Thirty-two Africa Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers have concluded training on Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) held in Mogadishu, Somalia, which was facilitated by the United Kingdom Mission Support Team (UKMST) and the United Nations Field Technology Services.
The five-day training honed the soldiers’ skills in intelligence gathering and processing, surveillance and reconnaissance. It was also an opportunity to transfer skills to the Somali Security Forces, as they prepare to take full responsibility of Somalia’s security.
“I am pleased that we had so many SNA soldiers and officers on this course,” said ATMIS Deputy Force Commander in charge of Support and Logistics, Maj Gen. Gerbi Kebede Regassa.
ATMIS, SNA soldiers conclude training on enhanced military operations
Cross border collaboration to advance human development
By Rotarian Ephrem Berhanu
The Rotary district 9212, 97th convention and assembly (DCA) held in Diani, Mombasa, Kenya from May 12-15, 2022, that brought over 600 participants from the four countries in the district, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, and South Sudan come to an end this past weekend. We have witnessed the swearing in ceremony of the first Ethiopian women to assume the role of the district governorship for the year 2022-23 from the current district governor Alex Nyaga from Kenya. District 9212 is one of the more than 500 districts in the world today. The district governor will have a role in supporting Rotary, Rotaract and Interact clubs.
Azeb Asrat, the new governor elect will be brining over 28 years of experiences in various high-profile posts in the UN. She is from the Rotary Club of Addis Abeba West. Here theme “Let’s March Together” emboldened with the view to stress on the importance of leave no one behind.
The 98th DCA is going to be held in Addis Abeba from 11-14 May 2023. 700 participants are expected to attend it and registration has already started. An organizing team has been established and start working to make it successful. It gives an opportunity to showcase the number of service projects implemented by Rotary clubs in Ethiopia more so in Addis Abeba and its environ. It will help create connections to develop more partnership and collaboration to do more service projects that will benefits our community.
It is astonishing to see how powerful a vision of a one man is, Paul Harris an attorney from Chicago who inspired the Rotary movement around the world by establishing the first club in his hometown Chicago on 23 February 1905. Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and like-minded problem-solvers who aim to create positive and lasting change in their communities and themselves.
Rotary is where members, friends, and problem solvers share ideas take action to create lasting change. With more than 15,000 clubs in more than 145 countries, it connects leaders beyond borders, from Brazil to South Africa, from India to Unites States bringing together for the advancement of humanity.
“Service above self” is the motto of Rotary International which signifies the belief that Rotarians would put their duty to help others before their own needs. The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worth enterprise. Eradicating Polio is one of its singular and successful contribution, where Polio is endemic in only two countries down from 125 in 1988. Rotary International has seven areas of focus which includes, peace and conflict prevention, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, economic and community development, and environment.
There is an African saying “if you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito”.
Paul Harris is a great testament for one can take a great lesson to not afraid to dream big and set ambitious goals!
Platforms of this kind will have a positive contribution for the effort the African Union commission and its member states are making to create an African free trade area and encourage free movements of people and goods and services across the African region. To grow doing business between neighboring countries, Rotary is already connecting people cross boarder!
A renegotiation of current multilateral system needed to boost Africa’s recovery and growth
President Macky Sall of Senegal has called on Africa’s development partners to agree to a renegotiation of the terms of the current multilateral system in light of shocks dealt to the global economy by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
President Sall, also Chairperson of the African Union, made the call at the opening of the High-Level Ministerial Dialogue at the 54th Session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (CoM 2022) in Dakar, Senegal. The question at the heart of the dialogue was: “Can the development ambition of billions to trillions be achieved?”.
It was attended by African ministers, dignitaries from the private sector in Africa and other parts of the world, as well as experts from the UN system and other global institutions.
The President said, “No sooner had we begun to recover from the constraints of COVID than the war in Ukraine came. Although the war affects the globe, it has unique consequences for Africa. We are now forced as a continent to speak up and call for changes in the global system. Thankfully, these days, everybody seems to concur that the international system needs restructuring”.
Equity Group, IFC to support climate-smart projects
Equity Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have signed a partnership agreement in support of the sustainable development of Africa through supporting micro, small and medium sized businesses (MSMEs) from all sectors of the economy including climate-smart businesses.
The partnership has seen IFC and its partners including the Dutch Development Bank (FMO), British International Investment (BII) and Symbiotics, ResponsAbIility from Switzerland commit USD 165 million towards Equity’s `Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan’ that will see the Group, through its regional banking subsidiaries, finance at least 5 million MSMEs and 25 million households therefore creating 50 million direct and indirect jobs.
The credit facility of USD 165 million includes USD 50 million from IFC, USD 50 million from British International Investment (BII) and USD 65 million from Symbiotic, Responsibility and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank and a long-time shareholder in Equity through Arise Investments.
