"Migration is not a crime"
And why we all need to understand why displacements increase, to feel more sympathetic, and learn about what led the world to this situation...
Read from here:
31/08/2023
France News - European Correspondent
France ・ Discrimination |
France bans abayas dresses in schools, despite criticism
France will ban children in state-run schools from wearing loose-fitting, full-length robes known as 'abayas', worn by some Muslim women. This is the first major announcement from new education minister Gabriel Attal, who spoke to French media on Sunday ahead of the back-to-school season.
 | Melissa Chemam For girls wearing them, abayas are cultural clothes, not religious ones. It is not a garment directly linked to the Muslim faith, but "to a culture", according to Anne-Laure Zwilling, anthropologist of religions at the CNRS, , France’s scientific research centre. |
〉Article by RFI English: New French education minister bans abaya dresses
〉Article by Euronews: France bans abayas in schools
〉Video by BBC: France to ban Muslim students wearing abayas in state schools
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France ・ Corruption |
Ex-president Sarkozy to go on trial over Libya-funded campaign
French investigative magistrates have decided that former president Nicolas Sarkozy will go on trial in 2025, with 12 others. The charges: illegal campaign financing, embezzling, passive corruption. Sarkozy received millions from Muammar Gaddafi's government for his 2007 presidential campaign.
| Melissa Chemam The case is the biggest and most shocking of multiple corruption investigations involving Sarkozy. In 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Gadhafi with high honours, but then put France at the forefront of NATO-led airstrikes that helped topple the Libyan leader in 2011. |
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28/08/2023
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to go on trial over Libyan campaign funds
French investigative magistrates have decided that former president Nicolas Sarkozy will go on trial in 2025, with 12 others.
The charges: illegal campaign financing, embezzling, passive corruption.
Sarkozy received millions from Moammar Gadhafi's government for his 2007 presidential campaign.
The case is the biggest and most shocking of multiple corruption investigations involving Sarkozy.
In 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Gadhafi with high honours, but then put led the NATO-led airstrikes that helped topple the Libyan leader in 2011.
Read more here:
In Le Monde in English:
In the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/world/europe/sarkozy-trial-france-libya-corruption.html
And to know more about the situation in Libya now, read my analytical piece for RFI English here:
Following a year of relative calm in Libya, fighting erupted again this week in the capital Tripoli. The UN-backed government remains powerless in more than a third of the country, whose people have not seen an election in almost a decade.
24/08/2023
Algeria on a quest to avoid an intervention in Niger
Algeria sends envoy on West African tour to avoid military intervention in Niger
An Algerian top diplomat began a tour of West African countries on Wednesday in a bid to find a solution following the coup in neighbouring Niger, where Algiers opposes any military intervention.
Algeria's Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf was "mandated by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune" to go on a diplomatic tour to Nigeria, Benin and Ghana, the Algerian foreign ministry said on Twitter.
He started his tour in Nigeria, where he was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar.
(Tweet)
Attaf is set to hold "consultations on the crisis in Niger and ways of dealing with it" with his counterparts in the West African countries, which form part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The West African bloc has threatened to use force to reinstate Niger's elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, who was detained by guards on July 26.
Last week it announced it had agreed an undisclosed "D-Day" for a possible military intervention if diplomatic efforts fail.
At odds with France
Late on Monday, the Algerian state radio, which usually reflects official thinking, had reported that France had asked Algeria to use its airspace for a military operation in Niger and that such permission had been refused.
France's army immediately denied it had asked Algeria to use its airspace.
"France's joint defence staff denies making a request to fly over Algerian territory" said a source in the French army.
France has about 1,500 troops in Niger that were stationed there before last month's coup.
The European country has not said it would intervene militarily to overturn the military takeover.
The whole region at risk
Algeria shares a 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) long land border with Niger.
It is Africa's largest country, and also shares borders with Libya and Mali, both in the throes of years-long conflicts.
Algiers has previously cautioned against a military solution, which Tebboune said would be "a direct threat" to his North African country.
The Algerian President stressed "there will be no solution without us (Algeria). We are the first people affected".
The African Union suspended Niger on Tuesday until civilian rule is restored and said it would assess the implications of any armed intervention.
Niger is the fourth nation in West Africa since 2020 to suffer a coup, following Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.
The juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali have said that any military intervention in their neighbour would be considered a "declaration of war" against their countries.
22/08/2023
With the girls of Star Feminine Band
On the back of Glastonbury, a team of young performers from northern Bénin, in West Africa, took their message of female empowerment to another prestigious festival in England – the Womad World of Music, Arts and Dance.
Read more here: https://rb.gy/y5lpn
20/08/2023
New Substask post
Music and Social Change, Summer 2023 Edition
Or... how I try to survive a summer of social tragedies... Thanks to music!
Dear friends and readers,
After a few saddening summer posts, I’m trying to regain my strength and redeem
my energy by doing what I love most: reading, writing, travelling and listening to music.
So, what’s better than reading and writing about music?
19/08/2023
North African affairs: Analysis on the state of Libya
No summer holiday for me this year, working, working, working, including this weekend.
Here is my latest piece:
Spike in violence shows Libya remains crippled by rival armed groups
>> Analysis with the help of experts from Libya and beyond, for RFI English:
Following a year of relative calm in Libya, fighting erupted again this week in the capital Tripoli. The UN-backed government remains powerless in more than a third of the country, whose people have not seen an election in almost a decade.
Read from site here:
While rival militias have vied for power since the overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, the current escalation indicates Libya's armed groups have consolidated their power.
The fresh spike in violence shows the government in Tripoli is still not in charge says Rhiannon Smith, an expert from the Libya Analysis thinktank.
"For the past few months, Libya has known a sort of stable instability. The political situation is still very uncertain. There are a lot of divisions and the armed groups are getting more and more powerful, but there haven't been major clashes."
Merging groups
The rivalry has become bigger and more significant with the merger of several key groups that now have increasing power and influence, Smith adds.
These are the 444 brigade and RADA, also known as the Special Deterrence Force.
Competition between the 444 and RADA is on the rise as RADA loses some of its influence, says Libya expert Tahani Elmogrbi.
"The 444 is more structured, military speaking, more organised, and it includes former soldiers from the Kadhafi regime. Also their head, Colonel Mahmoud Hamza, is more influential."
Gaining control of Tripoli's airport, which remains closed but is due to reopen, has been a flashpoint for the fighting.
Hamza was detained this month as he sought to travel from Tripoli’s Mitiga airport, which the RADA Special Deterrence Force claims to control, causing more clashes. He was freed on Thursday.
"It shows the issues around who controls security are still there, especially as the political situation is still up in the air," says Smith, adding that similar escalations in fighting could become more frequent.
Armed factions are progressively taking over Libya, influencing senior political appointments and the distribution of state resources, says Wolfram Lacher, a Libya specialist at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs who co-edited a book on the past year in Libya.
Delayed political process
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh has led Libya's unity government since February 2021.
His challenge is to get long-delayed elections back on track – but for this to happen a series of laws need to be passed and a transitional government put into place.
This is incredibly hard to do and only creates more divisions, says Smith.
"The government of national unity controls Tripoli and some of the western regions. In theory it is the legitimate government, but it hardly controls its own areas of influence," she told RFI.
"All of the current incumbent actors have proven that all they care about is holding on to power."
Many observers say the international community has given up on Libya's transition.
Regional repercussions
Insecurity in the country has had a huge impact on the region from the North African coast to the Sahel.
A lack of border controls has opened new paths for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa towards the Mediterranean, and for armed groups.
Apart from the recent deal between the European Union and Tunisia, the EU seems to have reduced its involvement in trying to solve the crisis.
Elmogrbi blames division among European leaders for inaction on Libya, especially between French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Libya has also slipped down the UN's list of priorities with the war in Ukraine taking precedence, and there has been little international reaction to this week's spike in violence.
The exception was African Union Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, who published a statement to say he was following the security situation in Tripoli with "great concern".
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