ERITREA 1992 – A man, lost in thought, in a bar with clear Italian influence at Asmara. Maybe he does not yet realise that the long war for independence is over © Pascal Maitre / Cosmos

MALI 2009 – The Agorgot (salt mine) of Taoudenni, where 400 men work for six months at a time. This miner is wearing a Bin Laden T-shirt, which is not surprising as the AQIM is based in the region © Pascal Maitre / Cosmos

SOMALIA 2006 – After the tsunami eighteen containers filled with radioactive or toxic waste arrived on the beaches of Somalia. Here on the beach of Mareeg, about 200 miles north of Mogadishu, technicians of the DBG are taking measurements and reading levels of radioactivity in the container. They have been trained by German specialists in the building of concrete casings. In 1991, a Swiss company, Achair Partners, and the Italian ‘Progresso’ made a deal with Somali president Ali Mahdi to clean up the waste material (at $3 a ton instead of the usual $1,000 in Europe). The inhabitants of the Somali coast say that it is the pollution caused by this waste as well as the plunder of their fishery resources which has pushed them into piracy. © Pascal Maitre / Cosmos

CHAD 2006 – Engulfed by a sand storm, the riders get together for a race at Abéché, in eastern Chad, near the frontier with Darfour. 1000 years ago, other horsemen brought Islam and Arabic culture to the arid land that runs along the Sahara. © Pascal Maitre / Cosmos

SOMALIA 2002 – Mogadishu; Afweyne, head of the militia escorting us, is ill having chewed too much khat and drunk too much alcohol. Previously he lived in the bush with his herd and had never seen a house. When he joined the militia of Ousmane Ato for a victorious entry in Mogadishu in 1992, he took over four villas, including this one, where he is speaking to other militia men. In 2011, after becoming a pirate, Afweyne was murdered in a revenge killing © Pascal Maitre / Cosmos

NIGER 1996; Fête du Gerewol chez les nomades Wodaabe. © Pascal Maitre/Edition Lammerhuber

CHAD 1987; Femmes Gorane fêtant la victoire sur les troupes libyennes. © Pascal Maitre/Edition Lammerhuber

DR CONGO 1995; Kisangani : pêcheurs Wagenia sur le fleuve Congo. © Pascal Maitre/Edition Lammerhuber

SOMALIA, 2008; Forces du TFG dans les rues de Mogadiscio. © Pascal Maitre/Edition Lammerhuber

CAMEROON, 1989; Région montagneuse des Kapsiki. © Pascal Maitre/Edition Lammerhuber

Cover „INCROYABLE AFRIQUE“ © Pascal Maitre/Edition Lammerhuber

Photographe Pascal MAITRE © Pascal Maitre/Edition Lammerhuber