedition will continue again this August.

For more information, consult the Earthwatch website: www.earthwatch.org and put Mauritius in the search box.

Where are the ambassadors ?

In just a short time, it will be one year since Ambassador Usha Jeeta left her post representing Mauritius as the government's envoy in Washington, DC. Since then, the embassy has been ably directed by the second in command, Martine S. C. Young Lim Fat. There's still no word from the Mauritian government in Port Louis who they will send to Washington.

And likewise for the U.S. government. There has been no U.S. ambassador in Mauritius since the departure of John Price last June. Duties are being handled by the second-in-command, Stephen Schwartz, the chargé-d'affaires. There has been no word out of the Bush administration who will be the next U.S. envoy to Port Louis, although ambassadors to many other countries, including many in Africa have already been named since Bush assumed his second term.

Could there be a standoff ? One country won't move on their ambassador until the other does ?

Or in the case of the United States, there might be more to it than that. In January, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced plans to dramatically restructure the U.S. diplomatic presence around the world. This means deploying hundreds of diplomats from Europe and Washington to developing countries such as China, India, and in Africa. She said that 100 diplomats will be moved to Africa, Asia and the Middle East this year. This is part of a larger strategy to help transform developing countries into democracies and to fight terrorism. It's possible that the assignment of an ambassador to Mauritius has been delayed as part of this new restructuring policy.

Air Mauritius selects U.S. company

Air Mauritius has selected a U.S. company to provide special weather and landing equipment on its new Airbus A340 airplanes.

The avionics package will be supplied by Rockwell Collins, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It will include a Multiscan Weather Radar and a Multi-Mode Receiver to improve landing precision.

The weather radar is a fully automatic radar that reduces pilot workload and enhances safety and passenger comfort by reducing unexpected turbulence, according to a statement from Rockwell Collins.

The Multi-Mode Receiver provides the aircraft's primary position, velocity and time reference and enables precision landing capability, the company said.

The new A340s scheduled for delivery in October 2006.

Mauritius wildlife faces dangers from the avian flu

Experts meeting at an international convention on biological diversity in Brazil last week sounded an alarm that the avian (bird) flu now poses a threat to an array of rare and endangered wildlife species, including some living on Mauritius.

The conference noted that more than 80 percent of known bird species, including migratory and on-migratory ones may be at risk, and that countries with extraordinary bird biodiversity should be especially vigilant against illegal trade in bird species, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Experts said that some islands, from Hawaii and the Galapagos across to the Seychelles and Mauritius group, may need to ban imports of poultry and wild birds in order to project their special biodiversity.

"We're learning many hard lessons from the threatened pandemic. Firstly, that the impact on biological diversity and on species may be far wider and more complex than might have been initially supposed", said Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive Secretary of the Convention on Biodiversity.

Mauritian Cooking 101 for Americans

Readers of newspapers in Arizona and Illinois got a taste of Mauritian cuisine recently through an article written by an American journalist visiting Port Louis.

Reporter Laurie Goering began her article in the market of Port Louis, where she learned from Das Mootoosamy, an herb seller, how fresh herbs can offer solutions to nearly any medical condition that ails you.

"A smiling Mootoosamy hands over a book of testimonial from satisfied customers, then disappears behind his vast herbal display, studded with hand-painted signs in French, to begin bagging a treatment", she writes. "Rich variety- and that laid-back smile - are the trademarks of tropical Mauritius and its steamy Port Louis market, where the island's diverse cultures converge in fragrant and delicious chaos."

She then describes how food "reflects the diversity of the people" of Mauritius. "Dinner in Mauritius might be prawn egg rolls, octopus vindaloo, curried biryani rice, hearts of palm in hollandaise sauce and a pineapple mouse washed down with vanilla tea."

He recommends Madeleine and Clancey Philippes'website (iole-maurice. tripod. com), and notes that they recently wrote a chapter on Mauritian food and drink for the "Lonely Planet Guide to Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles".

a m e r i c a n   s c e n e

WEEK-END --- dimanche 2 avril 2006