Disinformation targeting Brigitte Macron spreads beyond France

Paris (AFP) – Years after false posts began circulating on social media purporting Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman, the French first lady remains the target of fake claims with the transphobic disinformation spreading to the United States.

THE TRANSGENDER SLANDER BY RIGHT WING INCELS BEGAN WITH MICHELLE OBAMA, THEN HILLARY IN 2016, BEFORE THE CURRENT RIGHT WING GOP ATTACK ON TRANSGENDER PEOPLE AND THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE U$

Issued on: 29/03/2024 - 

The French president's wife Brigitte Macron is taking legal action over the claims

 © JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

President Emmanuel Macron, 46, has in recent weeks lashed out at the false information spread about his wife, 70, who is taking legal action against those behind the allegations.

Prominent US conservative commentator Candace Owens vehemently attacked the first lady in a now-deleted YouTube video posted on March 11, propagating a false claim that first exploded in France just weeks before the 2022 presidential election.

Brigitte Macron is falsely accused of being born as a man called Jean-Michel Trogneux, her maiden surname, with that name going viral as a hashtag.

Macron is among a group of influential women -- including former US first lady Michelle Obama and New Zealand ex-premier Jacinda Ardern -- who have fallen victim to a growing trend: disinformation about their gender or sexuality to mock or humiliate them.

While this gendered disinformation is particularly visible in repeated attacks on prominent figures, it also affects women in general and sexual or gender minorities with differing levels of responsibility in public life.

According to the US-based observer group, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the goal is to drive women "off the platforms and out of public life", which has serious consequences for democracy.

- 'Across the Atlantic' -

Originally shared in the United States on sites like notorious disinformation hub 4chan, the claim snowballed when figures "with very large audiences gave it visibility", doctoral researcher Sophie Chauvet, specialising in audience metrics, told AFP.

In her video, conservative commentator Owens cites a "thorough investigation" by so-called independent journalist Natacha Rey, published in the French newsletter Faits et Documents in 2021.

Founded in 1996 by far-right French figure Emmanuel Ratier and now headed by Xavier Poussard, Faits et Documents regularly promotes stories targeting the first lady, a journalist at the French weekly L'Obs, Emmanuelle Anizon, told AFP.

"But what is new is that Xavier Poussard started translating his articles at the end of 2023," Anizon said, adding that he claims to have sent an English version to those close to former US president Donald Trump.

Anizon, who spoke to Poussard and his associate Aurelien Poirson who advised on the translation, explained that it was no accident that the US far right had taken up the false claim ahead of the November US elections.

"It was their dream to export this rumour across the Atlantic," she said.

And it worked, spreading like wildfire after Owens posted her video with two associated hashtags shared tens of thousands of times on X, according to social network analysis tool Visibrain.

The rumour "was available as and when required", said Sebastian Dieguez, an expert in conspiracy theories at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

The "secretly trans" narrative is a long-standing feature of online, sexist violence, according to a 2021 Wilson Center report.

The bottom line, according to the NDI, is that silencing women has "serious consequences for human rights, diversity in public debates and the media, and ultimately, democracy."

'Grotesque' rumours

The impact is also personal for those targeted and their families.

Emmanuel Macron addressed the rumours on International Women's Day, saying, "the worst thing is false information".

"People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your private life," he said.

The president's relationship with his wife 24 years his senior, whom he met while she was a teacher and he was still a teenager, is periodically a source of media attention in France and abroad.

There has long been curiosity about the private life of the Macrons 

© JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

On March 22, a 51-year-old man was arrested in southwestern France for allegedly writing "Brigitte Macron, transsexual" on his garage, according to the French daily Le Figaro.

The first lady and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux have taken legal action against two women who posted a Youtube video in December 2021 alleging she had once been a man named "Jean-Michel".

A Paris criminal court is to try them on charges of defamation in March next year, a source close to the case has said.

The first lady's daughter from her first marriage, Tiphaine Auziere, on Tuesday said she hoped the trial could quash the "grotesque" rumours.

"Whether it's my mother or anyone else in society, it can do a lot of harm," Auziere told the BFMTV broadcaster.

"The justice system... can put an end to this misinformation and severely condemn the perpetrators because it's a form of harassment like any other."

© 2024 AFP

UK same-sex couples celebrate a decade of legal marriage

London (AFP) – When same-sex marriages became legal in England and Wales 10 years ago on Friday, Britons Neil Allard and Andrew Wale could not have tied the knot any quicker.

Issued on: 29/03/2024 

Neil Allard (R) and Andrew Wale (L) became one of the first same-sex couples to marry in Britain 

© LEON NEAL / AFP

The couple, now in their 50s, got hitched at midnight on March 29, 2014, the very moment the historic Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 came into force.

"It was fantastic," Wale recalled of their nuptials and the landmark moment in gay rights that paved the way for tens of thousands of similar unions.

"For most of our lives, I don't think we even dreamt that we would be able to be married," he told AFP in an interview.

Allard, 58, and Wale, 59, became one of the first same-sex couples to marry in Britain thanks to the local authority in Brighton on the English south coast.

They won a competition posted by the council on Facebook to get married in a ceremony in the music room of the city's grand 19th-century Indo-Gothic pavilion.

"They were very eager to be the first because there were three couples getting married (elsewhere) at midnight on that day," remembered Wale, who works part-time in theatre.

"I have no idea whether we were actually the first," but someone present had their "finger on the computer buttons ready to hit (and) register the marriage".

Allard remembered that there was lots of noise outside. The couple were slightly nervous as they weren't sure if it was supporters or people opposed to same-sex unions.

"We didn't know what was happening but because it had been streamed live on the TV there was a crowd of people outside the pavilion ready to cheer us," said Allard.

Wale recalled seeing hundreds and hundreds of "really excited" young people who clapped and cheered.

'Legally safe'

"Some of them were thanking us for getting married and stuff which felt so bizarre, but at the same time, really, really wonderful. It really felt important."

The pair had met in 2007 and Wale remembers that saying "I do" to each other felt like "a practical thing almost".

"It was so that we were secure... legally safe, so that we could be each other's next of kin and all those important things that people need to be in place," he said.

The milestone legislation was championed by then-Conservative prime minister David Cameron who has said the act was one of the proudest moments of his premiership.

The first gay marriages in Scotland took place a few months later in December 2014.

Approximately 167,000 people in England and Wales are likely to be in same-sex marriages currently, according to the latest available figures.

On their 10th anniversary, Allard and Wale, who now live in Spain with their two dogs, said it was "nice" to learn to call each other "husband".

"It's tricky, it's hard for somebody of our age," said Wale, admitting the couple still fear homophobic abuse.

They credit the legislation of same-sex marriage for making British society more tolerant.

"There are a lot more gay couples in the media and just around in general life being visible.

"And I think that equal marriage adds to that. The weight of that eventually makes an impact," said Wale.

© 2024 AFP

ANIMISTIC SHAMANISM

Philippines observes Good Friday with crucifixions and whippings

San Fernando (Philippines) (AFP) – Catholic zealots in the Philippines re-enacting the last moments of Jesus Christ were nailed to wooden crosses while others whipped themselves bloody in extreme displays of religious devotion on Good Friday.

SELF FLAGELLATION IS NOT UNLIKE SOME 

SHIA RITUALS

Issued on: 29/03/2024 - 

Hundreds gathered in villages around San Fernando city, north of Manila, to watch men punish themselves in a bid to atone for their sins or seek miracles from God 

© JAM STA ROSA / AFP

While most Filipinos went to church or spent the holiday with family, thousands gathered in villages around San Fernando city, north of Manila, to watch men punish themselves in a bid to atone for their sins or seek miracles from God.

Dozens of bare-chested flagellants wearing black shrouds and crowns made of vines walked barefoot through dusty, narrow streets, rhythmically flogging their backs with strips of bamboo tied to ropes, their blood soaking the top of their trousers and spattering onlookers.

Some lay face down on the ground to be whipped and beaten by others, razor blades sometimes used to draw blood.

"This is for my son, an epileptic," said Joel Yutoc, who has his 13-year-old son's name tattooed across his chest.

Yutoc, 31, said his son had not had seizures in the eight years since he began taking part in the Good Friday floggings.

The whippings are the opening act of street plays performed by devout residents.

In San Juan village, a short, wiry man with wild, white hair playing the role of Jesus Christ and two others were dragged by neighbours dressed as Roman centurions to a raised mound where wooden crosses lay on the ground.

Wilfredo Salvador takes part in the re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday in San Fernando on March 29, 2024 

© JAM STA ROSA / AFP

As spectators filmed on their mobile phones, three-inch nails were driven into the men's palms and the crosses were hoisted upright.

Several minutes later the crosses were lowered to the ground and the nails pulled out.

"I will keep doing this while I'm alive, for as long as my body is able to do it. That is my vow," said retired fisherman Wilfredo Salvador, 67, who began playing the role of Jesus Christ in the mock crucifixions 16 years ago following a mental breakdown.

"This is nothing. Sometimes it heals after a day and I am able to wash dishes and bathe," Salvador said of his wounds.

San Juan homemaker Marilyn Lovite, 41, said she watches the gruesome re-enactment every year to "learn about the suffering of Christ".

"If you were to merely read it in the Bible you would not really understand. In action it is clearer for us to see how he suffered for us," the mother-of-four said.

- 'My body feels sore' -

Ten people were nailed or strung up on crosses at three crucifixion sites, San Fernando city councillor Reginaldo David told reporters.

At the biggest event, veteran performer Ruben Enaje, 63, had his hands and feet nailed to a cross for the 35th time in his role as Jesus Christ.

People watch the re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday in San Fernando, north of the Philippine capital Manila 

© JAM STA ROSA / AFP

Enaje remained nailed up for more than 10 minutes as storm clouds gathered overhead. It began to rain as he was carried on a stretcher to a medical tent where his wounds were bandaged.

"I feel no pain in my hands but my body as a whole feels sore," Enaje said.

"The Passion Play was longer this year because we lengthened the script. Maybe that was why my body feels sore."

Enaje said this year might be his last appearance as Jesus.

"I can't say if I will still be able to do it again next year because my body feels like it is about to give in," he said.

- 'It's for my mother' -

The extreme acts are frowned upon by the Catholic Church in the Philippines and health experts.

The Philippine health department urged the public this week to "avoid acts or rites that lead to physical wounds and injuries".

"We join the pastoral guidance of our faith leaders, guiding all towards religious practices that are safe and healthy," it said in a statement.

But for devotees like 23-year-old Ian Bautista, who has been taking part in the floggings since he was 15 and is one of four flagellants in his family, the suffering was for a good cause.

"It's for my mother," Bautista said, explaining that she had surgery for an ovarian cyst on Monday and that he believed taking part would help her recovery.

"It's painful but I will do this until my body gives up."

© 2024 AFP

NAKBA II 

Palestinians fear further isolation as Israeli minister announces vast West Bank (ILLEGAL) settlement plans


Issued on: 29/03/2024

Palestinian land planner Safa Odeh points in the direction of a road in the West Bank that she says only Israeli settlers can use.

 © France 24 screengrab

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced a plan to seize 800 hectares of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, the largest land seizure since the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israeli and Palestinian authorities according to NGO Peace Now. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris Trent and Claire Duhamel explored the roads around Jerusalem, some of which are included in the planned seizure, and spoke with a Palestinian land planning engineer who said Smotrich's plan is aimed at "increasing control" in the territory.

02:35  Video by: Claire Duhamel|Catherine NORRIS TRENT

Chinese tech giant Huawei says profits more than doubled in 2023

Beijing (AFP) – Chinese tech giant Huawei said on Friday its profits more than doubled in 2023, as it ramps up efforts to bounce back in a year that saw the company apparently defy US sanctions with the release of a high-end smartphone.


Issued on: 29/03/2024 - 

The Shenzhen-based company has been at the centre of an intense standoff between China and the United States -- Washington has warned that its equipment could be used for espionage by the Chinese government, an allegation Huawei denies.

Sanctions since 2019 have cut the firm's access to US-made components and technologies, forcing it to diversify its growth strategy.

Huawei said it generated a profit of 87 billion yuan ($12 billion) last year, more than double 2022's 35.6 billion yuan but short of its record 113.7 billion yuan profit in 2021.

Revenues also surged by 9.6 percent to 704.2 billion yuan.

"We've been through a lot over the past few years," Rotating Chairman Ken Hu said Friday.

"But through one challenge after another, we've managed to grow."

Highlighting Huawei's efforts to diversify as it finds itself cut off by Western sanctions, the firm said revenues from its smart car business had more than doubled, bringing in 4.7 billion last year.

More than half its revenue came from its ICT infrastructure business, followed by consumer products and cloud computing.

"A new journey awaits us in 2024," Hu said.

Huawei's surge in profits follows a year in which the firm raised eyebrows in Washington with the release of its Mate 60 Pro smartphone.

Powered by an advanced domestically produced chip, it sparked debate about whether US attempts to curb China's access to semiconductor technologies had been effective.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Bloomberg in December the development was "deeply concerning".

The Mate 60 Pro has shown the ability to bite into key competitor Apple's profits in China, analysts cited by Bloomberg have said.
In the crosshairs

Huawei remains the world's leading equipment manufacturer for 5G, the fifth generation of mobile internet, and has been involved in infrastructure projects in many countries.

The United States has sought to convince its allies to ban Huawei from their 5G networks, arguing that Beijing could use the group's products to monitor communications and data traffic.

The European Commission ruled in June last year that Chinese telecom equipment suppliers -- including Huawei -- posed a security risk to the EU.

Huawei's French offices were raided last month on suspicion of "improper behaviour", though no other details were immediately available.

In response to the US curbs, Beijing has repeatedly slammed what it characterises as Washington's "abuse of the concept of national security to hobble Chinese companies" and "discriminatory and unfair practices".

© 2024 AFP

Oscar-winner 'Oppenheimer' opens in Japan after months of nuclear theme concerns

Oscar best picture winner "Oppenheimer" was finally released on Friday in Japan, where its subject -- the man who masterminded the creation of the atomic bomb -- is a highly sensitive and emotional topic.

Issued on: 29/03/2024 - 

'Oppenheimer' is about the man who masterminded the creation of the atomic bomb.

 © Yuichi Yamazaki, AFP

The US blockbuster hit screened in the United States and many other countries in July at the same time as "Barbie", inspiring a viral phenomenon dubbed "Barbenheimer" by moviegoers.

But while "Barbie" was released in Japan in August, "Oppenheimer" was conspicuously absent from cinemas for months.

No official explanation was offered at the time, fuelling speculation the film was too controversial to be shown in Japan -- the only country to have ever suffered a wartime nuclear attack.

Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki when the United States dropped atomic bombs on the cities in August 1945, days before the end of World War II.

Japan is the only country to have suffered a wartime nuclear attack. 

© Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP

At a large cinema in central Tokyo where "Oppenheimer" was showing on Friday, there was none of the prominent promotional material that might be expected for a global megahit.

Instead only one small poster advertised the film, which was shot on a $100 million budget and collected nearly $1 billion at box offices worldwide.

"It is a long, three-hour movie, but I watched it attentively, because it was so powerful," audience member Masayuki Hayashi, 51, told AFP after the film.

Japanese distributors may have chosen to avoid a summer release close to the bombings' anniversary, said 65-year-old Tatsuhisa Yue.

But "it would have been unthinkable if a movie which describes how the weapon was developed didn't show here", he said.

"The movie arrived late, but I think it was good that it finally opened in Japan."

'America-centric'

The film tells the story of US physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the bomb's invention.

It drew rave reviews and was the most decorated title at this month's Oscars, scooping seven awards including best director for Christopher Nolan and best actor for star Cillian Murphy.

But in Hiroshima, the city devastated by the first nuclear bomb, the biopic's Academy Awards success met a mixed reaction.

'Oppenheimer' stars Irish actor Cillian Murphy. 

© Robyn Beck / AFP

Kyoko Heya, president of the city's international film festival, told AFP after the awards ceremony that she had found Nolan's movie "very America-centric".

"Is this really a movie that people in Hiroshima can bear to watch?" she asked.

Today the city is a thriving metropolis of 1.2 million people, but the ruins of a domed building still stand as a stark reminder of the horrors of the attack, along with a museum and other sombre memorials.

Heya said that after much reflection, "I now want many people to watch the movie."

"I'd be happy to see Hiroshima, Nagasaki and atomic weapons become the subject of discussions thanks to this movie," she said.

Last year, viral "Barbenheimer" memes sparked anger online in Japan, where media reports have highlighted critics who say the film does not show the harm caused by the bombs.

MASS MURDER OF CIVILIANS

Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki when the United States dropped atomic bombs on the cities in 1945. 

© Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP

"There could have been much more description and depiction of the horror of atomic weapons," bomb survivor and former Hiroshima mayor Takashi Hiraoka, 96, said at a special screening in the city earlier this month.

"Oppenheimer" was also shown at a preview event in Nagasaki, where survivor Masao Tomonaga, 80, said he had been impressed by the movie.

"I had thought the film's lack of... images of atomic bomb survivors was a weakness," said Tomonaga, who was two when the second bomb was dropped and later became a professor studying leukaemia caused by the attacks.

"But in fact, Oppenheimer's lines in dozens of scenes showed his shock at the reality of the atomic bombing. That was enough for me."

(AFP)

‘Oppenheimer’ is a disappointment − and a lost opportunity

A visitor to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum views a photo of the aftermath of the 1945 bombing. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

The Conversation

March 09, 2024


With 13 Oscar nominations, all signs point to “Oppenheimer” as the star of the 96th Academy Awards.

Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster about the making of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has already garnered all kinds of accolades – five Golden Globes and seven BAFTA awards, not to mention a sterling 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

But as a historian whose research has revolved around the survivors of the bombings, I cannot help but be disappointed that, yet again, the dominant narrative of the bombs chugs along.

This narrative has long informed how Hollywood and the U.S. media have addressed nuclear weapons. It paints the bombs’ creation as a morally fraught but necessary project – an extraordinary invention by exceptional minds, a national project that was a matter of life or death for a country mired in a global conflict. To use the bombs was a difficult decision at a challenging time. Yet it’s important to remember that, above all, the bombs saved democracy.

There is something that strikes me as so inward-looking to this narrative – it is so focused on the stress over losing an arms race, on fears of making a mistake, on anxiety over what would happen if bombs were to one day be dropped on the U.S. – that it drowns out what actually did happen after the bombs were detonated.

A barren cultural landscape

When Nolan was pressed over why he chose not to show any images of Hiroshima, Nagasaki or the victims, he said, “less can be more” – that the subtext of what’s not shown is even more powerful, since it forces audiences to use their imaginations.

But what images from popular culture do audiences even have to pull from?

From the 1950s to the 1980s, many Hollywood films explored the fear of a nuclear apocalypse. Only a few depicted mass deaths on the ground – “The Day After” comes to mind – but virtually none showed survivors who looked or sounded like real survivors.


‘Oppenheimer’ director Christopher Nolan.
Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Instead, films such as “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” simply showed mushroom clouds and bird’s-eye views of the bombs from above. When cameras did zoom in on the ground in films such as “Panic in Year Zero!” and “Testament,” they revealed Americans bracing for or panicking about the bomb being dropped on them.

Watching these films, it’s easy to believe that if a nuclear attack had ever occurred, it must have been in a U.S. city.

This genealogy of films also includes collective biopics of a sort, in which a nuclear drama unfolds among scientists, military officials and politicians.

In the 2024 book “Resisting the Nuclear: Art and Activism across the Pacific,” one chapter describes how Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein reenacted the Trinity test in “Atomic Power,” a 1946 film that celebrates the role of science in U.S. military might. They note that in the film’s outtakes, Einstein seemed unfocused while Oppenheimer appeared stilted.

Clearly, the two scientists were uncomfortable with their newly assigned role as promoters of a mesmerizing, dangerous technology. If “Oppenheimer” expands on this personal discomfort, the film keeps firmly in place the disconnect between the bombs’ creators and the destruction they wrought.
The bombs didn’t discriminate

In the end, films like “Oppenheimer” offer few, if any, new insights about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their repercussions.

More than 200,000 people perished, and the lives lost included not only Japanese civilians but also Koreans who had been in Japan as forced laborers or military conscripts.

In fact, 1 in every 10 people who survived the bomb were Koreans, but the U.S. government has never recognized them as survivors of U.S. military attacks. To this day they struggle to get access to medical treatment for their long-term radiation illness.


Relatives of conscripted Koreans killed in the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki protest at the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2005.
Seung-il Ryu/NurPhoto via Getty Image

Moreover, about 3,000 to 4,000 of those affected by the bombs were Americans of Japanese ancestry, as I have shown in my book about Asian American survivors of the bombings. Most of them were children who were staying with their families, or students who had enrolled in schools in Japan prior to the war because U.S. schools had become increasingly discriminatory to Asian American students.

These non-Japanese survivors – including many U.S.-born citizens – have been known to scholars and activists since at least the 1990s. So it feels surreal to watch a film that depicts the bombs’ effects purely in the context of the U.S. at war against its enemy, Japan. As my work shows, the bombs didn’t discriminate between friend and foe.

It is not that Christopher Nolan ignores the bombs’ power to destroy.

He gestures toward it when he depicts J. Robert Oppenheimer, the nuclear physicist played by Cillian Murphy, imagining a nuclear holocaust when giving a celebratory speech to his colleagues after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

But what Oppenheimer sees in this hallucination is the face of a young white woman peeling off – played by Nolan’s daughter, Flora – not those of the Japanese, Korean and Asian American people who actually experienced the bombs. Later in the film, Oppenheimer looks away from the images of Hiroshima’s ground zero when they’re shown to him and his Manhattan Project colleagues.

I wondered, as I watched this scene, whether this decision encourages the audience to look away, too.

Global reverberations

Even if this film is seen purely through the lens of entertainment, Nolan could have chosen to recognize why the bombs are such a galvanizing subject to begin with: They have done much, much more than make white, middle-class Americans feel anxious or guilty.

Their blasts reverberated across the globe, tearing apart not only America’s wartime enemies but also colonized peoples and racial minorities.

Cold War nuclear production disproportionately hurt Native and Indigenous Americans who worked at uranium mines and the residents of the Pacific Islands chosen as the sites of several dozens of U.S. nuclear tests.

For those on the receiving end, the effects of the nuclear explosions are not a thing of the past. They are a daily reality.

And the effects of radiation continue to plague not just humans but the environment. Scientists still don’t know what to do with highly radioactive nuclear waste, whether it’s from nuclear power plants or former nuclear test sites that remain off-limits because they are too contaminated to inhabit.

As global conflicts increase the possibility of nuclear war, it’s certainly important to talk about the ongoing legacies of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But to create a more balanced understanding of nuclear weapons, it would be helpful if talented filmmakers like Nolan made more of an effort to look beyond the narrow immediacy of a mushroom cloud.

Naoko Wake, Professor of History, Michigan State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

PETRO PLUNDER

Fragile South Sudan risks turmoil over oil disruption: experts

Juba (AFP) – Oil-dependent South Sudan is at risk of economic and political turmoil over the shutdown of a key pipeline in its war-torn neighbour, Sudan, experts have warned.


Issued on: 29/03/2024 

South Sudan became independent in 2011 

AFTER A LONG CIVIL WAR

© Sophie RAMIS / AFP/File


Analysts voiced deep concern at the loss of crucial oil revenue in one of the poorest countries on the planet, and the possibility it may force South Sudan's first ever elections to be delayed once again.

In a letter dated March 16, Sudan's energy minister declared force majeure over a "major rupture" on the pipeline that ships crude from South Sudan to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan for export.

It said the rupture occurred in February in a "military operations area" in Sudan, where conflict has been raging since April last year.

Boutros Magaya, head of a South Sudanese parliamentary sub-committee on petroleum, warned of the "grave implications" of the shutdown on people's livelihoods and security and that the country faced an "imminent economic crisis".

"With the loss of the majority of our national income, we face the grim prospect of a humanitarian disaster, political instability and security unrest (in) our already fragile state," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
'Significant losses'

Despite its oil riches, the world's youngest nation has struggled to find its footing since independence from Sudan in 2011, battling ethnic violence, chronic instability, poverty and natural disasters.

About nine million of its 12.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UN figures.

Petroleum exports accounted for about 90 percent of South Sudan's national income and Magaya warned that it could lose at least $100 million a month without the oil sales.

"This will result in significant losses of income, increase in market prices, fuel shortages, prolonged power outages, disruptions in transportation, and other essential services that are vital for the well-being of our citizens."

South Sudan's ruling elite are accused by the UN of massive plundering of public coffers and resources, with the country ranked 177th out of 180 on Transparency International's corruption index.

When South Sudan became independent, it took over about three-quarters of the oil reserves of the old Sudan, while Khartoum retained control of all pipeline and export facilities.

According to the bp Statistical Review of World Energy, South Sudan produced 153,000 barrels per day in 2021, while Sudan's output was 64,000 bpd.
Salaries unpaid

Sudan has been at war since April 2023 when fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The conflict has killed thousands of people, forced millions to flee -- including about 500,000 to South Sudan -- and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

The government in Juba, which has been involved in efforts to end the Sudan conflict, has not commented publicly on the force majeure declaration.

Boboya James Edimond, executive director of Juba-based think tank the Institute for Social Policy and Research, said oil sales have been financing 95 percent of government operations.

Even when the oil was flowing, he said the government has not been able to pay civil servant salaries for months.

"And if the oil is not going to be flowing, there will be a collapse of the government which might force citizens to go for protest and the military is likely to join," he warned.

Akol Maduok, head of the economics department at the University of Juba, said bluntly that the situation was "not good" for the average South Sudanese.

"The situation will worsen in the next two or three months because the central bank might run short of foreign reserves and it will not be able to supply hard currency into the market."

Andrew Smith, senior Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said the hit to government finances caused by the damaged pipeline meant it was "highly likely" the election scheduled for December will be delayed.

"Juba appealed for more financing for the polls from the international community in early February, before the pipeline was damaged," he said in a note to AFP.

"Any funds it receives to plug oil revenue shortfalls will now likely be directed towards placating the political elite, not election preparations which were already under resourced."

© 2024 AFP

UPDATE

Impact of Baltimore port closure on global supply chains

Paris (AFP) – The bridge collapse that closed the Port of Baltimore has raised concerns about the disaster's potential impact on the global supply chain.


Issued on: 29/03/2024 -

Cranes have been deployed to unblock the port of Baltimore 

© CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Authorities have warned that extensive work is needed before the major port can reopen following Tuesday's catastrophic cargo ship collision, which has blocked the harbour's entrance.

Here is a look at what it could mean for global trade:

A major car terminal

Baltimore is among the top 20 ports in the United States by tonnage and number of containers handled, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Last year, it handled a record 1.1 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containers -- a measure of volume for shipping containers.

Container imports via Baltimore amounted to 2.1 percent of the total for all US ports, according to Allianz Trade.

Its location deep within the Chesapeake Bay make it a "second-tier American port," said Paul Tourret, director of French maritime industry institute ISEMAR.

The port hosts transatlantic traffic, including small ships from northern Europe and the Mediterranean as well as some shipping lines from the Indian Ocean, Tourret said.

But it is a key hub for the auto industry.

Its private and public terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks last year, more than any other US port for the 13th year in a row, according to Maryland state figures.

It also ranked first for farm and construction machinery, as well as imported sugar and gypsum, and second for coal exports.

Alternative routes

German auto giants Volkswagen and BMW said their operations were not affected as the locations of their facilities were still accessible to ships.

US rival Ford said it had found alternative routes.

But the terminal for Mercedes-Benz is no longer reachable by sea as it is located behind the collapsed bridge.

The company told German media it is looking into alternative routes.

"The blockade of the Port of Baltimore will have little impact on trade between the USA and Europe," Patrick Lepperhoff, principal at Inverto consultancy, wrote in a note.

"In the last quarter of 2023, around 260,000 standard containers were loaded and unloaded at the port.

This volume can be diverted to the neighbouring ports" such as New York and Norfolk, Virginia, he wrote said.

Coal and cobalt impact

The port closure is expected to primarily impact US exports of coal and imports of cobalt, according to ratings agency S&P Global.

Access to coal export terminals of CSX Curtis Bay and Consol Marine Terminal has been blocked, it said.

The accident is expected to disrupt coal exports from Baltimore for 10 to 15 days but market participants suggested it would have "limited pricing impacts amid well-stocked markets", S&P added.

Coal exports from Baltimore jumped to 28 million short tons in 2023, mainly due to growing demand from Asia, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

"Even before the port's closure, we were expecting much slower growth in total US coal exports in 2024, of just one percent," the EIA said.

"The interruption in operations in Baltimore may affect the volume of exports this year," it added.

Baltimore's cobalt stocks were already under pressure due to strong demand for the mineral, a key component for electric car batteries and high-tech devices.

Yemeni rebel attacks on ships in the Red Sea have also caused delays as shipping companies have had to divert vessels to the longer and costlier route around southern Africa.

While the bridge incident will have "little to no impact" on US refined oil products, shipping fuel supplies "could tighten" on the Atlantic Coast as vessels refuel outside Baltimore, S&P said.

© 2024 AFP

Situation in chaos-wracked Haiti is 'cataclysmic', says UN

Issued on: 29/03/2024

The situation in chaos-wracked Haiti is "cataclysmic", with more than 1,500 people killed by gang violence so far this year and more weapons pouring into the country, the UN said Thursday. In a fresh report, the United Nations rights office detailed how "corruption, impunity and poor governance, compounded by increasing levels of gang violence (had) eroded the rule of law and brought state institutions... close to collapse".

01:50 Video by:  Liza KAMINOV

French parliament condemns 1961 Paris massacre of Algerians


Issued on: 29/03/2024 - 

01:23  Video by: Emerald MAXWELL

The French parliament's lower house on Thursday approved a resolution condemning as "bloody and murderous repression" the killing by Paris police of dozens of Algerians in a crackdown on a 1961 protest to support Algerian independence. In recent years France has made a series of efforts to come to terms with its colonial past in Algeria.

En.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961

Paris massacre of 1961 - Wikipedia 

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Bbc.com

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Webdoc.france24.com

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October 17, 1961: A massacre of Algerians in the heart of Pa... 

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Marxists.org

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