Tag: AfricaNews

The rescued migrants include 19,075 men, 1,089 women and 678 children, IOM said.

Also, 514 migrants died and 865 others went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, IOM added.

In 2021, a total of 32,425 illegal migrants were rescued and returned to Libya.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, making the North African country a preferred point of departure for illegal migrants who want to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores.

Rescued migrants end up inside overcrowded reception centers across Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centers.

According to Nasser al-Khatroushi, head of the Deportation Office of the Anti-illegal Immigration Department, the migrants, who are from Egypt, Niger and Sudan, were deported by land to their own countries.

The deportation was done for the first time in collaboration with the Anti-illegal Immigration Departments of Eastern and Southern Libya, the Libyan official told Xinhua.

“Today, we are very happy to see officers from Western, Eastern and Southern Libya gathered here in Tripoli to solve the issue of illegal immigration, which is a complicated issue,” said Mohamed al-Khoja, head of the Anti-illegal Immigration Department.

Libya has become a preferred point of departure for illegal immigrants who attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach European shores.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a total of 20,842 illegal migrants, including women and children, have been rescued at sea and returned to Libya so far this year.

In the meantime, 500 illegal migrants have died and 863 others gone missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, the IOM said.

The aim of the policy is to anchor inflation expectations more firmly around the mid-point of the target band and to increase the confidence in attaining the inflation target sustainably over time, said Lesetja Kganyago, governor of the bank.

“Achieving a prudent public debt, increasing the supply of energy, moderating administered price inflation and keeping wage growth in line with productivity gains will enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy and its transmission to the broader economy,” he said.

The country’s inflation was expected to remain high, according to Kganyago, adding that the bank’s forecast of headline inflation for this year and next is slightly higher at 6.7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

Speaking during the launch in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, Botswana’s Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame, stated that the priorities of MIP set out two priority areas: green transformation and economic diversification.

The EU will provide 16 million euros to fund actions between 2021 and 2024. Another financial allocation for the period 2025-2027 will be determined after a review in 2024.

Serame said despite the country’s middle-income status, the southern African nation still faces numerous challenges, including unemployment, particularly among graduates, and the need to diversify the economy.

Ambassador of the European Union to Botswana and Southern African Development Community (SADC), Petra Pereyra stated that the purpose of this cooperation program is to help Botswana transition from a natural resource-based to a knowledge-based economy.

“Botswana has enormous potential for renewable energy, in particular by developing solar energy. It has enormous potential if it invests in its youth to make them the driving force behind the diversification and development of the economy, and the country,” said Pereyra.

Albert Kan Dapaah, the Ghanaian National Security Minister, disclosed this at a press briefing to throw more light on steps so far to protect the territorial integrity of member states and the subregion in general.

“We are seriously considering establishing a standby force, but the form it would take is still under consideration,” Dapaah disclosed.

“The respective chiefs of defense staff from our member states have been holding discussions on the details of the standby force, and once we are ready, we would inform the general public on the form it would take,” he said.

He disclosed that porous borders in the subregion and ungoverned spaces in the various countries were some of the key attractions to the armed insurgents and the jihadist groups.

“One of our key considerations is ensuring that there are not many ungoverned territories in our member countries. We will also make it difficult for the jihadists to radicalize youth in border communities,” said Dapaah.

“Youth unemployment is one critical factor in radicalization. Our ability to handle youth unemployment in a more coordinated manner so that it does not become a threat to national and regional security will be key in dealing with the armed insurgencies in the member states,” he said.

The Accra Initiative was established in September 2017 to enhance intelligence and security cooperation among the member states, which include Ghana, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, and Niger.

“Terrorists and violent extremists including Da’esh, Al-Qaida and their affiliates have exploited instability and conflict to increase their activities and intensify attacks across the continent,” the UN deputy chief told the Security Council high-level debate on “Counter-Terrorism in Africa – an Imperative for Peace, Security and Development” on behalf of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“Their senseless, terror-fueled violence has killed and wounded thousands and many more continue to suffer from the broader impact of terrorism on their lives and livelihoods,” she said.

“Terrorist and violent extremist groups aggravate instability and human suffering. And they can plunge a country emerging from war back into the depths of conflict,” Mohammed said.

Meanwhile, terrorists, non-state armed groups and criminal networks often pursue different agendas and strategies, fueled by smuggling, human trafficking, and other methods of illicit financing – sometimes impersonating legitimate armed forces, said the UN deputy chief.

And as digital tools spread hate and disinformation, terrorists and other criminal groups are exploiting inter-communal tensions and food insecurity triggered by climate change, she added.

In today’s hyper-connected world, Mohammed said, the spread of terrorism in Africa is “not a concern for African member states alone.”

“The challenge belongs to us all. Countering international terrorism requires effective multilateral responses,” she added.

Outlining five suggestions to advance counter-terrorism efforts in Africa, Mohammed reminded that “prevention remains our best response.”

“We must address the instability and conflict that can lead to terrorism in the first place, as well as the conditions exploited by terrorists in pursuit of their agendas.”

The UN deputy chief called for community-based, and gender-sensitive “whole-of-society” approaches.

Other suggestions include calling for “sustained and predictable funding” to prevent and counter terrorism.

Sisi made the remarks in an inaugurating speech to the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit (SCIS), which gathers heads of state and government worldwide here at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Egypt’s coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Addressing the summit, Sisi called on world leaders to take real and concrete steps towards reducing emissions, enhancing adaptation to the consequences of climate change, and providing the necessary financing for developing countries that suffer the most from the current climate crisis.

“Time is running out for the world and there is no way to retreat from implementing climate commitments,” Sisi said.

“It is necessary for developing countries, especially in our African continent, to feel that their priorities are responded to and taken into consideration,” he said

“These countries bear their responsibility, to the extent of their capabilities and the amount of appropriate support and finance, in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, granting them some satisfaction with their position on global efforts to combat climate change,” Sisi added.

He stressed that this can only happen by creating an atmosphere of confidence as well as taking additional serious steps and of developed countries to fulfill their climate finance commitments.

He pointed out that the world is still facing many challenges that cast a shadow on its ability to reach the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which is to keep the global average temperature rise this century as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Addressing the climate summit, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also warned global leaders of the current climate challenges.

“We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator,” he said, adding “the planet is fast approaching the tipping point that will make climate chaos irreversible.”

“Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing, global temperatures keep rising, and our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible,” he adds.

He noted that humanity must “cooperate or perish” in the face of international crises that have battered economies and shaken international relations.

“It is either a climate solidarity pact, or a collective suicide pact,” Guterres warned.