The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review, which UN agencies use, said last week that the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces had created famine conditions for 638,000 people, with a further 8.1 million on the brink of mass starvation.

The army-aligned government “categorically rejects the IPC’s description of the situation in Sudan as a famine”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The statement called the report “essentially speculative” and accused the IPC of procedural and transparency failings.

They said the team did not have access to updated field data and had not consulted with the government’s technical team on the final version before publication.

The IPC did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.

• Sudan withdraws from hunger-monitoring system ahead of report on famine

The Sudanese government, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been based in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan since the capital Khartoum became a warzone in April 2023.

It has repeatedly been accused of stonewalling international efforts to assess the food security situation in the war-torn country.

The authorities have also been accused of creating bureaucratic hurdles to humanitarian work and blocking visas for foreign teams.

The International Rescue Committee said the army was “leveraging its status as the internationally recognised government (and blocking) the UN and other agencies from reaching RSF-controlled areas”.

Both the army and the RSF have been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war.

The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted over 12 million people, including millions who face dire food insecurity in army-controlled areas.

Across the country, more than 24.6 million people, around half the population, face high levels of acute food insecurity. 

(With newswires)

The deaths take this year’s casualty toll from failed clandestine crossings to a confirmed 76.

The boat that was to take the migrants Sunday ran into trouble near Bleriot-Plage, a public beach in Sangatte close to the French Channel port of Calais, at around 6:00 am local time, an emergency services source said.

Several people fell into the water trying to board the overcrowded vessel, French maritime services told AFP.

Around 50 people were given emergency help on the beach by government services or NGOs, with many in a state of hypothermia.

Some were taken to Sangatte’s nautical base for treatment.

The French navy deployed a helicopter to help rescue the migrants.

“It never stops,” said the mayor of Sangatte, Guy Allemand. “It’s crossing after crossing, without any letup.”

Seven people required intensive care, he said.

The vessel continued its journey towards the English shore, maritime services said.

Favourable winds since last weekend have encouraged migrants to attempt the crossing, with around 1,500 migrants making it in small boats to English waters between Wednesday and Saturday, according to British authorities.

The total number of migrants arriving in England in small boats since the start of the year is estimated at 36,000.

French authorities said that “several” such boats departed from the French coast early Sunday.

• UK accused of not doing enough to stop Channel migrant crossings

(With newswires)

For women worldwide, the internet era is a “blessing and a curse”.

That’s according to Dutch sexual health organisation Rutgers, which says that technology and online platforms are increasingly used as weapons to “tyrannise” women and other vulnerable groups “as part of an invasive 24/7 culture infiltrating workplaces, schools and homes”.

Its research – based on interviews with people in Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda – found widespread links between online violence and the offline world.

Online abuse acts as a springboard for offline violence including sexual harassment, stalking and intimate partner violence, the report says.

In one case described in South Africa, a girl was bullied on and off social media before being beaten. Classmates filmed her and shared the video online, where it was widely viewed, and shortly afterwards the victim killed herself. 

Meanwhile in Morocco, a civil society worker recounted that former partners sometimes use intimate pictures or videos for revenge, to get women to give up custody or alimony or to pressure them to hand over assets.

Activists under threat

Activists and women in the public eye are also targeted, in some cases withdrawing from professional life altogether to escape the abuse.

Moroccan activist Ghizlane Mamouni, founder of Kif Mama Kif Baba, an association that campaigns against gender-based violence and discrimination, has experienced the problem firsthand.

“Recently, I myself and other colleagues – fellow women activists or women perceived as activists – have been victims and targeted by online death threats and various attacks on social networks,” she told RFI.

Mamouni is among the campaigners pushing for a reform of Morocco’s laws, which she argues fail to protect women and girls.

The country is currently experiencing an “historic moment”, she said, with reforms promised of both the penal and family codes. Governing marriage, divorce and family life as well as crimes affecting women, they have historically privileged the rights of men.

“We know that these two texts contain enormous legal violence against women and a glaring lack of protection against gender-based violence, particularly that which is facilitated by technology,” Mamouni said.

• Women’s right to travel is being tightly controlled in North Africa, Middle East

Victims prosecuted

Uganda is one of the few African countries that actually has a law against such violence.

But victims who report it sometimes find themselves facing investigation and even prosecution if they fall foul of other laws criminalising pornography, premarital sex or sexual orientation, the report found.

“Laws that are seemingly there to protect victims actually do the opposite,” said Abishiag Wabwire of Fida Uganda, an association of women lawyers that provides legal aid.

While LGBTQ+ people face a higher threat of online and offline abuse, for instance, Uganda’s harsh laws against homosexuality mean survivors who come forward risk criminal charges themselves.

The report also pointed to cases where victims of “revenge porn” have been charged alongside the perpetrator under the Anti-Pornography Act.

“Patriarchal standards and the cyber law that should protect victims are instead being evoked to oppress them and upholding patriarchal standards,” Wabwire told Rutgers.

• LGBTQ+ gains thwarted by enduring discrimination and violence

Overlooked danger

While victims are predominantly women and girls, boys and men can also be affected, the report says – including male friends or relatives of women targeted.

Rutgers also stresses that abuse doesn’t just take place via computers and smartphones, but can involve GPS tracking devices, drones or recording devices.

Despite posing a growing threat, gender-based violence facilitated by technology remains largely overlooked and underestimated by police and policymakers, Rutgers warns.

“Successive generations of women, girls, and vulnerable groups suffer new, brutal forms of violence – many of which go under the radar – with little protection from the police or justice systems,” it said.

“Such violence has a chilling effect on women and girls’ participation in civic and political spaces on and offline, threatening progress towards gender equality and democratic participation.”

This story was first published on 6 July 2024 and appears as part of our review of the year.

The French Observatory for Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT), which tracks substance use and addiction trends nationwide, revealed that 600 million litres of pure alcohol were sold in 2023 – a 3.8 percent drop compared with the previous year.

On average, each person over the age of 15 consumed 10.35 litres of pure alcohol during the year, down from 10.76 litres in 2022.

Despite the decline in alcohol consumption, the number of alcohol-related hospitalisations has increased.

In 2023, 307,676 people spent a total of 595,326 days in hospital, compared to nearly 301,000 people and 573,000 days in 2021, the report said.

Wine most popular

The survey says though there were fewer sales of wine, it still accounts for 52 percent of alcoholic beverages sold in France.

The wine industry also has a significant economic footprint, with a turnover of 24.8 billion euros and more than 50,000 employees.

By contrast, the brewing industry employs 5,400 people with a turnover of 1.6 billion euros, while the champagne and spirits sectors provide 18,000 jobs and contribute a combined turnover of 20 billion euros.

That combined muscle has come under fire from public health campaigners who say the alcohol industry is a powerful lobby that exerts too much influence over the government.

They want ministers to be more vocal about abstinence campaigns such as Dry January, where people challenge themselves to forgo alcohol for a month after the traditional excesses of Christmas and New Year’s parties.

“There is a gap between public awareness that alcohol is a drug and the political class,” Bernard Basset, president of the NGO Addictions France, told told FranceInfo.

“The alcohol lobby encourages us to consume alcohol by presenting it as a refined pleasure. But most people drink fairly ordinary wines. Not everyone can drink top wines like Château Petrus every day.”

Changing drinking habits

The report also highlights a shift in drinking patterns. The traditional “Mediterranean” style of moderate daily wine consumption with meals is being replaced by a “Nordic” pattern, where young people binge drink at parties but avoid alcohol on other days.

One positive finding in the report is a reduction in alcohol-related road deaths.

Of the 3,167 road fatalities recorded in 2023, 702 were linked to drink-driving.

This marks a decrease from 2022, when 759 of the 3,267 road deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption.

The inauguration of former footballer Mikhail Kavelashvili ratchets up a months-long political crisis that has seen huge pro-European Union demonstrations.

Outgoing head of state Salome Zurabishvili and protesters have declared Kavelashvili “illegitimate”, demanding a re-run of the October general elections that they say the governing Georgian Dream party rigged.

“Our history clearly shows that, after countless struggles to defend our homeland and traditions, peace has always been one of the main goals and values for the Georgian people,” Kavelashvili said after taking the presidential oath in parliament.

Georgian Dream has presented itself as the sole guarantor of stability in the country, accusing the West of trying to drag Tbilisi into the Ukraine conflict.

Kavelashvili, known for his far-right views and derogatory comments against LGBTQ people, went on to praise “our traditions, values, national identity, the sanctity of the family, and faith”.

Moments earlier and a few minutes’ walk away at the presidential palace, Zurabishvili said that while she would vacate the premises, her fight against Georgian Dream would continue.

“I remain the only legitimate president,” she told a crowd.

“I will leave the presidential palace and stand with you, carrying with me the legitimacy, the flag and your trust.”

In a symbolic gesture, Zurabishvili wore the same wite-and-black attire, the colours of Georgian flag, she was dressed in during her inauguration six years ago.

‘Too late for backing down’

Georgia has been in political turmoil since October’s disputed parliamentary elections and the government’s decision to shelve EU membership talks.

Thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets daily for a month, accusing the increasingly repressive government of derailing Tbilisi’s EU ambitions.

Many protesters said they intended to keep taking to the streets.

“We will keep fighting. We will keep protesting,” said David, a 22-year-old programmer who stood outside the presidential palace earlier Sunday.

• Thousands in Georgia human chain as pro-EU protests enter 2nd month

“It’s too late for backing down.”

For the first time in Georgia’s history, the presidential swearing-in ceremony was held behind closed doors in the parliament’s plenary chamber.

Opposition parties have refused to enter parliament after the October elections, and Zurabishvili has declared the newly elected legislature, the government and president-elect “illegitimate”.

Weighing in on the crisis, US Republican congressman Joe Wilson has said that Zurabishvili is invited to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration next month “as the only legitimate leader in Georgia”.

He announced a bill “which will prohibit US recognition of the illegal dictatorial regime in Georgia and recognise Zurabishvili as the only legitimate leader in Georgia”.

But Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of Georgian Dream has ruled out calling fresh elections.

In the first 10 days of protests after the contested vote, riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators, some of whom threw fireworks and stones.

More than 400 people have been arrested during the protests, many saying they have been beaten.

The reported police brutality has drawn international condemnation, with Washington and several European countries imposing visa bans on Georgian Dream officials.

(With newswires)

Zitouni Ould Dada, a veteran of at least 15 Cop meetings, is attending Cop again.  Previsiously he was there as a director with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), this time he is with the FAIRR Initiative, a collaborative investor network focused on raising awareness of environmental, social, and governance risks as well as opportunities in the global food sector.

“If we keep going to every Cop and just make pledges and commitments, we’re not going to change the world like that,” he told RFI.

“We’re not going to reduce emissions [by half] to the rate that is required… by 2030, which is just next door, and then reach net zero by 2050. So, there are many commitments and pledges made by countries, but overall the progress we are making is small.”

He is calling on world leaders to renew their commitment to the net-zero carbon target and the Sustainable Development Goals that aim to reduce growing inequality and prevent recurring climate disasters.

“We need [to be more ambitious],” the Mauritania-born negotiator said.

Plastic pollution and fossil fuel disasters

Elsewhere, a recent report by Greenpeace has revealed the scale of environmental and public health damage caused by the global secondhand clothing trade in Ghana.

Titled Fast Fashion, Slow Poison: The Toxic Textile Crisis in Ghana, the report exposes the devastating impact of discarded clothing from the Global North, much of it fast fashion, on the environment, communities, and ecosystems in Ghana. 

Every week, approximately 15 million items of clothing arrive in Ghana, but nearly half of these clothes are unsellable. 

Many used clothes end up in informal dumpsites or are burned in public washhouses. This has led to severe contamination of air, soil, and water resources, putting the health of local communities at risk.

“Greenpeace has [previously] done…work in Kenya to look at how dumps have been impacted and overburdened by secondhand clothing from the Global North. It was time for us to look at Ghana because fast fashion is at the root of an environmental and public health disaster,” Sam Quashie-Idun, from Greenpeace Africa, told RFI. 

Ghana grapples with crisis caused by world’s throwaway fashion

Many African countries rely on these imports for jobs and Ghana has the largest secondhand market in the world.

The really serious issue, however, is that the quality of clothing from fast fashion – mainly originating in Europe – is very poor, with many items made from plastics.

“That’s why we decided to do a report on this – to assess the quality, the types of clothes that are entering the country and why they are being dumped and disregarded across Ghana,” he said.

Other issues regularly raised by Greenpeace Africa include calls for investments in renewable energy solutions that empower local communities and promote universal energy access, an end to all new fossil fuel projects, and climate finance support for vulnerable communities impacted by climate change, with polluters contributing to generate funds for climate action.

The NGO also recommends diverting from offsetting and false carbon markets and biodiversity credit solutions, in a call addressed to the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) at Cop29.

The shadow of wars

For Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, the DRC’s negotiator at Cop29, one overlooked aspect of the crisis is the number of armed conflicts affecting certain regions of Africa. These conflicts frequently undermine confidence in the multilateral system, with UN resolutions going unrespected, something that impacts both biodiversity and communities.

“If international law does not prevail in these areas, there is no reason for it to be authoritative in matters of climate action, Mpanu Mpanu told RFI. 

The Congolese negotiator is also concerned about the re-election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.

“He is one of the climate skeptics,” he added, “that he was in favour of the United States withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and even from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the text on which global climate governance is based,” he said.

He thinks his return to power is worrying, especially since the previous commitments of the United States risk not being respected.

“This then risks undermining all confidence and creating a disengagement from everyone at Cop29,” he concluded. 

This story was first published on 13 November 2024 and appears as part of our review of the year.

Reforms were proposed on Tuesday to Morocco’s family law, as announced by the country’s justice and Islamic affairs ministers.

Women’s rights campaigners have long been pushing for a revision of regulations governing the rights of women and children within the family in Morocco, where Islam is the state religion.

The reforms will address issues including limits on underage marriage and women’s inheritance rights, which activists have said are not guaranteed under the current code, introduced in 2004.

It comes after two years of consultations with civil society, as well as judicial and religious parties, and will require parliamentary and royal approval.

Reform of divorce and child custody

The draft code proposes more than 100 amendments, including one which allows women to stipulate opposition to polygamy in a marriage contract, justice minister Abdellatif Ouahbi told reporters.

In the absence of such opposition, a husband can still take a second wife under certain circumstances in Morocco, such as the first wife’s infertility. The goal is to put more restrictions on polygamy.

Global outrage grows over Franco-Algerian writer’s detention in Algeria

The reform also aims to simplify and shorten divorce procedures, and considers child custody a shared right between spouses.

If passed, it would give either spouse the right to retain the marital home in the event of the other’s death.

Parental guardianship, previously granted automatically to fathers, would be shared by both parents if they separate. Divorced women will be allowed to retain child custody upon remarriage.

The code will also restrict exceptions for underage marriage to 17 years, maintaining the legal marriage age of 18.

Unequal inheritance

The revised code does not, however, abolish the Islamic-based inheritance rule which grants a man twice the share of a woman, but it will allow individuals to gift any of their assets to their female heirs, according to the justice minister.

Inheritances between spouses from different religions can only occur through wills or gifts.

Moroccan women’s rights defenders have pushed for equal inheritance laws for years.

Moroccan cleric defies taboo on women’s inheritance

The amended code has to be submitted to parliament for approval, and the minister set no timeline.

King Mohammed VI, the country’s supreme authority, said on Monday that it should be underpinned by “the principles of justice, equality, solidarity and harmony” with Islamic precepts and universal values, to protect the Moroccan family.

The reform was first ordered by the monarch in 2022, and a committee tasked with drafting the amendments was formed in September last year. It submitted its recommendations in March.

Known as “Mudawana”, Morocco’s current family law was adopted in 2004 and was seen as progressive at the time, although women’s rights defenders have deemed it inadequate.

 (with newswires)

Yet the harvesters say they have little choice but to struggle on, as there are few opportunities in a country hit hard by unemployment, inflation and high living costs.

“There is a huge difference between the situation in the past and what we are living now,” said Mabrouka Athimni, who heads a local collective of women herb harvesters named “Al Baraka”, or “Blessing”.

“We’re earning half, sometimes just a third, of what we used to.”

Tunisia produces around 10,000 tonnes of aromatic and medicinal herbs each year, according to official figures.

Rosemary accounts for more than 40 percent of essential oil exports, mainly destined for French and American markets.

For the past 20 years, Athimni’s collective has supported numerous families in Tbainia, a village near the city of Ain Draham in a region with much higher poverty rates than the national average.

Women, who make up around 70 percent of the agricultural workforce, are the main breadwinners for their households in Tbainia.

African nations demand huge climate aid boost amid global distrust

‘Yield less’

Tunisia is in its sixth year of drought and has seen its water reserves dwindle, as temperatures have soared past 50 degrees Celsius in some areas during the summer.

The Tbainia women said they usually harvested plants like eucalyptus, rosemary and mastic year-round, but shrinking water resources and rare rainfall have siphoned oil output.

“The mountain springs are drying up, and without snow or rain to replenish them, the herbs yield less oil,” said Athimni.

Mongia Soudani, a 58-year-old harvester and mother of three, said her work was her household’s only income. She joined the collective five years ago.

“We used to gather three or four large sacks of herbs per harvest,” she said. “Now, we’re lucky to fill just one.”

Forests in Tunisia cover 1.25 million hectares, about 10 percent of them in the northwestern region.

Wildfires fuelled by drought and rising temperatures have ravaged these woodlands, further diminishing the natural resources that women like Soudani depend on.

Why extinguishing Africa’s dirty cooking fuel crisis is a global priority

In the summer of last year, wildfires destroyed around 1,120 hectares near Tbainia.

“Parts of the mountain were consumed by flames, and other women lost everything,” Soudani recalled.

To adapt to some climate-driven challenges, the women received training from international organisations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation, to preserve forest resources.

Still, Athimni struggles to secure a viable income.

“I can’t fulfil my clients’ orders anymore because the harvest has been insufficient,” she said.

The collective has lost a number of its customers as a result, she said.

‘No longer sustainable’

A recent study by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) highlighted how climate-induced damage to forests had severely impacted local communities.

“Women in particular suffer the consequences as their activities become more difficult and arduous,” the study said.

Tunisia has ratified key international environmental agreements, including the 2015 Paris Climate Accord.

But environmental justice researcher Ines Labiadh, who oversaw the FTDES study, said implementation “remains incomplete”.

In the face of these woes, the Tbainia harvesters, like many women working in the sector, will be forced to seek alternative livelihoods, said Labiadh.

“They have no choice but to diversify their activities,” she said. “Relying solely on natural resources is no longer sustainable.”

Back in the field, Bachra Ben Salah strives to collect whatever herbs she can lay her hands on.

“There’s nothing we can do but wait for God’s mercy,” she said.

“We have received a formal letter requesting the transfer of Serge Atlaoui on 19 December 2024. The letter was sent on behalf of the French minister of justice,” senior Indonesian law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra told Frenc press agency Agence France-Presse.

He added that the request would be discussed in “early January” after the holidays.

Serge Atlaoui, a 61-year-old welder, was arrested in 2005 in a drugs factory outside Jakarta where authorities accused him of being a “chemist”.

In recent weeks, the Indonesian government has agreed to transfer a series of high-profile foreign detainees on death row, including Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina domestic helper, and the last five members of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug ring, raising hopes for others who remain in jail.

Reports began to emerge last month that France had requested the repatriation of Atlaoui, who was due to be executed alongside eight other drug offenders in 2015 but won a temporary reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure. Indonesian authorities agreed to let an outstanding appeal run its course.

• France ‘mobilised’ to save national from Indonesian firing squad

The father of four has maintained his innocence, claiming that he was installing machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant.

He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but the supreme court in 2007 increased the sentence to death on appeal.

Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, including the death penalty for traffickers, and has executed foreigners in the past.

Despite ongoing negotiations for prisoner transfers, the Indonesian government recently signalled that it will resume executions, on hold since 2016, of drug convicts on death row.

The French embassy in Jakarta declined AFP’s request for comment.

(With newswires)

Sexual crimes accounted for 62 percent of the 2,900 criminal convictions handed down by French courts in 2023, the report released this week found.

Aggravating circumstances were considered in more than 70 percent of these cases, and 10 percent involved perpetrators who were the victim’s spouse or partner.

In total, nearly 550,000 people were convicted in 2023, while some 900,000 offences were recorded in criminal records.

However, serious crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery and violent crimes, account for only 0.3 percent of these infractions.

Misdemeanors dominated criminal records, representing 95 percent of all cases. These include theft, fraud, violence, discrimination, sexual assault and involuntary homicide.

Traffic-related offences contributed significantly, with “fifth-class” infractions—like driving under the influence or without a licence—making up 4.5 percent of criminal record entries.

Among misdemeanors, road traffic violations represented 36 percent of cases.

• EU imposes global sanctions over rights abuses against women
• Interpol says over 2,500 arrests made in human trafficking crackdown

• French serial killer’s widow on trial over decades-old murders

Imprisonment

The report highlighted imprisonment as the most commonly used penalty in France’s judicial system. Nearly 46 percent of all punishments handed out last year were prison sentences, and in criminal cases, more than 90 percent of convictions led to incarceration.

The average length of prison sentences in 2023 was 9.7 months.

Fines made up 36 percent of penalties issued, primarily for misdemeanors and infractions. Convictions of minors stood at 29,700 cases, with rape cited as the leading offence among minors convicted of crimes.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear what Helmut Matt, your fellow RFI English listener, has found to be true in his life. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Butterfly Lovers” by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, performed by the National Cinema Symphony Orchestra.

Next week, be sure and tune in for a special program featuring your New Year Resolutions and Wishes for 2025.

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.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear what Helmut Matt, your fellow RFI English listener, has found to be true in his life. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Butterfly Lovers” by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, performed by the National Cinema Symphony Orchestra.

Next week, be sure and tune in for a special program featuring your New Year Resolutions and Wishes for 2025.

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. 

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.