Category: APO-OPA

NEW YORK, January 8, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Malawian authorities must immediately investigate and bring all appropriate charges in connection with the reported assault of a radio journalist who said he was punched by a business lead…

CAIRO, Egypt, January 8, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Mr. Masood Ahmed, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), visited Cairo on January 7, 2012. During his visit, Mr. Ahmed met with President Mohamed Morsi, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, Central Bank of Egypt Governor Farouk El Okdah, Finance Minister Al-Mursi Hegazy, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf Al-Araby, and other officials.

At the conclusion of his visit, Mr. Ahmed made the following statement:

“I have held productive discussions today with President Morsi, Prime Minister Kandil, and Egypt’s economic team on the economic and financial challenges now facing the Egyptian economy. They expressed their firm commitment to articulate and implement a homegrown macroeconomic program that enjoys broad support and addresses these challenges. The authorities also reiterated their request for financial support from the IMF for such a program.

“The IMF remains committed to support Egypt in addressing its increasing economic challenges and moving to a more inclusive model of economic growth through a socially-balanced homegrown program. I am encouraged by the authorities’ commitment to take steps necessary to achieve fiscal and external sustainability. Following our discussions today, and based on the work that is to be carried out, we agreed that an IMF technical team would visit Cairo in the coming weeks to resume discussions on possible IMF financial support.”

BEIJING, China, January 7, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying announces at the regular press conference:

Special Envoy of President Hu Jintao and Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei will go to the Gh…

DUBLIN, Ireland, January 7, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore, T.D., and the Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello T.D., today welcomed the refund to Ireland by the Government of Uganda of the €4 million of Irish Aid funds misappropriated by officials within the Office of the Prime Minister of Uganda.

The Tánaiste stated:

I greatly welcome the restitution by the Ugandan Government of the €4 million in aid funding which had been misappropriated by officials within the Office of the Prime Minister. This restitution follows intensive high level discussions with the Government of Uganda over the last two months.

I am satisfied that this and other steps taken by the Government of Uganda send a clear signal of their commitment to bring those involved to account and to improve their financial control systems. I believe that these measures will contribute to the Government’s efforts to tackle corruption.

I am also satisfied that this decision to refund the €4 million to Ireland shows the determination of the Government of Uganda to maintain the long standing relationship with Ireland. Ireland has built this partnership with the authorities and people of Uganda over the last 20 years, during which Uganda has witnessed remarkable progress in poverty reduction. Ireland has played a positive role in this progress.

I have now instructed my officials to examine options for a possible programme of support for the people of Uganda during 2013. This will take into account the ongoing assessment of all management systems across our partner programmes, to ensure that risks are being appropriately identified and managed.

Looking to the future, we stand ready to continue to work with the Auditor General of Uganda in his efforts to root out corruption, strengthen financial controls, and build robust and transparent systems of accountability.

Pending the successful completion of this work we will examine appropriate management arrangements, with direct oversight by Ireland, which ensure that our development assistance continues to make a difference on the ground and builds local capacity, but also provides assurance in respect to accountability.

LILONGWE, Malawi, January 7, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made the following statement today in Lilongwe:

“It is a great pleasure to be in Malawi for my first visit as Managing Director of the IMF. I had the privilege to meet President Joyce Banda and her cabinet, as well as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi. I also had the opportunity to exchange views with members of parliament, development partners, and business and civil society representatives, including a group of outstanding women leaders. Today, I visited a group of women supported by the Microloan Foundation of Malawi. I was particularly inspired by their resilience and entrepreneurship.

“Malawi’s recent economic situation has been difficult. Drought and lower-than-expected foreign exchange earnings have dampened growth and contributed to a spike in inflation in 2012. Notwithstanding the current hardships, many of my interlocutors were confident that the ongoing reforms will turn the economy around—an optimism that I share.

“During my discussions, I congratulated President Banda on the bold economic policies of its administration, including the liberalization of the foreign exchange market. I welcomed the government’s efforts to address the unforeseen challenges through her continued commitment to economic reforms. Malawi has already made significant progress in addressing the serious imbalances that were hampering economic growth just a few months ago. I also stressed the need to stay the course, while putting in place social protection programs to alleviate the impact of the adjustment measures on the poorest households. Continued assistance from development partners will be essential to support the ongoing reforms.

“Looking ahead, we at the IMF will continue to support Malawi with policy advice, financial assistance under the program supported by the Extended Credit Facility, and technical assistance and training to strengthen capacity in macroeconomic management. Malawi, like all of Sub-Saharan Africa, has become increasingly integrated into the rest of the world. Key risks today include the global economic uncertainty and rising food prices. In this context, it will be essential for African countries to have strong macroeconomic frameworks, improve institutional capacity, and ensure sustainable and inclusive growth in order to maintain the impressive economic performance of the last 10 years. The IMF will continue to assist them in these vital efforts.”

NEW YORK, January 7, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Authorities in South Sudan have been holding two state broadcast journalists without charge since Tuesday, according to local journalists and media reports. The journalists were picked up …

GENEVA, Switzerland, January 4, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Displaced people in the north of the Central African Republic are beginning to return to their homes. Elsewhere, however, things remain difficult for thousands of people still displaced. In the capital Bangui, anxiety is acute. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continues to work closely with the Central African Red Cross Society to help people across the country who have been affected by the fighting.

In the northern town of Ndélé, life is beginning to return to normal as people emerge from the bush and go back to the homes they fled amid fighting in recent weeks. “Ndélé’s market, for example, is running again,” said Arnaud de Baecque, deputy head of the ICRC delegation. “But there’s still an air of uncertainty across the country.”

Though most of the town’s people are back in their homes, there remain almost a thousand whom the ICRC is supplying with drinking water. Some families whose menfolk have not yet returned and who have no farmland also need food aid. In the coming days, a further thousand displaced people in Kaga Bandoro will receive essential hygiene items and blankets.

The mood in Bangui is one of disquiet. “The ICRC and the local Red Cross are preparing for all eventualities,” de Baecque explained. “As a precaution, an ICRC surgeon has toured the city’s hospitals to assess what support they might need.”

The ICRC is pursuing dialogue with the various entities involved in the fighting, urging them to comply with international humanitarian law, such as the rules protecting the civilian population from the effects of armed conflict. Civilians may not be attacked and anyone wounded in the fighting, including enemy combatants, must be rescued and given treatment according to medical need. Detainees must be treated humanely.

The parties to the conflict are open to the idea of ICRC visits to detainees, de Baecque explained. He stressed that in carrying out such visits the ICRC did not concern itself with the grounds for detention. The visits were intended solely to ensure that the detention was humane and in accordance with international rules, in particular those guaranteeing the detainees’ dignity.

With help from the country’s Red Cross Society, the ICRC gives first aid and takes wounded people to hospital. The most serious cases are evacuated to Bangui. Despite the ICRC’s efforts, however, de Baecque pointed out that it remained difficult to assess the need for humanitarian action outside Ndélé and Kaga Bandoro, the towns where the organization had posted staff. Unfortunately, unpredictable security conditions made it impossible to send staff elsewhere.

Since 28 December, the ICRC has done the following:

• Delegates have begun visiting people detained in Bangui in connection with the recent events.

• Six seriously injured people have been flown to Bangui from Ndélé and Ngakobo (near the northern town of Bambari).

• With the help of National Society volunteers, the organization has supplied 18,000 litres of drinking water to a thousand displaced people in Ndélé.

• Meetings have continued at which National Society volunteers give tips to displaced people on maintaining adequate hygiene.

• With the telephone system out of operation, the ICRC has conveyed brief written messages and oral messages from a hundred people living in or near Ndélé and Kaga Bandoro in order to reassure relatives.

• The ICRC supplied the country’s Red Cross Society with 10 stretchers and 50 first-aid kits.

OSLO, Norway, January 4, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Norway has provided an additional NOK 50 million to the fight against polio, which remains endemic in three countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

“Our goal is to eradicate polio completely, in the same way as we have managed to eradicate other infectious diseases that particularly affect children. India has been free from polio for a year, which is a major breakthrough. Our goal is realistic, but considerable resources are needed if we are to reach it,” Minister of International Development Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås said.

Substantial progress has been made in the efforts to achieve a world free from polio. In 1985, the disease was found in 125 countries. Today, it is found in just three. The world has succeeded in reducing the incidence of polio by 99 %.

The areas in which the polio virus can still be found are poor, without a functioning health-care system and without health workers to give vaccinations. Considerable resources are therefore required from the international community if vaccination campaigns are to be carried out in these areas.

There have recently been a number of attacks on health workers in Pakistan who have been vaccinating children against polio. Rumours that the vaccination programme is a pretext for harming children and spying on Pakistan are apparently the reason for these attacks.

“These attacks are completely unacceptable and they arise from misconceptions and a lack of knowledge. We need to make one last concerted effort in the fight against polio, and Norway intends to do its part,” Mr Holmås said.

Norway has supported efforts to combat polio for a number of years, in close collaboration with UNICEF, WHO and other donor countries. Norway has therefore decided to provide an extra allocation of NOK 50 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. This funding comes in addition to the NOK 50 million Norway has already allocated to the fight against polio in 2012, through WHO.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, January 4, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The inaugural meeting on AU-US Cooperation in Civil Aviation was held in Washington DC, USA on 18 December 2012. The Meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Susan McDermott, Deputy Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, US Department of Transportation (DOT) and Mr. Adiron Alberto, Senior Policy Officer (Air Transport), African Union (AU) Commission.

In attendance were Thirteen Officials from the US DOT, US State Department, US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), AU Commission, Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the African Airlines Association (AFRAA).

The main objective of the meeting was to explore areas of cooperation in the aviation field that would ultimately constitute a focused and concise cooperation framework and plan of action to be implemented within the overall AU-USA Partnership.

The discussion covered matters related to aviation safety, security, environmental protection, air transport policies, air law and regulations. The meeting was provided with overview regarding US aviation safety and security initiatives in Africa as well as policies and trends concerning air transportation between the United States of America and Africa. Furthermore, the Meeting was apprised of the implementation by African States of the African Civil Aviation Policy endorsed by the 18th AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in January 2012.

The AU Commission acknowledged the assistance that the US has been providing to Africa through its initiatives on aviation safety, security and environment in implementing various programmes such as “Safe Skies for Africa”. The AU Commission expressed its appreciation as regard to continuous growing trade between Africa and US due to US Government Accountability Office (GAO). The AU Commission indicated that the continent is enjoying the ever increasing number of US Tourists visiting African touristic destinations.

AFRAA shared the experience of African Airlines in terms of transcontinental air connectivity and its active participation in the promotion of international air law instruments of utmost interest to African Airlines such as the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and Protocol. In that regard, it was underscored that African Airlines are ready to contribute to the successful cooperation in aviation between the two regions.

In conclusion, the first consultation meeting provided fertile ground in developing a strong AU-USA common framework and plan of action on cooperation in aviation within the main frame of the AU-USA Partnership. It was agreed that the next round of consultation will take place during the 23rd Plenary Session scheduled in Accra, Ghana, from 2nd to 5th April 2013 and the third round of consultation is scheduled for Addis Ababa in July 2013.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, January 4, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — In implementing the EU-Africa Common Strategy adopted in 2005 and the Joint EU-Africa Partnership established in Lisbon in December 2007, the EU has provided through ACP, support to further develop the African civil aviation sector in the specific areas of aviation safety, security and air traffic management. To that effect, a total of nine million Euros (€9,000,000) has been approved by the ACP Committee of Ambassadors and endorsed by the European Commission under the 10th EDF.

This support will be implemented within the particular framework of the EU-Africa Infrastructure Partnership under the overall EU-Africa Strategic Partnership which is under the coordination of the African Union Commission (AUC) for the African side and the European Commission (EC) for the European Union side.

In that regard, a Consultative Session of stakeholders on Africa´s aviation industry development was held at the ACP House in Brussels on 10 and 11 December 2012 to consider implementation modalities for the aviation sector projects. The Session was attended by African and European Stakeholders. African Stakeholders were composed of AUC, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, UEMOA, Madagascar, AFCAC and ASECNA. The AUC, which led the African delegation in the discussions, was represented by Mr. David KAJANGE, Head of Transport and Tourism Division and Mr. Adiron ALBERTO, Senior Policy Officer (Air Transport) from the Department of Infrastructure and Energy.

The progamme to be implemented under the aforementioned fund will cover project activities related to improvement of aviation safety, security and the introduction of European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) in accordance with the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The latter is part of a key strategy to move Africa from terrestrial based air navigation systems to more efficient and safer satellite augmented navigation networks.

The meeting was informed that following a bidding process which was carried out by ACP through an independent consultancy firm, the project to provide support on aviation safety and security was awarded to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) while the one on GNSS/EGNOS was awarded to the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) and the United Nations Science and Education Commission (UNESCO). The projects are scheduled to start early 2013 for the period of three years with possible extension depending on availability of funds under the 11th EDF.

The meeting established a Steering Committee as well as for the management of the projects which is chaired by the AUC and composed of the ACP, EC, RECs, AFCAC and AFRAA.

This endeavor is yet another mile stone towards the enhancement of efficiency in air transport in Africa as well as making its skies safer and more secure in line with the African Civil Aviation Policy (AFCAP) adopted at the January 2012 AU Summit. Moreover, it will contribute significantly to the acceleration of the economic integration of Africa as envisaged in the Abuja Treaty.