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TOPIC: africa
After Dutch Apology For Slavery, Why Is Belgium Balking On Its Colonial History?
On the same day that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte officially apologized for the Netherlands' involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, in neighboring Belgium, a parliamentary committee was unable to garner enough political support to apologize for decades of brutal colonization in central Africa.
Belgium and the Netherlands share a border, a language and a bustling trade relationship in the heart of Europe — they also share an ugly colonial legacy.
Yet while the Netherlands offered a landmark official apology this week for its ugly past, politicians in Belgium couldn't agree to do the same with its own colonial atrocities.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte officially apologized on Monday for the Netherlands' involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, saying the country needed to do more to atone for its past. The country will set up a €200 million fund dedicated to raising awareness of the country's past, as well as "addressing the present-day effects of slavery," the Dutch government announced.
But on the same day in neighboring Belgium, a parliamentary committee folded after more than two years of work when members of parliament couldn't agree on whether the country should apologize for decades of brutal colonization in central Africa.
The Belgian government established the committee shortly after the 2020 U.S. murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis set off a global reckoning over racism and colonialism — an event that also partly inspired the Dutch apology.
Fear of reparations
Committee members had reached consensus on nearly all of 128 recommendations to be sent to the Belgian parliament, but couldn't agree on whether the country should make an apology, reported RTBF.
"Why should all Belgians of today apologize?" member of Parliament Maggie De Block asked in November. Some members worried that an official apology could lead to a request for reparations.
Yet for Green party representative Guillaume Defosse, the committee's failure to reach an agreement on apologizing was a "waste, a huge disappointment."
Legacy of King Leopold II
The Belgian government has never apologized for atrocities committed during its colonization of what is now Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
Over four decades, the country's quest for rubber under King Leopold II led to the deaths of as many as 10 million Congolese — cutting the country's population in half by 1920.
"To think that the Congolese, Burundian and Rwandan people deserve nothing but our deep regrets … is to consider that they do not deserve apologies," Belgian lawyer and professor Pierre d'Argent wrote in Brussels-based daily Le Soir this week. "It's putting our dignity ahead of theirs."
An apology for the country's colonial past is long overdue and would be a "dignified and honorable act," d'Argent wrote.
In a visit to Kinshasa in 2022, Belgian King Philippe offered his "deepest regrets" and also brought back a Congolese mask, the first of 84,000 objects plundered from Congo which the Belgian government agreed to return.
Still, Philippe did not officially apologize for the kingdom's decades of bloody rule.
"In the face of the crimes committed by Belgium, regrets are not enough. We expect an apology and a promise of reparations," Congolese Senator Francine Muyumba Nkanga said on Twitter after the king's visit.
Dutch Prime Minster Mark Rutte apologizing for the past actions of the Dutch State: to enslaved people in the past
@DutchMFA
European countries have a mixed record on apologizing for slavery and colonial abuses.
Germany apologized last year for killing 75,000 Herero and Nama people in Namibia in a 1904-1908 campaign the German foreign minister described as genocide.
Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in December that she would return bronze sculptures stolen by British colonizers from what is now Nigeria, on her next visit to the country. The country has already agreed to return more than 500 of the sculptures currently in German museums.
The British royal family has condemned the UK's slave trading, with Prince William recently saying he felt "profound sorrow" for slavery — but the family and British politicians have never officially apologized.
UK institutions including the Bank of England and insurance broker Lloyds of London, as well as the city of Edinburgh have apologized for their participation in the slave trade.
Across the Atlantic, Canadian leaders have apologized on several occasions for the country's residential school system, which separated Indigenous children from their families as part of a system of cultural genocide — although the government has been criticized for not moving quickly enough to address the ongoing effects of colonization.
Reaction to Monday's Dutch apology was mixed in the Caribbean, where Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs of the island nation of Sint Maarten wasn't yet ready to accept an apology.
Local activist and scholar Rhoda Arrindell in the former Dutch Antilles said the Netherlands needs to offer reparations in addition to the apology. "It's a one-sided, colonial approach, and we reject it," she declared.
As for Belgium, and its former colonies, there's an even longer road yet to travel.
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Why It's Time To Abolish Aid To Africa
Aid in its current form is expensive and inefficient. And it isn't needed — Africa is now a dynamic and confident continent. Europe needs a change of perspective to understand that it needs Africa as much as Africa needs Europe.
BERLIN — We have a responsibility to help those in need. That is undeniable. From the earliest days of foreign aid, it was given with the best of intentions — to alleviate poverty in Africa. But since then, it has grown into an entire industry. There are so many organizations, all seeking to do good, but inefficiency and misguided assumptions mean they often fail to achieve what they set out to do.
In my opinion, the aid industry has always shown a hint of disdain towards this emerging, vibrant continent. Yes, it is a complex continent – as they all are. It is marked by poverty and war, but that is not the full picture. That is why we need a new approach. Instead of aid, Germany and the rest of the West should focus on increasing economic cooperation with Africa – as an equal partner.
We have to do away with aid in its current form. It is expensive. It is inefficient. And it doesn't achieve its aims. What we need is a change of perspective. Because Africa doesn't need Europe. Europe needs Africa.
A dynamic and confident Africa
Africa is a continent of young people – the average age is between 20 and 25. Its population is growing faster than anywhere else in the world. The continent is already home to 1.4 billion people. By 2030, that figure could rise to 1.7 billion, meaning the population of Africa would be greater than that of China. And Africa is also experiencing a construction boom. Experts estimate that in the next ten years, there will be more new buildings in Africa than over the past hundred years in Europe.
Six of the ten fastest growing global economies are in Africa, and consumer spending is rising by almost 4%. In 2021, it was over $1.93 billion. Africa is riding a wave of dynamism, confidence and a desire for success.
Many industries, such as tech, medicine and agriculture, are seeing the emergence of a new elite, often educated at top institutions abroad, who are confident in their own abilities and potential. This generation has gained experience in Western industrialized countries and is now returning home and getting to work, rolling up their sleeves and founding companies. That is a game-changer.
Venture capital for Africa
Many people across Africa have long been breaking new ground, especially when it comes to embracing the opportunities of digitization. The number of start-ups on the continent is skyrocketing and large sums of venture capital are flowing into Africa. The question is: why is Germany proving so hesitant?
When half the population is under 20, it is clear that the next few years will see an increase in the number of people of working age who can contribute to the economy. This means Africa is the only continent in the world with a so-called "demographic dividend".
These young people are motivated and keen to learn, and they are being drawn to the cities. While in the past many aimed to become farmers and grow their own food, now more and more young people are looking to fulfill their potential, driven by a desire to become part of the economy. Africa is a continent coming into its own. Its young population means there is a huge potential market for start-ups and modern technology, for medicine and biotech, for culture, fashion, music and films. A market for digital products, software, apps – for the future.
What many in Germany don't realize is that Africa has already taken great strides forward in terms of innovation, leapfrogging stages of industrial development. It went straight from sending letters to using WhatsApp – without the transitional stages of faxes or email. The continent is also miles ahead when it comes to making payments via smartphones. Its population already has more mobile money accounts than traditional bank accounts, with half of all mobile users carrying out transfers via their phones.
Mobile payment platforms that allow fast financial transfers even in the most isolated regions, thus increasing spending power in rural areas, now count tens of millions of users. These digital financial services, known as Fintechs, are paving the way towards a prosperous future for the continent. By 2060 there will be more than a billion people in Africa who belong to the new middle class – the engine of every economy.
People from the Cyclone Idai-stricken area wait for donated food in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe, March 22, 2019.
Shaun Jusa/Xinhua/ZUMA Wire
Catapulting into a new era
To reach their goals, the young middle class are finding jobs in new, flexible companies that are constantly growing. There are already hundreds of companies in Africa with a turnover in the billions. Among them are courier services that have used artificial intelligence to revolutionize parcel deliveries both domestically and abroad, as well as payment platforms that allow small and medium-sized businesses to use e-commerce.
Alongside the Fintechs, Africa has seen the founding of start-ups that aim to produce more plentiful harvests, overcome supply chain difficulties and improve healthcare. Even more importantly, they are growing faster and often have better profit margins than their counterparts on the international stage. These dynamic, highly successful start-ups are head and shoulders above their German competitors – the lodestars of a rapidly growing market.
Many of them assume that free trade and open borders will catapult Africa into a new era. The scene is set for a wave of new start-ups, crying out for stronger links between Germany and Africa.
Europe can no longer afford to dismiss Africa, both politically and economically. We cannot expect Africa to wait patiently for us to realize this – many African countries are already seeking partners for themselves.
Why is China investing so much in Africa?
It's an open secret that China has long recognized. For many years now, China has been Africa's most significant investor and trade partner, pouring money into building infrastructure and developing industrial and commercial centers, and thereby winning a lot of friends on the continent.
Long before the Ukraine war, Russia was making efforts to build relationships with African states, especially in terms of military and security matters. That is especially clear in Mali, where Russia is taking over the role formerly played by Germany and France. The USA is also pursuing security-related and economic interests in Africa.
Africa has an abundance of options to choose from when it comes to international partners – from China and Russia to the USA and Turkey. These countries are all discovering the continent's enormous potential. But although Europe is geographically much closer to Africa than China or Russia are, we Europeans seem reluctant to make use of this strategic advantage. Stronger relations with Africa are not only important when it comes to security and the economy, but also geopolitically, as the global center of gravity drifts inexorably towards Asia.
Unless we engage with Africa, Europe's influence on the world stage will wane. It should go without saying that strong, close, stable relations with Africa also have a positive impact on security and migration. Because people who have promising careers, who found companies and create jobs for others, people who have prospects in their own country will not seek their future in Europe or elsewhere.
Julius Kamau, a vocal human rights activist, protests against poverty and injustice on the streets of Nairobi.
James Wakibia/SOPA Images/ZUMA
A paradigm shift for Europe
People who can see potential in their own country won't risk a dangerous journey and an uncertain future elsewhere. Therefore one of our aims must be investing in businesses to create better economic, social and cultural prospects, to the benefit of everyone involved. People in Africa are very open to working with Europe, and Germany in particular. I see that myself, whether it is in the form of innovative start-up ideas or – in my own industry – incredible music and culture.
That is why in 2018 I partnered with Universal Music Africa to set up the music label Afroforce 1, which aims to open up the German and European markets to African artists.
Through this venture, we are seeking to correct the image that many Europeans have of Africa, their impressions often shaped by outdated ideas. It is a passion project for me, trying to earn the dynamic African music scene the same recognition in Germany that it has long enjoyed elsewhere. If Europe manages to achieve this paradigm shift, if countries like Germany work with African partners to unleash the continent's potential, then we are standing before a bright future in every respect. Africa is ready. Is Europe?
Business Tips, Free Speech, Racism: A Nigerian Writer's China Diaries
The deepening ties between China and Africa are a hot topic, but the voices we hear are usually the same — white and Western. So what does China look like to an African? Nigerian journalist Solomon Elusoji is the best person to ask.
BEIJING — China's increasing trade links with Africa have become the most discussed bilateral relationships of the twenty-first century.
But the opinions we hear are usually white and Western. Solomon Elusoji, a Nigerian journalist, is in a unique position having spent extended periods of time in China. His perspective adds one that is oddly missing from a widely discussed topic — the voices of Africans.
In 2018, at the age of 23, Elusoji was sent to China by his editor at Nigeria's daily newspaper, This Day.
"I knew nothing about China at the time, besides the fact that it was a Communist regime, and a militarized country like North Korea," he says. "To me it is just a faraway country, where African merchants would go purchase cheap products and sell them back in Africa."
Traveling with Big Brother
Elusoji was sent to China by a program sponsored by the China-Africa Press Center, which was eventually funded by China's Foreign Ministry. Clearly, the initiative is part of China's grand diplomatic plan in Africa. Elusoji was given the instructions "to help African journalists understand Chinese media, politics and society."
"When I began to understand China, I came to realize that there is such a different world out there, with realities that would completely not correspond with mine. Being at the edge of discovery, I wanted to know what it was like there."
Inspired by adventure and the unknown, Elusoji went to China. The experience proved to be colorful as well as formative, while his understanding of China has been revolutionized as a result. After returning to Nigeria in 2019, he wrote about his experiences in a book, Traveling with Big Brother: A Reporter's Junket Across China.
A different perspective on China
After accepting the opportunity to report and study in Beijing, Elusoji did what any young journalist would do before a once-in-a-lifetime adventure: he wolfed down a huge amount of information about China.
"All the news and books I found about China were written by white males, and it was almost impossible to find anything written by Africans."
"I don't think a Westerner would be blown away by the infrastructure there when being in China, for example," Elusoji says.
The Western media's approach to China is too dominated by the U.S.–China confrontation.
But when Elusoji arrived in 2018, he was astounded by the urban landscapes when he disembarked his plane in Beijing. "It's a bit like magic... skyscrapers piercing the night sky. The wide roads, the finely intricate flyovers, the almost sacred grandeur of the city... my view of China has been reset." Indeed, this is one of the main points of China's projection of soft power in the developing world – ambitious infrastructure projects that contain transformative power.
The lack of diversity in views of China in the English-speaking world can be very limiting, Elusoji commented. He said the Western media's approach to China is too dominated by the U.S.–China confrontation, which mostly pre-defines the role of individual countries and regions on the chessboard of power confrontation – such as the poverty and helplessness of Africa and the revisionist power of China as a rising power.
"This has no depth and obscures the real issues," he says.
One example Elusoji cites is Beijing's notion of the "right to development" as part of global politics and human rights, a concept that has been promoted almost shrilly over the past few years. For the most part, this has been dismissed by the Western media. It is often seen merely as a challenge to Western notions of human rights and political freedom. However, "for people from Africa, where most people are poor, the concept doesn't necessarily sound like a bad idea."
Elusoji is careful not to pick one side or the other. The issue is big, complex and intertwined with a past as a colony and a competing vision of the future. Perhaps, in any case, this dichotomy is wrong. "As a journalist, I probably put the most emphasis on political freedom... but at the same time I understand that economic freedom can be a powerful thing. The two can co-exist."
Elusoji uses Twitter to discuss China, human rights, development and other issues, and continues to work with Nigerian media to cover China-related stories
Solomon Elusoji's Twitter account
Thinking about Africa in Beijing
However, having lived in China, Elusoji was led to a clear conclusion. "Indeed, Africa has a lot to learn from China." In the book, Elusoji explores that on a deeper level. While staying in China, he found himself observing and "wondering what could have been done [in Africa]." There was a sense that China was doing something right, while too many African countries were on a path of wasted hope.
This often stems from poverty as well as corrupt politics. "Time and time again, African governments have failed their populations, choosing the latter between the people and power," says Elusoji. This is a problem that has deeply affected relations between China and Africa. Ultimately, according to Elusoji, the success or failure of this bilateral relationship will be determined by how African governments approach it. In other words, Sino-African relations need to be more grounded in the realities of African politics than is usually the case for it to work.
"Of course, China is good for Africa. China has the capacity to be useful for Africa's economic development... the issue of getting rid of distractions allows us to focus on the real issue, which is to give Africa control over its own destiny... what matters, really, is the way in which Africa should come to the fore?"
Are Chinese racists against Africans?
There is one issue that profoundly shakes relations between China and Africa — racism.
It is a complex issue, and Elusoji is somewhat resistant to using the term in the context of China's attitude to Africa. "The word 'racism' is closely associated with slavery and colonialism," he says, "and I would associate racism with whiteness and the West. For example, I find it hard to imagine a black man being racist against a white man, or a Chinese being racist against a black man. Racism exists in a very strong political and social context."
The Chinese government does show respect when it comes to Africa, far more than what Western countries have been doing all along. As Elusoji points out, African leaders visiting Beijing often enjoy a red carpet greeting. And China's engagement with Africa is not accompanied by demands on the latter's way of governing their countries. "There's a lot of talk about Chinese expansionism in Africa, but that's not the same thing [as the reality]," Elusoji concludes.
Noting that racism in China is "subtle, difficult to articulate and easy to ignore," he also points out that underneath the propaganda machine's insistence on equal brotherhood between China and Africa, there is an implicit narrative that China is "helping" Africa, a narrative that further contributes to the perception that Africans are poor and inferior.
However, Elusoji remains unclear on how to deal with this issue.
"Racism in China is a big problem, something that is very bad for many Africans living in China. But what can you do about it? What leverage do we have to deal with it? So many people just ignore it and go on with their normal lives."
Essentially, Elusoji believes that "African countries need to become better versions of themselves", which links to his argument that African countries need to "come to the fore" in China-Africa relations.
He believes that good governance and solid economies in Africa will be the antidote to the racist sentiments that linger in China, Europe and the world. At this level, bilateral relations between China and Africa offer an opportunity to overcome racism, provided that African governments manage the relationship properly and make the most of the opportunities available to strengthen Africa.
Returning to Lagos
Since returning to Nigeria's seaport and largest city, Lagos, in 2019, Elusoji has become increasingly active in the community of African journalists who are interested in or have spent time in China. He uses Twitter to discuss China, human rights, development and other issues, and continues to work with Nigerian media to cover China-related stories.
China will play a huge role in the world.
The reaction to his reporting and his new perspective on China received mixed reviews from across Nigeria. Many heartily appreciate the new perspective he projects on China, a country often considered mysterious and unknowable, while others see him as "some kind of Chinese agent".
"In general, I think a lot of Nigerians want to know more about China, but there are not enough reasons to make such an effort. For example, because of the language barrier," Elusoji says. "But ultimately, China will play a huge role in the world economy and politics in this century, especially as it relates to the development of African countries. For better or worse."
Meet Ibrahim Traoré, Russia's Favorite New Strongman In Africa
While Russia is suffering bitter setbacks in the Ukraine war, it is successfully expanding its influence in Africa. With Burkina Faso, Moscow has succeeded in detaching another country from the French sphere of influence. The Kremlin was not only motivated by security policy, but also by digging into the resources available.
Experience shows that the number of well-wishers after coups d'état is close to zero.
The situation is different for Burkina Faso's new military ruler, Ibrahim Traoré. Although he received the expected condemnation for his September 30 coup from the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the West African confederation Ecowas, he also received benevolent words — from Russia.
They came from Russian oligarch Yevgini Prigozhin, founder of the Kremlin-affiliated mercenary group Wagner.
"I congratulate and support Captain Ibrahim Traoré," the Putin loyalist announced just hours after the coup, when the whole world was still puzzling over who exactly is this soldier, who is just 34 years old and has emerged from the middle ranks of the army hierarchy.
He is "a truly worthy and courageous son of his homeland," Prigozhin explained.
Russia's friend in Ouagadougou
The Kremlin apparently sees in Africa's youngest head of state the ally it had hoped for in the person of Traoré's predecessor earlier this year. At that time, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a far better-known military leader, seized power.
Unlike Traoré, he brought down a democratically elected president at the time. Unlike the military in neighboring Mali, however, he did not steer his country toward Russian spheres of influence to the extent Moscow had hoped.
The "epidemic of coups d'état" that has occurred primarily in Africa over the past two years continues
That is more likely to be the case under Traoré. Russian flags could be seen in pictures of his supporters, and journalists reported pro-Russian chants. And Traoré hastily spoke of Russia as a possible new partner. Like his predecessor Damiba, he has justified his intervention by citing failure to fight terrorist groups, some of which have loose ties to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
In Burkina Faso, many citizens attribute this failure to France. The former colonial power has a base on the outskirts of the capital, Ouagadougou, and provides the country with military support.
One of Traoré's henchmen sparked attacks by protesters against the French embassy, stores and a cultural center when he claimed the former colonial power was hiding the ousted Damiba — something France promptly denied. It is now clear that Damiba has fled to Togo.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Alpha Barry (R) during a meeting on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters.
Russian Foreign Ministry/ZUMA
Why is France losing influence in Africa?
Burkina Faso has experienced the most rapid deterioration of the security situation of all the Sahel states this year. With 3,252 deaths, it is already far above last year's figure (2,359) and almost on a par with Mali. The government now controls only a good half of the country. More than two million people have had to flee. That is one in ten of the total population.
With the second coup within eight months in Burkina Faso, the "epidemic of coups d'état" that has occurred primarily in Africa over the past two years continues. "The extent to which Russia is behind the new coup is still unclear," says Ulf Laessing, the head of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung's Sahel regional program.
The Kremlin has been courting military cooperation with Burkina Faso for some time, as it has long done in Mali. "At least parts of the military government have sympathies for Russia," says Laessing, "the new government will not be able to ignore the pro-Russian sentiment."
Burkina Faso is also of interest to the Kremlin economically
This has been systematically built up for years. Burkina Faso is one of the most successful markets for Russian foreign broadcaster Sputnik, and Russia Today has also massively expanded its French-language propaganda offerings here. In addition, the Prigozhin troll factory "Internet Research Agency" continues to heat up the mood against the former colonial power France in social media.
This benefits Russia's geopolitical interests, which, after the Central African Republic and Mali, is trying to detach another country from France's sphere of influence in Africa. Moreover, the crisis in Burkina Faso could worsen security in neighboring Côte d'Ivoire — France's most important ally in West Africa.
Geopolitical dependence on the Kremlin
But Burkina Faso is also of interest to the Kremlin economically. The structurally weak country is the fourth largest gold producer on the continent. "Several Russian mining companies are already digging for gold there," says Laessing, "so the payment of possible Wagner mercenaries could also be settled quickly."
That's because Wagner has its services paid for with mining concessions, the terms of which are handled confidentially. That's what happened in Sudan, the Central African Republic and, most recently, Mali — all of which are among the continent's more resource-rich countries.
To make this possible in the long term, Prigozhin helps autocratic regimes maintain power — and incidentally creates an existential geopolitical dependence on the Kremlin.
So far, however, the Kremlin mercenaries have not had any real successes in the fight against terrorism. In Mali, the number of attacks continued to rise after France's withdrawal. And in Mozambique, after massive losses, several hundred terrorists were already defeated in 2019. After just a few weeks.
Migrant Lives
Eleonora Camilli
Lampedusa Postcard: "Invisible" Migrants As Campaign Propaganda
As Italy prepares to vote, migration from Africa is once again a hot topic, even as the number of arrivals is dropping. A view from the tiny Italian island that has been at the center of the debate for more than a decade, where the specter of migrants is rolled out as prime election propaganda.
LAMPEDUSA — The double-decker boat slowly approaches the dock while Italian rock music plays. It is just after 9 p.m., and the air is warm and windy. The many people on board gather bags, shoes and towels and head for the exit.
"Nice, we had a good time," say two tourists from the northern Italian city of Bergamo as they get on the scooter parked at the end of the pier.
The evening cruise lasted four hours: it included a tour of the most beautiful beaches, dolphin spotting, an aperitif with a D.J. set, and food before returning. It was a long party on the sea, one of the countless attractions of the island of Lampedusa, which is still filled with tourists even as summer fades.
This image might seem out of place for an island that has become synonymous with migration. But Lampedusa, a 22-square-kilometer island closer to the African coast than the Italian mainland, remains a popular spot for Italian holiday-goers, especially in summer when there are direct flights from Rome and Milan.
But in Italy, the issue of immigration to the island is back front and center of political debate as the country prepares to vote in late September.
The hotspot
Not far away another boat has recently docked at another pier: it is a patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian arm of the police force responsible for financial crime and smuggling. On board are 20 migrants from Tunisia, four of whom are minors. The first to disembark, limping, is a tall, thin boy. He advances slowly up the ladder, touching his knee.
Waiting for him are police officers, cultural mediators and some volunteers who hand everyone a glass of water, juice and cookies. Another boy slumps down for a few minutes, holding his head, then gets up and lines up with the other fellow travelers who have just disembarked.
Migrants do not exist.
Together, they board the white bus that awaits them at the end of the dock, cross the city and, passing restaurants full of vacationers, they arrive at the Contrada Imbriacola center, the initial reception center, better known as the "hotspot". The facility that houses them is outside the town; they will remain there until the day they are transferred to the mainland or repatriated.
On this island that symbolizes migration in Italy, migrants do not exist. They are a constant but invisible presence: from the hotspot you cannot leave and only security and reception staff can enter. Not even journalists are allowed in.
Detention, not reception
Until 2019, thanks to a hole in the fence, it was not uncommon to meet newly disembarked migrants, particularly around the church, where the parish priest shared free WiFi to allow them to communicate with family members back home. When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the net surrounding the center was reinforced to prevent the spreading of the virus.
"This place looks more like a detention center than a place for an initial reception. It is constantly manned by law enforcement," explains Angelo Farina, one of the two doctors at the hotspot.
The procedure after disembarkation is the same for everyone: swabbing, photosignaling and pre-identification.
"Our job is to do proper medical screenings to identify vulnerable cases and then transfer the clinical information of each migrant to the second reception doctors. But in the summer, with the increase in arrivals, it is difficult for us to operate. The whole system is designed in an emergency set-up. Every year the same management problems occur even if few people arrive."
Hard numbers
Between January and August 2022, 57,168 migrants arrived by sea in Italy, an increase compared to 2021 (when there were 39,410). But a sharp decrease compared to 2016-2017, the years of the greatest influx of refugees to Italy and Europe, when respectively 115,068 and 99,119 people arrived on Italian shores.
Actually, the number of arrivals in August in Lampedusa has been similar to last year: 5,425 arrivals in 176 landings, compared to 5,210 arrivals in 189 landings in 2021. From Aug. 18 to 25, due to strong mistral winds, no one landed.
From Aug. 26 on, as sea conditions improved, as many as 40-50 barges a day arrived. This situation again produced overcrowding at the center, which has a maximum capacity of 350 people but some days has to house over 1,000 if people cannot be transferred to facilities in other Italian cities.
Salvini landing
Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Northern League party, made a surprise return to Lampedusa on Aug. 31. He had already visited the island earlier in the month to inaugurate his electoral tour. This time, he again toured inside the Contrada Imbriacola center, accompanied by the island's deputy mayor, Attilio Lucia, a member of his party.
Following the same pattern as his first visit, he expressed solidarity with the police officers working at the facility, did not speak to the migrants present, but only included them in some video selfies, pointing out that they sleep in cramped conditions and that "they all have cell phones." He then denounced the "unworthy conditions", that have nonetheless been the same for months.
On his first visit, after a tour of the center, Salvini had also toured the most beautiful coves of the island aboard the Gamar, the leisure boat that first came to the rescue after the Oct. 3, 2013, shipwreck in which 368 people died.
We do not want Lampedusa to be exploited for electoral purposes.
Sitting outside his ice cream shop, Vito Fiorino, former owner of the boat, is pained to remember that morning.
"The tourist season was ending. We had decided to spend the night with some friends out on the boat. At dawn we woke up to return to the port when we heard noises in the distance. It sounded like seagulls. We got closer and never expected to see so many bodies in the water near the shore. After we called for help and started to pull up people, live bodies, lifeless bodies. The boat is approved to handle nine people, we managed to get 47 survivors in."
For four years, Fiorino was unable to talk about the experience, then he sold the boat and today he goes to schools to talk to kids about migration.
"When the photos of Salvini on that boat came out so many people called me, I didn't know what to say. The Gamar is no longer mine, but it is certainly a symbol. We still talk about stopping migration, without asking what is happening at sea, without questioning... the detention centers where people are held."
Matteo Salvini at a hotspot in Lampedusa island, Italy
Elio Desiderio/ANSA/ZUMA
Mediterranean hope
"The real emergency is about the people who can't make it to Lampedusa," points out Giovanni D'Ambrosio, a worker with Mediterranean Hope, the migrant and refugee program of the Federation of Evangelical Churches.
D'Ambrosio has lived on the island for a year-and-a-half and says that arrivals have been increasing for the past few months — Tunisian families as well as migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh who work in Libya.
"We talked to Egyptian kids who had transited through Libyan detention centers and they were upset: one of the words they remember and repeated was jalis, sit, which the jailers shouted all the time," he says.
"We do not want Lampedusa to be exploited for electoral purposes. We think the solutions for proper management of arrivals exist. The numbers are not alarming. We have been saying this for a long time: we need quick transfers, including through air bridges so that the facility is not constantly overcrowded."
Meloni's "blockade"
Politicians can't agree on what to do.
The right-wing coalition (made up by the far-right Fratelli d'Italia and Northern League, together with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia) pushes for a firm hand to stop arrivals. Salvini wants new versions of security decrees that were enacted during the government of former president Giuseppe Conte but that were ruled partly unconstitutional by some Italian courts.
Giorgia Meloni of Fratelli d'Italia talks about a "naval blockade." It makes a nice election slogan that she constantly proposes on social networks, but is unworkable in reality because it would amount to a hostile act of war. Addressing criticism of the idea, she corrected herself and said she meant a "political — not legal — naval blockade". She explained that the idea is actually to stop arrivals through a new agreement with Libya, similar to the pact between the European Union and Turkey.
Migrants are the object of propaganda.
Adding to this is the proposal of hotspots in Africa to screen migrants before departure, but the solution is difficult to implement because it goes against the right to asylum, which requires access to the territory of the state where one wants to seek protection.
When it comes to the center-left Democratic Party, migration occupies a small amount of print in their manifesto. There is space only for Jus Scholar, the reform of law to give citizenship to children born and raised in Italy who have attended school for at least five years.
"The most complex, sensitive and divisive issue in contemporary politics is addressed with few words and superficially by almost all parties," says Gianfranco Schiavone, a member of the Association for Legal Studies of Immigration (Asgi).
Schiavone continues: "It is the right-wing parties that give the most space to the issue, but without any real analysis. They repeat that there are too many migrants, that only legal entries should be allowed, but the solutions remain archaic and not in step with the times. There is no reflection on Italian demographics or how the phenomenon has changed over the years. No party has an overall, real, detailed vision. They all use the same tones and language. It is a movie we have already seen: migrants are not rights-bearing subjects, but the object of propaganda."
Bertrand Hauger, Anna Akage, Meike Eijsberg, Chloe Touchard and Emma Albright
Retaking Kherson, Ukraine's Southern Counteroffensive Has Begun
Six months into the war, Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive in southern Ukraine to retake Russian-controlled territory. According to an on-the-ground military source, contacted by CNN, "the operation began at night with massive shelling of Russian positions and the rear." Ukraine has liberated four villages so far: Nova Dmytrivka, Arkhanhel's'ke, Tomyna Balka and Pravdyne, while Kyiv's main target remains Kherson.
Situated in the south of Ukraine, Kherson is a port city that serves as a bridge to and from Crimea. It was also the first major city in Ukraine to be occupied by Moscow's troops. In recent days, the Ukrainian military has managed to cause damage to "bridges across the Dnipro," according to military officials in a Telegram post, making it "possible to cut off the Russian army from the supply of weapons and personnel from Crimea."
Meanwhile, five people have been reported killed in the city of Kharkiv on Tuesday morning due to Russian shelling, according to Ukrainian regional governor Oleh Synehubov.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed in his nightly address on Monday to "chase" Russian troops to the border. Meanwhile, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south of the country will be a "slow operation to grind the enemy."
Vladimir Leontiev, head of the Russian-backed administration of the Kherson region, says the situation in the area has been "tense" and there have been "around 15" missile strikes over the course of the past two days. Quoted by Russian state news agency TASS, Leontiev says "These are not single strikes, but a series of strikes. As such we can probably say that up to 100 missiles in total have hit the city."
New Satellite Images Show Zaporizhzhia Destruction As UN Experts Reach Kyiv
\u201cNew #satelliteimagery from this morning, August 29, 2022, of the #Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, #Ukraine. A group of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (#IAEA) prepare to visit the facility this week.\u201d
— Maxar Technologies (@Maxar Technologies) 1661787224
A team of 14 experts from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday. They are planning a visit to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine later this week. This comes after weeks of shelling at the plant that sparked global fears of a nuclear accident. The mission will be led by International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Rafael Grossi.
New satellite images from Maxar Technologies show four holes in the roof of a building close to where at least three Russian armored personnel carriers are being stored at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Vladimir Rogov, the Russian-appointed leader for the Zaporizhzhya region, claims that the holes were caused by Ukrainian military strikes. The Ukrainian government denies any involvement in such actions near the plant in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the White House has said that Russia should agree to a demilitarized zone around the nuclear plant. According to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, a controlled shutdown of the plant would be the safest option.
Due to the counteroffensive the Ukrainian army has launched in the south of the country, thousands of people fleeing Russian-occupied territories have made their way to cities in the Zaporizhzhia area, as fears of shelling trump risks of radiation leaks from fighting at the plant.
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Fears On Portuguese Front Page
El Periodico
UN Nuclear Watchdogs In Spain's ABC
"The Whole Of Europe Would Be Affected" Says French Daily Libération
Russia Receives First Batch Of Drones From Iran
Iranian drones
@EA_WorldView
The Russian army has received the first batch of drones from Iran, capable of carrying high-precision weapons. The number of military drones is unknown, although Moscow military sources claim there are "hundreds."
The White House warned last month of the risk of Russia using Iranian drones in Ukraine, which Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian denied, saying that Tehran did not intend to sell drones to Moscow.
The use of Iranian drones, which can also be used for surveillance, could have a significant impact on the battlefield as they could prove instrumental in limiting the damage caused by Ukraine's High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), provided by the United States and its allies.
Europe Torn On Tightening Russian Visas
The EU countries' defence ministers in Prague
Michal Kamaryt/CTK/Zuma
European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Prague today and tomorrow to discuss the process of issuing tourist visas for Russian citizens and whether to tighten it.
Germany and France have issued a joint warning against the ban on Russian visas, arguing that such a step would be counterproductive: "We caution against far-reaching restrictions on our visa policy, in order to prevent feeding the Russian narrative and trigger unintended rallying-around-the-flag effects and/or estranging future generations," they said in a joint memo.
Others, in particular Northern member states, are in favor of a ban. "It is very provocative to me that you see Russian men on European beaches in Southern Europe and at the same time Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years cannot even leave their country but have to fight for their freedom," Denmark's Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said last week.
France Grapples With Reduced Russian Gas Delivery, Germany Faces "Bitter Reality"
ENGIE headquarters in Paris' La Défense
Concerns about energy supplies for Europe's upcoming winter are increasing as Russia's Gazprom informed France's ENGIE it is reducing its gas deliveries, starting today, due to a disagreement between the parties on the application of some contracts, the French energy company said.
Russian gas deliveries to ENGIE had already fallen significantly since the start of the conflict in Ukraine. But the French group said that it has already put in place measures to be able to supply its customers even in case of interruption of Gazprom's flows.
Germany, meanwhile, faces the "bitter reality" that Russia will not restore gas supplies to the country, the German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said. His comment comes in the wake of Gazprom announcing it would halt natural gas supplies to Europe for three days at the end of the month for unscheduled maintenance to the Nord Stream pipeline.
Russia's Oil Output Exceeds Predictions, But Sanctions Will Make Things Harder
Russia oil platform
www.needpix.com
According to the latest report by the International Energy Agency, although Russian oil exports fell in July as compared to the start of the year, the decline is nowhere near the large slump some experts had predicted. But the consequences of West-imposed sanctions may change that scenario soon.
As the head of IEA Fatih Birol told Reuters, "in the absence of [western] companies, in the absence of the technology providers, in the absence of service companies, it will be much harder for Russia to maintain the production". He added that "Russia is not winning the energy battle here."
First Ukrainian Grain Shipment Reaches Africa
MV Brave Commander
@GlasnostGone
The MV Brave Commander, carrying the first Africa-bound grain shipment, has arrived in Djibouti two weeks after leaving the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi. The United Nations World Food Programme's Executive Director David Beasley shared the news on Twitter.
The ship's 23,000 tons of wheat is mainly directed to Ethiopia, as the country deals with its worst drought in 40 years. Over 20 million people face hunger in the Horn of Africa.
Ukraine has exported more than 1 million tons of grain since the naval blockade was lifted in July, and a UN-brokered grain deal was struck. Dozens of more shipments are on their way.
Hugh Bonneville Voices Documentary On Ukraine Monuments Destruction
British actor Hugh Bonneville, famous for his role in the TV drama Downton Abbey, has voiced the story of the cultural monuments that Russian troops damaged and destroyed in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
Bonneville narrated the first video of a series entitled "Postcards from Ukraine". Launched by the Ukrainian Institute with the support of USAID, the series aims at creating a record of the destruction of historical and cultural monuments around the country since the start of the Russian invasion in February.
More than 100 such "postcards" about cultural heritage sites from different regions of Ukraine will be released, both in Ukrainian and English, featuring Ukrainian and international celebrities.
Anna Akage and Emma Albright
Putin Blames U.S. For "Dragging Out" Conflict
While delivering the welcome address at the Moscow Conference on International Security on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin accused Washington of "dragging out" the conflict in Ukraine. The Russian president also mentioned the visit by Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan earlier this month, calling it a "thoroughly planned provocation". The conference, which runs from Aug. 15 to 17, is hosted by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and will include several panels on global security issues.
Putin added that Western countries were trying to extend a "NATO-like system" into the Asia Pacific region. For Putin, NATO's expansion in Europe was one of the main causes for his invasion of Ukraine. Putin had previously accused NATO of launching an active military build-up on territories surrounding Russia during a speech to mark Russia's Victory Day in May.
Earlier in the week, Putin addressed an arms show outside of Moscow, where he insisted Russian weaponry was years ahead of the competition. He also said that Russia was ready to sell advanced weapons to allies around the world and participate in developing military technology. This comes nearly six months into the war in Ukraine, during which the Russian army has been hit harder than expected, resulting in the Kremlin's forces being pushed out of Ukraine's two biggest cities.
During his address, Putin emphasized his strong ties with Latin America, Asia and Africa by promising that he was ready to supply his allies with a full range of weapons, "almost all of which have been used more than once in real combat operations."
War Spreads To Crimea As It Is Rocked By Latest Blast
\u201cCrimea, Dzhankoy\n\n Explosions at the ammunition depot - media in the occupied Crimea\u201d
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Anton Gerashchenko) 1660630896
The Ukraine war has gradually spread to Russian-annexed Crimea. Early this morning, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that there was a fire at a temporary ammunition storage site near the village of Mayskiy, in the north of Crimea. Local authorities are evacuating nearby villages.
This is the second such detonation of ammunition in Crimea. Last week, an explosion at a military airfield reportedly destroyed at least eight Russian military aircraft. Ukraine has refrained from commenting. However, since no strikes were recorded from the sky, experts have put the attack down to either long-range missiles or Ukrainian guerrillas operating in Crimea.
Russian Military Leadership Leaves Kherson
Russian soldier in Kherson
Sergei Bobylev/TASS
The Ukrainian army continues active military operations to recapture the Kherson region in the south of Ukraine. The Antonovsky bridge, a key crossing point for the Russians, was critically damaged, making it impossible for Russian troops to bring equipment across. This proved troubling for the Russian occupying administration in the region: The head of the Kherson regional council, Yuri Sobolevsky, stated that most representatives of the Russian military command had left Kherson.
Losing Kherson would be a big blow to Putin, as the region provides water to Russian-occupied Crimea and is a key foothold to taking the city of Odessa.
Russia's "Second Army": HQ Of Wagner Paramilitary Attacked
Russian Telegram channels reported an attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the headquarters of the Wagner Group, a Russian private paramilitary organization, in Popasna, a Russian-occupied city in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian special services initially believed the news to be fake, but Wagner later confirmed the strike. Ukraine has not yet commented on the attack.
Many Russian channels have reported that the Wagner Group is no longer a private military unit but has essentially become Russia's second army. Its unconfirmed owner, Alexei Prigozhin — an oligarch and friend of Putin's — has been recruiting soldiers directly from Russian prisons, regardless of the severity of the crime.
First Aid Ship Bound For Africa Leaves Ukrainian Port
Ship Brave Commander on its way to Africa
Brave Commander, a ship carrying the first cargo of humanitarian food for Africa since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has left the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi.
It is loaded with more than 23,000 tons of wheat and should reach Ethiopia in two weeks' time. Kyiv's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted on Tuesday: "I'm thankful to the United Nations and World Food Programme for your support and all the hard work you have done." The UN has repeatedly warned that the war in Ukraine threatens some African nations with a food crisis.
Russia had been blockading ports along the Black Sea. However, a deal was struck in Istanbul last month to allow Ukrainian grain exports to resume. Since then, 17 ships carrying tons of agricultural exports have left the ports.
Ukraine Premier League Set To Begin Again
A view of the Donbass Arena football stadium in 2021
Valentin Sprinchak/TASS/Zuma
Six months after Russia's invasion, Ukraine is preparing to resume its home soccer competitions, in spite of the war still raging on.
"Restarting football is a big step for the country," says Andriy Pavelko, head of the Ukrainian Football Association. "It's a sign to the world that Ukraine can and will win. It's also a sign to society that we are confident."
Pavelko added that discussions are continuing with the Ministry of Defense over how best to hold matches this season. For the moment, spectators will not be able to attend and stadiums will be equipped with air-raid sirens and bomb shelters.
Lila Paulou, Lisa Berdet, McKenna Johnson and Anne-Sophie Goninet
Russia Cuts Gas To Europe, Myanmar Protests, SpaceX Rival
👋 Yokwe!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where Europe braces for Russia turning off gas, an architect of Northern Ireland peace deal dies and a European rival to SpaceX is taking shape. Meanwhile, we look at what makes the Ukrainian port city of Odessa such a strategic and symbolic target for Vladimir Putin.
[*Marshallese, Marshall Islands]
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🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Europe prepares for Russian gas cut: European Union countries have agreed on an emergency plan to curb their gas demand after Russia announced it will significantly cut gas supplies to the continent to 20% of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline capacity beginning Wednesday.
• Tensions over Nancy Pelosi's planned visit to Taiwan: U.S. authorities have shown concern over China's warnings that "resolute and forceful measures" would be taken if a potential visit to Taipei by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi went ahead. Some Chinese experts have suggested the measures could involve a military component.
• Northern Ireland's David Trimble dies: Northern Ireland's first First Minister David Trimble, who played a key role in the end of the Troubles, has died at 77. As the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, he helped forge the Good Friday agreement alongside nationalist leader John Hume, for which they were both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998.
• Macron's Africa tour: French President Emmanuel Macron has begun a three-country trip to western Africa with a first stop in Cameroon. Macron will then follow with visits to Benin and Guinea-Bissau, in a bid to renew post-colonial relationship with the African continent.
• Japan executes mass murderer: Japan has executed 39-year-old Tomohiro Kato, who killed 7 people and wounded 8 others in Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district in 2008. This is the first execution of 2022 in Japan, where more than 100 prisoners remain on death row.
• Shooter kills two in Canada: A 28-year-old gunman killed two people and severely injured two others before being shot dead by police in Langley, a city in the suburbs of Vancouver.
• Fewer shrimp on the barbie: Local groups and Maori tribes in New Zealand's North Island have called for authorities to implement temporary bans on gathering from rockpools and shorelines, amid fears that overfishing (and New Zealanders' taste for barbecued anemones, shrimp, crabs and starfish) might drive some species to extinction and disrupt ecosystems.
🗞 FRONT PAGE
"The pope asks for forgiveness," titles Canadian daily Le Journal de Montréal after Pope Francis began his weeklong "pilgrimage of penance" to the country by apologizing for the Catholic Church's role in the abuse of Indigenous children in residential schools and promised a "serious investigation." Last year, hundreds of unmarked graves had been discovered on the grounds of former residential schools in the country, many of which were run by the Catholic Church.
#⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
French satellite company Eutelsat is set to merge with OneWeb in a deal valuing the British company at $3.4 billion. The move could help create a European rival to Elon Musk's SpaceX. After merging, the companies could combine resources to build a constellation of low-orbit satellites, as demand for launches is expected to increase after the Russian space launch industry was sidelined because of sanctions linked to the invasion of Ukraine.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
What is Putin's endgame in Odessa?
The timing and location of Russia's latest attacks shows that the southern Ukrainian city is more important than ever to Vladimir Putin, for symbolic and strategic reasons.
💥 When Moscow and Kyiv signed their UN-brokered "Black Sea initiative" deal Friday in Istanbul, Ukraine's southern ports were set to reopen and resume the regular flow of wheat and maize exports. But within hours the most important of those Ukrainian ports came under fire from a Russian missile attack. Moscow, after first denying responsibility, later claimed to having launched the strike at military targets and that no grain storage facilities had been hit. And yet, it is impossible to deny that the timing — and location — was anything but intentional.
📍 Known as the "Pearl by the Sea," Odessa has long been a travel destination and well-known for a thriving economy and lively mix of cultures and ethnicities. Now, in the context of the grain agreement, its significance has multiplied: a unique vantage point from which to control the development of the world food crisis. The capture or destruction of Odessa (as was done in Mariupol, another port city 600 kilometers due east) would allow Russia to have its hand on the lever on the world's food supply.
🤝 The attack also comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov embarks on a tour of several countries in Africa. With 44% of Africa's wheat coming from Russia and Ukraine, Moscow's intentions may well be cynically aligned with keeping Africa dependent on Russia. Having cultivated ties in the region through commodities, weapons and energy deals, as well as by deploying Russian mercenaries linked to the Kremlin (such as the Wagner Group) to support local political leaders or movements in some areas and foment discord in others, Russia hopes to deepen Africa's reliance on the Kremlin, and thereby widen its sphere of influence.
➡ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📣 VERBATIM
It was a masterclass in leadership.
— During an interview with the BBC, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair paid tribute to former First Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble, who died on Monday at 77. He was the unionist co-architect of the Good Friday Agreement that ended The Troubles that lasted for decades in Ireland and for which he won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1998.
✍ Newsletter by Lila Paulou, Lisa Berdet, McKenna Johnson and Anne-Sophie Goninet
Let us know what's happening in your corner of the world!
info@worldcrunch.com
Russian Gas Flows Again, Draghi Resigns, Australia's Pink Glow
👋 A jaaraama!*
Welcome to Thursday, where Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigns, the race for Britain's leadership narrows down to two, and Australia's sky turns pink. Meanwhile, Fiore Longo in Spanish magazine La Marea reports on the fate of the Maasai ethnic group in eastern Africa, let down by ineffective conservationist movements.
[*Fula, West and Central Africa]
• Russian pipeline resumes pumping gas to Europe: Russia has resumed the pumping of gas to Europe via its biggest pipeline, Nord Stream 1, after a 10-day outage which was due to maintenance. Flows have been cut to 40% of the pipeline's capacity since mid-June following tensions over the war in Ukraine, prompting fears over European countries' winter supply.
• Russia's expanded territorial goals in Ukraine: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with state media that Russia's territorial ambitions in Ukraine now go further than the Donbas region. Lavrov expressed interest in gaining military control over the "Kherson region, the Zaporizhia region and a number of other territories."
• Mario Draghi resigns: Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has confirmed his resignation after the three parties composing his coalition did not participate in a vote of confidence in the Senate on Thursday. Draghi's resignation will likely lead to snap elections after the summer.
• Next British prime minister will be her or him: The British Conservative party chose Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak as the two candidates in the runoff vote to replace Boris Johnson as party leader and Prime Minister. The winner will be announced on Sept. 5.
• Iraq-Turkey clash after deadly shelling in Kurdish village: Nine travelers were killed and 23 people wounded in a shelling on the mountainous village of Parakh in the Kurdish north of Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi has blamed the bombardment on Turkey and warned that retaliations could ensue. The government also demanded an official apology from Turkey and "the withdrawal of its armed forces from all Iraqi territory."
• Ivana Trump's funeral: Former U.S. President Donald Trump attended the funeral of Ivana Trump, his first wife and mother of his three oldest children, in New York on Wednesday. He described the socialite and businesswoman, who died at 73, as having had a "beautiful life."
• California beach returned to Black family: Authorities have returned property of a beach in the city of Manhattan Beach, California, to the grandsons of its Black owners after it was seized by local officials in 1924. It is believed the confiscation had been motivated by racism during the segregation era.
Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera says "farewell to the Draghi government" after Italy's Prime Minister failed to unite his fragile coalition government, leading him to tender his resignation today. The resignation means a new general election — the second in four years — is likely to take place this autumn.
💬 LEXICON
Quadball
In an effort to distance themselves from British author J.K. Rowling and her controversial comments on transgender issues, leading Quidditch organizations have renamed the sport quadball. The real-life sport, a ball game inspired by Rowling's Harry Potter series, pits two teams of seven players mounted on a broomstick.
Plight of Maasai reveals racism of Africa's conservation policy
Thousands of Maasai people in Tanzania met brutal police repression when they demonstrated against being expelled from their land, laying bare both how ineffective and inhumane the conservationist movement can be, reports Fiore Longo in Spanish independent magazine La Marea.
💥 The Maasai, an ethnic group inhabiting Kenya and northern Tanzania, have always known what war is. They generally live close to the many game parks around the African Great Lakes, and as they put it to me: "Your conservation areas are a war zone for us." The government has tried to confiscate 1,500 km2 of their ancestral land for years in order to use the land for trophy hunting, elite tourism and conservation. Behind these attempts has always been the Otterlo Business Company (OBC), a company based in the United Arab Emirates that organizes hunting expeditions for the royal family and their guests.
📸 Just as dangerous for the Maasai are the tourists, who feed upon media images, documentaries and textbooks that sell the idea of "nature without people" and who expect to find only wild animals on their safaris. Indeed, the Maasai not only face the myth of wildlife without humans, but also a deeply entrenched racism. In April, a famous U.S. journalist, Peter Greenberg of CBS News, called the Maasai "primitive" when he was taking a walk with the Tanzanian president.
❌ The Loliondo events should be a lesson to everyone. Indigenous peoples have inhabited the most biodiverse places on the planet for generations: these territories are now considered important nature conservation areas precisely because the original inhabitants have cared for their land and wild flora and fauna. We cannot continue to tolerate human rights abuses committed in the name of conservation. This conservationist model is profoundly inhumane and ineffective and needs to change now.
Scientists reported alarming warmth as six billion tons of water per day melted off the ice sheet in northern Greenland last weekend between July 15 and July 17, as temperatures have risen to above 10 degrees hotter than usual at this time of the year.
Hasta la vista, baby.
— Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson exited his final session of Prime Minister's Questions yesterday by quoting Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Johnson has been forced out as Conservative Party leader, which will lead to his coming resignation as prime minister, in the wake of a string of scandals and loss of confidence among his party allies. Johnson gave advice to his yet-to-be-appointed successor, saying, "Remember, above all, it's not Twitter that counts, it's the people that sent us here." The two candidates in the running to replace Johnson are former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and current Foreign Minister Liz Truss.
Clara Le Fort
Return To Clay: Why An Ancient Building Material Is Back In Fashion
Concrete and glass are often thought of as the only building materials of modern architecture. But Francis Diébédo Kéré, the first African winner of a prestigious Pritzker architecture prize, works with clay, whose sustainability is not the only benefit.
"Clay is fascinating. It has this unique grain and is both beautiful and soft. It soothes; it contributes to well-being..."
Francis Diébédo Kéré, the first African to be awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize last March, is paying tribute to clay. It's a material that he adores, which has too often been shunned and attributed to modest constructions and peasant houses. Diébédo Kéré has always wanted to celebrate "earthen architecture": buildings made out of clay. It's a technique that has been used for at least 10,000 years, which draws on this telluric element, known as dried mud, beaten earth, rammed earth, cob or adobe.
While seemingly simple, "clay is one of the cornerstones of architectural practice," the Pritzker Prize committee says. "Poor, often forgotten or neglected, these techniques that use clay provide a narrative in which architecture becomes an enduring source of happiness and joy," the jury adds.
Working for marginalized communities
By naming Diébédo Kéré as this year's laureate, the jury is not only recognizing a heritage, but above all, the unique journey of a man "of the earth." The architect began building for his native village, Gando, in Burkina Faso: from clay, he built housing for teachers, a library, a women's center, a high school, and a workshop for training in construction techniques.
Elsewhere in Burkina Faso, but also in Mali, Togo, Sudan, Kenya, Mozambique and Benin, he developed other projects: all of them reflect the same ethic, that of working to increase the well-being of communities by combining technical knowledge, acquired in Germany, sustainable resources and local traditions.
"I wanted to enrich, to donate to the African continent, so I started with my own community," he recalled.
It's all about chemistry: earth and water are transformed by fire or the sun into a highly sustainable resource. From a basic element like mud, we get an eternal material produced by humans. UNESCO's website points out that one third of humankind lives in such housing.
Its cultural importance throughout the world is evident and has led to its consideration as a common heritage of humankind, therefore deserving protection and conservation by the international community. In 2011, over 10% of the World Heritage properties incorporate earthen structures. The availability and economic quality of the material mean it bears great potential to contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable development.
These techniques, many thousands of years old, have outlasted others.
Photo of Francis Diébédo Kéré
Kéré Architecture/Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk
Eternal constructions
This brings to mind the Tower of Babel – the Old Testament tells of its brick-built construction – but also the first cities like Uruk, in Mesopotamia, founded 6,000 years ago, the Baths of Caracalla in Rome or the Great Wall of China. Later, mud was used to build the old walled city of Shibam, in Yemen, given the nickname "the Manhattan of the desert" or the Great Mosque of Djenne, in Mali, made out of clay.
This architecture, mainly associated with underdeveloped countries, was widespread throughout urban and rural Europe, until the 20th century: among the French rural housing built before 1914, and still standing, 15% are made from this material. Palaces, fortifications, entire cities, mosques, cultural landscapes and archeological sites constructed in raw clay are still standing nowadays.
Fighting preconceptions
"People reject clay because it is perceived as poor. I had to fight against these preconceptions, to make people accept that it can contribute to our growing needs in terms of housing and buildings," says Diébédo Kéré. "Clay is perfectly well adapted, just as reliable as other expensive materials. Earth has the same durability as concrete: it does not crack, although constantly in the sun, and resists the harsh weather conditions as well as the rain. Demand is there."
He shares a local anecdote: fortified with natural and vegetable extracts, the earthen walls are built without any chemical products. According to custom, if the gecko (lizard) does not enter the house, then it is not a good house.
Interior of the library of the primary school building, in Gando, Burkina Faso
GandoIT
The honesty of brick
Although it is no longer fully appreciated, earthen architecture, including brick, has all the qualities needed: aesthetic, economic, structural and environmental. "There is a form of honesty in brick: it fits in the hand. If granite, stone or concrete are austere and imposing, brick is modest, inclusive, accessible," says William Hall, author of the book Brick published by Phaidon. Louis Kahn, one of the great architects of the 20th century, said that brick "knows and can do everything." He used it to build a series of colossal arches for the National Assembly Building of Bangladesh (1982).
It is also the material chosen by Anglo-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare for his latest project in the village of Ikise, two hours from Lagos: an artists' residence built in collaboration with local agency MOE + Art Architecture. The building is made of 40,000 handmade bricks from laterite, a naturally red clay abundant in the region.
"This technique does not require any firing and is environmentally friendly as it does not emit any CO2. It also allows for natural insulation of the building: cool inside when it is hot outside, and vice versa, the porous earth regulates the temperature, which remains constant," chief architect Papa Omotayo says.
Reconnecting with a sense of history
Today, clay connects the past, present and future. It continues to inspire several renowned architects like China's Wang Shu, 2012 Pritzker Prize laureate, who redesigned the contemporary museum in Ningbo by reusing old Shanghai gray-bricks, with other recycled materials.
This is also the case of Italian architect Mario Cucinella, who is now pushing the limits of 3D prototyping with Tecla, a "3D-printed" residential building made out of clay. Combining essential materials and new technologies suggests a sustainable, global response to the climate emergency.
"Besides being suitable for contemporary use, clay bears important societal issues. The strength of these construction models is their replicability: everyone can participate, especially women, often experts in the field. This is a real virtuous economic system that also makes people proud," Diébédo Kéré says.
After using brick, the architect is now exploring new techniques: he mentions a contemporary form of adobe, a mixture of clay and gravel making it possible to mold a house in one piece. He continues to fight so that concrete and glass are not perceived as the only materials that bring modernity and salvation: "What the West imposes on Africa is not adapted to our climate, it requires imports and destroys thousand-year-old traditional techniques. Today, clay must reconnect with the sense of history and triumph again!"
Anna Akage, Shaun Lavelle and Emma Albright
How Ukrainian TV Was Turned Upside Down After Feb. 24
Banding together, once rivals created a wartime system where media groups share several air hours a day, which are broadcast by all six central TV channels to ensure around-the-clock broadcasting.
With the start of the full-scale war, the leaders of Ukraine's largest television holdings — typically business (and sometimes, political) rivals quickly got together to reorder the way TV would be broadcast in the face of the Russian invasion.
Ukrainian Pravda has reported on the back story of this momentous decision to effectively turn national broadcasting into an ongoing shared telethon.
"It immediately became clear that we need to speak 24/7. This is very difficult because we need to quickly and completely reformat the entire network of TV channels, there is no time, plus dangerous if, God forbid, a rocket arrives or a signal falls," one producer recalled.
The wartime system means media groups share several air hours a day, which are broadcast by all six central TV channels. This ensures around-the-clock and uninterrupted broadcasting.
According to Ukrainian Pravda, the president's office sent requests to TV channels to cover some topics and speakers. In particular, before the defenders of Azovstal left Mariupol, the TV channels asked for less coverage of this topic to reduce the degree in society and to ensure that the defenders left safely.
However, the biggest problem of the telethon is that it is too similar and there are also elements of low-quality counter-propaganda and no lack of criticism from the authorities.
"In the beginning, we were a little overwhelmed with emotions, because people had to give a sense of hope for victory," said one media executive close to President Zelensky's ruling party. "We succeeded, but it got a little out of control. Then it was difficult to steer and slow down. So now we started talking about the deaths of heroes, about destruction and so on. That is, we try to show the reality, although it is always difficult."
Two Front Lines: Severodonetsk And Kharkiv
A man walks his bicycle past a huge crater in the street after a Russian rocket hit the Kharkiv region
Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Ukrinform/Zuma
The situation on the front line in the Donbas region remains focused on the mid-sized city of Severodonetsk, which is almost completely occupied by Russian troops. By Tuesday morning, the Ukrainian army there has been pushed back into the industrial zone and fighting is going on around the Azot chemical plant, where civilians are also hiding from the bombing.
"We have established that the Russian army is launching a large-scale offensive in our region, they have accumulated enough reserves, and today (June 20) all the settlements in the region are at war," reports Serhiy Haidaï, the head of the Luhansk regional administration, which accounts for more than half of Donbas.
Another city in the Luhansk region - Lysychansk - has also been targeted by continuous Russian shelling.
Meanwhile, to the north in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, Russia has renewed its shelling. Concern is growing that the city, which had repelled earlier Russian assaults, will again be a target for a major offensive.
Oleh Syniehubov, a top military commander in Kharkiv, wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces are monitoring the movement of troops. "Given the events that unfolded after 24 February, we clearly understand that Kharkiv and the region are crucially important for the enemy," he said. "We are doing everything possible to be prepared for any scenarios."
Russian Television Broadcast In Captured City Of Kherson
A protester holds a placard which reads 'Free Kherson from Russian occupiers'.
Vuk Valcic/ZUMA
The Russian army has announced that the entire region of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, would be connected to Russian television channels.
Kherson was captured by the Russian troops in early March. Ever since then, Moscow has been implementing a policy of "Russification" of the territories under its control in southern Ukraine. The Russian currency, the ruble, has been introduced and Russian passports are beginning to be distributed.
On Tuesday, one of the new pro-Russian officials in the Kherson region, Kirill Stremooussov, said that this territory could later be attached to Russia. "We will have a referendum this year. And at the end of this referendum, we will address the leaders of the Russian Federation so that they accept us within Russia," Stremooussov said, reported the state news agency TASS.
UK's New Army Chief: Troops Must Prepare For Battle In Europe
Sir General Adrian Bradshaw
Xinhua/ZUMA
The new head of the British army, Patrick Sanders, has warned troops that they must prepare "to fight in Europe once again" to deter Russia. In an internal memo seen by the BBC, Sanders said: "Russia's invasion of Ukraine underlines our core purpose — to protect the UK and to be ready to fight and win wars on land — and reinforces the requirement to deter Russian aggression with the threat of force."
The comments were backed by the former director of the British special forces, Adrian Bradshaw. "By preparing for war properly, by building really solid deterrence, we will stop war from happening," Bradshaw said in a radio interview. "What General Saunders is saying is something that's been said by military commanders for a thousand years — if you want peace, prepare for war."
Zelensky: Africa Is "Hostage" Of The War
\u201cJe remercie le Pr\u00e9sident @ZelenskyyUa pour son adresse conviviale de ce jour \u00e0 la r\u00e9union virtuelle du Bureau \u00e9largi de l\u2019@_AfricanUnion. L\u2019Afrique reste attach\u00e9e au respect des r\u00e8gles du droit international, \u00e0 la r\u00e9solution pacifique des conflits et \u00e0 la libert\u00e9 du commerce.\u201d
— Macky Sall (@Macky Sall) 1655728835
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called Africa a hostage of the war in Ukraine during a videoconference address to the African Union.
"Africa is actually a hostage... of those who unleashed war against our state" Zelensky said during his speech, as reported by Jeune Afrique magazine.
This meeting took place behind closed doors and was chaired by Senegalese President Macky Sall, current chairman of the AU.
Since the beginning of the war on February 24, the Kremlin has blocked grain exports from Ukraine, which has sparked grain and fertilizer shortages, and put millions of people at risk of hunger. The blockade has also sent food prices soaring.
African countries have been divided in their response to Russia's war in Ukraine and in March, 17 of the countries abstained in a UN vote to condemn the invasion.
Earlier this month, Sall held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He told Putin that African countries are innocent victims of the war in Ukraine and Russia should help ease their suffering.
While It Awaits EU Status, Ukraine Enters Regional Three Seas Initiative
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (r) and Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, meet at the Three Seas Initiative
Britta Pedersen/dpa/Zuma
While war continues in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky is not only looking for military partners but also economic ones. Indeed Russia's invasion has accelerated the search for partnerships throughout central and eastern Europe. In the former Soviet republics, Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has pushed its European neighbors to accept it into the circle of economic and political partners.
Within this context, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced that Ukraine would join the economic Three Seas alliance of 12 countries around the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic seas as a participating partner.
"This is a new type of partnership not only for Ukraine, but we assume that the same kind of partnership can be shared by those countries in Central Europe that are not members of the European Union but aspire to join," said Duda.
The Polish president also stressed that all Three Seas Initiative countries are in favor of granting Ukraine official EU candidate status, which Kyiv hopes will happen this week.
Kremlin Says Geneva Conventions Do Not Apply To Captured Americans
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Geneva Conventions for the protection of prisoners of war do not apply to the two Americans captured in Ukraine.
The Geneva Convention protections include that prisoners of war "must at all times be humanely treated."
Peskov gave an exclusive interview to NBC News on Monday night where he spoke of the two Americans as "soldiers of fortune". He also accused them of being "involved in illegal activities."
The two U.S. citizens Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39 and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, were taken into detention by Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk after being captured last week.
Europe Freezes 12.5 Billion Euros Of Yachts, Art, Real Estate
Yachts moored in the marina, Monaco
Mandoga Media/dpa/ZUMA
The European Union has made significant progress in sanctioning Russian oligarchs, nearly doubling the seizure and freezing of assets in the last month alone, Die Welt reports.
So far, more than 12.5 billion euros worth of luxury yachts, helicopters, paintings, real estate property and other assets have been seized or frozen from people on sanctions lists for supporting Putin's war of aggression, a top EU official told the German daily Monday.
Russian's Nobel Peace Prize Auctioned For $103.5 To Help Ukrainian Kids
Dmitry Muratov auctions off his Nobel Peace Prize
The Inquirer Facebook
Russian editor Dmitry Muratov, a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, auctioned off his medal for $103.5 million, which he will donate to benefit Ukrainian child refugees.
"Right now, the award is an opportunity for me to share it with people," said Muratov, editor-in-chief of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
Lila Paulou, Lisa Berdet, Bertrand Hauger and Anne-Sophie Goninet
Alleged Mariupol Chemical Attack, 4 Million Displaced Children
👋 Khulumkha!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where reports have surfaced of a possible Russian chemical weapons attack in the besieged city of Mariupol, at least 25 die in a tropical storm in the Philippines, and a British woman breaks an exhausting world record. Meanwhile, Spanish independent magazine La Marea zooms in on BioTexCom, a Kyiv-based surrogacy clinic that continues to function in the middle of the war.
[*Kokborok - India and Bangladesh]
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• Russia-Ukraine updates: U.S. and UK authorities are investigating a possible chemical attack in the city of Mariupol, as the surrounding eastern Donbas region braces for a major Russian assault. Since the invasion of Ukraine, nearly two-thirds of Ukrainian children, or some 4 million, have been displaced, according to a new UN report.
• U.S. orders consulate staff to leave Shanghai: The U.S. State Department has required all non-emergency diplomatic staff and their families to depart Shanghai amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The city of 26 million people has been on lockdown for three weeks and it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain food supplies and medical care. This is China's worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic.
• Indonesia adopts landmark sexual violence bill: Indonesia's Parliament passed a bill on sexual violence following a surge in complaints during the COVID-19 pandemic, overcoming the conservative opposition after six years of debate.
• Mexican truck drivers block border bridge: Mexican truckers block Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border to protest against Texas' governor order to inspect every vehicle crossing the border.
• Philippines deadly tropical storm: At least 25 people have died in floodings and landslides as the central and southern coast of the Philippines is hit by tropical storm Megi. More than 13,000 people fled to emergency shelters.
• Britney Spears pregnant with third child: U.S. singer Britney Spears announced in an Instagram post that she is expecting her third child, her first with fiancé Sam Asghari. She was reportedly forbidden to "get married and have a baby" under her father's conservatorship, which ended last November.
• 100 marathons in 100 days: Derbyshire-based Kate Jayden has broken the world record for completing 100 marathons in 100 days, running 26.2 miles (42,16km) every day since January 1.
Mexican daily Milenio reports on the results of a referendum to determine whether President Andrés Manuel López Obrador should step down or complete his six-year term, which saw more than 90% of voters backing the leftist leader to stay in office. But turnout was low at less than 19%. Mexico's first so-called recall referendum was promised by López Obrador when he was sworn in as president in 2018.
קבר יוסף
Joseph's Tomb (in Hebrew קבר יוסף, "Qever Yosef") is at the center of renewed tensions between Palestinians and Israelis. The funerary monument where the biblical figure is said to have been buried, located on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus, was vandalized on Saturday by Palestinian rioters. Yesterday morning, two ultra-Orthodox Jewish men were shot dead by Israeli forces while trying to reach Joseph's Tomb. The monument is revered by Christians, Jews and Muslims and is known for being a flashpoint of violence.
Ukraine hopes these surrogate babies will stir the conscience of the West
BioTexCom is responsible for more than half of the 2,500 surrogate babies born annually in Ukraine. This is how, in the middle of the war, the surrogacy company continues to function, reports Patricia Simón in Spanish independent magazine La Marea.
🏥👶 Dr. Ihor Pechenoga has been working since 2018 as a spokesperson for the surrogacy company BioTexCom, which is responsible for more than half of the 2,500 babies born annually in Ukraine through this procedure. When the Russian invasion began, he was appointed with the responsibility of protecting the clinic, located very close to the Kyiv front line. For days now, he has been tirelessly dedicated to showing journalists from all over the planet the shelter that BioTexCom has set up for the thirty babies that could not be delivered to their clients.
👪 Nobody knows when they will be able to be picked up by the foreign couples who will register the babies in their names — and in their countries. Outside the basement, the sound of shelling crashes through the walls of the building. A column of smoke is visible behind the buildings. And the doctor insists that they are preparing the logistics to send the babies to the Polish border or to the Ukrainian city Lviv, where they will be picked up by their clients.
⚠ After a month of war, Ukrainian institutions are aware that the Russian invasion has dropped a level on international media and that interest is beginning to deflate. So at the same time the government creates more and more bureaucratic obstacles for journalists to access the scene of the events, they strive to show — in a controlled manner — the ravages that, in their point of view, will mobilize more indignation from the West.
If you're asking me whether I am optimistic or pessimistic, I'm rather pessimistic.
— Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer offered a grim report to journalists after his visit in Moscow with Vladimir Putin, in the Russian President's first face-to-face meeting with a Western leader since the invasion of Ukraine began. Nehammer said he wanted to confront the Russian leader with "the horrors of war and the war crimes in Bucha" but that Russia had "little interest" in a direct meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
✍ Newsletter by Lila Paulou, Lisa Berdet, Bertrand Hauger and Anne-Sophie Goninet
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