Paraguay, a tax and political haven for Brazil's far right

Issued on: 02/10/2026

Cover image: An image showing a Brazilian passport and residence papers. A feature as part of an in-depth report by our senior reporters and team of correspondents, REPORTERS © FRANCE 24

12:41 min

Over the past five years, applications for residence permits submitted by Brazilians in Paraguay have more than doubled. Many of them are Bolsonaro supporters who are afraid October's presidential election will be won by incumbent leader Lula – whom they accuse of plunging the Latin American giant into an unprecedented economic crisis. FRANCE 24's Fanny Lothaire, Valeria Saccone and Mélanie Blondeau report, with Jan Onoszko.


Brazil is holding presidential elections on October 4 and 25, but some voters have already decided to go into exile, convinced that the country will go from bad to worse if President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is re-elected.

These Brazilians support Bolsonaro: the father Jair, sentenced to 27 years in prison for an atttempted coup and his son Flavio, the far-right presidential candidate. Fearing the defeat of their camp, they would rather try their luck across the border in Paraguay, which has become an El Dorado for disillusioned Bolsonaro supporters.

READ MORE  Flavio Bolsonaro probed for corruption as Brazil election tightens

A small country wedged between Argentina and Brazil, Paraguay is now seen as a tax haven by Brazilians who say they can no longer tolerate the rising taxes under Lula’s government.

In 2025, Paraguay issued a record 40,600 residence permits to foreign nationals, 23,500 of them Brazilians. In 2026, this figure is expected to rise further. In the first three months of the year alone, 9,200 residence permits were issued to Brazilians.

In the far south of Brazil, the border is a hive of activity. Day and night, hundreds of cars and lorries cross the Friendship Bridge linking Brazil and Paraguay, with one objective in mind: staying for good.

BY:

Valeria SACCONE

Jan ONOSZKO

Fanny LOTHAIRE

Mélanie BLONDEAU

Infantino loses Swiss backing for campaign to remain FIFA chief

Gianni Infantino's drive to remain boss at world football's governing body FIFA was under threat on Thursday after his own country's football association withdrew its support.

Issued on: 01/10/2026 - RFI

Gianni Infantino (right) has lost support from leading European football associations in his bid to remain as head of world football's governing body Fifa. However, he maintains the backing of the African football confederation chief Patrice Motsepe (left). © Paul Ellis / AFP

By: Paul Myers

Swiss-born Infantino was elected Fifa president in February 2016 and had been expected to sweep to a fourth and final term at elections next March, until a failed bid to allow private investment in the World Cup drew calls for reform.

The Swiss Football Association (ASF), one of Fifa's founding members in Paris in 1904, said in June that it would support Infantino.

However, it has gone back on the pledge following a meeting of its central committee on 25 September.

"From the ASF’s perspective, several events raise fundamental questions regarding leadership, governance, transparency and decision-making processes within Fifa," said a statement issued on Wednesday.

"This relates in particular to issues of clarity of rules and the integrity of competitions."
World Cup fallout

Swiss football administrators said they were concerned over the way that Fifa allowed United States President Donald Trump to interfere with the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Trump revealed he had contacted Fifa and urged it to suspend a one-match ban on US striker Folarin Balogun for his red card during the United States' 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 July. The penalty was lifted the day before the Americans played Belgium for a place in the quarter-finals.

The ASF also cited the way Infantino presented his plan to create a commercial company, Fifa Forward Enterprise, to run the World Cup and other events.

Under the scheme, Infantino proposed spinning off commercial and operational rights of Fifa competitions – including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women – into a €17 billion subsidiary, with 20 percent owned by private investors including the Kushner family, which has links to Trump.

No go for Infantino: how Fifa's World Cup private investment plan imploded

"For the ASF, credibility, transparency, accountability and the effective involvement of the relevant bodies in accordance with the statutes are essential prerequisites for confidence in the governance of international football and in Fifa's integrity," the ASF added.

"In view of the developments since June 2026 and the outstanding issues, the ASF central committee considers that these conditions are no longer met."

In September, the football federations of France and Belgium withdrew their backing for Infantino.

The Belgian federation said it also wants the Balogun case to be discussed at the next meeting of the Fifa council on 15 October in Zurich, Switzerland.
Possible challengers

Both Fifa and European football's governing body Uefa are based in Switzerland.

ASF president Peter Knabel said the Swiss association expected Fifa's leadership to uphold the highest standards of transparency, accountability and institutional responsibility.

The Swiss move comes a week before top Uefa executives meet in Berlin.

They are expected to discuss the widening rift with Fifa over Infantino's leadership and possible challengers to the president, who retains support from the African and South American football federations.

He also has the backing of 2034 World Cup hosts Saudi Arabia.

Europe rights body urges Fifa to strengthen integrity of football ahead of 2030

On Tuesday, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the president of the European champions Paris Saint-Germain, ruled himself out as a possible contender to topple Infantino.

Speaking in Copenhagen after the annual meeting of the European Football Clubs, Al-Khelaifi said: "I have zero interest in Fifa. I have zero agenda or ambition to be there.

"I don’t think I’m the right guy for this position and I don’t want to go actually. I’m enjoying what I’m doing."

Under his stewardship since 2011, PSG have harvested 43 pieces of silverware including 12 Ligue 1 titles and seven Coupe de France trophies. PSG won the Champions League for the first time in 2025 and in May became only the second team after Real Madrid to win back-to-back crowns since the Champions League morphed out of the European Cup in 1992.

Nominations for Fifa's presidential election next March must be submitted by 18 November. Infantino is the only candidate so far.

Farmers unite worldwide against what they call ‘chemical colonisation’

Farmers and activists around the world are mobilising on Saturday for an international day of action against pesticides – denouncing products sold by major agrochemical companies that they say are damaging their health and destroying their livelihoods.


Issued on: 02/10/2026 - RFI

"No more cancer. Stop fumigating us," reads the banner of Exaltacion Salud protesters in Argentina demonstrating against the use of pesticdes. © Cortesía Virginia Roldán

By:  Zeenat Hansrod

“Pesticides are manufactured in France and exported to the Global South by companies who know full well that these pesticides contain molecules banned here," said Fleur Breteau, founder of Cancer Colère, one of four French organisations behind Saturday’s campaign.

"They are making money in breach of French regulations and in defiance of human rights laws.”

Farmers and organisations from countries including Pakistan and Argentina have joined the mobilisation, sharing what Breteau describes as the same anger over “chemical colonisation”.

“We, farmers, need to unite because of chemical colonialism by these very powerful agrochemical firms. As a Western person, as a French person, it is a big no because they are making money while breaching French laws,” said Breteau, who is battling breast cancer for a second time.




Illegal spraying of pesticides in Parada La Lata (Exaltación de la Cruz) in 2020, less than 1 km from a house and a rural school. © RFI/Agustín Brun
Health concerns in Argentina

In Argentina, Agustín Brun, an activist with Exaltacion Salud, a group fighting the use of chemical pesticides, also supports the campaign. He lives in Exaltacion de la Cruz in Buenos Aires province, a town closely surrounded by fields heavily sprayed with pesticides.

“The European Union and China, big buyers of our grains, export pesticides – some of which are banned in their own countries – while importing commodities at a cheaper price without having to face the socio-environmental costs and health issues of pesticide contamination at home,” Brun told RFI.

“In other words, those countries are outsourcing their problems.”

Developed countries “extract” products from Argentina that mostly benefit large pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies such as Bayer-Monsanto and Syngenta, Brun said.

“In my town we have found several agrochemicals molecules, including atrazine, in the soil, water and human blood samples. There is a high rate of cancer and other chronic diseases, higher in Exaltación de la Cruz than in nearby cities,” he said.

A landmark study by researchers at the National University of Rosario Faculty of Medical Sciences found that young people living in agricultural villages exposed to pesticide fumigation were 2.5 times more likely to develop and die from cancer than those living in areas unexposed to agrochemicals.

“We can feel it in our own bodies, you know?” Brun said. “Several members of our groups died of cancer.”



We need to unite to fight against chemical colonialism. As a Western person, we say that we refuse that firms produce forbidden pesticides in our country and send them to the global south. It's a big no. It's against the French laws.

01:00


Fleur Breteau from Cancer Colère association in FranceZeenat Hansrod

Scientific evidence has linked atrazine exposure to cancer. Scientists have described atrazine as an endocrine disruptor and said it can have neurotoxic, teratogenic and genotoxic effects, as well as harming the liver and kidneys.

Atrazine was first developed by agrochemical company Syngenta, Brun said. Syngenta is one of four global giants in the seed and pesticide sector, alongside BASF, Bayer and Corteva, and is also one of Argentina’s biggest pesticide suppliers.

Atrazine has been banned in 60 countries, including across the European Union.

In 2019, a small aircraft illegally sprayed pesticides over a school near Brun’s town.

“The children and school staff were poisoned and suffered health damage,” Brun said. “A ban against aerial spraying of pesticides was then introduced throughout our municipality, not the province, but we’ve been campaigning for such a ban since 2012.”
Global mobilisation

Exaltacion Salud is among the organisations taking part in Saturday’s global protest. Actions are also planned in countries including Costa Rica, Pakistan, the United States, Belgium and Indonesia, as well as Hawaii.

“We’ve realised that anger is healthy,” Breteau told RFI. “And it’s led us to come together and unite our forces. There are millions of us and we’re right to be angry. When we bring all this helplessness and distress together, we can become very powerful. And this is what we will demonstrate on Saturday 3 October.”

France’s emergency agriculture bill passed, amid divisions over pesticides

In France, protesters will march outside one of Syngenta’s pesticide manufacturing plants in Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne, about 100 kilometres north-west of Paris, with several actions also planned in a neighbouring field.

Farmers, cancer patients, people affected by pesticide contamination, health workers, cancer researchers and lawyers are expected to join the demonstration.

“Four giants of pesticide and seed manufacturing industry, BASF, Bayer, Corteva and Syngenta, have formed a sort of oligopoly where they wield immense power worldwide,” Breteau said. “They are patenting living organisms and are making farmers dependent on their pesticides, seeds and technology to grow food.”

Syngenta was acquired in 2017 by Chinese state-owned ChemChina, itself a subsidiary of Sinochem Holdings.

“A seed from Syngenta won’t grow if you simply put it in the ground on its own, it needs pesticides to thrive,” Breteau said. “It’s as if you were putting pesticides in a child’s feeding bottle and saying, ‘It will make them grow faster’. It’s madness.”
Syngenta's response

Syngenta told RFI that farmers must be able to rely on a range of solutions and technologies to address the interconnected challenges of agricultural production, climate change and food security.

It said it strives to develop innovative solutions for all farmers and farming models.

“We fully respect the right to assemble and protest,” a Syngenta spokesperson said. “However, organising a protest at the Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne site seems ill-founded given the reality of its current operations: 70 percent of the site’s current output is suitable for use in organic farming.”

In Kenya, Susan Owiti of the Kenyan Peasants League told RFI that most pesticides used in the country are banned in the United Kingdom. She also described their sale in poorer countries as a form of chemical colonisation.

“Whoever feeds you, controls you,” she said. “Food sovereignty is about taking control and ownership. Control over what you are growing. So, by dumping their banned products onto us, the Global South, they want to take control of our food systems.”

The Kenyan Peasants League, a social organisation representing around 5,000 peasant farmers transitioning to agroecology, is taking part in the 3 October mobilisation on social media. It plans a “Twitter storm” and Facebook posts to raise awareness about pesticides and showcase the experiences of its farmers.

Owiti, a small farmer and activist from Migori in western Kenya, said she has farmed all her life.

“Agroecology farming has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember,” she said. “It means that we work closely with nature. I use my own seeds, make my own manure and develop my own pesticides based on knowledge passed on from my grand-mother and our elders.”

“We do not rely on agrochemical companies.”
In Kenya where the majority of farmers are women, they regularly help each other when there is a lot of work. Here in Apuoyo village, female farmers are weeding a maize and beans field, September 2025. © RFI/Kenyan Peasants League

Pesticides sold by major agrochemical companies, some of which may contain banned molecules, are degrading soil, affecting the health of farmers and their families and trapping them in debt, Owiti said.

“Because they need the pesticides for the seeds purchased from these companies, the farmers find themselves borrowing money from banks to pay loans to pesticide companies,” she said.

Owiti said she had seen many women – who make up most farmers in Kenya – suffering from skin and pulmonary diseases because they do not use protective equipment when handling pesticides.

“The government needs to implement the Agroecological strategic plan launched by the ministry of Agriculture in 2024,” she said.

The National Agroecology Strategy for Food System Transformation covers the period from 2024 to 2033.

Sharing the ancestral knowledge of older farmers is another way to “fight the big companies”, Owiti said.

“The older farmers, they are like libraries holding years and years of research,” she said.

She said passing this knowledge between generations and on to younger farmers would help preserve it and allow them to move away from agribusiness practices.

Why France's agriculture law may not help the farmers it claims to defend
Political battle

Breteau also accuses lawmakers of being influenced by major agrochemical companies.

“Today the red line has been crossed and ethics trampled over,” she said. “Lawmakers, mostly from the centre to the far-right, are casting doubts over the scientific evidence between some pesticides and the diseases they cause.

“Laws are being passed that reintroduce pesticides which were previously banned due to their toxicity to human health.”

Breteau became known in July 2025 when she shouted from the public gallery of the French parliament: “You are in league with cancer and we will make sure everyone knows it.”

French MPs were debating the Duplomb Bill, which included lifting restrictions on the use of pesticides, including acetamiprid.

“There’s a political ploy to force even more pesticides upon us, not to make the life easier for farmers or food sovereignty, it is simply matter of profit,” Breteau said.

“Pesticides are designed to boost production and increase yields at the expense of our health, biodiversity, clean water whilst using as few workers as possible.”

The European Parliament will examine the Food and Feed Safety Simplification Omnibus in October. It aims to streamline food and feed legislation, while its proposal for “efficient renewal procedures for pesticides” has come under criticism.

“It will authorise more than 90 percent of the pesticides currently in circulation, even if scientific studies show they are toxic,” Breteau said.

“In other words, once voted we won’t be able to take them off the market, despite their proven toxicity. So, this is very serious because it creates an unrestricted European market for these pesticide manufacturers.

“Any Member of the European Parliament who vote for this Omnibus law, we’ll regard them as criminals.

“How are we all supposed to get better in a world that poisons us a little more every day?”

World powers gather in Pacific to chart climate battle

Wellington (AFP) – World powers are flying delegates to the Pacific to haggle over the fight against global warming, and to see the plight of island nations surrounded by a rising ocean.


Issued on: 02/10/2026 - RFI

Climate negotiators are heading to Fiji to lay the ground for global decisions on climate change. © LEON LORD, LEON LORD / AFP/File

Ministers, climate negotiators and a handful of leaders will meet in the Fijian city of Nadi for the 5-6 October talks.

They will be charting the course for a major UN-sponsored global climate summit, known as Cop31, to be held in November in Turkey's Antalya province.

For Pacific nations, hosting the preliminary talks in their region offers an opportunity to draw the world's attention to life on the frontline of climate change.

Pacific leaders are pushing for the world to stick to a target of limiting global warming to 1.5C, enhance access to climate finance, and give more attention to the impact on oceans.

The sea level is rising at a record pace, driven by warming oceans and glacier melt, according to a UN report.

Up to 1.2 billion people could be displaced by 2050, with Pacific island countries experiencing sea level rise at twice the global average, said the report released in August.

It also highlighted a financing gap, with developing countries needing US$310-US$365 billion to adapt, yet having only US$26 billion in adaptation finance available in 2023.

Top delegates to the Pacific talks will hold a one-day retreat on low-lying Tuvalu, a small island nation laying plans to relocate the population if it is consumed by the ocean.

They will be shown Tuvalu's land reclamation efforts.

The island capital Funafuti's highest point is just two metres above sea-level, and two of its nine coral atolls are already largely swamped by rising seas.

More than half of Europe exposed to extreme heat stress this summer
'Act now'

"Sea-level rise is not a future threat, it is a present reality," Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo told the UN General Assembly ahead of the climate talks.

"Tuvalu's message is clear: the world must act now decisively, collectively, and with urgency to protect the future for generations to come."

Last year, Australia bowed out of a contest with Turkey to host the Cop31 summit in a deal that let it preside over negotiations and bring the preparatory talks to the Pacific.

As leader of the climate talks, however, major coal exporter Australia has faced heat over the scale of its fossil fuel extraction.

Tuvalu is one of the most climate-threatened corners of the planet © TORSTEN BLACKWOOD / AFP/File

Chris Bowen, the country's climate minister, says Australia is rapidly expanding its renewable energy sources, which are essential for a transition away from fossil fuels.

Bowen, president of the Cop31 negotiations, also rejected media criticism that the pre-Cop talks in the Pacific had failed to lure enough world leaders.

Fewer than a dozen world leaders have so far publicly confirmed that they will attend the meetings in Fiji and Tuvalu, mostly from the Pacific.

Fiji said last month it expected the heads of state for Antigua and Barbuda, Cape Verde, Thailand, the Maldives and Timor-Leste would attend.

"It's not normally a leaders meeting," Bowen told reporters in the run-up to the talks, which are usually held at the ministerial and senior-negotiator level.

'Very, very sad'

Organisers have not released detailed figures on attendance.

Bowen said last month 4,000 people from 60 nations would attend, without providing a full breakdown.

Marine scientist Rajneel Singh – part of a team that reported large-scale coral death around Tuvalu from a 2024 marine heatwave – said he was disheartened by a perceived lack of attention to the climate challenge.

"It's very, very sad. There's no awareness of what's happening," Singh told AFP.

Nepal's foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, has confirmed he will attend the Pacific climate meeting, after the August 26 Himalayan flood disaster.

A tsunami-like wall of water and debris triggered by a glacial and rock collapse on the Nepal-China border on August 26 killed nearly 1,500 and left 5,800 missing in the two countries.

"What we're trying to convey to the world is this: these issues of climate change are not theoretical anymore," Khanal told AFP in an interview in New York.

More than half of Europe exposed to extreme heat stress this summer

A record 52 percent of the European continent was exposed to intense heat stress during the summer of 2026, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate monitoring service. The season saw Europe experience four of its 10 worst heatwaves on record.


Issued on: 02/10/2026 - RFI

A Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 MR aircraft drops fire retardant over a wildfire near Cotignac in southeastern France on 23 July. AFP - THIBAUD MORITZ\\

Europe – the world's fastest-warming continent – endured a succession of heatwaves fuelled by climate change this summer. Beginning unusually early in the year, these extreme weather events broke temperature records and contributed to tens of thousands of excess deaths.

“One of the things that stands out for 2026 is that the heat was not only remarkable for its intensity, but also for its geographical extent,” said Samantha Burgess, climate lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which operates Copernicus.

This was Europe’s third-warmest summer on record and the hottest ever recorded in western Europe, with several countries registering all-time temperature highs.

Four of Europe’s 10 most intense heatwaves occurred during the summer of 2026, Burgess told a media briefing, although the August 2003 heatwave remains the most severe ever recorded.

Copernicus found that 52 percent of Europe was exposed to “very strong” heat stress – conditions in which the temperature feels hotter than 38C.

Around 80 percent of the continent experienced “strong” heat stress, with feels-like temperatures exceeding 32C. Such conditions had occurred on a record 41 days by the end of the summer season.

Heat stress occurs when the human body can no longer cool itself effectively. Symptoms can range from headaches and dizziness to organ failure and death.

“Summer 2026 demonstrated how heat stress is becoming both more widespread and more persistent,” Burgess said, adding that extreme heat is now the leading cause of weather-related mortality worldwide.

Summer of extremes

The heat was only one element of an unusually extreme summer in Europe.

Dry conditions pushed river flows to their lowest levels since records began in 1992 according to Copernicus, affecting freight transport and placing additional pressure on irrigation systems, hydropower production and the cooling of nuclear reactors.

Drought has become increasingly common across Europe over the past 45 years.

By the end of August, drought conditions were affecting almost half of the continent, Burgess said.

The combination of persistent heat, drought and exceptionally low river levels highlighted how several climate extremes can now unfold at the same time.

“That’s one of the defining characteristics of summer this year, that it was not a single record,” Burgess said. “It was the way that multiple records appeared together across the climate system.”

Western Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, underlining the growing exposure of densely populated regions to sustained periods of dangerous heat.

The early start to this year’s heatwaves also added to the strain, extending the period during which people, ecosystems and infrastructure were exposed to high temperatures.

Scientists have repeatedly warned that human-driven climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme heat across Europe, while warmer conditions are also making droughts more severe in many regions.

French women face growing obstacles to abortion despite constitutional right

The right to terminate a pregnancy was formally enshrined in the French Constitution in 2024, but women are finding it harder to gain access due to geographical inequalities and lack of information but also rising prejudice, France's family planning movement has said.

Issued on: 28/09/2026 - RFI

A woman holds a placard reading "My body, my right, my choice" during a demonstration for the right of abortion on the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day in Paris on 28 September 2025. AFP - THOMAS SAMSON

In its survey, published on Monday for International Safe Abortion Day, Le Planning Familial (MFPF) found that a lack of trained professionals and shortages of doctors were pushing waiting times beyond France's legal period of five days.

Three out of four women who had an abortion in a health facility in 2026 waited more than seven days for an appointment, compared with 54 percent in 2024.

The right to abortion was formally enshrined in the French Constitution on 8 March 2024.

MFPF referred to "pathways full of obstacles", including refusals of support, pressure and a lack of choice over the method of abortion.

One in two women said a professional had refused to support them during the procedure, compared with 27 percent in 2024.

'Real geographical divide'

The survey identified geographical and rural inequalities as the biggest obstacle to abortion access, cited by 89 percent of those surveyed. Lack of information was the second largest obstacle (76 percent), followed by a lack of facilities or professionals (60 percent).

"When you close a maternity unit, you close an abortion centre," Sarah Durocher, the head of the movement, told France Inter public radio on Monday.

"More than 20 percent of women and people who have abortions are forced to go to another department," she said.

Durocher also pointed to the role of midwives, who "perform the majority of abortions today".

The organisation said there was a "real geographical divide", with access generally harder in rural areas and places far from major cities. This was compounded by social inequalities affecting people with fewer resources or fewer opportunities to travel.

France marks International Women's Day amid concern over rise of far right

Two thirds of women who had an abortion said they had experienced pressure or judgement during the procedure. One in five said they did not feel they had been given a full choice of abortion method.

The survey also identified difficulties in accessing information. The internet was the most common source, ahead of family and friends.

Ducrocher noted that artificial intelligence (AI), which is now also being used to search for information, was a mixed blessing.

"AI currently directs people towards the MFPF, but these are things that can change and people in France and around the world who are anti-abortion have a lot of money. Sometimes they can even have some influence over social networks," she said.

Meta accused of restricting sexual health and queer Instagram accounts
Growing concerns

France's family planning movement also surveyed 55 local associations. Some 62 percent said abortion access was not easy in their department, up from 47 percent in 2024.

About 58 percent said abortion was still viewed negatively, compared with 44 percent in 2024. And 62 percent said people seeking abortions did not always have a choice over the method used, compared with 56 percent in 2024.

Abortion was legalised in France via the 1975 Veil law, which also introduced a specific conscientious-objection clause for doctors and other health professionals to refuse to perform or assist with an abortion.

MFPF wants the special clause to be removed, since it "contributes to the stigmatisation of an act," Durocher said.

She called for "a change in culture" to "make abortion an act like any other".

The organisation is also calling for the legal time limit for abortion to be extended from 14 to 22 weeks, in line with other European countries such as Spain and the Netherlands.

Should France guarantee supply of abortion drugs by producing its own?

While the right to abortion is now protected under the constitution, Ducrocher warned it could still be threatened by rise of the far right.

"Whenever there is a rise in conservatism, the right to abortion is attacked first," she said, calling for international mobilisation.

France's far-right National Rally (RN) party won a record 14 seats in the Senate over the weekend, effectively quadrupling its number in the 348-seat chamber.

This comes just months before a presidential election which polls suggest RN leader Marine Le Pen could win.

Ducrocher warned that if "the conservative right" does come to power "abortion will obviously be attacked ... it won't be through legislation, but through access".

King Charles to evoke colonial 'darkest days' on Caribbean tour

London (AFP) – King Charles III will acknowledge the "darkest days" of colonial rule and slavery while touring Caribbean countries on a visit beginning this month, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Friday.

Issued on: 02/10/2026 - RFI

Britain's King Charles III will acknowledge the 'darkest days' of colonial rule and slavery while touring Caribbean countries on a visit beginning this month © Jonathan Brady / POOL/AFP
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The king will first visit the Bahamas and Guyana alone, followed by a trip to Antigua and Barbuda with Queen Camilla, where Charles will give a speech at a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government, the palace said.

Charles, 77, who is still receiving treatment for cancer, will visit former colonies that are now independent from Britain and are members of the British Commonwealth.

He remains head of state in the archipelago nations of the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, a role that is largely ceremonial.

The palace spokesperson told reporters the king's visit, from October 27 to November 4, would not "shy away from the 'darkest days of our past' as His Majesty has described them".

Charles used the phrase in a speech in Barbados when he attended the ceremony in which it became a republic in 2021, removing his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of state.

He also said then that the "appalling atrocity of slavery" stains Britain's history.

The palace said Charles had worked to acknowledge "the wrongs of the past" and "right inequalities that endure", and on this trip would "renew his personal, wholehearted and continuing commitment to that process".

The UK government reiterated last month its rejection of calls for the payment of slavery reparations after a Jamaican delegation filed a petition addressed to Charles on the issue.

It called on the monarch to refer three questions on the legality of the transatlantic slave trade to the Caribbean island's highest court of appeal based in London.

Modern British royals have expressed remorse for the brutal slave trade that enriched their ancestors, but like the UK government have not issued an official apology for the slave trade.

The palace said discussions about the colonial legacy and the slave trade were "important" but "primarily matters for governments to address".

On a 2022 Caribbean tour, Charles's son William and his wife Kate were met with anti-monarchy protests and calls for slavery reparations.

Charles's younger brother, Prince Edward, later that year cancelled a visit to Grenada after pro-republican protests there.

In Antigua and Barbuda, a state named after its two main tropical islands, the royals will attend a parade to mark 45 years of independence.

Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America, is a republic and so Charles will be making a state visit on the 60th anniversary of its independence from Britain.

The trip will feature plenty of meetings with local people and will focus on "the vibrant present and promising future of each country", the palace said.

The programme includes meetings with cricketing legends in Antigua and Barbuda, where the West Indies team is based, and meeting conservationists responsible for Guyana's rain forest.

© 2026 AFP

Kenya breaks ground on $16bn refinery as environmental concerns grow

East Africa is accelerating its push for greater energy independence with a new $16 billion refinery in Kenya – but the project is raising fears over the environmental cost of an expanding oil economy.

Issued on: 01/10/2026 - RFI

The ground-breaking ceremony for the Dangote East Africa oil refinery at the Port of Lamu on 30 September 2026, attended by the leaders of Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Benin and Togo. © AFP - LUIS TATO

By:   David Coffey


Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote joined Kenyan President William Ruto and several African leaders on Wednesday to break ground on the Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery at the Indian Ocean port of Lamu.

Once completed, the refinery is expected to process 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day, producing petrol, diesel and jet fuel for Kenya and markets across East Africa.

“This is Africa coming together to build Africa,” Dangote said. “Today we are not simply breaking ground for a refinery, we’re breaking ground for a new chapter in Africa’s industrial journey.”

Dangote, who launched Africa's largest oil refiniery in Nigeria in 2023, presented the project as part of the solution to a long-standing paradox – an oil-producing continent that exports much of its crude while importing refined products.

“For too long, our continent has actually been rich in resources but poor in value creation and addition,” he said.

“Africa cannot build lasting prosperity by exporting what it has and importing what it needs.”

Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Group, at the signing ceremony for the Dangote Refinery initial public offering in Lagos, Nigeria, 7 September 2026. @ REUTERS - Sodiq Adelakun

Energy independence

Africa produced around 6.8 million barrels of crude oil a day in 2024 while consuming some 4.5 million barrels a day of refined petroleum products, according to figures cited by Ruto.

Yet refining capacity remains limited in many countries, leaving them exposed to international fuel markets and forcing governments to spend valuable foreign currency on imports.

Dangote argues increased refining capacity could allow most African countries to become self-sufficient in fuel by 2030.

Asked whether the Lamu refinery marked a turning point in East Africa’s push for greater energy independence, Victor Abuso of RFI’s Kiswahili service said the answer was “yes and no”.

On one hand, he said, speeches at Wednesday's ceremony by Ruto and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni reflected frustration with the region’s long dependence on foreign suppliers and overseas refining.

A refinery on the scale of Lamu could begin to change that. But Kenya does not yet commercially produce enough oil to supply a refinery of this size.

Dangote said the plant would initially import crude by sea from the Middle East, the United States and elsewhere, before potentially drawing more heavily on African producers as regional production expands. Its location at a deep-water port is central to that strategy.

The complex will also include a 1,000-megawatt power facility built to supply the refinery, with excess output expected to feed into Kenya’s electricity grid.

Regional rivalry

Abuso said the Lamu project also exposed persistent divisions within the East African Community, with governments pursuing competing oil and refining strategies.

Uganda is preparing to exploit its own oil reserves and plans to build a smaller refinery in the district of Hoima, in the west of the country. Meanwhile the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, or EACOP, is being built to carry Ugandan crude more than 1,400 kilometres to the Tanzanian port of Tanga.

Uganda and Tanzania have also discussed developing a refinery and energy hub at Tanga – the same port initially considered for Dangote’s project before he opted for Lamu.

Abuso said this suggested East Africa’s emerging oil economy may be driven as much by national rivalry as regional integration.

The “economic rivalry” between Kenya and Tanzania in particular was likely to continue “for many, many years to come”, he said.

Museveni attended Wednesday’s ceremony and welcomed the Lamu project, while making clear Uganda intends to proceed with its own refinery ambitions.

The Dangote Industries oil refinery and fertilizer plant site in the Ibeju Lekki district of Lagos, Nigeria, 2 March 2026. @ REUTERS - Sodiq Adelakun

Environmental and security concerns

The region's drive for greater energy independence also comes with a potentially substantial environmental price.

EACOP has already drawn criticism over land acquisition, biodiversity, carbon emissions and its potential impact on communities along its route.

Lamu now faces many of the same questions.

The region is home to Lamu Old Town, a Unesco World Heritage site and one of the oldest surviving Swahili settlements in East Africa. Its coastline, islands and mangrove forests are a major tourist attraction, while fishing remains central to the local economy.

Abuso said environmental concerns were already growing, particularly over the mangroves and the possibility of pollution reaching the Indian Ocean.

“The biggest worry is the possibility of oil spills in the Indian Ocean,” he said.

Local fishermen fear pollution could affect their catches, Abuso said, while residents are concerned that industrial development could hurt tourism.

“A lot of people who live in Lamu depend on tourists,” he said, adding that communities wanted clearer assurances from the government about how their livelihoods would be protected.

A man inspects damage caused by an oil spill within the Niger Delta in Ogboinbiri, Nigeria, on 11 December 2024. © Sunday Alamba / AP

Land rights have also become a flashpoint. Local residents have gone to court, asking that their rights to ancestral land be recognised before the development progresses further.

According to Abuso, residents say they were “not properly informed about this project and the negative effects that could come with it”.

A court allowed Wednesday’s ground-breaking ceremony to proceed while the legal case continues. Another hearing is scheduled on 14 October.

Ruto has promised that land and environmental concerns will be dealt with “lawfully and fairly”.

Lamu also presents a security challenge. The county lies close to Kenya’s border with Somalia and has suffered attacks and abductions linked to the Al-Shabaab Islamist militant group.

Abuso said security was a “genuine concern”, with reports that Kenya could establish a dedicated military presence near the refinery to protect the facility and surrounding communities.

Moroccan intelligence accused of spying on journalists and human rights activists

Morocco’s domestic intelligence service has deployed Pegasus spyware and hidden cameras in a sweeping campaign of surveillance against journalists and human rights activists, according to a report by Amnesty International.


Issued on: 02/10/2026 - RFI

Pegasus spyware, once installed on a smartphone, can give its operator access to messages, photos, location data and other contents stored on the device. © Reuters

Amnesty said in their report released on Thursday that the apparatus operated by Morocco's domestic intelligence agency – the Direction Générale de la Surveillance du Territoire (DGST) – included Israel’s Pegasus spyware.

It also said phones were deliberately infected with malware and surveillance cameras secretly installed in private homes, and found there had been systematic interception of telephone calls.

The report draws on testimony from a former DGST employee, digital forensic evidence and internal documents from surveillance technology companies, including NSO Group, Hacking Team and Verint.

The Moroccan authorities have repeatedly denied using Pegasus and maintain that they respect the confidentiality of private communications.

France-Morocco rapprochement overshadowed by fresh Pegasus spying claims

A web of surveillance

The former DGST employee, identified by Amnesty under the pseudonym Safir, described an intelligence operation ranging from sophisticated remote hacking to methods requiring physical access to a target.

According to his testimony, journalists and activists were secretly filmed and recorded while in detention, in offices, cars and cafés – and even in their bedrooms.

Telephone calls were routinely intercepted and location data used to track targets and their associates, Amnesty said.

Safir also described arrangements with second-hand phone shops through which DGST agents could supply apparently new devices that had already been infected with spyware, giving the authorities access to their users’ communications.

Amnesty said the DGST also relied on cooperation from at least one Moroccan telecommunications provider.

Its investigation found that some Pegasus attacks were carried out through “network injection”, allowing targeted devices to be redirected towards spyware infrastructure while connected to the Maroc Telecom network.

The report says Morocco also purchased other surveillance systems over more than a decade.

The DGST and Morocco’s High Council for National Defence had contracts from at least 2009 with the Italian company Hacking Team, while Morocco also purchased Verint’s Reliant surveillance platform in 2014, according to internal records cited by Amnesty.

Pegasus targets

Amnesty said its analysis provided further evidence that the DGST began using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware from September 2017.

Pegasus can give an operator extensive access to the contents of an infected smartphone, including messages, photographs, location information and the phone's microphone and camera.

Internal NSO documents disclosed during a US court case involving WhatsApp and its parent company Meta identified the Moroccan customer under the codename “Morgen”, Amnesty said.

Amnesty identified 103 Moroccan phone numbers entered into the Pegasus system between September and December 2017, including dozens belonging to human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and academics. It said the evidence showed civil society figures were among the DGST’s priority targets.

The NGO said Morocco used Pegasus between 2017 and 2021 and possibly later.

It called for an independent investigation into the DGST and urged governments to halt exports of intrusive surveillance technology to Morocco until stronger safeguards are in place.

Ethiopia's new rebel war redraws alliances across the Horn of Africa

Ethiopia and Eritrea have cut diplomatic ties as a new rebel offensive grips northern Ethiopia, putting two countries that fought together during the last Tigray war on opposing sides. Ethiopia accuses its neighbour of supporting a new anti-government alliance.


Issued on: 02/10/2026 - RFI

Wukro in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, where renewed fighting between federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front is part of a conflict that has also brought a diplomatic rupture between Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea. © AP - Jody Ray

Ethiopia announced on Thursday that it was closing its embassy in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, and expelling 10 Eritrean diplomats suspected of activities posing "a direct threat to national security".

Citing "hostile and warlike acts", Addis Ababa gave the diplomats 48 hours to leave.

"Eritrea has no option but to reciprocate in kind and sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia," the Eritrean foreign ministry said hours later, describing the expulsion of its ambassador as "astounding".

Ethiopian federal forces are battling an alliance of armed groups that includes the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Amhara Fano National Movement, whose fighters backed the federal government against the TPLF during the last Tigray war.


Fighting is under way across parts of Tigray and the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, in the most serious hostilities since a peace agreement ended the Tigray war in 2022.

Ethiopia had already accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt on Sunday of supporting the offensive launched on 22 September. Eritrea denies the accusation.

Ethiopia accuses Sudan, Eritrea of backing Tigray forces as fighting escalates

Former allies on opposing sides

"The dispute between the two countries goes back a very long way – for months and months, Asmara and Addis Ababa have regularly traded insults," Horn of Africa specialist René Lefort told RFI.

The immediate trigger for Ethiopia's action, he added, was its accusation that Eritrea was directly and indirectly helping the armed rebellion now engaged in large-scale fighting with the federal government.

The question now is whether the escalation stops there or the authorities in Addis Ababa go further, Lefort said.

The split marks a dramatic reversal from 2018, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed restored ties with Eritrea after two decades of hostility.

The two countries had fought a war over their border from 1998 to 2000. Their reconciliation helped earn Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

Eritrean troops later fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces against the TPLF during the 2020-2022 Tigray war.

This time, the two countries are on opposing sides.

Relations have also deteriorated over Ethiopia's push for direct access to the Red Sea. The country lost its coastline when Eritrea became independent in 1993.

Sea access is essential to the country's long-term economic and security interests, Abiy has argued, while Eritrea accuses his government of having ambitions over Eritrean ports.

Members of the Tigrayan forces patrol a street in Mekelle, northern Ethiopia, as tensions rise following the launch of a major offensive against the federal government, 24 September 2026. @ REUTERS

EU calls for 'de-escalation' as Tigray rebels clash with Ethiopian forces

Conflict reaches capital

Earlier this week explosions hit the headquarters of the Ethiopian National Defence Force in western Addis Ababa. The capital had never previously been targeted by military action – not even during the Tigray war.

No link has been established between the blasts and the diplomatic rupture with Eritrea.

The attack has been blamed on a rebel alliance known as the Coalition for Survival, but none of its armed groups has claimed it, RFI's correspondent in Ethiopia reported. A diplomatic source nonetheless considers their involvement very likely.

"We are at war, so our only aim is to damage the regime's infrastructure," a coalition member said when questioned about the explosions.

Ethiopia's national intelligence service had banned all drone flights over and around Addis Ababa the day before the explosions. Last week, a drone struck the Bishoftu air force base, 40 kilometres from the capital, the conflict-monitoring network Acled said.

Focusing attacks on military targets is an "effective strategy", an analyst who asked not to be named told RFI. If the rebels are behind the blasts, they "spare civilians" and "do not unnecessarily risk the lives of their fighters".

Striking the enemy on its own ground also sends "a message" and makes it "more vulnerable", the analyst added.

Seven of Ethiopia's armed groups announce anti-government alliance

Fighting on several fronts

The TPLF joined six other armed movements in September to form the Coalition for Survival, whose stated objective is to remove Abiy's government from power.

Reports say federal forces and their allies appear to have made gains in southern Tigray and are advancing towards the regional capital, Mekelle.

At least 52 civilians were killed during three days of intense fighting in the town of Alamata, a doctor told the BBC earlier this week.

A member of the Afar Special Forces, a regional force established by the federal government, outside a house damaged during fighting between Tigrayan and Ethiopian federal forces near the village of Bisober, in Ethiopia's Tigray region. @ AFP - EDUARDO SOTERAS

The TPLF has also been fighting in neighbouring Afar, which lies along Ethiopia's important transport corridor to Djibouti and the sea. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have fled their homes there.

Eritrean soldiers have been involved on the front lines, a pro-government militia commander fighting in Tigray told the BBC, which has not independently verified the claim.

For now, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki is reportedly giving the rebels access through his country to the coast and the outside world. During the previous Tigray war, Tigrayan forces were cut off on all sides.

Rebel forces in Ethiopia's Tigray state condemn army drone strikes

Regional rivalries

Ethiopia's military chief has accused Sudan and Egypt of supporting Eritrean operations inside Ethiopia. Both countries deny any meddling.

Egypt and Sudan are also at odds with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. Both are downstream and fear the dam could threaten their water supplies, while Ethiopia sees it as crucial to its economic development.

Drone activity and air strikes are putting civilians, vital infrastructure and aid operations at risk, while insecurity and road closures are restricting relief efforts in northern Ethiopia, United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric warned on Thursday.

Sudan's own war has added another layer to the regional tensions. Its army has been fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for three years, with some Tigrayan forces fighting alongside it.

Several diplomats told Reuters that Khartoum also hosted meetings that led to the creation of the new Ethiopian rebel alliance.

(with newswires)