MEDI1TV Afrique : LE GRAND JOURNAL MIDI - 18/02/2025
Catégorie
🗞
NewsTranscription
00:00Hello and welcome to Medea TV. It's a pleasure to meet you to talk about the news. Here are the headlines of this newspaper.
00:20Morocco is doing a strategic work on road safety. This is what the head of the government, Aziz Arshad Houcha, said in Marrakech at the opening of the 4th edition of the World Ministerial Conference on Road Safety.
00:35High-ranking Russian and American officials are in Riyadh. The goal is to restart a relationship at the lowest level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and prepare a next summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
00:48The Democratic Republic of Congo denounces the inaction and latentism of the UN Security Council the day after the arrest of Boukavou by the M23 group. We talk about it in this newspaper.
01:00Morocco is doing a strategic work on road safety. This is what the head of the government, Aziz Arshad Houcha, said in Marrakech at the opening of the 4th edition of the World Ministerial Conference on Road Safety.
01:22The head of the government said that Morocco has put in place a series of laws, projects and initiatives for the strategic management of road safety. The head of the government encouraged the adoption of a new road code, the automatic control of infractions, the improvement of technical visits of vehicles and the training of drivers and, without forgetting, the improvement of road infrastructure.
01:44The World Network of Road Safety Agencies held yesterday a meeting dedicated to the strengthening of international cooperation, a meeting that aims to develop strategies to translate political commitments into concrete action on the ground.
02:00And on his side, Etienne Krug, director of the Department of Social Determinants of Health at the WHO, highlighted the essential role of road safety agencies in the protection of users. However, he stressed that major challenges still exist and that additional actions are necessary to strengthen the impact of the measures adopted. I invite you to listen to him.
02:21First of all, we are very happy to be here in Morocco for this 4th World Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. Because the world is experiencing a crisis of road insecurity, we have a transport system that kills 1.2 million people every year, mostly young people, and road insecurity has become the number one cause of death in the world for young people aged 5 to 29.
02:52It's a tragedy because we have and we accept this transport system that kills, day after day, young people, children who walk to school, who ride a bike, young fathers, mothers who go to work, etc.
03:09It is high time to bring a solution. We have solutions. We know that it is about having better legislation and implementing this legislation on speed, on the steering wheel, on the belt, on the helmet, etc.
03:20Improving the infrastructure, in particular to limit speeds, but also to allow people to walk, to ride a bike safely, to improve public transport, to improve vehicles and emergency response systems.
03:38So we have solutions to this crisis. They must be implemented in all countries, but in particular in Africa, because this is where the death rates are highest.
03:51Road accidents are one of the main causes of death in Morocco and despite the efforts made by the authorities to improve road safety, the situation remains worrying.
04:04In Morocco, road accidents cause an average of 3,500 deaths and 12,000 serious injuries, an average of 10 deaths and 33 injuries per day.
04:16Moreover, the year 2024 recorded a notable increase in road accidents in urban areas with 96,810 recorded incidents, an increase of 14% compared to the year 2023.
04:30In addition, in 2024 Morocco recorded 1,063 deaths and 5,046 serious injuries.
04:37In addition, and according to the figures given by ARSA, road accidents represent a colossal cost for Morocco, estimated at 19.5 billion dirhams per year, or nearly 1.7% of the country's GDP.
04:50And to stop the bleeding, the Kingdom of Morocco has implemented a national road safety strategy for 2017-2026.
04:58This strategy has resulted in a 22.47% decrease in road accidents between 2015 and 2022, thanks to initiatives such as strengthening road infrastructure, increased awareness and strict road code application.
05:15Finally, this remarkable national improvement has also found an echo on the international scene, where the Kingdom was supported by the United Nations in June 2023 to organize this year the World Road Safety Conference scheduled for February 18 and 19 in Marrakech.
05:35Rachida Detti described her visit to the Moroccan Sahara as historic, as she demonstrated that the present and the future of this region are part of Moroccan sovereignty.
05:44On this occasion, the French Minister of Culture announced the installation of a French alliance antenna soon in Laayoune, with cultural activities, especially in the learning of the language, with exchanges of artists and educational courses.
06:05Americans and Russians started to talk about the Ukrainian dossier.
06:09High-ranking officials led by US and Russian diplomats are in Riyadh, with the aim of trying to restart a relationship at the lowest level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and prepare a next summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
06:21The US delegation also includes the National Security Council and the special envoy for the Middle East, Russia, and for its part represented by the head of diplomacy Sergey Lavrov and Yuri Lukashev, diplomatic advisor to Vladimir Putin.
06:36And at the same time, Vladimir Zelensky is in Turkey to meet Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
06:44The Ukrainian president arrived yesterday in Turkey for an official visit, where he must meet with his counterpart on the exchanges of prisoners with Russia, an announcement made by the head of the Ukrainian state on his Telegram account.
06:56Around Africa, where the news is still marked by the situation in RDC, the Democratic Republic of Congo denounces the inaction and latentism of the UN Security Council the day after the capture of Bukavu by the group of the M23.
07:15The government is outraged to see that the UN Security Council is paralyzed by we don't know what disease and could not be able to speak out, despite the gravity of the situation.
07:31Inaction and inattentiveness of the UN Security Council are denounced by Kinshasa.
07:37So why didn't the UN Security Council speak out despite the gravity of the situation?
07:42Elements with Bakary Samb, regional director of the Timbuktu Institute.
07:47Anyway, even during the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council at the beginning of the crisis in Goma,
07:53following which even the military governor of North Kivu was killed at the front, and other soldiers with many losses,
08:02we saw that in the rather far-fetched language of diplomacy, there was no firm condemnation.
08:08France had raised its voice a little, but we see that the international community is like walking on eggs,
08:15and that we do not dare at all in this crisis to name things conveniently,
08:21and to silence the demands of Kinshasa to want to condemn for example Rwanda,
08:26to condemn this support for the M23, which has now become clear.
08:31It is clear that we can understand the fact that the UN Security Council has risen up diplomatically
08:39by talking about inertia and inaction of the international community,
08:43and this is exactly what happened recently at the last summit of the African Union.
08:49Donald Trump's decision to suspend all foreign aid programs from the United States for 90 days
08:54is likely to have dramatic effects in Africa,
08:57South Africa, which has the largest seropositive population in the world,
09:01is one of the main beneficiaries of PEPFAR,
09:03an important American program to fight HIV.
09:07Dina Mbrini tells us more.
09:13In this village in the South African province of KwaZulu, Majola lives with HIV.
09:19Since the freezing of American aid, this 19-year-old woman,
09:22who had her HIV treatment delivered at home,
09:26is now forced to go and pick it up at the village health center,
09:31more than an hour from her home.
09:40I felt bad when I learned that the funding had been stopped.
09:44It is very painful, because many people will not go to the clinic
09:48because of the shame and stigmatization they feel.
09:52I would therefore like the funding to be reestablished so that we can continue our treatment.
10:01Majola is one of the millions of patients in South Africa affected by the freezing of American aid.
10:06This young woman is worried about the lack of HIV treatment and the increase in infection rates.
10:12The next three months will be a matter of life or death for her.
10:19Transport is a big problem in this region,
10:23and we do not receive regular visits from the mobile hospital.
10:27If we count on these services, we will surely miss them,
10:31because there is no fixed schedule for the patients to go there.
10:35It will therefore be very difficult for us.
10:40This decision by Donald Trump caused panic among HIV-positive people,
10:46who benefited free of charge from the American program to fight HIV.
10:55We are killed in this way. We are going to die.
10:59You know, the day I learned that the funding had been stopped,
11:03I felt agonized. What will happen to me?
11:06And what will happen to all the other HIV-positive people?
11:10In South Africa, AIDS has sacrificed an entire generation in the middle of the 2000s,
11:15creating a hundred orphans.
11:18In this country, which still accounts for almost 14% of HIV-positive people,
11:22one of the highest rates in the world,
11:25American aid was particularly precious.
11:30For some time now, a wave of heat has hit Senegal,
11:33a situation that the Senegalese have a hard time dealing with.
11:36So how to explain this phenomenon?
11:39Our reporters Aichata Diakite and Moussa Ndir
11:42asked the experts of the National Civil Aviation and Meteorology Agency.
11:47Watch.
11:50A freshness that increases day by day,
11:53with winds often unpredictable,
11:56on the daily life of the Senegalese for a few months.
11:59A situation that some have a hard time dealing with.
12:03It's really, really, really cold.
12:05I told myself that by noon there would be a bit of sun.
12:08That's why I didn't wear a sweater to see the freshness.
12:12But it's really cold this time in Dakar.
12:15Above all, it looks like we're in Europe.
12:18It's very cold. It's very, very cold.
12:21Especially for us, who are of the third age.
12:24However, from the point of view of the experts,
12:27this wave of freshness is not as intense.
12:30It just got longer.
12:32Three to four months of freshness.
12:35The freshness began in November, December, January,
12:38and a little towards the beginning of February.
12:41It's as if this situation has returned.
12:44It's a situation that used to occur in Senegal.
12:47As I said, it's not a freshness that's really extreme,
12:51compared to what we recorded in the past years.
12:54It was a freshness that was marked.
12:57But it tickles the Senegalese,
13:00because we stayed for three to four years without this kind of freshness.
13:04To face this freshness,
13:07some have chosen sport to get a feeling of warmth.
13:11But the situation is more complicated for the elderly.
13:15When I have time, I go to the beach to jog,
13:19to be able to recover from the heat.
13:26We face rheumatism and body aches, etc.
13:32In Senegal, the initial period of freshness
13:35is often expected from the beginning of December to the end of January.
13:39For this year, it will continue until March,
13:42according to weather forecasters.
13:45A temperature that changes during the day,
13:48with a rise in the middle of the day,
13:51and a fall at night with freshness throughout the territory.
13:56And to come back to the issues of the 4th edition
13:59of the World Ministerial Conference on Road Safety,
14:02organized right now in Marrakech,
14:05we meet our special envoy, Nadia Pacoro.
14:14Yes, hello Noa.
14:16Indeed, the 4th World Ministerial Conference on Road Safety
14:22has officially opened its doors here at the Palace of Congresses in Marrakech.
14:27A ceremony that was inaugurated by a speech of the head of government,
14:32the opportunity for Mr. Aziz Ranoush to come back
14:35on the urgency of the situation and multistakeholder issues.
14:41We will see that they are debated here in the city of Acre.
14:46It was an opportunity to come back on major issues.
14:50Several personalities came to the tribune after the head of government.
14:57Among these personalities is Dr. Amani Abouzeid,
15:04Commissioner in charge of Infrastructure and Energy,
15:11as well as digitalization within the African Union.
15:15Dr. Amani Abouzeid, thank you for accepting the invitation from Mediintv.
15:20Thank you, and I have the great pleasure of being among you today.
15:24So, why is this conference, which aims to declare Marrakech,
15:32so important and strategic for Africa,
15:36which is perhaps the region most affected by road safety in the world?
15:42Absolutely.
15:44In fact, the Road Safety Conference is an extremely important event
15:50that does not take place every year.
15:52And we have the immense pleasure that Morocco hosts
15:57this extremely important conference for the whole world.
16:01And as you just said, particularly for Africa.
16:05Africa is developing, as you know,
16:08and we are still developing our infrastructure,
16:15whether it is road infrastructure or other.
16:18So this sometimes causes accidents.
16:27But what is alarming is that the rate of serious accidents
16:32that lead to death, injuries or serious accidents,
16:42is the most affected region, if there is the highest rate.
16:46And this is not what we would like,
16:48neither for our populations nor for future generations.
16:52So, having this conference on African soil
16:57allows us, even before talking about the map,
17:02to raise awareness among our populations,
17:05to raise awareness among decision-makers from all sectors,
17:08because there is not a single sector that is affected
17:11or that should have to do with road safety.
17:14So, to raise awareness of the importance of road safety.
17:18You may have followed the speech I gave this morning
17:23at the inauguration.
17:25Because road safety begins with design.
17:28I look around me, for someone who has worked for years
17:33here in Morocco, a great pleasure and honour,
17:36who has worked on Moroccan infrastructure,
17:38look, there are places to cross pedestrians,
17:44high-level signposting, especially digital.
17:51All this is done at the very beginning.
17:54It is also extremely expensive to do it well afterwards.
17:57And then, the accidents, there are not only the tragedies
18:03that result at the level of a family,
18:06or at the level of individuals and the community,
18:09but also the economic cost.
18:11The majority of those who are the subject of these accidents
18:15are young people, in their working age.
18:19So, it is a terrible economic cost.
18:23So, precisely, an economic cost, a human cost too.
18:27First, we must remember that there are 1,200,000 people
18:30who die each year because of road accidents.
18:33It was mentioned during this...
18:35In the world.
18:36In the world, absolutely.
18:37You have indeed spoken about the design
18:40and planning of infrastructures,
18:43in anticipation.
18:45Why is it so important, especially for Africa,
18:48because we know that 80% of the roads
18:51are not adapted in the world?
18:53Yes, but precisely, we are in the African Union,
18:56so it is the organization that works on
18:59intra-African infrastructures.
19:02So, the roads that we build,
19:05or that our road projects,
19:08or in transport in general,
19:11we do so that road safety
19:14is part of the design and planning of these roads.
19:17Also, the question of the use of what we call
19:20smart roads,
19:23where there is signage.
19:25Besides, it started here in Morocco,
19:27I remember, many years ago, we did it here.
19:29So, to manage the roads,
19:32also to give information,
19:35instantaneously,
19:37and to save what we could save,
19:40if there is anything, instantaneously.
19:42So, it allows an extremely fast intervention,
19:45already on the fluidity of the roads,
19:48but also in case of accidents,
19:50to intervene very quickly,
19:52and also for analysis and information.
19:55This is extremely important.
19:57We cannot talk about politics,
20:00or even about road design and planning
20:03without talking about reliable statistics
20:06and reliable data.
20:08Hence, the importance that Morocco
20:10gives to the African Observatory
20:13for Road Safety.
20:15This is really fundamental,
20:18before talking about politics,
20:21or about a road,
20:23to have safe and reliable information,
20:26and instant updates.
20:28This is what we are trying to do
20:30through this observatory.
20:32The road safety and the tragedies resulting from it,
20:35well, the road safety and the tragedies resulting from it,
20:39are among the two or three
20:44causes of deaths in Africa.
20:47So, for us, it is a very, very important question.
20:51In the African Union, we have expanded
20:54the meaning of road safety,
20:57because we are also talking about the environment.
21:00We would like all these vehicles on our roads
21:04to allow us to continue to live a healthy life,
21:08that is to say, to reduce emissions,
21:10harmful emissions, and CO2.
21:13Transport, the transport sector,
21:16emits 25% of the CO2 rate in the air.
21:20So, the cleaner the vehicles are,
21:23the more these vehicles respect the environmental conditions,
21:29the healthier we live.
21:33This is where I said, not only to save lives,
21:36but also to live a better life.
21:38The third aspect that is important to us
21:42is women's safety.
21:44So, not only safety in general,
21:47but that women can have mobility
21:51at any time, night or day,
21:54regardless of the mode of transport,
21:57in all safety.
21:59And this, again, is practically in all our countries,
22:02an aspect that should therefore be taken very care of.
22:05And not to mention informal transport,
22:09which unfortunately once again invades our cities.
22:12And so, our approaches and our urban mobility policies
22:18should make public transport,
22:21promote public transport,
22:23which would also allow more and more
22:28to eliminate informal transport,
22:30which is both dangerous and polluting.
22:35Dr. Amani Abouzeid,
22:37you mentioned the African Road Safety Observatory.
22:40There was also a question here
22:43of the African Road Safety Charter.
22:46For the moment, 13 countries have ratified this charter.
22:49It takes 15 to go towards this global action plan.
22:54Can you tell us a word about it,
22:56since this was the heart of the debate,
22:58the coordination and also the harmonization
23:00of policies within the African Union?
23:02Absolutely.
23:03The harmonization of policies exists,
23:05but to implement them,
23:06these are the laws of the African Union,
23:08a convention should be ratified
23:11by at least 15 countries.
23:14So, a good part of our efforts
23:16also go towards the payment of this ratification,
23:21and once again,
23:22hence the usefulness of this event,
23:24of this conference,
23:25which is very, very good.
23:26I see a number of my brothers and sisters
23:28who are responsible Africans,
23:30to encourage them,
23:31to once again encourage them,
23:34to encourage their country
23:36to do what is necessary
23:38to accelerate the ratification of this African Charter,
23:42despite the fact that there is no minimum rate
23:48of countries that have ratified this Charter.
23:51One last word, perhaps,
23:52on one of the organ points of this official ceremony,
23:56the opening ceremony of this conference.
23:58It was the contribution of 500,000 dollars
24:00from the Kingdom of Morocco,
24:02a gesture of His Majesty King Mohammed VI
24:04to fight against road insecurity.
24:06What can you tell us about it?
24:08Well, listen,
24:10His Majesty has always shown
24:14his perfect involvement
24:18in all development projects
24:20on the continent,
24:21but also here,
24:22once again,
24:23globally.
24:25And this is not the first time
24:27that I have witnessed this.
24:29I think that this price,
24:32or rather this contribution,
24:34would allow, once again,
24:35to advance in an important way
24:37the question of road security
24:40and to encourage more and more countries,
24:42and also the private sector,
24:44to get involved in an important way
24:47in road security.
24:48And here, I take advantage of this,
24:50since Morocco is also an industrial country.
24:53In fact, there are opportunities,
24:55even for the private sector,
24:56for this.
24:57We talked, you followed,
24:58the issue of helmets.
24:59So, helmets for cyclists
25:02and for motorists.
25:04Helmets that we,
25:06once again,
25:07with international organizations,
25:09we encourage the local manufacture
25:13of these helmets,
25:15which are almost ten times cheaper
25:17than what is unfortunately
25:19on the market
25:20and which does not respect
25:21the safety standards.
25:23And it is even safer.
25:25So, here, I also appeal
25:27to the private sector,
25:28Moroccan, African and international,
25:32to help manufacture
25:35these helmets locally
25:37and why not take advantage
25:39of this extraordinary gift
25:41of His Majesty
25:43to push the private sector
25:45to work with us in this direction.
25:47Dr. Amélie Abouzeï,
25:49Commissioner in charge
25:51of Infrastructure, Energy
25:53and Digitalization
25:55within the African Union.
25:56Thank you for answering our questions.
25:58It is I who thank you.
26:00Again, I say it,
26:01it is another staff,
26:02but it is with a lot of love,
26:03a lot of affection,
26:05of honor,
26:06that I find myself in Morocco.
26:08And thank you again
26:09for inviting me to your show.
26:12Thank you very much.
26:13This is what we could say
26:15about this fourth
26:18World Ministerial Conference
26:20on Road Safety,
26:21which has officially opened its doors
26:23here in Marrakech.
26:26Thank you, Nadia.
26:27This is the end of this newscast,
26:29dear viewers.
26:30Thank you for following it,
26:32but stay with us.
26:33The news continues on Mediain TV.