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French press review 7 March 2015

Ali Bongo denies being an adopted Biafran. An ecologist anti-dam camp ends. Jihadi John’s identity is exposed. And why you might want to think again before tucking into a steak.

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There is one major African story to begin with, Le Monde’s exclusive interview with Gabonese President Ali Bongo, in which he defends his record and denies lying about his origins.

This is after French author Pierre Péan wrote in his latest Françafrique best-seller Nouvelles affaires africaines that Ali was an adopted Biafran and not the biological son of late President Omar Bongo Ondimba.

“That’s ridiculous,” Ali declares, adding that the accusation is part of the opposition’s strategy which is based on hatred. “They want to get citizen Bongo Ondimba out but are scared of going to the polls.”

According to Le Monde, there is a “Tout sauf Bongo” (Anything but Bono) momentum bringing together opposition forces in Gabon against Ali Bongo Ondimba, who took over the country in a well-crafted palace transition.

The publication summarises the situation in Gabon with a quote from opposition leader Jean Ping. “Chaos is here to stay, Port Gentil [the country’s economic capital] is disaster-stricken due to a multiplication of crippling strikes”.

The peaceful end of the standoff over the projected Sivens dam project in the south-west of France attracts front-page attention in Saturday’s national dailies.

Gendarmes on Friday peacefully removed groups of radical Green activists, who had been squatting on the site for years to prevent construction work.

The region’s councillors on Thursday gave their final approval for a scaled-down dam project in a tensely awaited ruling and called for the site to be evacuated.

The land occupation is over, writes Le Figaro, in an editorial regretting that such a matter had been allowed to overstep the mark, causing the loss of life after a gang of green warriors entered the fray.

For the paper these nomadic activists, who, it claims, travel from one project to another, were in flagrant violation of the law and needed to be disarmed, bundled out and sent back to their homes.

Le Figaro advises the government to never again allow itself to be intimidated by such individuals even if they come from the Socialist Party’s Green allies. But it doubts that the government has the backbone on the eve of regional elections the Socialists are widely expected to lose.

Le Monde has a telling profile of Jihadi John, the shy student turned executioner for the Islamic State (IS) armed group.

Up until now he was the sinister figure, speaking with a London accent, seen in IS propaganda videos, writes the paper, his eyes barely visible under a balaclava, a dagger clutched in his hands, standing ready to decapitate a hostage. Now he has a name and a profile. According to Le Monde and the British medai, he is Mohamed Emwazi, the 26-year-old son of a Kuweiti immigrant and a computer science graduate from the University of Westminster.

The paper wonders how this rather shy student with a history of drug-taking and delinquency became radicalised in his 20s, going on to become IS’s jailer and serial murderer. He was a known terror suspect, placed under surveillance by the British Intelligence agency MI5.

Libération says it has found 13 reasons why you should shelve your barbecue and stop eating beef.

They include questionable cattle-rearing and slaughtering conditions, experts alarmed at the health risks resulting from the use of antibiotics and nitrates in cattle-rearing, overconsumption of meat and global warming due to intensive farming.

Libé is warning “barbarian, egoistic gluttons” not to forget that animals must be slaughtered to provide an entrecote, porterhouse steak or calf’s liver on their plates.

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