Tag: AfricaNews

Fear and panic spread in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday when massive explosions and fire erupted at a military factory in the southern suburbs of the city as the authorities failed to clarify the cause of the incident but dismissed rumors of a hostile action behind it.

Sounds of explosions followed by huge fire occurred at Al-Yarmook arms and ammunition factory of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Al-Shigara area south of Khartoum at around mid-night, sparking a wave of panic among the area’s residents who fled their homes in fear.

The fire and explosions also spread to near-by buildings, leading to the collapse of some of them, as hospitals in the area received dozens of people suffering from severe cases of suffocation due to the smoke.

The explosions also set free large pieces of shrapnel and ammunition which scattered in the area, a Sudan Tribune reporter said.

Fire fighting forces rushed to the scene and helped contain the fire as security forces blocked all roads leading to the large factory. A number of senior officials, including Khartoum State Governor Abdel Rahman Al-Khidir and officers from the National Intelligence and Security Services as well as SAF also arrived at the scene later.

Meanwhile, the authorities made conflicting statements on the cause of the incident but reported that no causalities were incurred as a result.

Khartoum State Governor Abdel Rahman Al-Khidir said in a televised statement that the cause of the incident is not clear yet but he discounted the possibility of foreign entities being involved.

His statement was clearly aiming to quell wildly spreading rumours that the factory was hit by an airstrike. Some witnesses told Sudan Tribune that the explosion occurred after a sound resembling that of a rocket was heard and the sky lit up. There is also a rumor that an airplane carrying military materiel crashed on the site of the factory but Sudan Tribune was not able to independently verify those claims.

Al-Khidir said that the explosion probably happened at the main storage facility of the large factory.

SAF’s spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khalid Saad said that an internal explosion occurred in one of the storage facilities and the fire spread due to the plenty of grass in the area. He confirmed that they already launched an investigation into the incident.

An anonymous police source also told AFP that the explosion erupted during a routine maintenance operation, adding that the authorities continue to count the losses.

A similar explosion occurred at the same factory in August 2006 leading to the injury of seven SAF members. The authorities attributed the incident at the time to an electric short circuit.

The Commission of the Africa Union chaiperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has decried the serious threat that the entrenchment of terrorist and criminal networks posed to the stability of Mali and the surrounding region.

Addressing the meeting of the Support and Follow-up Group of the AU in Bamako Friday, Dr Dlamini-Zuma said the sooner the union dealt with the problem, the better.

Said the AU chief in a press statement: “The African Union was the first Organisation to react to the attacks against Mali by rebel groups in mid-January this year.

We did so as a matter of principle because there was and still there is no justification, whatsoever, for the use of arms, particularly when there are peaceful avenues to address legitimate concerns of a given group.

“We did so because we foresaw the likely consequences that would arise from the resumption of armed conflict in North Mali.”

According to the press release, Dr Dlamini-Zuma paid tribute to the regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) for its proactive involvement in the quest for a solution in Mali.

“We could not expect less from an organisation that has, over the years, made significant contributions to the promotion of regional peace, security and stability,” said Dr Dlamini-Zuma.

She also recognised the contribution of the core countries, Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger in their fight against rebel and terrorist groups in the Sahel region.

The Ecowas, AU, the European Union and UN representatives were meeting in the Mali capital, hoping to finalise a clear strategy for the intervention in the troubled country.

Mali, noted Dr Dlamini-Zuma, was one of the founding members of the OAU and the AU, and the principles at stake in the Malian crises were of particular importance to the continent.

“Africa cannot simply fold its arms while two thirds of the Malian territory was under the control of armed, terrorist and criminal groups,” said Dr Dlamini-Zuma.

Tunisia is hosting the first African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI) conference on “Building sustainable local currency bond markets for the future”.

The Conference(October 22-24) has brought together policy makers and market participants to share experience on and contribute to critical issues facing the development of local currency bond markets in the continent.

The audience includes representation from African central banks, government ministries, institutional investors, investment bankers, financial and legal advisors, credit rating agencies and other stakeholders, including high level speakers.

The discussions are covering major topics including: Development of primary and secondary markets, and the impact and importance of liquidity; Expansion and diversification of the investor base; enhancing infrastructure for securities settlement and payment systems; strengthening the taxation and accounting systems as well as the legal and regulatory framework.

Ideas, solutions and best practices will be presented and discussed extensively on how to assess the importance of sovereign credit ratings for issuers; improving bond market data, data collection and dissemination, which are prerequisites for the creation of bond indices.

The role of infrastructure bonds in the development of local currency bond markets will also be heard. Opportunities for side meetings and networking will also be available.

As part of the African Development Bank’s strategy to strengthen the financial sector in African economies, it has launched the “African Financial Market Initiative” (AFMI) which is targeted to further the development of domestic African capital markets.

The objectives of the AFMI are to contribute to the development of local currency debt markets in Africa; to reduce African countries dependency on foreign currency denominated debt; to help enlarge the investor base in African domestic debt markets and to improve availability and transparency of African fixed income markets related data, among others.

Experts and management of the African Development Bank Group are geared up for the eighth African Development Forum (ADF VIII) to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from October 23-25 on the theme “Governing and Harnessing Natural Resources for Africa’s Development.”

The ADF, a biennial event of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), was created in 1999 and convenes in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and other partners.

It serves as a multi-stakeholder platform for debating, discussing and initiating concrete strategies for Africa’s development.

This year’s forum also presents an auspicious moment to further engage AfDB partners on its 2013-2022 Long-Term Strategy, which envisages Africa’s transformation into a stable, integrated and prospering continent.

The forum gathers a large number of participants including Heads of State and Government, policy-makers, development partners, other UN agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (IGOs/NGOs), academia, practitioners, civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector, eminent policy and opinion leaders and other concerned stakeholders.

The forum includes plenary and high-level parallel panel sessions as well as side-events featuring keynote/lead speakers and presenters, media representatives and other participants.