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Germany

Happy Ending A Year After Merkel Made A Refugee Girl Cry

When Angela Merkel made a Palestinian refugee cry on German national television
When Angela Merkel made a Palestinian refugee cry on German national television
Rivva

BERLIN — It's been a year since German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a Palestinian refugee teen burst into tears live on national television.

Reem Sahwil was 14 years old, and living on a temporary residence permit, when she was invited with others for a townhall-style public encounter with Merkel on July 15, 2015, in the northern city of Rostock: "It's truly painful to watch other people enjoy life, if you yourself can't do so," the teenager told the Chancellor. "I don't know what my future will look like."

Merkel answered that Germany couldn't possibly house all the refugees who requested residency. And then Sahwil started to cry.

But now, a year later, Merkel has invited the teenager for another meeting, in private. Sahwil, who in the meantime has obtained permanent residency through next year, looks back thankfully to the emotional meeting with the German leader, who had been criticized harshly for her reaction. "It certainly was quite an exciting and special situation for her too." She now would simply like to thank Merkel "in the name of my family and myself, but also all the other refugees she has helped. It has not been an easy thing to do, for her, and for Germany."

Rostock Mayor Roland Merhling has nothing but praise for the young resident: "For me Reem Sahwil is the personification of successful integration. I appreciate not only her optimism and courage, but also her great strength and engagement to do something with her life."

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Geopolitics

Senegal's Democratic Unrest And The Ghosts Of French Colonialism

The violence that erupted following the sentencing of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison left 16 people dead and 500 arrested. This reveals deep fractures in Senegalese democracy that has traces to France's colonial past.

Image of Senegalese ​Protesters celebrating Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Protesters celebrate Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — For a long time, Senegal had the glowing image of one of Africa's rare democracies. The reality was more complicated than that, even in the days of the poet-president Léopold Sedar Senghor, who also had his dark side.

But for years, the country has been moving down what Senegalese intellectual Felwine Sarr describes as the "gentle slope of... the weakening and corrosion of the gains of Senegalese democracy."

This has been demonstrated once again over the last few days, with a wave of violence that has left 16 people dead, 500 arrested, the internet censored, and a tense situation with troubling consequences. The trigger? The sentencing last Thursday of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison, which could exclude him from the 2024 presidential elections.

Young people took to the streets when the verdict was announced, accusing the justice system of having become a political tool. Ousmane Sonko had been accused of rape but was convicted of "corruption of youth," a change that rendered the decision incomprehensible.

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