Category: MIL-OSI

Source: APO

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On the final day of the Council, Ambassador Faure, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora of the Republic of Seychelles, conveyed Seychelles’ appreciation to H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, for graciously attending the national celebrations marking the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Seychelles. He highlighted the role that the continental body had played in the country’s struggle for Independence. These remarks were welcomed with a general applause by the Council.

During the concluding proceedings, the Executive Council considered the draft working programme and the declaration of the 8th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting which is scheduled to take place on 4th October 2026 in El Alamein, Egypt.

The Council also considered and adopted the decisions emanating from its 49th Ordinary Session, reflecting the outcomes of deliberations on key continental priorities and matters on the AU agenda, including the Commission’s new scale of assessment for membership. Ambassador Barry Faure expressed Seychelles’ support for the Harmonised Option, noting that it is underpinned by the principles of capacity to pay, solidarity and equitable burden-sharing among AU Member States.

Ambassador Barry Faure also expressed support for the adoption of the Terms of Reference of the AU Steering Committee on Partnerships, and welcomed the Permanent Representative Committee’s role, with the Commission, in ensuring its consistent use in negotiating outcome documents across AU Partnership processes.

The conclusion of the Executive Council paves the way for the 8th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting, which will bring together members of the AU to further strengthen coordination and advance Africa’s integration agenda.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora, Republic of Seychelles.

Source: APO

The Forty-Ninth Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Executive Council successfully concluded today its 29 July 2026, at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, following two days of deliberations by Ministers of Foreign Affairs and other Ministers designated by the Member States of the African Union. The meeting considered a broad range of strategic, institutional and policy matters aimed at advancing continental integration, strengthening African Union institutions and accelerating the implementation of Agenda 2063. 

During its Closed Session, the Executive Council considered the Report of the 52nd Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee (PRC) and deliberated on a broad range of issues relating to the financial, budgetary and administrative management of the African Union, multilateral cooperation, economic and trade affairs, institutional governance and accountability, as well as the Report of the Commission on the Implementation of the Skills Audit and Competency Assessment (SACA).

The Executive Council also considered the outcomes of the African Union Retreat on G20 Engagements, the progress report on the implementation of the Roadmap for the African Union Theme of the Year 2026, “Ensuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve Agenda 2063 Goals,” as well as the progress reports of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the African Medicines Agency (AMA).

In addition, the Council considered the reports of the Executive Council Committees and other Ministerial Committees, including those on the Scale of Assessment and contributions and the Committee of Fifteen Ministers of Finance (F15), the implementation of Agenda 2063, African candidatures within the international system, and the acceleration of the ratification, accession and implementation of OAU/AU treaties.

The Council further considered the appointment of members of the African Union Board of External Auditors (BoEAs). It also reviewed the draft working documents and declaration for the Eighth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting between the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the Regional Mechanisms (RMs), scheduled to be held on 4 October 2026 in El Alamein, Egypt, and Council adopted the corresponding decisions of its Forty-Ninth Ordinary Session.

Addressing the closing ceremony, H.E. Ambassador Édouard Bizimana, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and Development Cooperation of the Republic of Burundi and Chairperson of the Executive Council, and H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, commended Member States for their constructive engagement and the spirit of consensus that characterised the session. They reaffirmed the Executive Council’s commitment to advancing the African Union’s integration agenda and delivering on the aspirations of Agenda 2063.

They also expressed their appreciation for the diligent work of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee (PRC), whose preparatory deliberations laid a strong foundation for the successful outcomes of the Executive Council.

Chairperson Youssouf and Minister Bizimana further congratulated Burundi on its commitment to implement the 0.2 per cent levy, while commending Angola, Ethiopia and Kenya for joining the Union’s Tier One contributors. They described these decisions as significant milestones in advancing the African Union Reform Agenda and strengthening the Organisation’s financial sustainability and self-reliance.

Throughout the two-day meeting, the Council reaffirmed the importance of strengthening African Union institutions, enhancing coordination among Member States, and promoting collective action to address the continent’s development priorities. Discussions also underscored the need to accelerate implementation of Agenda 2063 and reinforce Africa’s common positions on regional and global issues.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Union (AU).

Source: APO

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“Ebola feeds on delay, fear and hunger,” said Carl Skau, acting Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP). “Stopping this outbreak requires all hands on deck and communities at the centre.”

Declared in eastern DRC on 15 May, the Ebola outbreak is the fastest growing on record. Full-blown Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus is marked by severe bleeding and a fatality rate of around 40 per cent.

What you need to know

• This is the largest Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus to date, according to the latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO)
• 48 health zones across five provinces in eastern DRC are affected: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo and Haut-Uele
• Ituri, the outbreak’s epicentre, remains one of the country’s most severe hunger hotspots, with 1.9 million people facing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse
• More than 2.65 million people in the 48 Ebola-affected health zones face acute food insecurity, including more than 628,000 people in emergency conditions, according to the UN-backed global monitor Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)

‘Food is frontline Ebola containment’

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) issued a stark warning that food assistance and logistics are critical to containing the outbreak.

“Food assistance is frontline Ebola containment,” Mr. Skau said. “It helps families stay home, supports safe isolation, builds trust with communities and keeps health teams moving. We know what works. What we need now is the speed and resources to scale it before this outbreak outruns the response.”

Such efforts also help reduce movement of people in search of food, supports safe isolation, lowers the risk of harmful coping strategies and creates the social conditions for health actors to operate safely and effectively, the agency said.

What’s the UN doing?

The UN is actively helping authorities respond to the outbreak, including through its food agency, WHO and its children’s fund, UNICEF.

Here are highlights of some WFP efforts in DRC:

• Since the onset of the outbreak, the agency’s UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) has operated 495 flights, transported 3,395 humanitarian responders and delivered 56 metric tonnes of essential cargo to frontline locations, including newly affected provinces such as Haut-Uele and Tshopo
• WFP has delivered more than 160,000 hot meals to patients, contacts and frontline workers in 17 treatment and isolation centres
• WFP has also provided dry food rations to 23,000 people in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, including 14,000 people under quarantine with monthly food assistance
• An additional 36,000 people in Ebola-affected zones have been reached with general food assistance

Challenges ahead

Speed and resources are the main challenges, and every delay gives Ebola more room to spread, while gaps in logistics, food assistance and community support risk weakening containment efforts, according to WFP.

At the same time, insecurity, access constraints, community unrest and limited operational capacity in newly affected areas continue to complicate surveillance, supply movements and response scale up.

To sustain all operations in DRC for the next six months, WFP requires $293.6 million, which includes funding emergency logistics and food assistance in Ituri and other affected areas.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.

Source: APO

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The number of children receiving treatment for the most dangerous form of malnutrition in Baidoa, south central Somalia, nearly tripled in six months, according to new figures from Save the Children’s stabilization centre in the region [1], warning over the country’s worsening drought and hunger crisis. 

Health care workers at Save the Children’s Baidoa stabilization centre treated 400 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition with other medical complications in June – nearly three times as many as the 143 admitted in January.

In total, the stabilization centre treated 1,405 children between January and June 2026, a 177% increase compared with the 507 children treated a year ago. 

Poor rainfall, reduced harvests, livestock losses, reduced foreign aid, high food prices, and weaker household purchasing power is driving this worsening hunger crisis in Baidoa, said Save the Children. 

The deterioration in hunger and malnutrition also comes as Somalia marks 15 years since a famine was declared 20 July 2011, killing over 250,000 people, about half of them children under five.

Admissions to the centre’s outpatient programme, which treats moderate acute malnutrition cases also saw a sharp 268% increase in the first four months of the year. However, stock-outs of ready-to-use therapeutic food and other essential supplies due to aid cuts and the conflict in the middle east has meant that families are no longer able to receive treatment and many have stopped going to the centre, Save the Children said, leading to a sharp decline in admissions from April onwards [2]. 

While faced with a worsening drought and hunger crisis, aid organizations are also grappling with steep funding shortfalls, with more than 300 nutrition facilities reportedly closed across Somalia this year [3], reducing access to treatment for vulnerable children and families. This has caused a dangerous decline in number of people receiving humanitarian assistance, with only 12% of people in need being reached [4]. 

In May, data from the global hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), showed that about half of children under 5 in Somalia are facing acute malnutrition with Burhakaba district in the Bay region of southwest Somalia classified to be facing the risk of famine through June 2026 – the first time such a classification has been announced in Somalia since the devastating drought of 2022.

As well as hunger, disease outbreaks are multiplying the risks for children in Somalia, with the outbreaks of measles, cholera and acute watery diarrhoea worsening malnutrition among children. The Federal Government of Somalia declared a drought emergency in November 2025, its first such declaration since the country narrowly averted famine in 2022, but resources are still outpacing needs.

Aisha*, 27, whose two-year-old daughter Ayan* was treated for severe acute malnutrition at the centre after the family was displaced by drought, said:

“We used to depend on farming and livestock keeping. However, the drought affected our livelihoods and forced us to leave our home and move to Baidoa. 

“My two-year-old daughter, Ayan*, became seriously ill. Her illness began with a fever and later developed into diarrhoea and sores in her mouth. 

“When we first arrived, she was not eating anything. However, after receiving treatment, she began eating well. She even started asking for the food I was eating.”

Mustaf, a doctor at the Save the Children-supported stabilisation centre in Baidoa, said:

“This year, the number of children we are treating has doubled or even tripled compared with previous years, mainly because of the severe drought. Pastoralists have lost their livestock and farmers have suffered repeated crop failures.

“We depend heavily on humanitarian assistance from organisations such as Save the Children. Should that assistance decrease, we will be unable to continue providing essential services. Medicines and equipment will run short, and many children whose lives could have been saved may not receive the treatment they need.” 

Mohamud Mohamed Hassan, Save the Children’s Country Director in Somalia, said: 

“Fifteen years ago, the world watched Somalia’s children die in a famine that early warnings failed to stop. Today those warnings are flashing again in the same regions, and the children reaching our centre in Baidoa are more severely ill than we have seen in years.

“The difference between a warning and a tragedy is whether the response arrives in time. In 2011 it did not. We cannot let Bay Region’s children pay that price twice.”

“We know how to prevent this. What is missing is not knowledge but funding and speed. If assistance reaches Bay Region now, these children will recover and go home. If it comes late, we will be counting a cost we promised in 2011 never to repeat. The world now has to match that urgency.”

Save the Children is calling for an urgent and sustained scale-up of food security, nutrition, health and water and sanitation assistance in Bay region and other hotspots, and for the funding needed to reach children before Burhakaba crosses the line into famine.

Save the Children has worked in Somalia since 1951, delivering health, nutrition, education, child protection and emergency assistance for children and their families.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.

Source: APO

On July 29, from 5:50 p.m. for approximately 25 minutes, Mr. ONISHI Yohei, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, received a courtesy call from H.E. Dr. HODAN Osman Abdi, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Somalia to Japan.

1. At the outset, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs ONISHI welcomed Ambassador Hodan’s assumption of her post as Ambassador to Japan. He noted that Somalia is situated at a strategic crossroads of maritime trade routes linking Europe, Asia and Africa, and therefore plays a key role in realising a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)’. He also stated that Japan attaches great importance to peace and stability in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, and expressed Japan’s intention to continue cooperating towards Somalia’s stability through economic and social development.
2. Ambassador Hodan stated that she attaches great importance to relations with Japan, and while expressing her gratitude for Japan’s support to date in areas such as human resource development, indicated her desire to further strengthen Somalia’s partnership with Japan.
3. The two sides confirmed that they would continue to work closely together to strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation in the international arena.

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