euro|topics - Colette Braeckman

20/11/2008

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Braeckman, Colette

4 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Le Soir - Belgium | 18/02/2008

How to talk about genocide ?

The news reporter Jean Hatzfeld has written several books on the genocide in Rwanda which left 800,000 dead in 1994. Interviewed by Colette Braeckman, he explains that prose, as opposed to journalistic writing, allowed him to "approach the reality of genocide. (...) A journalist is first and foremost a go-between, someone who links those who experience events and the readers, who tries his or her best to answer questions that readers might ask. Facing a genocide, there is always a lapse of time during which readers do not want to hear anything, whether about the Shoah, the Armenian genocide, or Rwanda, for event is too unthinkable, too exceptional. The journalist is also disarmed ... . In literature, instead of asking oneself the questions that others pose, as a journalist does, you ask your own questions. In fact, you write for yourself, first and foremost. It is not the same approach."

Le Soir - Belgium | 04/02/2008

The difficult deployment of Eufor troops in Africa

Colette Braeckmann explains why Europe was so intent on deploying its forces. "To protect the Darfur refugees of course; to keep a closer watch on Sudan and its oilfields for sure; but also to prove its operational capacity to Africa. ... For a long time, the African countries committed to the protection of Darfur civilians, complained about the lack of enthusiasm from Europeans who had nonetheless promised to provide the African Union with financial and logistical aid. Their impotence opened the way for the internationalisation of the conflict. It was not difficult for the Khartoum authorities to slip a dreaded banana skin under the feet of Europeans: the Deby regime that Eurofor, even despite itself, helped, was undermined by 18 years of bad management ... . "

Le Soir - Belgium | 27/12/2007

The shortcomings of the Arche de Zoé trial

"Confronted by the 'Arche de Noé' affair, Bernard Kouchner, France's current Minister of Foreign Affairs, has kept quiet", notes Colette Braeckman. "And yet, Eric Breteau and his acolytes, irresponsible, arrogant or mislead, are his spiritual heirs. At the beginning of the year, they heard Kouchner demand at the top of his voice, an intervention in Darfur, where serious NGOs and UN agencies had already been at work for four years. This is a severe case of abusing the 'humanitarian duty to intervene', which is to say the 'duty to help a population in danger' advocated by Kouchner. ... In Chad, the will to do something having taken precedence over knowledge of the terrain and respect of individuals, a bunch of cowboys pushed intervention to the absurd. Their insane demonstration and the ensuing condemnation will no doubt incite more discernment among their emulators."

Le Soir - Belgium | 10/12/2007

A new dialogue between the EU and Africa?

"If the summit is important, it's because African heads of state, massively present with the unfortunate exception of President Kabila, have not allowed themselves to be divided", considers Colette Braekman. "Courted or threatened individually and asked to sign agreements separately, African countries have together joined forces and obtained an extension for negotiations. ... This being said, in addition to its economic power and the scope of its aid, Europe has other assets that are admired by Africans: its exemplary integration, human rights values, tolerance and respect for minorities. If Europe is capable of exporting its values as well as its finished products, the dialogue opened in Lisbon, albeit frank and even confrontational, remains rich with possibility."

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