Day: July 26, 2022

TUNIS— Preliminary results show that the turnout for the referendum on a new constitution in Tunisia is around 27.54 percent, head of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) said on Monday evening.

More than 2,458,985 voters participated in the vote, but the number “remains an estimation” as the results of some polling stations have not yet reached the polling center, said Farouk Bouasker, ISIE’s president.

Tunisia started the referendum in its 24 provinces on the country’s Republic Day, which fell on Monday.

Polling stations across the country opened doors to a total of 9,278,541 registered voters at 6 a.m. local time (0500 GMT).

The final results of the referendum will not be announced until the deadlines for appeals have passed, but no later than Aug. 28.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

DAMASCUS– Visiting Algerian Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, yesterday voiced support for Syria’s return to the Arab League (AL), saying, its absence has been “detrimental to the joint Arab work.”

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, in Damascus, on the second day of his visit, Lamamra said that, Algeria has been discussing with other Arab states on finding ways to fix this situation.

“Many Arab officials are visiting Damascus and meeting with Syrian officials in many places, so we are optimistic,” the Algerian minister said, about the prospect of resuming Syria’s suspended seat in the 22-member regional organisation.

For his part, Mekdad said, the presence of Syria in the Arab realm is “significant for all the Arab sphere.”

“What is important now is the political coordination and to come up with the right conclusions to serve the Arab goal,” said the top Syrian diplomat, noting that, Syria backs any measure that would restore the Arab stance, understanding and coordination.

The annual Arab League summit will be hosted by Algeria in Nov, following a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Algeria maintained good relations with Syria and has been mediating between Syria and other Arab countries, for the return of Syria to the league in the run-up to the summit.

Syria was suspended from its AL membership in Nov, 2011, following the eruption of the Syrian crisis in Mar of the same year. At the time, many Arab countries cut ties with the Syrian government over its conduct in dealing with protesters.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

YAOUNDE— President Emmanuel Macron arrived late Monday in Cameroon at the start of a three-nation tour of western Africa as he seeks to reboot France’s post-colonial relationship with the continent.

Macron was welcomed at the airport in Yaounde at around 10:40 pm by Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.

The first trip of his new term outside Europe, which will also take him to Benin and Guinea-Bissau, should allow Macron to “show the commitment of the president in the process of renewing the relationship with the African continent”, said a French presidential official, who asked not to be named.

Macron is due to hold talks Tuesday morning at the presidential palace with his counterpart Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for nearly 40 years.

They are expected to discuss security in Cameroon, which has been riven by ethnic violence and an insurgency by anglophone separatists who have been fighting for independence for two English-speaking provinces since 2017.

Northern Cameroon has also seen attacks by Boko Haram jihadists.

Macron had provoked Biya’s indignation in 2020 after declaring he would apply “maximum pressure” on the president over “intolerable” violence in the West African country.

His visit comes at a time when former colonial power France has seen its influence decline in the face of China, India and Germany, particularly in the economic and commercial sectors.

After lunch with Biya and his wife Chantal, Macron will meet representatives of youth and civil society.

He will end the day in “Noah Village”, hosted by former tennis champion Yannick Noah, who is developing a leisure and education centre in a popular district of Yaounde, where he lives for several months a year.

Macron will move on Wednesday to Benin, which has faced deadly attacks from jihadists, who have spread from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea nations.

Benin was long praised for its thriving multi-party democracy. But critics say its democracy has steadily eroded under President Patrice Talon over the last half-decade.

On Thursday, Macron will finish his tour in Guinea-Bissau, which has been riven by political crises at a time when its president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, is preparing to take the helm of the Economic Community of West African

States.

All three countries have been criticised by activists over their rights records, but the Elysee has insisted that governance and rights issues will be raised, albeit “without media noise but in the form of direct exchanges between the heads of states”.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

RABAT— One volunteer firefighter has been killed and another injured in a forest fire in northern Morocco, where new blazes have broken out after a few days of calm, according to local authorities.

The two victims were helping Monday in operations to extinguish a fire in Tanouate province near Fez and Meknes, local sources said.

The injured volunteer was hospitalised but his life was not in danger.

Firefighting services were working overnight to control the blaze after ensuring the safety of villagers, authorities added.

About 33 hectares of forest have been destroyed in the region.

Several outbreaks of varying magnitude have resumed in recent hours in northern Morocco, particularly in Larache province, which was recently devastated by forest fires that left one dead.

The Moroccan government on Friday released emergency aid of nearly 30 million euros to help victims of forest fires and reduce their impact on agricultural activity and the environment.

Forest fires destroyed more than 10,500 hectares in the north of the kingdom in mid-July.

Morocco, which is experiencing severe drought, has been hit by heatwaves over the past month.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is amplifying extreme weather, with global warming leading to increased risks of heatwaves, drought and forest fires.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

ADDIS ABABA— The UN Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia is in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa, for the first work visit since its establishment in December last year.

The commission is an independent entity mandated to conduct investigations to establish the facts and the circumstances surrounding alleged violations and abuses committed by all parties during Ethiopia’s current conflict which has been going on since November 2020.

The Ethiopian government had initially rejected the resolution calling it an alternative way to meddle in its internal affairs and had announced it will not acknowledge or cooperate with any mechanism.

But it seems relations have since softened, after the commission announced last month it has initiated the process of dialogue with the government.

There are hopes that the consultations in Addis Ababa will result in access for the investigators to sites of alleged violations, as well as access to survivors, victims and witnesses.

But it is not clear when or if that will happen.

The Tigrayan forces have welcomed the visit but say any unilateral agreement with the Ethiopian government that does not take into account the people of Tigray constitutes reasonable grounds for it withholding cooperation with the commission.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

ACCRA— Ghana has recorded one more death from the Marburg virus bringing to three the number of deaths since the outbreak of the virus began here.

The victim is a relative of one of the first two cases.

Marburg is a highly infectious disease in the same family as Ebola and is transmitted from a species of fruit bat to humans. It spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

The health authorities say that the latest victim of the virus exhibited symptoms after the maximum 21 days incubation period.

Forty new contacts of the Marburg cases including 11 health workers have been identified, and more than 100 others have completed the mandatory 21 days of quarantine.

Local and WHO experts are still investigating the source of the virus in the country.

Ghana declared the Marburg outbreak earlier this month after recording the two deaths.

More resources and personnel have been sent to the affected areas to contain its potential spread.

Ghana is the second West African country to record the virus after Guinea. The illness was first identified in the German town of Marburg in 1967.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK