The devastating cyclone that struck Mayotte on 14 December has created an unprecedented reversal of migration flows between the two territories, with ferries bringing survivors to the Comoran island of Anjouan.

Comorans are now offering shelter and aid to people from a territory that normally attracts migrants seeking a better life.

Many of those who died in Mayotte were undocumented Comorans, although the exact number remains unclear due to their unofficial status. At least 39 people have been confirmed dead and 4,000 injured in what officials describe as the most devastating cyclone to hit the French territory in 90 years.

Stories of survival

A third ferry arrived on Thursday at Mutsamudu port carrying 132 passengers, following two crossings on Wednesday.

After their three-hour voyage across the Indian Ocean, those on board are met by bands of volunteers gathered by the quayside handing out food kits they have prepared.

“I have tin houses that are all gone … everything has gone,” said Abdallah Rahafati, who clutched a bag holding what was left of his possessions. “Fortunately, I’m safe. I’m here. I’m alive. There’s been a lot of damage and a lot of deaths, so I thought I’d better leave to save my life. My daughter decided to go to Réunion. I decided to come to Grand Comoros to join my family.”

The human cost of the disaster becomes clearer with each new arrival.

Naima, accompanied by her two children and what little they could carry, said: “Over there, I wasn’t safe. I had no shelter. I didn’t have a roof over my head to live in with my kids. There were real problems with food and everything else. I don’t have a house, I don’t have anything, I lost everything apart from my documents.”

Ravaged forest threatens Mayotte’s biodiversity, economy and food security

Community response

At the port, volunteers work tirelessly despite heavy rain, preparing 600 aid kits each day. Their determination reflects the feeling of connection between the two territories.

“When we talk about Mayotte, we’re talking about the Comoros,” said Thouraya Ahmed Halid, vice-president of the Association des femmes actives de Mutsamudu, a women’s charity group.

“Mayotte is part of the Comoros. So whatever happens to them there, we all feel solidarity. We have to be there to help them, to support them morally and financially.”

The relief effort has drawn support from across Comoran society.

Nourou Houssam, president of the Solidarité Femme Action charitable organisation, said: “We’ve had a lot of people get involved. Shopkeepers, individuals, organisationst oo, who have contacted us to bring their donations. We collected everything we had in a shop and sent it to Mayotte.”

Once the packages arrive, charities in Mayotte ensure the distribution of donations to those in need.

France and Comoros clash over migrants lost in Mayotte cyclone disaster

Political tensions

While volunteers focus on humanitarian aid, the disaster has reignited political debates over migration.

France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has promised to crack down on illegal immigration as part of France’s post-cyclone reconstruction efforts. He says he wants to deploy drones to stop boats carrying migrants from Comoros to Mayotte.

“We know very well that there is a Comoran policy of letting people go,” Retailleau told French broadcaster BFMTV. “There is a form – the word is undoubtedly too strong – of hybrid warfare, if I dare say so, by pushing populations towards Mayotte to create a kind of illegal occupation. We have to change the rules.”

His comments prompted a war of words with Comoran authorities.

“You can’t be one of the top ministers in a republic like France and make such comments in a period of mourning,” Hamada Madi Boléro, diplomatic adviser to president of the Comoros Azali Assoumani, told RFI.

“You don’t… think of the dead as being of a particular nationality or colour. It’s just not done.”

Reconstruction plans

French Prime Minister François Bayrou will visit Mayotte on Sunday and Monday, with Education Secretary Elisabeth Borne and Overseas Territories Minister Manuel Valls, to assess the damage and oversee reconstruction plans.

While Mayotte’s official population is 320,000, authorities estimate there may be an additional 100,000 to 200,000 unregistered residents, making it difficult to assess the full impact of the disaster.

And while some leave Mayotte to seek shelter, there are those who want to return.

“I live in Mayotte so I want to go home,” said one woman, who was in Anjouan for work when the cyclone struck Mayotte. “I’ve got my family. I’ve got my house. I’ve got my job. I’ve been there for 10 years. There’s no point in me not going home.”

This story was adapted from the original version in French by Abdallah Mzembaba.

Bayrou faced intense criticism for attending a town hall meeting in his home city of Pau while Mayotte dealt with the immediate aftermath of the cyclone.

His office announced late Thursday that he would make a two-day visit alongside Education Minister Elisabeth Borne and Overseas Territories Minister Manuel Valls, who were drafted into his new cabinet this week.

At least 39 people have been confirmed dead and 4,000 injured following the most devastating cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years. 

The death toll is expected to rise as rescue teams sift their way through the wreckage. 

Assessing the exact toll has been complicated due the number of illegal immigrants in Mayotte, especially from the Comoros islands to the north.

While Mayotte’s official population is 320,000, authorities estimate there may be an additional 100,000 to 200,000 unregistered residents.

After hitting Mayotte, Cyclone Chido made landfall in Mozambique, claiming at least 34 lives and destroying 23,600 homes, authorities said.

Ravaged forest threatens Mayotte’s biodiversity, economy and food security

Macron visit

President Emmanuel Macron visited Mayotte just before Christmas to survey the damage.

His arrival at Marcel Henry Airport came hours after Paris declared exceptional natural disaster measures to aid the cyclone-hit territory.

Within minutes of Macron stepping off the plane, he was given a first-hand account of the disaster.

“Mayotte is demolished,” said airport security agent Assane Haloi. “There’s no roof, there’s nothing. No water, no food, no electricity. We can’t even shelter. We are all wet with our children covering ourselves with whatever we have so that we can sleep.”

As Borne and Valls prepare to travel for their first big assignment since returning to the cabinet, colleague Gérald Darmanin outlined proposals to mark his tenure at the Justice Ministry.

During an interview with French broadcaster TF1, Darmanin, a former interior minister, outlined plans to extend police custody from 48 to 72 hours in cases of murder or serious sexual assault.

He said the additional time would enhance victim protection and improve evidence collection.

More than 80,000 people, mostly women and children, crossed into South Sudan in less than three weeks following intensified fighting in Sudan‘s White Nile, Sennar and Blue Nile states, the UN refugee agency reported.

Transit centres in the South Sudanese border town of Renk, designed to house 8,000 people, are now hosting more than 17,000, with many forced to sleep outside.

Health emergency

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) described the situation as “completely overwhelming”, with limited access to food, clean water, and medical care exacerbating the crisis.

“Drinking water is contaminated, and patients arrive at our centres in critical condition – many are on the brink of death,” said Mamman Mustapha, MSF’s head of mission in South Sudan.

He called for “immediate action” to prevent a sharp rise in cholera cases.

UN says ‘horrible suffering’ in Sudan growing as more people displaced

In Unity state, where the cholera outbreak is spreading rapidly, 92 deaths have been reported, with more than 1,200 cases treated in Bentiu alone within a month.

Near the capital, Juba, camps have recorded 1,700 suspected cases and 25 deaths.

Uncollected waste, overflowing toilets, and polluted water are making conditions in the camps increasingly dire.

Surging arrivals

More than 5,000 people have been crossing the border daily in December, MSF said, as fighting continues in Sudan between the army and Rapid Support Forces.

Emanuele Montobbio, MSF’s emergency coordinator, said facilities are stretched beyond capacity, with over 100 severely injured patients in Renk awaiting surgery.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is also struggling to manage the crisis in Renk, where new arrivals continue to seek shelter from the conflict that began in April 2023.

Sonko announced plans to close all foreign military bases and repeal an amnesty law covering political violence that left dozens dead in 2023 and 2024.

Speaking nine months after his appointment, the prime minister pledged to transform Senegal’s governance, economy and social policies under his National Transformation Agenda 2050.

The speech, originally expected in April, was delayed due to a procedural impasse in the Assembly’s regulations and later postponed by early legislative elections in November that gave him a large majority in parliament.

Senegal’s new leader announces audit of oil, gas and mining sectors

National interests

He vowed to renegotiate contracts in key industries, particularly energy, to ensure they prioritise Senegal’s national interests.

“We advocate for a reassessment of global governance,” Sonko said, calling for solidarity with Gaza and a reorganisation of international institutions.

Sonko emphasised the importance of ethical governance, urging civil servants to lead by example and act with integrity.

He confirmed plans to repeal the 2024 amnesty law, which was passed under former president Macky Sall after widespread political violence.

“In addition to putting compensation for victims into the budget, a draft law will be submitted to your august Assembly to repeal the 6 March 2024 amnesty so that light may be shed and responsibilities determined on whatever side they may lie,” Sonko told lawmakers.

Senegal votes to shape parliament as reforms and economy hang in balance

Better living conditions

Acknowledging Senegal’s economic struggles, Sonko promised to improve living conditions for citizens. He highlighted the need to reduce high administrative costs and increase public spending efficiency, while also tackling the consequences of recent floods.

The prime minister pledged to improve education, focusing on investment in schools and expanding opportunities for Senegalese to learn English.

Sonko emphasised the need for a break from past mistakes, pointing to the lingering effects of three centuries of slavery, colonisation, and domination by external powers. These historical challenges, he said, have eroded confidence in Senegal’s governance and institutions.

The two-hour policy address was followed by a debate with lawmakers. Sonko will return to the chamber on Saturday to assume responsibility for his government under Article 86 paragraph 6 of the constitution.

This will enable parliament to pass the 2025 budget before the 31 December deadline without further debate.

The handover ceremony took place on Thursday in the presence of Chadian civil and military officials.

The 30 French personnel stationed at the airfield have returned to the capital, N’Djamena, and several tons of equipment will be flown back to France in the coming days.

“The handover took place in accordance with the calendar and the conditions agreed with Chad,” said France’s military chief of staff.

The 100 remaining French troops stationed in Abéché, eastern Chad, will be the next to leave, followed by the final evacuation of personnel from Camp Kossei in N’Djamena.

On 20 December, Chad gave France six weeks to clear out its military personnel. The order came less than a month after Chad said it wanted to terminate the security and defence agreements that have linked it with France since the end of the colonial era.

Surprise move

The declaration caught French diplomats off guard, but Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Déby stressed the move was not intended to strain ties with France, which has also been asked to withdraw troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years.

“The decision in no way constitutes a rejection of international cooperation or a calling into question of our diplomatic relations with France,” Déby said. “It is not a question of replacing one power with another.”

• France to reduce military presence in West and Central Africa

Chad – the last country in the Sahel to host French forces – remains in political transition since the coup that brought Déby to power in 2020. 

The country faces ongoing threats from the jihadist group Boko Haram in the northwest, as well as a significant influx of refugees fleeing conflict and famine in neighbouring Sudan.

French presence since 1940

The Faya-Largeau base, located strategically between the Tibesti and Ennedi mountains, has been central to French military operations in the region since 1941, when Free French forces under General Leclerc used it to launch a campaign in southern Libya during World War II.

French troops and combat aircraft maintained their presence even after independence in 1960 to train Chadian military personnel.

But since consolidating his position, Déby has veered away from France.

“These agreements are completely obsolete in the face of the political and geostrategic realities of our time,” he said.

(with newswires)

Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) this week launched an investigation into the rising number of cases of abductions allegedly carried out by members of the National Police Service (NPS).

The move comes after reports of several young people allegedly abducted after criticising President William Ruto and his administration.

Four people were forcibly taken by armed men, allegedly for sharing AI-generated images of Ruto in a coffin, according to their family and local media.

Satirist Kibet Bull also went missing after meeting with a senator in Nairobi.

Kenya investigates alleged kidnapping of Ugandan opposition leader Besigye

According to New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch, Kenyan security forces “abducted, arbitrarily arrested, tortured and killed perceived leaders of the anti-Finance Bill protests between June and August 2024″.

HRW added that: “Security officers held abductees, who they had detained without respecting their legal rights, in unlawful detention facilities, including in forests and abandoned buildings, and denied them access to their families and lawyers.”

Finance bill

The protests gained momentum after the introduction of the Finance Bill 2024 in parliament on 18 June.

Protesters took to the streets over provisions that would raise taxes on essential goods and services, in order to meet International Monetary Fund revenue targets.

On 25 June, a large crowd broke through the parliament fence, where they encountered anti-riot police officers who fired directly at the crowd, killing several, says HRW.

The protesters overpowered the police and entered parliament through the back entrance, destroying furniture and other items, resulting in the subsequent crackdown and abductions.

Scattered anti-government protests in Kenya defy police bans

The NPS has documented 57 abductions since anti-government protests began in June, but it has repeatedly denied any involvement.

In a statement on Thursday, NPS Inspector-General Douglas Kanja said: “The National Police Service is not involved in any abduction, and there is no police station in the country holding the reported abductees.”

Scholz’s coalition was brought down by internal fights over how to revive Europe’s largest economy, but a deadly car-ramming attack at a Christmas market last week has renewed the country’s heated debates over security and immigration.

Confirming the 23 February date for the election, Steinmeier emphasised the need for “political stability” and appealed for the campaign to be “conducted with respect and decency”.

A Saudi doctor, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, was arrested at the scene of the attack on the Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg which left five people dead and more than 200 injured.

Interior Minister Nancy Fraser has said Abdulmohsen held “Islamophobic” views but his exact motive remains unclear.

In the wake of the attack, Scholz appealed to Germans to “link arms” and to not allow “hatred to determine our coexistence”.

The conservative CDU/CSU is leading in the polls on around 32 percent under its leader Friedrich Merz and even before last week’s attack it had been promising a harder line on immigration as well as a rightward shift on social and economic policy.

In second place on 19 percent is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which held what it called a “memorial” rally in Magdeburg on Monday.

At the event, the AfD’s regional leader Jan Wenzel Schmidt said Germany could “no longer take in madmen from all over the world” and demanded the country “close the borders”.

Steinmeier also said on Friday that he wanted “the campaign to be conducted with fair and transparent means” and warned of the dangers of “foreign influence… which is particularly intense on X,” the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

“Hatred and violence must have no place in this election campaign, nor denigration or intimidation… all this is poison for democracy,” Steinmeier said.

German Chancellor Scholz loses no confidence vote ahead of February elections

Host of challenges

Scholz’s Social Democrats are lagging badly in polls on just 15 percent.

His unruly three-party coalition collapsed on November 6, the day Donald Trump won re-election to the White House.

That led him to call a confidence vote last week which he lost, paving the way for an early election.

Scholz will remain in office as a caretaker chancellor until a new government is formed, which could take several months after the election.

In his speech, Steinmeier reminded political parties and voters of the host of challenges the next government will face given the “economically unstable situation… the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine” as well as debates over immigration and climate change.

On security, both the CDU and SPD want to keep helping Ukraine in its war with Russia and spend two percent of GDP or more on Germany‘s defence.

Suspected Christmas market attacker charged with murder, attempted murder by German court

While the CDU programme remains vague on what weapons to ship to Kyiv, the SPD opposes sending long-range missiles because “Germany and NATO must not themselves become parties to the war”.

On the thorny issue of how to boost Germany’s ailing economy, both parties want to reinvigorate the “Made in Germany” brand, boost investment and upgrade crumbling infrastructure.

The SPD has proposed mobilising an initial 100 billion euros through a new public-private “Germany Fund”.

It also plans to loosen Germany’s tough limit on new state borrowing, while the CDU insists the so-called debt brake must stay.

On climate and energy, the SPD has vowed to promote renewables, e-mobility and an ambitious green hydrogen initiative, while the CDU said it would reverse the planned phase-out of combustion engine vehicles.

The conservatives have also pledged to study whether some of Germany’s shuttered atomic power plants can be brought back on-line.

France, Britain, Germany, Italy the European Union and the United States issued a joint statement condemning the Serb parliament’s actions as “a serious threat to the country’s constitutional order”.

The statement warned: “At a time when formal opening of EU accession negotiations has never been so close, a return to political blockades would have negative consequences for all citizens … a majority of whom support EU accession.”

On Wednesday Republika Srpska’s (RS) regional parliament ordered Serb representatives in state institutions to obstruct decision-making and reforms required for EU integration.

The move follows an ongoing trial of RS leader Milorad Dodik, the pro-Russian nationalist leader of RS, who faces prosecution for defying decisions by High Representative Christian Schmidt – the international official tasked with overseeing Bosnia’s post-war recovery.

Dayton agreement

Lawmakers described Dodik’s trial as politically motivated and argued they were established by the peace envoy rather than through the Dayton Peace Agreement.

The 1995 Dayton accords ended years of bloody conflict that killed tens of thousands. They split Bosnia into two autonomous regions – the Serb Republic and a Federation shared by Croats and Bosniaks – under weak central government oversight.

Republika Srpska lawmakers have increasingly resisted this arrangement, with Dodik leading efforts to assert greater independence.

Among their resolutions, lawmakers requested that Dodik, who recently had surgery in Serbia, avoid court appearances until medically cleared.

The moves by RS lawmakers has heightened ongoing tensions between Bosnia’s two regions.

• Brussels recommends opening EU membership talks with Bosnia
• Srebrenica remembers victims following Mladic arrest

Ongoing sanctions

The political crisis has been deepened by increased pressure on Dodik’s circle by the United States. On 18 December, Washington sanctioned four people and four entities from RS, including Bosnia’s Foreign Trade Minister Stasa Kosarac, for allegedly helping Dodik’s family dodge earlier restrictions.

These sanctions are part of broader efforts to address what Washington views as destabilising actions in the region.

The crisis has added to the Balkans’ volatile dynamics. Earlier this month, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti visited Sarajevo, meeting with Bosnian officials despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between the two nations.

The visit drew criticism from Bosnia’s Serb leaders, further straining relations.

EU accession?

The European Council opened accession talks with Bosnia-Herzegovina in March after authorities met key requirements set by the European Commission.

But tensions between Bosnia’s regions remain high, echoing divisions that date to the 1990s war when Bosnian Serb forces, led by Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic – both later convicted of war crimes – orchestrated the killing of some 8,000 Bosnians.

The Washington-based Carnegie Endowment has warned that “progress on the EU track is no remedy for the chronic crisis besetting Bosnian politics”, describing Dodik as “a thorn in the side of the West”.

As Sarajevo works to address these challenges, the focus remains on whether the country’s leaders can bridge the political divide and keep Bosnia on the path to European integration.

Despite international observers raising concerns about irregularities in the 9 October elections, the country’s highest court on Monday confirmed that Daniel Chapo of the Frelimo party, which has been in power since 1975, won the presidential race with 65.17 percent of the vote.

That announcement triggered opposition protests that often turned into clashes with police, with buildings burned and supermarkets ransacked.

On Tuesday evening, the government reported a death toll of 21 in the first 24 hours of rioting in several major cities of the southern African nation.

Prison break

The national police chief then announced Wednesday that a mass jailbreak occurred near the capital Maputo, leaving at least 33 inmates dead during clashes with prison staff as they tried to escape.

The NGO Plataforma Decide on Thursday put the toll at 125 deaths since Monday, also raising the total deaths since violence erupted in October to 252.

The hardest-hit areas include around the capital, northern provinces including Nampula and the country’s second-largest city Beira.

Mass jailbreak in Mozambique amid post-election unrest

More than 4,000 people have been arrested since October in connection with demonstrations that often turn violent, including 137 arrests in the last three days, the NGO said.

Chapo’s main challenger, exiled opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, has claimed the election was rigged.

Mondlane on Thursday accused security forces of encouraging the recent unrest and looting to allow authorities to declare a state of emergency and crush the protests.

Some barricades around the capital had been dismantled Thursday but many remained in place limiting traffic, according to an AFP journalist in Maputo. Public transport was also suspended.

This year is the hottest in history, with record-breaking temperatures in the atmosphere and oceans acting like fuel for extreme weather around the world.

World Weather Attribution, experts on how global warming influences extreme events, said nearly every disaster they analysed over the past 12 months was intensified by climate change.

“The impacts of fossil fuel warming have never been clearer or more devastating than in 2024. We are living in a dangerous new era,” said climate scientist Friederike Otto, who leads the WWA network.

Heat

That was tragically evident in June when more than 1,300 people died during the Muslim hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia where temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit).

Extreme heat – sometimes dubbed the ‘silent killer’ – also proved deadly in Thailand, India, and United States.

Conditions were so intense in Mexico that howler monkeys dropped dead from the trees, while Pakistan kept millions of children at home as the mercury inched above 50C.

Greece recorded its earliest ever heatwave, forcing the closure of its famed Acropolis and fanning terrible wildfires, at the outset of Europe‘s hottest summer yet.

Ravaged forest threatens Mayotte’s biodiversity, economy and food security

Floods

Climate change isn’t just sizzling temperatures — warmer oceans mean higher evaporation, and warmer air absorbs more moisture, a volatile recipe for heavy rainfall.

In April, the United Arab Emirates received two years worth of rain in a single day, turning parts of the desert-state into a sea, and hobbling Dubai’s international airport.

Kenya was barely out of a once-in-a-generation drought when the worst floods in decades delivered back-to-back disasters for the East African nation.

Four million people needed aid after historic flooding killed more than 1,500 people across West and Central Africa. Europe – most notably Spain – also suffered tremendous downpours that caused deadly flash flooding.

Afghanistan, Russia, Brazil, China, Nepal, Uganda, India, Somalia, Pakistan, Burundi and the United States were among other countries that witnessed flooding in 2024.

Cyclones

Warmer ocean surfaces feed energy into tropical cyclones as they barrel toward land, whipping up fierce winds and their destructive potential.

Major hurricanes pummelled the United States and Caribbean, most notably Milton, Beryl and Helene, in a 2024 season of above-average storm activity.

The Philippines endured six major storms in November alone, just two months after suffering Typhoon Yagi as it tore through Southeast Asia.

In December, scientists said global warming had helped intensify Cyclone Chino to a Category 4 storm as it collided head-on with Mayotte, devastating France‘s poorest overseas territory.

TotalEnergies accused of abuses linked to €10bn East African oil pipeline

Droughts and wildfires

Some regions may be wetter as climate change shifts rainfall patterns, but others are becoming drier and more vulnerable to drought.

The Americas suffered severe drought in 2024 and wildfires torched millions of hectares in the western United States, Canada, and the Amazon basin – usually one of Earth’s wettest places.

Between January and September, more than 400,000 fires were recorded across South America, shrouding the continent in choking smoke.

The World Food Programme in December said 26 million people across southern Africa were at risk of hunger as a months-long drought parched the impoverished region.

Economic toll

Extreme weather cost thousands of lives in 2024 and left countless more in desperate poverty. The lasting toll of such disasters is impossible to quantify.

In terms of economic losses, Zurich-based reinsurance giant Swiss Re estimated the global damage bill at $310 billion, a statement issued early December.

Flooding in Europe – particularly in the Spanish province of Valencia, where over 200 people died in October – and hurricanes Helene and Milton drove up the cost, the company said.

As of November 1, the United States had suffered 24 weather disasters in 2024 with losses exceeding $1 billion each, government figures showed.

Drought in Brazil cost its farming sector $2.7 billion between June and August, while “climatic challenges” drove global wine production to its lowest level since 1961, an industry body said.

The Boxing Day tsunami of 26 December was “a wake-up call for humanity to do more, to better understand disaster risks,” said Kamal Kishore, UN special representative for Disaster Risk Reduction.

French scientists have been doing just that, focusing on the risk of a tsunami occurring around its Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts and installing early warning systems.

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami: what to know 20 years on

Unesco has said there is a 100 percent chance of a tsunami of at least 1 metre in height occurring in the Mediterranean in the next 30 to 50 years.

Monitoring activity

In 2012, France established the National Centre for Tsunami Alert (Cenalt), with seismometers working 24 hours a day to monitor earthquake activity around the country – with an eye towards predicting tsunamis on the coast.

“We do not expect tsunamis to go over 2 or 3 metres high, compared to the Pacific or Indian Oceans where there have been waves as high as 30 metres,” Cenalt director Pascal Roudil told France Info.

However, even smaller waves can cause damage. In October 1979 an underwater landslide caused a tsunami in Nice. A 3-metre high wave hit the coast, killing 11 people and sending water 150 metres inland.

Tears and prayers as Asia mourns tsunami dead 20 years on

Since 2012, around 100 seismological events have been noted by Cenalt and some have triggered warnings, but they are yet to record a real tsunami risk.

Risk on the Riviera

Cities along the French Rivera have organised drills to raise awareness of the risks, and teach people what to do in the event of a tsunami being detected. In some cases, people would have as little as 15 minutes to move to higher ground.

The coast of south-eastern France, between the sea and the Alps, is an active seismic zone, and earthquakes are recorded regularly. In mid December a 3.7 magnitude quake was recorded off the coast of Nice.

In January, Cannes became the first French city to be recognised by Unesco as “Tsunami Ready”, thanks to its alert system, evacuation plans and the drills it has organised.

The deadline was agreed with the West African regional bloc Ecowas, but government officials confirmed two weeks ago they would not meet the target date.

Instead, authorities announced a second phase called “refoundation of the state” without providing further details.

In a statement, Forces Vives – which unites opposition parties and civil society groups – called for the establishment of a civilian-led transition, accusing the current authorities of failing to deliver on their promises.

Abdoul Sacko, coordinator of the Forum of Social Forces of Guinea, one of the signatory organisations, expressed frustration at the lack of progress.

“We are talking about a celebratory situation because this mandate – what we call the transition timeline – which the transitional authorities granted themselves and which was accepted by the people of Guinea and the international community, is coming to an end,” Sacko said.

Guinea’s political parties face survival test as junta orders mass cull

Public frustration

Sacko criticised the lack of progress towards democratic rule, saying there is “no relevant, visible and perfectible approach to returning to constitutional order”.

He added: “Responsibility would require us to commit to working, informing and mobilising the people towards a civilian transition, respecting and giving substance to this commitment. So, once again, we are facing a situation where there is frustration at all levels.”

The missed deadline raises fresh concerns about the military’s grip on power in Guinea, where authorities have not specified a new timeline for elections or return to civilian rule.

The announcement comes amid growing regional pressure on military-led governments in West Africa to honour their commitments to restore democracy.

The 58-percent increase includes 1,538 children and 421 women, migrants rights group Caminando Fronteras or Walking Borders said in a report which covers the period from January 1 to December 5, 2024.

It amounts to an average of 30 deaths per day, up from around 18 in 2023.

The group compiles its data from hotlines set up for migrants on vessels in trouble to call for help, families of migrants who went missing and from official rescue statistics.

It blamed the use of flimsy boats and increasingly dangerous routes as well as the insufficient capacity of maritime rescue services for the surge in deaths.

‘Unacceptable tragedy’

“These figures are evidence of a profound failure of rescue and protection systems. More than 10,400 people dead or missing in a single year is an unacceptable tragedy,” the group’s founder, Helena Maleno, said in a statement.

The victims were from 28 nations, mostly in Africa, but also from Iraq and Pakistan.

The vast majority of the fatalities – 9,757 – took place on the Atlantic migration route from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, which has received a record number of migrants for the second year in a row.

Seven migrant boats landed in the archipelago on Wednesday, Christmas Day, Spain‘s maritime rescue service said on social media site X.

France and Comoros clash over migrants lost in Mayotte cyclone disaster

At their closest point, the Canaries lie 100 kilometres off the coast of North Africa. The shortest route is between the coastal town of Tarfaya in southern Morocco and the island of Fuerteventura in the Canaries.

But the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands is particularly dangerous because of strong currents.

Along with Italy and Greece, Spain is one of the three major European gateways for migrant arrivals.

According to the interior ministry, 60,216 migrants entered Spain irregularly between January 1 and December 15 – a 14.5 percent increase over the same time last year.

The majority, over 70 percent, landed in the Canaries.

A 9.1-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia’s western tip on December 26, 2004, generated a series of waves as high as 30 metres that pummelled the coastline of 14 countries from Indonesia to Somalia.

In Indonesia’s Aceh Province, where more than 100,000 people were killed, a siren rang out at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque to kick off a series of memorials around the region, including in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, which the tsunami hit hours later.

People recounted harrowing tales of horror and miraculous survival as giant waves swept in without warning, carrying debris including cars and destroying buildings in its wake.

“I thought it was doomsday,” said Hasnawati, a 54-year-old teacher who goes by one name, at the Indonesian mosque that was damaged by the tsunami.

“On a Sunday morning where our family were all laughing together, suddenly a disaster struck and everything’s gone. I can’t describe it with words.”

At Aceh’s Siron mass grave, where around 46,000 people were buried, emotional relatives recited Islamic prayers in the shade of trees that have since grown there.

Khyanisa, a 59-year-old Indonesian housewife, lost her mother and daughter, searching in vain for them in the hope they were still alive.

“I kept chanting God’s name. I looked for them everywhere,” she said.

“There was a moment where I realised they were gone. I felt my chest was in pain, I screamed.”

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‘Dismay’

The victims included many foreign tourists celebrating Christmas on the region’s sun-kissed beaches, bringing the tragedy into homes around the globe.

The seabed being ripped open pushed waves at double the speed of a bullet train, crossing the Indian Ocean within hours.

In Thailand, where half of the more than 5,000 dead were foreign tourists, commemorations began early in Ban Nam Khem, its worst-hit village.

Tearful relatives laid flowers and wreaths at a curved wall in the shape of a tsunami wave with plaques bearing victims’ names.

Napaporn Pakawan, 55, lost her older sister and a niece in the tragedy.

“I feel dismay. I come here every year,” she told AFP.

“Times flies but time is slow in our mind.”

Indonesia: experts warn another Tsunami could hit the country

After an interfaith ceremony, Italian survivor Francesca Ermini, 55, thanked volunteers for saving her life.

“I think all of us (survivors), when we think about you, it makes us feel so hopeful,” she said.

Unofficial beachside vigils were also expected to accompany a Thai government memorial ceremony.

Train vigil

A total of 226,408 people died as a result of the tsunami, according to EM-DAT, a recognised global disaster database.

There was no warning of the impending tsunami, giving little time for evacuation, despite the hours-long gaps between the waves striking different continents.

But today a sophisticated network of monitoring stations has cut down warning times.

In Sri Lanka, where more than 35,000 people perished, survivors and relatives gathered to remember around 1,000 victims who died when waves derailed a passenger train.

The mourners boarded the restored Ocean Queen Express and headed to Peraliya – the exact spot where it was ripped from the tracks, around 90 kilometres south of Colombo.

A brief religious ceremony was held with relatives of the dead there while Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim ceremonies were also organised to commemorate victims across the South Asian island nation.

Nearly 300 people were killed as far away as Somalia, as well as more than 100 in the Maldives and dozens in Malaysia and Myanmar.

Dorothy Wilkinson, a 56-year-old British woman who lost her partner and his parents to the tsunami in Thailand, said the commemorations were a time to remember the best of those who died.

“It makes me happy to come… a bit sad,” she said.

“It’s celebrating their life.”

“Nelson Mandela himself always said that the struggle against apartheid was a collective effort,” Tshepo Moloi, history lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, told RFI. 

“People who were not in leadership had a great role too: the labourers, the workers and the cultural activists – people who sang, poets, painters, sculptors,” said Moloi, a specialist on the liberation struggle.

“They played an important role for the international community to know what was happening in South Africa.”

Thirty years after the long fight led South Africans to freedom, that cultural resistance has become part of the country’s essence, inspiring new generations of artists.

Johannesburg, a hotbed of resistance 

“Some people would easily understand the speeches by leaders like Oliver Tambo, who went around the world informing about the brutal system of apartheid, but some people would sympathise through music or poetry with what was happening inside the country,” Moloi says.

The African National Congress, the liberation movement that has since become South Africa’s ruling party, even had its own performing group, he says. Named the Amandla Cultural Ensemble after a local word for “power”, it toured the world promoting the anti-apartheid cause.

But back in segregated South Africa, just making music as a black artist could be an act of defiance in itself.

“Music was segregated. Apartheid affected every life in South Africa, even work,” says Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, a jazz musician who played with some of South Africa’s finest.

“We were not allowed to perform at some of the best venues in town.”

Born under apartheid in 1951, Mabuse grew up in Soweto, the Johannesburg township that became an epicentre of black resistance. 

A singer-songwriter who plays everything from drums to saxophone, he started out in the 1970s in the afro-soul group The Beaters – a reference to the famous British band – who later changed their name to Harari.

Mabuse also recorded with South African legends Miriam Makeba, Hugo Masekela, Ray Phiri and Sibongile Khumalo.

Harari’s music was rooted in pan-African politics, inspired by the Black Panther Movement and black consciousness in general.

Despite their passion and support from black fans, Mabuse says their life was made “very difficult” by apartheid.

• Podcast: Jo’burg’s new musical generation
• A tribute to jazz pioneer and activist Hugh Masekela

Beyond apartheid

The musicians got a glimpse of a different way when tours took them outside South Africa.

“When we started going into other countries, especially when we got to Botswana, we suddenly realised that people of all races mixed. There was no issue, it made no difference to those people dancing to our music,” Mabuse told RFI.

In neighbouring Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland (now Eswatini), musicians like him could tour freely and play in all venues, to all audiences.

For him and his bandmates, that ignited their political consciousness and led them to question why things remained different back at home. 

“That made us self-conscious,” Mabuse recalled. “And we started pursuing a different approach to music, which we felt we could use as a vehicle to express our political alliance.”

Meanwhile international artists expressed solidarity by joining in a cultural boycott, as well as writing music that highlighted the fight for freedom.

Today, South Africa’s musical activism isn’t just the subject of history books and museum displays, but lives on in the contemporary arts scene.

At 70, Mabuse is still performing and touring – sharing the legacy of South African musicians’ fight for freedom, which continues to resonate worldwide.

French rescuers launched twelve operations throughout the day along the coast of northern France that picked up 107 migrants, the Channel and North Sea maritime prefecture said in a statement.

In the morning, 30 people were rescued from a boat near Dunkirk, while the others onboard, who wished to continue onwards, were left to be taken into British custody once they reached British waters.

Another 51 people were rescued from a boat experiencing engine damage near Dunkirk, and 26 people were taken off a boat experiencing difficulty near Calais.

The Channel is “a particularly dangerous area, especially at the height of winter for precarious and overloaded boats,” the statement said.

Storms and strong winds have made crossing attempts impossible for a week, but the weather improved on Tuesday, resulting in dozens of boats attempting the crossing.

Authorities in the Dover harbour said over a hundred people arrived in the early morning. The British Home Office has yet to publish its daily arrivals count.

2024 has been the deadliest year on record for Channel crossings, according to the Pas-de-Calais authorities, which have recorded 73 migrant deaths.

Tens of thousands have managed to reach Britain, where the government has vowed to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.

In November, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for greater international cooperation against the gangs, which he described as a “global security threat similar to terrorism.”

(with AFP)

The craft, which blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on 12 August 2018, sent out a beacon on 22 December to say it was en route to its date with destiny some 6.2 million kilometres from the surface of the sun.

Parker has swept past the star on 21 occasions, edging nearer to pave the way for the closest approach – known as perihelion.

Mission teams on Earth, who have been out of contact with the probe for the past three days, must wait for another beacon on Friday to confirm whether the spacecraft has successfully completed its moment in the sun.

“This is one example of Nasa’s bold missions, doing something that no one else has ever done before, to answer longstanding questions about our universe,” said Arik Posner, the Parker solar probe programme scientist.

“We can’t wait to receive that first status update from the spacecraft and start receiving the science data in the coming weeks.”

Heat

Although the heat shield on the probe will endure temperatures of about 870 to 930 degrees Celsius, its internal instruments will remain near room temperature – 29 degrees C – as it explores the sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona.

Not only will the temperatures be extreme, but Parker will also be moving at around 690,000 kilometres per hour – the fastest any craft has travelled.

“No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory,” said Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. 

“We’re excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the sun.”

By venturing into these extreme conditions during its seven-year mission, Parker will help scientists tackle some of the sun’s biggest mysteries: how the solar wind originates, why the corona is hotter than the surface below, and how the corona throws out massive clouds of plasma that hurl through space.

Thierry Dudok de Wit, a professor of space science at the University of Orleans in western France, which developed one of instruments aboard the probe, told RFI: “It’s a general question that not only addresses the sun but also other stars.

“Whenever you venture into such unknown territories, you are likely to make major discoveries. And for that reason, this probe has a major potential as a revolutionary mission.”

The cyclone destroyed homes and infrastructure, and the death toll is expected to reach the hundreds, if not thousands.

The impact on Mayotte’s natural habitat too has been severe, with its tropical forests almost entirely destroyed – which will have serious economic consequences, as in Mayotte the majority of the population make their living farming in the forest. The island, which constitutes France’s poorest department, has 15,000 farmers.

EU mobilises for cyclone-ravaged Mayotte as Macron hits back at angry crowds

‘Risk of famine’

Between its large trees, families cultivate small plots and beneath the mango and coconut trees, banana trees grow, and below them, cassava.

These agro-forestry systems are known as the “gardens of Mayotte” and “occupy 90 percent of the island’s useful agricultural area, supplying the island with fruit, vegetables, roots and tubers to meet 80 per cent of the population’s needs,” according to the French agricultural research centre CIRAD.

After the cyclone, “cassava, bananas, breadfruit, lychees … everything that makes up the Mayotte garden has disappeared,” said Ali Ambodi, president of the Mayotte livestock farmers’ union.

“It’s the total destruction of our farms, as well as the tracks and roads. We can’t even get to our farms. And this disappearance of our natural environment makes us unhappy, because we are bound together [with it].”

Day of mourning in France for Mayotte destroyed by cyclone

This situation will not improve anytime soon, according to the farmer, who explained that the destruction of these plants means that not only will the islanders struggle to harvest food, they won’t be able to collect seeds for replanting either. It will take months or even years for the plants to grow back, he said. “My deepest concern is the risk of famine.”

Ambodi has little faith in the aid promised by the French state. He said the procedures for this are cumbersome, and there are real administrative barriers.

Farmers will have to prove that they own their land, but the majority do not have the right documents. “We’re going to be asked for one piece of paper, then another, then another, and in the end farmers won’t have access to this aid.”

Impact on biodiversity

In addition to the local economy and food security, the biodiversity of the island has been left in ruins. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN): “Mayotte’s forests are a treasure trove of vulnerable and little-known biodiversity.” More than 6,150 marine and terrestrial species have been recorded there.

Some are unique to the island, and more than 380 are protected – for example the maki, or Mayotte lemur, which lives off the fruit, flowers and buds it finds in the forest.

The forest is also a veritable water tower, enriching soil and roots, preventing erosion and landslides and retaining water, thus limiting flooding.

Tropical forests are important carbon sinks, and home to animals that are essential to the balance of life on the island. “The island’s dry forest is home to the Mayotte souïmanga, which is the main pollinator of the Mayotte aloe, a plant endemic to the island and classified as in danger of extinction,” says the IUCN. 

Mayotte cyclone lays bare the fragility of France’s ‘forgotten’ territory

The organisation adds that the forest is a focal point for local tradition and culture. “In Mahoran society, the Patrosi and the Mugala, spirits from elsewhere, are the most familiar jinn. They relate to nature and come from the forest.”

The fragile environment of Mayotte’s forests was already suffering the consequences of pollution and deforestation. The full extent of the further damage wreaked by Cyclone Chido remains to be seen.

This article has been adapted from the French version by Jeanne Richard.

“I am confident that the policies I am outlining and the government team I have formed will ensure we are not censured,” declared Bayrou just hours after announcing his cabinet on Monday evening.

Bayrou, 73, a canny operator who styles himself as a centrist, is President Emmanuel Macron’s fourth Prime Minister of 2024.

His predecessor, Michel Barnier left office on 8 December after three months in post following a parliamentary deal between the far right and left to oust him.

The pact furnished him with the infamy of being the premier with the shortest tenure since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958. 

French PM Bayrou defends choices to lead country out of ‘difficult situation’

Bayrou and his cohorts could face a similar fate.

“None of the conditions of the no-confidence pact have been met in the composition of this new government,” Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said.

He indicated that his group might vote for a motion of no confidence as early as 14 January, when Bayrou delivers his policy statement.

Former Prime Ministers Élisabeth Borne – handed the education portfolio – and Manuel Valls as Overseas Territories Minister, will be under close scrutiny along with the former Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.

The newly anointed Justice Minister has pledged to work hand in hand with Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, one of 19 ministers from Barnier’s government of Barnier who have been retained.

Tackling the deficit

Borne, who stepped down as Prime Minister in January after 20 months in the job, struck a pragmatic tone.

“I am the sixth Education Minister in just over two and a half years, and I am fully aware of the challenges and expectations of the education community,” she said.

She said she wanted to halt the rise in incivility, insults, and violence as well as the breaches of secularism in schools.

Eric Lombard, the former head of the public financial institution Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, appears to have been given the poisoned chalice as Economy Minister.

After his appointment he identified the deficit as an endemic problem.

France’s politicians are confronting a national debt, which reached 113.7 percent of GDP (€3.303 trillion) by the end of September.

Barnier had hoped to lower the public deficit from 6.1 percent of GDP this year to 5 percent by the end of 2025.

Lombard and Bayrou must steer a 2025 budget that tackles the same grim statistics through the National Assembly fully aware that Barnier’s attempt to consider the realities led to his downfall on 4 December.

Bayrou at least found some solace. Just before Christmas, three employer organisations and four of the five main unions, jointly highlighted the economic and social risks of instability.

France’s new economy, budget ministers get to work on budget for 2025

A ‘provocation’

The far-right Rassemblement National (RN), the largest group in the National Assembly, has signalled it will not initially oppose the new government.

The centre-right Les Républicains (LR) party, expressed conditional support. Party leader Laurent Wauquiez described LR’s backing as highly demanding and warned it could be withdrawn depending on Bayrou’s direction.

However, Faure has labelled it a far-right administration and a provocation.

“It’s not a government, it’s a provocation,” Faure said on social media. “The extreme right in power under the watchful eye of the extreme right.”

Marine Le Pen, the RN chief, warned on Tuesday that the days of France’s new government are numbered, predicting a presidential election in a few months instead of 2027.

After his policy statement, Bayrou expects a motion of no confidence to be tabled by the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI).

Bayrou, who leads the MoDem party, will need to deploy his fabled skills as a convenor and a charmer not only to survive a tad longer than Barnier but also prevent his country from descending into further political chaos.

(With newswires)

The attack, which also left several others wounded, took place during a press conference on Tuesday night to announce the reopening of the General Hospital where services had been disrupted for several months due to gang violence.

Johnson “Izo” André, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and part of the Viv Ansanm group of gangs that has taken control of large parts of the capital, posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the attack.

The video said the gang coalition had not authorised the hospital’s reopening.

The National Palace security unit intervened to evacuate the injured who were taken to other medical centres..

Following the shootings, Haiti’s interim president, Leslie Voltaire, said in an address to the nation: “I send my sympathies to the people who were victims, the national police and the journalists. 

“What happened today at the General Hospital, in the middle of the Christmas celebrations, is unacceptable. This act will not go unpunished.”

The government said later it would respond firmly to the attack.

“This heinous act, which targets an institution dedicated to health and life, constitutes an unacceptable attack on the very foundations of our society,” it said in a statement.

Robest Dimanche, a spokesman for the Online Media Collective, identified the victims as Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean. 

The Haitian Association of Journalists issued a statement condemning the attack. “It is a macabre scene comparable to terrorism, pure and simple,” it said.

Return

Street gangs forced the closure of the General Hospital earlier this year. The Minister of Health, Duckenson Lorthé Blém, had pledged to reopen the facility before the new year.

But the move backfired in the latest show of gang violence that has targeted prisons, police stations and the main international airport.

At the beginning of December, at least 207 people were killed in attacks ordered by a powerful gang leader against alleged members of a voodoo cult.

Gang attacks have pushed Haiti’s health system to the verge of collapse with looting and arson attacks on medical centres and pharmacies in the capital. The violence has created a surge in patients and a shortage of resources to treat them.

Haiti’s health care system faces additional challenges during the rainy season, which is likely to increase the risk of water-borne diseases.

Poor conditions in the camps and makeshift settlements for the people fleeing the gang violence have heightened the risk of diseases like cholera, with more than 84,000 suspected cases in the country, according to the UN health agency UNICEF.

Additional reporting Peterson Luxama in Port-au-Prince

The Syrian National Army, supported by Turkish air power, is pushing against the US-supported People’s Defense Units (YPG), which Ankara claims is linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, which has been fighting Turkey for decades. 

The YPG controls a large swathe of Syria bordering Turkey, which Ankara says poses a security threat.

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan says Turkey is determined to prevent the YPG and its affiliate the PKK from exploiting a power vacuum following the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

As Erdogan celebrates Turkish role in ousting Assad, uncertainty lies ahead

“We are in communication with the groups to make sure that terrorist organisations, especially Daesh [Islamic State] and the PKK, are not taking advantage of the situation,” he said. “Turkey is committed to continuing the fight against terrorism. All minorities – non-Muslims, Christians, non-Arabs, Kurds – should be treated equally.”

Opportunity for Ankara

Ever since the YPG took over control of the Syrian territory at the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Ankara has been seeking to remove it. 

With the ousting of the Assad regime and the withdrawal of its Iranian and Russian backers, which had in the past blocked Turkish military interventions, analysts say Ankara now sees an opportunity to finally remove the YPG threat.

“The current situation creates an opportunity for its [Turkey’s] fight against PKK and YPG because there is now no Russia, there is no Iran,” explains Bilgehan Alagoz, a professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Marmara University.

“Turkey was facing the Russian forces, the Iranian forces, and Assad’s regime forces while it was combatting the PKK and YPG,” she added. “We can name it as an opportunity for its fight against PKK and YPG.”

Success of rebel groups in Syria advances Turkish agenda

However, the YPG is still being supported by a small US military force, as part of the war against the Islamic State (IS). The YPG is also detaining thousands of IS militants.

‘The Euphrates is a line’

With the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army now approaching the Euphrates River, analysts say further eastward advances could put Ankara on a collision course with both Washington, and Syria’s new rulers – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. 

“The Euphrates now is like a line perhaps for the US military,” explains Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat who served in the region and is now a foreign policy analyst for Turkey’s independent Medyascope news outlet.

“If that [military advance] goes on as such, it could bring Turkey indirectly head to head with the US, with even perhaps HTS, and it could put Ankara in a delicate diplomatic position again,” warned Selcen.

Tensions with Israel

The Israeli military’s advance into Syria is adding to Ankara’s concerns over the threat posed by the PYG and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD). Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar last month described the Kurds as a “natural ally” of Israel, a comment that came amid growing Israeli-Turkish tensions.

Turkey seeks Gaza ceasefire role despite US criticism over Hamas ties

“Israel is now carving out a corridor [in Syria] between the PKK/PYD-controlled territories, and its own territories,” explained Hasan Unal, a professor of international relations at Ankara’s Baskent University.

“That suggests that this is what they [Israel] are trying to do – [to create] a Kurdish puppet state east of the Euphrates. And this is something that is likely to create lots of problems with Turkey,” he added.

With Israel’s presence in Syria, Ankara is likely to step up pressure on the YPG, and on the incoming Trump administration to end US military presence in Syria.

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.

The RFI English team is pleased to announce that Saleem Akhtar Chadhar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Listening Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan, won the RFI / Planète Radio ePOP video contest, in the RFI Clubs category. Bravo Saleem! Mubarak ho!

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!

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 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 Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, The International Report, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We also have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. 

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!

We have a new RFI Listeners Club member to welcome: Himangshu Mukharjee from West Bengal, India. Welcome, Himangshu! So glad you have joined us!

This week’s quiz: Paris Photo – the largest international art fair dedicated to photography – is held every November at the magnificent Grand Palais. RFI English journalist Isabelle Martinetti wrote an article about it: “Paris Photo fair focuses on photo books and their publishers”.

You were to re-read Isabelle’s article and send in the answers to these questions: What is the name and nationality of the photographer who won the First Book prize at this year’s Paris Photo fair?

The answer is, to quote Isabelle: “The first book prize was awarded to Taiwanese photographer Tsai Ting Bang for “Born From the Same Root”, a self-published work, awarded with a $10,000 cash prize.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question:  “What do you like to eat in the winter? Why?” The question was suggested by Liton Hissen Mia from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Dipita Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Dipita is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Dipita!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in West Skikda, Algeria, and Zaheer Ayiaz, a member of the Naz Radio France and Internet Fan Club in Faisal Abad, Pakistan. There’s also RFI Listeners Club member Shaira Hosen Mo from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, and last but not least, RFI English listener Sadman Shihabur Rahaman, from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, performed by Johnny Bregar; “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, performed by the Dexter Gordon Quartet; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle”, attributed to Nicolas Saboly and Emile Blémont, performed by Les Petits Chanteurs de Mont-Royal.

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, listen to Melissa’s 15 December International Report podcast – “Gaza’s powerful war narratives make their way to the Oscars”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 27 January to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 1 February 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

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.   

Tibetans and Tibetan scholars are alarmed at how Paris’ Guimet museum of Asian art has categorised its art and artefacts from Tibet. Tenam and other Tibetans in exile, who have been demonstrating regularly outside the museum, talk about the importance of using the name Tibet, and scholar Katia Buffetrille questions the role of China in putting pressure on a French public institution. (Listen @2’48”) 

Like many residents in the town of Malakoff, just south of Paris, Vincent Chévrier had an olive tree in his garden but wasn’t doing much with it. So he federated a group of fellow local olive tree owners and together they’ve made Born to be Olive – the first olive oil “made in Ile de France”. Their collective project isn’t just about making a locally grown, organic product, it’s brought people together in a unique way. (Listen @17’37”)

On 22 December 1974, the people of the Comoros in the Indian Ocean voted overwhelmingly for independence from France. But the island of Mayotte did not, and became France’s 101st department. It’s created an immigration conundrum, straining the island’s already sparse resources  which were laid bare by Tropical Cyclone Chido last week. Listen @13’40”)

Episode mixed by Hadrien Touraud. 

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 project, overseen by Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, includes 22 short films spanning documentary, animation, and drama.

The films aim to share the voices of people living through the conflict in Gaza, offering a glimpse into their fears, dreams and hopes.

“The idea for From Ground Zero came immediately, in the second month of this ongoing war, to try to pick up films and stories from Gaza,” Masharawi told RFI.

He explained that the goal was to give filmmakers in Gaza the chance to make their own films.

As a recent report from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) underlines the toll of the war on Palestinian journalists, RFI spoke with him and his team in Paris.

RSF says Israel responsible for one-third of journalist deaths in 2024

The shorts, ranging from three to six minutes, are “a mix between fiction, documentaries, video art and even experimental films,” he said.

“We are filmmakers, we are dealing with cinema. Even if it’s a catastrophe, it’s very tough with all the massacres. But we were also trying to make cinema, to add life, to be optimistic and to add hope.”

The 112-minute collection is presented as a feature film in two parts. Contributors include Reema Mahmoud, Muhammad Al Sharif, Tamer Nijim and Alaa Islam Ayou.

From film festivals to the Oscars

After premiering at the Toronto Film Festival in September, From Ground Zero toured film festivals across Europe, North Africa and South West Asia in November and December.

Screenings have taken place at the French Arab Film Festival near Paris, the Bristol Palestine Film Festival and in London. Additional showings are scheduled for Morocco and Egypt.

Earlier this year, Masharawi held an outdoor screening of the film during the Cannes Film Festival to protest its exclusion from the event.

Now, the collection has been selected to represent Palestine at the Oscars in March 2025, with hopes of a wider release in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

UN rapporteur says Israel’s war in Gaza is ’emptying the land completely’

Emerging voices

The project was made possible by the Masharawi Fund for Gaza Filmmakers, launched in November 2023 to support creative talent from the territory.

Masharawi, who is from Gaza, is one of the first Palestinian filmmakers to have directed cinema projects in the occupied Palestinian territories.

His first film, Travel Document, was released in 1986, followed by The Shelter in 1989 and Long Days in Gaza in 1991.

The executive producer of the film, Laura Nikolov, who is French and based in France, is travelling with Masharawi to promote the film around the world.

“It’s a very unique project,” she told RFI. “We have now translated it into 10 different languages. We made this to allow the voices of the Gazan people [to be heard] and it’s working. I think we’ve reached more than 60, perhaps 80 screenings and festivals.”

With its selection for the Oscars, Nikolov is hopeful that the film will reach even wider audiences.

“This means it will be shown in cinemas in the United States,” she said, adding that they hope to expand its reach across Europe and the Middle East.

This dramatic end to the Assad family’s half-century rule over Syria marks a significant shift in the region’s balance of power, with analysts predicting that Turkey’s influence in Syria could now grow at the expense of its regional rivals.

“Turkey emerged… by proving its relevance, importance and its strength… out of these latest developments in Syria… as the clean, clear winner,” says Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat who served in the region and is now a foreign policy analyst for Turkey’s independent Medyascope news outlet.

“And Iran is definitely the loser. And Russia also is pushed aside.”

Success of rebel groups in Syria advances Turkish agenda

The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army played a role in the overthrow of Assad. However, it was the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahir Al Sham – or HTS – that led the offensive. And that, analysts say, will be a cause for apprehension in Ankara.

“Despite all the jubilation of the Turkish press and the government and the circles that support the government about the collapse of the Assad regime in general, I would think there is some uneasiness,” says Hasan Unal, professor of international relations at Ankara’s Baskent University.   

“I can see it through lots of problematic issues that would be coming out of what’s going to happen,” he added, “because of the ideological Islamist leanings of the incumbent government and… the Islamic jihadist terrorist groups associated with it.”

Support and protection

However, Turkey may not be entirely without influence over Syria’s new Islamist leaders. For years, it provided support and protection to the Idlib region of Syria, where HTS was based. 

Analyst Aydin Selcen suggests Ankara could retain significant influence if recent statements by HTS leadership calling for an inclusive Syrian government are honoured.  

“If pragmatism prevails, that’s perhaps where Turkey and Ankara may come in. And also Ankara definitely will be viewed as a positive outside contributor by these new Syrian rulers, because of the fact that we here in Turkey are hosting over 5 million Syrians and also that Turkey helped protect Idlib.”

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, addressing an international conference in Doha last Sunday, 8 December, said that Turkey is committed to helping secure a politically inclusive new Syria. 

Turkey’s Syrian refugees 

A stable Syria is also key to Ankara’s goal of sending home millions of Syrian refugees now living in Turkey. Public resentment over their presence has grown, as the country has grappled with an economic crisis over the past few years.

However, such a return may not be simple, predicts Sezin Oney, a commentator on Turkey’s independent Politikyol news site.

“The refugees, the Syrians you have in Turkey, are mostly women and children. So it has to be a [new Syrian] government, an administration, friendly to women and children, especially women.”

“But we don’t know if these Islamic jihadist groups will be really friendly towards these groups,” he added.

“There might be a Taliban 2.0 arising just across the border; we don’t know what kind of administration HTS and surrounding groups will be. It’s a big security risk; I don’t see Syria settling down to become a safe clash-free place.” 

‘Imperative’ to work against IS in Syria, Blinken tells Turkey

For now, Erdogan is celebrating the overthrow of Assad as a Turkish triumph, with European leaders and Washington queuing up to speak to him as Turkey positions itself as a key player in shaping Syria’s future.

But the sudden demise of the Assad regime underscores how quickly fortunes can change in the region, and the future of Syria – and Turkey’s role in it – are today more uncertain than ever. 

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 winners’ 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.

The RFI English team is pleased to announce that Saleem Akhtar Chadhar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Listening Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan, won the RFI / Planète Radio ePOP video contest, in the RFI Clubs category. Bravo Saleem! Mubarak ho!

There are just two days left for you to be a part of our New Year’s Day show – get your New Year’s resolutions and/or wishes to me by this coming Monday, 16 December. Send them to me at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

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!

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 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 Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, The International Report, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We also have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. 

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!

We have a new RFI Listeners Club member to welcome: Zahurul Islam Joy from Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Welcome, Zahural!

This week’s quiz: On 9 November, I asked you a question about the American composer and musician Quincy Jones, who died earlier that week.

You were to re-read our article “Tributes roll in for beloved musician and producer Quincy Jones, who died at 91”, and send in the answer to this question: What is the name of the legendary Frenchwoman with whom Jones studied in Paris in 1957?

The answer is: Nadia Boulanger, arguably the single most important composition teacher of the 20th century.  

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: What is the best way to flatter a mother-in-law?

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Pradip Chandra Kundu from West Bengal, India. Pradip is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations, Pradip!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Zenon Teles, the president of the Christian – Marxist – Leninist – Maoist Association of Listening DX-ers in Goa, India, and Ataur Rahman Ranju, the president of the Alokito Manush Cai International Radio Listeners Club in Rangpur, Bangladesh. Rounding out the list of this week’s winners are RFI English listeners Shatrudhan Sharma from Rajasthan, India, and Mahfuz from Cumilla, Bangladesh.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Tamasha” by Aamer Shafiq, Farhan Bogra, Shiraz Khan, and Sparlay Rawail, performed by Khumaariyan; “No Bones at All” by Quincy Jones, performed by the Quincy Jones Ensemble conducted by the composer; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and the traditional Mexican huasteco “La Huasanga”, performed by Xochicanela.

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 “France’s support for Syrian transition hinges on respect for minority rights”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 20 January to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 25 January 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

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.