The auditors were welcomed to the CEFE (Equatorial Forest Training Centre) by legionnaires from the 3e Foreign Infantry Regiment (REI).
They were able to learn about the specificities and constraints of actions and missions carried out in the equatorial forest. Learning to survive in such a hostile environment requires a thorough and respectful knowledge of the environment, its fauna and flora, its climate and its dangers.
During this immersion, the auditors had the opportunity to sleep in a bivouac in the forest before reinforcing their cohesion on the obstacle course usually used for the training of trainees who had come from all over the world to benefit from the CEFE's know-how. The IHEDN is deeply grateful to all the men and women at the centre for their warm welcome in what was an unforgettable experience for every student.
The auditors attended the launch of the 115e and antepenultimate Ariane 5 rocket, for the VA259 mission.
From the bleachers on the Ibis site hill, we were all captured by the magic of a rocket launch: the tension of the countdown, the sound and visual power of the lift-off, the beauty of the trajectory, the joy of the operators after the successful orbiting of the three satellites...
This perfection has its origins, of course, in the technology used at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou - which we were able to discover for ourselves. in situ These include the Jupiter control centre, the launch bases, the weather station and the assembly sites. It is also due to the involvement of all those who bring the centre to life: the engineers and technicians - already focused on the forthcoming launch of Ariane 6 - as well as the legionnaires of the 2e REI, who carry out their mission of protecting this 700 km infrastructure day after day.2 so special.
The auditors visited the Annamite prison.
While French Guiana's economic (particularly Kourou, the economic heart of French Guiana, with its space centre), geopolitical and environmental centres of interest are obvious, it would be simplistic to use only these aspects to define this special territory, which is both a French overseas department and region.
French Guiana also has a rich and troubled history, which has seen the construction of three prisons, the famous bagnes. During our mission, we were able to visit one of them, the bagne des annamites, located 45 km east of Cayenne, in the commune of Montsinéry-Tonnegrande.
Built in the early 1930s on the site of a colonial dwelling, the Crique-Anguille camp housed nearly 525 common law and Indochinese political prisoners from Saigon and Hanoi until it was closed in 1946. Known at the time as "Camp de la Crique-Anguille" because of its location near this creek, this special prison was part of the autonomous territory of Inini. Covering an area of around 414 hectares, the interest of this site lies not only in its historical character, but also in its extraordinarily rich biodiversity. The vegetation partially covers the remnants of the era, but there are paths leading to various points of interest. The IHEDN auditors were thus able to discover the prison and the convicts' quarters, and to get a (small) idea of the appalling living conditions that awaited convicts. It was a historic visit that contributed to a better understanding of this complex territory, the only European enclave in South America.
