Modern Malian architecture rooted in ancient earth techniques

In the heart of Bamako, architect Mariam Sy is leading a quiet revolution – one handful of earth at a time. Her vision merges Mali's ancient building wisdom with contemporary design, creating structures that seem to rise organically from the Sahelian soil.


Issued on: 02/02/2025 - 

A building designed by Architerre, which combines traditional Malian earth-based techniques with modern designs. © Mariam Sy

By:RFI

"At 15, I told my parents I wanted to be an architect. They thought it was a good idea, and I had to leave my girls' school to attend a technical college in Bamako," Sy tells RFI.

That decision set her on a path from Mali to Belgium, where she earned her architecture degree, and then to France's prestigious Craterre research centre in Grenoble.

It was there she mastered the art of building with the earth, a material at the core of her sustainable designs. Today, Sy's firm Architerre is at the forefront of eco-friendly architecture in West Africa.

Building with nature

Through projects ranging from homes and medical centres to mosque renovations in Timbuktu, Sy demonstrates how traditional materials can meet modern needs while respecting the environment.

"Whether it's soil, stone or whatever we can find locally, the idea is really to use as little energy as possible in construction and to use materials suited to the local temperature," she says.

"As it happens, in Mali, soil is one of the most widespread and well-known local materials, and for us Sahelians, the advantage is that these materials truly adapt to our climate."

Sy's work has gained attention beyond Mali, inspiring clients across Africa to embrace eco-friendly construction methods.

She co-founded Fact Sahel, a network of architects, masons, engineers, researchers and writers united by a shared vision of environmentally responsible building practices.

An earth-based structure built using traditional Malian materials. © Mariam Sy

"This question of eco-responsible architecture affects everyone. Even though we know we're not the biggest energy consumers in the Sahel, we still suffer the consequences," she says.

"So it's important to also take into account new technologies and questions that affect everyone and apply them to ourselves. We consider ourselves activists. For us, our work truly is activism."

Rediscovering African identity

The revival of traditional construction techniques is part of a larger movement across Africa.

French architect Jean-Marc Lalo, who organises exchange seminars between African and European architects, sees it as a significant shift in the continent's architectural landscape.

"There's both a question of African architectural identity, an enthusiasm for rediscovering traditional earth construction techniques," he says.

"Secondly, it's also one of Africa's future prospects: making a direct leap to construction with bio-sourced, local materials. Earth is perfectly adapted for this, in fact."

Compressed earth bricks, made from local materials, are a key element in sustainable construction. © Mariam Sy

From Senegal to Morocco, countries are increasingly embracing sustainable practices. In Benin, the government has commissioned high-profile earth-based projects, including works by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré.

Similar innovations are taking root in Burkina Faso and beyond, with compressed earth bricks becoming a cornerstone of modern African architecture.

Burkina Faso-born architect Francis Diebedo Kéré wins prestigious Pritzker Prize
From tradition to innovation

Sy's next project – a school in Bamako built entirely with earth-based techniques – encapsulates her philosophy of blending tradition with innovation.

"How do we explain to people the return to these materials which have so many advantages in many aspects of life, not just construction?" Sy wonders as she inspects a wall of compressed earth bricks.

For her, each earth-built structure is more than just a building – it's a bridge between Mali's architectural heritage and its sustainable future, demonstrating how ancient wisdom can help solve modern challenges.

This story has been adapted from the original version in French by Frédéric Garat

French PM Bayrou calls for national debate on immigration after controversial 'flooding' comments

SCRATCH A CONSERVATIVE FIND A FASCIST

Prime Minister François Bayrou has called for a national debate on immigration and what it means to be French, days after stirring controversy with comments about immigrants 'flooding' France.


Issued on: 07/02/2025 - 

Incumbent Prime Minister François Bayrou pictured under the French flag in 2016 at the closing speech of a MoDem party retreat in western France. LOIC VENANCE / AFP

By: RFI

Bayrou's call for a national discussion French identity comes in response to comments from Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin who said that the constitution should be changed to end end current citizenship rights granted to people born in France, known as "jus soli" or "right of soil".

The prime minister said discussion on that topic alone would be "too narrow", calling instead for a wider debate about citizenship.

"It's obvious that this question has been fermenting for years," Bayrou told broadcaster RMC on Friday.

"What does it mean to be French?" Bayrou said. "What rights does it give you? What duties does it demand of you? What advantages do you get? What do you commit to when you become a member of a national community?"

Bayrou said details of how to organise such a debate needed to be worked out but it should not be "postponed forever".

French PM in hot water over migrant 'flooding' gaffe

Late last month, Bayrou came under heavy criticism for remarks about a feeling of immigrants "flooding" France that he said was growing across the country.

This sparked an outcry from the leftist opposition, and rebukes from centrist allies, after he said that immigration was "a positive" so long as it remained "proportionate" to the size of the population.

But his remarks also drew praise, from some conservative and far-right deputies.

His latest call for a debate on identity and citizenship have been slammed by the Socialist Party, who posted on X that there is no question about birthright in France and they will "defend this founding principle of our Republic".

Non à la remise en cause du #droidusol.

Suite aux propos de G. #Darmanin et de F. #Bayrou demandant l'ouverture d’un débat public sur le droit du sol, nous réaffirmons notre attachement à ce droit.

Nous défendrons ce principe fondateur de notre République. pic.twitter.com/DCA40Ri5Cg— Parti socialiste (@partisocialiste) February 7, 2025
Children 'will be French'

The "jus soli" question has come into sharp focus in French politics recently because of mass immigration into Mayotte – the French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean – from the neighbouring Comoros islands.

After parliament voted on Thursday to restrict that right in Mayotte – but not elsewhere – Darmanin said "jus soli" rights enshrined in the French constitution should come under review entirely.

"Today I would be in favour of French people deciding on this question during the 2027 presidential election, or in a referendum," Darmanin told the National Assembly.

In Mayotte and Guiana – another French overseas territory in South America – "thousands and thousands of people arrive with the idea that, if they have children there, they will be French," the minister said.

"All this needs to be reconsidered," he added.

French government faces no confidence vote as Socialists mull allegiance

Darmanin's move was backed by immigration hardliners, with Les Republicains boss Laurent Wauquiez saying Mayotte's restrictions should be extended "to the rest of France's territory".

But Education Minister Elisabeth Borne – a former prime minister – rejected her colleague's initiative, saying "what French people expect from us are acts, and not references to constitutional change in the future".

Bayrou's debate initiative itself came in for criticism, with the Le Monde daily accusing the premier of mixing up issues.

"François Bayrou himself has added to the confusion by referring to the [Mayotte] archipelago when raising the question of migration in general," the paper said in an editorial.

"He has fallen into the double trap of considering Mayotte as a laboratory, and of mixing up immigration policies and 'national identity'," Le Monde added.

(With newswires)

South Africa 'will not be bullied,' Ramaphosa says after Trump attack

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday evening in his annual state of the nation address that his country "will not be bullied," days after US President Donald Trump said he would cut off funding to South Africa over a land reform act.


Issued on: 07/02/2025 - 
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa at the Cape Town City Hall ahead of his State Of The Nation (SONA) address in Cape Town, South Africa, on 6 February 2025. REUTERS - Nic Bothma

By: RFI

Ramaphosa did not mention Trump by name in his address, but spoke of growing geopolitical tensions.

"We are witnessing the rise of nationalism, protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests and the decline of common cause," he said.

"We will stand together as a united nation, and we will speak with one voice in defence of our national interests."

Trump had said on Sunday, without citing evidence, that "South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly," alluding to a new law which aims to even racial disparities in land ownership.

He then threatened to cut off funding to the African country.

A cornerstone for G20 members

South Africa was also criticised this week by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said he would not attend an upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg because "South Africa is doing very bad things" such as "using G20 to promote solidarity, equality, and sustainability."

The meeting of foreign ministers of the G20 group of countries is set for 20 -21February in Johannesburg.

South Africa took over the G20 presidency in December (until November 2025), becoming the first African country to do so, and Ramaphosa has said he would use the opportunity to advance the interests of Africa and the Global South.

Africa takes centre stage as South Africa maps ambitious G20 agenda

Promise of growth

Pretoria is just over seven months into a coalition government that was formed after the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority in an election last year, forcing it to team up with its biggest rival, the Democratic Alliance.

Ramaphosa said the government would launch a second wave of reforms to try to lift economic growth above percent.

Cyril Ramaphosa: from anti-apartheid activist to leader of South Africa's coalition government

Ramaphosa also promised to focus on boosting struggling state companies like power utility Eskom and logistics group Transnet, and on investing in infrastructure.

The central bank's most recent forecast is that Africa's most industrialised economy will grow 1.8 percent this year.

(with Reuters)

UAE to invest billions in France AI data centre


The UAE will invest between €30 billion and €50 billion to build Europe’s largest AI data centre in France, the French presidency announced Thursday. Part of a broader AI agreement between the two nations, the project will serve as the core of a new AI campus.


Issued on: 07/02/2025 -
FRANCE24
By: NEWS WIRES

10:55

France's President Emmanuel Macron and UAE counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, look on as France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot and CEO of Mubadala Investment Company Khaldoon Al Mubarak sign an agreement on AI, at the Élysée Palace, in Paris, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. © Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP


The French presidency on Thursday announced that the United Arab Emirates would invest billions of euros to build a huge artificial intelligence data centre in the country.

The centre will be the core of a new AI "campus" and will have up to a gigawatt of capacity, "which represents investments of 30 to 50 billion euros", the French presidency said in a statement.

It was part of a larger AI agreement signed between French President Emmanuel Macron and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Paris on Thursday.

AI data centres are slated to stock data and provide the enormous energy required for the new technology.
The campus will be the largest in Europe dedicated to AI, the presidency said.

The project was announced and signed as global experts began debating the threats and promise of artificial intelligence at a gathering in Paris on Thursday and Friday, ahead of a summit of world leaders on the fast-moving technology.

Thousands are expected at the Paris event, which aims to find common ground on a technology that has upset many business sectors in less than two years -- as well as to keep France and Europe on the map as credible contenders in the AI race.

(AFP)

‘Political stunt’: Feasibility of Trump plan in limbo as first migrants are sent to Guantanamo

Analysis

US President Donald Trump’s plan to house 30,000 undocumented migrants at Guantanamo Bay gained pace this week as the first flights arrived in Cuba. As administration officials debate the legality of the plan and others warn of human rights abuses, its very feasibility is also under question.


Issued on: 06/02/2025 - 
FRANCE24
By: Khatya Chhor

A welcome board at the road to the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on April 7, 2014. © Mladen Antonov, AFP


As US President Donald Trump signed the first bill of his new term into law, he doubled down on how his administration would deal with undocumented immigrants.

“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people,” Trump said as he signed the Laken Riley Act.

While Guantanamo Bay is mostly known for having been used to detain almost 800 terror suspects in the wake of the September 11 attacks, it has a separate facility that has long been used for migrants, mainly those from Haiti and Cuba intercepted at sea.

In the wake of 9/11, “Gitmo” earned a reputation for human rights abuses, including detention without charge and torture. And the Trump announcement brought a swift response from advocacy groups.

Vince Warren, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in a statement that the order “sends a clear message: migrants and asylum seekers are being cast as the new terrorist threat, deserving to be discarded in an island prison, removed from legal and social services and supports”. Warren has already pledged to file a lawsuit challenging the proposal.

Trump officials have repeatedly stated that the island would be used to house “the worst of the worst”. But Trump’s own defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has also touted Guantanamo’s suitability for those awaiting deportation.

“It’s the perfect place to provide for migrants who are traveling out of our country … but also hardened criminals,” Hegseth said on a visit to the southern US border on Monday.

Rights groups have long called for the facility to be closed, and until the Trump announcement they were closer than ever to seeing this realized.

Former US president Joe Biden transferred 11 detainees to Oman at the end of his term, leaving just 15 remaining at Guantanamo (including suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed).

‘Logistically impossible’

As the first flights arrived on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon were still trying to determine whether it is even legal to fly migrants to Guantanamo, CNN reported, citing US officials.

Legal and military experts have expressed skepticism about the proposal, with some saying it was simply not feasible.

Trump’s announcement on moving migrants to Guantanamo is “mostly for show, to impress his political base and perhaps to intimidate others from entering [the country] illegally”, said Richard Painter, chief ethics lawyer for former US president George W. Bush, in an email.

It’s a “political stunt” designed to make the Trump administration look tough on immigration, said Wells Dixon, senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, calling it “performative cruelty”.

And the infrastructure that would be needed is simply not there. The administration is still speaking to private contractors about building the necessary facilities, CNN reported.

Accommodating 30,000 migrants would be “logistically impossible”, according to former Air Force Judge Advocate (JAG) Annie Morgan, a military attorney who has defended high-profile Guantanamo detainees.

The Migrant Operations Center, which is separate from both the detention camp and the US naval base, currently has 130 beds, four of which are occupied, she said. Meanwhile, the infrastructure at Guantanamo writ large is “failing”.

Vincent Chetail, director of the Global Migration Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, also cast doubt on the migrant program’s credibility, saying it appeared to be “more about political rhetoric, not a sophisticated legal strategy”.

But the threat itself might be part of the plan.

The real goal of the Guantanamo announcement is simply to “cause chaos and spread terror in immigrant communities”, Dixon said, by threatening to send undocumented migrants to a place “that is notorious around the world for torture”.
‘Staggering’ cost

A key problem is the exorbitant cost of housing detainees at Guantanamo, which administration officials have said would be overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Not only will the plans necessitate a massive expansion of the facility itself, but Guantanamo Bay is dependent on US imports arriving by air and sea – compounding the costs of construction, goods and services, and staffing.

Because the government in Havana considers the US base to be illegally located on its territory, the facility remains isolated from the Cuban economy and must pay to generate its own electricity and desalinate its water.

“If the administration wants to continue to pursue this terrible course, they will have to pour a staggering amount of new money and resources into providing flights and building housing for the new prisoners, because currently neither exist,” said Alka Pradhan, human rights counsel at Guantanamo Bay Military Commissions.

Painter also noted the exorbitant price tag. “It will be far more expensive that detaining migrants in the United States and deporting them.”

According to a New York Times tally, the total cost of detaining prisoners at Guantanamo exceeded $540 million in 2019, or about $13 million per prisoner, likely making it “the world’s most expensive detention program”.

How much it will cost to house 30,000 migrants remains to be seen, but the Niskanen political think tank estimated the price tag for taxpayers to be in the billions.
Fears of indefinite detention

While the base remains on the sovereign territory of Cuba it is leased in perpetuity to the United States and under its “exclusive jurisdiction and control”.

Guantanamo’s unusual status presents a certain “legal ambiguity as to the rights of noncitizens detained there”, Painter said.

Speaking to ABC News, the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School, Karen Greenberg, said the migrants already at Guantanamo suffer from mistreatment and unsanitary conditions as well as their “fuzzy legal status”.

This legal ambiguity has prompted concern that migrants could languish there indefinitely, particularly if it proves difficult to repatriate them.

The White House may be sending people to Guantanamo simply hoping they will be forgotten, Morgan said.

But while in some ways Guantanamo’s reputation as a “legal black hole” is well deserved, migrants held there should be entitled to all of the same constitutional rights they would have on the US mainland – even if they entered illegally. This was not the case with detainees flown in from, for example, Afghanistan.

“US law is clear: a migrant transferred from the United States takes with them all of the legal constitutional rights they would have in the United States,” said Dixon, who specializes in challenging unlawful detentions at Guantanamo.

Pradhan said these constitutional rights can and should be enforced by federal courts.

“The administration may think of Guantanamo as the legal black hole where they put detainees from the ‘War on Terror’, which is why they chose it,” she said. “A debate has raged for two decades over what parts of the Constitution apply at Guantanamo, for that reason. However, prisoners brought from the United States to Guantanamo undoubtedly carry with them constitutional rights, including the right of due process and the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, which includes arbitrary detention.”

But the challenges on the ground remain.

Guantanamo remains a "legal black hole in a practical sense, in that it is a remote, offshore, military installation”, and so more difficult to access for counsel, Dixon noted.

This also makes it harder for watchdogs to monitor the conditions of their confinement.

Trump seemed to acknowledge that migrants sent to the island might be there indefinitely when he announced the plan.

“Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back, so we're going to send them out to Guantanamo,” he said.

In answer to a question on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said migrants held at Guantanamo will have the same rights and access to legal counsel as they would in the United States.

"Due process will be followed," Noem said.

Asked whether it was possible that migrants could be held at Guantanamo indefinitely, as were suspects in the wake of 9/11, Noem said: “That is not the plan,” adding that they would be held in accordance with US law.

Noting that some detainees have been held at Guantanamo for more than 20 years without trial, Painter said most lawyers “believe that is morally wrong and also illegal, a violation of international law, among other things, even in the case of suspected terrorists”.

“To do or threaten to do the same, to people whose only crime was to enter the United States without authorization, is unconscionable.”

Paris prosecutors open probe into Musk's X over alleged algorithmic distortions


Prosecutors in Paris launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X social media for alleged algorithmic distortions, Franceino reported on Friday, citing the prosecutor's office. The probe was opened after a centrist French MP reported on January 12 that X was using biased algortihms.


Issued on: 07/02/2025 - 17:04
FRANCE24
By: NEWS WIRES

SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk (L) on June 16, 2023 and the new Twitter logo rebranded as X (R), pictured on a screen in Paris on July 24, 2023. © Alain Jocard, AFP

Paris prosecutors have opened a probe into Elon Musk's X social media over alleged algorithmic distortions, Franceinfo reports on Friday, citing the prosecutors' office.

The investigation was opened after centrist Ensemble Pour La Republique (EPR) MP Eric Bothorel reported on Jan. 12 that X was using biased algorithms, Franceinfo said.

The algorithms are "likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system. The magistrates and specialised assistants from the cybercrime unit are analysing it and carrying out initial technical checks",

Franceinfo cited the Paris public prosecutor's office as saying. "I sent a letter to the cyber J3 prosecutor's office on this subject on Jan. 12", Bothorel wrote on X.

(Reuters)

Could Trump force Jordan and Egypt to take Palestinians deported from Gaza?


US President Donald Trump’s demands for Jordan and Egypt to take in what could be millions of Palestinians deported from Gaza under the president’s stated plan for the devastated territory have been met with a fierce backlash from the Arab world. But with both nations deeply dependent on US military and economic aid, Washington could bring a lot of pressure to bear on the beleaguered countries.


Issued on: 06/02/2025

FRANCE24
By: Paul MILLAR
Displaced Palestinian children sit on a sand mound overlooking tents set up amid destroyed buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 6, 2025. © Bashar Taleb, AFP


Former real estate developer and current US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US would administer the devastated Gaza Strip, displacing the more than 2 million Palestinians living there during the coastal territory’s reconstruction, has been met with horror across the Arab world. And nowhere more – with the obvious exception of Gaza – than in Jordan and Egypt, the two countries that Trump has promised will host this new generation of dispossessed Palestinians, regardless of their objections.

The Israelis certainly seem to be taking the idea seriously. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz on Thursday ordered the country’s armed forces to begin work on a plan to facilitate what he described as the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians living in Gaza.

Using force, or the threat of force, to displace a people living under military occupation is a war crime banned under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whose government depends on the support of far-right figures who have championed the mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza and the return of Jewish settlers to the coastal territory for years, described Trump’s plan as a “remarkable” idea.

But Jalal Al Husseini, an associate researcher at the French Institute for the Near East in Amman, said that any plan involving the mass movement of Palestinians from Gaza would be met with fierce resistance across the Arab world.

“The Arab states have opposed any idea of any resettlement or de-Palestinisation of Palestine, especially the occupied Palestinian territories – which is also one of the aims of the far-right Israeli parties,” he said. “And that’s been one of the mainstays of the Arab states’ policies since 1967 – opposition to any large-scale displacement.”

Read more How serious is he? Trump's plan for Gaza

Nor, he said, was the idea of displacing Palestinians to Jordan a new one. Leaders from Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party have long called for Palestinians living in the occupied territories to find a new homeland across the Jordan River – leaving the land between the river and the sea to be annexed by the Israeli state.

“Since the late 70s, when the Likud won the elections and became the ruling party for the first time, they always championed this idea that eventually – and this is one of the very early claims of this movement – eventually, Jordan should be the alternative state or homeland of the Palestinians,” he said. “So any large-scale displacement of Palestinians to Jordan tends to support or validate this claim – that Jordan should be the alternative state of the Palestinians.” About half of Jordan’s population is believed to be of Palestinian origin.

Egypt has also been wary of receiving large numbers of people displaced by the fighting. In the early days of Israel’s assault on Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, the Biden administration reached out to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to try to convince the US-backed government to allow refugees to cross into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula via the Rafah Crossing. Cairo flatly rejected the idea, even bussing Egyptians from across the country to Rafah to lead state-sponsored demonstrations against Israel’s attempts to displace the people of Gaza.

Reem Abou-El-Fadl, a senior lecturer in comparative politics of the Middle East at SOAS University of London, said that the Egyptian position was unlikely to have softened since then.

“I don’t think much has changed in their minds,” she said. “You can see this by the alarmist and alarmed tone of public media at the moment, just as it was in October 2023, where all the state-sponsored TV channels and talk shows are singing from the same hymn sheet about the threat to the Palestinian cause, the unity of Egyptian and Palestinian positions and their inalienable right to return.”

Read more  Israel is committing ‘ethnic cleansing’ amid mass forced displacements in Gaza, HRW report says

Fadl said that Sisi, who seized power from democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 coup, has had to walk a thin line between suppressing attempts to organise support for the Palestinian cause and expressing public solidarity with Gaza in the face of Israel’s onslaught.

“When it comes to popular sentiment, which is in the majority viscerally opposed to the Israeli settler colonial project and vocally supportive of Palestinians, the regime stands to forfeit more of its already weak public support, or rather to force Egyptians out of their disgruntled silence, if it participates in a plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza,” she said.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II this week also repeated his opposition to any attempts to displace the Palestinian people and annex their land. But despite their stark rejections of Trump’s plan, both countries remain deeply vulnerable to US pressure.

The US is Jordan’s single-largest aid provider, sending the Hashemite Kingdom $1.45 billion every year in bilateral foreign assistance. Egypt, for its part, received $1.3 billion in military aid in 2024. US military support for Cairo rose steeply after the country signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, amounting to more than $50 billion in total since then. Egypt and Jordan are both in the top four recipients of US aid across the world – behind only Ukraine and Israel.

“The United States are one of the main donors of Jordan, both on the military side and in terms of socio-economic assistance as well,” Husseini said. “And this is one of the instruments that the US could use to talk Jordan into accepting a certain number of Gazans now. So it will be a showdown between the US and Jordan – and Egypt – around this issue.”

Gilad Wenig, a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the US could already have begun to put its financial leverage over Egypt to use in the first days of the Gaza campaign.

“Egyptian reports suggest that the US offered financial incentives including debt relief to Egypt in exchange for accepting such a plan, which Sisi allegedly rejected,” he said. “While the accuracy of these claims is uncertain, their circulation in the Egyptian press likely aims to reaffirm Egypt’s long-standing stance on resettlement and rehabilitate Sisi’s image as a defender of Palestinian rights. It is worth recalling that [former president and Muslim Brotherhood member] Mohamed Morsi was accused of colluding with Hamas in a land-sale and resettlement deal in the Sinai after being deposed by Sisi in 2013.”

Read more Five hurdles to Donald Trump's Gaza-takeover plan

Although Egypt remains the only country in the world – alongside Israel – not affected by the Trump administration’s 90-day freeze on US foreign aid, the threat that the restoration of US financial assistance to Amman could be conditioned on the state’s acceptance of displaced Gazans has already begun to worry the Jordanian government.

Both countries are grappling with long-running – and worsening – economic challenges. Egypt narrowly avoided economic collapse last year with a last-minute financial infusion of more than $50 billion from the European Union, IMF, World Bank and the United Arab Emirates.

The cost has been high. As of 2024, the country had more than $152 billion worth of external debt, and has continued to sell off state assets in a bid to raise desperately needed foreign currency. And while Jordan’s economic outlook is less dire, the country has long been reliant on money from abroad to keep it afloat – official figures show that 70 percent of foreign aid went straight to budget support.

“The economic situation is indeed weak in Egypt – it is deep in debt with both old and new loans and it receives US aid annually ever since the signing of the Israeli peace, so this is a card both US administrations have played,” Fadl said.

But decades of US financial assistance to Amman and Cairo have not been entirely without mutual benefit. Some 3,000 US troops have been stationed in Jordan since the start of the civil war in neighbouring Syria. More recently, Jordan joined US allies in the region in intercepting a barrage of Iranian missiles launched at Israel in October in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah.

And the US has helped train and equip the Egyptian military for more than 30 years, weaning it off a reliance on Soviet armaments and setting it up as what Washington would come to see as an invaluable security partner for safeguarding US interests in a region that has long resented the US's military backing of Israel.

Nadl said that Cairo could lean on this long-standing security partnership to try to convince the US not to risk upsetting a status quo that had long served its interests.

“In terms of national security, there are real concerns around the impact of this on Egyptian territorial sovereignty in the future, since Israel covets and has previously occupied Egyptian land, and such a goal would seem more attainable following the weakening of Egypt if it allowed the Israeli plan,” she said. “There are also immediate concerns about the impact of absorbing Palestinian refugees, and with them not only the obligations of their protection and welfare, but also the potential for them to become a hub for Islamist oppositional activity in Egypt, given Hamas’s close ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, having grown from its Palestinian branch.”

Amman harbours similar fears about what backing down could cost it. The different waves of displaced Palestinians that have sought refuge in Jordan remain a deeply sensitive issue. Husseini said that the question had taken on an existential character in the eyes of Jordan’s government.

“The Gazans who arrived in the country during and following the 1967 war were not granted citizenship – contrary to those who arrived in the country in 1948 following the first Arab-Israeli conflict,” he said. “So it has been a claim of these Gazans that they should also, after all these decades, be granted citizenship. And it’s a point of contention between Gazans in the country, of which there are about 200,000, and the state. So there is already an issue in Jordan – so the Jordan state of course doesn’t want this issue of citizenship and the legal status of the Gazans in the country to fester.”

Just how far Trump was prepared to go to push his allies to back any plans for Gaza was difficult to know, Husseini said. But he stressed that Trump’s proposal seemed in keeping with the pro-Israel policies the president had pursued in his first term in office.

“During his first presidency, Trump was seen as quite a destabiliser – for instance, his decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and his support for Israel’s settlement policy,” he said. “So this has been seen as a brutal extension of Trump’s vision of the future of the Middle East.”

Israel orders army to prepare for 'voluntary' departures from Gaza Strip

Israel's defence minister instructed the military on Thursday to prepare for "voluntary" departures from Gaza, after US President Donald Trump doubled down on his proposal to take over control of the Gaza Strip and move out Palestinians from the territory.

Issued on: 06/02/2025 
FRANCE24
By: NEWS WIRES

02:00

Much of the Gaza Strip was levelled by the 15-month Israel-Hamas war. © Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP

Israel's defence minister ordered the army on Thursday to prepare for "voluntary" departures from Gaza, after US President Donald Trump proposed moving Palestinians out of the territory.

The idea sparked uproar from leaders in the Middle East and beyond, and the Trump administration appeared to walk back some of the suggestions.

Hours later, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the military to formulate a plan for Palestinians to leave Gaza, which has been ravaged by more than a year of war.

"I have instructed the IDF (military) to prepare a plan to enable voluntary departure for Gaza residents," Katz said, adding they could go "to any country willing to accept them".

Trump announced his proposal to audible gasps on Tuesday at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to meet him at the White House since his inauguration.

The United Nations warned any forced displacement of Palestinians would be "tantamount to ethnic cleansing".

Trump insisted "everybody loves" the plan, saying it would involve the United States taking over Gaza, though he offered few details on how more than two million Palestinians would be removed.

His administration later appeared to backtrack, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying any transfer of Gazans would be temporary.

Trump doubled down on his proposal on Thursday, however.

"The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting," he said on his Truth Social network.

"No soldiers by the US would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!"

Hamas's spokesman condemned Trump's statements as "absolutely unacceptable".

"Trump's remarks about Washington taking control of Gaza amount to an open declaration of intent to occupy the territory," Hazem Qassem said.

"Gaza is for its people and they will not leave.

"We call for the convening of an emergency Arab summit to confront the displacement project."
'Greatest friend'

Netanyahu, speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, called the proposal "remarkable" and hailed Trump as Israel's "greatest friend".

Many Palestinians have vowed to stay in Gaza © Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP

"I think it should be really pursued, examined, pursued and done, because I think it will create a different future for everyone."

Katz said Trump's plan "could create broad opportunities for Gaza residents who wish to leave, help them integrate optimally in host countries, and also facilitate the advancement of reconstruction programs for a demilitarised, threat-free Gaza".

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich -- who has repeatedly expressed support for Trump's proposal to relocate Gazans, and who vowed Wednesday to "definitively bury" the idea of a Palestinian state -- said he welcomed Katz's move.

Much of Gaza has been levelled by the war sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the deadliest in the country's history, but Palestinians residing in the coastal territory have vowed not to leave.

For them, any attempt to push them out of Gaza recalls the "Nakba", or "catastrophe" -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.

"They can do whatever they want, but we will remain steadfast in our homeland," said 41-year-old Gazan Ahmed Halasa.

Israelis in Jerusalem largely welcomed Trump's proposal, though some doubted it could be carried out.

"I really like what he said, but in my wildest dreams... it's hard for me to believe it will happen, but who knows," said 65-year-old Refael.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump wanted Palestinians to only be "temporarily relocated" out of Gaza.

"It's not a liveable place for any human being," she said.

Trump, who also suggested he might visit Gaza, implied it would not be rebuilt for Palestinians.

'Serious violation'

Even before Tuesday's announcements, Trump had suggested residents of Gaza should move to Egypt and Jordan, both of which have flatly rejected any resettlement of Palestinians on their territory.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas rejected the proposal, calling it a "serious violation" of international law and insisting that "legitimate Palestinian rights are not negotiable".

Portraits of Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel and Kfir, all Israeli hostages in Gaza, at a rally outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem © Menahem Kahana, AFP

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasised "the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people... to simply live as human beings in their own land".

His spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked about Trump's plan, said: "Any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing."

Israel's military offensive in response to Hamas's attack has left much of Gaza in ruins, including schools, hospitals and most civil infrastructure.

Human Rights Watch said the destruction of Gaza "reflects a calculated Israeli policy to make parts of the strip unliveable".

Trump's plan "would move the US from being complicit in war crimes to direct perpetration of atrocities", said HRW regional director Lama Fakih.

In a bid to address the dire humanitarian situation, aid has been rushed into the territory since a fragile ceasefire took effect on January 19.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said Thursday that more than 10,000 aid trucks had crossed into Gaza since the truce went into effect, calling it "a massive surge".

(AFP)

Locked out of decent housing, disabled residents in France struggle for dignity

For people with disabilities in France, finding accessible housing is particularly challenging. From emergency shelters unfit for mobility needs to social housing failing wheelchair users, the housing crisis hits disabled residents hardest and pushes many to the brink, as revealed in a new report by the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged.


Issued on: 07/02/2025 -
FRANCE24
By: Lara BULLENS

A wheelchair user looks out of the window of her care home in France on January 4, 2023. © Charly Triballeau, AFP


In spring of last year, Esporato* came home to find his life had been upended. After spending one week in hospital due to health problems linked to his diabetes, the 60-year-old made his way back to his flat and found a note on his door. As he moved closer to inspect what was written on it, he saw the number 115 and the word “Samusocial” scribbled on the paper.

Short on rent payments after losing his job months earlier, he had been evicted in the blink of an eye and was now being encouraged by his landlord to call the emergency services for homeless people in Paris. Esporato was eventually placed in temporary emergency housing in a hotel on April 16, 2024.

But the room he has been living in for “exactly nine months and 21 days” is not suited to his needs. Esporato has lived with hemiplegia since he was born. His disability means he has significantly reduced mobility in his right arm and leg, with many muscles now atrophied as a result. “I am on the ground floor but I can't use the shower. There is nothing for me to hold on to, no handles on the walls, nothing,” the 60-year-old said.

“I've asked the managers of the hotel if there are rooms suited to people with disabilities or reduced mobility countless times. I’ve asked the emergency services who placed me here as well. A Samusocial agent even came to see the room for himself and agreed that it wasn't possible for me to shower. But nothing has changed,” he added, clearly at his wit's end.


A searing report published on February 3 by the French organisation Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged, which changed its name from Abbé Pierre Foundation in the wake of sexual violence allegations against its founder, took stock of the country's poor housing in France and those most affected by it. Spanning a whopping 340 pages, the study found the issue had reached a boiling point in France, and those bearing the brunt are the 12 million people in the country living with disabilities – be they invisible or visible, mental or physical.

One quarter of the 1.3 million disabled households in France are affected by housing issues like overcrowding, fuel poverty, rent arrears and a severe lack of comfort.
Lack of accessible housing

Patricia Martinez and her husband Jose have been living in a one-bedroom rental in the Basque Country city of Bayonne for the past seven years. The flat is in a social housing unit that is not adapted to their needs. “The entrance doors to the building are extremely heavy, the lift is tiny, the corridors in our flat are too narrow for my husband to turn around in his wheelchair, and in order to get to the balcony there is a 20cm step,” the outraged 57-year-old exclaimed. “I’ve been asking for the flat to be disability-friendly for ages, but nothing has been done.”

Martinez stopped working in 2002 after a back operation left her with severe pains. Her husband has been suffering from a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle loss called Steinert myotonic dystrophy since he was 32. His condition is degenerative and he now needs to use a wheelchair to get around. “I’ve been taking care of him for more than two decades and that has been very difficult, to say the least. When I get back pains, I can't leave the bed, so I have to rely on carers to help me out,” Martinez said. Like Esporato, Martinez's patience has run out. “We are not asking for the moon, you know. I just want a place my husband can move around in and where he can access the outdoors more easily.”

‘I'd rather die than stay here’: Unfit housing on the rise in Paris suburb hosting Olympic village

02:43 Belkheir with his dog in his studio apartment in Saint-Denis. © AFP

People with disabilities are disproportionately affected by poor housing for a number of reasons. Households with at least one disabled resident of working age earn less than the general population on average. They also face significantly more discrimination than people without disabilities, and have unique needs when it comes to the set-up of their accommodation or the support they require.

And when they do find housing, it is often inadequate. Some 6.4 percent of disabled people reported a distinct lack of comfort and faced severe overcrowding in their households, according to the study carried out by the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged.

“Living in suitable housing is fundamental for people with disabilities to feel included, autonomous and integrated in society,” stressed Christophe Robert, the director general who has worked at the foundation for 20 years.

Since many people with disabilities in France face lower incomes, they often apply for social housing to curb high rent costs, like Martinez. But while authorities claim 18 percent of this type of housing is considered accessible, only 6 percent is “accessible and adapted” to their needs.

Vicious cycle

Esporato worked as a tax officer for many years but began running into money problems when he lost his job in 2023. As the months went by, he was finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. When he made a signed commitment with his landlord to pay back the rent he owed, he thought he would be safe.

But as his debt piled up, he became more vulnerable to being kicked out of his apartment. “I knew that I was in a bad situation but I never thought they would put me in the street,” he said.

Read moreMost of Paris metro inaccessible to disabled users, transport chief admits ahead of Paralympics

For a person with a disability, who is already in a precarious financial situation, losing their job can have a snowball effect. In Esporato's case it can also take a serious toll on a person’s life, which is why the foundation is calling for an increase in housing subsidies.

They are also pressing the French government to adopt a “housing first” policy, inspired by the Finnish approach. The initiative relies on housing as a basic human right, meaning that if a person in Finland is homeless, the government will prioritise giving them shelter before trying to help with other problems. Seeing as 26 percent of disabled people between the ages of 15 and 64 live below the poverty line in France, they are more vulnerable to homelessness.

However, despite being one of the French government's “top priorities” and since a 2005 law aimed at creating “equal opportunities, participation and citizenship for people with disabilities” was passed – disability organisations and activists have repeatedly claimed efforts to combat homelessness have not gone far enough.
‘I just want to take a proper shower’

During a televised debate with far-right contender Marine Le Pen in 2017, ahead of Emmanuel Macron’s first mandate, the future president said he wanted “pragmatic solutions for all those living with disabilities".

But two years later, the French government passed a housing law (ELAN law) that went directly against Macron's campaign promise and reduced the requirement for new homes to be accessible to people with disabilities from 100 to 10 percent. The aim was to stimulate the housing market by easing certain regulations, which would encourage a building boom and potentially bring down rent prices.

“Because of the lack of housing adapted to their needs, disabled people are often forced to live with relatives or move into medical establishments,” said Robert.

His colleague Manuel Domergue, who led the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged's 2024 study on poor housing, strongly agreed.

“We need to support disabled people as much as possible in their homes, in their cities, rather than in separate medical establishments. Making housing accessible is a key way of doing that," Domergue added.

Successive political crises in France have also meant that housing has fallen by the wayside. “We went seven whole months without a housing minister,” said Robert. “Projects to open new temporary housing for homeless people were completely abandoned. There have also been significant cuts to the State budget and therefore housing assistance,” he added.

Any sliver of hope that the Paralympic Games in the summer of 2024 would make Paris less hostile to people with disabilities too has vanished. “The Games were widely covered by the media to make people believe that disabled people are taken into consideration,” fumed Esporato. “But it was a ploy. The government doesn’t give a damn. And that really hurts. I can't believe that in the 21st century, we don't have accessible housing,” he added.

The most recent initiative put forth by Macron on February 6 was to fully reimburse all wheelchairs as of December 1, 2025.

Although Martinez and Esporato both said they had had suicidal thoughts as a result of their experiences, neither have thrown in the towel. Both said they will continue to fight. “I am shouting from the rooftops because I am angry,” exclaimed Martinez.

The doctor of Martinez's husband expects that he has around one more year to live. “Jose is superhuman. The doctor said so himself. I just want him to live the last year of his life comfortably, I don't want him to stay locked up indoors,” she concluded. “I just want him to be able to get some fresh air.” Outings are rare for the couple, not only because they require Martinez to be in good shape, but because their surroundings are “full of potholes” and “not at all suitable for wheelchair users”.

Despite being in touch with social workers, disability assistants and non-profit organisations, Esperato has not been able to find a place with an accessible shower. For his part, he took to writing to his local MP to try to change things. When he didn't get a response, he wrote to Macron directly.

“I got a response saying my letter was taken into account,” he said firmly. “Next week, I am going to knock on the door of the Élysée Palace. Wherever I need to go to get an answer.”

“I just want to be able to take a proper shower,” said Esperato.

*Esporato chose to use a pseudonym to guarantee his anonymity.

Amid Trump Threat, Greenland Bans Foreign Political Donations Before March Elections


A parliamentary document says the legislation "must be seen in light of the geopolitical interests in Greenland and the current situation where representatives of an allied great power have expressed interest in taking over" the territory.


Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede opposes U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to take over the island.
(Photo: Múte Egede/Facebook)

Jessica Corbett
Feb 05, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Faced with repeated threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to take over resource-rich Greenland, the Danish territory's parliament on Tuesday enacted a ban on foreign political donations, ahead of its March 11 elections.

The new measure—which also bars political parties in the self-governing territory from accepting domestic donations above 200,000 Danish kroner (about $27,700) or 20,000 kroner (about $2,770) from a single contributor—is intended to protect "Greenland's political integrity," The Associated Pressreported, citing a parliamentary document translated from Danish.

The document states that the legislation "must be seen in light of the geopolitical interests in Greenland and the current situation where representatives of an allied great power have expressed interest in taking over and controlling Greenland."

According to the AP:
A senior legal officer at Greenland's parliament, Kent Fridberg, told The Associated Press he did not know whether any foreign donors had contributed to Greenland's political parties and the idea for the bill was "basically a preventative measure."

Fridberg noted that some Russian politicians had voiced a similar interest—and that political parties in Greenland are generally funded by public means.

Even before returning to the White House last month, Trump revived his first-term interest in making Greenland part of the United States. In early January, he even refused to rule out using military force to seize both the autonomous island nation and the Panama Canal.

Danish and Greenlandic leaders have forcefully pushed back against Trump's remarks, and polling published last week by a pair of newspapers—Denmark's Berlingske and Greenland's Sermitsiaq—shows that 85% of Greenlanders oppose joining the U.S.

Public opinion polling conducted in Greenland in 2018 has also received fresh attention recently, including from Trump himself. Gustav Agneman, an associate professor of economics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, was part of the team that conducted those older surveys, which he discussed in a Tuesday piece for The Conversation.

"Two-thirds of the participants thought that 'Greenland should become an independent country at some point in the future,'" he noted. "Opinions were more divergent regarding the timing of independence. When asked how they would vote in an independence referendum if it were held today, respondents who stated a preference were evenly split between 'yes' and 'no' to independence."

As Agneman detailed:
Each year, Denmark sends a block grant that covers approximately half of Greenland's budget. This supports a welfare system that is more extensive than what is available to most Americans. In addition, Denmark administers many costly public services, including national defense.

This backdrop presents a dilemma for many Greenlanders who aspire to independence, as they weigh welfare concerns against political sovereignty. This was also evident from my study, which revealed that economic considerations influence independence preferences.

For many Greenlanders, the island nation’s rich natural resources present a potential bridge between economic self-sufficiency and full sovereignty. Foreign investments and the associated tax revenues from resource extraction are seen as key to reducing economic dependence on Denmark. Presumably, these natural resources, which include rare earths and other strategic minerals, also help explain Trump's interest in Greenland.


During a January appearance on Fox News, Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, made clear why the Republican has renewed interest in the takeover of the nearby territory, saying: "It's oil and gas. It's our national security. It's critical minerals."

One of the most outspoken critics of Trump's plan is leftist Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede, who supports independence and has said: "Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom."

Announcing the elections for Greenland's parliament, the Inatsisartut, Egede said on Facebook Tuesday that "we are facing an unprecedented and challenging time," and stressed the need "for cooperation and unity" among the island's roughly 60,000 resident

US Egg farmers warn they’re losing battle against bird flu

Kate Wells,

 Kff Health News
February 7, 2025 

FILE PHOTO: Chicks free of bird flu await purchase in a Houston feed and farm supply store February 24, 2004 (REUTERS/Richard Carson RJC/File Photo)


Greg Herbruck knew 6.5 million of his birds needed to die, and fast.

But the CEO of Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch wasn’t sure how the family egg producer (one of the largest in the U.S., in business for over three generations) was going to get through it, financially or emotionally. One staffer broke down in Herbruck’s office in tears.

“The mental toll on our team of dealing with that many dead chickens is just, I mean, you can’t imagine it,” Herbruck said. “I didn’t sleep. Our team didn’t sleep.”

The stress of watching tens of thousands of sick birds die of avian flu each day, while millions of others waited to be euthanized, kept everyone awake.

In April 2024, as his first hens tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus, Herbruck turned to the tried-and-true U.S. Department of Agriculture playbook, the “stamping-out” strategy that helped end the 2014-15 bird flu outbreak, which was the largest in the U.S. until now.

Within 24 to 48 hours of the first detection of the virus, state and federal animal health officials work with farms to cull infected flocks to reduce the risk of transmission. That’s followed by extensive disinfection and months of surveillance and testing to make sure the virus isn’t still lurking somewhere on-site.

Since then, egg farms have had to invest millions of dollars into biosecurity. For instance, employees shower in and shower out, before they start working and after their shifts end, to prevent spreading any virus. But their efforts have not been enough to contain the outbreak that started three years ago.

This time, the risk to human health is only growing, experts say. Sixty-six of the 67 total human cases in the United States have been just since March, including the nation’s first human death, reported last month.

“The last six months have accelerated my concern, which was already high,” said Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious diseases physician and the founding director of Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Controlling this virus has become more challenging, precisely because it’s so entrenched in the global environment, spilling into mammals such as dairy cows, and affecting roughly 150 million birds in commercial and backyard flocks in the U.S.

Because laying hens are so susceptible to the H5N1 virus, which can wipe out entire flocks within days of the first infection, egg producers have been on the front lines in the fight against various bird flu strains for years. But this moment feels different. Egg producers and the American Egg Board, an industry group, are begging for a new prevention strategy.

Many infectious disease experts agree that the risks to human health of continuing current protocols are unsustainable, because of the strain of bird flu driving this outbreak.

“The one we’re battling today is unique,” said David Swayne, former director of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and a leading national expert in avian influenza.

“It’s not saying for sure there’s gonna be a pandemic” of H5N1, Swayne said, “but it’s saying the more human infections, the spreading into multiple mammal species is concerning.”

For Herbruck, it feels like war. Ten months after Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch was hit, the company is still rebuilding its flocks and rehired most of the 400 workers it laid off.


Still, he and his counterparts in the industry live in fear, watching other farms get hit two, even three times in the past few years.

“I call this virus a terrorist,” he said. “And we are in a battle and losing, at the moment.”

When Biosecurity Isn’t Working … or Just Isn’t Happening


So far, none of the 23 people who contracted the disease from commercial poultry have experienced severe cases, but the risks are still very real. The first human death was a Louisiana patient who had contact with both wild birds and backyard poultry. The person was over age 65 and reportedly had underlying medical conditions.

And the official message to both backyard farm enthusiasts and mega-farms has been broadly the same: Biosecurity is your best weapon against the spread of disease.

But there’s a range of opinions among backyard flock owners about how seriously to take bird flu, said Katie Ockert, a Michigan State University Extension educator who specializes in biosecurity communications.


Skeptics think that “we’re making a mountain out of a molehill,” Ockert said, or that “the media is maybe blowing it out of proportion.” This means there are two types of backyard poultry enthusiasts, Ockert said: those doing great biosecurity, and those who aren’t even trying.

“I see both,” she said. “I don’t feel like there’s really any middle ground there for people.”

And the challenges of biosecurity are completely different for backyard coops than massive commercial barns: How are hobbyists with limited time and budgets supposed to create impenetrable fortresses for their flocks, when any standing water or trees on the property could draw wild birds carrying the virus?

Rosemary Reams, an 82-year-old retired educator in Ionia, Michigan, grew up farming and has been helping the local 4-H poultry program for years, teaching kids how to raise poultry. Now, with the bird flu outbreak, “I just don’t let people go out to my barn,” she said.


Reams even swapped real birds with fake ones for kids to use while being assessed by judges at recent 4-H competitions, she said.

“We made changes to the fair last year, which I got questioned about a lot. And I said, ‘No, I gotta think about the safety of the kids.’”

Reams was shocked by the news of the death of the Louisiana backyard flock owner. She even has questioned whether she should continue to keep her own flock of 20 to 30 chickens and a pair of turkeys.


“But I love ’em. At my age, I need to be doing it. I need to be outside,” Reams said. “That’s what life is about.” She said she’ll do her best to protect herself and her 4-H kids from bird flu.

Even “the best biosecurity in the world” hasn’t been enough to save large commercial farms from infection, said Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board.

The egg industry thought it learned how to outsmart this virus after the 2014-15 outbreak. Back then, “we were spreading it amongst ourselves between egg farms, with people, with trucks,” Metz said. So egg producers went into lockdown, she said, developing intensive biosecurity measures to try to block the routes of transmission from wild birds or other farms.


Metz said the measures egg producers are taking now are extensive.

“They have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements, everything from truck washing stations — which is washing every truck from the FedEx man to the feed truck — and everything in between: busing in workers so that there’s less foot traffic, laser light systems to prevent waterfowl from landing.”

Lateral spread, when the virus is transmitted from farm to farm, has dropped dramatically, down from 70% of cases in the last outbreak to just 15% as of April 2023, according to the USDA.

And yet, Metz said, “all the measures we’re doing are still getting beat by this virus.”

The Fight Over Vaccinating Birds

Perhaps the most contentious debate about bird flu in the poultry industry right now is whether to vaccinate flocks.

Given the mounting death toll for animals and the increasing risk to humans, there’s a growing push to vaccinate certain poultry against avian influenza, which countries like China, Egypt, and France are already doing.

In 2023, the World Organization for Animal Health urged nations to consider vaccination “as part of a broader disease prevention and control strategy.”

Swayne, the avian influenza expert and poultry veterinarian, works with WOAH and said most of his colleagues in the animal and public health world “see vaccination of poultry as a positive tool in controlling this panzootic in animals,” but also as a tool that reduces chances for human infection, and chances for additional mutations of the virus to become more human-adapted.

But vaccination could put poultry meat exporters (whose birds are genetically less susceptible to H5N1 than laying hens) at risk of losing billions of dollars in international trade deals. That’s because of concerns that vaccination, which lowers the severity of disease in poultry, could mask infections and bring the virus across borders, according to John Clifford, a former chief veterinary officer of the USDA. Clifford is currently an adviser to the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.

“If we vaccinate, we not only lose $6 billion potentially in exports a year,” Clifford said. “If they shut us off, that product comes back on the U.S. market. Our economists looked at this and said we would lose $18 billion domestically.”

Clifford added that would also mean the loss of “over 200,000 agricultural jobs.”

Even if those trade rules changed to allow meat and eggs to be harvested from vaccinated birds, logistical hurdles remain.

“Vaccination possibly could be on the horizon in the future, but it’s not going to be tomorrow or the next day, next year, or whatever,” Clifford said.

Considering just one obstacle: No current HPAI vaccine is a perfect match for the current strain, according to the USDA. But if the virus evolves to be able to transmit efficiently from human to human, he said, “that would be a game changer for everybody, which would probably force vaccination.”

Last month, the USDA announced it would “pursue a stockpile that matches current outbreak strains” in poultry.

“While deploying a vaccine for poultry would be difficult in practice and may have trade implications, in addition to uncertainty about its effectiveness, USDA has continued to support research and development in avian vaccines,” the agency said.

At this point, Metz argued, the industry can’t afford not to try vaccination, which has helped eradicate diseases in poultry before.

“We’re desperate, and we need every possible tool,” she said. “And right now, we’re fighting this virus with at least one, if not two, arms tied behind our back. And the vaccine can be a huge hammer in our toolbox.”

But unless the federal government acts, that tool won’t be used.

Industry concerns aside, infectious diseases physician Bhadelia said there’s an urgent need to focus on reducing the risk to humans of getting infected in the first place. And that means reducing “chances of infections in animals that are around humans, which include cows and chickens. Which is why I think vaccination to me sounds like a great plan.”

The lesson “that we keep learning every single time is that if we’d acted earlier, it would have been a smaller problem,” she said.

This article is from a partnership that includes Michigan Public, NPR, and KFF Health News.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.