Day: January 6, 2022

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Expereo Nomeia Ben Elms para Diretor de Receita

Novo diretor fortalece a equipe de gestão executiva da empresa de rede global sediada em Amsterdã

AMSTERDÃ, Holanda, Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A Expereo, principal provedora mundial de serviços de Internet Global, Cloud Access Otimization, SASE e SD-WAN, anunciou hoje a nomeação de Ben Elms para Diretor de Receita. O objetivo geral de Elms é liderar a transformação das Vendas e entrada no mercado em todos os canais, e impulsionar a expansão e a adoção dos serviços da Expereo em todo o mundo.

Elms tem mais de 20 anos de experiência operacional e liderança na indústria de telecomunicações. Recentemente ele foi Diretor do Grupo (CEO) da Vodafone Global Enterprise, uma divisão do Vodafone Group Plc, uma operadora líder internacional de telefonia fixa e sem fio. Neste cargo ele foi responsável por liderar a equipe global de gerenciamento de relacionamentos com clientes multinacionais em todo o mundo. Durante seu mandato, a divisão teve uma performance superior à do mercado com forte desempenho de EBITDA, e proporcionou melhorias significativas na satisfação de clientes e funcionários, ao mesmo tempo em que impulsionou um programa de eficiências operacionais.

Com sua forte experiência de mercado, histórico de clientes e ampla experiência internacional, ele é adição significante para a empresa, que dá continuidade ao seu crescimento e desenvolvimento global.

Ao comentar a nomeação, Irwin Fouwels, CEO da Expereo, disse:

“Ben exibe todas as características de um grande líder, um verdadeiro membro de equipe com perspicácia comercial e experiência operacional super fortes, e que demonstra um foco incansável nas necessidades do cliente. Nos últimos anos as empresas têm se tornado ainda mais centradas na nuvem e na internet. A Expereo estabeleceu uma posição de liderança no mercado global de nuvem e rede definidas por software altamente atraente. Estou muito entusiasmado com a entrada de Ben para a nossa empresa para que possamos dar continuidade à nossa transformação de entrada no mercado global. Estou ansioso por uma grande parceria para levar a Expereo a um patamar ainda mais alto.”

Ao ingressar na Expereo, Elms disse:

“Sinto-me honrado com a minha nomeação como primeiro Diretor de Receita da Expereo para liderar a sua próxima fase de crescimento. A Expereo está em uma jornada emocionante e desenvolveu uma posição de liderança de mercado única. Meu foco imediato será atender nossos clientes, com a continuação do investimento e expansão da nossa posição no mercado e criação da nossa excelência operacional na entrada no mercado. Estou ansioso para falar e me reunir com funcionários, clientes e parceiros e trabalhar com o Irwin e a equipe para levar a empresa adiante em um mercado com grandes oportunidades.”

A nomeação de Elms ocorre após um período sustentado de aquisição e expansão da Expereo, que terá continuidade em 2022. Com a entrada de Elms para a equipe de gestão executiva, a empresa procurará consolidar ainda mais sua posição como líder no mercado – entregando redes globais simplificadas e encantando os clientes com a entrega contínua de serviços complementares de um fornecedor confiável.

Sobre a Expereo
A Expereo é a principal provedora de soluções de rede gerenciada, inclusive de conectividade de Internet global, SD- WAN, WAN, e serviços de Cloud Access Otimization. A Expereo é a parceira de confiança de 30% das empresas Fortune 500, capacitando sites empresariais e governamentais em todo o mundo, ajudando a aumentar a produtividade de todas as empresas com desempenho flexível e ideal na Internet. Em fevereiro de 2021, a empresa internacional de capital de crescimento e aquisição Vitruvian Partners adquiriu a participação majoritária na Expereo, juntamente com a Apax Partners SAS, empresa líder europeia em patrimônio privado, e gestão de empresas.

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CONTATO COM A MÍDIA:
Sofia Pensado
Diretora de Conta
sofia@grammatikagency.com
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ECOWAS Pushes Mali to Hold Elections Next Month

The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, has been pushing Mali’s military government to allow elections by February. This week, the grouping sent a mediator, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, to deliver a message ahead of a summit on Mali, which experienced a coup last May. Coup leaders recently announced a plan for a five-year transition to democracy.

Goodluck Jonathan was in Mali to meet with Mali’s transitional leaders, including President Assimi Goita, ahead of an ECOWAS summit on Mali which will be held this Sunday in Ghana.

President Goita and the ECOWAS delegation spent almost two hours talking at Mali’s presidential palace. Jonathan briefly addressed the press but did not disclose the contents of Wednesday’s meeting.

“The key thing is that we have been properly briefed, and we are conveying that to the authorities and heads of state and government of the ECOWAS community,” said Jonathan. “That is what we can tell you now.”

ECOWAS has been pressuring Mali’s military government to hold elections in February. This past December, military leaders submitted a five-year plan to ECOWAS which proposes the next presidential election be held in 2026.

ECOWAS has already imposed financial and travel sanctions on members of Mali’s military government and threatens further penalties if the February election deadline is not met.

Fousseini Diop, civic engagement program manager at AJCAD, the Youth Association for Active Citizenship and Democracy, says that if further sanctions are economic, it could be devastating for the Malian population.

He says … If ECOWAS doesn’t take its responsibility, he thinks that will be a precedent. He says another coup d’etat already happened in Guinea. He says this would mean that today, “we can come to power without going through the ballot box, and that means that we will continue with perpetual coups, and this will encourage other groups who will wait one year or two years to overturn those in power because they know that at the end of the day, nothing will be done.”

A coup in Guinea last September led to the ouster of that nation’s president, Alpha Conde.

Kalilou Sidibé, professor of political science and international relations at the University of Bamako, says that ECOWAS and Mali’s transitional leaders are likely to come to an agreement on a future presidential election date – one much sooner than the 2026 elections proposed by the military.

He says if ECOWAS stands firm in its position to organize elections no later than February 27, 2022, the crisis could continue and the Malian government will take action. He said he doesn’t think Mali is going in that direction. He says ECOWAS will maybe tell transitional leaders that they can grant a timeline of eight months beyond February, at which point they should organize elections.

Both Diop and Sidibé affirmed that ECOWAS has protocols in place for a coup, and that further action against Mali’s leaders should be expected if they cannot work with ECOWAS to agree on a timeline for a return to civilian rule.

Source: Voice of America

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Russian Troops Deploy to Timbuktu in Mali After French Withdrawal

Russian soldiers have deployed to Timbuktu in northern Mali to train Malian forces at a base vacated by French troops last month, Mali’s army spokesperson said Thursday.

Mali’s government said last month that “Russian trainers” had arrived in the country, but Bamako and Moscow have so far provided few details on the deployment, including how many soldiers are involved or the Russian troops’ precise mission.

The Russians’ arrival has generated sharp criticism from Western countries, led by former colonial power France. They say the forces include contractors from the mercenary Wagner Group, which they accuse of human rights abuses in other countries.

Mali’s government has denied this, saying the Russian troops are in the country as part of a bilateral agreement.

“We had new acquisitions of planes and equipment from them [the Russians],” the Mali army spokesperson told Reuters. “It costs a lot less to train us on site than for us to go over there. … What is the harm?”

He did not say how many Russians had been sent to Timbuktu.

Local residents told Reuters that uniformed Russian men were seen driving around town but could not say how many there were.

Russia’s defense ministry was not immediately available for comment.

The Russian forces’ arrival in Mali follows deployments to several other African hot spots, part of what analysts say is an attempt by Moscow to recover influence on the continent after a long absence following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.

France helped to recapture Timbuktu from al-Qaida-linked militants in 2013. France’s withdrawal from the city is part of a significant drawdown of a previously 5,000-strong task force in West Africa’s Sahel region sent to battle jihadist groups.

Source: Voice of America

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Senegal Parliament Rejects Law Increasing Prison Time for Homosexuals

A bill that would have increased the punishment for homosexual acts in Senegal from 5 years to 10 years will not be voted on, after lawmakers in a parliament committee on Wednesday rejected approving it for a vote by the full legislative body.

While prosecutions targeting gay people are rare, a 2020 survey by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, an activist group, said such prosecutions are on the rise in the West African country.

The rejected law, introduced in December, would have increased jail time to 10 years for anyone who commits an “act against nature” with someone of the same gender.

The bill would have also targeted “lesbianism, bisexuality, transsexuality, intersexuality, bestiality, necrophilia and similar practices,” AFP reported.

In its most recent international human rights report, published in March 2021, the U.S. State Department criticized Senegal for “violence or threats of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex persons” and the “existence or use of laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults.”

Homosexuality is widely viewed as deviant in Senegal, which is 95% Muslim.

Proponents of the bill said they would continue to seek its passage.

According to Reuters, Ghana is also considering lengthening jail time for same-sex activity.

Source: Voice of America

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US Names New Horn of Africa Envoy

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday named career diplomat David Satterfield as the new special envoy to the troubled Horn of Africa.

Satterfield, 67, who has experience in the Persian Gulf states, Lebanon and Iraq, most recently has served as ambassador to Turkey. He is replacing Jeffrey Feltman, another veteran diplomat, who had held the Horn of Africa posting, covering the countries of Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia, since last April.

In making the appointment, Blinken said, “Ambassador Satterfield’s decades of diplomatic experience and work amidst some of the world’s most challenging conflicts will be instrumental in our continued effort to promote a peaceful and prosperous Horn of Africa and to advance U.S. interests in this strategic region.”

The top U.S. diplomat said Feltman, 63, would continue to work at the State Department in an advisory capacity on African affairs.

In assessing his tenure in the Horn of Africa in November, Feltman pleaded for an end to the “violence, humanitarian catastrophe and atrocities in northern Ethiopia,” in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions.

The Ethiopian government has been at war with Tigray’s ruling TPLF party since November 2020.

“But we are also deeply concerned with violence and tensions elsewhere in Ethiopia,” Feltman said. “If not addressed through dialogue and consensus, these problems can contribute to the deterioration of the integrity of the state.”

Last month, the State Department also expressed concern about Somalia’s delayed elections and what it called “the procedural irregularities that have undermined the credibility” of those polls.

Source: Voice of America