Day: September 26, 2021

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UnionPay International s’associe à S2M pour promouvoir l’inclusion financière numérique en Afrique.

CASABLANCA, Maroc, 25 septembre 2021 /PRNewswire/ — UnionPay International et S2M ont annoncé conjointement un partenariat ambitieux visant à accélérer l’inclusion financière numérique sur le continent africain.

Cette nouvelle réalisation permettra à S2M de fournir des services de paiement UnionPay à ses clients avec un haut niveau de performance, de continuité et de sécurité. Ce partenariat contribuera à l’expansion des solutions de paiement numérique innovantes, en apportant une valeur ajoutée à l’économie africaine et en favorisant l’inclusion financière.

« Nous sommes ravis de cette nouvelle réalisation, qui renforce notre partenariat stratégique avec UnionPay International. Nous continuons à répondre aux besoins de l’écosystème africain, qui est en quête constante d’innovation, de flexibilité et d’adaptabilité à l’évolution du comportement des consommateurs ». M. Mohamed Amarti, vice-président, Groupe S2M.

« Nous sommes ravis de collaborer avec S2M en tant que partenaire privilégié pour un investissement à long terme en Afrique », a déclaré M. Luping Zhang, directeur général de UnionPay Africa Region. « Nous soutenons les initiatives novatrices et axées sur le client de S2M pour favoriser l’inclusion financière. Ensemble, nous continuons de contribuer à l’écosystème mondial des paiements ».

En tant que leader sur le marché africain depuis plus de 35 ans, S2M dessert le paysage africain des paiements à travers son siège social au Maroc, ses filiales en Tunisie, et un vaste réseau de partenaires fiables. S2M dessert plus de 180 établissements sur quatre continents. Sa stratégie numérique axée sur le client vise à fournir des produits et des services novateurs, accessibles, pratiques et fonctionnels 24 heures sur 24, 7 jours sur 7. S2M sert l’ensemble de l’écosystème de paiement, y compris les institutions financières, les opérateurs de télécommunications, les compagnies pétrolières, les détaillants, les agrégateurs, les acteurs de la santé et de l’administration électronique, et les opérateurs de transfert d’argent avec des solutions de paiement innovantes. S2M s’engage à soutenir et à renforcer les économies nationales du continent par l’innovation, ce qui lui permet de répondre aux demandes et aux attentes en constante évolution des clients à l’ère du numérique.

Avec plus de 1,6 milliard de cartes UnionPay émises dans 70 pays et régions du monde, UnionPay a étendu son réseau dans 180 pays et régions ces dernières années. À l’heure actuelle, les cartes UnionPay sont largement acceptées en Afrique dans tous les secteurs, répondant efficacement aux divers besoins d’achat des détenteurs de cartes UnionPay visitant et vivant sur le continent. Plus de 10 pays africains ont émis des cartes UnionPay, dont le Kenya, la Tanzanie, l’Ouganda, le Ghana, l’Afrique du Sud, Eswatini, Madagascar et Maurice. Le rapport Nilson (numéro 1154) montre que UnionPay se classe au premier rang de tous les systèmes de cartes dans l’émission de cartes et le volume de transactions à l’échelle mondiale. UnionPay a lancé divers produits de paiement innovants en Afrique en réponse à la transformation numérique mondiale et à l’inclusion financière.

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Cameroon Arrests Five Policemen Over Torture Video

YAOUNDE – Five Cameroonian policemen have been arrested, on suspicion of torture, after a video was made public showing police officers torturing a detainee, according to a senior police officer.

Cameroon’s police chief, Martin Mbarga Nguele said, the five police officers were taken into custody and appeared before a judge over the alleged torture, which took place in the capital, Yaounde, last week.

The video, which went viral in the Central African nation on Wednesday, showed the policemen interrogating, assaulting and then severely beating the detainee, suspected of theft.

Nguele said in a statement, made public yesterday that, the treatment was “inhuman.”

“The measures applied (against the policemen) are only the continuity of the permanent action in progress, for a citizen police force, truly at the service of everyone because the daily act of the police officer must tend today, only towards the well-being of the citizen,” Nguele said in the statement.

“For more than a decade, the national security has embarked on the path of professionalism, modernisation and change of mentality and morality,” he added, while stressing that the population must also respect and collaborate with the police.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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40 Injured In Factory Explosion In Northern Tanzania

DAR ES SALAAM– At least 40 employees of a steel factory in Tanzania’s northern region of Mwanza were injured on Friday afternoon, following an explosion, police said yesterday.

Ramadhan Ng’anzi, the Mwanza regional police commander, said, the 40 employees of Nyakato Steel Mill factory in the Mwanza city, got injured after a metal exploded, throwing galvanised steel into all directions.

Ng’anzi said, police, in collaboration with members of the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force, arrived at the factory to supervise rescue operations.

The police official said, the injured workers were rushed to the Sekou Toure regional referral Hospital for treatment, adding, some of the victims were in serious condition.

He said, the police launched an investigation to establish the cause of the explosion.

Diana Anatory, a medical doctor at the Sekou Toure regional referral hospital, said, seven of the 40 injured workers were in critical condition.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Theoneste Bagosora, Architect of Rwanda Genocide, Dies at 80

Theoneste Bagosora, a former Rwandan army colonel regarded as the architect of the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed, died in a hospital in Mali on Saturday.

His son Achille Bagosora announced the death in a Facebook post: “Rest in Peace, Papa.”

Bagosora was serving a 35-year sentence after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by the then-International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Bagosora, 80, had been sentenced to life in 2008 but on appeal his sentence was reduced to 35 years in prison.

Known as a hardliner within the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development party of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, Bagosora in 1993 was appointed Cabinet director in the defense ministry and took control of military and political affairs in the country.

The position made him answerable only to the president. When the president died in a plane crash, Bagosora took over the affairs of state and ordered the massacre of Tutsi, Donat Rutayisire, a genocide survivor who knew him, told The Associated Press.

Canadian Gen. Romeo Dallaire, head of United Nations peacekeepers in Rwanda at the time, described Bagosora as the kingpin behind the genocide.

After the genocide, Bagosora fled into exile in Cameroon. He was arrested there in 1996 and flown to face trial in Arusha, Tanzania, in 1997. His trial began in 2002 and lasted until 2007.

Bagosora was found guilty in connection with the killing of 10 Belgian peacekeepers and responsible for the deaths of the Rwandan prime minister and head of the constitutional court. He was also found responsible for organized killings of Tutsi at numerous sites in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, and in Gisenyi in the west of the country.

Reacting to the news of Bagosora’s death, Rwanda’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Olivier Nduhungirehe, said Bagosora didn’t show remorse for his crimes.

“The main reasons against Bagosora’s request for early release were that he never accepted responsibility for genocide, showing no sign of remorse or regret; and that he is a man with a forceful personality who at times is unable to control himself,” Nduhungirehe said in a Twitter post.

Bagosora’s application for early release was turned down earlier this year, with the judge ruling that he had failed to demonstrate rehabilitation.

Source: Voice of America

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MALI APPROACHES ‘RUSSIAN PRIVATE COMPANIES,’ SLAMS FRANCE AT UN

Mali has asked private Russian companies to boost security, Russia’s foreign minister confirmed Saturday, as the Malian leader accused France of abandoning the conflict-ridden country by preparing a large troop drawdown.

European countries have warned the Malian government on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week against hiring paramilitaries from the controversial Wagner group.

But with Paris set to reduce its military presence in Mali, Sergey Lavrov told reporters that the Malian government was turning towards “private Russian companies.”

“This is activity which has been carried out on a legitimate basis,” he said during a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York.

“We have nothing to do with that,” he added, saying the Malian government estimated that “its own capacities would be insufficient in the absence of external support” and initiated the discussions.

According to reports, Mali’s army-dominated government in Bamako is close to hiring 1,000 Wagner paramilitaries.

France has warned Mali that hiring the fighters from the Russian private-security firm would isolate the country internationally.

But Mali PM Choguel Kokalla Maiga accused France of abandoning his country with the “unilateral” decision to withdraw troops as he addressed the UN General Assembly

He said his government was justified to “seek other partners” to boost security and slammed a “lack of consultation” by the French.

The Wagner group is considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Western countries accuse it of acting on behalf of Moscow.

Russian paramilitaries, private-security instructors and companies have grown increasingly influential in Africa in recent years, particularly in the conflict-ridden Central African Republic, where the United Nations has accused Wagner contractors of committing abuses.

Moscow admits having deployed “instructors” to CAR but says they aren’t active in fighting. Russia insists there are no paramilitaries in Libya, despite Western claims to the contrary.

The UN, which has some 15,000 peacekeepers in Mali, has also expressed concern at the possible involvement of Wagner fighters.

The EU, which trains Malian troops through its EUTM Mali mission, made up of 700 soldiers from 25 European countries, has warned that Wagner’s involvement would “seriously” affect its relations with Bamako.

“To say, ‘I was there first, get out,’ it’s insulting, first of all for the government in Bamako which invited foreign partners,” insisted Lavrov.

France, which has lost 52 soldiers in the Sahel since it began engagements in January 2013, has decided to reorganize its military presence around a tighter unit centered on targeted strikes against jihadist leaders and on supporting local armies.

Source: National News Agency