The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced on Wednesday that preliminary laboratory results indicate a new cluster of cases of the deadly Ebola virus in North Kivu province.

The announcement was issued just eight days after the Ministry of Health declared the official end of an Ebola outbreak in Equateur Province, some 2,500 km from North Kivu. A total of 29 died during the most recent outbreak, which was declared over when two weeks had passed without a new case emerging, following the release of the last patient from care.

Concern heightened in the early days of the outbreak, when cases emerged in a major urban area on the Congo River.

Ebola is a constant threat in the DRC, said Dr. TedrosAdhanomGhebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). What adds to our confidence in the country’s ability to respond is the transparency they have displayed once again. Working closely with the Ministry of Health and partners, we will fight this one as we did the last.

The Government informed WHO that four out of six samples tested positive for Ebola virus at the Institut National de RechercheBiomedicale (INRB) in Kinshasa but that further testing is ongoing.

Since we are coming out of another Ebola outbreak, we have kept staff and equipment in place, said Dr. MatshidisoMoeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. This allows us to have a head start in response to this cluster.

The majority of the cases are in the Mangina health area which is 30 kilometres from the city of Beni. This new cluster is occurring in an environment which is very different from where we were operating in the north-west, said Dr. Peter Salama, Deputy Director-General of the Emergency Preparedness and Response team at WHO.

He explained that given that North-Kivu is an active conflict zone, the major barrier will be safely accessing the affected population.

North Kivu hosts over 1 million displaced people. The province shares borders with Rwanda and Uganda with a great deal of cross-border movement due to the trade activities, which could increase the risk of possible spread of the virus. WHO said it will continue to work with neighbouring countries to ensure health authorities are alerted and prepared to respond.

Source: UN News Centre

Secretary-General of the Pan African Women’s Organisation Pinky Kekana to celebrate Pan African Women’s Day

The Deputy Minister of Communications, Pinky Kekana in her capacity as the Secretary General of PAN African Women’s Organisation (PAWO) will on 31 July 2018 join the Pan African Women’s Day celebrations.

The 2018 Pan African Women’s Day is hosted by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in collaboration with PAWO under the theme: Celebrating a Legacy of Liberation by the Pan African Women: Taking forward the Struggle for Gender Equality.

The celebrations marks the 56th anniversary since the formation of PAWO and will highlight the achievements and also focus on revitalising PAWO as well as building a progressive women’s movement in Africa.

These celebrations coincide with the 100 years since the formation of the Bantu Women’s League. The following events will be hosted in celebration of the 56 years of PAWO and the 100 years of the Bantu Women’s League:

Members of the media are invited as follows:-

Media programme

Part one – The Women’s Walk: Pan African Women rising � Africa’s Cause Must Triumph

Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Time: 7h00

Venue: Freedom Park in Tshwane

Part two – Colloquium on Building a Strong Women’s Movement in Africa

Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Time: 10:00

Venue: DIRCO Conference Center 1

Pan African Women’s Organisation (PAWO) was established in 1962 to unite African women through the creation of a single platform that promotes an exchange of good practices and initiates joint efforts to support human rights and elimination of all forms of discrimination.

During its 56 years of existence PAWO has played a critical role in mobilising women in the struggles against colonialism and apartheid, and in the development of the continent and the building of a non-sexist Africa. It continues to have an important role in the mobilisation of women and men for the implementation of Agenda 2063, and for the empowerment of women and girls.

Source: Government of South Africa

Secretary-General of the Pan African Women’s Organisation Pinky Kekana to celebrate Pan African Women’s Day

The Deputy Minister of Communications, Pinky Kekana in her capacity as the Secretary General of PAN African Women’s Organisation (PAWO) will on 31 July 2018 join the Pan African Women’s Day celebrations.

The 2018 Pan African Women’s Day is hosted by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in collaboration with PAWO under the theme: Celebrating a Legacy of Liberation by the Pan African Women: Taking forward the Struggle for Gender Equality.

The celebrations marks the 56th anniversary since the formation of PAWO and will highlight the achievements and also focus on revitalising PAWO as well as building a progressive women’s movement in Africa.

These celebrations coincide with the 100 years since the formation of the Bantu Women’s League. The following events will be hosted in celebration of the 56 years of PAWO and the 100 years of the Bantu Women’s League:

Members of the media are invited as follows:-

Media programme

Part one – The Women’s Walk: Pan African Women rising � Africa’s Cause Must Triumph

Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Time: 7h00

Venue: Freedom Park in Tshwane

Part two – Colloquium on Building a Strong Women’s Movement in Africa

Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Time: 10:00

Venue: DIRCO Conference Center 1

Pan African Women’s Organisation (PAWO) was established in 1962 to unite African women through the creation of a single platform that promotes an exchange of good practices and initiates joint efforts to support human rights and elimination of all forms of discrimination.

During its 56 years of existence PAWO has played a critical role in mobilising women in the struggles against colonialism and apartheid, and in the development of the continent and the building of a non-sexist Africa. It continues to have an important role in the mobilisation of women and men for the implementation of Agenda 2063, and for the empowerment of women and girls.

Source: Government of South Africa

Secretary-General of the Pan African Women’s Organisation Pinky Kekana to celebrate Pan African Women’s Day

The Deputy Minister of Communications, Pinky Kekana in her capacity as the Secretary General of PAN African Women’s Organisation (PAWO) will on 31 July 2018 join the Pan African Women’s Day celebrations.

The 2018 Pan African Women’s Day is hosted by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in collaboration with PAWO under the theme: Celebrating a Legacy of Liberation by the Pan African Women: Taking forward the Struggle for Gender Equality.

The celebrations marks the 56th anniversary since the formation of PAWO and will highlight the achievements and also focus on revitalising PAWO as well as building a progressive women’s movement in Africa.

These celebrations coincide with the 100 years since the formation of the Bantu Women’s League. The following events will be hosted in celebration of the 56 years of PAWO and the 100 years of the Bantu Women’s League:

Members of the media are invited as follows:-

Media programme

Part one – The Women’s Walk: Pan African Women rising � Africa’s Cause Must Triumph

Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Time: 7h00

Venue: Freedom Park in Tshwane

Part two – Colloquium on Building a Strong Women’s Movement in Africa

Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Time: 10:00

Venue: DIRCO Conference Center 1

Pan African Women’s Organisation (PAWO) was established in 1962 to unite African women through the creation of a single platform that promotes an exchange of good practices and initiates joint efforts to support human rights and elimination of all forms of discrimination.

During its 56 years of existence PAWO has played a critical role in mobilising women in the struggles against colonialism and apartheid, and in the development of the continent and the building of a non-sexist Africa. It continues to have an important role in the mobilisation of women and men for the implementation of Agenda 2063, and for the empowerment of women and girls.

Source: Government of South Africa

The United States and Russia urgently need to revive Cold War-era cooperation to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, according to a new report.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies report, entitled “Once and Future Partners: The United States, Russia and Nuclear Non-Proliferation,” uses newly declassified intelligence archives to shed light on the key personal exchanges between the Cold War foes that helped sustain the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It also highlights a key moment in Cold War cooperation that helped prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to the African continent.

In August 1977, Soviet spy satellites detected preparations for a nuclear weapons test at the Vastrap military base in South Africa’s Kalahari desert. Moscow’s decision to consult Washington before going public with the discovery indicates the Cold War foes could still work together in non-proliferation matters, says Nicholas Redman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“The Soviet Union did not have diplomatic relations with the apartheid regime. It did, however, have intelligence which suggested that [nuclear] test preparations were underway. The Soviets took the risk of sharing this intelligence with the United States. The United States did have relations with Pretoria, had indeed assisted the civilian nuclear program, but evidently had no interest in allowing South Africa to conduct a nuclear test,” Redman said.

Pretoria denied it planned to conduct any nuclear test. However, U.S. intelligence soon confirmed the presence of the test site and helped pressure South Africa into abandoning its plans. The destruction of the Kalahari facility was eventually overseen by inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog the IAEA in 1993.

The collaboration between Cold War foes, led then by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, is one of numerous examples of Washington and Moscow working together to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

“Personal relations were absolutely key to building not only the non-proliferation treaty, but the entire non-proliferation regime that then grew around it. The fact that there were arms control specialists and scientific specialists in both governments, the fact that they met regularly … this was actually vital in building the entire regime,” Redman added.

The construction of that regime entailed a decade of U.N. talks in Geneva during the 1960s, culminating in the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, which remains the cornerstone of efforts to prevent the spread of atomic weapons and a testimony to Cold War cooperation.

Increased pressure

But half a century later, the IISS report warns the NPT is under pressure from many sides, just as relations between Moscow and Washington are worse than at any point since the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.

“So there’s a need for an investment to rebuild these habits of cooperation because the threats haven’t actually gone away. There are still a lot of nuclear weapons that aren’t as secure as we would like them to be. There are even more nuclear materials,” Redman said.

There are fears of a new arms race, with Russia developing tactical atomic weapons and the United States modernizing its nuclear capabilities.

The 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was not signed by any nuclear powers and shows a growing divide between countries with and those without atomic weapons.

“Unless the United States and Russia cooperate, the problem is they could very quickly lose the initiative that they have held up till now in the nuclear proliferation sphere,” Redman said.

International image

The report identifies seven lessons that may help to revive non-proliferation cooperation, including “recognition by policymakers on both sides that their countries’ international images typically were enhanced when they were seen to cooperate.”

The report urges policymakers in both the United States and Russia to learn lessons from Cold War history as the world still faces grave nuclear threats.

Source: Voice of America