The three-day workshop, held from 15 to 17 May 2024 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, was organised by the ECOWAS Centre for Gender and Development (ECGD). It brought together experts from ECOWAS, COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), EAC (East African Community), women users of the 50MAWSP platform and partners such as the Spanish Cooperation, the African Development Bank (AfDB), USAID West Africa and the UN Women Office for West and Central Africa.

The workshop was officially opened by the Director of Cabinet of the Minister in charge of Regional Integration and Ivorians Living Abroad, in the presence of the Director of the ECGD, who gave the keynote address on behalf of Professor Fatou SOW SARR, ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs. Other speakers at the opening ceremony included the Representative of the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to Côte d’Ivoire, the AfDB Representative, the COMESA Gender Director and the Director of Cabinet of the Côte d’Ivoire Minister for Social Affairs, Women and Children.

The aim of the workshop was to validate the new functionalities proposed to revive the 50MAWSP platform, such as improving the user interface and user experience, improving the platform’s content and promotion, improving the platform’s networking functions and improving the platform’s analysis functions. The workshop also focused on studying and validating the terms of reference for the recruitment of a firm to evaluate the first phase of the 50MAWSP digital networking platform project and to identify ways of making the platform autonomous and self-financing during the second phase of the project.

At the end of the three-day workshop, the three implementing partner RECs of the 50MAWSP project signed the Workshop Outcome Declaration, which summarises the agreements between RECs for the next steps in the implementation of the project.

For reference, the 50MAWSP digital platform, launched in November 2019 and covering data collection in 38 African countries, is dedicated to supporting the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Africa. Its main objective is to meet the need for financial and non-financial information to facilitate the growth and success of women in business.

The 3-day workshop ended with participants expressing their satisfaction. The closing ceremony of the meeting was attended by the representative of USAID, the US development agency, who reiterated that his institution is always ready to support the development of women throughout Africa.

Other speakers at the ceremony included the UN-WOMEN Representative, the EAC Senior Gender Programme Officer, the COMESA Director of Gender and Social Affairs, and the Representative of the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Côte d’Ivoire.

The workshop was officially closed by the Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Gender Development, Ms Sandra OULATE FATTOH, on behalf of Commissioner Fatou SOW SARR.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) has arrived in South Africa ahead of the 29 May 2024 General Elections. At the invitation of the Government of South Africa and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, approved the deployment of the short-term AUEOM to assess and report on the conduct of this election.

The AUEOM is led by H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, former President of the Republic of Kenya and is comprised of 60 short-term observers (STOs) drawn from ambassadors accredited to the African Union, officials of election management bodies, members of African civil society organisations, African election experts, human rights specialists, gender and media experts, and representatives of youth organizations. The observers are drawn from 24 countries which include Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The AUEOM will base its assessment on the legal framework governing elections in the Republic of South Africa and the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections, the standards and obligations stipulated in the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), and the International Declaration of Principles (DoP) for International Election Observation among others.

The Mission shall interact with state authorities, the Independent Electoral Commission, political parties, the media, civil society organisations and representatives of the international community. The Mission will also interact with other election observation missions deployed to observe the 2024 General Elections in South Africa.

The Mission will release its preliminary findings and recommendations on the conduct of the elections on 31 May 2024 in a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.  A final and comprehensive report will be released within two months from the date of announcement of final election results and will be posted on the AU Commission website.

The Mission’s Secretariat is located at the Hilton Hotel, Sandton, South Africa.  

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Union (AU).

Oil and gas supermajor TotalEnergies has announced that it will invest $600 million to strengthen exploration and production activities in the Republic of Congo in 2024. The investment will be used to finance exploration and maintain production in the country’s deep offshore Moho Nord field, which accounts for approximately half of all Congolese oil production, or roughly 140,000 barrels per day (bpd).

As the voice of the African energy sector, the African Energy Chamber (AEC) commends the commitment by TotalEnergies to Congo’s oil and gas future. The $600 million investment signals a strong intent by the IOC to develop and monetize Congolese hydrocarbons for the benefit of the country and will unlock a wave of economic opportunities for the broader region.  

The TotalEnergies-operated Moho Nord field brings together four reservoirs that extend over 320km2 in water depths of 750m to 1,200m. As such, TotalEnergies’ commitment to the Republic of Congo’s oil production is poised to ensure additional production of 40,000 bpd, adding to the country’s current levels of 267,000 bpd. TotalEnergies also operates the deep offshore Marine XX permit, which extends over an area of 3,285.8km2 at water depths of up to 2,000m. Two drilling rigs arrived at the permit this month, with TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné expressing his optimism that the field will yield a discovery before the end of the year.

In April this year, TotalEnergies signed an agreement – through its subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Congo – to acquire a 10% stake in the Moho permit from oil and gas company Trident Energy. Following the completion of this transaction, TotalEnergies will hold an operational stake in the permit with 63.5%, alongside Trident Energy, which will retain a 21.5% share, and the Republic of Congo’s national oil company Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC), which will hold a share of 15%.

“The $600 million investment by TotalEnergies shows that the IOC is in the Republic of Congo to stay. Congo’s oil and gas can play a much greater role in alleviating energy poverty and driving industrialization in Africa, and partnerships with companies to the likes of TotalEnergies will be instrumental in achieving these objectives. We look forward to witnessing new discoveries being made in the coming months,” stated NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the AEC.

In addition to TotalEnergies’ investment plan, the Republic of Congo is set to benefit from a new strategic partnership with Algeria in the field of hydrocarbons and energy. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Algeria’s Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab and the Republic of Congo’s Minister of Hydrocarbons Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua on May 21 to enable the development of a new roadmap for bilateral relations between the two countries.

The agreement will also facilitate the sharing of expertise between Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach and the SNPC headed by Raoul Ominga in the field of downstream oil. The two countries have also expressed their optimism and support to the development of an African Energy Bank to focus investment in oil and gas projects across the continent.

These major developments come after the confirmation of the formation of a new Gas Master Plan in the country by the Republic of Congo’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons during the Invest in African Energy 2024 summit in Paris this month. Currently in its final stages, the new plan will provide a framework that incentivizes the development of the national gas sector while serving as a roadmap to harnessing gas resources for domestic consumption and export. This represents a major opportunity for regional and international investors and will promote gas utilization while reducing the country’s dependence on crude oil revenue. The new Gas Master Plan is being developed by SNPC with support from energy intelligence firm Wood Mackenzie. SNPC CEO Raoul Ominga has been working closely with the Ministry to get final approval. This will open the door for a lot of investment in the gas sector in Congo.

In addition to the Republic of Congo’s established fields, the plan opens the door to negotiate existing contracts and is set to culminate in the establishment of a new gas code in the country. The new code is poised to facilitate the commercialization of stranded assets and flared natural gas while allowing the government to make changes to current fiscal terms and make small-scale projects more economically viable. Approval by parliament for the new code is expected by June this year, according to Minister Itoua.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

Palestinian children who fled to Egypt from the war in Gaza are haunted by the horrors they experienced and are struggling with nightmares, anger, bedwetting and anxiety, with Save the Children calling for an urgent increase in mental health and psychosocial support. 

Since the war started in Gaza on 7 October more than 60,000 Palestinians, including over 5,500 medical evacuees, have crossed the border into Egypt seeking refuge and healthcare. 

In the past three months, Save the Children has received more than 500 requests from Palestinians in Egypt for mental health and psychosocial support. Almost 90% of these requests were for children, with parents concerned that their children are still triggered by loud noises, cannot sleep or even go to the toilet alone or are withdrawn and not showing any signs of emotion.  

Prolonged exposure to war and uncertainty can cause a state of ‘toxic shock’ but children in conflict show remarkable resilience and can recover with appropriate assistance such as mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), child friendly spaces where they can play,  and education programmes.   

Waleed*, 66,  from Gaza,  now lives with his wife and five of their children in Cairo. His children have lost cousins and other loved ones in the war and their mother says they were always asking who was going to be the first one of them to die.  

 Waleed said although he’s tried to help his children, they still need more support to recover:  

“[The war has] impacted my children’s mental health. While they were fleeing and being displaced, it was so dangerous, and there were many threats to their lives and a lot of bombs, which made our children anxious and afraid. When they came to Egypt, they were in a very bad state and needed psychological support and I tried to help them out. But it’s really hard.  

“Here in Egypt the children in the street play with fireworks, and when my children hear the fireworks, it makes them feel afraid and freak out when they hear the sounds. It triggers them. There are sounds of planes around here and when they hear the plane, they freeze.” 

Heba*, 28, lives in an apartment in Cairo with her husband and three children Rami* (7), Sana* (10) and Samira* (12), who were all severely injured in an airstrike in Gaza. 

Heba* says her son Rami, who suffered injuries to his head as well as his leg, is now scared of everything: 

“Rami was actually known for always being really brave and he always used to comfort the family. But ever since he got injured, he’s turned into a child who fears any noise, the darkness, he can’t go to the bathroom alone and he can’t be alone. 

“Ever since the war, the girls have had higher heart rates and are scared and think death is just around the corner. Even when we were driving from the border to Cairo… Samira experienced nightmares and she woke up thinking that we were dead and that everything had been destroyed.”  

The closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt has completely halted medical evacuation of patients since 7 May. About 600 patients scheduled to be evacuated are currently unable to move. Between October 2023 and 18 May, there has been 12,760 requests for medical evacuations to Egypt and other countries. 

Laila Toema, a psychologist and Save the Children Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Technical Advisor in Egypt, said:  

“Children from Gaza have suffered unimaginable mental harm from the violence, serious physical injuries, including the loss of body parts, and the loss of families, homes, and their schools. They are also tortured by the uncertainty of not knowing where their loved ones in Gaza are and what will happen to them. Living under this kind of stress for so long is enough to destroy anyone’s health, both physical and mental. 

“Despite what they have experienced, children are resilient, and we know from experience in Egypt and in many other countries around the world that they can recover when we provide them with support to access medical assistance to treat their physical injuries, and help to regain a sense of stability, normalcy and safety. Save the Children is calling for an urgent increase of international support to address the short and long-term needs for displaced Palestinian children in Egypt, especially for mental health and psychosocial support services.”

”In Gaza, children continue to be maimed and suffer physical injuries, with little option for medical care or treatment, and their mental health is being pushed beyond breaking point. It’s estimated that more than 1 million children are in desperate need of mental health services. We call for an immediate ceasefire to save children’s lives and future.” 

Save the Children is working with Egyptian authorities to provide essential services for displaced Palestinians including cash assistance, support to cover medical costs and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). The MHPSS activities include group and one-on-one counselling for children and their caregivers, training Palestinians in Egypt to provide community-based psychosocial support to newly arrived Palestinians from Gaza and providing MHPSS training to Egyptian ambulance staff so they can better support child medical evacuees.  

Save the Children is also supporting the health authorities, including ambulances and public hospitals receiving medical evacuees from Gaza, through providing baby incubators and other essential medical supplies and equipment. It is also preparing to train frontline health workers on responding to paediatric blast injuries and mass casualties. Save the Children’s Gaza response in Egypt is done through partnering with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and with the support of Community Jameel and the Canadian Humanitarian Coalition Fund. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.