Lycee Guebre-Mariam organized a half a day Telethon and an evening of talent show on Saturday, December 9, 2017 inside the school’s compound.
The school organized the Telethon with the objective of collecting donations that go to scientific research against genetic diseases; more specifically Myopathy, a disease that affects the muscles. 
“With the association of high school students and the ADFE, we decided to commit ourselves to this public health cause. We chose this because actions are clearly framed by an association (AFM) which has an irreproachable reputation in terms of monitoring its funds. Genetic diseases are also too often forgotten by research budgets that do not find them “lucrative” enough in terms of return on investment; citizen engagement for this cause is therefore fully justified,” stated Jean-Christophe Torres, Principal of the school.
He further stated that participation of Lycee’s students to help organize the event has been very good. “The students were informed by us. They did a lot, gave very good and many ideas that we had not thought of at the beginning. When given the freedom and opportunity to take initiative, my experience shows me that they are giving you back a hundred times. This is what happened for this action,” Torres underlined.
The event was not organized with a quantitative goal in terms of collecting funds. “We count on a strong mobilization to accompany us and help the research, we do our utmost to communicate on the event. The rest does not depend on us,” the Principal said before the event kicked off.
The school hopes to make the Telethon which was held for the first time this year, an annual event. Both the Telethon and the talent show were open to the public.
Lycee Guebre-Mariam organizes Telethon to support research for genetic diseases
UN, Somalia agree to four year development guidelines, ANISOM prepares transition
On December 5, the Federal Government of Somalia and the United Nations signed the UN Strategic Framework for Somalia (UNSF). It provides a framework for the UN’s support to Somalia’s development priorities over the coming four years. Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia Michael Keating, Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development, Gamal Mohamed Hassan, and Peter de Clercq, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator signed the agreement.
“The framework sets out how the UN will support Somalia, including in key areas such as achieving universal elections, strengthening the rule of law and improving governance,” Mr. Keating said. Looking ahead, “it will guide our collective efforts to improve the quality of life and opportunities for all Somalis,” he added.
UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia Peter de Clercq emphasized that, “the UNSF recognizes past efforts, cements the close partnership between Somalia and the United Nations, and reiterates our commitment to working together for the delivery of tangible results to the Somali people.”
The UNSF articulates the collective strategy, commitments and actions of 23 UN agencies and the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia in support of the country’s development priorities, as outlined in the National Development Plan, towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It follows an extensive strategic assessment that gathered input, feedback, hopes and aspirations of a broad range of stakeholders, including Somali civil society, government counterparts and the public.
In the spirit of “leaving no-one behind”, the framework has adapted gender equality and women’s empowerment, human rights, and youth engagement and empowerment as cross-cutting issues, and is structured along five strategic priorities: deepening federalism and state-building, supporting conflict resolution and reconciliation, and preparing for universal elections, Supporting institutions to improve peace, security, justice, the rule of law and the safety of Somalia. It also includes strengthening accountability and supporting institutions that protect Somalia; strengthening resilience of Somali institutions, society and the population; and supporting socio-economic opportunities for Somalis.
In related news a high-level annual conference on Peace and Security, aimed at mobilizing efforts to address common challenges facing the African continent, took place in Lusaka, Zambia during the middle of last week.
Senior diplomats of the African Union, among them Ambassador Smail Chergui, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Department and the Deputy Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson (SRCC), for Somalia, and Mr. Simon Mulongo, were among participants attending the forum.
In his keynote address to the conference, Mr. Mulongo enumerated achievements made by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), in the fight against militant group Al-Shabaab.
“AMISOM is one of the most complex Peace Support Operations ever undertaken in Africa and likely, the deadliest in modern recent times. AMISOM has made major sacrifices in the push to stabilize Somalia,” he told participants at the conference.
“AMISOM is reconfiguring its forces to address existing and emerging challenges in this transition,” Mr. Mulongo remarked, in reference to the planned transitioning of the security responsibilities from AMISOM to the Somali security forces.
“It is our hope that the much-needed international community support to achieve a smooth transition will be availed, to the Somali institutions as well, to enable them to continue stabilizing Somalia after AMISOM,” he stated.
Ambassador Smail Chergui, highlighted the conflicts bedeviling the continent and their impact on people. He called for concerted efforts to find lasting solutions.
“We stand with the families that have lost their loved ones in these conflicts and terrorist attacks,” Ambassador Chergui said.
“It is our responsibility, through the Peace and Security Council to ensure that peace reigns in the continent and to foster development activities which elevate the livelihoods of Africans,” he noted.
The annual Peace and Security conference rallies African members of the UN Security Council, to deliberate and align their activities along a common vision, in line with the AU Peace and Security Council’s objectives.
The conference also brought together AU Special envoys and representatives, who updated the peace and security situations on the continent, which are of interest to the African Union and the UN Security Council.
By Tesfaye Getnet
Mogadishu, Somalia
Djibouti Chamber premieres forum, trade fair
The private sector association of the Djibouti Chamber of Commerce (CCD), marked its 110th anniversary by hosting a successful forum and international trade fair at the public conference center located in the heart of their capital.
The event began on Sunday December 3 and continued through the end of the week. It cost CCD, who prepared for a year close to two million USD. Equipment was brought in from abroad to construct adequate spaces and meeting halls.
Top international experts were part of the forum, and although they discussed many topics, their primary focus was on practical integration of the African continent and particularly the eastern Africa sub region.
The president of CCD, Youssouf Moussa Dawaleh, told Capital that economic and other integrations have to be real.
He quoted Paul Kagamen the Rwandese President saying the implementation of integration has to be down to earth and become practical.
Besides the forum several sideline discussions occurred. For instance, the first Ethio- Djibouti Tour Operators meeting went on during the week; while the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association and its Djibouti counterpart met and took steps to make their relationship stronger.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Youssouf Moussa Dawaleh, President of the Djibouti Chamber of Commerce, said “This Trade Fair and Forum has connected the Djibouti business community and the world. The country’s key development strategy which will transform Djibouti into a regional hub in the next decade was the inspiration behind the forum. In this high-level exchange, best practices, relevant strategies and real solutions for the development of regional infrastructures through PPP were discussed. The aim of the forum was to support Djibouti so that it can take its place in regional and international trade to boost its long-term economic growth.”
Trade fair
The president lauded the great success of his chamber convincing several exhibiters 
throughout the world to participate in this new fair. He said that over 250 companies from around the world participated. “We have registered a marvelous achievement in our first experience,” he told Capital.
Companies from the Middle East, Far East, Europe, Africa, and the US worked to introduce their companies to visitors and other participants.
The fair included all sectors like construction, finance, logistics and the service industry.
According to Youssouf, additional participants were willing to offer more money to lease the booths since the fair began on Sunday.
According to experts these types of fairs are crucial since the country is looking to establish the biggest free zone facility in the region following the model of Dubai and Singapore. “We need similar events to create a market linkage between other companies that come from different corners of the world,” one of the Djiboutian exhibitors who was showing his product, told Capital. He considered the fair and the forum to be successful. “We have met with local and international visitors, which is new for us,” he added.
Companies from Ethiopia were expected to be part of the fair but only one showed up. Shamebo Fitamo Ethiopian ambassador to Djibouti, told Ethiopian media that six Ethiopian companies were registered to participate in the fair, but they did not come.
Some of the Djibouti private sector actors that Capital interviewed said that at least companies that have businesses with Djibouti were supposed to be part of the fair.
“Marble, furniture and other products are imported from Ethiopia,” a trader in Djibouti said. “I don’t understand why these companies did not attend the fair because it was a good opportunity to expand their market linkage here and in other regional markets,” he said.
However the CCD president said that the lack of participation from Ethiopia is because the event was the first of its kind. “I hope in the coming future a crowd of Ethiopian businesses will be here,” he added.
Forum
Carols Lopes (Prof), former head of ECA, Constantinos Berhe, an economic expert, Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh, Minister of Economy and Finance of Djibouti are some of the panelists who explained about regional integration and private investment in infrastructure.
They said that in addition to government assistance in regional integration private sector activity is crucial for realizing inclusive integration in the region and the continent.
Experts from over 20 countries attended the panels, according to Youssouf. He said that this is a good beginning to expand such kind of dialogues for the sake of regional economic prosperity.
The main issue mentioned at the discussion was the model of Ethiopia and Djibouti, who expanded their linkage in every sub-sector of infrastructure including water and telecom cable. They also stated this will be a symbol for the rest of the sub continent to begin the expected achievements in the future.
CCD is a strong private sector association formed 110 years ago and it is one of the pioneer chambers in the region. It organized this event for the first time. At the session the former president of CCD, Seid Ali, who served the chamber from 1957 to 2003 and made it strong, was recognized by the current leaders of the chamber and by government officials.
The fair and forum was opened by Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed, Prime Minister of Djibouti. It continued for approximately a week. The president said they plan to hold the forum and fair regularly.
Nyala Insurance hopes to expand to foreign markets
Nyala Insurance S.C. is considering operating in foreign markets. During a press conference, the company’s executive team said it was time to explore new markets so that the company can build its capacity and learn from larger companies in the same sector.
“We are looking at the regulatory laws and working with the regulatory body to see how we could expand to new markets and we hope we will be able to do that in the near future,” stated Yared Mola, CEO of Nyala.
During the 23rd Annual General and the 16th Extraordinary Meeting of the shareholders it was stated that NISCO has registered a net profit of birr 122.2 million in the 2016/17 fiscal year, a massive profit margin since the company’s establishment.
According to a report presented at the meeting, the company registered a gross profit of birr 137 million, up from birr 77.4 million in the previous fiscal period.
According to the company, it was able to secure a high amount of gross profit margin due to appropriate risk management techniques that have been put in place to attract more customers.
The company’s assets have reached birr 1.22 billion, an increase by 28.4 over the previous year and the company’s paid up capital rose to birr 359 in the 2016/17 fiscal year. The differentiated and value adding services extended to the customer are among some of the reasons for the boost in profitability.
Speaking about challenges, it was stated that a shortage of skilled manpower as well as lack of dynamism are some of the major constraints.
“We have been crawling too long and fighting tooth and nail on the domestic market frontier while our East African counterparts have outrun us by a long mile. We need to reboot our business philosophy and rethink beyond short term plans which are heavily seen in the Ethiopian financial industry,” said Yared.
Chairman of the Board Kemal Mohammed underlined that, while the performance of the company is really good compared to the local market, it is still very small and has a long way to go. He further stated that the regulatory body should stay ahead of the sector by putting forward new regulations that pave the way for insurance companies to become more capable and fast moving in front of international markets.
