Overseas Territories in the French Media

Two years after the failure of its first commercial flight, the AFP reports on the first successful launch of the European Space Agency's modified Vega C rocket in French Guiana, carrying a payload of satellites, including one from the EU's Copernicus planetary observation project.

Waldemar de Laage, of Radio 1 Tahiti, reports on the work of a marine biologist based in French Polynesia – Éric Clua, the so-called "Shark Profiler" – who has developed a method of identifying specific sharks who attack humans; he wants authorities to employ his methods and thereby avoid the indiscriminate culling of sharks.

Writing in local paper, Le Dauphiné libéré, Cyrielle Thevenin explains the concept of Préjudice d'anxiété in French law, and how it pertains to the case of over 1200 inhabitants of the French Antilles who are suing the French government for emotional distress caused by prolonged exposure to the dangerous pesticide chlordecone, previously used in the islands' banana plantations.

Frédéric Gouaillard, Le Parisien's correspondent in Mayotte, reports on the psychological trauma suffered by schoolchildren in the French overseas territory in the wake of Cyclone Chido, and the efforts being made by the national education system to offer them counselling, which teachers consider to be insufficient.

Reporting in Guadeloupe la première, Rudy Rilcy explains how the unusual carnival tradition of whip-cracking, a resonant celebration of Guadeloupean culture, is being codified as a competitive sport for the first time.

In a revision of an AFP dispatch, from the beginning of February, the right wing daily Le Figaro shifts from the question of how to reach an 'entente' to focus on the aftermath of the recent protests, cutting two optimistic final paragraphs about the attempt to find a 'third way' and replacing them with one about the economic impact of the unrest (for the priveleged opponents of independence).

Two reporters for Réunion la 1ere, the local branch of France Info, suggest that the sharp rise in narcotics seizures in Réunion over the past year is the result of a worrying increase of drug use on the island, which is richer than neighbouring countries but still has significant inequalities and social problems.

Writing for Guyane la première, the local branch of France Télévisions in French Guiana, Éric Léon reports on a historic breakdown in the little-known council that represents various indigenous and post-slavery communities, after the Kali'na people decided (last October) to withdraw their support and declare autonomous governance of their territories.

Writing in the left-wing daily l’Humanité, Théo Bourrieau implies that François Bayrou’s pronouncements about the reconstruction of Mayotte, during a visit in the wake of Cyclone Chido in December 2024, were hypocritical, given his own government’s attacks on the overseas territory as a source of unchecked immigration.