Food stocks in Sudan could run out in one month: UN
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday warned that food stocks in Sudan could run out in one month because of a severe funding shortfall…reports Asian Lite News
“Limited resources have been prioritised to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable people in Sudan are met but even with this prioritisation exercise, food stocks and cash are expected to run out starting April across the country,” Xinhua news agency reported citing Eddie Rowe’s, WFP representative and country director in Sudan, press release.
“A major funding shortfall of $285 million for the next six months (March-August 2022) is jeopardising operations and lives,” he said, adding “without new funds, WFP may have no choice but to make further cuts and the impact could be devastating.”
The WFP is running a general food assistance programme for around 362,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan’s Darfur region using cash-based transfers.
Nutrition programmes for malnourished children and pregnant and nursing mothers as well as school meals programmes have now resumed in the region, through which WFP aims to reach 122,600 people with nutrition support and 321,000 school children with school meals this year, according to the press release.
On January 11, the UN Office for Coordination and Humanitarian Affairs launched the Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan for 2022.
The plan aimed to provide humanitarian assistance to 10.9 million vulnerable people across Sudan at a cost of $1.9 billion. More than $800 million will go to life-saving activities.
However, the international response was disrupted after the General Commander of the Sudanese Army Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency on October 25, 2021 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government.
The electrified railway has cut the transportation time for freight goods from more than three days to less than 20 hours and reduced the cost by at least one-third.
The Chinese-built Addis Ababa-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway has won acclaim for facilitating regional integration and prosperity.
During a railway infrastructure-themed seminar on Monday here, participants, including officials and independent experts, discussed how Africa’s first fully electrified trans-boundary railway contributed to regional integration and the betterment of communities along the way.
The 752-km transnational railway, as a flagship project in the Belt and Road cooperation, demonstrated the aspirations of African countries to spur continental free trade by augmenting intra-Africa infrastructure connectivity, said Dagmawit Moges, Ethiopia’s minister of transport and logistics.
“While building our prosperous Ethiopia, we will engrave in a cornerstone of our friendship and the unreserved support we receive from our sister country China in turning our dream of having a modern standard gauge rail line into reality,” Moges told the high-level seminar.
The Addis Ababa-Djibouti electrified railway, also known as the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, contracted by China Rail Engineering Corporation (CREC) and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is the first trans-boundary railway on the African continent.
Ethiopia’s State Minister of Finance Semereta Sewasew stressed China’s role in supporting African countries’ development aspiration on win-win modalities. The state minister, in particular, emphasized China’s “willingness to engage in areas of cooperation that some development partners are reluctant, mainly in large infrastructure projects.”
Zhao Zhiyuan, Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia, also echoed Moges’ comments, stressing that the Addis Ababa-Djibouti rail line is a lifeline to landlocked Ethiopia.
“The Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, as a flagship project of China-Ethiopia cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has made important strides in all aspects since starting operation more than four years ago,” the Chinese ambassador said.
The electrified railway has cut the transportation time for freight goods from more than three days to less than 20 hours and reduced the cost by at least one third.
Zhao said the railway has been a way of development, driving economic growth and industrialization, and serving as a lifeline of transportation for essential goods such as fertilizers, grain, cement, steel and anti-pandemic materials.
“The Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway is a flagship project, and it is really unique in its kind in Africa, which brought three countries together in one platform to work together — Ethiopia, Djibouti and China,” said Tilahun Sarka, general manager of Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company (EDR).
The high-level seminar, themed “Significance of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway for the Horn of Africa,” was co-hosted by the EDR and CREC-CCECC Joint Venture and the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia.
The CREC-CCECC Joint Venture is a management contractor of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, which presently provides both passenger and freight services between Ethiopia and Djibouti.
According to figures from the joint venture, in 2021, the railway’s monthly transport revenue exceeded 9 million and 10 million U.S. dollars in October and November respectively, the best result since 2018. The transport revenue in 2021 is 37.4 percent higher than in 2020.
The railway has also created numerous job opportunities for locals, with more than 4,000 locals employed so far, which accounts for over 90 percent of the total staff.
Participants at the high-level seminar further emphasized the crucial importance of the China-Africa cooperation under the BRI in terms of boosting infrastructure development across the continent.
On the growing list of African countries cooperating with China under the BRI framework, many countries have realized new deep seaports, thousands of kilometers of roads and railways that have transformed logistics across Africa, among other development projects. . (Xinhua)
Dagmawit Moges, Ethiopia’s minister of transport and logistics, speaks during a seminar themed “Significance of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway for the Horn of Africa” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Feb. 21, 2022. The Chinese-built Addis Ababa-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway has won acclaim for facilitating regional integration and prosperity. (Xinhua)
The increase in African countries’ COVID-19-related expenditure could impact the annual gap in infrastructure investment in the short to medium term. And the pandemic has also had a negative impact on cross-border trade
The African Development Agency “Oda NEPAD” continued its sessions for the seventh edition of the African Program for Infrastructure Development at “PIDA” week at Kenyan capital, Nairobi, under the slogan “Africa on the road to recovery, growth and resilience through infrastructure.
African policymakers and experts are discussing the role of the infrastructure sector in injecting post-COVID-19 recovery, growth and resilience into Africa.
The 7th PIDA Week is focussing on how Africa can lead the way in the delivery of infrastructure in a post-COVID era as well as supporting the economic and social imperatives of the continent in the digital age.
The African Union stated in a statement that sessions focused on issues of digitization and the continental technological infrastructure to accelerate the recovery and the hoped for growth in Africa.
On her part, Dr. Amani Abou Zeid, African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, called for promoting innovation and stimulating digitalization across all sectors for inclusive growth and development on the continent.
Ibrahim-Assane-Mayaki_-CEO_-NEPAD
In the same context, participants addressed the challenges facing “digitization”, stating that nearly 300 million Africans live more than 50 kilometers from the fiber-optic link, which represents a significant obstacle to driving productivity, innovation and growth.
They noted that the digital skills gap is still large and prevents the uptake of new technologies and innovative business models, noting that regulations and policies are adapting very slowly to the digital economy
“The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating multifaceted economic and social consequences that have disproportionately affected Africa on human development indicators, economic interdependence, growth and resilience patterns,” the AU said.
In a bid to contain the spread and the multifaceted impacts of the pandemic, African governments have prioritized their spending commitment mainly focusing on vaccinating their population and building resilience, eventually increasing their recurrent expenditure.
According to the AU, the increase in African countries’ COVID-19-related expenditure could impact the annual gap in infrastructure investment in the short to medium term. And the pandemic has also had a negative impact on cross-border trade.
African countries were forced to shut down borders and, in some cases, apply trade restrictions that have affected supply chains inbound and outbound within the regions and as a result recording trade deficit in volumes, exposing Africa’s overdependence on external supply chains.
“It is expected that once the pandemic is successfully contained, the focus will need to shift from crisis management to assisting to adequately invest in infrastructure for development, as well as preventing and mitigating the impact of future outbreaks,” the AU said.
The PIDA Week, among other things, envisages bringing together international and regional experts from multiple stakeholders to deliberate on the issues around infrastructure delivery in Africa. The continental week will focus on how Africa can lead the way in the delivery of infrastructure in a post-COVID era, supporting the economic and social imperatives of the continent in the digital age.
The PIDA Week agenda includes post-COVID 19 infrastructure financing, delivery, and resilience; the critical role of infrastructure in the implementation of the agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and in the post-COVID-19 recovery; and the transformation in demand for and consumption of transport, energy, ICT and social infrastructure.
Sudan reiterates support for dialogue to resolve Russia-Ukraine crisis
Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council reiterated its support for dialogue to resolve the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, a council spokesperson said…reports Asian Lite News
The council on Monday held its regular meeting, chaired by the council’s chairman Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, at the Republican Palace in Khartoum and reviewed the Russian-Ukraine conflict, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Sudan stands with the diplomatic solution as a way out of the crisis and supports the currently on-going endeavours between the two countries,” the council’s spokesperson Salma Abdul-Jabbar Al-Mubarak said in a statement.
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The next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks will take place on the Belarusian-Polish border in the coming days, according to Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation at the talks held in Belarus, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported on Monday.
All negotiation positions were discussed in detail during the talks in Belarus, Medinsky said after the consultations.
Africans fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine are suffering racism, it has been claimed, with black refugees blocked from public transport and threatened at gunpoint by marauding militiamen…reports Asian Lite News
Korrine Sky, 26, a British-Zimbabwean national who has been studying medicine in Ukraine since September, said the situation had deteriorated and become ‘like an apocalypse movie’, with armed vigilantes roaming the streets.
Sky, mother of a nine-month-old baby, told The Independent, she had been threatened at gunpoint due to the colour of her skin by local armed men as she tried to make her escape from the rapidly escalating conflict.
According to Sky’s Twitter, she has driven to the border with Romania, where she is still waiting to cross, and she reports having received ‘some threats of violence from some local Ukrainians who don’t believe we should enter’.
Meanwhile, Osarumen, a father-of-three and a Nigerian national, said he and his family were asked to give up their seat on a cross-border bus out of Ukraine, with the driver and military officers using the phrase ‘no blacks’ as justification, Daily Mail reported.
‘I see bloodshot racism’: Africans threatened by armed vigilantes in Ukraine
The current chair of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, and African Union Commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat said on Monday that they were “particularly disturbed by reports that African citizens on the Ukrainian side of the border are being refused the right to cross the border to safety”.
Osarumen told The Independent: “In all of my years as an activist, I have never seen anything like this. When I look into the eyes of those who are turning us away, I see bloodshot racism; they want to save themselves and they are losing their humanity in the process.”
Osatumen, who has been living in Ukraine since 2009, said he was stranded at a train station in Kiev, Daily Mail reported.
He said: “This isn’t just happening to black people � even to Indians, Arabs and Syrians,” adding, “and that shouldn’t be the case.”
Responding to the reports, African Union chiefs said in a statement: “Reports that Africans are singled out for unacceptable dissimilar treatment would be shockingly racist and in breach international law.”
Nigeria on Monday urged border officials in Ukraine and elsewhere to treat its citizens equally.
“There have been unfortunate reports of Ukrainian police and security personnel refusing to allow Nigerians to board buses and trains heading towards the Ukraine-Poland border,” said presidential advisor Garba Shehu in a statement, Daily Mail reported.
Shehu referenced a video on social media where a Nigerian mother with a young baby was filmed being physically forced to give up her seat.
He said there are also reports of Polish officials refusing Nigerian citizens entry into Poland from Ukraine.
A group of South Africans, mostly students, were stuck at the Ukrainian-Polish border, the country’s foreign ministry spokesman, Clayson Monyela, said on Twitter.
Some Nigerians who made it across the borders described frightening journeys in the dark to reach traffic-packed frontiers where they were made to wait as officials gave priority to Ukrainian women and children.
Speaking from Korczowa in Poland, Nigerian managerial sciences student Agantem Moshe, said Ukrainian police had pushed Africans out of the way to make way for women and children, Daily Mail reported.
The number of confirmed Covid cases in Africa reached 11,188,490 as of Monday evening while the pandemic death toll across the continent stood at 248,812, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said…reports Asian Lite News
At least 10,400,612 Covid patients across the continent have recovered from the disease, so far. South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Ethiopia are the countries with the most cases, Xinhua news agency reported citing Africa CDC.
In terms of caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region on the continent, followed by its northern and eastern parts, while central Africa is the least affected region in Africa.
As thousands flee crisis-hit Ukraine, Nigeria has condemned reports that its citizens, and those from other African countries, are being prevented from leaving the war-torn country, BBC reported…reports Asian Lite News
Isaac, a Nigerian national living in Ukraine, who has been trying to gain entry into Poland, said that border staff told him they were “not tending to Africans”.
On Sunday, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Geofrey Onyeama said he had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and had been assured that Ukrainian border guards had been given an order to allow all foreigners leaving Ukraine to pass without restrictions.
There have also been numerous reports of Ukrainian security officials preventing Africans from catching buses and trains going to the borders, BBC reported.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said there are about 4,000 Nigerians in Ukraine, mostly students.
He said one group had repeatedly been refused entry to Poland so they travelled back into Ukraine to head for Hungary instead.
“All who flee a conflict situation have the same right to safe passage under the UN Convention, and the colour of their passport or their skin should make no difference,” Buhari tweeted.
Nigeria flags Africans Being prevented from Fleeing Ukraine … A special report by ADD Newsdesk. There have also been numerous reports of Ukrainian security officials preventing Africans from catching buses and trains going to the borders
As thousands flee crisis-hit Ukraine, Nigeria has condemned reports that its citizens, and those from other African countries, are being prevented from leaving the war-torn country, BBC reported.
Isaac, a Nigerian national living in Ukraine, who has been trying to gain entry into Poland, said that border staff told him they were “not tending to Africans”.
On Sunday, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Geofrey Onyeama said he had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and had been assured that Ukrainian border guards had been given an order to allow all foreigners leaving Ukraine to pass without restrictions.
Ukraine soldiers Pic credits Twitter @DefenceU
There have also been numerous reports of Ukrainian security officials preventing Africans from catching buses and trains going to the borders, BBC reported.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said there are about 4,000 Nigerians in Ukraine, mostly students. He said one group had repeatedly been refused entry to Poland so they travelled back into Ukraine to head for Hungary instead.
“All who flee a conflict situation have the same right to safe passage under the UN Convention, and the colour of their passport or their skin should make no difference,” Buhari tweeted.
Responding to the reports, African Union chiefs said in a statement: “Reports that Africans are singled out for unacceptable dissimilar treatment would be shockingly racist and in breach international law.”
Nigeria on Monday urged border officials in Ukraine and elsewhere to treat its citizens equally.
“There have been unfortunate reports of Ukrainian police and security personnel refusing to allow Nigerians to board buses and trains heading towards the Ukraine-Poland border,” said presidential advisor Garba Shehu in a statement, Daily Mail reported.
‘I see bloodshot racism’
Africans fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine are suffering racism, it has been claimed, with black refugees blocked from public transport and threatened at gunpoint by marauding militiamen, Daily Mail reported.
Korrine Sky, 26, a British-Zimbabwean national who has been studying medicine in Ukraine since September, said the situation had deteriorated and become ‘like an apocalypse movie’, with armed vigilantes roaming the streets.
Sky, mother of a nine-month-old baby, told The Independent, she had been threatened at gunpoint due to the colour of her skin by local armed men as she tried to make her escape from the rapidly escalating conflict.
According to Sky’s Twitter, she has driven to the border with Romania, where she is still waiting to cross, and she reports having received ‘some threats of violence from some local Ukrainians who don’t believe we should enter’.
Meanwhile, Osarumen, a father-of-three and a Nigerian national, said he and his family were asked to give up their seat on a cross-border bus out of Ukraine, with the driver and military officers using the phrase ‘no blacks’ as justification, Daily Mail reported.
The current chair of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, and African Union Commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat said on Monday that they were “particularly disturbed by reports that African citizens on the Ukrainian side of the border are being refused the right to cross the border to safety”.
Osarumen told The Independent: “In all of my years as an activist, I have never seen anything like this. When I look into the eyes of those who are turning us away, I see bloodshot racism; they want to save themselves and they are losing their humanity in the process.”
Osatumen, who has been living in Ukraine since 2009, said he was stranded at a train station in Kiev, Daily Mail reported.
He said: “This isn’t just happening to black people – even to Indians, Arabs and Syrians,” adding, “and that shouldn’t be the case.”
Shehu referenced a video on social media where a Nigerian mother with a young baby was filmed being physically forced to give up her seat.
He said there are also reports of Polish officials refusing Nigerian citizens entry into Poland from Ukraine.
A group of South Africans, mostly students, were stuck at the Ukrainian-Polish border, the country’s foreign ministry spokesman, Clayson Monyela, said on Twitter.
Some Nigerians who made it across the borders described frightening journeys in the dark to reach traffic-packed frontiers where they were made to wait as officials gave priority to Ukrainian women and children.
Speaking from Korczowa in Poland, Nigerian managerial sciences student Agantem Moshe, said Ukrainian police had pushed Africans out of the way to make way for women and children, Daily Mail reported.
BM Global Business, Congo Blueant Mineral, Oriental Resources Congo, Yellow Water Resources, and New Oriental Mineral are amongst the Chinese companies into illegal gold mining in connivance with corrupt local leadership…reports Asian Lite News
The Central African country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has become the new hunting ground of Chinese companies in search of gold as it is not just mining nor rampant looting but a stinking Sino-Congolese scandal, said a media report.
In the mining zones, people have hit the streets, prompting the Chinese Foreign Ministry to get into damage control mode, said a think tank, Policy Research Group (POREG).
According to the think tank, the Chinese companies also are making a killing by collaborating with the gold smuggling networks, which use the Ruzizi River (towards Burundi), Kivu Lake (towards Rwanda) and Tanganyika Lake (towards Tanzania) for smuggling.
These networks in turn contribute to supply of arms and ammunition, perpetuating the conflict in DRC and in the Great Lakes region. And the issue has become a matter of grave concern to Kinshasa.
BM Global Business, Congo Blueant Mineral, Oriental Resources Congo, Yellow Water Resources, and New Oriental Mineral are amongst the Chinese companies into illegal gold mining in connivance with corrupt local leadership, the think tank said.
“Their operations are reportedly protected by the Congolese Armed Forces, (FARDC),” “Their operations are reportedly protected by the Congolese Armed Forces, (FARDC),” Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, (IFRI) said in a report detailing “illegal use of minerals and forests by Chinese companies in Sud-Kivu”. reported citing Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, (IFRI) as saying in a report detailing “illegal use of minerals and forests by Chinese companies in Sud-Kivu”.
The illegal gold mining has badly affected the people of six villages, namely Kaboge, Kitumba, Sugulu, Mbelekelo, Bakongo and Kitutu, POREG reported.
Again, like elsewhere in Africa, here in Congo also, the Chinese companies are compounding human rights violations, and arbitrary arrests of critics and protesters. Result: threats, torture, confinement, extortion, illegal occupation of fields and fishing ponds, the think tank said. (ANI)
The mega event brings together people from across the world to discuss ways to create a more prosperous future for humanity, she said…reports Asian Lite News
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, today met with the President of Tanzania Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is currently visiting the UAE to participate in Tanzania’s National Day celebrations at Expo 2020 Dubai.
The meeting was held in the presence of H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Welcoming the President and her accompanying delegation at Expo 2020 Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid highlighted the strong bilateral relations between the two countries and their shared desire to continue enhancing cooperation across various vital fields in the next phase, in light of their common vision on a range of regional and global issues.
The President of Tanzania expressed her country’s keenness to take bilateral relations to greater heights and enhance partnerships in various vital sectors to further the mutual interests of both nations.
Mohammed bin Rashid meets with President of Tanzania at Expo 2020 Dubai
(wam)
President Samia Suluhu Hassan also praised the UAE’s remarkable development journey under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as the country’s various achievements, which reflect the leadership’s ambitious vision for the future.
The President of Tanzania also congratulated the UAE on the successful hosting of Expo 2020 Dubai, which is being held for the first time in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region. The mega event brings together people from across the world to discuss ways to create a more prosperous future for humanity, she said.
Sheikh Mohammed and the President of Tanzania also attended the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on political consultations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The MoU was signed by Sheikh Shakhbout bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, Minister of State, and Ambassador Mbarouk Nassor Mbarouk, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation.
The meeting was also attended by H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group; Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and Commissioner-General of Expo 2020 Dubai, as well as several ministers and other senior officials. (WAM)
Mohammed bin Rashid meets with President of Tanzania at Expo 2020 Dubai
(wam)
