The Interview

The world faces a catastrophic collapse of societies if action is not taken to stop the breaching of “planetary boundaries” – safe spaces within which humanity could continue to develop and thrive. That is the stark warning from the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University. One of the centre’s researchers, Tom Cernev, who authored a paper that was recently published by the UN’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, is our guest in the France 24 interview.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said that the United Kingdom is prepared to keep supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes for Kyiv to repel the Russian military. "We're in it for the long haul and that's also true of our NATO allies and our G7 allies," she explained. Truss added that diplomatic tensions between Paris and London have been put aside as Western states unite around supporting Ukraine.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, spoke to FRANCE 24 a day after the visit of the French, German, Italian and Romanian leaders to Kyiv and Irpin. While welcoming this display of European unity with Ukraine, Podolyak called for more heavy weapons to be sent to his country. He said that such a move would change the situation on the ground in favour of the Ukrainian troops, faced with Russian advances in the eastern Donbas region.

Rwanda's Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta granted an interview to FRANCE 24 to discuss the increasingly tense situation with neighbouring DR Congo. Earlier this Friday, a Congolese soldier crossed the border and was killed by Rwandan security forces, while two Rwandan soldiers were wounded. Fighting between Congolese troops and a rebel movement called the M23 has inflamed tensions between the two neighbours. Biruta dismissed fears that the tensions could lead to a war. He also insisted that Rwanda was "committed" to its deal with the UK to take in asylum seekers, despite the first flight being cancelled earlier this week.

Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation, Rania A. Al-Mashat, granted an interview to FRANCE 24 in Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan. Although the war in Ukraine is threatening Egypt's food security, the minister believes that "pre-emptive action" undertaken by Cairo in the past few years will help "mitigate" the impact of a possible wheat shortage. Al-Mashat also called for the COP27 climate summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in November to be one turning of "pledges" into "implementation".

After being definitively acquitted of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court last year, Charles Blé Goudé, the former right-hand man of ex-Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, is expected to soon return to Ivory Coast after more than a decade in exile. On May 30, Blé Goudé received an Ivorian passport via the current president, Alassane Ouattara. In an interview with FRANCE 24, Blé Goudé discussed his upcoming return home, as well as his political ambitions.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu reacted to the ongoing war in neighbouring Ukraine and the impact on his country. While admitting that "the degree of insecurity in the region is high", Popescu said he saw "no immediate or imminent threat of hostile military action directed against Moldova". He also weighed in on Moldova's EU ambitions, saying "we want to see Moldova in the European Union as a neutral state".

Since February 24, Ukraine has been putting up fierce resistance against Russia: on the ground, but also in the digital sphere. FRANCE 24 spoke with Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, George Dubinskiy. He explained that Ukraine, which suffered several large-scale cyberattacks long before February 24, has been in a digital war against Moscow "since 2014" and is defending not only its land borders, but also digital ones.

Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis granted an interview to FRANCE 24 from the capital Nicosia. The northern third of the Republic of Cyprus has been under Turkish domination since 1974. Anastasiadis said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine uses the "exact same arguments that Turkey used to invade Cyprus". Asked about tensions with Turkey over hydrocarbons, he expressed hope that Ankara will not "will not attempt to do anything that will cause conflagration and risk peace in the region".

FRANCE 24 interviewed Kao Kim Hourn, Cambodia's minister delegate to Prime Minister Hun Sen, from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Hourn said he believes a full reconciliation with the US will occur. He affirmed that no Chinese military base has been established in Cambodia, and said that China does not dominate the country's economy despite owning most of its debt.