On 12 September 1974, Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie I was quietly deposed by the Armed Forces Coordinating Committee – the Derg – after several months of nationwide demonstrations and strikes.

A severe drought in the winter of 1973 had devastated the northern regions of Wollo and Tigray, causing widespread famine.

Dramatic images of the victims added to the growing economic difficulties and the stalemate in a society still bound by feudal structures. This fuelled discontent against the Ethiopian emperor, who had been in power for 44 years.

First crowned as regent in 1916 – alongside his aunt Empress Zaouditou – Ras Tafari took the throne of Abyssinia in 1930 under the name of Haile Selassie I.

As the 225th descendant of the dynasty of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Negus of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie held great privilage and prestige for decades.

Faced with Mussolini

Haile Selassie was a symbol of Ethiopia’s independence, particularly during the invasion by Italian forces under dictator Benito Mussolini in 1935.

When he went into exile in Europe, Selassie gave a keynote speech at the League of Nations on 28 June, 1936, that left a lasting impression on the world stage.

On 5 May 1941 – after returning via Sudan – he triumphantly entered the capital, Addis Ababa, which had been liberated by Anglo-Indian brigades with the support of the Free French Forces.

Emperor of a country that had never been colonised, Haile Selassie symbolised the desire for independence throughout Africa.

Respected internationally, Haile Selassie was seen as a reformer in his early days, especially for his role in abolishing slavery.

He advocated for African unity and helped establish the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, securing its headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Despite these efforts, he met strong opposition from landowners and the clergy in a largely Christian country.

With no free press or political parties to provide outlets for dissent, frustrations grew, especially as the Eritrean Liberation Front began its calls for independence in 1961.

A state of emergency was declared in Eritrea in 1970, but it only deepened repression.

Revolt of young intellectuals

While living in splendour, Haile Selassie amassed a colossal fortune and  lost touch with the growing unrest, particularly among Ethiopia’s young intellectuals.

The famine and its thousands of victims intensified anger at the regime. By February 1974, mass demonstrations were taking place across the country, followed by a wave of strikes.

Marxist-Leninist ideas spreading through universities strengthened the revolution, which claimed to be democratic, modern and in support of women’s rights.

However, the Derg deposed the emperor by 12 September of that year.

In a bid to avoid chaos, the military had Crown Prince Asfa Wossen proclaimed king – though he was abroad for medical treatment and never exercised power.

• 30 years young: Eritrea reaches a milestone but struggles with legacy of its past

The abolished monarchy and Selassie’s death

Writing for the French weekly L’Express in September 1974, journalist Christian d’Épenoux summed up Haile Selassie’s downfall.

“A champion of the non-aligned, he had managed somehow to preserve the unity of his kingdom … against the greed of his neighbours to the south and north, Sudan and Somalia, who were breathing down his neck,” he wrote.

“But his prudence, once praised, had become a blemish. Old age and attrition had overcome the spirit of reform. Isolated, ill-advised, turning a blind eye to privilege and injustice, having amassed an incredible fortune of his own, the old Negus could no longer see his country crack.

“Drought, famine and the atrocious deaths of 100,000 of his subjects while he fed his molosses triggered the revolt that was to sweep him off his feet”.

The Ethiopian monarchy was finally abolished in March 1975, when Haile Selassie was imprisoned in the basement of the imperial palace.

The world learned of his death on 27 August that same year – probably assassinated on the orders of the country’s new strongman, Mengistu Haile Mariam.

• Ethiopia conflict at a ‘national scale’ according to UN investigators

The rise of Mengistu and the ‘Red Terror’

The revolution, initially led by left-wing students, was soon taken over by the army.

The Derg established the Provisional Military Administrative Council on 15 September 1974, which brought clashes with the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party.

These struggles paved the way for Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, who took over the junta in 1977.

Mengistu’s rise to power triggered a wave of repression known as the “Red Terror”.

Tens of thousands were killed, though the full scale of the Derg’s crimes remains unknown. The regime ruled with brutal force until its overthrow in 1991.

To this day, 87-year-old Mengistu lives quietly in Zimbabwe despite being convicted of genocide and sentenced to death in absentia in 2008. 

Zimbabwe continues to refuse his extradition, and in 2011, many Derg leaders saw their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

The legacy of authoritarian rule

The dictatorial violence of the Derg’s communist rule – along with constant warfare against separatist movements in Eritrea and Tigray – led to the collapse of food and cash crop production in the country by the late 1970s and early 1980s.

A National Revolutionary Development Campaign, launched in 1984, aimed to transform Ethiopia’s economy within 10 years. It failed.

The situation came to the world’s attention during the 1984-1985 famine in Tigray, which inspired the Live Aid charity concerts in 1985.

Since the fall of the Derg in 1991, many Ethiopians lament the failure of the country to reconcile with its past. 

There has been no Truth and Reconcilliation Commission, nor any real effort from Ethiopian leaders to help victims heal or receive financial reparation. 

Fifty years after the revolution, the country still feels the effects of the Derg’s brutal rule as it continues to grapple with civil war and deep ethnic divisions.

The Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) announced on Thursday that it would make its archives on Abbé Pierre public without waiting the usual 75 years after his death.

The priest, who died in 2007, stands accused of sexual assault by multiple women.

While the church had not been due to open its records on him until 2082, it decided to make them available sooner to investigators, journalists and researchers – in particular the independent experts commissioned by Abbé Pierre’s charity Emmaus to look into how its founder’s alleged abuse went unchallenged for more than 50 years. 

The archives consist of “a fairly thin file” with “a few letters” which show that the Central Office of Cardinals at the time “took note of the behaviour” of the priest, the head of the bishops’ conference, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, told Catholic radio stations.

The documents indicate that concerns about Abbé Pierre were raised as far back as the 1950s, when “the church sought to help him by imposing a psychiatric stay in Switzerland” and assigning a church worker to accompany him, he said on RCF and Radio Notre-Dame.

“Apparently, Abbé Pierre always managed to get around this. But I wouldn’t say that the church did nothing,” de Moulins-Beaufort said.

Regarding how much was known within the church, he said he was “unable to say” who knew what.

“Some bishops certainly knew a certain number of facts, but which ones exactly?” he said. “A historical inquiry will be needed to reveal that, and I strongly support the inquiry that Emmaus has just opened.”

French charity turns its back on founding father accused of sexual abuse

From hero to aggressor

De Moulins-Beaufort pointed out that Abbé Pierre “did not live in an ecclesiastical framework”, but with Emmaus – meaning that the charity holds most of the surviving records on him. 

“It is above all through this that we must try to understand,” de Moulins-Beaufort said.

Born in 1912, Abbé Pierre was for long celebrated as a hero in France for his dedication to the poor.

He founded the first Emmaus community to help homeless men in Paris in 1949, and turned into a household name when, in the especially cold winter of 1954, he made a passionate plea for France to remember the most vulnerable.

Just last year he was the subject of an adulatory biopic marking the 70th anniversary of his famous speech.

But in July, Emmaus revealed allegations of sexual assault from seven women to the media.

More testimonies emerged last week, including accusations of rape and abuse of a young girl.

Emmaus has since tasked an independent commission with “explaining the dysfunctions” that allowed Abbé Pierre “to act as he did for more than 50 years”. It is also looking at how to compensate the victims.

Meanwhile the charitable Abbé Pierre Foundation is to change its name, and a memorial centre in Normandy, where the priest resided for many years, will close permanently.

The board of Emmaus France will also to vote on whether to remove the founder’s name from its logo.

Faye was to address the nation on Thursday, with the decision likely to follow shortly after or on Friday.

The parliament, elected in 2022, has reached its two-year mark. This allows Faye’s government, led by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, to dissolve it as permitted by the Senegalese constitution.

The National Assembly remains dominated by supporters of former president Macky Sall, who still hold the majority and have recently tabled a motion of censure against Sonko’s administration.

This presents a significant obstacle for the new government.

“I can assure you that (…) on the 12th, these people will have something else to do than be MPs,” Sonko said in a video posted on social media last week, signalling the parliament’s imminent dissolution.

Looking for a majority

Sonko was appointed as prime minister in April by Faye, who won a decisive presidential election in March. He is pushing for a parliamentary majority to enact the sweeping reforms they promised on a platform of pan-Africanism and social justice.

Press reports say Faye will be able to dissolve the assembly starting from 12 September – 24 months after its first post-election session.

“The dissolution is unavoidable,” Moussa Diaw, political science professor at Gaston-Berger University in Saint-Louis told RFI. He explained that the government is too hampered by the opposition’s dominance in parliament.

As the dissolution looms, tensions between the executive branch and the legislature continue to escalate. Both sides are engaged in a high-stakes race, each trying to weaken the other ahead of the next legislative elections.

Results confirm Faye’s large win in Senegal presidential elections

New policy

Animosity with the opposition has hampered government action since its nomination, and Sonko has so far not given a speech on general policy to parliament.

Nevertheless, the administration plans to roll out new public policy guidelines this month, outlining strategies for the next five to 10 years, and even up to 2050.

“We will have zero tolerance for corruption,” Sonko said, stressing that rationalisation and integrity will be the cornerstones of public spending.

The debate on accountability will start this very week, he added, with former leaders of Senegal likely to face scrutiny.

“In the days to come, dozens of them will be held accountable,” Sonko warned, noting that authorities have already prevented some individuals from leaving the country.

(with newswires) 

“There are 364 children in 59 departments who are followed by judges for children and benefit from coordination from my office to ensure they receive optimal care,” prosecutor Olivier Christen told FranceInfo radio on Wednesday.

In 2018, another anti-terror prosecutor had expressed concern that the children of French nationals who joined IS after its 2014 so-called caliphate could be “ticking time bombs”

Christen – who leads the National Anti-Terror Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT), opened in 2019 following a series of jihadist attacks – dismissed that fear.

“These 364 children in no way seem to me to correspond to that expression,” he said.

“They are being closely monitored … They pose no particular difficulty.”

He noted that their situations varied greatly: “Some are very, very young children, others are fully fledged teenagers.”

In response to Christen’s remarks, France’s United Family Rights Collective said in a post on X: “There are still 120 French children being held in Syria in appalling conditions.”

• France repatriates 35 women and children from Syrian jihadist camps
• France brings 40 children, 15 women back from Syrian camps

Repatriation of Syrian children

Since the collapse of IS’s territorial control in 2019, 170 women have returned to France from Iraq and Syria, including 57 from detention camps in northeast Syria.

Of the 364 children brought back to France, “169 have been repatriated over the past two years”, Christen added.

Until 2022, France only repatriated children on a case-by-case basis, prioritising orphans and children whose mothers had agreed to give up parental rights.

Paris changed that policy two years ago, accelerating the return of both women and children.

IS seized large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2014 before Kurdish-led Syrian forces, backed by a US-led coalition, ousted them from their last stronghold in eastern Syria in 2019.

Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria are holding around 56,000 people – including 30,000 children – in detention centres and camps. Among them are IS fighters and their families, as well as displaced people who fled the fighting.

The complaint was filed as concerns grow over children becoming addicted to video games, with some parents claiming game developers are deliberately creating products to foster addiction.

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), alongside 22 member groups across Europe, including in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, lodged the complaint with the European Commission and the European Network of Consumer Authorities.

The groups accused the companies of using “manipulative spending tactics” involving in-game virtual currencies, which they said children are “even more vulnerable to.”

“BEUC’s members have identified numerous cases where gamers are misled into spending money. Regulators must act, making it clear that even though the gaming world is virtual, it still needs to abide by real-world rules,” said BEUC Director General Agustin Reyna.

The complaint targets Epic Games, Electronic Arts (EA.O), Roblox

The complaint targets some of the biggest names in gaming, including Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Roblox, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Mojang Studios, Supercell (majority-owned by China’s Tencent) and French company Ubisoft.

These firms are behind popular titles such as Fortnite, EA Sports games, Minecraft, and Clash of Clans.

Vulnerable consumers

“Premium in-game currencies are purposefully tricking consumers, and this takes a big toll on children. Companies are well aware of children’s vulnerability and use tricks to lure younger consumers into spending more,” Reyna said.

The organisations expressed concerns that consumers, particularly children, often fail to recognise the true cost of digital items, leading to overspending. They also argued that consumers are frequently denied their rights when using premium in-game currencies.

Virtual currencies, such as gems, points or coins, can be bought with real money in games or app marketplaces. When used to buy options or items within games, the groups claim, players lose track of the real amounts being spent, leaving them vulnerable to overspending.

BEUC noted that 84 percent of 11 to 14-year-olds in Europe play video games, with the in-game purchases market valued at around $50 billion worldwide in 2020.

In 2023, a study led by Ipsos and Video Games Europe revealed that children in Europe making in-game purchases spend an average of €39 each month on various gaming extras.  

BEUC’s legal action targets the major video game publishers across mobile, PC and console platforms, accusing them of violating EU consumer protection laws. 

“Gamers shouldn’t need to rely on a calculator anytime they want to make an informed decision on how much they want to spend,” Reyna added.

The organisation recommended that real-life currency be used instead of virtual currencies, to give consumers a clearer understanding of the money they are spending.

(with newswires) 

Germany, Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and Finland have all reinstated or intensified border controls.

EU officials worry the moves risk creating logistical and economic disruptions, and are urging member states to work together to avoid uncoordinated policies that could disrupt both travel and trade in the Schengen area.

Germany has announced plans for tighter border controls at all nine of its land borders starting on 16 September.

“We want to further reduce irregular migration. To this end, we are now taking further steps that go beyond the comprehensive measures currently in place,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters on Monday.

“Until we achieve stronger border protection with the joint European asylum system, we must further protect our national borders.”

Germany’s move, which will initially last six months, follows a knife attack in Solingen linked to a suspected asylum seeker with ties to the Islamic State armed group.

The decision has caused tensions with its neighbours, with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk calling the move “unacceptable” and Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner saying his country would not accept any asylum seekers rejected at Germany’s borders.

Luxembourg has expressed concern about potential disruptions to cross-border traffic, with the government pledging to minimise negative impacts on commuters.

‘Europe could die’: France’s Macron urges leaders to scale up EU defences

Temporary controls

Other countries are also adjusting their policies. Austria has reinstated checks at its borders with Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary, citing pressures on its asylum system and security threats related to the Ukraine conflict.

The controls will last until mid-November or December 2024, depending on the border.

France has implemented border checks with Schengen countries until 31 October, blaming pressures on its asylum system and heightened terrorism threats, while Italy has extended its checks with Slovenia until 18 December because of issues related to the Ukraine war.

Denmark has introduced checks on land and sea transit from Germany until 11 November, citing security threats linked to the Gaza conflict and Russian espionage concerns.

Norway, which is part of the Schengen zone but not an EU member, has reinstated checks at ports with ferry connections to Schengen areas until 11 November due to threats from Russian intelligence operations.

Slovenia has reintroduced checks with Croatia and Hungary until 21 December, citing increased security threats from the Middle East and organised crime in the Western Balkans.

Sweden has tightened its border controls until 11 November in response to increased violence risks following the Gaza conflict.

Finland has closed crossing stations on its land border with Russia indefinitely, alleging a surge of asylum seekers orchestrated by Moscow. Helsinki has also restricted several ports to travel from Russia.

The Paralympics in Paris shone a light on disability and the challenges disabled people in France face in getting access to sport. Novosports, one of only 40 sports clubs in the capital open to players with disabilities, is entirely focused on inclusive sports, where people with and without disabilities can train together. Club founder Jerome Rousseau talks about developing inclusive volleyball, and club members talk about the importance of opening sport up to everyone. (Listen @1’55”)

Decades before the Paralympic Games were born, the world’s first multi-discipline competition for athletes with a disability took place in Paris in the summer of 1924. Reserved for deaf competitors, the International Silent Games were a landmark in the history of inclusive sport and laid the foundations for today’s contests. Historian Didier Séguillon, curator of an exhibition on the Games at the National Institute for Deaf Young People, discusses their origins and legacy. (Listen @10’15”)

Since recent parliamentary elections in France failed to give any political party a ruling majority, the three main blocs – the left-wing NFP alliance, the centre-right Ensemble coalition and the far-right National Rally – have been at loggerheads. The new prime minister has to form a unity government, but this involves compromise on all sides – a notion that’s often equated in France with “giving in”. Laure Gillot-Assayag, a researcher in political science and philosophy, argues that in such a politically divided landscape, France needs a culture of compromise more than ever. (Listen @17’10”)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

In a resolution adopted unanimously, the Council extended until 12 September 2025 the sanctions regime in place since 2005, which is aimed solely at Darfur.

That includes individual sanctions (asset freezes and a travel ban) on three people, and an arms embargo.

The “people of Darfur continue to live in danger and desperation and despair. This adoption sends an important signal to them that the international community remains focused on their plight,” said deputy US ambassador Robert Wood.

Though sanctions do not apply to the whole country, their renewal “will restrict the movement of arms into Darfur and sanction individuals and entities contributing to or complicit in destabilising activities in Sudan,” he said.

Ongoing conflict

More than 16 months of war between rival Sudanese generals has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered what the United Nations calls the world’s worst internal displacement crisis.

Sudan at ‘cataclysmic breaking point’ amid multiple crises, UN warns

The war pits the army under Sudan‘s de facto leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The UN and humanitarian organisations fear that the war could degenerate into new ethnic violence, particularly in Darfur, already ravaged more than 20 years ago by the scorched-earth policy pursued by the Janjaweed — Arab militiamen who have since joined the RSF.

China and Russia, permanent members of the Security Council who abstained the last time the embargo was renewed, in 2023, this time voted in favour.

The move “will go some way towards stemming the steady flow of illicit arms into the battlefield and calming down and deescalating the situation on the ground,” said deputy Chinese ambassador Dai Bing.

He said the sanctions were “a means, not an end. They must not replace diplomacy.”

Calls for more sanctions

Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the decision was a “missed opportunity” by the Council to extend the embargo to the whole of Sudan.

In their annual report, published in January, experts charged by the Council with monitoring the sanctions regime said the arms embargo had been violated multiple times.

They pointed the finger at several countries, including the UAE, accused of sending arms to the RSF.

Sudanese ambassador Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed said it was “no secret” that the UAE has a “key role” in the fighting, and argued that maintaining the embargo creates “an imbalance between the different forces in Darfur.”

His Emirati counterpart rejected the “baseless” accusation, describing it as “a cynical attempt to deflect attention from the failings of the Sudanese armed forces.”

 (AFP)

Mali’s media regulator, the High Authority for Communication, announced its decision, criticising TV5 Monde for reporting on the deaths of at least 15 civilians in drone strikes in the northern town of Tinzaouatene without considering the Malian army’s perspective.

The controversial report aired on August 25 as part of the channel’s widely viewed Africa program in Mali.

In a statement, the channel said: “TV5 Monde regrets this situation, and in particular the fact that it was not approached by the HAC and was unable to provide any explanations regarding the facts of which it is accused”. 

Press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders has condemned the junta’s move against the French-language broadcaster.

The channel said that the Malian army had not yet provided its version of events at the time the channel broadcast its report on the drone strikes, “despite direct requests from TV5 Monde”.

“However, the Malian army’s version was given by TV5 Monde in a news item dated 26 August,” the channel said.

Mali has been ruled by military leaders since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. 

Breaking away from former colonial ruler, France, the junta has instead turned politically and militarily towards Russia. 

• RFI and France 24 contest ‘definitive’ broadcasting ban in Mal

French media taken off air

Since taking power, Mali’s military leaders have suspended the widely followed French outlets France 24 and Radio France Internationale. 

The junta also suspended France 2 in early 2024, before news channel LCI suffered the same fate at the end of August.

Mali suspends French news channel LCI for two months

Correspondents from a number of foreign media have been forced to leave, go into exile or cease work.

Mali’s military leaders have also taken an ever-tougher line on political opposition within the country.

TV5 Monde aims to promote French culture and creativity, with ownership shared between French, Belgian, Swiss, Canadian and Quebec public broadcasting companies.

(with AFP)

On Wednesday, prosecutor Olivier Christen said the plots included plans to attack “Israeli institutions or representatives of Israel in Paris” during the Olympic Games.

The prosecutor told broadcaster FranceInfo that “the Israeli team itself was not specifically targeted,” but he did not give any further details.

In all, five people – including a minor – were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the three foiled plots against the Summer Games, which were held against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The suspects are facing various terrorism-related charges while they remain in pre-trial detention.

France was on its highest security alert in the months ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics, which wrapped up last week.

During preparations for the Games, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin repeatedly warned that security threats included those from Islamic extremist groups, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks from Russia or other adversaries.

Olympic security jitters rise as French police deal with string of attacks

Influence of Islamic State

In May, members of France’s DGSI General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack Olympic soccer events that were held in the southern city of Saint-Etienne.

The planned attack was to target “bar-type establishments around the Geoffroy stadium,” the prosecutor said.

The suspect is accused of planning “a violent action” on behalf of the Islamic State armed group’s jihadist ideology.

According to the prosecutor, jihadist threats dominated the foiled plots and 80 percent of legal proceedings against suspects include the extremist ideology that still influences France’s youth.

France says multiple Olympic accreditation requests rejected over security fears

The Islamic State group continues to “spread propaganda,” he added.

Preventive measures included increased house searches and house arrests before the start of the Olympics, with police and other security personnel having conducted 936 house searches to date in 2024, compared to 153 last year. 

“We’re going to do things methodically and seriously,” Barnier told reporters in the eastern city of Reims, adding that he was “listening to everybody” in a political scene split into three broad camps since July’s inconclusive snap parliamentary election.

“We’re going to name a government next week,” he said.

Barnier, who has served as environment, foreign and agriculture minister and was the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, was named last week by President Emmanuel Macron as his compromise pick for head of government.

With no longer even a relative majority in parliament following his decision to dissolve the National Assembly, Macron delayed picking a PM for weeks over the summer as he tried to find someone who would not suffer an immediate no-confidence vote.

French left protests against appointment of new conservative PM

The chamber is largely divided between Macron’s centrist supporters — now loosely allied with Barnier’s rump conservative party – the left-wing NFP alliance and the far-right National Rally (RN).

NFP leaders have vowed to vote no confidence in any government not headed by them after they secured the most votes, but fell well short of a majority.

Meanwhile Macron appears to have taken care to find a candidate in Barnier who does not immediately raise the hackles of the RN.

Rumours are swirling in Paris about who might claim key ministries after Barnier said he was open to working with people on the left or right.

Who is France’s new prime minister Michel Barnier?

“For now, the names in circulation seem to be just wish lists of people wanting to receive a ministerial portfolio,” Politico’s French edition wrote Wednesday.

One prominent Socialist, Karim Bouamrane, mayor of the Paris suburb of Saint-Ouen, said he had turned down an invitation to serve.

“We have a right-wing prime minister approved of by the RN, a prime minister under supervision,” Bouamrane told Franceinfo radio.

An October 1 deadline to file a draft government budget for 2025 has Barnier under pressure to get moving and sets him and his new team up for a fierce battle over taxes and spending.

In particular, both the NFP and RN promised ahead of the July elections to overturn last year’s unpopular pension reform that increased the official retirement age to 64 from 62.

The company water subsidiary, Nestlé Waters, reached a settlement known as a judicial public interest agreement (CJIP) on Tuesday with the prosecutor in Epinal, in eastern France.

The fine comes after two investigations revealed that Nestlé had been drilling without permits and using unapproved purification methods, including ultraviolet treatment and charcoal filters, in its water production.

The company acknowledged these actions and has since stopped the unauthorised treatments.

Prosecutor Frédéric Nahon said the fine must be paid within three months. He described the agreement as “the most significant environmental CJIP ever signed in France”.

Damage repair

Unlike a full trial, a CJIP does not result in a formal conviction but allows for the payment of fines and reparations without a declaration of guilt.

Alongside the fine, Nestlé Waters has committed to investing €1.1 million in an environmental restoration plan for two local rivers, the Petit-Vair and the Vair.

This plan will also focus on restoring wetlands in Vittel and Contrexéville, two towns closely linked to the company’s water production. The project will be supervised by the French Office for Biodiversity for the next two years.

In addition to the fine, Nestlé Waters will pay €516,800 in compensation to environmental groups. These include Vosges Nature Environnement, Foodwatch, and Eau 88, which were behind the complaints leading to the investigation.

‘Limited justice’

Some organisations, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the settlement.

This agreement allowed those with money to avoid a full trial and a criminal record, said Bernard Schmitt of Eau 88.

“Without this agreement, we would have faced a lengthy legal battle, possibly lasting five to 10 years, with minimal consequences,” he said.

Marie-Amandine Stévenin, president of UFC-Que Choisir, said the case highlights “the unfortunate limits of the French justice system”.

Despite the criticisms, the Epinal prosecutor emphasised that Nestlé Waters had fully cooperated with both the judicial and administrative authorities.

Fishing club files complaint against Nestlé for pollution in Ardennes river

The company ceased the unauthorised treatments in 2023 and there were no health risks to the public.

Nestlé Waters also agreed to conduct an impact study on water levels in the affected aquifers, addressing concerns raised by environmentalists.

We demanded that an impact study be part of the agreement because we no longer have the luxury of waiting when facing urgent climate and resource challenges,” said Eau 88 lawyer François Zind.

This isn’t the first time Nestlé has faced environmental issues.

In 2022, it settled another CJIP after being blamed for a pollution incident in the Aisne River, which killed six tonnes of fish.

Although the company contested its role, it paid a €40,000 fine.

Kylian Mbappé claims PSG owe him 55 million euros which the Parisians say the 25-year-old had agreed to waiver in August 2023.

The Real Madrid forward stated that the amount includes a signing bonus he anticipated receiving in February, his salary for the final three months, and an “ethical bonus” for that period

Lawyers representing the two parties met early on Wednesday after Mbappé – who joined Madrid this summer – had referred his case to the LFP‘s legal committee.

The league then made the proposition to mediate.

Mbappé’s entourage said in a statement: “The eventuality of a mediation was mentioned this morning.

The player’s representative, hwoever, dismissed this option during the meeting, stating that mediation would be pointless since a simple review of the player’s payslip clearly shows the lack of payment.

• Mbappé says ‘dream has come true’ at Real Madrid inauguration
• Mbappé confirms he will leave Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season

LFP proposition

For its part, Paris Saint-Germain said it was “highly satisfied” with the two-hour hearing before the commission today.

The club emphasised that the player has consistently made both public and private commitments that must be honored, especially after receiving unparalleled privileges from the club during seven remarkable years in Paris.

“The club recalled that the player has made clear repeated public and private commitments that must be respected, having been afforded unprecedented benefits by the Club over seven fantastic years in Paris,” the club said in a statement.

“In the light of the club’s oral and documented arguments, the commission insisted on mediation between the parties, which Paris Saint-Germain has been seeking for many months.”

(with newswires)

In a performance that earned her the endorsement of pop superstar Taylor Swift, the Democrat clashed with the “extreme” Republican on hot-button issues from abortion to democracy and accused him of being a friend to dictators.

Trump repeatedly raised his voice as he hit back at the vice president on immigration and the economy, branding her a “Marxist” and blaming her for what he said were the failings of President Joe Biden‘s administration.

The former president claimed after that the ABC News-hosted clash in Philadelphia was his “best debate”, while Harris’s campaign also claimed victory and challenged him to a second debate in October.

With less than two months until the election, Harris, 59, was under pressure to deliver in front of an audience expected to run into the tens of millions after her sudden replacement as the Democratic candidate in place of Biden.

She started on the front foot by surprising Trump by approaching him to shake his hand before they took to their lecterns.

Then the niceties ended.

Trump, who only a few weeks ago had believed himself to be cruising to victory, reacted to pressure from Harris by resorting to the kinds of finger-jabbing insults and meandering invective that he uses at his rallies.

Harris responded by looking on in amusement and occasionally exclaiming “c’mon”, before declaring that she represents a fresh start after the “mess” of the Trump presidency – and saying: “We’re not going back.”

Riding high on DNC momentum, Kamala Harris faces a fierce fight to the finish

‘Eat you for lunch’

One of their most intense exchanges was on abortion.

Trump insisted that while having pushed for the end of the federal right to abortion, he wanted individual states to make their own policy.

Harris said he was telling a “bunch of lies” and called his policies “insulting to the women of America.”

Within minutes, Trump hammered at the Democrat’s weak spot on immigration by falsely claiming that she and Biden had allowed “millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums.”

Harris pointed out that Trump is a convicted felon, called him “extreme” and said it is “a tragedy” that throughout his career he had used “race to divide the American people.”

The rivals also clashed on foreign policy, with Harris telling Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “eat you for lunch” when it came to the war in Ukraine and that foreign dictators were “laughing” at him.

Trump shot back by accusing Harris of being weak on the war in Gaza, saying she “hated Israel” and that Israel would be “gone” within two weeks if she was president.

Another jarring clash came as Trump doubled down on his unprecedented refusal to accept losing to Biden in the 2020 election, before trying to overturn the result.

Harris responded by mocking his catchphrase as a reality TV star, saying that Trump had been “fired by 81 million people.”

Team USA brings Paralympics magic to small French town

Swift endorsement

Taylor Swift broke her silence on US politics minutes after the debate, backing Harris as president and praising her as a “steady-handed, gifted leader.”

Her message on Instagram – which received 3.6 million likes in the space of an hour – was signed off “childless cat lady” in a jibe at an insult that Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance directed at Democrat-supporting women.

The last presidential debate in June had resulted in a crushing victory for Trump, after Biden delivered a catastrophic performance that ended up dooming his reelection campaign.

Biden said the Harris-Trump debate “wasn’t even close”, in a post on X.

Trump had long seemed invulnerable. He has been convicted of falsifying business records to cover up an affair with an adult film star, found liable for sexual abuse, and faces trial on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election – and still is polling neck-and-neck with Harris.

But Harris clearly needled him on one of his favourite, if less serious topics: the size of his trademark rallies.

Attendees, she said, prompting an angry retort, were leaving early out of “exhaustion and boredom.”

At another moment where Trump appeared to be losing his cool, he talked at length about a debunked conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants have been eating local people’s pets in Ohio.

“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” he said before being corrected by the ABC News moderator that the authorities in the town of Springfield have said this did not happen.

Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007, was long celebrated in France for his dedication to the poor and homeless.

However, his reputation suffered a severe blow in July when Emmaus, the anti-poverty movement he founded in 1949, revealed allegations of sexual assault from seven women.

On Friday, the charity disclosed an additional 17 testimonies, including accusations of rape and abuse of a young girl.

In a joint statement, the Abbé Pierre Foundation, Emmaus France and Emmaus International reiterated their “total support for the victims”, praising the “courage” of those who had come forward.

“We believe them and we stand by them,” it said.

Emmaus has acted decisively to distance itself from its founder. The Abbé Pierre Foundation is to change its name, and the Abbé Pierre memorial centre in Esteville, Normandy, where the late priest resided for many years, will close permanently.

Meanwhile the board of Emmaus France is to vote on whether to remove the priest’s name from its logo.

With 425 branches in 41 countries, the allegations will have repercussions far beyond France.

“Each branch will have to reflect on how much space to give to Abbé Pierre,” Adrien Caboche, head of Emmaus International, told RFI.

“We’re not giving instructions but we encourage people to be responsible in the choices they make since Abbé Pierre’s image is now also that of a sexual predator.”

Sexual abuse from 1950s to 2000s

Caboche said he first heard of the accusations in June 2023 when Emmaus was contacted by a woman claiming the priest had sexually assaulted her.

The charity set up a support centre and hired independent consultancy Egaé to gather and verify further testimonies, leading to the publication of the seven allegations in July.

A hotline was set up allowing other women to come forward – “essentially the listening ear [the victims] should have had a long time ago,” Caboche said. 

While the first seven allegations involved mainly non-consensual breast-touching and unwanted advances, the most recent are more damning.

They include “repeated sexual contact with a vulnerable person”, “repeated penetrative sex acts” and “sexual contact with a child”, the report said.

One woman – referred to as “J” in the report – had written to France’s committee investigating sexual abuse in the Catholic church that she had been “forced to watch Abbé Pierre masturbate and to perform oral sex in a Paris apartment” in 1989. “J” has since died and her testimony was passed on by her daughter.

Another charge relates to a girl who was just eight to nine years old in the mid-1970s when the priest allegedly kissed her “with his tongue” and touched her chest.

A further witness reported forced physical contact while Abbé Pierre was serving as an MP in France’s National Assembly in 1951.

The alleged abuse spans from the 1950s to the 2000s, with the most recent claims dating back to when the priest was 92.

While most of the abuse took place in France, some was in the United States, Morocco and Switzerland.

The testimonies are from current or former Emmaus volunteers, workers in places where Abbé Pierre stayed, members of families with close ties to the priest or people he met at public events, Egaé said.

Church and charity knew

Abbé Pierre, born Father Henri-Antoine Grouès in 1912, was ordained in 1938. He was a member of the French Resistance during WWII and became an MP at the end of the war.

He founded the first Emmaus community to help homeless men in Paris in 1949, and turned into a household name when, in the winter of 1954, he made a passionate plea for France not to turn its back on homeless people.

Just last year, he was the subject of an adulatory biopic marking the 70th anniversary of his famous speech.

Caboche said the charity has set up a commission of historians and researchers to understand “how such a well-known man was able to do what he did for so many years, without being stopped”.

Le Monde revealed in July that both the Church and Emmaus were aware of Abbé Pierre’s predatory behaviour as early as 1955, when he was visiting the US and Canada.

Following complaints, French Catholic theologian Jacques Maritain cut the trip short to prevent a scandal.

An investigation by Radio France, published Monday, revealed extracts of Abbé Pierre’s correspondence threatening an American student who had warned the church of the priest’s behaviour with reprisals if he went public.

In 1957, the church sent the priest to a clinic in Switzerland, officially for exhaustion recovery. In reality, it was to keep him out of the newspapers, Le Monde reported.

French priest’s 1954 appeal to fight homelessness still topical 70 years on

Compensation for victims

France’s Catholic bishops’ conference (CEF) has expressed its “pain” and “shame” over the accusations and announced full cooperation in the investigation.

The church has been shaken by a 2021 report by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church, which identified more than 3,000 cases of sex abuse by priests since 1950.

Véronique Margron, head of the umbrella group of Catholic religious orders in France (Corref), has called for “a process of justice, recognition and reparation”, similar to that undertaken after the 2021 report.

French Catholic Church expected to outline compensation plans for clerical sex abuse victims

Caboche said Emmaus is exploring how to compensate the victims. “It’s a long, difficult process. We’re very aware we have to address this issue, so we’re working on it,” he told RFI.

As for the charity, Caboche said that Abbé Pierre remains “a very important figure for us, historically and symbolically”, but they would have to start rebuilding and “presenting themselves in a different way”.

Despite the “shock and dismay” among volunteers, some have said: “It’s painful for us, it impacts us, but it won’t stop us from continuing our actions, continuing the fight as before,” Caboche said.

The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment of 14 September 2022, which had sanctioned the company with the maximum fine provided for by law at the time, notably 225,000 euros.

The court upheld the involuntary homicide and injuries verdict against Yemenia Airways over the 2009 crash that killed nearly everyone onboard except a 12-year-old girl who miraculously survived.

Comoros crash

Flight Yemenia 626 was on approach to Moroni, the capital of the Comoros islands that lie between Mozambique and Madagascar, on 29 June 2009, after departing from the airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Among the 142 passengers and 11 crew were 66 French citizens heading to France’s overseas territory of Mayotte, part of the Comoros archipelago.

Just before 11pm, the Airbus A310 plunged into the Indian Ocean with its engines running at full throttle, killing everyone on board except Bahia Bakari, then just 12 years old.

Investigators and experts found there was nothing wrong with the aircraft, blaming instead “inappropriate actions by the crew during the approach to Moroni airport, leading to them losing control.”

Prosecutors accused the company of pilot training programs “riddled with gaps” and of continuing to fly to Moroni at night despite several non-functioning landing lights.

The presiding judge in 2022 found that, even though the airline had complied with all regulations, there were “two cases of carelessness directly linked to the accident.”

She faulted the continued night flights to Moroni despite the light outages, and the assignment of a co-pilot with “weak spots” in his training.

Complaint

Around 560 people had joined the suit as plaintiffs, many of them from the region around Marseille in southern France, home to many of the victims.

The presiding judge of the appeals court on Tuesday confirmed the 2022 verdict.

She added as a sanction that the ruling should be publicly displayed at the airports of Paris Charles de Gaulle and Marseille for two months.

The sole survivor of the crash, Bahia Bakari, was en route from Paris to attend a wedding in the Comoros with her mother, who died in the crash.

After blacking out following the plane’s impact with the water, she found herself surrounded by wreckage in the sea, where she drifted for 12 hours before being rescued.

 (AFP) 

France, placed under formal procedure in July for violating the EU’s budget rules, has been given until September 20 to outline its plan to address the breach.

But the EU executive said the bloc’s rules allow for the deadline to be extended by a “reasonable period”.

“The Commission will agree with member states on a new deadline that will allow for a timely assessment of the plan, taking into consideration all relevant factors put forward by each member state requesting an extension,” a spokesman told French news agency AFP.

New government

France is currently awaiting the formation of a new government after President Emmanuel Macron appointed the centre-right Michel Barnier as prime minister last week, following inconclusive elections in July.

Europe’s second biggest economy is one of seven countries placed by the EU in a so-called “excessive deficit procedure”.

• French finance ministry warns budget deficit higher than expected

This kickstarts a process forcing a country to negotiate a plan with Brussels to get their debt or deficit levels back on track.

EU rules demand a deficit below three percent of a country’s GDP, while France’s deficit reached 5.5 percent in 2023.

Paris has pledged to bring it back below 3 percent by 2027 but some analysts deem that implausible as local government expenditure has surged while tax revenue decreased.

Eric Coquerel, the head of the finance committee in the National Assembly, the French parliament’s lower house, said the public sector budget deficit could reach 5.6 percent this year and would rise to 6.2 percent next year if budgetary cuts of 60 billion euros are not made.

 (AFP)

“The figure is really chilling,” Laura Furones, senior adviser to Global Witness’ land and environmental defenders campaign, said in a statement, adding that the report’s findings were conservative and figures are likely to be incomplete.

Latin America

The annual report from the UK advocacy group found Latin America remains the most dangerous part of the world for environmental and land defenders, accounting for 85 percent of the 196 murders documented last year.

The majority were concentrated in just four countries: Colombia, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico.

Colombia had the worst record in  2023, with a total of 79 killed, according to the report.

The findings on Colombia are a sharp contrast to promises by the government of President Gustavo Petro, who took office in 2022 and who has pledged to end the country’s 60-year conflict and pursue environmental justice for communities.

The country is also the host nation for this year’s United Nations COP16 biodiversity conference.

Peace negotiations with various armed groups – some of which are linked to the killings of environmentalists – have also stalled.

Colombia was the most dangerous country for environmentalists in 2022, with at least 60 reported killings, according to last year’s Global Witness report.

“[This year’s] figure is very embarrassing for us in the country,” said Astrid Torres, coordinator for Somos Defensores, a Colombian human rights group.

Torres said the issue was not just the responsibility of the sitting government but also of state institutions, such as prosecutors and local authorities.

 ‘Crackdown on activists’

The report also sounds the alarm on a “crackdown on environmental activists across the UK, Europe and the US”, warning “laws are increasingly being weaponised against defenders”.

It pointed to legislation in Britain and in the United States allowing harsher penalties for protesters and activists facing “draconian levels of surveillance” in the European Union.

In Britain, it highlighted the case of activist David Nixon, who served four weeks in jail after defying a judge’s order barring him from using climate change as a defence.

“We should be allowed to mention the climate crisis wherever we go, especially in front of a jury,” he told news agencies.

Global Witness urged “decisive action” from governments to protect defenders.

• NGO finds 177 environmental activists murdered worldwide in 2022

Dangers in Asia

In Asia, the Philippines continued to be the most dangerous place for with 17 murders. The report also highlighted a growing number of abductions across the region.

This “has emerged as a critical issue, reflecting broader systemic efforts by power holders to suppress dissent and maintain control over land and resources”, it said.

Among those affected were Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, two young activists opposed to land reclamation projects in Manila Bay in the Philippines.

They have accused the military of abducting them, though authorities claim the women belonged to a communist insurgency and had sought help after leaving the movement.

“Since our release, the threats have continued,” the pair said in the report.

Underestimated figures

In Africa, Global Witness recorded just four deaths, but warned the figure was likely a “gross underestimate” given the challenge of collecting information.

Across the world, Indigenous Peoples, who have accumulated wisdom, knowledge, and practices for millennia, are also targeted.

Global Witness warns that, all over the globe, governments and corporations are increasingly wielding the law to suppress environmental activism.

“Activists and their communities are essential in efforts to prevent and remedy harms caused by climate damaging industries,” said the report’s lead author Laura Furones.

“We cannot afford to, nor should we tolerate, losing any more lives,” she added.

 (with newswires)

The court said it “annul[ed] the judgement of 24 May 2023” and sentenced the 62-year-old former Oxford University professor to three years in prison, two of them suspended.

The verdict, first reported by public broadcaster RTS, was slightly more lenient than the three years prison – half suspended – requested by the prosecutor in the case.

Tariq Ramadan, considered a charismatic but controversial figure in European Islam, has always maintained his innocence.

Ramadan’s accuser, a Muslim convert identified only as “Brigitte,” had testified before the court that he subjected her to rape and other violent sex acts in a Geneva hotel room during the night of 28 October 2008.

Swiss court acquits Tariq Ramadan of rape, but he still faces charges in France

Accusations 

The lawyer representing Brigitte said she was repeatedly raped and subjected to “torture and barbarism”.

Ramadan said that Brigitte invited herself up to his room. He let her kiss him, he said, before quickly ending the encounter.

He claimed he was the victim of a “trap.”

Brigitte was in her forties at the time of the alleged assault. She filed a complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed against Ramadan in France.

She filed a complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed against Ramadan in France.

Successful appeal

The appeals verdict overturns a lower court finding last year acquitting Ramadan of rape and sexual coercion, citing a lack of evidence, contradictory testimonies and “love messages” sent by the plaintiff after the alleged assault.

During their appeal, Brigitte’s lawyers alleged that Ramadan had exercised significant “control” over the woman, suggesting she had suffered something akin to Stockholm syndrome.

The three appeals court judges pointed to “witness testimony, certificates, medical notes and private expert opinions consistent with the facts presented by the plaintiff”.

“Elements collected during the investigation have thus convinced the chamber of the guilt of the accused,” the court said in a statement.

Other cases

Ramadan was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.

He was forced to take leave of absence in 2017 when rape allegations surfaced in France at the height of the “Me Too” movement.

In France, he is suspected of raping three women between 2009 and 2016.

His large defence team is fighting a Paris appeals court decision in June that ruled the cases can go to trial.

 (AFP)

Following multiple delays over the past year, the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission finally landed on Haitian soil in June to reclaim the streets from gangs and set the stage for elections – the first since 2016.

The mission’s mandate – outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 2699 – is to provide operational support to the Haitian National Police to counter gangs, secure infrastructure, and ensure safe access to humanitarian aid.

Nearly 580,000 people have been internally displaced by the conflict, hundreds of thousands who fled the country have been deported back to Haiti, and close to 5 million people are facing severe hunger.

• Kenyan security forces begin patrols in Haitian capital Port-au-Prince

Kenya, which has sent police officers experienced in operations against al-Shabaab at the Kenya-Somalia border is confident in its contribution.

Godfrey Otunge, head of the Multinational Security Support mission, expressed gratitude for the warm reception the Kenyan officers have received since their arrival on 25 June.

“Kenya, as the lead country for the MSS mission in Haiti, is happy with the reception and trust we have received from the local people and the support we have received from various organisations, both local and international,” he said at a joint press conference in Port-au-Prince.

“There is no room for failure on our part”.

Funding shortfall

However, Kenyan officers have been confronting serious challenges as they work to restore order amid the widespread gang violence.

As part of the MSS mission, the officers have been dealing with significant shortages of equipment and resources.

Many of their vehicles lack adequate armour, and some are missing crucial communication radios.

Despite a $369 million (€334 million) contribution from the United States, the UN fund for the mission still falls $220 million (€199 million) short of the $589 million (€533 million) required for the first year.

The estimated cost of the mission is $600 million (€543 million) per year.

Delays in the payment of promised bonuses have further affected morale.

Africa-led mission to Haiti ‘urgently needed’, according to the UN

Blinken urges renewal of UN mandate

Late last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the renewal of the United Nations mandate for the security mission during a visit to Haiti. 

“At this critical moment you need more funding, you need more personnel to sustain and carry out the objectives of this mission,” Blinken told a press conference in Port-au-Prince.

He said the US – the mission’s largest financial backer – plans to convene a ministerial meeting at the UN General Assembly this month, to encourage more financial contributions and renew the mandate.

With just under a month left on the mandate, Kenya remains the only country to have deployed, with around 400 police officers – far short of the 1000 promised. 

A handful of other countries – including France, Benin and Canada – have together pledged at least 1,900 more troops, and hundreds of millions of dollars in support.

Accountability Measures

Given the history of abuses in previous foreign interventions in Haiti, accountability also remains a pressing concern.

The UN resolution calls for robust compliance mechanisms to prevent and address violations, but scepticism lingers about their effectiveness.

History of Kenyan police violence raises concerns for Haiti mission

Kenya’s own track record of police abuses and the lack of clearly defined oversight has raised questions about how the mission will be held accountable for its actions on the ground.

These issues will be under scrutiny when the MSS mandate comes up for renewal on 2 October 2024. 

(with newswires)

Sandwiched between Colombia and Peru – the world’s top cocaine producers – once-peaceful Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian drug cartels vie for control.

As the gangs have gained ground, homicides in Ecuador soared from six per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to 47 per 100,000 in 2023.

Multi award-winning photojournalist John Moore obtained rare access to military and police raids in Guayaquil and in Esmeraldas province, entering neighborhoods previously controlled by armed gangs.

“When I arrived [in Ecuador], the military and the police had started very serious anti-gang operations, and they were fine with me going along with them because they wanted to show really what kind of progress they were making against the gang violence,” Moore told RFI.

The result is a photo series entitled “Internal Armed Conflict” referring to earlier this year when Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa granted extended powers to security forces to battle the powerful gangs.

“The state of emergency really gave the military, in some ways, a free hand to operate, and what they referred to as the Mano Dura,” Moore explains.

“It’s tough. Many people have accepted that they have to give up some of their personal liberties in order to defeat this violence that’s happening in their country,” he says.

As a special correspondent for Getty Images, Moore spent 17 years posted overseas, first in Nicaragua, then India, South Africa, Mexico, Egypt and Pakistan.

Since returning to the US in 2008 he has focused on immigration and border issues.

His book “Undocumented: Immigration and the Militarization of the United States-Mexico Border“ was published in 2018 by powerHouse Books.

► Visa pour l’Image runs from 31 August to 15 September 2024.

The Paralympics in Paris shone a light on disability and the challenges disabled people in France face in getting access to sport. Novosports, one of only 40 sports clubs in the capital open to players with disabilities, is entirely focused on inclusive sports, where people with and without disabilities can train together. Club founder Jerome Rousseau talks about developing inclusive volleyball, and club members talk about the importance of opening sport up to everyone. (Listen @1’55”)

Decades before the Paralympic Games were born, the world’s first multi-discipline competition for athletes with a disability took place in Paris in the summer of 1924. Reserved for deaf competitors, the International Silent Games were a landmark in the history of inclusive sport and laid the foundations for today’s contests. Historian Didier Séguillon, curator of an exhibition on the Games at the National Institute for Deaf Young People, discusses their origins and legacy. (Listen @10’15”)

Since recent parliamentary elections in France failed to give any political party a ruling majority, the three main blocs – the left-wing NFP alliance, the centre-right Ensemble coalition and the far-right National Rally – have been at loggerheads. The new prime minister has to form a unity government, but this involves compromise on all sides – a notion that’s often equated in France with “giving in”. Laure Gillot-Assayag, a researcher in political science and philosophy, argues that in such a politically divided landscape, France needs a culture of compromise more than ever. (Listen @17’10”)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

The Egyptian president received a full diplomatic reception, with military bands and horses parading the Egyptian flag through the streets of the Turkish capital on Wednesday.

Erdogan did not hold back in welcoming a man he once dubbed a “brutal dictator”, and signalled a new era of partnership between the two countries.

“With our joint declaration, we confirmed our will to advance our cooperation in all fields, including industry, trade, defence, health, environment and energy,” the Turkish president declared.

String of bilateral agreements

The two leaders signed no fewer than 17 agreements to deepen bilateral trade, diplomatic and military cooperation.

The goal is to expand their annual commercial exchanges to over €13 billion in five years, from a little over €9 billion now.

They also discussed their concerns linked to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the shared desire to see a ceasefire there – part of a wider trend of converging regional interests.

Sisi’s visit follows Erdogan’s trip to Cairo in February, which resulted from years of efforts to mend damaged relations.

Ankara and Cairo cut ties in 2013 after Sisi, then defence minister, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi – Turkey’s ally and part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

• Turkey and Egypt turn page on decade of friction with show of friendship

Question of Somaliland

Despite the decade of estrangement, trade between the two countries never ceased: Turkey is Egypt’s fifth-largest trading partner, while Egypt is Turkey’s largest in Africa.

With the Egyptian and Turkish economies in difficulty, the need to increase bilateral trade is seen as a powerful impetus towards rapprochement and a driving force for cooperation.

It could also ease tension in oil-rich Libya, which has been in a state of civil war for over a decade and where Cairo and Ankara back rival governments.

Libyan security analyst Aya Burweila says that Libya has become an important arena for both countries.

“Because the lines in the sand are so set – and each country has its sphere of influence – this has helped both countries realise that it’s much more lucrative if they cooperate rather than fight each other,” she told RFI.

Sisi and Erdogan also discussed tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia over the breakaway state of Somaliland, following reports that Egypt has started deploying weapons to Mogadishu.

The deployment is part of Egypt‘s bitter dispute with Ethiopia over its Grand Renaissance Dam, which Cairo claims seriously threatens vital water supplies from the Nile River.

• Newly reconciled, Turkey and Egypt could be a force for stability in Africa

Rivalry paused, not ended?

However, analysts suggest Egypt could also be seeking to challenge Turkey’s influence in Somalia – in which it has heavily invested – as well as complicating Ankara’s efforts to mediate between the Somali and Ethiopian governments.

Elem Eyrice-Tepeciklioglu, a professor of African studies at the Social Sciences University of Ankara, acknowledges the danger – but predicts Erdogan and Sisi will initially seek common ground.

“Both Egypt and Turkey can cooperate in Somalia, especially in terms of security,” she observes.

“They can implement joint anti-terrorism initiatives. They can combine their efforts in development projects. They can involve themselves in political stabilisation initiatives, and so on.

“But they can also compete with each other for a more significant role and influence in Somalia.”

For now, though, most experts seem to agree that with the spectre of a wider regional conflict and increasing economic pressures, Erdogan and Sisi are fully aware that cooperation, rather than rivalry, is in both their interests. 

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr  Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Only a few days are left to submit your video to the ePOP competition. 

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people. You are to create a three-minute video about climate change, the environment, pollution – told by the people it affects.

You do not need expensive video equipment to enter the competition. Your phone is fine.  And you do not need to be a member of the RFI Clubs to enter – everyone is welcome. And by the way – the prizes are incredibly generous!

Go to the ePOP page to read about past competitions, watch past videos, and read the regulations for your entry.  You can also write to us at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr, and we’ll forward your mail to Planète Radio.

The competition closes 12 September. We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner!

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write RFI English in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI” has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bilingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled to the best-suited activities for your level.

Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it.” She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the breaking news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.

Remember, podcasts are radio, too! As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note!  I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 13 July I asked you yet another question about France’s snap legislative elections.

As you know, the left coalition New Popular Front won the most seats, followed by Macron’s centre-right alliance, with the far-right National Rally in third place. None of the parties have an absolute majority.

There’s been something of a “cease-fire” during the Olympic Games, so not much has been done. However, the French constitution sets strict deadlines for when key positions must be filled; one of these is the appointment of chairs for each of the eight standing parliamentary committees. That was your question – what are those eight standing committees, and by which date must the chairs of each committee be decided?

The answer is: Finance, foreign affairs, defence, economy, social affairs, culture, sustainable development, and law. The date for deciding the chairs was 20 July. So that has happened: six of the eight committees are headed by the centre-right coalition, and the other two were taken by the left coalition.

The centre-right and the left coalition joined forces and no position was allocated to the far-right National Rally.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What was your biggest life-changing decision, and how did it change your life?”

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!

The winners are: RFI English listener Malik Allah Bachaya Khokhar from the Sungat Radio Listeners Club in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. Malik is also the winner of this week’s bonus question – congratulations, Malik!

There are two winners from India this week: Nafisa Khatun, the president of the RFI Mahila Shrota Sangha Club in Hariharpara, and Mousumi Khatun, a member of the RFI International DX Radio Listeners Club in Murshidabad. Moving over to Bangladesh, there’s Shrabonty Shermin, a member of the RFI Surfers’ Society Bangladesh in Rajshahi, and RFI English listener Rowshan Ara Labone from Dhaka.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Pendulum” by Eberhard Weber, performed by the composer and Paul McCandless; “Contrapunctus 1” from J.S. Bach’s The Art Of Fugue, BWV 1080, performed by the Emerson Quartet; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “Street Life” by Joe Sample and Will Jennings, performed by The Crusaders.

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “Golden glory for French para-triathletes despite delays over Seine water quality”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 30 September to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 5 October podcast. When you enter be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Click here to learn how to win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

Click here to find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club,  

This week, we focus on the presidential election in Algeria, scheduled for 7 September, with a potential second round two weeks later, if none of the candidate reaches 51 percent in the first round.

The campaign ended on Tuesday, 3 September. Most experts expect incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune to win again, while only two challengers have been allowed to run: Abdelaali Hassani of the moderate Islamist party, the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), and Youcef Aouchiche of the centre-left Socialist Forces Front (FFS). 

• Few surprises in store as Algeria’s presidential election nears

The opposition has, however, complained of intimidation with dozens of people arrested last month over alleged election fraud.

Opposition leader Fethi Ghares was even detained  during the last week of the campaign, accused of “insulting the president” and spreading disinformation online.

Meanwhile, Algerian officials are tightening restrictions on civil liberties, Amnesty International reports. The human rights group says that the authorities’ actions aim to limit citizens’ rights to free speech, peaceful protest, and form associations.

To understand how opponents, political parties and civil society navigate the civic space, RFI spoke to Nadège Lahmar, the consultant on Algeria for Amnesty. 

Episode mixed by Nicolas Doreau. 

Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale. 

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan described August’s second round of indirect talks in Ankara between his Ethiopian and Somali counterparts as constructive and positive.

“We were able to focus on the details and technicalities of concrete steps that are important convergences on some major principles and specific modalities”, Fidan said.

“This constitutes notable progress.”

While there was no breakthrough, all sides agreed to meet again in September.

Controversial deal 

Ethiopian-Somali tensions have escalated since January, when Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland, a breakaway state from Somalia.

Under the agreement, Ethiopia would secure sea access in exchange for recognising Somaliland, a deal condemned by Somalia as an infringement on its territorial integrity.

“Ethiopia needs access to a coastline”, said Dubai-based geopolitical consultant Norman Ricklefs.

“It’s the second-largest country in Africa. It’s a booming economy. And, somehow, that deal needs to be made, but it’s not going to be easy because of the previous deal earlier this year with Somaliland.”

Ricklefs predicts that finding a solution will require considerable diplomatic finesse.

“It’s not going to be easy to convince the Somalis to grant that [Ethiopian demands], feeling that they’re under pressure right now because of the deal that was previously done with Somaliland,” he said.

“But I think Turkey is probably best placed, as they have a very close relationship with both Ethiopia and Somalia.”

Somalia recently threatened to block access to Ethiopian Airlines in the latest bout of diplomatic tensions. Meanwhile, Egypt could reportedly deploy soldiers to Somalia, a move that threatens to further escalate and broaden tensions, given existing Ethiopian-Egyptian conflicts.

Ethiopia and Somalia move closer to resolving Somaliland dispute

Deepening influence

The situation between Somalia and Ethiopia is expected to be discussed during Wednesday’s summit in Turkey, where Egyptian President Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are set to meet.

Africa expert Elem Eyrice-Tepecikoglu from the African studies department of Ankara’s Social Sciences University said Turkey’s historical and deepening economic and military ties with both Somalia and Ethiopia give it an advantageous position in its mediating efforts.

“Somalia has a very important place in Turkey’s Africa policy. Turkey has established its largest embassy in Somalia’s capital, and it also established its largest military training facility, again in Somalia,” said Tepecikoglu.

“But Turkey also has old and established relations with Ethiopia as well. There are several investments of Turkish companies in the country, and Turkey also signed a military cooperation agreement with Ethiopia. Reportedly, Turkish drones were used against the Tigray rebel forces.”

Growing military buildup in Azerbaijan and Armenia a concern for peace talks

Economic, military stakes

Earlier this year, the Somali parliament ratified a naval agreement with Turkey to protect its territorial waters and a deal to search for hydrocarbons. Turkey is second only to China in investment in Ethiopia, including selling its military-proven drones.

Analysts suggest that there is more than diplomatic prestige at stake for Ankara in resolving Ethiopian-Somali tensions, given the region’s potential and geostrategic importance as a critical world trading route.

“There’s a reason why the Horn of Africa has American military bases and Chinese military bases. The Japanese even have a base in that area. All of them think the Horn of Africa is a pretty significant region for global shipping,” Ricklefs said.

“It’s a region that has not been developed. It has hydrocarbon resources and other resources like agricultural resources that have not been developed and would need networks and infrastructure that a country like Turkey could provide if there was security and stability.”

Ethiopian and Somali talks are set to resume in September. Success would underline Turkey’s growing influence in a region of increasing international competition, while failure could threaten two decades of Turkish investment in the region.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr  Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people. You are to create a three-minute video about climate change, the environment, pollution – told by the people it affects.

You do not need expensive video equipment to enter the competition. Your phone is fine.  And you do not need to be a member of the RFI Clubs to enter – everyone is welcome. And by the way – the prizes are incredibly generous!

Go to the ePOP page to read about past competitions, watch past videos, and read the regulations for your entry.  You can also write to us at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr, and we’ll forward your mail to Planète Radio.

The competition closes 12 September. We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner!

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write RFI English in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec rfi” has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bi-lingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level”. According to your score, you’ll be counseled to the best-suited activities for your level.

Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it”. She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the breaking news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.

As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service.  Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our excellent staff of journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note!  I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 6 July, I asked you a question about France’s snap legislative elections, called by President Emmanuel Macron after his centrist party was severely trounced by the far-right National Rally Party in the European legislative elections.

The first round of voting was on 30 June; voter turnout was quite high. You were to consult RFI English journalist Jessica Phelan’s article “The three-way factor that makes France’s election results so unusual” and send in the answer to these two questions: What was voter turnout on Sunday 30 June, and in which year was it last that high? 

The answer is: As Jessica wrote in her article: “The last three parliamentary elections have seen turnout of roughly 48 percent (2022), 49 percent (2017) and 57 percent (2012) in the first round, which effectively meant parties had to win a higher share of ballots cast to get across the threshold.

On the 30th of June turnout reached almost 67 percent – its highest since 1997.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “Given unlimited resources, what scientific or medical problem would you investigate, and why?”

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Lata Akhter Jahan from Bogura, Bangladesh. Lata is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Lata, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ras Franz Manko Ngogo, the president of the Kemogemba RFI Club in Tarima, Tanzania, and Nirupa Bain, a member of the RFI Pariwer Bandhu Shortwave Club in Chhattisgarh, India.

Last but not least, two RFI Listeners Club members: Sakawat Hossain from Sylhet, Bangladesh, and Solomon Fessahazion from Asmara, Eritrea.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Polovtsian Dances” from the opera Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin, arranged for marimba ensemble by Fumito Nunoya and performed by the Nunoya Marimba Ensemble; “I’ve Got Rhythm” by George Gershwin, performed by Django Reinhardt and the Quintette du Hot Club de France; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and  “Un jour tu verras” by Georges van Parys and Marcel Mouloudji, sung by Mouloudji.

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “Paralympic torch arrives in France ahead of opening ceremony”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 23 September to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 28 September podcast. When you enter be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Click here to learn how to win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

Click here to find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club,  

Madhya Pradesh is often referred to as the Heart of India. Located right in the middle of the country, the Indian region shows everything India has to offer through its abundant diversity. The IFTM trade show, which took place in Paris at the end of September, presented the perfect opportunity for travel enthusiasts to discover the region.

Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board, sat down to explain his approach to sustainable tourism.

“Post-covid the whole world has known a shift in their approach when it comes to tourism. And all those discerning travelers want to have different kinds of experiences: something offbeat, something new, something which has not been explored before.”

Through its UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Shukla wants to showcase the deep history Madhya Pradesh has to offer.

“UNESCO is very actively supporting us and three of our sites are already World Heritage Sites. Sanchi is a very famous buddhist spiritual destination, Bhimbetka is a place where prehistoric rock shelters are still preserved, and Khajuraho is home to thousand year old temples with magnificent architecture.”

All in all, Shukla believes that there’s only one way forward for the industry: “Travelers must take sustainable tourism as a paradigm in order to take tourism to the next level.”

In partnership with Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board.

Also known as the Land of the Beautiful Islands, Malaysia’s landscape and cultural diversity is almost unmatched on the planet. Those qualities were all put on display at the Malaysian stand during the IFTM trade show.

Libra Hanif, director of Tourism Malaysia, explained the appeal of the country as well as the importance of promoting sustainable tourism today: “Sustainable travel is a major trend now, with the changes that are happening post-covid. People want to get close to nature, to get close to people. So Malaysia being a multicultural and diverse [country] with a lot of natural environments, we felt that it’s a good thing for us to promote Malaysia.”

Malaysia has also gained fame in recent years, through its numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which include Kinabalu Park and the Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley.

Green mobility has also become an integral part of tourism in Malaysia, with an increasing number of people using bikes to discover the country: “If you are a little more adventurous, we have the mountain back trails where you can cut across gazetted trails to see the natural attractions and the wildlife that we have in Malaysia,” says Hanif. “If you are not that adventurous, you’ll be looking for relaxing cycling. We also have countryside spots, where you can see all the scenery in a relaxing session.”

With more than 25,000 visitors at this IFTM trade show this year, Malaysia’s tourism board got to showcase the best the country and its people have to offer.

In partnership with Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board. For more information about Malaysia, click here.