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The man who built the MMM for 55 years just walked out of it

Paul Bérenger founded the Mouvement Militant Mauricien in 1969. For 55 years it was inseparable from his name. On Saturday, he resigned.

His charge: the MMM had abandoned the principles it was built on. Unconditional participation in government, staying in power as an end in itself, “practices we once fought against.” His daughter Joanna and fellow dissident Chetan Baboolall resigned alongside him. This was not a quiet exit.

Party president Reza Uteem says Bérenger had “chosen not to listen to activists” who backed the party’s continued government participation. The MMM insists the show goes on. Bérenger has announced plans to form a new political movement and will lead opposition efforts from outside. Well past 80, he is starting from scratch.

Fifty-five years in one party, and it ends over a principle. That’s either the last act of a stubborn man, or proof that principles still mean something in Mauritius politics. Both feel possible.

“La situation est critique”: water reservoirs hit historic lows

Energy Minister Patrick Assirvaden made field visit last week and came back with a blunt verdict: the country is facing the worst drought in over a century.

By mid-June, some reservoirs could drop to just 22 to 23 percent capacity. At that level, sediment at the bottom complicates water extraction, meaning even what little remains gets harder to pump. The deficit stands at 10 to 12 million cubic metres below last year’s levels.

The government has asked the Central Water Authority to prepare emergency restriction measures. The minister is calling on households, businesses, and agriculture to cut usage now, before decisions get made for them.

Peak summer heat has not arrived yet. If rainfall stays away, rationing is not a hypothetical.

SOS Children's Villages: government inspection confirms serious failings

After the Ombudsperson for Children, Aneeta Ghoorah, made a surprise visit to SOS Children’s Villages, the Ministry of Gender Equality moved quickly. SOS submitted its own report on April 14. The ministry’s Enforcement Unit conducted its inspection on April 15.

The report, finalised on April 17, confirms serious failings in the organisation’s residential care operations. What consequences SOS Children’s Villages will face has not yet been announced.

Children in residential care are among the most vulnerable in the system. “Serious failings” confirmed by a government inspection demands more than a report.

271 kg of drugs seized near Tromelin, two Mauritians arrested at sea

A French patrol vessel seized 271 kg of narcotics near Tromelin on April 15 from a ship allegedly coming from the Arabian Sea, bound for the Mauritian market. Police arrested Jeff Désiré Cliff Joséphine, a fisherman from Les Salines, and a second suspect near Baie-du-Tombeau and charged them with drug conspiracy. Authorities also detained ten foreign crew members from Iran, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.

Car dealers cut up to Rs 400,000 per vehicle to shift unsold stock

Vehicle sales have crashed by roughly 40% since August 2025, after June’s fiscal overhaul scrapped hybrid incentives and imposed excise duties of up to 100% on imported cars. An entry-level car that cost Rs 1.2 million now lists at Rs 1.9 million. Dealers are slashing Rs 50,000 to Rs 400,000 off prices, plus extended warranties, just to clear inventory.

🗞️ SHORTS

Mufti Peerbocus stays in detention – Police objected to bail at Flacq court, keeping Peerbocus held on child ill-treatment charges.

30,000-tonne fuel cargo due from Oman – A fuel shipment from Oman is expected to arrive between May 2 and 4, the State Trading Corporation confirmed.

Hospital records staff: half the team, months owed – Major hospitals are running records departments at 50% capacity, with staff awaiting overtime pay since August last year.

99 pellets, 1 kg of cocaine, one stomach – A Bolivian woman arrested at SSR airport allegedly swallowed 99 cocaine pellets with a street value of Rs 18 million.

Mobile phone ban set for Mauritius schools – Phone regulations for all schools are being finalised, with a secondary reform blueprint headed to Cabinet soon.

Mauritius's public debt stands at 91% of GDP, with the budget deficit approaching 10% and emergency reserve funds depleted as PM Navin Ramgoolam prepares the 2026-2027 budget. It is the tightest fiscal environment the island has faced since independence, leaving little room to deliver on election promises made less than a year ago.

At least 25 people, mostly women, died in a firecracker factory explosion in Tamil Nadu, India on Monday. Investigators believe faulty storage triggered the blast. Most were women. Tamil Nadu is India’s largest firecracker-producing region, employing women workers from rural communities who have few other options.

More than 200 people, including a 14-year-old girl, were freed from a camp run by the Allied Democratic Forces, an IS-linked armed group operating in eastern DR Congo, in an operation led by Uganda’s army. The ADF has been responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in a conflict that rarely makes global headlines.

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Macky Sall, Africa's sole candidate, bids for UN Secretary General

Senegal’s former president Macky Sall is one of four candidates being interviewed this week for the top position at the United Nations, due to succeed Secretary General António Guterres when his term ends in December.

Sall is the only African in the race. Burundi nominated him, though neither Senegal nor the African Union backed the candidacy. His rivals are Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, and Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica. By tradition, the role should rotate to Latin America next, which put three of the four candidates ahead of him.

Africa last held the position when Boutros Boutros-Ghali was pushed out in 1996. That was thirty years ago.

Ethiopia peace deal at risk as TPLF reinstates Tigray government

Is the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, which ended a war that killed an estimated 600,000 people, about to unravel?

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, announced it is restoring the Tigray regional parliament it had suspended in the name of that peace deal. The TPLF accuses Addis Ababa of withholding civil service funds and allowing armed clashes inside the region.

Renewed fighting erupted in January this year. Up to 80% of Tigray’s population needs emergency food aid. A return to full-scale conflict would be catastrophic for a region already at breaking point.

Lula tells Ramaphosa: go to the G20, don't let Trump win

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had a direct message for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa: come to the G20 summit regardless. “He must attend. He can’t not go just because Trump said he wouldn’t,” Lula said Monday while meeting Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Hannover.

Trump has moved to bar Ramaphosa from the summit over allegations of “white genocide” against Afrikaners and South Africa’s International Court of Justice case against Israel. Lula is framing attendance as a matter of global principle, not personal politics.

Tim Cook hands Apple to his head of hardware

John Ternus, the Apple engineer behind the iPad, AirPods, and multiple iPhone generations, becomes chief executive on September 1. Tim Cook, who has led the company since Steve Jobs died in 2011, moves up to executive chairman. Cook steps up. Ternus steps in.

The transition is a numbers story: Apple’s market value grew from $350 billion when Cook took over to more than $4 trillion today. Cook described Ternus, 50, as having “the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator.”

The hardware man gets the top job. For a company that built an empire on physical products, that’s not a coincidence.

Tehran refuses talks, Trump keeps the Hormuz blockade in place

Iran will not negotiate “under the shadow of threats,” Tehran declared on Tuesday, as the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz entered its latest standoff. Talks Washington said would resume Monday did not happen. Iran said it had no plans to participate.

Trump has been direct: the blockade stays until a deal is signed. Oil climbed to nearly $95 a barrel on Monday, reflecting how markets are reading the deadlock between Washington and Tehran.

Hungary's exit unlocks €90 billion for Ukraine and pressure on Israeli settlers

Viktor Orbán’s election defeat last week has cleared two of the European Union’s biggest logjams at once.

A €90 billion loan package for Ukraine, blocked for months while Orbán used it as a bargaining chip over a pipeline dispute, is now expected to be approved this week. His successor Peter Magyar has signalled cooperation with the EU and a willingness to reopen the Druzhba pipeline. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas confirmed the bloc will also move on Israeli settler sanctions, including a potential suspension of it's cooperation agreement with Israel.

Why Indian politicians are posing with fish

Something unusual is happening in West Bengal’s election campaign. Candidates are posing with fish. Not eating it, just holding it. Prominently.

In Bengali culture, the hilsa fish is practically sacred: a symbol of identity, celebration, and memory of home. Displaying one in a campaign photo signals something beyond menu preference. It says: I am one of you. West Bengal voters, apparently, take note.

Politics finds its symbols wherever identity lives. In Bengal, apparently, that’s in a fish market.