Hungarian foreign minister: Europe’s security lies in Africa’s stability
Stability, peace and economic growth in Africa are primarily important for Europe’s security especially now when migration from that continent has not been easing at all, the foreign minister said after meeting his Sudanese counterpart on Tuesday.
Péter Szijjártó held talks with Ibrahim Ghandour in Budapest.
Speaking at a joint press conference after the talks, Szijjártó said that Europe has worked to boost cooperation with Sudan in the recent past and Sudanese diplomacy has significantly increased ties with Europe and the US.
The current task is to make the resulting advantages accessible to Hungarian companies, he added.
The foreign minister highlighted possibilities for Hungarian companies in Sudan in agriculture, water management, health care, infrastructure development and renewable energy technologies. With the aim to tap these opportunities Hungary will assign an attache for external economic affairs to work under the auspices of a consular office planned to be opened in Khartoum, he said.
Speaking about another area of bilateral affairs, Szijjártó noted close cooperation between the two countries’ counter-terrorism agencies.
Concerning bilateral education cooperation, Szijjártó noted scholarships to be offered to 25 Sudanese students from September next year.
Ghandour said Sudan considered Hungary an important partner country. He noted the extensive experience gained by his country’s security services in combatting organised crime and tackling illegal migration.
After their meeting, the two foreign ministers signed a bilateral economic and engineering cooperation agreement.
Featured image: MTI
Source: MTI
Does the Black Plague also migrate from Africa?
The Black Plague broke out in 2014 on Madagascar. At present, South Africa is also warned that the very common lethal disease can be overcome. It is now said that in August 2017 there is a new outbreak of the Black Plague in Madagascar that has now evolved into the human-dangerous variant, which is transmitted through the lungs of the patients and thus no longer by flea bites. It was recently found that at least 800 cases were known and 74 killed. But those numbers have already become obsolete. The rapid progression of the disease in Madagascar is precisely located:
Rahalison told Live Science that the current outbreak in Madagascar was also spurred by another factor: Patient zero – the first patient identified in the outbreak – fell sick while traveling toward the country’s crowded capital city, Antananarivo. The patient, a 31-year-old man, started having malaria-like symptoms on August 23, 2017 according to the WHO. Four days later, he started coughing and then died while traveling on a small, packed bus, WHO officials said. By the time the outbreak was detected, on September 11, 2017 all of the people that had traveled with patient zero to Antananarivo and beyond became ill. Plague cases are now present in 35 of the 114 districts in Madagascar, according to the WHO. It is clear that in Africa the conditions for an epidemic are present. Many rats, bouncing fleas that bite humans, poor medical conditions which allow infected victims themselves to transmit the disease by coughing.
Yersinia pestis
It is well known that the Black Plague may be extremely dangerous. In Europe, by the bacterium Yersina Pestis (even though not yet known), a third of the population was killed in the 14th century. With disastrous consequences for the stability of the continent, although cynically enough, it would have a positive impact on the development of European civilization because it would involve a cultural shift that put an end to the dark Middle Ages and a beginning to modern times. At least, many historians think about it. The Plague would return for centuries later, for example, in the rich city of Venice. The spread of the disease is often associated with migration and international trade (as in infectious diseases). It is not so strange to think that the risk of this type of epidemic has increased in this globalization period, and there is of course no guarantee that the highly developed medical science can always stop it. Tourists are now warned to stay away from Madagascar. The death rate has risen to 124. The Plague is not only found in Madagascar, but also in Congo and Peru.