France wants to change the rules for countries to join the EU club.

In a two-and-a-half page “non-paper” shared with other EU countries, along with an annex listing new stages, Paris calls for replacing the current accession process, which divides the EU acquis — the body of rights and obligations that includes the EU treaties, as well other rules and laws — into 35 chapters.

EU countries must agree unanimously to formally begin negotiations for accession. An aspiring member country then works with the European Commission to adjust its national laws to match the acquis, and once it has done so, an accession treaty is drawn up, and must be approved by the Council of the EU and ratified in each of the existing member countries.

Under the French proposal, there would be a new, seven-stage process, with “stringent conditions in order to effectively converge towards European norms and standards,” plus a “reversibility” component, allowing the EU to abandon membership talks if a candidate country’s government backslides away from the bloc’s standards.

“Once negotiations are opened, the integration process would no longer be based on simultaneous opening of a large number of thematic chapters, but on several successive stages, which would form coherent policy blocks,” the paper states, adding: “The closing of negotiations corresponding to each stage completed by the country would open up the possibility to participate in EU programmes, to be involved in certain sectoral policies and, where appropriate, to benefit from certain targeted finance.”

The proposal comes after France found itself at the center of a contentious, unwanted debate at the most recent European Council leaders’ summit, during which President Emmanuel Macron prevailed in his push to block a proposal to open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania.

France was not alone in opposing the start of such negotiations, but it was most forceful in the face of a large majority that supported going forward, especially in opening talks with North Macedonia. Part of the French argument was its insistence that the current membership process is flawed and is in need of an overhaul.

Some French officials have conceded that making that point without first coming forward with ideas for a new system was potentially a tactical mistake, opening up Macron to criticism.

But even with the new non-paper, there was some quick and forceful pushback in Brussels, where some EU diplomats and officials said it was little more than an attempt by Paris to justify its prior position, and that Macron’s advisers seemed not to fully understand just how much support candidate countries already receive.

One diplomat’s interpretation was that France simply wants to block any further expansion of the EU.

“There will be the usual pompous framing by Paris,” the diplomat said. “All this can’t mask the fact that the French proposals are not really about reforming the accession process but about putting an end to EU enlargement. They are a poisoned chalice for countries like North Macedonia that have done much to fulfill strict EU conditions in order to start accession talks. If France joined the EU consensus on this, we could actually see more reforms and more progress on the ground than by engaging in lengthy discussions about methodology.”

One French diplomatic official fired back, calling that reaction “a stupid comment” and urged other countries to refrain from such accusations.

“Let’s be serious and try to be constructive because otherwise, we can accuse each other of various things,” the diplomatic official said. “It’s not only France, it’s not a way to kill anything. It’s a way to re-engage and the Commission should have done it. Fine we are doing it and we hope we can open the debate now. So nobody’s forced to accept the paper or to say that it’s perfect. It’s to open the debate and trigger a discussion on this.

“If we wanted to be against the enlargement process, it would be very simple, we could just veto,” the official added. “That’s not what we are doing.”

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In the non-paper, France reaffirmed its support for the EU’s overall approach to Western Balkan countries, including North Macedonia and Albania, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia, which the paper said “belong to Europe, by virtue of their history, culture and geography.”

But the French paper says, “The profound political, economic and social transformations required for a future accession to the European Union continue to be too slow and the concrete benefits for citizens in candidate countries remain insufficient.”

France has voiced total confidence in its position, but the Elysée has also seemed sensitive to accusations that it unfairly crushed the spirits of North Macedonia and Albania.

Macron met with North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum last week and sought to clarify the French position. Pendarovski tweeted afterward that his country did not oppose a new system for EU membership. “We don’t object to altered methodology for EU accession talks which makes for a more thorough accession process,” he wrote.

But in a sign that the EU faces continued competition for influence in the Balkans, Pendarovski also used the Paris event to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

An EU official said the paper “looks like it is written without full knowledge of what is already available to Western Balkans countries, and certainly with the agenda of slowing the process by front-loading difficult stuff, such as environment.”

But the official said France’s approach was not helpful. “Most importantly, coming with a French-only proposal is not the way to keep enlargement as a consensual matter,” the official said.

The French diplomatic official said Paris had conferred with other capitals, including Berlin, The Hague and Copenhagen.

Denmark largely supported the French position during the European Council debate and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will visit Paris on Monday for a working lunch with Macron, where the enlargement issue is certain to be discussed. EU ministers are also scheduled to revisit the issue at a General Affairs Council meeting on Tuesday.

The French official said the main goal of the paper was to jumpstart the discussion before Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s about having stages toward real integration and convergence, so that countries are starting to get involved politically, financially, in terms of policy and programs, step by step,” the official said.

Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting. 

Guntram Wolff is director of the Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel.

The European Commission’s Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager has been tasked with developing a European strategy on artificial intelligence. For Europe, the crucial question is how to speed up AI uptake in the industrial sector — indeed, only 18 percent of large European companies use AI tools at scale.

So far, however, the European Union has been more interested in writing the rules of AI than in winning the game. That’s unfortunate. As a consequence, there isn’t much European AI ready to be adopted.

When European companies want to adopt AI solutions, they are almost inevitably forced to turn to vendors from the United States or China — the world’s two incontestable leaders when it comes to the technology.

The two countries dominate when it comes to innovation, with about 45 percent of AI-related patent filings made in the U.S., and another 40 perent in China. They also lead on the public research front: Two-thirds of top-filing universities and public research organizations are based in China. And they’re the major players on the commercial front: Four U.S. firms capture about a quarter of the worldwide AI market.

The EU offering is comparatively poor. Of the top 30 AI-related patent applicants, only four are European. Nor is the future looking more promising. Of the 100 most promising AI startups in the world, only two are from the EU (while six are from the U.K.), and they attract well-below-average funding.

Being so dependent on foreign technology raises at least two concerns.

The first concern is geopolitical.

The adoption of AI is critical for the success of EU businesses. In the industrial sector in particular, AI solutions are becoming ever more important, as companies optimize production processes using internet of things (IoT) devices increasingly powered by 5G connectivity.

For example, car manufacturers can use AI to analyze data from IoT sensors to better predict machinery failures and save costs. AI can also help firms to better set prices of components and other products.

As the use of AI grows, so will the risks that come with depending on a technology that is produced and controlled outside of the EU. The risk that supply chains will be disrupted by economic decoupling has become very real in the current geopolitical climate.

The second concern is that giving access to data can provide long-term advantages to existing AI companies — making the development of European AI ever more difficult. While not all AI applications need large amounts of data to achieve economies of scale and scope, many do.

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Only a bold strategy by Vestager and her colleague, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, can secure AI in Europe.

First, the EU needs to invest in its own AI technologies.

Of course, it makes sense for many companies in Europe to quickly adopt U.S. or Chinese AI solutions. But only if European companies can at least partly master this technology can the EU be sure to have systems that do not undermine its security. And only if the EU has the talent on the ground can AI be productively implemented in firms.

This means substantially more money for research as well as education. Lack of AI-related skills is the most important barrier to adoption in Europe, according to a recent McKinsey study. Without the U.K., the EU has an acute scarcity of data scientists and programmers, and it has difficulties retaining those it has.

Work is also needed to improve the ecosystem for innovative AI startups to strive and scale up. State aid can easily lead to waste, so continued vigilance and rigorous enforcement of competition and state aid control is needed. But conditions for entrepreneurs need to be improved, and industrial policy should be designed to support AI innovation clusters.

Second, the EU needs to make sure that AI firms in Europe can use data to train their machine-learning algorithms. Even if EU firms adopt foreign AI technologies, they should retain the rights to their own data and be ready to offer it to either in-house developers or European firms.

The success of AI applications rides on access to data as much as it does on digital skills and infrastructure. The deployment of IoT in manufacturing is an opportunity for the EU to become a leader in AI if the data management can be governed by European rules.

Finally, the EU needs to create a single market for data, especially data from industrial processes. European AI firms will stand little chance of staying in the game when it comes to machine learning algorithms if they aren’t able to leverage the data of the entire EU market.

The EU regulation on the free flow of non-personal data is an important element for creating a genuine European approach to data. But there are still numerous obstacles to data-sharing across EU countries, for example due to corporate governance requirements.

Europe leads the world in AI regulation, which is important but insufficient to exploit its potential. Now, Vestager and Breton must decide if Europe wishes to become a global player, and not just a global referee.

Julia Anderson, a research assistant at Bruegel, contributed to this article.

The Spaniard says an all-Basque showpiece between Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad pales in significance to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis

Aritz Aduriz does not see his retirement nor Athletic Bilbao’s Copa del Rey final with Real Sociedad as important amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The veteran striker, who has scored 172 goals in over 400 appearances for Athletic, announced his intention to retire at the end of this season back in August.

His final season as a player is set to be marked by an all-Basque Copa del Rey final between Athletic and La Real.

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Originally scheduled to take place on April 18 in Seville, the Copa showpiece – along with the vast majority of sport around the world – has been put on hold.

It is not clear when the final will be played. However, Aduriz accepts even an occasion as momentous as the clash with Sociedad has little significance amid a crisis that has killed over 12,000 people in Spain.

“This coronavirus crisis is forcing us to think twice and consider what matters,” Aduriz told Athletic’s official website. “And now my retirement, or football in general, or if we will play [the Copa del Rey final] or not doesn’t matter.

“I think there are many other more important things to stop and solve. I’m sure with everyone’s help together, with each of us playing our role, we will get ahead of it. That’s what I’m focused on at this moment and that’s the most important thing.”

Aduriz was born in San Sebastian, where Real Sociedad hail from, but he expects a respectful reception from their fans if and when the final goes ahead.

He added: “Maybe all of us are keeping in mind the Copa del Rey final, but we’re prioritising other things now.

“We’re all going through a tough time where many people are struggling a lot and even passing away…so, the final of the Copa has its importance, but maybe not that much now.

“There are other things we need to solve together, and if the day [of the final] finally comes, I’m Donostiarra [people originally from San Sebastian]. I’ve always felt very comfortable in Donostia [the city’s Basque name] and that won’t change whatever happens in any football game. I’m sure they will treat me in the same way, no doubt.”

Asked about recognition for his achievements from Athletic fans, Aduriz replied: “If we’ve learned something from this pandemic or virus that we’re struggling with, it’s that we should think twice about what is important.

“I sincerely believe the people who really deserve a statue and recognition are clear nowadays, and it’s not me or any football player.

“I would build a statue to those who are battling every day at the very front line against the virus in all the hospitals. They’re showing us what really matters.

“We have to realise what’s important and what isn’t. And this is probably showing us that football isn’t important enough for this kind of recognition.”

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UK, Germany urge deescalation after Iranian missile attack

European governments condemned Tehran’s missile strikes.

European governments called for calm Wednesday morning following a series of Iranian missile attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq overnight.

Tehran fired ballistic missiles on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq early Wednesday in retaliation against the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, expressing concern over “reports of casualties and use of ballistic missiles,” said: “We condemn this attack on Iraqi military bases hosting Coalition — including British — forces … We urge Iran not to repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, and instead to pursue urgent deescalation.”

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, speaking on national breakfast television, said: “It is now up to the Iranians, above all, not to cause any additional escalation, which is why the appeal particularly goes to Tehran again.”

She added: “I can only say, certainly on behalf of the federal government, that we strongly reject this aggression.”

Kramp-Karrenbauer confirmed that no German soldiers had been injured in the attack. Spokespeople for the armed forces of Poland and Denmark also said that none of their soldiers stationed in Iraq had been harmed.

Heiko Maas, Germany’s foreign minister, also condemned the Iranian attack and called for “everyone to exercise prudence and restraint in this situation.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said in a morning press conference with EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell that “the use of weapons must stop now to give space for dialogue.”

EVANSTON, IL — Two security guards hired by Evanston Township High School had sex with students, and administrators and police assigned to the school failed to protect girls from sexual violence, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Lawyers for a former student and her mother filed the complaint in federal court in Chicago the day before the start of the new school year. It names as defendants ETHS District 202, Superintendent Eric Witherspoon, Principal Marcus Campbell, two former security guards, four Evanston police school resource officers and the city of Evanston itself.

Their conduct “not only gave sexual predators access to unlimited prey; it also created a culture whereby no ETHS employees voluntarily came forward to protect female students,” according to the lawsuit.

One of the security guards named in the suit, Michael Haywood, was arrested and charged with criminal sexual assault by a person in authority after he was fired in January after less than four months on the job. The other security guard named in the suit has not been charged and was fired in June 2016, it said.

The then-17-year-old student prosecutors said Haywood, 34, had inappropriate contact with in 2018 is not the same as the one suing him and the district, according to the suit, which alleges Haywood “sexually target[ed]” more than three students. It does not specify how many students may have had inappropriate relationships with the other security guard.

The ways the guards would “groom” the students, according to the suit, included rewarding or punishing them using their control of ETHS’s electronic pass system, providing them alcohol and marijuana and encouraging them to consume it, sending them pornography via social media apps during and outside school hours and soliciting students to send pornographic images and pressuring them to have sex against their will.

The guards also blackmailed the students with the threat “that their parents would know that they were sexually active, were smoking marijuana, and were drinking alcohol; that they were leaving the ETHS campus during the school day; and that they were coming to school late,” according to the complaint.

The student who filed the suit, who graduated in June and is now 18, first came into contact with the uncharged guard in 2015, during her freshman year. Over the course of the school year, the guard engaged in more than 50 “unwanted and unauthorized sexual acts and other contact” with the girl, according to the suit.

Administrators, teachers, police, counselors and staff “knew of or had reason to know” that the guard had “sexually groomed and had sexual contact” with the student but did not act fast enough to protect students from him, according to the suit.

According to the suit, there were more than 40 instances of improper contact with the student involving Haywood from the time he was hired in September 2018 to his firing in January 2019. Some of them took place inside the ETHS school building. Another instance allegedly took place inside the home of an ETHS teacher who lived in the same block as Haywood.

An undated text message exchange between Haywood and the student included in the complaint suggested teachers were suspicious of their relationship.

“Like don’t say s— but a couple teachers mentioned you always looking at me a certain way and you being around a lot I’m like nah all the kids like that,” Haywood said.

“I can’t help it,” she replied, adding an upset emoji.

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“Lol I see bae And I don’t wanna help it either but just keep in mind I need that gig to spoil you lolbvs [laughing out loud but very serious],” Haywood responded.

After each guard was fired, Witherspoon and Campbell failed to disclose the allegations to the girl’s parents and suppressed information about his “harassing and sexually violent behavior” toward her and other students, the lawsuit said.

Evanston Patch obtained the heavily redacted termination letter to Haywood from Toya Campbell, the district’s chief human resource officer, through a request under the Freedom of Information Act. It said administrators first received a report Haywood was having an inappropriate relationship with a minor female student from one of the student’s friends on Jan. 8.

“During her interview with deans and social workers, additional information was shared about a second inappropriate [redacted] relationship you are having with a female [redacted] student,” the human resource officer said. The content of the electronic communication between Haywood and the student was “repulsive, manipulative and extremely [redacted,]” she told Haywood.

“[T]here are two (2) high school aged students who have come forward to confirm they had a [redacted] with you during this school year,” she said.

Despite issuing a brief statement regarding the opening of an investigation into Haywood’s conduct, district officials did not publicly disclose the existence of multiple allegations against Haywood — and administrators never disclosed any of the allegations against the guard who was fired in 2016. According to the lawsuit, even the victims’ families were kept in the dark.

At a Jan. 18 special meeting, four days after Haywood was terminated, the District 202 board approved a settlement with several men to resolve lawsuits over allegations of sexual abuse by another former employee — longtime drama teacher Bruce Siewerth — after at least half a dozen male former ETHS students came forward amid the #MeToo movement to describe groping and other inappropriate sexual conduct by the retired teacher starting in the late 1970s.

Under the terms of the terms of the settlement, the board agreed to devote $100,000 toward developing sexual assault prevention and intervention activities, including funding for teaching faculty and students about their role in preventing sexual assault and harassment, integrating sexual assault awareness into the ETHS curriculum and hiring a nationally renowned speaker on the topic to speak to the community.

“While the School District maintains that it did not have knowledge of any of the allegations made against Mr. Siewerth, since the filing of the lawsuits the School District has sought to work with plaintiffs, through their attorneys, to resolve these matters and avoid costly and drawn out litigation,” Witherspoon said, in a statement that was posted on and later removed from the district’s website.

Siewerth and the three men later reached agreements out of court and the suits against him were dismissed on July 31 and Aug. 19, according to Cook County court records.

The district’s conduct was “especially egregious” because it was engaged in litigation connected to allegations of sexual abuse involving Siewerth during the same period that it was failing to act to protect female students at the school, according to the lawsuit.

The 12-count federal complaint filed Aug. 20 alleges that one or more of the unidentified school resource officers assigned to the school should have known of the allegations. It allows for up to four of them to be held responsible in their individual capacity and holds the city responsible as their employer.

The suit accused the district of violating the student’s civil rights through a systematic failure to investigate allegations of grooming and sex with students by district employees, suppressing credible allegations against school security personnel and showing a “deliberate indifference to credible allegations of sexual grooming and sexual acts.”

The two guards had “good reason to believe their misconduct would not be revealed or reported by fellow personnel, including School Resource Officers (SROs) from the Evanston Police Department, or their supervisors, that their false, incomplete, and misleading reports would go unchallenged by these supervisors and fellow personnel from the highest level of the ETHS administration on down, and that they were immune from disciplinary action, thereby protecting them from the consequences of their unconstitutional conduct,” the suit said. It alleges there was a pattern of fabricating evidence, intimidating witnesses, falsifying reports and maintaining a “code of silence” among school security and officers assigned to the school.

School administrators responded to a request for comment with an unsigned statement from the district’s communications office saying it “cannot comment on any pending litigation.” It said it would forward all inquiries to the attorney handling the case, who has not responded to questions.

Evanston Communications Manager Patrick Deignan said the city “does not comment on pending litigation.” He declined to say whether any school resource officers had ever been reprimanded or disciplined for failing to properly respond to inappropriate conduct by ETHS employees or whether the city engaged in any settlement negotiations before the latest suit was filed.

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CALABASAS, CA — Comedian Kevin Hart and his driver remain hospitalized Monday after suffering major injuries when his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda rolled down an embankment on Mulholland Highway in Calabasas.

Hart, 40, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, and the driver, 28-year-old Jared Black of Woodland Hills, was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, also with major injuries, the California Highway Patrol reported.

A third occupant in the Barracuda, a 31-year-old woman from Woodland Hills, suffered only minor complaints of pain and sought her own aid, officials said.

The crash occurred at 12:45 a.m. Sunday on Mulholland Highway, east of Cold Canyon Road. The Plymouth turned from southbound Cold Canyon Road to eastbound Mulholland Highway, where Black apparently lost control of the car. The vehicle left the road and rolled over down the northern embankment.

“Two of the three occupants were trapped inside,” the CHP said. “The remaining occupant and the owner of the vehicle, Kevin Hart, left the scene to his nearby residence to get medical attention.”

Officials did not disclose the nature of Hart’s injuries, but TMZ reported that he injured his back.

The entertainment website reported Monday that Hart underwent successful back surgery.

The CHP said Black was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.

– City News Service

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La ville de Gênes aura un nouveau pont pour Noël 2019. Son maire, Marco Bucci, l’a promis, samedi 15 décembre, en inaugurant le chantier pour la destruction des ruines de cet ouvrage dont l’écroulement en août avait fait plus de 40 morts. “L’objectif est d’arriver à un degré de démolition suffisant pour pouvoir débuter dans la foulée les travaux de construction. L’objectif est que les travaux de construction commencent le 31 mars ce qui nous permettra d’avoir un pont pour Noël”, a déclaré l’édile.Des ruines placées sous séquestre par la justiceLa construction du nouveau pont est importante non seulement pour la ville et sa région, mais “pour toute l’Italie du Nord, et j’oserais dire, pour la France et la Suisse”, l’ancien pont enjambant Gênes pour faire passer l’autoroute vers la France, a expliqué l’élu génois. Pour le moment, deux grues et des instruments de chantier ont été positionnés à proximité des restes du pont dont l’effondrement le 14 août avait fait 43 morts et des dizaines de blessés. Les coûts de la démolition et du déblaiement sont estimés à 19 millions d’euros, ont indiqué les autorités vendredi.Une audience est prévue lundi à Gênes, au cours de laquelle un juge doit décider d’autoriser, ou non, le début de la démolition des restes du pont pour permettre la construction d’un autre ouvrage. Ces ruines, actuellement sous séquestre judiciaire, représentent des éléments de l’enquête judiciaire ouverte pour établir les responsabilités de cet accident et leur destruction pourrait poser problème.Click Here: brisbane lions guernsey 2019

TR Knight alias George O’Malley va quitter Grey’s Anatomy la saison prochaine. Malgré les démentis des producteurs de la série, l’acteur de 36 ans ne fera plus partie de l’équipe médicale la saison prochaine …

Les rumeurs étaient de plus en plus pressantes, elle se confirment. George O’Malley ne soignera plus les patients de Seattle Grace! L’interne aussi attachant que maladroit tirera sa révérence à l’issue de la cinquième saison de la série. C’est E! Online et Entertainment Weekly qui rapporte l’information.

Comme pour Katherine Heigl alias docteur Izzie Stevens (sa petite amie à l’écran) les relations entre l’acteur et la production se sont détériorés ses derniers mois. Peu satisfait de l’évolution de son personnage, qui selon lui a été mis de côté, l’acteur a décidé de mettre un terme à son contrat.

En 2006, T.R. Knight faisait son coming-out dans les colonnes du magazine américain People. A la suite de cette annonce Isaiah Washington (alias Dr Burke) était renvoyé de la série pour avoir tenu des propos homophobes à l’égard de son ancien collègue. Aujourd’hui, T.R Knight vie son homosexualité au grand jour (il vie en couple avec Mark Cornelson, un jeune homme de 19 ans) et a déjà des projets de théâtre et de cinéma plein la tête…

Vendredi 19 juin 2009

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 Les Peuls focalisent actuellement l’attention du fait de l’instrumentalisation de certains d’entre eux par des groupes fondamentalistes tentant de s’implanter localement dans le Sahel. La terreur djihadiste crée une angoisse sociale chez les autres communautés dans les zones menacées, faisant des Peuls des boucs émissaires du fait de leurs prétendues affinités historiques avec l’islam radical. L’identité peule apparaît comme un épouvantail symbolisant la menace djihadiste. Pourtant, cette identité est trop hétérogène pour établir un lien aussi simple. Les Peuls seraient entre 25 et 65 millions d’individus en Afrique, répartis sur une vingtaine de pays dans le centre et l’ouest du continent, et dans le monde. Cette variation très importante peut s’expliquer par le type d’indicateur employé (ascendance paternelle ou maternelle, pratique de la langue, reconnaissance de communautés assimilées, etc.). Les Peuls constituent un ensemble de communautés vivant notamment de l’élevage, soumis aux conflits fonciers, aux changements climatiques et en butte parfois au racisme d’État. Du fait de la diversité de cette communauté, il est nécessaire d’appréhender les questions relatives aux Peuls à la lumière des revendications identitaires en mutation. Les outils de la nouvelle mondialisation (réseaux sociaux, mobiles, etc.) créent une interconnexion puissante entre les différents éléments de la diaspora peule.Une communauté en mutation Depuis 2012, le centre du Mali est en proie à des affrontements intercommunautaires sur fond de massacres réguliers des Peuls par des milices locales, ou par des agents de l’État. De nombreux charniers ont été retrouvés depuis 2013.Dans le contexte de violence au Mali, la diaspora peule s’est mobilisée, comme l’ont montré des marches récentes à Nouakchott, à Washington, à Paris et dans d’autres grandes villes à travers le monde. Sur les réseaux sociaux et les systèmes de messagerie, les images de destruction et de mort sont partagées très rapidement, sous le coup de l’émotion, et pour témoigner. Dès que de nouveaux évènements touchent des Peuls dans une partie du monde, l’information est relayée.En République centrafricaine (RCA), ou dans les pays côtiers d’Afrique de l’Ouest (Bénin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire), les violences subies par des Peuls fournissent du contenu violent et traumatique à travers les échanges de photos et de vidéos, renforçant l’idée des Peuls comme peuple uni dans la victimisation. Pourtant, alors qu’ils font face en RCA à un contexte de guerre civile, dans les autres pays du continent, il s’agit plutôt d’explosions dues aux tensions habituelles entre éleveurs peuls et agriculteurs.Malgré ces différences de contexte, il existe bien une communauté peule ayant conscience de son unité, faisant face donc à des défis de nature diverse. Le sentiment de stigmatisation actuel est ainsi en train de lui conférer une identification commune que l’on ne peut plus ignorer. Lorsque des Peuls souffrent ici, des Peuls là-bas s’identifient désormais à eux, surtout lorsque lesdites souffrances ont des échos dans leur propre quotidien. L’expérience commune de l’identité peule est clairement en train de se renforcer autour du traumatisme. Une même angoisse de l’éradication La mémoire sociale et les récits de Peuls différents contribuent à une idée globale partagée de la condition peule. Les histoires circulent, de même que les mythes antiques, les chants modernes, les articles de presse, etc. L’histoire des Peuls de la Guinée éclaire fortement cette réalité. Le régime de Sékou Touré (1958-1984), premier Président du pays, a procédé à des exécutions et mis en place une politique discriminatoire à l’encontre de Peuls, estimant que leurs élites étaient des agents internes des puissances impérialistes occidentales visant à renverser le régime. Les Peuls étaient alors accusés d’avoir peu soutenu le référendum ayant fait accéder la Guinée à l’indépendance en 1958, deux ans avant les autres colonies françaises d’Afrique de l’Ouest.Les rivalités politiques étaient sans doute la source principale de la stigmatisation, les stéréotypes ethniques et le racisme venant rationaliser les positions de l’État a posteriori. En effet, une grande part des opposants aux politiques de Sékou Touré étaient peuls. Parmi eux, Boubacar Diallo Telli, premier secrétaire général de l’Organisation de l’Unité africaine, fut torturé et mourut emprisonné par le régime de Sékou Touré. Des centaines d’autres furent tués ainsi.

Avec de nombreux défis à relever, les leaders politiques peuls sont très attendus sur les questions relatives à leur communauté. Cependant, ils éprouvent de grandes difficultés à déployer un discours audible sur ces questions. Accuser un Peul de « biais ethnique », de « fourberie », d’« extrémisme » est devenu une manière efficace, dans la compétition politique, de s’assurer leur silence ou une forme d’autocensure sur les questions touchant à la communauté.Il en va ainsi au Mali avec le candidat à la présidence Soumaïla Cissé, en Guinée avec l’opposant Cellou Dalein Diallo, ou encore au Nigéria avec le président Muhammadu Buhari: le rappel continu de leur appartenance identitaire peule et de supposés biais parvient à miner leur impartialité politique. Cissé est fréquemment accusé de favoritisme pour les régions du Nord, Diallo d’entretenir un agenda secret de domination et de revanche des Peuls. Au Nigéria, des classes populaires aux intellectuels, il est fréquent d’entendre que le président Buhari protégerait les Peuls coupables de massacres dans le centre et le sud-est du pays, et d’ainsi laisser se former un suprématisme peul.Ces attaques ad hominem contre ces figures politiques peules contribuent à renforcer au sein de cette communauté hétérogène le sentiment global qu’ils sont mal-aimés, et ainsi nourrir des récits chargés émotionnellement quant à leur position précaire et la nécessité de se protéger. La rumeur d’un État peul La version originale de cet article a été publiée sur The Conversation.Click Here: Cheap Chiefs Rugby Jersey 2019

Member states failing to meet aid targets

Countries failing to meet their own targets for development aid.

EU member states will be upbraided by the European Commission next week for failing to meet targets for development aid that they themselves agreed.

Karel De Gucht (pictured), the European commissioner for development, has warned the ministers that just five of the 27 member states are on course to meet a self-imposed target of giving 0.56% of national income in aid to developing countries by 2010. That target was an interim benchmark on the way to a pledge agreed by the member states that they should give 0.7% of gross national income in aid by 2015.

Discussion

De Gucht has sent to development ministers papers that show projected assistance levels for 2009 and 2010 for each member state. So far, four countries – Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden – are above the 0.7% level and Ireland is above 0.56%.

Development ministers will be in Brussels on Tuesday (17 November) to discuss how to reach the targets. For some of them, their best – although temporary – hope is that the economic recession is reducing their gross national income so much that even where aid is stagnant, the percentage measure improves.

The ministers will also discuss operational guidelines on aid effectiveness. There will also be a discussion on guidelines for democracy support.

Kai Eide, the United Nations’ top envoy to Afghanistan, and the EU’s foreign ministers will join the development ministers for a more specific discussion of democracy support in Afghanistan.

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