Revisited

On May 30, 1967, General Emeka Ojukwu declared Nigeria’s southeastern Biafra region an independent state, sparking what would become a bloody civil war that claimed more than one million lives. Fifty years on, many veterans from both sides of the conflict have taken their stories to the grave, but FRANCE 24 managed to meet with some who shared their memories of bravery, desertion and near-death experiences. The first shots of the Biafra war were exchanged in Obudu, a provincial town in southeast Nigeria. Today, Obudu is a sleepy tropical backwater that harbours few signs of a brutal civil war. But in most families, there is someone who remembers how the war divided the town, which back then straddled the border between Nigeria and Biafra.

At the beginning of the conflict, the people of Obudu supported the Biafrans out of geographical convenience. But by the end of the war, after seeing upwards of a million civilians die of starvation, many young men from the town deserted the Biafran army to become informers for the Nigerian military, helping them to ultimately win the war.

The interests of foreign powers played out during the war, with Britain arming the Nigerians. The French and Russians sold guns and ammunition to the Biafrans, while the Swedish aristocrat and aviator Carl Gustaf von Rosen helped establish the Biafran Air Force. Tanks and unexploded ordnance still litter the countryside of southeastern Nigeria. Over 300 people have been killed by landmines since the guns fell silent 50 years ago.

The Biafrans manufactured landmines, rockets and hand grenades, contributing to one of the most sophisticated indigenous weapons programmes in Africa's history. But instead of harnessing that ingenuity for industrial development like Germany and Japan did, the Nigerian authorities let that knowledge go to waste.

Above all, Biafra will be remembered not for the Biafrans' military ingenuity nor for the Nigerians' military might -- but for the humanitarian fallout. Millions of people around the world watched the horrors of enforced starvation play out on their television screens. These were the first images of malnourished African children that people had ever seen. The notion of international humanitarian aid as we now know it was born out of the deaths of one million Biafrans.

The US city of Youngstown, in the state of Ohio, once symbolised the glory days of the "Steel Belt", an industrial area in the northeast. For decades, the US steel industry put the city on the map and allowed its inhabitants to prosper. But from the 1970s, everything changed. With factory closures, unemployment, poverty and a rise in crime, drugs and alcoholism... the city hit rock bottom and the steel turned to rust. Today, Youngstown is determined to reinvent itself, as our reporter found out. The US city of Youngstown is perhaps best known for the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name. It tells of the rise and fall of this former American industrial stronghold, a victim of deindustrialisation. Since the 1970s, the city has lost two-thirds of its population and thousands of jobs. Many industrial sites and houses have been abandoned.

But today, some of these empty buildings are being bought up in order to be transformed. The Youngstown Business Incubator, which helps start-ups, is one of them. Inside, 40 years of assembly-line work has been replaced by 3D printers that contribute to highly sophisticated industrial projects.

We discover another site that is resisting and hiring staff: a French company, Vallourec, specialised in the manufacturing of steel tubes. It relies heavily on the exploitation of oil and shale gas.

For a long time, most of the residents of Youngstown voted for the Democratic Party. But that all changed in the last election, when many voters turned to Trump, seduced by the candidate’s anti-globalisation message. Seventy-year-old Connie Spagnola, from Youngstown, is one of them. She organises a monthly prayer group for the president so that he can fulfill all of his promises and make Youngstown great again.

In its own way, the Neil Kennedy Recovery Center also contributes to the city’s revival. This medical institute is fighting one of the plagues of the city: opioids. When steel left, heroin arrived... The challenge today is to get rid of it again and replace it with jobs.

"Neither war nor peace." That’s how residents of Casamance, a region in southern Senegal, describe the conflict that long blighted their fertile land. With the lull in violence in recent years, people are hoping the peace will last and that they can start to build a new beginning. In 1982, protesters in the Senegalese region of Casamance took to the streets, angry at what they saw as their southern region being abandoned by the "northerners" of the capital Dakar. The separatist rebellion of Casamance was born. For more than three decades, pro-independence fighters and security forces clashed sporadically.

Today, calm seems to have returned and on the ground, the status quo prevails.

Although formal peace negotiations are dragging on, the inhabitants are already looking to the future. Many challenges remain: the fate of displaced people, the danger of landmines and a moribund economy. But initiatives to lessen the region’s isolation have been taken and there is hope for a brighter future for Senegal’s most fertile region.

FRANCE 24's correspondent Sarah Sakho went to meet the locals in this stunning coastal region, and they her about Casamance’s past... and its future.

Located on the outskirts of Baghdad, Abu Ghraib prison shot to worldwide fame for all the wrong reasons after it was revealed that US security forces had systematically and brutally tortured detainees held there. FRANCE 24 was granted rare access into the now shuttered US military prison and our reporters spoke to locals who want nothing more than to put the city's grim past behind them. In 2004, one year after the American invasion of Iraq, disturbing images of naked Iraqi prisoners piled on top of each other began to do the rounds of international media. Other detainees were depicted hooded and wired up with electrodes. All to the amusement of American soldiers. This was the beginning of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that would eventually force a red-faced Bush administration to issue a public apology for the behaviour of Iraqi-deployed US forces.

More than a decade later, the institution remains the symbol of the American invasion and the torture that took place there has frequently featured in jihadist propaganda. The prison has often been identified as the birthplace of the Islamic State group.

On July 21, 2013, long after the operation of Abu Ghraib had returned to the Iraqis, a terrorist attack of unprecedented level hit the prison, resulting in more than 500 detainees fleeing the compound. Some of the escapees are believed to have joined the al-Qaeda branch that was behind the jailbreak and which would later grow into today’s Islamic State group.

Although the Abu Ghraib prison was shut down in 2014, Baghdad authorities are now mulling reopening it. Our reporters were granted exclusive access into the notorious, but now abandoned, prison grounds. But the stigma of the past remains very much present.

Our reporters also spoke to surrounding residents, whose lives and destinies seem undeniably linked to the prison. Many of them dream of just living an ordinary life, but the history of the prison -- and the increasing terror threat -- are inhibiting factors as they try to get on with their lives.

For over a year, Kosovo has been in mired in political crisis, which reached a climax this week when the government collapsed and the president called snap parliamentary elections for June 11. Our reporters returned to this tiny, dysfunctional nation at the heart of Europe. On 17 February 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia, a move immediately denounced by Belgrade and Moscow. Today, the small Balkan country is only recognised by 114 of the 193 UN member states. It remains dysfunctional and divided.

The south, which looks towards Albania, is predominantly Muslim, uses the Latin alphabet and pays in euros. In the north, the Serbian flag floats from buildings, the Cyrillic script is used, Serbian dinars are exchanged, and the population is predominantly Orthodox.

The tensions between the Albanian majority and the Serb community (which makes up just 6% of the population), a product of history fuelled by regional rivalries, eat away at the youngest country in Europe. Kosovo remains under international surveillance: some 4,300 NATO troops are deployed there and a European mission, EULEX, supervises the police, justice and local administrations.

The only glimmer of hope in this bleak landscape is the younger generation, which did not live through the war and could break the vicious circle of hatred between communities. One third of the population is under the age of 15. In order to digest its history and finally look to the future, Kosovo will have to rely on its young people and their energy.

In 1979, Daniel Ortega was a revolutionary commander who overthrew Nicaragua's pro-American dictatorship and took power. Today, after a long period in the wilderness, he is running the country again. Since his election in 2006, the country has seen stable economic growth, less poverty and less violence. But Nicaragua remains the second-poorest country in Latin America after Haiti. Our reporters returned to the capital Managua to see what remains of the revolution. He is the man, they are the couple, and their family are the rulers. Critics say the Ortega dynasty dominates Nicaragua. Likened to a real-life “House of Cards”, Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista National Liberation Front have control over the country's congress, its military, its police and its courts. Ortega has won landslide victories, the last in 2016, in elections dubbed by opponents as rigged.

Sitting alongside Ortega is his wife, Rosario Murillo, whom some call the power behind the throne. He first came to power in 1979 as his left-wing Sandinista revolution ended with the ouster of US-backed Somoza dynasty.

Ortega set about reforming the country, with the poor benefiting from redistributed property, better health care and education. Against him, the rebel Contras formed, backed by the US under Ronald Reagan. The resulting civil war saw thousands of people killed.

In 1990 Ortega was voted out by an anti-Sandinista coalition, but in 2006 he was voted back in. Critics say his renewed grip on the country has crushed any opposition.

The president retains strong support among the poor, but he also courts the business elite, and the country has seen stable economic growth, less poverty and less violence. But Nicaragua remains the second-poorest country in Latin America. Many ask what has become of the socialist revolution Ortega was once at the centre of.

Our reporters Laurence Cuvillier and Matthieu Comin returned to the capital.

Just over three years after the Ebola epidemic hit West Africa, our reporters returned to Guinea - where the outbreak began - and Liberia. They met locals who are still mourning their loved ones, but determined to rebuild their lives. The Ebola epidemic that hit West Africa three years ago affected 28,000 people and claimed 11,000 lives. It began in Guinea in December 2013, and quickly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria, Mali and Senegal were also affected, although to a much lesser extent. The virus even spread out of Africa, with registered cases in the US and Europe. The most affected countries declared a state of emergency, shut their borders, and deployed the army to remove the bodies and isolate the sick.

The fight against Ebola was long and tough. Health workers paid a heavy price, making its control even more difficult. The international community mobilised, sending medical teams and money. Eventually the routes of infection were broken, and on March 29 2016, the World Health Organisation lifted the state of public health emergency.

The WHO has now revealed that an effective vaccine is available, which could hopefully prevent any new major epidemic - at least for the same strain of the virus. As for the survivors, they live in mourning for their loved ones, and sometimes with the suspicions of their neighbours. Our reporters went to meet them.

Located in eastern Ecuador, the Yasuni Park is a unique ecosystem. Thousands of species of plants and wildlife are concentrated in this part of the Amazon rainforest. But the park and its treasures are directly threatened by drilling for oil. Ecuador's Yasuni National Park covers 10,000 square kilometres of rainforest. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1989, its biodiversity is among the most outstanding on the planet. Hundreds of species of mammals, birds and butterflies, plus thousands of rare specimens of plants and trees, crowd this corner of the Amazon.

But the park is also a victim of the riches beneath it, where almost half of the country’s crude oil reserves lie. Drilling began in September 2016, much to the dismay of indigenous communities and environmental activists.

Our reporter visits this contested corner of the Amazon.

Our reporter has been to the island of Saint-Helena, in the middle of the South Atlantic, where the French emperor Napoleon was exiled by the British in 1815 after Waterloo. Two centuries later, this small piece of land with strong tourist potential remains remote, despite the construction of a brand new airport. For safety reasons, long-haul flights are unable to land. The residents of Saint-Helena remain isolated and few tourists come to see the place where Napoleon lived out his last days. >> Also watch our special programme to mark the bicentenary of Waterloo: "Napoleon, the rise and fall of a military genius"

On July 1, 1997, after more than a century of British rule, Hong Kong was officially handed back to China and became a Special Administrative Region. Thanks to the principle of "one country, two systems", the city retains certain prerogatives such as its money, laws and political system. Today, Hong Kong has become a world city hit by recurring political crises, while Hongkongers are still searching for their identity. Spontaneous protests, civil disobedience movements, a battle at the ballot box... Twenty years after its handover to China on 1 July 1997, Hong Kong has become the centre of the anti-Beijing revolt. The former British colony, known for its skyscrapers and white-collar workers, has seen uprisings by young Hongkongers against Chinese rule.

>> Also watch our report: "Hong Kong in rebellion against the 'motherland'"

Although some are barely 20 years old - like the handover itself – all of them, from the streets to the parliament benches, want the winds of democracy to blow in Hong Kong. The leaders of the "umbrella revolution", such as Nathan Law, Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Andy Chan, have sometimes become elected officials who make officials in Beijing nervous. In September 2016, these young people, who had inspired thousands of demonstrators in the autumn of 2014 to demand free elections and more autonomy from China, made an unprecedented electoral breakthrough.

>> Also watch our interview: "Hong Kong's umbrella revolution is not dead"

Old guard and businessmen

But faced with those demanding more freedom and even independence, Beijing is locking down everything, even if that calls into question the fundamental principle of "one country, two systems" which has governed Hong Kong since its handover. The central government in Beijing can still count on the support of a large segment of the population, who strongly feel they belong to the Chinese nation.

For if anger rages in Hong Kong, it is precisely because the pro-democracy youngsters who want to distance themselves from China are opposed by another, older, generation, which proclaims its attachment to the mainland. The business community, which has benefited from the Chinese economic boom, is another reminder that Hong Kong cannot do without Beijing.

Twenty years after the handover of Hong Kong to China, our reporter went to take the pulse of a city that has not yet completed its transformation and which remains split between two generations, more divided than ever over their identity.