Category: APO-OPA

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, April 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — PwC (http://www.pwc.com) is pleased to announce today the successful completion of its combination with Booz & Company. With the granting of all regulatory approvals for Booz & Company to join PwC, it is now officially part of the PwC Network. All closing conditions for the deal have been met.

Photo 1: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=949 (Dennis Nally, Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International)

Photo 2: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=952 (Suresh Kana, PwC Africa Senior Partner)

Logo Strategy&: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=954 (Booz & Company has changed its name to Strategy& (pronounced Strategy and)

Logo PwC: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/pwc.png

Marking this occasion, Booz & Company has changed its name to Strategy& (pronounced Strategy and). This new name, which will be used alongside the PwC name and brand, reflects the strength in strategy consulting that Booz & Company brings to the PwC Network and the benefits this deal will bring to all clients and stakeholders. After a short grace period, Booz & Company can’t legally continue to use the Booz name following the change in ownership.

Welcoming the Strategy& team to the PwC Network, Dennis Nally, Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International, says: “Today signifies an important step for PwC, our clients and stakeholders. Businesses are navigating unprecedented, disruptive threats and organisations increasingly want the right strategy and the ability to execute it. Together PwC and Strategy& meet this need – delivering superior value to our clients and stakeholders, attracting premium talent and helping businesses around the world build their capabilities on a global scale.

“This combination of PwC and Strategy& will see PwC lead the way in changing the landscape of the global consulting business,” adds Nally.

Suresh Kana, PwC Africa Senior Partner, says: “The addition of Strategy& increases the pool of talented people within the PwC Network. Strategy& deploys the best industry experts suited to a strategic challenge, on a global scale. Tapping into these global resources will enable PwC Africa to assist our stakeholders in solving important problems.”

“We are delighted to be joining PwC, the leading professional services network in the world, as it enables us to offer both our clients and our people a bigger, broader and better opportunity to connect strategy to impact,” says Cesare Mainardi, CEO of Strategy&.

“Strategy& brings a 100-year heritage of practical strategy advice to PwC’s broad and deep portfolio of expert advisory services. On day one, we can meet clients’ needs for a full menu of strategy-through-execution services, and a single point of access in delivering results. We have the footprint, the scale, the resources, and the proven capabilities to help global enterprises every step of the way from strategy to outcomes. It’s an exciting prospect,” adds Mainardi.

PwC Strategy&’s Board of Directors will be chaired by Tony Poulter, a PwC partner and global consulting leader. Cesare Mainardi will be CEO of Strategy&. He has been the CEO of Booz & Company for the past two years.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).

About PwC

PwC (http://www.pwc.com) firms help organisations and individuals create the value they’re looking for. We’re a network of firms in 157 countries with close to 184,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. Tell us what matters to you and find out more by visiting us at http://www.pwc.com

Contacts:

Suresh Kana: PwC Africa Senior Partner

Office: +27 11 797 4312

Email: suresh.kana@za.pwc.com

Or

Anne Erikssonn: PwC Senior Partner, East Africa

Office: +254 (20) 285 5000

Email: anne.eriksson@ke.pwc.com

Or

Uyi Akpata: PwC Senior Partner, West Africa

Office: +234 (0) 802 290 1194

Email: uyi.n.akpata@ng.pwc.com

Or

Lindiwe Magana: Media Relations Manager, PwC

Office: +27 11 797 5042/ +27 (83) 559 2860

Email: lindiwe.magana@za.pwc.com

MOGADISHU, Somalia, April 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) denounces the increasing violations against the press in the town of Baidoa, after angry demonstrators attacked a Television journalist and beat him seriously in the town of Baidoa on Monday 31 March, 2014, the latest in string of attacks against the journalists in Somalia.

The town of Baidoa become an increasing hostile environment for the journalists following the announcement of the two opposing regional states claiming from three to six regions. The journalists increasingly become target for the supporters of the opposing administrations.

Demonstrators opposing the formation of three member regional state attacked Ali Ilyas Abdullahi, the regional correspondent of Horncable Television covering Bay and Bakool regions, on Monday morning 31 March 2014, around 10:00am after leaving his office for work. Mr. Abdullahi has been receiving serious phone call threats including death threats, after he filed story on the formation of the three region member state, according to Ali Ilyas who spoke with NUSOJ. Mr. Abdullahi also reports for Warsan Radio, based in Baidoa.

“The region is posing threats against the journalists.” Ali Ilyas Abdullahi, Horncable reporter in Baidoa said via phone interview, “We are being threatened, censored following the divisions among the people in the region.”

Mr. Abdullahi believes the mob was targeting him for his report on formation of the three member regional state.

The National Union of Somali Journalists condemns such press freedom violations and alarming conditions of the journalists in Baidoa, where the journalists are subject to forced reporting, censorship, arbitrary arrests and phone call threats and calls for the Federal government of Somalia to ensure the security of the journalists in the region and create an environment where journalists can exercise their granted freedoms.

“We are alarmed by the level of the risk our colleagues reporting from Baidoa are facing which completely undermines the freedom of the press.” Mohamed Ibrahim, Secretary General of the National Union of Somali Journalists said, “We call upon the regional administration of Bay region under the Federal government of Somalia to provide journalists full protection and create an environment where they can exercise freely.”

“Such conditions are unacceptable and should be put to a stop.” Mr. Ibrahim added.

On January 09, 2014, Police in the town of Baidoa of the Bay region arrested Abdi Nor Mayow, the correspondent of Kulmiye radio, after he filed story interview of elders opposing the formation of six (6) member regional state, outside the ADC center – the former seat of the Transitional federal parliament – where a conference to build a regional state was going on for past several weeks. He was released after spending 8 hours in prison.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, April 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The African Union (AU) Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan held its second meeting yesterday and today. The Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry, former President Olusegun …

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, April 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Anti-balaka fighters killed at least 72 Muslim men and boys, some as young as nine, in two recent attacks in southwestern Central African Republic, Human Rights Watch said today. The assaults, on February 1 and 5, 2014, were in the village of Guen, in a region where abuses have been rampant, but not widely reported. Human Rights Watch interviewed survivors who had fled to a nearby village.

In a separate attack in the southwest, armed Seleka fighters, supported by Peuhl cattle herders, killed 19 people on February 22 in the village of Yakongo, 30 kilometers from Guen. Both villages are near a main road between the larger towns of Boda and Carnot. Although French and African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces are deployed in those larger towns, they do not regularly patrol the road between them. Minimal help is being sent to villages in the region to prevent attacks on civilians.

“These horrendous killings show that the French and AU peacekeeping deployment is not protecting villages from these deadly attacks,” said Lewis Mudge, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Security Council shouldn’t waste another minute in authorizing a United Nations peacekeeping mission with the troops and capacity to protect the country’s vulnerable people.”

A Human Rights Watch researcher spent several days in Djomo, east of Carnot, where he spoke at a Catholic mission with survivors of the Guen attacks. Lacking any humanitarian support, these victims – all Muslims, and mostly the elderly, women, and children – had sought refuge at the mission, where, even there, the anti-balaka continued to assault them.

The anti-balaka militias rose up across the country to fight the Seleka, a predominantly Muslim coalition that took control of the capital, Bangui, on March 24, 2013. The anti-balaka quickly began to target Muslim civilians, particularly in the west, equating them with Seleka or the coalition’s sympathizers. While some anti-balaka possess heavy arms, the majority of the fighters in the southwest are poorly armed with either homemade hunting shotguns or machetes. The anti-balaka often kill their victims with machetes.

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that anti-balaka forces from the north entered Guen in the early morning of February 1. They set upon the Muslim neighborhood of the town and immediately started to shoot people as they fled.

A widow in Guen told Human Rights Watch: “My husband ran away with our four-and-a-half year old son … but he [the husband] was shot in the stomach. I ran and took our child, and the anti-balaka fell upon him [my husband] with their machetes. I wanted to stay with my husband, but my brother pulled me away into the bush.” The child survived.

The anti-balaka did not spare children in the February 1 attack. The father of 10-year-old Oumarou Bouba told Human Rights Watch:

“I took my son when the anti-balaka attacked. As we were running away, he was shot by the anti-balaka. He was shot in the right leg and he fell down, but they finished him off with a machete. I had no choice but to run on. I had been shot too. I later went to see his body and he had been struck in his head and in the neck.”

On February 5, after looting Guen’s Muslim neighborhoods, the anti-balaka attacked a property where hundreds of Muslims had sought refuge. In this attack, the anti-balaka divided approximately 45 men into two groups, led them out of the compound, forced them to lie on the ground, and executed them. The anti-balaka spared women, small children, and the wounded.

One man who had managed to hide among the wounded told Human Rights Watch: “They divided the men into two groups and shot them. Then they cut them with machetes. There was nothing the victims could do; they were killed like wild dogs. They lay there and they were shot.”

The attack on Guen occurred in a context of widespread insecurity in the southwest, particularly on the road between Boda and Carnot, where the Seleka and allied Peuhl fighters attacked the village of Yakongo on February 22.

The transitional government of President Catherine Samba-Panza should investigate these killings and hold to account the attackers and those orchestrating the violence. The international community should also improve the protection for civilians and fast-track the authorization and deployment of a UN peacekeeping force. On April 1, the European Union confirmed it would send 1,000 peacekeepers to the Central African Republic to provide support to the AU and an eventual UN mission. These peacekeepers should be deployed as soon as possible.

“The massacres in the southwest demonstrate the utter lawlessness of both the anti-balaka and the Seleka,” Mudge said. “Both the government and the peacekeepers need to act quickly and effectively to protect civilians, promote security, and enforce the rule of law.”

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on the Central African Republic, please visit:

• https://www.hrw.org/africa/central-african-republic

• http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/car0314compendium_web.pdf

BANGUI, Central African Republic, April 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — In implementation of UN Resolution 1325 and the conclusions of the workshop for women leaders of the Central African Republic (CAR) held in Bangui on 12-14 March 2014, the Human Rights Protection and Gender Unit of the African-led International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (MISCA), in collaboration with the UN Integrated Office in the CAR (BINUCA), yesterday organized an open forum for CAR women leaders and the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission and Head of MISCA, Gen. Jean Marie Michel Mokoko. Under the umbrella of the Coalition of Central African Women for Peace and Reconstruction, the women’s delegation represented a cross section of CAR civil society, including political leaders, women in the media, representatives of Muslim and Christian organizations, and leaders of women’s peace building groups.

The women said that they had come as mothers, grandmothers, wives and sisters who are part of a society that is suffering in the current crises, to discuss with the Special Representative the situation in the country and jointly explore ways and means to get more CAR women involved in peace building. They expressed appreciation to the AU for its support to the efforts of the CAR people towards resolving the current crises and offered their condolences for the MISCA peacekeepers who have lost their lives on Central African soil.

The almost three-hour interactive session, which took the format of a Town Hall meeting, offered the MISCA Head of Mission an opportunity to brief the women on the mandate, achievements and challenges of the Mission. He urged all Central African women to use their influence within their families and communities to promote inclusive dialogue with a view to achieving sustainable peace, security, stability, democracy, Human Rights and development in the CAR.

The MISCA Head of Mission further stated: “The crises in this country are deep and multi-faceted. Security alone cannot resolve all the problems of the country. The people of the CAR need to think seriously about what kind of society and nation they want to build for their children. The elites of this country must rise to the call of history and make their voices heard, so that peace and security can quickly be restored and Central Africans with the help of the international community can begin to focus on the bigger developmental challenges of education, employment, healthcare, security sector reform, infrastructure development, governance and building state institutions and a democratic political culture. The international community is here to assist the Central African people. Therefore, all Central Africans, especially the elites, have a moral responsibility to actively support the international community’s efforts to help the CAR. This is your country and we are here to help you save it.”

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, April 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited Freetown during March 17-April 1, 2014 for the first review of Sierra Leone’s program supported by the IMF through the Extended Credit Facility (ECF).The mission met with the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr. Kaifala Marah; the Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Mr. Sheku Sesay; other senior officials of the government and the central bank, representatives of the business community and civil society, and development partners.

The following statement was issued today in Freetown by IMF Mission Chief Malangu Kabedi-Mbuyi:

“Economic activity continues to expand robustly, mainly on account of a sharp increase in mining activity. Output expanded by an estimated 20 percent in 2013, 5½ percent excluding iron-ore mining activity. Reflecting subdued food prices, inflation has also continued to decelerate to 8½ percent at end-2013. Gross international reserves reached 3½ months of import cover, supported by increased export receipts from iron ore. The fiscal position improved, reflecting a strong revenue performance and expenditure restraint. The overall fiscal deficit is estimated to have narrowed to 1.9 percent of non-iron ore GDP, from 5.6 percent in 2012.

“Program implementation remained good. At the end of December 2013, all quantitative performance criteria were met; and all quantitative indicative targets, but one, were observed. The indicative floor on poverty-related spending was lower than programmed mainly because of slower-than-expected execution of investment financed domestically. Structural reform measures planned for the end of December were also implemented on time.

“Good progress was made in program review discussions. The mission expects to discuss remaining policy issues with the authorities in the coming weeks, with a view to paving the way for the IMF’s Executive Board consideration of the review before end-June.

“The mission would like to thank the authorities for their continued excellent cooperation.”

LONDON, United-Kingdom, April 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Foreign Secretary meets Egyptian Foreign Minister to discuss the situation in Egypt and regional issues.

The Foreign Secretary William Hague met the Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy in Brussels on 2 April. They discussed the political situation in Egypt, including the Presidential elections scheduled for 26-27 May.

Speaking after the meeting, a Foreign Office spokesperson said:

“The Foreign Secretary raised his strong concern over the death sentence imposed on 529 people on 24 March and the case of two British journalists who have been charged in Egypt and are currently being tried in absentia. He asked the Egyptian Government to review these issues as a matter of urgency and to ensure that the individuals’ human and legal rights are properly upheld.

“The two ministers also discussed recent events in the Middle East, including the crisis in Syria and the importance of progress on the Middle East Peace Process.

“The Foreign Secretary condemned today’s attacks in Cairo and sent his condolences to the families of the victims and those who have been injured. He reiterated the importance of cooperation against the shared threat from terrorism. He also raised the UK’s concerns regarding the security situation in the South Sinai region. He urged the Egyptian Government to do all it could to protect British nationals in Egypt, including those visiting the Red Sea resorts over the holiday season, and to take further measures against the risk of terrorism.”

PARIS, France, April 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Schneider Electric (http://www.schneider-electric.com), the global specialist in energy management, today announced the winners of the first edition of the Media Awards on Electrical Counterfeiting in Africa, which recognises African journalists who publish or broadcast outstanding investigative reports on issues relating to electrical counterfeiting in Africa.

The First Media Awards on Electrical Counterfeiting in Africa was won by Adedeji Ademigbuji, Senior Correspondent at The Nation Newspaper (Nigeria) for his piece entitled “Checking the menace of fake electrical products” (http://bit.ly/1s2TO8u), and by Birame Faye, reporter at Le Quotidien newspaper in Senegal for his piece entitled “Electricité – Usage des produits contrefaits : De l’insécurité dans notre confort domestique” (http://bit.ly/O0qnUE).

Read the article by Adedeji Ademigbuji: http://bit.ly/1s2TO8u

Read the article by Birame Faye: http://bit.ly/O0qnUE

Photo of Adedeji Ademigbuji: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=945

Photo of Birame Faye: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=946

Photo Mohammed Saad: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/mohammed_saad_president_africa_schneider_electric.jpg (Mohammed Saad, President Africa, Schneider Electric)

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/schneider_electric.jpg

“Schneider Electric is extremely proud to award the very first Media Awards on Electrical Counterfeiting in Africa. We were very impressed by both the quantity and quality of entries, judging was an incredibly difficult process but we were unanimous in our decision that Adedeji Ademigbuji and Birame Faye were worthy winners. On behalf of Schneider Electric, and personally, I would like to express my warmest congratulations to these two very talented journalists,” stated Mohammed Saad, President of Schneider Electric in Africa.

Both winners will soon be invited to France where they will receive their prizes during a ceremony to take place in the presence of Mme Tracy Garner – Global Anti-counterfeiting Manager – Schneider Electric.

Adedeji Ademigbuji started his journalism career in 2001 as an intern after completing a National Diploma Programme from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State (Nigeria).

In 2006, Adedeji joined the National Standard news magazine. Later that year, he left the National Standard as a senior correspondent to work as a freelance writer for The Sun newspaper. In 2011, Adedeji joined the National Mirror as a business correspondent. After winning the 2013 Social Enterprise Reporting Award, SERA, in the CSR Category and the Nigerian Media Merit Awards, NMMA, Coca-Cola Prize for the Brands & Marketing Category, with records in the Newspaper Reporter of the Year and Telecom Reporter of the Year categories, he was invited by The Nation newspaper to handle the paper’s Brands & Marketing pages.

A graduate of the Institute of Science and Information Technology (CESTI) at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar (Senegal), Birame Faye joined Le Quotidien newspaper immediately after completing his studies. Birame specialised in online journalism at Berlin International Institute, before being assigned to his newspaper’s political section. He then took part in two training courses in economic and financial journalism at the Thomson Reuters Foundation. In 2012, he also attended a training course in investigative journalism provided by the Panos Institute in West Africa (IPAO). On two occasions, he was awarded the First Prize for Investigative Journalism launched by the IPAO. Birame Faye holds a Masters degree in Media and Communication, as well as a Masters degree in Project Management.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Schneider Electric SA.

Contact:

APO (African Press Organization)

schneider@apo-opa.org

+41 22 534 96 97

About Schneider Electric

As a global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric (http://www.schneider-electric.com) offers integrated solutions across multiple market segments, including leadership positions in Utilities & Infrastructure, Industries & Machines Manufacturers, Non-residential Building, Data Centres & Networks and in Residential. Focused on making energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green, the Group’s 140,000 plus employees achieved sales of 24 billion euros in 2012, through an active commitment to help individuals and organizations make the most of their energy.

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 2, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the European and African Heads of State attending the Africa-EU Summit in Brussels today, Wednesday 2 April, to include the continuous imprisonment of journalists in many African states in their discussions.

In an open letter sent to the leaders in attendance, the IFJ says that in order to foster long term development in African states a free and vibrant press is fundamental to hold governments accountable and advises that this must be at the heart of their discussions on democratic governance in Africa.

Signed by IFJ President Jim Boumelha, the letter also calls on all African leaders at the summit to press African governments, particularly those of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Egypt, to free all journalists in their prisons, end intimidation of journalists and open trustworthy investigations into violence against journalists.

The letter states: “The IFJ believes that media freedom and the protection of journalists should not be confined solely to occasional human rights dialogue at country levels, which have done little to improve the situation in which journalists operate in Africa, it is now crucial that the disturbing treatment of journalists is firmly on your agenda and not swept under the carpet.”

Highlighting the plight of journalists in Eritrea, the letter states that it has always been the foremost jailer of journalists in Africa, with some 28 journalists held in the “most inhumane and cruel prison conditions,” some of them believed to be dead by now.

The Ethiopian government is another state which has also been in the spotlight for its crackdown on press freedom in recent years, and the letter states that, with seven journalists behind bars, it trails only Eritrea as Africa’s worst jailers of the press.

And the IFJ also accuses the military-backed interim government in Egypt of setting out a “pattern of intimidations and imprisonment of journalists,” the latest being th Al-Jazeera journalists jailed on trumped up charges.

The letter also highlights the actions of other African countries, including Morocco, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwand, which also hold journalists in jail, albeit in smaller numbers.

In a final plea to the leaders at the summit, the letter urges: “Your clear voice on these issues would particularly resonate throughout Africa, and give hope to independent journalists, dissidents, and human rights groups, and, most importantly, give greater credibility to your dialogue and action plan, and in particular your focus in the field of governance and human rights.”

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 2, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the European and African Heads of State attending the Africa-EU Summit in Brussels today, Wednesday 2 April, to include the continuous imprisonment of journalists in many African states in their discussions.

In an open letter sent to the leaders in attendance, the IFJ says that in order to foster long term development in African states a free and vibrant press is fundamental to hold governments accountable and advises that this must be at the heart of their discussions on democratic governance in Africa.

Signed by IFJ President Jim Boumelha, the letter also calls on all African leaders at the summit to press African governments, particularly those of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Egypt, to free all journalists in their prisons, end intimidation of journalists and open trustworthy investigations into violence against journalists.

The letter states: “The IFJ believes that media freedom and the protection of journalists should not be confined solely to occasional human rights dialogue at country levels, which have done little to improve the situation in which journalists operate in Africa, it is now crucial that the disturbing treatment of journalists is firmly on your agenda and not swept under the carpet.”

Highlighting the plight of journalists in Eritrea, the letter states that it has always been the foremost jailer of journalists in Africa, with some 28 journalists held in the “most inhumane and cruel prison conditions,” some of them believed to be dead by now.

The Ethiopian government is another state which has also been in the spotlight for its crackdown on press freedom in recent years, and the letter states that, with seven journalists behind bars, it trails only Eritrea as Africa’s worst jailers of the press.

And the IFJ also accuses the military-backed interim government in Egypt of setting out a “pattern of intimidations and imprisonment of journalists,” the latest being th Al-Jazeera journalists jailed on trumped up charges.

The letter also highlights the actions of other African countries, including Morocco, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwand, which also hold journalists in jail, albeit in smaller numbers.

In a final plea to the leaders at the summit, the letter urges: “Your clear voice on these issues would particularly resonate throughout Africa, and give hope to independent journalists, dissidents, and human rights groups, and, most importantly, give greater credibility to your dialogue and action plan, and in particular your focus in the field of governance and human rights.”