Elections 2022: Journalist union recommends ethics

 Luanda - The Union of Angolan Journalists (SJA) recommends professionals from public and private media outlets in the country to be guided by ethics, pluralism and balance, ahead of campaign for the August 24 elections.

Speaking to ANGOP, on the position to be adopted by the class, the secretary general of the SJA, Teixeira Cândido, defended an electoral coverage in accordance with the law and the legal instruments that enshrine the principle of the profession.

According to the SJA leader, journalists do not need a specific deontology during the election period, but they must listen to all parties and report only facts.

He also recommended the professionals to refrain from mixing opinions with events and conveying their emotions in the content.

To him, during the electoral period and in any context, the media professional should have a correct attitude and respect professional deontology.

He acknowledges that, in this period, professionals are subject to pressure, but he said that professionals are required to develop a balanced attitude when it comes to approach and disseminate the activities of political parties and actors, always in accordance with the law and precepts of the profession.

"Indeed, in the election period, we are subject to a different pressure from ordinary days or everyday life. But we must have serenity to do journalism, because we are not players, we only convey the facts as intermediaries", he stressed.

Meanwhile, he added that the journalist must provide treatment that allows the citizen or voter to have sufficient knowledge of the content of each electoral programme and to exercise their right to vote in a conscious and not induced way.

He states that, whenever a professional is faced with matters that violate the Constitution or is forced to cover a matter that violates professional ethics and does
not allow him/her to make contradictory statement, he must invoke the Conscience Clause, laid down in the Press Law and the Law on the Journalist Statute.

The Conscience Clause is a guarantee that the law offers in the conscientious objection of not dealing with a matter, because it violates professional deontology.

Teixeira Cândido hopes that at the end of the electoral process, journalists will not be held responsible for the victory of this or that party and that the merit and demerit
will go to the political parties, their militants or candidates.

Angolan appointed African Bank executive director

 Luanda - Angolan João Luís Gimbi has been appointed executive director of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) for Southern Africa, for a three-year term.

Appointed during the Annual Meetings of the AfDB Group, which took place in June this year, Luís Gimbi replaces the Namibian Judith Kateera, who is ending her three-year mission taking care of the institution's interests in Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

 

Luís Gimbi is staff of the Angolan Ministry of Finance, from whom the incumbent minister, Vera Daves, expects to have more assistance from the bank for the improvement of the portfolio of government projects, as well as greater support for the development of the private sector.

 

Luís Gimbi's main task will be to provide oversight and strategic direction to the Group, looking out for the interests of each country and the bank itself.

 

Luis Gimbi was previously appointed senior advisor of the AfDB in 2016 for a three-year term. In 2019 he held the position of alternate executive director, within the Group.

 

Angola’s Finance minister said it is an honour for the country to hold the position of executive director within an international institution, such as the AfDB Group.

 

In Angola, the Group's investment portfolio is 1. 024 billion dollars for the implementation of 10 projects related to energy, agriculture, water and sanitation.

Angola Cable presents tool to prevent cyber attacks

 Talatona- The technological company Angola Cable presented Thursday, in Luanda, a technological tool called "Shieldszafrica" aimed at preventing cyber attacks.

On the occasion, the minister of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Media, Manuel Homem, said the visible position of Angola at the level of Africa, in terms of records of cyber attacks, is due to the investments made in submarine cables allowing the country to have a visible international location, from the point of view of physical connection.

 

According to the minister, this visibility allows one to have a greater notion of the cyber attacks that happen around the world, a situation that demands more responsibility from internent users and telecommunication companies.

 

Manuel Homem stressed that this does not necessarily mean that the attacks are permanent and cause damage to public and private infrastructures, since there are no records of unavailable services in the institutions, having highlighted the country’s improved capacity to monitor national communications.

 

According to the minister, business opportunities in the telecommunications areas are based on knowledge, know-how to implement, to allow the expansion of the offer that impacts the final cost of the operators or users. 

 

The minister defended the continuation of this sort of work, since the country has the capacity to continue creating international infrastructures.

DRC and Rwanda engage in normalisation of relations

 Luanda – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda agreed Tuesday, in Luanda capital city of Angola, to the creation of mechanisms that allow the normalisation of the bilateral relationship after its deterioration due to the crisis in the eastern area of the Congolese territory.

The decision was made during the meeting of both countries Permanent Joint Commission (PJC) that took place on 20-21 July under the mediation of Angola in the scope of the recommendation of the Roadmap adopted in Tripartite Summit between the Heads of State of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

 

The delegations were led by Christophe Lutundula Apala Pen'Apala, Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of DRC and Vincent Biruta, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rwanda under the mediation of Téte António, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Angola.

 

In this context, the parties agreed to address the Roadmap objectives including the restoration of an atmosphere of trust between both countries and the creation of conditions for dialogue and political consultations with a view to resolving the security crisis.

 

Regarding the cessation of hostilities by M23 and its immediate withdrawal, as well as the eradication of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and its armed wing, the Forces Combattantes Abacunguzi (FOCA) and its splinter groups, they called for a rapid deployment of the Regional Force within the framework of the Nairobi process.

 

For that reason, the officials appealed for major envolvement of the mediator to achieve this objective in short term, by committing to working to restore mutual trust.  

 

As for the verification of accusations between the parties, the Permanent Joint Commission agreed to placing this portfolio under the responsibility of an Angolan general officer.

 

For this fact, they asked the the mediator, the Angolan Head of State João Lourenço, to appoint the general officer in question.

 

The general officer should be assisted by a team of Angolan observers and liaison officers appointed by each party.

 

The parties also decided to guarantee conditions of security, transport and access to the places in question by the members of the mission in their respective territories.

 

On trade and economic partnership issues and the management of common borders, they expressed their commitment to on-going peace efforts.

 

They decided as well to organise meetings between the prominent trade and migration institutions of both countries.

 

As for the refugees situation, the officials agreed on updating the tripartite agreement between the Republic of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees of 17 February 2010, signed in Kigali, taking into account the evolution of the context and the realities on the ground.

 

The new crisis between DRC and Rwanda, members of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), started on 27 May this year when DRC accused Rwanda of supporting the rebel group M23 which has resurfaced in North Kivu Province in the Eastern side of DRC.

 

However, the Angolan Head of State as the Chairman of ICGLR has been in regular contact with his counterparts of DRC and Rwanda searching for consensus and trying to avoid a major armed conflict in the region.

 

Besides Angola and the DRC, the ICGLR is made up of Burundi, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic (CAR), Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

 

The organisation was created with the aim of resolving peace and security issues following the political conflicts that ravaged the region in 1994.