US linguist couple map fantasy languages for the screen

Lille (France) (AFP) – From Dothraki and Valyrian in "Game of Thrones" to the Chakobsa desert tongue in "Dune", American couple David and Jessie Peterson have devised numerous imaginary languages -- apparently the only two people in the world who earn a living concocting fantasy grammar and vocabulary for film characters.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 -

The Petersons developed languages for the screen adaptations of 'Game of Thrones' and 'Dune'

 © Paul Faith / AFP

Immortal lines from the "Game of Thrones" scripts such as: "You are my last hope, blood of my blood," plunge viewers deeper into the series' fantastical world when uttered in the original Dothraki: "Yer athzalar nakhoki anni, zhey qoy qoyi."

In Dune, the Fremen desert warriors roll the "r" in their Chakobsa tongue -- the name comes from a real ancient hunter's language that inspired author Frank Herbert in writing the original series of "Dune" books.

But Herbert and Game of Thrones novelist George R. R. Martin only included a few words of these fantasy languages in their pages -- it was the Petersons who fully developed them for the screen.

"Languages can be fun. Often I think languages are treated very seriously," said David Peterson


"People can laugh if they make a mistake."

From Klingon to Dothraki

The use of language creators in films dates at least to 1985 when Marc Okrand created Klingon for that alien species in Star Trek.

It has since taken off in numerous fantasy series -- but few people make a living from the work.

A trained linguist, Peterson landed his first paid assignment to develop Dothraki by winning a competition in 2009.

Speaking at a masterclass during a television series festival in the French city of Lille, the Petersons described how they devise languages by discussing the characters' environment, backgrounds and the objects they use.

Fremen characters in 'Dune' speak the Chakobsa tongue devised by language experts 

© ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP

From there, "we extrapolate," David Peterson said.

Tasked with inventing a language which sounded like fire for the Pixar cartoon "Elemental", for example, Jessie Peterson formed words from a series of sounds like explosions and matches.

Now she proudly recalls hearing children call out to their father in the language in the street.

Inventing grammar, vocabulary

With short turnaround times for filming -- sometimes just a couple of months -- the Petersons share the work.

Creating a language means more than just making up words -- the couple start by building grammar, including word genders and tenses.

From there music lover David Peterson works on how the language sounds and Jessie Peterson develops the vocabulary.

They send actors recordings of the dialogue at a normal speed, slow speed and even syllable by syllable.

The high-pressure process "usually involves a lot of swearing," David Peterson said.
Language and humanity

The pair have also created alphabets for messages written on screen by using images and symbols to create letters. David Peterson compares the process to the invention of writing five millennia ago.

Fans can study High Valyrian from "Game of Thrones" on learning app Duolingo -- or in regular lessons, along with Dothraki.

The Petersons share their expertise on their Youtube channel "LangTime Studio" with some 600 episodes for fans of co-called "conlangs" -- constructed languages.

'There is no reason to take the humanity out of language,' said Jessie Peterson 

© Chris Delmas / AFP

Could artificial intelligence get the work done faster?

"It would be more work to train the AI to actually produce a small amount of things. You might as well use that time to create the language on your own," David Peterson said.

Jessie Peterson agreed: "The beauty of language is that it is inherently human and there is no reason I want to take humanity out of language."

© 2024 AFP

DR Congo: slam poetry gains popularity

Issued on: 19/03/2024 - 

02:15
Video by: Aurélie BAZZARA-KIBANGULA

Slam poetry is a popular art form among youngsters in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Tetras collective, a trio with a deep love of Congolese and French poetry, use slam to explore their passion for wordplay.

CETA

France faces high-risk vote on EU-Canada free trade deal

Paris (AFP) – The French government on Thursday faces a risky vote on a controversial trade deal between the EU and Canada in the Senate where an unlikely alliance between left and right hopes to torpedo the pact.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 

Some senators want to inflict a defeat on the government over the trade deal

 © Thomas COEX / AFP

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has been in force provisionally since 2017, but requires ratification in all European Union member countries to take full effect.

President Emmanuel Macron and his centrist parliamentary allies managed to get the deal approved in the National Assembly in 2019 by a slim margin, but backing by the upper house -- where they are in a clear minority -- is needed for ratification.

The French Communist party placed the treaty on Thursday's Senate agenda, with the stated aim of getting it defeated.

Accusing the government of treating parliament "like a doormat", Communist senator Fabien Gay announced "a political thunderclap" for Thursday.

In a rare temporary alliance, the leadership of the conservative Les Republicains (LR) party, which has a majority in the Senate, has also signalled its opposition to the trade pact.

"We need free-trade agreements, but not at the expense of our sovereignty, especially for food," said Bruno Retailleau, LR's leader in the Senate.

Like all EU trade deals, CETA was negotiated by the EU Commission, but also needs approval from each EU member.

Seventeen of them have ratified the deal, with the process in 10 countries -- including France -- still ongoing. Britain ratified the deal when it was still in the EU.

Cyprus's parliament is the only one to have rejected the agreement outright, over a controversy about a geographical indication for halloumi cheese.

But under EU rules, such a vote only impacts CETA's application if a government officially notifies the EU of the rejection, which Cyprus has not done. Instead, it plans to re-submit the proposal later.

If CETA is rejected in the French Senate, Macron would be expected to do the same.
'A warning shot'

The government has, meanwhile, accused the opposition of weaponising CETA ahead of June European elections seen as a key test of Macron's popularity.

"Let's not be naive," quipped Macron's minister for foreign trade, Franck Riester, saying the trade deal was being "instrumentalised in the middle of the European election campaign".

While the French government defends CETA, there is also plenty of opposition, notably around food safety, with critics pointing to Canada's laxer approach to genetically-modified organisms, hormones, pesticides and herbicides, and lower standards on animal welfare compared to the EU.

CETA has sparked protests across the EU, including in Germany 

© John MACDOUGALL / AFP

There have been angry demonstrations in several EU countries against the deal, including by climate activists.

Criticism has also come from farmers and industrial sectors, notably over access to the Canadian market, and regulations.

"Farming in central Canada is completely industrial and operates without any rules," said LR senator and professional farmer Laurent Duplomb, saying he hoped to "fire a warning shot" in the direction of the EU.

Meanwhile, senators have reported receiving an unusual amount of attention from companies, associations, the government and the Canadian embassy all hoping to sway them.

"I have never seen this much lobbying before a Senate vote," said one member of the upper house who declined to be identified.

Although a no-vote would not in itself kill CETA, the French government worries about the impact of any rejection.

"We have to be careful not to send a negative signal concerning an agreement that produces benefits," said a government source, on condition of anonymity.

The trade deal's backers say French exports to Canada increased by 33 percent between 2017 and 2023, while imports rose 35 percent, thanks to the agreement.

Wine and dairy producers are among the main beneficiaries, the government says.

© 2024 AFP

French lawmakers to probe Polynesia nuclear tests

THEY CREATED GODZILLA

Paris (AFP) – French lawmakers are expected to launch a probe into the impact of the country's nuclear weapons tests in French Polynesia over three decades.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 - 
Atmospheric testing in French Polynesia went on until 1974 © / AFP/File
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France detonated almost 200 bombs from the 1960s to the 1990s in French Polynesia -- a scattered Pacific island territory thousands of kilometres east of Australia -- including 41 atmospheric tests between 1966 and 1974.

"We need to ask ourselves what the French government knew about the impact of the tests before they were carried out, as they occurred and up to today," the largely communist GDR group in the National Assembly said in a written request for an investigation.

The GDR used its right to request one parliamentary investigation per session to demand the probe, which must be formally approved by the defence committee.

The blasts "had numerous consequences: They relate to health, the economy, society and the environment," GDR said in the text written by Mereana Reid Arbelot, a French Polynesian member of parliament.

She called for a "full accounting" of the consequences and added that the group wanted to "shed light" on how testing sites were first chosen during the 1950s.

Reid Arbelot said those decisions inflicted "trauma on the civilian and military populations".

GDR said that Paris' claims about how much radiation people were exposed to at the time of the tests are contested among scientists and should be revised.

Paris first opened a path to compensation in 2010 when it acknowledged health and environmental impacts.

A study published by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) last year found that the nuclear tests slightly increased the risk of thyroid cancer for local people.

But campaigners at the time said that it should have looked at a larger segment of the population and called for more reparations.

On a 2021 visit, President Emmanuel Macron said the nation owed French Polynesia "a debt" for the nuclear tests, the last as recently as 1996.

He called for archives on the testing to be opened, save only the most sensitive military information.

France's independent nuclear programme was launched in the wake of World War II and pushed by Fifth Republic founder Charles de Gaulle.

One of nine nuclear powers in the world, it maintains a stock of around 300 warheads -- a similar level to China or Britain, but far short of heavyweights Russia and the United States.

French nuclear doctrine calls for the bombs to be used only if the country's "vital interests" are under threat -- a relatively vague term leaving the president wide leeway to decide on their use.

© 2024 AFP

Cezanne and Renoir: Clash of the titans in Milan

Milan (AFP) – One structured and austere, the other sensual and joyous -- Paul Cezanne and Auguste Renoir were two founding fathers of Impressionism, but a new Milan exhibition explores their sharply different styles.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 

Paul Cezanne's 'Paysage au toit rouge ou Le Pin a l'Estaque' (Landscape with a red roof or the Estaque pine) at the Palazzo Reale in Milan 

© Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

Marking 150 years since the founding of the art movement, 52 masterpieces by the two Frenchmen are on loan from Paris for an unprecedented show at the Palazzo Reale -- alongside two by Picasso, whom they inspired.

The paintings date from the 1870s to the early 20th century.

Renoir and Cezanne "were both part of the Impressionist adventure, before moving away from it. Cezanne turned towards extremely strong geometric structures, while Renoir kept his vibrant and sensitive touch", said Cecile Girardeau, curator of the exhibition.

The solitary, rather gloomy Cezanne had struck up a friendship in the 1860s with the jovial Renoir.

Cezanne and Renoir 'were both part of the impressionist adventure, before moving away from it,' said curator Cecile Girardeau 

© Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

As the years went on, the pair remained friends despite their different personalities and painting styles, with Renoir visiting Cezanne's home in the south of France several times between 1880 and 1890.
Bold brushwork

Impressionism was born in April 1874 when a group of painters -- including Cezanne, Renoir and others such as Claude Monet -- broke away from the government-backed Paris Salon to hold their own independent show.

Their works were characterised by rapid dabs and brushstrokes that explore the effects of light and colour.

Many of the paintings in Milan -- on loan from the Musee de l'Orangerie and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris -- address similar subjects, from landscapes to nudes or still life.

The works feature similar subjects but show how the artists' approaches varied 

© Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

But the artists' approaches varied, from Cezanne's bold brushworks focused on shapes to Renoir's more sensual touch that often sought to capture dappled light.

Girardeau, curator at the Musee de l'Orangerie, noted the differences between two still life paintings -- Cezanne's "Straw vase, sugar bowl and apples" (1890-1894) and Renoir's "Peaches" (1881).

"Cezanne tried to give us the essential structure of objects and it is through this that he makes us understand his view of the world," she told AFP.

By contrast, "Renoir captures the immediacy of the moment, gives us the sensation of the tablecloth, its folds, the softness of the fruit and the reflection of the light on the earthenware."

The artists' workshops have been recreated for the show: Renoir's from Cagnes-sur-Mer in the south of France and Cezanne's from his family home of the Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, the family home in Aix-en-Provence.

The show includes a reconstruction of Auguste Renoir's atelier in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France © Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

Time seems to have stood still as the light falls on the studios, the brushes, dried tubes of paint and wooden frames bearing witness to their masters' work.
Joie de vivre

The painters' personalities came out in their paintings.

The sober Cezanne described wanting to portray nature "according to the cylinder, the sphere, the cone", whereas the exuberant Renoir described a painting as a "joyful, pretty thing".

Cezanne's portraits are austere, the subjects staring into space without the hint of a smile, while Renoir's exude a sense of gentle serenity or, in the case of his voluptuous female nudes, of sensuality.

Their differences reflect their backgrounds. Cezanne was the son of a banker, who had no need to sell his art, while Renoir was from a family of poor artisans.

"Cezanne certainly didn't have a spontaneous natural talent and had to study hard at painting," said Stefano Zuffi, an art historian and co-curator of the exhibition.

"He nevertheless achieved an exceptional synthesis between a very rigorous, very geometric sense of composition and on the other hand, the spontaneity, the freshness, the colour of nature's light," Zuffi added, calling him a "genius".

By contrast, "Renoir's greatness consists of his inexhaustible 'joie de vivre'," he said.

"For him, life was beautiful and painting was a way to make it even more beautiful."

© 2024 AFP

Hong Kong adopts contentious law giving government more power to quash dissent

Issued on: 19/03/2024 

01:29
Video by :Catherine CLIFFORD

Hong Kong's legislature unanimously passed a new national security law on Tuesday ( March 19), introducing penalties such as life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection, and up to 20 years' jail for the theft of state secrets.

 

Hong Kong tightens control with new national security law

Article 23 of the Basic Law gives the Hong Kong government more power to crush dissent. The law, which mirrors Beijing's 2020 measures, aims to outlaw treason, sabotage, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage.

Hong Kong's lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously passed a proposed national security law on top of a similar law imposed by Beijing four years ago that has already largely silenced opposition voices.

"Today is a historic moment for Hong Kong," said city leader John Lee, who added that the law would come into effect on March 23.

The vote was held in special session one day before the regular Wednesday meeting of the Legislative Council.
Government's desire to fast-track legislation

The bill was unveiled on March 8. The legislature, which is packed with Beijing loyalists, accelerated debate after Lee called for the law proposal to be pushed through "at full speed."

During Tuesday's meeting, lawmakers expressed strong support for the bill. Legislative Council President Andrew Leung said he believed all lawmakers were honored to be part of this "historic mission."

"I fully agree with what the Chief Executive said: the sooner the legislation is completed, the sooner national security will be safeguarded," he said.

Beijing's ever-tightening grip on Hong Kong


The new legislation paves the way for the government to gain more power to crush dissent in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city. The law is widely seen as the latest step in a sweeping political crackdown that followed pro-democracy protests in 2019.

The proposed law threatens harsh penalties for a wide range of actions that the authorities call threats to national security, with the most serious, including treason and insurrection, punishable by life imprisonment.

Lesser offenses, including possession of seditious publications, could result in several years in prison. Some provisions allow prosecution for acts committed anywhere in the world.

Critics fear the new law will further erode civil liberties that Beijing promised to preserve for 50 years when the former British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk decried the "rushed" passage of the new law on Tuesday, labeling it "a regressive step for the protection of human rights."

The United States said the new law could further erode citizens' rights in Hong Kong.

"We believe that these kinds of actions have the potential to accelerate the closing of Hong Kong's once open society," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said. "We are alarmed by the sweeping and what we interpret as vaguely defined provisions" in the law, he said.

Pro-democracy protesters push barricades toward police during a stand-off outside the Legislative Council in 2019

Image: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

Crackdown on dissent

Since the massive street protests in 2019 that challenged China's rule over the semi-autonomous territory and led to the imposition of Beijing's national security law, Hong Kong's political scene has changed dramatically.

Many leading activists have been prosecuted. Others have fled abroad. Influential pro-democracy media outlets such as Apple Daily and Stand News have been shut down. The crackdown has caused disillusioned young professionals and middle-class families to flee to the United States, Britain, Canada and Taiwan.

Hong Kong is required by its mini-constitution, the Basic Law, to enact a homegrown national security law. A previous attempt in 2003 sparked massive street protests that drew half a million people. The legislation was forced to be shelved.

There have been no such protests against the current bill, largely because of the chilling effect of the existing security law.

dh/fb (AP, DW sources)

China blasts critics of new Hong Kong security law

By AFP
March 20, 2024

China has slammed criticism of the new security law passed by Hong Kong's rubber stamp legislature Tuesday night - Copyright AFP Bertha WANG

China lashed out against critics of Hong Kong’s new national security law on Wednesday, accusing the British government of having the “mindset of a coloniser” and condemning the EU’s “hypocritical” position.

Hong Kong, a former colony of Britain before the 1997 handover back to China, on Tuesday passed a security law commonly referred to as Article 23 to punish five crimes after a fast-tracked legislative process.

British foreign minister David Cameron said it was a “rushed” process for a law that would “further damage the rights and freedoms enjoyed in the city”.

In response, China’s de facto foreign ministry in Hong Kong blasted Britain as being “hypocritical and exercising double standards” in an apparent reference to London’s own national security laws.

“The United Kingdom has been making inflammatory and irresponsible comments on Hong Kong’s situation… it’s all due to the deep-rooted mindset as a coloniser and preacher,” the foreign affairs commissioner said in a statement Wednesday.

“We urge the UK to set its position right, face the reality, and give up on the fantasy of continuing its colonial influence in Hong Kong.”

Responding to the EU’s criticism, the commissioner’s office expressed “strong disaffection and opposition” to its comments.

“We urge the EU to envisage the strong appeal for the legislation in Hong Kong, and abandon its hypocritical double standards and prejudice,” the statement said.

As part of Britain’s handover agreement to China, Hong Kong was guaranteed certain freedoms, including judicial and legislative autonomy, for 50 years in a deal known as “one country, two systems”.

The accord cemented the city’s status as a world-class business hub, bolstered by a reliable judiciary and political freedoms distinct from the mainland.

But 2019’s massive and at times violent democracy protests — which saw hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers take to the streets to call for more autonomy from Beijing’s rule — drew a swift response from authorities.

Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 focused on punishing four crimes — secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

Since its enactment, nearly 300 people have been arrested under the law, while dozens of politicians, activists and other public figures have been jailed or forced into exile, and civil society has largely been silenced.

– ‘Grave concern’ –

The newly passed law, which punishes treason, insurrection, theft of state secrets and espionage, sabotage, and external interference, will work in tandem to plug up “gaps” left by Beijing’s legislation, Hong Kong’s leader John Lee has said.

The government has argued its creation was a “constitutional responsibility” as outlined under Article 23 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which has governed the city since the handover.

But Cameron said the fast-tracked legislation undermined the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an internationally binding agreement signed in 1984 in which China agreed to run Hong Kong under the “one country, two systems” principle.

“I urge the Hong Kong authorities to… uphold its high degree of autonomy and the rule of law and act in accordance with its international commitments and legal obligations,” he said.

His statement also drew a rebuke from the Chinese embassy in Britain, which called it “a serious distortion of the facts”.

The embassy said the law, which imposes life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection, “fully safeguards the rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong residents”.

“We urge the UK to cease its baseless accusations… refrain from interfering in China’s internal affairs under any pretext,” it said.

The United States, United Nations, European Union and Japan have also publicly criticised the law.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday that the United States was “alarmed by the sweeping and what we interpret as vaguely defined provisions” in the law.

UN rights chief Volker Turk called the law and its “rushed” adoption “a regressive step for the protection of human rights”.

The EU criticised not only the expected impact of the law on the city’s freedoms overall, but specifically said it had the “potential to significantly affect the work of the European Union’s office”, European consulates and EU citizens in Hong Kong.

“This also raises questions about Hong Kong’s long-term attractiveness as an international business hub,” the EU said in a statement Tuesday.

Japan on Wednesday added to the chorus, saying it attached “great importance to upholding a free and open system and ensuring the democratic and stable development of Hong Kong.

Japan “reiterates its grave concern about the passage of (Hong Kong’s national security law), which will further undermine the confidence in the “One Country, Two Systems” framework,” it said.

FEMICIDE

Gambia postpones vote to repeal FGM ban

Kate Hairsine | Sertan Sanderson

DW

Women's rights remain under threat in Gambia after parliament decided to postpone a vote on upholding the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).

Dozens of women picketed parliament to stop the ban on femal genital mulitation being reversed

Hadim Thomas-Safe Hands for Girls/AP/picture alliance

Female genital mutilation (FGM) remains illegal in Gambia — for now. A decision in Gambia's National Assembly on whether to overturn the ban on FGM has been postponed for at least three months.

The divisive issue led MPs to ask for more consultation on the matter, referring the bill to a parliamentary committee which will examine it for at least three months. The bill will then be returned to parliament.

According to the AFP news agency, hundreds of people were seen protested outside parliament on Monday, with most supporting a repeal of the ban on FGM.

The tiny West African nation had explicitly criminalized FGM, also called cutting or female circumcision, in 2015, making the practise punishable with up to three years in prison or a fine of 50,000 dalasi ($736 or €678), or both.

In cases where FGM causes death, the law calls for life imprisonment.

FGM involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia, often involving the removal of the clitoris or labia. It has no health benefits and is proven to harm girls and women in many ways.

The private bill to scrap the law outlawing FGM, which was proposed by individual members of parliament, argues that the current prohibition violates citizens' rights to practice their culture and religion.

Renewed debate around criminalizing FGM

The debate around FGM in Gambia flared up in mid-2023 after three women were convicted of the practise under the law. They were ordered to pay a fine of 15,000 dalasi or serve a year in jail for carrying out female genital mutilation on eight infant girls, aged between four months and one year. However, an imam paid the fines for all three women,

These were the first convictions under the law. Prior to this, only two people had been arrested and one case brought to court, according to UNICEF, and no convictions or sanctions had been handed down.

This is despite nearly three out of four girls and women, or 73%, having undergone female genital mutilation in Gambia, according to official figures.

Parliamentary reporter Arret Jatta told DW that she wasn't surprised that the pro-FGM bill has come before parliament, given the heated discussions in recent months:

"Almost all the National Assembly members are in support of the law being repealed, especially the female National Assembly members," she said.

Different interpretations of Islam

Most of the small African country's population are Muslim, and many believe that FGM is a requirement of Islam. The Gambia Supreme Islamic Council issued a fatwa (religious decree) last year, declaring FGM "one of the virtues of Islam."

However, Isatou Touray, former vice president and founder of the anti-FGM organization GAMCOTRAP, strongly refutes this interpretation.

"Who has the right to interfere in what Allah had created, and who has the right to define how a woman should look?" Touray told Gambian media organization Kerr Fatou.

Supporters of FGM meanwhile believe it can "purify" and protect girls during adolescence and before marriage.

"When it comes to the social aspect, they'll even tell you, 'Oh, it is to ensure that you stay a virgin because if you have the clitoris then … you would want to have sex,'" woman's rights advocate Esther Brown said in an interview on DW's AfricaLink radio program earlier in March.

Human rights violation

The practice of FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, finds the World Health Organization.

As well as severe bleeding, FGM can cause a variety of severe health problems, including infections, scarring, pain, menstruation problems, recurrent urinary tract infections, infertility and complications in childbirth.

One study on the health consequences of FGM in Gambia found women who were cut are four times more likely to suffer complications during delivery, and the newborn is four times more likely to have health complications if the mother has undergone FGM. 

Africa's slow progress toward zero tolerance against FGM    01:35

But for Fatima Jarju, an FGM survivor who sensitizes women in Gambia to the harms of the procedure, the ongoing debate on the issue is causing further damage to women's rights:

"I think it's a big setback ... looking at our human rights standards as a country and also the commitment from the government to protecting the rights of women and girls of this country," she told DW.

Legislation not always effective against FGM

The Gambia is among 28 sub-Saharan nations where FGM is practiced. Six of these nations lack a national laws criminalizing the procedure (see map below). The Gambia could soon join them.

Many anti-FGM activists stress, however, that legislation alone is insufficient to tackle FGM, especially when it lacks enforcement, as is the case in Gambia.

Rugiatu Turay in Sierra Leone, one of the six African nations without a law against FGM, has gained international recognition for her work combating FGM.

The strategies she uses include the development of rites of passage for girls that don't involve cutting, finding alternative livelihoods for the cutters and intense community engagement.

She isn't convinced that legislation is the best way to tackle the issue.

"Generally, in Africa, people make laws to satisfy their donor partners. But when it comes to implementation, they are not implemented," she told DW.

To change cultural attitudes, she says, more community-based initiatives are needed that involve everyone from regional chiefs, local headmen and religious leaders to the cutters and the mothers making decisions for their daughters.

"If every sector in our country speaks about the cut and the scar — and its consequences — I tell you, we will end FGM," she said.

Anti-FGM campaigners march to end the practice in Sierra LeoneI

mage: Saidu Bah/AFP

Sankulleh Janko in Banjul, Eddy Micah Jr. and George Okach contributed to this article.

This article was first published on March 7, 2024 and was updated on March 19, 2024 to reflect the postponement of a vote to repeal the FGM ban.

Edited by: Rob Mudge

Amid threats by powerful religious leaders, Gambian MP's have 'moral obligation' to maintain FGM ban

Issued on: 19/03/2024 - 

Video by: Nadia MASSIH

Lawmakers in Gambia are debating on a repeal of the 2015 ban on the widely condemned practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Gambian activists fear a repeal would overturn years of work in the largely Muslim country to better protect women and girls as young as 5 years old. It can cause childbirth complications and have deadly consequences, yet it remains a widespread practice in parts of Africa. As Gambia lawmakers consider a repeal of the ban, under heavy pressure from powerful religious leaders, FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih is joined by renowned Gambian activist Jaha Dukureh, Regional UN Women Ambassador for Africa and CEO / Founder of the NGO “Safe Hands for Girls” providing support to African women and girls who are survivors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

05:07

 

Gambian parliament debates bill to reverse ban on female genital mutilation

Issued on: 19/03/2024 - 

NAKBA 2

Rafah displaced shiver as thunder and rain lash tent camp

Rafah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Torrential rains lashed a tent camp for displaced people in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where frightened Palestinian children can no longer distinguish between thunder and Israeli bombardment.


Issued on: 19/03/2024 - 

Men and boys gather to inspect a destroyed vehicle following overnight Israeli bombardment at the Rafah camp in southern Gaza 

© SAID KHATIB / AFP

The storm fell overnight Monday to Tuesday in the southernmost Gaza Strip city, adding to the anguish of Palestinians who fled the war between Hamas and Israel, many without warm clothes, blankets or proper footwear.

Oum Abdullah Alwan said her children "screamed in fear" because "we can't tell the difference between the sound of rain and the sound of shelling".

"'It's shelling, Mum, we have to run,'" one of the children told Alwan, who was displaced from Jabalia further north, and now lives with more than a dozen family members in a tent in the makeshift camp.

She asked her son: "Is that the sound of shelling?" He told her it was thunder.

The rain, accompanied by biting winds, soaked foam mattresses and the meagre belongings of the camp's residents.

"We are 14 people living in a tent and we cannot find a single dry mattress to sleep on, or even a dry blanket. We have been soaked in rainwater all night," said Alwan.

Like other parents, she said she huddled with her children, embracing them to quell their shivers and "feel a little warmth".

"How much longer will we live in this torment? How much longer?," she cried out.

The war, now in its sixth month, has devastated vast swathes of Gaza and pushed hundreds of thousands to flee their homes seeking safety.

Many have flooded into Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to launch a ground offensive as he hunts Hamas militants.

Rafah now houses 1.5 million people, most of them displaced and living in a massive camp of makeshift tents © SAID KHATIB / AFP

The war broke out after an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead.

Israel retaliated with relentless air, ground and sea bombardment on the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 31,819 people, mostly women and children, the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory says.

Hundreds of thousands of people are now also on the brink of famine, the United Nations and international aid groups have warned.
'Tired of living in a tent'

An estimated 1.5 million Palestinians now live in Rafah, most of them displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip and living in a sea of makeshift tents.

In the camp, a group of children walked past the tents wearing sandals or even barefoot.

"I've told you many times not to play here," an old man shouted at them. "It's (the water is) dirty. You'll get sick."

Residents complained that rainwater was seeping through the tents, drenching them and their belongings and making them ill.

Torrential rains added to the misery of camp residents 

© SAID KHATIB / AFP

Many tried to patch up their improvised homes with whatever they could find.

Mahmoud Saad gathered sand and pushed it against the edge of his family's tent to stop the water, with help from his daughter Aya.

"Winter is usually a blessed season, but not for Gaza," said Aya.

Further away, Akram al-Arian, who is displaced from Khan Yunis, said when the rain fell he too was confused, thinking it was another Israeli bombardment.

"I held my children close to me like a hen protecting her chicks," Arian said.

"I didn't know what to do. I'm tired of living in a tent."

Abir al-Shaer, also originally from Khan Yunis, said her children had "developed a psychological obsession with rockets".

"Every sound is a rocket sound to them, even when the tent flap flutters in the wind, they think it's the sound of a rocket."

© 2024 AFP

'Destroyed': Gaza family erects shelter on home's ruins

Jabalia (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – The makeshift shelter sits atop the ruins of the Kahlout family's shattered Gaza home, which took them 30 years to build but was destroyed in moments by war.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 -

Heavy bombardment has destroyed swathes of Gaza 

© JACK GUEZ / AFP

They were shocked to return to rubble after fleeing fighting around their house in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, yet they had to decide what to do next.

"We pitched a tent over the rubble and we are staying here. Where to go? There's no where to go, there's no shelter," said 60-year-old Oum Nael al-Kahlout.

"It's our memories, our house which we worked hard to build and we spent 30 years building it," she added.

Over five months into the war sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel, the heavy bombardment has flattened swathes of the densely populated Palestinian territory.

At the Kahlout's shelter, concrete blocks serve as stairs and a garland of red pennants hang limply from the roof of sheet metal. There are no windows and the walls are about waist-high.

The structure -- which houses a couch, some cooking utensils and a bed -- is surrounded by a desolate landscape of shattered concrete that used to be buildings.
'We eat nothing'

The bloodiest ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas's attack resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes 130 remain in the Gaza Strip, including 33 who are presumed dead.

Israel has responded with a relentless offensive against Hamas that Gaza's health ministry says has killed at least 31,819 people, most of them women and children.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said the destruction in Gaza has created 23 millions tonnes of debris in the narrow coastal territory.

"It will take years to clear the rubble & unexploded ordnance," UNRWA wrote on social media on Friday.

Yet for people like Kahlout, who shares the shelter with her husband Saed Ismail al-Kahlout, food is the most pressing need.

Half of Gazans are experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, with famine projected to hit Gaza's north by May unless there is urgent intervention, a UN-backed food assessment warned Monday.

The situation is particularly dire in the north, where the United Nations says there are about 300,000 people and where famine was "imminent... projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May".

"We don't receive any aid. We eat ground weeds, when we find mallow weed. We cook it in water and drink it as soup," said Oum Nael, referring to an edible herb.

Her husband added that seeking help from charities had made little difference: "Hopefully we receive a plate of mallow weed or something. It's always mallow weed, we eat nothing."

© 2024 AFP

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Prominent DR Congo journalist Stanis Bujakera freed from jail after six months

A prominent DR Congo journalist was released from prison late Tuesday after spending six months behind bars, a colleague announced.


Issued on: 20/03/2024 - 

Screenshot of a video showing Stanis Bujakera with his lawyer during his sentencing by Congolese justice on March 18, 2024 

© AFP TV

Stanis Bujakera, 33, was sentenced Monday to six months in prison for allegedly incriminating in an article the country's military intelligence in the murder of an opposition politician, Cherubin Okende.

He was detained in September and held in pre-trial custody.

The unsigned story was published in the Jeune Afrique magazine and based on an alleged confidential memo from a separate intelligence agency. Congolese authorities have said the memo is a fake.

Although Bujakera's lawyer earlier on Tuesday said that he would remain in jail pending an appeal of his sentence by the public prosecutor's office, Patient Ligodi, head of the online Actualite.cd newspaper, told AFP that the journalist was free.

"The public ministry has withdrawn its appeal. He (Bujakera) is free, he is in the car, I'm taking him home," said Ligodi.

A Kinshasa court found Bujakera guilty of charges including forgery and "spreading false rumours", and ordered the six-month sentence along with a fine of one million Congolese francs ($400).

Prosecutors had asked that Bujakera be jailed for 20 years.

As Bujakera had already spent six months in detention, he was due to be released on Tuesday after his employer paid the fine and all court costs.

But "the order for Stanis to be freed came down around 1800 (1700 GMT), accompanied by an appeal by the public ministry," Ligodi said earlier on Tuesday.

Bujakera was arrested after a Jeune Afrique article was published in late August 2023, suggesting that Congolese military intelligence had killed Okende the month before.

Okende, a former minister and spokesman for the opposition party Ensemble Pour la Republique ("United for the Republic"), disappeared on July 12 last year.

His bullet-riddled body was found in his car in Kinshasa the following day.

(AFP)

Finland is world's happiest country for 7th year while US drops out of top 20

Finland remained the world's happiest country for a seventh straight year in an annual UN sponsored World Happiness Report published on Wednesday.


Issued on: 20/03/2024 - 

And Nordic countries kept their places among the 10 most cheerful, with Denmark, Iceland and Sweden trailing Finland.

Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed.

For the first time since the report was published more than a decade ago, the United States and Germany were not among the 20 happiest nations, coming in 23rd and 24th respectively.

In turn, Costa Rica and Kuwait entered the top 20 at 12 and 13

The report noted the happiest countries no longer included any of the world's largest countries.

"In the top 10 countries only the Netherlands and Australia have populations over 15 million. In the whole of the top 20, only Canada and the UK have populations over 30 million."

The sharpest decline in happiness since 2006-10 was noted in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Jordan, while the Eastern European countries Serbia, Bulgaria and Latvia reported the biggest increases.

The happiness ranking is based on individuals' self-assessed evaluations of life satisfaction, as well as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.

Growing inequality

Jennifer De Paola, a happiness researcher at the University of Helsinki in Finland, told AFP that Finns' close connection to nature and healthy work-life balance were key contributors to their life satisfaction.

In addition, Finns may have a "more attainable understanding of what a successful life is", compared to for example the United States where success is often equated with financial gain, she said.

Finns' strong welfare society, trust in state authorities, low levels of corruption and free healthcare and education were also key.

"Finnish society is permeated by a sense of trust, freedom, and high level of autonomy," De Paola said.

This year's report also found that younger generations were happier than their older peers in most of the world's regions -- but not all.

In North America, Australia and New Zealand, happiness among groups under 30 has dropped dramatically since 2006-10, with older generations now happier than the young.

By contrast, in Central and Eastern Europe, happiness increased substantially at all ages during the same period, while in Western Europe people of all ages reported similar levels of happiness.

Happiness inequality increased in every region except Europe, which authors described as a "worrying trend".

The rise was especially distinct among the old and in Sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting inequalities in "income, education, health care, social acceptance, trust, and the presence of supportive social environments at the family, community and national levels," the authors said.

(AFP)