Day: May 16, 2023

Posted on

Burkina-SNC-Laureate-Province Kénedougou/SNC 2023: The winners present their prizes to the High Commissioner

The winning troops from the province of Kénedougou at the 20th edition of the National Culture Week presented their prizes to the High Commissioner of the province, Saïdou Sakira.

The winning troops from the province of Kénédougou at the 20th edition of the National Culture Week presented the various prizes won to the first official of the province.

The spokesperson for the artists, Yacouba Coulibaly aka ''Vieux Père Choc'', thanked the municipal and provincial authorities for the support they received.

According to him, this allowed them to represent the province with dignity at this biennale.

The High Commissioner of the province of Kénédougou, Saïdou Sakira, congratulated all the troops for having honored the province through obtaining these awards.

He urged artists to continue the work for "the next cultural battles".

As a reminder, the province of Kénedougou was represented at the National Culture Week (SNC) by six troupes which won two prizes in the category of traditional instrumental music and that of choreographic creation.

Source: Burkina Information Agency

Posted on

Kénédougou / Rehabilitation of the RN8: A movement is stepping up

The Citizen Movement for the Rehabilitation of National Road No. 8 (MCR-RN8) hosted a press conference on the morning of Saturday May 13, 2023 in Orodara to discuss the state of progress of the RN8 asphalting file.

It was for the Citizen movement for the rehabilitation of the RN8 (MCR-RN8), during this press briefing, to provide information to the media on the state of progress of the file of asphalting of the National road N°8 (RN8).

According to the coordinator of the MCR-RN8, Ousmane Traoré, the fight started almost a year ago has made significant progress to date because it has made it possible to obtain the rehabilitation of the 76 km long Bobo-Orodara section.

To this is added, he underlined, also the award of the contract to the group of companies SOGEDIM SARL BTP / SOBATRAP for a financial envelope of more than 12 billion with an execution period of 18 months excluding the rainy season.

He also suggested that the latest information in their possession reveals that the company received the notification of the service order on April 26.

Another point mentioned is the recruitment of the control office.

The MCR-RN°8 praised the resilience of the local populations who carry out actions to plug potholes but noted that the effectiveness of the allocation only took place on April 26, 2023.

Thus, he aims in the coming days to launch a plea for the start of the file of this section by the new authorities of the country.

For those responsible for MCR-RN8, despite the slowness surrounding the progress of the file, they are aware that the end of the tunnel is near.

The movement also wants to strengthen the capacities of its focal points in terms of citizen monitoring and public awareness.

Source: Burkina Information Agency

Posted on

Burkina / Security: deregistered FDS contribute to the peace effort

The soldiers, gendarmes and police officers dismissed following the 2011 mutiny , on Tuesday in Ouagadougou handed over to the Minister in charge of the public service Bassolma Bazié, the sum of 127,000 FCFA as a contribution to the effort of peace, while seeking their reintegration into the ranks of the Defense and Security Forces, reported the Facebook page of the Ministry of Public Service.

According to the same source, Farma Tiéba and his comrades took the opportunity to seek the help of Minister Bassolma so that he pleads with the highest authorities so that they can join their brothers in arms engaged in the fight against terrorism.

“We expect from the rulers that a decree be issued in favor of the soldiers, gendarmes and police officers struck off in 2011 to allow us to go with our brothers who are still in the ranks to defend our nation,” said Mr. Tiéba.

"As for their plea to join the frontlines of the fight, Bassolma Bazié said to have taken good note and will faithfully report this grievance to whom it may concern", concluded the same source.

Source: Burkina Information Agency

Posted on

African volleyball: Seychelles’ club ARSU wins against Mauritius and loses against Tunisia

Seychelles' women's volleyball club ARSU won one match and lost one in the 2023 Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) championship taking place in Tunisia on Sunday.

ARSU won their match against Indian Ocean neighbours Quatre Borne Volleyball Club (QVC) of Mauritius in 3 sets to 1, with the set scores of 25-17, 17-25, 25-23, 28-26.

The Anse Royale-based team lost their first match of the competition last week against the host nation's team, Carthage of Tunisia, with 0-3 set scores of 15-25, 15-25, 11-25.

The Seychelles' side has been drawn in pool A which also includes Senegal's AJD Diorfior that ARSU ladies will face on Tuesday. There are 16 teams participating in the tournament and they have been drawn in four groups of four.

The last time ARSU took part in the tournament was in 2017 when they finished 13th after qualifying as the Indian Ocean region champions.

This time, they qualified after reaching the final of the Indian Ocean Club Championship earlier this year, where they lost to QVC.

Meanwhile, the next big outing for Seychellois volleyball players will be at the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) in Madagascar in August.

Seychelles' men's and women's teams will be led by two experienced coaches, Maurice Denis for the men's side and Julien Onezime for the women.

Although the hope is for Seychelles to do well, the chairman of the Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF) chairman, Ronald Wong, told SNA on Tuesday that the teams are not ready for the games.

"We are not ready, as it has been difficult to prepare since we do not have adequate facilities," he said.

Volleyball competitions in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, very often take place at the Palais de Sports at Roche Caiman. Since March 2022, the facility has been under renovation which was expected to take 14 weeks.

The renovation also includes electrical work to replace existing lights, and placement of steel bracings to support wooden columns damaged by leaks and inflows of water during rainy weather. The works are also to stop leakages which make courts inside the infrastructure slippery when it rains.

Furthermore, since the COVID-19 pandemic, Seychelles' volleyball competition has not been played at the same level as before. Restrictions that were in place on large gatherings curtailed the organisations of tournaments.

Wong told SNA that despite a lack of adequate support, such as insufficient payment for coaches, it is the people who love the sport, who continue to contribute towards its development.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Posted on

Government housing: 116 Seychellois families to receive newly built units

One hundred and six families in Seychelles are due to receive newly built government housing units by the middle of this year as part of the state's plans to continue housing its people.

The announcement was made by Billy Rangasamy, the Minister for Land and Housing, following a visit to eight housing project sites on Tuesday.

The housing units, in the form of apartment blocks, are part of the ambitious government-funded project announced by former President Danny Faure in his 2017 State of the Nation Address to build 24 houses in 24 districts in 24 months.

Rangasamy was accompanied by top officials in his ministry to inspect the progress of the work carried out so far. The officials visited units under construction at Au Cap - a pilot project using new construction methods and materials - Roche Caiman, Bel Ombre and Union Vale among others.

"I am very happy with the progress and the quality of work I see here," said Rangasamy at the housing project on the man-made island of Perseverance where his visit ended.

He said that although "demand for housing is about 3,000, the government will only be able to build around 200 per year."

The demand for housing is about 3,000 said the minister. (Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

The projects vary in price depending on their sizes such as for 16 housing units at Corgat Estate at SCR 17.9 million ($1.3 million) and for four units at Bel Air at SCR 7.7 million ($579,000).

The project with the highest cost visited by the minister was at Union Vale in the central district of English River. A total of 16 units of three-bedroom at a cost of SCR30,000,652 ($2.2 million).

The minister said that in view of the cost, some of the projects are getting international funding and that those projects are yet to be tendered out.

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean with a population of 100,000 people, has put in place housing schemes whereby citizens needing social housing assistance make monthly contributions before they are allocated new dwellings.

Rangasamy appealed to prospective tenants to continue making their contributions in order to qualify for the service.

The Minister for Finance, Naadir Hassan, in his 2023 budget address in November 2022, said there are 127 units in the implementation phase and that a total sum of SCR 1.18 billion ($88.6 million) has been projected towards the development of new housing projects.

Source: Seychelles News Agency