{"id":4622,"date":"2025-10-20T11:10:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T11:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/?p=4622"},"modified":"2025-10-20T11:10:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T11:10:44","slug":"seychelles-new-president-promises-to-halt-qatari-resort-to-a-divided-island-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/seychelles-new-president-promises-to-halt-qatari-resort-to-a-divided-island-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Seychelles\u2019 New President Promises to Halt Qatari Resort, to a Divided Island Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patrick Herminie, Seychelles\u2019 president-elect, says one of his first acts in office will be to stop construction of a controversial Qatari-funded luxury resort on Assumption Island. This project is seemed to have caused some rifts by dividing families, stir political debate and raise an alarmed environmental concern.<\/em><\/p>\n

Herminie, who will be sworn in on October 26, told the BBC in interview that the current Qatari-funded luxury resort deal gave Seychelles peanuts in return for leasing one of its most fragile islands. \u201cWhat has been built has been built and that is it,\u201d<\/em> he declared, promising to freeze further construction and renegotiate with investors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The development, which is a 40-villa resort backed by Qatar\u2019s Assets Group, has been under fire for threatening the delicate ecosystem near the Aldabra atoll, home to hundreds of rare species found nowhere else on Earth. Critics say the project risks turning a national treasure into a private enclave for the wealthy.<\/p>\n

The issue became a defining moment in last month\u2019s election, symbolizing the tension between foreign investment and national identity in the tiny Indian Ocean nation. Herminie defeated incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan with 52.7% of the vote after vowing to protect Seychelles\u2019 environment and put Seychellois first.<\/p>\n

But Herminie\u2019s challenges go beyond conservation. Seychelles is battling one of the world\u2019s highest per-capita rates of drug addiction. This crisis, is what the incoming president calls \u201can existential threat\u201d<\/em>. He has pledged a twin approach: cutting demand for narcotics and cracking down on traffickers.<\/p>\n

In the view of Seychellois, the election was transcended a resort or an island. It was about reclaiming a sense of ownership of land, community and their future, in a paradise that has long sort to balance her beauty with development economic leverages.<\/p>\n

\n

Source: BBC<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patrick Herminie, Seychelles\u2019 president-elect, says one of his first acts in office will be 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Rich"]},"category_info":"Africa<\/a>","tag_info":"Africa","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4622"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4626,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4622\/revisions\/4626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}