The largest camps in each are Baqa’a in Jordan, Jabalia in Gaza, Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Yarmouk in Syria, and Ein el-Hilweh in Lebanon.
The investigation also shows how Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is systematically using gold smugglers to get around the chokehold of Western sanctions imposed on the country. The money laundering and gold-smuggling schemes involve one of Zimbabwe’s most influential diplomats, and go all the way up to the president and his circle.The smugglers include millionaires, one of whom was accused of almost bankrupting Kenya through a similar, corrupt scheme also involving gold.
Gold smuggling, money launderingPosing as criminals from China looking to launder over $100m, Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters managed to gain access to these smugglers and gangs.Zimbabwe is a key player in these operations. Gold accounts for
— over $2bn — of the country’s exports. But the nation faces a strict international sanctions regime, and even though its gold trade is not in itself banned by the West, the broader strictures against Zimbabwe make it harder to export the precious metal through official channels.However, using a web of companies and patronage from some of Zimbabwe’s most powerful individuals, smugglers have turned those constraints on trade into an opportunity to launder billions of dollars and help the government in Harare get around some of the consequences of sanctions.
The process is as simple as it is cunning: Criminals from around the world with large volumes of unaccounted cash can give that money to the Zimbabwean government, directly or through smugglers. The Zimbabwean government desperately needs US dollars since the county’s own currency has little international value following years of hyperinflation.
In exchange, launderers get clean, legitimate cash — from the sale of Zimbabwean gold — transferred to their bank accounts.Minarets, domes and arches stood as testaments to faith, craft and endurance.
Narrow alleys and open markets were arteries of daily life. Here, footsteps, voices, and trade converged in constant motion.The rhythm of the everyday
Here, we see how people moved, worked, gathered and celebrated. Carts on dusty roads, bread baking in clay ovens, weddings, markets and moments of rest.In kitchens and courtyards, daily rituals - grinding beans, sieving wheat and baking bread - played out with grace.