ABU DHABI // Residents have been urged to report those who drive recklessly in the pre-iftar dash, with the free CityGuard mobile application.
They can report an incident by taking a photo, video or audio clip and use an interactive map to show where it happened.
The app automatically sends a report to the government contact centre, which assigns it to the appropriate department.
Brig Gen Hussein Al Harthi, Abu Dhabi Police director of traffic and patrols, in May asked residents to report offences such as stunt driving, overtaking on the hard shoulder and driving through red lights.
Drivers should provide the licence plate number and make of vehicle, location and time of the offence.
“We ran a four-month campaign from March until June and we’ve witnessed a phenomenal increase in the number of downloads,” said Rani Saddi, communications manager at the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (Adsic).
“Police ran a parallel campaign on traffic safety. They synchronised it with our campaign and tried to leverage the CityGuard application.”
The app was downloaded more than 26,000 times in the first four months of the year.
Adsic does not have available data on the number of traffic-related cases reported through the app.
“Unfortunately, the number of accidents rises during Ramadan by default,” Mr Saddi said. “Instead of going to the police or Saaed office to complain, one can take a picture, a video or audio recording and submit it.”
The CityGuard app was part of the Abu Dhabi Government’s plan to encourage the public to report problems including traffic offences, Brig Gen Al Harthi said in May.
“This allows speed of communication and makes better use of this electronic application to provide a better and safer traffic environment,” he said.
Mr Saddi called the app a bridge between the Government and the community, providing a quick response to various problems.
The CityGuard app is downloadable from app stores for Apple, Android and BlackBerry phones, and from abudhabi.ae by clicking on the CityGuard link on the home page.
“We are encouraging residents not just to simply report incidents, but to be also part of the decision-making process,” Mr Saddi said.
“There will be feedback. We will contact them and send them a photo of the incident after the case has been resolved successfully.”
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Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
Forced Deportations
While the Lebanese government has deported a number of refugees back to Syria since 2011, the latest round is the first en-mass campaign of its kind, say the Access Center for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization which monitors the conditions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
“In the past, the Lebanese General Security was responsible for the forced deportation operations of refugees, after forcing them to sign papers stating that they wished to return to Syria of their own free will. Now, the Lebanese army, specifically military intelligence, is responsible for the security operation,” said Mohammad Hasan, head of ACHR.
In just the first four months of 2023 the number of forced deportations is nearly double that of the entirety of 2022.
Since the beginning of 2023, ACHR has reported 407 forced deportations – 200 of which occurred in April alone.
In comparison, just 154 people were forcfully deported in 2022.
Violence
Instances of violence against Syrian refugees are not uncommon.
Just last month, security camera footage of men violently attacking and stabbing an employee at a mini-market went viral. The store’s employees had engaged in a verbal altercation with the men who had come to enforce an order to shutter shops, following the announcement of a municipal curfew for Syrian refugees.
“They thought they were Syrian,” said the mayor of the Nahr el Bared municipality, Charbel Bou Raad, of the attackers.
It later emerged the beaten employees were Lebanese. But the video was an exemplary instance of violence at a time when anti-Syrian rhetoric is particularly heated as Lebanese politicians call for the return of Syrian refugees to Syria.
Company Profile
Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
The Specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 118hp
Torque: 149Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Price: From Dh61,500
On sale: Now
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Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
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Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi’s Arabic Language Centre will mark International Women’s Day at the Bologna Children's Book Fair with the Abu Dhabi Translation Conference. Prolific Emirati author Noora Al Shammari, who has written eight books that feature in the Ministry of Education's curriculum, will appear in a session on Wednesday to discuss the challenges women face in getting their works translated.
Paris Agreement
Article 14
1. [The Cop] shall periodically take stock of the implementation of this Agreement to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of this Agreement and its long-term goals (referred to as the "global stocktake")
2. [The Cop] shall undertake its first global stocktake in 2023 and every five years thereafter
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50