Revisited

In 2014, the Syrian town of Kobane was the scene of a long and deadly battle involving the Islamic State group, Kurdish YPG forces and the US-led coalition.

In 2014, the Syrian town of Kobane was the scene of a long and deadly battle involving the Islamic State group, Kurdish YPG forces and the US-led coalition. More than three years after the end of the fighting, has normal life returned to this strategic and symbolic Kurdish town? FRANCE 24 reports. It all began in September 2014. The Islamic State group jihadists took control, one by one, of a series of villages around the Syrian town of Kobane, before launching what turned out to be three months of urban warfare in which the Kurdish YPG forces fought hard to defend the town.

>> On France24.com: Wresting control of Kobane from IS group

Today, three years after the end of the fighting, has life returned to normal? FRANCE 24's Roméo Langlois, Mayssa Awad and Mohamed Hassan report from Kobane.

Warning: Graphic content.

A decade ago, Somali pirates were frequently in the headlines for hijacking boats and holding their crews for ransom. The epicentre of the piracy crisis was Somalia's northeastern state of Puntland. Local fishermen were angry at trawlers from around the world scouring the plentiful waters of the Horn of Africa. Our reporters returned to Puntland to meet its fishermen and talk to local armed forces who today face a much more dangerous threat: Al Shabaab Islamists.

All Californians are aware that one day "the Big One" – a massive earthquake – will hit the San Francisco Bay area. According to experts, there is a 90 percent probability that it will happen within the next three decades. In 1989, many Californians thought the dreaded moment had arrived when a 6.9-magnitude quake rocked the bay, killing 67 people and injuring thousands. That quake cost billions of dollars in damages, one of the most costly US natural disasters.

Our reporters Michael Sztanke and Julien Alric returned to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, almost three decades after the break-up of Yugoslavia. Today, these two neighbouring countries have opposing visions: in one, the sense of a lost homeland dominates; in the other, a desire for modernity which can turn into a worrying form of nationalism.

Our reporters Bastien Renouil and Élodie Cousin return to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum six months after the United States lifted its economic sanctions on the poverty-stricken country. The sanctions crippled Sudan for 20 years, and now that they've been lifted, the Sudanese people are hoping for a new future. But despite the regime’s apparent willingness to increasingly adhere to Western demands and requirements, its dire human rights record has yet to improve.

Our reporters Bastien Renouil and Élodie Cousin return to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum six months after the United States lifted its economic sanctions on the poverty-stricken country. The sanctions crippled Sudan for 20 years, and now that they've been lifted, the Sudanese people are hoping for a new future. But despite the regime’s apparent willingness to increasingly adhere to Western demands and requirements, its dire human rights record has yet to improve. Ever since then-US President Bill Clinton ordered the crippling sanctions in 1997, the Sudanese people have been waiting for the day they would be lifted. At the time sanctions were imposed, Sudan was a staunch supporter of al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, who lived in Khartoum between 1992 and 1996. When the sanctions were finally removed last October, thousands of Sudanese thronged the streets to celebrate the end of 20 years of hardship. Some even brought out the American flag to express their joy – a move that would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier – even though the US has kept Sudan on its list of countries that financially support terrorism.

While former US President Barack Obama may have been the one to take the first steps toward lifting the sanctions, it was his less-popular successor, Donald Trump, who actually had them removed. In exchange for the gesture, Sudan has vowed to cooperate with American intelligence services in the US fight against terrorism.

>> Sudan's crumbling railways yearn for easing of US sanctions

The removal of the sanctions is expected to give Sudan’s infrastructure and business sector a much-needed financial boost: hospitals will finally be able to buy new, mainly American-made, equipment. For years, many Sudanese have had to travel to Cairo to receive satisfactory treatment. National carrier Sudan Airways, meanwhile, will once again be able to buy aircraft and spare parts from both Airbus and Boeing. Sudan’s export industry is also expected to flourish. The country’s ailing cotton crop, which was once one of Sudan’s main exports, will be able to pick up speed again.

Sending the wrong message?

But despite six long months having passed since the American financial barriers were removed, the Sudanese are still waiting for that brighter future to see the light of day. It will take time for the economic rewards to come through. But the most alarming issue is the regime’s continual record of human rights abuses. Several NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, warn that the lifting of sanctions has sent the government the wrong message, with little or no incentive for one of Africa’s most repressive regimes to stop its harrowing abuses. Opposition leaders and human rights activists are still regularly thrown in jail and the country remains plagued by two of the bloodiest wars on the planet -- in Darfur and in South Kordofan. Omar al-Bashir’s regime has been accused of bomb raids killing thousands of civilians – some of whom are believed to have been executed with chemical weapons. The International Criminal Court has deemed such offenses crimes against humanity.

Although the lifting of sanctions may be giving the Sudanese some financial respite, the country still seems to be in for a long wait when it comes to improving access to civil liberties and human rights.

Our reporters returned to Ireland, where the remains of 800 children who died at the Tuam Mother and Baby home in County Galway were found in a mass grave. Our team met with survivors of the home, who told them of their pain and of rebuilding their stolen childhoods.

Peru’s central Ayacucho region was hit hard by the conflict that plagued the country from the 1980s to 2000. It was the scene of massacres by the Shining Path guerrillas and atrocities committed by the army. Thousands of people lost their lives and thousands more are still missing to this day. Twenty-five years later, Peru remains traumatised by this dark period in its history. FRANCE 24 reports on the impact the Shining Path has left on the Latin American country.

In 2014, the Russian seaside resort of Sochi hosted the Winter Olympics. With a price tag of $50 billion, they were the most expensive Olympic Games ever. The event was intended to showcase the triumphant return of Vladimir Putin to the international stage, two years after his re-election as Russian president. Today, what has become of these sprawling sites? Our reporter returned to Sochi.