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20260812 230000 UTC
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[00:03:11] try and catch up with the GDP per capita of the rest of Welcome to this very special half
[00:03:14] an hour episode of Marketplace Africa the link, I'm Zayne
[00:03:17] Asher. Now whether it's an artist reaching a brand new
[00:03:21] international market or organizations educating
[00:03:24] new groups to help drive sustainable solutions, technology has
[00:03:28] undoubtedly played a role. Join me as we take a look at
[00:03:32] how plugging in and going digital has changed the
[00:03:35] game.
[00:03:40] Art, statements of color and memory,
[00:03:45] pass by every day, and of materials, movement and history. Art
[00:03:49] brings people together, regardless of where you're
[00:03:52] from, if you're all coming together to appreciate
[00:03:55] some sort of, some form of art,
[00:03:59] you let go of your beliefs.
[00:04:01] In Ghana, artists, the
[00:04:05] industry on the rise.
[00:04:08] According to a study by the organization Art Basel and banking
[00:04:12] giant UBS, global art sales were an estimated
[00:04:16] $57.5 billion dollars in
[00:04:18] 2024. While sales across Africa made up a
[00:04:22] minor percentage, industry leaders from across Ghana say demand
[00:04:25] for Ghanaian art is growing from within. If
[00:04:29] Ghanaians are able to come together and say that
[00:04:33] we are going to collect our own people's art
[00:04:36] or promote our
[00:04:39] Ghanaian artists, I think that will really
[00:04:44] that? I encourage it. Let me help the the economy. If we
[00:04:46] don't push our own artists, no one else is going to do that for
[00:04:49] us. What art looks like in Ghana is a
[00:04:53] question rising artist Denise Gamormenta is
[00:04:56] answering. I work in
[00:05:00] image transfer, digital
[00:05:02] collaging, and also, I say archiving,
[00:05:06] because my practice
[00:05:09] for the future of begins with collecting and gathering objects
[00:05:13] that have been left behind
[00:05:15] by time. Her solo exhibit Light Years of
[00:05:19] Us debuted during the 2025 Accra Cultural
[00:05:22] Week hosted by Gallery 1957.
[00:05:25] The annual event showcasing Ghanaian art has seen growing international
[00:05:29] interest. For Denise, showcasing these
[00:05:32] stories today has been boosted by the digital
[00:05:35] world. You have the opportunity to share what your work is
[00:05:38] about, and I think that has something to do with social
[00:05:42] media. Now there's access to the information, the stories carried
[00:05:46] in these objects that we are making as artists and
[00:05:50] that also gives them a lot more
[00:05:52] value.
[00:05:54] The numbers tell the same story with online sales making up nearly
[00:05:58] a fifth of all global art sales in 2024, according to an
[00:06:02] Art Basel and UBS study. Whether it's using
[00:06:05] digital tools to create art or using digital platforms to
[00:06:09] share art, technology has created a new global canvas
[00:06:12] for Ghanaian artists to use. And I think we have a lot to do still,
[00:06:16] we have so much to do, but we're getting there
[00:06:20] slowly with all these opportunities that are now
[00:06:24] coming in around us, step by step, we'll get there and then we'll
[00:06:27] see the value of African art and the importance of
[00:06:31] it as
[00:06:31] well.
[00:06:36] When it comes to using digital tools and education as a great equalizer across
[00:06:40] Africa, Fred Swaniker is all in. The Ghanaian-born
[00:06:43] entrepreneur opened the doors to the African Leadership Academy in South
[00:06:46] Africa in 2008, training high school students to prepare
[00:06:50] them for a pathway to university. He
[00:06:53] then went to establish the African Leadership University in Mauritius in
[00:06:57] 2015. But with technology ever evolving, Swaniker says
[00:07:01] his ambition turned to ensuring the continent's next generation of
[00:07:04] talent knew how to build their own tech. Today that
[00:07:08] talent he's helped nurture drives his latest venture, an AI company
[00:07:12] with global clients called Sand Technologies. CNN's Nick
[00:07:16] Watt sat down with him to talk about Africa's tech talent and why
[00:07:19] Africa will be the region to solve the world's
[00:07:22] problems.
[00:07:26] Is there a different approach from the
[00:07:29] companies and the engineers and the coders in Africa? A different
[00:07:33] approach than we might see in Silicon Valley in terms of the kind of problems
[00:07:37] that they try and tackle? Yes, because you see, when when you look at the engineers that we're
[00:07:41] developing in Africa. Um, firstly, we're training them a very different
[00:07:44] way. So, um, we believe that technology is a
[00:07:48] means to an end, it's not the end itself, right? I want to use
[00:07:52] AI to fix healthcare. I want to use AI to fix our cities. I want to use it for
[00:07:55] education. So that is what drives this talent. They
[00:07:59] want to solve problems for society.
[00:08:02] And uh, so the ethos is quite different. What we're doing in Africa
[00:08:06] is start first with the problems and then look at
[00:08:09] how the technology can solve it. And your engineers are based where? So I've
[00:08:13] got about 350 engineers and about 300 are based in Africa. About
[00:08:16] 100 PhDs and data scientists who build these
[00:08:20] complicated artificial intelligence models that are
[00:08:23] helping to run the real
[00:08:25] world.
[00:08:29] I want to talk about health for a bit. So
[00:08:31] again,
[00:08:33] what was the problem? And the big problem that we saw in Africa, and by the way, the same problem
[00:08:37] that we're solving exists in rural America and many of the other states in the
[00:08:40] US. Um, there's a shortage of doctors.
[00:08:43] So the average doctor-patient ratio in Africa is 800
[00:08:47] patients to one doctor. To one doctor. In the West it's about 300 to 400
[00:08:51] 300 patients per doctor. So the problem we saw is how do you bring world-class
[00:08:54] healthcare when you don't have enough doctors to
[00:08:58] what's going to be 40% of the world's population?
[00:09:01] So we have developed something called the Health Operating System and it has three
[00:09:05] components. The first component is digitizing
[00:09:09] health infrastructure. So we're going into different countries in Africa. We're
[00:09:12] working right now in 18 countries on the continent to
[00:09:16] uh first digitize the infrastructure. Once you have the data streaming from that, the second part
[00:09:19] of it is we then augment healthcare professionals with artificial
[00:09:23] intelligence. So you can take a community healthcare worker or nurse, which
[00:09:27] are much more abundant than doctors, and give them all sorts of AI tools that
[00:09:31] allow them to do more sophisticated things that before maybe only a doctor would have been able to
[00:09:35] do. Once you've connected the facilities and you've
[00:09:38] augmented a healthcare professional, you can have all this
[00:09:41] data that's coming. And that's now goes into what we call the
[00:09:44] Health Intelligence Center, which we are supporting different ministries of health in Africa to
[00:09:48] develop. And this Health Intelligence Center aggregates data
[00:09:52] from the entire system, all the thousands of hospitals and clinics
[00:09:55] in the country. So you can start to now see
[00:09:59] across the system where should you allocate your limited resources? If I
[00:10:02] only have so much money, where should I build my clinics? Where should I send my supply
[00:10:06] chain, my pharmaceutical? So you can now allocate with much better precision your
[00:10:10] resources. You can make better decisions.
[00:10:13] You can predict pandemics. You know what kind of
[00:10:16] training to do for your health workforce and so forth. And it shifts the whole
[00:10:20] healthcare system from being reactive and expensive to more predictive and
[00:10:24] preventive.
[00:10:28] And because there's a need for this in Africa, there
[00:10:31] is the environment in which you can develop and test it
[00:10:35] and use it. Exactly. One of the things I always say is that constraints drive innovation. So in
[00:10:39] Africa, we've got real serious problems and those constraints are forcing us to
[00:10:42] leverage some of these technologies and so AI
[00:10:46] is, if we play our cards right as a continent, will
[00:10:50] allow us to completely leapfrog development, um, and
[00:10:54] build fact, the model of education
[00:10:57] that we've developed with ALX, where we are training
[00:11:01] people who are able to compete with Stanford graduates and Yale
[00:11:06] the US. We've had several delegations from the US come to see what we're
[00:11:10] doing, and they kept asking us to bring it to the US. So we're now actually
[00:11:13] bringing our model for training AI talent to
[00:11:17] the US to help train Americans, prepare them for the
[00:11:20] AI age. And this is innovation that was born in
[00:11:22] Africa.
[00:11:27] Is tech inherently inclusive? Technology guided
[00:11:31] by good values can be
[00:11:33] incredibly inclusive, right? So technology
[00:11:36] alone, you because it's it's like any tool.
[00:11:39] You can use a knife to prepare a great meal, but it can also be a
[00:11:43] dangerous tool, it can be used to kill someone, right? It all depends
[00:11:46] on the intention behind it. And so the the the values
[00:11:50] that underlie that tool will determine whether it's
[00:11:54] inclusive or exclusive. So access to markets, access to education,
[00:11:57] access to health, all these things, um, can be
[00:12:01] enabled by technology. And it
[00:12:04] can allow you to leapfrog and catch up and develop
[00:12:07] faster. But it needs to be guided by the right vision, the right
[00:12:10] values. When we come back, CNN's Nick Watch
[00:12:14] continues the conversation with Sand Technology CEO and African
[00:12:18] Leadership Group founder, Fred
[00:12:20] Swaniker.
[00:12:26] Welcome back. For Fred Swaniker, the answer is clear. Armed with the
[00:12:30] world's youngest population, Africa has
[00:12:33] what it takes to be at the forefront of developing tech solutions for the
[00:12:37] world's biggest problems. Join us as we head
[00:12:40] back into that conversation to hear what he says is needed to ensure
[00:12:44] that that potential continues to be
[00:12:46] nurtured.
[00:12:51] Obviously, in this day and age, we're worried about, you, particularly with AI. But just
[00:12:55] with tech of various marginalized
[00:12:57] communities being left behind. Is there a
[00:13:01] concern that at a global scale that if Africa doesn't keep up with this,
[00:13:04] Africa will get left behind? Yes, there is. I think, I think very much in terms of the
[00:13:08] opportunity that we have, uh, with artificial
[00:13:11] intelligence. So um, when you think
[00:13:15] about, uh, development,
[00:13:18] historically in development has been measured by GDP per
[00:13:21] capita. Development ultimately is about quality of life. Why do we want
[00:13:25] to develop? We want better healthcare, we want education, you
[00:13:28] know, enough food security. And so one
[00:13:32] way to develop is to
[00:13:36] the world. But Africa's GDP per capita
[00:13:38] is $2,000 a year, and the West, we talk about $80,000
[00:13:42] a year. The West continues to grow. It'll take us 100 years. It's very difficult to
[00:13:46] catch up. Another way to develop is to say, I'm actually going to reduce
[00:13:50] the cost of getting good education and
[00:13:53] healthcare and so forth. To such that it fits within my GDP per cap, right?
[00:13:57] Right, right. So for example, that school that we bought in Silicon
[00:14:01] Valley, the engineers, the graduates were
[00:14:04] earning more than Stanford graduates, more than Yale graduates, more than Caltech graduates.
[00:14:08] And they were working at Tesla and Amazon and Apple and
[00:14:11] Nvidia and things like that. We brought that same education to
[00:14:14] Africa, but we're able to train software engineers for
[00:14:18] $200 a year.
[00:14:20] Now, we're in the Bay Area right now, Silicon Valley. You can
[00:14:23] make $400,000 a year, but after tax, you're left with $100,000 a year. You send
[00:14:27] your child to Stanford, $100,000 a year, you're broke. So you can't
[00:14:31] even afford to send your two children to Stanford. Who are you to tell me that I'm
[00:14:35] poor in Africa if I only earn $200 a year, but I can
[00:14:38] send my three children to a Stanford quality education. We can
[00:14:41] leverage AI to radically reduce the cost of the
[00:14:45] things that you would have wanted your high GDP per capita. So we can
[00:14:48] therefore completely redefine what it means to be a developed
[00:14:52] society.
[00:14:56] You must have a certain amount of leakage in terms of your
[00:15:00] talent in Africa moving to the US or the UK,
[00:15:03] absolutely, to try and earn more money for themselves, right? How do you deal with
[00:15:09] tell you why. Um, brain drain is only a problem when you're
[00:15:12] training talent at low scale and you're not training enough people. Exactly. We do
[00:15:16] this at scale, you know, so like I said, in 2024, we train
[00:15:20] 700,000 people. Our goal is to train 3 to 5 million people in the
[00:15:23] next decade. So what Africa
[00:15:25] has that no one else has is young
[00:15:28] people.
[00:15:32] So just in terms of the practicalities, in terms of
[00:15:35] scaling. I'm in Lagos and I've got an
[00:15:38] idea. Um, in terms of
[00:15:41] scaling that idea, I mean, is there the
[00:15:44] infrastructure? What are the challenges? I see three big challenges. Number one is
[00:15:48] just power. We can use all these AI techniques, but if I don't even
[00:15:51] have um basic electricity to switch on my
[00:15:55] device, um, or, you know, access the Internet and all the
[00:15:59] stuff, uh, you know, it's it's going to be, you know, a challenge.
[00:16:03] So the second challenge I would say is
[00:16:05] um access to capital, right?
[00:16:09] As um, Africa gets less than
[00:16:13] 3% of the world's venture capital funding. Um,
[00:16:16] we're only 3% of the world's GDP. So we need a massive
[00:16:19] investment into this talent pool and into
[00:16:23] this ecosystem to actually catalyze
[00:16:26] the entrepreneurs, the innovators who can solve many of Africa's and many of the world's problems. The
[00:16:30] third thing that's a challenge is access to markets, because any
[00:16:33] entrepreneur, any innovation that is born ultimately needs a
[00:16:36] market to sell into, right? And he start
[00:16:40] and so the the market problems are twofold.
[00:16:43] Each market in Africa is is too small. When you aggregate Africa's
[00:16:47] economy, it's about $3 trillion dollars. But when you look
[00:16:50] at each individual economy, there's 54 countries. So you have small markets, right? Right. So
[00:16:54] suddenly, one of the reasons why the US works is because it's one big
[00:16:57] market, right? Right. Africa should similarly, by
[00:17:01] breaking down these barriers, you can start to create one big market, which makes it attractive both for foreign
[00:17:05] investors and local
[00:17:07] entrepreneurs to be able to to scale. The other aspect around access to markets is making
[00:17:11] it easier for African entrepreneurs to access global
[00:17:14] markets so that they can tap into that 97% of the world's GDP that
[00:17:18] is not enough. And how does that happen? Well, I think digital is a
[00:17:22] great enabler of that, because now is someone who's making
[00:17:25] baskets or making movies in Africa
[00:17:28] or any other kind of service, once you
[00:17:32] digitize your distribution channels, you can sell on
[00:17:35] Instagram and Facebook and all these different platforms. Now that if
[00:17:39] you look at what the Nigerians have done with music, yeah. I
[00:17:42] mean, 10, 15 years ago,
[00:17:46] Nigerian musicians were earning $10,000 for
[00:17:50] a performance because they were trying to sell
[00:17:53] locally. But when they went global, you see
[00:17:56] Burna Boy and Wizkid selling out the O2 Arena or Madison Square Garden.
[00:18:00] And you see with digital help, with digital help, right? They they
[00:18:03] became global and famous because of YouTube and Instagram and all
[00:18:07] these
[00:18:08] things.
[00:18:11] Is the attitude of the rest of the world towards Africa being
[00:18:15] changed by access
[00:18:18] to all of these African art forms, but also African
[00:18:22] innovation? In certain ways, yes, but I think the rest of the world
[00:18:25] still doesn't understand Africa's potential.
[00:18:28] Yeah, growing up,
[00:18:32] um, I was brought up on Hollywood, right? So I watched
[00:18:35] you, one of the greatest exports that America has had is its culture, and that came through
[00:18:39] film and music. And so by being able to tell our own
[00:18:42] story as a continent, um,
[00:18:46] we will be able to change how we are seen on our terms
[00:18:49] and not let others write our
[00:18:51] story.
[00:19:01] Whether it's international sports leagues like E1 debuting in Nigeria,
[00:19:05] or the tiny island nation of Cape Verde looking to expand tourism
[00:19:08] sustainably, digital tools are playing a key role in both
[00:19:12] education and outreach. Take a
[00:19:14] look.
[00:19:18] If you look at the structure of Lagos State, about 16% of the
[00:19:22] land mass is made up of water. And we have, um,
[00:19:26] a water network that is capable of taking you almost anywhere in
[00:19:30] Lagos. Despite this, the usage was very,
[00:19:33] very low, then less than 1%.
[00:19:36] Lagos, big on its waterways and
[00:19:40] big sports leagues like E1 have bought in. It is
[00:19:44] an amazing alignment of vision,
[00:19:47] energy. A recent partnership with the electric boat racing franchise brought
[00:19:51] its first ever race on the African continent to Lagos this past
[00:19:55] October. E1 goes beyond the
[00:19:59] sport, and I think the sport needs to play
[00:20:02] this kind of role which is inspirational. This
[00:20:06] comes with leadership, some
[00:20:09] concrete action on the coastal
[00:20:12] area. But the move to bring E1 to the
[00:20:15] shores of Africa goes far beyond this one race. It's
[00:20:19] a push that brings technology to the forefront. There will
[00:20:22] be conversation with local technology
[00:20:26] providers, universities to understand if we can fit their
[00:20:29] technologies in the future generation of our race
[00:20:33] boats. There will be inspiration for young
[00:20:36] students at high school level and university to pursue
[00:20:40] science, technology, engineering studies that is so
[00:20:43] important
[00:20:46] the of the planet and the environment and in any
[00:20:50] possible application. The league says they partnered with the state
[00:20:54] a range of events highlighting STEM and sustainability, an
[00:20:57] effort to amplify their message of conservation and innovation
[00:21:01] when it comes to the waterways. They're hoping their moves
[00:21:04] create a ripple effect.
[00:21:08] We want to show that a different water mobility is possible for the
[00:21:12] future. This will bring developments, this will bring
[00:21:15] jobs, innovation, and
[00:21:18] will put Lagos
[00:21:22] the place to go if you want
[00:21:25] the future.
[00:21:29] With more than 20 million residents, Lagos's roads are
[00:21:32] often congested. Despite several jetty terminals and almost
[00:21:36] 60 major water routes across the state.
[00:21:40] Water transport in Lagos State, with what Lagos State has, has the
[00:21:43] ability and the capacity to remove 41% of the traffic,
[00:21:47] public to use water. At
[00:21:50] Ikorodu, a major hub in the state, private ferry
[00:21:54] operators say despite some challenges increased government
[00:21:57] involvement has been a game changer. So let's say in
[00:22:01] 2018, at the time where this particular terminal where
[00:22:04] building was still under construction, we were moving about,
[00:22:08] say, 10, 15 boats per day. Now, as of
[00:22:11] today, we move
[00:22:14] a day. With the
[00:22:17] growing success of private operators and a big event like the E1
[00:22:21] race, the tide seems to be turning. It was where
[00:22:24] sustainability met innovation, because what we saw happening with that
[00:22:28] boat race was a
[00:22:30] dynamic way of looking
[00:22:34] the local operators could see the future. So
[00:22:38] we saw them as well getting involved, loving the race, and being able to plan for themselves
[00:22:42] saying, this is where we want to eventually be in the
[00:22:44] future.
[00:22:46] Now we head to the sunny shores of Cape Verde to see how digitization is
[00:22:50] helping boost economies across the country by bringing more groups
[00:22:54] into the
[00:22:54] mix.
[00:22:58] A vacation destination that once seemed far away is
[00:23:02] suddenly within reach.
[00:23:06] In the very early days, hardly anyone had heard of Cape
[00:23:09] Verde. Now it is a very much known
[00:23:12] destination, and we are now experiencing a real
[00:23:15] explosion of interest from all over,
[00:23:19] predominantly Europe. So a very, very well sought after
[00:23:22] destination. Lying 600 kilometers off the coast
[00:23:26] of West Africa, Cape Verde is a small string of volcanic islands
[00:23:30] famed for its sun, sand, and sea life, not to
[00:23:34] mention miles of unbroken beaches. This tiny
[00:23:38] country with a population of just over 600,000 has
[00:23:41] proven very attractive for prospective investors
[00:23:44] and business of late has been
[00:23:47] booming. In winter of 2025, the UK-based
[00:23:51] low-cost airline EasyJet expanded
[00:23:54] service to Cape Verde with six new routes out of London and
[00:23:58] other major European cities. Its
[00:24:01] Chief Commercial Officer Paul Bixby says that while Cape Verde's government
[00:24:04] has been open to providing economic support, the next step is making
[00:24:08] sure the country's infrastructure and hotels are up to date and
[00:24:12] can handle a large increase in visitors. We carry 100
[00:24:16] million passengers, we've got 350 airplanes, we're not, we're not
[00:24:19] niche. We're a digital company. Your disruption is
[00:24:22] managed by phone, by app. You don't have thousands
[00:24:26] of people that can that can manage this, so it has to be quite seamless and quite
[00:24:30] mass market. While tourism is unquestionably the
[00:24:34] backbone of Cape Verde's economy, accounting for roughly a quarter of the country's
[00:24:38] GDP, the island nation is also looking to grow its digital
[00:24:41] sector, with investments in e-government and cybersecurity.
[00:24:45] Cape Verde hopes to one day be a competitive hub for IT
[00:24:48] services, fintech, and business processing operations,
[00:24:52] servicing an international clientele. All
[00:24:55] the businesses, not all the tourism, but especially tourism, that is
[00:24:59] the main service sector in in Cape
[00:25:02] Verde, depends heavily on the digital. Cape Verde knows the
[00:25:06] importance of the digitalization of the
[00:25:09] services and the tourism ecosystem in Cape.
[00:25:12] Verde. When tourists go to Cape Verde, you
[00:25:16] just use, for example, e-gate to cross the border easily, uh, in...
[00:25:20] in in some airports, and there are more investments uh on that. So
[00:25:23] that facilitates everything. Whether it's a
[00:25:26] digital transformation and burgeoning IT sector or the continued
[00:25:30] growth of international tourism, this tiny
[00:25:33] island nation hopes their planning today will pay dividends
[00:25:36] for generations to
[00:25:37] come.
[00:25:41] All right, that does it for this very special edition of Marketplace Africa,
[00:25:45] the link. Thank you so much for joining me. Remember, you can keep up with us on social
[00:25:49] media and on as well. I'm Zane Asha, I'll see
[00:25:52] you next time in the
[00:25:53] marketplace.
[00:26:33] Good evening, dear viewers, it's time
[00:26:35] for the news.
[00:26:39] Fires are still active near Konjic and Neum, the fire is on
[00:26:43] inaccessible terrain, a state of natural disaster has been declared,
[00:26:47] and international aid has been requested.
[00:26:50] The fire is spreading towards the village of Brđani and towards Džepska
[00:26:53] Mountain, meaning in the direction of Hadžići
[00:26:55] municipality.
[00:27:00] From tonight's news, we also highlight:
[00:27:05] Nova Željezara Zenica officially entered bankruptcy, worker protection
[00:27:09] is in focus, claims the
[00:27:11] company.
[00:27:14] After the ecocide in Gospić, Croatian USKOK is expanding its investigation
[00:27:18] into waste disposal sites, does hazardous waste from Croatia
[00:27:22] have anything to do with Derventa, and what kind of hazardous waste enters Bosnia and
[00:27:25] Herzegovina?
[00:27:28] More than 250 killed in an earthquake in Colombia. Rescue
[00:27:32] teams are continuously searching for survivors under the rubble,
[00:27:36] and
[00:27:38] tomorrow sunny and hot, in the south temperatures up to
[00:27:41] 39°C.
[00:27:48] Forest fires have been raging for days in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the fire
[00:27:51] near Jajce affected about 7 hectares of pine
[00:27:55] forest, extinguishing is difficult due to mines, which is why the helicopter
[00:27:58] of the Armed Forces was redirected to extinguish the fire in the vicinity
[00:28:02] of Konjic. A state of natural disaster has been declared
[00:28:05] in Konjic, and international air aid has
[00:28:08] been requested. A large forest fire has been raging for days
[00:28:12] on inaccessible and steep terrain near the settlements
[00:28:15] of Kanjina, Živašnica, Brđani, and Džepi. Under the force of the wind,
[00:28:19] the fire is spreading in several directions, and during the past night, two stables
[00:28:23] and one abandoned house in the hamlet of Golubić burned down. Due to
[00:28:26] the extremely difficult and alarming situation on the ground, a state
[00:28:30] of natural disaster has been declared. Meaning, it is constantly spreading
[00:28:33] on the ground, all our available resources and
[00:28:36] capacities are there, the fire is spreading towards the village of Brđani
[00:28:40] and towards Džepska Mountain, meaning in the direction of Hadžići
[00:28:43] municipality. Mm, during the past night, the city
[00:28:47] civil protection headquarters of the city of Konjic convened, a state
[00:28:50] of economic disaster has been declared in the area of the city of Konjic caused by large forest fires,
[00:28:54] and international aid has been requested for
[00:28:57] extinguishing forest fires from the air. Residents are fearfully following
[00:29:01] the movement of the fire towards their homes and properties, and the fight against
[00:29:04] the fire element is ongoing without interruption, so the forest
[00:29:08] is burning, meaning it's burning, we have
[00:29:12] a weekend house up there and my son went up there,
[00:29:16] there are people who have livestock,
[00:29:19] meaning they have sheep and they are all up there now,
[00:29:23] meaning it has spread to the hill,
[00:29:26] now the grass is dry,
[00:29:30] everything will burn here, it was really too critical, like the lower
[00:29:33] settlement, but it was really that big fire, firefighters
[00:29:37] fought for 24 hours for a couple of days for sure, so
[00:29:40] it was a lot more critical down there than here, but again we defended
[00:29:44] this settlement here too, fire trucks
[00:29:47] smoke has been visible for three or four days, it went in that
[00:29:51] direction up towards this hill, up there is a mountain, they
[00:29:54] were on duty, on duty on the clearing up there, a divide
[00:29:58] goes, it's all forest, and they were
[00:30:01] just waiting for a plan there. There's nothing else, the road is inaccessible,
[00:30:04] the road was built there when the power line
[00:30:07] was working, those were two or three households, now
[00:30:11] there's nobody there, it's deserted, and now that whole
[00:30:15] hillside is burning, and I don't know how to explain it to you, you can't even
[00:30:19] walk there on foot, let alone cars come, from early morning
[00:30:22] hours, firefighters from Konjic with the help of colleagues from Hadžići and Trčin
[00:30:26] and local residents and hunters are fighting a superhuman battle with the fire
[00:30:29] element, from the air they are also helped by e-tractors and
[00:30:33] helicopters, we have firefighters from Sarajevo Canton, from
[00:30:36] Hadžići, from Trčin, they help, they help us
[00:30:39] with ground forces, in extinguishing the fire
[00:30:42] from the ground, and we have directed all resources and capacities
[00:30:46] to prevent the spread of the fire
[00:30:50] towards the village of Brđani and towards Džepska Mountain. The toughest battles with
[00:30:53] the fire are fought during the night when the flames threaten property and homes. Therefore,
[00:30:57] fire brigades remain in full readiness.