The times when Tamsen Werft sold yachts are long gone. But Christian Schmoll does not look wistfully back to the years when the Rostock shipbuilder ensnared the wealthy clientele. On the contrary: Schmoll deliberately stays out of the business. “When selling expensive yachts, it’s all regarding an established brand that stands for luxury ships without ifs and buts,” says the company’s managing director. Tamsen stands for something different, for “special shipbuilding and quality repair shops,” says Schmoll. The shipyard has also recommended itself as a toolmaker for the wind power industry. Therefore, the company withdrew from the luxury segment. “With our diversified competence, we are almost unique on the Baltic Sea.”
A French soldier was killed in a mortar attack on Saturday once morest the Gao camp in northern Mali, in a context of extreme tension between Paris and Bamako amid the deployment of Russian mercenaries in this Sahel country.
President Emmanuel Macron, Chief of the Armed Forces, expressed his “very strong emotion” when he announced on Sunday the death of Brigadier Alexandre Martin, of the 54th artillery regiment of Hyères (south of France).
This is the 53rd French soldier killed in combat in the Sahel since 2013 and the first in 2022. Three had been killed last year, a fourth soldier having died accidentally.
A camp of the United Nations Mission (Minusma) in Ménaka, in northern Mali, was also targeted on Sunday by mortar shell fire which did not cause any casualties.
The French anti-jihadist force Barkhane covers five countries in the Sahel. From around 5,000 men in the summer of 2021, it should be reduced to between 3,500 and 4,000 soldiers next summer as part of a reorganization of its missions.
The Gao camp was the target on Saturday shortly before 5:00 p.m. Paris time (4:00 p.m. GMT) of “several shots” of mortar shells, from a position located “five to six kilometers to the northeast”, said the spokesman for the general staff of the Armed Forces, Colonel Pascal Ianni, to AFP.
Brigadier Martin, seriously injured, was “immediately taken care of by the surgical unit on site but succumbed to his injuries”, he said.
Nine other French soldiers were “slightly injured” but “their condition does not inspire any concern”, specified the staff of the Armies in a press release.
– “Neutralization” –
The French army “immediately engaged search and attack helicopters to intercept and neutralize the attackers”, continued Colonel Ianni. One or more assailants were killed, he suggested, without further details.
The attack might not immediately be attributed. It occurred in an area frequented by jihadists from GSIM (or JNIM, a jihadist nebula affiliated with Al-Qaeda).
The Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, “bows with deep respect to the memory of Brigadier Martin, who died for France”, announced the ministry in a press release.
The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Thierry Burkhard, also saluted his memory. “His thoughts are with his family and his brothers in arms, especially those injured during this operation, and all their loved ones,” the general staff said.
Alexandre Martin, 24, had been engaged in the Army since September 2015. After missions in Guyana, Martinique and Djibouti, he participated since October 19 in Operation Barkhane. He was “cohabiting and childless,” the Army said in a statement.
Four French soldiers were already injured on Tuesday in Burkina Faso when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded as their vehicle passed.
The death of the brigadier comes as the execrable relations between the junta in power in Bamako and Paris raise the question of the maintenance of a French and European presence in Mali, even if the option of a withdrawal is not very obvious, between presidential campaign and French Presidency of the European Union.
– “Pursuing the struggle” –
President Macron “confirms France’s determination to continue the fight once morest terrorism in the region, alongside its partners”, underlined the Elysée.
In recent weeks, the putschists have crossed one following another the red lines set by neighboring countries and Mali’s foreign partners: refusal to organize elections at short notice with a view to returning power to civilians, and recourse to the sulphurous Russian paramilitary group Wagner, reputed to be close to the Kremlin, according to Westerners, which the junta denies.
After warning that an arrival of Russian mercenaries would be “incompatible” with the maintenance of a French presence, France says it is ready to continue the anti-jihadist fight in this country, but not at “any price”.
The European Union, which provides training missions in Mali, and the Europeans engaged alongside France in the Takuba force are also on this line.
“Moscow will not be able, by sending mercenaries, to induce the West to withdraw almost automatically wherever Russia does not want to see us,” German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Saturday.
Less than three months before the first round of the French presidential election, the candidates have seized on the subject. “We must review the scope of our action” in Mali, launched the candidate of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen. “One more victim in our fight once morest jihad,” added his far-right rival Eric Zemmour.
“We are no longer understood, our presence is not well seen. So we have to get out of it and gradually”, launched for his part the communist Fabien Roussel.
A group of Chavista deputies went this Sunday to the headquarters of the Public Ministry in Caracas. This to demand “speed, efficiency and effectiveness in the application of justice” to the opponent Juan Guaidowho is accused of corruption.
“We have moved to the headquarters of the Prosecutor’s Office to demand speed, efficiency and effectiveness in the application of justice once morest Juan Guaidó and the parliamentary gang that has dedicated itself to violating the constitution, to attacking the assets of the Republic” . This is what deputy Tania Díaz told journalists.
The parliamentarian considered that the opponent, together with a group of former legislators whose names she did not mention, “have promoted looting, sanctions and the economic blockade that has done so much damage to the Venezuelan people.”
For all these reasons, the Chavista deputies presented a letter to the Prosecutor’s Office in which they claim to exercise “the constitutional right to have access to the justice administration bodies in order to request (…) speed in the imposition of justice for damages caused to the homeland » to Guaidó and «his accomplices».
In response to the clamor of the Venezuelan people, victims of the aggression and the economic blockade, the Parliamentary Bloc of the Homeland demanded that the Prosecutor’s Office speed up the trial once morest Guaidó and his accomplices for the damage and looting of the Nation. #23Enero@PartidoPSUV pic.twitter.com/aa1ZENe64G
– Tania Valentina Díaz???????? (@taniapsuv) January 23, 2022
The request of the Chavista deputies
They also demanded “to put an end to the impunity of these events and guarantee the existence of an expeditious justice” and “without undue delay”, that does not suffer from “useless formalisms or replacements”.
For all these reasons, they demanded that “the (criminal) actions be carried out immediately, promptly and urgently” once morest “Guaidó and his accomplices.” Also that “the truth of the facts be established through the judicial process and justice in the application of the law in the more than 24 criminal cases that remain open” once morest Guaidó.
Finally, the group of legislators demanded that, through the application of justice, “the patrimonial reparation of the economic and material damages caused to the nation and individuals” by Guaidó be achieved.
In this way, they hope that “resources and assets that remain in bank accounts and goods acquired directly by” the opposition leader will be restored.
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will support farmers and fisherfolk in Tonga, a South Pacific island nation located in one of the world’s most prone regions to natural disasters, including massive volcanic eruption and tsunami.
FAO is gravely “concerned regarding the impact of recurrent natural disasters in this country on the agricultural sectors, including fisheries, crops and livestock”, said the organization, noting that “regarding 86% of Tongans are engaged in some agricultural activity”.
“We have already provided support to Tonga in response to a series of shocks that the country has experienced in recent years and are ready to intensify our work to help these vulnerable populations get back on their feet,” said the coordinator for the Islands. of the FAO Pacific, Xiangjun Yao.
Ashfall can have very deleterious effects on crops and livestock, which mainly depend on the thickness of the ash layer, the growing conditions, the timing and intensity of subsequent rains, the state availability of uncontaminated feed and water, she said.
Tonga will need both short-term and long-term assistance, Ms Yao said, noting that FAO has already started allocating funds for damage assessment and a first round of interventions.
The agricultural sector accounted for nearly 14% of Tonga’s gross domestic product in 2015-2016 and over 65% of their exports. The main export products are kava, squash, pumpkin, root crops, coconuts and fish.
Fishing and related activities are also an important source of food, especially for communities living on those of Tonga’s 36 inhabited islands that are most isolated.
FAO has worked for many years in Tonga to help build resilience and food security, train young farmers, help women establish ornamental plant nurseries and make the country’s fisheries more sustainable.