Conservative President Mauricio Macri conceded defeat in Argentina’s election Sunday night, paving the way for the country’s Peronist center-left to return to power under Alberto Fernandez as frustrated voters rejected the incumbent’s handling of a bruising economic crisis that has sunk many into poverty.

The result would mark a dramatic return to high office of former President Cristina Fernandez, Alberto Fernandez’s vice presidential running mate, former boss and what critics say might be the power behind his throne.

Macri told supports at his headquarters that he had called Alberto Fernandez to congratulate him and invited him for a breakfast chat Monday at the Pink Presidential Palace.

“We need an orderly transition that will bring tranquility to all Argentines, because the most important thing is the well-being of all Argentines,” Macri said.

Authorities said Fernandez has 47.83% of the votes compared to 40.66% for Macri, with 91.21% percent of the votes counted. He needs 45% support, or 40% support with a 10 percentage point lead, over the nearest rival to avoid a runoff vote on Nov. 24.

Macri was elected president in 2015 promising to jumpstart the country’s economy. Argentines rejected at the time a successor chosen by ex-president Fernandez, who along with her late husband dominated Argentina’s political scene for 12 years and rewrote its social contract. But the divisive former leader, who embodies Argentina’s enduring cycle of hope and despair, appears back.

Thousands of the two Fernandezes supporters crowded outside their campaign headquarters in a jubilant celebration waving sky-blue and white Argentine flags.

“I’m so happy. We were waiting for this change for a long time. We’re tired of everything that has been happening,” said supporter Juan Jose De Antonio, 46. “Some of us live a different reality from those suffering hunger, but when you have a friend who lost a job, a neighbor who can’t make ends meet, it hits you.”

Alberto Fernandez greeted sympathizers who gathered outside the gate of his apartment chanting: “Alberto presidente!”

Sunday’s largely peaceful election was dominated by concerns over rising poverty, a sharp depreciation of the currency and one of the world’s highest inflation rates. Voters appear to have rejected austerity measures that Macri insisted were needed to revive Argentina’s struggling economy. Many Argentines have taken to the streets frustrated with cuts to rises in fuel and transportation costs.

The result would mark a triumphant comeback for Cristina Fernandez and a shift leftward for South America, which has seen conservative governments elected in Brazil, Colombia and Chile in recent years. She was considered part of the “pink tide” of leftist governments that arose in the region in the 1990s and 2000s.

Now a left-leaning government appears set to govern Argentina, and governments in Chile, Peru and Ecuador fueled by discontent over corruption, inequality and slowing growth.

“We Argentines deserve a better country, with work, where we can live peacefully, above all,” said Antonella Bruna, 32, as she voted at the medical school of the National University of Rosario, about 290 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires.

Macri retains wide support among the key farming sector in one of the world’s top suppliers of grains. But overall frustration over the economy has eroded the popularity of the pro-business former mayor of Buenos Aires. It has also propelled the candidacy of Alberto Fernandez, whose surge has sent jitters in the financial markets over a possible return to interventionist polices of Cristina Fernandez’s 2007-2015 administration.

Macri’s camp has tried to capitalize on that unease, portraying her as a puppet master waiting in the wings. But the presidential candidate has dismissed those fears and voters gave him a decisive victory over Macri in August primaries, which are a barometer of support for candidates ahead of the presidential election.

Fernandez served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for Cristina Fernandez’s predecessor and late husband, Nestor Kirchner. He remained in the position during part of her term as president but left after a conflict with farmers in 2008.

Peronism is a broad but splintered political movement in the South American country of 44 million people.

On the election trail, Fernandez has criticized Macri’s decision to seek a record $56 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund, a deeply unpopular institution in Argentina that is blamed for creating the conditions that led to the country’s worst economic meltdown in 2001.

Macri is credited with returning Argentina to international global markets following a break after the 2001 crisis and with helping strike a free trade deal between South America’s Mercosur bloc and the European Union amid global trade tensions and rising protectionism. But he failed to deliver on promises to jumpstart the economy of the recession-hit country, while Argentines continue to lose purchasing power to an inflation rate of more than 55 percent and about a third have been plunged under the poverty line.

On the campaign trail, Macri has pleaded for more time to reverse fortunes and reminds voters of the corruption cases facing Cristina Fernandez, who has denied any wrongdoing and remains a powerful if divisive figure in Argentina.

“It’s important so we don’t go back to the time of the Kirchners, when there was so much robbery, so much embezzlement. That wouldn’t be good for the country,” said Bernarda Nidia Guichandut, who helped her elderly parents into a car to go to vote. “Macri is honest. He’s made mistakes, he’s backtracked, but he’s said: “Fine, I was wrong.”

For the most part, the election atmosphere was calm and turnout large, though the Buenos Aires Province police department said more than 1,000 people were evacuated following 11 reports of bomb threats to schools that were being used as polling stations. No explosives were found.

Argentines are also choosing 130 lower house seats and 24 senators in Congress, as well as regional mayors, governors for three provinces and the head of government for the Argentine capital.

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From: MeNeedIt

Hundreds of policemen from Haiti’s National Police Force, PNH, took to the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince Sunday, dressed in civilian clothes to protest against what they say are deplorable work conditions.

The police officers, who are demanding officials allow them to form a union, complain they have not been paid for months, while being expected to risk their lives to maintain law and order.  This was the first time law enforcement officers have taken to the streets since the nationwide anti-government protests began last summer.

“They are holding 6 months (of) salary they owe us, that’s not good, it’s not logical,” a policeman told VOA Creole. “When we show up somewhere and say we are police, if we don’t have a decent car to ride in they don’t even believe us – they take us for criminals because we aren’t getting paid so we can’t take care of ourselves.”

Another policeman draped in a Haitian flag and wearing a straw hat with Haiti printed in blue and red letters on it told VOA Creole they are defending rights guaranteed under the nation’s constitution.

“The constitution says we have the right to form a union, to defend our rights,” he said. “We want to thank the civilians, our wives, friends and the people of Haiti who are out here with us protesting today. We also send a warning to the police officials to say that if they think they can fire us and continue mistreating us they are wrong. If that happens the entire country will be turned upside down.”

Haiti’s National Police force has been plagued by allegations of corruption and human rights violations. Protesters often allege that men in police uniforms driving unmarked cars have been firing on them with live ammunition.  The police claim to only be using rubber bullets during the protests.  But the accusation was backed by opposition lawmakers and journalists covering the protests who witnessed the protesters’ injuries.  This, in spite of the fact that the United States has spent millions of dollars to help train the force.  PNH Officials say the force that exists today is a work in progress and far more professional, but problems persist.

 This weekend, the PNH intelligence chief Frantz Georges was fired by police chief Norvil Rameau after an investigation into an incident where an officer under his supervision wound up dead, with his body thrown into the street, according to the Miami Herald.

Jacqueline Charles on Twitter

“Another difficult day of protests in #Haiti with even police officers demonstrating. “When was the last time you heard the police protesting?” a human rights activist said to me.”

Another difficult day of protests in #Haiti with even police officers demonstrating. “When was the last time you heard the police protesting?” a human rights activist said to me.

— Jacqueline Charles (@Jacquiecharles) October 27, 2019

Support from lawmakers, opposition leaders

Senator Patrice Dumont, a member of parliament who is well-respected by colleagues and citizens alike for being a no-nonsense guy who shuns corruption, joined the policemen in the streets.

“I’m out here to show support for the police and to say that they should have access to services that are on par with the service they provide to society,” the senator told VOA Creole.  “For example, after having served for years in the police force they should have certain social services available to them such as housing, health care and insurance.”  Dumont said policemen should be paid immediately by the government when funds become available.

Opposition leader Rene Civil of the Altenativ Konsansyel pou Refondasyon Leta party (Consensual Alternative for the Refoundation of the State), also joined the policemen in the streets.

“I understand why they are protesting, they are young men and women who, after finishing school, dedicated their lives to serving the nation and they are treated like worthless individuals,” Civil told VOA Creole.

One of the policemen said they will not return to work until their demands are met.

“If they don’t respond tonight, tomorrow morning we will remain arms crossed, we will not go to work, we will not take orders (from higher ups). That’s all I have to say,” the officer, wearing a black cap with POLICE in white printed on the front, told VOA Creole.

Cape Haitian protest

In Cape Haitian, hundreds of policemen chanted slogans and held up pink posters that echoed the demands of their colleagues in Port-au-Prince for a union, insurance and better work conditions. They marched to the police headquarters and stood in front of the gates chanting.

In Cape Haitian, northern #Haiti policemen are in the streets, just like in Port au Prince, to demand better work conditions and a union to protect their rights. Philippe Augustin @VOAKreyol#PNHpic.twitter.com/LmzFTSGQLV

— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) October 27, 2019

Simultaneous anti-government protest

Meanwhile back in the capital, Protestant pastor Prophete Makenson was also in the streets with his followers after church services demanding the president step down.

“I’m just asking for a resignation, that’s why I’m in the street today,” the pastor told VOA Creole. “I’m 33 years old, like many young men out in the streets, we can’t (afford to) eat, we can’t (afford to) drink.”  

Protestant Pastor Prophete Makenson Dorilas is back in the streets protesting today. He says his simple demand is: resign – aimed at @moisejovenel@VOAKreyol Matiado Vilme talked to him. #Haitipic.twitter.com/GlccZYLvDr

— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) October 27, 2019

Protestants joined thousands of anti-government protests for the first time last Sunday when they marched to the affluent suburb of Petionville.

Businesses targeted

The anti-government protest took a violent turn in the afternoon, undeterred by police who were busy protesting as well on the other side of town.  Some protesters successfully set fire to business establishments and attempted to burn down the Canadian Embassy.  They ran away when the embassy alarm sounded, alerting authorities. No damage was reported.

But in the Delmas neighborhood, the power generator at Banj, a multi-use complex that houses several tech startups was set ablaze.

#Haiti protesters in a separate demonstration against the government set fire to @banjHT power generator. This, in addition to last month’s looting of the multi-use complex housing several startups in Port au Prince. @marcalainbpic.twitter.com/QqrjIeNa3Q

— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) October 27, 2019

Owner Marc Allain Boucicault tweeted an SOS to the local fire department to rush to the scene to extinguish the blaze, which endangered the building itself. Boucicault later tweeted that the fire had been put out but the generator was destroyed. The Banj building remained intact, he said.  Last month, protesters looted the business, taking equipment, furniture and everything else they could get their hands on, incurring thousands of dollars in losses.

Protesters also targeted the Coin restaurant on the Delmas road, setting fire to the building.  In the affluent suburb of Petionville, protesters set fire to a car parked at the Ponp Sol Sent Terez gas station.

The protests were initially sparked by a fuel hike in July 2018, and outrage over a corruption report that implicated the president’s businesses. Double-digit inflation, unemployment and the president’s seeming incapability to put order to the chaos that has engulfed the nation have also roiled the nation. The weekly demonstrations have paralyzed the country, shuttering businesses and schools.  The U.S. and Canada have published advisories discouraging their citizens from traveling to Haiti.

Late Thursday, the U. S. Embassy in Haiti issued a statement late urging Haiti’s leaders and stakeholders to enter into dialogue to try to resolve the crisis, but the opposition, anti-corruption activists and most protesters rebuffed the call saying the international community has no business meddling in the country’s affairs. 

pic.twitter.com/Pryu3MxBje

— U.S. Embassy Haiti (@USEmbassyHaiti) October 24, 2019

For now, President Jovenel Moise shows no signs of conceding to protesters’ demands to resign, so the opposition and anti-corruption activists have called for a new series of protests to keep up the pressure.

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From: MeNeedIt

Tens of thousands of people are marching in Barcelona to protest the separatist movement in the northeastern Catalonia region that has produced Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Barcelona’s police say 80,000 people have rallied Sunday on one of the city’s main streets, with many carrying Spanish and Catalan flags.

One poster read in English: “We are Catalonians too, stop this madness!!”

The rally in favor of Spanish unity comes after several days of protests – some of which have spiraled into violent clashes with police – by Catalan separatists. They are angered by a Supreme Court ruling that sentenced nine of separatist leaders to prison for a failed 2017 secession attempt.

Polls say the 7.5 million residents of the wealthy Catalonia region are roughly evenly divided on the secession question.

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From: MeNeedIt

Pakistan’s ailing former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who was jailed on money-laundering and corruption charges, has remained in a government hospital where he was taken last week after suffering a heart attack.

Maryam Aurangzeb, a spokesman for the ex-premier’s Muslim League party, says Sunday that Sharif’s health condition won’t allow for him to be moved to another hospital.

Mahmood Ayaz, the hospital’s top official, said its medical board hasn’t approved moving Sharif and he himself hasn’t requested it.

Islamabad’s High Court Saturday granted temporary freedom to Sharif until another two-judge panel decides Tuesday whether Sharif’s seven-year sentence on a corruption conviction should be suspended due to his illness.

Sharif served three times as prime minister. Supreme Court removed him from office in 2017 on corruption allegations.

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From: MeNeedIt

Thousands of supporters of an ultra-religious party are gathering in Karachi to start a large anti-government march on Pakistan’s capital farther north.

Mufti Abrar Ahmed, spokesman for the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, says its leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman will lead the protesters’ caravan setting off later on Sunday.

The beginning of the JUI protest also marks the anniversary of the start of the conflict over Kashmir, a province both India and Pakistan claim. Separate, anti-India protests are planned across Pakistan.

Ahmed said supporters from Karachi and surrounding areas will travel in buses and vans toward the capital. He said the caravan plans to reach Islamabad on Oct. 31st, to protest Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “illegitimate” government which the Islamist party says came to power through the army’s support.

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From: MeNeedIt

Pope Francis has thanked Amazon regional bishops for their “candor” at a meeting which called for ordaining married priests and other changes to help the Catholic church’s far-flung flock in that part of South America. 
 
In his homily Sunday at a Mass to conclude weeks of discussions at the Vatican on the needs of the Amazon’s faithful, Francis didn’t mention the bishops’ vote to press the Vatican to allow married men to become priests in special circumstances. 
 
A day earlier, Francis told bishops he would draw his conclusions in a document he hoped to write by year’s end.
 
Allowing married men to be ordained in remote Amazon areas that are facing severe shortage of priests would chip away at the Catholic Church’s nearly millennium-old teaching upholding priestly celibacy.

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From: MeNeedIt

The Jaipur Literature Festival began in the city of Jaipur, India. With 300 speakers and over 500 million visitors every year, it is the world’s largest free literary festival. The festival also travels internationally. One stop is Boulder, Colorado. Shelley Schlender reports.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

Syrian troops reached a key area near Turkey’s border Saturday after sending further reinforcements to the region, in what a war monitor said was its largest deployment there in years.

Syrian regime forces entered the provincial borders of the town of Ras al-Ain, state news agency SANA said.

The regime forces entered the area, which was taken by Turkish forces following a weeks-long offensive against Syria’s Kurds.

Troops also deployed along a road stretching some 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of the frontier, SANA added.

Turkey and its Syrian proxies on October 9 launched a cross-border attack against Kurdish-held areas, grabbing a 120-kilometer-long (70-mile) swathe of Syrian land along the frontier.

The incursion left hundreds dead and caused 300,000 people to flee their homes, in the latest humanitarian crisis in Syria’s brutal eight-year war.

This week, Turkey and Russia struck a deal in Sochi for more Kurdish forces to withdraw from the frontier on both sides of that Turkish-held area under the supervision of Russian and Syrian forces.

On Saturday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said some 2,000 Syrian troops and hundreds of military vehicles were deploying around what Turkey calls its “safe zone.”

In the army’s “largest deployment” in the area in years, regime forces were being accompanied by Russia military police, the Observatory said.

Moscow has said 300 Russian military police had arrived in Syria to help ensure Kurdish forces withdraw to a line 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border in keeping with Tuesday’s agreement.

Despite Saturday’s deployment, the Observatory said that Kurdish fighters and Ankara’s Syrian proxies traded artillery fire in the region.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Under the Sochi deal, Kurdish forces have until late Tuesday to withdraw from border areas at either end of the Turkish-held area, before joint Turkish-Russian start patrols in a 10-kilometer (six-mile) strip there.

Ankara eventually wants to set up a buffer zone on Syrian soil along the entire length of its 440-kilometre-long border, including to resettle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has objected to some provisions of the Sochi agreement and it has so far maintained several border posts.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Saturday that Ankara would “clear terrorists” on its border if the Kurdish forces, which his country view as an offshoot of its own banned insurgency, did not withdraw by the deadline.

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From: MeNeedIt

Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday attacked U.S. plans to maintain and boost the American military presence in eastern Syria as “international state banditry” motivated by a desire to protect oil smugglers and not by real security concerns.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday Washington would send armored vehicles and troops to the Syrian oil fields in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of Islamic State militants.

His comments came after President Donald Trump earlier this month pulled some 1,000 U.S. military personnel out of northeast Syria, a move that prompted Turkey to launch a cross-border incursion targeting the Kurdish YPG militia, a former U.S. ally against Islamic State.

Trump’s decision drew an angry backlash from Congress, including key Republicans who saw the pullout as a betrayal of the Kurds and a move that could bolster Islamic State.

In a statement, Russia’s defense ministry said Washington had no mandate under international or U.S. law to increase its military presence in Syria and said its plan was not motivated by genuine security concerns in the region.

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‘Time Will Tell’ on Russia’s Middle East Power Play

US officials say they are watching warily as more Russian forces move into the safe zone separating the Turks and Kurds in northeastern Syria 

“Therefore Washington’s current actions – capturing and maintaining military control over oil fields in eastern Syria – is, simply put, international state banditry,” it said.

U.S. troops and private security companies in eastern Syria are protecting oil smugglers who make more than $30 million a month, the statement said.

Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has helped him turn the tide of a bloody civil war, has long insisted that the U.S. military presence in Syria is illegal.

Moscow has further bolstered its position in Syria following the U.S. withdrawal from the northeast of the country, negotiating a deal this week with Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan to help remove the Kurdish YPG militia from within a 30 km (19 mile) strip along the Syrian-Turkish border.

Ankara views the YPG as terrorists linked to Kurdish insurgents operating in southeast Turkey.

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From: MeNeedIt

The United States and South Korea this week held fresh negotiations over how to split the cost of the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. The current deal expires at the end of the year, and U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly demanded a fivefold increase in how much Seoul pays.  

Trump says South Korea and other allies are taking advantage of the U.S. He reportedly wants Seoul to pay more than five times the amount it contributes now. Analyst Shin Beom-chul said some South Koreans would see such a demand as absurd, and that it could fuel anti-U.S. sentiment. 

South Korea experienced mass anti-U.S. protests as recently as the late 2000s. However, these days, it’s hard to find overt displays of anti-U.S. sentiment. Polls suggest both conservative and liberal South Koreans broadly support the U.S. alliance.  

It’s not guaranteed to stay that way, though. As Trump turns up the heat on cost-sharing, some familiar pockets of protest are getting louder. 

Four hours south of Seoul, local villagers have set up a permanent roadblock to protest a controversial U.S. anti-missile system. As a result, the U.S. must deliver supplies to the base via helicopter.  

Activist Kim Young Jae said he was also upset about the cost-sharing dispute. He said the U.S. was asking for more than what he saw as the total cost of the U.S. military presence, and he wondered how South Koreans could accept this. 

Local resident Lee Jong-hee said that even if Trump wound up getting more money from South Korea, it would drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul. 

It’s an outcome that Trump seems increasingly willing to risk. 

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From: MeNeedIt

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged leaders to listen to the problems of their people as demonstrations multiply in cities around the world.

“It is clear that there is a growing deficit of trust between people and political establishments, and rising threats to the social contract,” he told reporters Friday.

He cited economic problems, political demands, discrimination and corruption as some of the issues driving protests.

“People want a level playing field – including social, economic and financial systems that work for all,” Guterres said. “They want their human rights respected, and a say in the decisions that affect their lives.”

Demonstrations have erupted this year in scores of countries stretching across nearly every continent.

In Hong Kong, protestors have been on the streets since June, angered by a proposed bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. Hong Kong has been under Chinese rule since 1997. The bill was withdrawn last month, but protesters’ anger has not abated.

In the Middle East, demonstrations started sweeping Lebanon last week, after the government mismanaged the containment of massive forest fires and then, days later, announced plans to tax WhatsApp Internet-based phone calls.

Tens of thousands of protesters in the tiny country are demanding the cabinet’s resignation and early parliamentary elections. They want government corruption investigated, the minimum wage increased, and basic services provided — including clean water and 24-hour electricity.

Guterres said the Lebanese must solve their problems with dialogue and he urged maximum restraint and non-violence from both the government and the demonstrators.
In Iraq, the U.N. says at least 157 people have died and nearly 6,000 have been injured during protests that began October 1. Young people are frustrated with the lack of jobs and services, as well as government corruption and inefficiency.

“Governments have an obligation to uphold the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, and to safeguard civic space,” the U.N. chief said of all protests. “Security forces must act with maximum restraint, in conformity with international law.”

Guterres said he is “deeply concerned” that some protests have led to violence and loss of life.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, protests have erupted in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Bolivia and most recently Chile. While in Africa this year, demonstrators have raised their voices in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Guinea and Ethiopia. In Sudan, protesters succeeded in ousting the president who had been in power for 30 years.

Europeans are angry too. France, Britain and Spain have seen disruptive and sometimes violent protests, while in the United States, civil rights groups have marched for women’s rights. Supporters and opponents of President Donald Trump have also taken to the streets during the year.

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From: MeNeedIt

Under a broad plane tree near Albania’s border with Greece, Jorgji Ilia filled a battered flask from one of the Vjosa River’s many springs. 
 
“There is nothing else better than the river,” the retired schoolteacher said. “The Vjosa gives beauty to our village.” 
 
The Vjosa is temperamental and fickle, changing from translucent cobalt blue to sludge brown to emerald green, from a steady flow to a raging torrent. Nothing holds it back for more than 270 kilometers (170 miles) in its course through the forest-covered slopes of Greece’s Pindus mountains to Albania’s Adriatic coast. 
 
This is one of Europe’s last wild rivers. But for how long? 
 
Albania’s government has set in motion plans to dam the Vjosa and its tributaries to generate much-needed electricity for one of Europe’s poorest countries, with the intent to build eight dams along the main river. 

Hydropower boom
 
It’s part of a world hydropower boom, mainly in Southeast Asia, South America, Africa and less developed parts of Europe. In the Balkans alone, about 2,800 projects to tame rivers are underway or planned, said Olsi Nika of EcoAlbania, a nonprofit that opposes the projects. 
 
Some tout hydropower as a reliable, cheap and renewable energy source that helps curb dependence on planet-warming fossil fuels. But some recent studies question hydropower’s value in the fight against global warming. Critics say the benefits of hydropower are overstated — and outweighed by the harm dams can do.  

Rivers are a crucial part of the global water cycle. They act as nature’s arteries, carrying energy and nutrients across vast landscapes, providing water for drinking, food production and industry. They’re a means of transportation for people and goods, and a haven for boaters and anglers. Rivers are home to a diversity of fish — including tiny minnows, trout and salmon — and provide shelter and food for birds and mammals. 
 
But dams interrupt their flow, and the life in and around them. While installing fish ladders and widening tunnels to bypass dams helps some species, it hasn’t worked in places like the Amazon, said Julian Olden, a University of Washington ecologist. 
 
Dams block the natural flow of water and sediment. They also can change the chemistry of the water and cause toxic algae to grow. 

Some will lose property
 
Those who live along the riverbank or rely on the waterway for their livelihood fear dams could kill the Vjosa as they know it. Its fragile ecosystem will be irreversibly altered, and many residents will lose their land and homes. 
 
In the 1990s, an Italian company was awarded a contract to build a dam along the Vjosa in southern Albania. Construction began on the Kalivac dam but never was completed, plagued with delays and financial woes. 
 
Now, the government has awarded a new contract for the site to a Turkish company. Energy ministry officials rejected multiple interview requests to discuss their hydropower plans.  

Many locals oppose the plans. Dozens of residents from the village of Kute joined nonprofits to file what was Albania’s first environmental lawsuit against the construction of a dam in the Pocem gorge, a short distance downriver from Kalivac. They won in 2017, but the government has appealed. 
 
The victory, while significant, was just one battle. A week later, the government issued the Kalivac contract. EcoAlbania plans to fight that project, too. 
 
Ecologically, there is a lot at stake. 
 
A recent study found the Vjosa was incredibly diverse. More than 90 types of aquatic invertebrates were found in the places where dams are planned, plus hundreds of fish, amphibian and reptile species, some endangered and others endemic to the Balkans. 

Thwarting fish
 
Dams can unravel food chains, but the most well-known problem with building dams is that they block the paths of fish trying to migrate upstream to spawn. 
 
As pressure to build dams intensifies in less developed countries, the opposite is happening in the U.S. and Western Europe, where there’s a movement to tear down dams considered obsolete and environmentally destructive. 
 
More than 1,600 have been dismantled in the U.S., most within the past 30 years, according to the advocacy group American Rivers. In Europe, the largest-ever removal began this year in France, where two dams are being torn down on Normandy’s Selune River. 
 
With so few wild rivers left around the globe, the Vjosa also is a valuable resource for studying river behavior. 
 
“Science is only at the beginning of understanding how biodiversity in river networks is structured and maintained,” said researcher Gabriel Singer of the Leibniz-Institute in Germany. “The Vjosa is a unique system.”  

For Shyqyri Seiti, it’s much more personal. 
 
The 65-year-old boatman has been transporting locals, goods and livestock across the river for about a quarter-century. The construction of the Kalivac dam would spell disaster for him. Many of the fields and some of the houses in his nearby village of Ane Vjose would be lost. 
 
“Someone will benefit from the construction of the dam, but it will flood everyone in the area,” he said. “What if they were in our place? How would they feel to lose everything?” 
 
But the mayor, Metat Shehu, insisted that his community “has no interest” in the matter. 
 
“The Vjosa is polluted. The plants and creatures of Vjosa have vanished,” Shehu said. The biggest issue, he added, is that villagers are being offered too little to give up their land. He hopes the dam will bring investment to the area. 

‘Irreparable’ damage
 
Jonus Jonuzi, a 70-year-old farmer who grew up along the river, is hopeful the Vjosa will stay wild. 
 
“Albania needs electrical energy. But not by creating one thing and destroying another,” he said. “Why do such damage that will be irreparable for life, that future generations will blame us for what we’ve done?” 
 
This was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. 

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From: MeNeedIt