Global News Podcast - French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

France to provide relief and security to people in Mayotte, after Saturday's destructive cyclone. Also: Western powers step up their engagement with the new rulers of Syria. And Serbia accuses journalists of spying.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. You are bound to devote yourself to the long conflict between the light and the dark. The Dark is Rising, an immersive audio adventure, adapting Susan Cooper's classic fantasy novel into a gripping 12 part family drama. Everything had changed. The dark is rising. Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts. BBC World Service. Hello, I am Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 14 Hours GMT on Monday, the 16th of December. Two days after a devastating cyclone, French ministers arrive in the Indian

Ocean territory of Mayotte. Western powers step up their engagement with the new rulers of Syria, and the government of Serbia is accused of spying on journalists and activists. Also in this podcast. The level of Serbia is accused of spying on journalists and activists. Also in this podcast... The level of violence, both in terms of the number of people that seem to have been killed

and also how they were treated afterwards. That's really the surprising thing. Evidence of possible cannibalism in Bronze Age Britain. Bronze Age Britain. It has taken them two days to get there but three ministers from France have now arrived in Mayotte, the French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean that was hit by cyclone Cheedo on Saturday. Local officials say hundreds of people may be dead, possibly even a thousand or more. In the past couple of hours a senator has told journalists that people are starting to die of thirst and hunger. Three quarters of people

on the islands live below the poverty line, at least a third in shanty towns where homes were flattened. The storm was the most destructive in Mayotte for 90 years with winds of at least 225 kilometres an hour. The deputy head of the Red Cross in the region, Eric Samvar, gave us an update on the devastation. The information we have from the field is that the situation is chaotic. Damages are massive. Most of the concrete buildings have been partially or totally damaged and all the smaller constructions have been totally destroyed. The telecommunication is still very complicated and difficult, so

the information is coming up very slowly to us. Mayotte is poorer than any other region of France and questions are being asked about whether the French government could have done more to protect people there from extreme weather. Stephen Turton is a Professor of Environmental Geography at Central Queensland University in Australia. I would have thought that there should have been some tropical cyclone shelters provided on the islands so people could go somewhere and it turns out even some places that were seen as being safe like schools actually lost their roofs. Those shanties had no, they had

no chance at all of the winds of that kind of speed and I just think this is benign neglect by the French government to be quite honest for one of their overseas territories. It's happened now and I hope they learn from this and do something to make sure the people are saying next time because there will be a next time for sure. After hitting Mayotte, Cyclone Chido made landfall in Mozambique. It has now weakened but could bring heavy rain to Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Our correspondent in Zimbabwe, Shingai Nyokha, is monitoring the situation on Mayot. From what we understand rescuers are racing against time, working under really difficult

conditions to try to get to some of those places that have been cut off in the wake of the devastation. The cyclone Chino, we understand, hit largely the poorest areas. So these were shanty towns that were built on the hillside, built with very flimsy material, like corrugated sheeting. And so the rescuers are working to try to find survivors, but people were swept away. They were buried under the rubble, trees

were uprooted, buildings were destroyed and so the infrastructure has also been destroyed, the roads were damaged, so it's made it incredibly difficult to try to access some of those places and so we've heard that so far the death toll is in the dozens but as you mentioned there it could rise to several hundreds and even several thousands as suggested by local authorities. The three French ministers who flew in landed at an airport with a control tower damaged. It's taken them two days to get there, a sign of how difficult it will be to get supplies

into Myot. Yes it is and they've arrived there with support. They've brought firefighters as well as soldiers. We understand that there's a lot of help that is still trying to get to Mayotte via ship and via air. Hundreds of support of rescuers are on the ground and there's an expectation that up to 800 will be deployed to that area,

but it's under really difficult conditions. As you point out there. The airport equipment was destroyed and so the primary focus right now is not just to provide medical assistance, shelter and food but also to restore some of those critical services including communication, electricity and water. Services which were not great at the best of times. I understand there were water shortages not too long ago. It's a territory which had a lot of challenges, one might say. It is actually the poorest overseas territory under France, but it also was plagued by a lot of problems. There's

a lot of illegal immigration. It's a small population, about 300,000 people, and there are about 100,000 illegal immigrants. are about a hundred thousand illegal immigrants. There was a lot of gang violence, there was also a lot of social unrest. It's a territory that's very reliant on support and assistance from France and so even under the best of conditions it was a territory that was struggling. And the wider region, the storm went on to hit Mozambique and now heading to where you are? Yes it is and it's weakening thankfully for a lot of people as it's moved westwards. It made landfall in Mozambique, caused a lot of flash floods, uprooted trees, destroyed buildings

and is now making its way towards southern Malawi and Zimbabwe where we're really bracing for a lot of flooding. Shingai Nyokka in Harare. After 20 months of civil war, Sudan is suffering a humanitarian crisis. Nearly 12 million people have fled their homes. Famine is looming. And in October, a UN fact-finding mission said the scale of sexual violence there was staggering. Now the campaign group Human Rights Watch is calling on the UN and African Union to step in to protect women and girls, accusing the paramilitary rapid support forces

of widespread rapes. Here's spokeswoman Belkis Villay. There's actually no UN mission dedicated to Sudan. There was one formally, but that was shut down. As a result, you really have no institution inside of Sudan that is there to protect civilians. This would require real leadership from the UN Security Council, from the African Union, to decide to put their foot down that this level of abuse against civilians is enough and that something needs to be done to stop it. And that really is, you know, people entering Sudan on the ground from the UN, from the African Union, setting up a mission to provide protection to civilians and particularly to provide protection for women and girls who are being raped in this way and being held as sex slaves.

Belkis Villay from Human Rights Watch. Sudanese women's rights campaigner Hala Al-Karib told us more about the problem. Sexual violence is central in this world and other forms of violence against women and children and women and children's bodies have been used as war tools in Sudan. Terrible campaign of atrocities. It's extremely rampant. It happens all over the country. Dangerous issue about the Arabic support forces is that they are using sexual violence systematically as a war strategy. It's being used, you know, terror and to implant fear and control. And it's used in such a structural way, very intentional way.

Sudanese women's rights campaigner Hala al-Kharib. A week on from the fall of President Assad, Western powers have been stepping up engagement with the new rulers of Syria, despite their jihadist origins. Officials from the US and Britain have made contact with the authorities in Damascus, while an EU envoy is also heading there. Syria's neighbour Israel is more wary of the Islamist rebel group Ha'at Tahrir al-Sham, which is now in charge. The Israelis have carried out hundreds of airstrikes on military targets across Syria in the past week, as we heard from our international editor, Jeremy Bowen. The Israelis essentially think that the Western countries are deluding themselves.

These people are certainly Islamists. They may well be jihadists. They come from that background, don't take any risks, bomb them to places, bomb away their military infrastructure and safeguard the country that way. On the other hand, there are those who believe in Western countries it's necessary to deal with Syria and try to make it into a stable country. Now the new rulers of this country say that they are Islamists, but they want to have a pluralistic, diverse society. Of course, it's only a week, so it's a bit too early to say the way that it will go. Syrians lost agency as individuals

to the regime for half a century. The country itself ceased to be the arbiter of its own affairs during the war when a lot of foreign countries intervened in what was going on, not least the neighbors. And I think that one of the big questions for the future of Syria, and a lot of Syrians have said to me, look, for goodness sake, the rest of the world, just leave us alone. This country is really large areas are absolutely destroyed over the years.

I've traveled extensively around it. And really wherever you go, I mean, there are some areas, say North of Hamar, every village, every town is rubble. Large parts of the suburbs of Damascus are rubble. So how on earth, I mean, to rebuild would be billions and billions and billions. So if the Gulf oil states got involved, the Saudis or the Emiratis, well, they wouldn't want to just give them money. They would want something in return for that. So I think perhaps it is a bit of a pipe dream to hope that Syria will be left alone. The question is whether countries want to use it, if you like, as a boxing ring for their own quarrels with other countries or whether they

do try to make this into a stable, better place. Jeremy Bowen in Damascus. And shortly before we recorded this podcast, Bashar al-Assad broke his silence about the events of last weekend when he fled Syria and was given asylum in Russia. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg told us more. First of all this is a statement released on the Telegram channel of the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic. Purported to be Assad's first comment since he had to flee Syria just over a week ago. So the statement basically amounts to an attempt by Assad to justify his actions in those last few hours and to deny that he abandoned Syria. So for example, he claims that he remained in Damascus until the early

hours of Sunday, the 8th of December, but then moved to the Russian air base, the Khmeimim air base in Latakia to oversee combat operations. But it became clear, he says in the statement, that the last positions of the Syrian army had fallen. And then he claims that the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes. Interestingly, Russia hasn't mentioned anything about that up till

now. Anyway, according to the statement, Moscow then requested that the commanders of the base arranged an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday the 8th of December and he flew to Moscow. He adds in the statement that at no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge. And he adds that he hopes that Syria will once again be free and independent. And how does all this square with what we heard from the Russians as President Assad and his family went to Moscow? Well, we had very little information from the Russians, but I remember going back to Sunday the 8th of December, the Russians said that Assad had agreed to

step down. A Kremlin source said he had come to Moscow. There was no talk about the Russian air base coming under attack. And actually, Russia had denied at the time taking part in negotiations before Assad's departure. So there are various things in this statement that have come out today which don't quite square with what Russia has said. Interestingly, Vladimir Putin has said absolutely nothing publicly about the fall of Assad or events in Syria. What we're now more than a week after those dramatic events, nothing from the Kremlin leader even though earlier today President Putin addressed a meeting of senior military leaders which was shown live on television,

an event I expected him to make some reference to Syria at. There was nothing at all. He spoke mostly about Russia's war in Ukraine, about the alleged threat from NATO. Nothing at all about Syria. And there could be a couple of reasons for that. For one thing, what has happened in Syria is a major embarrassment for the Kremlin when you consider that for nine years the Russians poured resources into trying to make sure that Assad stayed in power.

He was the Kremlin's main man. He was the closest ally for the Kremlin in the Middle East. But also, you know, some reports suggest that the Russians are in talks with the new Syrian leadership to try to retain their military bases, the two main Russian military bases in Syria. Steve Rosenberg in Moscow. The Serbian authorities have been using surveillance software to spy on journalists and activists. That is the accusation from pressure group Amnesty International, which says it's part of a wider repression in Serb society. I heard more from our Balkans correspondent, Guy Delaney.

So Amnesty International says it's uncovered the use of multiple different kinds of spyware by the Serbian authorities. And this spyware is targeting phones, specifically phones belonging to journalists, to civil society activists, to people involved in protests. And the really interesting aspect if you follow your spyware news is that one of the apps that they've discovered was developed locally in Serbia and it gets onto your phone and if the phone is able to be cracked and then it can start spying on you. There's also been detections of the already internationally notorious spyware, Pegasus as well.

I mean is this a surprising claim? Well I mean Pegasus is in essence it's available to governments to use around the world. There've been scandals involving it. Another tool that the Serbian authorities were found to have been using by Amnesty International was developed by an Israeli company called Celebrite. That enables law enforcement officers to unlock phones which are otherwise locked. And then the accusation from Amnesty is that while the phones were unlocked, the authorities got busy installing spyware.

But yes, I mean, authorities have been known around the world to do this to various people for various reasons, and the software has been developed for that very reason. It's the way in which Serbia is using it, which Amnesty is highlighting, saying that it's in essence a campaign of harassment against journalists and civil society activists who are just legitimately going about their business and have no reason to be the target of this sort of law enforcement activity. And have the Serbian authority said anything about this? The intelligence agency known as the BIA has responded because they were

specifically accused by Amnesty International of being involved in installing the spyware and they said that regarding the Amnesty International report which they put in inverted commas they say that they can only state the trivial sensationalism of its content indicates the purpose of Amnesty International, which is reflected in its working for the interests of individual agencies and pressure groups. So it's not even able to comment on the meaningless statements in their text, just as we do not otherwise comment on similar content. So in other words, they're saying that Amnesty is working for the opposition groups which it says are being hacked. It's a fairly predictable response, but it doesn't

perhaps make people feel any better about what's going on regarding the Serbian authorities. Our Balkans correspondent, Gaida Lorny. And still to come on the Global News Podcast. When I was two days old and brought home from the hospital, the usual thing is to take your son in your arms and say prayers in his ear. My father, instead of doing that, recited rhythms in my ear. We look back at the life of one of India's best-loved musicians. India's best loved musicians. Brave Men, who fought the Germans in the fields of France and Italy during the Second World War. Are we not fighting for us? Just for the people back home. Purple Heart Warriors, an original drama series from the BBC World Service, tells their story.

Germans surrounding all sides. Listen now by searching for dramas wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Bronze Age Britain was not thought to have been particularly violent, with no evidence that communities needed fortifications or weapons like swords to protect themselves. However, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a massacre that took place in South West England about 4,000 years ago. Analysis of bones found in a shaft at Charter House Warren suggest that at least 37 men, women, and children were killed, dismembered, and possibly cannibalized.

Professor Rick Schulting is from Oxford University. The really surprising thing about Charter House Warren is the level of violence, both in terms of the number of people that seem to have been killed and also how they were treated afterwards. And that's really the surprising thing. We know that this would have resonated through time and space and it would have been talked about through generations. Science reporter Georgina Ranard told us more. This is one of those cases when someone found a pile of bones by accident and they lay in

storage for years until scientists finally took a look. And then what this team have found from almost 3,000 bone fragments is that it was an incredibly violent attack on what they think was a whole village of people. Men, women and children were found in these remains. And there's evidence of injuries from blunt trauma. One skull I saw the picture of has a puncture wound, it's been fractured into pieces. So the experts think the victims were taken by surprise. And it's very gruesome that they found evidence that the remains were also butchered. And they think possibly even consumed or eaten, they found scrap and cut marks on the bones caused by stones, as well even as bite marks. And so it really looks at this

exceptionally bloody violent attack that they think can only have been caused by something going incredibly wrong as they put it. Going incredibly wrong, so what might have been the motives for this? So there's obviously limited evidence so far all the archaeologists have of these bone fragments, so these are just theories but they think it was something driven by a desire for revenge, motivated by extreme anger and rage. They suspect that someone in the community that was attacked perhaps had done something wrong that merited this, but it may even have been linked to accusations of something like witchcraft. The professors talked about a cycle of anger, perhaps building up over time and leading to this. There wasn't a lot of migration into England at the time. And

as you said at the beginning, there wasn't a history of fortification. So they don't think it was self-defense. And they also think that the cannibalistic element was ritualistic, so a desire to dehumanize the victims. They don't think it was down to hunger or a shortage of food because they also found animal bones. So that suggests there was enough food to go around. But as the professor said, something that would have been remembered for generations probably embedded in storytelling, those stories being shared around the fire and down through those communities. Yeah, I wonder if it was a one-off incident or we now need to rethink what we know about Bronze Age Britain?

Absolutely. So as you said, it was a time considered quite peaceful. People lived in small villages, there was the growth of agriculture and farming at the time. They do think it probably was a one-off because there isn't a lot of other evidence from the period. This is a really unique finding. But they think that probably within that community, there would have been ramifications down over the years. But at some point, it probably would have calmed down. Georgina Ranah there, our science reporter. EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the political turmoil in Georgia today.

The former Soviet Republic has been in turmoil since the pro-Russia Georgian dream won disputed elections in October. Protests intensified last month when the government announced it was putting EU accession negotiations on hold. On Saturday, parliament voted in the far-right candidate and former professional footballer Mikhail Kavaleshvili as president. The BBC's Rob Young spoke to Nino Silosani, an MP for Georgian Dream. Calling my party, the ruling party, the party who was chosen by the Georgian people as a

pro-Russian, it's a huge mistake and this is specially done from our opponents, very radical ones, and calling the government pro-Russian, it's a specific tactic that I do not want to be repeated in a very objective and very high-scale media sources. On 26th of October in Georgia, a rally was held where my political team, Georgian Dream, won the elections with clear messages, respect for Europe, that Georgia will enter European Union and become a member of European Union with dignity, peace and prosperity. After this, we had a very important date. A few days ago, we elected a new president, Mikhail Avrolyashvili, who was a member of our political team for three convocations and he was one of the very vocal person fighting against the Saakashvili regime. He is a real patriot of his country. I would like to say...

The outgoing president, Zorav Peshvili, says that the new president is illegitimate because the parliament which has chosen him is illegitimate because the election was rigged? She herself is not legitimate and she's anti-constitutional subject because the Constitutional Court declared her that she violated the Constitution. She was legitimately elected as president though? Yes but you have to mention that she was elected by the Georgian Dream voters. She was an independent candidate and she was just elected because she was supported by Georgian Dream. When we voted to make her presidential term to end, she stayed there because of the support

of the opposition. Now she fully present national movement and all these radical groups because she do not have any support of Georgian dream voters. Well, there were videos just after the election which appear to show ballot stuffing taking place and also people reported intimidation at polling stations. But it does appear the country is heading towards, if it is not already in, a constitutional crisis with an outgoing president saying their successor is illegitimate and saying they want to remain in post, and an awful lot of people clearly opposing the government saying that your party stole the election, and then a majority of

people, according to opinion polling, wanting Georgia to join the European Union, yet your party is saying that talks on that have been postponed for a number of years. Georgia is in a real mess at the moment and your party is in government. So what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do to try to bring Georgians together? I would say that, and I will calm down all those who have some fears about this. No real crisis happens here. There is a crisis in the roles of the opposition and with the Salomo Zorobishvili who has no

evidence, who has no right. So you're saying that everything is the fault of somebody else, not your party, yet your party is claiming to be in government. Why are your police tear gassing people who are peacefully protesting outside the parliament? Really, have you seen the protesters who are firing towards the policemen who are making the fire and attacking the parliament? If you like this kind of demonstrations to be held in your own country, because I'm not sure whether any democratic or sustainable country will fear that the Protestants are attacking parliament. What about the opposition leaders who were unarmed, who were dragged from their offices and put into the back of police cars?

Actually they admitted, supported this kind of riots. They admitted that all these fireworks, which were used as guns against the police officers, I would say that more than 150 police workers are injured in all this. So you should provide the very objective information to the people who is listening to you. So I guess that everyone saw the scenes of war in the streets of Georgia. Nino Silossani, an MP for Georgian Dream. South Korea's Constitutional Court has begun trial proceedings for the impeachment of President Yoon Seung-yol. He has been suspended for declaring martial law earlier this month. MPs voted to impeach him on Saturday. Jean Mackenzie is in the South Korean capital Seoul.

The Constitutional Court is now reviewing this case and it has six months to decide. So in the interim the Prime Minister has taken over from the President. The President was immediately suspended from his duties on Saturday. But there is a lot of pressure on the court actually to decide more quickly than six months to end some of the political uncertainty that we have seen here. And it is not just this impeachment ruling, of course. Mr. Yoon is also being investigated by police and by prosecutors for insurrection, for treason. His opponents arguing that he just had no right under the constitution to impose martial law, to suspend parliament, to bring in the army as he did. Now, they him to appear over the weekend for questioning but he didn't show up. They have tried again to deliver summons to the presidential office and to his home but they neither have been

received. The police separately, they are asking him to come in for questioning on Wednesday. Now if he continues not to show up, it is very likely that they might move to arrest him and bring him in for questioning that way. He is currently banned from leaving the country. Also, police have been trying to search the presidential office for key pieces of evidence, but so far the presidential staff at the office have not given them access. Mr. Yun all along has been defiant throughout this. He's come out and defended his decision to impose martial law. And even after his impeachment on Saturday night, he's come out and defended his decision to impose martial law and even after his impeachment on Saturday night he came out and said he was going to fight this until the end and

it seems that this is going to apply not just to these impeachment proceedings in the courts but also to these investigations that are mounting against him. Gene McKenzie-Insull. Finally, one of India's best loved musicians, Zakir Hussain, has died at the age of 73. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is credited with turning the tabla drums into an instrument loved around the world. He died in San Francisco surrounded by close family and Marisan Etirajan looks back at his life. When I was two days old and brought home from the hospital, the usual thing is to take your son in your arms and sing prayers

in his ear, say prayers in his ear. My father, instead of doing that, recited rhythms in my ear. That was Ustad Zakir Hussain, one of the greatest ever players of the tabla, an Indian percussion instrument talking to the BBC years ago on how he was introduced to music at an early age by his father, Allah Raka, another great tabla player. Hussein had been a dominant figure in the music scene both in India and overseas for decades. In 1973 he worked on a musical project with the English guitarist John McLaughlin and other Indian artists in a fusion of jazz and Indian classical music.

The New York Times described him a fearsome technician but also a whimsical inventor devoted to exuberant play. Hussein worked with many international artists and won five Grammy Awards, including three earlier this year. Several Indian leaders have paid tribute saying he was a rhythmic genius who brought the soul of India to global stages and his death was an irreparable loss to the country. The drumming of Zakir Hussain, who's died at the age of 73. That report by Anbarisan Etirajan. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by Vladimir Morzechka, the producer was Richard Hamilton, our editors Karen Martin, I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye. The 442nd Infantry Battalion, the most decorated unit in US military history for its size and

length of service. We gotta make every bullet count. No surrender. Brave men who fought the Germans in the fields of France and Italy during the Second World War. But we're not fighting for us, just for the people back home. Purple Heart Warriors, an original drama series from the BBC World Service, tells their story.

German surrounding all sides. Listen now by searching for dramas wherever you get your BBC podcasts.