NIAMEY: French President Emmanuel Macron visited and dined with soldiers stationed in Niger who are fighting against extremism in the Sahel, reassuring them that France would not abandon the region to extremists.
“The Sahel is a priority. It’s that which plays a part in the future of the African continent, but equally and without doubt, a part of our future. We must not leave the Sahel in the hands of terrorists,” he said late Friday amid 500 soldiers with Operation Barkhane at Niger’s airport in Niamey, the capital.
In a show of support for French troops based in Niger, he brought with him the chef from the Elysee presidential palace, who oversaw a meal for the French troops in addition to American, Canadian and German forces.
Macron is visiting Niger Friday and Saturday, wanting to encourage Niger’s growing military efforts to fight terrorism in West Africa. France has thousands of troops there in its largest overseas military operation and wants African forces to take a more prominent role.
He encouraged the soldiers to redouble vigilance and hold onto courage, while also emphasizing that the military response is not the only answer to defeating extremists such as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram in the region.
“We need to better coordinate our defense and development efforts and our diplomatic efforts. This is the heart of the strategy we are deploying,” he said, calling the combined approach indispensable to address the longterm root of the conflict.
“We must show him that we are here, and that we are gaining ground again and we must restore the confidence of our partner armies by providing them with support to redeploy to the region.”
Macron supported the newly formed G-5 Sahel force that will work alongside the operation and is made up of African soldiers from Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso. A coordinated strategy across countries is needed, he said.
Macron thanked the soldiers for their dedication and paid tribute to those who have fallen.
The French president on Saturday will meeting with President Mahamadou Issoufou, and is expected to discuss migrant trafficking through the area.
Macron reassures soldiers fighting in Niger
Macron reassures soldiers fighting in Niger
Culture being strangled by Kosovo’s political crisis
- Cultural institutions have been among the hardest-hit sectors, as international funding dried up and local decisions were stalled by the parliamentary crisis
PRIZREN: Kosovo’s oldest cinema has been dark and silent for years as the famous theater slowly disintegrates under a leaky roof.
Signs warn passers-by in the historic city of Prizren that parts of the Lumbardhi’s crumbling facade could fall while it waits for its long-promised refurbishment.
“The city deserves to have the cinema renovated and preserved. Only junkies gathering there benefit from it now,” nextdoor neighbor butcher Arsim Futko, 62, told AFP.
For seven years, it waited for a European Union-funded revamp, only for the money to be suddenly withdrawn with little explanation.
Now it awaits similar repairs promised by the national government that has since been paralyzed by inconclusive elections in February.
And it is anyone’s guess whether the new government that will come out of Sunday’s snap election will keep the promise.
- ‘Collateral damage’ -
Cinema director Ares Shporta said the cinema has become “collateral damage” in a broader geopolitical game after the EU hit his country with sanctions in 2023.
The delayed repairs “affected our morale, it affected our lives, it affected the trust of the community in us,” Shporta said.
Brussels slapped Kosovo with sanctions over heightened tensions between the government and the ethnic Serb minority that live in parts of the country as Pristina pushed to exert more control over areas still tightly linked to Belgrade.
Cultural institutions have been among the hardest-hit sectors, as international funding dried up and local decisions were stalled by the parliamentary crisis.
According to an analysis by the Kosovo think tank, the GAP Institute for Advanced Studies, sanctions have resulted in around 613 million euros ($719 million) being suspended or paused, with the cultural sector taking a hit of 15-million-euro hit.
- ‘Ground zero’ -
With political stalemate threatening to drag on into another year, there are warnings that further funding from abroad could also be in jeopardy.
Since February’s election when outgoing premier Albin Kurti topped the polls but failed to win a majority, his caretaker government has been deadlocked with opposition lawmakers.
Months of delays, spent mostly without a parliament, meant little legislative work could be done.
Ahead of the snap election on Sunday, the government said that more than 200 million euros ($235 million) will be lost forever due to a failure to ratify international agreements.
Once the top beneficiary of the EU Growth Plan in the Balkans, Europe’s youngest country now trails most of its neighbors, the NGO Group for Legal and Political Studies’ executive director Njomza Arifi told AFP.
“While some of the countries in the region have already received the second tranches, Kosovo still remains at ground zero.”
Although there have been some enthusiastic signs of easing a half of EU sanctions by January, Kurti’s continued push against Serbian institutions and influence in the country’s north continues to draw criticism from both Washington and Brussels.
- ‘On the edge’ -
Across the river from the Lumbardhi, the funding cuts have also been felt at Dokufest, a documentary and short film festival that draws people to the region.
“The festival has had to make staff cuts. Unfortunately, there is a risk of further cuts if things don’t change,” Dokufest artistic director Veton Nurkollari said.
“Fortunately, we don’t depend on just one source because we could end up in a situation where, when the tap is turned off, everything is turned off.”
He said that many in the cultural sector were desperate for the upcoming government to get the sanctions lifted by ratification of the agreements that would allow EU funds to flow again.
“Kosovo is the only one left on the edge and without these funds.”
