Cameroon Becomes a Go-To Country for Foreign Fishing Vessels

Off the coast of West Africa, the Trondheim is a familiar sight: a soccer field-sized ship, plying the waters from Nigeria to Mauritania as it pulls in tons of mackerel and sardines — and flying the red, yellow and green flag of Cameroon.

But aside from the flag, there is almost nothing about the Trondheim that is Cameroonian.

Once, it operated under the name of the King Fisher and sailed under the flag of the Caribbean nation St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Then it switched to Georgia, the former Soviet republic. It was only in 2019 that it began flying the banner of Cameroon.

The Trondheim is one of several vessels reflagged under Cameroon’s growing fishing fleet that have changed names and been accused of illicit activities at sea. Currently, an investigation by The Associated Press found, 14 of these vessels are owned or managed by companies based in European Union member states: Belgium, Malta, Latvia and Cyprus.

The AP examined over 80 ship profiles on MarineTraffic, a maritime analytics provider, and matched them with company records through IHS Maritime & Trade and the International Maritime Organization or IMO.

“They’re interested in the flag. They’re not interested in Cameroon,” said Beatrice Gorez, coordinator for the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, a group of organizations highlighting the impacts of EU-African fisheries arrangements that identified the recent connection between companies in EU member states and the Cameroon fleet.

Each of the vessels changed flags to Cameroon between 2019 and 2021, though they had no obvious link to the country and did not fish in its waters. The Trondheim and at least five others have a history of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, according to a report by the environmental group Greenpeace. Both the vessels and their owners conceal what they catch, where it goes and who is financially benefiting from it, maritime and company records show.

In recent years, Cameroon has emerged as one of several go-to countries for the widely criticized “flags of convenience” system, under which companies can — for a fee — register their ships in a foreign country even though there is no link between the vessel and the nation whose flag it flies.

The ships are supposed to abide by that nation’s fishing agreements with other countries. But experts say weak oversight and enforcement of fishing fleets by countries with open registries like Cameroon offer shipping companies a veil of secrecy that allows them to mask their operations.

That secrecy, the experts say, also undermines global attempts to sustainably manage fisheries and threatens the livelihoods of millions of people in regions like West Africa. Cameroonian officials say all the ships that fly its flag are legally registered and abide by all of its laws. But regulators in Europe recently warned the country that its inability to provide oversight of its fishing fleet could lead to a ban on fish from the country.

Cameroon’s flagged fishing fleet is minuscule compared to countries such as Liberia, Panama or the Marshall Islands. But the rapid adoption of the country’s flag by some shipping companies accused of illegal fishing is raising alarm.

“This is a big issue,” said Aristide Takoukam, a biologist and founder of the African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization, a non-profit based in Cameroon that monitors illegal fishing. “I don’t think Cameroon is able to monitor these vessels that are flying Cameroon flags outside its waters.”

A history of lax oversight

Cameroon has long been criticized for lax oversight of its fishing fleet. A study published last year in the journal African Security documented deep-rooted corruption in the ministries that oversee the fishing industry. In that same year, the European Commission issued a “yellow card” to the country, warning it to step up its actions against illegal fishing.

The commission identified a series of shortcomings, including that the country had registered several fishing vessels — some of them accused of illegal fishing — under its flag in the past few years, raising concerns about the nation’s ability to control and monitor the activities of its fleet.

If Cameroon does not comply after its initial warning, the commission can issue a “red card,” effectively listing them as a non-cooperating country. And it can ban their fish products from entering EU markets.

The commission’s report named a dozen fishing vessels registered between 2019 and 2020 whose names were not provided to them by Cameroonian authorities. At least eight of the 12 identified vessels are managed or owned by European companies. The AP found six more vessels not included in the EU report.

The European Commission did not respond to the AP’s requests for comment.

Data from two maritime intelligence companies, Windward and Lloyd’s List Intelligence, reveals an accelerated growth in the number of vessels that sail under the Cameroonian flag in the past four years, from 14 vessels in 2018 to more than 129 in 2022. According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, Cameroon’s fishing capacity is now nine times larger than it was before 2018.

While the number of flagged ships has grown, the resources to monitor them have not kept pace, a review of budget documents show. The documents show that the budget for the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries’ control and supervision of fisheries declined 32% from 2019 to last year.

While countries have a right to allow vessels to adopt their nationality and fly their flag, Article 91 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea requires a “genuine link” to be established between a vessel and its flag state.

Despite this, foreign vessels in countries with open registries often have little to no relationship with their flag states. The responsibility falls on the flagged country to control operations of the vessels in their fleet, including any illegal activity caused in other nations’ waters or on the high seas.

“The very point of flags of convenience is that it’s easy, it’s cheap, you can do it quickly, and they are not necessarily looking at your history of compliance,” said Julien Daudu, senior campaigner at the Environmental Justice Foundation, a British NGO focusing on environmental and human rights issues.

Paul Nkesi, a representative of the agency that oversees fisheries, the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, says that although the government recognizes the need to step up its surveillance of industrial trawlers, all vessels are registered lawfully in Cameroon.

All of the 14 EU-linked vessels registered to Cameroon are massive trawler ships at least 100 meters long; none operate in Cameroonian waters. Tracking data show the ships journeying between ports in Mauritania, Angola, South Africa, and Namibia.

Still, for the local fishermen who already compete with the Chinese-owned vessels in their waters, the pressure of a growing fleet is creating concerns that Cameroon will be completely overpowered by foreign-owned vessels.

“Their business is only fishing; they can fish more than 1,000 local boats. If those bigger [international] vessels enter here, we’ll be really affected,” said Simeon Oviri, a local fisherman in Youpwe, a coastal area near Douala, Cameroon’s largest city.

Maurice Beseng, a research associate at the University of Sheffield’s Institute for Sustainable Development and visiting fellow in maritime security at Coventry University, said ships operating the flags of convenience appear to be using the system to circumvent the limits on fishing imposed by the European Union.

Differing sets of rules

The EU has fishing agreements with numerous countries, and EU-flagged vessels are subject to stricter fishing restrictions around the world, including in West Africa. But ships flagged to other countries outside the union are not subject to the same fishing limits.

For example, data from Global Fishing Watch, which uses satellite data and machine learning to monitor activity at sea, shows most of the EU-affiliated, Cameroonian-flagged trawlers appear to be fishing in Mauritania, a country that has one of the most robust fishing agreements with the EU.

Under this agreement, trawlers fishing with an EU flag have a total fishing capacity of 225,000 tons for a maximum of 19 vessels. Once that quota is met, all fishing activity has to stop.

But foreign vessels not under any agreement can fish in Mauritania under a free license. For the Cameroon-flagged trawlers, this means they can go above the EU limit without having to land their catches in Mauritania.

The same goes for Gambia, where industrial fishing vessels flagged to Cameroon may fish for any species outside the 7-mile nautical limit. However, if the vessel is flagged to an EU member state, the vessel can only fish for tuna and hake, according to current sustainable fisheries partnership agreements between the small West African country and the EU.

“They are able to use that as a loophole to go beyond the agreements,” said Charles Kilgour, director of fisheries analysis for Global Fishing Watch.

The trawler vessels catch small fish species, including horse mackerel, sardinella and anchovy, which recent stock assessments have shown are overfished along the Atlantic coast of West Africa.

These species are a lucrative and vital food source across the region, with an estimated 6.7 million people dependent directly on them. Sardinella in particular are locally consumed in the region as an affordable source of protein and nutrients. Currently, the Food and Agriculture Organization lists most of the targeted species as either fully exploited or overexploited.

Although it’s unclear where the fish goes after being unloaded in ports, Beseng notes that the fish targeted by these vessels commonly enter EU markets to be used as fish meal and fish oil.

“Their impact is huge. These are species that the local population depend on,” Beseng said. “The increase in catch has increased food security challenges for coastal communities.”

While environmental and maritime security experts applauded the EU for issuing the yellow card to Cameroon for the lax oversight of its fishing fleet, they say not enough is being done to target the EU-based companies that are the culprits.

“If you have European companies that are working under this flag,” Daudu said, “you should also demonstrate exemplary behavior by going after your own nationals.”

But just finding the trail can be a daunting — and sometimes insurmountable — challenge. “It’s really like an ink bottle. You can get so far, and then at some point it becomes completely opaque,” Gorez said. “It makes it really difficult to find information on who owns these vessels.”

The companies

The AP tracked the 14 vessels ultimately to four active companies: Ocean Whale Co. Ltd in Malta, INOK NV in Belgium, Sundborn Management Ltd in Cyprus and Baltreids SIA in Latvia.

Ocean Whale operates several former Soviet trawlers, including a ship formerly known as the Coral that has changed the flag under which it operates seven times since 2005. Recently, it switched to the Cameroon flag after two months under the Russian flag.

Other ships in the company’s fleet were involved in a 2010-12 fishing license scandal in Senegal. Under an agreement that was neither allowed by law nor publicly disclosed, the fisheries ministry granted several of its vessels licenses to catch small fish that were in danger of being overfished. The company and the minister denied wrongdoing.

The company did not respond to the AP’s requests for comment.

On its website, the Ocean Whale Co. said it catches fish in Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Namibia, and that “the company is only engaged in legal fishing activities under the licenses issued by the coastal States and strictly adheres to all applicable environmental regulations.”

Another group of ships registered to EU companies and recently flagged to Cameroon were also named in the Senegalese fishing scandal. Data from the IMO, the Maritime & Trade database and the Russian maritime register of shipping identifies the fleet’s owners as various companies in Cyprus and Belgium, with each ultimately managed by Sundborn Management Ltd, a company registered in Cyprus and INOK NV, a company registered in Belgium.

Both INOK and Sundborn Management offer vessel registration services. Among them: choosing a “flag of convenience and a ship register for a vessel,” in Malta, Cyprus, Panama, Belize and other countries.

Neither company responded to requests for comments from the AP.

Belgium’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries said it has been contacted by the European Commission about vessels managed by INOK that have reflagged to Cameroon between 2019 and 2020 but said it couldn’t comment on ongoing investigations.

Baltreids Ltd, a Latvian fishing company established in 1998, manages five Cameroon-flagged vessels. The company structure includes two other holdings listed as official owners of the vessels in 2021, Limmat Inter SA, based in the Seychelles, and Oceanic Fisheries NB Ltd, based in Canada.

Baltreids has been accused of a number of suspicious activities, including insurance fraud and illegal fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. A 2020 Canadian Broadcasting Corp. investigation found that Oceanic Fisheries N.B., was flagged by global banks for more than $31 million in suspicious money transfers, according to documents shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other news organizations as part of the FinCEN Files.

When trying to track down a physical presence of the company in Canada, the CBC hit a dead end.

The Latvian IUU Single Liaison Office, the team that works with the EU Commission to regulate IUU fishing in Latvia, told the AP that the Marshal Vasilevskiy was excluded from the Latvian Ship Register in November 2019, when the ship reflagged to Cameroon, and the Kaptian Rusak was never registered under the Latvian flag. Instead, the vessel is listed as owned by Fishing Company SA, a company based in the British Virgin Islands.

IMO data lists ownership of the five Cameroon-flagged vessels owned by either Baltreids Ltd, Limmat Inter SA or Oceanic Fisheries NB Ltd, effective between 2019 and 2021. The New Brunswick corporate register indicates that Oceanic Fisheries N.B. has been inactive since October 2021.

Baltreids denied ever having links to Oceanic Fisheries N.B. or to engaging in any illegal fishing or money laundering to the CBC. In response to the AP, the company said it presently owns two vessels registered in Latvia.

Upping the accountability

According to Gorez, the timing of the ships’ reflagging to Cameroon in recent years seem to correspond with the 2017 adoption of the Sustainable Management of External Fishing Fleets , a regulation adopted by the European Parliament aimed to monitor EU vessels that operate outside EU waters.

The regulation requires fishing vessels to provide information regarding their operations’ sustainability and legality before their EU member state can issue them an authorization to fish in the waters of third countries.

“This regulation is really trying to catch these guys, but as soon as it becomes too complicated, then the easy way out is to change the flag,” Gorez said. “It’s like when you try to catch soap with your hands. It slips and goes somewhere else.”

Since 2010, the EU has incorporated other provisions to make its nationals more accountable for fisheries operations, regardless of country or vessel flags — most notably by penalizing EU nationals who engage in or support illegal or unregulated fishing anywhere in the world, under any flag.

But it’s up to the member states to address the issue. Gorez says the states involved in this matter — Latvia, Malta, Belgium and Cyprus — have so far shown little interest.

“We can see the duplicity of the EU in terms of their effort to fight IUU fishing. They’ve come up with good regulations, but when you go deep into how this is implemented in practice, you see that there are a lot of loopholes,” Beseng said.

Part of the SMEFF regulation is to maintain a database including information on the beneficial owners of operations by vessels flagged in an EU member state. As of now, the information remains confidential.

“How can you expect an official in a remote country that sees a vessel coming to be able to easily retrace the whole history of the vessel by himself if the former flag state does not put that information online?” said Daudu. “It would cost a lot of time. It would take a lot of verification. Sometimes it’s so well concealed that you can’t even find information.”

Source: Voice of America

UN Peacekeepers Involved in Deadly Shooting at DRC Border Post

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was outraged after two people were killed and several others were injured when U.N. peacekeepers opened fire during an incident in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on the Uganda border on Sunday.

The U.N. force, MONUSCO, admitted that some of its peacekeepers had opened fire “for unexplained reasons,” adding that arrests had been made.

Guterres was “saddened and dismayed” to learn of the shooting, a U.N. statement said.

“The Secretary-General stresses in the strongest terms the need to establish accountability for these events,” it said.

“He welcomes the decision of his special representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to detain the MONUSCO personnel involved in the incident and to immediately open an investigation,” it added.

Video of the incident, shared on social media showed men, at least one in police uniform and another in army uniform, advancing toward the U.N. convoy stopped behind a closed barrier in Kasindi.

The town is in eastern DR Congo’s Beni territory on the border with Uganda.

After a verbal exchange, the peacekeepers appeared to open fire before opening the barrier and driving through while people scattered or hid.

“During this incident, soldiers from the intervention brigade of the MONUSCO force returning from leave opened fire at the border post for unexplained reasons and forced their way through,” the U.N. mission in Kasindi said in a statement earlier Sunday.

“This serious incident caused loss of life and serious injuries,” it said.

The Democratic Republic of Congo “strongly condemns and deplores this unfortunate incident in which two compatriots died and 15 others were injured according to a provisional roll,” government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said in a statement.

The government said it launched an investigation with MONUSCO to establish who was responsible, why the shooting took place and would ensure “severe penalties” are given.

The U.N. envoy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bintou Keita, said she was “deeply shocked and dismayed by this serious incident,” according to the mission’s statement.

“In the face of this unspeakable and irresponsible behavior, the perpetrators of the shooting have been identified and arrested pending the conclusions of the investigation, which has already begun in collaboration with the Congolese authorities,” MONUSCO said.

The U.N. mission said the troops’ home countries had been contacted so legal action could begin promptly, with the involvement of witnesses and survivors, which could lead to exemplary penalties.

Earlier Barthelemy Kambale Siva, the North Kivu governor’s representative in Kasindi, said that “eight people, including two policemen who were working at the barrier, were seriously injured” in the incident.

Kambale Siva, interviewed by AFP, did not say why the U.N. convoy had been prevented from crossing.

There are more than 120 militias operating in the DRC’s troubled east. The U.N. first deployed an observer mission to the region in 1999.

In 2010, it became the peacekeeping mission MONUSCO — the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — with a mandate to conduct offensive operations.

There have been 230 fatalities among the force, according to the U.N.

Last week, deadly demonstrations demanding the departure of the United Nations took place in several towns in eastern DRC.

A total of 19 people, including three peacekeepers, were killed.

Anger has been fueled by perceptions that MONUSCO is failing to do enough to stop attacks by the armed groups.

U.N. under-secretary-general for peace operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix was in the central African country on Saturday to “talk to the Congolese authorities,” he said.

“(They would) examine ways in which we can both avoid a recurrence of these tragic incidents and, above all, work better together to achieve our objectives,” he said.

“We hope that the conditions will be met, in particular the return of state authority, so that MONUSCO can complete its mission as soon as possible. And to leave room for other forms of international support.”

Source: Voice of America

Crises Pushing Up Acute Malnutrition at Refugee Sites

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, this week reported that global crises have combined to raise levels of acute malnutrition in dozens of refugee sites surveyed, most of them in Africa. UNHCR’s 2021 Annual Public Health Global Review was released Friday.

UNHCR officials say they are concerned by their findings, which show a significant deterioration in the nutritional condition of refugees. Monitoring refugees’ nutritional status resumed last year after stopping in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The officials say a third of the 93 sites surveyed in 12 African countries and in Bangladesh showed serious levels of global acute malnutrition, a measurement of a population’s nutritional status, and 14% of locations recorded life-threatening levels of malnutrition.

UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo tells VOA the rates of malnutrition are particularly troubling as they were recorded before the war in Ukraine sent food and commodity prices rising.

“This is a key concern because nutritional intake is really key to building healthy and resilient communities,” she said. “The leading causes of illness for refugees remain upper respiratory tract infections and malaria and lower respiratory tract infections. And we had noncommunicable diseases also accounting for about 5% of consultations as well as mental health services.”

These concerns are playing out at a particularly difficult time marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and record levels of people being forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, and natural disasters.

Despite these problems, the UNHCR says gains were made in the inclusion of refugees into national health policies. A survey of 46 countries found 76% included refugees in their national health plans and practically all refugees were able to use primary health facilities.

In another promising result, by the end of last year, the report says 162 countries had included refugees and asylum-seekers in national COVID-19 vaccination plans.

Source: Voice of America

National Malaria Day observed

National Malaria Day was observed on 29 July at Adi-Guaedad, Gala-Nesfhi sub-zone, at Central Region level under the theme “Integrated Effort for Eradicating Malaria”.

Indicating that National Malaria Day is being observed every year from 25 to 30 July, Mr. Kibreab Tesfamicael, head of Malaria Control at the Ministry of Health branch in the Central Region, said that with the effort to realize the strategic plan of the Ministry of Health to eradicate malaria in the country from 2016 to 2030, malaria prevalence from 2018 to 2021 has been reduced from 0.4% to 0.05% in the Central Region.

Mr. Kibreab went on to say that from 2018 to 2021 over 14 thousand impregnated bed nets have been distributed to the public and from 2017 to 2020 over 60 thousand impregnated bed nets to residents in areas suspected for malaria mosquitoes breeding.

Mr. Amanuel Seyum, head of Social Service in the sub-zone, on his part called on the residents to conduct sustainable environmental sanitation activities with a view to control the prevalence of the diseases.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Eritrea’s Participation in the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (Part IV)

Note: This is the fourth article in a multi-part series reviewing Eritrea’s participation at the 2022 High-Level Political Forum and the country’s presentation of its Voluntary National Review report. While Part III highlighted the progress achieved on Sustainable Development Goals 3 (good health and well-being) and 13 (climate action), this article briefly reviews Eritrea’s progress on some of the other Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition to reviewing Eritrea’s progress on SDGs 3 and 13, the country’s inaugural VNR report highlighted progress in other areas of development.

To begin, progress has been achieved in reducing poverty, raising agricultural production and productivity, and ensuring food and nutrition security. The proportions of poor people and those suffering from food insecurity are believed to have declined substantially since independence in 1991.

A key part of the national strategy is reducing dependence on rainfed agriculture and modernizing the agricultural sector to increase productivity and adapt to climate change. Numerous dams and ponds have been constructed nationwide, aiming to raise availability of water for irrigation and household consumption. Additionally, a variety of initiatives are conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) to assist farmers in increasing productivity and output, including water harvesting, increasing arable land, introducing better seeds, applying more efficient farming techniques, containing soil erosion, applying environment- and health-friendly fertilizers and pesticides, and promoting household income supplementing packages. Notably, experts from the MoA and the College of Agriculture also conduct workshops for farmers and communities.

Over the years, several initiatives have been implemented in an effort to reduce poverty, promote agriculture, and improve livelihoods. The Minimum Integrated Household Agricultural Package, which provides rural household with considerable support, has reached thousands of households, many poor and headed by women, ultimately promoting food and nutrition security, reducing poverty and inequality, and ensuring that more families can lead lives of dignity. The Savings and Micro-Credit Programme, which extends loans and credit through 538 village banks, has reached more than 69,000 individuals (66 percent women) and promoted greater financial inclusion, gender equality, and economic empowerment. As well, the new civil service remuneration system, introduced in 2016/17, has led to substantial wage increases for civil workers.

In terms of education, Eritrea aims to ensure equitable access and delivery of quality education at all levels for all citizens, guided by the principle of social justice. Basic education is compulsory for both girls and boys, and child marriage legislation has been enacted and is strictly enforced, thus keeping more youths in school and helping reduce historically massive gender disparities. School feeding programs and the universal free education, covering pre-primary to higher education, ensures that every child, irrespective of background, has the opportunity to enroll in education, become literate, and maximize their potential.

Significant resources continue to be invested in expanding infrastructure. The number of schools has increased significantly, rising from 526 in 1991/92 to 1,930 in 2015/16 and to 2,254 in 2020/21. This has increased capacity, reduced overcrowding, and raised enrolments. Enrolment at all levels was 346,266 in 1997/98 and has increased to 583,269 and 619,180 in 2015/16 and 2020/21, respectively. Importantly, female enrolment continues to steadily grow and the historically huge gender gap is being narrowed. Parity between boys and girls in primary education has been achieved, while gender disparities at higher levels continue to be reduced. Overall enrolments in technical and vocational education and training are also steadily increasing (with female enrolments nearing parity), providing youths with another avenue towards employment and sustainable livelihoods.

Like enrolments, literacy has improved. In 1990, the adult literacy rate was 46 percent (males at 59 percent and females at 35 percent). By 2018, adult literacy had improved to about 77 percent (males at 84 percent and females at 69 percent). During the same period, even steeper increases were achieved in youth literacy, indicating that efforts to strengthen the supply and quality of basic education programs have largely been successful. In 1990, youth literacy was about 61 percent (males at 73 percent and females at 49 percent). However, in 2018, youth literacy had climbed to 93 percent (males at 94 percent and females at 93 percent). According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s Institute for Statistics, “Eritrea has achieved one of the largest increases in youth literacy anywhere in the world over the past 50 years.”

Among the highest of Eritrea’s priorities is advancing gender equality, the empowering of women and girls, and the promoting and protection of their rights. Eritrea has signed and ratified human and gender rights instruments, as well as participated at international conferences. The country has established relevant institutional and policy frameworks, as well as detailed gender action plans, for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, with a particular focus on reaching the most vulnerable, in line with international and regional gender equality standards and obligations.

Recognizing the differing life conditions and experiences of women and girls, and seeking to redress past inequities and historical disadvantages or discrimination, progressive and affirmative action measures have been enacted, most notably within the spheres of education, employment, and public life. National proclamations on labour, citizenship, and land reform have been passed and are strictly enforced to guarantee women equal access to citizenship and allow them the opportunity to access and utilize land without discrimination. Moreover, national laws and firm enforcement measures help protect women from violence and also prohibit harmful, traditional practices.

Noteworthy achievements have been recorded in the areas of women’s health, education, and participation in civil, cultural, economic, political, and social life. Long-standing disparities in education continue to be narrowed, a growing percentage of women now have land and are highly active in agriculture or other activities, and women constitute about 50 percent of the country’s labour force. In addition to their primary responsibility of family care, food processing and preparation, along with community activities, women contribute significantly to crop production and subsistence farming, while also being highly prominent and influential within a range of sectors.

The water sector remains critical for development, playing a significant role in economic growth, poverty alleviation, food security, and environmental sustainability. It also contributes to modernization, industries, tourism and agricultural activities. The Ministry of Land, Water, and Environment has put in place a comprehensive policy and legal framework for effective and sustainable management of the water sector. The Water Policy promotes the principles of integrated water resources management as a means to ensuring sustainable management and utilization of water resources, as well as promoting the full participation of women in all water management and development activities.

Through investments in infrastructure and conveyance systems, appropriate policies and regulations, and other efforts, access to safe, clean water has increased. The proportion of rural population with access to safe drinking water has risen from almost none (7 percent) in 1991 to 70 percent in 2021, while in urban areas access stands at 92 percent, up from 30 percent.

Regarding energy, Eritrea aims to develop the sector and ensure affordable, reliable access to electricity for all. Targets include electrifying 50 villages per year. In 2020, the percent of the population with access to electricity was about 52 percent, up from approximately 40 percent in 2010 and about 46 percent in 2015. Access in urban areas in 2020 was 76 percent, while in rural areas it was 39 percent. The completion of over 5,000 water catchments and dams, including the Hirgigo electricity project, has more than doubled the power generating capacity from 52 to 136 megawatts.

Although there is considerable still room for further expansion, Eritrea’s national road network has grown, expanding from approximately 4,930 km in 1991 to more than 15,100 km at present. Over 85 percent of cities and villages in the country are now connected by roads. Likewise, the availability of public transportation in the country has been improved. The number of buses in rural areas has increased from about 267 in 1991 to more than 2,000, while 85 percent of all cities and villages have access to public transportation.

Eritrea’s abundance of minerals, natural resources, and biodiversity, as well as its long, pristine shoreline on the Red Sea offer immense opportunities for economic growth. The presence of natural and biological resources, and their diversity, provide raw materials and inputs for domestic and commercial production along with consumption, as well as providing a range of ecosystem services which support human populations and their economic activities. In recent years, mining has emerged as an increasingly significant sector and now accounts for a large percentage of exports and FDI. Notably, the government has established favorable terms and a highly sophisticated regulatory framework, broadly consistent with global best practices. There is significant and growing foreign interest and investment, with engagement by multinational companies from around the world. Given the country’s large natural resource endowment, strong vigilance against corruption, generally attractive regulatory regime, and overall upside, there is substantial potential for further growth and expansion.

Rich biodiversity also allows for the possibility of future economic growth and holds intrinsic cultural, bequest and heritage values for the country. Importantly, Eritrea has taken concrete steps to protect its unique cultural and natural heritage. Two cornerstones for the country were the “Cultural and Natural Heritage Proclamation”, which, since 2015, lists immovable assets eligible for having national significance and the inclusion, in 2017, of Asmara in the UNESCO World Heritage List. To protect and sustainably manage both terrestrial and marine ecosystems in the country, extensive natural resources conservation measures have been undertaken by the government and development partners.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Federation of National Associations of Women in Business summit concludes

The three-day COMESA Federation of National Associations of Women in Business Horn of Africa Summit that was conducted at the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers Hall concluded today 30 July.

The summit was attended by delegates from Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Somalia, and Djibouti.

The participants of the summit on 29 July visited development sites in the Southern Region and especially efforts that are being conducted to realize the socio-economic development of women.

The summit also discussed various issues of interest to the economic development of women in the Horn of Africa.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Syinix Launches World First Machine that can cook Africa Staple Food: Banku, FUFU etc.

ACCRA, Ghana, July 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — According to the study, 83% of African eat a variety of Swallow foods (such as Banku, fufu,etc.) as their staple food. For most of African, however, making swallow food is a difficult process, as users have to stir the food throughout, and the whole process is time-consuming as well. Therefore, a full-automatic Swallow Maker that are hands-free is the irresistible trend. On 28th July, Syinix officially unveiled the world’s first Swallow Maker in Accra, Ghana, creating a new era of fully automated cooking swallow food in Africa.

Syinix World's First Swallow Maker

Swallow Maker

Syinix Managing Director of West Africa Justin said at the launch event:” Welcome to witness this historic moment with Syinix. Swallow Maker is not only the first model for Syinix, but also the world’s first automatic swallow food cooking machine. Both the product concept and the functions of Swallow Maker are unique. It is fully automated, multifunctional, easy to clean and large capacity to bring easy and convenient cooking experience for African families.

Syinix is a high-end home appliance brand of Transsion Holdings, which also owns three major famous mobile phone brands in Africa: Tecno*, Infinix*, Itel*. Syinix has now spread to more than 20 countries in Africa, and it’s features of high quality and innovation , are becoming increasingly competitive and promising in the African market in recent years.
Syinix’s product team visited over 10 African countries and found that some of the swallow food process still involved using mortar and pestle, which requires two people to beat and turn the food constantly. Recently people start using pot and spoons which still requires manual mixing. After discovering these problems, Syinix’s product team eventually developed the world’s first fully automatic swallow maker after more than 2 years hard work.

Full automation:
Swallow maker as a fully automated machine, requires simple operations before delicious food is made. User will only need to pour the ingredients into the machine proportionally, and the rest of the human work is replaced by the machine. Compared to traditional production methods, swallow maker stops users from constantly stirring thus, can spend more time with their families and enjoy life.

Multi-function:
Another function of Swallow maker is that it supports the production of all-purpose swallow food to ensure the taste and eating habits in different parts of Africa.For example, banku , fufu and konkonte in Ghana; eba, pounded yam, amala and semolina in Nigeria, and ugali in Kenya. In addition, Swallow maker supports creative cooking, allowing users to try out more new creative ingredients and recipes.

Large capacity & Easy to clean:
The “Swallow Maker” is a high-capacity device that support preparing meals for a family of four or five, which meets the needs of the majority African families. It’s removable knife set and non-stick coating design makes it convenient to clean up food residue.

Others functions:
Syinix takes full consideration of user needs in the whole process of developing Swallow Maker. The metal pot body and no modified material, as well as the special power operation mechanism, ensures the safe and stable production process of the machine. Other ingenious designs, such as the appearance of the machine, is inspired by traditional African handicrafts, and can effectively prevent it from falling off easily when holding or moving it. Syinix swallow maker successfully got a number of patents and the 2022 German Red Dot Design Award. It also support 13-month warranty period by Syinix’s after-sell service partner Carlcare* that guarantees the whole use experiences.

Purchase channels:
More details, visit Syinix’s official website: https://gh.syinix.com/products/syinix-swallow-maker-worlds-first-one.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1868953/Syinix_World_s_First_Swallow_Maker.jpg