Egypt Launches Development Projects to Support Nile Basin Countries

A general view of buildings by the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt July 2, 2019. Reuters
A general view of buildings by the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt July 2, 2019. Reuters
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Egypt Launches Development Projects to Support Nile Basin Countries

A general view of buildings by the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt July 2, 2019. Reuters
A general view of buildings by the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt July 2, 2019. Reuters

Egypt continues to launch a number of projects to support the Nile Basin countries and bolster ties.

The Egypt-based Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) has recently established a solar power plant in Tororo district in Uganda.

The project comes in line with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s directives to enhance joint cooperation with the Nile Basin countries and all African countries in various fields of industrialization, AOI Chairman Lieutenant-General Abdel Moneim al-Terras stated on Thursday.

The organization is keen to employ all its manufacturing and technological capacities to participate in the various development projects taking place in Uganda and all the African countries.

The AOI supports renewable energy projects through the Egyptian Initiative for Development in the Nile Basin Countries, Terras noted.

He explained that the plant established operates on a photovoltaic system with a capacity of 4 megawatts, pointing to the organization’s keenness to exchange expertise and train technical workers in Uganda.

The solar panels installed at the plant are produced by the Arab Renewable Energy Company (ARECO), a subsidiary of the AOI. They are efficient and were manufactured in line with international quality standards, Terras said.

The AOI is currently implementing many renewable energy projects in several African countries to achieve the maximum benefit of solar energy as a clean source of electricity generation.

Egypt has implemented many projects with the Nile Basin countries over the past years in the fields of water and electrical grids, including dams for rainwater harvesting and underground drinking water stations to provide pure drinking water in remote areas, fish farms and river anchors, as well as projects in the field of disinfecting waterways.

The projects include building seven rainwater harvesting dams in Uganda, drilling 180 underground wells in Kenya and installing a lifting unit to transport river water to communities near waterways in Wau city, south of Sudan.



Kurdish PKK Militants to Hand over First Weapons in Ceremony in Iraq

PKK militants in northern Iraq (Reuters)
PKK militants in northern Iraq (Reuters)
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Kurdish PKK Militants to Hand over First Weapons in Ceremony in Iraq

PKK militants in northern Iraq (Reuters)
PKK militants in northern Iraq (Reuters)

Dozens of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants will hand over their weapons in a ceremony in northern Iraq on Friday, marking a symbolic but significant first step toward ending a decades-long insurgency with Türkiye.

The PKK, locked in conflict with the Turkish state and outlawed since 1984, decided in May to disband, disarm and end its armed struggle after a public call to do so from its long-imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, Reuters said.

After a series of failed peace efforts, the new initiative could pave the way for Ankara to end an insurgency that has killed over 40,000 people, burdened the economy and wrought deep social and political divisions in Türkiye and the wider region.

Around 40 PKK militants and one commander were expected to hand over their weapons at the ceremony in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, people familiar with the plan said. The PKK is based in northern Iraq after being pushed well beyond Türkiye’s frontier in recent years.

The arms are to be destroyed later in another ceremony attended by Turkish and Iraqi intelligence figures, officials of Iraq's Kurdistan regional government, and senior members of Türkiye's pro-Kurdish DEM party - which also played a key role in facilitating the PKK's disarmament decision.

The PKK, DEM and Ocalan have all called on Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's government to address Kurdish political demands. In a rare online video published on Wednesday, Ocalan also urged Türkiye's parliament to set up a commission to oversee disarmament and manage the broader peace process.

Ankara has taken steps toward forming the commission, while the DEM and Ocalan have said that legal assurances and certain mechanisms were needed to smooth the PKK's transition into democratic politics.

Erdogan has said his government would not allow any attempts to sabotage the disarmament process, adding he would give people "historic good news".

Omer Celik, a spokesman for Erdogan's AK Party, said the disarmament process should not be allowed to drag on longer than a few months to avoid it becoming subject to provocations.