Angola's Lourenco: 'I don't believe we will have a war between Rwanda and DR Congo'

In exactly 200 days from now, the Olympic Games will be taking over Paris. There are promises of sporting glory, but security and logistical challenges are already raising a number of concerns, especially over the ambitious opening ceremony on the River Seine. FRANCE 24's James Vasina spoke to Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games Executive Director at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who sounded an optimistic note. "We feel extremely confident," Dubi said in an interview from Lausanne, Switzerland. "These games are incredibly well-designed and delivered," he added.

In this edition of the FRANCE 24 Interview, Delano D'Souza sits down with Imran Amed, founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion. Amed opens up about his company, the industry at large and the importance of greater diversity at all levels of fashion.

Dr Bernice Albertine King is the youngest daughter of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. She is the CEO of The King Center. FRANCE 24 went to meet her to talk about her father's struggle and the march on Washington 60 years ago, during which Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech on August 28, 1963. Bernice explains that it took courage for her father to make such a speech, as it represented a threat to the existing order. She also reminds us how, in the speech, he gave a global vision of the world in which we could coexist as a family, as a community, in peace, in justice, in freedom and in equality.

From infrastructure to security, transport to ticketing, Paris still has a series of challenges ahead before it hosts the world's biggest sporting event from July 26, 2024. One year before the Games begin, FRANCE 24 sat down with Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee, who also discussed the importance of the highly awaited opening ceremony on the River Seine.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned Russia's recent strikes on Ukraine's Black Sea ports in the wake of Moscow's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. "Russia's objective is to provoke the increase of [a] global food crisis, export its own grain without any hindrances and make as much money as they can," Kuleba said. "But the people of Ukraine and Africa are paying the price." He added: "Russia will fill its pockets to fund [its] war machine, at the expense of Africa”.  

Kuleba said recent Russian strikes on the Ukrainian port of Reni, on the border with NATO member Romania are a way for Russian President Vladimir Putin to "test the reaction of NATO".

"NATO has to react firmly and decisively in response to this," he said. He confirmed that "Russian ships, wherever they are in the Black Sea, become legitimate targets" in response to Moscow's own warning that civilian ships heading to Ukrainian ports would now be targets.

The top Ukrainian diplomat vowed that Kyiv would "keep trying" to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative following Russia's withdrawal. He added, however, that if this is not feasible, an alternative sea route to export Ukrainian grain needs to be put in place, as well as ensuring exports to Europe.

Kuleba said he was aware of Russian attempts to export its grain via Qatar and Turkey. He said it would be "shameful" for any country to take part in such a deal, adding that the move shows that Russia "want to make more money, benefitting from higher prices provoked by their own actions".

He said it would be "unacceptable" for Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria to block Ukraine's agricultural exports beyond a September 15 deadline that was previously agreed.

"One of the reasons why Russia is destroying Ukrainian agricultural grain infrastructure is because they want to provoke additional tensions between Ukraine and its neighbours," he argued. "We should not play Putin's game." 

Upcoming Russia-Africa summit 'a whitewashing instrument'

The top Ukrainian diplomat claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was hosting a Russia-Africa summit later this week in St Petersburg "as a whitewashing instrument for his reputation", and not in order to benefit the continent.

Regarding the Wagner paramilitary group's presence in Africa, Kuleba noted that Ukraine had "a valuable amount of information" that could help African countries beef up their security.

Turning to the issue of weapons, Kuleba said that while Ukraine is seeking US-made long-range ATACMS missiles, Kyiv is already receiving long-range missiles from the UK and France. "So this is not the item that we do not have. We need more but in principle, we have it," he said. He added that demining material was also "a very topical need".

Finally, with regards to talks over US-made F-16 fighter jets, he said "this deal is done". He noted that if Ukraine received the fighter jets, Kyiv would "not depend on Russian blackmail in exporting Ukrainian grain to global markets".

"The sooner we receive them, the sooner we will be able to launch a new corridor," he said. If this happened, "millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain will make it to the global market, stabilising prices, lowering them, helping people to avoid famine and most importantly, depriving Russia of its blackmail leverage on the world."

Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told FRANCE 24 that he had decided to open fresh investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the ongoing fighting in Sudan. He said his office had received numerous reports from many sources of crimes such as destruction of property, executions, killings and rapes.

Khan added that he had informed both camps, the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, of his move. “We have to find a way to make sure that this time, people are held responsible in a timely fashion,” he said.

He also pledged to "leave no stone unturned" to bring war criminals to justice. He refused to describe some of the crimes committed in West Darfur as “genocide”, saying he couldn’t prejudge the investigation. “The law must mean something” to the people now displaced and fleeing for their lives, he said.

Khan indicated having met both of the warring generals in the past and that they are fully aware of his work to investigate crimes and their perpetrators. He acknowledged that he is not allowed to visit Sudan, despite trying to do since fighting broke out in April. “The door is closed, and there is a deliberate policy of non-cooperation from all parties,” he said. In order to gather evidence, he pointed to satellite imagery, refugees in neighbouring countries and an online portal set up by his office to facilitate the reporting of information by witnesses. In regard to ex-president Omar al-Bashir and two of his ministers, against whom arrest warrants were issued by the ICC for their actions in Darfur two decades ago, he said they were no longer in custody. 

He called on the international community to step up its commitment to bring justice to the people of Sudan. “If we don’t act, we’re going to be viewed as irrelevant and purveyors of false hope and false promises,” he warned – be it in Sudan, Ukraine or Libya. “If we keep showing that we’re not fit for purpose in times of peril, we run the risk of diluting the impact of something that it took the Holocaust and the second World War to create,” he added.     

The failure to do justice to Darfur two decades ago “has sown the seeds for this second round of violence. We need to finally get up and smell the roses. [If we don't,] we’re going to see more violence. We can’t be a toothless tiger,” he concluded. 

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that Taiwan welcomed the final communiqué of the NATO summit, which criticised China's "stated ambitions and coercive policies". He stressed that NATO had "stated the truth" and that Taiwan appreciated that NATO was "paying attention" to the threat posed by Beijing in the Indo-Pacific region. Wu also said that Taiwan agreed with the US government's assessment that China's President Xi Jinping had not yet decided whether China would attack Taiwan by 2027. "We see no imminence in the Chinese military actions and war is not unavoidable," Wu said.

Wu pointed out that while the war in Ukraine has had severe global economic consequences, a war in the Taiwan Strait would be a "disaster" for the world because about half the world's goods pass through the waterway and approximately 90 percent of high-end semiconductor chips are produced in Taiwan.

The Taiwanese foreign minister said Russia and China were beefing up their military cooperation, pointing to joint military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region. "Russia remains very active" in the Far East despite the war in Ukraine, he stated.

'We see no imminence in the Chinese military actions'

He said Taiwan agreed with the US government's assessment that Chinese President Xi Jinping had not yet decided whether China would attack Taiwan by 2027. "We see no imminence in the Chinese military actions and war is not unavoidable," Wu said. He added, however, that China was "posturing to pressure" Taiwan and trying to reach its goal without the actual use of force.

Wu added that the threat existed and pointed to China's military drills close to Taiwan as a strategy to "compress" Taiwan's reaction time in the event of a conflict. He said Taiwan was trying to "beef up" its defence capabilities and hailed its close cooperation with the US.

Finally, Wu urged the European Commission to begin negotiations with Taiwan over a bilateral investment agreement, noting that that it was also in Europe's interest to start negotiating with Taiwan.      

On the eve of next week's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told FRANCE 24 he was confident an agreement could be forged to bring Ukraine closer to NATO. In addition to providing practical support and creating a Ukraine-NATO council, he said that a text was being drafted to chart a way forward for Ukraine's future membership in the Atlantic Alliance.

Stoltenberg also stressed that despite claims to the contrary, Ukraine is making progress on the battlefield. He said Western countries were stepping up their weapons deliveries, pointing to the delivery of long-range missiles by the UK, which "is making a difference". He noted that that the training of Ukrainian pilots on F16 fighter jets had begun. While he refused to predict a Ukrainian victory in the coming months, he stated that "Ukraine has the equipment, the training, the ammunition" needed and that NATO is committed to supplying them.

The NATO chief condemned Russia's announcement that it would deploy short-range nuclear weapons to Belarus as "irresponsible nuclear rhetoric". While both the Russian and Belarusian presidents have said that the weapons had begun arriving in Belarus, he noted that NATO hadn't seen any such deployment, only preparations. He added that no change had been detected in the Russian nuclear posture and, as such, NATO had not been required to change its own nuclear posture. With regards to the Wagner mercenary group, he said he hadn't seen large units relocate to Belarus. Asked about the whereabouts of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, he said "we have intelligence" but that it would not be appropriate for him to share it publicly.  

As for Sweden's NATO membership bid, which is being held up by Turkey, Stoltenberg said there had been "progress" in recent talks he hosted at NATO between both sides and that he would convene a meeting of the leaders of both countries in Vilnius. However, he stressed that there was "no certainty" that this would be enough to break the deadlock. He said that Sweden had delivered on its pledge to toughen its anti-terrorism laws and that it was "time to ratify its membership".  

In an interview with FRANCE 24, the French Minister of State for International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou discussed the issue of violence in French society, among its youth as well as whether it exists at the institutional level, following the riots sparked by the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel on June 27. "I don't accept that France is a racist country… I am an example. I was born in Greece. I became French, and President Macron appointed me minister because he promotes diversity, he promotes inclusion." She also expressed her confidence about the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris and underlined the efforts of France to redefine its relationship with Africa.

On July 7, 2021, Haiti's then-president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by a commando of mercenaries in Port-au-Prince. Two years on, his widow Martine Moïse, who survived the attack, spoke to FRANCE 24 from the Haitian capital. Although several suspects have been arrested over the murder, "the present government seems to be involved" and "things are not going well in Haiti for the investigation", Moïse said. Nevertheless, she insisted that "the truth will come out" eventually.

"We do have an idea of who is behind all this," Martine Moïse said of her husband's murder. Haiti's then-president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on July 7, 2021 by a commando of Colombian mercenaries at his private residence in the capital Port-au-Prince. However, "it's up to the investigators to say who it is", his widow added. 

On June 2, dual Haitian-Chilean citizen Rodolphe Jaar was sentenced to life in prison in the United States for his role in Moïse's murder. Ten other people accused of planning the assassination from Miami, Florida are currently being held in the US.

The United States has taken "a step in the right direction" with the sentencing of Jaar, Moïse conceded, while calling for the International Criminal Court to get involved in the case – "the last recourse" possible.

Justice 'for the people'

She believes that justice must be done above all "for the people" of Haiti, so that they "can at least come to terms with all this".

Moïse went on to say that the current prime minister, Ariel Henry, "has never had any legitimacy" and "is part of the problem". Haiti is suffering from gang violence as well as a deep humanitarian crisis, coupled with profound political instability. 

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 4.9 million Haitians – almost half the population – do not have enough to eat. Some 1.8 million of them are at serious risk of starvation.