Category: APO-OPA

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 11, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirms that on 8 February it lost contact with one of its vehicles, which had been travelling between Kidal and Gao, in n…

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 11, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) confirme avoir perdu le contact samedi 8 février avec l’un de ses véhicules entre Kidal et Gao, dans le nord du Mali. Quatre membres du personnel et un auxiliaire vétérinaire se trouvaient à bord.

« Ils étaient partis de Kidal pour regagner leur base à Gao lorsque nous avons perdu le contact, dans des circonstances que nous ignorons encore. Il est important de ne pas faire de spéculation, bien qu’aucune piste ne soit écartée. », a declaré Christoph Luedi, chef de la délégation du CICR au Mali. « Extrêmement préoccupés par le sort de nos collègues, nous faisons tout ce qui est en notre pouvoir pour les localiser au plus vite ».

Au Mali, le CICR travaille sans relâche pour fournir une aide humanitaire impartiale à la population affectée par le conflit. « Nous appelons au respect de nos équipes, pour qu’elles puissent accomplir leur travail », a ajouté M. Luedi.

Le CICR est en contact avec toutes les parties en présence afin de localiser ses collaborateurs. Tout sera mis en œuvre pour les retrouver.

BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, February 11, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Council adopted the following conclusions:

“1. Three years have passed since Egyptians from all walks of life rose against a repressive regime calling for freed…

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 11, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Rockefeller Foundation and the Tony Elumelu Foundation (http://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org) have announced the winners of the Africa Impact Economy Innovations Fund (IEIF).

Photo Tony Elumelu: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/elumelu.jpg

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

Launched in April 2013 at the Africa Impact Investing Forum supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, IEIF provides grant capital for entrepreneurs with projects that create jobs in underserved sectors, and supports proposals geared toward enabling capital solutions, fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems and promoting impact investing industry infrastructure.

Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the winners were selected from a highly competitive pool of hundreds of applicants from across Africa, and represented several sectors across the continent including Finance, Agriculture, Policy & Research and Information Technology.

Administered by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the rigorous selection process was undertaken by a committee which included Malik Fal, Managing Director of Omidyar Network Africa; Emmanuel N. Nnorom who was at the time, CEO of UBA Africa and currently the President of Heirs Holdings Group; Amit Bouri, Managing Director of the Global Impact Investing Network; Eme Essien Lore, Senior Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office,; and Dr. Wiebe Boer, CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Making the list of winning applications were Investisseurs & Partenaires (Senegal), Renew LLC (Ethiopia), M.Lab Africa (Kenya), Policy and Economic Research Council (Tanzania), Doreo Partners (Nigeria), GIMPA Centre for Impact Investing (Ghana) and SliceBiz (Ghana).

The vision for the winners is to enable through their various projects, opportunities for additional entrepreneurship activities across Africa to thrive. “The winners were selected for their work in bridging the gap between African businesses and financing options. We, at the Foundation are excited to be part of the process of supporting interventions that contribute to sustained economic development across the continent.” Dr. Wiebe Boer, explained

Upon receipt of the grant, several winners expressed renewed commitment to providing support services to their stakeholders with the additional supporting resources at their disposal.

“The IEIF grant will assist us to augment our portfolio of services with improved interventions for social enterprises and enable us increase the potential for success for start-ups that go through our incubation program.” said John Kieti of M.Lab, the grant winner from Kenya.

“Thanks to this funding, we can now focus on our core mission of creating alternative finance pathways for the next generation of African Start-ups through a micro-investment platform. This funding is by far our most remarkable opportunity to date and we intend to fully leverage the advantages to deliver some key outcomes for the Ghanaian and African start-up ecosystem,” added William Senyo the CEO of SliceBiz, one of the winners from Ghana.

Eme Essien Lore, Senior Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, Africa Regional Office expressed enthusiasm for IEIF’s contributions to the global network of global investors. “The business ideas we received through the IEIF reflect the extensive entrepreneurial potential that exists in Africa. Our Foundation continues to believe that impact investing can transform the development landscape across the continent and we welcome opportunities such as the IEIF to prove that.”

The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) will play an administrative role to manage the IEIF on behalf of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

For more information contact

Achieng’ Otieno, Communications Officer, the Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office

aotieno@rockfound.org, +254 704 848792

Eniola Shitta, Communications Executive, the Tony Elumelu Foundation,

eniola.shitta@tonyelumelufoundation.org, +234 813 003 1156

About Impact Investing

Impact investing includes those investments aimed at solving social or environmental challenges, while generating a financial return. The impact investing industry has the potential to steer significant capital to market-based solutions in sustainable agriculture, affordable housing, affordable and accessible healthcare, clean technology, financial services for the poor, and other sectors addressing the world’s most pressing problems. Impact investments can be made in both emerging and developed markets, and target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending upon the circumstances. For more information, please visit this link: http://bit.ly/1iHbgKt.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation pursues this mission through dual goals: advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity, and building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at the intersection of four focus areas – advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities – to address the root causes of emerging challenges and create systemic change. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot – or will not. To learn more, please visit http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org

About The Tony Elumelu Foundation

Founded in 2010, The Tony Elumelu Foundation (http://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org) is an African-funded philanthropic organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship in Africa by enhancing the competitiveness of the private sector. The Foundation creates impact through business leadership and entrepreneurship development programmes, impact investments, research, and policy advocacy. For more information, please visit http://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org

About The Global Impact Investing Network

The Global Impact Investing Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing. Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. They can be made in both emerging and developed markets, and target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending upon the circumstances. The GIIN builds critical infrastructure and supports activities, education, and research that help accelerate the development of a coherent impact investing industry. For more information, please visit http://www.thegiin.org

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, February 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria is hosting the meeting of African Police Chiefs from 10-11 February in Algiers. The meeting is held in support of the efforts tow…

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, February 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — A staff mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited Nouakchott during January 26-February10 to discuss with the country’s authorities recent macroeconomic developments and future engagement with the Fund. The mission met with Central Bank Governor Sid’ Ahmed Ould Raiss, Finance Minister Thiam Diombar, Economic Affairs and Development Minister Sidi Ould Tah, as well as other senior economic and financial policymakers. The team also held productive discussions with representatives of the civil society, banking and private sectors, and donors.

At the conclusion of the visit, Mercedes Vera Martin, Mission Chief for Mauritania, issued the following statement:

“The mission made progress in the discussions with the Mauritanian authorities on the macroeconomic performance, economic policies and possible future financial support from the IMF.

“Mauritania’s economic performance in 2013 remained strong driven by the expansion in mining and agricultural sectors; combined with contained inflation in line with declining import prices. Fiscal and external buffers continue to improve and the fiscal stance continues to consolidate its prudent path.

“The authorities are taking steps towards strengthen macroeconomic stability, while designing a comprehensive medium-term structural agenda that improves governance and supports more inclusive growth. The mission welcomes the authorities’ intention to improve governance and transparency of the public sector overall with the aim to improve institutional capacity. Reforms to improve the business environment to support private sector development are crucial for economic diversification and more inclusive growth dynamics.

“Discussions with the authorities will continue once the new government is in place.

“The IMF remains fully committed to supporting Mauritania, and the mission would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mauritanian authorities and private sector representatives for their warm welcome and the quality of the discussions held.”

BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, February 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Council adopted the following conclusions:

“1. The EU congratulates Tunisia on its adoption of its new democratic constitution guaranteeing fundamental freedom…

GABORONE, Botswana, February 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The African Union Commission (AUC), through the Information Society Division of the Infrastructure and Energy Department, in partnership with the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) concluded an interactive Regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP) and Regional Internet Carrier (RIC) Workshop with concrete recommendations and conclusions on the support and guidance needed for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) to transform into regional players.

The workshop outlined the benefits of establishing RIC and RIXP by engaging participants and key regional stakeholders into discussions on operational and technical best practices, applicable policy and regulatory frameworks, regional interconnection strategies and existing business development models relevant to the region.

The overall objective of the discussions was to enhance interconnectivity within the region, encourage local content development and promote efficient information flow through accurate data localization, data hosting infrastructures / datacenters as well as through cost-saving peering and content distribution mechanisms. The workshop further established a minimum criteria for selecting Internet Service Providers and Internet Exchange Points to be supported to grow into Regional Internet Carriers and Regional Internet Exchange Points.

“This workshop served to empower the region to work towards keeping regional internet traffic within the region instead of transiting intra-regional traffic through overseas carriers” said Mr. Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division of the AU in his opening remarks.

As a way forward, the workshop agreed on setting up a regional policy and regulatory Committee to develop the regional interconnection policy and regulatory framework; Start the capacity building program to empower ISPs to take advantage of regional interconnections ; Finalise the IXP selection process and initiate the technical assistance program to support IXPs to grow into RIXPs.

For more information on the African Internet Exchange System Project, visit http://au.int/axis

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, February 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Experts and stakeholders today met in Addis Ababa, at the AU Commission to discuss and draft the implementation plan and resource mobilisation strategy for the integrated African strategy on meteorology.

The meeting is an implementation of the Decision of the Executive Council adopted at the January 2013 AU Heads of State and Government Summit, on the Report of the Second Session of the African Union Conference of Ministers responsible for Meteorology and the African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology (AMCOMET) held in October 2012.

The Summit endorsed the Integrated African Strategy on Meteorology and recommended the establishment of two Taskforces to draft the Implementation and Resource Mobilization Plan for the Integrated Strategy on Meteorology.

Further endorsed was the investigation of the feasibility of developing an African Regional Space Programme as well as a recommendation to the African Union Commission (AUC), in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Partners to establish a Regional Climate Centre in Central Africa.

Officially opening the experts meeting, AMCOMET Bureau Chief and Head of International Relations of the Zimbabwe Meteorological Department, Dr. Elliot Bungare, said the Implementation Plan would be comprehensive in nature and would take into consideration the numerous issues affecting climate and meteorology.

He further said the implementation plan would support activities in line with the AU declared Year of Agriculture and Food Security.

Dr. Bungare also urged Regional Economic Communities to consider the integrated African Strategy whenever they discuss meteorology and climate change issues.

African Union Commission, Director for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Dr. Abebe Haile Gabriel said the development of the Implementation Plan under discussion was cardinal as it would improve the generation of climate information on the African continent.

He said improved generation of climate information would enhance the capacity of National and Hydro-Meteorological Services to explore the potential of Earth Observation (EO) technologies in monitoring droughts, floods, weather, climate, fisheries, rangelands, forests, etc, as a tool for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

“The drafting of the Implementation Plan is also very timely as we are still discussing our African Agenda 2063 on: Pan Africanism and African Renaissance; and in addition we are commemorating the 10 years of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programm.” Dr. Abebe said. “Furthermore, the recently held 22ndSession of the African Union Assembly launched the Year 2014 as the Year of Agriculture and Food Security. I have no doubt that the Implementation Plan being developed will support climate change adaptation in the field of agriculture which contributes to over 80% of rural livelihood needs and over 40% of GDP in Africa,” he added.

The Integrated Strategy was developed as a policy document to enhance the cooperation between African countries; and to ensure that National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) have the capacity to fulfill their responsibilities including the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS).

The Strategy identifies five key pillars for action as follows: (a) Increase political support and recognition of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and related Regional Climate Centres; (b) Enhance weather and climate service delivery for sustainable development; (c) Improve access to meteorological services for in particular for Marine and Aviation Sectors; (d) Support the provision of weather and climate services for climate change adaptation and mitigation; and (e) Strengthen partnerships with relevant institutions and funding mechanisms.

The Strategy further sets out priority actions that can be undertaken at national, regional and global levels. These priority actions are supported by a set of institutional partnerships that bring together AMCOMET and Development Partners to support meteorological (weather and climate) services in Africa.

TOKYO, Japan, February 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — In the Republic of South Sudan, the local security situation has rapidly deteriorated since the middle of last December as a result of armed attacks by anti-government forces. Amidst such situation, the Government of Japan received a request from the Government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United Nations to provide ammunition, which was in short supply for the ROK unit stationed in Bor, Jonglei State, in preparation for the use of arms to protect both the ROK personnel, the displaced people and others who had gathered within the encampment.

　The type of ammunition in short supply was the same type possessed by Japan’s Self-Defense Force (JSDF) unit. Given that among all the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) units currently deployed in South Sudan only the JSDF unit possessed stockpiles of the same type of ammunition, Japan determined that if it did not provide ammunitions the ROK unit would face the difficulties in protecting the lives of the ROK unit personnel and displaced people. For this reason, the Government of Japan decided to provide the required 10,000 rounds of ammunition to the United Nations based on the requests from the ROK Government and the United Nations.

　This contribution in kind was implemented in view of an urgent situation that required prompt action in order to protect the lives of both the ROK personnel and the displaced people. Given the urgent necessity and the highly humanitarian nature of the situation, the Chief Cabinet Secretary issued a statement announcing that the Three Principles on Arms Exports do not apply to this case and the provision of ammunition was implemented under the Contribution in Kind framework set forth in Article 25 of the Act on Cooperation for United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and Other Operations.

　The 10,000 rounds of ammunition were returned to the JSDF unit through UNMISS on January 16, 2014 after the ammunition for the ROK units was restocked by the ROK.

[Reference Material 1] Contribution in Kind in relation to UNMISS (transition by time) (PDF)

[Reference Material 2] Act on Cooperation for United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and Other Operations (excerpt) (PDF)

[Reference Material 3] Provided Goods(5.56mm ammunition)）and Weapons in Use (PDF)