AGENCE FRANCAISE de Development (AFD) will expand its cooperation with Asean and Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) so France can play a greater role in Thailand and Southeast Asia in the near future.

The French development agency is now holding talks with the two regional organisations and expects to come up with some form of cooperation in the next few years, AFD’s deputy chief for Asia Development Jean-Claude Pires said.

Acting as France’s development bank since the mid-20th century, the AFD has provided financial and technical assistance to several countries. While half of AFD’s development aid goes to Africa, the agency has also been paying attention to Asia since early 2000, Pires said.

He added that AFD wants to work with Asean and ACMECS in several fields, notably physical connectivity for regional integration.

While Asean covers 10 countries in Southeast Asia, ACMECS is comprised of five Southeast Asian countries, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Working with the two regional bodies simultaneously will help the French agency avoid the overlapping of cooperation terms and projects, Pires said.

“Thailand is putting a lot of effort in reactivating the ACMECS initiative, which is considered by the Thai government as a catalyst for regional development cooperation,” he said.

Thailand is the Asean chair this year.

AFD has been present in Thailand since 2004, focusing on two areas – combating climate change and protecting the environment – and working alongside the Foreign Ministry’s Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) in terms of bilateral and trilateral assistance, he said.

AFD’s projects in Thailand include technical cooperation and workshops with the Finance Ministry and Phuket Municipality in relation to urban transport and seeking a credit facility with Kasikorn Bank for renewable energy.

Trilateral cooperation is where AFD and TICA pool their financial and other resources as well as their technical knowledge to complete certain projects, he said.

“We managed to do this for the first time a couple of months ago in Cambodia, where we co-financed and co-organised training for dengue entomologists in the country,” Pires told a group of Thai journalists last week at AFD headquarters in Paris.

“We are looking for other opportunities and would like to apply the modality of working together with TICA in other parts of the world, specifically Africa,” he said.

The AFD provided 11 billion euro (Bt395 billion) in financial and technical assistance to several countries last year, up from 10.4 billion euro in 2017. Through a network of 85 field offices, AFD currently finances, monitors and assists more than 2,500 development projects in 108 countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been giving importance to his country’s international role notably in Africa and Asia with the Official Development Assistance target to reach 45 per cent of GDP by 2022, Pires added.

Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), said on Saturday that Manila was apparently still in the dark over the identity of the bombing perpetrators.

“There’s no evidence! Different officials are saying different things — Malaysians, Yemenis, Indonesians. They actually have no clue,” told Jones told The Jakarta Post via text message on Saturday.

Philippine Interior Minister Eduardo Manahan Año earlier said that based on witness accounts and information from undisclosed sources, he was convinced that Indonesian citizens committed suicide bombings at a Roman Catholic church in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province, which has long been plagued by separatism led by Islamist groups.

“They are Indonesians,” Ano, a former military chief, told CNN Philippines, as reported by AFP. “I am certain that they are Indonesians.”

He also claimed that other foreign terrorists were still operating in the Philippines, suggesting they could be either Yemeni or Egyptian.

Fitriani of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) concurred with Sidney, saying that without evidence it was too early to conclude that Indonesians were involved in the bombings.

However, she did not rule out the possibility of Indonesian militants being involved in the attacks given the geographical proximity between the two countries. Moreover, the border between Indonesia and the Philippines lies in the sea so it is hard to monitor.

During the armed conflict between the Maute group, which is linked to the Islamic State, and Philippine security forces in Marawi two years ago, a number of Indonesian militants were believed to have gone to the Philippine city to join the fight alongside the Maute militants.

At the time, calls for jihad in the Philippines circulated on social media accounts linked to Indonesian jihadi groups such as Jemaah Ansharu Daulah, which was said to have sent dozens of its members to the neighboring country.

Indonesia, Fitriani said, would have to share intelligence information with Manila and would even help with the investigation following allegations its citizens carried out a deadly terror act in a foreign country.

“Indonesia will usually share anything needed,” she said.

She argued that the bombings should serve as a wake-up call for Southeast Asian countries to strengthen their cooperation in the war on terror, particularly in terms of intelligence sharing. Indonesia has initiated intelligence partnership Our Eyes, which was endorsed by ASEAN member states last year.

“It is needed more than ever. Terrorism is an enemy to all countries,” she said, adding that the Jolo attacks were feared to awaken sleeping terrorist cells in Indonesia and other neighboring countries.

Also on Saturday, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said she was still seeking confirmation regarding the identity of the bombing perpetrators.

She said Jakarta had talked to the Philippine authorities and was told that the identity of the perpetrators had not yet been determined.

“Based on information we gathered this morning, the perpetrators have yet to be confirmed because the investigation and identification process are still ongoing,” said Retno in a video statement recorded in Padang, West Sumatra.

Retno further said that Jakarta had yet to decide what to do next as it was currently focusing on following the investigation process.

“I can confirm it has been found,” a spokeswoman for Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

She said the AAIB would issue a statement on Monday.

Sala was travelling from France to join up with his new club, Premier League side Cardiff City, in a light aircraft on Jan. 21 when it went missing close to the Channel Islands.

Suspected debris from the plane washed up on the Normandy coastline in France last Wednesday.

Sala was flying in the Piper PA-46 Malibu plane after transferring from French team Nantes in a 17 million euro (US$19.3 million) move.

It vanished from radar around 20 kilometers north of Guernsey, with pilot Dave Ibbotson the only other person aboard.

David Mearns, whose private company, Blue Water Recoveries, was hired by Sala’s family to search for the plane, said on Twitter that the wreck was spotted early Sunday.

” There’s a substantial amount of wreckage on the seabed,” he wrote, adding: “This is about the best result we could have hoped for the families.”

Top footballers were among more than 4,500 contributors to a crowdfunding page that raised over 300,000 euros.

Sala’s father Sunday was awakened from a sound sleep to learn that the plane in which his son was killed, has been found.

“I can’t believe it. It’s a bad dream,” Horacio Sala said when contacted by Cronica TV at his home in Progreso.

He was the only one to stay behind in Argentina when the family rushed to Nantes, France to try to help with the search.

“I talk to them every day. But since I don’t have WhatsApp it’s expensive to call them or for them to call me. But anyway, they kept saying days were going by, and that there had been zero word on Emiliano, or on the plane,” his father said.

    Hakeem al-Araibi, a Bahraini refugee and Australian resident, fears torture and even death if he is returned to his homeland.

Araibi, who has been held in Thai custody since November following Bahrain’s extradition request, arrived in court in chains and pleaded with reporters and football officials to help secure his freedom.

“Please don’t send me to Bahrain,” he said, as former Australian football captain Craig Foster and other campaigners turned up to offer support to the embattled player.

    “Your wife sends her love! Hakeem, Australia is with you, mate,” Foster shouted.

Araibi was stopped at a Bangkok airport in November when he arrived in Thailand for a holiday and has been held in detention since then as Thai courts decide whether to send him back to the Gulf State.

The court said Araibi would be given 60 days “to object (to) the extradition request” and would need to present his case in April when the judges reconvene.

In addition to Foster, who has been leading a protest in the football community for Araibi’s freedom, Australian premier Scott Morrison has called on his Thai counterpart to release the 25-year-old, saying that returning him to Bahrain would infringe on his rights under international human rights law.

Araibi had played for Bahrain’s national youth team before he fled his homeland and was granted asylum in Australia, where he plays for the semi-professional club Pascoe Vale FC.

“We believe if Hakeem is not released there has to be some sanctions levied on Bahrain and Thailand,” Australian former football player Francis Awaritefe told reporters outside the court, adding that both countries “should at least be excluded from being able to host” international matches.

Representatives from the Australian embassy, as well as FIFA’s Federico Addiechi, also attended the hearing.

Araibi was convicted in absentia on charges of vandalising a police station in Bahrain, but says he was out of the country playing in a match at the time of the alleged offence.

The player has said he believes he is being targeted over his criticism of AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, a member of Bahrain’s ruling family.

A Bahrain official said last month Araibi “has all the rights and opportunities to defend himself” in the criminal case against him, and that he may also appeal the guilty verdict.

Brady, 41, became the first player ever to win six Super Bowls, 17 years after leading the Patriots to his first title way back in 2002.

The total of 16 points scored in the game was the lowest ever in Super Bowl, surpassing Miami’s 14-7 win over Washington in 1973.

Patriots icon Brady – already widely regarded as the greatest quarterback the National Football League has ever seen — provided the decisive moment to break open the game midway through the fourth quarter at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

    With the score finely balanced at 3-3, Brady picked out tight end Rob Gronkowski for a 29-yard completion that left the Patriots just two yards from the line.

It was the first time in the game that either side had advanced to 1st and goal in a defense-dominated game that failed to live up to its billing.

The Patriots were in no mood to waste the hard-fought opportunity, and rookie running back Sony Michel crashed over for what turned out to be the crucial score.

The Rams looked to have finally found some fluency as they chased a touchdown to level, but quarterback Jared Goff was picked off by corner Stephon Gilmore to leave the Patriots in sight of victory.

The Patriots marched up field on the subsequent possession and Stephen Gostkowski’s second field goal with 1min 16sec remaining made it a two-score game.

The Patriots’ triumph saw them join the Pittsburgh Steelers with six Super Bowl titles, the most by any franchise.

Patriots receiver Julian Edelman was named Super Bowl MVP for a series of crucial receptions that kept the Patriots on the front foot at critical moments.

 – Missed chances –

The Rams meanwhile were left reflecting on what might have been, with receiver Brandin Cooks twice having what looked like certain touchdowns denied by last-ditch defensive plays from New England in the second half.

It was a bitter end to the season for Rams coach Sean McVay, who at 33 would have been the youngest winner of the Super Bowl.

Instead McVay was outfoxed by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, whose defensive gameplan choked the life out of the Rams, the second most potent offense in the NFL this season who had averaged more than 30 points a game.

Belichick, 66, becomes the oldest head coach to win the Super Bowl.

An attritional first half had seen defense dominate, with the Rams — the second most potent offense in the league this season — restricted to a meagre 57 yards.

The Patriots meanwhile looked the more composed with their run game making good yardage early on.

Although Brady suffered the indignity of throwing an interception with his first pass attempt, when cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman batted a pass intended for Chris Hogan into the arms of Cory Littleton, the Rams were unable to escape the Patriots defense.

Gostkowski missed an early field goal attempt from 46 yards but the Patriots finally got on the board early in the second quarter through the veteran kicker’s 42-yard effort.

The Rams meanwhile mysteriously left star running back Todd Gurley on the sidelines for long periods, with doubts swirling about his fitness.

There was little improvement in the opening exchanges of the second half. Goff almost gave up a pick with his first attempt, but Dont’a Hightower was unable to haul the ball in.

Gurley raised Rams hopes with a 16-yard run but the drive fizzled once more.

Two more stalled possessions followed, and the Rams owed a massive debt to Johnny Hekker when he conjured a 65-yard kick, the longest punt in Super Bowl history, from behind his own line to get Los Angeles out of jail.

With the Patriots forced to punt once more, the Rams then finally managed to string a drive together.

Cooks was denied a certain touchdown after hauling in the ball in the end zone only for Jason McCourty to bat the ball out of his control.

Goff suffered a sack on third down to leave Greg Zuerlein with a 53-yard effort but the Rams kicker stroked it over to level at 3-3 with just over two minutes remaining in the third.

But that was as good as it got for the Rams, who also saw Cooks denied a game-tying touchdown after he fumbled near the end zone.

And this is despite firm agreements between local and foreign health agencies to work together in preventing disease and otherwise attending to health needs.

International humanitarian teams in the disaster zone in Sanamxay district, Attapeu province, have reported insufficient food in the camps set up for disaster refugees, as well as shoddy handling of donated relief items and poor hygiene.

Wan Sriprasert lost his brother and his home in the village of Ban Mai to the flash floods loosed by the dam’s collapse. He and other displaced people living in temporary shelters at five remaining camps are now facing quite different threats to their lives. “We moved into this temporary housing two months ago after having lived in tents for a long time, so we’re much happier because we have more space and at least a real roof over our heads,” Wan told a reporter touring Hadyao Camp.

But the houses, while a significant improvement over the tents where many survivors continue to live, are still packed tightly together amid unsanitary conditions. Everywhere outside are pools of wastewater, piles of garbage and huge clouds of mosquitoes and flies.

Food and clean water are insufficient to meet the refugees’ needs. This combined with unhygienic conditions is further victimising the disaster survivors. It’s not that efforts aren’t underway to help them. Health is among the highest priorities of the recovery process and there are many foreign health organisations acting in tandem with the Lao Health Ministry and local authorities to improve conditions and control disease.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Laos said a typhoid-and-cholera immunisation campaign had been successfully operating since October. The Sanamxay District Health Office and foreign humanitarian groups are carefully watching for influenza-like illnesses, severe acute respiratory infection and dengue. Nevertheless, outbreaks have been inevitable.

The Health Ministry last month acknowledged that Attapeu province was worst affected in the country’s severest national dengue epidemic in decades. The local health authority said the dengue situation was critical in Sanamxay district, where the dam disaster occurred. It called it the epicentre of the outbreak. The Health Ministry said that Laos, with a population of 6.7 million, had more than 6,000 confirmed dengue cases and 19 deaths in the past year alone, and the current situation in Sanamxay was dire.

Viangphed Sudthi-ngoen-visa, deputy chief of the Sanamxay District Health Department, said her office handled 222 dengue cases and three confirmed deaths between October and December. She said authorities were encouraging citizens, especially those in the refugee camps, to eliminate standing water where the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries dengue lays its eggs. But the effort hasn’t slowed the infection rate because of the huge number of puddles and pools in the camp areas.

Malnutrition, especially among children, is another major health concern in the camps. The UN Resident Coordinator said 50 of the 326 infants screened in October – ranging in age from six months to 59 months – were suffering from acute malnutrition due to insufficient food and insufficient supplies for new-born babies.

The UN official cautioned that food stocks for residents of the seven flood-affected villages whose populations were not displaced were already running low. Nor will they be able to harvest any crops at least until next October.

This is the fourth in a series on the fallout from last year’s dam disaster in southern Laos. Part 5 will be published next Monday. 

Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and Southeast Asian Press Alliance.