GENEVA, Switzerland, November 28, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Beginning today, 52 children under the age of 17 will be rejoining relatives after being separated from them for several months. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and volunteers from the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo had to go to great lengths and undertake extensive research to find the children’s families, who were scattered throughout the country. “The children – 22 boys and 30 girls – have been living without their parents for many months because of the conflicts in certain parts of the…
Author: apofeed
GENEVA, Switzerland, November 28, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Libyan Red Crescent are deeply concerned about the civilians caught up in the fighting in Benghazi, and urge all parties to respect and protect them. Every aspect of civilian life in Benghazi has been adversely affected by the ongoing conflict. Services at the main hospitals in the city have been seriously disrupted by the precarious security conditions, foreign health workers have left, and there is an acute shortage of medical supplies: as a result, there is little or no access to…
GENEVA, Switzerland, November 28, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Uganda’s borders are porous and the country is vulnerable to illegal cross border activities, including human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Between 2008 and 2013, 72 Ugandans identified as victims of trafficking abroad were helped to return home by IOM. In order to improve the country’s capacity to combat migrant smuggling and other cross-border crimes, IOM this week organized a five-day INTERPOL training: “Smuggling Training and Operation Program (STOP)” in Entebbe. It was the first such training held in Uganda.Stop is a multi-faceted response to criminal activities in the field of people…
GENEVA, Switzerland, November 28, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Some 200 households (1,200 people) from communities displaced by communal conflict in Kenya’s Moyale town are set to benefit from new shelters built by IOM.Inter-communal fighting over resources and political differences – which lasted from August 2013 to January this year – displaced over 30,000 people in Moyale, a town close to the Ethiopian border in Marsabit County. Many people lost everything.The construction of shelters, which is being funded by Japan through the Japan Supplementary Fund, started in October. A total of 153 shelters now have been completed by IOM with…
GENEVA, Switzerland, November 28, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Seychelles this week launched a media campaign to combat human trafficking as part of a project supported by the government and funded by the IOM Development Fund. The campaign aims to help the general public and local NGOs better understand human trafficking and identify actual or potential victims. As part of the project, IOM also trained local media in the sensitive reporting of trafficking stories and the protection of victims. “Seychelles has made progress in the past year in combating this heinous crime,” said Yitna Getachew of IOM’s Southern Africa…
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, November 28, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The government of United Republic of Tanzania has never had any plan to evict the Maasai people from their ancestral land as falsely reported by the media in recent days. The information circulated through the media outlets globally was misleading, malicious and meant to tarnish the image of our country and her international standing.Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/tanztour.png Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1586 The Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism (http://www.mnrt.go.tz), Hon. Lazaro Nyalandu said that the claims that 40,000 Maasai were being evicted are false unfounded and baseless. The argument that the land in…
JUBA, South Sudan, November 27, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The UN Mission in South sudan (UNMISS) wishes to correct erroneous media reports claiming that the Mission has sought the consent of the Government of the Republic of South sudan (GRSS) to use the Mission’! s aircraft to transport delegates of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) from locations inside the country to a consultative conference in Pagak, South Sudan.UNMISS received a written request dated 17 November 2014 from the Office of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Special Envoys for South Sudan to provide air transportation to…
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, November 27, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Tigo (http://www.tigo.co.tz) announced today the first of its regular quarterly payments worth 3bn/- (US $ 1.8 million) to Tigo Pesa users. Logo Tigo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/tigo-1.jpgPhoto: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1065 (Tigo Tanzania General Manager, Diego Gutierrez)This payment comes three months after the company paid a staggering profit of TZS 14.25 billion (US $ 8.64 million) accumulated in the Tigo Pesa Trust Account to become the first mobile money service in the world to pay profit to its users. Tigo Pesa has a subscriber base of 3.6 million customers. Tigo General Manager Diego Gutierrez said…
GABORONE, Botswana, November 27, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — At the end of a 13-day official visit to Botswana, the UN Special Rapporteur on cultural rights Farida Shaheed called on the country to embark on a “second phase of nation building that reflects, builds on and celebrates the rich cultural diversity of the country.” Shaheed shared her observations on cultural rights issues ranging from the recognition of tribes, to language rights, to land rights, to the need to involve and engage with communities affected by Government policies. Shaheed identified a number of good practices and potential obstacles relating to the…
MASERU, Lesotho, November 26, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — A technical team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Ms. Natalia Koliadina visited the Kingdom of Lesotho from November 17‒26, 2014. The team assisted the authorities with updating the near-term economic outlook and projections for the medium term.At the end of the staff visit, Ms. Koliadina issued the following statement:“Lesotho’s economic growth has slowed, partly because of the current political and security situation. Real gross domestic product is expected to grow by just over 2 percent in 2014/15, against 3½ percent a year ago. Construction in particular has been…