Category: MIL-OSI

Source: APO

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More than 162 million children, over two-thirds of all children in Eastern and Southern Africa, live in areas exposed to the impact of the strengthening 2026/2027 El Niño, UNICEF warned today. Intensifying drought, extreme heat and flooding threaten children’s nutrition, health, access to safe water and sanitation, education and safety. Forecasts provide a narrow but critical window to act before the most severe consequences are felt.

“The threat from El Niño is growing, and the risks for children are already clear,” said Etleva Kadilli, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. “Across the region, children are facing food and water insecurity, overstretched health services and disrupted learning. Further, major climate shocks will likely push children and the systems they rely on to breaking point.”

UNICEF assessments point to urgent and overlapping risks for children in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. For example, in Somalia, flooding could directly affect up to 2.5 million people under the most severe scenario mapping, driving displacement and impacting children’s access to food, healthcare, safe water and education; in Ethiopia, tens of thousands of children are likely to be affected, particularly in areas already facing severe food insecurity and vulnerability; and in South Sudan, drought, extreme heat and localized flooding threaten to deepen food insecurity and malnutrition, increase disease outbreaks and compound famine risks and large-scale displacement.

Yet less than one per cent of international humanitarian assistance is currently available for anticipatory action, even though this is key to saving lives, reducing humanitarian needs and protecting hard-won development gains. UNICEF is calling for urgent investment in child-critical response gaps before the impacts peak;

· Scale up nutrition services: Pre-position life-saving supplies and expand early screening and treatment.

· Support health and WASH systems: Strengthen disease surveillance, essential vaccination campaigns and health services, and secure safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

· Keep children learning: Reinforce school infrastructure and prepare safe, alternative learning spaces before disruption occurs.

· Protect children from violence and exploitation: Expand psychosocial support, family tracing and reunification, and measures to prevent gender-based violence.

· Strengthen shock-responsive social protection: Link early-warning systems to anticipatory cash assistance and other social protection measures, while building the capacity of government-led systems to respond to future shocks.

UNICEF urgently requires US$173 million, within its existing 2026 Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) requirements, to reach children and families with anticipatory and life-saving assistance across 13 priority countries. Early, flexible financing is critical now before the effects of El Niño intensify.

Acting on forecasts – before images of crisis emerge – protects children and delivers significant value: every US$1 invested in disaster risk reduction can save up to US$15 in future recovery costs.

“We know what is coming, which children are most at risk and how to protect them,” continued Kadilli. “The choice is whether the world responds now, or waits until the crisis escalates, and children pay an even greater price.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Source: APO

WIOCC Group, Africa’s leading carrier-neutral digital infrastructure platform, today announced the signing of a Shareholder Subscription Agreement (SSA) with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) (www.AfricaFC.org) and Vision International Investment Company (Vision Invest), through which the two investors will make a combined US $300 million investment in the company. Signed at the LEAP 2026 Global Technology exhibition in Riyadh, the agreement represents a significant milestone in WIOCC Group’s growth journey, supporting its mission to build and operate open-access, critical infrastructure across Africa and to strengthen the digital ecosystems that underpin Africa’s economic transformation.

The investment comes at a pivotal moment for Africa’s digital development as demand for data, cloud services and artificial intelligence continues to grow. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), only 35.7% of Africa’s population was using the internet in 2025, compared with a global average of 73.6%, highlighting the scale of the continent’s digital infrastructure needs and growth potential. Meanwhile, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) projects the global AI market will reach US $4.8 trillion by 2033, while warning that access to AI capabilities and digital infrastructure remains concentrated in a limited number of countries and companies. These trends underscore the importance of investing in resilient, high-capacity infrastructure that can expand digital access, support cross-border data flows and help narrow the digital divide.

Operating in more than 30 African countries, WIOCC Group today is a key enabler for further expansion, having established one of the continent’s most extensive, open-access digital infrastructure platforms that supports its clients in accessing new markets and delivering reliable digital services at scale. Since its establishment, WIOCC Group has been supported by a group of African telecommunications operators and strategic investors, alongside leading international development and investment institutions including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and African Capital Alliance (ACA). Its shareholders include Uganda Telecom, Dalkom Somalia, Djibouti Telecom, Mozambique Telecom (TMCEL), Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel), Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet), Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA), ONATEL, TelOne and Telkom Kenya. The backing of these leading investors and operators has been instrumental in WIOCC’s growth into one of Africa’s most extensive and trusted digital infrastructure platforms, delivering connectivity services across the continent and contributing to the continued growth of Africa’s digital economy.

Commenting on this investment, Samaila Zubairu, President & Chief Executive Officer of AFC, said, ‘The Africa we build must be connected, competitive and equipped to create value from the digital economy, not only consume it. Just as transport corridors enable trade and energy networks power industry, fibre, data centres and subsea cables are now essential infrastructure for growth, innovation and AI. Our investment in WIOCC will expand the open-access digital backbone African businesses and communities need to integrate, innovate and compete globally.’

Chris Wood, Group Chief Executive Officer of WIOCC Group, further explained, ‘Africa is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the next phase of global digital growth. As demand for cloud, AI and digital services accelerates, robust and scalable infrastructure will be essential to unlocking the continent’s potential. This investment enables WIOCC to execute its long-term growth strategy by accelerating data centre deployment and consolidation, expanding the continent’s open-access terrestrial fibre footprint and investing strategically in new subsea assets, strengthening Africa’s digital infrastructure platform and enhancing connectivity between the continent and key international markets.’

President & Chief Executive Officer of Vision Invest, Omar N. Al-Midani, added, ‘WIOCC Group has built one of Africa’s leading digital infrastructure platforms, and we are proud to partner together with AFC and WIOCC’s existing shareholders as the company enters its next phase of growth. Home to the world’s youngest population and expected to account for more than one-quarter of the global population by 2050, demand for digital services in Africa will continue to rise, necessitating impactful investments in connectivity and digital ecosystems to unlock new opportunities for innovation, economic diversification and sustainable growth as well as opportunities for businesses, innovators and communities across Africa.’

Joshua Smythwood, Group Chief Strategy and M&A Officer of WIOCC Group, concluded, ‘The successful completion of this investment marks an important step in WIOCC Group’s evolution, enhancing the Group’s financial strength and enabling the management team to strengthen our market position, accelerate growth, enhance our ability to meet the evolving needs of customers across Africa, and generate long-term value for investors and stakeholders.’

The investment brings together AFC’s long-standing commitment to advancing Africa’s economic development, Vision Invest’s experience in developing strategic and impactful infrastructure investments, and WIOCC Group’s established digital footprint and extensive client relationships. Together, AFC, Vision Invest and WIOCC aim to contribute to accelerating the development of Africa’s digital ecosystem and supporting the continent’s growing role in the rapidly evolving global digital economy.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).

Media Contacts:
Greg Sellars
Director Global Brand & Communications, WIOCC
Email: greg.sellars@wiocc.net

Yewande Thorpe
Communications, Africa Finance Corporation
Mobile: +234 1 279 9654
Email: yewande.thorpe@africafc.org

Suha Matar
VP Corporate Communications, Vision Invest
Email: smatar@visioninvest.com

About Africa Finance Corporation (AFC):
AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for pragmatic infrastructure and industrial investments across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development, and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.

Nineteen years on, AFC has developed a track record as the partner of choice in Africa for investing and delivering on instrumental, high-quality infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of energy, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. AFC has 48 member countries and has invested over US$19 billion in 36 African countries since its inception.

About Vision Invest:
Vision Invest is a leading Saudi Arabian infrastructure investment and development company at the forefront of public and private sector partnerships in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and beyond. Contributing to sustainable economic development and growth, the company operates across a wide range of vital sectors, including energy transition, advanced digital infrastructure, resource recovery and preservation, transport and logistics, and social and economic infrastructure. Its portfolio footprint spans five continents, including Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America.

About WIOCC:
Africa’s Digital Infrastructure Leader
WIOCC Group is Africa’s leading digital infrastructure platform, building and operating the critical infrastructure that enables intra-African and international connectivity.

Through strategic investments in subsea assets, terrestrial networks, metro infrastructure, hyperscale data centres and digital platforms, WIOCC Group underpins the expansion and scalability of digital services across the continent.

Its carrier-neutral, open-access approach connects businesses, communities and digital ecosystems, supporting connectivity, cloud, AI, content delivery and the continued growth of Africa’s digital economy.

End-to-End Enabler of Africa’s Interconnected Digital Ecosystem

Trusted in Africa since 2008, WIOCC Group delivers reliable, scalable and future-ready digital infrastructure that strengthens connectivity, expands access and creates the foundations for sustainable digital and economic growth across the continent.

Source: APO

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The North-West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has recorded no new cases of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in the province over the past week, marking a significant development in the province’s ongoing efforts to contain and curb the spread of the disease.

This is the first week since December 2025 that the province has recorded no new FMD cases, signalling a positive shift in the province’s fight against the disease and providing encouragement that the intensified vaccination and disease-control interventions are beginning to yield results.

The Department has been implementing a mass provincial FMD vaccination programme across all four districts and 18 local municipalities, as part of the broader national intervention to contain the disease and protect the provincial livestock sector.

To date, the province has received One million five hundred and seventy thousand one hundred (1,570,100) doses of FMD vaccines, with One million four hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine (1,413,859) animals vaccinated across the province.

The MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Madoda Sambatha, welcomed the latest development. “The fact that we have gone a full week without recording a new case of Foot-and-Mouth Disease is encouraging and demonstrates the progress we are making through our collective efforts. However, we must remain vigilant. We urge all farmers and livestock owners to continue practising strict biosecurity measures on their farms and to report any suspected cases immediately to veterinary authorities,” said MEC Sambatha.

The MEC further emphasised that vaccination remains an important component of the province’s response but must be complemented by responsible livestock management and adherence to disease-control measures.

The Department anticipates commencing booster vaccinations in September 2026 in areas where animals have already received their initial vaccinations. This will take place alongside continued efforts to identify and vaccinate animals in areas that have not yet been reached by the vaccination programme.

The Department will continue working closely with farmers, organised agriculture, municipalities, traditional leaders and other stakeholders to strengthen disease surveillance, vaccination coverage and compliance with disease-control measures.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: Republic of South Africa.

Source: APO

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The United Arab Emirates has expressed its solidarity with the Republic of Zimbabwe over the victims of a traffic accident that occurred in the center of the country and resulted in a number of deaths and injuries. 

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) expressed its sincere condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims and to the Republic of Zimbabwe and its people over this tragedy, as well as its wishes for a speedy recovery for all the injured.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Arab Emirates, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Source: APO

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The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has joined African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 as a Gold Partner, reinforcing the event’s role as a meeting point for the institutions financing Africa’s energy and infrastructure buildout. The partnership comes as the Pan-African multilateral finance institution completes a record capital deployment cycle spanning refining, transport, power generation and upstream oil and gas.

AFC’s 2026 deal flow demonstrates the depth and breadth of that capital. In August, the institution led investors into a $2.5 billion private placement for the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals complex in Lagos, the largest publicly disclosed primary equity private placement in African history. The deal was oversubscribed 3.7 times. In July, AFC reached financial close on the $753 million Lobito Corridor Railway Project in Angola alongside the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), a 1,300 km cross-border rail rehabilitation linking the Port of Lobito with the DRC border. AFC financing also supported what will become Burkina Faso’s largest power plant.

AFC raised a record $2 billion syndicated loan in June, upsized from an initial $1.6 billion target, drawing lenders from Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In July it raised $500 million through a Eurobond at the tightest pricing in its history, and in August it became the first African institution to issue a digital bond, raising CHF 350 million on a regulated Swiss digital exchange. AFC’s assets now exceed $19 billion, while its membership spans 48 African countries. The institution holds A-level investment-grade ratings from both S&P and Moody’s.

AFC’s Gold Partnership gives AEW 2026 delegates direct access to an institution that operates across the full infrastructure and energy value chain, from project development and advisory through to equity, debt and risk mitigation. The corporation’s State of Africa’s Infrastructure Report 2026, launched in Nairobi in April, found that Africa’s non-bank domestic capital pools now exceed $2 trillion and argued that the priority has shifted from raising capital to deploying it productively. AEW 2026 is built around that challenge, and AFC’s presence strengthens the event’s ability to connect bankable projects with the institutions prepared to finance them.

“AFC has shown consistently that African infrastructure and energy projects can attract serious capital when the structuring is right and the institutions behind them are credible. Having them at AEW strengthens the conversation between project sponsors and the financiers who can move deals forward,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

Source: APO

The ECOWAS Commission held a formal welcome and send-off ceremony for incoming and outgone statutory appointees and Heads of ECOWAS Institutions, following the completion of the outgone leadership’s four-year tenure. During the event, H.E. General Birame DIOP of Senegal officially assumed office as the new President of the ECOWAS Commission, succeeding H.E. Dr. Omar Alieu TOURAY of The Gambia. H.E. Mr. Anthony OGUNJIMI of Nigeria also succeeded H.E. Mrs. Damtien TCHINTCHIBIDJA of Togo as Vice President. Held at the Commission’s new headquarters in Abuja, the ceremony included the unveiling of the ECOWAS@50 Special Exclusive Publication by Africa Agenda Network in partnership with the ECOWAS Commission, the symbolic presentation of the Management Performance Compendium to the incoming President, and the signing of handover notes by the outgone and incoming Presidents, Vice Presidents, and statutory appointees.

The other incoming statutory appointees are : Dr. Kalilou SYLLA (Côte d’Ivoire) Commissioner for Internal Services; Mrs. Francess ALGHALI (Sierra Leone), Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security; Mr. Dehpue Yenpea ZUO (Liberia), Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture; Mr. Amin Amidu SULEMANI ( Ghana) , Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation; Prof. Nassirou BAKO-ARIFARI (Benin), Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs; Ms. Carla Maria Borges BETTENCOURT (Cabo Verde), Auditor-General for ECOWAS Institutions; Dr. Palokinam PITCHE (Togo) , Director-General of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO); and Mr. Mam Cherno JALLOW, Director-General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

In his farewell address, the outgone President, H.E. Dr. Omar Alieu TOURAY, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve and reflected on the achievements of his four-year tenure, stressing that the outgoing leadership was leaving behind “not only memories, speeches and decisions” but also “a record” of institutional and regional accomplishments. In his inaugural address, the new President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. General Birame DIOP, called for renewed unity, solidarity and mutual respect as the foundation for advancing regional integration and strengthening the effectiveness of the ECOWAS Commission. He urged staff and stakeholders to work collectively to build a united, cohesive and efficient institution capable of responding to the aspirations and challenges of the West African region. “My solemn appeal to all of you is to make way for unity and solidarity, based on mutual respect,” he said, stressing that the strength of regional integration would be measured by the Community’s collective ability to remain united and purposeful. “A new chapter has been opened for West African integration. Let us work together to make it a chapter of peace, dignity and shared prosperity,” he declared.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).