Correspondent |

After the storm

Maryke Vermaak 19 April 2019

"If you asked me a few months ago what Mozambique brought to mind, I would have told you the same as many fellow South Africans -- pleasant memories of drinking rum and raspberry soda while lying on a picturesque beach during a summer holiday," writes Maryke Vermaak, a video journalist based in Johannesburg.

"But that was before March, when I flew into the country to cover the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, one of the deadliest storms on record to hit the southern hemosphere that devastated parts of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, killing nearly 1,000 people and impacting more than two million, the vast majority of them in Mozambique."

The inferno of Notre Dame

Ludovic Marin, Geoffroy Van der Hasselt, Eric Feferberg, Philippe Lopez, Francois Guillot, Patrick Anidjar, Agnès Coudurier 16 April 2019

As Notre Dame burned, and thousands spilled onto the streets and quais of Paris to watch the spectacle, AFP journalists were recording the historical moments from every which angle during the 15 hours that it took some 400 firefighters to put out the flames ravaging the 850-year-old structure. Here are a few of their stories.

The incredible kindness of beings

Jerome Taylor 16 April 2019

"The tears came without warning, as I watched them link arms, forming a protective human fence around their Muslim neighbors who were holding evening prayers in the park, just meters from where the killing took place," writes Jerome Taylor, bureau chief for Hong Kong and Taiwan who was part of a team to cover the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque attacks.

"That’s how it usually happens -- when you least expect it. As you cover the aftermath of a tragedy, you glimpse something that reminds you that goodness exists even in the darkest of places. And you crack."

Who would have thought

Bülent Kiliç 11 April 2019

"Who would have thought it would end like this, I wondered as I looked at the hundreds of captured suspected jihadist fighters sitting in rows in the desert," writes Bulent Kilic, a photographer who has covered nearly all of the eight-year Syrian conflict.

"Eight years ago, it all started as just protests against Syria’s regime. No-one was even speaking about jihadists back then…"

Crazy in the North

Olivier Morin 2 April 2019

"There is a certain Nordic spirit that affects people living in Scandinavia, especially in its northernmost reaches. The crazier the idea, the less likely you’ll give up pursuing it," writes Olivier Morin, a Paris-based photographer who has done extensive work in the area.

"Take the ice surfboard as a case in point."

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After the storm

The inferno of Notre Dame

The incredible kindness of beings

Who would have thought

Crazy in the North

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