Revisited

Twenty years ago, one of the longest, most brutal and deadliest wars of the last century ended in Angola. In 27 years, this conflict left nearly 1 million people dead and displaced 4 million. It has also left the country in ruins: In 2002, 60 percent of Angolans did not have access to drinking water and 30 percent of children died before the age of five. Has the West African country recovered from these dark years? We find out in this report by Clément Bonnerot, Dombaxi Sebastiao, Evan Claver and Juliette Dubois.

French President Emmanuel Macron has set a deadline of 2024 to reopen Paris’s Notre-Dame Cathedral to worshippers and visitors. FRANCE 24's Revisited show is following the progress of this ambitious project and brings you a fresh update, three years after the devastating fire that badly damaged the world-famous cathedral. Our reporter Mélina Huet met those who are involved in the restoration work, both inside the mediaeval edifice and elsewhere in France. They now find themselves in a race against time.

Occupied by Turkish soldiers for close to half a century, the former Cypriot resort town of Varosha lies in ruins. Known as Marash in Turkish, the town is situated in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an entity only recognised by Ankara. It's also home to one of the two Turkish military bases on the island. According to a 1984 UN resolution, Varosha must be returned to its original owners. But neither the Greek Cypriot authorities, nor the Turkish Cypriot administration have taken steps to apply the decision. Our regional correspondents Shona Bhattacharyya and Ludovic de Foucaud report.

During World War II, one of the worst massacres of the conflict took place in Eastern Europe, in Romania's second city of Iași. A tenth of the city's population – more than 13,000 people – was murdered in the space of a few days, simply because they were Jews. More than 80 years after the Iasi pogrom, most people in Romania know little about these atrocities, and the country's far-right party is gaining in strength – as are those who want to rewrite history. FRANCE 24's Nadia Blétry, Thierry Trelluyer and Ruth Michaelson report.

In Sri Lanka, 13 years after the end of the civil war with the Tamil Tigers that lasted a quarter of a century, reconciliation appears elusive. Elected in 2019, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, seen by the Sinhalese majority as a hero and accused by the Tamil minority ​​of war crimes during the conflict, embodies this divide. FRANCE 24's Thomas Denis reports, with Navodita Kumari.

An oil producer hard hit by the slump in global prices, Venezuela has seen its economy gradually deteriorate over the past decade, with international economic sanctions aggravating the crisis. The late former president Hugo Chavez, in power from 1999 to 2013, wanted to make his country the home of "21st century socialism". But despite this promise to eradicate inequality, the most vulnerable seem in a more precarious situation than ever. However, some economic indicators have recently improved. To take stock of the situation, our team reports from Caracas, a capital where cameras are not always welcome.

Is the United Kingdom better off without Europe? Did the country make a risky choice by leaving the EU one year ago? Our reporters Jonathan Walsh and Clovis Casali crossed the Channel to understand the consequences of Brexit on the daily lives of citizens. From London to Belfast, via Boston – the town with the highest pro-Brexit vote in 2016 – they report on how the UK has changed.

For various experts, Storm Alex, which ravaged south-eastern France in October 2020, was a "weather bomb". In the area north of the city of Nice, torrential rain burst the banks of rivers. Entire houses were swept away in the current, sometimes with their owners inside. The 2,000 inhabitants of the village of Tende – perched high in the Roya valley – were cut off from the rest of the world, with no running water or electricity for several weeks. Supplies had to be brought in by helicopter. Since then, access has been restored. But not everyone has been able to return. More than a year later, Storm Alex has left catastrophic scars.

The Soviet bloc officially collapsed in late December of 1991, leaving 14 independent republics in its wake in addition to the newly named Russian Federation. Three decades on, FRANCE 24's James André, Achraf Abid, Gulliver Cragg, Sylvain Rousseau and Elena Volochine bring us a series of reports from Russia, Estonia, Ukraine and Georgia on what remains of the Soviet era – and the relationship that these countries have with Moscow today.

In November, shortly before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian authorities moved to close down one of the country's oldest and most influential NGOs, Memorial, which was dedicated to preserving the memory of Stalin-era repressions. Despite everything, the group's historians are determined to continue the fight to open up the archives of the Soviet secret services. FRANCE 24's Elena Volochine reports, with illustrations by Sofiya Voznaya.