₦airaland Forum

Towering mounds dot the desert landscape in northern Niger's Arlit region, but there is little natural about them -- they are heaps of partially radioactive waste left from four decades of operations at one of the world's biggest uranium mines.

An ambitious 10-year scheme costing $160 million is underway to secure the waste and avoid risks to health and the environment, but many local people are worried or sceptical.

From 1978, France's nuclear giant Areva, now called Orano, worked the area under a subsidiary, the Akouta Mining Company (Cominak).

It closed the site in 2021 after extracting 75,000 tonnes of uranium, much of which went to fuelling the scores of nuclear reactors that provide the backbone of France's electricity supply.

Cominak's director general Mahaman Sani Abdoulaye showcased the rehabilitation project to the first French journalists to visit the site since 2010, when seven Areva employees were kidnapped by jihadists.

The company intends to hand back a "site (that is) safe, healthy and non-polluting, in line with national standards and international recommendations", Abdoulaye said at his offices in Niamey.

The toughest task is to deal with the estimated 20 million tonnes of tailings that have been in contact with uranium.

The waste is spread over 120 hectares (nearly 300 acres) in mounds as high as 35 metres (114 feet), but its radioactivity levels are very low, said Helene Sciorella Djibo, in charge of the operation.

"We have natural doses below what can be found in regions of France and the world," she said.

Orano's plan is to level out the waste and seal it under a two-metre-deep cap of waterproofed clay and sandstone, backed by a programme to monitor air and water for at least five years.

Fear
But in the town of Arlit, which with the surrounding area has a population of 200,000, there is concern.

Bassirou Babale, the departmental director of mines at Arlit, pointed to worry about whether cracks could develop in the cover on top of the waste.

The concern is that leaks could enable radon -- a cancer-causing radioactive gas derived from the natural breakdown of uranium -- to escape and "flood the town", he said.

"Tests (of the cover) are underway," he said.

Rhamar Ilatoufegh of a local NGO called Aghir In'man (Human Shield) is angry.

"Radioactive waste is being stored in the open," he said. "This is the biggest negative legacy left from uranium mining."

A French watchdog, the Independent Research and Information Commission on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD), has described the waste as a "sword of Damocles" hanging over the area's water supply.

Orano's Gilles Recoche, a director in charge of responsibility, engagement and communication, said air and water were being "amply" monitored across the whole town.

"The levels are below the norms for Nigerien and international law," he said. "There has not been a single confirmed case of sickness linked to radioactivity."

Uranium wealth
Niger's regulations stipulate a safety threshold for miners of 20 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation a year. Orano reported that maximum exposure at the site of mine in 2022 was 8.6 mSv per year.

But former Cominak employee Hassan Souley was suspicious.

"People live seven kilometres (four miles) from the mines -- everyone is very worried, people are sick," he said.

"Orano is behind all these problems and does not even want to listen."

Arlit's mayor, Abdourahmane Maouli, pointed to steps being taken to try to ease concerns.

"There is mistrust, doubt and fear about the radioactivity in our town, it's normal," he said. "But measures have been taken to tackle it."

An agency set up in 2012, the Agadez Regional Health Observatory (OSRA), is monitoring the wellbeing of people who retired or left Cominak and Somair, another mine in the area still being operated by Orano.

"Out of 2,000 consultations, we detected a dozen cases of illness that could be attributable to radiation -- blood and lung cancers and silicosis," an OSRA doctor, Ayouba Dogonyaro, told AFP.

"Six of them were recognised (as such) by the OSRA medical committee, comprising three doctors representing the mines, civil society and the state," he said
https://www.africanews.com/2023/03/16/million-tonnes-of-partially-radioactive-waste-stir-up-fear-in-niger/

BBC World Service Africa
February 10, 2023

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed claims that his new cabinet is bloated and says he is committed to restructuring the government.

Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen on Thursday asked President Ramaphosa in parliament if it was fair for ministers to be “living like rock stars” while ordinary citizens suffer.

“[They have] 98 mansions worth over a billion rand, free generators, free electricity and high-end luxury vehicles,” Mr Steenhuisen said.

“Well, I don’t know about rock stars,” the president responded.

Mr Ramaphosa denied the opposition leader's claims that South Africa had the largest cabinet across the globe, saying the country was “basically in line with others”.

The DA has said it will picket on Monday against the "luxurious" lifestyles of ministers, local media reported.

The president made changes to his executive early this week – including the creation of two new ministries.

South African ministers are amongst some of the highest paid in Africa, drawing annual salaries of up to $135,000 (£113,000) in addition to personal staff and luxury cars.

UK disappointed as Argentina withdraws from Falklands pact

Issued on: February 02 , 2023

London (AFP) – The UK government on Thursday insisted the Falkland Islands remained British as Argentina walked away from a cooperation pact and demanded new talks over their sovereignty.

Known as the Malvinas in Spanish, the UK-ruled islands were the subject of a short but brutal war after Argentina invaded in 1982. Britain drove out the invading force after dispatching a naval armada.

In 2016, the two sides agreed to disagree about sovereignty, but to cooperate on issues such as energy, shipping and fishing, and on identifying the remains of unknown Argentine soldiers killed in battle.

But at G20 talks in New Delhi, Argentinian Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero informed UK counterpart James Cleverly that his government was abandoning the pact.

In a series of tweets, he renewed Argentina's longstanding demands instead for negotiations about sovereignty of the islands at the UN in New York.

"The Falkland Islands are British," Cleverly retorted on Twitter over Cafiero's thread.

"Islanders have the right to decide their own future -- they have chosen to remain a self-governing UK Overseas Territory," he added.

The decision was announced just as Britain's minister for the Americas, David Rutley, was visiting Buenos Aires for what he called "productive" meetings.

"Argentina has chosen to step away from an agreement that has brought comfort to the families of those who died in the 1982 conflict," Rutley tweeted, calling the decision "disappointing".
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230302-uk-disappointed-as-argentina-withdraws-from-falklands-pact

CNN
February 26, 2023

Ukraine’s commander of joint forces operation has been dismissed from his post, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a decree Sunday.

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-02-26-23/index.html

Hotice085:
What are you saying?

Hotice085:
Good for those useless Africans from the south side of the Sahara.
They run to South Africa, run to Europe, run to China, Malaysia India they run to all parts of the world
Tunisia plz deal with the useless lots that can't sit and develop their villages like every other people are doing
Send all of em to the desert,

Karnice600:
Migration is a common phenomenon. Perceived reason for migration is what bears the weightiest significance. Even a refugee in a foreign state is a migrant. The 'perceived reason', could automatically rate or limit your state or conditions of engagement in that location. This sometimes could reflect in your visa or permit you acquire. It could also be illegal, like some folks crossing the mediterranean.
If you're going to talk about migration, talk about it in the light of 'perceived reasons' in any specific situation.

ObamaMessi:
LOl, lots of people hates how the truth hits them in the face.

See how this one is talking about education Even when it has nothing to do with the topic simply because he doesn't want to accept the truth

Keep playing the racist card to make yourselves look like saints you darn right ugly Africans the descendants of monkey

ObamaMessi:
Tunisia I mean

America hates itself 😂😂 Wow!!! I don't know of this o, just hearing from you now

Talking about Obama's hate towards Africans, not only are Africans foolish but they are condemned set of useless maggots that deserves not to live.
The reason why black African will remain a slave to the US forever is because of their desperation to be received and respected by all when In reality Africans are supposed to be jailed or sold out as slaves to the rest of the world.

You will forever remain poor and you will keep lamenting of I'll treatment, know this and know peace.