Day: April 12, 2023

Members of the Assembly of People’s Representatives meeting at plenary session Wednesday approved by 143 votes in favour and 2 against moving to the article-by-article vote of the draft rules of procedure of the Parliament. At the request of the Chair of the Rules Committee, the plenary session was adjourned in order to examine the amendments tabled by deputies (160 proposals). It is expected to reconvene on Thursday morning to start examining the various articles of the draft. Chair of the committee, Imed Ouled Jebril said the fact of tabling amendments is “a good thing in itself” because it reveals “a divergence of views” and shows that not all MPs are in full agreement with the content of the internal regulation. He added that the committee was open to all proposals for amendments to “improve” the text of the draft Rules of Procedure. Ouled Jebril noted that the proposals should concern the modification of certain articles or the deletion of paragraphs, and not the deletion of an article that had been discussed by all members of the committee. The Assembly of People’s Representatives on Tuesday started examining the draft Rules of Procedure of the Parliament in plenary session and adopted a draft decision laying down transitional provisions on the organisation of plenary sessions.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, Nabil Ammar, is making a working visit to Italy on April 12 and 13, at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani. This visit will be an opportunity to discuss ways of addressing the phenomenon of irregular migration in a comprehensive approach that will serve both countries’ economic interests and contribute to the promotion of regular and circular migration through increased investment, the development of inland regions and the creation of jobs for young people, reads a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will also be an opportunity to discuss ways of strengthening bilateral cooperation in all areas and to raise this cooperation to the level of a strategic and effective partnership at the service of the common interests of the two friendly peoples, the same source said. The visit will also make it possible to look at the prospects for Tunisian-Italian cooperation at Euro-Mediterranean level and within the European Union, and exchange views on regional and international issues of common interest.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Following the statement issued on Wednesday evening by the UNHCR in Tunisia on the background of the attempted storming by refugees, asylum seekers and migrants of its premises in Tunis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad has clarified the incident. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the department said that “the intervention of Tunisian security units was carried out in response to the request of the UNHCR representation, following the intrusion into its premises and the failure of several attempts to negotiate with the protesters. The ministry stressed the need to “highlight the truth about the facts, all the facts, and to hold positions consistent with the purpose of the requests made by the UNHCR representative during his meetings with the Tunisian official authorities. The objective is, according to the department, to inform public opinion objectively about the facts and the background of these incidents. On Tuesday evening, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was deeply concerned about the violent demonstrations at its headquarters in Tunis, calling for “dialogue and de-escalation”. The UNHCR said its staff “were not present at the scene, as protesters blocked access points to the UNHCR offices,” adding that “the UNHCR has received reports of numerous arrests among the protesters. For its part, the Ministry of the Interior issued a statement on Wednesday evening in which it put forward its version of events. According to the ministry, on April 11, 2023, the legal representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) went to the headquarters of the police station on the berges du lac to lodge a complaint against sub-Saharan migrants who had tried to storm its headquarters and premises. According to the UNHCR legal representative, the attackers were armed with stones, clubs, iron bars and gas bottles and caused significant material damage, including the destruction of UNHCR equipment and the removal of three iron doors. According to the legal representative, quoted in the Interior Department’s press release, the demonstrators tore down the barbed wire fencing around the Office’s headquarters and intimidated and threatened UNHCR staff, preventing some of them from accessing their offices. As soon as they were informed, the police went to the scene, in coordination with the prosecutor’s office. Nevertheless, the demonstrators continued to throw stones and solid objects at the police officers, causing damage to private homes and nearby businesses as well as to administrative and private vehicles, injuring several more security officers. As a result of these incidents, the department added, the public prosecutor’s office at the Tunis I court of first instance ordered the opening of an investigation for attempted intrusion and destruction of a diplomatic establishment and for serious violence against a public official in the exercise of his duties, and the attack on the property of others. In view of these charges, the prosecutor’s office decided to keep the group of protesters involved in these incidents in detention. That attempts to attack and break into the UNHCR headquarters have increased recently, and although negotiations were conducted with the protesters by the security forces to appease them, the protesters’ reaction was often violent, culminating in today’s incident. Settled in the vicinity of the UNHCR premises on the banks of the lake in Tunis, “these sub-Saharan African nationals are mostly seeking evacuation to third countries”. They were “on edge after the UNHCR suspended the examination of their files”, according to witnesses quoted by foreign media. On April 3, 2023, UNHCR in Tunisia said on its Facebook page that it had stopped “all registration and pre-registration activities from March 31 to April 17 due to a migration of the registration and identity system. A “temporary” suspension that concerns “all UNHCR operations worldwide,” according to UNHCR.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday began a nostalgia-filled tour of the Republic of Ireland, jetting in from Northern Ireland where he pushed for an end to crippling political paralysis in the British province.

Biden emerged from Air Force One at Dublin airport to driving wind and rain, and was greeted by the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar and a sea of black umbrellas.

The 80-year-old president, who regularly mentions his Irish roots, calls Ireland “part of my soul” and his visit includes trips to the hometowns of his 19th-century ancestors.

He will also meet Irish head of state Michael Higgins and address a joint sitting of both houses of the Oireachtas — the Irish parliament — before heading home late Friday.

Despite the sentimental nature of his Irish visit, Biden was keen to underscore the seriousness of his trip.

The priority, he said, was “to keep the peace” in Northern Ireland, 25 years after a landmark peace agreement that ended three decades of deadly sectarian violence over British rule.

He used a speech at a new campus of Ulster University in Belfast earlier on Wednesday to promote the benefits of enduring peace and investment.

But he still faced heated criticism from pro-UK hardliners.

The UK government also downplayed suggestions his one-night-only trip to Belfast was a snub to the so-called “special relationship”.

“I hope the (Northern Ireland) Executive and Assembly will soon be restored,” Biden said, urging feuding leaders to restore power-sharing government which has been suspended since February last year.

– ‘Anti-British?’ –

Biden touted the “unlimited possibilities” for investment and growth offered in Northern Ireland, 25 years on from the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

But, he said, peace and stability must always be guarded, warning that the January 6, 2021, riot at Congress in Washington had proved that in every generation, “democracy needs champions”.

The president met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said the UK’s relationship with the United States was “in great shape” and greeted local political leaders.

Senior figures in the pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is under pressure to resume local power-sharing, were strikingly undiplomatic about the president.

Sammy Wilson, a DUP member of the UK parliament in Westminster, branded Biden “anti-British”, accusing second Catholic US president of having “made his antipathy towards Protestants in particular very well known”.

Another DUP lawmaker, Nigel Dodds, called Biden’s administration “transparently pro-nationalist” while party leader Jeffrey Donaldson said the visit did nothing to change the political dynamic.

Power-sharing government is a key plank of the 1998 peace accord, but it collapsed 14 months ago over the DUP’s opposition to post-Brexit trade arrangements in Northern Ireland.

The party fears that keeping Northern Ireland in the European single market and customs union drives a wedge between the province and Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

Despite the UK and the European Union agreeing to overhaul trading rules earlier this year, the DUP is yet to back the new trading terms and allow the restoration of Belfast’s Stormont legislature.

– Security fears –

Biden’s defenders hit back at claims he was “anti-British”.

“The president has been very actively engaged throughout his career, dating back to when he was a senator, in the peace process in Northern Ireland,” said Amanda Sloat, National Security Council Senior Director for Europe.

Sectarian violence remains a concern north of the border, with Britain’s MI5 security agency elevating its terrorism threat level for the territory ahead of Biden’s visit.

On Monday, masked youths pelted police vehicles with petrol bombs during an illegal march by hardline nationalists in Londonderry, which is also known as Derry.

Police in Northern Ireland on Tuesday said that four suspected pipe bombs had been retrieved from a cemetery in the Creggan area of the city.

Biden brushed off any security concerns and saw up close how much redevelopment has transformed Belfast since 1998.

The five-star hotel in Belfast where he stayed only opened in 2018.

Before 1998, the only place for visiting dignitaries to stay was the nearby Europa, which was attacked so often by the Irish Republican Army paramilitary group that it became known as the most bombed hotel in Europe.

“I came here in ’91 to this neighbourhood and you couldn’t have a glass building like this here… I don’t think they would have stood up very well,” Biden said of the new university campus.

“The dividends of peace are all around us.”

Source: Seychelles News Agency

From a country where athletics faces an uphill battle with football in the popularity stakes, Dodin is in a race against time to boost his speed in a bid to qualify for the World Championships in Budapest in August and the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The remote Indian Ocean archipelago, which has a population of only around 100,000, has never come close to winning a medal at either Olympic or world level.

Dodin, a 100 and 200 metres specialist, is now in training in Kenya with the country’s sprint sensation Ferdinand Omanyala to hone his skills for the upcoming outdoor season.

Both men will line up for their first competitive outdoor meet of the year at the Athletics Grand Prix in Pretoria on Wednesday, the same event where 24-year-old Dodin set his personal best of 10.47sec.

That, however, came way back in March 2018 and is leagues away from the current African record of 9.77sec run by Omanyala in September 2021.

But the Seychellois says the tough training regime with the Kenyan and former South African 100m champion Henricho Bruintjies is already bringing out the best in him.

“When I got here in Kenya the first week, it was really, really hard to keep up with these guys because every day is fast training,” said Dodin.

“It’s really good to run with them because they’re always pushing hard to achieve their goals, and they help me better myself.”

Dodin has represented Seychelles in the Indian Ocean Islands games, the Francophone games and the African junior championships.

– ‘Main target’ –

He said he hopes to qualify for both the 100m and 200m at the World Championships.

But it has been made much harder for the likes of Dodin to make the cut, with World Athletics raising the bar for both events at the World Championships.

The qualifying time in the 100m is now a tough 10.00 and for the 200m it is 20.16, with a deadline of July 30. A large percentage of lesser sprinters, however, are expected to qualify outside those times through the world ranking system.

“It is the main target for every athlete to make it to the World Championships,” says Dodin, a trained mechanic.

“The work I am putting in should help me get there. That’s my main target this year.”

His sole international podium to date is an African under-20 championship bronze, which was also the country’s first sprint medal at the continental level.

The youngest of six siblings, Dodin used to play football, the number one sport in the island nation better known for its idyllic beaches.

He only decided to make a career in athletics at the age of 15 after being inspired by Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt.

Dodin said there was great potential in athletics in Seychelles but it was hampered by a lack of serious training.

“The people on the island love a lot of leisure and the talented ones don’t like to put in lots of hard training to become successful.”

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Deputy President’s Wife, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi has called for use of ICT in creating awareness and acceptance of autism. Autism, she observed, has been a burden to families with affected children saying there is a need for creating awareness and helping the families to accept and seek help in reverting the condition. Mrs. Rigathi noted that embracing use of ICT will help in gaining awareness and acceptance of autism thus helping parents to seek medical assistance for their children early enough. Use of digital tools, she added, will help to communicate issues affecting children with autism and assist in innovation and development of assistive devices to better their lives and living conditions. She said autism is not a disease but a condition which can be managed, noting that parents with children with autism have a set of unique challenges. Mrs Rigathi who spoke at Kirwara Heath Centre in Murang’a during celebrations to mark World’s Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month stated the condition when detected early can be rectified. ‘A big challenge with autism is late detection of the condition which affects acceptance by the parents and the community. With awareness, a parent may know and take children for screening early. When the condition is detected early, the child will be assisted,’ she added. She called for partnership between the government, county governments among other actors to intervene and help children with autism and those with disabilities. ‘It’s a big burden for parents to take care of a child with autism or disability. This needs assistance from the government among other organizations,’ she further said. Mrs Rigathi further said the needs of persons living with disabilities are not adequately addressed in the country. Facilities to assist those with disabilities, she observed, are missing in public places and vehicles. ‘There is a big gap in providing the needs of those with disabilities. Most buildings and public vehicles lack the necessities needed to help those physically challenged and my office will continue to work with the government in addressing the plight of those disabled,’ remarked Mrs. Rigathi. During the occasion, she launched a physiotherapy centre that was built and equipped by the county government of Murang’a in partnership with Nutrition International. Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata said the centre will help in managing children with autism and those with disabilities from the county. ‘The physiotherapy centre will help in managing and treating children with autism and those with disabilities. The centre is well equipped with modern facilities and will go a long way in assisting people from this county,’ said Kang’ata. He urged parents not to hide children with autism and those disabled but instead take them for medical checkup saying the services in the centre will be free of any charge.

Source: Kenya News Agency