HARARE, Zimbabwe, January 12, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — At the authorities’ request, IMF Management has approved a six-month extension of Zimbabwe’s Staff Monitored Program (SMP) to allow time for the national authorities to strengthen their policies and deliver on outstanding commitments under the program.The SMP was approved by IMF Management in June 2013 for the period April–December 2013 (see Press Release 13/174). During the October 2013 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, the new authorities reiterated their commitment to the SMP and to the process of reengagement with the IMF and with other multilateral institutions.Under the…
Author: apofeed
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, January 13, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The African-led International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (MISCA) continues its efforts towards the effective implementation of its mandate as set by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) in its communiqué of 19 July 2013 and the United Nations Security Council in resolution 2127(2014) of 5 December 2013. Since the transfer of authority from the Peace Consolidation Mission of the Economic Community of Central African States in the CAR (MICOPAX), MISCA has taken a number of steps to enhance its presence and the effectiveness of its action…
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 13, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Over the past two days, some 60 wounded people have been admitted to the Community Hospital in the Central African capital Bangui. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) supports the facility with medical supplies and surgical personnel. It is working closely with the Central African Red Cross Society to meet the most urgent needs of people affected by the conflict. Though tensions in Bangui have diminished somewhat, the fighting goes on. On Saturday, for example, there were several clashes between armed groups, and pillaging continued. “Civilians must not be…
BANGUI, Central African Republic, January 12, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — As was done by the Secretary-General, the Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office for the Central African Republic (BINUCA), General Babacar Gaye, also takes note of the resignation of President Michel Djotodia and Prime minister Nicolas Tiangaye. He calls on members of the National Transitional Council (CNT) to mobilise around the urgent election of a new transitional executive, as agreed at the extraordinary summit of Heads of States of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) yesterday, 10 January 2014, in N’djamena, Chad.…
NEW YORK, January 12, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein ( Jordan):On 9 January, members of the Security Council were briefed by Department of Peacekeeping Operations Under-Secretary-General Hervé Ladsous, United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Special Representative of the Secretary-General Hilde Johnson and Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan and South Sudan Haile Menkerios on the situation in Sudan and South Sudan.The members of the Security Council reiterated their strong support for the mediation efforts led by the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD),…
ROME, Italy, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — A campaign against the tsetse fly, a pest that transmits a disease that devastates livestock, in the Niayes area near the capital Dakar has radically reduced the fly population and is paving the way for complete eradication. “Since the project started, there is already less disease. It has not only reduced the tsetse but also ticks, which cause lots of other diseases in the area. We have noticed over all better health of the herds,” said Baba Sall, project manager and Head of the Animal Health Section in the Ministry of…
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Within the framework of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and in preparation for the 10th Meeting of African Chiefs of Defense Staff and Heads of Safety and Security Services, on 12 January 2014, and the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee on Defense, Safety and Security (STCDSS), on 14 January 2014, a two-day meeting of Experts on Defense, Safety and Security started at the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Addis Ababa today, 10 January 2014. The meeting was opened by the AU Director for Peace and…
JUBA, South Sudan, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The international organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns the looting of its facilities yesterday in Bentiu, capital of Unity State in South Sudan. MSF was one of the few remaining humanitarian organisations present in the town providing assistance to internally displaced people and wounded at the hospital. This looting jeopardizes MSF operations in Bentiu and endangers the humanitarian response to the ongoing violence. “It is unacceptable that one of the only humanitarian organisations still providing assistance to the population in Bentiu has been looted” says Arjan Hehenkamp, MSF General…
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — IOM will tomorrow (11/1/2014) start an airlift to evacuate stranded foreign nationals from the Central African Republic (CAR), following appeals from neighbouring African countries.The first three IOM charter flights this weekend will repatriate some 800 Chadians from the war torn CAR capital of Bangui to the Chadian capital N’Djamena.The 800 are part of a group of some 2,500 Chadians sheltering in a transit camp adjacent to Bangui airport, living in terrible conditions at the over-crowded and insanitary site.The conflict in the country has displaced some 935,000 people, including some 513,000 –…
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — For the first time in 30 years, the Federal Government of Somalia has started to evacuate its citizens by air from a foreign country’s conflict zone. Close to 400 Somalis are expected to be evacuated from South Sudan at the end of the government-led operation, which is expected to conclude in late January 2014.IOM, at the request of the Somali government, is providing accommodation, food and onward transportation for the returnees to reach their final destinations after they arrive from South Sudan aboard government-chartered planes.The first batch of 100 returnees travelled…
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — IOM has begun an airlift of some 600 South Sudanese returnees out of Malakal, Upper Nile State, where they had become stranded on their way home due to recent fighting.The returnees from Sudan had been living in transit sites in the border town of Renk for several months without any means to continue their journey, and had boarded an IOM barge to reach their final destinations when they became stranded due to the conflict.They left Renk by barge on 15 December, heading to various destinations, including Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei…
WASHINGTON, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The United States strongly supports the efforts of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediators, Ambassador Seyoum Mesfin and General Lazaro Sumbeiywo, to secure a cessation of hostilities and to resolve the conflict in South Sudan peacefully through talks being held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This crisis must be ended swiftly through a negotiated settlement in order to prevent the escalation of a dangerous conflict that neither the people of South Sudan, the region or the international community can afford.The United States calls upon rebel-leader Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir to…
WASHINGTON, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — TestimonyLinda Thomas-GreenfieldAssistant Secretary, Bureau of African AffairsU.S. Senate Committee on Foreign RelationsWashington, DCJanuary 9, 2014IntroductionChairman Menendez, Ranking Member Corker, Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. I know that the subject before us is one about which you and other members of Congress care deeply. I regret to inform you that Special Envoy Booth is unavailable to testify today as he is in Addis Ababa working to get the peace process underway.Situation in South SudanMr. Chairman, Ranking Member Corker, three years ago…
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Vulnerable Rwandan returnees from neighbouring countries have received a consignment of livestock from IOM to boost their livelihoods and help them to reintegrate in Nyamagabe District in southern Rwanda.With funding from Japan, IOM is assisting over 5,000 returnees who previously sought refuge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi due to conflict.Some returnees have been trained as mechanics, carpenters and bakers, while others have received roofing materials. A total of 1,512 vulnerable returnees have been identified and based on their needs, are currently receiving goats, sheep or…
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Two months after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) started its crackdown on irregular migration, the operation to repatriate Ethiopian irregular migrants from the Kingdom continues, with over 151,000 already returned home.Since the outset IOM has provided the returnees, over a third of whom are women and children, with emergency medical assistance, food, essential items for those in dire need, and reintegration allowances to help people to return to their areas of origin.Some 339 Unaccompanied Minors (UAMs) have been reunited with their families by IOM, in collaboration with UNICEF and the…
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 9, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — For the past 10 days, thousands of Bangui residents have been taking refuge at sites set up for displaced people in the capital, joining hundreds of thousands uprooted since 5 December. The ICRC and the Central African Red Cross Society have boosted their emergency response activities. Almost 7,000 people who have taken refuge near the Padre Pio religious community and the St Marc major seminary, south of the capital, have been given maize, beans, salt and cooking oil. “These people recently fled the violence, leaving almost everything they had behind,” said…
MOGADISHU, Somalia, January 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Mahamat Saleh Annadif today paid a courtesy call on the new Somalia Prime Minister H.E. Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed to congratulate him on his recent appointment and pledge AMISOM support to his new government.The two leaders were meeting for the first time since the recent appointment of the new Somalia Prime Minister to discuss among other issues the AMISOM mandate and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2124 and the new AMISOM Concept of Operations.They also…
ABUJA, Nigeria, January 8, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The newly appointed ED/CE of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, paid a courtesy call to the Managing D/CEO of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) (http://neximbank.com.ng) at the Headquarters of the Bank in Abuja, to discuss areas of possible collaboration and synergy.Logo NEXIM: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/nexim.pngPhoto: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/140108.jpgThe visit would be the first of such courtesy calls by Mr. Awolowo since he was appointed to the position by Mr. President last December. Welcoming his counterpart to the Government Trace Policy Bank, Mr. Orya thanked Mr. Awolowo and his team for taking…
NEW YORK, January 9, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos has announced the allocation of US$15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support relief efforts in South Sudan. As the conflict deepens and aid agencies need to quickly provide assistance to the thousands of people caught up in violence, the funding from CERF’s Rapid Response Window comes at a crucial time. Humanitarian partners in South Sudan estimate that more than 231,000 people have been displaced since hostilities erupted on 15 December, including almost 60,000 people who have sought shelter in UN bases. A…
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 9, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Every day, boat after boat arrives at Awerial, on the west bank of the Nile in Lakes state, carrying people fleeing the violence in Bor, the capital of neighbouring Jonglei state. Mostly women and children, they carry the few belongings they could salvage. In just two weeks, more than 75,000 people have arrived in Awerial town. The town, usually home up to 10,000 people, is teeming with displaced families. While some have been taken in by relatives, most are living in the open. Many families have set up camp under trees,…