The numbers of migrants drowning in the Mediterranean or washing up along its shores has been on the rise for many years. Most of these migrants come from North Africa, a region riven with instability, war and poverty, and risk everything by travelling on flimsy boats that often capsize, in a desperate bid to reach the relative safety of Europe.
It is this perilous journey that Abu Bakr Khaal's examines in African Titanics [Amazon.com; Amazon.co.uk], originally published in Arabic in 2008 and now appearing in English translation.
The novel begins in the middle of this traumatic journey and follows the story of one Eritrean migrant, Abdar, who has arrived in Sudan. From there he is to be smuggled into Libya, but instead ends up wandering lost in the unforgiving desert. While he manages to reach Libya, Abdar then ends up in another smuggler’s compound, waiting to cross the Mediterranean. There he escapes a police raid and ends up in Tunisia only to encounter further run-ins with the law. So Abdar then crosses the Sahara and travels around the Maghreb, without embarking upon his “African Titanic” to Europe. This is the focus of the story: neither reaching his destination nor going home, Abdar remains stuck in a hopeless limbo between the threshold of Africa and Europe.
The book attempts to reveal the tragic and desperate plight of these migrants in all its hopelessness: getting lost, starving, drowning and more. But this anxiety that the title and plot attempt to convey ends up being diffused through descriptions, explanations of its causes, rather than conveyed through the mood of the narrator or the inner lives of the characters.
Moreover, the characters rebound from crises with remarkable ease: following a harrowing, life-threatening trip across the Sahara, Abdar’s love interest Terhas wakes up the morning after they find shelter and effortlessly brews tea for all the travellers. Abdar and his fellow migrants cross the Tunisian border for miles on foot, without revealing much of a sense of panic, fear, exhaustion. Indeed, the path of undocumented migration is fast-paced, but Khaal does not linger and rest on the emotional lives of his characters, which leaves very little time and space to empathise with them.
In fact, the tone of the narrative is so breezy and unburdened that ultimately one remains at a distance from the suffering of their journey.
The novel, then, is inspired by the harrowing news reports of the plight of these migrants, so to speak, and realistically exposes the harsh, hidden reality of migration along the Mediterranean. Yet, with so much terrain covered by this slim novel, the social space inhabited by the migrants is hardly touched on. How do the inhabitants of these countries interact with migrants? How do Arabic-speaking sub-Saharan migrants fare in the Maghreb? How does religion factor in?
The narrator only scratches the surface of the differences between life north and south of the Sahara. One doesn’t get much of a sense of the alienation a migrant must feel, beyond simply being undocumented. Besides, say, being stared at in a restaurant, the narrator doesn’t give any indication that his sense of belonging is questioned, nor register any sign of racism.
Although it is difficult to speculate on why Khaal practically smooths over the Sahara divide, his long-term residence in Libya as a dissident of the Eritrean government might explain his sense of belonging or his cautious self-censorship. Years after he wrote this novel (in Arabic), Khaal found life imitating art during Libya’s 2011 upheavals, when he ended up stranded in a refugee camp at the Tunisia-Libya border, a no man’s land like the kind his narrator occupies for a time. After several pleas to the Tunisian government from high-profile artists and writers, Khaal eventually did cross the Tunisian border and the Mediterranean, as his narrator desired. He now lives in Denmark.
This year’s English translation seems especially timely, considering 2014 has seen a record number of people trying to make the journey. But the tensions inherent to the novel – between south and north, stability and wandering, migrants and natives, which could have provided insight into the characters’ inner lives – are bypassed, leaving little chance to identify with the people who have shaped this historical route.
Nahrain Al Mousawi is based in Morocco. Her journalism has also appeared in Al Monitor, Globe & Mail and Al Akhbar
thereview@thenational.ae
The%20Roundup%20%3A%20No%20Way%20Out
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
The Internet
Hive Mind
four stars
Company%20profile
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
PLAY-OFF%20DRAW
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Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager
WISH
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
ARSENAL IN 1977
Feb 05 Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
Feb 12 Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal
Feb 15 Middlesbrough 3-0 Arsenal
Feb 19 Arsenal 2-3 West Ham
Feb 26 Middlesbrough 4-1 Arsenal (FA Cup)
Mar 01 Everton 2-1 Arsenal
Mar 05 Arsenal 1-4 ipswich
March 08 Arsenal 1-2 West Brom
Mar 12 QPR 2-1 Arsenal
Mar 23 Stoke 1-1 Arsenal
Apr 02 Arsenal 3-0 Leicester
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Fly Etihad or Emirates from the UAE to Moscow from 2,763 return per person return including taxes.
Where to stay
Trips on the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian cost from US$16,995 (Dh62,414) per person, based on two sharing.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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Company%20profile
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