and a political culture tainted by allegations of corruption. well, my guest is seychelles president wavel ramkalawan. is this a story of paradise lost? president wavel ramkalawan, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. well, it s a pleasure to have you in the studio. you in the seychelles are known at the un as one of the sids nations. that s the small island developing states. do you think the world listens properly to the sids? i would say no. in fact, as an african country, when the world talks about africa, they don t really pay attention to the sids. and yet, the sids of africa are the ones that are doing very well. when you look at the mo ibrahim index, for example, mauritius is first, seychelles is second, cape verde s third. so you have three sids that are doing extremely well, but the focus is on mainland africa. but isn t that, in a sense, part of the point? you are doing relatively well. i believe your per capita income is over $10,000, which in african terms i
straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. in the glossy tourist brochures, the seychelles, an archipelago of islands far off the coast of east africa, is portrayed as a little piece of paradise. but dig deeper and you find a very different reality an island nation threatened by climate change, a population with the worst heroin addiction rate in the world and a political culture tainted by allegations of corruption. well, my guest is seychelles president, wavel ramkalawan. is this a story of paradise lost? president wavel ramkalawan, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. well, it s a pleasure to have you in the studio. you in the seychelles are known at the un as one of the sids nations. that s the small island developing states. do you think the world listens properly to the sids? i would say no. in fact, as an african country, when the world talks about africa, they don t really pay attention to the sids. and yet, the sids of africa are the on
by allegations of corruption. well, my guest is seychelles president, wavel ramkalawan. is this a story of paradise lost? president wavel ramkalawan, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. well, it s a pleasure to have you in the studio. you in the seychelles are known at the un as one of the sids nations. that s the small island developing states. do you think the world listens properly to the sids? i would say no. in fact, as an african country, when the world talks about africa, they don t really pay attention to the sids. and yet, the sids of africa are the ones that are doing very well. when you look at the mo ibrahim index, for example, mauritius is first, seychelles is second, cape verde s third. so you have three sids that are doing extremely well, but the focus is on mainland africa. but isn t that, in a sense, part of the point? you are doing relatively well. i believe your per capita income is over $10,000, which in african terms is pretty remarkable, and you r
that destruction left behind in just three cities in florida. and clued in fort myers. we will go there in just a moment and now coming to be known as ground zero. satellite images showing areas there before and after the storm. survivors continuing to speak out about what they have endured. i sheltered in a closet until part of the roof came off. and then the wind came in there so that i just went behind the bed. and stay there. nothing about gratitude that we are here and for all that the people out there do. i will never ever not evacuate again. the power of that storm i mean if that would ve crashed into the side of the house. we would have been swept away. all right happening now in sarasota county in west central florida. possible levee break, that is threatening flooding about to 15 feet in the hayden river community. the sarasota county sheriff s office tweeting a warning saturday morning. and then urging residents to shelter in place if it is safe to do so.
and they ll have to be rebuilt. unfortunately, there are also homes and businesses that will simply not be able to safely take the power once it s ready. but the 20,000 plus men and women who are already here are staging and getting on the field currently. they will work 24/7 until we get the lights back on. again, as the governor said, not our first rodeo, but every storm is also different and always poses different challenges. but appreciate all the support from the state. governor, thank you. from local law enforcement as well, national guard. this is a team sport and a team effort, and we re going to all work together until we get florida back up on her feet and where we all want her to be. thank you. when fdl and the other companies have crews in, the extent to which that infrastructure has remained is just critical because, you know, it s a lot easier for them to reconnect an existing system than to have to rebuild it. to see that was able to withstand is encouraging.