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FRENCH

Top envoy may call foreign minister to Congo

The top diplomat who travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo this week has said Norway's foreign minister Børge Brende may need to travel personally to Kinshasa to secure the release of the Norwegian jailed there.

Top envoy may call foreign minister to Congo
Kai Eide at his hotel in Kinshasa, Congo, on Friday - Erlend Aas/Scanpix NTB
"We are considering sending Foreign Minister Brende to Congo, if it is appropriate," Kai Eide, a former UN special representative to Afghanistan, told Norway's NRK television channel. 
 
Eide is in the country to help Joshua French, a former soldier with joint Norwegian and British citizenship, who was last week accused of drugging and strangling Tjostolv Moland, the friend and business partner with whom he shared a cell in Kinshasa. 
 
Since Eide he arrived in the country on Thursday, he has met French every day and discussed the case when some Congolese officials. 
 
The new charges came after a joint investigation between Norway's National Crime Investigation Service and the Congolese police exonerated French, ruling that Moland's death had been suicide. 
 
"I have established a relationship of trust with Joshua French. It is crucial to the case, for he is the one I'm work for," Eide said.  "He's an interesting and pleasant person to talk to, Naturally, we have discussed the case, but we also had nice conversations about politics and literature." 
 
French and Moland were arrested in Congo in 2009 and found guilty the following year of murdering their driver Abedi Kasongo. Both have always denied any guilt. Moland was found dead in his cell on August 18, four years after the two men were jailed. 

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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

French Word of the Day: alors

Stumped by what this extremely common French word actually means? Et alors? -- Now you've got the perfect opportunity to find out.

French Word of the Day: alors
Image: Depositphotos

Why do I need to know alors?

French speakers pepper conversation with alors all the time. It's one of those words that you can go by years without knowing exactly what it means, but will make you sound a lot more natural when you talk. 

What does it mean?

Alors has several meanings. 

It can be used to mean 'then' or 'in that case'. For example, Si tu sais conduire, alors tu peux prendre la voiture. (If you can drive, then you can take the car.)

Or it can mean 'so', 'well' and in informal conversation, 'so then'. 

For example Alors, raconte ce qui s'est passé! (So, tell me what happened!/Well? Tell me what happened!)

Or, Alors, ton nouveau voisin, il est comment? which means 'So then, what's your new neighbour like?'
 
Alors can also be used as part of an expression, such as in the case of Ça alors! which is used to express shock and is the equivalent of 'goodness!', 'my goodness!' and 'goodness me!', or even 'well,well!' in English. 
 
Or you might hear someone shout in an exasperated manner Merde alors! which means 'For crying out loud!' or 'For goodness' sake!'
 
Another common expression including alors is Et alors? which means 'So what?' and is often said in a sarcastic tone. 
 
For example you might say Tu n'y crois pas? Et alors? (You don't believe it? So what?)
 
How is it pronounced?
 
Remember to make sure you can hear that French 'r' when pronouncing alors
 
Here's a YouTube video to help you pronounce it perfectly
 
For more Swiss language articles, see our full list here.
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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