Quatrième épisode sur cinq de ma série « Proche-Orient : comment en est-on arrivé là ? ».
Il demeure très difficile d’aborder l’islamophobie, si ce n’est pour la nier, voire contester l’usage même du terme. C’est particulièrement le cas en France, prétendument au nom de la laïcité.
Pourtant, il est établi que les personnes musulmanes sont devenues la cible de discriminations graves et sont fréquemment associées à des notions telles que le terrorisme, la violence ou encore l’antisémitisme. La laïcité est aujourd’hui instrumentalisée pour être mobilisée contre l’islam, tandis que l’islamophobie est largement invisibilisée dans le débat public.
Dénoncer cette réalité devient d’autant plus difficile que cela s’accompagne souvent d’accusations d’encourager le communautarisme ou d’entretenir une forme de complaisance envers le terrorisme.
L’article Islamophobie : déni et réalité | Proche-Orient : comment en est-on arrivé là ? (4/5) est apparu en premier sur IRIS.
L'UNESCO lance un appel à projets dans le cadre du programme UNESCO-ASCHBERG au profit des artistes et professionnels de la culture. C'est un appui aux initiatives visant à protéger et promouvoir le statut de l'artiste et la liberté artistique. Les propositions de projet doivent etre soumises au plus tard le 23 février 2026, par voie électronique, à l'adresse suivante aschberg@unesco.org.
Ambiance particulière ce lundi 26 janvier à Kinshasa. Dans plusieurs coins de la capitale, une rareté des véhicules de transport en commun (bus, taxis-bus et motos) a été observée. Conséquence directe : de nombreux habitants ont opté pour la marche à pied. À l’origine de cette situation, le contrôle routier annoncé par le gouverneur de la ville.
Les Forces armées de la RDC (FARDC) ont repris, depuis dimanche 25 janvier, le contrôle de plusieurs localités occupées pendant quelques semaines par les miliciens Wazalendo dans le groupement Kasenga Numbi et Kulu, dans le territoire de Kailo (Maniema). C’est à l’issue d’affrontements intervenus depuis jeudi dernier jusqu’en fin de semaine.
Le Bénin obtient 201 milliards FCFA de la Banque Islamique de développement (BID) pour la reconstruction et la modernisation de la route Godomey–Ouidah-Hillacondji. Le financement a été approuvé lors de la 363e réunion du Conseil de la BID en décembre 2025.
Le Bénin bénéficie d'un soutien financier important de la BID pour le secteur des transports. Il s'agit d'un montant de 306,89 millions d'euros, soit environ 201 milliards de FCFA pour le projet de dédoublement et de modernisation de la route Godomey – Ouidah – Hillacondji. Ce financement a été approuvé lors de la 363ᵉ réunion du Conseil de la BID tenue en décembre 2025.
Ce projet d'envergure s'inscrit dans la dynamique de modernisation des infrastructures routières engagée par le gouvernement béninois. L'objectif est de renforcer la capacité de cette voie, d'améliorer la sécurité routière et de fluidifier considérablement le trafic.
La modernisation de cet axe stratégique du corridor Abidjan-Lagos contribuera à renforcer l'intégration régionale et à stimuler les activités économiques, notamment le transport de marchandises et la mobilité des personnes. Au-delà de l'amélioration de la circulation, ce projet aura un impact socio-économique significatif. Sa mise en œuvre va générer de nombreux emplois directs et indirects.
Le financement approuvé par le Conseil de la BID s'élève à 1,365 milliard de dollars en faveur de douze pays membres.
Le 1er adjoint au maire de la commune de Pèrèrè, Zakaria Yarou Kpinro est décédé ce samedi 24 janvier 2026. Il a été inhumé ce dimanche 25 janvier à Gounkparè.
Zakaria Yarou Kpinro, 1er adjoint au maire de la commune de Pèrèrè est décédé ce samedi 24 janvier. Le défunt est candidat aux élections communales de 2026 dans l'arrondissement de Guinagourou. Selon les informations, il est décédé des suites d'une courte maladie. L'homme politique a été inhumé dimanche 25 janvier dans son village natal de Gounkparè, arrondissement de Guinagourou.
A travers un communiqué, la Haute Direction Politique de l'UP-R a rendu hommage à un « responsable exemplaire » et présenté ses condoléances à la famille biologique.
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Since 2004, the European Union (EU) and India have fostered a strategic partnership, with Summits held over the years to strengthen their relations. Despite periodic inconsistencies and obstacles that have hindered the partnership’s growth, their collaboration appears to have gained renewed momentum in 2025. Attention has been growing for the upcoming 2026 Summit, which has the potential to serve as a crucial opportunity to deepen their ties. This policy brief reviews their bilateral interactions, addresses current challenges in the EU-India relations, and explores expectations for the upcoming Summit. It also underscores Greece’s role in identifying new opportunities to deepen EU-India cooperation and suggests measures to further enhance their strategic partnership.
Read here in pdf the Policy paper by George Dikaios, Marie Curie Fellow, Leiden University; Senior Research Fellow, ELIAMEP and Marianna Terezaki, Junior Research Fellow, ELIAMEP.
La consommation et l’approvisionnement en électricité en Chine ont fait l’objet de profondes mutations depuis le début des années 2000. Secteur relativement marginal au début du siècle, dans une économie dominée par l’usage direct du charbon, l’électricité est devenue l’un des secteurs énergétiques les plus stratégiques pour le gouvernement chinois qui en a fait l’une des priorités de son dernier plan quinquennal (2021-2025).
Ce rapport propose un état des lieux des enjeux du développement de la production, du transport et de la consommation d’électricité pour la Chine, ainsi que des risques associés. Cette introduction s’adresse principalement au lecteur non spécialiste du sujet et contient : un bref récapitulatif du choix d’architecture global du système électrique effectué par la Chine comparativement aux réseaux européens et américains ; une analyse du profil électrique de la Chine et des grandes tendances observées depuis le début du siècle ; une interprétation des enjeux de politique interne associés à cette architecture et à ce profil de production/consommation, déterminants pour comprendre la stratégie électrique chinoise tant en interne que dans sa projection à l’international et qui seront développés dans la suite du rapport.
À téléchargerL’article L’architecture électrique chinoise et ses enjeux de sécurité est apparu en premier sur IRIS.
Hat hónap után már kézzelfogható gazdasági eredmények látszanak Romániában, és ez elsősorban Ilie Bolojan miniszterelnök érdeme – állítja Ludovic Orban, a Jobboldali Erő elnöke. A politikus a Facebokon közzétett bejegyzésében úgy vélekedett: ezeket az eredményeket annak ellenére sikerült elérni, hogy a kormány „pokoli politikai zajban” dolgozik, a koalíció „behúzott kézifékkel” működik, nagy az intézményi ellenállás, […]
Articolul Továbbra is az AUR vezet a közvélemény-kutatásokban apare prima dată în Kolozsvári Rádió Románia.
Simon Péter János Ferenc a kolozsvári Telefonpalota munkatársaként, 1990 januárjában mintegy 30 városbeli lakásban szerelte le másodmagával a Securitate lehallgató készülékeit. A távközlési szakember így találkozott Marius Tabacuval, Augustin Buzurával, Csép Sándorral, Kántor Lajossal. Lászlóffy Aladárral, de ő hatástalanította a Gáll Ernő lakásába plántált két szerkezetet. Fekete-fehér film tanúskodik a történtekről, meg egy telefondugasz, amelyet […]
Articolul A Nagy testvér apró „figyelmességei” apare prima dată în Kolozsvári Rádió Románia.
Credit: Abubaker Lubowa/Reuters via Gallo Images
By Inés M. Pousadela
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jan 26 2026 (IPS)
When Ugandans went to the polls on 15 January, the outcome was never in doubt. As voting began, mobile internet services ground to a halt, ensuring minimal scrutiny as President Yoweri Museveni secured his seventh consecutive term. Far from offering democratic choice, the vote reinforced one of Africa’s longest-running presidencies, providing a veneer of democratic legitimacy while stifling competition.
Four decades in power
Museveni’s four-decade grip on power began with the Bush War, a guerrilla conflict that brought him to office in 1986. Single-party rule lasted for almost two decades, deemed necessary for national reconstruction. The 1995 constitution granted parliament and the judiciary autonomy and introduced a two-term presidential limit and age cap of 75, but maintained the ban on political parties.
With one-party rule increasingly called into question, Museveni restored multi-party politics in 2005. However, he simultaneously orchestrated a constitutional amendment to remove term limits. In 2017 he abolished the age restriction, allowing him to run for a sixth term in 2021.
Recent elections have been marked by state violence. Museveni’s 2021 campaign against opposition challenger Bobi Wine was defined by government brutality, with over a hundred people killed in protests following Wine’s arrest in November 2020. Another opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, has been arrested or detained more than a thousand times over the years.
Museveni promoted his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to Chief of Defence Forces in 2024. Kainerugaba has openly boasted on social media about torturing political opponents, reflecting a regime that no longer bothers to conceal its brutality. His rise signals a potential hereditary handover.
Civic space shutdown
In the face of a credible opposition challenge, this year’s election required more than constitutional tinkering: it demanded the systematic restriction of civic space. The Trump administration’s dissolution of USAID in early 2025 helped Museveni here, because it was catastrophic for Ugandan civil society. Almost all US-funded Good Governance and Civil Society programmes were cancelled, hollowing out the civic education networks that once reached first-time and rural voters. State propaganda filled the vacuum.
A coordinated assault on dissent followed. Between June and October, climate and environmental activists were repeatedly denied bail, spending months in prison for peacefully protesting against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. The regime’s reach extended beyond borders: in November 2024, Besigye was abducted in Nairobi and appeared days later at a military court in Kampala, charged with capital offences despite a Supreme Court ruling declaring military trials for civilians unconstitutional. Museveni simply legalised the practice in June 2025.
Intimidation intensified as the vote neared. Authorities arrested Sarah Bireete, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Governance, without a warrant, holding her for four days in violation of constitutional limits. In his New Year’s Eve address, Museveni explicitly instructed security forces to use more teargas against opposition supporters, whom he called criminals. In the days that followed, security forces used teargas, along with pepper spray and physical violence, to disperse opposition rallies. Hundreds of Wine supporters were abducted or detained.
The government dismantled the infrastructure needed for independent monitoring. Authorities suspended five prominent human rights organisations, and two days before voting, the Uganda Communications Commission implemented a nationwide internet shutdown, ostensibly to prevent disinformation. The blackout ensured election day irregularities would go undocumented.
Election irregularities and violence
Election day was plagued by technical failures, but Wine, again the major challenger, also claimed wholesale ballot stuffing and the abduction of polling agents. The Electoral Commission head admitted receiving private warnings from senior government figures against declaring some opposition candidates as winners.
International observers attempted diplomatic language, noting the environment was ‘relatively peaceful’ compared to 2021 while expressing serious concerns about harassment, intimidation and arrests. They recognised that the internet blackout hindered their ability to document irregularities.
Post-election violence claimed at least 12 lives. The deadliest incident occurred in Butambala district, where security forces killed between seven and 10 opposition supporters. Wine was placed under house arrest while the count was held in opaque conditions. Results were announced by region rather than polling station, limiting monitors’ ability to validate them. According to the official count, Museveni won with around 71 per cent, while Wine’s tally dropped to 25 per cent from 35 per cent in 2021. Turnout stood at just 52 per cent, meaning over 10 million eligible voters stayed home.
A generational breaking point
Ugandans’ median age is 17; 78 per cent of people are under 35. Most have known only one president. Wine, a 44-year-old singer turned politician whose music had long resonated with young Ugandans’ frustrations, campaigned on promises of change. But he’s now been defeated twice in a highly uneven race.
Young people have sought other ways to make their voices heard. In 2024, they took to the streets to protest against corruption, but they were met with security force violence and mass arrests.
Avenues for change appear blocked. Opposition parliamentary representation is insufficient for meaningful reform. Civil society groups face restrictive laws and lack international support. International partners are quiet because Uganda is strategically valuable: it provides troops for regional operations, shelters two million refugees, facilitates Chinese and French oil drilling and recently agreed to accept US deportees.
Given his advanced age, Museveni is unlikely to run again in 2031. But with authority increasingly concentrated on a tight inner circle of relatives, democratic transition may be less likely than an eventual transfer of power to his son. Uganda’s young majority faces a difficult choice: accept a status quo that offers no prospects or confront a security apparatus that has spent years perfecting its use of violence.
Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Head of Research and Analysis, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report. She is also a Professor of Comparative Politics at Universidad ORT Uruguay.
For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org
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L'athlète béninoise Georgette Vignonfodo intègre l'équipe continentale féminine du Centre Mondial du Cyclisme (CMC).
A 18 ans, la jeune athlète Georgette Vignonfodo rejoint une équipe continentale féminine pour la saison 2026. Il s'agit de celle du Centre Mondial du Cyclisme (CMC), basé à Aigle, en Suisse. Elle devient ainsi la toute première cycliste professionnelle de l'histoire du Bénin à intégrer une équipe continentale. Cette sélection prestigieuse place la jeune athlète parmi une élite très restreinte. Sur un effectif total de dix coureuses retenues, seules cinq sont africaines. « Je suis prête à relever le défi et à donner tout ce que j'ai pour y arriver », a confié Georgette Vignonfodo.
En intégrant cette équipe continentale féminine, la jeune béninoise bénéficie désormais d'un encadrement professionnel de haut niveau, d'infrastructures modernes et d'une exposition sur les compétitions internationales. Au-delà de la performance individuelle, cette intégration ouvre une nouvelle perspective pour le cyclisme béninois.
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La République du Sénégal a réitéré, lundi à Rabat, son soutien ferme et constant à l'intégrité territoriale du Royaume du Maroc et à sa souveraineté sur l'ensemble de son territoire national, y compris la région du Sahara.
Cette position a été exprimée dans le Communiqué conjoint adopté, lundi à Rabat, à l'issue des travaux de la Grande Commission de Coopération maroco-sénégalaise, co-présidée par le Chef du gouvernement, M. Aziz Akhannouch et le Premier ministre sénégalais, M. Ousmane Sonko.
La partie sénégalaise a renouvelé son plein appui au plan d'autonomie sous souveraineté marocaine présenté par le Maroc comme la seule solution crédible, sérieuse et réaliste pour le règlement de ce différend régional dans le cadre exclusif des Nations Unies.
Elle s'est également félicitée de l'adoption historique, le 31 octobre 2025, par le Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies, de la résolution 2797 qui consacre, dans le cadre de la souveraineté marocaine, le plan d'autonomie proposé par le Maroc, comme seule base, sérieuse, crédible et durable pour parvenir à une solution politique à ce dossier.
Au Nord-Kivu, au moins quatorze maisons, un centre de santé et une partie de l’église catholique de Musenge ont été incendiés ce lundi 26 janvier lors d’une attaque attribuée aux ADF. L’incident s’est produit aux alentours de 20 heures dans ce village de la chefferie de Baswagha, situé dans le sud du territoire de Lubero. Deux militaires y ont perdu la vie lors de la contre-attaque de l’armée.
Credit: White House
Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” built around heads of state, including Russia, is structurally ill-suited to end the Israel–Hamas war and to govern postwar Gaza in any sustainable way.
By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Jan 26 2026 (IPS)
At a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Trump unveiled his newly formed Board of Peace to end the Israel-Hamas war. During a press conference in the White House, he explained that he created the board because “The UN should have settled every one of the wars that I settled. I never went to them. I never even thought to go to them.”
He claimed that the Board of Peace will be dealing with ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. He invited many heads of state to join the Board and threatened to impose heavy tariffs on the countries of those who refused. Paradoxically, he also invited Russian President Putin to join the pack.
Even a cursory review of the Board’s structure—its executive make-up, role, and responsibilities—makes it glaringly clear that he placed himself at the forefront of everything, from operations to ultimate decision-making. He basically codified US dominance, as long as he ran it.
He granted himself the authority to veto any decision he did not like, to invite or remove any board member, to approve the agenda, to designate his successor, and even dissolve the board entirely. Furthermore, he reserved a central role for himself even after leaving the presidency.
Shortcomings of the Board and its Structure
In more than one way, the creation of this board dissolves the American-built post-war international system and builds a new one with himself at the center. And while Trump is striving to consolidate authoritarian power domestically, he now wants to project himself on the international stage as if he were an Emperor, presiding over a board composed largely of heads of state. Although board members can have their say, they are nevertheless structurally subordinated to him.
No Seat for the Primary Stakeholders
The Board of Peace and the parallel Gaza Executive Board are designed to sit above a technocratic Palestinian committee, with no Palestinian political representative given a seat at the top table, despite their being primary stakeholders. Hamas is required to disarm, without specifying how, and to withdraw from administrative governance.
The Palestinian Authority is relegated to an “apolitical” managerial role, which in effect reproduces the long-standing problem of trying to impose solutions over Palestinians instead of negotiating with them. This has repeatedly undermined past peace frameworks and offers no pathway towards sustainable regional or world peace.
Conflict of Interests
The board is chaired by Trump himself, with membership effectively bought via a $1 billion “permanent seat” fee, creating apparent conflicts between profit, prestige, and peacemaking. Russia, Israel, Gulf monarchies, and others who have direct stakes in arms sales, regional influence, and energy routes, are not neutral guarantors but interested parties likely to instrumentalize Gaza for their own strategic agendas.
Colonial-Style Trusteeship
The architecture explicitly envisions international figures and heads of state supervising Gaza’s reconstruction, security, and governance, effectively turning Gaza into a protectorate administered by external powers.
Human rights advocates and regional observers are already criticizing this as a colonial-style trusteeship that denies genuine sovereignty, which is already generating local resistance, delegitimizing the arrangement, and providing ideological fuel for militant spoilers.
Israeli and Regional Objections
Israel’s leadership has publicly objected to the composition and design of the Gaza bodies. It is enraged over the role of Turkey and Qatar, forcing Netanyahu to distance himself from aspects of the plan even while joining the board under pressure from Trump.
Nevertheless, the Israeli government views key members of the Board and mechanisms as hostile or at odds with its security principles. Israel will either hinder implementation or hollow it out in practice, turning the board into an arena for intra-allied conflict rather than conflict resolution.
Great Power Rivalry Inside the Board
Ironically, the board anticipates concurrent participation by rivals such as Russia, the EU, and US-aligned states, while at the same time, Moscow is resisting US-backed peace terms in Ukraine and leveraging Middle East crises to weaken Western influence. This arrangement invites the board to become another theater of great power competition, where Russia, Hungary, Belarus, and others can obstruct or dilute measures that do not serve their broader geopolitical interests.
This is not to speak, of course, about the widespread concerns and suspicions among European leaders about Putin’s adversarial relations at the table, which is a recipe for discord and prevents concrete action.
Unclear Legal Basis
Another big hole in Trump’s Board is its framing as an alternative to, and possible replacement for, the United Nations, without any legal foundation, universal membership, or binding authority under international law.
A self-selected club by Trump of mostly invited heads of state, tied to a particular US administration and anchored in significant financial contributions, lacks the procedural legitimacy to impose security arrangements, adjudicate disputes, or credibly guarantee Palestinian rights over the long term, to which Trump pays no heed at all.
Overambitious, Under-Specified Mandate
The board’s responsibilities have already expanded from supervising a Gaza ceasefire to a broad charter “promoting stability” and “resolving global conflict,” which is ostentatious and will never come to fruition, while indicating mission creep before it even begins.
Such a variable mandate, with multiple overlapping structures (Board of Peace, Gaza Executive Board, Founding Executive Board), is almost guaranteed to generate bureaucratic turf wars, paralysis, and incoherence—particularly once crises beyond Gaza compete for attention and resources.
To be sure, this is just another of Trump’s stunts, always pretending that he is the only one who can come up with out-of-the-box ideas. Like many of his initiatives, this so-called Board of Peace one falls into the same category—transactional and reversible.
It is a grandiose idea that cannot be sustained structurally, has no enforcement capability, and relies on a contradictory algorithm to allow it to fulfill its mission, which, in any case, remains open-ended and unrealistic.
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.
IPS UN Bureau
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