Category: APO-OPA

VATICAN, Holy See, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Yesterday afternoon, at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Holy Father Francis received in audience Ms. Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, the Sudanese Christian woman imprisoned and condemned…

VATICAN, Holy See, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Francis to Archbishop Ghaleb Moussa Abdalla Bader of Algiers, Algeria, in response to yesterday’s tragic accident involving an Air Algerie aircraft above Mali, which claimed many lives. “His Holiness Pope Francis joins in prayer with the suffering of those who have lost loved ones”, he writes. “He wishes to convey his condolences and to assure them of his profound sympathy, and prays that the Lord may receive the souls of the departed and bring consolation and hope to all those affected by the disaster”.

BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — On behalf of the European Union, we wish to convey our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the Air Algérie flight that crashed in Mali. We also wish to express our sympathy and solidarity to the governments of all affected nations, including to the French and Algerian Presidents.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, welcomes the successful conclusion of the first phase of the inclusive inter-Malian dial…

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — African Union Commission Chairperson, H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, is most saddened by news of the Air Algerie crash flying from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Algiers, in Alg…

COTONOU, Benin, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — African Union Commission Chairperson H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has arrived in Cotonou, Benin at the invitation of the President Yayi Boni for an official visit from 24-27 July 2014, as well as to deliver a statement at a Ministerial Conference of Least Developed Countries on Monday 28 July.

The AUC Chairperson will meet with President Yayi Boni at State House during which they will discuss regional and continental issues ranging from agriculture and food security, infrastructure, regional integration projects, peace, security and development, particularly, but not limited to issues emanating from the 23rd AU Summit in Malabo.

Dr. Dlamini Zuma and President Yayi Boni will also discuss preparations of the upcoming 1stUS-Africa Leaders Summit scheduled to take place in Washington DC, US from the 4-6 August 2014. President Yayi Boni will offer a State Dinner in honour of the AUC Chairperson.

Beyond her engagements with Government Officials, Dr. Dlamini Zuma will be engaging and discussing with women’s groups, on their contributions to Africa’s development.

Dr. Dlamini Zuma will travel to Benin’s capital city, Porto-Novo during which she will visit the Business Promotion Center, the “Ecole du Patrimoine African”, and also meet with a cross-section of women beneficiaries of Benin’s micro-credit schemes. She will visit the Songhai Project (for Agri-business and agricultural entrepreneurs), which hosted the 3rd batch of AU Volunteer programme in December 2012.

Following the official visit the AUC Chairperson will on Monday, 28 July 2014 deliver an opening statement at the Ministerial Conference on New Partnerships for Productive Capacity Building in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) scheduled to take place in Cotonou from 28-31 July 2014.

According to the organisers (UN-OHRLLS), the conference aims to identify new and innovative partnerships to strengthen productive capacities in the LDCs identified as a priority area in the Istanbul Programme of Action. It will also discuss cross-cutting issues such as gender equality, women empowerment, employment and sustainable development.

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — IOM is supporting the Government of Burundi in its efforts to increasingly engage with the Burundian diaspora in national development. A key initial IOM intervention is support fo…

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — In August 2014 IOM Ghana will roll out a series of community-based child protection and counter-trafficking training sessions as part of a UNICEF-backed project.

The project, entitled “Technical Support to the Government of Ghana to Address Child Trafficking and Other Child Protection Abuses: Phase II” will focus on the Ketu South Municipality, and North and South Tongu Districts of the Volta Region.

These community awareness sessions follow the recent training of 16 community volunteers and three district representatives on the “Free To Be Me” Child Protection Toolkit developed in Phase I of the project.

The community focused sessions will continue through October 2014, facilitated by community volunteers and the IOM counter-trafficking team.

Protection and prevention modules will focus on the harsh realities of child labour; the legal implications of child trafficking; parenting techniques; and children’s rights.

All members of the community including elders, local council members, residents and children will be targeted as part of outreach efforts.

“The ‘Free To Be Me’ toolkit empowers communities to combat child trafficking. We hope that this second phase will contribute to efforts to break the cycle of harmful practices against children. All parents want the best for their children. With this initiative, we give them a chance to collectively revisit traditional values of good parenting,” says Sylvia Lopez-Ekra, IOM Ghana Chief of Mission.

With support from UNICEF and in cooperation with national, regional and local authorities, IOM developed a 12-module child protection toolkit and piloted the first six modules in 2013. A total of 7,389 individuals participated in 104 community training activities in six communities within three districts/municipalities.

An internal evaluation revealed a three- to four-fold increase in knowledge among community members regarding child protection and counter-trafficking issues following the pilot sessions held in 2013. There has also been an observed reduction in the number of children given to fisherman in the months following the trainings, and three children were returned to one community.

IOM has over ten years of experience with the rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of children forced to work under hazardous conditions in the fishing industry along Volta Lake, as well as outreach in both sending and receiving communities. To date, 732 children have been assisted and over 48,000 community members, including fishermen, have been sensitized to human trafficking and children’s rights.

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — IOM, as part of the Sudan’s National Flood Taskforce, which coordinates emergency response operations throughout the country, has been asked by the country’s Federal Ministry of Health to contribute to the country’s malaria prevention programme ahead of the upcoming wet season.

IOM, with funding from the UN Common Humanitarian Fund, has responded with a contribution of six tons of permethrin EC 25%, an insecticide with low toxicity to humans which prevents the spread of malaria and dengue. The insecticide, which is biodegradable and lasts between 3 and 8 months, is sprayed over stagnant water and used for indoor residual spraying.

The insecticide will be used by the Ministry of Health to cover 30 per cent of its needs countrywide during the rainy season. It will primarily target internally displaced, returnee and host communities in malaria-affected areas and will help to protect an estimated 450,000 – 600,000 families or between 2.25 and 3.6 million people.

Malaria is a major cause of death in Sudan, especially among young children and pregnant women. In the north of Sudan, 16 per cent of hospital deaths are attributed to the disease.

According to WHO, 5 per cent to 12 per cent of malaria-infected people die from the disease, with children under three years of age four times more likely to die than others. The annual estimated number of malaria cases in Sudan is 5.5 million, and nearly 75 per cent of the total population is at risk of malaria.

Increased rainfall, the spread of irrigation within city limits, and construction of new urban colonies without proper facilities for drainage, as well as an influx of refugees and internally displaced persons have all contributed to the spread of malaria in the region.

The rainy season in Sudan usually begins in July and runs through October. The National Flood Task Force is a government-led body established in August 2013 that coordinates emergency response. It is comprised of government institutions and humanitarian actors, including IOM, UN agencies and NGOs.

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Thousands of Chadian migrants fleeing violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) have been stranded in Cameroon since the beginning of 2014.

This week, IOM Cameroon and Chad completed the return by road of almost 500 Chadian migrants from the town of Garoua Boulai, Cameroon, to the newly established temporary site in the village of Djako located 40 km from the town of Moundou in Chad.

Two more IOM convoys will bring home an estimated 2,000 Chadian migrants still stranded on the Cameroon-CAR border in the coming weeks.

The operation was carried out at the request of the Chadian government and was made possible with funding from the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. The Chadian Embassy in Cameroon issued the returnees with travel documents prior to their return home.

The temporary site in Djako was set up by humanitarian agencies including IOM, WFP, UNICEF and IRC. The Chadian government allocated the land. IOM is responsible for the provision of shelter and site management, WFP for nutrition, and UNICEF for water, sanitation and hygiene. IRC will provide medical services.

The families now in Djako not only experienced atrocities in CAR, but also endured tough living conditions while in transit on the Cameroon border. They will need emergency and post-emergency aid to meet their basic needs while durable solutions are identified. This will include psychosocial support, medical care, food, non-food relief items, water, sanitation, livelihoods, as well as family member tracing and reunification.

“IOM and our humanitarian partners have been able to help migrants arriving back in Chad thanks to funding from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and others. But the remaining funds are only enough to kick start this new operation,” says IOM Chad Chief of Mission Dr. Qasim Sufi.

“We need considerable additional funding to continue to provide the necessary humanitarian aid to Chadians who are continuing to return to the country,” he adds.

Since December 2013, the CAR crisis has displaced hundreds of thousands of people internally and across borders, notably into neighboring Chad and Cameroon. They have included nationals of both countries, CAR nationals and nationals of third countries.

As of 21 July, IOM had registered more than 106,000 arriving in Chad from CAR either independently or with the assistance of the Chadian government and IOM by road and air.

This influx led to the reactivation in May 2014 of the Shelter-Camp Coordination Camp Management (CCCM) cluster led by UNHCR and IOM. The aim of the cluster is to manage both transit and temporary sites established to accommodate the new arrivals and to provide them with emergency assistance prior to their reintegration in the country.