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In this edition of the FRANCE 24 Interview, Delano D'Souza sits down with Imran Amed, founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion. Amed opens up about his company, the industry at large and the importance of greater diversity at all levels of fashion.
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Dr Bernice Albertine King is the youngest daughter of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. She is the CEO of The King Center. FRANCE 24 went to meet her to talk about her father's struggle and the march on Washington 60 years ago, during which Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech on August 28, 1963. Bernice explains that it took courage for her father to make such a speech, as it represented a threat to the existing order. She also reminds us how, in the speech, he gave a global vision of the world in which we could coexist as a family, as a community, in peace, in justice, in freedom and in equality.
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From infrastructure to security, transport to ticketing, Paris still has a series of challenges ahead before it hosts the world's biggest sporting event from July 26, 2024. One year before the Games begin, FRANCE 24 sat down with Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee, who also discussed the importance of the highly awaited opening ceremony on the River Seine.
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In an interview with FRANCE 24, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned Russia's recent strikes on Ukraine's Black Sea ports in the wake of Moscow's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. "Russia's objective is to provoke the increase of [a] global food crisis, export its own grain without any hindrances and make as much money as they can," Kuleba said. "But the people of Ukraine and Africa are paying the price." He added: "Russia will fill its pockets to fund [its] war machine, at the expense of Africa”.
Kuleba said recent Russian strikes on the Ukrainian port of Reni, on the border with NATO member Romania are a way for Russian President Vladimir Putin to "test the reaction of NATO".
"NATO has to react firmly and decisively in response to this," he said. He confirmed that "Russian ships, wherever they are in the Black Sea, become legitimate targets" in response to Moscow's own warning that civilian ships heading to Ukrainian ports would now be targets.
The top Ukrainian diplomat vowed that Kyiv would "keep trying" to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative following Russia's withdrawal. He added, however, that if this is not feasible, an alternative sea route to export Ukrainian grain needs to be put in place, as well as ensuring exports to Europe.
Kuleba said he was aware of Russian attempts to export its grain via Qatar and Turkey. He said it would be "shameful" for any country to take part in such a deal, adding that the move shows that Russia "want to make more money, benefitting from higher prices provoked by their own actions".
He said it would be "unacceptable" for Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria to block Ukraine's agricultural exports beyond a September 15 deadline that was previously agreed.
"One of the reasons why Russia is destroying Ukrainian agricultural grain infrastructure is because they want to provoke additional tensions between Ukraine and its neighbours," he argued. "We should not play Putin's game."
Upcoming Russia-Africa summit 'a whitewashing instrument'The top Ukrainian diplomat claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was hosting a Russia-Africa summit later this week in St Petersburg "as a whitewashing instrument for his reputation", and not in order to benefit the continent.
Regarding the Wagner paramilitary group's presence in Africa, Kuleba noted that Ukraine had "a valuable amount of information" that could help African countries beef up their security.
Turning to the issue of weapons, Kuleba said that while Ukraine is seeking US-made long-range ATACMS missiles, Kyiv is already receiving long-range missiles from the UK and France. "So this is not the item that we do not have. We need more but in principle, we have it," he said. He added that demining material was also "a very topical need".
Finally, with regards to talks over US-made F-16 fighter jets, he said "this deal is done". He noted that if Ukraine received the fighter jets, Kyiv would "not depend on Russian blackmail in exporting Ukrainian grain to global markets".
"The sooner we receive them, the sooner we will be able to launch a new corridor," he said. If this happened, "millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain will make it to the global market, stabilising prices, lowering them, helping people to avoid famine and most importantly, depriving Russia of its blackmail leverage on the world."
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Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told FRANCE 24 that he had decided to open fresh investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the ongoing fighting in Sudan. He said his office had received numerous reports from many sources of crimes such as destruction of property, executions, killings and rapes.
Khan added that he had informed both camps, the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, of his move. “We have to find a way to make sure that this time, people are held responsible in a timely fashion,” he said.
He also pledged to "leave no stone unturned" to bring war criminals to justice. He refused to describe some of the crimes committed in West Darfur as “genocide”, saying he couldn’t prejudge the investigation. “The law must mean something” to the people now displaced and fleeing for their lives, he said.
Khan indicated having met both of the warring generals in the past and that they are fully aware of his work to investigate crimes and their perpetrators. He acknowledged that he is not allowed to visit Sudan, despite trying to do since fighting broke out in April. “The door is closed, and there is a deliberate policy of non-cooperation from all parties,” he said. In order to gather evidence, he pointed to satellite imagery, refugees in neighbouring countries and an online portal set up by his office to facilitate the reporting of information by witnesses. In regard to ex-president Omar al-Bashir and two of his ministers, against whom arrest warrants were issued by the ICC for their actions in Darfur two decades ago, he said they were no longer in custody.
He called on the international community to step up its commitment to bring justice to the people of Sudan. “If we don’t act, we’re going to be viewed as irrelevant and purveyors of false hope and false promises,” he warned – be it in Sudan, Ukraine or Libya. “If we keep showing that we’re not fit for purpose in times of peril, we run the risk of diluting the impact of something that it took the Holocaust and the second World War to create,” he added.
The failure to do justice to Darfur two decades ago “has sown the seeds for this second round of violence. We need to finally get up and smell the roses. [If we don't,] we’re going to see more violence. We can’t be a toothless tiger,” he concluded.
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In an interview with FRANCE 24, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that Taiwan welcomed the final communiqué of the NATO summit, which criticised China's "stated ambitions and coercive policies". He stressed that NATO had "stated the truth" and that Taiwan appreciated that NATO was "paying attention" to the threat posed by Beijing in the Indo-Pacific region. Wu also said that Taiwan agreed with the US government's assessment that China's President Xi Jinping had not yet decided whether China would attack Taiwan by 2027. "We see no imminence in the Chinese military actions and war is not unavoidable," Wu said.
Wu pointed out that while the war in Ukraine has had severe global economic consequences, a war in the Taiwan Strait would be a "disaster" for the world because about half the world's goods pass through the waterway and approximately 90 percent of high-end semiconductor chips are produced in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese foreign minister said Russia and China were beefing up their military cooperation, pointing to joint military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region. "Russia remains very active" in the Far East despite the war in Ukraine, he stated.
'We see no imminence in the Chinese military actions'He said Taiwan agreed with the US government's assessment that Chinese President Xi Jinping had not yet decided whether China would attack Taiwan by 2027. "We see no imminence in the Chinese military actions and war is not unavoidable," Wu said. He added, however, that China was "posturing to pressure" Taiwan and trying to reach its goal without the actual use of force.
Wu added that the threat existed and pointed to China's military drills close to Taiwan as a strategy to "compress" Taiwan's reaction time in the event of a conflict. He said Taiwan was trying to "beef up" its defence capabilities and hailed its close cooperation with the US.
Finally, Wu urged the European Commission to begin negotiations with Taiwan over a bilateral investment agreement, noting that that it was also in Europe's interest to start negotiating with Taiwan.
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On the eve of next week's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told FRANCE 24 he was confident an agreement could be forged to bring Ukraine closer to NATO. In addition to providing practical support and creating a Ukraine-NATO council, he said that a text was being drafted to chart a way forward for Ukraine's future membership in the Atlantic Alliance.
Stoltenberg also stressed that despite claims to the contrary, Ukraine is making progress on the battlefield. He said Western countries were stepping up their weapons deliveries, pointing to the delivery of long-range missiles by the UK, which "is making a difference". He noted that that the training of Ukrainian pilots on F16 fighter jets had begun. While he refused to predict a Ukrainian victory in the coming months, he stated that "Ukraine has the equipment, the training, the ammunition" needed and that NATO is committed to supplying them.
The NATO chief condemned Russia's announcement that it would deploy short-range nuclear weapons to Belarus as "irresponsible nuclear rhetoric". While both the Russian and Belarusian presidents have said that the weapons had begun arriving in Belarus, he noted that NATO hadn't seen any such deployment, only preparations. He added that no change had been detected in the Russian nuclear posture and, as such, NATO had not been required to change its own nuclear posture. With regards to the Wagner mercenary group, he said he hadn't seen large units relocate to Belarus. Asked about the whereabouts of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, he said "we have intelligence" but that it would not be appropriate for him to share it publicly.
As for Sweden's NATO membership bid, which is being held up by Turkey, Stoltenberg said there had been "progress" in recent talks he hosted at NATO between both sides and that he would convene a meeting of the leaders of both countries in Vilnius. However, he stressed that there was "no certainty" that this would be enough to break the deadlock. He said that Sweden had delivered on its pledge to toughen its anti-terrorism laws and that it was "time to ratify its membership".
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In an interview with FRANCE 24, the French Minister of State for International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou discussed the issue of violence in French society, among its youth as well as whether it exists at the institutional level, following the riots sparked by the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel on June 27. "I don't accept that France is a racist country… I am an example. I was born in Greece. I became French, and President Macron appointed me minister because he promotes diversity, he promotes inclusion." She also expressed her confidence about the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris and underlined the efforts of France to redefine its relationship with Africa.
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On July 7, 2021, Haiti's then-president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by a commando of mercenaries in Port-au-Prince. Two years on, his widow Martine Moïse, who survived the attack, spoke to FRANCE 24 from the Haitian capital. Although several suspects have been arrested over the murder, "the present government seems to be involved" and "things are not going well in Haiti for the investigation", Moïse said. Nevertheless, she insisted that "the truth will come out" eventually.
"We do have an idea of who is behind all this," Martine Moïse said of her husband's murder. Haiti's then-president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on July 7, 2021 by a commando of Colombian mercenaries at his private residence in the capital Port-au-Prince. However, "it's up to the investigators to say who it is", his widow added.
On June 2, dual Haitian-Chilean citizen Rodolphe Jaar was sentenced to life in prison in the United States for his role in Moïse's murder. Ten other people accused of planning the assassination from Miami, Florida are currently being held in the US.
The United States has taken "a step in the right direction" with the sentencing of Jaar, Moïse conceded, while calling for the International Criminal Court to get involved in the case – "the last recourse" possible.
Justice 'for the people'She believes that justice must be done above all "for the people" of Haiti, so that they "can at least come to terms with all this".
Moïse went on to say that the current prime minister, Ariel Henry, "has never had any legitimacy" and "is part of the problem". Haiti is suffering from gang violence as well as a deep humanitarian crisis, coupled with profound political instability.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 4.9 million Haitians – almost half the population – do not have enough to eat. Some 1.8 million of them are at serious risk of starvation.
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The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi spoke to FRANCE 24 from Vienna and stated that his teams had not observed any Russian military deployment inside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, despite Ukrainian authorities claiming that Moscow was preparing to attack the site.
Speaking to FRANCE 24 from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, Grossi said that on June 15 he went to Zaporizhzhia. He said the situation was "serious" but stabilising at the nuclear power plant after the destruction of the nearby Kakhovka dam, whose water was used to cool its six reactors.
"Initials measures were taken by the management of the plant to preserve the needed amount of water, but this will not be enough on the long term," Grossi warned.
The increase in military activity on the frontline with the Ukrainian counter-offensive adds "an additional layer of concern over a situation which is extremely volatile because the plant is sitting on the front line", Grossi recalled.
In the context of combat, "the plant is incredibly fragile and open to damage in case of an exchange of fire", he added.
On June 22, President Volodymyr Zelensky asserted that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia had made all the preparations for an attack on the power plant, which could cause a nuclear catastrophe.
Grossi asserted that he "didn't see that kind of development" on the ground, but also that "anything can happen, that is what worries me".
Monitoring Iran's nuclear activitiesGrossi also raised concern about Iran's nuclear programme. According to his last report, Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium has increased by more than a quarter in three months.
Nevertheless, he said, "we agreed that Iran collaborates with the agency, limiting some activities, allowing us to add more monitoring capacities".
Negotiations for a rehabilitation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in 2015, failed in September 2022 and US President Joe Biden’s administration seems to favour an informal and unwritten agreement with Tehran.
Any discussion leading to de-escalation is welcome, said Grossi.
"If there is any alternative kind of agreements, I hope we will be invited to verify that whatever commitments are taken are for real, and not just a piece of paper," he concluded.
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The United States’ special climate envoy John Kerry assesses efforts to secure funding for climate action and the green transition in an interview with FRANCE 24 on the sidelines of the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted world leaders at a summit in Paris to thrash out funding for the climate transition and post-Covid debt burdens of poor countries, hoping to secure billions of dollars in investment from the private sector.
“There are trillions of dollars waiting to be invested,” Kerry, a former US secretary of state, told FRANCE 24. “That’s what President Macron was addressing in this summit: how do we take those trillions of dollars and excite them to get into the market now in developing economies?”
The former top diplomat said “a lot of good suggestions were put on the table” during the two-day summit, but that challenges remained.
“There are currency challenges, political challenges, so everybody has to step up and begin to take the risk factor out of these investments,” he said.
Read moreExclusive: France's Macron calls for international taxation in push for climate solidarity
Touching on the debt trap holding back the world’s poorer countries, Kerry pointed to growing consensus that global financial institutions including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund needed “to be fine-tuned” in order to tackle the climate emergency.
The US envoy also stressed the need for Washington and Beijing to cooperate on the climate transition, noting that “climate is one issue where both President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden have said we should not be the prisoners of other issues”.
He added: “China and the United states together equal about 40% of all the emissions; if we can’t cooperate together, it’s really going to be hard to reach the goal.”
Click on the player above to watch the full interview.
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In an interview with FRANCE 24 on the sidelines of the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, Kenya President William Ruto said the world's multinational financial architecture needs to be "fixed". He also reacted to the ongoing conflict in Sudan, saying "there are already signs of genocide". More than 2,000 people have been killed there since fighting broke out on April 15.
"We pay, especially those of us from the Global South and on the African continent, up to eight times more for the same resources, because of something called risk," Kenya's Ruto said. Calling the current system "broken", "rigged" and "unfair", Ruto said the multinational financial architecture needs to be "fixed". He also insisted on the importance of clarifying climate financing in order to deal with poverty and the "existential threat" of climate change.
Ruto narrowly won re-election in August 2022, but his opponent Raila Odinga claims to have won instead and has since been organising protests. Ruto said: "I don't have a problem with Raila Odinga, we are competitors. I have no problem with Raila Odinga organising protests (...) It's part of democracy."
Turning to the deadly conflict in Sudan, he said: "There are already signs of genocide. What is going on in Sudan is unacceptable. Military power is being used by both parties to destroy the country and to kill civilians. The war is senseless, the war is not legitimate in any way."
Ruto said he had a regional meeting about the situation in Sudan two weeks ago in a bid to stop the war. But he added: "The issue will not be resolved until we get General al-Burhan, General Hemedti, political leaders and civil society – women's groups and youth groups – to the table." He insisted that this was "feasible".
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Pakistan's former prime minister and PTI party leader Imran Khan was released on bail on May 12 after being arrested on graft charges. Since then, he says he has been "isolated" at his home, cut off from the senior leadership of his party, while thousands of his supporters have been arrested. "Anyone who supports PTI is either arrested or has gone underground," he told FRANCE 24 from his home in Lahore.
Dozens of Khan's supporters who are suspected of attacking army installations during protests that followed his arrest have been handed over to the Pakistani military for trials. This "new tactic (...) of military courts basically means the end of our democracy," Khan said.
He denounced an "unprecedented crackdown" by a government "desperate to dismantle" his party, comparing it to Adolf Hitler using the 1933 fire of the Reichstag in Berlin to go after his enemies.
Khan said he had offered to form a committee to dialogue with the authorities and that he was ready to step aside if this could help. But he offered little hope that this would succeed. After demanding early elections for months, he indicated that he was now willing to accept that federal elections be held as scheduled in October. However, he added that he doubted the ruling majority would hold them, out of concern that his party would triumph.
Khan said he still fears for his life after two assassination attempts. "I am not at all safe," he told FRANCE 24.
>> Read more: Pakistan's top court declares arrest of ex-PM Imran Khan 'invalid'
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FRANCE 24 spoke to exiled Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomarev, the political representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion. This Ukraine-based paramilitary group of Russian volunteers has been involved in cross-border incursions into Russia's Belgorod region in the past last few days. Ponomarev claimed the pro-Ukrainian, anti-Putin group "didn't lose a single soldier" and is successfully making progress inside Russia. Ultimately, "our guys will be in Moscow and Putin will not be in the Kremlin," he predicted.
Speaking to FRANCE 24 from Kyiv where he lives in exile, Ponomarev claimed the Freedom of Russia Legion "didn't lose a single soldier" while launching this week's cross-border raids from Ukraine into Russian territory.
He denied claims by Russian authorities that they have crushed the paramilitary forces, killing 70 fighters.
Along with the far-right Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), the Freedom of Russia Legion has taken control of a 40-kilometre strip along the Russian-Ukrainian border and is advancing inside Russia, he added.
>> Read more: Ukraine denies Russian accusations of attacking border region of Belgorod
Ponomarev acknowledged that his paramilitary group, whose ultimate objective is to overthrow the Russian regime, received a "green light" from the Ukrainians before launching the raids, as his troops "are part of the Ukrainian military".
Nevertheless, the former Russian lawmaker insisted that "not a single Ukrainian soldier has entered Russian soil", calling the raids "a totally autonomous operation by Russians inside Russia".
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FRANCE 24 spoke to Evgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition activist who was recently sentenced to 25 years in jail by a Moscow court for "high treason" because of his outspoken criticism of the war in Ukraine. Kara-Murza sent a message to her jailed husband: she will "never stop fighting" for him. She also discussed the current situation in Russia and said she felt unable to return there as she feared the authorities would arrest her to "put pressure" on her husband.
Speaking to FRANCE 24 from Washington, Evgenia Kara-Murza said her "only contact" with her jailed husband "since his arrest in April of last year has been through his lawyers".
Although "his spirit is and has always been very strong", "his health, unfortunately, is not that good," she said of her husband. She explained that Kara-Murza has a nerve condition called polyneuropathy – a consequence of two severe poisonings in Russia in 2015 and 2017 – and that "his symptoms seem to be getting worse" in jail.
Asked why activists like her husband and jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny return to Russia despite the risks, she said: "People who protest in Russia nowadays face the entire arsenal of Soviet-style repressive techniques that include punitive psychiatry, torture, physical violence, sexual violence and prison terms going up to 15 years for just saying no to the war (...) So Vladimir that believed that it was his duty to stand with these people fighting the regime in Russia."
>> Read more: Last remaining voices of the Russian opposition are being silenced amid war in Ukraine
Asked if she would consider returning to Russia, she replied: "If I go to Russia, I will be imprisoned – not because I'm someone important, not because the authorities are afraid of me as they are afraid of Vladimir – but because they would want to hold me hostage to put pressure on Vladimir. I cannot allow for this to happen. I cannot put my husband in this situation."
Kara-Murza called on Western governments to "adopt sanctions against those people who have been proven to have been implicated in gross human rights violations".
Asked about her husband's belief that "the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate", she said: "Every dictator believes himself to be invincible until he falls. So it will happen with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin as well. But it's not going happen if we don't do anything to bring this day closer."
Kara-Murza said the downfall of the Putin regime would depend on a number of factors. She went on to cite "Ukraine's victory in this war on Ukraine's terms"; "economic sanctions that would weaken the regime" plus "targeted sanctions" against top Russian individuals; as well as "support and solidarity with that part of Russian civil society that continues protesting both inside and outside of the country."
"Everything should be done to make this regime collapse so that people can get a chance at building a democracy in our country," she added.
She concluded with a message for her husband: "I love him, I want him back and I will never stop fighting for him."
Evgenia Kara-Murza is scheduled to speak at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on May 17.
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In an interview with FRANCE 24, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin's Victory Day speech in Moscow on Tuesday, saying Putin celebrated the 1945 victory against the Nazis even while "attacking Kyiv", referring to a barrage of cruise missiles lobbed at the Ukrainian capital overnight. Mykhailo Podolyak went on to say that any Ukrainian counter-offensive would include attempts to retake Crimea and the occupied territories of the Donbas region.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, spoke to FRANCE 24 from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which was once again hit by Russian missiles overnight.
"Russian politicians are celebrating the victory in 1945 on Red Square and yet they're still attacking Kyiv, a peaceful city," Podolyak said. "Russia is waging war against a civilian population."
Counter-offensive will include 'liberation of Crimea and parts of Donbas'Ukrainian authorities have been saying since early spring that a counter-offensive is imminent. "To avoid having Russia rearming, regrouping and remobilising its troops, we need to keep pushing forward so we can bring this war to an end as soon as possible," Podolyak said, adding that "a protracted war will only benefit Russia".
The counter-offensive will include the liberation of "territories in the Crimean peninsula and areas of the Donbas region occupied in 2014", he said, referring to Russia's illegal annexation and occupation of Ukrainian territories eight years before its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Wagner boss's remarks 'clearly reflect' dissentPodolyak believes that an effective counter-offensive would force the Russians to abandon their positions and hopefully bring about "some level of political change in Russia".
He said Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's recent criticism of the Russian defence establishment illustrates that there are stark divisions in Russia's military apparatus. After threatening to leave Bakhmut, where Wagner is fighting Ukrainian forces, Prigozhin railed against the Russian army and the state on Tuesday, accusing Moscow's top generals of trying to "deceive" Putin over the war.
For Podolyak, these remarks "clearly reflect" the dissent within the Russian establishment as well as the conflict between the Russian defence ministry and Prigozhin.
"If we (Ukraine) can win some strategic battles against the Russian army, that will further exacerbate the conflict within the Russian elite," he concluded.
Podolyak emphasised that European security is also at stake in the war. If the status quo continues in Russia, he said, it will "continue to carry out blackmail activities, terrorism, political assassinations and continue to fund radical movements throughout Europe".
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In an interview with FRANCE 24, Angola's President Joao Lourenco said he did not think an all-out war between Rwanda and DR Congo was on the horizon. He said he was hopeful that his mediation efforts to restore peace in DR Congo's east would bear fruit. Lourenco explained that the M23 rebel group was upholding a ceasefire reached a few weeks ago and that the next step was for the group to be contained and disarmed.
Lourenco said Angola was ready to send 500 troops to the region to accomplish this task. He stressed that what was needed now was to speed up the process, indicating that the Congolese authorities still had to fully prepare for that stage. He said Rwanda's President Paul Kagame had been helpful in putting Angolan officials in contact with the M23 leadership. As such, he said this showed Kagame was keen to help find a solution rather than fuelling violence, as per the claims of Congolese authorities.
The Angolan president expressed deep concern about the escalating violence in Sudan, urging a ceasefire and an urgent search for a long-lasting solution. With regards to the war in Ukraine, he distanced himself from Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who has claimed Ukraine's leader is as responsible for the war in Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin. He stressed that Angola is staunchly in favour of preserving the territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine. He called on China and the US to join hands in finding a solution to this war, arguing that only the two superpowers working in tandem could achieve such an outcome.
With regards to former Angolan president Eduardo dos Santos's daughter Isabel dos Santos, who is accused of embezzling public funds, Lourenco said she had nothing to fear if she has nothing to hide. He said a red notice for her arrest had been issued by Interpol, but refused to speculate on whether it would be implemented in the near future.
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FRANCE 24 spoke to Natalia Gavrilita, who was prime minister of Moldova from August 2021 until February 2023. She reacted to the recent protests calling for the resignation of President Maia Sandu, saying that a US State Department document "clearly indicates evidence of Russian meddling in Moldova's democratic process". She also stressed that Moldova is "not looking to join the EU for the name only", but rather that "we are ready to do the hard work [and] transform the country, because this is actually better for the Moldovan people".
Speaking to FRANCE 24's Angela Diffley, former Moldovan PM Gavrilita welcomed the resolution passed by the European Parliament underlining the strategic importance of Moldova joining the EU, noting that MEPs also "talked about the energy blackmail that we are facing from Russia".
"This is very important for our people to know that the efforts that Moldova is making on the path towards accession to the EU (...) are being recognised", added Gavrilita, who is also vice-president of the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity.
Moldova currently has EU candidate status.
