Sejourne announced that France will open two schools in Dakhla and Laayoune in addition to an itinerant cultural centre in the Sahara territory. He also lauded Morocco’s social and development achievements in the Sahara, highlighting particularly the efforts made in terms of training, renewable energies, and the blue economy. “France will support development of the region by supporting Morocco’s efforts there,” he said. Séjourné’s visit to Morocco is his first to Africa and to the Maghreb, sending a strong signal that French diplomacy is willing to open a new chapter in its longstanding ties with Morocco. Speaking on the same occasion, Moroccan foreign minister underscored the time-honored relations between the two states based on mutual respect and partnership.

Ogun State has conducted test drives in Abeokuta, specifically on rough terrain, to ensure the suitability and adaptability of electric bikes. To facilitate the implementation of this project, the State has identified 13 battery swapping stations for pilot areas. “Our goal is to deploy 250 battery swapping stations across the state within a six-month timeframe. These swapping stations will enable convenient battery exchanges for electric bikes, ensuring uninterrupted mobility for riders,” said Prince Dr Dapo Abiodun, Governor of Ogun State. By switching to electric bikes, Ogun State said it anticipates a 30% to 40% reduction in operational expenses compared to traditional ICE bikes.

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Newburyport, MA (01950)TodayAreas of patchy fog early. Mostly sunny. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..TonightPeriods of rain. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.

Specific SDs included in each category as per ICSD-3 are presented in Table S3. We excluded studies on medical science students (nursing, pharmacy, dentistry) unless specified as medical students studying for their Medical Degree (MD or MBBS). Prevalence data on mixed disorder levels, mixed sex, and/or mixed training periods were pooled in a separate group. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the impact of SD prevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on the pooled estimates when applicable. Factors associated with SDs among MENA medical students (secondary outcome) were synthesized as reported in the included studies.

Home Sectors Mineral resources Who is Ajlan & Bros, the Saudi mining ally for Perseus Mining in East and North Africa? Ajlan & Brothers, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate originally specialising in textiles, is stepping up its investments in the mining sector in line with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s Vision 2030. Someone shares this article with you▪ Who is Ajlan & Bros, the Saudi mining ally for Perseus Mining in East and North Africa? ▪ Ajlan & Brothers, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate originally specialising in textiles, is stepping up its investments in the mining sector in line with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s Vision 2030. ▪ https://www.africabusinessplus.com/en/818485/who-is-ajlan-bros-the-saudi-mining-ally-for-perseus-mining-in-east-and-north-africa/

from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, NigeriaNigeria BureauABUJA, (CAJ News) – THE Nigerian Defence has dismissed allegations of a planned coup by the military. The publication also asserted, among other things, that the suspicion prompted an emergency meeting involving President Bola Tinubu, the Chief of Staff to the President and Commander of the Guards Brigade. “The Defence Headquarters wishes to categorically state that the allegation is totally false,” Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, Acting Director of Defence Information, said. He said the Guards Brigade had been statutorily assigned the responsibility of protecting The Presidency and by extension the Federal Capital Territory and its environs. Africa’s largest nation by population, Nigeria, suffered a string of coups for decades before returning to civilian rule in 1999.

The Egyptian authorities and affiliated groups have responded to recent reporting by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an Egyptian human rights group with a focus on Egypt’s militarized North Sinai, with a smear campaign and threats against the group and its director, Ahmed Salem, 18 civil society organizations denounced today. Salem, a United Kingdom-based Egyptian human rights activist, said that, through intermediaries close to Egyptian authorities, he received threats that he “would be brought back to Egypt” if he did not drop his work. Such campaigns have frequently involved transnational repression, targeting human rights defenders based outside Egypt, including by harassment, arbitrary arrests, prolonged detentions and prosecutions of family members of those living in exile. According to Human Rights Watch’s research, thousands of North Sinai residents have been subjected to mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, abduction, torture, and extrajudicial killings. Signatories:Amnesty InternationalCairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)Committee for JusticeDemocracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against TortureEgyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR)Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)EgyptWide for Human RightsEl Nadeem CenterEuroMed RightsFairSquareHuman Rights WatchInternational Commission of JuristsInternational Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)International Service for Human RightsMiddle East Democracy Center (MEDC)The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE)The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ’s $35bn investment into Egypt is the biggest FDI into the Middle East and Africa (MEA) to date and helps shore up the country’s dwindling foreign exchange reserves. AdvertisementData from greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets shows the $35bn pledge is the world’s fifth biggest announced FDI pledge on record, and the biggest to date in MEA. It beats the region’s previous record set by Infinity Power, which is backed by another Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, last March when it committed to co-develop a $34bn green hydrogen project in Mauritania. This is the latest example of a growing trend of sovereign wealth funds taking greenfield risk and investing directly into real assets. “The immediate FDI will help the country overcome its current hard currency crunch,” Egypt’s prime minister Mostafa Madbouli Madbouly said at the signing ceremony on February 23.

The African clothing and footwear industry, estimated at over USD30 billion is dynamic, presenting abundant opportunities for stakeholders. The prevalence of second-hand clothing is so pronounced that it has led some countries to push for greater regulation. Even the second-hand clothing market is evolving towards premium options, with thrift stores in upscale areas catering to a more affluent clientele. African players in the industry are compelled to reassess their supply chains for increased agility and reduced lead times. Learn more about apparel in sub-Saharan Africa in our briefing, Africa’s Fashion: Tales of Diversity, published in December 2023.

Finding a decline in global high impact well count to just 64 wells in 2023, Westwood Global Energy Group has observed that it is the lowest number the research body has ever recordedIt was a sharp drop from 82 wells in 2022. It says that the conventional link between oil prices and drilling might have been finally disrupted. Africa, however, is the sole region that witnessed a continued rise in high impact drilling in 2023, with the completion of 13 high impact wells. Much of this high activity can be attributed to Namibia following the frontier successes in 2022, besides drilling in seven other countries in the continent. Westwood predicts that Africa should see drilling of around 20 high impact wells, with Orange Basin leading.

Militias of the terrorist Polisario group murdered three Sub-Saharans last Tuesday evening, a few kilometers from the camps of Tindouf in Algeria, according to sources quoted by the news website Sahel Intelligence. The three men were accompanying Sahrawis attempting to flee the Tindouf camps, where terror imposed by the Polisario prevails. General Saïd Chengriha, chief of the Algerian army and the de facto ruler, has prohibited any investigation into the killing of the three Sub-Saharans. This decision adds to the impunity enjoyed by the Polisario, a subcontractor of Algerian security and intelligence services in the expulsion of Sub-Saharan migrants. Sahrawi activists in the Tindouf camps have repeatedly expressed their outrage at the blatant attempts to conceal the crimes committed by the Polisario terrorists and their accomplices.

Muscat: Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi, Foreign Minister received in his office here on Monday Ambassador Wolfgang Amadeus Bruelhart, Swiss Envoy to the Middle East and North Africa. The meeting reviewed bilateral relations and means of promoting them, as well as ways to diversify cooperation in the economic, trade and cultural fields. The meeting underscores the importance of following up the agreements and MoUs signed between the two countries during the visit of President Dr. Alain Berset of the Swiss Confederation to the Sultanate of Oman in November 2023. This, the two sides believe, will help reduce the escalation, contain the expansion of the conflict in the region and activate the initiatives and efforts to achieve a just peace based on the two-state solution. The meeting was attended by a number of officials from both sides.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni used the Jan. 28-29 gathering—dubbed “A Bridge for Common Growth”—to strategically frame her government’s approach to Africa, acknowledging the vibrant economic, political, social and cultural transformations occurring across numerous African nations. Meloni’s unequivocal call for a new partnership of equals underscored Italy’s commitment to fostering development in Africa. At the summit, Meloni delivered her address to a distinguished assembly comprising representatives from 46 African nations, including heads of state and government, national ministers and delegates from prominent international organizations. In her speech, Meloni articulated her ambitions for establishing a new paradigm of cooperation emphasizing Italy’s role as a bridge between Africa and Europe, distinct from the “predatory temptations” and “charity-like” approach to Africa from the past. She called that exploitative model ill-suited to Africa’s “extraordinary development potential,” while adding that Italy “wants to be the standard-bearer” for the new and mutually beneficial relationship.

It details that, as climate change worsens, locusts will expand their ranges in the very same North African and Middle Eastern regions where the Bible is set. A December study from the Journal of Agricultural and Food Research found that agricultural insect pests will thrive as climate change worsens. The authors of that piece also found that climate change will be a boon to certain types of agricultural insect pests. This point was also made in a 2020 study for the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, which similarly examined how global insect pests will react to climate change. "This means that the severity of a given insect pest may both increase and decrease with ongoing climate warming."