www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
For many who live in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, it is disappointing that there are street lights that hardly ever function. This situation has residents apprehensive especially with growing security concerns in the city, reports leadership.ng
Most times, a drive around Abuja at night makes one feel no different from being in a city without any street light poles at all. It is a vast plunge into darkness.
While a few major streets do have their lights turned on at night, 90 per cent of Abuja’s streets are only navigable if your vehicle head lamps are super sharp and radiant.
And it is not uncommon to see many dilapidated taxis without a set of functioning head lamps moving around Abuja.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Nigeria, Ecuador friendship flourished yesterday when the first ambassador of the South American country presented his Letters of Credence to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in the Nigerian federal capital city of Abuja, reports The Sun newspaper.
The event officially marked the opening of the country’s embassy in Nigeria as well as the beginning of a new dawn in the two countries friendship, which has existed at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) over the years.
Ambassador Leopoldo Rovayo Verdesoto pledged to strengthen and consolidate the existing fraternal, warm and cordial relations between Ecuador and Nigeria.
President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa Delgado, also, sent his compliments to president Buhari and thanked him for the opening of the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission.
Almost 12 % of the Ecuadorian population has African heritage. He recalled the cordial ties between the two countries at the OPEC, especially when Nigeria helped Ecuador when its oil pipeline was broken in 1987.
Rovayo also expressed the solidarity of the people and government of Ecuador with Nigeria in the struggle against terrorism. He described Ecuador’s rejection of terrorism as a vital part of its foreign policy; and reiterated Ecuador’s commitment to assist in any way possible in the multilateral forums.
The ambassador also offered to assist handicap Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who survived Boko Haram insurgency through an Ecuadorian programme called “Manuela Espejo.”
Commenting, President Buhari expressed his appreciation for the opening of the embassy in Abuja. He said it would help the two countries to work together to strengthen bilateral ties.
The 51-years-old envoy is a Lawyer. He started his diplomatic career in 1989. He has served in Peru and Spain. At the Foreign Ministry in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, he served at the Directorates of Sovereignty, Modernization Process, Cultural, Protocol, Juridical issues; he was the Director of Press of the Foreign Ministry; and was recently seconded to the National Prosecutor’s Office as the Director of International Affairs.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Yacouba Isaac Zida has launched the North interconnection highway project in Ouagadougou, considered the largest road infrastructure of its kind erected in the capital city of Ouagadougou, footprint2africa.com reports.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Carlson Rezidor styrker sin posisjon som det ledende internasjonale hotellkonsernet på det afrikanske markedet og legger nå til Ghana og Uganda i porteføljen, med åpningen av henholdsvis Radisson Blu Hotel Accra Airport og Radisson Blu Hotel Kampala, skriver bladet Kapital Reise.
Hotellet i Ghanas hovedstad Accra vil inneholde 207 rom og åpner dørene i løpet av 2017. Hotellet i den ugandiske hovedstaden blir et eksklusivt hotell med 195 rom, og vil ta imot de første gjestene i fjerde kvartal 2016.
Carlson Rezidor åpnet sitt første hotell i Afrika i 2000 – Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotell i Cape Town, Sør-Afrika. Siden da har kjeden bygget opp et nettverk av 51 hoteller og 11,.500 rom i 21 ulike land på det afrikanske kontinentet.
Med 30 hoteller under bygging har kjeden dessuten den største porteføljen av hoteller og rom under utvikling i Afrika.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Last Saturday, Sierra Leone passed Day 42 – the 42nd consecutive day without a new case of Ebola. This was a benchmark put in place by the World Health Organization. WHO will now monitor the country for the next 90 days to make absolutely certain that the outbreak is over, travelpulse.com reported.
Adventure travel companies started offering new tours almost as soon as WHO announced that the 42-day threshold had been passed. Travelers and adventure outfitters will most likely have to rely on medical evac insurance for some time because Sierra Leone’s medical infrastructure is in complete tatters after the outbreak.
Other than that, and some general safety-net precautions against Ebola infection, these companies should be back to business as usual quite quickly.
The more promising signs come from the hotel industry. Right after Day 42, work restarted on the 12-floor Hilton Freetown Cape Sierra project.
This luxury hotel will sit on the capital city’s most beautiful section of beachfront. The hotel will be completed in fall of 2016. Others in the hospitality industry will see the end of the Ebola crisis as a chance to get in before the competition returns.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
The first Thomas Cook Scandinavia Airbus A321 flight from Stockholm Arlanda last Tuesday landed with 212 passengers for the 2015/2016-winter tourism season at the Banjul International Airport, the Daily Observer newspaper in The Gambia reported.
Banjul
The passengers were received at the foot of the aircraft by Abdoullah Hydara, the director general of The Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard) accompanied by Adama Njie, director of Marketing-GTBoard, Charbel Hobeika, managing director of Gambia Tours and among other officials.
Commenting on the arrival of the Thomas Cook first flight for the season, Abdoullah Hydara commended Thomas Cook for resuming the route after its cancellation of flight to the destination due to the Ebola virus outbreak in few countries in West Africa in 2014.
He disclosed that from this week, till April 12th 2016, Thomas Cook Scandinavia would fly into the country with 212 seat passengers on weekly basis.
From November 27th Thomas Cook first flight from Helsinki will begin on weekly basis also with 212 seats till March 4th 2016.
DG Hydara thanked the efforts of the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Benjamin A Roberts and the GTBoard governing body chairman, Bakary Jammeh for their conducted sensitisation in UK, Scandinavia and other source markets against the negativity and misconstrue of some westerners on the past Ebola virus outbreak in some parts of West Africa in 2014, which The Gambia was not effected with.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, With a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Churchgoer Romain Oke poses for a picture inside the ruins of an evangelical church in Niamey, Niger, on Jan. 23, one of 70 churches destroyed by Islamic militants following the outcry resulting from a cover cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Christian leaders in Muslim-dominated Niger are crying for help as they try to rebuild their destroyed churches following a massive wave of arson attacks carried out early this year by Islamic militants, reports www.christiantoday.com
The militants attacked and destroyed about 70 Christian churches and other properties in the said West African country from Jan. 16 to 17 this year. This was their way of expressing their anger at the attendance of African leaders, including Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, in the anti-terror march held in Paris following the terrorist attacks in the French Capital.
One of the attacks launched by the terrorists was at the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had published a cover caricature of Islamic prophet Mohammad, angering Muslims. The terrorists gunned down 12 Charlie Hebdo employees in that attack.
Many of the badly damaged churches and properties in Niger have yet to be rebuilt and the financial support promised by the government has not arrived yet.
“Since these incidents, it is as if life had stopped,” said Rev. Jacques Kangindé, who heads the Baptist “Roundabout” Protestant church in the capital of Niamey. “The church has become a source of curiosity for passers-by and a hide-out for idlers. Unfortunately our current church finances don’t allow us to begin the reconstruction.”
The church, built in 1929, is still waiting for the state’s financial aid before reconstruction could begin. Meantime, Sunday services and other activities are being held in a tent in the church’s courtyard.
“We feel that, as the emotion of the first days has now passed, our case is no longer of interest to our political leaders,” Kangindé said.
“They seem more concerned with preparations for the elections [due in 2016] and the fight against Boko Haram. The churches are abandoned to their fate.”
The two-day assault destroyed 70 churches as well as Christian schools, organisations, and an orphanage. Islamists also looted and razed at least 30 Christian homes.
The attacks, which claimed the lives of 10 people, seemed well-planned.
“How can one make sense of the fact that, in under two hours, more than 40 churches were destroyed across the capital?” asked a spokesperson for aid agency Caritas on French radio.
The Niger government announced three days of mourning for those who were killed, the BBC wrote.
The Islamist assaults not only revealed the lack of fire fighters in the country who should have responded to the arson attacks but also the inability of security forces to protect Christians and their Properties.
Rev. Zakaria Jadi of the Salama church in the capital’s northern district of Bani Fandou 2, said their resources have already ran out.
“It is a blow to our church. For nearly a month, there was neither water nor electricity. We have done our best to allow our worship activities to restart, but we have now reached our limit. The reconstruction work may probably take some time,” said the pastor.
The victims also need psychological support, said US NGO Samaritan’s Purse. From the organisation’s small sample of 40 respondents, 32 are suffering from severe trauma while the remaining have moderate trauma.
Jadi, who not only lost his church but also his house, said it is not easy to endure the pain, but he said he has forgiven the attackers and wants to move on.
“I felt very bad, such an indescribable feeling when I saw my ripped-up Bible on the ground. For a pastor, it was like my entire life was torn apart. I could not stop shedding tears,” he said.
“It was truly hurting, but I was well supported by brothers and sisters who have encouraged me a lot. And I received my greatest encouragement from God. He has really strengthened me in order to overcome that ordeal. And He also allowed me to support those who were in tears.”
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Macau Legend Development Ltd. Wednesday in Macau signed with the government of Cape Verde a contract for the construction of a tourist complex on the islet of Santa Maria, located opposite the capital, Praia, with a area of 152,700 square metres and which will have a gambling facility, reports www.macauhub.com.mo
David Chow Kam Fai, chief executive of Macau Legend Development and Honorary Consul of Cape Verde in Macau said he had US$273 million in the tourism project and that it should be completed within three years and be profitable in five.
Cape Verde also granted the Macau company a gaming concession for 25 years for the island of Santiago, 15 of which exclusively.
David Chow said the contract showed that Macau does have an important role as an economic and commercial platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries and showed that the Special Administrative Region was one of the important cities in the Chinese “One belt, One road” project.
In term of gambling Chow said that the resort would have between 30 and 40 gaming tables and slot machines intended for mass tourism.
After the ceremony attended by the Chief Executive of Macau, Chui Sai On and Cape Verde Minister of Tourism, Investment and Business Development, Leonesa Fortes the Cape Verdean official considered that
the Project “will mean a profound change, not only locally, in Praia, in the Windward region, but all over Cape Verde”.
During the contract signing ceremony, Leonesa Fortes, thanked “all the people of China” for their support “from the first moment of Independence” and recalled the signing of a memorandum of understanding with China in May, to boost Investment.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Using woven loincloths, Senegalese stylists and designers have made Dakar a hub of African fashion
Woven loincloths are being used by Senegalese stylists and designers to embellish many traditional outfits, reports www.worldbulletin.net
The use of woven loincloths in fashion has boosted the activity and popularity of Senegalese weavers.
“We produce more. We stress on shiny fabrics that are popular with women,” Kabanta Mama Nanki, a weaver in Dakar told Anadolu Agency.
“We have customers from all over the country. Senegalese women buy woven loincloths for scarves and outfits,” says Nanki, who has been a weaver for over 30 years. “Our income has increased because designers are using more and more woven loincloths in fashion shows.”
Nanki also said they “have a variety of loincloths. Prices range between 11,000 and 25,000 FCA francs (around $22 and $55).”
Weavers from the Colobane neighborhood in Dakar come from the Manjaque ethnic group, a minority group in Senegal and Guinea Bissau.
In the fashion world, some designers do not hesitate to hire weavers. “Some recruit weavers. Others deal directly with those who have their own workshops,” Nanki said.
“We sometimes have customers who want loincloths for traditional outfits. When you buy a shiny fabric, it helps to have a nice traditional boubou,? said Mame Lo, a seamstress in Dakar.
Boubous are long, wide robes worn by many men in West Africa.
According to Nanki, they have more customers during winter. “We have more buyers in December and January. When it is cold, women prefer heavy scarves,” another weaver, Diez Sa, told Anadolu Agency.
In Senegal, loincloths are not used just for fashion, but also for therapeutic reasons.
“For the Manjaque people, loincloths protect against evil spirits. That is why married women wear them. They are also used for baptisms,” Nanki said.
