Author: Olivier Depaul

Three-year €2.1m fund will prioritise former colonies of the two countries and could lead to return of items Germany and France will jointly spend €2.1m (£1.8m) to further research the provenance of African heritage objects in their national museums’ collections, which could prepare the ground for their eventual return. A three-year fund, with contributions of €360,000 a year by each country, was launched in Berlin on Friday. It has been designated to fund research on objects from anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa, though priority is expected to be given to countries that were colonised by France and Germany, such as Togo and Cameroon.…

Brussels, Frankfurt (10/11 -12) Words like ‘neocolonialism’ and ‘neo-imperialists’ are being tossed around by spokesmen of freshly-installed military regimes in Central and West Africa – but the language of their pronouncements is French, reflecting the centuries of invasion, cooperation, exploitation and alliance of France in the Sahel. Commonly referred to as ‘Francophone Africa’, the jigsaw puzzle of countries have in quite recent times seen a dramatic shift of power, and one not in its favor. Traditional cozy relationships with decades-long dictatorships – ostensibly democracies but controlled and corrupt in a heads-I-win-and-tails-you-lose elite pageantry are under serious siege. Look at hapless,…

Brussels (3/11 – 34) Dubai is calling for a united front to spur the development of generative artificial intelligence to maximise its potential and reap economic benefits, the chief executive of the Dubai Future Foundation has said. Countries need to come together to prepare society for the innovation and to help bridge the gap between policies and the advancement of the emerging technology, which has a reported business opportunity of as much as $4.4 trillion, Khalfan Belhoul said at the Dubai Assembly for Generative AI conference on Wednesday. The industries with highest AI potential include banking, software and platforms, energy, communications and media, and health, according to the DFF.…

Wellington, Sydney (6/10 – 33) Nearly a month after suffering brutal humiliation by host country France, New Zealand has barged through to the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals. France is supposed to be a polite, cultured society, but on 8 September they whacked the All Blacks 27-13. Sacré bleu! In that distant past, an ugly performance with questionable strategy and ill-disciplined plays made New Zealand an unlikely choice of becoming the first country in line to win the Rugby World Cup four times. All the rugby world was amazed as the All Blacks boomeranged back in style, picking themselves up…

Even from the safety of her home, the film-maker Alice Winocour’s experience of the Paris terror attacks in November 2015 was terrifying. Her younger brother, Jérémie, was hiding in a back room at the Bataclan concert hall, and forbade her from texting him in case it gave away his location. She had to wait to hear that he made it out alive. Later, he told her about a random thought he had while waiting to die: that he had left a half-eaten yoghurt open in the fridge. What would whoever found it make of his poor kitchen hygiene? It is a…

Defence heads from west Africa’s regional political and security bloc have said a military intervention in junta-ruled Niger was “the last resort”, as European countries continued to evacuate foreign nationals after last week’s coup against its democratically elected president. The 15-nation regional bloc Ecowas – the Economic Community of West African States – has threatened to use force to put down the coup in Niger after giving an ultimatum to those behind it to restore Mohamed Bazoum as president and reinstate the constitution and democratic institutions. Nigeria’s chief of staff has said the threat of military intervention was serious. “We are ready, and…

It can be both a head start and a burden to bear the name of an illustrious predecessor – but what if you look like him, too? Victor Belmondo’s pillowy lips purse in amusement when the inevitable question comes up. “It’s not annoying. I get it,” he says. Although a touch less pugnacious-looking, he is unmistakably of the same lineage as his grandfather, Jean-Paul. “I know the name I have and who my grandfather was. From the moment I do the same job, it’s normal people have questions. As long as we talk about my films as well, it’s OK.”…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan shipped 8.3 million tons of cargo to China by rail in the first six months of 2023, 37% more than in the same period last year, according to the outcomes reported on July 21 by the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) national railway company. Kazakhstan has tripled grain exports to one million tons, metal ore by 15% to four million tons, including 2.6 million tons of iron, 25% more than in January-June last year. Exports of non-ferrous metals grew by 55% to 220,000 tons, and vegetable oils by 70% to 75,000 tons. The import from China increased by…

Rahmon’s war against the Ismaili. Dubai (5/7 – 75) The government of Tajikistan’s campaign against the operations of a charitable organization funded by the Agha Khan, the spiritual leader of the country’s Ismaili minority, has intensified over the past few weeks. In the most recent development, the authorities have revoked the license of the Aga Khan Lycée in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, or GBAO. A source at the Aga Khan Foundation told Eurasianet that June 30 was the last day that the secondary school would operate under its aegis. The Aga Khan Development Network, the umbrella…

The 2023 French Spring Festival is being held after three years and it is one of the biggest events that will take place to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and France. The 11th edition of the festival is being organized by the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and Maldives and the network of Alliances Françaises in Sri Lanka and Maldives and will be held from the 24th of June till the 13th of July. It will showcase the diversity of artistic collaborations between the two countries and celebrate the encounters between Sri Lankan creation…