Recent writing
Les jeunes bergers du Lesotho (GEO France)
Dans ce pays parmi les plus pauvres du monde, les garçons sont chargés, dès le plus jeune âge, de garder les troupeaux. Une vie rude et solitaire qui les empêche d’accéder à un droit fondamental : celui d’aller à l’école.
The cuts that cost lives (Geographical Magazine)
When the US froze all foreign aid, Lesotho’s fragile HIV support network collapsed overnight. In remote mountain villages, health workers vanished, clinics fell silent and patients were left stranded. The consequences, as this story shows, were immediate – and devastating.
In western Chad, villagers are desperately trying to hold back the sand as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on one of the hottest countries in the world. With two-thirds of its territory consisting of desert, the landlocked central African country is the most vulnerable in the world to climate breakdown. It ranks among the world’s hottest and temperatures in Kanem province are rising almost twice as fast as the global average.
Mirage of Hope (Geographical Magazine)
From Senegal to Djibouti, the Great Green Wall was meant to reshape the Sahel, greening millions of hectares and reviving livelihoods. But as drought, bureaucracy and fading funds take their toll, its legacy is uneven — a patchwork of progress and disappointment that reveals both the promise and the pitfalls of global reforestation dreams.
The cautionary tale of the Sahel’s Great Green Wall (The New Humanitarian)
Originally conceived by Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s late revolutionary leader, the Great Green Wall was launched in 2007 by the African Union. Its goal: to slow desertification in the Sahel region by planting a “wall” of trees 8,000 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide – from Senegal to Djibouti. Five years away from its self-imposed deadline, billions of dollars have been spent and billions more pledged, yet most of the Great Green Wall remains barren.
Roberto Mosquera's family had no trace of him for a month after he was arrested by US immigration agents, until a government social media post revealed he had been deported to Africa's last absolute monarchy. The Cuban and other nationals of Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen were sent to the kingdom under a deal seen by AFP in which Eswatini agreed to accept up to 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million. Investigation.
Des ressortissants cubains, mais aussi de la Jamaïque, du Laos, du Vietnam et du Yémen ont été expulsés en Eswatini au terme d’un accord avec les Etats-Unis que l’AFP a pu consulter. Il prévoit que l’Eswatini accepte jusqu’à 160 personnes expulsées du sol américain en échange de 5,1 millions de dollars (environ 4,4 millions d’euros) pour « bâtir des moyens de gestion des frontières et de l’immigration ».
Elephants : Quand ils arrivent en ville (GEO)
Comment faire face quand des animaux de plusieurs tonnes déboulent dans votre jardin chaque nuit, causant terreur et destruction? Reportage dans une ville zambienne trop proche désormais du couloir de migration des pachydermes.
Thousands of informal miners are working every day beneath South Africa’s coal heartland, swinging pickaxes against rock in pitch-black illegal coal mines. South Africa is among the world's top producers of coal, which fires about 80% of the country’s electricity. But while most of the power comes from Mpumalanga, locals say they have benefited little from large-scale, formal mining and fear the transition to green energy might leave them behind again.
Flight risks (Delayed Gratification)
June saw the publication of a report in the Lancet estimating that cuts to USAID under the Trump administration could cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, and turn back progress made in the fight against HIV/Aids. The cuts are being felt keenly in the tiny mountain nation of Lesotho, where healthcare provision – much of it supplied by air, against the odds, by a plucky group of medical staff – is under threat. We joined the flying doctors in the skies of the landlocked kingdom.
The United Nations' expert on Palestinian rights on Thursday denounced the US sanctions brought against her for criticising Washington's policy on the Gaza war as "mafia-style techniques" to "dirty" her reputation. In an interview with AFP, Francesca Albanese said she would present her latest report to the UN from South Africa as sanctions from Washington prevented her from travelling to New York.
The thorny issue of land reform was thrust into the limelight in February when US President Donald Trump falsely accused Pretoria of expropriating white-owned farms and offered to take in the farmers as refugees. But land restitution has not made much headway since apartheid ended in 1994. According to the most recent government figures, in 2017 white people –- only 7.3 percent of the population –- still held 72 percent of commercial farmland.
Country music and the aroma of pancakes enveloped the "Boeremark", or farmer's market, outside South Africa's capital Pretoria where thousands of Afrikaners browsed on a Saturday morning. The peaceful scene was a far cry from claims of fear and persecution that have reached Washington, leading President Donald Trump to offer refugee status to the white Afrikaner minority in February and thousands to apply.
For the past two months, Elsie has been receiving daily calls from desperate children surviving on HIV treatment whom she is not allowed to help. The lively 45-year-old aid worker used to spend her days visiting hundreds of HIV patients in South Africa's Msogwaba township around 300 kilometres east of Johannesburg. But since President Donald Trump slashed US foreign aid funding in late January, Elsie has been forced to stay at home, forbidden from contacting her patients.
Ce peuple pêcheur protège les îles isolées en danger (Reporterre)
Victimes de la pêche illégale et du réchauffement des océans, les îles Barren, au large de Madagascar, peuvent compter sur la protection des pêcheurs. Un fait rare, permis grâce à un peuple semi-nomade.
The medical crew and their ambulance from Cape Town’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were only minutes away. But they could not respond until they had an armed police escort. The Cape Flats, low-lying townships outside Cape Town, are hotspots for murder and gang violence in a country already plagued by one of the highest crime rates in the world.
This city of almost 300,000 people, 80 miles north of Zambia's capital of Lusaka, was identified by a 2022 U.N. report as a "sacrifice zone" — one of the most polluted places on the planet. Between 1906 and 1994, Kabwe was home to Broken Hill, one of the world's largest lead and zinc mines. For decades, highly toxic lead particles were blown across town, carried by the wind and the waterways, contaminating the soil in courtyards, playgrounds and on dirt roads where speeding trucks raise plumes of dust.
How Many People Did Cyclone Chido Actually Kill on a French Island? (The New York Times)
Officials have said that the death toll in Mayotte, currently at 35, could end up in the thousands. But in the capital, there were no scenes of public mourning and little talk of searches for missing loved ones.
What It Looks Like on an Island Steamrolled by a Cyclone (The New York Times)
A visit to the Indian Ocean islands of Mayotte, which were struck by Cyclone Chido last weekend, reveals the devastating toll of the storm on an impoverished territory that belongs to France.
This daily dive is part of a wider conservation project to protect the Barren Isles, which have become a refuge for thousands of Vezo people. Over the past two decades they've migrated here from other parts of Madagascar, after overfishing and climate change began to threaten their traditional way of life. Some have migrated permanently, while others stay only for the best fishing months.
Madagascar fights to save the forests that made it famous (Christian Science Monitor)
The forests that once covered a large portion of Madagascar are being decimated at an alarming rate. According to a 2018 study published in the journal Biological Conservation, the island has lost almost half of its natural forests since the mid-20th century. This unbridled deforestation is accelerating the effects of climate change and threatening an extraordinary ecosystem: Five out of every 100 plant and animal species known to science come from Madagascar, and 90% of those are found only on the island.
Les médecins volants du "Royaume dans le Ciel" (GEO)
Dans ce petit pays d’Afrique australe, au relief en dents de scie, 300 000 personnes vivent loin de tout, dans les montagnes. Pour se soigner, elles n’ont qu’un seul recours : les Flying Doctors, des praticiens voués à sillonner les airs.
The Human Toll of Europe’s “War on Smuggling” (NewLines Magazine)
All over Europe, thousands of migrants are jailed on charges of association with smugglers, often for doing no more than holding the tiller of a boat or handing out a flotation device to a fellow passenger. Given the divergent judicial systems and procedures in place in different European countries, it is impossible to estimate the total number of people currently imprisoned for migrant smuggling across the European Union, but figures obtained by New Lines in three countries suggest it is in the thousands.
Au Royaume-Uni, en Italie et en Grèce, des demandeurs d’asiles sont régulièrement accusés d’être membres des réseaux criminels dont ils sont eux-mêmes victimes pour avoir piloté un bateau, tenu un GPS ou même appelé les autorités à l’aide. Certains sont emprisonnés après des procès entachés d’irrégularités.
The hopes raised by the ANC coming to power in 1994 have, 30 years on, been dashed for millions still without a decent roof over their heads. While the government has accommodated almost 5 million households in 30 years, delivery has slowed drastically over the past decade. As South Africa holds a general election this week, campaigners say there has been a failure to redress the effects of spatial segregation entrenched by apartheid.
“It’s the wild west”: Zombie mines multiply in SA’s opaque coal sector (African Arguments)
African Arguments visited ten mine sites around Ermelo listed as operating by the DMRE. Information on the mines’ owners and their exact locations is extremely difficult to find and largely unavailable to the public. However, we could verify that at least three of the listed mines were in fact out of operation – and had been for years, according to local community members.
Ursula Felkers moved to "Tin Can Town" in 2007 after being evicted from an apartment near the center of Cape Town when a new landlord took over. She is among 340,000 listed on the Housing Needs Register for Cape Town, a city of around 5 million people.
In South Africa, curbing violence starts with showing boys their potential (Christian Science Monitor)
A program for teenage boys in South Africa is teaching them how to become defenders of women, rather than perpetrators of violence against women and children.
As the trauma of apartheid, crime and violence continue to ripple through society, a counselling initiative by Tree of Life creator Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo is helping ease the pain.
Wildlife Forensic Academy : La première école contre le braconnage (GEO)
En Afrique du Sud, une école unique en son genre vient d’ouvrir ses portes. L’Académie médico-légale de la vie sauvage a pour objectif de former les rangers aux techniques les plus pointues de la police afin d’élucider les crimes sur la faune et d’enrayer le trafic d’espèces protégées.
A collective based in Eastern Cape has tackled funerals, colonialism and HIV in massive fabric artworks. Their latest piece is a heartfelt cry against climate breakdown.
L'Université du Cap abrite sans doute la plus prestigieuse école d'opéra en Afrique. La soprano Pretty Yende, invitée à chanter en Angleterre lors du couronnement du roi Charles III, y a égrené ses premières vocalises.
L’océan apprivoisé (GEO)
Dans la péninsule du Cap, des enfants issus des townships participent à des ateliers de plongée et découvrent tout un écosystème, dont leurs parents étaient exclus durant l’apartheid.
This has been a year of firsts for South African opera: in May, soprano Pretty Yende became the first African artist to sing a solo at a British coronation. And last week Cape Town hosted the world’s biggest opera competition, Operalia, the first time it has been held on the continent. A pioneering initiative in Cape Town is helping a new generation thrive in what was once seen as a ‘white space’.
In South Africa, diabetes has already reached a crisis point: it is the country’s leading underlying cause of death in women and second in the general population. Worryingly, nearly half of diabetics don’t know they have it.
In a race to prevent blindness, a small team in the remote Northern Cape do their best to treat thousands of patients waiting in hope that their sight could be restored to them.
Two families are celebrating a supreme court victory that will allow them to stay together, and offers hope in the ongoing battle for rights across Africa.
Aux sources du thé rouge (GEO)
Dans le sud-ouest de l’Afrique du Sud pousse le rooibos, une plante endémique aux mille vertus. Aujourd’hui mondialement réputé, il est un symbole de la reconnaissance des KhoiSan, les descendants des premiers habitants du pays.