Hello, how are you? Welcome to Africa 7 Days, the weekly France 24 program on news from the African continent. I'm Andrés Mesa Muñoz, and here are the headlines.
A refinery for all Africans. The continent's richest man, Aliko Dangote, took the first step toward building a plant destined to give the continent self-sufficiency in fuel and save the foreign currency used to import refined products.
In Ethiopia, the regular army dealt an important blow to the Tigray People's Liberation Front. On the territorial front, the military managed to capture Mekele airport, the capital of the Tigray region, epicenter of the conflict between the two sides, which flared up again several weeks ago.
And in the very heart of the arid Sahel, Burkina Faso is turning the pineapple into a symbol of sovereignty. The military junta's government is promoting the work of growers of this fruit as part of a strategy to boost food self-sufficiency in a region hit by insecurity.
We begin in Kenya, where Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, laid the first stone marking the start of construction of the largest refinery in East Africa. The ceremony was attended by the Kenyan president, the Ugandan leader and the Ethiopian prime minister. The $16 billion project will have a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, a similar scale to Nigeria's, and it also surpasses existing plants in Europe. It is also considered a vital step for Africa to reduce its dependence on refined fuel imports and save the foreign currency spent on them.
This is Africa uniting to build Africa. Today we are not merely starting the construction of a refinery. We are beginning a new chapter in the continent's industrial journey toward a more promising future.
For too long, much of the fuel that powers our economies has been refined elsewhere. This leaves us exposed to fluctuations in global markets. As our cities grow and our industries expand, demand for fuel keeps rising.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is more than a refinery. It is an investment in energy security, industrialization and regional integration. Above all, it is a declaration that Africa has entered a new era in which we will finance, build, process and add value more and more here at home.
We now turn to Ethiopia. There, government forces and their allied militias made rapid advances in the north of the country since fighting broke out against the Tigray People's Liberation Front on September 23. The government announced it had retaken the regional capital Mekele, while leaders of Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan met in the Egyptian city of El Alamein to discuss the conflict, in which Ethiopia accuses those countries of backing the rebel leaders. Details in the following report by Maxim Plubine.
War resumes in northern Ethiopia. The army and its allied militias seized Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region, from the Tigrayan rebels after the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which is fighting the government forces of Addis Ababa, announced its withdrawal.
Given that the fighting is approaching Mekele and taking into account the indiscriminate bombings that this genocidal regime can inflict on our population and our city, it has been decided that the Tigray government will temporarily move out of Mekele to operate from elsewhere.
The capture of Mekele raises fears of a new and devastating war in Tigray. After the 2020-2022 conflict, in which at least 600,000 people died according to the African Union, the presidents of Egypt, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea — all with difficult relations with Ethiopia — met on Sunday in the Egyptian city of El Alamein to discuss the conflict. The government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accuses Eritrea, with the support of Egypt and Sudan, of protecting the rebel leaders, accusations the three countries deny.
I want to be very clear: we are not part of the internal crisis Ethiopia is facing right now. It has nothing to do with us. It is a domestic crisis and they must deal with their own problems. As for us, this is a long-standing matter that began with this unilateral action in 2011 — the construction of this dam without consulting the downstream countries, namely Sudan and Egypt. This is an important issue and we cannot compromise our security.
Asmara accuses landlocked Ethiopia of planning an invasion to gain access to the coastline.
Franco-Rwandan activist Dafrosa Gotier died in the French city of Ranz at the age of 72 after a long battle against cancer. Gotier and her husband Alen spent nearly 30 years tracking down those responsible for the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda so that they could be brought to justice. Next, a look back at her life and her struggles.
Known to many as the hunter of Rwandan genocidaires, Dafrosa Gotier dedicated half her life to tirelessly investigating the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis. After dying at 72 following a long battle with cancer, this Franco-Rwandan activist is remembered for demanding accountability from those responsible for the mass killings.
We have been waiting for many years. The genocide against the Tutsis took place more than 27 years ago. It is time to ensure that justice is done. It is important that justice be done.
Gotier was born in 1954 in southern Rwanda into a family of Tutsi farmers. From a young age she was exposed to ethnic violence, witnessing the decapitation of her teacher in 1960. In 1973 she was sent to neighboring Burundi and later to France to escape the constant threats. The violence intensified until it became a full-blown genocide against the Tutsis in 1994. More than 800,000 people were killed between April and June. Dafrosa Gotier lost almost her entire family, including her mother and some 80 other relatives.
I have absolutely no one left in Rwanda. It is the apocalypse. It is the end of a life, of a specific part of my life. For me, to be honest, I have absolutely no one left in Rwanda.
Together with her husband, Alen, Gotier committed to bringing the perpetrators of the genocide to justice. Together they founded the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda in 2001.
