内容摘要：She was cremated with full state honours, as fans dressed in the mourning colour of white flocked to Colombo’s Independence Square to catch a glimpse of her coffin before she was cremated. Songs from Fonseka’s films were played while a projector drone flew above the crowd, displaying a montage of scenes from across her career.

She was cremated with full state honours, as fans dressed in the mourning colour of white flocked to Colombo’s Independence Square to catch a glimpse of her coffin before she was cremated. Songs from Fonseka’s films were played while a projector drone flew above the crowd, displaying a montage of scenes from across her career.

Angel made the offer during an operation that was part of ‘Gold Mafia’, an investigation into several gold-smuggling gangs in Southern Africa, with Zimbabwe and South Africa as key hubs.The investigation reveals how these gangs have turned Western sanctions meant to target Zimbabwe’s government into an opportunity to smuggle large quantities of gold and launder hundreds of millions of dollars through a complex web of companies and bribes.

Al Jazeera reporters, posing as Chinese nationals who were looking to launder large sums of money, were offered several ways to remove all stains of corruption from their dirty cash.Among those mechanisms was the use of Angel’s diplomatic clout. Officially, the pastor-diplomat is tasked with finding investors to come to Zimbabwe. However, Angel made it clear that he was willing to help smuggle gold and launder money.Zimbabwe needs dollars because the country’s own currency has lost its value in international trade due to hyperinflation. A commodity like gold is a good way to earn dollars, but international sanctions imposed on the country make it difficult for the government to export gold because of the additional scrutiny on officials in power.

“So you have to figure out other ways to do that,” Karen Greenaway, a former FBI investigator who tracks international money laundering schemes, told Al Jazeera. One way around: individual gold miners, who don’t face those restrictions.This scenario makes Zimbabwe fertile ground for money launderers who can help the country earn dollars in exchange for gold.

The president’s niece

Central to Angel’s gold-for-dirty money operations is Henrietta Rushwaya, president of the Zimbabwe Miners Association. Rushwaya, who is also President Mnangagwa’s niece, told Angel and the reporters on a phone call that smuggling 100kg of gold each week would be no problem.Despite the GHF saying it distributed 8,000 food boxes on Tuesday, amounting to 462,000 meals, Al Jazeera correspondent Hind al-Khourdary said the rations would do little to sustain families for long.

Khoudary described a typical box with 4kg (8.8lb) of flour, a couple of bags of pasta, two cans of fava beans, a pack of tea bags and some biscuits. Other food parcels contained lentils and soup in small quantities.“We have been dying of starvation. We have to feed our children who want to eat. What else can we do? I could do anything to feed them,” a Palestinian father told Al Jazeera. “We saw people running, and we followed them, even if it meant taking a risk, and it was scary. But fear is not worse than starvation.”

Despite her best efforts, by the time Abu Sa’da, the mother of three, made it to Rafah, it was too late.Abu Sa’da described the experience as deeply humiliating. She was filled with shame and inferiority.