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10/09/2024
Climate activism in danger
The number of murdered environmental activists, 196, was the highest Global Witness has ever recorded for a single country in any given year since it started monitoring such killings in 2012, it said in its annual report published on Monday.
"The figure is really chilling," Laura Furones, senior adviser to Global Witness' land and environmental defenders campaign, said, adding that the report's findings were conservative and figures likely incomplete.
Globally, 196 environmentalists and land activists were killed in 2023, Global Witness said, with Latin America overwhelmingly leading the way, accounting for 85% of the slayings.
Deadliest practices in Latin America
The annual report from the UK advocacy group Global Witness found Latin America remains the most dangerous part of the world for environmental and land defenders, accounting for 85 percent of the 196 murders documented last year.
The majority were concentrated in just four countries: Colombia, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico.
Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists and land rights defenders in 2023, with a record 79 killed, according to Global Witness.
The findings on Colombia are a sharp contrast to promises from the government of President Gustavo Petro, who took office in 2022 and has pledged to end the country's 60-year conflict and pursue environmental justice for communities.
The country was also the host nation for this year's United Nations COP16 biodiversity conference.
Peace processes with various armed groups - which are sometimes implicated in environmentalists' killings - have faltered, and though deforestation fell to a 23-year low last year, the environment ministry has warned of an increase in 2024.
It is "dishonourable" to top the Global Witness list, Colombia's government said in a statement late on Monday.
Colombia was also the deadliest country for environmentalists in 2022, according to Global Witness, when at least 60 were killed.
"The figure is very embarrassing for us in the country," said Astrid Torres, coordinator for Somos Defensores, a Colombian human rights group.
Torres said the issue was not just the responsibility of the sitting government but also of state institutions, such as prosecutors and local authorities.
A 'crackdown on environmental activists'
The report also sounds the alarm on a "crackdown on environmental activists across the UK, Europe and the US", warning "laws are increasingly being weaponised against defenders".
It pointed to legislation in Britain and the United States allowing harsher penalties for protesters and activists facing "draconian levels of surveillance" in the European Union.
In Britain it highlighted the case of activist David Nixon, who served four weeks in jail after defying a judge's order barring him from using climate change as a defence.
"We should be allowed to mention the climate crisis wherever we go, especially in front of a jury," he told news agencies.
Global Witness urged "decisive action" from governments to protect defenders.
Increased dangers in Asia
In Asia, the Philippines continued to be the most dangerous place for environmental and land protection, with 17 murders, and Global Witness highlighted a growing trend of abductions across the region.
This "has emerged as a critical issue, reflecting broader systemic efforts by power holders to suppress dissent and maintain control over land and resources", it said.
Among those affected were Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, two young activists opposed to land reclamation projects in Manila Bay in the Philippines.
They have accused the military of abducting them, though authorities claim the women belonged to a communist insurgency and had sought help after leaving the movement.
"Since our release, the threats have continued," the pair said in the report.
Underestimated figures
In Africa, Global Witness recorded just four deaths, but warned the figure was likely a "gross underestimate" given the challenge of collecting information.
Across the world, Indigenous Peoples, who have accumulated wisdom, knowledge, and practices for millennia, are also targeted.
Global Witness warns that, all over the globe, governments and corporations are increasingly wielding the law to suppress environmental activism.
"Activists and their communities are essential in efforts to prevent and remedy harms caused by climate damaging industries," said the report's lead author Laura Furones.
"We cannot afford to, nor should we tolerate, losing any more lives," she added.
08/09/2024
Algeria: Tebboune wins with 95 percent...
Algeria's president Tebboune wins second term with 95% of vote
ALGIERS, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Algerian authorities declared President Abdulmadjid Tebboune the overwhelming winner of Saturday's election on Sunday, but a rival candidate alleged irregularities in the count and fewer than half of registered voters cast ballots.
Official preliminary results gave Tebboune 95% of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off, with Abdelaali Hassani Cherif getting 3% and Youcef Aouchiche 2%. Turnout was 48%.
Tebboune, backed by the military, was facing only nominal opposition from Hassani Cherif, a moderate Islamist, and Aouchiche, a moderate secularist, both running with the blessing of Algeria's powerful establishment.
Hassani Cherif's campaign said polling station officials had been pressured to inflate results and alleged failures to deliver vote-sorting records to candidates' representatives, as well as instances of proxy group voting.
It did not say whether it believed the violations had affected the result and Reuters could not immediately reach Tebboune's or Aouchiche's campaign for comment.
However, electoral commission head Mohammed Charfi said when announcing the results that the body had worked to ensure transparency and fair competition among all candidates.
Tebboune's re-election means Algeria will likely keep on with a governing programme that has resumed lavish social spending based on increased energy revenues after he came into office in 2019 following a period of lower oil prices.
He has promised to raise unemployment benefits, pensions and public housing programmes, all of which he increased during his first term as president.
"As long as Tebboune continues to raise wages and pensions and maintain subsidies he will be the best in my eyes," said Ali, a customer in the Ouled Fayet district of Algiers, asking not to write his family name.
First elected during the mass "hirak" (movement) protests that forced his veteran predecessor Abdulaziz Bouteflika from power after 20 years, Tebboune has backed a tough approach from the security forces, which have jailed prominent dissidents.
His election in 2019 reflected the anti-establishment mood in Algeria that year, with turnout of 40%, far below the levels of previous national votes.
The protests, which brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets every week for more than a year demanding an end to corruption and the ousting of the ruling elite, were finally curtailed by the COVID pandemic.
"Turnout is very low. It shows that the vast majority is like me," said another Ouled Fayet resident, Slimane, 24, who also asked not to give his family name. He did not vote because he does not trust politicians, he said.
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07/09/2024
First march of the school year...
I love September... Let's kick off this weekend with some protests, why not? #France...
06/09/2024
Journal de l'Afrique - 5 septembre 2024
I participated in the Journal de l'Afrique on FRANCE 24 - in French - to talk about Chinese and Western investments in Africa...
03/09/2024
Support Nuseirat Camp: Food and Medical Aid
A journalist from Palestine reached out to me: here is her message...
I’m seeking support in donation no matter how little, to help some displaced families in feeding, providing shelter camps, water, internet, medical aid... the list is endless.
No matter how little, it would make a change and put smile on the faces of so many displaced families.
Our next aid is being packaged and would be in Rafah border soon; we are seeking for donations to support as many families as we can.
by Jean Mosher, Organiser
Dear donors, thank you so very much for your generous donations. You are a lifeline for Nuseirat Camp.
At dawn this morning, a direct strike hit the apartment of Palestinian journalist Mohamed Abd Rabbo. He and his sister Sumaya were killed. Mohamed Rabbo's apartment was at Nuseirat Camp. Yousef cannot talk much today.
They are very, very busy trying to transport wounded people as quickly as possible.
Thank you so much for helping them.
September 2024
Update from Yousef Al-Helou
Despite last night's bombing in Nuseirat Camp, the team managed to purchase enough ingredients to feed a lot of hungry people today. They will continue tomorrow when, hopefully, it will be a bit easier.
The bomb last night was in Al-Nuseirat Joint School (Ahmed Al-Sardi), which is dangerously close to the two schools where we run our feeding programme.
Beyond tragic!
The bomb last night was in Al-Nuseirat Joint School (Ahmed Al-Sardi), which is dangerously close to the two schools where we run our feeding programme.
Beyond tragic!
Tunisia and Algeria: Bleak election prospects...
My latest work, on the coming presidential elections in North Africa, in Algeria and in Tunisia
The campaign is drawing to a close in Algeria for a poll that incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune is widely predicted to win... Here is what experts have to say on this political moment of the North African country's history:
Few surprises in store as Algeria's presidential election nears
The campaign is drawing to a close for Algeria's presidential election this weekend - a poll that incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune is widely predicted to win. Experts say the only real unknown is how many voters will turn out.
Issued on:
on 27 August 2024. © AP - Fateh Guidoum
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Human rights organisation denounce 'dictatorial' climate ahead of Tunisia's presidential election
Just over a month ahead of the presidential election, many opponents of President Kais Saied have been detained in recent months and presidential candidacies invalidated. Only few challengers have been allowed to run against the leader for the 6 October polls, while civil society denounces an 'unhealthy climate'.
The Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) is one of the organisations which have criticised the power's stranglehold notably on the judiciary.
LTDH's president, Bassem Trifi, said the current political climate was dominated "by a solitary power" and is "not healthy".
According to the Tunisian non-profit organisation, equality between presidential candidates is therefore not assured.
It also denounces the pressure on the media, the lack of fairness in the justice system, as well as verbal political violence and the detention of opponents
This election cannot be considered "in compliance with democratic rules and transparency," the charity added.
Tunisia is "on the verge of becoming a vast prison," according to the organisation.
For the latest, read my story for RFI here:
Tunisian opposition candidate arrested
amid 'dictatorial' pre-election climate
02/09/2024
Energy and climate change: African perspectives
Two of my latest stories for RFI:
Zambia's crippling drought creates chance for solar power to shine
Africa's nuclear dreams a fusion of high hopes and high hurdles
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