Honoring nation martyrs families in African countries as part of the Nasser Fellowship
Translated by: Zainab Muhammad
Under the slogan "In Love with Africa", the activities of the third educational forum were held under the title "The Heroic Combat Actions of the Armed Forces in Combating Terrorism", organized by the Armed Forces for African youth participating in the activities of the Nasser Fellowship for African Leadership.
During the meeting, Major General Staff Khaled Mustafa Tawfiq, Commander of the Popular and Military Defense Forces of the Armed Forces and commander of the Karm Tavoadis battle, stressed that Africa possesses many resources and cultures which make it superior to the rest of the continents of the world, welcoming the African youth to his country and his second homeland, Egypt.
During the meeting, the Major General indicated that the armed forces seek rapprochement with the African peoples and the exchange of experiences and cultures among them. He indicated the challenges and obstacles facing the African continent, including terrorism, which is not limited to Africa only, but extends to other continents of the world.
Major General Tawfiq explained that Egypt, during the previous period, witnessed a number of terrorist incidents that were confronted by the armed forces which took control of them inside the homeland and in African countries. He pointed out that the phenomenon of terrorism in Egypt has reached a dangerous stage in light of the takfiri and terrorist elements carrying out criminal operations that threaten the security and safety of the homeland, increase the panic of citizens, affect the economy and the wealth of the country and impede the development process.
Major General Tawfiq stressed the importance of unity between peoples, continents, and countries through thought, weapons, opinion, and the exchange of cultures and experiences in combating terrorism and extremist ideology, showing a side of the ways of training, preparation and processing of terrorist elements to attack on army and police, and also explosives manufacturing, targeting vehicles, military and civilians and destroying facilities.
Major General Tawfiq explained the combat operations of the armed forces, which destroyed a command center for the takfiri elements, indicating that the armed forces discovered a number of tunnels for terrorist elements, in addition to seizing a number of weapons, ammunition, equipment, and clothes that were used by those elements in their terrorist operations.
Major General Tawfiq also reviewed the map of the fighting heroes of the armed forces and the martyrs of the homeland, in addition to explaining the harvest of the armed forces' combat operations, the African military-political relations, and some military visits to African countries.
For her part, Dina Fouad, Head of the Central Administration for Parliament and Civil Education, confirmed that the Nasser Fellowship for African Leadership comes within a series of programs and activities organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports headed by Dr. Ashraf Sobhi which started with the activities of Aswan, the capital of African youth, launching the activities of the African School in order to strengthen the role of African youth by providing all forms of support, qualification and training, in addition to empowering them in leadership positions and benefiting from their capabilities and ideas. This comes in implementation of what was announced by the President of the Republic during the activities of the World Youth Forum.
Fouad explained that the Nasser Fellowship for African Leadership aims to transfer the established Egyptian experience in building national institutions and to create a new generation of young African transformational leaders with a vision in line with the orientations of Egypt's presidency of the African Union, which believes in serving the goals of African unity through integration, in addition to establishing a gathering of most influential young African leaders at the level of the continent through providing them with training, the necessary skills and strategic visions. She also noted that the fellowship is one of the mechanisms of the critical elements of empowerment for African transformation approved by Africa’s Agenda 2063, and one of the mechanisms for implementing the(1 Million by 2021) initiative to qualify one million African young people by 2021. It is worth mentioning that the initiative was launched by the Commission on Science, Technology and Human Resources of the African Union.
The events concluded with a presentation of a number of giant development projects undertaken by Egypt in African countries, in addition to broadcasting a number of meaningful messages by African students at Al-Azhar University for African youth participating in the fellowship activities, and a number of artistic and folklore performances presented by the Gogo band, led by Ayman Justin, a graduate of the first batch of the African School.
Major General Tawfiq honored the families of the martyrs, including the family of the martyr Montaser Abbas and the family of the martyr Sabri Muhammad Ahmed. He also honored the African students at Al-Azhar University, and exchanged gifts of shields. The armed forces gave memorial gifts to the participants in the events.
The events were attended by Colonel Staff of War Muhammad Ramadan, Planning and Military Popular Defense Branch, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Shawky, Assistant Commander of the Armed Forces for educational seminars, Major Ahmed Muhammad, Director of the Office of the Commander of the Forces, a number of leaders of the Armed Forces, and a delegation from the leaders of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, including Dr. Hossam Abdel Hakim, Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports for the Vanguards Sector, Dina Fouad, Head of the Central Administration of Parliament and Civil Education, Nili Zine El Abidine, Director General of the General Administration of the Parliament, Vanguards and Youth, Hassan Ghazali, Vice President of the African Union and General Coordinator of the African Office of the Ministry of Youth, with the participation of the families of the martyrs of the Armed Forces.