AFRICA
NEWS BULLETIN @ 20h00
29
March, 2016
Radio XYZ93.1FM
Lead Producer:
E.K.Bensah Jr
Assistant
Producer/Presenter: Joshua Quodjo-Mensah
STORIES
- FOCUS: Italian Paper Reveals Morocco Counter-terrorism Forces Warned Belgium of 22 March Bombings
- AU:
- Ghana Launches AU Campaign to End Child Marriage
- AU Commission & Kuwait sign MoU to Enhance & Equip AU Medical Centre, Offers Support for African CDCs
- WEST AFRICA: ECOWAS Praises Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre on West Africa Disaster Preparedness Initiative (WADPI)
- EAST AFRICA: Rwanda Prepares to Unveil National Forensic Lab by 2017
FOCUS:
It's exactly a week since the twin bombings in Brussels. At least 31
people have been confirmed dead, and more than 220 injured in blasts
at the city's international airport and Maelbeek metro station in the
capital. That same day, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the
attacks.
Since then, a numerous news outlets have castigated the Belgian
authorities for failing to anticipate reprisals after the arrest of
Abdelsalam's capture.
The
latest in criticism comes in the revelation by an Italian newspaper,
Libero
Quotidiano,
that maintains Moroccan intelligence services had sent warnings to
Belgian authorities about the bombings at sensitive places, including
nuclear facilities a week before the attacks that killed 31 people.
According the Milan-based paper, Moroccan secret services, on the
basis of intelligence from a source based at the border between
Tunisia and Libya, informed Belgian authorities about the contingency
of terrorist attacks against strategic places – among which Belgian
nuclear facilities.
The
possibility of nuclear attacks has been confirmed by The
Times
of Britain, which explained that, the terror cell responsible for the
Brussels attacks is suspected to be part of an IS cell planning to
launch a radioactive bomb attack.
After the threat of nuclear attacks surfaced, eleven staff members of
the Belgian nuclear industry have been stripped of their pass.
Moroccan intelligence and its anti terrorism services are renowned as
one of the best in the world. They assisted France identify the
perpetrators of the deadly attack in Paris in November; and most
recently, helped Cote d'Ivoire identify the mastermind of the 13
March attacks at Grand-Bassam that left 19 dead.
In 2014, Morocco highlighted its multi-dimensional approach to
terrorism at the UN Security Council. Speaking to the UN
Counter-terrorism Committee, Morocco's representative explained that,
the approach is not solely based on the security aspect, but goes
beyond it to include a successful religious and spiritual strategy
meant to promote an Islam version that extols the values of
tolerance, otherness and moderation, as well as a socio-economic
aspect aimed at ensuring inclusive development that places the
individual at the heart of all concerns.
Since May 2003 – when an Al-Qaeda-associated group attacked a
number of sites in the capital, Casablanca, with home-made suicide
bombs that killed about 36 people, – Morocco has followed what
analysts call a “complex anti-terrorism policy” that is borne
largely out of the States' reactions to the events of that day.
Yesterday's news that the 28-member CEN-SAD, which includes Morocco,
will unite to share intelligence on counter-terrorism strategies can
only give vent to the argument that Arab and African countries need
to unite against the scourge of terrorism.
AFRICAN UNION:
The African Union Commission has, in a press release yesterday,
disclosed that, Ghana has launched an AU campaign to end child
marriage.
Launched
at the continental level at the AU in May 2014 during a Conference of
Ministers of Social Development, Ghana has become the 11th
AU member state to launch a national campaign to end child marriages.
The campaign is aimed at ending child marriage by means of supporting
and advocating legal and policy actions for the protection and
promotion of human rights by mobilizing continental awareness of the
adverse socio-economic impact of child marriage – among other
strategies.
Still
on African Union news...
The Chairperson of the AU Commission Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and
the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Ethiopia, who doubles as Permanent
representative to the AU, H.E. Rashed Al Hajri, signed a Memorandum
of Understanding 24 March to enhance and equip the Medical Centre at
the AU's headquarters in Addis Ababa.
As per the agreement, government of Kuwait will contribute a total of
USD5million for the project, with the funds divided into two
components – enhancing the Medical Services Department and
supporting the African Centres for Disease Control (ACDCs).
These African CDCs have the mandate to monitor infectious diseases
such as Ebola; and build Member States' capabilities on
early-warning; prevention; and tackling said-diseases.
WEST
AFRICA:
ECOWAS has praised the contributions of the Kofi Annan International
Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) to peace and security,
disaster-preparedness in the sub-region.
According to the ECOWAS Commissioner of Telecommunications and ICT,
Isaias Barreto da Rosa, – who expressed gratitude to KAIPTC and
Ghana's National Disaster Management Organization(NADMO) for their
support in the organization of training programmes for the sub region
under the West Africa Disaster Preparedness Initiative (WADPI) –
the WADPI remains strategic; and comes at a time when the region is
recovering from the devastating Ebola outbreak.
Speaking to the press after the graduation of participants from
Sierra Leone and Liberia, Colonel Osemwegie, course director on
behalf of KAIPTC, explained how Cape Verde had already been scheduled
for the WADPI training in June 2016. He said that the training is
slightly modified and that there will be a mobile training team.
There will also be more participants – to the tune of around 70 and
80.
Asked whether WADPI would incorporate training to reflect the new
security threats of terrorism in the sub-region, the Colonel said
that even as WADPI had initially been restricted to training on
health pandemics, there was a decision to look beyond phase 2, as
well as one to develop a sustainability plan.
He further added that, the training would consider search-and-rescue,
including an expansion of the curriculum in terms of packaging.
The bottom line, the experts concurred, was that WADPI remains a
model for regional peace and security.
The WADPI training is part of efforts to combat disaster outbreaks in
the sub-region, and was organised from 13 July to 30 November 2015
without the two countries of Guinea and Liberia because of the Ebola
pandemic that had afflicted them.
Since its launch, the programme has so far trained over 1300 ECOWAS
States from 14 countries, including Cameroon – as well as thirty
staff from the ECOWAS Commission on disaster-management and rapid
response.
WADPI is sponsored by the US Africa Command (USAFRICOM), and
Operation United Assistance Transition Disaster Preparedness Project.
It is held under the auspices of ECOWAS; KAIPTC; NADMO and the US Air
Force.
EAST AFRICA:
In a cost-cutting attempt by
Rwandan police to cut down the transportation of DNA samples to
Europe for testing and analysis, Rwanda has embarked upon the
establishment of its own national forensic laboratory.
According to reports from
Rwandan Police, the country spends about 1,056USD to ship a single
sample to Germany or the UK.
Rwandan police spokesperson
Celestin Twahirwa, says the lab “will be equipped with all tools
needed to collect, test and analyze DNA samples to assist in crime
investigations.” The National Forensic Laboratory is currently
under construction and will be operational by late 2017.
Rwanda has already dispatched
officers who will work in the laboratory to Germany for training and
are about to complete a course.
ENDs
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