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12th September 201912th Muharram,1441

THURSDAY

Declaration of Principles Signed between Government and Armed Movements in Juba

By: Zuleikha Abdul Raziq

Khartoum- An agreement on declaration of prin-ciples and confidence building was signed in Juba yesterday between the Sovereign Council and the Sudanese armed movements.The two parties agreed on cancellation of all sentences issued against the leaders of the armed movements by courts and opening of the humani-tarian corridors for the relief of the affected peo-ple from inside the Sudanese territories besides the release of all prisoners of war and detainees from both sides and comprehensive cease-fire.

The two parties agreed that Juba shall be the ven-ue for the peace talks, which are to start mid next October.Meanwhile, a source in the South Sudan Presidency said the final agreement between the Sudanese Sovereign Council and the Revolution-ary Front includes deferring formation of the Leg-islative Council and appointment of the governors of the states till reaching the peace agreement.The source also indicated that the agreement also stipulates their participation in all institutions of the transitional period and inclusion of the peace agreement in the Constitutional Declaration docu-ment.

Hamdok Heads to Juba for Talks with Salva Kiir By: Zuleikha Abdul Raziq

Prime Minister Dr. Abdalla Hamdok and his accompanying delega-tion are expected to arrive in Juba today to launch talks with South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardit. He will be accompanied by a delegation including the ministers of interior, foreign affairs, en-ergy and mining, and commerce and industry.This will be the first time that Hamdok, will be making a foreign trip after the formation of the transitional government to reflect the special relations between Sudan and South Sudan.

Pompeo Affirms Partnership with Sudan towards Crucial Issues Including Fighting Terrorism

By: Najat Ahmed

Khartoum – Prime Miniser, Abdalla Hamdok received a congratu-latory message for US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo on the oc-casion of his appointment as Prime Minister of the Republic of Sudan.Peompeo affirmed in his message the support of the US Adminis-tration to the transitional government formed by the Prime Minis-ter which came in response to the desire of the Sudanese people towards bringing an end to the internal conflicts, reforming the economy, constitution-making and conducting a fair and free elec-tion by the end of the Transitional Period.The US Secretary of State affirmed that his country will remain a constant partner to Sudan, expressing hope to work with the gov-ernment of the Prime Minister towards the crucial issue including fighting terrorism.Meanwhile, Foreign Minister, Ms. Asma’a Mohammed Abdallah received congratulatory telephone calls from the foreign ministers of each of Turkey and Jordan besides discussing the bilateral rela-tions with the two countries.The Minister also received the World Bank Country Director for Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and the accompanying del-egation.The Miniter welcomed the visiting delegation and briefed them on the developments in Sudan after the success of the revolution and the formation of the transitional government, adding that Sudan is endevouring to cooperate with the international community to come out for the international isolation and achieve the sustainable development.

IHE Delft Congratulates Minister of Water Resources

Sudan Vision

H. E. Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Prof. Yasir A. Mohamed received a congratulations letter from Rector of IHE Delft, Prof. Eddy Moors on his new position.Before his appointment Prof. Yasir was the Director General of Hy-draulic Research Center-Sudan as well as Associate Professor of Water Resources Management at IHE Delft.IHE Delft emphasized its interest in future cooperation with the Ministry and other water related institutions to promote research and capacity development in Sudan.

Breaking NewsFFC Organizes March Today Demanding Appointment of Chief Justice and Attorney GeneralBy: Al Sammani Awadalla

Khartoum- The Forces of the Document of Freedom and Change (FFC) has announced staging of a million persons march today, Thursday, to the Republican Palace to hand over a memorandum demanding the appointment of those in charge of the judiciary, calling for the appointment of the Chief Justice and the Attorney General.It explained that the march comes as part of an agenda called “achieving the goals of the revolution,” point-ing out that this schedule also includes vigils before government institutions for accountabil-ity of the figures of the former regime.The step comes days after the announcement of the formation of the first government in the country after the ouster of the government of deposed president Al Bashir. It said it would stage another similar march to bring the figures of the regime of ousted presi-dent Al-Bashir to account.The Forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change has specified many activities to make the authorities respond to their demands, in-cluding vigils before government institutions

and removal of remnants of the former regime from the workplace. It is expected that large numbers of citizens will participate in today’s march, which starts from Al-Suq Al Arabi area in Khartoum, which is a gathering place for big numbers of the people. Khartoum and other cities witnessed earlier big demonstrations under the name of June 30 to ask the then Transitional Military Council to hand over power to a civilian government.Dozens of citizens stood yesterday in front of the General Intelligence Service Building to de-mand an end to enforced disappearance, carry-ing banners rejecting detention outside the law and demanding the release of detainees or put them on trial.

Finance Minister and Challenges Ahead

By: Muawad Mustafa Rashid

Finance Minister, Ibrahim Al-Badawi announced a 200-day emergency plan to restore the ravaged econ-omy during the transitional period saying it aimed to translate the slogans of the Sudanese revolution.He made the announcement in a press conference held after the swearing-in ceremony of the transitional gov-ernment.According to the Minister, the 200-day plan is based on five main axes, including macroeconomic stabilization, measures to stabilize commodity prices, addressing the youth unemployment, transition from humanitarian aid to sustainable development and capacity building of economic management institutions.“The government would work first to stabilize the macro-economy, restructuring the budget and raising the financial effort so that the state can fulfill its ob-ligations towards the people in terms of social welfare and spending on education, health and development,” Al-Badawi said.In addition to this monetary and fiscal framework, he said his ministry will take penal measures to stabilize prices and reduce the cost of living.“The people are now politically and emotionally free, but economically oppressed. Every effort must be made to address this crisis with an urgent emergency plan un-til economic programs such as macroeconomic stabi-lization, combating inflation, exchange rates, liquidity and others are prepared,” he added.The Sudanese economy suffered from a lack of for-eign currency as the government uses all the income of oil and gold revenue to fund its security apparatus and army.Also, the high level of corruption added to the inter-national isolation and international sanctions on the Is-lamist regime all these factors contributed to destroying the national economy, particularly after the secession of South Sudan which deprived Sudan of three-quarters

of oil output.Regarding the youth unemployment, the minister said his government will work to tackle the crisis through short-term and long-term programmes.Speaking about the war-ravaged regions of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, he said they will work to achieve the transition from humanitarian aid to sustainable development in the three regions in support of the peace building process.He underscored that there is great and unrestricted sup-port from the international development community stressing it will not be affected by the sanctions im-posed on Sudan.After what he moved to speak about the last point in his five axes plan which is the capacity building and the development of economic management institutions in the different economic ministries.He further said it was vital to prepare the Sudanese economy during the second and third year of the tran-sitional period to move towards value-added activities which mean stopping the exportation of the raw mate-rial and to develop manufacturing firms.During the second term of the transitional period, he said they would also work to move from subsidizing goods to directly supporting Sudanese people.He concluded by saying the 200-day plan aims to fight poverty and achieve social justice in Sudan and to pre-

pare the county for the structural transformation of its economy.“This is a strategic project aimed at achieving sus-tainable development goals during the transitional period, the most important of which is fighting poverty and achieving social justice,” he said.The question that poses itself is from where will the minister fund his five axes ambitious program?We assume that the minister is supposed to clarify the means and mechanisms of implementing his programme, or at least the first stage.It goes without saying that it is very difficult to implement the whole programme in the transi-

tional period within the scarce resources.It is not required from the minister to resolve all the 30-year accumulated economic crises in three years including the dealing with the structural reform of the financial policies, inflation, fighting the widespread corruption and restructuring the banking system.The ousted regime announced tens of economic pro-grammes but did not implement any of those pro-grammes a matter that resulted to the loss of its cred-ibility.Now the transitional government has a good chance to correct the course through subjecting the announced plans to tight executive programme within a deter-mined timing and available financial resources.It is enough for the government to implement its emer-gency programme of providing the daily requirements including bread, fuel, electricity and cash.This is enough to measure the success of the minister in the first stage, and then we move to the second stage in the programme.Most important is to lay the foundation to a reform pro-gramme in the right directed.The challenges facing the minister are enormous and the ambitions of the citizens are high a matter that re-quires dealing with the issue in transparency and not the hollow promises.

News Report

Prime Minister Rejects Calling the Government “Hamdok Government” Alludes to Ministerial Reshuffle By Alsamani Awadalla

Khartoum: Prime Minister Dr. Abdalla Hamdok has alluded to conducting a re-shuffle in the tran-sitional government after reaching an agreement for real-izing peace with the armed movements and described the talk about develop-ment , stability and democracy without realizing peace in the country as ploughing in the sea.Hamdok said in an interview cast by Al Hadath channel that they have no ceiling for paying the invoice and entitlements of peace and we will not hesitate to respond to any demand that brings the war to an end, he said.He said with the new shape which is reconciling with itself and with the region and the interna-tional community will obtain donations and con-cessional loans for facing the challenges in the first period to reconstruct what was destroyed by the war , reform the economy and the infrastruc-

tures.He added “ we don’t want to beg but we want the world to come to us and we will create investment opportunities in the sectors of petroleum , indus-try , ports and transport.Hamdok considered describing the composition of the government on the basis of regions as ra-tioning as escaping from managing diversity in the country He further asserted that the first standard is com-petence “ we want every Sudanese national to find himself in the government and I think we have succeeded a greatdeal in this matter .

UN opens Follow-up Office on Human Rights Protection in Khartoum

By: Najat Ahmed

Khartoum - Assistant Undersecretary at the For-eign Ministry, Elham Ibrahim Mohammed received yesterday Ms. Juliet de Rivero, Head of the African Unit in the Technical Cooperation and Operations Section of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and her accom-panying delegation. The Assistant Undersecretary thanked the delega-tion for the visit and appreciated the role played by the Council in improving the human rights situa-tion, and addressing the positive developments in the human rights situation after the victory of the revolution, noting that the constitutional document for the transitional period contained a chapter on human rights.For her part, Ms. de Rivero acknowledged the posi-tive development in the human rights situation in Sudan after the change in the political scene. They expressed their desire to support Sudan in human rights issuesThe meeting also discussed the possibility of open-ing a follow-up office for the Council in Sudan to provide technical and logistical support and build national capacities in the field of human rights pro-tectionMeanwhile, the three African non-permanent mem-bers of the UN Security Council called Tuesday for the lifting of sanctions against Sudan as the

country transitions towards civilian rule. In a joint statement, South Africa, Ivory Coast and Equato-rial Guinea, as well as the UN representative from the African Union (AU), noted that the AU’s Peace and Security Council had already lifted its sanc-tions against Sudan in light of the country’s latest political developments.The statement urged Se-curity Council members to “follow suit” and “lift all sanctions against Sudan, including withdraw-ing it from the list of countries supporting terror-ism.” The last point is a reference to Washington’s blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, which has included Sudan since 1993 and is a key factor hin-dering the African country’s economic revival. The statement also addressed Sudan’s new government -- the country’s first since nationwide protests that overthrew autocrat Sudan al-Bashir -- and urged it to work toward “lasting peace and stability.”“We urge the new Government of Sudan to observe and faithfully implement the provisions of the road map as agreed and ultimately hold free, fair and transparent parliamentary and presidential elec-tions,” the statement said.The UN Security Council has imposed a host of sanctions against Sudan since 2005, including trav-el bans and asset freezes on parties involved in the 2003 conflict in the western Darfur region.On Monday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that Cairo also supported efforts to remove Sudan from Washington’s blacklist.

Al Burhan : We Started Restructuring Security Systems and Reconsidering their Laws

By Shadia Bashari

Khartoum: President of the Sudanese Sovereign Council First Lieutenant General Abdul-Fattah Al Burhan has disclosed a plan of restructur-ing security systems throughout the transitional period.Al Burhan said they have set out on restructuring all the forces and reconsidering their laws, particularly the National Intelligence and Security System , stressing that the Armed Forces have specific duties and the guarantor is the Sudanese people.He said all are working towards realizing the dream of the Sudanese people of democratic rule after announcing the government of Abdalla Hamdok.He elaborated in a press statements that all in the Council of Ministers and Sovereign Council have pledged to work on realizing the aspiration of the Sudanese people to a democratic govern-ance and the Sudanese people are waiting to

see justice and equality prevail in the country , while the international community has started to change its look to us after shifting to the civil governance, stressing that the upcoming phase will see and outward looking approach.Al Burahan further indicated that the Sovereign Council and the government are capable of ex-ecuting the legislative role as the roles between them are of complementary nature for serving the people.Regarding negotiations for realizing peace in Sudan, he said the authorities have understand-ings with all the armed movements and all are resolved to realize peace.The transitional government has taken the con-stitutional oath of office last Sunday before the Sovereign Council which is Presided by Al Burhan and the Prime Minister Abdalla HamdokAmong the new members of the cabinet are As-maa Abdalla ,the first female Minister of foreign Affairs.

Transformation Opportunities for the New SudanHOME2Thursday, September 12, 2019

EDITORIAL

Hamdok Affirms Concern to Promote Relations with Eritrea

PM: Government Economic Program Starts with Stoppage of WarBy: Zuleikha Abdul Raziq

Khartoum- Prime Minister Dr. Abdalla Hamdok has ruled out imposition of any new taxes, referring to the importance of expanding the umbrella and revising the list of imports to focus on important goods that contribute to increase of pro-duction, noting that the coun-try is in deep economic crisis.Dr. Hamdok, speaking in an interview to BBC TV channel broadcast Tuesday, said the program of his government for the transitional period in the economic field starts with stop-page of the war and achieve-ment of sustainable peace.The priorities of the govern-ment in the coming three years include stopping the economic deterioration, restoration of confidence in the banking sys-tem, addressing imbalances in the budget and trade and map-ping out bases for a national economy based on production, the Prime Minister said.He indicated that the deep eco-nomic crisis the country wit-nesses now requires exerting efforts for facing it relying on

self-resources and foreign sup-port.Hamdok pointed out to the importance of making under-standings for removing the name of Sudan form the US list of states sponsoring terrorism.He expected reaching under-standings concerning foreign debts and normalization of relations with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the international partners from the reality of Sudan’s membership in these institutions.In a separate development, all members of the Council of Ministers, led by Prime Minis-ter Hamdok, paid visits Tues-day to the wounded persons of glorious December Revolution in a number of hospitals in Khartoum, especially Royal Care and Fedail Hospitals.Minister of Labour and Social Development Lina Al Shiekh said in a press statement the visit by the members of the Council of Ministers to the wounded revolutionaries came in recognition of their struggle for the success of the revolu-tion.

Cabinet Visits Wounded Persons of December Revolution , Hamdok Rules Out Imposing New Taxes

By Zuleikha Abdulraziq

Khartoum: Prime Minister Dr. Abdalla Adam Hamdok has ruled out imposing any new taxes highlighting the need of expanding tax umbrella and reviewing the list of imports by focusing on nec-essary commodities that contribute in increasing production affirming that the country is experiencing a deep economic crisis.Hamdok said in television interview cast by the BBC on Tuesday that the program of the government for the transitional pe-riod in the economic field starts by end-ing the war and establishing sustainable peace noting that economic advance-ment requires and incubating environ-ment and a supporting public opinion.He affirmed that the priorities of his gov-ernment for the upcoming three years will be based on stopping economic dete-rioration first, restoring confidence to the banking system, tackling the defect in the budget and the balance of trade and lay-ing down the foundations for a national economy based on production.He outlined that the deep economic cri-sis the country is currently experiencing needs exerting efforts for encountering it by depending on autonomous resources and foreign suppor.

He further stressed the need for conduct-ing understandings for lifting Sudan from the American list related to the terror sponsoring countriesHamdok expected reaching understand-ings on foreign debts and normalizing relations with the world bank and the International Monetary Fund out of the reality of Sudan’s membership in these organizations.In another development the cabinet with

its full membership headed by Abdlla Hamdok has paid a visit on Tuesday to the injured persons in the December revo-lution who were being treated in the hos-pitals in Khartoum .The Minister of Labor and Social Devel-opment Lina Al Sheikh said in a press statements the cabinet’s visits to the wounded and the inured was in honor of those who struggled for the success of the revolution

China, Sudan Officials Vow to Enhance Ties at Embassy Reception Xinhua

KHARTOUM - Chinese em-bassy in Khartoum on Monday evening organized a farewell reception for Sudanese officials who will participate in 2019 Workshop on Administrative Decision System and Public Policy Development for Sudan to be held in Beijing.“This year marks the 60th anni-versary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Sudan and also a new be-ginning for bilateral ties of the next six decades,” said Ma Xinmin, Chinese ambassador to Sudan, when addressing the reception.He vowed that China would continue working together with Sudan to consolidate China-Su-dan traditional friendship and push forward further develop-

ment of bilateral relations.“Our two countries will make unremitting efforts to enhance experience sharing on state governance and strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional issues involving each other’s core interests and major con-cerns,” Ma noted.For his part, Deputy Secretary General of Sudan’s Presidency Yousif Omer hoped that the his-torical ties between Sudan and China would continue at the time when Sudan is entering a new era and getting ready to achieve a renaissance based on development and infrastructure projects.“We appreciate China’s sup-portive stances and hope the cooperation between Sudan and China would continue in the coming phase,” he said.

Celebrate the Ethiopian New Year and become Seven Years Younger! Press Statement

Ethiopia celebrates its New Year on September 12, 2019. However odd it may sound, it is not 2019 in Ethiopia; rather it is going to be Meskerem 01, 2012 E.C. (Ethiopian). There is a seven years differ-ence between the “European” (Gregorian) and Ethiopian calendar. The difference is mainly owed to the method of calculations in the birth of Jesus Christ and the creation of the world. The current Ethiopian calendar that is officially recognized by the government has 13 months, 12 months of 30 days each and an inter-calary month at the end of the year known as Pagumen with five or six days depending on whether it is a leap year or not. Influenced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethio-pian calendar follows its ancient calendar rules and beliefs from ancient books such as the Book of Enoch and Abushakir. There are also scholars who claim that Ethiopian Calendar is similar with the ancient kemetic and Kushitic civilizations found along the Nile River whereby the arrival of the highest point of river Nile flood at Memphis marks the first day of the year.In addition, different nations and nationalities found in Ethiopia including the Oromo and Sidama possess their own traditional cal-endars which are still used to mark the beginning of the New Year and celebrate different customary practices. These celebrations of traditional practices as well as beginning of the New Year are deter-mined by an astronomical process through observing the position of the moon and the stars. The beginning of the New Year in Ethiopia on September 12, 2019 comes with the blossoming yellow flowers signaling a joyous bright future after the end of the gloomy rainy season. And Ethiopia will celebrate the New Year with a renewed hope upon its ancient and mystical past while being seven years younger from the whole world as it is still 2012 in its unique calendar. Happy Ethiopian New Year!

By: Mona Mustafa

Khartoum – Director of Anti-drugs General Directorate, Maj. Gen. Tariq Al-Amin re-vealed a plan to reduce the use and selling of drugs in greater Khartoum and other states.He added, while addressing the concluding session of training

workshop on modern methods in awareness about the danger of drugs, that the workshop aims at raising the capacities.He emphasized the importance of partnerships with the civil society organization in aware-ness campaigns, lauding the efforts of Ajawid Voluntary As-sociation in this regard.

Khalifa Foundation Assists Persons Affected by Floods in Sudan

WAM

ABU DHABI - The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation distributed the first phase of relief aid to people affected by floods in Sudan, as directed by the UAE’s leadership and as part of its plan to support 150,000 Sudanese.The foundation’s efforts are part of the UAE’s overall plan to assist the Sudanese people and mitigate the effects of floods that struck Sudan.The foundation’s gesture is also in implementation of the direc-tives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, supported by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and monitored by H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and President of the Foundation.The head of the foundation’s team stressed that all procedures have been completed and they have begun the distribution of relief aid and shelter tents in affected areas in Khartoum, Al Ja-zeerah, Al Nil Al Abyad and Sinar, benefitting 30,000 Sudanese families.The first phase included Al Jeely and Daramaly in Bahari Dis-trict, Al Khartoum, where 4,000 food parcels and 400 shelter tents were distributed to people who lost their homes.Dr. Mohammed Fadl Allah, Deputy Humanitarian Commissioner in Sudan, praised the UAE’s support for those affected by natu-ral disasters in Sudan, noting that the arrival of the foundation’s delegation will help mitigate the effects of the natural disaster.Many residents of Al Jeely and Daramaly thanked the UAE and the foundation for supporting them through this crisis.

Strategic Plan to Eliminate Drugs in the Country

Transformation Opportunities for the New SudanBy: Alula Berhe Kidani

The indicators so far show that the new transition from the authoritarian regime to democratic civil governance is finding wide regional and interna-tional support and in particular after the signing of the Constitutional Document , the formation of the Supremacy Council and the Transitional Government.It may be enough just to mention some of these positive gestures; removal of sanctions by the Af-rican Union, the expression of support of some of the main Arab countries, European countries and the European Union. On the other hand the United Nations Sudan Country Time organized a three-day meeting on 7 September to discuss a road map for the UN system to support the transi-tional government on the development, econom-ic, human rights, humanitarian and peace building tracks. The first secession of the meeting was addressed by the Prime Minister of Sudan, Dr. Abdullah Hamdok, today delivered a key note speech at the opening session of the UN Coordination Meeting taking place in Khartoum. This indicated the im-portance of this international effort for the coming period. PM Dr. Hamdok said the revolution slogan of “Freedom, Peace and Justice” will shape the fu-ture of the country adding he expects the United Nations to play a major role in supporting the transition process, achieving the transitional gov-ernment’s priorities and addressing the multiple challenges. “We expect the UN to play a leading role in orchestrating international support and we hope to see a comprehensive approach to this ef-fort”

The most important issue in the transitional peri-od, the issue of peace which is as both the political forces, the armed forces and the transitional gov-ernment have agreed on as the key to resolving all the other issues and challenges at the top of them the economic crises with its impact on produc-tion, productivity and development and with its negative social manifestations. This file have seen very rapid development during the last few days in Juba with indication that very soon there will be in place a framework for the comprehensive negotiations with all the armed groups on the ba-sic principle of addressing the root causes of the conflicts and not the manifestations. One of the steps in confidence building trust in this respect was the agreement to open safe corridors for hu-manitarian assistance in the conflicts zones. The PM joining the meeting in Juba with the members of the members of the Supremacy Council already there indicates how series the present regime con-sider the peace file. On the other hand, the ten priorities declared by the government for the first 200 days pointed to the course that it will take in the future.In addition to the top objective of attaining a just comprehensive peace object, the first other four targets were addressing the economic crises and the high cost of living ,cancellation of all the laws that restrict freedoms, insure the judiciary inde-pendence and transitional justice.Same time, the Prime Minister has very firmly stressed on that competing all kinds and forms of corruption by all means is among the top pri-orities of his government. This will be combined with a radical restructure and reform of the civil service and public sector.

Education at Universities to be Resumed on October 1st, 2019

World Bank Pledges to Support Sudan in Transitional period

SUNA

Khartoum, Sept. 11 (SUNA) – The Cabinet Affairs Minister, Ambassador Omer Bashir Ma-nis, chaired Wednesday at the Council of Ministers’ Secretar-iat General a meeting designed to discuss the arrangements for resuming the academic year at universities.In a press statement, the Minis-

ter of Higher Education, Intisar Al-Zain Segairon, said that the meeting has underscored the re-sumption of the academic year at the universities on October 1st.She pointed out that the meet-ing has approved resignations of a number of university vice – chancellors, withdrawal of the university police and to get assured on readiness of the uni-versity campuses.

SUNA

Khartoum – The Prime Min-ister, Dr. Abdalla Hamdok, re-ceived Wednesday at his office the Director the World Bank for Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and

South Sudan, Carolyn (Carrie) Turk, in presence of the Minis-ter of Finance, Dr. Ibrahim Mo-hamed Al-Badawi.The World Bank’s official has affirmed the bank’s readiness to support the government in

the transitional period and to encourage the donors to invest in the country.She pointed out that the World Bank will boost the government projects in Sudan in the coming period.

Nairobi, Saturday, September 7, 2019:The first steps to establish the COMESA University of Regional Integration has begun with the launch of a virtual Masters Degree programme at the Kenyatta University of Kenya. The Master of Regional Integration (MRI) pro-gramme is designed for government officials working in divisions or units dealing with trade, integration and cooperation issues; students in-tending to work as trade officers, trade policy analyst, advisers, researchers, trade attaches, and private sector trade practitioners among others. Kenyatta University was selected to host the programme owing to its advanced e-Learning facilities and will collaborate with other 22 universities in other COMESA Member States, which have been involved in the design of the project.COMESA has also secured EUR 60,000 for annual scholarships for the programme from the European Union through Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP Group) under the TradeCom II Capacity Building Programme.Addressing the 6th COMESA Annual Research Forum in Nairobi, which ended Friday, 6 Sep-tember 2019, the Chairman, Department of Applied Economics, Kenyatta University, Dr. Samuel Muthoga, said the commencement of the programme follows approval by the Com-mission of University Education in Kenya.“The MRI programme will be offered during the first semester of 2019-2020 academic year in collaboration with the School of Virtual and Open Learning of Kenyatta University. About 30 students have so far applied for the pro-gramme,” Dr Muthoga said. Senior Research Fellow at COMESA, Mr. Ben-edict Musengele told the delegates that besides Kenyatta University, COMESA has signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Uni-

versity of Mauritius; the Open University of Mauritius; l’InstitutSupérieur de Gestion des Entreprise (ISGE) of Burundi; and the Uni-versity of Zimbabwe to begin offering the pro-gramme. Kenyatta University has advertised for students’ admission to the programme in September 2019. Open University of Mauritius and University of Mauritius are advertising for January intake while University of Zambia is at advanced stage of signing the MoU.Mr. Musengele explained: “The programme shall be offered by course work and dissertation over the duration of two years. It consists of 10 compulsory and five elective courses. Examina-tions will be conducted at Kenyatta University campuses, in the Embassies and COMESA Sec-retariat offices.”The launch of COMESA virtual university was approved in October 2016 during the 19th COMESA Heads of State Summit held in Madagascar. The objective was to inculcate the dimension of regional integration in learning in higher institutions. Later, the MoU was devel-oped to provide the framework for collaboration with the participating universities. Professor Nelson Wawire, who has been coordi-nating the launch of the programme at the Keny-atta University, said preparations are underway between COMESA Secretariat and Kenyatta University to officially launch the programme. The rationale for establishing the Masters pro-gramme was to build the capacity of member States to address the slow progress of regional integration in the COMESA region. Under this programme, the inability of Member countries to implement the numerous protocols, decisions and Acts due to the apparent lack of institutional and human capital and related support mecha-nisms will be addressed.

COMESA Virtual University Programme Kicks-off

SPA

Jeddah - The delegation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Islamic Solidarity Fund, currently visiting Sudan, con-

tinues to monitor the cities and villages af-fected by recent heavy rains and high floods.During the visit, the delegation met with officials of Sudan’s Sovereign Council and the Federal Ministry of Health, where they were briefed on the extent of flood damage.

OIC Provides Assistance to Health Sector in Sudan

US Welcome Transitional Government FormationPress Release

On September 5th, 2019, the Prime Minister of Sudan Dr. Abdalla Hamdok, announced the formation of his Transitional Cabinet including a female foreign minister, for the first time in the country’s history. The ministers took oath of office on September 8th, 2019 before the President of the Sov-ereign Council. Consultations are underway to form the Transitional Legislative Council and states governments.The Prime Minister, Dr. Hamdok enumer-ated the priorities of his government in achieving peace in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, addressing the pressing challenges fac-ing the economy, achieving transitional justice, reforming the civil service and having a balanced foreign policy.Welcoming these important milestones and the formation of a civilian-led government, the Af-rican Union Peace and Security Council decided on September 6th, 2019 to lift the suspension of the participation of Sudan in the AU’s activities, which was in effect since June 6th, 2019. The Council called on “all countries concerned to lift all economic and financial sanctions imposed on

Sudan, including removing Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, with a view to enhance the economic activities and encourage foreign investments”. The economic crisis was the trigger behind the protests that deposed the previous regime. Delist-ing Sudan from the States Sponsors of Terrorism (SST) list is crucial to saving the Sudanese econ-omy from this crisis. All friends of Sudan in the United States are called upon to put their hands together to achieve that end as soon as possible. It’s hoped that the United States will not cripple the Transitional Government or stand in the way

3 Thursday, September 12, 2019HOME

E-mail: alulakidani@yahoo.comAlula Berhe

Beyond the Horizon

Guidance Minister Initiative

The Minister of Guidance has started his term with a very contro-versial initiative when he called the Sudanese Jews to return back home. There were many controversial re-sponses to this call but what char-acterize all of them is the attempts to maneuver round the main chal-lenges which will open the gates of hell on the religious policies of the political parties previous regimes since 1956 Independence, the so-called democratic or military. The Muslim Brotherhood leaders replied with that this is not the busi-ness of the Minister of Guidance and that Islam guarantee religious freedoms. But didn’t forget to re-mind us that comes under the su-premacy of Islam according to the Brotherhood concepts of Islam.The Ansar Sect on the other hand didn’t go beyond the boundaries of repeating the expired rhetoric on religion, religious relations and the also expired dialogue of civiliza-tions doctrine or concept. Maybe what was important and interest-ing in this respect was their call for coexistence among the different Islamic sects; and groups and ab-staining from the practice of vio-lence.These two groups history, the Muslim Brotherhood and the An-sar Sect (politically represented by the-NUP- National Umma Party) are regardless of any claims to the contrary are no more than religious political parties. Both of them have practiced religious discrimination against the Christians and Jews in Sudan and the Brotherhood have openly practiced it all over the Arab and Muslim world and

in some case accompanied by the use of violence. On the other hand Ansar Sect and the NUP since the British Colonial Rule have adapted the policy of undeclared discrimi-nation. In this regard, we should also include the Khatmiya Sect as well but who were to a large extent closed on themselves and didn’t at-tempt to spread their role beyond a certain geographical areas like the two other groups.The final product of these policies have led some of the armed move-ments despite that they are Mus-lims but because of the extensive use of religion to oppress them and violate their basic and fundamen-tal human rights to call openly for the separation of religion form the state and politics as one of the fun-damental conditions in the coming peace negotiations.Also, we should note that in antici-pation of such demands the Tran-sitional National Constitutional Document has refrained from any religious constitutional links. This was strongly characterized by some of the groups who have lived during the last thirty years of the corrupt authoritarian regime in the utilization of religion in politics for ideological, political but as well personal financial gains. The present corruption case against some of them and more that is ex-pected to come in the coming days is the best evidence in this respect.At the same time have refrained from criticizing in any form the corruption and mass human rights violations of the re-gime and which vio-late the fundamen-tals of all religious values and in par-ticular Islam.

Christians Chal-lenges

The same challeng-es of deformed and even corrupt lead-ership facing the Muslims are also prevalent within the different Christians sects in the country. So, some of them should not por-tray themselves now as the angels who have been prosecuted by the corrupt oppressive ousted regime of Omer Al Bashir because as Christians we know that some of the Christian leaders were as cor-rupt as the other supporters of that regime. Many parts of the Church-es properties were illegally sold to corrupt businessmen by these cor-

rupt Christian religious men. So, any real transparent investigation should include and this should be the demand of the revolutionary Christian youth who participated in the Armed Command Sit-in and by the way those Christina lead-ers who are filling the newspapers these days with statements and de-mands where hiding and not there.In this regard the Prime Minis-ter should refrain from the ap-pointment of any State Minister for Christian Affairs from among this leadership before tabling the names for the Christian communi-ties to monitor and evaluate. At the same time as we have written in this page before there must be no link whatsoever between ethnicity and religion as some Christian and as well Muslim religious leaders are doing to serve their personal interest. The country has already seen the dangerous consequences of this linkage in the case of South Sudan and so it is very important not to repeat it again in the North of the country. The slogan we went

at the top “Religion is the personal af-fair between an indi-vidual and God and the homeland for all”. There must be no power for anyone on the consensus of another under any title. This is a funda-mental human right. But the violation of this right is being violated round the clock by some re-ligious groups and clergymen 24 hours

a day and the one of the duties of the Minister of Guidance is to stop these violations.We will say it very frankly we are hearing grave violation of religious discrimination and even insults in some mosques every Friday preach and we want an end to this valua-tions. The time for tolerating such practices must be put behind us after the December 2018 Revolu-

tion. Also, the Minister of Guidance has to regulate the flow and account-ability of the flow of foreign funds to religious groups because this is not only essential to prevent the promotion of some harmful foreign religious doctrines which we have manifested during the last three decades. What is more important is that it is linked to the file of list of the “State that sponsor terror-ism”. So, it is an issue as well of a national security and the Public Intelligence Organ has no doubt a lot of files on this issue which must be now utilized for the interest of the national security and not the re-gime as in the past.In the coming days and as we have written before about the corruption allegations against some Muslim clergymen; we will do the same with some corrupt Christian cler-gymen. In other words there will be no immunity on the prosecution of corruption allegation because of religious orientation. The time has come that all are under the light of the truth and transparency and be-longing to any religion will not be a shield against the Rule of Law.

The Catholic Club

We support 100 percent the return of the Catholic Club to its rightful own-ers and that it should not be allocated to any institution. The transitional government should not start its jour-ney by committing the same viola-tions of the ousted regime. The rem-nants of the National Congress Party have to go out today before tomorrow from this building and returned to the Catholic youth. In this context we call upon the Catholic and all the Chris-tians as well as the Muslim youth to start to organize a very massive pro-test to send a strong message to the Prime Minister and the government to do so and not maneuver over this issue which does require a lot of ef-fort from them and being busy is not an acceptable excuse. So, go to streets

in front of your confiscated club and demand the return of your rights as have been done before and don’t wait too much for grants from the government.

St. Joseph School

In the last two years of the life of the ousted regime there were very active steps to extract large parts of the St. Joseph Vocational Training School located in the South Khar-toum Industrial Area led by one of the ousted regime corrupt business-men and it was alleged that he was

aided as well by some corrupt Chris-tian clergymen. We demand that ur-gently the Khartoum State Governor and the Minister of Education at both the central and state level to open an urgent investigation on this case and tell the public what is going on in this school. In the time that the coun-try needs more vocational training schools some businessmen who have lost all sense of nationalism are trying to close some of the few established ones.It is interesting to note that this same businessman was behind the corrup-tion crises of the Angelical Church premises in central Khartoum North, a case which the judiciary during the ousted regime didn’t resolve and is still pending in the court. The Khar-toum North locality commissioner at that time was alleged to have sup-ported very strongly this business-man and even some police officer. All these allegations must be investigated and the truth brought to light includ-ing the corrupt elements inside the Church who have helped them in this conspiracy. Again we repeat that here we want to send a strong message that all must be equal before the law and that wearing the Cross or raising the Crescent will not protect corrupt peo-ple from coming under the hammer of the law.

Gold Revenues

The facts that came in the Interview of Sudan Vision with the Exchange Rate experts Dr. Isam Elzein Elmahi Ahmed and which were published yesterday came out with a fact that was not surprising amid the massive allegations about the irregularities’ in the Gold production and exports sec-tor. Dr Isam quoted that Ghana which ex-port half the quantity of Sudan gold earns US $ 40 billion while Sudan earns for the double quantity only US # 2 billion. This is a case the must be put as a top priority in the new government agenda regardless of the challenges that may face it.

Minister of Guidance: Good Initiative but Start with What Is more Important Now

The school, just like the parish, is run by the Jesuits Eastern Africa Province (AOR). When St Joseph Training Centre was established in 1987 the vision was to empower the youth with quality vocational skills at affordable costs. The transformation of St. Joseph Training Centre into St. Joseph Technical Secondary School in 2015 sought to bridge the gap in the provision of quality and affordable secondary school education anchored on Jesuit educational traditions within Kangemi slum while at the same time maintaining the original vision of offering practical skills for livelihood for the youth. Currently the school has a population of 175 students, girls and boys, and 21 staff

The School they want to Destroy

Wearing the Cross or raising the Crescent will not protect anyone corrupt from coming under the hammer of the law

Those that allied and benefited from the ousted regime must not choose the Christian state minister

The Gold exports file must be a top priority of the transitional government

St. Joseph Technical Secondary School

4 Thursday, September 12, 2019

By Jason Burke

In the Kismayo meat restaurant at the heart of the Mayfair neighbourhood of Johan-nesburg, the elders of the cityís Somali community hold urgent meetings about the attacks on foreign-owned businesses and traders that have been surging for more than a week.On Sunday, two people were reportedly killed and the police had to use teargas and rubber bullets to disperse groups of men armed with machetes and sticks while shouting anti-immigrant slogans.Officials believe at least 11 people have died and scores of shops have been burned. Many more have been injured and looting has been widespread.The elders have many questions: when will the next outbreak be? What will the gov-ernment do? Will their families, homes and businessmen ever be safe?Amir Sheikh, a community leader who came from Somalia 16 years ago, said: ìEvery day we are living in fear.îAccording to community leaders, the at-tacks last week had been building for several months. Anti-immigrant rhetoric has been circulating on social media and among groups who allege immigrants cheat their customers with out-of-date pro-duce in their shops, take jobs from locals and defraud the state.Among the victims of the recent attacks were dozens of Bangladeshi shopkeepers including Salahuddin Abdulhilim, who fled political violence in Dhaka nine years ago to start a new life in Soweto, one of

Johannesburgís townships, where he owns a small supermarket.ìI came to work, to earn a living. I pay my taxes, employ seven South African work-ers, all my papers are in order,î he said.Abdulhilim, 39, joined hundreds of others who fled to Mayfair in recent days. Many have lost their businesses ñ burned to the ground, or thoroughly looted. Most had to face terrifying ordeals as they tried to prevent often dozens of men armed with sticks, knives, petrol bombs and sometimes guns from breaking into their shops.ìIt was very frightening Ö We ran. They were coming in with crowbars and ham-mers Ö We used to hear of an incident here or there, but now it is all the time. People are dying. It has been getting worse and

worse. We are a target and no one wants to protect us,î Abdulhilim said.Police patrol the streets after overnight unrest and looting in the Alexandra town-ship in Johannesburg. Photograph: Marius Bosch/Reuters Violent incidents have been reported in other parts of the country. According to local media, two people were killed and more than 30 arrested near Cape Town when mobs attacked and looted foreign-owned shops on Sunday.Most migrants in South Africa come from neighbouring countries, especially Zimba-bwe, where decades of economic and po-litical instability have forced many of the former British colonyís most talented, mo-tivated and educated overseas.

The exact number of immigrants in South Africa, which has a population of 56 mil-lion, is unknown. One senior police official was criticised by experts after he claimed the number was higher than 11 million. A 2011 census had set it at 2.2 million.The recent attacks have drawn criticism from across the continent. In Nigeria, where South Africaís diplomatic represen-tations have been closed, South African-owned shops have also been attacked.Last week, South Africaís president, Cyril Ramaphosa, made a televised address call-ing for an end to the attacks, asking citi-zens to remember the role others on the continent played in the decades-long bat-tle against the repressive, racist apartheid regime. But Marc Gbaffou from the Afri-can Diaspora Forum, an umbrella group that campaigns for the rights of migrants in South Africa, said there was no political will to stop the violence. ìNow the whole world has seen the truth,î he said.Even though the violence on Sunday was concentrated in the impoverished centre of Johannesburg, there are fears it will spread to neighbourhoods such as Mayfair, in the west, which have long been popu-lar with migrants. Mayfair residents boast you can hear 30 African languages spoken on its streets and find followers of every faith, while the area has welcomed many new arrivals. It is also a much-needed ìsafe havenî in times of trouble, said Sheikh. Nevertheless, in recent days stores, shisha shops and tailoring sweatshops in Mayfair had to bring down their shutters on two oc-casions, fearing attacks. The few attempts

by groups of thugs to spread the violence into Mayfair were seen off by local men. But the growing anger is directed not just at the attackers but also what is seen as in-effectual policing. ìThe police are part and parcel of this. They have been harassing migrants for months, using bad language, beating, taking goods,î said Sheikh.In 2015, seven people were reported killed during outbreaks of xenophobic violence in Johannesburg and Durban. In 2008, more than 60 people died in a more intense outbreak.Expers cite multiple causes. South Africa has some of the highest levels of violent crime in the world, with soaring unem-ployment, extreme inequality and patchy policing.Representatives of migrant communities accuse senior officials in the ruling African National Congress and other politicians of using xenophobic language that encour-ages attacks. On Sunday, a statement by the ANC called for an end to the attacks on migrants and but also for tighter border controls, adding that ìlaw-abiding citizens are understandably sick of those who are breaking the moral fibre of our society by turning our kids into prostitutes and drug addictsî.Loren Landau of the African Centre for Migration and Society at Witwatersrand University said the specific location of xenophobic violence often depended on complex social and political factors on the ground. ìThis is not just about people who are poor and disappointed Ö a lot is about local-level politics,î he said.

Migrants in S. Africa’s Commercial Capital Face Looting, Violence and Sometimes even Death

Behailu Wase

In a compound on the edge of Addis Ababa - next to a cluster of houses and a busy primary school - is a large corrugated iron shack.Inside is a cafe. Not an or-dinary cafe, but the set of Ethiopiaís first political satire show to be broadcast on state television - Min Litazez, which translates to «How may I serve you?».«This is our mini Ethiopia,» says creator and director Behailu Wase, who grew up in the same compound from where he now airs his popu-lar show. «A lot of ideas are discussed here.»In the three seasons it has been on air, Min Litazez has built an enthusiastic and loyal audience among a population starved for polit-ical commentary and a new kind of comedy after almost 27 years of dictatorship dur-ing which such things would have been unthinkable.We’re not just trying to make people laugh, but raise awareness because we want

to create a better country.But after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to pow-er in 2018, he instituted a number of political and economic reforms, includ-ing loosening restrictions on the media and freedom of speech.The sitcom-satire is set in a cafe, meant to be a metaphor of the country as a whole. In each episode, the cafe own-er’s life tries to mirror and reflect the challenges faced by the country’s new lead-ership.

Past episodes have dealt with issues like government inefficiency, ethnic nation-alism and authoritarianism - despite attempts to censor some of the content and, at times, even temporary sus-pension of the show itself.«We’re not just trying to make people laugh , but raise awareness because we want to create a better coun-try,» Behailu says.He acknowledges that eth-nic politics are a thorny is-sue in Ethiopia, with sensi-tivities on all sides. But he

adds: «We don’t take sides. We reflect what we see, and we criticise everything we think should be criticised.»Each week, Behailu and his team go up against the clock to conceptualise, write, pro-duce, shoot, edit and deliver a new episode for broadcast. They never shoot ahead of time because they insist on including the latest news and events in the script.Each Monday, the team brainstorms to discuss what is topical and urgent, and they spin it into the outline

of an episode. Behailu then retreats to a nearby res-taurant and writes into the night.By Wednesday they are in the studio shooting. On Thursday and Friday, they edit. And by Saturday the finished episode is taken on a flash drive to the building that houses Fana, Ethiopia’s state-funded television net-work.«I like exchanging ideas with my brilliant friends,» Behailu says, adding that a big part of his Ethiopia is raising political and so-cial issues through Min Litazez.In this film, we follow Be-hailu and his team - getting a glimpse into their creative process and discipline - and take a unique look at Ethio-pia’s fast-changing political landscape and the public re-action to it.Note: ‘Min Litazez’ was once again taken off air in September 2019. The series’ creators are deter-mined to restart production as soon as possible.

By Youyou Zhou

Direct airline flights between Africa and China have jumped over 600% in the past decade. Planes today are not only full of workers and traders seeking prosperity, but also short-term tourists and students, seeking leisure and knowledge.

Some are in it for the money

Chinaís ìGo Outî policy, imple-mented in 1999, sent employees of Chinese state-run companies to Af-rica, as well as investment money. Chinaís official record shows there were around 200,000 Chinese con-struction workers, engineers, trans-lators, company executives, and the like in Africa in 2017. The workers typically fly back to China to visit families once or twice a year.Some workers stayed after their employment contracts ended with the state companies and started their own businesses. Howard French, the author of the book Chi-

naís Second Continent: How a Mil-lion Migrants are Building a New Empire in Africa, estimated there could be up to two million Chinese workers in Africa.Africans are also going to China to make money. Unlike the Chi-nese, they are often not supported by their home country. Some are traders and entrepreneurs going to China to make deals and export Chinese goods to their home coun-tries and regions. There are also small business owners and fashion models, who faced social and legal hurdles. The largest African im-migrant community in China is in Guangzhou, a manufacturing hub and trading port in southern China. The Chinese authorities counted 200,000 entries to the city by Afri-can visitors in 2016.Some are in it for the funBusiness travelers may have ini-tiated the demand for easier air travel between Africa and China, but flights today are increasingly serving leisure-seeking tourists.

Chinese travel abroad has tripled in the past decade. The top five most frequently-visited African coun-tries by Chinese travelers reflect the trend.Most leisure tourists traveling to Africa come from Shanghai. They spend an average of $1,683 for a week-long trip, according to a spe-cial 2018 report (link in Chinese) from the China Tourism Academy. Top destination cities include Cai-ro; Port Luis, Mauritius; and Casa-blanca, Morocco.To attract Chinese tourists, Mo-rocco waived visa requirements in 2016 for Chinese nationals traveling 90 days or less. Chinese tourism to Morocco increased from 43,000 that year to over 107,000 in 2017. Tunisia enacted the same visa policy for Chinese travelers in 2017 and tripled its inbound visitors from China. Angola, Bot-swana, Ethiopia, South Africa, Rwanda, Zimbabwe all made ad-justments to their visa require-ments in 2018 to make it easier for

Chinese nationals to travel to their countries, according to a report by Migration Policy Institute. Just last week, Sierra Leone announced a new visa-on-arrival policy for a number of countries including China, making it the 28th African countries Chinese tourists can visit without obtaining a visa first.Non-business travelers from China vastly outnumber business travel-ers in both Kenya and South Afri-ca. Even with the rapid increase of visitors, however, Africa is still not a typical destination for Chinese tourists. Of the 130 million foreign trips Chinese travelers made in 2017, only 0.62% of them, ended up in African nations.Some are in it for the educationAfricans are traveling to China too. They made up 2.2% of total visitors to China in 2018, up from 1.8% in 2009. There are more Africans in China today than ever before.China is the second most popu-lar study-abroad destination, after France, for students from African

nations. Over 81,000 Africans went to China to study in 2018. Af-ricans are now the largest group of foreign students in China.Beijing is cultivating the next gen-eration of African leaders, through education, often sponsoring gradu-ate and post-graduate studies of students from African countries.

As Quartz has previously reported, African students head to China for many reasons. Some are seeking an education that is affordable, even without assistance, while others go for the chance to develop business connections or learn the language of a country they see as a rising global power.

Behailu Wase: Ethiopia’s Cafe Society

Why Chinese are Traveling to Africa, and Why Africans are Traveling to China

Exploring the making of a political satire show offers insight into the growing pains of Ethiopia’s new democracy

Drones Offer Ghana’s Farmers Hope of Better Yields - and Income

By Sarah Kimani

Smallholder farmers in Ghana are adopting drone technol-ogy for crop surveillance in a bid to increase yields and in-comes.The new technology is being used as farmersí cooperatives are slowly abandoning manual labor as they seek higher ef-ficiency.Some, however, think the use of the drones is too costly and may shut out poor farmers. At the Kpong rice irrigation scheme in Ghana, 28-year-old George Majitwey of GEM Solutions watches as his drone becomes airborne and begins its first task of the day ñ sur-veying for diseases and pests.ìThe one we are using is a multispecial enabled drone that is specific to agriculture. Itís looking for pest, disease, irriga-tion issues, that kind of deal,» Majitwey said.His is among companies now sponsored by the Netherlands-based Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Coopera-tion, a European Union-funded institute, in a bid to attract more young Africans to agriculture.CTA estimates that streamlining agriculture through technol-ogy could earn the continent $2.6 billion every year.Giacomo Rambaldi, a senior program coordinator at CTA, said, ìItís an evolving industry. Itís a market which is still untapped.î While not all farmers can afford to work with drones and many fear they could lose their jobs to technol-ogy, some, like Appiah Owusi, see it as a way of increasing yields, compared to traditional techniques.ìWhen you use the knapsack machine your leg will tear the root (and) reduce yield,» Owusi said.Delegates are meeting in Accra to discuss ways to transform agriculture on the continent, and drones are just one of the topics they are discussing as a way to improve Africa’s food security.

Edited by: Alula Berhe Kidani FOCUS IN AFRICA

5 ECONOMY

Mohamed Abdalla

Economic Vision

Email: moabd31@yahoo.com

Constitutional Document Must be Available at the Concerned Bodies STO SaysEconomic Policies Requirements

The stability of governments based on “Economic Progress”, which means focusing on, investment, livelihood, employment, wages, foreign trade, and development, the economic policies following the collapse of the ousted regime, has affected by the lack of plan, to address the above mentioned eco-nomic elements.The number one economic demand is the peoples’ livelihood, the new cabinet is required to run the economy in the state according to the facts on the ground, so the formation of the executive body, will accelerate the economic process, by monitoring the prices of the commodities which increases from time to time without; also the cabinet should has to stabilize currency rate exchange.The new era needs technocrat and professional economists to prescribe the economic crisis, the demand that has been realized last week, the eco-nomic research centers, must share ideas with gov-ernment, to provide advisory services.The University of Khartoum has initiated earlier an economic reform project, to improve the situation, the proposal included the policies and legislations, to create conducive atmosphere and investment opportunities, to overcome foreign investors’ ex-ploitation and to protect our national business from suffering. The bad financial policies and corruptions that ex-ercised by the senior officials in the ousted regime must not be repeated again.The initiative appealed to two significant revenue sources, remittances and customs’ policies, billions of dollars of the Sudanese expatriates were utilized by other countries, the transitional government re-quired to set an incentive policy to attract both, for-eign investment and remittances, to push business activity.Sudan is a rich country, it has multi economic re-sources, which is considered as a positive factor, and comparative advantage, but the most significant requirement is “Fairness” and “Honesty” alongside “Timing” all the development projects in the ousted regime were not completed in the fixed time, be-cause of mismanagement and financial corruption.The culture of people, also contribute to the eco-nomic reform, positively or negatively, the eco-nomic bodies, should have to educate people, par-ticularly young people, to be productive, in Sudan, we don’t train our children to depend on them-selves, we support them even after their growing. We don’t have productive families in which the members contribute to assist fathers; the solution must include changing, business culture of people, good plan, fair legislations and strong law.

Oil Prices Gain after Bigger-than-Expected Fall in US Stockpiles

World Bank Project Cycle (1-3)

CNBC

Oil prices traded higher on Wednesday af-ter an industry report said U.S. crude stock-piles fell last week by more than twice the amount that analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast.Brent crude futures rose 51 cents, or 0.6%, to $62.89 a barrel by 0405 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 54 cents, or 0.9%, to $57.94 a barrel.Prices had ended lower on Tuesday, squeezed by speculation of sanctions-hit Iranian crude returning to the market fol-lowing U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to fire national security adviser John Bolton, a noted Iran policy hawk.But they rebounded after American Petro-leum Institute (API) data late on Tuesday showed U.S. crude oil and gasoline stocks fell last week, while distillate stocks built.“Oil should remain supported in Asian trading, mostly supported by the overnight API crude inventory data,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.

The API numbers had U.S. crude inventories down by 7.2 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 6 to 421.9 million, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reu-

ters poll of a decrease of 2.7 million barrels.Halley said he was expecting a drawdown of 4.8 million barrels when official numbers are released by the Energy Information Adminis-tration (EIA) later on Wednesday.Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.4 million barrels, the API said, while refinery crude runs rose by 208,000 barrels per day.Gasoline stocks fell by 4.5 million barrels, the industry group said, compared with ana-lysts’ expectations of an 847,000-barrel de-cline in a Reuters poll.Prices had risen sharply before Bolton’s re-moval, boosted after Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s new energy minis-ter, said the kingdom’s oil policy would not change and a deal with other producers to cut output by a combined 1.2 million barrels per day would be maintained.Iran’s oil exports were slashed by more than

80% due to re-imposed sanctions by the United States af-ter Trump last year exited the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

WB

Sudan Vision publishes the following article to educate people and provide them with important information to know how funding projects operates due to the World Bank regulations The World Bank provides financing and services to low and middle-income countries to support development and change. Development projects are implemented by bor-rowing countries following certain rules and procedures to guarantee that the money reaches its intended target.The project cycle is the framework used to design, prepare, implement, and supervise projects. The duration of the project cycle is long by commercial standards. It is not uncommon for a project to last more than four years; from the time it is identified until the time it is completed.A World Bank project consists of six stages:* Identification* Preparation* Appraisal* Negotiation/Approval* Implementation/Support* Completion/EvaluationIdentificationThe World Bank, jointly with IFC and MIGA, works with a borrowing country’s government and other stakeholders to determine how financial and other assistance can be designed to have the largest impact. After analytical work is conducted, the borrower and the Bank Group produce a strategy, called Country Partnership Frame-work, to identify the country’s highest priorities for reducing poverty and improving

living standards.Identified projects can range across the economic and social spectrum from infra-structure, to education, to health, to government financial management. The World Bank and the government agree on an initial project concept and its beneficiar-ies, and the Bank’s project team outlines the basic elements in a Project Concept Note. This document identifies proposed objectives, imminent risks, alternative scenarios, and a likely timetable for the project approval process. Two other Bank documents are generated during this phase. The Project Information Document outlines the scope of the intended project and contains useful public information for tailoring bidding documents to the proposed project, and the publicly available Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet identifies key issues related to the Bank’s safe-guard policies for environmental and social issues.Project PreparationThe borrower government and its implementing agency or agencies are respon-sible for the project preparation phase, which can take several years to conduct feasibility studies and prepare engineering and technical designs, to name only a few of the work products required. The government contracts with consultants and other public sector companies for goods, works and services, if necessary, not only dur-ing this phase but also later in the project’s implementation phase. Beneficiaries and stakeholders are also consulted now to obtain their feedback and ensure the project meets their needs. Due to the amount of time, effort and resources involved, the full commitment of the government to the project is vital.The World Bank generally takes an advisory role and offers analysis and advice when requested, during this phase. However, the Bank does assess the relevant capacity of the implementing agencies at this point, in order to reach agreement with the borrow-er about arrangements for overall project management, such as the systems required for financial management, procurement, reporting, and monitoring and evaluation.

Earlier screening by Bank staff may have determined that a proposed project could have environmental or social impacts that are included under the World Bank’s Safe-guard Policies. If necessary, the borrower now prepares an Environmental Assess-ment Report that analyzes the planned project’s likely environmental impact and describes steps to mitigate possible harm. In the event of major environmental is-sues in a country, the borrower’s Environmental Action Plan describes the problems, identifies the main causes, and formulates policies and concrete actions to deal with them. From a social point of view, various studies aimed at analyzing a project’s po-tentially adverse effects on the health, productive resources, economies, and cultures of indigenous peoples may be undertaken. An Indigenous Peoples Plan identifies the borrower’s planned interventions in indigenous areas that may be needed, with the objective of avoiding or lessening potential negative impacts on the people. These plans are integrated into the design of the project.

By: Neimat al Naiem

Khartoum-Dr. Al-Tayeb Mukhtar Chairperson of the Sudanese Transparency Organization (STO) called on the partners that signed the constitutional document (the Transitional Military Council TMC, and the Forces for Freedom and Change FFC) last month; in its final form to deliver this to the official concern bodies and to publish it.Dr. Al-Tayeb stated that this important document should be available at the legislative department at ministry of justice, pointed to the absence of this document from this governmental bodies will form a negative image from which corruption can go through, and we lost the sovereignty of law Al-Tayeb.He added that some African countries that effec-tively combated corruption, its leaders committed to the sovereignty of law, and the open promotion for transparency. He described other countries of weak indicators are led by leaders competing on high ranks and jobs.

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Gum Arabic Conference to Convene By: Neimat al Naiem

Khartoum- Medani Abass Medani, Minister of Trade and Industry announced the comple-tion of preparations for the International Gum Arabic conference to hold in Khartoum next October under the auspice of UNCATD. The minister of Trade and Industry affirmed in the meeting of the steering committee held yester-day at the ministry, considering the conference as the second one to be organized by the UN in Sudan since Independence of Sudan. Medani added that the conference will be an opportu-nity to recognize Sudan in a different image and as mainly related with production and develop-ment. He appreciated the efforts exerted by the higher committee of the conference since last January 2019. The minister said that ministry is looking forward distinctive local, regional and international participation from all over the world. It is worth mentioning that the confer-ence will kick off on 30th October

Economist Attributes Dollar Exchange Rate Hike to Import of Unnecessary Food Stuff By: SUNA

Khartoum- The Economic Expert and Profes-sor of Economics at the Sudanese universities Dr. Ibrahim Osman Hassan has said that to achieve a qualitative leap in the management of the economy, during the 200 days set by the Minister of Finance, this requires availability of a number of conditions, the first of which the existence of strong will, preparation of so-ciety and the change of its behavior towards responsibility to support the emergency pro-gram as well as the provision of liquidity to curb the black market and the unification of the price between cash and check. Dr. Has-san said, in a statement to (SUNA), the dollar exchange rate set by the market mechanism at 47 pounds against one dollar, explaining that its exchange rate should not exceed the range of 25 to 27 pounds. He attributed the rise of the dollar exchange rate, in the previous period, to the trade of state institutions of their various kinds in the dollar, including some employees, in addition to the im-port of foodstuffs, including sweets and sauce, de-nouncing the import of these materials, which can

be manufactured locally, calling for the encourage-ment of industry, urging mobilization of the agricul-tural and animal sectors besides the promotion of fruit canning industries and processing and export of slaughtered meat. Meanwhile the Director-General of the Khartoum Stock Exchange (KSE) Dr. Azhari Al-Tayeb Al-Fa-

ki affirmed Sunday the recovery of the Sudan economy in the coming period and the crea-tion of financing opportunities that will help in establishing partnerships in major vital sec-tors that provide advantages attracting local and international investments. In a statement to SUNA, Dr. Al-Faki pointed to the expan-sion of the capital base through the transfor-mation of private companies such as telecom-munications companies as well as the family companies to public joint stock companies, adding that the market will be ready by the recruitment of qualified human cadres, effec-tive trading and electronic settlement systems that can accommodate many financial prod-ucts. Dr. Al-Faki added that there were plans to develop and cooperate with Arab financial markets, pointing out that there are agree-

ments with Arab stock exchanges in Abu Dhabi, Dubai Financial Market, Bahrain Stock Exchange, Egyptian Stock Exchange, Tunis Stock Exchange and others, referring to the possibility of signing new agreements with other Arab markets such as Jordan and Oman.

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South-South Cooperation .. From Commitment to Action

TagelDien AlBalaEmail: altag2009@windowslive.com

Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Ma Xinmin

China Focus

South–South Cooperation is a term historically used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology, and

knowledge between developing countries.In the past, South-South cooperation focused on shar-ing knowledge and building capacities, but the coun-tries of the Global South and new financial institutions have recently also become increasingly active in de-velopment finance.South-South Cooperation Programmes have proved effective in terms of job creation, infrastructure and trade promotion in the South. These programmes seek to promote a broad frame-work for cooperation among developing countries and provide a complementary model for the traditional re-lationship between donors and recipients. The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation aims to raise people’s awareness of the UN’s efforts to work on technical cooperation among developing countries. On this day political leaders from different countries reaffirm their goals in working with UN leaders to reinforce or strengthen ties on their commitment to South-South cooperation in developing countries.This can be done through speeches, action plans, spe-cial seminars or conferences or press announcements. Educators in the area of social or political sciences may highlight the day through classroom activities that bring forth an awareness of issues centered on the event.The global economic backdrop is witnessing rapid change in terms of international cooperation in order to promote mutual economic growth among the nations. This cooperation in the fields of knowledge exchange and technology transfer among southern economies of the world is growing in both incidence and intricacy.It increasingly comprises of extending economic sup-port as well as cooperation in the fields of wellbeing, training, communication, research, and development. The participating countries suggest concrete solutions, provide adequate awareness, offer guidance and con-tribute in joint activities.We urge our transitional government to work out a plan to benefit as much as possible from the South-South Cooperation programmes, considering that the international community in general commended the change in Sudan which will lead to receiving all kinds of assistance to utilize its rich resources to the maxi-mum, bearing in mind that the theme of this year is (From Commitment to Action).

The Mid-autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese Festi-val, falls on September 13

this year, the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese lunar calendar year which is just the middle of au-tumn, a season bringing cool and re-freshing breeze filled with faint fra-grance of osmanthus flowers. As a Chinese couplet goes, “the middle of autumn often arrives with a full moon in the sky and brings harvest and happiness to people”, the Chinese people have cul-tivated and boasted a distinctive culture for the Mid-autumn Festival, from their worship of full moon, an astronomi-cal phenomenon that occurs once every month.Dating back to the 7th century A.D., the Mid-autumn Festival originates in the moon worship of Chinese people in an-cient times, and mirrors Chinese people’s pursuit of adaptation between humans and themselves, integration of humans and the community, and harmony be-tween humans and nature. It is this moon

worship that gives birth to a number of beautiful legends in Chinese culture, adding a bit of mystery to the Mid-au-tumn Festival.Brilliant moon shines on the reunion fes-tival night. The Mid-autumn Festival is an enjoyable moment to celebrate reun-ion which is the realm of life that Chinese people have pursued for long. It has been the custom for Chinese people, since the ancient times, to enjoy the moonlight, eat mooncakes and drink wine fermented with osmanthus flowers, for example, to-gether with their family members when the Mid-autumn Festival approaches, just as the line from an ancient Chinese poem says “everyone is eager to appre-ciate the full moon on the Mid-autumn Festival night”, which well captures the feelings of missing the hometown and family members. Standing the test of time of more than one thousand years, certain cultural elements, such as reun-ion, peace, tranquility and homesickness, have turned into iconic symbols of the Mid-autumn Festival, becoming one of important features of Chinese culture.Brilliant moonlight witnesses sincere talks, as the Mid-Autumn Festival is a joyful occasion for catching up on friends

and deepening friendship. It is widely known that friendship and cooperation are the eternal pursuit of China-Sudan relations. The past 60 years since the es-tablishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries have seen the mutual learning between Chinese civilization and Nubia civilization and witnessed the countless efforts of 1.4 billion Chinese people to breathe the same breath as the people of Sudan, share the same future and stay truly connected to them. The Friendship Hall, the Abu Ushar Hospital and the Omdurman Occupational Train-ing Center all demonstrate the sincere China-Sudan friendship that has stood the test of time in the past 60 years and grown much deeper and stronger.Brilliant moonlight witnesses harvest celebration, as the Mid-autumn Festival comes at an important time when people are busy with harvesting fruits. China has achieved leapfrog development and re-markable success over the past 70 years since the founding of the new China, seeing dramatically improved composite national strength, ever-growing interna-tional influence and significantly stronger innovation capacity in cutting-edge tech-nologies, ranging from 3D printing, big

data and internet of things to artificial in-telligence, cloud computing and 5G, and now doing its utmost to contribute more “Chinese wisdom” to the international community.Nothing can separate people who share the same vision. I hope China-Sudan partnership will undergo a smooth tran-sition under the new circumstances and enter a new stage. I am confident that the joint efforts made by both sides will usher into another harvest season for bi-lateral ties.A Chinese ancient poem says that “though far apart, we all share the beauti-ful moment when the bright moon rises above the sea”. As the traditional Chinese Mid-autumn Festival draws near, I would like to extend our warm greetings and heartful wishes to all compatriots and friends from all walks of life in Sudan, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Su-dan. I hope there will be more Sudanese friends showing interest in learning about the Mid-autumn Festival and exploring the broad and profound Chinese culture, playing as the dream pursuers to deepen China-Sudan friendly cooperation and build the China-Sudan community with a shared future.

Brightest Full Moon on Mid-autumn Festival Symbolizes Bright Future of China-Sudan Relations

Japan has taken a different approach from traditional donors, pursuing a mutual partnership rather than a

donor-recipient relationship. JICA works beyond the simple exchange of technical expertise. Tokyo like to emphasize peo-ple-to-people cooperation. It is important to contribute large sums of money, which would build the roads, dams and power stations, but in addition to this, it would like to emphasize collaborative work to improve health conditions, collaborative work to improve education and collabo-rative work to improve agricultural pro-duction.Tokyo through JICA also highlights the importance of mutual learning, how to

promote its relations with the African countries in all fields in order to make economic partnership with them far away from political conditions. It threw its ex-perience to African countries through ex-change ideas and conceptions. For exam-ple, Japanese experts in Africa work with the African national experts to improve industrial production. “Japanese experts knew many things about Japan’s condi-tions which aim to represent technical as-sistance to all African countries without political goal as others did.” By mutual sharing of techniques, experiences and know-how they get the job done. The same is being done in the area of agricultural re-search: African and Japanese experts work together on improving crops using tech-niques best suited to local conditions. However, Japan warns that growth in Af-rica is not sustainable if threats to human

security are not addressed. The concept of human security has been at the heart of Japan’s foreign aid policy. People need to live safely and in dignity. Tokyo believes that African countries need to eradicate poverty, and provide preserving peace and prosperity has been a longstanding priority for Japan too. The devastation after World War II left an indelible mark on the country, but Japan knows from experience the importance of economic reconstruction and development on peo-ple’s lives. This is why it has poured a lot of money into peace building and disar-mament efforts. Civil wars and interstate wars are no longer the trend in Africa, and market economies and democratic governance are the change that is hap-pening Japan admire the current dynamic development of Africa, and it would like to share this dynamism together through

a mutual learning process. I think that Tokyo has thrown more to Af-rican countries particularly in technical field through JICA, which play a crucial role to-wards African peoples who respect and esti-mate Japan’s contributions in all fields. This considered a positive step for the two par-ties to make common partnership enhancing their historical bilateral relations.Japan’s foreign policy based on ex-change respect with all African countries because Tokyo believes that all African peoples are friends of Japanese people so that it does not distinguish among them. African countries really needs Japanese advanced technology and the time is suit-able for the African and Japan to work hand – in – hand for creating cement economic partnership in exchange trade, in order to achieve mutual interests in coming future.

Even a trade truce could have its losers. The economic conflict between the

US and China has been jarring, no doubt – decades-old commercial relationships have been torn up, supply chains are get-ting upended, global growth is slowing, and investors and businesses are rattled. On days when the standoff seems endless, you might find yourself asking: Can’t we just go back to the way things were?But that view would dismiss the relative winners of this conflict, particularly those countries in Southeast Asia that have at-tracted investment otherwise destined for China. Just this week, the Nikkei Asian Review reported that Google Inc. is tak-ing steps to shift production of its Pixel

smartphone to Vietnam from China. Shipments to American ports from Asia, excluding China, jumped in the first six months of the year, while imports from the mainland declined. An outbreak of trade peace, or a meaningful suspension of hostilities, could jeopardize this.

In its annual review of China’s economy this month, the International Monetary Fund gamed out some scenarios for a trade deal. The baseline for such an agree-ment would likely aim to steer the trade balance between the countries toward zero. At the very least, it would try to make a big dent in the $419 billion U.S. merchandise deficit with China. The IMF’s outlined scenario would see China buy more American cars, machin-ery and electronics; yet the lender found that it’s unlikely Beijing will stimulate its economy so much that it can absorb enough US goods without cutting back elsewhere. South Korea and Singapore – which both count China as their larg-

est trading partner – stand to lose exports equal to about 2.1% and 3.8% of gross domestic product, respectively, under such a trade agreement, the IMF reckons. Australian mineral exports would suf-fer, too, as would electronics sales from Southeast Asian countries such as Ma-laysia. “The impact on global GDP from the distortions introduced by a trade deal would likely be negative and weigh against the benefits from reduced policy uncertainty, the withdrawal of higher tar-iffs, and the introduction of new reforms,” the IMF wrote.While the biggest downsides would be felt in Asia, the disruption wouldn’t be limited to the region. More purchases of US aircraft could affect France, in partic-ular, given that Airbus SE is Boeing Co.’s main competitor. This isn’t to say that the IMF, a champion of free-market orthodoxy, has become an advocate of trade war. Rather the lender would prefer a pact that isn’t based on

quotas or scaling up of specified purchas-es (though its concrete alternative isn’t immediately clear).Of course, you could argue that the Asia region may have been better off if the trade war hadn’t started at all. But that risks ignoring some of the larger forces shaping the global economy long before President Donald Trump’s election: the sustainability of the US’s record expan-sion, the sunset of China’s double-digit growth boom, and aging populations in Europe and North Asia.Views on whether the trade impasse can be bridged vary with Trump’s every sec-ond tweet. Beijing is right to be wary of his flip-flops. As the economic damage from the trade war becomes more ap-parent, however, it’s worth considering whether peace would necessarily be the nirvana some are expecting come January 2021. While the Treaty of Versailles was better than the trenches, it also had seri-ous some flaws.

More than a year after President Don-ald Trump pulled his country out of the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran,

his policy of putting “maximum pressure” on Tehran, mainly through tough economic sanc-tions, appears to be leading nowhere. In fact, be-tween May 2018, when the US withdrew from the agreement, and today, Iran has been able to pedal back on its commitments — resuming its uranium enrichment program — while keeping its European partners engaged in delicate negoti-ations. Moreover, it insists that it is only reacting to Washington’s withdrawal from the agreement and is not abandoning the deal for now.But, between Trump, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the now-sacked National Security Adviser John Bolton, there appears to be a diver-gence on how the White House should manage this critical and destabilizing issue. Trump has

toned down his rhetoric lately and appeared to welcome a French initiative to arrange a poten-tial meeting between himself and Iranian Presi-dent Hassan Rouhani — probably on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly this month.Pompeo, who had originally put forward 12 conditions that Tehran must meet before sanc-

tions would be eased, now appears to be walk-ing back on his tough stand. On Sunday, he told media that Iran’s behavior must change but that the US wants “a successful Iran. We want them to be part of the community of nations… (but) you can’t do that when you’re building missiles that threaten Europe, threaten Israel, and building out systems that could ultimately create a nucle-ar weapon.” Ironically, Pompeo continued to urge Europe to put pressure on Iran to stop its “nuclear extortion” by abiding by its commitments under a deal that Washington wants revised.And, while Trump and Pompeo insist that the US is not seeking regime change and wants to talk to Iranian leaders, Bolton was not shy of talking openly about the need to overthrow the regime in Tehran.Trump’s latest position now centers on three elements; while stating that he is willing to

meet Rouhani without prior conditions. Trump is “looking for no nuclear weapons, no ballistic missiles, and a longer period of time. Very sim-ple. We can have it done in a very short period of time,” he was quoted as saying last month.The unilateral US approach to the Iranian issue has left it with little leverage over its European allies, who seemingly remain united in their de-fense of the nuclear deal. But France has said that negotiations should focus on Iran’s ballistic mis-sile activities; an issue that Tehran says is a red line. The Europeans are yet to come up with a so-lution that would ease the effect of US sanctions and bring the Iranians back to the table. After a year of fruitless negotiations, Iran is giving the Europeans notice that it will abandon the deal al-together if relief is not provided.The idea that the US and Iran should talk is not a bad one. Trump wants validation that his move to withdraw from the 2015 deal was the right thing to do. But the decision to engage with Washington is not Rou-hani’s to make. America’s withdrawal and the ensuing economic sanctions have emboldened hard-liners in Tehran. The so-called moderates, including Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad

Zarif, have little maneuvering space. The final word remains with Supreme Leader Ali Khame-nei, who is openly anti-American.Trump’s policy on Iran cannot be separated from the position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was against the deal from the onset. But, as Iran resumes its uranium enrichment activities and removes restrictions on nuclear-related research and development, all while maintaining its con-troversial ballistic missiles program, it is Israel that is feeling the heat.While Netanyahu had ob-jected to any contact between the US and Iran, last week in London he appeared to be easing his position, saying that he does not tell the US presi-dent who to meet.It is now clear that Tehran will not cave in to what Zarif has called America’s “economic terrorism.” He demanded that the US drops the sanctions before talks can take place. Pompeo hinted that there are those in Iran who believe the two sides should talk to each other. The UN General Assembly would provide neu-tral ground for such a meeting. But, even though this remains unlikely, the US and the Europeans know that, without a diplomatic breakthrough, the nuclear pact faces inevitable doom.

Japan Continues Its Contributions to Africa

What If There Was a Trade War Truce?

US Running out of Options as Sanctions Fail to Subdue Iran

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Osama Al-Sharif

THURSDAY

Thursday, September 12, 2019

8 SCIENCE Thursday, September 12, 2019

One Person Dies by Suicide every 40 Seconds, WHO Reports

Reuters

TOKYO: To-kyo Electric Power will have to dump radioactive wa-ter from its de-stroyed Fuku-shima nuclear power plant di-rectly into the Pacific Ocean, Japan’s envi-ronment min-ister said on Tuesday.After the plant was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011, To-kyo Electric, or Tepco, has collected in tanks at the wrecked sites more than 1 million tons of contaminated water from the cooling pipes used to keep fuel cores from melting.The utility says it will run out of space by 2022.“The only option will be to drain it into the sea and dilute it,” Yoshiaki Harada told a news briefing in the capital. “The whole of the government will discuss this, but I would like to offer my simple opinion.”A final government decision on dispos-ing of the tainted water awaits a report from an expert panel.Harada did not say how much water would need to be put into the ocean.Tepco officials were not immediately

available for comment.Any green light to dump the waste into the sea, however, could anger neighbors such as South Korea, which summoned a senior Japanese embassy official last month to explain how the country would deal with the Fukushima water.Ties between the East Asian nations are already at a low ebb following a com-pensation dispute over Koreans forced to work in Japanese factories in World War Two.Coastal nuclear plants commonly dump into the ocean water that contains triti-um, an isotope of hydrogen that is hard to separate and is considered to be rela-tively harmless.Tepco, which also faces opposition from local fishermen, admitted last year that the water in its tanks still contained con-taminants beside tritium.

Japan will have to Dump Radioactive Fukushima Water into Pacific:

Reuters

CUPERTINO, California: Apple Inc. caught up with hardware rivals on Tues-day by revealing a triple-camera iPhone, and it rolled out a streaming TV service priced at $5 a month, undercutting Dis-ney and Netflix.The announcements came at the com-pany’s biggest marketing event, where it unveils its top products for the year ahead, and showcased an aggressive Ap-ple ready to battle on price.The long-awaited Apple TV+ streaming television service will be available in over 100 countries, starting in November. The service will not be available in China when it launches, nor will the Apple Arcade video game subscrip-tion.Buyers of an iPhone, iPad or Mac will get a free year of streaming TV, potentially drawing hun-dreds of millions of viewers to the service. That catapults the new service into a rarified group of companies.“I think the pricing on the Apple TV service was definitely a positive surprise,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles. “That’s why you’re seeing the hammering in some of the other video service-related names like Netf-lix, Amazon and Roku. Clearly, that was a posi-

tive that people were happy to hear.”There was no bundle with Apple Music or other services as some analysts had expected. But Ben Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies, said the TV service, a $5 a month “Arcade” gaming service and the base model iPhone 11, seem de-signed to draw in users for the longer term.“We weren’t expecting Apple Arcade and par-ticularly Apple TV to be priced as aggressively as they were,” Bajarin said. “They know once consumers get into their ecosystem, they don’t leave.”Apple said its new iPhone 11 will come with two back cameras, including an ultra wide-angle lens and the next generation of microchips, the A13. Prices start at $699, down from last year’s new iPhone that started at $749.The more expensive iPhone 11 Pro will have

three cameras on the back — wide an-gle, telephoto and ultra-wide. It can create videos with all three back cam-eras and the front camera at the same time and starts at $999. The iPhone 11 Pro Max with a bigger screen starts at $1,099. The new phones are available to order Friday and will start shipping Sept. 20.Rivals including Huawei Tech-nologies Co. Ltd. and Samsung Elec-tronics Co. Ltd. already sell phones with three cameras on the back. While Apple once tested the upper limits of what consumers would pay for a phone,

it is now giving ground on prices, even making older models available at significant dis-counts to the latest technology.“Consumers absolutely still care about cameras. That’s why it was surprising over the last cou-ple of years that Samsung and Huawei got the jump on Apple,” said Patrick Moorhead, an ana-lyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. “Apple was playing a bit of catch up, but Apple did bring their game, particularly on the video side of the camera, where I do think they’ll have the leg up.”Analysts expect Apple will sell around 200 million iPhones in the next year, in addition to other devices, and while many of those will be in China, it ensures at least tens of millions of potential viewers for the subscription service.Hal Eddins, chief economist for Apple share-holder Capital Investment Counsel, said Apple’s

lower priced iPhones “aren’t exciting on the surface, but the low streaming price may suck in some new subscribers.” Apple shares gained 0.8%.CROWDED FIELDWith streaming content, Apple is entering a crowded field dominated by Netflix Inc. (Graph-ic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2N6OB2j)Walt Disney Co. will launch on Nov. 12 a $7-per-month service that will contain that firm’s iconic children’s content. Apple is also trying to beat HBO Max with its hit shows like “Game of Thrones,” “Friends” and “The Sopranos.”Apple’s challenge is to persuade consumers that its family of devices, from its set-top box to phones, are the best one-stop place to watch shows.“The roll-out of new subscription-based services by Apple paves the way for the introduction of new business models akin to the all-you-can-eat bundles like Amazon Prime,” said Paolo Pesca-tore, analyst with PP Foresight. “In the future we might even see users pay for a service bundle and receive a new iPhone every year.”Apple also unveiled an updated watch, the Se-ries 5, with an always-on display, starting at $399, while keeping the older Series 3 starting at $199. Moorhead said the older model would drive “tremendous” business.Apple said the seventh generation of the iPad will start at $329 and be available to order start-ing Tuesday and in stores on Sept. 30.

Apple Reveals Triple-camera iPhone; $5 Monthly Streaming TV Undercuts Disney

The Independent

One person kills themselves every 40 seconds, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found, de-spite the number of people dying by suicide world-wide declining.The figures, according to WHO, show the contin-ued work that needs to be done by some countries to prevent preventable deaths by suicide.Each year, close to 800,000 people die to suicide, the organisation reports, with suicide being the sec-ond-leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29, after road injury.According to WHO, the “global phenomenon” af-fects all regions of the world, and requires the help of countries around the globe to implement suicide prevention tactics.“Despite progress, one person still dies every 40 seconds from suicide. Every death is a tragedy for family, friends and colleagues. Yet suicides are pre-ventable,” said WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We call on all countries to incorpo-rate proven suicide prevention strategies into national health and education programmes in a sustainable way.”Although the number of countries with national suicide preven-tion strategies has increased in the last five years, according to

WHO, it includes just 38 countries - a number the organisation described as “far too few”.The new report, which was published a day before World Sui-cide Prevention Day on 10 September, also found that coun-tries with high-incomes had some of the highest suicide rates between 2010 and 2016.

“While 79 per cent of the world’s suicides oc-curred in low- and middle-income countries, however, high-income countries had the highest rate [of suicide] at 11.5 per 100,000 people,” the report states.In high-income countries, nearly three times as many men as women die by suicide, while the the rate is more equal in low- and middle-income countries.However, according to WHO, the deaths are pre-ventable through certain methods.The report states: “Key interventions that have shown success in reducing suicides are restrict-ing access to means; educating the media on re-sponsible reporting of suicide; implementing pro-grammes among young people to build life skills that enable them to cope with life stresses; and early identification, management and follow-up of people at risk of suicide.”Following its findings, the organisation, in col-laboration with global partners, the World Federa-tion for Mental Health, the International Associa-tion for Suicide Prevention and United for Global

Mental Health, is launching the 40 seconds of action campaign.The campaign aims to raise awareness of the scale of suicide around the globe and the role that each person can play in pre-venting it. The month-long campaign cumulates on World Men-tal Health Day, which takes place 10 October.

Digital Minister: People who would Benefit most from PA Media: Tech

The people who would ben-efit most from the internet are not reaping the advan-tages, the Digital Minister has said following a report into the UK’s internet us-age.Almost one-fifth of people (18%) are non-internet us-ers, according to a Univer-sity of Oxford study, with a growing number citing pri-vacy fears and lack of skills as the reason for staying of-fline.Speaking at the paper’s launch in London on Mon-day, new Digital Minister Matt Warman said: “There is a small but persistent number of people who resolutely avoid the internet and take the view that it isn’t for them and, as the pan-el was discussing, that means that the benefits of the internet that we perhaps in this room are all familiar with, like saving money and time and access to health information and all that stuff, is not benefiting others.“And it’s obvious that the people who would benefit most from this, if you look at the data around demo-graphics, around education, the people who would benefit most are the people who are not benefiting, and understanding motivational barriers to internet use and tech adoption has to be key to an inclusive future but I think it’s also important to say that Gov-ernment can’t just stand by and say ‘What can we do to help?’In 2013, when the last survey was carried out, only 1% of people questioned indicated that privacy wor-

ries were the reason they did not use the internet, but in 2019 that number had risen to 10%.In 2013, 8% of people questioned said not knowing how to use the internet was the reason they did not use it, and in 2019 that figure had risen to 18%.People who said they are simply not interested in be-ing online remained the most common reason, though it fell from 82% in 2013 to 69% in 2019.“Broadly speaking, older people are more concerned with their privacy although not by much, it’s not a tre-mendously strong effect here,” said Dr Grant Blank, survey research fellow at Oxford Internet Institute.“It’s maybe 10 percentage points between 18 and 24 versus 65 and 74, so it’s not a big gap.”The findings indicate that lowest earners in the coun-try remain the biggest group of non-internet users, with six in 10 of those on an income of less than £12,500 using the internet, as well as older people whose usage declines sharply after the age of 50.

WORLD NEWS9

8th April, 2019

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Algerian PM to Resign, Paving Way for Vote after Protracted ProtestsReuters

ALGIERS: Algerian Prime Minister Noured-dine Bedoui will resign soon to pave the way for elections this year that the army sees as the only way to end a standoff over months of pro-tests, two senior sources told Reuters on Tues-day.Bedoui’s departure is a major demand of pro-testers, who in April forced president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to quit after 20 years in office, and who have rejected fresh elections until there is a more thorough change of the power structure.Bedoui’s departure is intended to “facilitate” the holding of elections said the two senior of-ficials, speaking on condition they were not fur-ther identified.Powerful army chief Lieut. Gen. Ahmed Gaed Saleh said last week that the electoral commis-sion should by Sept. 15 call an election, a move that would trigger a 90-day countdown to the vote.

Students holding a weekly protest on Tuesday chanted that they would accept no elections “until the gang is removed,” a reference to Bouteflika’s power circle, an elite entrenched largely since independence from France in 1962.Sources close to prominent figures including former Prime Minister Mouloud Hamrouche and human rights lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi have said they are considering running for president if the election is called.The mass demonstrations began in February and have continued since Bouteflika’s depar-ture, with the loose-knit “Herak” movement demanding that all figures associated with him also leave and that the army play a smaller role in state affairs.The election had been scheduled for July, but

was postponed as a result of the crisis, leaving major oil and gas-exporter Algeria in a consti-tutional deadlock.Over the summer the authorities have made concessions by arresting more prominent fig-ures linked to Bouteflika on corruption charges, while increasing the pressure on protesters with a bigger police presence at demonstrations.

However, Herak has no formal leaders, making it hard to negotiate with. “We will not stop protests, this is our chance to uproot the corrupt system,” Khelifa Saad, 20, said at a protest on Tuesday in Algiers.Two sources familiar with former PM Hamrouche said he was ex-pected to run for president, though he has made no formal announce-ment yet.Hamrouche, 76, headed the gov-ernment from 1989-91, departing months before the military canceled a 1992 parliamentary election that an Islamic party was poised to win,

plunging Algeria into a civil war that claimed 200,000 lives.A candidate in the 1999 presidential election, he withdrew at the last minute after senior fig-ures endorsed Bouteflika.Hamrouche presents himself as a reformer, seeking better governance and economic di-versification, and as a consensus choice, and

would seek the support of the army, the formal opposition and protesters.Two sources from inside Bouchachi’s circle said he would run if Bouteflika’s close allies were removed from power and an independent body set up to oversee the vote.Bouchachi, a 65-year-old former member of Parliament, human rights activist and law-yer, has been prominent on social media after strongly backing protesters since February.He was elected to Parliament in 2012 as a mem-ber of Algeria’s oldest opposition party Front des Forces Socialistes (FFS), but resigned with-in two years saying the government was not se-rious about reform.“Bouchachi can secure the voices of tens of thousands of protesters,” said electronics stu-dent Ali Larbaoui, who has marched on most Fridays since the protests began.Another former Prime Minister Ahmed Benbi-tour, 73, who resigned in 1999 after opposing Bouteflika’s economic policy, is also consid-ering a presidential run, one of his supporters said.

AP

BAGHDAD: A walkway collapsed and set off a stampede in the holy city of Karbala on Tuesday as thousands of Shiite Muslims marked one of their holiest days of the year. At least 31 people were killed and about 100 were injured.It was the deadliest stampede in recent histo-ry during Ashoura commemorations, when hundreds of thousands of people converge on the city, some 80 kilometers south of Baghdad, for the occasion every year.The incident happened toward the end of the Ashoura procession, causing a panicked rush among worshippers near the gold-domed Imam Hussein shrine, according to two officials who spoke to The Associated Press from Karbala.In recent years, Ashoura processions have been attacked by extremist militants. In 2004, at the height of Iraq’s sectarian vio-

lence, 143 people were killed in near si-multaneous suicide and other bombings at shrines in Baghdad and Karbala during the Ashoura procession.In 2005, rumors of a suicide bomber among worshippers crossing a bridge during a dif-ferent religious holiday caused a massive stampede killing more than 950 people, many of whom jumped, in their panic, into the Tigris River.Tuesday’s commemorations were peaceful until the walkway collapsed, triggering the chaos.The incident took place during the so-called “Tweireej” run, when tens of thousands of people run toward the shrine of Imam Hus-sein in Karbala around noon.Earlier in the day, hundreds of thousands of black-clad pilgrims held Ashoura pro-cessions amid beefed-up security in Kar-bala and in the capital, Baghdad, marching through the streets.

31 Killed after Walkway Collapse Triggers Stampede at Iraqi Shiite Shrine

Cameroon’s President Vows ‘National Dialogue’ to Ease Tensions with Anglophone Separatists

France 24

Cameroon President Paul Biya on Tuesday an-nounced that he intends to hold a major “nation-al dialogue” later this month in a bid to put an end to the conflict between security forces and armed separatists from the anglophone minority in the west.Over the past two years, the francophone-majority country has been mired in the unrest which has left more than 2,000 people dead as English-speaking separatists demand independ-ence in the Northwest and Southwest regions. More than 500,000 people have been forced from their homes as a result according to the Human Rights Watch group.“I have decided to convene, from the end of this month, a major national dialogue to allow us... to examine the ways and means to respond to the deeply-held aspirations of the populations in the Northwest and Southwest, but also in all the other component parts of our great nation,” the 86-year-old president said in an address to the nation aired on national television and radio.Biya, who has been in power for 37 years, re-iterated his offer of a “pardon” to any separa-tists who voluntarily lay down their arms, while vowing that those who refuse to do so will face “the full force of the law” as well as the coun-try’s security and defence forces.He said the talks in late September would be presided over by Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute and will bring together representatives of numerous factions, including security forces and the armed separatists.Dion Ngute would hold “broad consultations” including delegations who would meet with di-aspora in the coming days, the president said, without saying where a potential summit would

be held.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “wel-comes the announce-ment” and “reiterates the readiness of the United Nations to sup-port the dialogue pro-cess,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.Guterres “encourages the government of Cam-eroon to ensure that the process is inclusive” and “calls on all Cameroo-nian stakeholders, includ-ing the diaspora, to participate in this effort,” the statement said.Separatist leader jailed English speakers who make up roughly one fifth of Cameroon’s 24 million inhabitants mostly live in the two regions that were formerly a British colony until they were folded into post-independence Cameroon in 1961.Anger at perceived discrimination by franco-phones against anglophones in justice, educa-tion and the economy has built for years.The current crisis began in late 2016, and esca-lated a year later when English-speaking mili-tants symbolically declared the creation of the independent “Republic of Ambazonia” in the two regions.The government responded with a brutal crack-down, and the separatists in turn have mounted a campaign of attacks on state buildings, includ-ing schools, as well as shootings and kidnap-pings.Biya has consistently rejected demands to give the English-speaking regions greater autonomy

or a return to federalism.In a bid to foster conciliation, in December last year Biya ordered the release of 289 people ar-rested in connection with the crisis.However in August, Julius Ayuk Tabe, the lead-er of the separatists and self-proclaimed presi-dent of “Ambazonia” was sentenced to life in prison along with nine of his supporters. The conviction was seen by many as a blow to po-tential talks between the two sides.Separatist leaders organised a shutdown in the anglophone regions for two weeks in protest, closing schools and shops.“The secessionists’ propaganda wanted to pre-sent recent court decisions made against a num-ber of our compatriots, in the context of this cri-sis, as an obstacle to the planned dialogue. That is not the case,” Biya said in his speech.Long before his conviction, Ayuk Tabe said he was open to dialogue, asking for the release of himself and other English-speaking prisoners. He has also called for the army to withdraw from the anglophone regions, which is off the table for Yaounde.

Reuters

MANILA - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his Chinese counterpart has offered Manila a controlling stake in a joint energy venture in the South China Sea, if it sets aside an international arbitral award that went against Bei-jing.Duterte said Chinese President Xi Jinping told him during their recent meeting that if he ignored the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s 2016 ruling, China would agree to be the junior partner in a joint venture to develop gas deposits at the Reed Bank, located within Manila’s Exclusive Econom-ic Zone (EEZ).“Set aside the arbitral ruling,” Duterte was quoted as telling reporters late Tuesday in remarks provided by his office on Wednesday.“Set aside your claim,” he said, quoting Xi. “Then allow everybody connected with the Chinese companies. They want to explore. If there is something, they said, we will be gracious enough to give you 60%, only 40% will be theirs. That is the promise of Xi Jinping.”China’s foreign ministry and its embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Duterte’s remarks.The tribunal in The Hague clarified maritime boundaries and the Philippines’ sovereign entitlements, and in doing so, invalidated China’s claims to almost the entire South China Sea. China does not recognise the ruling.Duterte has sought to befriend Xi, hoping to secure billions of dollars of investment, avoiding challenging China over

its activities in the South China Sea, including its militarised artificial islands.

BIG SETBACKAny agreement to forget the arbitral award and team up with China would be a major setback to other claimants, especially Vietnam and Malaysia, which like the Philippines have experienced repeated challenges from China’s coast-guard inside their EEZs.The United States has called that bullying and coercion aimed at denying rivals’ access to their energy assets.Duterte did not say if he had agreed to Xi’s offer, but said the part of the arbitral award that referred to the EEZ “we will ignore to come up with an economic activity”.The tribunal said the Philippines had legal rights to exploit gas deposits that China also claims at the Reed Bank, about 85 miles (140km) off the Philippine coast.The Philippines only accessible gas resources at the Malam-paya fields are set to run out by 2024.A joint project with China has been talked about for dec-ades, but has gone nowhere because of their competing claims. Joint activity could be deemed as legitimising the other side’s claim, or even relinquishing sovereign rights.Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin on Wednesday told news channel ANC that a preliminary agreement be-tween China and the Philippines would avoid stating which country was entitled to the gas.“It’s very clear - no legal position is compromised if we enter into this agreement,” Locsin said, adding that putting aside the arbitration case was immaterial, because an inter-national court had already made its decision.

Philippines’ Duterte Says Xi Offering Gas Deal if Arbitration Case Ignored

Japan’s Abe Shakes up Cabinet, Brings in Rising StarAFP

TOKYO: Japan’s Shinzo Abe on Wednesday appointed new foreign and defense ministers and promoted a popular rising political star, in a cabinet reshuffle that fueled specu-lation over the prime minister’s successor.The spectacular appointment as environment minister of the telegenic Shinjiro Koizumi, the 38-year-old son of much-loved former PM Junichiro Koizumi, set tongues wagging in Tokyo political classes as the Abe era draws to a close.“Abe intends to start an open race to pick the next prime minister or even the one after that,” said SMBC Nikko Se-curities chief market economist Yoshimasa Maruyama.A darling of the Japanese media, Shinjiro Koizumi received blanket coverage for his recent marriage to television broad-caster Christel Takigawa, which was announced at the prime minister’s office.He is the third-youngest minister appointed to the cabinet in Japan since the end of World War II, in a country when seniority is prized in politics and many other walks of life.Despite intense media spotlight, he has been coy on express-ing his view on the issues of the day and there will be close scrutiny over his policies on nuclear power, particularly on whether he will break with his father’s anti-nuclear stance.Abe is set to become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister in November but is expected to step down at the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election in 2021 and the jostling for position is already beginning.Japan’s new foreign minister is Toshimitsu Motegi, who was promoted as a reward for his work in negotiating a trade deal with the United States.Outgoing foreign minister Taro Kono was shifted to the de-fense portfolio, in a move seen as reinforcing Tokyo’s hard line toward South Korea at a time of worsening ties between the two neighbors.Kono, who has amused commentators by interacting with people on social media — even offering relationship advice at times — struck a hard line during the recent spat with Seoul that has infected their trade and security ties.Motegi, 63, is a Harvard-educated political veteran who worked as a McKinsey consultant before winning a lower house seat in 1993.Analysts do not expect the shake-up to herald significant changes to Japan’s diplomatic policy, which is managed largely by the prime minister’s office.But it may also put Motegi in the starting blocks in the race to succeed Abe, noted Tobias Harris, an expert on Japanese

politics at consultancy Teneo.Abe retained the services of his trusted associate Taro Aso as deputy prime minister and finance minister, as well as Yoshihide Suga as the powerful chief cabinet secretary.The PM also kept key allies and aides within the cabinet and top layers of the party to shore up his position for the next two years.The Abe government is poised to hike its consumption tax from eight percent to 10 percent on October 1, amid fears this could act as a brake on the world’s third-largest econ-omy.He is also hoping to achieve his long-cherished ambition of amending Japan’s post-war constitution to change the status of the country’s Self Defense Forces.Abe also kept LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai, who has deep contacts in China, as Japan prepares for an expect-ed state visit by Xi Jinping in 2020.Among other key figures are former Olympic speed skat-er Seiko Hashimoto, who became the latest in a string of Olympic ministers ahead of the 2020 summer Games.Hashimoto is one of just two women out of 19 in the new cabinet despite Abe’s much-heralded “womenomics” pro-gram. His previous cabinet included just one woman.Japan ranked 125th in the 2018 World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report in terms of women’s political empower-ment.The other woman is Sanae Takaichi, appointed as interior minister. She is seen as a hard-right nationalist, who regu-larly visits the Yasukuni shrine housing war criminals that enrages South Korea and China.During her previous stint as interior minister, she threatened to cut off TV news stations over perceived unfriendly cover-age.

10 HEALTH Edited by: Haffiya Elyas

ADD International fights for independence, equality and opportunity for disabled people living in pov-erty in Africa and Asia. They do this by supporting disability activists to build strong movements for change. They work with local, regional and national groups run by and for disabled people, known as Dis-abled Peopleís Organisations or DPOs. They work with people with all types of impairments in areas of extreme poverty, regardless of religious or ethnic background. Whether it is visual, hearing or mobil-ity impairments, neurological conditions, intellectual disabilities, albinism or more, they believe it is not the impairment, but the barriers in society, that limit people from reaching their full potential.

VISION - A world where all disabled people are free from discrimination and oppression and have full equality within an inclusive society. MISSION-To achieve positive and lasting change in the lives of disabled people, especially those living in poverty. 5 COUNTRIES We work in 5 countries across Africa and Asia. Every country we operate in is ranked in the bottom quarter of the Human Devel-opment Index.BUILD MOVEMENTS - They build disability movements in Africa and Asia. They do this by sup-porting local groups of disabled people to become strong and sustainable organisations that can have an ever increasing impact. ADD then helps these groups connect with each other to build wider movements and they work with them to promote the rights of

disabled people. LISTEN AND PROVIDE - They listen to local or-ganisations of disabled people and provide the tools and the resources they need to achieve their full po-tential. INFLUENCE - They work with organisations of dis-abled people to influence governments, international development actors and the private sector to design

policies and services at a local and global level which take into account the needs of disabled people.BELIEFS - Disabled people have the right to live their lives as fully as they choose, without the limi-tations imposed by attitudes or by social and physi-cal barriers. - Disability is not inability if disabled people are given the right tools, opportunities and support. - Change comes when voices are heard and

preconceptions are challenged. This happens when disabled people come together with a unified voice and engage with society, shifting attitudes towards disability. - There is an inextricable link between poverty and disability. Disability is both the cause and effect of poverty. This needs to be taken into ac-count when solutions to poverty eradication are be-ing discussed.

Report by Haffiya Elyas Sign languages are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey mean-ing. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulations in combination with non-manual elements. Sign languages are full-fledged natural languages with their own grammar and lexicon. Sign languages are not universal and they are not mutually intelligible with each other, although there are also striking similarities among sign languages.Linguists consider both spoken and signed communication to be types of natural lan-guage, meaning that both emerged through an abstract, protracted aging process and evolved over time without meticulous planning. Sign language should not be con-fused with body language, a type of non-verbal communication.The Sudanese National Society for the Deaf in collaboration with ADD International organized a training workshop on sign lan-guage targeting 30 medical and legislative staff to train them on the Sudanese sign language .The purpose of the training to communicate with the deaf person.The first training course started on June 8 and concluded on 28 July and the second one started on 28 July to August 31 and the third started on September 7 to 28 Septem-ber

The Executive Director said the Sudanese National Society for the Deaf had come into being after its founder, the renowned Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist Dr.Taha Tala’at noticed the degree of frustration and suffering families felt when they re-ceived a deaf or deaf-mute baby. Upon Dr. Tala’at’s initiative a group of good citizens from the different walks of life gathered together in 1970 and drew up a road-map towards a comprehensive attention to this category and its families. The society then obtained a license in 1971.Wherever communities of deaf people ex-ist, sign languages have developed as handy means of communication and they form the core of local deaf cultures. Although sign-ing is used primarily by the deaf and hard of hearing, it is also used by hearing indi-viduals, such as those unable to physically speak, those who have trouble with spoken language due to a disability or condition (augmentative and alternative communica-tion), or those with deaf family members, such as children of deaf adults.It is unclear how many sign languages cur-rently exist worldwide. Each country gen-erally has its own native sign language, and some have more than one. The 2013 edition of Ethnologue lists 137 sign languages.[ Some sign languages have obtained some form of legal recognition, while others have no status at all.Linguists distinguish natural sign languag-es from other systems that are precursors to them or derived from them, such as in-vented manual codes for spoken languages, home sign, “baby sign”, and signs learned by non-human primates.

Sakina Mohamed Mabrouk, Executive Di-rector of the Sudanese National Society for the Deaf stated that its first year the Soci-ety established the first-ever school for the education of the dumb in Sudan. That was al-Amal (hope) Institute (Number One). In 1972 the Society launched the first club for adult deaf-mute citizens, after we noticed that some persons with such a disability meet together at a coffee shop in a remote corner of the Khartoum Arabi Market, while others had nowhere to go to, suffer-ing aimlessness, ignorance and negligence that entail unemployment, depression, ad-diction and other forms of waywardness. The club was meant to be a place for recre-ation and education where the member can spend part of his leisure time, demonstrate his talents and communicate with his com-munity. The society was able to launch another 14 literacy centers in affiliation to the al-Amal Institute. In addition to literacy education, these centers also teach general knowledge

and other subjects that eventually propelled some of the students to the universities.The Society spent the period 1985-1990 in the collection of Sudanís deaf signs from their original sources. A committee comprising the American priest Garth Ce-drik Heulen and Ms Wehda Shareef then sorted out and edited these signs into the first dictionary of Sudanís sign language. Father Garth, who is graduated with a B.A in secondary school education, came to Su-dan in 1984 to work in the education of the deaf and became member of the Society. Due to his mastery of the American Sign Language which he studied after adopting a child with this disability, Mr. Garth was

asked to work with the coordination com-mittee set by the Society in 1982 to work on Sudanís sign language. He finally crys-tallized an integrated basic curriculum for the Sudanese sign language that graduated its first qualified batch in 1990. Mr. Garth then trained the majority of the Societyís sign language interpreters. He continued with his effort in this field until he finally issued Sudanís first sign language diction-ary in 1994. He has published a number of

articles on the code of conduct for the sign language interpreters, the communication of music to the deaf and others.The Society has managed to set 14 insti-tutes for the deaf-mute around the country and has 22 branches nationwide. In 2004 the Society established Sudanís first sec-ondary school for the deaf (males and fe-males) for further educating the graduates of its institutes. Some graduates of this school have graduated from the universi-ties, in particular the Sudan University For Science and Technology. These graduates have obtained degrees in fine and applied arts and engineering, among other practical science.

Action on Disability and Development (ADD International)

Training Workshop on Sudanese Sign Language

The Sudanese National Society for the Deaf established Sudan’s First Secondary School for the Deaf

Sign Languages have developed as handy

eans of Communication

Disability is not Inability if Disabled Peo-

ple are Given the Right Tools, Opportunities and Support, Change Comes when Voices are Heard and Preconceptions are Challenged: ADD

Thursday, September 12, 2019

11 Thursday, September 12, 2019

“South-South cooperation has offered concrete so-lutions to shared challenges, with many countries becoming sources of support and inspiration for in-novative development approaches.” ó UN Secretary-General AntÛnio Guterres

South-South cooperation is a manifestation of soli-darity among peoples and countries of the South that contributes to their national well-being, their national and collective self-reliance and the attainment of in-ternationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. South-South cooperation is accelerating progress towards the implementation and achievement of the Sustain-able Development Goals (SDGs).South-South cooperation is done through a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic, social, cultural, en-vironmental and technical domains. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, intraregional or interregional ba-sis. Through South-South collaboration, developing countries share knowledge, skills, expertise and re-sources to meet their development goals through con-certed efforts.Triangular cooperation is collaboration in which tradi-tional donor countries and multilateral organizations facilitate South-South initiatives through the provi-

sion of funding, training, management and technolog-ical systems as well as other forms of support.The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation celebrates the economic, social and political develop-ments made in recent years by regions and countries in the South and highlights United Nations eff orts to work on technical cooperation among developing countries.In 1978, the first United Nations Conference on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) took place in Argentina, adopting the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries (BAPA), endorsed by the General Assembly (resolu-tion 33/134).On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Pro-moting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among developing countries (TCDC), the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40) was recently held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 20-22 March 2019. That is why this year the theme will be focused on the im-plementation of the commitments adopted in the Plan of Action+40.In 2018 the United Nations Day for South-South Co-operation on 12 September marks the 40th anniver-sary of the 1978 adoption by consensus of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing

Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries South-South cooperation is a manifestation of soli-darity among peoples and countries of the South that contributes to their national well-being, their national and collective self-reliance and the attainment of in-ternationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. That cooperation is done through a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the South in the po-litical, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, in-traregional or interregional basis. Developing coun-tries share knowledge, skills, expertise and resources to meet their development goals through concerted efforts. To highlight the importance of South-South Co-operation, the General Assembly in its resolution 58/220 decided to observe the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation on 12 September every year. The date commemorates the adoption in 1978 of the “Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among De-veloping Countries (BAPA)” by 138 Member States. The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation celebrates the economic, social and political develop-ments made in recent years by regions and countries in the south and highlights UN’s efforts to work on technical cooperation among developing countries.

UNDP

Administrator, Mr. Achim Steiner stressed the importance of increased co-operation among countries in the South to eradicate poverty and achieve sus-tainable progress.ìSouth-South and triangular coopera-tion is critical to the 2030 Agenda and the overarching goal of eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions.î Steiner said.Mr. Steiner, who was also appointed as the Secretary-General of the Confer-ence, was addressing participants of the Second High-level United Nations Con-ference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40). Hosted by the government of Argentina, the meeting brought to-gether over 3800 participants, including heads of state and ministers from around the world . Forty years ago, Argentina hosted the ìConference on Technical Cooperation Among Developing Coun-triesî where the historic ìBuenos Aires Plan of Actionî was adopted, highlight-ing the importance of South-South co-operation in addressing challenges con-fronting the developing world. Today, as an example of the progress made, trade among countries in the South accounts for more than one quarter of all world trade, while foreign direct investment outflows from the South represent one-third of global Foreign Direct Invest-ment flows. ìSouth-South Cooperation plays an indispensable role in todayís development landscape. It represents a shared vision among the peoples and countries of the South that is shaped by close historical realities, similar de-

velopment pathways, as well as shared challenges,î said Steiner. ìUNDP has a long history as a trusted knowledge bro-ker, partnership facilitator, and a capac-ity development supporter for South-South and Triangular cooperation,î said Steiner. ìWe are committed to building on that legacy, leveraging on our estab-lished development expertise, global network, presence and trusted partner-ships in over 170 countries and territo-ries. At the end of this yearís conference, all Member States of the UN committed to taking concrete actions to reenergize South-South and Triangular Coopera-tion to achieve the 2030 Agenda as part of the newly adopted ìBuenos Aires Outcome Documentî. The conference

also demonstrated a growing recogni-tion of the importance and complemen-tarity of South-South and Triangular cooperation.Today, solutions created in the South are delivering lasting results around the world.- Colombia and the Dominican Republic exchange expertise on resilient climate-resistant rice production.-†Cameroon learned from Ethiopia how to best to implement their HIV Safety Net Programme.- Cooperation among Australia, China, and Papua New Guinea is piloting ways to tackle malaria.- Bangladesh pioneered and online platform allowing millions of people

to access free public services online without needing to travel long distances and is now being shared and replicated in other countries. The UNDP Chief highlighted the importance of all stake-holdersí responsibility and the opportu-nity to take forward the outcomes of the conference, to use the linkages and con-nections made to tackle climate change, address inequalities, as well as improve institutional arrangements both within and between countries to improve coop-eration and trade.It was agreed that the multilateral de-velopment system comes away from the BAPA+40 conference in a better posi-tion to support South-South cooperation and implement the 2030 Agenda.

From Commitment to Action - Follow up to Buenos Aires Plan of Action 40

Southern Development Solutions ‘Vital’ to Multilateralism and Sustainable Progress, Says UNDP Chief

International Day for South-South Cooperation 12 September, 2019

The history of the South-South cooperation starts in 1949 with the establishment of the first UN technical aid programme by the Economic and Social Council and the creation of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1969. In 1978 the conference of the Global South on TCDC is held in Buenos Aires, resulting in the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries, one of the main pillars for the South-South cooperation.Another milestone was set during the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries was held in 2001 in Brussels, which stressed the impor-tance of South-South cooperation in capacity-building and setting best practices, particularly in the areas of health, education, training, environment, science and technology, trade, investment and transit transport co-operation.The International Conference on Financing for Devel-opment, held in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2002, specifically encouraged South-South cooperation, in-cluding through triangular cooperation, to facilitate exchange of views on successful strategies, practices and experience and replication of projects. Further, it urged the strengthening of South-South cooperation in the delivery of assistance. Following that, major recent frameworks, including among others the 2011 Istanbul Programme of Action for the LDCs, the 2014 Vienna Programme of Action for the LLDCs, the 2015 Ad-

dis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Develop-ment, the 2015 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the 2016 Paris Agreement on Climate Change have also given new impetus to South-South and triangular cooperation.The world has undergone a major economic and politi-cal transformation in the last two decades. The chang-es, particularly in the South, have been more rapid than at any time during a similar span in world history. Relationships within the South and between the South and the North have taken on entirely new dimensions. Key current issues such as the environment and cli-mate change, energy and food security, global poverty, the linkage between growth and equity, and migration

are today more global than North-South in nature.Many countries in the South have built up significant financial and technical capacities. They have begun to transfer some of these resources, on concessional and non-concessional terms, to other countries in the South in the context of an inclusive approach to the manage-ment of global problems, spreading the benefits of globalization more widely, creating new markets, and building a broader foundation for sustainable econom-ic growth. In recent years, building on a long history of assistance and other cooperation among develop-ing countries, several Southern countries have become significant partners for development cooperation. A

new dimension is clearly being added to development cooperation, particularly for Africa and the Southern countries that remain specially disadvantaged, particu-larly the least developed countries (LDCs), the land-locked developing countries (LLDCs) and the small island developing States (SIDS).All these efforts were reaffirmed and extended in with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable De-velopment by the UN General Assembly. At the 2019 Second High-level United Nations Con-ference on South-South Cooperation world leaders adopted an outcome document urging even greater South-South cooperation toward achieving sustainable development.

Objectives of South-South Cooperation

Secretary-General’s Message for 2019

* foster the self-reliance of developing countries by enhancing their creative capacity to find solu-tions to their development problems in keeping with their own aspirations, values and specify needs;* promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among developing countries through the ex-change of experiences; the pooling, sharing and use of their technical and other resources; and the development of their complementary capacities;* strengthen the capacity of developing countries to identify and analyse together their main devel-opment issues and formulate the requisite strate-gies to address them;* increase the quantity and enhance the quality of international development cooperation through the pooling of capacities to improve the effec-tiveness of the resources devoted to such coop-eration;* create and strengthen existing technological capacities in the developing countries in order to improve the effectiveness with which such ca-pacities are used and to improve the capacity of developing countries to absorb and adapt tech-nology and skills to meet their specific develop-mental needs;* increase and improve communications among developing countries, leading to a greater aware-ness of common problems and wider access to available knowledge and experience as well as the creation of new knowledge in tackling devel-opment problems;* recognize and respond to the problems and requirements of the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing States and the countries most seri-ously affected by, for example, natural disasters and other crises; and* enable developing countries to achieve a greater degree of participation in international economic activities and to expand international cooperation for development.

AntÛnio Guterres

Recent decades have demonstrated the power of South-South cooperation to advance sustainable development. Across the developing world, more children attend school, child and maternal mortal-ity rates have been cut by nearly half, and extreme poverty has been sharply reduced. Indeed, driven by a spirit of solidarity, respect for national sover-eignty and equal partnership, South-South coopera-tion has offered concrete solutions to shared chal-lenges, with many countries becoming sources of support and inspiration for innovative development approaches.However, large pockets of poverty remain in the Global South, even in fast-growing economies. Progress is not fast enough to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and prosperity needs to be more broadly shared. In addition, the climate emergency threatens decades of progress. Indeed, countries in the Global South are already being severely affected by the worsening impacts of the climate crisis. South-South cooperation can never be a substitute for official development assistance or replace the responsibilities of the Global North set out in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agree-ment. But South-South cooperation continues to of-fer a promising pathway to accelerate progress that leaves no one behind. To leverage that potential, we must coordinate these efforts and establish sustain-able strategies for scaling up impact. On this In-ternational Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to achieve the 2030 Agenda by drawing from the les-sons of the South and sharing them widely through enhanced South-South and triangular cooperation.

World Days

South-South Cooperation Background

Edited by: Alula Berhe Kidani

LAST PAGE THURSDAY

Quote of the Day:

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William Penn

12th September, 2019 12 th Muharram ,1440

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Sudanese Artist Kamala Ishaq Selected

for Dutch Award

BBCBorn in Sudan, Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq is one of Africa’s finest artists. A pioneer and feminist icon, she is well known as one of the founders of the Khartoum School. Now in her 80s, she has just been announced as Netherlands’ Kama-la Ibrahim Ishaq has been announced as 2019 Netherland’s Principal Prince Claus Award for 2019. Here’s what she thinks about being offered the prestig-ious award.

Danielle FowlerA mother with 10 sons has finally welcomed a baby girl.Alexis Brett from Aberdeen gave birth to her first daughter, Cam-eron, with husband David Brett on August 27.The couple were so convinced that they would have another boy, they didnít ask the sonographer what their unborn babyís gender was - but her arrival left them ‘de-lighted’.«We’re over the moon,’ Alexis Brett, who is an only child, re-vealed. ‘I’d been expecting to hear we were having another boy. But when I found out it was a girl, my face was a picture.‘I was shocked, but delighted. Now she’s here with us, it’s a fantastic feeling,’ the 39-year-old added.Their sons are aged between two-years-old and 17.With the addition of a newborn, their family is now complete.Although Brett, who has spent

Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning his Men’s Singles final match against Daniil Medvedev. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images/AFP)

AFPSYDNEY: The Australian government on Wednesday said three citizens had been detained in Iran, the latest in a series of Westerners to be seized by authorities in Tehran.‘The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is provid-ing consular assistance to the families of three Australians detained in Iran,’ a spokes-person told AFP.‘Due to our privacy obliga-tions, we will not comment further.’The Times of London earlier reported that two British-Australian women were be-ing kept in Tehranís Evin prison.Australian public broad-caster ABC said that the Australian boyfriend of one of the women had also been detained. It is not clear if the three have been charged. One of the women is report-ed to have been in detention for up to a year.The news of the trioís deten-tion comes after Australia announced that it would join a US-led mission to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.Prime Minister Scott Mor-rison in August announced a ‘modest’ contribution to the controversial mission ó including a frigate, a P8 maritime surveillance air-craft and support staff ó which will also involve Brit-ish forces. Earlier this week the Australian government updated its travel advice for Iran to ‘reconsider your need to travel’ and ‘do not travel’ to areas near the border with Iraq and Afghanistan.Already difficult relations with Iran have threatened to boil over since US President Donald Trump abandoned a deal to limit Iranís nuclear program in 2018.Iran has responded by re-suming some prescribed nu-clear activities.Meanwhile, a rising number of dual nationals have been detained, in what many see as a ruthless diplomatic strategy.Analysts see the arrests as a tactical ploy to gain lever-age, or as part of the murky politics in Iran ó with hard-liners in the judiciary and the security apparatus scut-tling the more conciliatory approach of moderates.

BBCFormer James Bond star Pierce Bro-snan has said it is time a woman to take on the 007 mantle.The Goldeneye actor, who played the role in four films, told the Hollywood Reporter he believes it would be “ex-hilarating” and “exciting” to see a fe-male Bond. “I think we’ve watched the guys do it for the last 40 years,” said the 66-year-old.“Get out of the way guys and put a woman up there!” he added.Daniel Craig is set to reprise his role as the fictional British spy for a fifth and potentially final time in next year’s No Time To Die.Brosnan, who also starred in Die An-other Day, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, is hoping for a change of gender for the char-acter but believes franchise producer Barbara Broccoli would not be up for the idea. “I don’t think that’s going to happen with the Broccolis,” he said.“I don’t think that is going to happen under their watch.”Image caption (L-R) LÈa Seydoux, Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Naomie Harris and Lashana Lynch attend the Bond 25 film launch at writer Ian

Fleming’s home in Jamaica. The next Bond film has filmed on lo-cation in Jamaica, as well as at Pine-wood Studios near London.There have been reports British ac-tress Lashana Lynch will take over Bond’s famous codename after his character leaves MI6 in the new film, but she will not be the next Bond.James Bond’s treatment of women in previous films has come under ques-tion in recent years and Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought on to the writing team, tasked with making its female characters “feel like real people”.Jodie Comer, who worked with Waller-Bridge on the Bafta-winning Killing Eve is listed as the bookmakers’ early favourite, should Bond become a woman. How-ever, Rachel Weisz, who is married to the current incumbent, Craig, last year told The Telegraph that “women deserve their own stories”. Earlier this year, Idris Elba made more posi-tive noises regarding a potential fe-male, or black Bond. He told Variety: “Are we interested in having a Bond character other than being a male? Could be a woman - could be a black woman, could be a white woman.

The GuardianThe Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, is stepping down as head of one of the worldís largest e-com-merce companies, handing over the reins to his handpicked suc-cessor.Ma, who announced his retire-ment as chairman of the com-pany last year, will celebrate his final day as he marks his 55th birthday at an Olympic-sized sports stadium in Hangzhou, where he founded the company 20 years ago. The charismatic entrepreneur, one of Chinaís most recognisable public fig-ures, will be replaced by the lower-profile Daniel Zhang, the companyís chief executive and an accountant by training.In a video posted on Monday, Ma said: ‘Iím the person always looking forward. I donít want to look at the things back.’ Ma, a former English teacher, has previously said he will turn his attention to philanthropy, focus-ing on education in rural areas.In an open letter announcing his resignation last year, Ma wrote: ‘I still have lots of dreams to pursue. Those who know me know that I do not like to sit idle. The world is big, and I am still young, so I want to try new things.’ At Tuesdayís event, in-vestors will be listening closely to any remarks given by Ma sig-nalling how or if he will continue to be involved in the company. Observers expect Ma, known

for his showmanship, to give an over-the-top performance. In an event in 2017, he dressed up as Michael Jackson and danced to the song Billie Jean.Maís rags to riches story has in-spired a legion of tech entrepre-neurs in China. He founded Ali-baba with a group of friends in a shared apartment in Hangzhou in 1999 and struggled for years to get it off the ground. Even-tually the company ushered in e-commerce to China, with the marketplaces Taobao and T-mall. Maís net worth is $38.4bn according to Forbes, making him Chinaís richest man. His company, which listed in the New York stock exchange in 2014 in the largest IPO to date, has a market capitalisation of $ 460bn. Maís resignation comes at a time when growth of Chi-naís e-commerce industry has slowed, along with the broader economy, and the company fac-

es more competition from other large tech firms. Alibaba has expanded into financial serv-ices, mobile payments, cloud computing and artificial intelli-gence. Ma, who announced his succession plan last year, sur-prised observers with his early retirement but he will not relin-quish his hold over the company completely. He retains a 6.22% share and will remain on the board of directors until an an-nual shareholdersí meeting in 2020. After that he will be part of a corporate governing body of 38 members that is separate from the board. The thing I want this company to never forget ñ because we are at todayís size ñ a lot of companies, I learned why they fail,’ Ma said in the video posted on Monday. ‘They forget about dreams. Itís the dreams that keep us working hard. Its dreams that keep us never afraid of mistakes Ö of setbacks.’

Jack Ma, China’s Richest Man, Steps down as Chairman of Alibaba

more than eight of the past 18 months pregnant, wasnít holding out for a daughter.‘I’d never planned to have a large family, but now I do, I love it,» she said. ‘I always joked I wouldn’t have a clue what to do with a girl... that’s all changed. We’re having a lot of fun buying pink things for the first time.’But their large family has sparked widespread controversy, as Brett admitted that the couple have

been judged in the past. ‘Of course, we do get comments about the number of children we have - especially when I was pregnant again,’ she said. ‘But it doesn’t bother me what people think, we’re well used to it.’‘Some people think we must be on benefits, but we’re not. David has a good job, which means we don’t even qualify for full child benefit.’In fact, the mother-of-eleven is al-

ready planning her return to work as a part-time fitness instructor.Thankfully, their children - which includes Campbell, 17, Harrison, 16, Corey, 14, Lachlan, 11, Bro-die, nine, Brahn, eight, Hunter, six, Mack, five, Blake, three, and Rothagaidh, two - have been help-ing out around the house after the arrival of baby Cameron.‘They’ve generally been much better behaved around her, trying to keep quiet in case they wake her up,’ their 44-year-old dad, David, revealed. ‘They also want to help with holding and feeding her - it’s been great.’On a typical day, Brett will kick-start the morning at 5.30am which gives her chance to prepare with a coffee and shower before her sons wake up.With a full house, Alexis claims to do 49 loads of laundry a week while she gets the hoover out sev-en times a day on average.‘David and I sometimes look at each other to say, ‘What have we done?’ But when the boys come out with something funny and make us laugh, it makes it all worthwhile,’ she said.Next 007 should be a Woman

Says Bond Star Pierce Brosnan

French Health and Solidarity Minister Agnes Buzyn arrives to attend a meeting between the Proximity companies union, the National union of the Independent professions and the French Prime Minister at the Hotel Matignon in Paris on Sep-tember 6, 2019. (AFP)