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Five Tombs of Senior Statesmen Discovered in Egypt

Sarcophaguses that are around 2,500 years old, from the newly discovered burial site near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis, are seen during a presentation in Giza, Egypt November 14, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
Sarcophaguses that are around 2,500 years old, from the newly discovered burial site near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis, are seen during a presentation in Giza, Egypt November 14, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
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Five Tombs of Senior Statesmen Discovered in Egypt

Sarcophaguses that are around 2,500 years old, from the newly discovered burial site near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis, are seen during a presentation in Giza, Egypt November 14, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
Sarcophaguses that are around 2,500 years old, from the newly discovered burial site near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis, are seen during a presentation in Giza, Egypt November 14, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has announced the discovery of five historic cemeteries in the Saqqara region, Giza, (western Cairo) that belong to major statesmen from the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC), and the First Intermediate Period (2181-2055 BC), dating to over 4,600 years ago. The ministry organizes a media tour in the site on Saturday to explore the cemeteries.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El Anani visited the discovery site to examine the excavation works led by the Egyptian mission near the King Merenre pyramid in Saqqara. “Five engraved cemeteries containing burials and antiquities from the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period have been discovered in the Saqqara region, which saw many archeological discoveries in the past years,” the minister noted in an official statement.

“This discovery will help rewrite the First Intermediate Period in the Egyptian history because it could provide more information about those who lived and ruled during that period. It was a critical phase in the Egyptian history, it saw the political and economic collapse of the state, the independence of rulers each in his region, and an economic deterioration caused by wasting the state’s resources on building the pyramids in the Old Kingdom, in addition to the scarcity of Nile water and its impact on agriculture,” Dr. Hussein Abdul Bassir, director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Saqqara is a part of the Memphis cemetery, located 40 km west of Cairo, and was named after God Seker from the Old Kingdom. The region is an open museum featuring antiquities from different eras of the Egyptian history.
“The first cemetery, burying a senior statesman named Eri, includes a well leading to a burial chamber with engraved walls featuring funerary drawings including sacrifices tables, the palace’s façade, containers of the seven oils, a huge tomb built of limestone, and a collection of engraved pieces that belonged to the cemetery’s owner,” said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt and head of the Saqqara mission, in a press statement.

“The archeological mission currently works on cleaning and documenting the discovered cemeteries,” he added.

The second cemetery, a rectangle-shaped well belongs to the wife of a man named ‘Yart’. The third belongs to a man who had many titles including the supervisor of the grand house. The fourth cemetery belongs to a lady, ‘Betty’ who held many titles; it’s a rectangular well located at six meters underground. Built for a man called ‘Heno’, the fifth cemetery is a rectangular well built at seven meters underground. Its owner had many titles including the supervisor of the royal palace and the mayor.

The Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest stone construction in history, is Saqqara’s most known landmark. The Saqqara archeological site includes the cemeteries of kings and senior statesmen from the 1st and 2nd Dynasties, in addition to king pyramids from the 5th and 6th Dynasties including the King Wenis Pyramid, who was the first to engrave his burial chamber with texts to protect himself during his journey in the other world.

The region also features cemeteries of statesmen from the Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2055-1650 BC), and the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC) known for its unique architecture and constructions such as the cemetery of King Horemheb (1323-1295 BC).

The region also houses the cemetery of sacred calf Apis, known as Serapeum of Saqqara, which was used from the 18th Dynasty until the Ptolemaic Kingdom. But Saqqara is not only Pharaonic; it includes Coptic landmarks such as the Monastery of Anba Ermia, located to the southeast of King Djoser’s pyramid collection. The Monastery was used until the 10th century AD.

Over the past year, Saqqara witnessed many archeological discoveries including hundreds of colored tombs containing well-preserved mummies of senior statesmen and priests from the 26th Dynasty, selected among the world’s top 10 archeological discoveries in 2020. Two cemeteries of priest Wa Ti, and the supervisor of the royal palace ‘Khoy’, in addition to several cat cemeteries were unearthed last year as well.

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Solar Power Companies Are Growing Fast in Africa, Where 600 Million Still Lack Electricity

A young man stands by a community radio station solar setup sponsored by a German NGO in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP)
A young man stands by a community radio station solar setup sponsored by a German NGO in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP)
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Solar Power Companies Are Growing Fast in Africa, Where 600 Million Still Lack Electricity

A young man stands by a community radio station solar setup sponsored by a German NGO in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP)
A young man stands by a community radio station solar setup sponsored by a German NGO in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP)

Companies that bring solar power to some of the poorest homes in Central and West Africa are said to be among the fastest growing on a continent whose governments have long struggled to address some of the world's worst infrastructure and the complications of climate change.

The often African-owned companies operate in areas where the vast majority of people live disconnected from the electricity grid, and offer products ranging from solar-powered lamps that allow children to study at night to elaborate home systems that power kitchen appliances and plasma televisions. Prices range from less than $20 for a solar-powered lamp to thousands of dollars for home appliances and entertainment systems.

Central and West Africa have some of the world’s lowest electrification rates. In West Africa, where 220 million people live without power, this is as low as 8%, according to the World Bank. Many rely on expensive kerosene and other fuels that fill homes and businesses with fumes and risk causing fires.

At the last United Nations climate summit, the world agreed on the goal of tripling the capacity for renewable power generation by 2050. While the African continent is responsible for hardly any carbon emissions relative to its size, solar has become one relatively cost-effective way to provide electricity.

The International Energy Agency, in a report earlier this year, said small and medium-sized solar companies are making rapid progress reaching homes but more needs to be invested to reach all African homes and businesses by 2030.

About 600 million Africans lack access to electricity, it said, out of a population of more than 1.3 billion.

Among the companies that made the Financial Times' annual ranking of Africa's fastest growing companies of 2023 was Easy Solar, a locally owned firm that brings solar power to homes and businesses in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The ranking went by compound annual growth rate in revenue.

Co-founder Nthabiseng Mosia grew up in Ghana with frequent power cuts. She became interested in solving energy problems in Africa while at graduate school in the United States. Together with a US classmate, she launched the company in Sierra Leone with electrification rates among the lowest in West Africa.

"There wasn’t really anybody doing solar at scale. And so we thought it was a good opportunity,” Mosia said in an interview.

Since launching in 2016, Easy Solar has brought solar power to over a million people in Sierra Leone and Liberia, which have a combined population of more than 14 million. The company’s network includes agents and shops in all of Sierra Leone’s 16 districts and seven of nine counties in Liberia.

Many communities have been connected to a stable source of power for the first time. “We really want to go to the last mile deep into the rural areas,” Mosia said.

The company began with a pilot project in Songo, a community on the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. Uptake was slow at first, Mosia said. Villagers worried about the cost of solar-powered appliances, but once they began to see light in their neighbors’ homes at night, more signed on.

“We have long forgotten about kerosene,” said Haroun Patrick Samai, a Songo resident and land surveyor. “Before Easy Solar we lived in constant danger of a fire outbreak from the use of candles and kerosene."

Altech, a solar power company based in Congo, also ranked as one of Africa's fastest growing companies. Fewer than 20% of the population in Congo has access to electricity, according to the World Bank.

Co-founders Washikala Malango and Iongwa Mashangao fled conflict in Congo's South Kivu province as children and grew up in Tanzania. They decided to launch the company in 2013 to help solve the power problems they had experienced growing up in a refugee camp, relying on kerosene for power and competing with family members for light to study at night.

Altech now operates in 23 out of 26 provinces in Congo, and the company expects to reach the remaining ones by the end of the year. Its founders say they have sold over 1 million products in Congo in a range of solar-powered solutions for homes and businesses, including lighting, appliances, home systems and generators.

“For the majority of our customers, this is the first time they are connected to a power source,” Malango said.

Repayment rates are over 90%, Malango said, helped in part by a system that can turn off power to appliances remotely if people don't pay.