Several steps are being taken to safeguard against the spread of swine flu in the country, the Department of Medical Service has said.
Head of Clinical Services Dr Moosa Hussain said on Tuesday that the special preparations were being made at the Malé International Airport.
“As such, everyone who wants to travel to Malé from a country with reported infections will have to fill out a form and they will be screened,” Dr Moosa said, adding that anyone tested positive for swine flu would be held in quarantine for 48 hours.
“We are planning to screen those who arrive from high-risk countries such as Mexico, Canada and America,” he said.
He further said that they were also making preparations to create awareness about the flu through the media and other mediums.
“Information will be disseminated to those in other islands via the health centres and hospitals,” he said. “In addition leaflets will also be printed out and distributed.”
April 29, 2009
Preparations being made to safeguard against spread of swine flu
MNDF investigating reports of a crocodile in Kondey
A Maldives National Defence Force team was dispatched to Gaafu Alifu atoll Kondey on Tuesday to investigate reports that a crocodile was in the island.
An official from Kondey Island Office said that tracks made by some beast had been seen near the beach on the southern side of the island. The official said that the tracks found on the beach most likely belonged to a crocodile or alligator. However, since no one had actually seen the said reptile it was impossible to say for sure what it was.
“No one has actually seen it yet,” the official said on Tuesday. “The tracks were found early this morning. The tracks look like those made by a crocodile. Some of the MNDF officials also agreed.”
Officials from the Island Office said that the reptile had probably arrived on the island on Monday night, and since only tracks leading from the sea to the shore had been found so far it was assumed that it was still on the island somewhere, most likely hiding in the woods of the island.
MNDF officials confirmed that a team had been dispatched to investigate reports of a crocodile at large in the woods of Kondey.
State assets will not be sold, Ministers say
Although the Government’s proposed budget for the next three years state that Government assets would be sold in order to generate more income, Cabinet Ministers have said that the Government has no intention of doing so.
Responding to questions from MPs about the budget, the Economic Minister Mohamed Rasheed, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed and Economic State Minister Adil Saleem all said that the Government’s statements about selling off state assets was a lie.
Minister Mohamed Rasheed said that the Government had planned to create joint venture companies to generate income. He said that it was a very successful investment as shown by the success of the telecommunications services and water supply projects.
Foreign Minister Dr Shaheed said that the new administration had faced a lot of different challenges when they had been creating the state budget. He made assurances that they were not trying to realize the accumulated hopes and dreams from 30 years within a single year.
The Economic State Minister Adil Saleem also spoke at the Majlis meeting saying that the people had voted for the current Government because they did not want a government that engaged in commercial business and that many of the projects planned to be implemented by the previous administration had now been decided to be privatized.
President Nasheed defends Government’s privatization programme
The Government’s privatisation programme would give us the expertise and technology from more experienced overseas companies, President Mohamed Nasheed has said while speaking at a press conference held at the President’s Office.
Noting the urgent need to provide utilities services and other infrastructure to the people of the Maldives, the President said that it would not be possible to provide these services from the state budget. The President said that it was, therefore, was of utmost importance to continue with the privatisation programme.
Speaking in this regard, the President said that the airport development was a high priority project undertaken by the government.
President Nasheed also said that the world has changed though the Maldives has not. Furthermore, he said that the world was now open for business and that we need to actively compete in this environment.
Russia captures Somalia pirates
A Russian warship has seized a pirate vessel with 29 people on board off the Somali coast, Russian news reports say.
Guns and navigation equipment were found during a search of the pirate boat, officials were quoted as saying.
They said the suspected pirates were thought to have launched two unsuccessful attacks against a tanker with a Russian crew.
Russia is one of the countries that has deployed naval ships against pirates operating in the area.
Navies from Nato, the EU, Japan, China, India, Yemen, US Malaysia and Singapore have also been patrolling the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.
However, the number of attacks has continued to rise.
Somali pirates have hijacked 25 vessels since the beginning of this year and are holding more than 260 crew around the stronghold of Eyl in northern Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
Naval patrols have captured pirates on a number of occasions.
Some have been put on trial in Kenya, while France has charged three suspected pirates and a Somali teenager is facing trial in the US.
Earlier on Tuesday, regional leaders in Somalia’s northern Puntland region told the BBC they have put together a militia of fishermen to catch pirates.
Twelve armed pirates in two boats have been captured by the vigilante groups, they said.
Congo ex-rebel ‘working with UN’
The BBC has seen documents alleging that a former rebel leader indicted for war crimes is playing a leading role in a mission involving the UN in DR Congo.
The documents appear to prove that Gen Bosco Ntaganda is taking an active part in the mission’s chain of command, a BBC correspondent in the country says.
The UN-Congolese force is fighting Hutu rebels in the eastern DR Congo.
The force says Congolese authorities have given assurances that Gen Ntaganda was not involved in joint operations.
A spokesman for the Monuc peacekeeping force, Kevin Kennedy, said that the former rebel leader’s name did not appear on documents that Monuc had seen.
Child soldiers
But the BBC’s Thomas Fessy reports from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, that an internal army document refers to Bosco Ntaganda as the deputy co-ordinator for the joint mission’s operations and says he attended an operations meeting.
A high-ranking Congolese military confirmed that the former rebel leader was involved in the operations, describing him as an adviser to the operations commander.
Earlier this year, when the Congolese government said he could be useful in bringing peace to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Monuc said it would not participate in any operation in which an indicted war criminal was involved at any level.
Gen Ntaganda formerly served as chief of staff to Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda.
But he joined the national army earlier this year after splitting with Gen Nkunda, who has since been arrested in Rwanda.
Bosco Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and forced enrolment of child soldiers in 2002-2003.
ICC judges have said that as deputy head of military operations for the rebel Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (FPLC), he was responsible for seven camps where children were trained.
He is also accused of taking part in FPLC attacks when the group used child soldiers.
Teaching resumes at Imaduddin School after one week closure
Imaduddin School has reopened after being closed down for a week. The school was shut down temporarily after smoke fumes from the burned out junkyard nearby had caused several children and faculty members to become sick. The junkyard had gone up in flames when the auction centre next to it had caught on fire on 28 March.
The Deputy Principal of Imaduddin School, Mariyam Fazna, said that they had closed down the school on Sunday last week with the intention to resume classes after a week. She further said that the problem with the smoke fumes from the junkyard had now been solved.
The school had suspended classes for a week earlier also, due to the same reasons. Galolhu Madhrasa had also shut down the school on two occasions due to the smoke fumes from the junkyard.
More than 300 trees felled in Baa atoll in a month
With permission from the Government, more than 300 trees have been felled for use as timber from some uninhabited islands in Baa atoll within the span of a month. The islands in the Baa atoll have been long declared a protected sanctuary but recently the Government had authorised trees to be felled from the islands.
According to the Baa atoll Office, permission had been granted by the Agriculture Ministry due to many requests from residents.
“The Government has given permission to cut down trees that are taller than 1 metre, with trunks measuring not less than 27 inches,” an official from the Atoll Office said.
Some of the Island Offices in the atoll have said that ever since the islands were opened for timber, more than 300 trees have been felled in response to around 60 request letters. The Island Offices said that among the type of trees felled were Funa, Dhiggaa, and Midhili trees.
Permission was extended to cut trees from the islands almost a week after President Mohamed Nasheed had declared his intention to make Maldives the world’s first carbon neutral country. After a month, permission to cut trees from six islands has now been revoked.
Baa atoll Councillor Yoosuf Moosa said that no official complaints had been filed regarding the incident.
Illegally planted trees on Thoddoo roads being cut down
Around 80 trees planted in various areas of North Ari atoll Thoddoo are being cut down, the atoll’s Councillor has said.
Atoll Councillor Adam Majeed said that more than 80 trees that had been planted in a hodgepodge manner on the roads and other places in the island were being felled because the trees had not been planted under the established system for planting trees.
Two trees on the main road of the island were cut down on Sunday and the Councillor said that both trees had been planted on the road illegally. He further said that the two trees were the first two trees that had been planted illegally in the island.
Majeed said that only the Island Office was authorized to plant trees in the island. The decision to allow the Island Office to plant trees under an established system had been made by the Island Development Committee some years back, Majeed said. However, a man named Ahmed Ali, who had connections to the then Island Chief Ibrahim Waheed, had ignored the regulations and planted the two trees in areas violating the established system, Majeed said. He said that afterwards other people had followed the lead and planted many trees all over the island in places where trees weren’t allowed to be planted.
The majority of trees planted by the residents were located in restricted areas and places, causing difficulties for vehicles, and sometimes directly over buried cables, he said.
“There are around 80 trees that were planted in violation of the system,” Majeed said. “That’s because every household has planted two or three trees. Yesterday we cut down two trees, and the program will continue. We will of course plant more trees; we’ve planned to plant more beautiful trees that will provide better shade.”
Malé junkyard gets better security
The main junkyard of Malé will get better security in the form of additional guards, the Malé Municipality has decided. Officials from the Municipality further said that ragpickers and dumpster divers will not be allowed to enter the junkyard after 12:00am.
President of the Malé Municipality, Adam Manik, said that they had begun closing the junkyard’s gates at 12:00am since last Sunday. He said that after the gates were closed, only dumpster trucks would be allowed to enter the yard to dispose of their loads. The decision was made in order to more effectively monitor the area, he said.
“Thing is the dumpster divers and ragpickers are rummaging around through the trash all the time,” Manik said. “They enter the place even after midnight. There has to be a limit to that, right.”
Manik also said that the other reason for the extra security measures was due to the recent incidences of fire that had occurred at the junkyard.
“However this not directly a result of the fire,” he said. “The fire made our work more difficult.”
Adam Manik admitted that the junkyard had not been supervised very efficiently previously, adding that things had now changed and even the Police were helping out in keeping watch.
In the near future, specific times would be set for when you can enter the junkyard to dispose of junk, Manik said. He further said that they were also considering moving the junkyard off Malé.
“Having a junkyard in such a crowded place is not something that I would support,” he said.
