The Constitutional Council, tasked with drawing up the final list of candidates, retained five bids to contest the 25 October ballot, including current President Alassane Ouattara, who is seeking a fourth mandate.

The bids of Tidjane Thiam and Laurent Gbagbo were rejected.

“The Constitutional Council has consistently required voter eligibility as a condition of eligibility,” Constitutional Council President Chantal Nanaba Camara said, declaring the two men’s candidacies “inadmissible”.

Five candidates, two women

Alassane Ouattara, 83, in power since 2011, will face four candidates: former ministers Jean-Louis Billon; Ahoua Don Mello; former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo; and Henriette Lagou, who was a candidate in 2015.

Billon is a dissident from Thiam’s Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), while Ahoua Don Mello is a former member of Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party – Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI).

Both politicians were recently disavowed by their parties, which removed them from office.

Lack of choice

At this point, there is no further recourse for either Gbagbo or Thiam.

This means that the two main opposition parties, the PDCI and the PPA-CI, find themselves without a candidate for the 25 October presidential election.

“Ivorians hoped the council would defend their fundamental right to choose their president through the ballot box. Instead, they find themselves facing a veritable plebiscite organised by the incumbent president, for an unconstitutional fourth term,” Thiam said in a statement sent to news agencies.

He added that the election next month risked becoming a “coronation” for Ouattara.

Ouattara confirms fourth term run as Ivorian opposition cries foul

The political climate has been tense in Côte d’Ivoire for several weeks. The opposition, which expected the exclusion of its leaders, denounces a less than inclusive election and opposes Ouattara’s fourth term, which it considers unconstitutional.

According to a recent report published by the International Crisis Group (ICG), President Ouattara’s controversial bid for a fourth term, the exclusion of key opponents and a non-consensual electoral framework are raising fears about the smooth running of the vote.

Since 1995, no presidential election has resulted in a peaceful change of power, the report points out.

 (with AFP) 

EU lawmakers have given the final go-ahead to a sweeping new law designed to cut back Europe’s towering piles of wasted food and rein in the environmental footprint of fast fashion.

Brussels estimates that each person in the 27-nation bloc generates around 130 kilogrammes of food waste annually – that’s a staggering 60 million tonnes – along with some 15 kilos of discarded textiles.

By slashing food waste, the EU hopes to also reduce the water, fertiliser and energy used to produce, process and store food that too often ends up in the bin.

A similar rationale underpins the textile provisions: producing a single cotton t-shirt, the EU points out, requires around 2,700 litres of fresh water – the amount an average person drinks over two and a half years.

French consumers have bad habits when it comes to food waste, data shows

Binding targets for food

Under the law passed on Tuesday, member states will face binding food waste reduction targets, though they will have the freedom to decide how best to reach them.

By 2030, households, retailers and restaurants must cut their waste by 30 percent compared with 2021-23 levels, while the food industry must trim its losses by 10 per cent.

Rapporteur Anna Zalewska said “targeted solutions” could include encouraging sales of “ugly” fruit and vegetables, clarifying confusing date labels and boosting donations of unsold but still edible food.

Parliament initially pushed for even steeper reductions of 40 and 20 percent, but the final compromise was hammered out with the European Commission and EU capitals.

The hospitality industry lobbied against binding targets, arguing instead for a stronger focus on consumer education.

“The key is raising awareness – especially among consumers,” said Marine Thizon of the European hotel, restaurant and café association Hotrec, noting that households account for more than half of Europe’s food waste.

Donated clothes an environmental disaster in disguise for developing world

Textiles brought into the fold

The law also updates a 2008 directive on waste, for the first time extending its reach to textiles.

Producers will be made responsible for the cost of collecting, sorting and recycling clothing, carpets, mattresses and more.

With less than one per cent of textiles recycled worldwide, and over 12 million tonnes thrown out annually in the EU alone, lawmakers hope the measures will stem the tide of ultra-cheap fashion imports – many from China – sold by platforms such as Shein.

Brussels is already investigating the online giant over concerns about illegal products.

Separately, the EU has proposed a €2 flat import fee on small parcels, aiming to curb the flood of low-cost packages driven by fast-fashion sales.

Last year, 4.6 billion parcels entered the bloc – more than 145 every second – with nine in ten arriving from China.

Disappointment and anger after world fails to agree plastic pollution treaty

Farm sector spared

One major gap remains, as the new law sets no waste-reduction targets for farmers, to the disappointment of environmental groups such as WWF.

“Losses before, during and after harvesting or livestock rearing make up a considerable amount of food waste across the value chain,” the organisation warned, saying it was “concerned” about the exemption.

Even so, the new law marks a significant step forward, with the potential to make Europeans more mindful of what they eat, wear and throw away – and to send a clear signal that wasteful habits can no longer be the norm.

(with newswires)

Marine Le Pen’s political future will hang in the balance early next year, after a Paris court confirmed that her appeal trial in the so-called “parliamentary assistants” affair will take place from 13 January to 12 February 2026.

The decision on dates was, announced by the Paris Court of Appeal on Monday.

In March 2025, the three-time presidential candidate was handed a heavy sentence: five years of ineligibility, enforceable immediately, and four years in prison, two of them to be served under electronic tagging.

Unless overturned, the ruling would bar her from standing in the 2027 presidential race – a devastating blow to the far-right leader who had been preparing another run for the Elysée.

Her lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, had argued that the appeal should be scheduled after the municipal elections of March 2026, warning that political and judicial calendars risked colliding.

Prosecutors, however, pushed for an earlier hearing, determined to keep the case well clear of the presidential contest.

In the end, the court opted for January, promising a verdict well before the summer of 2026.

French court hands Le Pen five-year election ban in fake jobs case

Fraud convictions

At the heart of the case lies allegations of a long-running fraud scheme said to have operated between 2004 and 2016, in which party staff were paid with European Parliament funds.

In the first trial, Le Pen, her National Rally, and two dozen allies were found guilty of siphoning off an estimated €3.2 million.

While some co-defendants have accepted their convictions, twelve figures – including Perpignan’s mayor Louis Aliot, MP Julien Odoul and veteran party members Bruno Gollnisch and Wallerand de Saint-Just – have joined Le Pen in appealing the decision.

That narrower line-up means the retrial is expected to be shorter than the original, which ran for two months in late 2024.

The consequences of her conviction have already sent ripples through French politics.

Prime Minister François Bayrou admitted to being “troubled” by the severity of the sentence, while within the far right, the prospect of a “Plan B” candidate, such as party president Jordan Bardella, has been openly discussed.

French police raid far-right National Rally HQ in campaign financing probe

Legal battles

For Le Pen herself, the appeal represents not only a legal battle but also a race against time to preserve her long-nurtured presidential ambitions.

However, the National Rally is facing a separate investigation, launched in July 2024, into allegations of fraud and illicit campaign financing.

The probe centres on loans from private individuals used to bankroll campaigns in 2022 and 2024, leading to a police raid at party headquarters last summer.

Yet despite these mounting troubles, Le Pen remains determined.

Her legal team insists she will fight to clear her name, banking on the appeal to overturn or at least soften the first-instance verdict.

France’s homegrown artificial intelligence champion Mistral has cemented its place among Europe’s tech leaders, announcing on Tuesday that it has raised €1.7 billion in fresh capital – a record for a French start-up.

The fundraising drive has brought the value of the company to €11.7 billion, almost double its worth just over a year ago.

The deal also brings in a heavyweight new ally – Dutch technology giant ASML, the world’s most important supplier of advanced semiconductor equipment, which is directly investing €1.3 billion in Mistral.

ASML emerged from the round as Mistral’s leading shareholder, in a move set to link Europe’s most prominent AI developer with the linchpin of global chip production.

Could European AI create a more unified European identity?

European tech alliance

The partnership is being hailed as a milestone for European technological sovereignty at a time when the EU is seeking to reduce its reliance on US firms, especially under the renewed presidency of Donald Trump.

By joining forces, ASML and Mistral are positioning themselves to explore joint research and innovative solutions at the intersection of AI and advanced chipmaking.

ASML said its investment was designed to “generate clear benefits for ASML customers through innovative products and solutions enabled by AI”, while also holding out the prospect of deeper collaboration in research.

Arthur Mensch, Mistral’s co-founder and chief executive, struck an equally confident note.

He said Mistral’s technology could help ASML tackle “current and future engineering challenges”, boosting both the hardware that underpins semiconductors and the AI systems that rely on them.

ASML will take between an 11 to 15 percent stake in Mistral and secure a seat on its board, although neither company has confirmed the details.

France’s Mistral AI teams up with UAE-backed developers as Le Chat app launches

From start-up to heavyweight contender

Mistral was founded in 2023 by Mensch, a former researcher at Google’s DeepMind, alongside Guillaume Lample and Timothée Lacroix, who both cut their teeth at Meta’s AI division.

In just two years, the Paris-based company has carved out a reputation as Europe’s most promising AI start-up.

Its flagship product, Le Chat, is a large language model chatbot pitched as a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Beyond text, Mistral has also rolled out generative models capable of creating images and computer code.

The company has expanded quickly, with offices now open in Paris, London, Luxembourg, New York, Palo Alto and Singapore.

Along the way, it has struck a string of headline-grabbing partnerships – from teaming up with Nvidia to develop a cloud computing platform, to joining forces with Saudi investment fund MGX on an AI campus outside Paris.

Mistral has also signed a deal with Agence France-Presse, allowing Le Chat to draw on AFP’s extensive multilingual news archives to answer users’ queries on current and historical events.

AFP strikes deal for France’s Mistral AI to use news articles

Playing catch-up with US rivals

Despite its rapid rise, Mistral remains a relative lightweight compared with American competitors.

Earlier this month, US firm Anthropic secured fresh funding at a staggering $183 billion valuation, underscoring the scale of investment flooding into AI across the Atlantic.

Yet Tuesday’s announcement marks a clear statement of intent.

For France and Europe more broadly, Mistral’s success is being held up as evidence that the continent can nurture its own champions in a sector increasingly seen as strategic.

With ASML now on board, Mistral has secured both deep pockets and a powerful partner at the heart of global chipmaking.

For Europe’s bid to assert itself in the AI race, that combination may prove invaluable.

Located in the volatile eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Virunga is not only Africa’s first national park but also one of its most biodiverse and economically promising.

“Virunga is Africa’s first national park, and it can be Africa’s best national park,” photographer Brent Stirton told RFI.

“For me, given the resources it has, the potential for ecotourism, the hydroelectric schemes, the wider development taking place around the park, as well as the security it provides, this is a billion-dollar park.”

Despite ongoing conflict and political instability — including the current M23 occupation of parts of the park — a dedicated team continues to pursue an ambitious vision for conservation and sustainable development.

“Eight hundred rangers look after this vast area. Over the past 20 years, more than 240 of them have been killed and many more wounded,” Stirton explained.

“But what I always find extraordinary is that no one abandons their post. No one leaves.”

► Visa pour l’Image runs from 30 August to 14 September, 2025.

PSG supremos are upset over injuries to star players Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué while they were in action for France against Ukraine on Friday.

Dembélé lasted 36 minutes as a second-half substitute during the 2-0 victory in Wroclaw before being withdrawn with a hamstring problem and Doué was taken off at half-time with a calf strain.

On Sunday, PSG issued a statement calling for a new set of guidelines between clubs and the national team, which is run by the FFF.

“PSG, which monitors its players medically throughout the year and has accurate and detailed information, had provided the FFF with concrete medical data, even before the French team began training, on the acceptable workload and injury risks for its players,” said a club statement.

“The club regrets that these medical recommendations were not taken into account by the French national team’s medical staff and that there was a total lack of consultation with its medical teams.”

Dembélé and Doué face lay-offs of six and four weeks respectively and will miss the start to their team’s defence of the Champions League.

Sad about injuries

“What happened is what happened,” said Deschamps. “I’m really sad about the injuries and also because the France team is losing two important players.

“We did things in a professional, progressive way, as we do with every player,” he added.

 “But PSG are not our opponent — clubs have never been. I’ve been on the other side of that fence myself. Our only opponent is Iceland.”

France go into Tuesday night’s clash at the Parc des Princes in Paris in second place in Group D on goal difference.

Iceland opened up their qualifying campaign for next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada with a 5-0 annihilation of Azerbaijan in Reykjavík last Friday night.

In the pool’s other clash on Tuesday night, Azerbaijan entertain Ukraine in Baku

Seventh heaven for Tunisia

In Monday night’s qualifiers in Africa, Tunisia became the second team from the continent to advance to the finals.

Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane struck in second-half stoppage time against Equatorial Guinea to secure the points that take the team to the World Cup finals for the seventh time.

Algeria edged closer to the next year’s competition with a 0-0 draw in Guinea to leave them with 19 points from their eight games in Group G.

Vladimir Petkovic’s men will advance to the finals so long as they match Uganda’s result in Botswana during the next round of qualifiers in October.

In Group I, Ghana stayed top following a 1-0 win over Mali. Alexander Djiku hit the only goal of the game just after half-time at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Ghana lead the pool with 19 points from eight of their 10 games. Madagascar are second with 16 points following a 3-1 victory over Chad.

From 8 to 10 September, 45 heads of state and government, alongside more than 25,000 campaigners, business leaders and institutional representatives, are gathering at the African Union’s international conference centre in Addis Ababa.

The meeting is seen as a vital moment for Africa to set its priorities ahead of major international milestones later this year – including the UN General Assembly, the G20, and the upcoming Cop 30 climate negotiations in Brazil.

Climate change is already hitting Africa hard. The World Meteorological Organization estimates that the crisis costs African economies between 2 and 5 percent of GDP annually.

By 2030, as many as 118 million of the continent’s poorest people could face severe droughts, flooding, and extreme heat.

Yet leaders and thinkers are keen to underline that Africa is not simply a victim. The continent holds 60 percent of the world’s solar potential and nearly 40 percent of global renewable energy resources. Its soils are rich in critical minerals essential for the green transition.

“Africa could benefit enormously and even become a global leader in the transition,” argues Iskander Erzini Vernoit, director of the Moroccan think tank, the IMAL Initiative for Climate and Development, speaking to RFI. “But Africa cannot remain passive. It must act in a coordinated way – and that is one of the goals here in Addis Ababa.”

UN court rules countries must treat climate change as an ‘existential threat’

A fairer financial system

Despite this promise, Africa currently attracts only 2 percent of international green investment. High interest rates and the crushing burden of debt remain major barriers.

For Vernoit, this summit offers a chance to demand change, telling RFI: “Africa will continue to press for reform of the international financial architecture. This meeting is a moment to call for a fairer, more equitable system that supports the continent’s climate action efforts.”

African leaders are expected to conclude the summit with a joint declaration, signalling unity and ambition to investors and the international community.

At the first Africa Climate Summit in 2023, leaders committed to scaling up renewable energy capacity from 56 to 300 gigawatts by 2030, and pledges of more than $23 billion in renewable energy investments were announced.

Heavy rains in Guinea capital Conakry cause multiple deaths and destroy homes

Challenge of resilient infrastructure

But climate change is also eroding progress. A new report from the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), released during the summit, highlights the costs of climate damage to African infrastructure – estimated at nearly $13 billion each year.

“Most of these losses come from damage to housing, municipal facilities, schools and hospitals, with flooding accounting for 70 percent of the destruction,” Ramesh Subramaniam, CDRI’s director, explained to RFI. Earthquakes account for a further 28 percent.

The solution, he argues, is not to prevent disasters – which is impossible – but to build smarter and stronger. “If a road is built to the right quality standards, it will resist when disaster strikes. The embankments, the protections – all of it will remain in place,” he says.

According to CDRI, adapting infrastructure to withstand climate impacts typically adds only 5 to 15 percent to a project’s cost.

Yet many African countries face infrastructure funding gaps of up to 50 percent, leaving them unable to invest sufficiently in resilience.

Africans less likely to blame rich nations for climate crisis, survey shows

Stronger voice for Africa

Against this backdrop, the Addis Ababa summit is more than a technical discussion – it is a statement of intent.

Africa’s leaders want to showcase the continent’s potential as a clean energy powerhouse, a hub for innovation, and a driver of global solutions – provided that the international community steps up with fair financing and real partnerships.

By the close of the meeting, a united African position is expected to emerge, sending a message ahead of the world’s next big climate gathering: Africa is ready to lead, but it needs the means to do so.

Prime Minister François Bayrou’s austerity budget is likely to be rejected by MPs when they vote on 8 September, leading to his ousting.

He recently dismissed proposals for a wealth tax as a way of reducing France’s spiralling debt, warning that the wealthy would simply flee France.

“What will they do? They will leave,” he said in a TV interview on Sunday, echoing months of government warnings about capital flight.

However, the Conseil d’analyse économique (CSE) – an independent think tank that advises the prime minister – says its latest findings do not support the government’s stark predictions.

“The wealthy, or high capital income earners, are relatively immobile compared to the general population,” said economist Nicolas Grimprel, co-author of a recent CSE report.

Their analysis focused on France’s top 1 percent of capital income earners – approximately 400,000 households – whom they consider the best proxy for high-wealth individuals.

Among the top 1,000 taxpayers, only two leave France each year – half as many as the rate for the population overall, the study found.

Hollande v. Macron

The research examined major tax reforms over the past 15 years, including the introduction of a 75 percent supertax under Socialist president François Hollande in 2012-2013, and reductions under the economically liberal President Emmanuel Macron in the year following his election in 2017.

Macron introduced a 30 percent flat tax on capital income (PFU) in 2018, and while the top rate of income tax remained at 45 percent, combined taxation on investment income and wealth fell sharply.

He also abolished the wealth tax (ISF), replacing it with a narrower tax on real estate (IFI).

Comparing the two reforms, the study found that while wealthy individuals do respond to tax changes, the actual numbers leaving remain minimal.

“In 2017, the average departure rate for the top 1 percent of capital income earners was around 0.2 percent,” Grimprel told RFI.

Even significant tax increases would trigger only modest additional departures, the study found. “We estimate that a one percentage point increase in income taxation would lead to additional tax exile of between 0.02 percent and 0.23 percent of the affected population.”

In absolute terms, this translates to fewer than 900 additional households leaving out of 400,000 – far from the mass exodus ministers have predicted.

Billionaires highlight France’s complicated relationship with wealth

The CAE team found that recent tax cuts did encourage some returns to France from 2017-2018 onwards, although the numbers were modest

“We observe a notable reduction in net departures,” Grimprel said, while underlining this too represented only a few hundred households.

“High-wealth individuals tend to be older, which may explain their lower mobility,” he observed. “It’s also related to the nature of their income and the fact that they hold substantial assets, which creates ties to France.”

The research also examined what happens when wealthy shareholders do leave. It acknowledged that the expatriation of major shareholders tends to lower the value of the companies in which they hold shares, with a knock-on negative effect on the economy.

However, according to the report, even taking the “upper limit”, tax exile would lead to a drop of “at most 0.03 percent in turnover, 0.05 percent in total added value for the French economy, and 0.04 percent in total employment”.

France’s debt: how did we get here, and how dangerous is it?

An ’eminently political’ issue

In October 2024, the previous Barnier government announced a temporary tax increase on France’s highest earners – households earning above €500,000 or €250,000 for individuals – which it was estimated would raise about €2 billion.

But the government collapsed after being ousted in a no-confidence vote in December 2024, and the measure was never enacted.

In January, French billionaire Bernard Arnault threatened to leave the country if the 40 percent tax came into force.

France targets the rich with temporary tax hikes to bring down debt

France’s left-wing parties, backed by several former Nobel Prize winners, have continued to push for a “Zucman tax“, which would impose a 2 percent levy on wealth exceeding €100 million.

The proposal was rejected by the French Senate in June.

Bayrou has described the Zucman tax as “unconstitutional” and “a threat to investments in France”.

“Every economic issue is eminently political… involving public policy choices,” Grimprel said. Pointing to concerns about fiscal justice, he noted that when all income and taxes paid are taken into account, effective tax rates for the ultra-rich are often lower than for middle-class households.

France’s 2005 Disability Act gives every child with a disability the right to enrol in their local mainstream school.

Since then, the number of children with disabilities in school has increased fivefold.

“Families feel empowered to think that their child doesn’t necessarily only have a future in the medical-social sector, but could also have a future in their local school,” Nicolas Églin, president of the National Federation of Associations Serving Students with Disabilities, told RFI.

But the education system still relies on a dual model: mainstream schools, which must take all pupils, and specialised schools, often run by medical-educational institutions.

Back to school: new rules for pupils and an uncertain future for education minister

‘Solutions that do not meet needs’

While more disabled children are entering mainstream schools, there are still big gaps in support.

“There is a lot of variation in the quality of care, with solutions that do not meet needs, and children attending mainstream schools when they would be better off in a medical-educational institute,” said Sonia Ahehehinnou, vice-president of disability rights network Unapei.

Unapei surveyed its 38 member associations, representing more than 3,600 children. It found only 19 percent of disabled pupils receive more than 12 hours of schooling a week.

Thirty percent receive between six and 12 hours, 38 percent less than six hours, and 13 percent have no hours at all.

Some 70,000 children with disabilities remain in medical-educational institutions, where access to schooling is often harder. These are mostly children with multiple conditions or intellectual disabilities.

Gaps in provision

A new report from Collectif Handicaps – a coalition of 54 disability rights organisations – said: “Many children with disabilities continue to have to adapt to the system, rather than the other way around.”

The report pointed to gaps in adapted teaching materials. In the 2022/2023 school year, 18,682 pupils had no access to resources such as Braille books or tablets. Some waited up to a year, leaving families to cover the cost themselves. Campaigners said this worsens inequalities.

France struggles to decide what place screens should have in schools

The report found that children with disabilities are more likely to drop out of school early, while for those who complete their schooling, career guidance is lacking.

“Students with disabilities often face significant difficulties when approaching this decisive period. They question their abilities and the careers that will be accessible to them. The Information and Guidance Centres are not trained in disabilities,” the report said.

The report concluded that mainstream schools remain ill-equipped to guide disabled students into further education or work. “Inclusive schooling means that mainstream schools must be able to meet all the specific needs of children,” said Églin.

“We still have a lot of work to do to ensure that medical and social work professionals are much more involved in schools and that the norm is a mainstream school education for everyone.”

This article has been adapted from the original version in French.

The UN on Tuesday said that growing restrictions in Cameroon surrounding the upcoming election “raise fears” over whether voters will be able to freely choose their candidate.

“A safe and enabling human rights environment is essential for peaceful, inclusive and credible elections. It regrettably appears that this is not the case in Cameroon,” said UN rights chief Volker Turk.

His Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said restrictions were being imposed on opposition activities, with several gatherings banned.

There have also been concerns regarding the exclusion of certain political figures from the race, as well as irregularities in voter registration, the OHCHR said in a statement.

‘A crucial choice’

President Biya – who at 92 is the world’s oldest head of state – announced in July that he would run again for an eighth term. If he is successful, he will be running Cameroon until he is 99.

He is currently running against at least 11 other candidates – with this division raising concern among the opposition that none will have a chance of winning.

Talks took place among opposition figures throughout August, and a collective of leading Cameroonian intellectuals last week published an op-ed calling on the opposition to unite, in order to achieve political change.

The collective – which includes lawyer Alice Kom, film director Jean-Pierre Bekolo and academics Stéphane Akoa and Baba Wame – is urging politicians to conduct “serious negotiations” and put aside their “personal ambitions” in favour of a “common strategy” and a single candidate, which members called a “crucial choice”.

But some fear the opposition is still too divided to achieve a consensus at this stage.

According to Enrica Picco, Central Africa director for the International Crisis Group (ICG): “The parties did not seize the opportunity to offer a strong alternative, though this is not the first time they were told to identify a single candidate to challenge Biya.”

Failed negotiations

Picco told RFI that even if his intention to run did not come as a surprise, “many Cameroonians, inside and outside the country, still hoped that President Biya would have listened to the many calls not only from opposition parties and civil society, but this time also from his own party and allies, to step down after 42 years in power”.

She called the failure to unite behind a single candidate a weakness of the opposition movement, and added that discussions on this had also taken place last year, and the year before that, with no results.

“Negotiations never really ended up in anything concrete, the different opposition candidates are divided. They all think that they should lead the opposition and an agreement, at this point, is very unlikely to happen,” Picco added.

According to lawyer Akere Muna, the only hope is to nominate Maurice Kamto – who came second to Biya in the 2018 presidential election, representing the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC).

This year, however, Kamto’s candidacy was rejected by the electoral commission, Elecam, on the grounds that another individual, Dieudonné Yebga, had also applied to run under the banner of the same party – MANIDEM.

Both have now been excluded from the running, because parties are not allowed to submit two candidates under Cameroon’s electoral code.

Outspoken critic of Cameroon president excluded from October election

Conflict zones

This lack of cohesion and the perception of a lack of real opposition could result in a low turnout, the ICG is warning – as could the instability in the country.

According to the organisation, rural areas and those in conflict zones could be particularly affected, with voters having to weigh up the risks involved in getting to polling stations.

“In urban areas,” she added, “we can expect more or less the same participation as in 2018 [54 percent]. Parties are not calling for a full boycott of the election.”

The conflict in northern Senegal has seen candidates and political leaders of all stripes flock to that part of the country ahead of the election.

Following visits from Issa Tchiroma Bakary and Bello Bouba Maïgari, former members of Biya’s government and allies of the president, Finance Minister Louis-Paul Motaze recently paid a working visit on behalf of Biya.

Made up of three regions – Adamawa, the North and the Far North – the area represents more than a third of the national electorate.

“In the northwest and southwest, a conflict between Anglophone separatist groups and the government has been ongoing since 2017, and in the far north we still have a heavy jihadist presence – mostly targeting civilians with an increase in attacks and kidnappings in the past few months,” Picco told RFI.

“We also have extreme weather events, like flooding that left thousands of people homeless, in the past couple of years,” she added, explaining that in those regions it could prove extremely difficult for people who want to vote to even reach polling stations.

Cameroon’s forgotten crisis displaces nearly a million people

‘Electoral ceasefire’

“For the Anglophone region, what we recommend is for both the government and the separatists to make some [form of] political gesture. For the government: to release some Anglophone political prisoners, who have not been accused of violent crimes. And for the separatists: to allow people to be free to move to vote, and not target civilians,” said Picco.

She added that the ICG had suggested “an electoral ceasefire”.

These measures would protect civilians and state civil servants going to the Anglophone region for the vote.

“Those people are likely to be targeted from both sides – from separatists, who have already announced that they will not allow people to vote, but also from the Army, because they are likely to react to the separatist violence,” Picco added. 

In terms of the far north, she believes it’s vital for Cameroon to reinforce border control ahead of the election, especially along the Nigerian border where the risks of jihadist attacks is extremely high, as is the likelihood of their attempting to disrupt the vote. 

The Mayotte lagoon – one of the world’s largest at 1,100 square kilometres – once teemed with coral that sheltered fish and crustaceans.

Enclosed by an outer barrier reef and fringed by an inner reef, it normally protects the island from ocean swells and cyclones. But the ecosystem is under strain from population growth, with poor sewage treatment and waste management threatening water quality.

Surveys by the Mayotte Marine Nature Park show Cyclone Chido wiped out 45 percent of corals across the island when it struck on 14 December 2024, killing 40 people and leaving 41 missing as it swept through the territory.

Combined with bleaching linked to El Nino earlier in the year, the two events decimated about two-thirds of Mayotte’s corals, representing a 35 percent loss of coral cover across the lagoon.

The report says the combined impacts have caused “very significant degradation of coral populations” across the island’s reefs. It describes the losses as major for a lagoon long regarded as a biodiversity hotspot in the Indian Ocean.

The big blue blindspot: why the ocean floor is still an unmapped mystery

Reefs already weakened

The destruction varied across sites. The north-east, where the cyclone first struck, was hardest hit, with most corals wiped out. The double barrier reef fared better, losing roughly a quarter of its coral cover.

“When you first put your head underwater, there are areas that are particularly well preserved and others where nothing is left, though before there was richness and significant biodiversity,” Yoan Doucet, head of engineering at the Mayotte Marine Nature Park, told RFI in January.

He said surveys carried out before the cyclone had already measured an average 35 percent mortality from bleaching.

“It is therefore possible that afterwards, with the passage of Cyclone Chido, reefs that were already weakened could not resist Chido’s impact.”

The scale surprised park scientists. The mortality was quite unprecedented, with the last episode of this magnitude in 1998, said Oriane Lepeigneul, marine ecosystems officer at the Mayotte Marine Nature Park.

“They serve as both a habitat and a feeding ground. When you lose that habitat, you potentially lose functionality for these species,” she told RFI. “So either these species will move elsewhere, or perhaps some of them will decline.”

The study, which involved scientific support from consultancies Marex and Creocéan, says the island’s reefs were hit hard by the combined effects of bleaching and storm damage.

Niue, the tiny island selling the sea to save it from destruction

Threats to coastal protection

The collapse of corals threatens marine life and the livelihoods of those who depend on it.

The study warns that damage to the reef barrier also compromises natural protection for Mayotte’s shoreline, leaving the coast more exposed to storms and future cyclones.

Despite the devastation, some areas showed resilience. The cyclone’s force may even help recovery in certain places by clearing dead coral that had blocked regrowth after bleaching.

“If dead corals remain standing, that prevents recolonisation by live corals. But if the rock underneath is bare, that allows new corals to settle,” Lepeigneul told RFI.

The marine park says its priority now is to conserve surviving reefs while reducing human pressures such as pollution, poor water quality and coastal development.

“What will be most important now is to manage to conserve the reefs that have resisted,” Lepeigneul added.

Active restoration measures are being explored, though researchers caution that even with coral propagation techniques, only a fraction of what has been lost could be restored.

Born online, the movement Bloquons Tout – “Let’s Block Everything” – is aiming to bring France to a standstill on 10 September.

The movement is a protest against Prime Minister François Bayrou’s 2026 budget, unveiled in mid-July, as well as the proposed scrapping of two public holidays – 8 May and Easter Monday – and the planned pension freeze, as well as wider cuts to public services.

It has also voiced demands for fairer taxation, calling for an economic reset that better supports ordinary workers and middle-class households.

With its origins elusive and its activity so far mostly limited to the online sphere, questions have been raised over whether Bloquons Tout will emerge as a genuine protest movement.

RFI put this question to Elliot Lepers, a political communications adviser who has been following the movement, and Quentin Ravelli, a sociologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

Why does France want to scrap two of its public holidays?

RFI: How would you describe this call to action on 10 September? Is it possible to define the movement at this stage?

Quentin Ravelli: It’s difficult to define a movement that doesn’t yet exist. There is a call, but it hasn’t fully taken shape. For now, it’s ambivalent, shifting – with economic demands and an effort to build consensus beyond political divides. But movements evolve constantly as events unfold. We’ll have to see how, and if, it takes off.

Elliot Lepers: It’s a very “nebulous” movement – no clear hierarchy or organisation is visible. It’s also extremely diverse, with participants coming from varied cultural and political backgrounds. That diversity is something they actively defend. In the Telegram groups, after parties such as France Unbowed expressed support, there were reminders of the need to maintain neutrality – to keep 10 September a non-partisan space, not to be exploited by parties, unions or ideologies.

Yet the movement is said to have started with accounts close to the far right, before being supported by left-wing parties. How do you view this?

EL: It’s true that the first online relays came from so-called “patriot” circles – far-right conservative forums – and some Russian interference has been documented too. But those remain marginal. What’s more significant are the large, spontaneous surges of people self-organising around genuine anger. It’s a space of politicisation, where thousands are trying to turn shared experiences into political action. Yes, there are attempts at manipulation, but they coexist with sincere mobilisation.

Movement calls for September shutdown across France to protest budget cuts

Can a movement really channel anger without aligning with a political side?

QR: Since the 2008 crisis, we’ve seen economic grievances turn into political ones – think of the Indignados [an anti-austerity movement in Spain] or Occupy Wall Street. Many movements avoid being labelled left or right. This isn’t just strategic: participants often feel that consensus around economic demands matters more than political allegiance. Urgent issues like public services, wages or inflation are seen as priorities.

Do you see continuity with the Yellow Vests movement?

EL: The Yellow Vests are often mentioned as both inspiration and something to be distinguished from. They’re part of the political culture, but I don’t see the 10 September groups as direct heirs. For instance, organisers debate whether to use the tricolour flag in visuals, or whether yellow should feature – knowing it evokes the Yellow Vests.

QR: Many former Yellow Vests aren’t mobilising, although some are. Continuity is hard to gauge. The Yellow Vests had clear demands at the start, centred on fuel, and concrete tactics like roundabout occupations. In contrast, “Let’s Block Everything” or opposing a budget is much more vague. The 10 September call is strategically blurry, echoing Yellow Vest sentiment in part, while aiming to broaden the scope of the protest.

Is the movement becoming more structured beyond the online sphere?

EL: Yes. Once you join a Telegram group, you find local offshoots by region, department or city, which then organise assemblies. These have multiplied as 10 September approaches. Early on, the focus was symbolic actions – withdrawing money, boycotting consumption. Now the tone has shifted to tangible blockades: road closures, street actions. But the movement is highly diverse, so expressions will vary from city to city.

QR: I have mixed feelings. It does reach different social groups – former Yellow Vests, health workers opposed to cuts, people angry about lost public holidays. But the tactics are unclear. The 2018-2019 roundabout blockades provided structure. Today’s calls for strikes are more vague, and how they’ll translate locally remains uncertain.

Bayrou lays out his budget strategy, one week ahead of no-confidence vote

Does the confidence vote for François Bayrou on 8 September change things?

EL: When that announcement came, I observed a spike in online interaction – people asking about consequences, not about the movement’s legitimacy. If anything, it was seen as validation of the protest mood and rejection of current policies. The challenge now is how the movement adapts – what slogans, what targets – especially if there’s a resignation.

QR: People aren’t just mobilising against Bayrou. He’s just one factor in much wider anger. This goes beyond a showdown between a prime minister and a few activists – the conditions are there for a broader confrontation.

Could 10 September be a turning point?

EL: Like all spontaneous, digital-born movements, there are phases. First comes a vague recruitment drive, then the test in the real world. That’s when ideals meet reality, creating clarification. It’s a trial by fire – either the movement crystallises into something real, or it fragments.

QR: I feel something strong could emerge – but it will all be decided in the coming two weeks, on 8 September and especially on 10 September. The day could either lead to a quick sense of victory and exhaustion, or spark the real take-off of the movement.

(This interview has been adapted from the original French version and edited for clarity)

“It’s the first step toward the end of a vile impunity,” said Bouvier, who was trapped in a makeshift media centre in the city on 22 February, 2012 when shells struck. “It was long, but we are finally getting there, it’s wonderful.”

The French warrants were signed on 19 August by investigating judges from the Paris court’s crimes against humanity unit, but the decision only became public on Tuesday.

They target Assad and his closest allies for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, following a 13-year investigation.

‘Crime against humanity’

The decision is seen as a breakthrough in recognising that attacks on journalists can constitute crimes against humanity.

“It’s a crime against humanity that has been recognised, and it’s a crime against humanity against journalists,” Bouvier told RFI.

Lawyers working on the case stressed its importance for accountability.

“The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that opens the way to a trial in France,” said Clémence Bectarte, lawyer for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression.

Rights groups also welcomed the move. Reporters Without Borders described it as “a major advance in a central case for the fight against impunity for international crimes committed against journalists”.

The organisation added: “The noose is tightening even in the highest circles of the fallen regime of Bashar al-Assad, which had made independent journalists and a free press enemies of the state.”

‘In two days, it all came crashing down’: A French-Syrian family torn apart

Deadly bombardment

The informal press centre was housed in a building in the Bab Amr district of Homs, then a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army. When the building came under fire, the journalists inside tried to flee.

American reporter Marie Colvin, 56, who worked for The Sunday Times and was known for her fearless reporting and trademark eye patch, and French photographer Rémi Ochlik, 28, were the first to step outside. Both were killed instantly by a mortar shell.

Bouvier was seriously injured in the leg. British photographer Paul Conroy and Syrian translator Wael al-Omar were also wounded.

“These bombings were not decisions made city by city,” Bouvier said. “It was really the will of the state to silence journalists and civilians.”

She praised the “incredible work” of Syrian reporter Samer Al Deyaei for documenting the case.

“Mazen Darwish, the Syrian lawyer leading the Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, said the investigation proved the attack was deliberate.

“It clearly established that the attack on the informal press centre was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists in order to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” he said.

New legal action launched against Syria’s Assad after French court ruling

Inner circle named

Alongside Assad, who fled to Russia after being ousted in 2024, the French warrants name his brother Maher al-Assad, the de facto head of Syria’s 4th armoured division at the time.

Others include intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, army chief of staff Ali Ayoub and Rafik Shahada, then head of the military and security committee in Homs.

Bouvier underlined the importance of Assad himself being targeted. “I didn’t want us to only go after lower-ranking officials,” she said.

The French investigation began in March 2012, when prosecutors in Paris opened a case for murder and attempted murder of French nationals.

It was widened in October 2014 to include war crimes, and in December 2024 to crimes against humanity – an unprecedented move for a case involving journalists.

Even if Assad and the others never face trial in person, rights lawyers say the French warrants send a powerful message.

Bectarte said the recognition of Assad’s personal role in the Homs bombing was a “decisive step” that could pave the way for proceedings in France.

Bouvier said the move was, above all, symbolic. “Even if it will be difficult to obtain Assad’s arrest, his name is there.”

Invited to an investor forum organised by a French investment bank, BPI France, set for 23 September, Senegal’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko declined the invitation, citing scheduling constraints.

He will be represented at the event by a member of his government.

This was to be his first official trip to France.

In a statement published on social media on 3 September, and on the Prime Minister’s website, Sonko  expressed “his sincere thanks to BPI France” for the invitation sent by mail and dated 22 July 2025, to participate as a guest of honour in the 11th edition of Bpifrance Inno Génération (BIG) in Paris,

He added that”a scheduling impediment” has made it impossible to attend in person.

Other trips

In the same statement, Sonko announced two other official trips however: one to the United Arab Emirates, from 8 to 12 September, and another to Italy, where he will meet with the Senegalese diaspora, on 13 and 14 September.

The Senegalese prime minister will also welcome his French counterpart to Dakar as part of the Intergovernmental Seminar (SIG), a joint initiative announced by the two countries. The dates remain to be confirmed as it is not clear who the French prime minister will be.

Senegal leader announces cabinet reshuffle, pledges to work around the clock

France and Senegal

Newspapers’ columnists wrote it might not be appropriate for the prime minister to go to Paris after President Faye went less than a month ago on 27 August.

Faye met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, and they agreed on the need to “renew” and “strengthen” the relationship between France and Senegal.

He himself took part in key business meetings, the Rencontres des Entrepreneurs de France (REF), where he sought to convince French business leaders to reinvest in his country.

“Senegal offers you an expanding market, recognised political stability and opportunities in strategic sectors with high potential,” Faye even said in a public address.

France and Senegal look to reset ties as Macron hosts Faye in Paris

While it is unclear what scheduling problem has led to the cancellation,  Senegal‘s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has to travel to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the same dates and protocol requires that the head of state and the prime minister can not be outside Senegal at the same time.

A Senegalese political analyst told our correspondent that this cancellation could also simply be a reflection of Sonko’s  political views, given his sovereignist discourse and his strong positions on France in recent years.

(with newswires)

Bayrou, who has been in the job for just nine months, had blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote in his government to end a lengthy standoff over his austerity budget.

In the vote in France’s parliament Monday evening, 364 deputies voted that they had no confidence in the government while just 194 gave it their confidence.

“In line with article 50 of the constitution, the prime minister must submit the resignation of his government,” said speaker Yael Braun-Pivet in response to the result.

What’s behind France’s current political crisis?

Bayrou is the sixth prime minister under President Emmanuel Macron since his 2017 election, but the fifth since 2022. Bayrou’s ousting leaves the French head of state with a fresh domestic headache at a time when he is leading diplomatic efforts on the Ukraine war.

Defending his decision to call the high-risk confidence vote, Bayrou told the National Assembly: “The biggest risk was not to take one, to let things continue without anything changing… and have business as usual.”

Describing the national debt as “life-threatening” for France, Bayrou said his government had put forward a plan so that the country could “in a few years’ time escape the inexorable tide of debt that is submerging it”.

“You have the power to overthrow the government,” but not “to erase reality,” Bayrou told MPs in a final bid to save his government before the vote.

Unpopular president

Macron now faces one of the most critical decisions of his presidency: appoint a seventh prime minister to try to broker a compromise, or call snap elections in a bid to secure a more accommodating parliament.

There is no guarantee that an election would improve the fortunes of Macron’s centre-right bloc in the Assembly.

Although the Socialist Party (PS) has expressed readiness to lead a new government, it is far from clear whether such an administration could survive.

Senior right-wing cabinet ministers, such as Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, risk being voted out by the left.

According to a poll by Odoxa-Backbone for Le Figaro, 64 per cent of French people want Macron to resign rather than appoint a new prime minister – a move he has ruled out.

He is barred from standing for a third term in 2027.

Around 77 per cent of people disapprove of his performance, Macron’s worst-ever rating, according to an Ifop poll for the Ouest-France daily.

Le Pen rising

Alongside political upheaval, France is also facing social tensions.

A left-wing collective named Bloquons Tout (Block Everything)  is calling for a day of action on Wednesday, while trade unions have urged workers to strike on 18 September.

The 2027 presidential election remains wide open, with analysts predicting that the French far right will have its strongest-ever chance of winning.

Three-time National Rally (RN) presidential candidate Marine Le Pen suffered a setback in March when a French court convicted her and other party officials over an EU parliament fake jobs scandal.

Le Pen was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, two of which were suspended, and fined €100,000. The ruling also banned her from standing for office for five years, which would prevent her from contesting the 2027 election unless overturned on appeal.

However, a Paris court announced on Monday that her appeal would be heard from 13 January to 12 February 2026, well before the election, potentially reviving her presidential ambitions.

Cheered by her MPs, Le Pen urged Macron to call snap legislative elections, describing the polls as “not an option but an obligation” and Bayrou’s administration as a “phantom government”.

‘Considerable’ demand for change

Meanwhile, left-wing France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, shortly after the announcement of the vote result, called on Macron to “leave”.

The Socialists’ parliamentary leader, Boris Vallaud, said in his first reaction that his group wanted to use the debate to “remind everyone that, contrary to what the prime minister said, there is another path,” arguing that the left should be tasked with forming the next government.

He added that Macron needs to confront the reality that he lost the election last year, and that there is a “considerable” demand for change.

“If he loves this country, if he cares about the interests of the French, if he doesn’t want to leave the only alternative to the far-right, he will do it,” he said.

Several other MPs highlighted the need for a swift response, as the “Block Everything” protests are set to begin on 10 September, followed by trade union protests on 18 September.

Will France’s ‘block everything’ movement jump from social media to the streets?

On Friday, the decision by the Fitch rating agency could also downgrade France’s debt rating.

(with newswires)

In April, France formally accused Russia’s military intelligence agency of carrying out cyberattacks against French institutions, including President Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 presidential campaign and organisations linked to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Questions are now being raised over whether foreign countries are trying to interfere in the Bloquons Tout! (Let’s block everything) protests planned for 10 September.

A government source specialising in digital affairs has told public broadcaster Radio France there was no evidence of a “massive” campaign, but pointed to “opportunistic amplification” by networks linked to Iran, Russia and Algeria.

Analysts from French digital intelligence group Projet Fox have tracked hundreds of fake accounts, mainly on X (formerly Twitter), that are attempting to boost hashtags such as #10septembre2025 and #MacronDémission (Macron resign).

A cluster of accounts, attributed to Iran, includes profiles with AI-generated images and repeated calls for blockades or the French president’s resignation.

French authorities also cited “influence activities” from pro-government media in Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, Iran and Algeria. Outlets such as Caliber in Azerbaijan and Alfadjr in Algeria have recently highlighted Macron’s low popularity and warned of possible unrest. An article on Alfadjr’s website described a “besieged France” threatened by IMF control and rising poverty.

“Everything exploitable is exploited,” an official told France Info, adding that the aim was not so much to interfere directly but relay narratives portraying France as unstable.

Movement calls for September shutdown across France to protest budget cuts

Largely a domestic movement

Officials stress the protests planned for 10 September remain primarily a domestic movement, with French activist networks such as Les Essentiels and local Indignons Nous groups on Telegram and Signal driving calls for action since May.

Social media monitoring platform Visibrain recently noted signs of “astroturfing”, where content purportedly from grassroots movements, but actually funded and organised by corporations or political groups, is created to sway public opinion. But it found the activity largely centred on French left-wing and far-left circles.

The impact of foreign involvement is unclear. “A post with a million views may have no effect, while a hundred views in the right circles could be significant,” said one expert. “So far, these attempts have limited visibility because the mobilisation is already a national topic.”

The 10 September protest, organised under the banner Bloquons Tout, aims to “paralyse” France with strikes, blockades and demonstrations. It is being held just two days after parliament is expected to vote down Prime Minister François Bayrou over his 2026 austerity budget.

French interior minister vows ‘utmost firmness’ against shutdown protests

While it has been compared to the anti-government Gilets jaunes (“Yellow Vests“) protest movement of 2018-2019, it appears far less structured and emerged online only in July this year. It is supported by some trade unions including the CGT and SUD, as well as the hard-left France Unbowed party.

Domestic intelligence services warn of potential blockades targeting transport, energy and defence sites.

Frederic Péchier, 53, worked as an anaesthetist at two private clinics in the eastern French city of Besançon, where several patients went into cardiac arrest in suspicious circumstances between 2008 to 2017. Twelve could not be resuscitated.

His youngest alleged victim, four-year-old Teddy, survived two cardiac arrests during a routine tonsil surgery in 2016. The doctor’s oldest alleged victim was 89.

The trial, held in Besançon and expected to last until December, comes after a seven-year investigation that stunned the medical community.

“I’ve been waiting for this for 17 years,” said Amandine Lehlen, whose 53-year-old father died of cardiac arrest during kidney surgery in 2008. An autopsy revealed an overdose of lidocaine, a local anaesthetic.

Péchier faces life imprisonment if convicted. The father of three, who has been banned from practising medicine, denies the charges.

He is currently under judicial supervision – an alternative to pre-trial detention.

French doctor charged in 17 new cases of poisoning

Alleged conflict with colleagues

An investigation was launched in January 2017, after 36-year-old Sandra Simard suffered a suspicious cardiac arrest during an operation at the Saint-Vincent clinic in Besançon.

A potentially lethal dose of potassium was discovered in a saline bag used for her anaesthesia.

Suspicion quickly fell on Péchier, who was detained and charged two months later.

Prosecutors allege he had contaminated infusion pouches used by colleagues in order to create operating room emergencies where he could intervene to show off his supposed resuscitating talents.

“What he is accused of is poisoning healthy patients in order to harm colleagues with whom he was in conflict,” said Prosecutor Etienne Manteaux.

“Frederic Péchier was the first responder when cardiac arrest occurred,” he added. “He always had a solution.”

‘Perverse traits’

Pechier has argued that the majority of poisonings were the result of “medical errors” made by his colleagues.

“I am being accused of heinous crimes that I did not commit,” he said in 2017.

His defence team says he “has every intention of proving his innocence in this case”.

A psychological evaluation of the accused carried out in 2019 – and roundly criticised by his defence lawyers – pointed to a “controlling personality” and “perverse traits”.

He is also believed to suffer from depression.

In 2014 he attempted suicide, and in 2021 he fell from a window at his parents’ house in a drunken state.

Over the course of the seven-year investigation, more than 70 reports of “serious adverse events” were examined – medical terminology for unexpected complications or deaths among patients.

The cases of 30 patients who suffered cardiac arrest during surgery at the Saint-Vincent Clinic and the Franche-Comte Polyclinic made it to trial.

According to L’Est Républicain, police had to investigate 1,514 people “who could have had access to the operating theatres” at both clinics. Péchier was the only one whose name appeared at both locations.

The newspaper reported that before Péchier’s brief stint at the Polyclinique de Franche-Comté in 2009, there had been no such incidents reported there.

After he left, following a financial dispute, they ceased. Similarly, Saint-Vincent clinic has had no such events since his arrest.

French surgeon handed maximum 20-year term in paedophilia trial

A ‘dizzying case’

Manteaux has called the case “unprecedented in French legal history”. Investigators needed years to master the medical knowledge required, identify the alleged crime pattern and determine various methods of operation.

The investigation also required four exhumations of bodies –  a rare judicial decision that the prosecutor said was necessary, despite being “technically complicated, expensive and traumatic for families”.

More than 150 civil parties, including a trade union for anaesthetists, will be represented at the trial.

It is a “dizzying case” due to its “scale, duration and technical complexity,” said Frederic Berna, one of 55 lawyers representing the victims.

Ahead of the trial Pechier said he was “not particularly anxious”.

“I have to fight one last time to bring this to an end,” he told broadcaster BFMTV. “I’m not tired. I’m not angry. I just want people to listen for once.”

(with newswires)

On Tuesday, judges in The Hague will examine 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Kony, including murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery and pillaging.

The proceedings, known as a confirmation of charges hearing, will be the court’s first ever in absentia.

Although ICC rules forbid full trials without the accused present, prosecutors argue the hearings are critical to ensure a trial can proceed swiftly should Jospeph Kony finally be caught.

They also say that bringing his alleged crimes before an international court offers a measure of recognition for victims, even in his absence.

Once a Catholic altar boy and later the self-proclaimed prophet of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Kony has eluded capture for decades.

His brutal insurgency against President Yoweri Museveni’s government left at least 100,000 dead and saw some 60,000 children abducted, according to UN estimates.

The LRA’s trail of atrocities – massacres, mutilations, and abductions –spread far beyond Uganda into Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

LRA rebel commander jailed in Uganda for war crimes in landmark case

Courtroom test

Over three days of hearings, ICC judges will assess whether the charges against Kony are sufficiently credible to advance to trial.

His defence team has dismissed the process as “an enormous expense of time, money and effort for no benefit at all”, stressing that no trial can take place unless Kony is apprehended.

But for prosecutors, the exercise has both practical and symbolic importance.

“By hearing the accusations now, the court ensures that justice will not be delayed if he is ever arrested,” one official explained, highlighting the ICC’s duty to victims as well as to the record of international law.

Kony’s case has long been central to the ICC’s identity. The 2005 arrest warrant against him was the first the court ever issued, signalling its mission to tackle the world’s worst atrocities.

Since then, several of his lieutenants have faced justice, including Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier turned commander who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2021.

In April this year, the ICC ordered €52 million in reparations for Ongwen’s victims.

ICC upholds 25-year war crimes sentence for LRA commander Ongwen

An elusive fugitive

Despite international efforts, Kony remains at large. In 2012, he became globally infamous after the viral “Kony 2012” campaign, which drew more than 100 million views on YouTube.

The campaign prompted then US president Barack Obama to send 100 special forces to support regional militaries in the hunt. Yet the mission ended in 2017 without success.

Recent UN reports suggest Kony has shifted between Sudan and the Central African Republic, pursued at times by defectors, regional armies and even Russian mercenaries.

His following, once several thousand strong, has dwindled to a handful of fighters scattered across remote terrain.

US hunt for Kony over, justice for victims remains

Justice deferred, not denied

For communities scarred by the LRA’s violence, the hearings are a chance to see the world’s attention return to their plight.

Survivors in northern Uganda say the process may not deliver immediate justice but remains meaningful.

“Even though we have passed through a lot, we cannot lose hope,” said Stella Angel Lanam, a former abductee who now runs a victims’ support network. “At least I will get justice.”

The ICC is not expecting Kony to appear in court this week. But the fact that the judges will hear evidence against him – two decades after first issuing his warrant – sends a clear signal that the international community has not given up, and that his alleged crimes will remain on the record until justice is done.

In a letter sent to Brussels on Monday, 150 EV executives, including bosses from Volvo Cars and Polestar, warned that any delay to the 2035 target would hand a competitive advantage to global rivals – particularly Chinese manufacturers – and undermine investor confidence in Europe’s green transition.

“Weakening targets now would send a signal that Europe can be talked out of its own commitments,” said Michael Lohscheller, Polestar’s chief executive, in a statement. “That would not only harm the climate. It would harm Europe’s ability to compete.”

As part of its fight against climate change, the EU requires carmakers to progressively cut carbon emissions produced by new vehicles sold in the bloc, or face steep fines.

In March, the European Commission yielded to pressure from European automakers to give them three years, rather than one, to meet the carbon emission targets.

Two weeks ago, the heads of the European automobile manufacturers’ and automotive suppliers’ associations sent a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressing that a 100 percent reduction in emissions for cars by 2035 was “no longer feasible”.

That letter was signed by Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius – a significant endorsement from one of Europe’s automotive giants.

EU car industry must speed up electric sales or face billions in fines

Emissions targets on track

On 12 September, Von der Leyen is set to discuss the future of the automative sector with industry players as they face increased competition from Chinese rivals and US tariffs.

A study by transport research and campaign group T&E, published Monday, showed that all European carmakers, except for Mercedes-Benz, are on track to meet the emission targets for 2025-2027. The German luxury manufacturer would need to pool its emissions with Volvo Cars and Polestar to avoid fines, the report said.

It forecast battery electric vehicle sales would surpass a 30 percent share of the EU car market in 2027 from 18 percent this year.

Demand for EVs across Europe has slowed, with consumers increasingly opting for cheaper Chinese-made imports.

Carmakers unhappy after EU hits China with tariffs on electric vehicles

Meanwhile, Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa has called for greater flexibility in the transition to electric vehicles, urging the EU to support hybrid technologies as an interim solution.

“A European policy that encourages the replacement of older cars with new cars and a wider choice of powertrains would have a greater impact on global CO₂ emissions,” he argued.

Kasakula received universal access to solar power through an award-winning energy model from SolarAid, a small international charity, which chose the remote, low-income village to pilot its Energy-as-a-Service model.

It means that, since the last week of August, it has become 100 percent powered by solar energy, and almost all of its 8 to 9 000 households have access to this solar powered electricity.

Malawi’s government is now keen to roll out access across the country, setting a precedent for Africa.

Kasakula residents used to live off-grid, relying on candles and a few lamps, says Brave Mhonie, SolarAid Malawi general manager and president of Renewable Energy Industries Association of Malawi.

“We are kind of living the dream, a global dream of universal energy access,” Mhonie told RFI.

“We’re achieving our SDG 7 [Sustainable Development Goal 7] by 2030. [But] as a sector, we are behind our global goals for various reasons, one being poverty. The majority of customers who are being left behind is because they are very poor.”

Sustainable Development Goal 7 is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. It aims to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”.

“What we wanted was to develop a model that enables universal energy access while being sustainable,” Mhonie said.

“And realising that dream that we have actually connected the entire community, which will act as a blueprint to others to also learn and understand how it can actually be done. So for us, it’s not just a celebration belonging to SolarAid.”

The programme has been pushing the grid to go into the remotest areas, but this grid has got limitation as to how many people can be connected to it and how far it can go for proper maintenance.

SolarAid’s model started by integrating into what the government is already doing, then by extending power coverage, to connect people and make sure that everyone in the area is actually powered with electricity, according to Mhonie.

“We are talking of about 32,000 individuals,” Mohnie said.

They also got involved in this business model.

“We put the community itself at the centre stage of the implementation and delivery of the business activities,” he added.

Changing lives

These changes impact directly the life of people in the village; they improved the way people work, and security at night, and the way they communicate with each other. 

“In general, we can see quite a big shift in terms of impact, on opening business opportunities, for instance,” Mhonie said. “We have some people like tailors using the light to continue working at night, which they never used to do before. We have got some people who own small shops. Again, they are connected and they are extending their working hours.”

SolarAid also connected 12 schools in the area, ten primary schools and two secondary schools. “Learners are now coming to the school at night to have extra lessons from their teachers as well as are studying, especially during the exam time. 

One of the greatest stories that Mhonie has observed so far is its impact on the girls.

“Previously the area, the performance of girls was very low. When we did a survey, we realised that, when the school organises these extra lessons or night studies at school, before we brought in the electricity, it was very difficult for the girls because they couldn’t go to school at night, for obvious reasons, they are so vulnerable.”

So, they were forced to stay at home, while boys were going to school at night to have extra lessons and to study.

“Now that we have connected more or less every, household, the girls are having access to electricity in their respective homes don’t have to go anywhere. And that also has created them to have opportunity to read at night and putting them at the same level as the boys in terms of opportunities.”

There is also one health facility in the area, which is connected to grid, but it is not reliable.

“So at night nurses and midwives were finding it difficult to deliver women at night, when the facility had no electricity. They approached us to connect them to an alternative electricity and a backup to the grid. Now the solar is having more impact on women’s health at night.”

National expansion

Kasakula’s governance structure involves traditional chiefs

Now, the team behind the project is working very closely with the traditional authorities, the chiefs, on consumer education about clean renewable energy and how it actually works, and to teach them about their responsibility in looking after the products.

“We work very closely with the local chiefs to to educate the consumers.”

Spotlight on Africa podcast: Malawi’s first solar-powered village

The community is at the centre stage of delivering this work.

“All the success that we are celebrating today is because of a very strong, cohesive, ah, collaboration with the community members themselves.”

And other villages could learn from that experience, in Malawi and beyond. 

“Our intention is to do something that actually inspires others to also stand up and take action. We know that people want to see solutions coming out, but probably no one has spearheaded with a bold move to take that level of action. So, what we are expecting is that other communities will be inspired by it, and will also take action.”

The charity and its partners are now working with the government to make sure that it has a good knowledge of what is happening, so they can take this model and incorporate it into its rural electrification further into the country.

“We have already received requests from other chiefs wanting us to go into their villages as well to do it, from other organisations that are also interested in rural electrification, coming to seek support on how we can work with them to help.”

The enterprise SunnyMoney and the Swedish NGO Postcode Foundation are also helping in one of the districts down south in Malawi, where a similar project has also been set up at a smaller scale.

Another community group in the eastern part of the country is also working on making solar power happen, as well as a local Catholic church and church members, willing to receive electricity in their homes.

“So it’s something that indeed can be replicated in other areas quite easily,” Mhoni concluded.

A viral campaign has for weeks urged French people to stage a nationwide “shutdown” next Wednesday, two days after the government of Prime Minister François Bayrou faces a confidence vote in parliament over an austerity budget standoff.

The emerging movement Bloquons Tout – “Let’s Block Everything” has suggested a range of civil disobedience actions from blocking train stations to picketing oil refineries.

France’s hardline interior minister said Friday he did not anticipate a “large-scale” response to calls for protests next week, but ordered police to “show the utmost firmness” in case of any disorder.

“I don’t believe there will be any large-scale movements,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said, adding that hard-left forces and some unions have backed the anti-government campaign.

Will France’s ‘block everything’ movement jump from social media to the streets?

“It is very clear that the movement has shifted to the left,” Retailleau said. “Given the nature of these movements and their radicalism, there may be some spectacular actions.”

Intelligence officials have warned the movement’s decentralised nature makes its scale and impact difficult to predict, with law enforcement preparing for any eventuality.

In the telegram, dated Thursday, Retailleau ordered police to fully mobilise to “manage this crisis”.

“Blocking everything is worse than anything else. The country doesn’t need to be blocked,” Retailleau said.

Exasperation

“No damage to public buildings in general, and landmark buildings in particular, will be tolerated,” he said, adding schools and universities must also be protected.

Signs have multiplied that many French people are growing exasperated with political deadlock as well as issues including the cost of living and crime.

Bayrou‘s government is expected to lose Monday’s confidence vote, in a new blow to President Emmanuel Macron, now on his sixth prime minister since taking office in 2017.

France’s debt: how did we get here, and how dangerous is it?

Several French people who planned to take part in next week’s protests said they were frustrated with government policies, including Bayrou’s proposal to cut two public holidays, and said they wanted to have a greater say in political matters.

“Taxes on the rich are never voted in, while we are asked to tighten our belts,” said 35-year-old Chloe Souske from the village of Monterfil in northwestern France.

“A gap has opened up with the political elite who work for billionaires,” added Benjamin Ball, a 41-year-old from the northwestern Paris suburb of Argenteuil.

Separately, trade unions have called for protests on 18 September over France’s “horror show” draft budget.

(with newswires)

The force said 857 people had been arrested under anti-terror laws for supporting a proscribed group during Saturday’s demonstration, with an additional 33 arrested for other offences including assaults on police officers.

“We have a duty to enforce the law without fear or favour. If you advertise that you are intending to commit a crime, we have no option but to respond accordingly,” deputy assistant commissioner Claire Smart said in a statement.

The government in July proscribed Palestine Action under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 following several acts of vandalism, including against two planes at a Royal Air Force base, which caused an estimated £7 million (€8 million) in damage.

Israel’s war and settlements a strategy to block Palestinian state: legal expert

Critics, including the United Nations, have condemned the ban as legal overreach and a threat to free speech, but ministers insist that people are still able to attend pro-Palestinian marches.

“The contrast between this demonstration and the other protests we policed yesterday, including the Palestine Coalition march attended by around 20,000 people, was stark,” added Smart.

“You can express your support for a cause without committing an offence under the Terrorism Act or descending into violence and disorder, and many thousands of people do that in London every week.”

Serious concerns

Palestine Action has won approval from the High Court to challenge the ban, a ruling the government is seeking to overturn. The case is ongoing, with a hearing scheduled for 25 September.

The UN human rights chief has criticised the British government’s stance, saying the new law “misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism”.

The decision to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist group “raises serious concerns that counterterrorism laws are being applied to conduct that is not terrorist in nature, and risks hindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK”, Volker Türk warned.

Police officers assaulted

An estimated 1,500 took part in the Palestine Action protest outside parliament, with some holding placards that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

Of the 33 people arrested for non-terror offences, 17 were for “intolerable” assaults on police officers, the force said.

The organisers of the protest, the campaign group Defend Our Juries (DOJ), said the “Lift the Ban” rally had been “the picture of peaceful protest”.

France says ‘no alternative’ to two-state solution for Israel, Palestinians

Many of those detained for showing support for Palestine Action appeared to be older people.

Most face six months in prison if convicted but organisers of the rallies could be sentenced to up to 14 years if found guilty.

Five members of Defend our Juries were arrested earlier this week ahead of the protest.

Ex-interior minister Yvette Cooper, who oversaw the ban, has accused Palestine Action of orchestrating “aggressive and intimidatory attacks against businesses, institutions and the public”.

Cooper has also suggested that some supporters of Palestine Action “don’t know the full nature of this organisation, because of court restrictions on reporting while serious prosecutions are under way”.

The ban does seem to have increased support for what was previously a little-known organisation.

“It’s so important for me that groups that are called terrorist groups must be terrorist groups,” said 60-year-old greengrocer Philip Hughes, holding a placard that read, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.

“You cannot go and use terrorism laws to go and stop an organisation who object to something that you have done,” he told AFP.

UN declares famine in Gaza, first ever in the Middle East

The rallies came as Israel launched new strikes on Gaza, with the stated aim of seizing Gaza City to defeat the militant group Hamas.

Several countries, including France and Belgium, have pledged to recognise a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly later this month.

Britain said it would recognise a Palestinian state if Israel failed to agree to a truce in the Gaza war, triggered by Palestinian group Hamas’s October 2023 attack.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

(with AFP)

The Irish photographer, who was awarded the prize for his coverage of the battle for Khartoum, which pitted the Sudanese army against the paramilitary militia FSR (Rapid Support Forces) between 2023 and 2025 for control of the country’s capital, expressed “great surprise” and said the award was “a great honour” for him.

“For this work on Sudan, the problem was gaining access to this war. I’m lucky to have had access to it,” he added.

His photos show the daily life of the civil war, with its share of material destruction and, above all, the suffering of a population trying to survive in particularly difficult conditions, while remaining “strong despite what is happening.”

The Visa d’Or Magazine was awarded Friday evening to South African Getty Images photographer Brent Stirton for his report on Virunga National Park, the oldest and largest in Africa, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Several armed groups supported by Rwanda and Uganda are present there, some of which are plundering the DRC’s wealth.

His photographs depict an elephant decapitated for its ivory or a gorilla slaughtered in the jungle, as well as rangers patrolling to combat illegal charcoal production or arresting poachers.

The photographer described his work in the park as “a modest attempt to pay tribute to this extraordinary place on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.”

Resilience in Gaza

The leading international event dedicated to photojournalism, the 37th edition of Visa pour l’image in Perpignan offers snapshots of a world “ever more cruel to the innocent,” victims of the climate crisis and global conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza.

Among other awards, the Visa d’or from the City of Perpignan Rémi Ochlik was awarded to Alfredo Bosco for his work combating synthetic drug trafficking in Iraq, where sales and distribution are on the rise.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Humanitarian Visa d’Or, which annually recognises a professional photojournalist who has covered a humanitarian issue related to armed conflict, was awarded to Saher Alghorra (Zuma Press) for his work in the Gaza Strip.

In the photos taken by this 26-year-old photographer, still trapped in the Palestinian enclave, we see little girls dressed in pretty dresses on their way to school, children on a swing, others smiling at a motor oil stand, or on the beach trying to escape the war.

While depicting death and hunger, the photojournalist reveals the resilience of the population, which “continues this semblance of reality,” according to Aruallan, a photographer in constant contact with the Gazan.

Global food systems

The Visa d’Or d’honneur from Figaro Magazine, intended to recognise the work of an established photographer still practicing for their entire professional career, was awarded to George Steinmetz.

This year in Perpignan, with his images of megafarms, overfishing, and enormous livestock farms, the American photographer took to the skies, by motorized paraglider or with a drone, to provide “transparency” on the global food system and its “significant impact on the environment.”

“It’s interesting to know where your food comes from,” he says. “You have to be conscious of your choices when you shop.”

(with AFP)

► Visa pour l’Image runs from 30 August to 14 September, 2025.

The reshuffle, announced on television late Saturday, comes amid signs of tension between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko.

Both men have promised change since taking office last year, claiming mismanagement by the previous administration of president Macky Sall.

But critics say they have not moved fast enough to restore confidence in the government and tackle massive government debt and poverty in the West African nation.

“This will not be some village government but a government of commitment and combat. Working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, given the situation we have inherited,” Sonko told public television.

Yassine Fall, previously foreign minister, will take over as justice minister from Ousmane Diagne, a judge widely deemed an independent, who joined the cabinet shortly after Faye’s election.

Sonko said Fall’s task was “to reconcile with the Senegalese and win back their trust”.

Delays in investigations

Critics have accused officials of moving too slowly on investigations of alleged crimes under Sall, including violent crackdowns on opposition protests starting in 2021 that saw dozens of people killed.

Cheikh Niang, a former ambassador, will take over as foreign minister, while Bamba Cisse, a lawyer for Sonko, will become interior minister.

French military to leave Senegal amid ongoing withdrawal from Africa

Sonko unveiled in August an economic recovery plan based on a shift towards greater domestic funding to raise money and cut debt.

Senegal is struggling with an unemployment rate of around 20 percent, and 36 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to government figures.

In a separate development, Sonko announced earlier this week that he would not be able to attend an investor forum organised in France on 23 September, due to a scheduling issue.

It would have been his first official visit to France as prime minister.

Sonko said he will soon host his French counterpart in Dakar, as part of an intergovernmental seminar.

According to his social media account, two other trips are on the agenda; one to the United Arab Emirates, from September 8 to 12, and then to Italy, where he will meet with the Senegalese diaspora.

(with AFP)

In June 2015, a Tunisian university student slipped a rifle out of a beach umbrella and opened fire on vacationers outside a hotel in Sousse, about 140 kilometres south of the capital.

The shooting, claimed by the Islamic State group, left 38 people dead, most of them British, just months after another attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis killed 21 foreign visitors.

The violence sent a shockwave through Tunisia’s tourism industry, devastating one of the country’s most important sources of jobs and foreign currency.

But a decade later, the visitors are returning.

Diane Paul, a 74-year-old tourist from Wales staying at a five-star resort in Sousse not far from where the 2015 beach shooting occurred, said she knew people who survived the attack.

But that did not deter her from visiting the North African country again.

“Nowhere is safe,” she said, her skin flushed from the midday sun, adding she had decided not to let fear make “us prisoners in our own country”.

Clay and choreography meet in Tunisian tribute to women of Sejnane

‘Return of trust’

Foreign arrivals to Tunisia have jumped by nearly 10 percent this year compared with 2024, reaching 5.3 million through 20 July, according to the National Tourism Office.

The government hopes to attract 11 million visitors by the end of the year, up from 10 million last year.

British tourism has surged most dramatically, up 48 percent through June, said Dora Milad, head of Tunisia’s hotel federation.

At the Pearl Marriott in Sousse, general manager Maher Ferchichi said the surge reflected “a return of trust in Tunisia as a safe destination”.

More than 90 percent of the hotel’s European guests were British, he added.

Roddy Drummond, the British ambassador in Tunisia, said the embassy forecasts that around “400,000 British tourists will visit Tunisia in 2025”.

That would translate to “around the same number as before the 2015 events”, Drummond added, crediting improved security for the shift.

Eileen Cuciurean, a longtime visitor from Britain, said she noticed more British people at her hotel than in recent years.

“In past years, sometimes we were the only ones,” the 78-year-old added.

Driven from camp to camp, Tunisia’s migrants still dream of Europe

‘Need more flights’

Tourism is one of Tunisia’s most vital sources of foreign currency and generates about 700,000 jobs.

But while the return of visitors is a relief for the government and resort operators, many small businesses and artisans complain that the prevailing all-inclusive package model is keeping tourists behind hotel gates.

Mourad Hadhari, a crafts vendor in Tunis’s medina, said the crowds of foreigners visiting each year were not necessarily reflected in his revenues.

“It’s true we have millions of tourists, but they just come to sleep and eat at the hotel,” he said.

Ahmed Bettaieb, head of the federation of travel agencies, said group tours and package deals represented about 70 percent of yearly visits from abroad.

Some are hoping to attract more visitors by pushing for higher-end investments and better flight deals.

Milad said beach tourism in Tunisia was “very attractive” for tourists, but limited direct low-cost flights were a major drag on growth.

“We need more flights outside the high season,” she said.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) says Balkan networks are embedding across West Africa to move large quantities of cocaine to Europe, forging alliances with Latin American cartels and local intermediaries.

On Monday, the French Navy seized nearly six tonnes of cocaine from a fishing vessel in international waters off the West African coast. GI-TOC says such seizures only hint at the scale of trafficking through the region.

“A third of Europe’s cocaine now transits through West Africa, and that share could rise to half by 2030,” Lucia Bird Ruiz, director of GI-TOC’s Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa, told RFI.

“Groups from Montenegro, Serbia and Albania are today among the most significant actors in the global cocaine trade, and their presence in the region is increasingly entrenched.”

Balkan mafia meet Brazilian cartels

The report says Montenegrin clans such as Kavac and Skaljari – rivals with ties to Italy’s ’’Ndrangheta  mafia group – have forged close partnerships with Latin American cartels.

It names Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital, the country’s most powerful criminal organisation formed in Sao Paulo’s prisons, as one of their main partners. GI-TOC says this collaboration has allowed Balkan groups to control the supply chain from production in South America to retail markets in Europe.

Cocaine and synthetic drugs power new era of global trafficking

The report says West Africa offers traffickers expanding port facilities, weak oversight and a location that makes it ideal as a transit point.

As controls on direct routes from Latin America to Europe have tightened, traffickers are increasingly using coastal states such as Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde.

“The cocaine market in Europe grows larger every day, while controls on direct routes from Latin America have intensified. That is why West Africa has become so important for traffickers,” Bird Ruiz said.

Brokers in the middle

GI-TOC says a key feature of this phase is the role of brokers. Often Balkan nationals sent to West Africa for months at a time, they act as fixers, managing shipments, cultivating ties with local partners and ensuring discretion.

One such network, the report says, operated out of Freetown, Sierra Leone, where a broker set up a company to handle imports and repackage cocaine into containers bound for Belgium.

“Intermediaries are absolutely central to the way these groups operate,” Bird Ruiz said to RFI. “They provide flexibility, build relationships on the ground, and increasingly serve as the nexus point between different criminal networks.”

How the Caribbean became a front line in France’s fight against the cocaine trade

GI-TOC warns that while the main aim is moving cocaine northwards, the trade is also fuelling problems within West Africa.

Payments to brokers are sometimes made in drugs instead of cash, driving up local consumption. Crack cocaine in particular is spreading, while real prices in Ghana and elsewhere have fallen since 2019.

Bird Ruiz said the impact is already clear, with rising addiction rates, fragile health systems under strain and corruption at state level. “Some of these groups have already corrupted senior political figures in Europe,” she said. “We should expect them to deploy the same strategies in West Africa.”

Stronger cooperation

The report stresses that tackling the trade will require more than occasional high-profile seizures. It calls for stronger intelligence systems, better data collection and above all closer cooperation between African and European law enforcement agencies, port authorities and private companies.

GI-TOC warns that without such measures, West Africa risks becoming even more entrenched in the global cocaine economy.

“It’s not just a question of organised crime,” Bird Ruiz told RFI. “It’s a public health issue, a governance issue, and potentially, a security issue for the entire region.”

A reporter from French news agency AFP saw the roof of Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers in flames and smoke billowing over the capital.

Drone strikes also damaged several high-rise buildings in Kyiv, according to emergency services.

Russia has shown no sign of halting its three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine, pushing hardline demands for ending the war despite efforts by the United States to broker a peace deal.

The barrage came after several European countries, led by France and Britain, pledged Thursday to deploy “reassurance” forces to Ukraine to patrol a peace deal between the warring sides – a demand Moscow has deemed unacceptable.

The attack on Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers, a sprawling government complex at the heart of Kyiv, was the first such strike of the war.

EU summons Russian envoy after mission damaged in Kyiv strike

Police cordoned off the area surrounding the building as helicopters dropped water over the roof, an AFP reporter said.

“The roof and upper floors were damaged due to an enemy attack. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Telegram.

“We will restore the buildings. But we cannot bring back lost lives. The enemy terrorises and kills our people every day throughout the country,” she said.

Russia fired at least 805 drones and 13 missiles at Ukraine between late Saturday and early Sunday, in a new record, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said emergency services were working across the country.

“Such killings now, when real diplomacy could have already begun long ago, are a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war,” he said on Facebook.

Strike kills infant

A strike on a nine-story residential building in the west of Kyiv killed at least two people, a mother and her two-month-old son, prosecutors said.

More than a dozen others were wounded in Kyiv, according to police.

Ukraine’s rescue service posted photos showing the building in flames, while smoke billowed from its facade.

A separate guided bomb attack on the southern Zaporizhzhia region killed a married couple, the region’s governor Ivan Fedorov said.

The barrage came after more than two dozen European countries pledged to patrol any agreement to end the war, some of whom said they were willing to deploy troops on the ground.

Macron says 26 countries pledge troops as a ‘reassurance force’ for Ukraine

Kyiv says security guarantees, backed by Western troops, are crucial to any peace deal to ensure Russia does not invade again in the future.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin has said any Western forces in Ukraine are unacceptable and would be “legitimate” targets.

Efforts in recent weeks by US President Donald Trump to end the war have so far yielded little progress.

Russia, which denies targeting civilians in Ukraine, occupies around 20 percent of the country in total.

Tens of thousands have been killed in three-and-a-half years of fighting, which has forced millions from their homes and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine in Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.

(with AFP)

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Eric Mbotji, Hossen Abed Ali, and Jayanta Chakrabarty. 

Be sure you send in your music requests! Write to me at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Seven Seconds” by Youssou N’Dour, Neneh Cherry, Cameron McVey, and Jonathan Sharp, performed by Youssou N’Dour and Neneh Cherry; “Babe” by Gary Barlow, played by Take That, and “Never Let You Go” written and performed by Klaus Waldeck and Patrizia Ferrara.

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people.

The ePOP contest is your space to ensure these voices are heard.

How do you do it?

With a three-minute ePOP video. It should be pure testimony, captured by your lens: the spoken word reigns supreme. No tricks, no music, no text on the screen. Just the raw authenticity of an encounter, in horizontal format (16:9). An ePOP film is a razor-sharp look at humanity that challenges, moves, and enlightens.

From June 12 to September 12, 2025, ePOP invites you to reach out, open your eyes, and create a unique bridge between a person and the world.

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need.

We expect to be overwhelmed with entries from the English speakers!

In a move steeped in symbolism, Turkey’s leader chose recent celebrations marking the Ottoman Turks’ defeat of the Byzantine Christians at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071 to issue an ultimatum to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

“Those who turn to Ankara and Damascus will win,” Erdogan bellowed to thousands of supporters on 26 August. “If the sword is unsheathed, there will be no room left for pens and words.”

Turkey, a strong ally of Syria, has a military presence in the country and the two governments recently signed a defence training agreement.

But Turkey is unhappy with the presence of the SDF, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab forces, which controls a large swathe of Syria bordering Turkey’s own predominantly Kurdish region.

Peace or politics? Turkey’s fragile path to ending a decades-long conflict

Buying time

The SDF is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has for years been fighting Turkey for greater Kurdish minority rights.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. But Ankara is engaged in a peace process with the Kurdish militants, who have committed to disbanding.

However, Kurdish analyst Mesut Yegen, of the TIM think tank in Istanbul, says the disarmament process would be limited to Kurds from Turkey, and doesn’t include SDF forces in Syria.

Erdogan is now ramping up pressure on the SDF to honour an agreement its leader Mazloum Abdi signed in March with Syria’s new President, Ahmed Al Sharaa, to merge his military forces with the new regime in Damascus.

The deal is backed by the US, which has a military force in the SDF-controlled region as part of its war against the Islamic State.

But, according to Fabrice Balanche from Lyon University: “The SDF has no intention of implementing the agreement made in March. Mazloum just wanted to gain time.”

Balanche points out that Abdi’s SDF is a staunchly secular organisation and remains deeply suspicious of Sharaa’s jihadist connections.

Recent attacks on Syria’s Druze minority by forces linked to Sharaa appear to confirm the SDF’s fears over merging with the Damascus regime, says Balanche.

Syria’s interim president vows justice for Druze after deadly clashes

‘Israel would like a weak Syria’

At the same time, Erdogan is aware that the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish state on its border could be exploited by its rival Israel, which is looking for non-Arab allies in the region.

Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat and an analyst for Turkey’s Mediyascope news outlet, said: “Strategically, Israel would like a weak Syria, a weak Damascus, a weak Beirut and a weak Tehran.”

Turkey has carried out military incursions against the SDF, and its forces remain massed on the border.

But Balanche says American presence there will likely deter any new Turkish military action. However, he warns that Ankara could seek to fuel Kurdish Arab rivalries within the SDF, with the fall of former ruler Bashar al-Assad last December.

Turkey walks a fine line as conflict between Israel and Iran cools

“It is different now, you have a Sunni leader in Damascus, and many [Arab] tribes, many people, prefer to join Damascus,” he explained.

“So the risk is a proxy war. Of course, for the new regime, it would be a disaster. If you have no peace, you have no investment, you have no trust.”

The dilemma facing Ankara is that any new conflict against the SDF would likely weaken the Sharaa regime – a key ally.

Rwanda received seven people from the United States in the last week of August, as part of a deportation deal with the Trump administration, which has sought to send foreigners to third countries including Eswatini, South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.

Authorities in Kigali announced at the beginning of August that they had reached an agreement with the United States to take in up to 250 migrants.

The move has raised fresh concerns over human rights, legality, and the growing trend of wealthier nations paying others to accept deportees.

To understand the implications for migrants, for Africa, and for human rights, we spoke to Phil Clark, Professor of International Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. A specialist on Rwanda, the Great Lakes region, and conflict and post-conflict issues in Africa, he has conducted field research in Rwanda and beyond every year for the past 20 years

Rwanda agrees to take migrants from US in deal that includes cash grant

Kasakula: The first solar-powered village in Malawi

Meanwhile, in southern Africa, a community of nearly 9,000 households in rural Malawi became the country’s first village to achieve universal access to solar power at the end of August.

Kasakula town, where off-grid families have until now relied on lamps and candles, has reached this milestone, according to Brave Mhonie, general manager of the charity SolarAid Malawi and president of the Renewable Energy Industries Association of Malawi.

SolarAid is a small international charity, and chose the remote and low-income village of Kasakula to pilot its model called Energy-as-a-Service. 

Episode mixed by Melissa Chemam and Erwan Rome.

Spotlight on Africa is produced by Radio France Internationale’s English language service.

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 ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people.

The ePOP contest is your space to ensure these voices are heard. 

How do you do it?

With a three-minute ePOP video. It should be pure testimony, captured by your lens: the spoken word reigns supreme. No tricks, no music, no text on the screen. Just the raw authenticity of an encounter, in horizontal format (16:9). An ePOP film is a razor-sharp look at humanity that challenges, moves, and enlightens.

From June 12 to September 12, 2025, ePOP invites you to reach out, open your eyes, and create that unique bridge between a person and the world.

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need. 

We expect to be overwhelmed with entries from the English speakers!

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” and 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. 

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

This week’s quiz: On 12 July, I asked you a question about our article “Seven Nobel laureates urge France to adopt a tax on the ‘ultra-rich’”. The open letter, written by seven Economics Nobel laureates, urged the French government to implement a minimum tax on the wealthiest households in France.

The laureates noted that while global billionaires hold assets equivalent to 14 percent of global GDP, French billionaires control wealth worth nearly 30 percent of France’s GDP.

Our article cited a proposed wealth tax, which was voted down by the French Senate (it did pass in the lower house, the Assembly). I asked you to send in the name of the bill and why it has that name.

The answer is: The bill is called the Zucman bill, after Gabriel Zucman. As noted in our article, “The bill was based on proposals by French economist Gabriel Zucman. Initially passed by the National Assembly, the bill would have introduced a ‘differential contribution’ ensuring that individuals with more than €100 million in assets pay at least 2 percent of their annual wealth in taxes.

“The aim was to curb the kinds of avoidance strategies employed by some ultra-wealthy individuals, who are often able to structure their assets in ways that greatly reduce their tax burdens.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Sultan Sarker, the president of the Shetu RFI Fan Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Sultan’s question was: “What do you do when tragedy enters your life? How do you deal with the sorrow, the grief?”

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Admand Parajuli, the president of the Bandhu Listeners Club in Sunsari, Nepal. Admand is also the winner of this week’s bonus quiz. Congratulations, Admand, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the RFI Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in W. Skikda, Algeria, and Nahid Hossain, a member of the Shetu RFI Listeners Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Last but not least, RFI Listeners Club members Rasel Sikder from Madaripur, Bangladesh, and Father Steven Wara, who lives and serves in the Cistercian Abbey at Bamenda, Cameroon.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Les Sauvages” from Jean Philippe Rameau’s opera-ballet Les Indes Galantes; “Hail, Hail the Gang’s All Here” by Theodora Morse and Arthur Sullivan, sung by the The Childen’s Music Band; “Money Makes the World Go Around” from John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical Cabaret, sung by Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Azúcar pa’ ti” by Eddy Palmieri, performed by Eddy Palmieri and La Perfecta.  

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 “French PM puts government on line with call for confidence vote”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 13 October to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 18 October podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

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.   

European and US military chiefs last week reportedly presented ideas to their national security advisers on how to guarantee Ukraine’s security if there is a peace deal with Russia.

The discussions followed a summit of European leaders in Washington with US President Donald Trump on ending the conflict.

“It’s going to be a big challenge, but they will find ways of tackling that challenge without the US troops on the ground,” said Serhat Guvenc, professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

“It will be a novelty because Europe has never carried out any peacekeeping or stabilization operation of this magnitude before.”

Turkey, with NATO’s second-largest army, is seen as a possible option.

“Turkey is an option, you know. And it seems that there is some talk of Turkish contribution,” Guvenc added.

Armenia and Azerbaijan peace deal raises hopes of Turkish border reopening

Ankara signals readiness

On the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss Ukraine’s security.

Ankara has already signalled it could take part in monitoring any peace deal, but Moscow’s approval would be necessary.

“If the parties agree, Turkey may send our troops to peacekeeping operations,” said Mesut Casin, a former presidential adviser and professor at Istanbul’s Yeditepe University.

Casin pointed to Turkey’s past record in UN operations.

“Turkey joined many UN peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Korea, and in many other peacekeeping operations. The Turkish army is very powerful,” he said.

“Also, remember Putin is talking many times with Erdogan, and at the same time, Zelensky is visiting Ankara.”

Turkey and Italy boost cooperation in bid to shape Libya’s political future

Balancing Moscow and Kyiv

Since the start of the war, Erdogan has kept good relations with both Russia and Ukraine.

Ankara has refused to apply most international sanctions on Moscow, while at the same time selling vital military hardware to Kyiv. That balancing act has raised questions among European partners.

“Turkey ought to have been at the Washington meeting,” said Soli Ozel, an international relations scholar at the Institute for Human Studies in Vienna.

Even though Turkey borders both Ukraine and Russia, Erdogan was excluded from this month’s summit between Trump and European leaders.

“The fact that it wasn’t backs the observation that the bigger players or the major partners are not bringing Turkey center stage, they’re sidelining it,” Ozel added.

Despite this, Ankara remains strategically important.

“They keep it in the play, it’s important because if you’re going to need troops, you’re going to need Turkey. If you’re going to talk about the Black Sea security, you need Turkey. And so you cannot really dismiss Turkey,” Ozel said.

But he warned that mistrust is limiting Ankara’s role.

“You’re not making it part of the process that will hopefully lead to a conclusion or a peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia. There is a lack of trust, and I think that has something to do with the way Turkey has conducted its diplomacy,” Ozel said.

Peace or politics? Turkey’s fragile path to ending a decades-long conflict

Doubts over influence

Some analysts suggest Ankara hopes Europe’s reliance on Turkish forces or its navy for Black Sea security could help restore influence. But others see limited gains.

“There is no automatic increase in Turkey’s influence and credibility as a result of taking part in such operations,” said Guvenc.

“It does have a certain impact, but on the other hand, such contributions do not change other Western partners’ views of Turkey.”

Rather than a reset with Europe, Guvenc sees a continuation of the current dynamic.

“What might happen is yet another manifestation of transactionalism on both sides. And if Turkey contributes to peacekeeping in Ukraine, probably President Erdogan expects concrete benefits that will help him manage the deteriorating economic situation in Turkey.

“Therefore, you cannot build a comprehensive and sustainable relationship built on that transactionalism on both sides.”

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Heimer Sia, Hossen Abed Ali, and Debashis Gope. 

Be sure you send in your music requests! Write to me at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Angelina” by Pierre Perez-Vergara, Stéphane Planchon, and Yassine Dahbi, performed by PSY; “Like Jesus to a Child”, written and performed by George Michael, and the traditional 18th-century French drinking song “Chevaliers de la Table Ronde”, sung by the Quatre Barbus with André Popp and his ensemble.

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people.

The ePOP contest is your space to ensure these voices are heard.

How do you do it?

With a three-minute ePOP video. It should be pure testimony, captured by your lens: the spoken word reigns supreme. No tricks, no music, no text on the screen. Just the raw authenticity of an encounter, in horizontal format (16:9). An ePOP film is a razor-sharp look at humanity that challenges, moves, and enlightens.

From June 12 to September 12, 2025, ePOP invites you to reach out, open your eyes, and create a unique bridge between a person and the world.

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need.

https://concours.epop.network/en/

We expect to be overwhelmed with entries from the English speakers!

The quiz will be back next Saturday, 30 August. Be sure and tune in!

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.