World

His hair is neatly combed but his cheeks are sunken and veins visible on his gaunt frame: like many Sri Lankans, Milton Pereira and his family cannot afford to buy enough food.

During the country’s worst-ever economic crisis, which has driven rampant inflation and spurred protests that last week brought down the president, Sri Lankans are buying less, eating less and working less.

“It’s very difficult to live, even a loaf of bread is expensive,” Pereira told AFP outside his modest home in Slave Island, a poor enclave of the capital Colombo.

“If we take one meal, we skip another.”

With six children in the family, the 74-year-old said the best they had been able to afford in recent weeks was the occasional fish, cut into small pieces for everyone.

“Because we don’t have much money, sometimes we give the fish to the children,” he said. The adults, he added, “only eat the gravy”.

Triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s financial woes were exacerbated by government mismanagement, critics say.

Peirera’s son, B. G. Rajitkumar, is an electrical labourer who has had no work for months.

“Food prices go up every day,” he said. “This exponential price rise is the most terrible thing I have ever faced.”

Food inflation in Sri Lanka reached 80.1 percent in the year to June, according to official figures.

At a nearby vegetable store, residents pay 1,000 rupees ($2.80) for a kilo of gourd, twice as much as three months ago, and owner Mohamad Faizal said some of his customers were now buying as little as 100 grams a time.

“The prices have gone up,” he said. “The main reason is there is no way to transport those items because there is no fuel.”

– ‘No option’ –

With no foreign exchange reserves for imports and having defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt, Sri Lanka is experiencing dire shortages of fuel, medicines and other essentials. 

According to the World Food Programme, nearly five million people — 22 percent of the population — need food aid.

In its latest assessment, it said more than five out of every six families were either skipping meals, eating less or buying worse food.

While food is not in short supply, the issue is affordability.

The city’s New Manning main wholesale vegetable market was bustling on Sunday as buyers, sellers and porters jostled with sacks of produce.

But traders say business has gone down by more than half since March.

“Prices for everything have more than doubled,” said trader M. M. Mufeed. “Some unsold vegetables go to waste and many poor people come to take away some of it every day after the market closes.”

His sales are down 70 percent, he added. “Sometimes I sell to poor people for much less to avoid wasting food and make up somewhat.”

But potatoes, onions and garlic continue to be imported from India, Pakistan and China, said import-export bussinessman Ashley Jennycloss.

“Supply of food is not a problem, but because there is no fuel that makes it difficult and everything becomes expensive,” said Jeeva, another trader, who gave only one name.

Some people travel long distances on foot to the New Manning market in the early morning to buy small amounts of vegetables for their kitchens at bulk rates.

“I have no option but to walk 10 kilometres to this market because food is cheaper here compared to retail stores near my home,” said 50-year-old Howzy, who gave one name.

– Pumpkin patch –

The protest movement that brought down Rajapaksa has its headquarters outside his former office, where dozens of volunteers work in a patchwork of tents lining the seafront promenade.

Among them, former government employee Theodore Rajapakse — no relation — is teaching people how to produce fast-growing vegetables in small patches of land near their homes.

“My country is in trouble,” he said, adding that he has taught around 3,000 protesters since he joined the demonstrations.

“You can grow 100 kilos of pumpkin in a three-feet-by-three-feet patch of land,” he added.

But the prospects of immediate improvement in Sri Lankans’ plight are limited, and the most likely successor as president, former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is reviled by the protesters as a Rajapaksa ally.

At Slave Island — an area named after a staging post the Portuguese used for slaves from Africa during the colonial period — Pereira had little hope.

“Gota is gone, but there is no one candidate to lead us out of this terrible condition,” he said.

“Politicians are divided. So it will get worse, what else can happen?”

France was on high alert on Monday as the peak of a punishing heatwave gripped the country, while wildfires raging in parts of southwest Europe showed no sign of abating.

Forecasters have put 15 French departments on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures as neighbouring Britain was poised to set new heat records this coming week.

The heatwave is the second to engulf parts of southwest Europe in weeks, and blazes burning in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to flee.

Scientists blame climate change and predict more frequent and intense episodes of extreme weather such as heatwaves and drought.

In France’s Landes forest, in the southwest Aquitaine region, temperatures “will be above 42 degrees Celsius” (107 Fahrenheit) on Monday forecaster Olivier Proust said.

And Brittany, which until recently has escaped the worst of the heat, could register temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius, (104 Fahrenheit), say experts, which would be a record for the region.

In the southwestern Gironde region, firefighters over the weekend continued to fight to control forest blazes that have devoured nearly 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) since Tuesday.

Meanwhile Spanish authorities reported around 20 wildfires still raging out of control in different parts of the country from the south to Galicia in the far northwest, where blazes have destroyed around 4,500 hectares of land. 

The fires have already killed several civilians and emergency personnel since last week, most recently a fireman who died late on Sunday while battling a blaze in northwestern Spain.

– ‘A heat apocalypse’ –

The wildfires in France forced more than 16,000 people — residents and tourists combined — to decamp. Seven emergency shelters have been set up for evacuees.

France’s interior ministry announced it would send an extra three firefighting planes, 200 firefighters and more trucks.

“In some southwestern areas, it will be a heat apocalypse,” meteorologist Francois Gourand told AFP.

The chapel of a historic hospital in the southeastern city of Lyon, Grand Hotel Dieu, offered refuge to tourists on Sunday including Jean-Marc, 51, who was visiting from Alsace.

“We came back to admire the place, but we can’t leave, it’s too hot outside. We say a prayer before the fire!” he quipped.

French cyclist Mikael Cherel, taking part in the Tour de France’s 15th stage between Rodez and Carcassonne in southern France on Sunday, described “very, very difficult conditions”.

“I’ve never known such a hot day on a bike. It really was no picnic.”

– ‘Risk to life’ in UK –

In Spain, firefighters managed to stabilise a wildfire that ravaged 2,000 hectares of woods and bushes in the southern region of Andalusia, regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said.

The blaze started on Friday in the Mijas mountain range inland from the southern coastal city of Malaga and it spurred the evacuation of about 3,000 people.

Around 2,000 people had since returned home and now that the blaze has stabilised, Moreno said the remaining evacuees may do the same.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due to visit the hard-hit eastern region of Extremadura on Monday where various fires have been raging for days.

In Portugal, almost the entire country remained on high alert for wildfires despite a slight drop in temperatures, after hitting 47C — a record for the month of July — on Thursday.

Only one major fire was burning on Sunday in the north.

The fires have killed two, injured around 60 and destroyed between 12,000 and 15,000 hectares of land in Portugal.

In the United Kingdom, the weather office issued a first-ever “red” warning for extreme heat, cautioning there was a “risk to life”.

The Met Office said temperatures in southern England could exceed 40C on Monday or Tuesday for the first time, leading some schools to say they would stay closed next week. 

The mercury is set to reach 38C in parts of the Netherlands on Tuesday.

burs-je/jta

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan called again Monday for an early national election after his party seized control of the state assembly in Punjab, the country’s most populous province.

Twenty seats were up for grabs in the Punjab by-election, which was seen as a popularity test for the former international cricket star dismissed by a no-confidence vote in April.

His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won 15, with the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif taking four, and one going to an independent.

Sunday’s vote was also seen as a bellwether for national elections that must be held by October next year, although Khan has campaigned across the country for an earlier poll since being dismissed.

“The only way forward from here is to hold free and transparent elections,” Khan tweeted early Monday after the Punjab votes were tallied.

“Any other way will only lead to increased political uncertainty and further economic chaos.”

Khan has drawn thousands to rallies since being ousted, giving lengthy speeches claiming the government was imposed on Pakistan by a US-led conspiracy. 

He also blames the current government for soaring inflation, although most analysts agree Sharif inherited the country’s economic woes — which were given some relief last week by an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to resume a rescue package.

Pakistan newspapers suggested the Punjab result was a consequence of the economic hardships currently felt by the country, which is spending nearly half its income to service dire foreign debt.

To meet IMF conditions for a resumption of a $7.2 billion aid package, Sharif had to remove subsidies on fuel — effectively raising prices by more than 50 percent in less than two months.  

“A bitter taste of unpopular decisions,” read a headline in the influential Dawn newspaper over a front-page analysis.

The Punjab assembly vote was called after the election commission disqualified 20 members of the PTI for switching party loyalties.

The result means the likely end of a short reign as Punjab Chief Minister by Hamza Sharif, the prime minister’s son.

Climate-threatened Pacific islands called on Monday for the International Court of Justice to rule on countries’ legal duties to stop climate change, a move designed to ratchet up pressure on polluting nations.

In a statement released after a summit in Fiji last week, Pacific leaders issued a joint call for the Hague-based court to make clear states’ obligations “to protect the rights of present and future generations against the adverse impacts of climate change”.

The islands — many low-lying and already buffeted by climate change — hope the move will introduce a heightened level of legal jeopardy for high carbon-emitting countries and spur action.

Leaders also declared the region was in a climate emergency that posed an “existential” threat.

The plan will need the backing of a majority at the United Nations General Assembly in September to be put to the ICJ.

The initiative began in a classroom at the University of the South Pacific in 2019. About 27 law students wrote to Pacific leaders asking them to take up the campaign — and Vanuatu answered the call.

Fijian university student Vishal Prasad, 26, was one of those involved. 

He told AFP during the Suva summit last week that even a non-binding “advisory opinion” from the International Court of Justice would have “wide-reaching impacts”.

Prasad said he hoped the court weighing in would put polluters on notice. 

For young people in the Pacific, “the existential threat, the reality” of climate change “is quite scary”, he said.

– Eyes on Australia –

Rising sea levels and stronger storms are already causing serious problems across the Pacific.

“We are already seeing impacts on a daily basis. We are seeing the onset of cyclones,” said Prasad. “We are seeing communities being relocated.”

Tuvaluan Foreign Minister Simon Kofe told AFP that he would like to see Vanuatu’s campaign supported as it was “consistent with our efforts to protect our people that are impacted by climate change”.

Smaller islands are also looking to fellow Pacific Island Forum members Australia and New Zealand to do more.

Australia is one of the world’s largest coal and gas exporters.

“I’ve been clear and consistent in our ask for more ambitious climate commitments,” said Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama following the summit, which wrapped up on Thursday.

“We need to end our fossil fuel addiction, including coal. That is our ask of Australia, New Zealand” and all high emitting countries, he added.

Greenpeace welcomed Australia’s support for the ICJ to rule on climate change.

“However, this endorsement cannot be viewed in isolation,” said Greenpeace Australia campaigner Steph Hodgins-May.

“Australia must not only champion the journey towards climate justice through the campaign for an ICJ advisory opinion, but also pursue more ambitious climate action by committing to no new coal and gas projects.”