Reporters

Qatar's hosting of the upcoming 2022 World Cup brought in thousands of migrant workers to build stadiums and other infrastructure. These foreigners left everything behind in search of a better life. But once in Qatar, they have often experienced exploitation: unpaid wages, confiscated passports and extreme working conditions that have led to several thousands of deaths, according to various NGOs. Some migrant workers agreed to speak to our reporters Chloé Domat and Rammohan Pateriya for this special full-length report. They explain how their Qatari dream has turned into a nightmare, even if Doha also offers some opportunities for upward social mobility.

Thousands of men, women and children die trying to cross the Mediterranean every year. They leave from Libya, Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco in the hope of a better existence in Europe. This often ends in tragedy and the Mediterranean Sea being dubbed the world's largest open-air cemetery. FRANCE 24's Céline Schmitt, Armelle Exposito and Sarah Morris report.

In the past few decades, Somalia’s droughts have increased both in intensity and in number due to climate change. It is now facing a famine that threatens the lives of millions of people, especially children. The United Nations says there are staggering levels of malnutrition among children under the age of five. The last major famine in Somalia, which dates to 2011, claimed 260,000 lives and remains vivid in locals' minds.

In Ecuador, women are victims of the powerful Catholic anti-abortion lobby and a conservative judicial system. Those who can afford it can have an abortion for a few hundred dollars in a private clinic, with few repercussions. But those who don't have the financial means face a more difficult choice. Each year, around a hundred women are prosecuted for having a termination. In this highly conservative country of 17 million inhabitants, the social pressure to embrace motherhood is inescapable and pro-life groups are extremely vocal. Our reporters Justine Sagot and Juan Ignacio Dávila investigate.

He is the candidate of hope and renewal for some, a demon of the past and a symbol of corruption for others. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who became Brazil's first left-wing president in 2002, hopes to return to the country’s top job after the presidential election, whose first round takes place on October 2. With the face-off against far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro becoming the most divisive election in years, our reporters Fanny Lothaire, Louise Raulais and Tim Vickery went to meet the generation that grew up under Lula.

On February 1, 2021, the Burmese army retook power, brutally ending a decades-long period of democracy. In the space of a few months, thousands of civilians were killed and thousands more thrown into prison. A shadow government was quickly formed, but armed resistance also got organised in a country cut off from the world. In this exclusive report shot in the rebel maquis and underground pro-democracy resistance circles, FRANCE 24 brings you an inside look at Myanmar’s civil war. Exiled dissidents, rebel military leaders and deserters from the Burmese army speak out and denounce in particular the growing and decisive Russian support for the junta.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere sits beside one that's enjoying a robust economic boom. Currently, the dividing line between the two nations is a porous border criss-crossed by tens of thousands of workers. But at the instigation of the Dominican government, a wall is being built on around 200 kilometres of the border. The project, highly popular on the Dominican side, is seen by Haitians as a humiliation. FRANCE 24's Laurence Cuvillier and Matthieu Comin report.

Since 2018, mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group, an effective secret army of the Kremlin, have been active in Central African Republic. They protect the impoverished country's regime in exchange for valuable mineral resources and deploy a massive propaganda campaign to cover up the massacres, rapes and torture they are accused of. Taking advantage of France's loss of influence in its former colony, Russia is seen to be using Central African Republic – a country ripped apart by decades of civil war – as a testing ground in a new battle for global influence. FRANCE 24's Carol Valade and Clément Di Roma report.

In June 2020, a military base was attacked by jihadists in Kafolo, in north-eastern Ivory Coast near the border with Burkina Faso, leaving 14 soldiers dead. Other attacks followed and the Ivorian authorities have been working to improve the security situation. Our correspondents Samuel Bernard and Hannane Ferdjani were able to join the army on anti-terror patrols and meet local residents. In this border region, the Fulani people claim to be subject to special surveillance and denounce what they consider discriminatory measures. Security forces deny targeting any specific group in their fight against terrorism.

In the Sahel, the number of informal mines is rising as gold mining areas escape state control. Mali is emerging as a gold-purchasing hub for Sahelian countries, while Dubai has become the main destination for artisanal gold production from the African continent. From the hidden smelters of Bamako to the artisanal mines of the Ivory Coast and a major gold market in Dubai, Caroline Dumay investigates the transforming global gold industry.