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Un jeune homme est porté disparu depuis le dimanche 18 octobre 2026 après une baignade dans le fleuve Mono, à Agniwedji, dans la commune d'Athiémé. Les recherches engagées par des plongeurs locaux et des volontaires n'ont toujours pas permis de le retrouver.

Un jeune couturier serait mort par noyade sur la berge d'Agniwedji dimanche 18 octobre 2026. Selon le chef quartier de Gbédji, Yaovi Benoît Hounnou, rapporté par Le Matinal, la victime, identifiée par les initiales F. H., réside dans le quartier Gbédji Tohoungah.

Après un passage au champ, le jeune homme serait rentré chez lui avant de se rendre au bord du fleuve pour se baigner.
Sur place, sa sœur et d'autres femmes faisaient la lessive. Malgré leurs avertissements, il aurait plongé dans les eaux du Mono.
D'après le récit du chef quartier, le jeune homme serait parvenu à regagner la berge à deux reprises, avec des crevettes. Mais lors de sa troisième incursion, il se serait aventuré plus profondément dans le fleuve avant d'être emporté par de puissants tourbillons.

Les recherches se poursuivent

La disparition du couturier a mobilisé des plongeurs locaux et des volontaires, qui ont entrepris des recherches dans la zone. Mais ces opérations sont restées infructueuses. Le chef quartier a indiqué que les services de police sont informés de la situation.
Les recherches se poursuivent.

F. A. A.

The European Union (EU) conditions access to its market on compliance with human rights, labour standards, and environmental policy and regulation. Its trade-related legislation falls into two categories: measures addressing partner governments and measures targeting the private sector. Within these two groups, only the first includes an instrument that specifically mentions democracy, namely the essential elements clause, which appears frequently in EU trade agreements yet has been invoked only once since 2014.
The EU is under domestic political pressure to deregulate in order to strengthen its competitiveness. The competitiveness agenda is cutting into the instruments the EU already has, especially amid geopolitical competition with China, making suspensionled conditionality against partner governments harder to enact. Our recommendations are as follows:

• Democracy protection stakeholders should shift their attention from suspension-led demo¬cracy support and conditionality aimed at partner governments towards the rules and incentives that run through the private sector. Even after the Omnibus reform’s narrowing scope, firm-facing rules remain in place. They are default-on and run through existing regulatory arrangements, and their potential geopolitical repercussions are smaller in comparison.
• Tender processes are one particular set of firm-facing rules. With the momentum behind the European Commission’s legislative proposal to revise the public procurement directive, corruption-based exclusion rules should be applied against operators linked to state capture in partner countries, as democratic backsliders often use public procurement to consolidate patronage networks.
• Firm-facing regulations also permit a different case to be made: stronger due diligence carries no measurable competitiveness penalty. Companies are not just subjects of regulation. They are also stakeholders with their own interest in transparent procurement and predictable rules. To bolster such a narrative, development cooperation should invest in developing compliance capacity, especially in autocratising states.
 

Après leur victoire 7-0 contre le Qatar, les jeunes Béninois signent un deuxième succès consécutif à la Coupe du monde scolaire de football, à Suzhou, en Chine.

Les Guépards scolaires U18 du Bénin poursuivent leur parcours avec autorité à la Coupe du monde scolaire de football Chine 2026.

Opposés à l'Inde ce mardi 20 octobre à Suzhou, en Chine, les jeunes Béninois se sont imposés sur le score spectaculaire de 27 buts à 0.

Pour leur entrée en lice, lundi 19 octobre, les poulains du sélectionneur Séverin Danha avaient déjà dominé le Qatar sur le score de 7-0. Ils avaient alors inscrit six buts au cours de la première demi-heure de jeu, avant de parachever leur succès en seconde période.

Avec cette deuxième victoire, le Bénin porte son total à 34 buts marqués en deux rencontres, sans le moindre but encaissé. La sélection béninoise doit désormais se tourner vers son prochain rendez-vous face à la Chine, pays hôte.

Cette confrontation constitue une nouvelle étape importante dans la course aux premières places du groupe B et à la qualification pour les huitièmes de finale.

M. M.

Le poste de péage de Kétou est opérationnel depuis ce lundi 19 octobre 2026. Les tarifs vont de 1 000 à 18 000 FCFA, selon la catégorie du véhicule et le nombre d'essieux pour les poids lourds.

Le péage de Kétou est désormais opérationnel. Annoncée par la Société des infrastructures routières et de l'aménagement du territoire (SIRAT SA), la mise en exploitation de cet ouvrage est effective depuis ce lundi 19 octobre 2026 sur la Route nationale n°26 (RN26), reliant Kétou à Idigny.

La collecte des droits de passage a démarré dans la matinée, marquant une nouvelle étape dans l'exploitation de cet axe routier. La mise en service officielle a été effectuée par la maire de Kétou, Titilola Angélique Adégnika Azondékon, aux côtés des responsables de la SIRAT SA. À cette occasion, la mairesse a salué les efforts engagés par le gouvernement dans le domaine des infrastructures routières. Elle a également invité les populations à faire preuve de civisme, à respecter les consignes et à contribuer à la préservation de cet ouvrage public.

Titilola Angélique Adégnika Azondékon, a exprimé le souhait que l'exploitation du poste contribue à renforcer la sécurité routière et à soutenir le développement économique de la commune.

Des tarifs compris entre 1 000 et 18 000 FCFA

Conformément à l'arrêté interministériel du 2 juillet 2026 encadrant la perception des droits de passage, les véhicules légers d'une hauteur inférieure à 2,55 mètres sont soumis à un tarif de 1 000 FCFA par passage.

Pour les poids lourds et les véhicules d'une hauteur égale ou supérieure à 2,55 mètres, les montants varient selon le nombre d'essieux. Le barème prévoit 2 000 FCFA pour deux essieux, 4 000 FCFA pour trois essieux, 6 000 FCFA pour quatre essieux, 8 000 FCFA pour cinq essieux et 10 000 FCFA pour six essieux. Les véhicules comptant sept essieux ou plus devront débourser 18 000 FCFA par passage, qu'ils soient à vide ou chargés.

M. M.

ÄNDERUNGSANTRÄGE 1 - 321 - Entwurf eines Berichts über institutionelle Aspekte der Gemeinsamen Europäischen Verteidigungsunion
Ausschuss für konstitutionelle Fragen
Ausschuss für Sicherheit und Verteidigung
Salvatore De Meo, Niclas Herbst

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

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LA CROIX DU MARDI 20 OCTOBRE 2026

Conservation needs reform as current approaches have failed to halt biodiversity loss. Increasingly, environ¬mentalists are questioning whether market-based approaches and conventional policy instruments, particu¬larly protected areas, can make a substantial contribution towards mitigating the bio¬diversity crisis. Moreover, serious concerns about their equity and justice implications have been voiced by indigenous rights organisations, peasant movements and scholars.
In light of these concerns, this policy brief provides a number of suggestions on how to make biodiversity conservation more just, equitable and effective. It builds on discussions held during the sixth Enjust Conference “Offsetting Justice? Environmental justice in the age of market and militarized con¬servation”, which took place in Bonn from 3 to 5 December 2025. The conference brought together environmental justice scholars, political ecologists, activists as well as development and conservation practitioners from around the globe. 
Our reflections and proposals support policymakers, members of parliament, conservation practitioners, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LCs) at the local and regional levels in initiating reforms of the protected area system and other conservation mechanisms for more effective, trans¬parent and fair protection.

Key messages:
• Just conservation: Conservation policies that contribute to environmental justice have the greatest potential to achieve long-term, sustainable and legitimate conservation outcomes for people and the planet.
• Land rights-based conservation: Land rights reconfigure power relations and are a key pre¬requisite for environmental justice. Collective land titles such as Colombia’s Peasant Reserve Zones (ZRCs) are a promising instrument.
• Towards distributive justice by reforming conservation finance: IP&LCs should benefit more directly from forest, climate and biodiversity funding and should have a say in how money is spent in their communities. IP&LC-led funds and designated funding windows for IP&LCs are promising options.
• Basic Income for Nature and Climate (BINC): We suggest BINC as a promising measure to improve the livelihoods of IP&LCs and to overcome the transactional logic of market-based instruments. BINC compensates for past environmental injustices and enables recipients to make land-use decisions that are less influenced by precarity and market forces.
 
Professor Dr Fernanda Figueroa currently works at the Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Dr Lasse Loft is a senior scientist at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg, Germany.
Professor Dr Maano Ramutsindela is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Cape Town and the UP-UCT Future Africa Research Chair in Sustainability Transformations at the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. 
Georg Buchholz is team leader of the International Forest Policy sectoral project at GIZ, Germany.
Dr Juan Sebastián Vélez Triana is a postdoctoral researcher with the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique – FNRS / UCLouvain, Belgium, and a research associate at the Centre for Alternatives to Development (CEALDES), Colombia. 
Professor Dr Florian Dünckmann heads the Cultural Geography Research Group in the Department of Geography at Kiel University, Germany.
Dr Ina Lehmann is assistant professor of Governance of Global Biodiversity at the Environmental Policy Analysis section at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Professor Dr Silja Klepp is professor of Human Geography at Kiel University, Germany.
Dennis Schüpf is a PhD student in the Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Germany.
Anne Rose Atkins is a doctoral candidate in the Social Geography of Coastal and Marine Areas working group at the Geography Department of Kiel University, Germany.
Dumisani Chirambo is the founder of Seeds of Opportunity in Malawi. 
Felice Diekel is a PhD candidate at the Department of Civil Engineering & Management at the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Salome Gikonyo is part of the coordination team of the EnJust Network for Environmental Justice, Germany. 
Dr Rina Mardiana is a lecturer in the Human Geography Study Program, Faculty of Social Sciences and Human Ecology, at IPB University in Bogor, Indonesia.
Dr Adnan Mirhanoğlu is an F.R.S.-FNRS postdoctoral researcher at the Centre d’Études de la Coopération Internationale et du Développement (CECID), Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.  
Kim Nierobisch is part of the coordination team of the EnJust Network for Environmental Justice, Germany. 
Kelly Peña is a PhD student at the Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.
Professor Dr Prakash C. Tiwari works at the Centre for Ecology Development and Research in Dehradun, India.
 

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This blog draws on discussions at a closed-door roundtable titled “EU Climate Diplomacy: Promoting EU and Global Climate Goals in the Evolving Climate Regime,” held in Brussels on 3 September 2026 and co-organised by ETTG, IDDRI and IDOS. The session convened senior officials from DG CLIMA, EU member states and experts. Views expressed reflect the range of positions raised in the discussion and are not attributed to individual participants or institutions; they do not necessarily represent the position of ETTG or its member institutes.

Tanzania’s vice-president inspects a drainage channel in Dar es Salaam as authorities step up preparations for heavy El Niño rains expected during the October–December rainy season. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Oct 20 2026 (IPS)

Nearly three decades have passed, but Japhet Gimbi still remembers the rain.

He was a Form 2 student in Tabora, western Tanzania, when the 1997 El Niño flooded the town. As the rain kept falling, fewer students made it to school. That was a super El Niño, one of the strongest on record. Since then there have been five other events including the 2014-2016 “super El Niño”.

“It just kept raining. Day after day, the rain wouldn’t stop,” Gimbi, who now lives in Dar es Salaam, recalled.

But his strongest memory is of food running short at home.

“We would only eat Ugali without vegetables,” he said.

At Kwihara village, Hatibu Halfan remembers the same season differently. He was a 27-year-old farmer when the rains initially seemed a blessing. His rice crop flourished.

Then the ground became waterlogged. Cassava and sweet potatoes rotted. Homes in low-lying areas flooded.

Twenty-nine years later, East Africa is again preparing for “super” El Niño. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) expects it to intensify toward the end of 2026, with forecasts showing a nearly 100 percent chance of persisting through February 2027. But WMO cautions that a strong El Niño does not necessarily mean severe impacts in every country.

For East Africa, the concern is heavy rain. The October-to-December season is crucial across much of the region, with forecasts pointing to wetter-than-normal conditions that could bring floods, landslides, infrastructure damage, and disease outbreaks. In parts of Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, the season delivers up to 40 percent of annual rainfall.

The East African Community (EAC) Partner States are calling for more predictable, accessible and grant-based climate finance as they prepare to take a common regional position to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye, next month.

They plan to call on developed countries to meet their public climate finance obligations, triple adaptation finance by 2035, improve direct access to climate finance, and provide greater support for adaptation and loss and damage, all without increasing the debt burden on vulnerable countries.

“The common COP31 messages further call for the full capitalisation of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, direct access to its resources by national institutions and support for both economic and non-economic losses. The EAC is also calling for full funding of the Santiago Network, which provides technical assistance to countries vulnerable to loss and damage, as well as stronger cooperation on disaster risk reduction and early warning systems.

The common position calls on developed countries to meet their public climate finance obligations, triple adaptation finance by 2035, improve direct access to climate finance and provide greater support for adaptation and loss and damage without increasing the debt burden of vulnerable countries.

In Dar es Salaam and other fast-growing cities, however, the danger is not simply how much rain falls. It is where it falls—and who lives in its path.

In Southern Africa, the concern is drought, with its impacts on food security, the potential for wild fires, and water shortages. The country will use its participation at the COP31 to ask for increased adaptation finance.

Cities at Risk

“The main impacts we should expect from floods range from possible loss of lives and the number of people displaced, damaged houses, waterborne diseases, loss of employment, and disruption of livelihoods,” Romanus Opiyo, Policy and Engagement Lead for Sustainable Urbanisation at the Stockholm Environment Institute, told IPS.

In Dar es Salaam, neighbourhoods have expanded along rivers, valleys and low-lying land where housing is relatively affordable but drainage and other basic services often lag behind population growth.

Among the places Opiyo identifies as particularly exposed are Tandale, along the Sinza river system, and Jangwani, in the Msimbazi valley.

“The most vulnerable are the urban poor, especially those living near riparian areas such as those settlements in low elevations and near riparian areas,” he said.

Flooding does not affect all city residents equally. Low-income households living on daily earnings often have few savings, little or no insurance and limited options for moving somewhere safer.

A Dar es Salaam resident clears vegetation and debris from a drainage channel as communities prepare for heavy rains associated with El Niño. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

When Drains Become Sewers

In crowded settlements, blocked drains sit alongside pit latrines, rubbish and open sewers. Floodwater can carry all three through homes and streets.

WMO’s regional outlook warns that excessive rainfall could increase water- and vector-borne disease while damaging roads and disrupting access to health and nutrition services.

Lessons From 1997

The 1997 El Niño brought torrential rain and widespread flooding across East Africa.

By February 1998, about 10 million people across the region needed emergency assistance, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Tanzania suffered extensive damage to roads and railways. Communities were cut off, crops and food stocks were lost and relief efforts were hampered by damaged infrastructure.

The effects, however, varied from place to place. Rain replenished water supplies and improved pasture in some areas, and national food production rebounded in 1998. But hundreds of villages were isolated, and thousands of people were left homeless. FAO and the World Food Programme estimated that about 300,000 Tanzanians would still need targeted food aid.

Since 1997, East African cities have expanded rapidly into wetlands, river valleys and other flood-prone land. Riverbanks have been settled and open ground replaced by roads, buildings and concrete.

Opiyo says weak development control is worsening the risk.

“The major gap remains the allocation of adequate resources (finance, human, and infrastructure resources) to deal with the problem,” he said.

Tanzania Prepares

Tanzania has begun preparations for the October-to-December rains, with forecasters warning that a very strong El Niño could bring heavier rainfall to much of the northern coast, northeastern highlands, Lake Victoria basin and northern Kigoma.

The government has activated a National Emergency Plan and issued 13 directives, ordering authorities to identify high-risk areas, designate emergency shelters, clear drains, prepare rescue equipment and strengthen measures against disease and damage to infrastructure.

The government estimates that 730 billion Tanzanian shillings could be required to implement activities before, during and after a major El Niño emergency. The figure is an estimate of potential requirements, not money already set aside. The 2026/27 budget provides 10 billion shillings for activities under the plan across sectors.

Community flood mapping, identifying households that may need help evacuating, clearing drains and establishing safe routes can also reduce risks.

Beyond El Niño

Seasonal forecasts describe probabilities, not individual storms, and WMO stresses that even a very strong El Niño does not guarantee catastrophic impacts everywhere.

But the problem will outlast El Niño: each rainy season exposes many of the same neighbourhoods.

Rivers overflow and drains clog. Households move possessions onto beds, raise furniture on bricks and wait for the water to recede.

Opiyo says recurring flooding in informal settlements is also an urban-planning problem.

“The informal urban community’s vulnerability requires a collaborative approach in terms of data, creative and inclusive methodology and honest dialogue to address the recurring problem.”

Nature-based measures include protecting wetlands and river corridors, restoring vegetation and preserving areas where floodwater can spread without reaching homes.

But in cities where safe land is expensive, telling people not to live beside rivers does little for families who cannot afford to live anywhere else. Clearing a drain may reduce flooding this season; it does not resolve insecure housing, weak sanitation or the absence of affordable serviced land.

In 1997, Gimbi watched his classmates disappear from school as the rains continued and food ran short at home. Halfan watched his rice flourish before waterlogged fields began destroying other crops.

Twenty-nine years later, governments have better forecasts, satellite observations, flood maps and early-warning systems.

They can see the rain coming.

The question is whether the people living closest to the water will be safer when it arrives.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

 

 

 

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Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Tuesday 20 October 2026

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

24 des 25 nouveaux conseillers techniques et chargés de mission récemment nommés par le président de l'Assemblée nationale, Joseph Djogbénou, ont été officiellement installés dans leurs fonctions, lundi 19 octobre 2026. La cérémonie s'est déroulée dans la salle polyvalente Antoine Idji Kolawolé, sous la présidence du directeur de cabinet du président, Abou Torou.

Les nouveaux conseillers techniques et chargés de mission du président de l'Assemblée officiellement installés. Ils ont pris fonction dans l'après-midi de ce lundi 19 octobre 2026, lors d'une cérémonie présidée par Abou Torou, directeur de cabinet du président de l'Assemblée nationale.

À cette occasion, les nouveaux promus ont exprimé leur gratitude au président de l'institution et pris l'engagement de servir avec loyauté, disponibilité et dévouement.

Abou Torou a souligné que leur nomination repose sur leurs compétences dans divers domaines utiles au fonctionnement du Parlement. Il les a invités à contribuer au rayonnement de l'institution parlementaire et au renforcement de sa proximité avec les populations. Il a également assuré que l'administration parlementaire les accompagnerait dans l'accomplissement de leurs missions.

Cette installation intervient dans un contexte marqué par d'importantes réformes au sein du Parlement béninois.

F. A. A.

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Will Fatima El Mansouri advance women’s rights amid religious and political barriers?

MEPs from the Foreign Affairs and Development Committees adopted their position on the EU’s Global Europe Instrument, the EU’s funding mechanism for external action for the period 2028-2034.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Development

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Dauer des Videos : 15'

Haftungsausschluss : Die Verdolmetschung der Debatten soll die Kommunikation erleichtern, sie stellt jedoch keine authentische Aufzeichnung der Debatten dar. Authentisch sind nur die Originalfassungen der Reden bzw. ihre überprüften schriftlichen Übersetzungen.
Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie was found guilty of 191 murder charges - all but one of them children.

Dauer des Videos : 15'

Haftungsausschluss : Die Verdolmetschung der Debatten soll die Kommunikation erleichtern, sie stellt jedoch keine authentische Aufzeichnung der Debatten dar. Authentisch sind nur die Originalfassungen der Reden bzw. ihre überprüften schriftlichen Übersetzungen.
Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

Une femme a échappé de peu à un accident domestique qui aurait pu lui coûter la vie. L'incident est survenu dimanche 18 octobre 2026, à Houègbo-Houénoussou, une localité de l'arrondissement de Houègbo, dans la commune de Toffo.

Une femme échappe de justesse à un effondrement de toilettes. L'incident s'est produit dans la journée du dimanche 18 octobre 2026 à Houègbo-Houénoussou, dans la commune de Toffo, alors qu'une forte pluie s'abattait sur la localité.

Selon le récit de son époux, rapporté par la radio Sèdohoun, la femme s'était rendue aux toilettes ; mais alors qu'elle s'apprêtait à faire ses besoins, la dame aurait ressenti une sensation inhabituelle qui l'aurait poussée à ressortir précipitamment des lieux. Une décision qui lui a probablement sauvé la vie.

D'après son mari, le local s'est effondré une dizaine de secondes seulement après sa sortie. La scène a suscité l'étonnement dans la localité, au regard du bref intervalle qui a séparé la sortie de la dame de l'effondrement de l'ouvrage.

Si la forte pluie enregistrée au moment des faits est évoquée comme une cause probable de l'incident, les circonstances exactes de l'effondrement ne sont pas encore établies.
Cette scène met en évidence les risques auxquels sont exposés les ouvrages réalisés en matériaux précaires face aux intempéries.

F. A. A.