ATMIS Senior Protection and Human Rights Officer, Gloria Jaase, highlighted the critical nature of the training in Somalia, stating, “This training is critical in conflict areas and Somalia is not an exception. We all know that in situations of armed conflict, children suffer the most. Therefore, it is important for us to implement measures and put in place structures to safeguard children during times of conflict.”

Jaase emphasized the importance of prioritising child protection issues during ATMIS military operations and the phased handover of security responsibilities to the Somali Security Forces.

“Training our troops in child protection will enhance our ability to monitor and report incidents. With the information gathered, we can develop effective child protection programmes,” added Ms Jaase.

Participants covered various topics, including mainstreaming child protection, children’s rights, legal standards, regional and global frameworks and Somalia’s national framework for the protection of children.

Ferdinand Nintunze, the Senior Case Management, Processes and Database Officer for ATMIS at the AUCF, reiterated the Mission’s commitment to safeguarding vulnerable populations, particularly children.

“Children are integral to the civilian population, and thus, the training aims to equip Ethiopian troops with skills to protect and advocate for children’s rights,” said Nintunze.

Maj. Aman Wako, ATMIS Chief of the Joint Operations Centre in Baidoa, described the training as informative and interactive, expressing gratitude to ATMIS for organising such valuable training sessions.

“We gained a lot from the training, especially regarding child protection in conflict. We thank ATMIS for facilitating such a valuable training, and I hope similar sessions will continue in the future for our benefit,” said Maj. Wako.

One of the participants, Lance Corporal Atsede Hailu Tulu, acknowledged the knowledge gained and called for similar training sessions in other ATMIS sectors.

“Personally, and as a group, we have learned a lot. I hope such training sessions continue in the future to improve our operational efficiency,” said Lance Corporal Tulu.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

UK support will fund innovative projects to combat Tuberculosis (TB); TB kills more people per year than any other infectious disease; The UK has been at the forefront of ending the disease for more than two decades.

Tuberculosis is a devastating disease that we can end in our lifetime, Development Minister Andrew Mitchell said ahead of World TB Day this Sunday.

The disease, which is fully preventable and treatable, kills on average at least 1.3 million people every year, more than any other infectious disease, and ending it by 2030 is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goal targets.

A £4 million funding boost from the UK for the TB REACH programme will help test new approaches to increase the number of people diagnosed and treated for the disease in low- and middle-income countries. This support will:

Provide health services to 500,000 people
Detect cases of TB in 37,000 people
Save more than 15,000 lives

Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell said:

“TB is a devastating yet eminently preventable disease. The UK has been at the forefront of work to rid the world of it, alongside our partners, and TB REACH will help discover even better ways of detecting and treating the disease, so that people no longer suffer needlessly.”

“It is possible to end TB in our lifetime – we must make every effort to do so.”

With this funding, TB REACH, part of the UK’s Global Fund Accelerator Programme, will be able to finance more organisations to test out innovative approaches that will also strengthen health systems and combat antimicrobial resistance.

Some of the projects the UK is currently supporting through TB REACH include:

Scaling up preventative treatment for TB in Brazil, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia and Pakistan
Integrating TB screening and services into maternal health services in Papua New Guinea and Afghanistan to tackle rising numbers of pregnant and post-partum women with the disease
Using portable x-ray machines and AI to diagnose TB in prisons in Mozambique

The UK has long been at the forefront of the battle against TB and the £1 billion commitment to the Global Fund made in 2022 is making an important contribution to fighting the disease, including by providing treatment and care for  1.1 million people, screening 20 million people and providing 41,800 people with treatment for multidrug-resistant TB.

In addition, the UK is a leading funder of investments to bring down the prices of new products and tackle barriers to widespread access through funding to UNITAID, the Clinton Health Access Initiative and to MedAccess.

Research into TB is vital and lifesaving. The UK has provided critical support to the development of new drug treatments through our support to the TB Alliance and new diagnostics through our support to FIND, the Global Alliance for Diagnostics. 

Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership, said:

“TB REACH is the only global mechanism in the TB community that provides fast-track funding directly to implementing partners in country to test innovations.”

“We have supported everything from donkeys to drones, artificial intelligence, portable X-ray and artificial intelligence, new molecular diagnostics, to the vital touch of human TB champions and we look forward to all the new ideas that will be made possible from FCDO’s generous Wave 11 contributions.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

On 22 February, in Tindouf (Algeria), His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, the President of the Republic, and his brother, His Excellency Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the President of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, inaugurated the two land border crossings between Algeria and Mauritania.

The two Presidents attended detailed presentations on these two crossing points, their advantages and prospects, and the facilities that make them up. It is expected that this project will allow great commercial mobility between the two brotherly countries, which will have a positive impact on the increase in the pace of development in the border areas and on economic performance for the benefit of the two brotherly countries. 

Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, accompanied by his brother, His Excellency President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, also supervised the launch of the Tindouf (Algeria)-Zouerate (Mauritania) road construction project. 

His Excellency thanked the Algerian President for his commitment to completing the vital Tindouf-Zouerate road project, congratulating both countries on this important achievement. 

For his part, the Algerian president stressed the need to speed up to complete the Tindouf-Zouerate road project linking the two countries, adding that the accomplishment of this project would open new promising horizons for cooperation between the two brotherly countries. This strategic route extends over a distance of 840 kilometers. 

The agreement for its implementation was signed on the sidelines of the state visit that His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, the President of the Republic, made to Algeria at the invitation of his brother, His Excellency President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in December 2021. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mauritanian Embassy in Jakarta.

By HE Haitham Al Ghais, OPEC Secretary General.

If oil disappeared tomorrow, there would be no more jet fuel, gasoline or diesel. Internal combustion engine automobiles, buses, trucks, lorries and coaches would be stranded. Airplanes powered by jet fuel would be grounded. Freight and passenger rail powered by diesel would halt. People could not get to work; children could not get to school. The shipping industry, transporting both freight and passengers, would be devastated.

There would be no point calling emergency services. The majority of ambulances, fire engines, police cars, rescue helicopters and other emergency vehicles would be stationary. Most phones and computers would also vanish as their plastic components derive from oil, so it would be a struggle to find a way of communicating with the emergency services anyway.

The construction sector would halt, as diesel powered vehicles would be stranded: excavators, bulldozers, dump trucks, cranes, cement mixers, rollers and compact loaders would remain stationary. New homes or buildings could not be built or receive vital maintenance work. 

If oil disappeared tomorrow, petroleum based-products would vanish with it. This would impact the production of electric vehicles (EVs). Aside from the supply chains disruption, the structure of lithium-ion batteries would be affected. A lithium-ion battery has four parts: an anode, cathode, electrolyte and a separator. Separators are engineered microporous membranes, typically made of polyethylene or polypropylene  petroleum-based products. The petroleum-derived synthetic rubber used on car and bicycle tyres would cease to exist.

If oil disappeared tomorrow, food production would be devastated. Many of the vehicles necessary in agriculture  ̶ tractors, mowers, combine harvesters, balers, sprayers and seeders  ̶ would stop working. Food packaging necessary for storage and preservation would not be available. Petroleum coke, a by-product in oil refining, is used as a feedstock in manufacturing synthetic fertilizers, which are important in increasing crop yields. Food shortages and the knock on impacts would likely ensue.

If oil disappeared tomorrow, it would be catastrophic for health services everywhere. Staff would lack mobility, and essential supplies would be stranded. Beyond transportation, petroleum is an essential feedstock for pharmaceuticals, plastics and medical supplies.

Latex gloves, medical tubes, medical syringes, adhesives, some bandages, disinfectants, hand sanitizers, cleaning agents, prosthetics, artificial heart valves, resuscitation masks, stethoscopes, MRI scanners, insulin pens, infusion bags, medication packaging, face-masks, and Personal Protection Equipment are largely derived from petroleum-based materials. The equipment used in medical research such as microscopes, test tubes and goggles usually contain petroleum-derived components.

The chemical synthesis that creates aspirin begins with benzene, which is derived from petroleum. The benzene is converted to phenol, which in turn is converted to salicylic acid. This is then transformed into acetylsalicylic acid, which the world knows as aspirin.

It is difficult to conceive of a modern hospital without this range of essential petroleum-based products.

If oil disappeared tomorrow, the renewables industry would be impacted. The fibreglass, resin or plastic necessary for the construction of most wind turbines, would disappear. The ethylene used in the production of solar panels would vanish. Most of the mining vehicles  ̶ large trucks, rotary drill rigs and rock drills  ̶ necessary to extract the critical minerals upon which the production of solar photovoltaic plants, wind farms and EVs depend, would become stationary.

If oil disappeared tomorrow, homes would be transformed beyond recognition. There is the possibility roofs would collapse, for example, if bitumen was a key product. Other materials used in insulating homes would disappear. If you relied on heating oil to keep warm, that would go. The linoleum flooring and tiling would be impacted. Painting the walls would be a challenge. Furniture, pillows, rugs, curtains, dishes, cups and non-stick pans all are likely to be made from petroleum-derived products too.

It would be a challenge to stay clean or keep homes clean, if oil disappeared tomorrow. Laundry detergent and dish detergents usually derive from petroleum-based products. Soap, toothpaste, hand-lotion, deodorant, shampoo, shaving cream, eyeglasses, contact lenses, combs, brushes; all normally contain petroleum-derived products.

It would be a struggle to get anywhere, as the asphalt that paves roads and footpaths would vanish.

If oil disappeared tomorrow, millions of jobs would be lost. Tax revenues would be depleted. Industrial production would crimp. Economic growth would go into reverse. The plight of the fuel poor would be worsened.

This is not even the full list of everything that would be impacted, in such an unthinkable scenario.

Yet, despite these realities, there are calls saying ‘Just stop oil,’ ‘Keep it in the ground,’ or ‘don’t invest in new oil and gas projects.’

Of course, everybody wants to see greenhouse gas emissions reduced. OPEC believes that technological solutions and efficiency improvements can play a vital role. The oil industry is already proactive in this regard.

We need to be cautious of endangering the present, in the name of saving the future. It is important we all fully understand the immense benefits that oil, and the petroleum products derived from it, continue to provide to people and nations across the world.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.