At the beginning of September, Essa devoted his column to the fact that African leaders gathered in Beijing for the China-Africa forum were silent about religious persecution there, particularly about the internment in the dreaded “transformation through education” camps of one million Muslim Uyghurs, a matter readers of Bitter Winter are surely familiar with. This was surprising, considering that some African leaders share the same Sunni Muslim faith of the Uyghurs, but perhaps less surprising if one considers the widespread accusations that, in addition to official investments, money from China goes often directly to the pockets of African politicians.