Liberian Foreign Minister, H.E. Sara Beysolow Nyanti, extended a warm welcome to the newly accredited Ambassador-designate of the United States of America to Liberia, Mr. Mark Toner, on behalf of His Excellency President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., and the government and people of Liberia. During the ceremony, Minister Nyanti praised the United States for its continuous bilateral assistance to Liberia. She expressed gratitude for the ongoing support provided by the US to the Liberian government and its citizens.

The event took place on Monday, August 5, 2024, as part of the diplomatic protocol ahead of his formal presentation of letter of credence to His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., President of the Republic of Liberia. In her remarks, Foreign Minister Nyanti conveyed the sincere appreciation and best wishes of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., to Ambassador-designate Toner. She acknowledged the significant role the United States has played in Liberia’s crisis management, stability, and the sustenance of peace and harmony in the sub-region.

Foreign Minister Nyanti and Ambassador-designate Toner engaged in a nearly hour-long discussion covering bilateral, multilateral, and global issues. Their talks focused on further strengthening the longstanding relations between the United States and Liberia and enhancing cooperation at the United Nations and other international bodies. Key topics included human rights, terrorism, climate change, democracy, corruption, and good governance.

Foreign Minister Nyanti assured Ambassador-designate Toner of her Ministry’s commitment to supporting his mission in Liberia, aiming to make his tenure fruitful and rewarding. Both officials pledged to work closely to realize the shared values and principles of the United States and Liberia, benefiting both nations and contributing to global peace and development. Ambassador-designate Toner expressed his appreciation for the warm reception from Minister Nyanti and reaffirmed the United States’ determination to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation with Liberia, particularly in trade and other areas aimed at enhancing relations.

The meeting concluded with mutual expressions of thanks and appreciation, setting a positive tone for the future collaboration between the United States and Liberia.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Liberia.

Indonesian Ambassador to Sudan Sunarko on Monday (5/8) visited and met with Sudanese Minister of Health Dr. Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim and his staff at the Office of the Minister of Health in Port Sudan.

In the meeting, Ambassador Sunarko directly conveyed an invitation from the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Sudanese Minister of Health to participate in the 2nd Indonesia Africa Forum (IAF) and as a speaker at a panel discussion on the theme of health.

In addition, the Indonesian Ambassador also informed about the trade exhibition activities on the sidelines of the 2nd IAF. For this reason, there are opportunities for entrepreneurs or importers of medicines, fashion, cosmetics and medical devices from Sudan who participated in the 2nd IAF.

On that occasion, Sudanese Minister of Health Dr. Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim expressed his gratitude for the visit of the Indonesian Ambassador in improving bilateral relations between Indonesia and Sudan, especially in the health sector.

Minister of Health Haitham welcomed the invitation of the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs to participate in the 2nd IAF, which is an important forum within the framework of cooperation between Indonesia and African countries. The Minister of Health expressed his readiness to attend with the Sudanese delegation and participate in the 2nd IAF in Bali.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Khartoum, Sudan.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) have approved a loan of US $26.55 million to Togo to implement the second phase of the Agro-Food Processing Zone Project.

The aim is to provide the country with an industrial hub for processing agricultural products and establish a business zone to offer opportunities to young people and women in the Kara and Savanes regions, in the north and far north of the country, respectively.

The project, approved in Abidjan on 19 July 2024, will also help to attract a significant level of private investment into key agricultural sectors, such as rice, maize, soya, sesame, cashew nuts and broiler chickens.

The funds come from the Transition Support Facility, an African Development Bank Group mechanism aimed at countries in transition, and will support investments that encourage inclusive agricultural growth that creates jobs and reduces food imports into the small West African country located on the  Atlantic Ocean.

“As well as consolidating the achievements of the first phase of the project, it was essential to support the structure of the Togo Agro-Food Processing Zone Project (Togo Agropole) with a second phase. This will focus on the construction and operationalization of the agro-industrial park (the central hub), including building a network of infrastructure (various roads and networks, administrative buildings, electrification, water and fibre optics) to create the right conditions for establishing private businesses,” said Wilfrid Abiola, the African Development Bank’s Country Manager in Togo.

Among others, the project will support the creation and operationalization of the company that will manage the agro-park and the construction of an agro-industrial park in Broukou (in Doufelgou prefecture, in the north of the country) by opening roads, developing electricity and street lighting networks, and building an administrative, financial, civil protection and access control centre.

The project will also fund the purchase of small agricultural equipment for vegetable-growing plots, particularly for women. The plan is also to build the capacity of agricultural producers, including women, in production, processing, storage and marketing to help them find markets and sell agricultural products. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Media contact:
Alexis Adélé,
Communication and External Relations Department, 
media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is the premier multilateral financing institution dedicated to Africa’s development. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NSF). The AfDB has a field presence in 41 African countries, with an external office in Japan, and contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org

A new survey carried out by Epicentre, Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) epidemiological and medical research arm, among displaced people in four camps around Goma in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), shows alarming rates of violence, particularly sexual violence, continuing daily in and around the camps. More than one in 10 young women report having been raped in the period covered by the survey, November 2023 – April 2024. MSF renews our appeal to the authorities and aid agencies to guarantee the protection of displaced people, and to respond adequately to the epidemic of violence.

Conducted among households of displaced people living in four camps, in total housing more than 200,000 people, to the west of the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, this survey follows on from the one carried out by Epicentre in 2023. Led in collaboration with the authorities in the health zones concerned, the survey was conducted in April 2024. While it examines a number of themes (retrospective mortality, frequency and type of violent events suffered by displaced people, measles vaccination coverage, and nutrition status of children aged between 6 and 59 months), it especially reveals that the overall frequency of violence is still high in these camps.

The main form of violence people report remains sexual violence. Physical and psychological violence are also frequently reported. Among adult women aged between 20 and 44, more than 10% said they had been raped in the five months preceding the survey, including more than 17% in some camps. The incidence of sexual violence was also high among teenage girls (more than 4% of teenage girls aged 13 to 19 on average) and women aged over 45.

“The percentage of displaced people reporting episodes of violence during the survey period is similar to that in 2023,” says Erica Simons, epidemiologist at Epicentre. “We continue to observe a very high rate of reported cases of violence among the population in the four camps, particularly sexual violence.”

“Living conditions in displaced people’s sites remain extremely precarious. By fleeing the conflict in North Kivu, hundreds of thousands of displaced people have lost their usual means of subsistence,” continues Simons. “They no longer have access to the fields they used to cultivate and are dependent on irregular and inadequate food aid, while they continue to suffer daily violence linked to the ongoing conflict.”

MSF teams are present in most of the camps, providing general healthcare, health promotion, treatment for malnutrition, and care for victims and survivors of sexual violence. Every day, our teams witness the acute vulnerability of women, children and adolescents, while Goma is now surrounded by front lines, protection mechanisms in the camps are rare, and the socio-economic insecurity of displaced people is increasing. ​

“The results of this survey are consistent with the extremely high number of cases of sexual violence treated by MSF’s medical teams in the various displaced people’s sites around Goma,” says Camille Niel, MSF’s emergency coordinator in Goma. “Once again this year, victims and survivors of sexual violence report being attacked by men, often armed, in the forests and fields where they have to go to collect firewood or the food they need to feed their families.”

“They also report numerous incidents of violence committed on a daily basis inside the camps,” says Niel. “Their precarious situation, and that of their makeshift shelters, make them particularly vulnerable to this type of violence.”

Although the systemic nature of the violence is known and documented, our teams note that it continues, leaving the patients we treat medically and psychologically at very high risk of attack again once they leave our clinics. ​

MSF reiterates our requests to the authorities to guarantee the security of displaced people’s sites. To protect women and children in particular, MSF also calls again on aid agencies to step up food assistance, access to income-generating activities and safe shelters on the sites, and to support accommodation and shelter for victims and survivors of sexual violence in serious danger of being attacked again.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Médecins sans frontières (MSF).