Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has pushed for international recognition for decades, with president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi making it a top priority since taking office last year.

Israel announced Friday that it viewed Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state”, prompting Somalia to call the decision a “deliberate attack” on its sovereignty that would undermine regional peace.

Several other countries condemned Israel’s decision. The African Union (AU) rejected the move and warned that it risked “setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent”.

Somaliland “remains an integral part” of Somalia, an AU member, said the pan-African body’s head Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords”, referring to a series of agreements brokered by US President Donald Trump in his first term that normalised ties between Israel and several Arab nations.

Netanyahu had invited Abdullahi to visit, the Israeli leader’s office said.

Asked by the New York Post newspaper whether the United States planned to also recognise Somaliland, Trump said “no”.

“Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” he added.

With a new president, Somaliland seeks international recognition

Hailing Israel’s decision as a “historic moment”, Abdullahi said in a post on X that it marked the beginning of a “strategic partnership”.

The Palestinian Authority rejected Israel’s recognition of Somaliland.

It said on X that Israel had previously named Somaliland “as a destination for the forced displacement of our Palestinian people, particularly from the Gaza Strip”, and warned against “complicity” with such a move.

In Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, crowds of people took to the streets to celebrate, many carrying the flag of the breakaway state, said sources.

‘Overt interference’

Turkey, a close ally of Somalia, also condemned the move.

“This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy… constitutes overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs”, a foreign ministry statement said.

Egypt said its top diplomat had spoken with counterparts from Turkey, Somalia and Djibouti, who together condemned the move and emphasised “full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia”.

In a video showing Netanyahu speaking to Abdullahi by telephone, the Israeli leader said that he believed the new relationship would offer economic opportunities.

“I am very, very happy and I am very proud of this day and I want to wish you and the people of Somaliland the very, very best,” Netanyahu said.

A self-proclaimed republic, Somaliland enjoys a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden and has its own money, passports and army.

But it has been diplomatically isolated since unilaterally declaring independence.

Strategic move

Israel’s regional security interests may lie behind the move.

“Israel requires allies in the Red Sea region for many strategic reasons, among them the possibility of a future campaign against the Houthis,” said the Institute for National Security Studies in a paper last month, referring to Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels.

Israel repeatedly hit targets in Yemen after the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, in response to Houthi attacks on Israel that the rebels said were in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis have halted their attacks since a fragile truce began in Gaza in October.

Somaliland’s lack of international recognition has hampered access to foreign loans, aid and investment, and the territory remains deeply impoverished.

A deal between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland last year to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base enraged Somalia.

Israel has been trying to bolster relations with countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Historic agreements struck late in Trump’s first term in 2020 saw several countries including the Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates and Morocco normalise relations with Israel.

But wars that have stoked Arab anger, particularly in Gaza, have hampered recent efforts to expand ties further.

 (AFP)

With the campaign for the legislative elections having ended on Christmas Eve, more than 8.7 million voters are called to the ballot box on Saturday.

Given the absence from the running of the African People’s Party (PPA-CI) of former president Laurent Gbagbo, many anticipate a two-horse race between the ruling Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) and the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire-African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA), the main opposition.

The PPA-CI has chosen to boycott the vote, arguing that the conditions for free, fair and credible elections have not been met.

The party says the political environment in Côte d’Ivoire has been marked by repression, judicial harassment and restrictions on political freedoms. The boycott is also closely tied to the party’s rejection of the results of the October presidential election results – in which Gbagbo was not allowed to run – which it labelled fraudulent and illegitimate.

Pledges on prisoners

In the Abidjan district of Abobo, one of the country’s most populated municipalities, supporters of RHDP candidate Téné Birahima Ouattara, the country’s current minister of defence, treated residents to a showing of Côte d’Ivoire’s Africa Cup of Nations match against Mozambique – in which the former, the defending champions, claimed a 1-0 victory.

“We visited the various ethnic communities here in Abobo, the different charities and groups,” he told RFI’s correspondent. “Everyone is happy to have us. Everything is going well and we hope for a very large turnout.”

PDCI candidate Jean-François Dibi – supported by the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) – opted for a meeting with Baoulé traditional chiefs.

He pledged that, if victorious, he would introduce a general amnesty law for “prisoners of conscience” – referring to the opposition supporters and activists arrested and jailed in the run‑up to and aftermath of the October presidential election.

“By having a majority in the National Assembly, we will be able to obtain this general amnesty law to release all those who are in prison,” he said. “And we will give ourselves the means to pass this law so that the perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Six parliamentary seats are up for grabs in Abobo, where the electorate is estimated at more than 438,000 people – but where only 42 percent of registered voters turned out in October.

Ouattara wins landslide fourth term as Côte d’Ivoire president

Tidjane Thiam’s opposition PDCI-RDA on Thursday claimed there had been incidents of electoral fraud in a central district of the country – including the illegal collection of personal data, and the promises of money and motorcycles.

The party said in a statement it believes the objective is “to organise massive electoral fraud in favour of the RHDP candidate”.

The PDCI also raised the disappearance of more than 25,000 voter cards in the Port-Bouët district – although the president of the Independent Electoral Commission insisted: “There is no cause for concern.”

Beyond the binary

Alongside the traditional political parties, there are numerous independent candidates in the running. Among them is 34-year-old Zakaria Koné, who says he has been focusing primarily on direct contact with voters.

“We are more focused on door-to-door campaigning. We talk to the people, we engage [with] them on their [daily] realities and we ask them to choose progress and change, so that Abobo can escape this precarious situation,” he told RFI.

Young voters in Côte d’Ivoire want jobs, change – but most of all, peace

The new ADCI party – full name: “Today and Tomorrow Côte d’Ivoire” – hopes to embody a third way.

Led by Tiémoko Assalé, barely 18 months after its creation it is represented in 38 constituencies, and is aiming to secure a parliamentary group. But raising its profile wasn’t easy.

In Abidjan’s heavily populated district of Cocody, the party’s candidates organised a tour. Serge Djibré is their lead candidate there. “People have their own lives – they have trouble sitting down to listen to political debates, so we need to go to them,” he told RFI.

Fourteen lists are competing in Cocody, but a duel between the PDCI and the RHDP is expected – which could reflect the outcome at a national level.

Djibré believes the ADCI has got closer to the voters than other parties, saying: “We distinguish ourselves from traditional parties with a new approach based on accountability to our voters, but above all the closeness we demonstrate in our campaign.”

But many locals remain sceptical.

“It doesn’t really mean much to me,” one woman told our correspondent. “It’s a new party we don’t know about,” said another passerby. “I didn’t really pay attention to what they were saying,” a third confessed.

This article has been partially adapted from this report by RFI’s correspondent in Abidjan, Abdoul Aziz Diallo.

Tunisia won nine and drew one of their 10 games without conceding a goal to qualify for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Nigeria finished their group second behind South Africa and fluffed the chance in November to advance to an intercontinental play-off next March with a defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the African play-off final.

“Tunisia had a very good World Cup qualifying campaign, that’s a fact,” said Chelle on the eve of the Group C match at the Stade de Fes.

“Now, it’s one match. It’s a match that’s happening with another opponent in a different context.”

Trabelsi, enjoying a second spell as national team boss, concurred. “In my opinion, every tournament has its own reality. Of course, the World Cup is a very important and significant competition.

“But we don’t focus on these things. We focus on the pitch, the quality of play, the opponent’s style of play and the team as a whole. We don’t focus on individual situations.”

Nigeria won their opening game in Fez 2-1 against Tanzania. Tunisia swept past Uganda 3-1 in Rabat to set up a clash that could determine the winner of the pool.

Chelle, who took over as Nigeria boss in January, said his players had digested the disappointment of the defeat to the DRC. He added there was no need for an inferioty complex.

“We’re in the Africa Cup of Nations and so what happened before, happened before.

“I am focused on what’s happening now. What’s happening now is that we have a match against Tunisia, and we’re focused on that match.

“Tunisia are going to give it their all because they’re a good team, and we’re going to give it our all because we’re a good team too.

“Hopefully we’ll come back victorious from this match.”

Nigeria boss Chelle urges squad to outdo Cup of Nations feats in Cote D’Ivoire

Just before the opening game against Tanzania, Chelle urged his troops to surpass the exploits of Nigeria’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations squad.

Those players reached the final in Cote d’Ivoire but lost 2-1 to the hosts who saw off Chelle’s Mali side in the last eight.

As part of the plan to motivate the squad, Nigeria’s football supremos have backed a move allowing former internationals mingle with the squad.

“It’s very important for them to to be with us in the group,” said Nigeria skipper Wilfred Ndidi.

“And not just be with us but also speak highly of us and give us the confidence.”

The 29-year-old, who has played for Nigeria since 2015, added: “When the ex-internationals speak well of the team, it gives everyone more confidence in the team because the players when they were growing up looked up to these players

“So now they’re in a different phase of their life, I think all the team needs is just encouragement, positive encouragement.”

In the pool’s other match on Saturday night, Tanzania take on Uganda.

The top two from each of the six pools advance to the last-16 knockout stages with the four best third-placed teams. 

The final takes place on 18 January at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.

The six people freed were close associates of Domingos Simoes Pereira, head of the PAIGC party that led Guinea-Bissau to independence from Portugal in 1974.

Pereira has been in custody since the coup.

“The release on Tuesday of six opposition figures from detention in Guinea Bissau is an encouraging step,” UN Human Rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement.

“More needs to be done,” he added.

“The authorities must put an end to all arbitrary detentions and all forms of intimidation, including physical attacks on human rights defenders and restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.” 

Gunmen storm party headquarters as military cements power in Guinea-Bissau

The army seized power on 26 November after ousting outgoing president Umaro Sissoco Embalo in the wake of a presidential vote.

The military suspended the electoral process and announced it was taking control of the west African country for a period of one year.

“Our office was granted access to four individuals in detention last week, which is an important step,” said Kheetan.

“However, the families of a number of others detained still have no information on their fate, whereabouts or charges against them. This may amount to enforced disappearance.

“We call on responsible actors to ensure that all those detained for the exercise of their human rights are released immediately and unconditionally.”

Guinea Bissau heads to the polls amid controversy over barred opposition

Before November’s coup, Guinea-Bissau had already undergone four military takeovers and a litany of attempted insurrections since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974.

 (AFP)

A total of 6.8 million people in the west African nation are eligible to vote Sunday, choosing between nine candidates, including 41-year-old Doumbouya, who is running as an independent.

The vote is unlikely to deliver any surprises. Despite his initial promise to return power to civilians when he took power in a military coup in 2021, Doumbouya is running for president – in an election with all the main opposition barred.

In the capital Conakry, the junta leader appeared in public on Thursday evening to cheers from several hundred of his supporters.

What we know about Guinea coup leader and war master Mamady Doumbouya

Dressed in sportswear, he danced to music, accompanied by tight security provided by the Special Forces, his former unit.

Earlier, Amadou Oury Bah, his campaign manager and the country’s prime minister, addressed the crowd, asking them to vote overwhelmingly for Doumbouya to allow him to “fulfill a constitutional mandate that will meet your expectations and needs”.

Guinea votes on new constitution as junta leader eyes presidency

Opposition excluded

Guinea’s opposition is calling for a boycott of the vote, which follows a tenure marked by repression, imprisonment, and disappearances of vocal opponents.

Doumbouya’s election rivals are relative unknowns since all the main opposition figures were excluded.

One of the opposition candidates running from the Democratic Front of Guinea (FRONDEG), Abdoulaye Yero Balde, also held a rally in the capital where he called on voters to support him so “the future that lies before us will be the best we have had after 67 years of independence”.

Doumbouya has cracked down on civil liberties, and the junta has banned protests since 2022. Many opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven to exile.

Since its independence from France in 1958, Guinea has had a complex history of military and authoritarian rule, including multiple military interventions.

In 2010, it voted in its first free and fair elections since independence.

But the military coup in 2021 destabilised the country’s democratic trajectory, and led to suspensions from the African Union and sanctions from the regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) bloc.

Axis Minerals, casualty of Guinea mining purge, demands $1bn damages

Guinea holds one of the world’s largest deposits of iron ore and is the leading exporter of bauxite – a key component of aluminium. But more than half of its inhabitants live below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures for 2024.

(with AFP)

The sides square off for the third time in 18 months following two matches during the African qualifying campaign for next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

A 1-1 draw played out in Dakar in June 2024 and Senegal won 3-2 in Kinshasa in September.

“Against Senegal, who are for me one of the best teams in Africa, it is impossible to achieve anything without tactical discipline and excellent control when you have to take risks,” said Desabre.

“But I have players who are very tactically astute, and that is an important asset.”

Morocco boss Regragui declares skipper Hakimi fit for Africa Cup of Nations

Saturday’s game at the Stade Ibn-Batouta in Tangier could decide the victors of Group D after both teams won their opening day ties against Botswana and Benin respectively.

Nicolas Jackson bagged a brace and Cherif Ndiaye added the third in Senegal’s stroll past Botswana while Théo Bongonda’s strike took the DRC past Benin.

“The DRC and Senegal know each other well, it’s true, since we faced each other recently in the World Cup qualifiers,” added Desabre.

“The objective now is to stay focused in order to deliver a strong performance.”

Pape Thiaw, Desabre’s Senegal counterpart, said he was under no illusions about the task ahead of his side.

“Obviously all the matches are important and we’ve prepared for this one like we do with all the games,” said Thiaw, a former Senegal international.

“We know that they are a tough proposition so we are ready for that.”

Morocco boss Regragui warns players to expect Mali reaction at Cup of Nations

Veteran midfielder Idrissa Gueye added: “We’re determined to do well, especially since a win can take us into the next round.”

Senegal won the 2021 Cup of Nations in Cameroon but were divested of their crown in the last-16 in 2023 when Côte d’Ivoire beat them in a penalty shootout.

The Ivorians edged past the DRC in the semi-finals before claiming the crown with victory over Nigeria in the final.

“We stay focused on what matters most,” added Desabre. “Of course, we take the past into account, but what matters above all is the present and what comes next. Whether it’s Senegal or another major African team.”

Following the Cup of Nations, the DRC will take part in an intercontinental play-off for a place at the 2026 World Cup.

A team from the country, which was then known as Zaire, appeared at the 1974 event in West Germany.

The three victims were attacked at three different locations along the Line 3 metro track that runs across central Paris, the RATP authority that runs the transit service told AFP.

An AFP journalist at the Republique station saw a security team treating a woman who had been wounded in the leg and appeared to be in a state of shock.

The attacks happened between 4:15 pm (1515 GMT) and 4:45 pm at the stations Republique and Arts et Metiers — both next to the Marais district — and the Opera station, the RATP said.

“The victims were quickly taken care of by the emergency services,” it said.

Paris police said two of the women attacked were treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital, but they were not in critical condition. A third woman turned up at hospital seeking treatment, they added.

Police used surveillance-camera footage and mobile-tracking tools to locate the 25-year-old suspected attacker in the Val d’Oise region north of Paris, said prosecutors.

“Activating the geolocation of his mobile phone led to his arrest late afternoon in Val d’Oise,” they said.

“The police are on site. Back-up security teams have been deployed to reinforce safety on the line,” it added.

Transport police have opened an investigation into attempted homicide and assault with a weapon.

The Ministry of Interior said in a statement that man was a Malian citizen who had been imprisoned in January 2024 for aggravated theft and sexual assault convictions and had been required to leave France after being released in July.

The man had been placed in an administrative detention centre but failure to obtain a consular travel document required for his deportation had meant he was released after 90 days, as required by law, the statement said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez “regrets that the deportation of the suspect could not be carried out” and assured that “efforts are continuing to prioritise the deportation of undocumented foreigners who have committed public order offences”, according to the ministry statement.   

Balancing security powers with civil liberties after Paris attacks

‘Maximum vigilance’ 

Paris police chief Patrice Faure paid tribute to “the reactivity and the mobilisation” of the investigators that led to the arrest of the suspect. Police arrested him at 6:55 pm, less than three hours after the first attack, he said.

Nunez congratulated the different police services involved in tracking down the suspect.

European capitals are especially vigilant during the end-of-year period for any violent incidents, given recent attacks and plots targeting festive or religious gatherings.

Last week, Nunez called for “maximum vigilance” in a message to senior officials.

Due to the “very high level of the terrorist threat” and “the risk of public disorder”, Nunez asked local officials to strengthen security measures across the country with a visible and deterrent presence.

Nunez specifically asked for particular attention to be paid to security on public transport.

 (AFP)

They are called “repats”, short for “repatriates” – young people who left their African homes, be they in Gabon, Cameroon, Congo or Côte d’Ivoire, to chase a better education or business opportunities in Europe and are now choosing to head home to put those gains to good use.

They speak of reuniting with their families, and contributing to the African continent’s development.

In 2019, a survey supported by the French Development Agency revealed that 40 percent of members of the African diaspora were ready to return. Since then, the continent’s economic appeal has only grown. 

The study polled 800 people to identify the motivations, and the obstacles, for graduates and professionals in the diaspora who are considering working in Africa.

France sees immigration shift as more educated Africans arrive than Europeans

The key finding was the sheer number who aspire to return. Almost 71 percent were considering going back to work on the continent, with 38 percent saying they were ready to return immediately.

In terms of location, West Africa was the most popular region among respondents, at 32 percent.  

However, with many African economies still largely informal and labour markets tight, returning can be a challenge.

According to the United Nations, the number of people born to African immigrant parents in the diaspora could represent almost 20 million people worldwide. Many African countries are seeking to attract them, with return assistance programmes to support projects and business ventures.

‘You can have a life here’

Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire are attracting a large number of investors and businesses. And the latter has seen a clear economic boom in the last decade.

In Abidjan, one man has made it his business to support repats coming back from Europe to Côte d’Ivoire. Pierre Djemis, a lawyer born in France, settled in his father’s country a few decades ago, and has since seen many more people express the desire to do the same.

Young voters in Côte d’Ivoire want jobs, change – but most of all, peace

To support them, he organises forums for repats twice a year, one in Abidjan, another in Paris, with the next to be held in the French capital on 24 January.

“Today, people between 28 and 35 years old are excited when they see Abidjan,” Djemis told RFI.

“It is a pleasant city to live in, a modern city where you have all the comforts you find in Paris. You have the bakeries you find in Paris, the clothing stores you see in Paris. You have beaches, a comfortable lifestyle, cars in Abidjan that you don’t even find in the 16th or 15th arrondissements.”

He added: “You can have a life here, a vibrant life, a dynamic life similar to the life that one can find in Asia, in Shanghai, Hong Kong and so on. So, these young people also want to be part of that movement; it’s the economic movement of the future.”

Djemis says he witnessed a first wave of parents who studied abroad in France, Germany, Switzerland or the United States and who returned to Africa in the 1990s as doctors, lawyers and civil servants.

Since then a second wave of repats who were born in Europe, grew up there and only know Africa through their cultural upbringing, but feel the desire to “return” to their parents’ homelands, has emerged. 

“Often, they believe there’s what’s called ‘the glass ceiling’, well known in Europe and elsewhere. At a certain level, they feel they can no longer access certain positions because of their background. And they believe they can be useful elsewhere, especially back home.”

Integration challenges

According to a study published in 2023 in the Revue Akofena journal, graduates’ motivations for returning to Côte d’Ivoire include the search for professional opportunities, attachment to their country of origin, a desire to contribute to the country’s development, and a sense of belonging to the Ivorian community.

However, they face significant challenges when it comes to professional and economic integration.

African graduates know that salaries are potentially higher in Europe. Many also struggle to adapt to professional environments that are different from the ones they studied or began their careers in. It can take months, if not years, to gain the trust of local partners. Others, meanwhile, face difficulties accessing financing for their investment.

Advisers like Djemis encourage these repats to lean on their networks gained through work or at university.

The study however notes that return migration is vital in terms of its contribution to the development of the countries to which these young people are returning.

It added that ultimately “their potential contribution… will depend on the ability of development policies to encourage return migration, facilitate the transition and create opportunities for their contribution”.

In 2020, journalist Arnaud Wust wrote a children’s story during a Covid-19 lockdown. What began as a family project has since blossomed into Xam Xam – an organisation teaching school children in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire about environmental protection through storytelling and tree planting.

“Everybody told me: ‘You’ve have been working to protect the environment in Senegal for 20 years, so why not make it into a project?’ And that’s how the story began,” Wust told RFI.

Planting knowledge

Named for a Wolof phrase meaning “knowledge sharing”, Xam Xam uses the children’s story Esther and Madiba Save Their Forest to teach children about the environment.

Volunteers spend 10 days at a time visiting schools, sharing the story, giving out books, playing games and planting trees with the children.

The organisation has planted nearly 800 trees since it started. Sana Sabaly from Senegal, who manages a tree nursery and joined the project in 2022, adds practical skills to the storytelling.

“Sana teaches children to make compost and to sow trees, and they leave with a tree seed to plant at home,” Wust said.

Sabaly comes from Tambacounda in eastern Senegal, a region once known for its lush forests but which has now been stripped bare by logging. “We are witnessing a lot of logging, which has killed the greenery in this region that was home to many plant species,” Sabaly explained.

Madagascar and Congo-Brazzaville team up to protect vanishing forests

Taking books to villages

The group focuses on reaching remote communities where children rarely learn about the environment, and books and libraries are often scarce.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the huge cocoa, rubber and palm oil industries drive deforestation, yet many children don’t see the dangers of growing just one type of crop.

“Nobody ever explained to people in remote villages that if trees were cut down massively without replanting them, there would be a vicious cycle of deforestation,” Wust said. “But today, children understand.”

Growing impact

In four years, the organisation has visited more than 100 schools and reached nearly 30,000 children.

“I am always moved because I did not expect such an impact,” Wust said. “We have left a beautiful footprint.

“I once returned to a school and all the children had the story in their schoolbag. They all remembered the story, the characters, the song we sing together. A teacher recently told me that children fight over watering the trees we planted with them.”

Sister Marie-Madeleine Diémé, headmistress of Saint-Charbel-Makhlouf primary school located 20 kilometres east of Mbour, in western Senegal, recounts the children’s joy in taking “responsibility for caring for their tree each day”.

“For the moment, the responsibility for watering the trees falls to the school caretaker,” Marie-Madeleine said.

But water shortages make things tough. Some schools have no water at all. “Some children must bring water from their homes on their way to class in the morning,” Wust explained.

Guadeloupe to fell ‘exotic’ coconut trees to stem coastal erosion

Grassroots funding

Despite growing word of mouth – schools now often get in touch directly – Xam Xam remains a small organisation that relies on donations from individuals, businesses and other supporters.

“Since 2024, donors can deduct it from their taxes since we are a public interest association under the 1901 law. Often, it’s really the funding that drives the project. We would like to do more, but we are still somewhat limited today by funding,” Wust said.

All money raised goes straight to the project, with no overhead costs.

“We don’t receive any royalties. It’s a story that we publish, that we self-finance and that we give away,” said the journalist, who hopes to eventually team up with other countries to keep growing what he calls the tree of hope.

---

This story was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Timéo Guillon.

Egypt revived the proposal during an emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Doha, held less than a week after Israeli strikes hit the Qatari capital on 9 September.

Cairo suggested uniting the armed forces of the 22 member states of the Arab League into a single alliance, with pooled resources, rotating leadership, a civilian secretary-general and consultations among members before any use of force.

At the same time, the Gulf Cooperation Council – made up of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar – said it intended to activate a clause in its joint defence agreement signed in 2000, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.

Speaking at the summit on 15 September, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif urged Muslim countries to “form an Islamic NATO” to confront shared challenges. He said the goal should be mutual defence and not to target any specific country.

Soon after, Gulf defence ministers agreed to strengthen intelligence sharing, speed up work on a regional warning system for ballistic missiles and carry out joint military exercises, signalling a desire for a more coordinated response to external threats.

Turkey and Egypt’s joint naval drill signals shifting Eastern Med alliances

History of failed attempts

The idea of a collective defence organisation inspired by NATO is not new in the region.

In 1955, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and the United Kingdom created the Baghdad Pact. The United States joined in 1958 and it was renamed the Central Treaty Organization, or Cento, after Iraq withdrew on 24 March 1959.

Formed during the Cold War, the alliance aimed to contain communism by creating a belt of allied states along the Soviet Union’s southern and south-western borders.

In June 1957, French daily Le Monde described it as building “an effective barrier against a possible Soviet advance” and “a kind of Middle Eastern NATO” that would unify the defence resources of its members.

The pact was widely criticised, including by Arab states such as Syria and Egypt, and eventually collapsed in 1979.

Another alliance still exists.

The Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) was launched in 2015 at Saudi Arabia’s initiative and today brings together 43 states from Bangladesh to Nigeria, as well as Turkey and Morocco. Iran and its Iraqi and Syrian allies were excluded from the outset.

At its creation, Saudi defence minister and deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said the coalition reflected “the vigilance of the Islamic world in fighting [the] disease” of extremist ideology.

A joint statement said it was based on “the duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of terrorist groups and organisations… that spread death and corruption on Earth and aim to to terrorise the innocent”.

The coalition has shown that coordination between Muslim-majority states is possible, but its scope remains limited.

“The IMCTC shows that a pan-Islamic framework can exist and produce coordinated action through information sharing, training and ad hoc initiatives,” Yassine El Yattioui, a researcher at France’s Université Lumière Lyon II, told RFI.

The alliance was built around a narrow objective “focused on counter-terrorism”, he said. “There is no integrated military command, no mutual defence guarantee and no generalised interoperability.”

El Yattioui described it as “a useful precedent, but insufficient to reproduce an Arab NATO or an Islamic NATO”.

Military service: what does conscription look like across Europe?

Persistent divisions

The idea resurfaced again in the summer of 2022, when King Abdullah of Jordan said his country would support a NATO-style alliance among Middle East partners. He said such an alliance would need a “very, very clear mission” to avoid “confusion”.

The project never materialised.

Building a true Arab or Islamic NATO would be extremely difficult, El Yattioui said, because it would require ideological alignment, complimentary economies, compatible military equipment and political unity.

Arab states, though fewer than Muslim-majority countries overall, remain highly diverse and divided. A NATO-style structure would also require states to give up part of their military sovereignty, which for many is closely linked to how power is exercised at home.

Some countries look towards Brics, while others remain aligned with the Western bloc.

Despite these obstacles, looser alliances continue to form as the region adapts to new security challenges, pointing to a broader reshaping of the regional security order.

Europe’s ‘Truman Show’ moment: is it time to walk off Trump’s set?

Doubts about Washington

Since the Israeli strikes on Doha, Arab countries – especially in the Gulf – have increasingly questioned how far they can rely on the United States for protection, even though Gulf states host major US bases and around 40,000 US troops.

“What is the value of the American military umbrella if the United States itself is holding the knife?” the Arab Digest website asked.

Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani struck a sharp tone in his opening speech at the September emergency summit.

“Anyone who persistently and methodically works to assassinate the party they are negotiating with is seeking to sabotage negotiations,” he said. “For them, negotiations are just another part of the war.”

He also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “dreams of turning the Arab region into an Israeli sphere of influence. That is a dangerous illusion”.

Two weeks later, on 29 September, US President Donald Trump signed an unprecedented defence agreement with Qatar, a day after Netanyahu issued a public apology to Doha over the strikes.

The executive order states that any attack on Qatar would be treated as a threat to US security, even as Washington remains Israel’s biggest ally in the region.

The strikes and doubts about US backing could accelerate Arab efforts to diversify their alliances, analysts warned.

Using force against a third state, especially a close US ally such as Israel, would carry “huge risks of escalation and major diplomatic consequences”, El Yattioui said.

“A military coalition can create pressure, but it will not replace negotiations, political guarantees and solutions that are acceptable to the populations concerned.”

NATO faces new threat as climate helps submarines slip beneath sonar

‘Extended deterrence’

Saudi Arabia has also moved to reinforce its security ties. Riyadh signed a strategic mutual defence agreement with its longtime partner Islamabad on 17 September, committing each country to defend the other in case of aggression.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state, thus extends its nuclear umbrella to Saudi Arabia.

After the deal, Iran said it was interested in joining the bilateral alliance, while Pakistan said it wanted similar agreements with other Arab states.

“This strategic pact is significant,” El Yattioui said. “It shows a search for extended deterrence and a willingness to diversify security guarantees.”

But he said a bilateral agreement could not create a coherent multilateral bloc. Any expansion would depend on shared interests such as common threats, economic and military incentives, domestic political acceptance and reactions from external actors including the United States, India and Iran.

Other arrangements are also emerging, including trilateral agreements between Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Mauritania to create maritime corridors.

The final statement from the Doha summit recalled past Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation resolutions rejecting aggression against member states and reaffirming Arab-Islamic solidarity and collective security.

But the statement stopped short of launching a common military alliance. It remains largely symbolic, signalling unity to the outside world while each state continues to pursue its own alliances and priorities.

Any meaningful shift would need to happen gradually, El Yattioui said.

“The most realistic path is not copying a Western institutional model,” he added, but building cooperation step by step through “functional interdependence” in areas such as intelligence, cyber security and the economy.

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This story was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Anne Bernas.

Ahead of the UN Ocean Conference in June, French and European scientists and policymakers gathered at the Mucem museum in Marseille in May for a summit organised by the Tara Ocean Foundation and the French branch of the Interparliamentary Coalition to End Plastic Pollution.

“Today, we are facing a plastic crisis, which is a major crisis affecting the oceans and the environment in all its dimensions – climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss,” Henri Bourgois-Costa, head of public affairs for the Tara Ocean Foundation, told RFI. 

French schooner Tara charts a course for change ahead of UN oceans summit

Recycling not (the only) solution 

Today, at a global level, 50 percent of plastics are landfilled, 14 percent are recycled, 17 percent incinerated and 19 percent are poorly managed, explained Fabienne Lagarde, an environmental chemist at Le Mans university.

“Recycling is the tree that hides the forest, because the end of life of plastic is also polluting,” she said.

Moreover, 98 percent of plastics today are not biodegradable, and two-thirds are not recyclable, Lagarde pointed out.

France pushes for action as high seas treaty hangs in the balance

“Most of our waste is either buried or incinerated, leading to a major environmental leak that originates primarily from land,” explained Jean-François Ghiglione, a researcher from the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the scientific director of the Tara Microplastics mission 2019, whose initial results were published in April. 

“And more than 80 percent of plastics that end up in the sea come from the land,” he added.

The study, which focused on nine major European rivers, showed that 100 percent of these rivers were polluted by microplastics arriving directly from land.

“Microplastics come from the breakdown of large waste. A large piece of waste – through abrasion, friction and UV exposure – breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, almost infinitely,” explained Ghiglione. 

These microplastics measure between 0.025mm and 5mm, and are invisible to the naked eye.

Digital boom makes Marseille a global data hub – but at what cost?

The study also showed that 85 percent of plastics in the sea are in microplastic form. 

These microplastics are also found throughout the food chain, affecting 1.4 million birds and 14,000 mammals every year. Doctors are now investigating the consequences for human health.

“We absolutely must reach a global plastics treaty that reduces the quantity of plastics, because we have scientifically shown that the more plastic is produced, the more pollution there is,” concluded Ghiglione. “The relationship is linear.”

China produced around 60 percent of the world’s new solar power in 2025, making it the world’s largest manufacturer and deployer of renewable energy. It is installing more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the world combined.

However, a decade after the Cop21 talks in Paris – which led to the Paris Agreement, ratified by China in 2016 – China also remains heavily dependent on coal.

With Beijing now painting itself as central to global efforts to tackle climate change, the question is whether Chinese technology can help put the world on a viable climate path.

“We’re studying China’s technological progress, not only in photovoltaics, but also in wind power, solar thermal energy, onshore wind, offshore wind and nuclear energy,” Jiang Kejun, from the Energy Research Institute of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, told RFI.

If the world stays on track, he adds, it may still be possible to limit global warming to 1.5C using Chinese technology alone. That view reflects a broader shift in China’s message, with the transition framed not just as a national effort but a global one.

China’s energy transition differs from Europe’s. It is not built on reducing demand, but on meeting rising energy needs driven by urbanisation, industry and the electrification of the economy.

“Almost all the growth in energy demand comes from electricity, and almost all the growth in electricity this year has come from solar and wind,” says Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember, a global energy think tank. China’s oil consumption is no longer rising, he adds, while gas use is rising but remains low.

China is not yet replacing fossil fuels outright. Instead, it is largely avoiding new fossil demand by steering growth towards low-carbon electricity. As a result, emissions are stagnating rather than notably falling, even as renewable energy expands.

While Beijing is aiming for its CO2 emissions to peak before 2030, energy stability remains the priority in a country with one of the world’s largest power systems.

Paris Agreement turns 10 as heat rises faster than global action

Race to cut costs

China’s strategy rests on producing electricity at very low cost. Vast solar and wind projects are being built in the Gobi Desert, a huge arid region in northern China, as well as in the Taklamakan in the far west, one of the world’s largest sandy deserts, and across the open grasslands and desert areas of Inner Mongolia.

These installations have been engineered to generate cheap electricity that is then sent east through ultra high voltage transmission lines, a field in which China is a global leader.

“China has made this product very affordable,” Jiang explains. “There is no overcapacity and no unfair price competition. Even with the existing supply of about 0.6 yuan per watt for photovoltaic modules, companies can still remain profitable.”

Western arguments about overcapacity no longer make sense in a world facing a climate emergency, he argues – adding that Chinese solar power has become cheap enough to outcompete fossil fuels even without subsidies.

“Even in a baseline scenario, investing in photovoltaics or carbon-free energy supply is already much cheaper than relying on fossil fuels,” Jiang says.

In his view, falling renewable costs mean fossil fuels no longer need to play a central role in future energy systems. That shift is already visible in the price of solar equipment.

“A solar panel today costs between $50 and $60 in countries that do not impose high tariffs on Chinese imports,” says Ember’s Dave Jones. “That panel can produce electricity for 20 or 30 years.”

Falling costs help explain why Chinese solar is spreading rapidly, including in poorer countries where access to electricity remains limited.

Coal as a safety net

But despite the expansion of renewables, coal remains central to China’s power system. Beijing continues to approve new coal plants – not to drive growth, but to secure supply in a country where power shortages are politically sensitive.

“Coal-fired electricity generation in China may not be rising, but it is not falling either,” Jones explains. “The system absorbs huge amounts of solar and wind, but coal is still there to guarantee stability.”

Coal now acts as a buffer when solar output drops or demand spikes, and China is investing heavily in making its coal plants more flexible.

“This is so plants can shut down during the day and let cheap solar feed the grid,” Jones says. “It is not happening fast enough, but it is happening at scale.”

The next challenge is closing coal plants rather than simply building fewer of them. But for now, political and economic stability come before a rapid exit from coal, as electricity demand continues to rise.

Clean energy surpasses coal but policy headwinds threaten 2030 goals, IEA warns

Making solar work

Producing large amounts of solar power is only part of the task. The bigger challenge is integrating it into the grid without causing instability.

Jones points to two key tools: flexible coal generation and energy storage, where China has built a strong technological lead.

“Battery technology developed by Chinese manufacturers has advanced significantly,” he says. “Prices have fallen to the point where storage is becoming profitable, allowing solar power to become dispatchable electricity.”

China already dominates close to 80 percent of the global battery supply chain, from lithium processing to recycling. Storage itself is not seen as a major barrier, with Chinese researchers saying existing technologies are already capable of supporting large-scale solar power.

“Whether in the Gobi Desert or even in the Sahara, new storage technologies are already good enough,” Jiang says. “The problems are manageable. All of this can work.”

Beyond electricity generation is a broader industrial shift. The goal is no longer just green power, but fully integrated industrial ecosystems supplied by cheap renewables.

“In the future, within a single industrial park, investment will cover photovoltaics, wind, power generation, hydrogen purification, synthetic ammonia or olefins, right through to the final product,” Jiang says. “The system is fully integrated, and such a design can be supported 100 percent by photovoltaics.”

African leaders urge fair funding with $50bn climate call

Power struggles

However, China’s expansion in clean energy has fuelled concern in Europe and the United States, where Chinese technologies are often viewed as a source of strategic dependence.

Climate urgency is used to push back against those concerns. “My main concern is whether the world can still maintain the 1.5C warming target,” Jiang says. “The pace of warming is extremely fast. We do not have time. We must act.”

He also warns against turning the energy transition into a geopolitical dispute, saying climate discussions lose substance once international power struggles take over.

At the same time, the rise of Chinese clean technologies is not being driven solely by state planning. Much of the expansion reflects market forces and growing demand.

“Manufacturers introduce panels into new markets, they appear on shelves for the first time and demand grows organically,” Jones explains.

Both experts agree that the future of the transition now largely depends on the Global South.

“Solar power offers a real opportunity to catch up,” Jones says. “Countries do not need to follow the historic path of building dependence on oil and gas. They can electrify directly with clean energy.”

Unlocking finance and technology transfers is now critical, Jiang argues: “The key issue today is to release Chinese technology and capital flows to developing countries as quickly as possible.”

Control over renewable technologies is increasingly tied to control over future energy systems, a point energy experts say will shape the coming decade.

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This article was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Clea Broadhurst.

A team at the Collège de France in Paris, led by Professor Marc Fontecave, has created a special catalyst – a material that speeds up chemical reactions – that can convert carbon into alcohols like ethanol and propanol. These alcohols can be used as vehicle fuels or to make plastics and other products.

The process works by first capturing carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas warming our planet, from factories or even directly from the air.

Record surge in CO2 puts world on track for more long-term warming

 This CO2 is then converted into carbon monoxide, which the new catalyst transforms into useful fuels using electricity. When this electricity comes from renewable sources like wind or solar power, the entire process becomes carbon-neutral.

The catalyst is made from copper, with tiny amounts of silver and gold added to improve its performance. It’s particularly good at producing propanol, which is valuable both as a fuel and for making plastics.

The research, conducted in partnership with energy company TotalEnergies, was published in the journal Nature Materials in March 2025

 It represents an important step towards creating “e-fuels”, synthetic fuels made using renewable electricity, which could help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

They are called “repats”, short for “repatriates” – young people who left their African homes, be they in Gabon, Cameroon, Congo or Côte d’Ivoire, to chase a better education or business opportunities in Europe and are now choosing to head home to put those gains to good use.

They speak of reuniting with their families, and contributing to the African continent’s development.

In 2019, a survey supported by the French Development Agency revealed that 40 percent of members of the African diaspora were ready to return. Since then, the continent’s economic appeal has only grown. 

The study polled 800 people to identify the motivations, and the obstacles, for graduates and professionals in the diaspora who are considering working in Africa.

France sees immigration shift as more educated Africans arrive than Europeans

The key finding was the sheer number who aspire to return. Almost 71 percent were considering going back to work on the continent, with 38 percent saying they were ready to return immediately.

In terms of location, West Africa was the most popular region among respondents, at 32 percent.  

However, with many African economies still largely informal and labour markets tight, returning can be a challenge.

According to the United Nations, the number of people born to African immigrant parents in the diaspora could represent almost 20 million people worldwide. Many African countries are seeking to attract them, with return assistance programmes to support projects and business ventures.

‘You can have a life here’

Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire are attracting a large number of investors and businesses. And the latter has seen a clear economic boom in the last decade.

In Abidjan, one man has made it his business to support repats coming back from Europe to Côte d’Ivoire. Pierre Djemis, a lawyer born in France, settled in his father’s country a few decades ago, and has since seen many more people express the desire to do the same.

Young voters in Côte d’Ivoire want jobs, change – but most of all, peace

To support them, he organises forums for repats twice a year, one in Abidjan, another in Paris, with the next to be held in the French capital on 24 January.

“Today, people between 28 and 35 years old are excited when they see Abidjan,” Djemis told RFI.

“It is a pleasant city to live in, a modern city where you have all the comforts you find in Paris. You have the bakeries you find in Paris, the clothing stores you see in Paris. You have beaches, a comfortable lifestyle, cars in Abidjan that you don’t even find in the 16th or 15th arrondissements.”

He added: “You can have a life here, a vibrant life, a dynamic life similar to the life that one can find in Asia, in Shanghai, Hong Kong and so on. So, these young people also want to be part of that movement; it’s the economic movement of the future.”

Djemis says he witnessed a first wave of parents who studied abroad in France, Germany, Switzerland or the United States and who returned to Africa in the 1990s as doctors, lawyers and civil servants.

Since then a second wave of repats who were born in Europe, grew up there and only know Africa through their cultural upbringing, but feel the desire to “return” to their parents’ homelands, has emerged. 

“Often, they believe there’s what’s called ‘the glass ceiling’, well known in Europe and elsewhere. At a certain level, they feel they can no longer access certain positions because of their background. And they believe they can be useful elsewhere, especially back home.”

Integration challenges

According to a study published in 2023 in the Revue Akofena journal, graduates’ motivations for returning to Côte d’Ivoire include the search for professional opportunities, attachment to their country of origin, a desire to contribute to the country’s development, and a sense of belonging to the Ivorian community.

However, they face significant challenges when it comes to professional and economic integration.

African graduates know that salaries are potentially higher in Europe. Many also struggle to adapt to professional environments that are different from the ones they studied or began their careers in. It can take months, if not years, to gain the trust of local partners. Others, meanwhile, face difficulties accessing financing for their investment.

Advisers like Djemis encourage these repats to lean on their networks gained through work or at university.

The study however notes that return migration is vital in terms of its contribution to the development of the countries to which these young people are returning.

It added that ultimately “their potential contribution… will depend on the ability of development policies to encourage return migration, facilitate the transition and create opportunities for their contribution”.

Hello everyone!

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear a “My Ordinary Hero” essay by listener Rasheed Naz from Faisal Abad, Pakistan.  I hope you’ll be inspired to write an essay for us, too!

If your essay goes on the air, you’ll find a package in the mail from The Sound Kitchen. Write in about your “ordinary” heroes – the people in your community who are doing extraordinarily good work, quietly working to make the world a better place, in whatever way they can. As listener Pramod Maheshwari said: “Just as small drops of water can fill a pitcher, small drops of kindness can change the world.”

I am still looking for your “This I Believe” essays, too. Tell us about the principles that guide your life … what you have found to be true from your very own personal experience. Or write about a book that changed your perspective on life, a person who you admire, festivals in your community, your most memorable moment, and/or your proudest achievement. If your essay is chosen to go on-the-air – read by you – you’ll win a special prize!

Send your essays to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Or by postal mail, to:

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Here’s Rashid Naz’s essay:

Heroes are not always found in stories or movies. Sometimes they live among us, quietly working to make our world a better place. My “ordinary” hero is a community leader in our town, someone who has taught me that real heroism comes from serving others with kindness and courage.

Our community leader, Mr. Ahmed, is not rich or powerful, but he has a heart full of compassion. He organizes clean up drives, helps poor families, and encourages young people to stay in school. Whenever there is a problem – a sick neighbor, a broken road, or a family in need – he is the first to step forward. His actions remind us that small efforts can bring big changes.

What I admire most about him is his humility. He never seeks fame or reward. When people thank him, he simply says, “We are all responsible for our community.” Those words inspire me. He believes that leadership means service, not authority, and he proves it every day through his actions.

To many people, he might seem like an ordinary man. But to me, he is a true hero – a symbol of dedication, honesty, and hope. Because of him, I’ve learned that anyone can be a hero, not by wearing a cape, but by using their heart to make a difference.

That is why my “ordinary” hero is our community leader Mr Ahmed, a man whose quiet strength and selfless service continue to inspire us all.

 

 

Be sure and tune in next week for our annual New Year’s Resolutions program! Talk to you then!

RFI: Why choose the Mobilier National in Paris, France’s national furniture and decorative arts institution, for this exhibition? 

Mayank Mansingh Kaul: I think it’s a perfect venue for this kind of exhibition because what we were really hoping to highlight was how rich and diverse the contemporary practice of textile is today in both countries.  

The historic Gobelins tapestry workshop [a key part of the Mobilier National]… is an example of how that kind of craftsmanship in France is revered, is appreciated, is kept alive at the highest levels of patronage and of aesthetics, as well as interest, and how it is a very important symbol of culture to the country.

It’s extraordinary that when you walk through the galleries of the Gobelins looking at the exhibition, you are quite aware that just behind the galleries are active workshops that are producing furniture and tapestries. 

One teacher’s French love story: ‘It changed my life, it gave me my career’

RFI: What ties link France and India through textiles?

MMK: We’ve known for about 400 years that France and India have both inspired and influenced each other in textiles. 

We have, historically, for instance, very fine handspun and handwoven cotton fabric, which was exported to France, which then became a very important aspect of 18th century and early 19th century French women’s fashion. 

We also know how block-printed and hand-painted, naturally dyed textiles in cotton from India – which were exported and were [all the rage] in France – actually shaped its interiors, and shaped its fashion for a very long period of time. It also led to the establishment of certain kinds of traditions of French print itself. 

It is the same in the case of the famous hand-woven cashmere shawl – the famous cashmere shawl, with its beautiful motif of the paisley – which were exported on the luxury market to France and became important aspects of French fashion and French interiors. 

And in the same way, we know of, for instance, examples of French lace, which has now become a very important part of the Indian repertoire of textiles, which came historically 200-300 years back from France, and became embedded in India’s textile landscape. 

We also know that there has been some exchange and influence between Lyon, the pre-eminent brocade weaving centre in France, and Varanasi in north India, which is one of the most important brocade centres in India. 

One significant way in which brocades from Lyon influenced the Indian brocades from Varanasi was observed in the late 19th century and the early to mid-20th century, when aesthetic movements such as that of the French Art Nouveau and the French Art Deco were very visibly reflected in the designs of Indian brocades. 

The Moroccan women artists harnessing the creative power of crafts

RFI: Today, how do these ties continue to shape cultural exchange?  

MMK: One, of course, is the embroideries and surface embellishments… designed and produced in India for French couture houses, for French brands.  

More recently, we’ve observed artists between the two countries who are working with textiles as a medium taking and giving from each other quite actively.  

[There is also] the Villa Swagatam residency programme [run by the French Institute and the French Embassy in India] which invites artists and designers and creative practitioners from India to residencies in France, and likewise French practitioners to India. 

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So it’s at the level of design, of visual arts, of contemporary arts, of craftsmanship [and the] deep appreciation that the two countries have for craftsmanship. The two countries innately recognise [each other’s] reverence and appreciation for things handmade and artisanal.  

And I think that overarching sentiment also becomes a great means of understanding and support to practitioners between the two countries.  

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Ce qui se trame. Histoires tissées entre l’Inde et la France runs until 4 January, 2026 at the Mobilier National in Paris.

End of an aura

And so farewell. Morocco entered the 2025 Cup of Nations drenched in the kudos of an 18-game winning streak. Victory on Day 1 over Comoros made it 19. But the hosts are mourning that glory. Mali held them to a 1-1 draw in Rabat to terminate a sequence that stretched back to March 2024. Brahim Diaz gave Morocco the lead just before half-time from the penalty spot. Mali levelled via the same method mid way through the second. Referee Abdou Abdel Mefire missed Jawad El Yamiq’s clumsy challenge on the Mali striker Lassine Sinayoko but the beady-eyed video assistant referees did not.

They urged the Cameroonian to have a look at the pitch-side monitor and after reviewing his lapse, he pointed to the spot. Sinayoko dispatched the kick. More pertinently, the stalemate leaves Morocco on four points from their two games and Mali with two. Following Zambia’s 0-0 draw with Comoros to leave them also with two points and Zimbabwe with one point, any of the four teams can advance as the top two automatically. But for all those permutations of the final round of games, Morocco still bathe in the lustre as Africa’s preeminent team in the Fifa world rankings.

Still no Hakimi

And the wait goes on. Morocco skipper Achraf Hakimi, who was injured in early November playing for Paris Saint-Germain, sat out the draw against Mali even though he has been declared fit for purpose. Morocco coach Walid Regragui kept faith with Hakimi’s replacement Noussair Mazraoui. And it appeared to be a sage move. The clash at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium was a bruising encounter with six Malian players shown yellow cards. Not the kind of fixture to test the robustness of a sprained left ankle. 

Another fine mess

“You forgot what you came here to forget? Well, we’ll see that you don’t forget what you’re here for!” The line from the 1931 Laurel and Hardy short film Beau Hunks comes to The Review’s mind whenever the Nigeria coach Eric Chelle faces an array of reporters from Nigeria. He’s desperate to focus on the here. And not on the botched campaign for a place at the 2026 World Cup.

Some appear keen to rub salt into the wounds. However, Chelle received some succour from a couple of Tunisians who uttered what several hacks seem reluctant to accept. “In my opinion, every tournament has its own reality,” said Chelle’s counterpart, Sami Trabelsi, as both sides girded their loins for the Day 6 Group C clash in Fez. “Because of what happened to Nigeria, I don’t think we are favourites,” added Tunisia defender Montassar Talbi. “Nigeria also played a really big game for the first match at the Cup of Nations. They are doing well and we know they have good players.”

Old timers

Curiously for a coaching staff eager to focus on the now rotation of the football whirligig, former Nigeria internationals such as Yakubu Aiyegbeni have been drafted in to gee up the players. “Coming to the group and giving more confidence to the team actually motivates the team,” said 29-year-old skipper Wiflred Ndidi perhaps with an eye on future relevance. “I think it’s not just about coming around,” added the midfielder who will win his 70th cap on Day 6. “It’s also about speaking highly of the team.” Hint to the oldsters – don’t mention how much fun the World Cup is.  

Is Mo getting his jo back?

Yule never walk alone. Ho, ho, ho. Christmas cheer aplenty. Two games and two goals for one Mohamed Salah. The Liverpool striker grabbed a stoppage-time winner to dispatch Zimbabwe on Day 2. And he was on target from the penalty spot in Egypt’s 1-0 victory over South Africa to make them the first team into the last-16 knockout stages. “I’m very happy for the result, for sure,” said Salah. “It was a tough game. We walked away with the three points, it’s the most important thing.” With Group B secured, Egypt will await one of four best third-placed teams.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.

The US military’s Africa Command (Africom) said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state in coordination with Nigerian authorities and killed multiple Islamic State (ISIS) militants.

The strike comes after Trump in late October began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened to militarily intervene in the West African country over what he says is its failure to stop violence targeting Christian communities.

Reuters reported on Monday the US had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November.

‘More to come’

Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the strikes were carried out as part of ongoing security cooperation with the United States, involving intelligence sharing and strategic coordination to target militant groups.

“This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West,” the ministry said in a post on X.

A video posted by the Pentagon showed at least one projectile launched from a warship. A US defence official said the strike targeted multiple militants at known Islamic State camps.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked the Nigerian government on X for its support and cooperation and added: “More to come…”

Nigerians push back on Trump’s military threat over Christian killings

Nigeria’s government has said armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, and US claims that Christians face persecution do not represent the complex security situation and ignore efforts to safeguard religious freedom. But it has agreed to work with the US to bolster its forces against militant groups.

The country’s population is split between Muslims living primarily in the north and Christians in the south.

Police said earlier on Thursday a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people and injured 35 others at a mosque in Nigeria’s northeast, another region troubled by Islamist insurgents.

Police suspect suicide bomber behind Nigeria’s deadly mosque blast 

In a Christmas message posted on X earlier, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu called for peace in his country, “especially between individuals of differing religious beliefs”.

He also said: “I stand committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence.”

The US military last week launched separate large-scale strikes against dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria, after Trump vowed to hit back in the wake of a suspected Islamic State attack on US personnel in the country.

(with newswires)

Canada’s decision in 2023 to open its borders to citizens from French-speaking Africa has led to a surge in well-organised scams targeting immigrant hopefuls.

Amadou Fall fell prey to one such scheme. He says he travelled to Ghana after being contacted by a childhood friend, who is also Senegalese.

The friend promised to help him obtain a visa to travel to Canada, which involved him paying 2.5 million CFA francs (€3,811) to cover administrative costs. He managed to raise part of that sum – 1.6 million CFA francs (€2,439) – by selling his belongings.

On arriving in Ghana, he claims he was taken to a house where he met other young men from various African countries. His phone and identity papers were taken from him.

He was told to recruit candidates for Canadian visas and to make them believe he was already there.

Africa grapples with way forward on cybercrime

Media appeals

Fall describes a highly structured fraud system that exploits young people’s dreams of emigration as a way of extorting money from them.

He told RFI he eventually managed to escape by convincing his captors that he would take part in the scam. His family in Senegal sent him money so he could return home.

At least five young men, all from Kébémer in northern Senegal, are believed to have fallen into the hands of this network.

In recent days, the father of one of them has made repeated appeals to the Senegalese authorities in local media.

He has had no news of his son, Mamadou Seck, since 23 November, despite sending him 2.5 million CFA francs for the same administrative procedure to secure a visa from the Canadian authorities.

‘Contemplated suicide’: Ethiopians recount horror of SE Asia scam centres

Cheikh Touré case

Ghana has been identified as one of the central hubs for such emigration scams in West Africa.

Last October, Senegal was shaken when 20-year-old Senegalese footballer Cheikh Touré died in Ghana after being lured by the promise of a professional career by someone close to him.

He believed he was joining a football club, but is said to have fallen into the hands of a network of fake recruiters, who allegedly kidnapped and extorted him before killing him.

In response, Ghanaian authorities have stepped up operations in recent months to dismantle such networks.

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This article was adapted from the original version in French by Juliette Dubois.

The two minors freed from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) gave AFP an unprecedented account of the shadowy group, notorious for its extreme brutality.

Paluku, a frail 12-year-old, spent two months with the ADF after rebels killed his mother during an attack on his village in eastern North Kivu province. His brother and sister were also captured.

Edouard, 17, spent a gruelling four years with the ADF – formed by Ugandan rebels who took refuge in DRC – after he was kidnapped at age 12.

The two boys, using pseudonyms, spoke on condition of anonymity at a centre specialising in the care of minors recruited by armed groups in the region, whose location AFP has chosen not to disclose to avoid potential reprisals.

Their accounts were confirmed by health and security sources.

Round-faced Edouard, a fast-talker, did not mince his words in describing his years of “torment” within the ADF.

“We suffered terribly,” he said.

After their capture, Edouard and Paluku were sent to ADF bases hidden in the dense forest of northeast DRC – where the elusive rebels avoid patrols by the Congolese army and Ugandan forces deployed there since 2021.

The bases consist of simple tents and tarps, easy to move in the event of an attack.

Most occupants are women and children, according to security sources, contributing to the group’s operations but also serving as human shields.

New recruits are swiftly forced to convert to Islam and learn Arabic, but also English and Swahili, Edouard said.

“I was also trained in medicine to treat the wounded, and we learned how to handle weapons and clean them,” he said.

Paluku said he underwent similar training, as well as learning how to “steal food, clothing and medicine to bring back to the ADF camp”.

Child soldiers: The forgotten trauma of abducted children

Floggings

Children play a central role in supplying the group, security sources said. Those who fail to bring back loot face severe punishment.

The wives of the ADF commanders, some of whom are particularly influential, also exercise power over the young recruits.

When the fighters go out on “operations”, the youngest among them like Paluku, were “supposed to bring something back for the chief’s wife,” he said, like soap, cooking oil or fabric.

“To get it we have to loot people’s belongings, and if a chief’s wife accuses you to her husband of not bringing back what she asked for, she can demand that you be killed,” he said.

Edouard and Paluku said they were subjected to incessant corporal punishment.

Girls and boys were whipped or thrown into pits for several weeks over the slightest misbehaviour.

“I was punished with lashes because I refused to go kill people,” Paluku said with a long stare.

Edouard took part in combat with the group at least three times against the Congolese army or local militias.

“They beat us mostly when we lost our weapons and ammunition, claiming we had wasted them for nothing or lost them on the front,” he explained.

Faced with such an accusation, Edouard said a chief ordered that he be whipped.

“I fell ill because of those lashes. I told the chief outright I was no longer able to go fight on the front, I begged him to send others who were capable, but that made him even more angry, and I was whipped once again,” he said.

France repatriates group of women and children from Syrian camps

Trauma

About 10 children freed from the ADF arrive on average each month at the reception centre in the troubled northeast Ituri province.

“These children have suffered psychological trauma and torture, and when they arrive here, most are aggressive,” said Madeleine, a psychologist at the centre.

After a few weeks spent around other children and staff, their aggression fades, she said.

But there are other scars to contend with.

Edouard became addicted to drugs administered by the rebels after he was wounded in combat.

Suffering from speech disorders, he talks constantly and sometimes incoherently, disturbing other residents, Madeleine said.

After a year at the centre receiving ongoing treatment, Edouard recounted the horrors of his experience with a shy smile and a lively, excitable gaze.

Paluku meanwhile had a darker expression, recalling his sister who remains a hostage.

“She has become the wife of one of the ADF chiefs,” he said.

Gasset, who was born in Montpellier, went through the youth ranks at nearby AS Beziers before joining his home town team in 1975.

The midfielder stayed at the club as it rose from the eighth tier of French football to the top flight by the time he hung up his boots in 1975.

“A child of the club, he left his mark on everyone who crossed his path through his professionalism, kindness, and desire to pass on his knowledge,” said a Montpellier club statement. “We have lost an emblematic figure.

“Our sadness is immense when we remember his smile, his unmistakable voice.”

France skipper Kylian Mbappé added his condolences. “A football encyclopedia has left us,” wrote the 27-year-old Real Madrid star on social media.

“Thank you for everything and rest in peace.”

Philippe Diallo, the French Football Federaiton boss, added: “French football today loses one of its great servants.

“Beyond being a recognised and respected technician, he was a true lover of football, deeply human, inspiring, and committed.”

Success as an assistant

As assistant coach to former France international Laurent Blanc, the pair  guided Bordeaux to the Ligue 1 title in 2009.

He went with Blanc to coach the France national team between 2010 and 2012. Gasset was also part of Blanc’s staff during his time at Paris Saint-Germain.

During their three years at the Parc des Princes, they harvested 11 trophies including three league titles and two Coupe de France trophies.

“The Paris Saint-Germain family and French football are in mourning,” said PSG on the club’s social media account.

As a head coach, Gasset’s record was less spectacular. His was a surprise appointment when he took over the Cote d’Ivoire national team in May 2022.

But his guile and nous shaped the players into a formidable unit and one of the favourites for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil.

But after an opening day win over Guinea-Bissau, the side narrowly lost to Nigeria and was then battered 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea, the national team’s worst defeat to an African side.

He and the Ivorian federation parted ways. His assistant, Emerse Faé, took over and steered the team to the crown.

As plaudits rained down on Faé in the aftermath of the 2-1 victory over Nigeria in the final, the former Ivorian international stopped the eulogies to hail Gasset for selecting the squad.

“The man with the cap will remain one of the key figures in Cup of Nations victory,” an Ivorian football federation statement said on Friday as Faé’s players prepare for their second game of the 2025 tournament in Morocco against Cameroon.

Former Cote d’Ivoire boss Gasset takes over at Marseille

Folllowing his departure from Cote d’Ivoire, Gasset resurfaced less than month later at Marseille where he stayed until the end of the season – the start of his retirement.

But he could not resist the call from his darling club. 

In October 2024, he returned to a side struggling in Ligue 1. In December, the amateur outfit Le Puy knocked them out of the Coupe de France and in April 2025, he left Montpellier by mutual consent after losing 15 of his 20 games in charge.

“We are no longer the atypical, family-like club trying to fight,” said Gasset towards the end of his reign. “I feel it, and everything is slipping away …”

Maryam Moghaddas in Persian translates as “Holy Mary”. And the station’s vaulted and arched concourse, with a dome decorated with Persian motifs, features religious frescoes and artworks honouring Christianity’s Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ.

Mary is also a venerated figure in Islam. And she is depicted here in prayer with her eyes closed, a white dove hovering just above her head.

Another artwork, along the platform, depicts her son Jesus Christ, who appears to be watching over passengers as they wait for their train.

The Virgin Mary enjoys universal respect in Iran, and she is a figure seen to be able to foster ties between believers of whatever religion.

Maryam is also one of the most common female names in the country.

“Every single element you see at this station was designed so that when someone passes through here, they understand that our goal was to respect other religions, Christianity in particular,” Tina Tarigh Mehr, the artist behind the works, told AFP.

“This bird (the white dove) is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The olive tree is a symbol of peace and friendship,” she said during a tour organised for the press ahead of the station’s public opening at the end of November.

‘We’re fighting a daily battle’: Iranian women dare to shed hijab in public

Woman and ‘purity’

In Iran, a vast multicultural country, Shiite Islam is the official state religion. However, the Constitution recognises Sunni Islam, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity as minority religions, each of which has its own representatives in the Iranian parliament.

Christianity was present in this part of the world long before the rise of Islam during the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century AD.

Why Lebanon’s Christians wield power greater than their numbers

“This station recalls the divine woman who awakened the world through her purity and by nurturing a great prophet,” said Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani on X.

He added that the building was designed to “showcase the coexistence of divine religions in Tehran”.

The official number of Christians living in Iran is unknown, but various sources estimate it at between 130,000 and one million.

In Tehran, a metropolis of over 10 million people, the Saint Sarkis Cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church is one of its most visible symbols.

It is located near the new station, the construction of which began 10 years ago.

The first metro line in Iran opened in Tehran in 1999 and currently the Iranian capital has approximately 160 operational stations.

Several are renowned for their artistic finesse, a clever blend of modern architecture and traditional Persian elements.

(AFP)

“The ball is now in France’s court,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday.

“There were indeed relevant contacts between us and the French side. Indeed, a proposal was made to the French regarding Vinatier,” he said, without providing details.

The French foreign ministry has declined to comment.

The surprise public overture comes as both Russia and France have expressed interest in possible talks between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron.

Vinatier, who works for a Swiss conflict mediation group, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2024 for failing to register as a “foreign agent”, for which he apologised. He is now facing additional charges of gathering data about Russia’s military activities.

Vinatier has rejected the accusations of spying, and his family say he is a victim of tensions between Russia and France over the war in Ukraine.

French presidency welcomes Putin’s readiness to speak with Macron

Arbitrary detention

France has said Vinatier was arbitrarily detained and has called for his release. French President Emmanuel Macron has denied that Vinatier worked for the French state, and has described his arrest as part of a misinformation campaign by Moscow.

After a French journalist asked Putin about Vinatier during an end-of-year televised press conference last week, Putin said he would look into the case.

“I don’t know anything about this case. This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Putin said. “But I promise you I’ll definitely find out what it is. And if there’s even the slightest chance of resolving this matter favourably, if Russian law allows it, we’ll make every effort.”

The Kremlin said at the weekend that Putin was “ready” to engage in dialogue with Macron.

Vinatier is one of several Westerners to have been arrested after Putin launched an all-out offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.

Several United States citizens have been imprisoned and then released in exchanges brokered by both US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden.

Western countries have long accused Russia of arresting their citizens on baseless charges, seeking to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of alleged Russian spies and cyber criminals jailed in Europe and the US.

(with Reuters)

Following an opening day victory over Comoros, the hosts can advance to the knockout stages of the 2025 tournament with a win in front of fervent partisans.

But Regragui said passage to the second phase would not be straightforward.

“Mali will show more personality, more technical control,” added the 50-year-old former Morocco international.

“There will be more space for us but there will also be moments when we will suffer.”

Morocco go into the tie boasting a 19-match winning streak dating back to March 2024.

‘Too much caution’

The top-rated African team in the Fifa world rankings, Morocco entered the tournament as one of the hot favourites for what would be the country’s second trophy since the inception of the Cup of Nations in 1957.

“At times we lacked runs into space and presence in the box,” said Regragui about the game against Comoros. “There was perhaps too much caution.”

After a goalless first-half, Brahim Diaz opened his Cup of Nations account and Ayoub El Kaabi’s strike with a bicycle kick doubled the advantage.

“Mali reminds me of Morocco in the past,” added Regragui who played in the defeat to Tunisia in the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations final.

“There is a lot of talent, but sometimes difficulty managing emotions during a game. The day they get that breakthrough, they will be very dangerous.”

Egypt coach Hassan backs Salah to shine at Cup of Nations despite Liverpool woes

Friday’s line-up

Before the Group A crunch, Zambia, who claimed a surprise 1-1 draw with Mali on Monday, face Comoros in Casablanca.

The day’s action will kick off with the Group B match between Angola and Zimbabwe.

The outfits will be seeking to relaunch their campaigns following respective opening day defeats to South Africa and Egypt.

Egypt skipper Mohamed Salah scored in second-half stoppage-time to give his side a 2-1 victory in Agadir on Monday.

Angola also went down to a late strike. Defeat for either team in Marrakesh could jeopardise their chances of progress to the last-16 though both squads can take heart from Cote d’Ivoire’s experiences at the last competition.

The Ivorians lost two of their pool matches but managed to qualify for the knockout stages as one of the four best third-placed teams. They eventually claimed the crown.

Morocco boss Regragui includes injured PSG star Hakimi in Cup of Nations squad

Egypt and South Africa will be eyeing a berth in the second phase when they clash in the afternoon in Agadir.

South Africa enter the encounter on the back of a 27-match unbeaten run. 

“It’s a nice record, but it’s nothing more than that,” said South Africa boss Hugo Broos.

“I don’t pay any particular attention to it. We just want to win every game, that’s our philosophy and we try to demonstrate that on the pitch.”

Broos, who steered the Cameroon squad to the trophy at the 2017 Cup of Nations, added: “If you ask me to choose between staying unbeaten or winning the Cup of Nations, I think you can already guess my answer. “

For more than 10 years, Lucia has been the closest thing to a doctor many here have seen.

She is a community health worker, or CHW – part of a vast but often overlooked network of women who quietly sustain Kenya’s rural healthcare system.

Every day before sunrise, she walks up to 20 kilometres on dusty paths and rocky hills to visit people in their homes – checking on pregnant mothers, tending to sick children and referring emergency cases to distant health centres.

Women in rural Kenya urged to shun old ways and use antiseptic on umbilical cord

In places where clinics are scarce and roads barely exist, CHWs like Lucia are a lifeline. People know her, and they trust her. Some owe their lives to her.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Lucia says. “I’m not paid much, but I do it because these are my people. They have no one else to rely on.”

A life-changing gift

Lucia used to spend hours walking between homes, which meant fewer visits and longer days. Then she received a gift that changed everything: a bicycle.

It was given to her by World Bicycle Relief, a global charity working to empower remote communities through mobility. It has distributed more than 24,000 bicycles across Kenya to support health workers, schoolchildren and displaced individuals.

With her new bike, the time Lucia once spent trekking between appointments could now be spent reaching more patients, and getting to them faster.

“This bike is a lifesaver,” she says. “Before, I could visit maybe five homes a day. Now I can reach 15, sometimes 20. Every minute counts.”

Goats for healthcare: an initiative for pastoralists in Kenya

Esther Mwangi, a county health official, knows how crucial such interventions are. “People often underestimate how transformative a bicycle can be, especially in developing regions where the infrastructure supports it,” she said.

“A good quality bicycle means a health worker can serve more patients, and it requires almost no maintenance,” Maureen Kolenyo, regional director of World Bicycle Relief in  East Africa, told RFI.

Government support in Kenya is often lacking, leaving organisations such as hers to step in and fill the gaps.

“We’re working closely with Kenya’s Ministry of Health to identify high-need areas. The pressing question now is: who will invest, and help scale up the solution?” Kolenyo added.

‘I carry my people’

Lucia’s relationship with her community is intimate, born of countless hours spent listening, checking and comforting.

“We can always count on her. She saved my baby,” said Nthenya, a mother of four.

An elderly man who receives weekly check-ups calls her “more reliable than the dispensary”, while one young woman in her final trimester of pregnancy said she sees Lucia as “a second mother”.

At the end of another long day, she mounts her bicycle and begins the steep, uneven ride home. The light is fading and the road is rough, but she is still smiling.

“Before, my legs would be shaking by now,” she says. “But this bicycle – it’s like my partner. It carries me, and I carry my people.”

In his first Christmas sermon since succeeding Pope Francis in May, Leo said the story of Jesus being born in a stable showed that God had “pitched his fragile tent” among the people of the world.

“How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?” he asked the thousands of worshipers gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Leo has addressed the conditions for Palestinians in Gaza several times recently and told journalists last month that the only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians must include a Palestinian state.

The new pope has a quieter, more diplomatic style than his predecessor and usually refrains from making political references in his sermons, but he chose to be more direct about conflicts during his first Christmas mass.

He spoke of the plight of the homeless across the globe and the destruction caused by war more generally.

“Fragile is the flesh of defenceless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” said the pope.

“Fragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.”

In a later blessing, the pope lamented the situation for migrants and refugees who “traverse the American continent” – care for immigrants has been a key issue since he became pope.

While in the past Leo has criticised US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, he did not mention Trump.

In a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday, he said refusing to help the poor and strangers was tantamount to rejecting God himself.

During his Urbi et orbi (to the city and the world) benediction – traditionally given by the pope at Christmas and Easter addressing global conflicts – Leo called for an end to all global wars.

Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, he lamented conflicts, political, social or military, in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, Myanmar, and Thailand and Cambodia, among others.

Leo said people in Ukraine, where Russian troops are threatening cities critical to the country’s eastern defences, have been “tormented” by violence.

“May the clamour of weapons cease, and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue,” he said.

Leo will also hold another mass on Christmas Day, renewing a tradition from the times of late Pope John Paul II.

(with Reuters)

On 30 April 1975, the fall of Saigon – the capital of Southern Vietnam – to the communist-controlled North brought an end to the Vietnam War. A crushing defeat for the United States, it sealed the country’s reunification with a regime that remains in power to this day.

In the late 1970s, many Vietnamese people fled the new republic by sea. Around 120,000 of these so-called “boat people” found refuge in France. There are now an estimated 400,000 people either born in Vietnam or with Vietnamese heritage living in the country.

A large number settled in the town of Bussy-Saint-Georges, east of Paris, where French-Vietnamese people from three generations spoke to RFI.

“April 30, 1975 is a day I will never forget,” says Anh Linh Tran, a former officer in the South Vietnamese army, now in his 70s. Faced with dwindling food and ammunition, he and the 100 men under his command had no choice but to surrender.

“We were very sad, but there was nothing else we could do,” he said. He spent the next three years in prison. 

Vietnam marks 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory over France

Telling ‘almost’ everything

In 1979, he fled Vietnam by boat, carrying the trauma of war with him. He reached Malaysia, then France, where his children were born and raised.

“When they were young, I promised to take them to Vietnam, where I was born,” he recalled. “I said it without thinking much, but they remembered and brought it up years later. As the trip approached, I told them I still wasn’t ready. I can’t stand the regime in place.”

He eventually returned to Vietnam in 2019, 40 years after leaving. That visit inspired his book Goodbye Vietnam, written for his children.

“I describe my time in the army, in prison, and our arrival in France. I tell them almost everything,” he said, admitting that some memories are too painful to share.

Children ‘think like the French’

Fifty-something Tran Phung Vu Nguyen was a child when he arrived in France, and has told his own children less than Anh Linh Tran.

“I don’t tell them about the sadness I experienced,” he said. “I don’t want to impose it on them. It’s not their story.”

He was only nine years old when he left Vietnam. “We escaped on a small boat with about 20 people. A pirate vessel sank us.”

They were eventually rescued by Malaysian sailors and brought to shore. Like many others, he ended up in France, and is now president of the local Vietnamese association.

His children know little about his past, but then “they don’t ask much” either.

“They were born in France, they think like the French,” he says. “Vietnam is more of a tourist destination for them. When I take them to Vietnam, it’s mainly for the scenery.”

As for the memories, “we talk about them here, in France, among ourselves.”

Writing their own story

Eighteen-year-old Minh Quan Vo, a law student in Paris who is second-generation French-Vietnamese, confirms this generational shift. He rarely questions his elders – partly out of fear of reopening old wounds, but also through a desire to write his own story.

“I studied geopolitics in high school, so I understand the importance of memory,” he notes. “But I try not to define myself by my past or my origins. I define myself by my actions.”

War, peace and progress: why 2025 will be a standout year of remembrance

While acknowledging that the past is important, he insists it shouldn’t dictate the future. 

Vo says he will nonetheless take part in commemorations on 4 May in Bussy-Saint-Georges, where a monument pays homage to Vietnamese immigrants.

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This article was adapted from the original in French by RFI’s Baptiste Coulon.

Hello everyone!

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear a “My Ordinary Hero” essay by listener Rasheed Naz from Faisal Abad, Pakistan.  I hope you’ll be inspired to write an essay for us, too!

If your essay goes on the air, you’ll find a package in the mail from The Sound Kitchen. Write in about your “ordinary” heroes – the people in your community who are doing extraordinarily good work, quietly working to make the world a better place, in whatever way they can. As listener Pramod Maheshwari said: “Just as small drops of water can fill a pitcher, small drops of kindness can change the world.”

I am still looking for your “This I Believe” essays, too. Tell us about the principles that guide your life … what you have found to be true from your very own personal experience. Or write about a book that changed your perspective on life, a person who you admire, festivals in your community, your most memorable moment, and/or your proudest achievement. If your essay is chosen to go on-the-air – read by you – you’ll win a special prize!

Send your essays to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Or by postal mail, to:

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Here’s Rashid Naz’s essay:

Heroes are not always found in stories or movies. Sometimes they live among us, quietly working to make our world a better place. My “ordinary” hero is a community leader in our town, someone who has taught me that real heroism comes from serving others with kindness and courage.

Our community leader, Mr. Ahmed, is not rich or powerful, but he has a heart full of compassion. He organizes clean up drives, helps poor families, and encourages young people to stay in school. Whenever there is a problem – a sick neighbor, a broken road, or a family in need – he is the first to step forward. His actions remind us that small efforts can bring big changes.

What I admire most about him is his humility. He never seeks fame or reward. When people thank him, he simply says, “We are all responsible for our community.” Those words inspire me. He believes that leadership means service, not authority, and he proves it every day through his actions.

To many people, he might seem like an ordinary man. But to me, he is a true hero – a symbol of dedication, honesty, and hope. Because of him, I’ve learned that anyone can be a hero, not by wearing a cape, but by using their heart to make a difference.

That is why my “ordinary” hero is our community leader Mr Ahmed, a man whose quiet strength and selfless service continue to inspire us all.

 

 

Be sure and tune in next week for our annual New Year’s Resolutions program! Talk to you then!

Trump is due to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 29 December in Florida.

The meeting is the latest attempt to revive the Gaza plan, which aims to move from a ceasefire towards the creation of a new governing arrangement in Gaza, the deployment of an international force and the disarmament of Hamas.

On Friday, Turkish and Egyptian officials met their US counterparts in Miami.

With a ceasefire in place in Gaza, Washington is pushing the next phase of its plan, which would include Turkish troops in an International Stabilisation Force.

From Washington’s perspective, Turkey’s involvement is considered essential to the plan, said Asli Aydintasbas of the Brookings Institution.

Turkey and Iran unite against Israel as regional power dynamics shift

Israeli objections

Hamas disarmament depends on the creation of a new Palestinian governing entity and the presence of international peacekeepers, with Turkey acting as a guarantor, Aydintasbas said.

“Without Turkey in this process, decommissioning Hamas weapons would not occur. That is implicit in the agreement.”

Turkey’s close ties with Hamas are well known, with senior Hamas figures reportedly hosted in Turkey. While Turkey’s Western allies label Hamas a terrorist group, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said its members are liberation fighters.

Trump has publicly thanked Ankara for using its influence to encourage Hamas to accept the peace plan.

Israel opposes any Turkish military presence in Gaza, fearing Turkey would support Hamas rather than disarm it.

Israel is also concerned about cyber attacks attributed to Hamas operating from Turkish territory and doubts Turkey would act in Israel’s interests, said Gallia Lindenstrauss, a Turkey analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“There’s a risk of an accident between Israeli and Turkish forces, given the already high tensions and suspicions. It’s hard to see a positive outcome,” she said.

Israel has struggled to persuade Trump to back its position. “The US has its own priorities, and is receptive to Ankara due to strong Trump-Erdogan relations,” Lindenstrauss added.

Turkey ready to help rebuild Gaza, but tensions with Israel could be a barrier

Turkey’s position

Erdogan, who has cultivated close ties with Trump, has said Turkey is ready to send soldiers to Gaza. Reports have claimed Turkey has a brigade on standby for deployment.

Turkey’s relationship with Hamas is a “double-edged sword”, said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, head of the German Marshall Fund office in Ankara. From Israel’s point of view, Turkey is too close to Hamas, but “if you want to contribute to disarming them, dialogue is needed”.

Any Gaza mission would be risky, but the Turkish army has decades of experience, Unluhisarcikli said. “It has a proven track record in terms of post-conflict stabilisation from the Balkans to Afghanistan. They have proven they can operate in such environments.”

Despite strained diplomatic ties, the Turkish and Israeli militaries still maintain open communication. The two countries operate a hotline to avoid clashes between their air forces over Syria, demonstrating continued military coordination despite political tensions.

Turkey warns Kurdish-led fighters in Syria to join new regime or face attack

Regional doubts

Egypt and Saudi Arabia distrust Turkey’s ties with Hamas and question its intentions in Gaza, Unluhisarcikli said, with concerns that echo memories of Ottoman-era rule.

On Monday, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack met Netanyahu in an effort to ease Israeli concerns. However, prospects for a breakthrough are likely to depend on this month’s meeting between Netanyahu and Trump.

Incentives may be offered to encourage Israel to accept Turkey’s role, but the issue is unlikely to be resolved that way, said Asli Aydintasbas of the Brookings Institution.

“Because this is such a fundamental and existential issue for Israel, I don’t think incentives will work,” she said.

“As to whether or not Trump would go so far as to withhold military or financial aid, it would be very unlikely. Rather, it may just let this situation sort of fester. I don’t think the Americans have a clear plan to push forward if the answer from Netanyahu is to say no.”

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas!

This is Alberto Rios’ poem, which you heard him read on the programme.

Christmas on the Border, 1929

1929, the early days of the Great Depression.

The desert air was biting, but the spirit of the season was alive.

Despite hard times, the town of Nogales, Arizona, determined

They would host a grand Christmas party

For the children in the area—a celebration that would defy

The gloom of the year, the headlines in the paper, and winter itself.

In the heart of town, a towering Christmas tree stood,

A pine in the desert.

Its branches, they promised, would be adorned

With over 3,000 gifts. 3,000.

The thought at first was to illuminate the tree like at home,

With candles, but it was already a little dry.

Needles were beginning to contemplate jumping.

A finger along a branch made them all fall off.

People brought candles anyway. The church sent over

Some used ones, too. The grocery store sent

Some paper bags, which settled things.

Everyone knew what to do.

They filled the bags with sand from the fire station,

Put the candles in them, making a big pool of lighted luminarias.

From a distance the tree was floating in a lake of light—

Fire so normally a terror in the desert, but here so close to miracle.

For the tree itself, people brought garlands from home, garlands

Made of everything, walnuts and small gourds and flowers,

Chilies, too—the chilies themselves looking

A little like flames.

The townspeople strung them all over the beast—

It kept getting bigger, after all, with each new addition,

This curious donkey whose burden was joy.

At the end, the final touch was tinsel, tinsel everywhere, more tinsel.

Children from nearby communities were invited, and so were those

From across the border, in Nogales, Sonora, a stone’s throw away.

But there was a problem. The border.

As the festive day approached, it became painfully clear—

The children in Nogales, Sonora, would not be able to cross over.

They were, quite literally, on the wrong side of Christmas.

Determined to find a solution, the people of Nogales, Arizona,

Collaborated with Mexican authorities on the other side.

In a gesture as generous as it was bold, as happy as it was cold:

On Christmas Eve, 1929,

For a few transcendent hours,

The border moved.

Officials shifted it north, past city hall, in this way bringing

The Christmas tree within reach of children from both towns.

On Christmas Day, thousands of children—

American and Mexican, Indigenous and orphaned—

Gathered around the tree, hands outstretched,

Eyes wide, with shouting and singing both.

Gifts were passed out, candy canes were licked,

And for one day, there was no border.

When the last present had been handed out,

When the last child returned home,

The border resumed its usual place,

Separating the two towns once again.

For those few hours, however, the line in the sand disappeared.

The only thing that mattered was Christmas.

Newspapers reported no incidents that day, nothing beyond

The running of children, their pockets stuffed with candy and toys,

Milling people on both sides,

The music of so many peppermint candies being unwrapped.

On that chilly December day, the people of Nogales

Gathered and did what seemed impossible:

However quietly regarding the outside world,

They simply redrew the border.

In doing so, they brought a little more warmth to the desert winter.

On the border, on this day, they had a problem and they solved it.

 

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The traditional “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” sung by the Gracias Choir conducted by Eunsook Park, and “Santa Claus Llego A La Ciudad” by J.Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, sung by Luis Miguel.

Be sure and tune in next week, 27 December, for a “My Ordinary Hero” essay by your fellow listener Rasheed Naz.     

As France marks 200 years since Louis Braille invented his system of raised dots allowing blind people to read by touch, we visit the country’s only remaining Braille printing house. At the CTEB in Toulouse, a team of 12 staff and mainly blind volunteers transcribe more than 200 books each year for both adults and children, along with bank statements, brochures and other documents. Despite extremely high production costs, the centre sells its books at the same price as the originals to ensure equal access. Now deeply in debt, it’s calling for state aid to survive – arguing that, even in the age of digital Braille and audio books, turning a page is important in learning to read. (Listen @3’15”)

Scientists are increasingly convinced that the trillions of bacteria living in the human digestive system also contribute to health and wellbeing. Le French Gut is a large-scale study intended to track the connection between the microbiome and disease. Launched in 2023, it aims to recruit 100,000 French participants, to contribute samples and fill out health and diet questionnaires. Now the scientists are looking to get more children on board. Project director Patrick Vega shows the lab and biobank where the bacteria are being analysed, and talks about the discoveries in the gut that could help predict or even cure diseases. (Listen @21’20”)

Seventeenth-century French midwife Louise Bourgeois, the first woman in Europe to publish a medical book, was a pioneer in women’s health at a time when only men were allowed to be doctors and women delivered babies according to tradition, not science. (Listen @14’45”)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

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

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, hosted in Tehran by his Iranian counterpart Abbad Aragchi, declared that both countries see “Israel as the biggest threat to stability in the Middle East”, because of its “expansionist policies”.

Ankara is increasingly angry over Israel’s military operations in Syria, which it considers a threat to security. Syria‘s new regime is a close Turkish ally.

With the Iranian-backed Syrian regime overthrown and Iran’s diminishing influence in the Caucasus, another region of competition with Turkey, Tehran is viewed by Ankara as less of a threat

“Ankara sees that Tehran’s wings are clipped, and I’m sure that it is also very happy that Tehran’s wings are clipped”, international relations expert Soli Ozel told RFI.

Ozel predicts that diminished Iranian power is opening the door for more cooperation with Turkey.

Cooperation

“Competition and cooperation really define the relations. Now that Iran is weaker, the relationship is more balanced. But there are limits, driven by America’s approach to Iran”, said Ozel.

Murat Aslan of SETA, the Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research, a Turkish pro-government think tank, points out that changing dynamics inside Iran also give an impetus to Turkish diplomatic efforts towards Tehran.

Israel talks defence with Greece and Cyprus, as Turkey issues Netanyahu warrant

“Iran is trying to build a new landscape in which they can communicate with the West, but under the conditions they have identified”, observes Aslan.

“In this sense, Turkey may contribute. So that’s why Turkey is negotiating or communicating with Iran just to find the terms of a probable common consensus.”

However, warming relations between Turkey and Iran are not viewed in a favourable light by Israel, whose ministers have in turn accused Turkey of being Israel’s biggest threat.

Tensions are rising over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s strong support of Hamas, which Ankara’s Western allies have designated as a terrorist organisation.

“Obviously, Israel does not want to see Iranian and Turkish relations warm as Israel sees Iran as an existential threat and hence anything that helps Iran is problematic from Israel’s perspective”, warns Turkey analyst Gallia Lindenstrauss at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Turkey warns Kurdish-led fighters in Syria to join new regime or face attack

This month, Israeli security forces accused Hamas of operating a major financial operation in Turkey under Iranian supervision. Many of Hamas’ senior members are believed to reside in Istanbul.

American ally

Israeli concerns over Turkey’s improving Iranian ties will likely be exacerbated with Turkish officials confirming that a visit by President Erdogan to Iran has been “agreed in principle”.

Ankara also has a delicate balancing act to make sure its Iranian dealings don’t risk antagonising its American ally, given ongoing tensions between Tehran and Washington.

Good relations with Washington are vital to Ankara as it looks to US President Donald Trump to help ease tensions with Israel. “For Israel, the United States shapes the environment right now”, observes Aslan.

“The Turkish preference is to have an intelligence diplomacy with Israelis, not to have an emerging conflict, but rely on the American mediation and facilitation to calm down the situation”, added Aslan.

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

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

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

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 on the best-suited activities for your level according to your score.

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

There’s 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 excellent staff of journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

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

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

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

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in all 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 8 November, I asked you a question about an article sent to us by RFI English correspondent Michael Sarpong Mfum, who reports for us from Ghana. His article, “Invasive water hyacinths choke wildlife and livelihoods in southern Ghana”, is about the water hyacinth, a free-floating aquatic plant native to the Amazon River basin in South America. It’s also one of the world’s most invasive species.

The water hyacinth has found its way to Ghana, notably Lake Volta, a vast reservoir behind a hydroelectric dam that generates much of the country’s power.

Your question was: What are the consequences for Ghana’s Eastern and Volta regions from this hyacinth invasion? What did Jewel Kudjawu, the director of the EPA’s Intersectoral Network Department, warn about?

The answer is, to quote Michael’s article: “Jewel Kudjawu, director of the EPA’s Intersectoral Network Department, warned that the weed’s uncontrolled growth has dire consequences for aquatic life, fishing communities and hydropower production.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: What was the best week of your life?

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Radhakrishna Pillai from Kerala State, India. Radhakrishna is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Radhakrishna.

Be sure and look at The Sound Kitchen and the RFI English Listeners Forum Facebook pages to see the stamps from Bhutan with Radhakrishna’s picture!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Debjani Biswas, a member of the RFI Pariwar Bandhu SWL Club in Chhattisgarh, India, and RFI Listeners Club member Mahfuzur Rahman from Cumilla, Bangladesh. Rounding out the list are RFI English listeners Shihabur Rahaman Sadman from Naogaon, Bangladesh, and Bashir Ahmad, a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: Music for the Royal Fireworks by George Frederick Handel, performed by Le Concert des Nations conducted by Jordi Savall; “Igbo Highlife”, produced by Mr. Zion; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Lança Perfume” by Roberto de Carvalho and Rita Lee, sung by Rita Lee.

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 Jan van der Made’s article “EU Council president rejects political influence in US security plan”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 26 January to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 31 January podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

Click here to find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In partnership with Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board.

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

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

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

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

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

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