Birmanie: les élections de la junte débutent après cinq ans de guerre civile
Des élections législatives, largement restreintes et critiquées à l’international, ont débuté dimanche en Birmanie à l’initiative de la junte au pouvoir, qui les présente comme un retour à la démocratie, près de cinq ans après avoir renversé le gouvernement et déclenché une guerre civile.L’élection est “libre et équitable”, a assuré le chef de la junte, Min Aung Hlaing, après avoir voté de bonne heure dans la capitale administrative du pays, Naypyidaw. “Elle est organisée par l’armée, nous ne pouvons pas laisser ternir notre nom.”L’ancienne dirigeante et prix Nobel de la paix Aung San Suu Kyi est pourtant toujours emprisonnée et son parti a été dissous après le coup d’Etat militaire de février 2021, qui a refermé la parenthèse démocratique dans le pays.De nombreux pays occidentaux et défenseurs des droits humains ont condamné ce scrutin, échelonné sur un mois, dénonçant notamment la répression de tout semblant d’opposition. “Il est essentiel que l’avenir de la Birmanie soit déterminé par un processus libre, équitable, inclusif et crédible, qui reflète la volonté de son peuple”, a commenté dans un communiqué le bureau birman de l’ONU.Le Parti de l’union, de la solidarité et du développement (USDP), favorable aux militaires, devrait arriver largement en tête, ce que les critiques considèrent comme un moyen détourné de pérenniser le régime militaire.- “De mon plein gré” -Peuplée d’environ 50 millions d’habitants, la Birmanie est déchirée par une guerre civile et les élections ne se tiendront pas dans les larges zones tenues par les rebelles.”Cette élection ne changera pas la situation politique du pays”, a estimé Hman Thit, 23 ans, depuis l’une de ces zones dans l’Etat Shan. “Les frappes aériennes et les atrocités continueront”.La première des trois phases du scrutin s’est tout de même ouverte dimanche à 06H00 (23H30 GMT samedi), notamment à Rangoun, Mandalay et Naypyidaw, des villes aux mains du pouvoir.”L’élection est très importante et apportera le meilleur au pays”, a dit à l’AFP Bo Saw, le premier électeur à se présenter à l’aube dans un bureau du quartier de Kamayut à Rangoun, près de la maison d’Aung San Suu Kyi.Dans le canton de Zabuthiri, près de la capitale, Thida Hlaing, une femme au foyer de 56 ans, a fait la queue en matinée avec trois membres de sa famille pour “accomplir (son) devoir” de citoyenne.”Je suis venue de mon plein gré”, a-t-elle racontée, fière de montrer son auriculaire taché d’encre, avec lequel elle a apposé son empreinte au moment de voter. “Ce que je veux, c’est un pays pacifique et stable”.- Prison -L’armée dirige la Birmanie depuis son indépendance en 1948, en dehors d’un interlude démocratique entre 2011 et 2021, qui avait suscité une vague de réformes et d’optimisme pour l’avenir du pays d’Asie du Sud-Est.Mais quand la Ligue nationale pour la démocratie (LND) d’Aung San Suu Kyi a largement devancé les candidats proches des militaires aux élections de 2020, le général Min Aung Hlaing s’est emparé du pouvoir, invoquant une fraude électorale généralisée.Agée de 80 ans, Aung San Suu Kyi purge une peine de 27 ans de prison pour plusieurs condamnations allant de la corruption à la violation de règles anti-Covid.”Je ne pense pas qu’elle considérerait ces élections comme significatives, pas du tout”, a déclaré son fils, Kim Aris, depuis la Grande-Bretagne. Selon le Réseau asiatique pour des élections libres, les noms des partis qui avaient remporté 90% des sièges lors des dernières élections ne figurent pas cette fois sur les bulletins de vote après avoir été dissous par la junte.La deuxième phase du scrutin, qui ne pourra pas se tenir dans environ une circonscription sur cinq de la chambre basse, doit avoir lieu dans deux semaines, avant une troisième et dernière phase le 25 janvier.
Touadera on path to third presidential term as Central African Republic votesSun, 28 Dec 2025 06:41:42 GMT
The Central African Republic held elections Sunday, with Faustin-Archange Touadera widely tipped to remain president after a campaign in which he boasted of steadying a nation long plagued by conflict.Some 2.3 million people are eligible to choose the country’s president and legislators, as well as municipal and regional representatives.About 30 people waited to cast votes …
Zelensky looks to close out Ukraine peace deal at Trump meet
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down Sunday with Donald Trump and seek to secure the US president’s stamp of approval for a new proposal to end the nearly four-year conflict with Russia.The 20-point plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, lacks Moscow’s approval, and the face-to-face in Florida comes in the wake of a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv.The meeting, to be hosted by Trump at his opulent Mar-a-Lago residence at 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) Sunday according to the White House, will be the pair’s first in-person encounter since October, when the US president refused to grant Zelensky’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.During a stopover in Canada on Saturday, Zelensky said he hoped the talks would be “very constructive” and said Russian leader Vladimir Putin had shown his hand with the latest assault on the Ukrainian capital.”This attack is again, Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said.- Europeans vow support -While in Canada, Zelensky held a conference call with European leaders who, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, pledged their full support for his peace efforts.Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, who participated in the conference call, said the European Union’s backing for Ukraine would never falter and vowed to maintain pressure on the Kremlin to come to terms.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state news agency TASS that Moscow would continue its “engagement with American negotiators” but criticized Europeans saying: “After the change of administration in the US, Europe and the European Union have become the main obstacle to peace.””They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” Lavrov added.”The ambitions (of European politicians) are literally blinding them: not only do they not care about Ukrainians, but they also don’t seem to care about their own population.”Trump has so far been non-committal on the new peace proposal.Zelensky “doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” the president said in an interview with Politico on Friday. “So we’ll see what he’s got.”The talks will address a plan that would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.As such, it contains Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.But is does not envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.Trump has made ending the Ukraine and Gaza wars the centerpiece of his self-proclaimed second term as a “president of peace.” But the Ukraine war has, by his own admission, proved far harder than he expected, and the president has repeatedly voiced his frustration with both sides for failing to secure a truce.- Security guarantees -In Canada, Zelensky told reporters that security guarantees would be a key focus of the talks in Florida.”Security guarantees must be simultaneous with the end of the war, because we must be confident that Russia will not start aggression again,” he stressed.”We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms.”Ukraine insists it needs more European and US support in terms of funding and weaponry — especially drones.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who met with Zelensky during his stopover on Saturday, announced CAN$2.5 billion (US$1.82 billion) in fresh economic assistance to help Ukraine rebuild once the war ends.The latest Russian attack, which saw 500 drones and 40 missiles pummel the Ukrainian capital and its infrastructure, knocked out power and heating to hundreds of thousands of Kyiv region residents during freezing temperatures.Just south of the capital, Kherson city military administration said Russia launched an attack that left part of the city without electricity.
Les Ivoiriens ont voté aux législatives, faible participation
Les Ivoiriens ont voté samedi pour des législatives marqués par une faible participation et ponctuées par des “échauffourées” qualifiées de mineures par les autorités.Selon des chiffres provisoires publiés dans la nuit par la Commission électorale indépendante (CEI), la participation s’est élevée à 32,34% pour ce scrutin boycotté par le parti de l’ex-président Laurent Gbagbo.Le taux …
Les Ivoiriens ont voté aux législatives, faible participation Read More »
‘Acoustic hazard’: Noise complaints spark Vietnam pickleball wars
The piercing pop-pop of pickleball paddles starts before sunrise and ends after midnight at dozens of newly built courts across Hanoi, as residents relish one of Vietnam’s fastest-growing sports — or rage at the noise it makes.The initial craze saw more people in Vietnam pick up a paddle per capita than anywhere else in Asia, according to one survey.Now unwitting spectators are yelling fault, filing noise complaints and petitions to curb playing hours that have left authorities in a pickle.In the country’s densely packed cities, courts are wedged between tight alleyways and nestled beneath high-rises, disturbing thousands of people at once.”It drives me nuts,” said Hoa Nguyen, 44, who lives with her family behind a multicourt complex in Hanoi’s northeastern outskirts. “People are playing in the middle of the night and there’s nothing we can do about it,” Nguyen told AFP, adding that she had filed a complaint with local authorities.”The noise makes it impossible for me to sleep. It just keeps going pop-pop-pop.”Most noise complaints on the capital’s iHanoi app stem from pickleball, according to state media, which has dubbed the sport an “acoustic hazard”.Associated noise-related issues range from unruly crowds to honking horns in overcrowded parking lots.Lam Thanh, 50, who manages a dormitory for workers near one of Ho Chi Minh City’s estimated 1,000 courts, says the cacophony is proving to be costly. “Many tenants couldn’t stand the noise and have moved elsewhere,” she said.”There’s the popping sound of paddles, cheering, shouting and joking around — it’s all extremely exhausting for us.” – ‘Quite appealing’ -Vietnam’s pickleball boom began around two years ago, players and coaches say, well after its popularity surged in the United States and Canada. But the country is now the sport’s second-fastest-growing market in Asia after Malaysia, according to pickleball rating company DUPR.Regional professional circuit PPA Tour Asia says more than 16 million people in Vietnam have picked up a paddle, though that figure is extrapolated from a survey of around 1,000 respondents. Hanoi’s Long Bien district, its pickleball centre, has more than 100 courts, up from 54 in less than a year, according to state media.Pickleholic Club, Victory Pickleball and Pro Pickleball Vn are all within a five-minute walk, with dozens more a short drive away.Coach Pham Duc Trung, 37, said the sport’s accessibility was key to its popularity.”The paddle is light and the ball is light… Children can play it, and so can adults,” he said.”The sound of the ball hitting the paddle is quite appealing,” he added.Not everyone agrees.- ‘Haunted’ -Around the world, the plinks and pops of pickleball have spawned outrage, provoking protests and even lawsuits. But Vietnam’s widespread embrace of the sport, and its cities’ rapid growth in recent decades as the economy boomed, help explain the intense frustration. Ho Chi Minh City already ranks among the loudest cities in Asia, according to the United Nations, with noise pollution levels high enough to damage hearing.And experts say pickleball sounds are louder and higher-pitched than tennis or badminton. A nationwide noise ordinance is supposed to limit the din, especially late at night, but residents say the courtside clatter often goes unmuted.Hanoi high school student Duong, 16, cannot focus on his homework.”The sound made by this ball is very unpleasant,” he said. “My mind feels blank because I cannot concentrate.”Vietnam’s sports ministry did not reply to AFP’s request for comment. But pressure is building to smash the problem, with state media carrying health warnings from doctors. “The constant bouncing of the pickleball is not only annoying but also subtly triggers stress, disrupts sleep, and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease,” according to state-run VTC News website.Ball strikes register “like the ticking of a clock against the temples”, it said this month, adding many people are “haunted by the sound of popping”.
Iraqis cover soil with clay to curb sandstorms
Deep in Iraq’s southern desert, bulldozers and earthmovers spread layers of moist clay over sand dunes as part of a broader effort to fight increasingly frequent sandstorms.Iraq has long suffered from sand and dust storms, but in recent years they have become more frequent and intense as the country falls prey to the effects of climate change.Sand and dust storms — driven by severe drought, rising temperatures and deforestation — have cloaked cities and villages in an endless ochre haze, grounded flights and filled hospitals with patients suffering from breathing difficulties.Iraqi authorities have warned that these suffocating storms will intensify further, adding urgency to address the root of the problem.In a relatively small area between the cities of Nasiriyah and Samawah, not far from ancient Sumerian ruins, labourers are working hard to stabilise the soil by applying a layer of moist clay 20–25 centimetres thick.The project also includes planting heat-tolerant seedlings like Prosopis and Conocarpus to further stabilise the soil.”The main goal is to reduce the impact of transboundary dust storms, which may reach Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” said Udai Taha Lafta from UN-Habitat, which is leading the project to combat sandstorms with Iraqi expertise.”It is a vital area despite its small size, and will hopefully help reduce dust storms next summer,” Lafta said.A short-term objective is to shield a southern highway where many traffic accidents have occurred due to poor visibility during dust storms.- ‘Slow but steady’ -The Ministry of Environment estimates that Iraq now faces about 243 storms per year, and the frequency is expected to increase to 300 “dust days” by 2050 unless drastic mitigation measures are adopted.In 2023, Iraqi authorities teamed up with the UN-Habitat and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development in areas that have been identified as major sources of sandstorms.The project has been implementing several methods in three southern areas, including digging water canals and supplying electricity to pump water from the Euphrates river, preparing barren lands for vegetation. One of the project’s ultimate goals is to increase green spaces and for farmers to eventually sustain the lands after droughts and chronic water shortages have drastically reduced agricultural areas.Qahtan al-Mhana, from the agriculture ministry, said that stabilising the soil gives agricultural efforts in sandy areas a chance to endure.He added that Iraq has extensive “successful” experience in combating desertification and dust storms by stabilising sand dunes.Since the 1970s, the country has implemented such projects, but after decades of turmoil, environmental challenges have largely fallen by the wayside.With the severe recent impact of climate change, “work has resumed,” said Najm Abed Taresh from Dhi Qar University.”We are making slow but steady progress,” Taresh said.