The UN’s weather and climate body outlines ‘chronicle of climate chaos’ as COP27 talks get under way in Egypt.
The past eight years are on track to be the hottest ever recorded, a United Nations report has found, as UN chief Antonio Guterres warned that the planet was sending “a distress signal”.
The UN’s weather and climate body released its annual state of the global climate report on Sunday with another warning that the target to limit temperature increases to 1.5C (2.7F) was “barely within reach”.
The acceleration of heat waves, glacier melts and torrential rains has led to a rise in natural disasters, the World Meteorological Organization said as the UN’s COP27 climate summit opened in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
“As COP27 gets under way, our planet is sending a distress signal,” said Guterres, who described the report as “a chronicle of climate chaos”.
Representatives from nearly 200 states gathered in Egypt will discuss how to keep the rise in temperatures to 1.5C, as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a goal some scientists say is now unattainable.
Earth has warmed more than 1.1C since the late 19th century with roughly half of that increase occurring in the past 30 years, the report showed.
This year is on track to be the fifth or sixth warmest ever recorded despite the impact since 2020 of La Nina, a periodic and naturally occurring phenomenon in the Pacific that cools the atmosphere.
“All the climatic indications are negative,” World Meteorological Organization head Petteri Taalas told Al Jazeera from Sharm el-Sheikh. “We have broken records in main greenhouse gas concentrations, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide [levels].”
“I think the combination of the facts that we are bringing to the table and the fact that we have started seeing impacts of climate change worldwide … are wake-up calls, and that’s why we have this climate conference,” he said.
Surface water in the ocean hit record high temperatures in 2021 after warming especially fast during the past 20 years. Surface water is responsible for soaking up more than 90 percent of accumulated heat from human carbon emissions.
The report warned that more than 50 percent of the ocean surface experienced at least one marine heatwave in 2022.
Sea level rise has also doubled in the past 30 years as ice sheets and glaciers melted at a fast pace. The phenomenon threatens tens of millions of people living in low-lying coastal areas.
“The messages in this report could barely be bleaker,” said Mike Meredith, science leader at the British Antarctic Survey.
In March and April, a heatwave in South Asia was followed by floods in Pakistan, which left a third of the country underwater. At least 1,700 people died, and eight million were displaced.
In East Africa, rainfall has been below average in four consecutive wet seasons, the longest in 40 years, with 2022 set to deepen the drought.
China saw the longest and most intense heatwave on record and the second-driest summer. Similarly in Europe, repeated bouts of high temperatures caused many deaths.
‘Loss and damage’ talks
The UN warning was made as delegates at the summit agreed to hold discussions on compensation by rich nations to poorer ones most likely to be affected by climate change.
“This creates for the first time an institutionally stable space on the formal agenda of COP and the Paris Agreement to discuss the pressing issue of funding arrangements needed to deal with existing gaps, responding to loss and damage,” COP27 President Sameh Shoukry told the opening session.
Poorer nations least responsible for climate-warming emissions but most vulnerable to its impacts are suffering the most and are, therefore, asking for what has also been called “climate reparations”.
This item, added to the agenda in Egypt on Sunday, is expected to cause tension. At COP26 last year in Glasgow, high-income nations blocked a proposal for a loss and damage financing body and instead supported three years of funding discussions.
The loss and damage discussions now on the agenda at COP27 will not involve liability or binding compensation but they are intended to lead to a conclusive decision “no later than 2024”, Shoukry said.
The fight against climate change can become “a global mission for new jobs and clean growth”, Rishi Sunak will tell world leaders at the COP27 summit.
The prime minister will also say it is essential nations stick to commitments made at COP26 in Glasgow a year ago.
The UN’s climate change chief said a key aim to limit global temperature rises is “still within reach”.
Mr Sunak is making his first outing on the international stage in Egypt after becoming UK PM last month.
He arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday night and will join other world leaders at the UN summit, including US President Joe Biden and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Sunak will unveil more than £200m funding to protect forests and for green technologies in developing nations.
He reversed a decision not to attend COP27 earlier this week after a backlash from opposition MPs and campaigners. He initially declined the invite as he said he was too busy preparing the November budget.
In his opening address on Monday, Mr Sunak will urge global leaders to “move further and faster” to avoid the worst impact of climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
He will say Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “reinforced” the importance of ending dependence on fossil fuels, but will argue the move can give a boost to new green industries.
“The world came together in Glasgow with one last chance to create a plan that would limit global temperature rises to 1.5C. The question today is: can we summon the collective will to deliver on those promises?” he will say.
“By honouring the pledges we made in Glasgow, we can turn our struggle against climate change into a global mission for new jobs and clean growth. And we can bequeath our children a greener planet and a more prosperous future.”
Mr Sunak will also meet French President Mr Macron at the conference, where the topic of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats is likely to be raised. The prime minister has said reducing the number of crossings is a “key priority”.
Downing Street said Mr Sunak will announce a further £65.5m for the clean energy innovation facility which provides grants to researchers and scientists in developing countries working on clean technologies – from biomass-powered refrigeration in India to lithium-ion batteries in Nigeria.
It said the UK will also commit £90m for conservation in the Congo Basin rainforest, and £65m to support indigenous and local communities.
But Labour’s Ed Miliband said Mr Sunak “had to be dragged kicking and screaming” to go to the summit and it was “implausible for him to claim the mantle of climate leadership”.
The shadow climate change secretary said the government should drop plans to issue more licences for North Sea exploration and end its opposition to onshore wind.
As COP27 got under way, the UN itself warned that meeting the critical target of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C would take an “extraordinary effort”.
“The science tells us that is it still within reach,” said the UN’s new climate chief, Simon Stiell. “We cannot lift the pressure.”
Speaking to the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme, Mr Stiell said just 29 states had strengthened their climate pledges since last year, which was “not enough”.
His remarks came after the UN’s weather and climate body released a report showing that the rate at which sea levels are rising has doubled since 1993.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the report as a “chronicle of climate chaos” and urged governments at COP27 to answer the planet’s “distress signal” with “ambitious, credible climate action”.
Image source, Rex Features
Image caption,
Vulnerable countries increasingly being hit by extreme storms, floods and droughts, such as Pakistan’s devastating flooding this year
Global temperatures have risen 1.1C and are heading towards 1.5C, according to the UN’s climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
If temperatures rise 1.7 to 1.8C above 1850s levels, the IPCC estimates that half the word’s population could be exposed to life-threatening heat and humidity.
Rich countries are also falling short in providing the finance needed to help developing nations adapt to a changing climate and develop cleanly, the UN has warned.
But Mr Stiell said the conference was off to a “hopeful start” after developing nations successfully lobbied to put on the agenda the thorny issue of “loss and damage”.
This debate revolves around compensation money paid by wealthy countries to the states worst affected by climate change.
Speaking to the BBC, David Panuelo, President of the Federated States of Micronesia, said bigger nations needed to “come good with their nationally-determined contributions”.
Highlighting China, India, Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil, Mr Panuelo said there are “many countries that need to come forward with… commitments to help meet this challenge that global communities are facing now”.
Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in Accra, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, confirmed to pressmen last week that Ghana will be sending a delegation of over 320 persons to the ongoing 27th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 27) in Egypt.
He explained that out of a total of 322 people attending, attendees are pooled from both state and non-state institutions having duly registered on the government’s portal to attend and participate in COP27.
Dr Afriyie, according to a Ghana News Agency, GNA; report explained that of the total, participants from government institutions account for 226, while those from non-state actors are 72 and those belonging to the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) are 24.
“Half of the number on the government platform are NGOs and partner institutions who decided to go through some institutions to be registered,” he clarified.
“Therefore, the actual government staff attending the COP is about 150…People attending this will be participating in diverse programming including negotiations, workshops, side events and bilateral meetings. Sponsorships is also form diverse sources,” he stressed.
2021 edition attracts public scrutiny
There was a huge public outcry when it emerged that Ghana sent over 330 delegates to the COP 26, which took place between 31st October and November 12, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland.
A provisional list published on the website of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change indicated that Ghana’s contingent was led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Some sector ministers who made the trip included Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Abu Jinapor, Minister for Land and Natural Resources and Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Energy.
The list also includes representatives from Parliament, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the President, the media, among others.
It was later explained that not all persons registered under Ghana traveled on state largess and that the presidential team was much smaller.
Akufo-Addo leads COP 27 delegation
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo arrived in Egypt on Sunday as leader of Ghana’s delegation of climate negotiators to COP 27.
COP 27, scheduled for November 7 to 18, is being hosted in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
It will provide the platform for climate activists and negotiators to discuss, propose actions and make decisions towards facilitating the implementation of the various Articles of the Paris Agreement and the Glasgow Climate Pact.
At a Pre-COP media briefing organised by Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in Accra, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, sector Minister, said Ghana’s team was ready to present the real needs of the African people at the conference.
“Ghana will participate actively at the negotiations, and the Presidency implementation summit and also host a number of events at the Ghana Pavilion.
“We will launch the Article six framework and sign some additional bilateral agreements with Sweden and Singapore. Other sectors will host events relating to their mandate, i.e., energy, forestry, transport, finance etc,” Dr Afriyie stated.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will lead Ghana’s delegation of climate negotiators to this year’s 27th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC (COP27) in Egypt.
COP27, scheduled for 7 to 18 November, would be hosted in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh and will provide the platform for climate activists and negotiators to discuss, propose actions and make decisions towards facilitating the implementation of the various Articles of the Paris Agreement and the Glasgow Climate Pact.
At a pre-COP media briefing organised by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in Accra, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, the sector minister, said Ghana’s team was ready to present the real needs of the African people at the conference.
“Ghana will participate actively at the negotiations, and the Presidency implementation summit and also host a number of events at the Ghana Pavilion.
“We will launch the Article six framework and sign some additional bilateral agreements with Sweden and Singapore. Other sectors will host events relating to their mandate, i.e., energy, forestry, transport, finance etc,” Dr Afriyie said.
He said Ghana, which host the Presidency of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), would also demand as a moral right, funds from the developed world to address issues of loss and damage being experienced by Africa due to greenhouse emissions from the big polluters.
He argued that Africa, which continues to feel the highest impact of the climate change phenomenon but contributes just less than 5% of such emissions needed to be helped to mitigate and adapt to such impacts.
The minister said the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change report released in February this year, projected the likelihood of some 118 million vulnerable people in Africa being affected by the impact of climate change by the year 2030 if nothing is done to curb climate issues.
“With regard to loss and damage, Ghana recognises the impact of loss and damage on women, youth, children and other vulnerable groups and calls for the integration of these groups.
“Finance for loss and damage is key…We expect delivery of new climate finance under the New Collective Quantifies Goal on climate Finance… We will follow up with our CVF colleagues and push to ensure that is achieved.”
Meanwhile, altogether, 322 Ghanaian activists from both state and non-state institutions have registered on the government’s portal to attend and participate in COP27.
Dr Afriyie explained that of the total, participants from government institutions account for 226, while those from non-state actors are 72 and those belonging to the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) 24.
“Half of the number on the government platform are NGOs and partner institutions who decided to go through some institutions to be registered.
“Therefore, the actual government staff attending the COP is about 150…People attending this will be participating in diverse programming including negotiations, workshops, side events and bilateral meetings. Sponsorships are also from diverse sources.”
The UN climate panel (IPCC) has already written the worst-case scenario: in 2050, “the sea will rise by one meter”. Then it will swallow “a third of the ultra-fertile land of the Nile Delta and historic cities like Alexandria will be flooded”.
Every year, the city of Alexander the Great sinks by three millimeters, weakened by the Nile dams upstream that prevent silt from consolidating its soil and by offshore gas drilling.
Opposite, the sea is rising as much, due to the effect of warming and the melting of the ice cap.
Hundreds of people have already had to leave buildings weakened by floods, in 2015 and in 2020. They are only the first of many, warns the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources.
In the Nile Delta, the sea has advanced 3 km inland since the 1960s. In the 1980s, the Rosetta lighthouse, built by Khedive Ismail at the very end of the 19th century, was engulfed by the waves.
“Climate change is now a reality and no longer just a warning,” says the head of the Egyptian Coastal Protection Authority Ahmed Abdelqader.
Climate change in the Mediterranean will be one of the most radical in the world because its deep waters will warm more than all the oceans, warns the IPCC.
In a best-case scenario, if the Mediterranean rises only 50 centimeters, as other Egyptian and UN studies estimate, “30% of Alexandria will be flooded, 1.5 million or more people will be displaced, 195,000 jobs will be destroyed, and losses in land and construction will reach $30 trillion.”
The disaster will have repercussions on the 104 million Egyptiansbecause “in addition to its history and its vestiges of the past, Alexandria is also home to the largest port in the country”, the nerve centre of the Egyptian economy, recalls Mr. Abdelqader. Abdelqader.
Alexandria has gained almost two million inhabitants in the last ten years and in the country, strangled by inflation and devaluation, investment in public infrastructure has not followed.
The city’s governor, Mohammed al-Sherif, recently explained that “the road drainage system was built to absorb one million cubic meters of rainfall, but now sometimes 18 cubic meters fall in a single day.
Not to mention the extreme weather events – temperature increases, rare rainfall, unprecedented snow events – that Alexandrians face.
“We have never seen such heat in Alexandria at the end of October,” exclaims Mohammed Omar, 36.
26 degrees, or five degrees more than the seasonal norm, while the rain is overdue.
Today, the city that keeps its cosmopolitan golden age of the early twentieth century art-deco cafes and Haussmann buildings can not cope. It didn’t take more than Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister, to bid Alexandria “farewell” at COP26 last year in Glasgow, in a speech that chilled Egyptians’ blood.
“Yes, the danger exists and we do not deny it, but we are launching projects to mitigate it,” said Abdelqader.
To protect people and land, a belt of reeds has been planted along 69 kilometers of coastline.
“The sand aggregates around it and together they form a natural barrier,” he explains. Soon, devices for warning and measuring waves will be put in place.
The heritage is also in danger. The citadel of Qaitbay, built in the fifteenth century on a narrow strip of land beaten by ever higher waves, is in the front line.
To protect this Mamluk fortress built on the site of the Alexandria lighthouse that disappeared in antiquity, 5,000 concrete blocks were installed to break the waves and support the building. Other blocks mitigate the damage all along the cornice.
Alexandria, with its long history of construction and destruction, does not want to see its heritage vanish.
There was its lighthouse, the largest library in the world, a temple of knowledge ravaged by fire… Today, its modest heir, an immense architect’s building on the cornice, like the rest of the city, must be saved, pleads Mr. Abdelqader.
For this, “the West has a moral responsibility: it must help to counter the negative effects of climate change, which is the result of its choices of civilization.
The COP27, which will open on November 6 in Egypt, will be there to remind us of this.
Andye was onlyin Paris for three days. On day one, she met Steven on board the Metro. It was a journey that would change their lives forever.
Andye was only in Paris for three days. On day one, she jumped aboard the Metro train that would change her life forever.
It was September 2016. Andye, born in Haiti and brought up in the US, was 25 and finishing up a Master’s degree in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.
She was in that in-between phase of a degree when studies are over, but graduation is still to come.
“I decided, ‘I’m just going to travel for a month and then come back to Amsterdam,’” Andye tells CNN Travel.
Andye planned a month’s adventure exploring Italy, Greece, Egypt and India. On her way back, she returned via Paris to visit a close friend, Seyna, who lived in the French capital and was looking after some of Andye’s belongings.
“I got on the Metro to head back to my friend’s house where I’d dropped off my suitcases,” Andye recalls to CNN Travel. “And that’s where he got on.”
“He” was Steven, a 26-year-old Master’s student originally from the Central African Republic studying in Paris and working part-time in a school. (Andye and Steven have asked that only their first names be used for privacy reasons).
When Steven boarded the train, the carriage was already full of travelers. He was one of several passengers standing.
Meanwhile, Andye was sitting, her traveling backpack on her knee and her headphones on. Steven noticed her right away.
“I found her really beautiful,” Steven tells CNN Travel.
A few stops went by, the carriage emptied out, seats freed up and Steven ended up sitting opposite Andye. He kept glancing her way. She seemed to be looking at him too. Their eyes kept meeting.
Andye also noticed Steven amid the crowds of travelers.
“We just kept looking at each other,” she recalls. “He would turn around to look at me, and I would look away, and we just kept on doing that for like a good 15 minutes, just staring at each other and looking away.”
As the train sped underground the Parisian streets, Steven tried to think of a polite way to broach conversation with the girl with the backpack. He wanted to speak to her, but he was also conscious of respecting her space and privacy.
Meanwhile, Andye was silently fantasizing about the stranger opposite her.
She recalls being struck by his “calming energy.”
“He had really nice, muscular arms. I was like, ‘Wow, he looks like someone I could really get a nice hug from.’”
As these thoughts flashed through Andye’s mind, they were followed by another, sinking realization.
“I was like, ‘What if he’s my husband, but I’ll never know? Because I’m going to get off this train without ever speaking to him.’”
“Then, at some point — when our eyes finally caught each other, and neither of us turned back — I saw his lips move. So I removed one of my headphones.”
Metro meet-cute
Steven and Andye started chatting when they were on the same Paris Metro train in September 2016.
In French, Steven was suggesting Andye could move her heavy-looking backpack onto the now vacant seat next to her.
Andye, who is fluent in French, replied that it wasn’t necessary — the bag wasn’t heavy.
“Then, somehow, I just did not put on my headphones back, because I kind of was hoping that we would keep on talking,” says Andye. “And then the conversation continued.”
Steven asked if Andye was a student — because of the backpack — and she told him about her studies. Steven explained he was also working towards a Master’s degree.
“At some point, I had to get off the train to transfer, and he asked if he could get off with me. And I said, ‘You can do as you please.’”
As they got off the train together, Steven offered to help carry her backpack.
“I felt a bit nervous because I didn’t know him and I thought about how he could probably run away with my bag,” says Andye. “But my gut felt comfortable enough to allow him to take it.”
The two waited for the next subway station together, Steven holding the backpack. Then they got on the next train together and sat next to one another.
“We just kept on talking,” says Andye. “That’s when we realized that we actually were doing our Master’s in the same field of study. We were both studying sustainable development, and we started talking about that a bit.”
When the train arrived at Andye’s stop, Steven got off with her, handed her the backpack. They exchanged numbers, then Steven asked if he could give her a hug goodbye. Andye agreed.
“I thought that was so weird, because in France people just do the kisses on the cheek, they don’t hug,” recalls Andye.
“I was like, ‘Wow, what if this guy is a mind reader? Because earlier I was just thinking I could get a really nice hug from him.’”
After their hug, the two went their separate ways. Steven, glancing at his phone, realized his Metro detour had made him late for work.
Meanwhile, Andye reunited with her friend Seyna and immediately shared details of her Metro meet-cute.
Later that evening, Steven messaged Andye and nervously waited for a reply.
“When she responded, I screamed and ran to my cousin,” says Steven, recalling announcing that Andye was the woman he would marry.
Andye and Steven messaged back and forth all evening, trying to figure out if they could meet up again before Andye returned to Amsterdam. She had a tight schedule, and at first suggested it would be easier to meet in a few weeks — after graduation she planned to return to Paris for a week before she headed home to the US.
“Even if we see each other for just a quick second, I really want to see you before you leave,” wrote Steven in response.
Eventually, the two settled on meeting for a quick dinner on Andye’s last evening. Steven wanted to impress Andye and take her to a swanky restaurant, but Andye wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be late home, given she was traveling the next day.
They settled on a casual fast food spot, right next to the Metro stop where they’d parted the first time.
As Andye was getting ready for the date, Seyna teased her about her romantic Metro meeting and the subsequent date plans.
“She was really giddy about me going on the date,” Andye laughs.
When they saw one another again, both Andye and Steven felt excited.
“I felt butterflies in my stomach,” says Steven.
“We did the usual French greeting with one kiss on each cheek AKA ‘la bise,’” recalls Andye, who remembers trying to temper her excitement, given her imminent return to the US.
Inside the restaurant, the two settled into conversation quickly.
“We started talking and getting to know each other a bit,” recalls Andye.
Steven was straightforward with Andye, explaining he was looking for a relationship.
“I thought that was like, ‘Whoa, first date, like you’re doing too much for me.’ But I appreciated his sincerity,” says Andye. “We kept on talking and I got, again, that kind of like, calm feeling being around him.”
Andye’s original plan to keep the evening short no longer seemed so important. She suggested they go into the center of Paris to a bar.
Later, Steven accompanied Andye back to her friend’s apartment. Outside the door, they kissed. Then Steven returned to where he lived, further into the suburbs of Paris.
It was later than he’d realized, and trains had stopped running, so he walked most of the way. Steven says he didn’t mind, he was just caught up in the excitement and romance of the evening.
Meanwhile, Andye excitedly told Seyna about the date and how well it went.
“Then the next day I left to go to Amsterdam, but we kept in touch. He was messaging me the whole time I was in Amsterdam,” recalls Andye.
Long distance
Andye went back to the US, but she stayed in touch with Steven.
After graduation, Andye returned to Paris for a brief stopover before her return to the US. Once again, she arranged to meet Steven at the Metro stop by Seyna’s apartment.
The two hopped on the train together and went for a stroll along the Champs Élysées, through the Trocadéro area and towards the Eiffel Tower.
Andye and Steven tried to see each other as much as they could during those few days, often riding the Metro together. On one of these journeys, Steven turned to Andye and said he didn’t want her to return to the US.
“Why?” asked Andye.
“Because I love you,” said Steven.
“How can you love me? You don’t even know me!” said Andye.
Andye boarded her flight to the US at the end of September, with no imminent plans to return to Europe.
“We didn’t make plans to meet up, we kind of held hope that we were gonna see each other again, at some point,” says Andye.
“We decided that we’re going to keep in touch, and just keep writing to each other and talking,” says Steven.
Three months later, Andye started working with an international organization based in Washington DC. She soon learned the role involved business travel, mostly to Guinea. Serendipitously, flights often included a layover in Paris.
In March 2017, six months after their first Metro encounter, Steven and Andye reunited at Charles de Gaulle airport for Andye’s 24-hour stopover.
In the intervening months, the two had been in constant communication. But it wasn’t the same as finally seeing one another in person again.
“Wow, this person actually exists,” Andye remembers thinking.
“We talked a lot, we hugged a lot,” says Steven of their reunion.
But before long they were saying goodbye again.
Andye’s role involved traveling to West Africa every three months or so. She figured that each time, she would try to incorporate a Paris layover.
But Steven felt guilty that Andye was the one always traveling — he didn’t have a visa to travel to the US, so he couldn’t reciprocate the trips.
“It was getting complicated,” he says. “Because it was always Andye who would have had to travel, I thought it would have been even more complicated later on in the process.”
Steven didn’t communicate these worries to Andye. But she sensed something was up.
“I just remember him being less attentive, really distant. And I said, ‘Look, if you’re not into this, let’s just end it. I am not going to chase you. I love you. But I don’t like one-sided relationships. I would like for this to be reciprocal. And since it’s not, I’m kind of removing myself out of the equation.’”
Reunited in Paris
Andye and Steven reconnected in Paris after a few months apart.
A couple of months passed. Andye and Steven didn’t talk during this period, but they both thought about one another often. Meanwhile, Andye planned a trip to Paris to visit Seyna.
“I’m usually the kind of person, like once it’s over, it’s over. But with him I felt like this was more kind of a break than a breakup,” says Andye.
“I had my friend Seyna kind of reach out to him to see if he was okay, since I hadn’t heard from him, and tell him that I was coming to France for a week for vacation.”
Steven and Andye arranged to meet up during Andye’s trip.
“We talked a lot. We went out dancing, and then we kind of got back to how things were before,” she says. “I was in Paris for at least four to five days and we spent most of the time together.”
Steven says seeing Andye again after months of silence “reignited a fire” inside him.
“At that moment I thought to myself, ‘If I don’t make it work, I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life,’” he says.
The two were able to talk candidly about the situation, with Andye explaining she didn’t mind that she was always the one traveling, given she could incorporate visits into work trips.
They parted on stronger terms.
“I was really easy and confident in our relationship after that visit, but I do think that it took a while for me to warm back up into it,” says Andye.
The relationship did have another wobble when Andye was back in DC. When they came back together again, Andye was firm: She told Steven they both had to be all in.
“I was like, ‘Look, I don’t have time to play games. If this is what you want to do, it’s not for me, I was very strict on my boundaries. I told him, ‘Look, if you’re really serious about this, here’s my mom’s number. You let her know that you’re serious about her daughter.’”
Within a week, Steven had sent a long paragraph to Andye’s mother.
“I tried to tell her a bit about myself,” Steven explains. “I said I was serious about Andye.”
Steven’s message had the effect of taking Andye and Steven’s relationship to the next level. They started talking about what country they might live in the future, and plans for marriage.
Andye and Steven’s temporary breakup made the relationship stronger.
The next time they reunited in France, in November 2017, Andye built a week’s vacation into her stopover.
“He came to pick me up and brought my favorite chocolate croissants to the airport,” she recalls. “He knows I’m addicted.”
It was during this trip that Steven proposed.
“When I met Andye, I felt at peace, in sync with all of nature’s elements,” says Steven. “But when I wanted to propose to her, I felt a wave of different feelings. I was asking myself what I would do if she said no and at the same time, I was excited at the idea that she would accept to be my wife. I was nervous and shaking internally.”
Andye accepted Steven’s proposal.
“I got that same calm feeling that I had that first day that I met him,” says Andye of the moment she said yes.
The couple kept the news to themselves for a short while, first telling Seyna, Andye’s Paris-based friend, and later Steven’s best friend.
The two decided to enjoy the engagement for a little while, and not rush into marriage They continued their long-distance romance and the following summer Andye spent four months in France with Steven. She’d quit her job and was in the middle of a short break, reconvening and figuring out her next steps career-wise.
“It was a really wonderful summer,” says Andye, recalling quality time spent with Steven, his family and friends.
While she was in France, Andye also looked into applying for jobs in Paris. But this proved trickier than she expected
Andye and Steven had previously figured it made most sense for Andye to move to France — Andye was fluent in French, after all. But after she struggled to find a France-based job, the couple started discussing the possibility of living together in the US instead.
Almost a year later, in July 2019, Steven’s fiance visa was approved. To celebrate, Andye and Steven went to Haiti. While there, they were inspired to plan their own Haiti-based wedding celebration.
Move to the US
Andye and Steven got married exactly three years after they met on the Metro.
Steven and Andye started their American life together in a tiny studio apartment in DC. They had a small wedding at a court office on September 16, 2019 — the three year anniversary of their Metro meeting — while anticipating a larger celebration in Haiti the following year.
Both Andye and Steven were thrilled to be living together after years of long distance. The two started a company together, Afrayiti, creating handmade apparel using African fabric.
Not long afterwards, Covid-19 hit the US. Steven lost his job, and early on, Andye caught the virus and was hospitalized.
She recovered physically, but struggled with anxiety for some time afterward.
“I became really anxious to the point where I didn’t leave my place for three months,” Andye recalls. “I didn’t even step outside of the door of our apartment.”
During this time, Andye says Steven was a huge support.
“I wouldn’t have survived this pandemic, if it wasn’t for him.”
Steven says there is no one but Andye who he’d want to spend lockdown with.
The Haiti wedding celebration canceled, the couple instead spent their time cooking, sewing and designing together.
As the pandemic waned, Steven encouraged Andye to reenter the world. She’s grateful for his patience during this period.
“I was so scared to go outside and he kind of really pushed me into taking just small steps,” says Andye.
In summer 2021, the couple relocated to Florida, enticed by the idea of more space, warm weather and proximity to the beach. They feel, says Andye, “at peace” in Florida.
A real life romantic comedy
Andye and Steven feel like fate brought them together.
Today, Andye and Steven are still Florida-based, planning future adventures together. Since the world opened up, they’ve visited Tanzania, Zanzibar and Costa Rica together.
When their Haiti wedding celebration was canceled, the couple decided to start a tradition where they plan a vacation to coincide with their anniversary. Right now, they’re in Mexico celebrating six years since their Metro meeting and three years since their courthouse wedding.
“One of the things that is symbolic — and I don’t think he notices — is when we’re traveling, he likes to ask me [if he can] carry my backpack,” says Andye.
Steven’s been carrying her bag, “since day one,” says Andye, laughing.
While Andye and Steven think they were fated to meet Steven on the Metro that day, they both have moments when they marvel at what happened.
The couple love to travel together. Here they are in Costa Rica in 2021.
“There are days where I say to him, “God, I’m married to a stranger that I met on the train in Paris,’” she says.
“What if I was late to take the train, what would have happened?” says Steven. “It’s destiny that brought us together.”
When Steven and Andye tell others how they met, they’re often told their story resembles a romantic comedy.
“Honestly, I feel like I am living a rom-com with him,” says Andye. “Especially as a Black woman, you don’t often see international love stories with Black women or Black men in them.
And I think for me, just sometimes when I think about it, I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m living my own rom-com.’ I don’t need to see it on TV, this is it.”
“There are days where I say to him, “God, I’m married to a stranger that I met on the train in Paris,’” says Andye. Here’s the two in Tanzania in 2021.
Source:myjoyonline.com
The family of prominent Egyptian activist, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, have begun a sit-in outside the UK’s foreign office in London, in the hope of generating more pressure for his release.
Mr Abdel-Fattah was a major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled Egypt’s long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
He was sentenced by a Cairo court in December to five years in prison – accused of “broadcasting false news” and has since been on hunger strike.
The activist gained UK citizenship in April from inside prison, through his British-born mother.
His sister, Sanaa Seif says he’s becoming increasing frail and time is running out to save him.
Relatives of 10 Egyptian men say they have been sentenced to up to 18 years in jail in Saudi Arabia for trying to organise a remembrance event for the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
The men, all from Egypt’s Nubian minority, had organised similar events there without a problem.
But in December 2020 they were charged with establishing an association without a licence and showing solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood – designated a terrorist organisation in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Amnesty International, which has campaigned for their release, has denounced the proceedings as a “travesty of justice”.
Egypt’s and Greece’s foreign ministers met Sunday in Cairo following controversial maritime and gas deals that their shared rival Turkey signed with a Libyan leader, officials said.
Cairo and Athens have strengthened ties in recent years, including cooperation in developing energy resources, combating terrorism, and signing new maritime border agreements with Cyprus.
At a joint news conference, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shukry, focused on the memorandums of understanding between Turkey and Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the leader of one of two competing governments in divided Libya.
He said such agreements were a threat to regional stability.
The deals, signed last week in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, include the joint exploration of hydrocarbon reserves in Libya’s offshore waters and national territory.
Dendias slammed the deals as illegal, saying they infringed on Greek waters.
The Egyptian foreign minister, meanwhile, said Dbeibah’s government has no authority to conclude such deals, given that its mandate expired following Libya’s failure to hold nationwide elections in December last year.
He called for the U.N. to take a clear position on the legitimacy of Dbeibah’s government, saying the international body should not keep silent.
Turkey’s agreements with Dbeibah’s government came three years after another controversial agreement between Ankara and a former Tripoli government. That 2019 deal granted Turkey access to a contested economic zone in the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean Sea, fueling Turkey’s pre-existing tensions with Greece, Cyprus and Egypt over drilling rights in the region.
Dendias said the two ministers also discussed developments in the Aegean Sea, in reference to tensions with Turkey over the alleged deployment of dozens of U.S.-made armored vehicles by Greece to the Aegean islands of Samos and Lesbos.
There were no immediate comments from Turkey or Dbeibah’s government.
The Rosetta Stone helped break the code of Egyptian hieroglyphics – before being taken by Europeans.
200 years after the Rosetta Stone’s deciphering revealed the mysteries of the hieroglyphic script and heralded the advent of Egyptology, prominent Egyptian archaeologists have renewed their appeal for its return from the British Museum to Egypt.
The archaeologists’ online campaign has gathered 2,500 signatures so far and aims to “tell Egyptians what has been taken from them”, said Monica Hanna, acting Dean of the College of Archaeology in the Egyptian city of Aswan.
The Rosetta Stone dates to 196 BC and was unearthed by Napoleon’s army in northern Egypt in 1799. It became British property after Napoleon’s defeat under the terms of the 1801 Treaty of Alexandria, along with other antiquities found by the French, and was shipped to Britain. It has been housed at the British Museum since 1802.
Bearing inscriptions of the same text in hieroglyphs, Demotic (an ancient Egyptian script) and Ancient Greek, it was used by Frenchman Jean-Francois Champollion to decipher hieroglyphs from 1822, opening up an understanding of ancient Egyptian language and culture.
Egyptian archaeologists have previously called for its return, but are hoping that increasing moves by Western museums to return artefacts that were removed from countries under the colonial rule will help their cause.
“I am sure all these objects eventually are going to be restituted because the ethical code of museums is changing, it’s just a matter of when,” said Hanna.
“The stone is a symbol of cultural violence, the stone is a symbol of cultural imperialism.
“So, restituting the stone is a symbol of changing things – that we’re no longer in the 19th century but we’re working with an ethical code of the 21st century.”
A British Museum spokesperson said there had been no formal request from the Egyptian government for the return of the Rosetta Stone.
In an emailed statement the spokesperson noted that 28 stelae engraved with the same decree written by Egyptian priests had been discovered, starting with the Rosetta Stone in 1799, and that 21 remain in Egypt.
Before hosting the COP27 summit,Egyptian human rights organizations demand that their nation release political prisoners and open civic space.
It comes in response to a study by Amnesty International that claimed Egypt was experiencing a “human rights catastrophe.”
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Egypt has severely restricted the activities of environmental organizations. Cairo authorities deemed the information to be “misleading.”
The UN Climate Change Conference takes place in Sharm el-Sheikh in November.
More than 100 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have already signed a petition organized by the Egyptian Human Rights Coalition, which consists of 12 groups.
“We emphasize that effective climate action is not possible without open civic space,” a petition launched by the coalition says. “As host of COP27, Egypt risks compromising the success of the summit if it does not urgently address ongoing arbitrary restrictions on civil society.
“Moreover, we stress the importance of the right to freedom of expression and independent reporting to foster efforts to address the climate crisis.”
In a joint statement in July, three dozen groups expressed concern that Egypt would largely maintain its prohibition on protests during the conference aimed at slowing climate change.
Under Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sissi, there has been a widespread crackdown on dissent. Rights groups estimate the country has had as many as 60,000 political prisoners, many detained without trial.
They say that activists are routinely intimidated and that new laws make it practically impossible for many civil society groups to function.
“You will have activists from everywhere in the world coming to COP, but Egyptian activists are either blocked from going or they’re in jail,” a leading human rights campaigner in Cairo told the BBC, asking not to be named for fear of reprisal.
“Basically, nobody is safe in Egypt,” the campaigner said.
The Egyptian authorities say they hope to use their presidency of COP27 to urge the international community to act on pledges of support for developing countries to cope with the devastating impacts of climate change.
“They are the most deserving of our support,” Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the UN General Assembly this month.
After a tumultuous decade since the 2011 uprising that overthrew then-President Hosni Mubarak, the country is also looking to boost its standing on the world stage.
‘PR tool’
However, critics, such as the Egyptian human rights campaigner, said the government sees the event as a way of “whitewashing its reputation”.
A few hundred less high-profile prisoners have been released in recent months since Mr Sisi unveiled a new pardon committee, in a move that many link to Egypt’s hosting of COP.
Amnesty’s new report focused on how Egyptian authorities have used a National Human Rights strategy launched a year ago “as a PR tool to deflect attention from its real human rights record”.
Meanwhile, HRW researched instances of repression against environmental groups.
Following interviews with academics, scientists and activists, it said that government restrictions amounted to human rights violations and left in doubt Egypt’s ability to meet basic climate commitments.
A spokesperson for the Egyptian foreign ministry dismissed the report as “deplorable and counterproductive” saying it contained “inaccuracies”, and questioned the use of unnamed sources.
This week, Ambassador Wael Abul-Magd, assisting him, told journalists that civil society and environmental groups would be represented at the talks.
“We don’t believe in tokenism,” he said in a virtual briefing. “We are involving these stakeholders across the board in every step of the way.”
However, Egyptian activists told the BBC that many local groups had been unable to register for the conference.
They questioned the independence of those who had been given access in a special process overseen by the government and facilitated by the UN. One called the lack of transparency “a scandal”.
More than 100 international non-governmental organisation (NGOs) have already signed a petition organised by the Egyptian Human Rights Coalition, which consists of 12 groups.
“We emphasise that effective climate action is not possible without open civic space,” a petition launched by the coalition says. “As host of COP27, Egypt risks compromising the success of the summit if it does not urgently address ongoing arbitrary restrictions on civil society.
“Moreover, we stress the importance of the right to freedom of expression and independent reporting to foster efforts to address the climate crisis.”
In a joint statement in July, three dozen groups expressed concern that Egypt would largely maintain its prohibition on protests during the conference aimed at slowing climate change.
Under Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sissi, there has been a widespread crackdown on dissent. Rights groups estimate the country has had as many as 60,000 political prisoners, many detained without trial.
They say that activists are routinely intimidated and that new laws make it practically impossible for many civil society groups to function.
“You will have activists from everywhere in the world coming to COP, but Egyptian activists are either blocked from going or they’re in jail,” a leading human rights campaigner in Cairo told the BBC, asking not to be named for fear of reprisal.
“Basically, nobody is safe in Egypt,” the campaigner said.
The Egyptian authorities says they hope to use their presidency of COP27 to urge the international community to act on pledges of support for developing countries to cope with the devastating impacts of climate change.
“They are the most deserving of our support,” Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the UN General Assembly this month.
After a tumultuous decade since the 2011 uprising that overthrew then-President Hosni Mubarak, the country is also looking to boost its standing on the world stage.
‘PR tool’
However, critics, such as the Egyptian human rights campaigner, say the government sees the event as a way of “whitewashing its reputation”.
A few hundred less high-profile prisoners have been released in recent months since Mr Sisi unveiled a new pardon committee, in a move that many link to Egypt’s hosting of COP.
Amnesty’s new report focused on how Egyptian authorities have used a National Human Rights strategy launched a year ago “as a PR tool to deflect attention from its real human rights record”.
Meanwhile, HRW researched instances of repression against environmental groups.
Following interviews with academics, scientists and activists, it said that government restrictions amounted to human rights violations and left in doubt Egypt’s ability to meet basic climate commitments.
A spokesperson for the Egyptian foreign ministry dismissed the report as “deplorable and counterproductive” saying it contained “inaccuracies”, and questioned the use of unnamed sources.
Sameh Shoukry, who will act as president of COP, has said that space will be set aside in Sharm el-Sheikh for protests to take place.
This week, Ambassador Wael Abul-Magd, assisting him, told journalists that civil society environmental groups would be represented at the talks.
“We don’t believe in tokenism,” he said in a virtual briefing. “We are involving these stakeholders across the board in every step of the way.”
However, Egyptian activists told the BBC that many local groups had been unable to register for the conference.
They questioned the independence of those who had been given access in a special process overseen by the government and facilitated by the UN. One called the lack of transparency “a scandal”.
Egyptians have been mourning prominent film, television and stage actor Hisham Selim, who died of lung cancer at the age of 64.
Selim’s father was a famous footballer turned actor, and like him, he was a chain smoker.
Selim’s career spanned five decades and saw him make his debut film in 1972 beside the legendary star Faten Hamama.
He was in two classic films by the world-renowned Egyptian director, Youssef Chahine, including the epic Return of the Prodigal Son with the Lebanese superstar Majida al-Roumi.
She called him her soulmate in her affectionate tribute, which has been the most shared online.
He won a new following two years ago when he spoke openly and warmly about his transgender son – an issue that remains taboo in Egypt.
The Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR) in Egypt has called out streaming platforms to abide by certain regulations in a bid to make them adhere to “societal values and traditions”.
Egypt’s media regulatory body said it would also require Netflix, Disney+ and other streaming platforms to apply for licences to be able to operate in the country.
“Necessary measures” would be taken against platforms that stream content which does not align with the society’s values, SCMR said.
The statement noted that subscriptions to streaming platforms in Egypt had witnessed “unprecedented and huge increases”, without providing specific figures.
The statement follows similar moves by media bodies in Gulf countries, urging Netflix to remove content they said contradicted Islamic values and traditions, including material “aimed for children”, in a seeming reference to LGBTQ+ content.
Hospital records were obtained by CNN and scores of parishioners gathered for Sunday morning mass at a church in Giza, greater Cairo, and it indicated that at least 18 youngsters perished in the fire.
According to a statement from Egypt’s Coptic Church and health officials, there have been 41 fatalities and 14 injuries. According to hospital records, the kids ranged in age from 3 to 16.
According to Egypt’s Interior Ministry, an electrical failure in an air conditioner on the second floor of the church caused the fire to start at around 9 a.m. local time. In the densely populated Imbaba area lies the modest church.
Most of the deaths and injuries were caused by smoke inside church classrooms after the electrical failure, the ministry said in a Facebook post.
At least two officers and three civil protection service members were injured responding to the fire, the ministry said.
Church officials also believe the fire was accidental, said Coptic Church spokesperson Archpriest Moussa Ibrahim, adding a priest was among those killed.
Egypt’s Coptic community and churches have been a target of religious-based violence and attacks historically, with persecution and discrimination spiking since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak’s regime in 2011.
“We are in continuous contact with the local authorities and the Health Ministry,” the head of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, said, according to the church spokesperson.
Youssef Islam, 16, who works at a bakery next door to the church said the worst of the flames were on the fourth floor. He said he ran into the church and intended to get water from the third floor to help put out flames on the floor above.
But when he forced his way through a door, he saw children’s bodies piled on top of each other. “A horrible scene,” he said. “This was probably the nursery.”
Mariam Malak, 23, told CNN that she left the church shortly before the fire broke out.
“I left the church after Sunday mass and was on my way to work when my mom called me. She thought I was caught in the fire. I turned back and saw (the) church in flames. I just missed it by only a few minutes,” she said.
“Everyone who was there went up to the heavens, including our father Abdel Masih, who led the prayers this morning, and a lot of our families and friends. We are trying to identify everyone now.”
The fire broke out during a Sunday service at the Abu Sefein Coptic church.
CNN also spoke to a family that was driving through the neighborhood looking for the body of their cousin after the fire subsided.
“I can’t believe I won’t see you again, Irini. Why did you leave us so fast?” one of the women, Afaf, murmured to herself throughout the drive from one church to the other. Afaf’s sister Amany Marina held her hand and prayed in silence. Their cousin Amany cried silently in the front seat as her husband, Sameh, kept driving.
It was almost sunset when they made it to the church in the Al-Warraq neighborhood where the prayer for the dead was held. The three women held hands as they walked through security.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi tweeted his condolences to the victims of the fire.
“I offer my sincere condolences to the families of the innocent victims who moved to the side of their Lord in one of the houses of worship,” Sisi said.
The Egyptian President said he is closely following developments of the “tragic accident” and that he has directed state agencies to take the necessary measures to immediately deal with the tragedy and provide care for the injured.
Sisi has directed the Armed Forces Engineering Authority to repair the church, the spokesperson for the Coptic Orthodox Church announced, according to state news Ahram online.
Chairman of the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority Hesham El Swefy told Pope Tawadros in a phone call about Sisi’s instructions to reconstruct the church, the state news agency said.
Egyptian soccer player Mo Salah, who plays for Liverpool and captains the national team, also sent a message of support to those affected by the tragedy on Sunday, saying in a tweet: “My sincere condolences to the victims of the Abu Sefein Church, and my best wishes for a speedy recovery to all the injured.”
A preliminary investigation into the fire “indicated that the blaze was caused by an electrical short circuit,” Egyptian state news reported, citing a statement from prosecutor-general Hamada El Sawy.
El Sawy visited the site and said eyewitnesses told his team the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit in a power generator, according to Egyptian state news.
“The prosecution team has examined all of the victims’ bodies and found no visible injuries on the deceased bodies except suffocation signs,” El Sawy said.
The public prosecution has questioned 14 of the injured and ordered the Public Administration for Criminal Evidence to collect evidence at the scene, according to the statement quoted.
At least 41 people have died in a fire at a church in the Egyptian city of Giza, officials say.
An electrical fire broke out as 5,000 worshippers gathered for mass at the Coptic Abu Sifin church, security sources told Reuters.
The fire blocked an entrance, causing a stampede, the sources said, adding that many of those killed were children. Dozens are thought to be injured.
Fire services say the blaze has been brought under control.
The exact cause of the fire is not clear.
“People were gathering on the third and fourth floor, and we saw smoke coming from the second floor. People rushed to go down the stairs and started falling on top of each other,” Yasir Munir, a worshipper at the church, told Reuters.
“Then we heard a bang and sparks and fire coming out of the window,” he said, adding that he and his daughter were on the ground floor and able to escape.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi offered his “sincere condolences to the families of the innocent victims that have passed on to be with their Lord in one of his houses of worship”.
The prosecutor’s office said it had sent a team to the scene to investigate the cause of the blaze.
Giza lies just across the Nile from Cairo and is part of the Greater Cairo metropolis.
Coptic Christians make up at least 10 million of Egypt’s 103 million people.
Copts claims they face discrimination and play a lesser part in Egyptian public life than their numbers justify.
Egyptians were horrified after video footage went viral last month purportedly showing Mohammed Adel stabbing to death Nayera Ashraf, who had rejected his advances, outside her university
A court in Egypt has called for a legal amendment to allow live broadcasts of the execution of the killer of a female student.
Egyptians were horrified after video footage went viral last month purportedly showing Mohammed Adel stabbing to death Nayera Ashraf, who rejected his advances, outside her university.
In a letter to parliament, the court that sentenced the 22-year-old to death said the broadcast of even a part of the proceedings could achieve the goal of deterrence.
Egypt does not broadcast executions, which are always carried out by hanging inside prisons.
A 2015 United Nations survey said nearly eight million Egyptian women were victims of violence.
For many locals and foreign tourists, the brightly painted wooden houseboats dotted along the River Nile are an iconic part of Cairo’s rich cultural and architectural heritage.
But starting this week, the last of those remaining – about 30 in total – are set to be destroyed or removed by the Egyptian authorities as part of what they describe as an effort to beautify the waterfront.
Some of the floating houses, permanently moored on the riverbank, are inhabited by poor residents, while others have been expensively restored. A few have been turned into restaurants, offices and gyms.
IMAGE SOURCE,WAEL HUSSEIN/BBC Image caption, Ahdaf Soueif and her son, Omar Robert Hamilton, have lived on their houseboat for a decade
“It’s a different lifestyle, you are completely immersed in nature. The river is just one metre below you,” says the celebrated Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, whose family home has been slated for destruction.
“The idea of the houseboat has always been connected to something a little bit out of the ordinary,” she goes on. “They feel romantic to generations of Egyptians and Arabs.”
From her veranda, tugs and cranes can be seen circling properties in the centre of the capital. Three homes – two-storey buildings attached to rafts – were removed on Tuesday and towed away. Earlier in the week, others were removed and one of those was smashed up in the process.
IMAGE SOURCE,OMAR ROBERT HAMILTON Image caption, The Egyptian government says the houseboats were built decades ago without its consent
On social media, there has been condemnation from ordinary Egyptians of the action against the houseboats, known as “awamat” (Arabic for “floating”).
“Not only are these houseboats homes to people who have lived there for decades, but some of them are historic monuments. They are part of our heritage which cannot be erased,” wrote Nora Zeid on Twitter.
“Who said it is not part of the beautiful history of Cairo?” tweeted Dakhel Hafy. “When we stand on the Nile and look at the awamat, we should tell stories, novels and legends about them.”
Only a few dispute their aesthetic value. Mostafa el-Gafy tweeted that they were “ugly”.
IMAGE SOURCE,WAEL HUSSEIN/BBC Image caption, This houseboat was one of those towed away by authorities on Tuesday
The Egyptian government has defended its decision to issue demolition orders, stating that the houseboats were built decades ago without its consent and that their owners failed to obtain the correct permits and licences.
The irrigation ministry says it will continue the campaign to remove homes moored along the river “in clear violation of the law”. The minister, Mohammed Abdel Ati, says it is “a clear message to those who transgress on the Nile”.
Many residents own their homes but say they have recently made legal challenges over large hikes in official fees for parking the boats and access to the riverbank.
No compensation is being given to people losing their houses.
IMAGE SOURCE,WAEL HUSSEIN/BBC Image caption, Ekhlas Helmy has been living on her houseboat for three decades with her dogs, cat and geese
“I swear to God, I don’t know where to go,” says Ekhlas Helmy, 87, in despair as she packs up her belongings.
“My sister has got some of my stuff, my brother too, although they are both unhappy with the situation. They told me to throw away my things.”
Madame Helmy, as she is called, was born on a houseboat and says she was raised on fish. Later, after her husband died young, she built her own home on the water, living on it for three decades with her dogs, cat and geese.
IMAGE SOURCE,WAEL HUSSEIN/BBC Image caption, The houseboats are being removed as part of what officials say is an effort to beautify the waterfront
The history of houseboats on the Nile is long and colourful. The oldest ones dated back to the time of the pharaohs and were designed for long river trips.
Over time, a technique developed of building homes on floating metal containers held together by wooden or metal beams. These were not meant for sailing but to give a panoramic river view.
During Ottoman times, rich Egyptian pashas often took houseboats as fancy second residences using them to entertain guests with music and belly dancers. During World War Two, British forces lived in them.
The awamat have often been associated with secret liaisons and illicit behaviour.
They are featured in many classic Egyptian films and in the work of the Nobel Prize-winning author, Naguib Mahfouz. His 1966 novel, Adrift on the Nile, follows the lives of young intellectuals who gather at night on a houseboat to chat and smoke drugs.
IMAGE SOURCE,SEPIA TIMES Image caption, This aerial photograph from 1932 show what appears to be houseboats on Cairo’s waterfront
During the mid-20th Century, there were several hundred houseboats in Cairo. However, many were gradually cleared away by the authorities or fell into disrepair.
The houseboats now under threat are clustered in an area known as Kit Kat.
On one side, across the river, are the high-rise tower blocks and costly hotels on the island of Zamalek. On the other side, lies the less well-off neighbourhood of Imbaba.
IMAGE SOURCE,AFP Image caption, Today, the last remaining houseboats are moored opposite the north-western corner of Zamalek island
There has previously been pressure to commercialise this section of waterfront.
In the evening, the edge of the Nile bustles with restaurants, cafes and private sports clubs located along its banks.
Egypt’s government recently opened the first section of a new 5km-long (3-mile) walkway along the Cairo corniche, clearing away many small businesses such as felucca sailboat operators.
Development along the riverbanks has opened debates about the future of the city’s most popular public space and what defines the unique charms of the capital.
The President of Egypt has promised to provide 30 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to African countries, in coordination with the African Union.
Abdul Fattah al-Sisi made the announcement at the first pan-African health conference, which is being held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Around 400 health officials, along with medical companies working in more than 100 countries, are attending the event.
President Sisi said that although Egypt had limited resources like other African countries, it was ready to cooperate with them all.
Uganda Covid cases on the rise again
Uganda’s health minister says the country’s Covid-19 cases have risen to levels last witnessed in June 2021 when the Delta variant was prevalent.
In a tweet, Minister Jane Aceng did not reveal the latest figures on confirmed cases, but said the country was “well prepared to respond and save lives than before”.
She also ruled out travel restrictions or lockdowns in any parts of the country under the current circumstances.
“We will optimise the existing control and mitigation tools at personal and community levels.
“These measures include: vaccination for all individuals, wearing of face masks at all times especially for the vulnerable population and hand washing,” she said.
Uganda fully reopened the economy in January after imposing one of the world’s strictest lockdowns during the pandemic, which saw schools remain closed for almost two years.
In Egypt’s “City of the Dead”, centuries-old monuments are being restored and artisanal heritage revived, turning a corner of the vast historical cemetery into a vibrant neighbourhood full of life.
Wood, leather and jewellery workshops have joined those of glassblowers and others near the 15th-Century mosque of Sultan Qaitbay, in the east of the capital Cairo.
From the Mamluk period, the celebrated structure — featured on Egypt’s one-pound notes — is surrounded by monumental tombs, dusty alleys and informal housing.
Since 2014, a series of projects financed by the European Union has changed the face of this small section of the sprawling necropolis — home to many people who are unable to afford Cairo’s prohibitively high rents.
Authorities began construction on a major road in July a short distance from the Qaitbay mosque, drawing strong criticism online for the resulting demolitions and evictions of residents of the “City of the Dead”.
A final resting place for illustrious figures, including singer Farid al-Atrash and writer Ihsan Abdel Kouddous as well as ordinary Egyptians, the Islamic necropolis founded in the seventh century stretches over 6.5 kilometres (four miles).
“Before the projects, there was rubbish all over the streets”, said 57-year-old Issem Abou Rami, who owns a small restaurant facing the mosque. “Now, a truck comes every day to collect it.”
Products made in the impoverished neighbourhood are now sold in elegant booths under restored stone arches — and even online.
Social development
The renovation efforts started six years ago with the refurbishment of a drinking trough for animals, and then, the reception area of a residential complex of the sultan.
The EU contributed nearly a million euros ($1.1 million) toward the latest project, “T_he Heritage for the Living, in the ‘City of the Dead’_”, which launched in 2018 and focuses on social development.
The project coordinator, architect Agnieszka Dobrowolska, was a linchpin to the area’s metamorphosis.
She supervised the restorations of the monuments and the renovation of the workshop and their signage, as well as designed jewellery and leather products inspired by Mamluk motifs.
“When we first came here, our main object was to conserve the monuments,” she told AFP.
“And we quickly realised that we cannot simply conserve the monuments, in disrespect to the people who live and work in the area,” adds Dobrowolska, founder of Archinos Architecture, which has worked on numerous conservation projects in Cairo.
Work in the ateliers was interrupted for several weeks due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but now the workshops are again up and running, with some 50 women making leather products and jewellery, all stamped with the local brand Mishka.
Aida Hassan, 45, has worked in the leather workshop for three years, and said she is happy to be earning “1,500 pounds ($96) per month — and sometimes more”.
“This project has helped improve my income,” she added, saying she had gone on to train other women in leatherwork.
Hundreds of women and children in the neighbourhood have benefited from courses and workshops on subjects as diverse as science and technology, English language and sports.
Object of superstition
For the EU, the primary donor to the project — due to end in 2021 — the social elements of the programme were key, said Christian Berger, head of the EU delegation in Egypt.
“Our intention is to support this type of project that benefits immediately vulnerable groups and disadvantaged groups, projects that have a broader socio-economic impact,” Berger said.
The neighbourhood has hosted concerts, from jazz to folk and traditional Egyptian music, and visual artists from Egypt and abroad have come to show their work.
The aim is to bring “contemporary art and culture here to enhance the diversity of cultural expression (and) artistic expression, to build bridges between east and west,” said Dobrowolska.
Another hope of the project in transforming the neighbourhood is to draw in tourists.
The “City of the Dead” is sometimes an object of superstition due to its status as a necropolis and is not a usual stop on mainstream Cairo tours.
But it is the tourists who are looking for something out of the ordinary that Dobrowolska said the project is counting on.
“We seek to attract tourists who are off-track from the mass tourism destinations — people who might appreciate and enjoy the unique urban character of the necropolis,” she said.
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, told the United Nations on Friday that his country has “no intention†of harming Sudan and Egypt with a giant hydropower dam on the Blue Nile that has caused a bitter water dispute between the three countries.
Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan failed to strike a deal on the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam before Ethiopia began filling the reservoir behind the dam in July. But the three states have returned to African Union-led mediation.
“I want to make it abundantly clear that we have no intention to harm these countries,†he told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly in a video statement, pre-recorded due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are steadfast in our commitment to addressing the concerns of downstream countries and reaching a mutually beneficial outcome in the context of the ongoing AU-led process,†Nobel Peace Laureate Abiy said.
Negotiations have previously faltered over a demand from Egypt and Sudan that any deal should be legally binding, over the mechanism for resolving future disputes, and over how to manage the dam during periods of reduced rainfall or drought.
Egypt says it is dependent on the Nile for more than 90% of its scarce fresh water supplies, and fears the dam could have a devastating effect on its economy.
Abiy told the United Nations that the project contributes to the conservation of water resources, “which would otherwise have been lost to evaporation in downstream countries.â€
“What we are essentially doing is to meet our electricity demands from one of the cleanest sources of energy. We cannot afford to continue keeping more than 65 million of our people in the dark,†he said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expressed his concern about the project when he addressed the United Nations on Tuesday.
“The Nile River must not be monopolized by one state. For Egypt the Nile water is an existential matter. This, however, does not mean that we want to undermine the rights of our brothers and sisters, sharing with us the Nile basin,†he said.
“Nevertheless, it is unacceptable for the negotiations to continue forever in an attempt to impose the realities on the ground,†Sisi said.
Lebanese security forces have arrested three fugitive suspects linked to the raping a woman at a luxury hotel in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, the authorities say.
Egypt’s public prosecutor last week said seven of the nine suspects had fled the country before the victim filed an official complaint in early August.
Two other suspects have left Lebanon, the government there said.
Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of the two suspects who were still in Egypt.
The prosecutor said they were working with international agencies to arrest the fugitive suspects.
The alleged rape involved nine men accused of drugging and raping a young woman at Fairmont Hotel in 2014.
The case was exposed online in July by an instagram account that outs alleged rapists.
Egyptians have started voting for the senate that was revived after last year’s constitutional referendum.
Tuesday’s poll will see 200 members elected by public vote to the upper chamber of parliament, which has an advisory role and few formal powers. The remaining 100 senators are appointed by the president.
The country’s lower chamber, the house of representatives, has a legislative role.
The election comes at the height of the coronavirus pandemic – Egypt has the second-highest number of cases on the continent after South Africa.
Authorities have said voters will be given face masks and polling stations are to be disinfected to prevent the spread of the virus.
Egyptians have started voting for the Senate, the upper chamber of Parliament that was revived as part of constitutional amendments approved in a referendum last year, in an election that comes as the country faces an uptick in daily numbers of new coronavirus cases.
Authorities have said face masks would be handed out to voters and polling stations were disinfected in the run-up to the balloting to ease concerns amid the pandemic.
The vote is mostly a symbolic exercise as the Senate – unlike the House of Representatives, the lower chamber – has no legislative powers and will act mainly in an advisory role.
It replaces the Shura Council, which was dissolved in 2014.
Billboards promoting little-known candidates have popped up across the capital Cairo and other cities in recent weeks, and online videos have explained the Senate’s role and urged people to cast their ballots.
The balloting will extend for two days to allow for a maximum turnout with 63 million eligible voters who will choose two-thirds of the 300-member Senate, with 787 candidates running for those 200 Senate seats.
Egyptian expats voted on Sunday and Monday.
The first 100 seats in the running are reserved for individual candidates, the second for those running on a list dominated by pro-government parties. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will choose the remaining 100 members.
The results are expected within a week and the runoff will take place in September. Under the constitutional amendments approved last April, women will have a 25 percent quota in the chamber.
However, the Senate vote is unlikely to revitalise “the already stagnant political scene in Egypt”, according to Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid, political science professor at Cairo University.
“It could be useful in terms of being a way to reward those backing Sisi,” he added.
Election banners for candidates in the upper house of Parliament are displayed on a street in Cairo [Nariman El-Mofty/AP Photo]
Lasheen Ibrahim, chairman of the National Election Authority, called voting “a national duty” and warned in televised comments on Saturday that those who boycott the election could be fined up to 500 Egyptian pounds ($32) under an Egyptian law that has existed for years but was never really implemented.
The election comes despite an uptick in coronavirus cases this week.
Egypt, a country of more than 100 million people, has reported almost 96,000 cases with more than 5,000 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Egypt’s latest constitutional amendments extended a president’s term in office from four to six years, allowing for a maximum of two terms.
But they also included a specific article extending el-Sisi’s current second four-year term to six years and allowing him to run for another six-year term in 2024 – potentially extending his rule until 2030.
In 2013, el-Sisi led the military overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi. El-Sisi has since presided over an unprecedented crackdown on dissent.
Under el-Sisi, Egypt has launched a sweeping crackdown on the opposition, especially Morsi’s now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, as well as leftist and secular activists, journalists and bloggers.
Heavy restrictions have been imposed on protests and critical websites blocked. Rights groups say freedoms gained in the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak have largely been rolled back.
Egypt has withdrawn from the renewed talks on the future of a giant hydropower project on the Nile River being built by Ethiopia.
The latest standoff is over new filling guidelines proposed by Ethiopia.
Sudan has also threatened to withdraw from the talks, saying Ethiopia is insisting on linking them to renegotiating a deal on sharing the waters of the Blue Nile.
Sudan’s Water and Irrigation Minister, Yasser Abbas, said he received a letter from his Ethiopian counterpart with the proposal.
The Sudanese minister said Ethiopia proposed “the deal under discussion be limited to filling up the dam and any deal concerning its management be linked to the question of sharing Blue Nile waters”, AFP news agency reports.
Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan through which the Blue Nile flows have been negotiating for the best part of a decade, but all the while the dam has been built.
Ethiopia celebrated as the rains began filling the dam in June but the neighbours are concerned over people who depend on the river downstream.
Egypt’s public prosecutor said Wednesday it has ordered an investigation into a gang rape allegation at a luxury hotel in Cairo in 2014 that surfaced on social media last month. “The Public Prosecution received a letter from the National Council for Women, accompanied by a complaint filed by one of the women who endured sexual abuse by several people at the Fairmont Nile City Hotel in Cairo in 2014,” the public prosecutor said in Wednesday’s statement.
Attached to the complaint lodged Tuesday “were testimonies from people with knowledge about the incident,” the prosecutor added.
Results of the investigations will be announced “in due time,” the statement said.
The alleged assault, which took place at a five-star Cairo hotel, involved a group of six men said to have drugged and raped a young woman, according to social media accounts
Names and pictures of the accused, who hail from wealthy families, have circulated widely online but AFP has been unable to verify their authenticity.
Egypt’s National Council for Women condemned retaliatory threats made against women exposing sexual misconduct last week.
The council “stands by every woman and girl exposed to any… threat by providing all necessary support”, it said.
In a statement last week, the Fairmont Hotel said it had conducted an internal investigation but found “that at no time were any reports of the incident filed to the hotel, nor to the hotel’s tourism police”.
The allegations come as part of a resurgent #Metoo wave in the deeply conservative country, seeking to hold sexual predators accountable for their actions.
A 2013 study by UN Women found that 99 percent of women in Egypt had at some point in their lives been sexually harassed, either verbally or physically.
When operational, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) will generate 6,000 megawatts, making it the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa. It will provide power to some 65 million Ethiopians, who currently lack a regular electricity supply.
What did the Ethiopian PM say?
“It has become evident over the past two weeks in the rainy season that the Gerd first year filling is achieved and the dam under construction is already overtopping,” Mr Abiy said.
Ethiopia’s Water Minister Seleshi Bekele said this would allow the first set of turbines to be tested.
The statement did not give a figure for how much water was now in the dam reservoir but Ethiopia previously said the first-year target was 4.9 billion cubic meters of water, taking it up to the height of the lowest point on the dam wall.
Ethiopia had always said it would fill the dam in July, while Egypt had warned it to delay while talks continued.
It remains unclear whether Ethiopia has done anything to speed up the process of filling the dam, or whether the dam is only filling up because of the rain.
Sudan has previously said it has noticed a drop in the flow of water on the Blue Nile in its territory.
What happened with the talks?
The agreement to resume talks was struck during a meeting of the African Union (AU), chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
It came after previous meetings, mediated by the AU, failed to produce an agreement between the three countries.
Earlier this year, the US also tried, and failed, to broker a deal.
In a statement, Egypt’s presidency said future negotiations would focus on “developing a binding legal agreement on the rules for filling and operating” the dam.
Doctors have accused Egypt’s health ministry of negligence in its handling of Covid-19 and said it bears “full responsibility” for medics’ deaths.
A union said on Monday that 19 doctors had so far died from the disease and more than 350 others had been infected.
It blamed a lack of personal protective equipment and beds for sickened staff, and warned the system could “collapse”.
The health minister insisted sufficient protection had been offered and medics had received the “best possible care”.
Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, has so far reported 17,967 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 783 associated deaths.
The doctors’ union said the deaths and infections among its members were the result of the health ministry “falling short” of doing its duty to protect them.
“The health ministry has an obligation towards doctors and all medics who are sacrificing their lives on the front lines to defend the safety of the homeland.”
“It is imperative to provide them with the necessary protection and rapid medical intervention for those who contract the disease,” it added.
With the outbreak showing no sign of abating and quarantine hospitals running at capacity, the union warned that “the health system could completely collapse, leading to a catastrophe affecting the entire country if the health ministry’s negligence and lack of action towards medical staff is not rectified”.
In response, Health Minister Hala Zayed said that since the start of the outbreak, the ministry had “ensured the allocation of a floor in every quarantine hospital with a 20-bed capacity to treat those infected among medical staff”.
Staff were tested for the coronavirus upon entering and leaving hospitals, and there were “sufficient stocks” of personal protective equipment, she added.
Ms Zayed also stated that 11 doctors had so far died, rather than 19.
The union’s warning came two days after the death of a 31-year-old doctor, Walid Yehia, who was unable to get a bed at an quarantine hospital in Cairo.
“His colleagues and I were with him, appealing for help, but there was zero response,” his brother, Ashraf Zalouk, wrote on Facebook.
Social media users contrasted Dr Yehia’s treatment to that given to the actress Ragaa al-Gadawy.
The 81-year-old was tested quickly for the virus and admitted to a quarantine hospital in the city of Ismailiya based on the personal recommendation of the health minister, news websites quoted her daughter Amira Mokhtar as saying.
Ms Zayed has reportedly ordered an investigation into the death of Dr Yehia and promised to take “all legal measures in case of any shortcomings”.
Kwadwo Asamoah’s father has reiterated that his son has not retired from international football.
The Inter Milan player has had his national team future speculated after an average performance at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Asamoah returned from a four-year self-imposed exile in 2018 but has struggled to make an impact.
He was left out of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against South Africa and Sao Tome and Principe in 2019.
New coach CK Akonnor also excluded him from his squad to face Sudan for the third and fourth matches in the Cup of Nations qualifiers.
That notwithstanding, Emmanuel Kwasi Asamoah says his son remain committed to the Black Stars.
“I’m not worried about my son’s exclusion from the Black Stars that’s how the game is. Some go and others replace them because there are up and coming kids too who must be given the chance to come and play for the Black Stars,” told Ashh FM.
“When there is the chance for him to play he will come at the right time.
“Kwadwo Asamoah has not retired from the Black Stars he will come when the time is right and he is handed a call up.
Egypt held a military funeral Wednesday for former president Hosni Mubarak, whose three decades of strong-arm rule ended in the Arab Spring protests of 2011.
The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared three days of mourning for Mubarak, who died aged 91 in a Cairo military hospital on Tuesday after years spent in relative seclusion.
“Mubarak in God’s hands,” read the front-page headline of state newspaper Al Ahram, with a black stripe cutting across a photograph of the veteran ruler often dubbed a modern-day “pharaoh”.
LEGACY
Generals and soldiers congregated at Cairo’s Mosheer Tantawi mosque, where cannons stood ready for a 21-gun salute to bid farewell to the former air force commander.
A military helicopter transported his body to the mosque, where his sons Alaa and Gamal, recently acquitted of corruption charges, were among the mourners.
The funeral focused not on Mubarak’s political legacy but his military life. The Soviet-trained fighter pilot with a life-long love for aviator sunglasses commanded Egypt’s air force during the 1973 war with Israel.
As Mubarak went on to lead the North African country, he relied heavily on the armed forces and security services to ensure stability and security, while maintaining close ties with Western powers that delivered billions in military aid.
The mass protests that eventually brought down Mubarak were an explosion of popular anger against his police state and the corruption and nepotism that to many marked his rule.
Mubarak then spent years in detention for his role in the deaths of hundreds of protesters but was freed in 2017 after the convictions were overturned.
In the post-Mubarak years, Egypt was torn by political turmoil — bloody unrest in the streets, the short-lived rule of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, and his 2013 ouster by Sisi, another military man, who reimposed strict police powers.
THOUSANDS MOURN
Dozens of Mubarak supporters came Wednesday to mourn Mubarak, among them Samir Gaafar, 59, who was wearing a flowing galabeya tunic and holding a picture of the ex-president with a message denouncing the 2011 uprising.
“I’m here today because the poor people in this country have become poorer after Mubarak,” he told AFP.
Mubarak’s full-honours military funeral contrasted with the low-key burial of Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood president.
Morsi died last year after a heart attack in court and was buried quietly at night with no fanfare, as Egyptian media derided his single year in office.
Mubarak’s mixed legacy is that of a strongman who employed emergency powers and rigged elections, and of a guarantor of stability who battled jihadists and kept peace with Israel.
The former air force chief and vice president became head of state in 1981 after Islamist militants assassinated his predecessor Anwar Sadat during a military parade.
Mubarak, who was sitting next to him, was wounded. He would survive several more attempts on his life, including in 1995 when militants sprayed his motorcade with bullets at a roadblock in Ethiopia.
US FAVOUR
Mubarak gained favour from key ally the United States by maintaining Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
But his own country, once the predominant political and cultural power in the Arab world, remained hobbled by graft and poverty.
Mohamed Amin, a columnist for the biggest privately owned daily, Al Masry Youm, wrote that “you can agree or disagree with the departed president, but one thing is for sure: Mubarak never betrayed his country”.
He compared Mubarak’s fate with those of other autocratic Arab rulers in Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Tunisia, writing that “his end was unlike Kadhafi, Ali Abdullah Saleh or Saddam Hussein. He didn’t seek asylum like Ben Ali.
“He said he would live here and die here. He pushed on with his dignity and his arrogance.”
Feature photo and caption: Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb (2nd R) and Egypt’s Pope Tawadros II (3rd R) and Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki (4th R) stand among other Arab officials during the funeral ceremony of Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak at Cairo’s Mosheer Tantawy mosque on February 26, 2020. PHOTO | KHALED DESOUKI | AFP
Frederick Eric Crentsil, an astute Football Administrator and former GFA Vice President has been named as Match Commissioner for the Togo Vs Egypt 2021 AFCON qualifying match.
Other officials for the match are Issa Sy(Referee), Nouha Bangoura (Assistant referee 1) and Amadou Ngom(Assistant referee 2)all from Senegal with Adalbert Diouf as Fourth Official.
Referee Assessor for the match is Lemghaifry Bouchaab from Mauritania.
Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president for almost 30 years who stepped down after a popular revolution in 2011, has died. He was 91.
Mubarak served as Egypt’s fourth president starting in 1981 until his ouster in what became known as the Arab Spring revolution.
Mubarak, who died on Tuesday, left behind a complicated legacy. Mubarak’s rule was partly characterised by corruption, police brutality, political repression, and entrenched economic problems.
“My flesh has been taken away, but I can never give away my heart”; those are the powerful words of resolve from Abida Dawud, one of three women survivors of female genital mutilation, or FGM, from Ethiopia, who have been speaking to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) about their experiences.
“My flesh has been taken away, but I can never give away my heart”; those are the powerful words of resolve from Abida Dawud, one of three women survivors of female genital mutilation, or FGM, from Ethiopia, who have been speaking to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) about their experiences.
The three women, all from the Afar Region of the Horn of Africa country, tell their stories in the hope that they can empower others in their communities to help bring an end to FGM.
The practice which involves injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons is internationally recognized as a violation of women’s human rights.
Globally, it’s estimated that some 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of FGM.
Ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, marked annually on February 6, watch the three women explain why FGM should be eliminated once and for all.
Khartoum — Egypt has expressed desire to increase its imports of Sudanese livestock and meats.
This came when Minister of Animal Resources Dr. Alam-Eddin Abdalla Abbashar received at his office here Monday the Egyptian Ambassador to Sudan, Husam Eissa, who affirmed that his country looks forward for more cooperation with Sudan.
The meeting discussed reactivation of the agreements that had been signed between the two countries, especially following the new developments, concerning implementation of the project of meat production and cultivation of fodders in White Nile State, whose area amounts to 30,000 feddans as Egypt is desirous for increasing its imports of livestock and meats from Sudan.
The Minister affirmed the importance of boosting cooperation between the two countries for reactivation of their joint agreements, expressing the desire of Sudan for boosting its trade relations with Egypt in the various domains, especially in the field of animal resources.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan plan to meet in Washington on Jan. 13 to try to finalize an agreement to resolve their dispute over a massive dam project on the Nile River in Ethiopia, according to a joint statement issued by the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday.
The statement was issued after the three ministers met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and World Bank President David Malpass to work out differences over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the second such meeting since early November.
