The last carriage horses of Indonesia’s capital endure harsh lives
In a dark stable under a heaving highway in Indonesia’s capital, trucks rumble past emaciated carriage horses tied to pillars in ramshackle wooden stalls, their ribs protruding.The steeds are used to pull traditional wooden carriages known as delman, once a staple of colonial-era transportation, but fading from view in Jakarta in an era dominated by ride-hailing apps.Now limited to just a few areas of the city, only several hundred delman horses remain to ferry tourists on weekends or public holidays. Animal rights activists say the conditions under which the horses are kept are so harsh the practice must end.”Thank God, in here, at least the horses are protected from the sun’s heat and rain,” 52-year-old carriage driver Sutomo told AFP under the highway. On central Jakarta’s bustling streets, the horse-drawn carriage bells can be heard clinking in rhythm with clopping hooves that compete with the blare of car engines and horns.But Sutomo says a 4.5-kilometre (2.8-mile) jaunt around Indonesia’s national monument, or Monas, can fetch just 50,000 rupiah ($3.10) — a trip he only makes two or three times a day.”When income is low, my son, who works at a company, shares some of his salary. Thank God at least that can cover food for my family. But for the horse, we have to reduce its food,” he said.Rights groups say such limited income has forced owners and some who rent the horses to ignore proper horse care, leading to malnutrition and poor living conditions.There are about 200 carthorses still in service at around 20 stables, according to estimates, including one squalid encampment holding 15 horses seen by AFP. It was surrounded by garbage and plastic debris next to a smelly, polluted river.”The conditions are really, really bad,” said Karin Franken, co-founder of Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), an NGO that has been advocating for delman horses since 2014.”They are not treating the horses very well (but) very aggressively, very rough.”- ‘Extreme abuse, neglect’ -To a tourist’s eye, the delman can appear as a colourful addition to the city, adorned by decorations and small bells that jingle when the horse moves.But some owners still rely on harmful traditional medications, including puncturing the horse’s muscles with bamboo sticks to pass a rope through to “cleanse” its blood. During the Covid-19 pandemic some horses also died of starvation, said Franken, calling for the delman to be gradually phased out. “The life as a delman horse, especially in Jakarta, is really terrible,” said Franken.While there is a national law on animal protection, there is little monitoring of violations according to JAAN.The local government said it remained committed to animal welfare but needed more help.”We need support from other parties… to be able to provide services such as free medical check-ups,” Suharini Eliawati, head of the Jakarta Food Security, Maritime and Agriculture Agency, told AFP.”The owners must obey the rules in animal welfare protection.”Franken said JAAN also tries to educate the delman workers on how to provide better treatment for the horses, in exchange for free medical care for the animals.But many people do not comply on grounds of tradition or financial issues.”They can barely take care of themselves and their families, let alone horses. It’s very sad for both,” Franken said.”There still are, unfortunately, cases of extreme abuse or neglect.”Young delman drivers are open to moving to other jobs like ride-hailing motor-taxi driver, but older ones are more stubborn “because they say it’s the only thing they can do”, said Franken.Some are likely to keep trying to make a penny, despite pushing their equine breadwinners to the brink.”I like animals, I also like this job,” said delman owner Novan Yuge Prihatmoko, as he guided his horse through West Jakarta, adding that he can earn 150,000 rupiah ($9.20) a day.”I feel comfortable, so why not? I just keep doing this for a living.”
Argentine: “marée rouge” d’algues sur les plages atlantiques
Plusieurs plages atlantiques d’Argentine ont été envahies vendredi, en pleine saison estivale, par une spectaculaire “marée rouge”, phénomène naturel dû à des macroalgues, à la prolifération non nécessairement liée au changement climatique, selon un spécialiste local.Dans plusieurs stations balnéaires, comme l’ultra-populaire Mar del Plata (420 km au sud de Buenos Aires), les algues dégageaient, après plusieurs heures au soleil sur le sable, une forte odeur incommodant nombre de baigneurs, a constaté l’AFP.”C’est un phénomène naturel qu’on appelle ici +arribazones+ (plus ou moins +méga-survenues+, NDLR) de macroalgues”, a expliqué à l’AFP Ricardo Silva, biologiste marin à l’Institut national de recherche et de développement de la pêche (Inidep).Ces algues “vivent accrochées à des matières rocheuses” sous l’eau, mais peuvent se détacher sous l’effet d’une forte houle, et les courants “les font dériver jusqu’à la côte”. Phénomène pas inhabituel les mois d’été, “mais cet été il y en a eu davantage”, observe-t-il.On ne peut affirmer avec certitude que cette prolifération est liée au changement climatique, a déclaré M. Silva, citant notamment l’augmentation de “vents atypiques” de nord-est. Mais “si on l’étudiait davantage sur la durée, au long des années, on trouverait sûrement une relation”.Il y a huit jours, c’est au vert façon “Hulk” qu’avait viré un lac du nord-est argentin –et avec lui ses habitants, les grands rongeurs cabiaïs : l’effet de cyanobactéries, phénomène de microalgues cette fois, naturel mais dont l’accroissement est en partie liée au réchauffement climatique.Mais vendredi, les images de vagues atlantiques rouge sang dans les médias ont surtout rappelé l’impressionnante pollution –humaine, celle-là – d’un cours d’eau dans la banlieue de Buenos Aires, il y a dix jours. Pendant quelques heures, le “Sarandi”, cours d’eau partiellement canalisé, avait viré au rouge carmin, suscitant l’inquiétude des riverains devant ce ruisseau qu’ils savent régulièrement pollué, mais cette fois “de sang”.Des résultats préliminaires d’analyses menées par le ministère de l’Environnement de la province de Buenos Aires ont relevé plusieurs “nuances de pigment organique rouge (Acid Red), permettant de circonscrire (l’origine) à des secteurs industriels qui utilisent le pigment dans leurs processus de production : tanneries, agroalimentaire, textile, pharmaceutique”.Les autorités provinciales ont indiqué dans un communiqué jeudi être “en cours d’inspection de tous les établissements industriels qui utilisent ce pigment” dans le secteur.Des analyses préliminaires distinctes ont par ailleurs “exclu a priori la présence de cyanobactéries potentiellement toxiques et bactéries”, ajoute le ministère.
Argentine: “marée rouge” d’algues sur les plages atlantiques
Plusieurs plages atlantiques d’Argentine ont été envahies vendredi, en pleine saison estivale, par une spectaculaire “marée rouge”, phénomène naturel dû à des macroalgues, à la prolifération non nécessairement liée au changement climatique, selon un spécialiste local.Dans plusieurs stations balnéaires, comme l’ultra-populaire Mar del Plata (420 km au sud de Buenos Aires), les algues dégageaient, après plusieurs heures au soleil sur le sable, une forte odeur incommodant nombre de baigneurs, a constaté l’AFP.”C’est un phénomène naturel qu’on appelle ici +arribazones+ (plus ou moins +méga-survenues+, NDLR) de macroalgues”, a expliqué à l’AFP Ricardo Silva, biologiste marin à l’Institut national de recherche et de développement de la pêche (Inidep).Ces algues “vivent accrochées à des matières rocheuses” sous l’eau, mais peuvent se détacher sous l’effet d’une forte houle, et les courants “les font dériver jusqu’à la côte”. Phénomène pas inhabituel les mois d’été, “mais cet été il y en a eu davantage”, observe-t-il.On ne peut affirmer avec certitude que cette prolifération est liée au changement climatique, a déclaré M. Silva, citant notamment l’augmentation de “vents atypiques” de nord-est. Mais “si on l’étudiait davantage sur la durée, au long des années, on trouverait sûrement une relation”.Il y a huit jours, c’est au vert façon “Hulk” qu’avait viré un lac du nord-est argentin –et avec lui ses habitants, les grands rongeurs cabiaïs : l’effet de cyanobactéries, phénomène de microalgues cette fois, naturel mais dont l’accroissement est en partie liée au réchauffement climatique.Mais vendredi, les images de vagues atlantiques rouge sang dans les médias ont surtout rappelé l’impressionnante pollution –humaine, celle-là – d’un cours d’eau dans la banlieue de Buenos Aires, il y a dix jours. Pendant quelques heures, le “Sarandi”, cours d’eau partiellement canalisé, avait viré au rouge carmin, suscitant l’inquiétude des riverains devant ce ruisseau qu’ils savent régulièrement pollué, mais cette fois “de sang”.Des résultats préliminaires d’analyses menées par le ministère de l’Environnement de la province de Buenos Aires ont relevé plusieurs “nuances de pigment organique rouge (Acid Red), permettant de circonscrire (l’origine) à des secteurs industriels qui utilisent le pigment dans leurs processus de production : tanneries, agroalimentaire, textile, pharmaceutique”.Les autorités provinciales ont indiqué dans un communiqué jeudi être “en cours d’inspection de tous les établissements industriels qui utilisent ce pigment” dans le secteur.Des analyses préliminaires distinctes ont par ailleurs “exclu a priori la présence de cyanobactéries potentiellement toxiques et bactéries”, ajoute le ministère.
‘See you in court’: Trump, governor spar over trans rights
US President Donald Trump had a heated exchange with a Democratic governor Friday over his order barring transgender athletes from women’s sports, with the state leader telling him: “See you in court.”The Republican president was making televised remarks to a gathering of the country’s governors at the White House when he raised the executive order he signed earlier this month.”Two weeks ago I signed an executive order banning men from playing in women’s sports. Many Democrats are fighting me on that, I hope you continue because you’ll never win another race,” he said. The ban is “to protect women,” he claimed.”Are you not going to comply with it?” he asked Janet Mills,  governor of the northeastern state of Maine.”I’m complying with state and federal laws,” Mills responded. “Well, we are the federal law… You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t,” the president said. “See you in court,” she responded.”Good, I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics,” a visibly angry Trump replied. Trump’s order allows US government agencies to deny funds to schools that allow transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams.Some Maine officials have said they will continue a policy of allowing transgender students to choose which team they play on, citing state law under the Maine Human Rights Act, according to the Portland Press Herald. Mills and the state’s attorney general have vowed to fight any move to deny the state federal funds, the newspaper reported. – ‘Violation’ -Later Friday, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced an investigation into Maine’s education department for alleged violations of Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that forbids discrimination on the basis of gender in educational facilities that receive federal support. A statement cited allegations that Maine’s education department “continues to allow male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics and that it has denied female athletes female-only intimate facilities, thereby violating federal antidiscrimination law.”Craig Trainor, DoE acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, said Maine must comply with Title IX to continue receiving federal funds.”If it wants to forgo federal funds and continue to trample the rights of its young female athletes, that, too, is its choice,” he said in the statement. Mills called it a “politically directed move” to strip funding “paid for by Maine taxpayers.””This is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation,” she added.Republicans hammered Democrats on transgender issues — especially when it came to youth and sports — ahead of the 2024 election, capitalizing on a broader culture war over LGBTQ rights.Since his return to power, Trump has demonized any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people — a small minority of the population — and gender-affirming care for minors in both his rhetoric and in executive orders.Trump has said he will also push the International Olympic Committee to change its rules on transgender athletes before the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
‘Make Europe Great Again’: European right makes pilgrimage to US
Blue baseball caps and T-shirts sporting a continental version of Donald Trump’s political rallying cry — “Make Europe Great Again” — abound at a gigantic conference center near the US capital Washington this week. Leaders across the European right have arrived at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in droves, seeking ideas and insights from those at the heart of the movement that has reshaped the United States.”This idea of America First, it also refers to what we would like, that is to say a little Europe First,” Raphael Audouard, director of the Fondation des Patriotes pour l’Europe (Patriots for Europe Foundation), told AFP. “The return to national borders, which is what Trump is defending, echoes what we’re defending in different European countries,” said the 32-year-old Frenchman, whose group is affiliated with the group of the same name in the European Parliament. CPAC is an annual gathering of conservative leaders and activists that this year is celebrating Trump’s return to the White House, with members of his administration and political allies featuring heavily among the speakers.Many of the American attendees are “happy” to see that Trump’s brand of bombastic populism is also inspiring European leaders, Audouard said.But even amid the meeting of minds, he sounded a note of warning.”We’re aware that we shouldn’t be naive,” he said.”Trump wants America first. But America first is not Europe first.”- ‘Trump revolution’ -Party leaders such as Britain’s Nigel Farage, and prime ministers such as Slovakia’s Robert Fico were among those making the pilgrimage.Not all were singing from the same choir book.France’s Jordan Bardella, a member of the European Parliament and head of his country’s anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, announced he was canceling a speech to CPAC scheduled for Friday after Trump ally Steve Bannon made an apparent Nazi salute onstage a day earlier.Others said they had come merely in the spirit of inquiry. Romanian Diana Iovanici-Sosoaca, also a member of the European Parliament, explained that she was there out of “a curiosity what is happening here.””There were times when Europe was great. Now it’s low, it’s down,” said the lawmaker, who first made a name for herself on social networks in Romania for her opposition to anti-Covid measures. That sense of a Europe in decline was a recurring theme among its attendees. “Patriotic Brits… look across the Atlantic with envy,” former British prime minister Liz Truss said in one CPAC speech. “We want a Trump revolution in Britain,” she said. “We want to be part of the second American revolution.” Trump’s cost cutter-in-chief Elon Musk, who took the stage Thursday swinging a chainsaw presented to him by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, called Europe a “collapsing society.””It feels that way. It feels like France was nicer 50 years ago than it is today,” claimed the world’s richest person, who has made himself the US president’s most powerful ally. Former Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki told AFP the continent has focused on “stupid priorities… on the wrong priorities, like accommodating as many illegal migrants as possible.”The US and Europe are experiencing “a difficult and very dangerous moment when both parts of the transatlantic community, so to say, are getting more and more away from each other. And I’m very much concerned about this,” he said.”I try to explain, translate the European language to the American language and vice versa. That’s my major objective here.”
Arab leaders meet in Saudi Arabia to hash out Gaza plan
Arab leaders met in Riyadh on Friday to craft a plan for Gaza’s post-war reconstruction to counter Donald Trump’s proposal for the United States to take over the territory without its Palestinian residents.Trump’s plan has united Arab states in opposition to it, but disagreements remain over who should govern Gaza and how its reconstruction can be funded.A photo from the meeting showed the kingdom’s de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with the leaders of other Gulf Arab states, as well as Egypt and Jordan. A source close to the Saudi government confirmed the meeting had finished. He said he did not expect a final statement to be issued as the “discussion was confidential”.The official Saudi Press Agency said the “fraternal consultative” meeting saw an “exchange of views on various regional and international issues, especially joint efforts in support of the Palestinian cause, and developments in the situation in the Gaza Strip”.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s office said he had left the Saudi capital after the sit-down with the leaders of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.- ‘Historic juncture’ -Trump triggered global outrage when he proposed the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and relocate its more than two million residents to Egypt and Jordan.”We’re at a very important historic juncture in the Arab-Israeli or Israeli-Palestinian conflict… where potentially the United States under Trump could create new facts on the ground that are irreversible,” Andreas Krieg of King’s College London said ahead of the meeting.The Saudi source had told AFP that the summit participants would discuss “a reconstruction plan to counter Trump’s plan for Gaza”.The Gaza Strip is largely in ruins after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, with the United Nations recently estimating that reconstruction will cost more than $53 billion.During a meeting with Trump in Washington on February 11, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Egypt would present a plan for a way forward.The Saudi source had said ahead of the talks that the delegates would discuss “a version of the Egyptian plan”.The Saudi Press Agency said the decisions taken at the “unofficial” meeting would be put on the agenda of an emergency Arab League summit to be held in Egypt on March 4.- Financing -Arab leaders see an alternative plan for Gaza’s reconstruction as essential after Trump pointed to the scale of the task as a justification for relocating its Palestinian residents.Cairo has yet to release the details of its proposal, but former Egyptian diplomat Mohamed Hegazy outlined a plan “in three technical phases over a period of three to five years”.The first phase, lasting six months, would focus on “early recovery” and the removal of debris, he said.The second would require an international conference to set out detailed plans for reconstruction and restoring infrastructure.The final phase would see the provision of housing and services and the establishment of a “political track to implement the two-state solution”, an independent Palestine alongside Israel.An Arab diplomat familiar with Gulf affairs said: “The biggest challenge facing the Egyptian plan is how to finance it.”It would be inconceivable for Arab leaders to meet without reaching a common vision, but the main thing lies in the content of this vision and the ability to implement it.”Krieg said it was a “unique opportunity” for the “Saudis to rally all the other GCC countries, plus Egypt and Jordan, around on this matter, to find a common position to answer what is a kind of very coercive statement that Trump has been making”.Â
Est de la RDC: le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU condamne le Rwanda et le M23 qui continue d’avancer
Le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU a condamné vendredi pour la première fois directement le Rwanda pour son soutien au M23 qui continue son avancée dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo, face à une armée congolaise en déroute.La résolution adoptée à l’unanimité “condamne fermement l’offensive et l’avancée en cours du M23 au Nord-Kivu et au Sud-Kivu avec le soutien des forces de défense rwandaises”, dont 4.000 soldats appuient le M23, selon des experts de l’ONU.Elle réclame également le retrait du M23 des territoires dont il a pris le contrôle, notamment Goma et Bukavu, et appelle les forces armées rwandaises à “cesser leur soutien au M23 et à immédiatement se retirer du territoire de la RDC, sans préconditions”.Le Conseil s’était jusqu’à présent contenté de dénoncer les violations de l’intégrité territoriale de la RDC, sans nommer le Rwanda.Mais de plus en plus de ses membres dénonçaient publiquement Kigali, à l’exception des membres africains du Conseil qui ont finalement soutenu la résolution.Le chef de la diplomatie américaine Marco Rubio a ainsi appelé vendredi à un “cessez-le-feu immédiat” lors d’un appel téléphonique avec le président kenyan William Ruto.Après s’être s’emparé fin janvier de la grande ville de Goma, le M23, qui a repris les armes en 2021 dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo – région en proie à des conflits depuis trois décennies – a pris dimanche Bukavu sans rencontrer de fortes résistances.Le groupe armé continue depuis sans entrave sa progression dans plusieurs directions.”Quasiment plus aucun militaire congolais ne combat” face au M23, note vendredi un observateur, “les seuls qui combattent encore sont les Wazalendo”, des miliciens locaux progouvernementaux.Des “affrontements quasi-quotidiens” ont opposé ces derniers jours M23 et Wazalendo à Masisi, localité à quelque 80 km au nord-ouest de Goma, indiquait Médecins sans frontières (MSF) jeudi.- Porte de sortie – Même scénario ailleurs depuis la chute de Bukavu: les forces armées congolaises (FARDC) et miliciens alliés refluent sans réellement résister, se livrant au passage à des exactions et pillages.Le conflit a poussé en deux semaines quelque 42.000 personnes, en majorité des femmes et des enfants, à trouver refuge au Burundi voisins, a indiqué vendredi le Haut Commissariat pour les réfugiés (HCR), soulignant un afflux “inédit depuis 25 ans”.Environ 15.000 personnes ont en outre fui depuis janvier vers d’autres pays frontaliers, dont plus de 13.000 en Ouganda, selon l’agence onusienne.Le HCR s’attend à voir l’afflux vers le Burundi croître encore à mesure que le M23 se rapproche d’Uvira, ville à la pointe nord-ouest du lac Tanganyka et face à Bujumbura, capitale économique burundaise.Joints ces derniers jours par l’AFP, des habitants ont décrit un “chaos”.”Ca fait environ une semaine que je suis enfermée dans ma maison”, raconte l’un deux. “La circulation est toujours paralysée, c’est une confusion totale”.Selon une source municipale, un “calme précaire” régnait vendredi à Uvira, où le commandant militaire de la zone a pris des “mesures pour sécuriser la population et leurs biens” et des “éléments indisciplinés ont été arrêtés”. – Troupes ougandaisesA 250 km au nord de Goma, le M23 se trouvait vendredi à une quinzaine de km du centre de Lubero, où tirs et pillages ont accompagné jeudi la fuite des soldats congolais, selon des habitants.Signe de la débâcle, le porte-parole des forces armées congolaises dans la région a exhorté jeudi sur les ondes locales les soldats fuyards à retourner “auprès de leurs autorités”.Les commerçants de Lubero-centre ont commencé à évacuer leurs marchandises dès mercredi et les écoles sont fermées, selon des habitants et des sources sécuritaires.Un calme relatif est revenu jeudi soir grâce au déploiement de troupes de l’Ouganda voisin (UPDF), officiellement dans le cadre d’une opération conjointe avec l’armée congolaise.Les analystes s’interrogent sur l’attitude de l’armée ougandaise en cas de rencontre avec les premières colonnes du M23. Kampala est accusée par les experts de l’ONU d’entretenir des relations avec le M23, tout en cherchant à protéger son influence dans cette zone proche de sa frontière.strs-clt-ayv-abd/vla/ube/gmo