Michele Spatari

currently in Spain michele.spatari@gmail.com

STORIES & ASSIGNMENTS

A MILLION LIVES, STUCK

Ethiopia | 2024 | Agence France-Presse

Despite a peace deal signed in November 2022, the UN OCHA estimates there are still 1.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia’s conflict-ravaged Tigray region, the majority were uprooted by the two-year war between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigrayan rebel authorities that killed an estimated 600,000 people.

DEATH BY CLIMATE CHANGE

Ethiopia | 2024 | Agence France-Presse

On 21 and 22 July 2024, intense rainfall triggered three successive landslides in the mountainous region of Gofa Zone, South Ethiopia, killing 257 people and displacing 15,000. The second landslide buried those who had arrived to help in the wake of the first. These are the deadliest landslides in Ethiopian history.

INTO THE INFERNO

Ethiopia | 2024 | Agence France-Presse

In the heart of the Horn of Africa, the Danakil Depression is one of the hottest, most inhospitable place on earth, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius.

FROM ONE WAR TO ANOTHER

Ethiopia | 2024 | Agence France-Presse

Having escaped a raging war at home, Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia face more conflict and insecurity as the border region of Amhara is plagued by unrest and clashes.

UNCERTAIN TIMES

Ethiopia | 2024 | Agence France-Presse

The Ethiopian Orthodox celebrations of Gena and Timkat have been muted in 2024 in the northwest Ethiopian region of Amhara where conflict has raged for months.

ETHIOPIA’S GREEN GOLD

Ethiopia | 2024 | Agence France-Presse

The plant of khat, which has a history of cultivation originating in the Harar region, is an euphoric recreational stimulant chewed throughout the Horn of Africa.

A BOWLING ALLEY FROM THE PAST

Ethiopia | 2024 | Agence France-Presse

Inaugurated in 1955 by emperor Haile Selassie himself, the six lanes Guenet Bowling alley in the Ethiopian capital is a dive into the past.

CIRCUS OF HOPE

Ethiopia | 2023 | Agence France-Presse

Fekat Circus - 'blossoming' in Amharic - was created in 2004 by a group of young Ethiopians with a passion for circus. Since then, it became an open creative space where kids from the community gather to learn, practice and perform free of charge.

HIJACKED LIVES

South Africa | 2023 | Agence France-Presse

The fire that killed more than 70 people in August 2023 in Johannesburg has reopened a decade-long debate about so-called hijacked buildings.

WIND TURBINES ENDANGERS SA WILDLIFE RESERVES

South Africa | 2023 | Le Monde

Already under pressure from poachers, Eastern Cape private reserves face another challenge: a new wind farm project, that will spread over a hundred square kilometres and risk harming ecotourism, and the people depending on it.

2023 NIGERIAN ELECTIONS

Nigeria | 2023 | Agence France-Presse

A lot was at stake for Africa’s most populous country, biggest economy, and largest oil producer, in its 7th presidential election since the 1993 military coup.

2022 KENYAN ELECTIONS

Kenya | 2022 | Bloomberg News

One of Kenya's closest elections in decades saw Deputy President William Ruto battling Raila Odinga, as the country is facing spiraling cost of living and growing inequality.

INGOZI - ONGOING

South Africa | 2021 | Agence France-Presse

With some of the highest crime rates in the world and a police force ill-equipped to combat it, private security has become a necessity in South Africa. The country has one of the world's largest private security industries, a billion-dollar industry that has deep root in the country social inequality and violent history.

SOUTH AFRICA’S PETROLHEADS RODEO

South Africa | 2021 | Agence France-Presse

White plumes of smoke billow into the air as drivers take turns spinning round and round in circles. Born in the South African townships during the Apartheid era as a ritual to honour fallen gangsters, spinning - stunts performed with heavy modified cars - is now a vibrant motorsport with a large underground following.

In the remote northern region of South Africa elderly women reach down to the earth, scraping up soil blanketed by a shiny white, thin crystallised deposit. The salt, say locals, is sanctified by the spirits of their ancestors, for the crystals come from the water of a holy spring said to have healing powers.