Reporters

At the end of 2016, after bitter negotiations and a lost referendum, the Colombian government and the FARC rebels signed a historic peace agreement. But four years later, the cycle of violence in Colombia has not stopped. The country continues to face attacks on civilians, as well as assassinations of local leaders and demobilised guerrilla fighters. Our reporters went to meet FARC veterans who have rebuilt their lives and turned the page on war, only too aware that the current peace is uncertain and fragile.

In the United Arab Emirates, the possession and trafficking of wild animals have been officially banned since 2017. Yet every day on social media, Emirati citizens, particularly royals, post videos where they pose with lions, tigers or cheetahs. In a disaster for biodiversity, these big cats have been turned into status symbols, even more effective in clocking up Instagram likes than luxury cars or selfies with celebrities. Our reporters traced the source of this lucrative illegal trafficking industry to Somaliland, in the Horn of Africa, where authorities and NGOs are trying to end it.

Operation Warp Speed is the name of an ambitious programme put in place by the Trump administration to deliver Covid-19 vaccines across the US. Widely touted during the presidential election campaign and officially rolled out in December, it was supposed to have 20 million people vaccinated by January 1 of this year. But by that date, barely 25 percent of the target had been reached. So what happened? Has the operation fallen victim to politicisation? Our Washington correspondents Matthieu Mabin and Fanny Allard report.

France's new generation of environmental activists have rejected traditional marches and petitions they deem ineffective and old-fashioned in favour of shock tactics: occupying public spaces, blockading multinational companies and tearing down official portraits of the president. They say acts of civil disobedience are necessary to highlight the escalating climate crisis. Our reporters went to meet them.

On May 25, the death of George Floyd in the United States sent shockwaves internationally. That same week, in Rio de Janeiro, 14-year-old João Pedro was shot dead by police – with few repercussions. In Brazil, where 56 percent of the population is Black, compared to 13 percent in the US, racism is deeply rooted in society. Brazilian police, understood to be some of the most violent in the world, kill 17 times more Black people than American officers. Miles from Minneapolis, a Brazilian Black Lives Matter movement is gaining momentum. Our correspondents report.

Two years ago, a group of young French Jews and Arabs decided to put up a united front against anti-Semitism and racism, through an SOS Racisme initiative. Through their different backgrounds and religions, they set out on a nationwide awareness campaign in a bid to open up an unfiltered dialogue in communities where these topics have become completely taboo. Reporter Hanna Assouline followed the youths on their mission to make people open up and talk.

In the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, fighting the Covid-19 pandemic is more difficult than in mainland France. Hospitals on the Caribbean archipelago lack sufficient medical staff and equipment. Meanwhile, hand washing, an important way of preventing transmission of the coronavirus, is often impossible due to regular water shortages in some regions. Our reporters travelled to the islands to meet healthcare workers and residents.

August 4, 2020 is a date that will be remembered forever in Lebanon. Twin blasts struck the port of Beirut as some 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate went up in smoke. More than 200 people were killed, thousands were injured and entire neighbourhoods were disfigured. As locals sprang into action, the Lebanese army was on the frontline to prevent looting and secure the scene. Our Beirut correspondent Zeina Antonios followed some of these soldiers as they faced what may turn out to be the biggest challenge of their careers.

Since fighting erupted between Ethiopian forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) earlier this autumn, tens of thousands of civilians have fled across the border into neighbouring Sudan. But once safe from the violence in their homeland, they have to survive their new lives in exile.

For this report, FRANCE 24's team embedded with Niger's special forces. In this epicentre of West African jihadism, local "franchises" of the Islamic State group and al Qaeda are competing to establish a vast "caliphate" across the Sahel region. Local villagers are caught in the crossfire, afraid that jihadists may infiltrate the population and living in fear of reprisals. Some 4,000 civilians died in this zone in 2019 alone. Niger's government has twin aims: to keep people safe and to recover territory, in order to prevent the "caliphate" rising from its ashes on the African continent.