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Shehnaz Ali from Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan, has been living with a fistula for 16 years. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct 2 2026 (IPS)

“You’re living a life drained of joy,” is how Shehnaz Sher Ali describes her “perpetually wet and stinky” existence. “I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” says the 35-year-old, who travelled by bus for more than 12 hours with her husband from their village in Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, changing diapers whenever possible to keep the smell from reaching the fellow passengers.

For 16 years, she had lived with urine dribbling, unaware that it was treatable with a relatively simple surgical procedure.

She developed an iatrogenic fistula—caused by a surgical injury during a Caesarean section—and is among the estimated two million women living with untreated obstetric fistula worldwide.

Shehnaz got married at the age of 18 and conceived soon after. At full term, her obstetrician suspected a complication for which she underwent a Caesarean section, but the baby was stillborn. The doctor then told the young couple she would not be able to conceive again.

That was not all. She soon realized she was leaking urine.

The doctor assured her it would stop within weeks. It never did, despite three months in hospital trying to repair the leak.

“After spending so much on my operation, being told I could never have children, and then living with the urine leakage, my husband divorced me. I was damaged goods, a liability, and he didn’t want to spend any more money on me.”

She returned to her parents’ home and, a few years later, married Ali, twice her age and already married with three daughters.

“He knew about my condition but married me because he needed someone to care for his paralyzed wife and their three daughters.”

But now, her life is beginning to change.

Fistula Ward at Kooh Goth Hospital, where cats are allowed to roam free. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

Center of Hope

She is being treated at the best facility for treatment of fistula—the Koohi Goth Women’s Hospital (KGWH), run by the Zafar and Atia Foundation Charitable Trust (supported by numerous Pakistanis both abroad and within the country), in Karachi’s Landhi neighborhood.

“A relative found out about it a month back, and my husband brought me to it immediately,” she said.

Dr. Shershah Syed, who founded KGWH, was Pakistan’s first gynaecologist and obstetrician to train in genital tract fistula (both rectovaginal and vesicovaginal fistula) repair. He describes these as among the “worst and most devastating childbirth injuries” a woman can endure.

In 1993, Syed trained at Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital under renowned surgeons Dr. Reginald Hamlin and his wife, Dr. Catherine Hamlin, who provided free obstetric fistula repair in Ethiopia. Two years later, as medical superintendent of the government-run Sobhraj Maternity Hospital, he began actively repairing fistulas.

Since KGWH began operations in 2007, it has treated “more than 3,200 women and trained 30 master trainers,” said Dr. Sajjad Ahmed Siddiqui, its fistula project manager.

In 2025, UNFPA’s Asia-Pacific office designated KGWH a Regional Center of Excellence for fistula care after it trained surgeons from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Afghanistan. It was already the national referral and surgical training hub.

“We want to treat 800 women annually while providing psychosocial support, literacy, and skills training to help them reintegrate and become economically empowered,” says Dr. Jameel Ahmed, sexual and reproductive health specialist at UNFPA Pakistan. “But with global funding constraints and rising iatrogenic fistula cases, we are unsure how much reintegration support we can provide.”

KGWH’s work has also extended beyond its walls.

Syed, who is a medical advisor to the Fistula Foundation, organizes free surgical camps with the help of trained surgeons in remote Sindh government hospitals, bringing treatment to women from nearby villages.

In January, he travelled to Kabul with four female surgeons, where they set up a fistula repair camp and provided refresher training to Afghan female surgeons.

“In five days, the women surgeons repaired 20 fistulas,” said Syed. “There is a great need there, but with relations between the two countries at their lowest, it is difficult for us.”

Before the Taliban takeover, 30 to 35 women from remote provinces of Afghanistan would travel to Pakistan each year for treatment. That has now ended.

Today, there are 11 fistula repair centers across Pakistan equipped with 88 trained surgeons, and in the last decade, these centers have treated over 7,800 women for fistula.

Globally, about 50,000–100,000 new cases of vesicovaginal fistula occur each year, with 80% in developing countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, according to UNFPA. “In Pakistan, we estimate that up to 5,000 cases of fistula occur annually; iatrogenic fistula is one type,” explained Ahmed.

Back in 2007, when UNFPA began addressing obstetric fistula caused by obstructed labor in Pakistan through the Pakistan National Forum on Women’s Health, it believed that improved reproductive healthcare and more facility-based births would help reduce the incidence of this devastating condition.

Some Progress, But Not Enough

“To some extent, there have been significant improvements in maternal mortality and morbidity since then,” said Ahmed.

The progress is reflected in World Health Organization figures: Pakistan’s maternal mortality ratio fell from 276 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2006 to 155 in 2024. Neonatal mortality declined from 52 to 37.6 deaths per 1,000 live births over the same period, while the stillbirth rate fell from 39.8 per 1,000 births in 2000 to 27.5 in 2024.

But Syed remains unimpressed. Despite these gains, the toll is still “not acceptable” to him. Every day, 675 babies die before reaching one month of age, and 27 mothers die from preventable complications, amounting to more than 246,300 newborn and 9,800 maternal deaths a year. Pakistan also records more than 190,000 stillbirths annually, WHO figures show.

All these put Pakistan’s achievement of SDG 3—which deals with sexual and reproductive health—at risk.

And there is another worrying development.

As Pakistan made progress in tackling obstetric fistula, another form was emerging—one caused not by obstructed labor but by medical intervention itself. “We observed women developing fistulas following Caesarean sections or hysterectomies in health facilities—iatrogenic,” said Ahmed.

Syed is particularly concerned about this kind. “In most childbirth cases, I find surgical intervention unnecessary. Too often, the decision to intervene is a ‘personal’ one, driven by greed and ‘ease’ rather than ethics.”

“We have irrefutable proof that most of the injuries happen due to surgical error during C-sections, hysterectomies, or repair of ruptured uterus and bladder,” says Siddiqui.

UNFPA has found that a staggering 70% of fistula cases in Pakistan result from surgical injuries. “We tried to plug one hole two decades back, through improved facility-based births, and realized there was a bigger one at hand that happened in facilities that needed to be plugged now,” said Ahmed.

Dr. Pushpa Srichand, 75, has spent more than five decades as a gynaecologist and has treated some 2,200 fistula patients in hospitals, along with countless more at free surgical camps. “It is a disease of the poor; I promised myself I would never charge these women,” she said. Even after retiring from government service and joining Isra University, she made free fistula treatment a condition of her appointment.

A recent seven-year prospective study by Isra University found a 56% rise in iatrogenic fistula among gynaecological patients between 2017 and 2024. Of the 2,190 women treated for obstetric and other gynaecological complications, some 1,358 had iatrogenic fistula.

“This is a huge and extremely concerning number,” said Srichand, sharing her findings at a UNFPA national consultation that brought together regulators, medical bodies, and provincial health officials to discuss the rise in iatrogenic fistula and ways to prevent it.

Earlier research points to a similar pattern. A two-year study at Lady Willingdon Hospital, Lahore, from January 2007 to December 2008, found that 54% (33 of 61) of referred fistula cases were iatrogenic. A 2004 report from the same hospital, by contrast, found that 79% of fistulas were obstetric. The 2008 study concluded that “gynaecological surgery is being performed by untrained hands in the periphery.”

Another study at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad, covering almost 12 years to June 2018, also found a rising trend in iatrogenic urogenital fistula. It concluded that the trend underscored the need for better safety standards in both obstetric and gynecological surgery.

The same was concluded at the UNFPA consultation, where doctors largely blamed inexperienced and unskilled practitioners.

“They make wrong diagnoses, perform faulty surgeries, and leave patients with lifelong complications,” Syed told IPS on the sidelines of the event.

“A C-section, for instance, is a relatively straightforward procedure,” he pointed out, but in incompetent hands, even this can go terribly wrong. “It requires a very special kind of negligent expertise to get this wrong,” he said sarcastically. He also blamed the superiors for the errors of their juniors. “They never taught their juniors properly, and many C-sections and even normal births are carried out by those without adequate training, resulting in these grave mistakes that women suffer lifelong. The worst part is there is no accountability.”

For women like Shehnaz, such medical errors are not simply complications—they can reshape an entire life.

For years, she saw her suffering as punishment for some inexplicable sin. The treatment, she says, is “Allah telling me that I have finally atoned for it.”

“When I go home, the first thing I will do is cook a large pot of biryani and distribute it among the poor, in gratitude to Allah for giving me a second life,” says Shehnaz, her face beaming after her first successful operation.

Dr. Sana Ashfaque, who carried out an “extremely complicated, four-hour-long surgery” to repair Shehnaz’s holes, is hopeful she has plugged the leak for good. “But we will keep her for another two weeks just to be sure everything is in place; she’s come from far and it may not have been easy for her to come back to us.”

After 16 years of waiting, four hours was a small price to pay for a second life.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

 

 

 

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By CIVICUS
Oct 2 2026 (IPS)

 
CIVICUS discusses life as a refugee with an exiled Sudanese civil society activist who has asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

Over three years into Sudan’s war, millions of people have been displaced, both within the country and beyond its borders, and the numbers keep rising. Fighting continues to force civilians from their homes, while those who reach neighbouring countries struggle to find safety and stability. Civil society warns that, despite the scale of the suffering, Sudan’s crisis isn’t receiving the international attention it deserves. Exiles document violations and advocate for democracy and peace.

What drew you to human rights activism, and how has exile changed it?

The gender-based injustice women face in our societies drew me to human rights work. From childhood, I objected to the unequal treatment of girls and boys and the stereotypes that painted women as less capable. I rebelled against this system, seeking out books, stories and real-life experiences that showed women’s capabilities and potential.

Activism in exile, particularly during wartime, brings unending and unexpected risks and challenges. At times, it feels like you are fighting to survive. You carry the trauma of war and the guilt of being safe while your family and community remain in danger. Many human rights defenders lack the basic resources to survive.

In exile, I have moved from a radical stance to one focused on reform, having learned that dogmatism, hostility and refusal to listen can lead to violence and grave human rights violations. I have become more deliberate in my judgements, with a stronger desire to understand the other side.

How has Sudanese civil society adapted since the war began?

Sudanese civil society has shown remarkable resilience. People mobilised to confront the war and the collapse of state institutions. Within hours, young people and volunteers were helping the wounded, homes became field clinics and communities shared their resources.

As the war continued, many civil society organisations relocated abroad. One of the most remarkable aspects of the Sudanese experience has been the emergence of numerous additional human rights, humanitarian, women’s and youth organisations in host countries. They have maintained links with activists inside Sudan, monitored human rights and documented violations, provided humanitarian assistance, advocated for peace, promoted dialogue and countered hate speech.

Civil society’s work, inside Sudan and abroad, is one of the few sources of hope for peace in the country.

What barriers do Sudanese civil society activists and organisations face in exile?

Refugees face insecurity and a rising wave of xenophobia in host countries, and many feel unwelcome, or even blamed for seeking safety in a country where they are made to feel they don’t belong. Many also face movement restrictions, difficulties renewing residency documents and the constant risk of deportation.

On top of this, activists carry the added burden of propaganda that portrays them as fugitives or foreign agents. We must confront the abuses we document while also countering division, hatred, intolerance and racism.

Civil society organisations abroad also face economic, legal and security restrictions. Many struggle to register legally, open bank accounts, access funding or obtain permits.

Compounding all this are the limited international support and the sense that global decision-makers, and even international human rights organisations, don’t prioritise our concerns. This can leave you feeling that you simply don’t matter.

What needs to change to stop displacement silencing activists and refugees in general?

The global system often seems designed to protect the strong while weakening the vulnerable. In Africa and across the global south, we seek to change this, yet we remain constrained by the structures and assumptions of the system. We need to see difference as a source of diversity rather than division, share responsibility for resources and security, and protect everyone’s rights to life, development, dignity and freedom.

As a Sudanese refugee and human rights defender, I strongly support the Borderless Africa campaign, led by the pan-African civil society movement Africans Rising, which calls for visa-free travel and a single continental passport across Africa. It reflects the need to move beyond borders and put humanity and fundamental rights first.

It’s shocking to be forced into silence about crimes you have witnessed simply because you are a refugee. Governments, civil society and activists must dismantle the legal and logistical barriers that leave refugees unable to access basic rights.

CIVICUS interviews a wide range of civil society activists, experts and leaders to gather diverse perspectives on civil society action and current issues for publication on its CIVICUS Lens platform. The views expressed in interviews are the interviewees’ and do not necessarily reflect those of CIVICUS. Publication does not imply endorsement of interviewees or the organisations they represent.

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Un milliard de morts.

Le chiffre avancé par Bill Gates frappe les esprits. Il ne vaut pas prédiction. Il traduit une inquiétude : l'intelligence artificielle a atteint un niveau de puissance qui ne permet plus d'abandonner sa régulation aux seuls acteurs qui la développent.

Le débat change ainsi de nature. Hier, la question était : jusqu'où l'intelligence artificielle peut-elle aller ? Aujourd'hui, elle devient : jusqu'où voulons-nous la laisser aller ?

Entre les deux se trouve le droit.

C'est ce qui rend intéressante une séquence apparue quelques semaines plus tôt à Porto-Novo.

Interrogé le 28 août par des enfants reçus à l'Assemblée nationale sur les dangers de l'intelligence artificielle et des réseaux sociaux, Joseph Fifamin Djogbénou refuse la réponse facile de l'interdiction. Il parle d'éducation, de discernement et de responsabilité. Mais il pose aussi la question de l'encadrement législatif.

Le propos mérite d'être considéré au-delà de la circonstance.

L'enjeu n'est déjà plus de choisir entre la technologie et le droit. Il est de savoir comment le droit accompagnera une technologie capable de transformer nos manières d'apprendre, de travailler et de produire, mais aussi de tromper, de surveiller ou de nuire.

C'est toute la difficulté de l'intelligence artificielle : ses promesses et ses risques procèdent de la même puissance. Réguler ne signifie donc pas arrêter le progrès. Réguler, c'est décider ce qui doit rester humain. C'est déterminer les responsabilités. C'est protéger les libertés. C'est empêcher que la puissance technique finisse par fixer elle-même les limites que la société n'aurait pas su définir.

Pour l'Afrique, la question est plus décisive encore. Le continent ne peut être seulement consommateur d'innovations conçues ailleurs et soumis ensuite à des normes élaborées ailleurs. Il doit prendre part à la définition des règles qui gouverneront ces technologies. C'est aussi ce que révèle, à sa manière, la réflexion engagée à Porto-Novo.

Après son échange avec les enfants, Joseph Djogbénou a reçu, en septembre, des experts de l'intelligence artificielle venus du Canada. La rencontre a prolongé la réflexion sur les usages de cette technologie, sa gouvernance et la nécessité d'un cadre adapté. La séquence prend aujourd'hui un relief particulier.

Bill Gates vient de donner à l'alerte une résonance mondiale. Quelques semaines auparavant, Joseph Djogbénou avait déjà placé la question sur le terrain où elle finit nécessairement par arriver dans une démocratie : celui du droit et du législateur. Quand une technologie commence à transformer profondément la société, la question de ses limites finit toujours par se poser. Puis vient le temps du droit et pour l'intelligence artificielle, ce temps est venu.

Romain L. KIKI

Mariam Daher preparing for her Tawjihi examinations in the temporary learning spaces in Gaza. Credit: Education Above All Foundation

By Hani Shehada
DOHA, Qatar, Oct 2 2026 (IPS)

In the 21st century, getting a pencil into Gaza became international news. In January, after more than two years of restrictions, UNICEF finally brought in learning kits with pencils and exercise books. Textbooks stayed out. By then, the UN had recorded damage to 97.5 per cent of Gaza’s schools.

If a pencil makes headlines, consider what a national examination demands: question papers printed for thousands of students, answer sheets scanned, halls furnished and staffed. In Gaza, education officials started by pulling damaged photocopiers from beneath the rubble, stripping their usable parts and rebuilding enough machines to keep the exam alive. It worked. More than 95,000 students have sat the Tawjihi, the national secondary school examination that decides who can compete for a university place.

This week, world leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly under the banner of “a United Nations that delivers for all“. The effort behind Gaza’s examination poses an uncomfortable question to that promise: when does celebrating a solution make it easier to tolerate the problem? Scholars writing from Gaza have warned that praising Palestinian resilience reassures outside observers and releases them from the duty to act.

At a school damaged by the war near Mashrou’ Amer in southwestern Gaza City, Education Above All Foundation and UNDP have established 10 temporary learning spaces. Credit: Education Above All Foundation

Israel classifies thousands of items as “dual-use“, spare parts among them, and bars or limits their entry. Technicians harvested parts from other machines. Repairing the printers and scanners took more than 90 days. The printers ran on old ink stocks, because new ink faced restrictions too. Until recently, paper itself could not enter Gaza.” and drop the fallback plan after it.

Exam halls also needed seats and desks. Little wood reaches Gaza. Carpenters build tables from scrap and shipping pallets, and families burn whatever they find to cook and keep warm. Staff repaired chairs and desks with timber from the pallets that carry aid. Every liter of fuel for an examination center required coordination. All of it happened under strikes that never fully stopped, which have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect.

An examination also needs people. Every center needed invigilators while many education staff receive only a fraction of their salary. Before assigning anyone, the ministry first had to establish who was still alive. The war has killed more than 21,000 students and educational staff since October 2023.

A school teacher leads a lesson inside one of Gaza’s temporary learning spaces established by Education Above All Foundation and UNDP.
Credit: Education Above All Foundation

This year, Gaza’s candidates took the Tawjihi online, many on phones in tents and cafés, while the ministry worked to bring the exam back into halls. With support from the State of Qatar, Education Above All Foundation, UNDP and the ministry have set up 110 learning spaces, partly for that purpose. Planners intended these spaces, a mix of prefabricated units and tents, as a transition. Gaza’s students are using them for years, while sun, heat, humidity and cold wear them down.

Gaza’s people now crowd into less than 40 per cent of the Strip. Crews must clear rubble and check for unexploded ordnance before they can build. When they clear land for a learning space, displaced families can move onto it and stay. Others shelter in partly destroyed buildings. A school site now competes with the most basic need of all: somewhere to live.

Picture one of those 95,000 candidates. She has studied for this exam for years, first at a desk at home, then by phone light in a tent. The war has taken her father, perhaps her mother too, and most of the family who would have waited for her results. She may walk on crutches where a leg used to be. Strikes still fall at night, and she revises anyway. All she wants is the chance to sit the exam. Behind that chance stand a salvaged photocopier, a rebuilt desk and a negotiated liter of fuel, each one liable to fail. The UN reports that shortages once managed through reuse have become unmanageable, and critical systems are failing. Judged against a cancelled examination, against a school able to order a replacement part, it reveals an avoidable burden.

I am from Gaza, and I work for one of the foundations that funds this response. That makes the question personal: have we become so used to celebrating what Palestinians can salvage that we no longer ask why they must salvage it? An examination held amid continuing strikes is an achievement. It is also evidence of a world that has allowed the conditions for education to be dismantled.

As the speeches in New York wind down, leaders can measure their words against practical tests. Let paper, printer parts, school furniture and textbooks into Gaza without months of negotiation. Fund classrooms built to last years, not seasons. Pay the teachers who keep the system running. Gaza’s educators have shown what they will do to keep education alive. The question before the world is what it would take for Gaza’s schools to stop needing miracles.

Hani Shehada, Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, and is Regional Manager at Education Above All Foundation’s Al Fakhoora programme.

IPS UN Bureau

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

Gaza's educators rebuilt photocopiers from rubble to keep a national exam alive. As world leaders wrap up their week in New York, they should count what that feat cost.

Members of Smallholder Farmer Alliance in Haiti with first harvest of regenerative cotton. Credit: Thomas Norielle/SFA

By Hugh Locke
NEW YORK, Oct 2 2026 (IPS)

In November 1952, the United States detonated the world’s first thermonuclear device at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The test, code-named Ivy Mike, erased the island of Elugelab and scattered a signature of plutonium across the planet that remains in lake beds, ice sheets and ocean sediments today.

This month, scientists writing in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment proposed this moment as the start of the Anthropocene, a geological epoch shaped by human activity. Co-author Victor Galaz of the Stockholm Resilience Centre called the date “a tragic reminder of the highly unjust impacts of planetary change.”

I take that proposal seriously, because it carries hope as well as warning, and it connects to the argument of my new book, Whole Earth Farming.

Hugh Locke

A few years ago I proposed the word epoch to describe the period we are living through. It has two meanings. A historical epoch is a period set off by significant change, such as the Renaissance. A geological epoch is defined by rock layers and usually spans millions of years, though the current Holocene began only about 11,700 years ago. The two have never arrived together in human history. I believe they are arriving together now.

The idea of the Anthropocene was popularized in 2000 by Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen. In 2020, a paper in Nature found that human-made materials now outweigh all living things on Earth. Yet in 2024, the International Union of Geological Sciences declined to formally recognize the Anthropocene. Officially, we are still in the Holocene.

The new paper, led by Jan Zalasiewicz, Colin Waters and Martin J. Head, draws on 12 stratigraphic records worldwide and identifies the 1952 rise in plutonium as the clearest marker of the new epoch. Whatever the geologists decide, the substance stands: human beings have become a force of planetary consequence.

Nobody set out to launch a new geological epoch. The Anthropocene is the unintended result of billions of decisions about energy, industry, consumption and land use. That is sobering. It is also, strangely, encouraging.

If humanity can alter the chemistry of the atmosphere without meaning to, then we are clearly capable of transformation at planetary scale. The only question is whether we can do it on purpose, in a direction that heals rather than harms.

Galaz’s point about injustice matters too. The Marshall Islanders had no say in what happened at Enewetak, yet bore its consequences. Those who contributed least to planetary change are often hit hardest, among them the world’s smallholder farmers. Any real transformation must put them at the center.

There are some 475 million smallholder farming families in the world, roughly one quarter of humanity, and yet they are largely absent from conversations about the future of food and climate.

Whole Earth Farming argues that these families could lead an agricultural revolution. It draws on 21 farmer stories from 18 countries and on decades of work, including in Haiti, where I co-founded the Smallholder Farmers Alliance. Its central argument is that if half the world’s smallholders adopted regenerative practices, they could produce all the additional food needed by 2050 while reducing agriculture’s net climate impact.

There is a fitting symmetry here. The Holocene began with a climate stable enough for humans to start farming. The Anthropocene could likewise coincide with a new global agricultural movement, one that restores the land rather than depleting it.

The changes of the 1950s spread without any global plan, as new tools and habits moved from place to place until they gathered their own momentum. A regenerative transformation can spread the same way: through practices that work, farmers who see them working on a neighbor’s land, and the support to adopt them.

The farmers in the book are already rebuilding soil, planting trees alongside crops and restoring water cycles. What they lack is not ingenuity but recognition, investment and connection to one another.

I once suggested that the historical epoch now taking shape will one day be named for the moment we began to reorganize ourselves around the principle of oneness. I still believe that.

The Anthropocene is, in one sense, the geological record of our failure to see ourselves as one people sharing one planet. A regenerative transformation led by smallholders would be the opposite: a practical expression of oneness, rooted in the recognition that the health of the land, the wellbeing of the farmer and the future of humanity are inseparable.

If a single morning in 1952 can mark a new chapter in the Earth’s geological history, then surely the choices of hundreds of millions of farming families can mark a new chapter in human history. We have already proven that we can change the planet. Now it is time to prove that we can do so with intention, with justice, and with the whole Earth in mind.

Hugh Locke is president and co-founder of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, president of the Impact Farming Foundation and author of Whole Earth Farming: Smallholders and the Great Regenerative Transformation (George Ronald Publisher, 2026).

IPS UN Bureau

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

What a 1952 bomb test tells us about the power of 475 million farming families

The Council gave its final green light to new EU rules enabling more effective returns for those with no right to stay in the EU.

Le Ramadan 1448 devrait débuter en février 2027, une dizaine de jours plus tôt qu’en 2026. Les calculs astronomiques le situent autour du lundi 8 […]

L’article Ramadan 2027 en Algérie : quand commencera le mois sacré ? est apparu en premier sur .

A voter mobilisation campaign has registered huge numbers of young people but it is not clear who they are backing.

A voter mobilisation campaign has registered huge numbers of young people but it is not clear who they are backing.

Du Sénégal au golfe de Guinée, des enquêtes documentent l'implication de navires chinois ou contrôlés par des intérêts chinois dans des pratiques de pêche illégale. Les captures de juvéniles, les incursions dans les zones interdites et les débarquements échappant aux contrôles fragilisent un secteur essentiel aux économies côtières et à la sécurité alimentaire. Face à cette pression, comment les États renforcent leur surveillance ?

Les armateurs chinois derrière les pavillons

L'identification des propriétaires réels constitue le premier enjeu. Au Ghana, une enquête d'EJF publiée en 2018 estimait qu'environ 90 % de la flotte industrielle de pêche était liée à des intérêts chinois. Ce chiffre historique décrit une structure de propriété, pas une proportion de navires coupables d'infractions. Au Sénégal, un rapport de 2025 estime que 43,7 % des navires autorisés sont contrôlés par des intérêts étrangers, principalement chinois. Les sociétés mixtes et les pavillons locaux compliquent l'identification des bénéficiaires réels.

Les infractions documentées jusqu'aux ports

En Guinée, Greenpeace avait observé, entre octobre et novembre 2014, 16 activités de pêche illégale impliquant 12 navires chinois ou détenus par des intérêts chinois. Ces observations anciennes établissent un précédent, sans mesurer la situation actuelle. L'alerte se poursuit en 2026. En juillet, EJF publie une enquête fondée sur des témoignages concernant l'aileronnage de requins à bord de thoniers appartenant à des intérêts chinois et taïwanais faisant escale à Dakar. L'ONG décrit des débarquements d'ailerons échappant aux contrôles portuaires.A u Ghana, une enquête publiée en février 2026 documente l'utilisation de filets illégalement modifiés et le débarquement de poissons trop petits. Dans les échantillons étudiés, 97 % des sardinelles rondes sont sous la taille minimale légale. La capture de ces poissons avant leur reproduction compromet le renouvellement des stocks. Parmi les pêcheurs artisanaux interrogés, 94 % signalent une baisse de leurs captures et 87 % une diminution de leurs revenus.

Quelle riposte des États face aux pertes économiques

Les pertes annuelles sont estimées à 70 millions de dollars au Nigeria et à 33 millions au Cameroun. Ces évaluations anciennes, toujours citées, concernent l'ensemble de la pêche illégale : elles ne permettent pas d'isoler la responsabilité des opérateurs chinois. À la fin d'août 2026, une opération nigériane conduit à l'arrestation de 33 personnes, dont trois ressortissants chinois. Ces arrestations ne valent pas condamnation. En août, le Comité des pêches du golfe de Guinée Centre-Ouest examine également un registre régional des navires autorisés, testé au Nigeria. En Guinée, les autorités et la FAO ont travaillé, en octobre 2025, au renforcement des contrôles portuaires.La publication des propriétaires réels, le partage des licences et l'application des sanctions doivent protéger les recettes publiques, les emplois côtiers et l'approvisionnement des populations en poisson.

Les sociétés-écrans et les captures revendues aux populations

Le recours d'opérateurs chinois à des sociétés-écrans locales pour immatriculer leurs chalutiers sous pavillon ghanéen et contourner les restrictions à la propriété étrangère est désormais un fait établi. La pêche illégale alimente ensuite un circuit commercial, les chalutiers capturent de petits poissons, notamment des juvéniles, puis les congèlent et les revendent aux communautés côtières. Historiquement, ces cargaisons étaient transférées en mer à des pirogues spécialement adaptées, selon la pratique interdite du « saiko ». L'enquête publiée par EJF en février 2026 indique que ces transbordements ont fortement reculé, mais documente toujours l'utilisation de filets illégalement modifiés et la commercialisation de poissons sous la taille légale. La dissimulation des propriétaires complique l'identification des responsables, tandis que les captures interdites deviennent une source de revenus.

Le magazine français GEO consacre un article à l’Algérie et propose dix idées de sorties pour la découvrir. De la Casbah d’Alger aux dunes de […]

L’article Casbah, Tipaza, Djanet… les 10 idées du magazine GEO pour visiter l’Algérie est apparu en premier sur .

Le maire de Cotonou a officiellement accepté la démission du Secrétaire exécutif de la mairie, Anges Paterne Amoussouga.

Dans une lettre d'acceptation en date du 1er octobre, signé par son chef cabinet, le maire Luc Gnacadja prend acte de la démission de Anges Paterne Amoussouga et remercie le Secrétaire exécutif pour les services rendus à la Commune.

Le maire souhaite au SE démissionnaire plein succès pour la suite de son parcours.

M. Amoussouga continuera toutefois d'exercer ses fonctions jusqu'au 31 octobre 2026, date effective de sa démission.

La mairie précise que cette acceptation ne constitue pas un quitus de gestion. Les contrôles et éventuelles suites prévus par les textes restent donc applicables.

M. M.

Le Tribunal de commerce de Cotonou vient de créer une formation spécialement chargée des affaires commerciales comportant un élément international. La nouvelle chambre devra notamment traiter les différends impliquant des entreprises étrangères et certaines procédures liées à l'arbitrage international.

Par ordonnance, rendue publique le 29 septembre 2026, le président du Tribunal de commerce de Cotonou, Romain KOFFI a créé la Chambre des Contentieux de Commerce International (CCCI/S1).

Cette formation est rattachée à la première section du tribunal, déjà compétente pour plusieurs contentieux spécialisés. Elle aura notamment à connaître des affaires opposant des entreprises étrangères, mais aussi des dossiers dans lesquels se pose une question de conflit de lois.

La chambre pourra également examiner les demandes portant sur la reconnaissance de sentences arbitrales rendues à l'étranger. Son fonctionnement est prévu autour d'une audience ordinaire tous les quinze jours, les premier et troisième lundis de chaque mois. Des audiences extraordinaires pourront toutefois être organisées.

Des juges choisis pour leur expérience

La présidence de cette chambre sera assurée par le président du tribunal ou par un magistrat désigné en cas d'empêchement. Pour les juges consulaires, l'ordonnance prévoit une sélection prioritaire fondée sur leur expérience des pratiques et usages du commerce international.
La saisine pourra se faire par voie électronique, soit directement par les parties, soit à la suite du renvoi d'un dossier par une autre chambre du tribunal.

M. M.

La Loterie Nationale du Bénin vous donne les résultats du TIERCE / QUARTE/ QUINTE+ DU JEUDI 01 OCTOBRE 2026

Arrivée de la course : 15-03-14-01-09
Tous Partants

TIERCE
Gain dans l'Ordre : 124.500 FCFA (04)
Gain dans le Désordre : 24.900 FCFA (13)

QUARTE
Gain dans l'Ordre : NEANT (00)
Gain dans le Désordre : 37.200 FCFA (13)

QUINTE+
Gain dans l'Ordre : 580.050 FCFA (01)
Gain dans le Désordre : 19.200 FCFA (05)
Bonus : 3.900 FCFA (56)

PARI SIMPLE / PARI COUPLE
15 Gagnant : NEANT (00)
15 Placé : NEANT (00)
03 Placé : 3.000 FCFA (01)
14 Placé : NEANT (00)
15-03 Gagnant : 10.000 FCFA (03)
15-03 Placé : 4.750 FCFA (15)
15-14 Placé : 18.250 FCFA (04)
03-14 Placé : 3.000 FCFA (23)

MASSE PARTAGÉE : 2.446.000 FCFA

MONTANT DU JACKPOT DU VENDREDI 02 OCTOBRE 2026 : 6.292.042 FCFA

MONTANT DE LA TIRELIRE DU MARDI 27 OCTOBRE 2026 : NEANT

CAGNOTTE « 4+1 » ORDRE DU SAMEDI 03 OCTOBRE 2026 : 1.166.502 FCFA

DIGITAL 20H : Avez-vous tenté votre chance ?

Le tirage DIGITAL 20H N°227 a livré son verdict !

Jeudi 1er Octobre 2026

Avez-vous joué ?

Avez-vous misé sur vos numéros porte-bonheur ? .
RÉSULTAT : 21 • 05 • 28 • 51 • 33

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Deux individus, dont un mécanicien, ont été interpellés à Houndjava, dans l'arrondissement de Pahou, après la découverte de cinq motos dissimulées dans une chambre. L'opération fait suite aux investigations engagées après le vol d'une moto à Akpakpa, à Cotonou.

Une enquête ouverte après le vol d'une motocyclette à Akpakpa (Cotonou) a permis de localiser l'engin à Houndjava, un village de l'arrondissement de Pahou, commune de Ouidah.

Au total, cinq motocyclettes d'origine douteuse ont été retrouvées dans la même chambre.

Deux suspects ont été interpellés, selon une publication de la Police républicaine en date du 1er octobre 2026.

Les motos retrouvées ont été placées en fourrière pour les besoins de la procédure.

M. M.

LES RÉSULTATS LOTO FORTUNE SONT LÀ !

TIRAGE N°157/26
Jeudi 01 octobre 2026 (18H)

87 • 57 • 08 • 83 • 69

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Il vient des moments où vous pénètre intensément la mémoire d'une figure dont l'œuvre a exercé une influence considérable sur la construction de votre perception de rapports spécifiques au monde.

Ainsi en est-il, au commencement de la deuxième quinzaine de ce mois de septembre 2026, du souvenir du travail du penseur camerounais Jean-Marc Ela et cela avec une telle prégnance que nous ne pouvions rester sourd à ce souffle d'ancêtre. En effet, par son œuvre, Jean-Marc Ela s'est élevé au rang d'ancêtre fondamental, un « Dagbo Togbo » comme l'on dirait dans l'aire culturelle Adja du sud du Bénin et du Togo. Jean-Marc Ela fut d'ailleurs sacré « ancêtre » par un collège de dignitaires attitrés au Cameroun.

Attentif à cette résurgence insistante de la mémoire de Jean-Marc Ela je sus qu'il était né un 27 septembre de l'an 1936. Et ce dimanche 27 septembre 2026 allait donc marquer les 90 ans de sa naissance. Dès lors, le souffle nous murmura que c'est un « kossi ou kouassi ou kwesi » comme on le nommerait dans les aires culturelles et spirituelles Adja ou Akan du Ghana et de la Côte d'Ivoire, qui signalait son omniprésence comme une renaissance dans notre conscience. De ce fait, vérifier que le 27 septembre 1936 coïnciderait avec un dimanche fut une synchronicité immédiatement établie.

Qui est Jean-Marc Ela ? Quelle est l'essence de son œuvre ? s'interrogeront sans doute les lecteurs et lectrices des générations montantes. Elles disposent d'innombrables ressources documentaires en ligne pour les édifier à loisir. Nous les invitons à se plonger dans une telle exploration comme une immersion dans une quête initiatique fécondante. Tel est l'un des objectifs de ce modeste devoir de mémoire. Exhorter la postérité à piocher les sillons tracés par un ancêtre laborieux.

Jean-Marc Ela — Wikipédia
Jean-Marc Ela - La Garenne de philosophie
Jean-Marc Éla : une éthique de la transgression | Cairn.info
Jean-Marc Éla : le veilleur s'en est allé | Africultures
Après avoir parcouru quelques notes autour de l'œuvre du Professeur Jean-Marc Ela, le lecteur a tôt fait de réaliser qu'en pensant les réalités des sociétés africaines sous les prismes variés du sociologue, anthropologue, philosophe, théologien, Jean-Marc Ela s'est aussi penché sur les réalités de la société humaine mondiale en général. L'une de ses quêtes majeures fut l'exigence de plus d'attention aux conditions des plus défavorisés, une plaidoirie sans fard pour des sociétés humaines plus justes et davantage solidaires.

Nous voudrions nous référer à l'ouvrage de grande notoriété « L'Afrique des villages » publié aux éditions Karthala en 1982, qui traita avec beaucoup d'acuité des problématiques agraires et de la condition de la paysannerie dans une « Afrique noire mal partie » comme l'écrivait l'agronome français René Dumont. Le regard de Jean-Marc Ela ne fut pas seulement celui d'un intellectuel hors sol mais aussi celui d'un homme de praxis. Il s'est donné à vivre de longues années au milieu des paysans « Kirdis » du nord Cameroun et a partagé leur rude condition au quotidien.

L'ouvrage « La ville en Afrique » paru en 1983 mérite autant d'attention. Les anciennes générations connaissent les problématiques qui prévalaient en Afrique deux décennies après les indépendances et qui hélas validèrent l'avertissement lancé par René Dumont dans son célèbre ouvrage à l'aube des indépendances en 1962 : « L'Afrique noire est mal partie ». Nous étions mal partis. Il s'agit maintenant après près de soixante-dix ans de ne pas se fourvoyer, de ne pas se tromper d'itinéraire.

Au total, hier comme aujourd'hui et encore demain, les chemins vers des villes viables et vivables passent par des villages viables et vivifiants.

Que nous dirait Jean-Marc Ela aujourd'hui ? les orientations et les voies qu'emprunte la civilisation sur le village planétaire ne sauraient nous faire perdre de vue qu'il faut rechercher et maintenir les équilibres. A l'ère de l'automatisation numérique tous azimuts, à l'ère de l'IA, de ladite « intelligence artificielle » triomphante, d'autres intelligences doivent cheminer de concert pour éviter que des failles s'ouvrent sous les pieds de l'humanité.

Des valeurs artificielles construites, établissent, imposent des rapports, des normes, des échelles de valeurs à l'avantage des intérêts des acteurs détenteurs, propriétaires des artefacts afférents. Cet état de fait va instituer comme toujours des rapports construits de sujétion, d'exploitation, de domination, d'accaparement. Les valeurs artificielles ne sauraient seules présider à la direction du monde.

L'intelligence agraire, l'intelligence agricole partagées participent de ces autres IA dont nous devons résolument tenir les rênes et les gouvernails en vue d'un cheminement équilibré sur la terre.

L'œuvre de Jean-Marc Ela a fait et continue de faire l'objet d'innombrables échos. Il appartient aux générations montantes et à la postérité de s'en saisir, de s'en imprégner, d'adapter et étendre cette œuvre pour accompagner les défis de taille qui se posent à l'Afrique, au monde, à la civilisation humaine. Car effectivement, le défi reste titanesque comme souligné dans le roman magistral « l'initié », une œuvre intemporelle du doyen des lettres africaines et universelles, Olympe Bhêly Quenum, dont nous honorons les cent ans d'âge en ce même mois de Septembre 2026.

G. Théophile Nouatin