IGIHE

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  • 500 Expelled Rwandan Refugees Cross into Uganda

    {{More than 500 Rwandan refugees expelled from Tanzania have reportedly arrived in Uganda and illegally camped at Mutukula border area.}}

    Local Uganda media reports that the refugees started arriving at Mutukula last week after they were expelled from Tanzania.

    According to the area Police Commander (RPC), Maxwell Ogwal, said the illegal migrants have camped in Mutukura with close to 4000 heads of cattle.

    Ogwal visited the illegal migrants at Mutukura on Monday to assess the situation.

    He said the police and other security agencies are currently registering the illegal migrants who have crossed into Uganda.

    The Mutukula border post liason officer, Chris Karakire said so far women and children make the majority of the illegal migrants who have camped in Mutukula.

    The families are arriving in small groups with between 20 to 50 heads of cattle. He said some of the migrants have rented houses in Mutukula.

    Some of the migrants claim to have relatives in Rakai and were requesting security authorities to allow them to join the families in the community.

    However security authorities have not allowed them to move to other families in Mutukula and Rakai. Foreign Affairs Minister, Sam Kutesa, promised to give an official statement after consultations.

    {Newvision Photo}

  • PPR-Imena Party Representatives Arrive in Kigali

    {{PPR-Imena political group has as recently reported sent some of its members to Rwanda to embark on the registration of their group into a legal political party.}}

    Currently the group is operating in Europe.It recently announced would start operating in Rwanda.

    The group leader Nyirinkwaya Kazungu told IGIHE that its members had arrived in Kigali adding, “the party informs its members and friends that our representatives arrived in Kigali and were well recieved”.

    Nyirinkwaya noted that, the group convened another meeting in Lusaka Zambia on August 8. “on arrival in Kigali Tuesday, the party representatives headed to Gisozi Genocide Memorial site to honour the victims of the 1994 Genocide against ethnic Tutsi’s.”

    The party representatives have been identified as Habimana Bonaventure and Bakundukize Hassan in charge of the Party’s Communication.

  • Photo of the Day

    {Girl offers fruit juice to Soldier on patrol at Kisementi area in Remera. The mother looks on.}

  • Rwanda Commissions EAC Non Commissioned Officers’ Centre of Excellence

    {{Hon. Minister of Defence, Gen James Kabarebe together with Minister for East African Community (EAC), Hon. Jacqueline Muhongayire on 12 August inaugurated the EAC Non Commissioned Officers’ Centre of Excellence at RDF Combat Training Centre in Gabiro, Nyagatare District. }}

    The inauguration also marked the official opening of the Sergeant Major’s Course intake 01 by the Hon Minister of Defence. The Course is attended by 80 NCOs from 4 EAC Partner States.

    In his opening remarks, Minister James Kabarebe said that the joint training will facilitate the harmonisation of doctrine among EAC Defence Forces.

    “Joint training of our Armed Forces from sister Partner States will help us to achieve a harmonized doctrine to facilitate interoperability of forces during exercises and future multinational operations”, stated Minister James Kabarebe.

    The inaugurated NCO Centre of Excellence is in line with the implementation of EAC Sectoral Council decision on Defence Cooperation and in accordance with Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation, article three that the Centre was adopted unanimously as the “EAC NCO Centre of Excellence”.

    The Chief of Defence Staff of Rwanda Defence Force (RDF CDS), Gen Patrick Nyamvumba noted in his remarks that the launched EAC NCO Centre of Excellence will develop the readiness of EAC Defence Forces to effectively respond to security challenges. “The Centre will equip the NCOs here present with the necessary knowledge since they are considered as the backbone of our Defence Forces”, reiterated Gen Nyamvumba.

    Col Denis Rutaha, Commandant of RDF Combat Training Centre, Gabiro said that the Training Facility will offer the Course Participants skills in tactics, leadership, human resource management, military ethics and values. The Sergeant Major Course intake 01/13 will last for 12 weeks.

    The twin ceremony was also attended by Representatives of Chief of Defence Staff of EAC partner Defence Forces, namely Maj Gen Levi Karuhanga from Uganda, Maj Gen Charles Jitenga from Tanzania and Brig Gen Théodore Kanderege of Burundi. Defence Attachés from Tanzania, Uganda, United States of America and France also attended the ceremony.

    source:MOD

  • Rwanda Ranked Highest in ICT Usage in EAC

    {Rwandan Pupils reading from laptops}

    {{Rwanda is ranked highest user of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in East Africa.}}

    Rwanda is also ranked at 88th position while Kenya comes second at 92nd, Tanzania comes third at 127th and Burundi is the least networked ready nation in the world at the 144th position.

    ICT can help developing countries frog-leap stages of development and usher them into first world economies.

    Meanwhile. Uganda is ranked 110th in 144 surveyed countries by the World Economic Forums Networked Readiness Index 2013 under the theme “Benchmarking ICT uptake and support for growth and jobs in a hyper connected world.”

    The report informs decision makers and investors on ICT readiness and usage in several economies in as regards the Internet economy.

  • Norway Prime Minister Works as Secret Taxi Driver

    {{Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg spent an afternoon working incognito as a taxi driver in Oslo, he has revealed.}}

    Mr Stoltenberg said he had wanted to hear from real Norwegian voters and that taxis were one of the few places where people shared their true views.

    He wore sunglasses and an Oslo taxi driver’s uniform for the shift in June, only revealing his identity once he was recognised by his passengers.

    His exchanges with his passengers were captured on a hidden camera.

    The footage – made in collaboration with an advertising company – has been posted on the Prime Minister’s Facebook page and made into a film which will be used as part of his campaign for re-election in September.

    “It is important for me to hear what people really think,” he told Norwegian media.

    “And if there is one place people really say what they think about most things, it’s in the taxi.”

    {{Driving errors}}

    Some of the passengers who appear in the film had been told to wait for the taxi – without being told who would be driving – while others were picked up randomly and from taxi ranks.

    Most of them appear to realise very quickly that there is something different about their driver, with one saying: “From this angle you really look like Stoltenberg.”

    Another says she was lucky to meet him as she “wanted to send a letter”.

    The conversation turns to politics in most cases.

    Mr Stoltenberg engages one passenger on education, saying: “The main point is to make sure good students have something to stretch for, and to give those who struggle extra help.”

    None of the passengers was charged for the ride.

    Mr Stoltenberg told the VG newspaper: “I’m pretty well known in Oslo, but I tend to sit in the back seat.”

    The Labour prime minister came in for criticism for his driving, at one point jolting the car abruptly when, he said, he mistakenly applied the brake pedal on the automatic car, thinking it was the clutch.

    He said he had not driven in eight years.

    Mr Stoltenberg is popular in Norway, but opinion polls suggest he is lagging behind the opposition ahead of the election.

    But asked by VG whether he would consider becoming a taxi driver full time if he lost the election, Mr Stoltenberg replied: “I think the country and the Norwegian taxi passengers are best served if I’m the prime minister and not a taxi driver.”

    -BBC

  • Mugabe tells Rival Tsvangirai to ‘Go hang’

    Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe Monday said if MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai could not fathom losing the harmonised elections, he was free to go hang.

    The Zanu-PF First Secretary and President who triumphed in the Presidential race after polling over 61% against Mr Tsvangirai’s 33,9%, made the remarks while addressing thousands of people who thronged the National Heroes’ Acre for the Heroes Day main celebrations in Harare.

    Zanu-PF also scooped 160 out of the 210 National Assembly constituencies, wrestling back 61 constituencies the MDC formations won in the 2008 elections.

    A visibly shaken Mr Tsvangirai refused to accept results announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and has since approached the Constitutional Court seeking nullification of the results citing alleged irregularities.

    “Saka vanenge vachirwadziwa nekukundwa hameno zvavo kana vachizvisungirira ngavazvisungirire. Kana imbwa hadzimbofa dzakanhuwidza nyama yavo vakafa vakadaro,’’ President Mugabe said.

    He said Zimbabwe held elections in line with the electoral democracy the West claims to advance.

    “Takavhotaka maererano nechinangwa chikuru chinonzi democracy. Ndozvamakataura vemhiri zvikabvumwa pasi rose kuti kuve nedemocracy. Heyoka tauya nayo. Tauya nayo munotii?

    “We are delivering democracy on a platter. Do you take it? We say take it or leave it, but the people have delivered it and forward ever. Never will we go back on our achievement, on our victory. Tinoramba tichienda mberi. Hatisi vekudududza isu.”

    The UN, AU, Sadc, Comesa and other observer groups from Africa have endorsed the elections while the United States, Britain and its dominion Australia — who were not invited to observe — have joined MDC-T in condemning the election.

    This has effectively put MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and his Western sponsors on one side, and Africa and Zanu-PF on another side aping the contestation in Zimbabwe over the past decade.

    President Mugabe said two themes defined this year’s Heroes’ Day commemorations.
    The first was a day when Zimbabweans reflect in remembering all the departed cadres who sacrificed their lives to liberate the country.

    The President said it was an opportunity for Zimbabwe to prove to the heroes and heroines that their sacrifices were not in vain as Zanu-PF’s resounding victory ensured that objectives of the liberation struggle would be safeguarded.

    “Ndima yepiri inoti nhaka yavatisiira heyo yanga iri mumaoko edu, tiine shoko rabva kwavari rekuti kuenda taenda asi heyo nhaka yatakupai moichengetedza.

    ‘‘Pakati apo ndokuita bishi. Ny’any’a hedzo dzotungamira dzichitungamidzwa sezvimbwasungata kuti vaye vatakamborwisa vachitorazve nhaka iyi vogova ndivo vanotigovera. Ndimi inoti tinotenda vana veZimbabwe.

    source:{Herald}

  • Poachers Shoot Dead Rhino in Nairobi Park

    {{In Kenya, gunmen have shot dead a white rhino in Nairobi’s national park, a brazen raid in one of the best guarded sites in Kenya, wildlife officials said Tuesday.}}

    Amid a surge of rhino and elephant killings across the country, the shooting of the rhino in the heavily guarded Nairobi national park – the headquarters of the government’s Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)- illustrates how easily poachers are decimating the country’s large animals.

    Poachers, who killed the rhino late Friday, hacked out the horn from its head and escaped, said KWS spokesman Paul Udoto.

    “It is the first such poaching incident in the park in the last six years,” Udoto said, adding it brings the total number of rhino killed this year to 35, already more than the 29 killed in Kenya in the whole of 2012.

    Nairobi’s national park, which lies just seven kilometres (four miles) from the tower blocks of the bustling centre, is described by KWS as “a unique ecosystem by being the only protected area in the world close to a capital city”.

    It is a major rhino sanctuary, and its previously believed secure environment – fenced in for much of its 117 kilometres squared (45 miles squared) – was seen as ideal for breeding and restocking other parks.

    Poaching has risen sharply in Africa in recent years. Besides targeting rhinos, whole herds of elephants have been massacred for their ivory.

    The lucrative Asian black market for rhino horn has driven a boom in poaching across Africa.

    Asian consumers falsely believe the horns, the same composition as fingernails, have powerful healing properties.

    A series of large shipments of ivory has been seized in recent months, including two separate containers in Kenya’s port of Mombasa in July, one with three tonnes and another of almost 1.5 tonnes of elephant ivory.

    Source: {Capitalfm}

  • ‘Islamic militants’ kill dozens at Nigeria mosque

    {{Suspected Islamic militants wearing army fatigues gunned down 44 people praying at a mosque in northeast Nigeria, while another 12 civilians died in an apparently simultaneous attack, security agents said Monday.}}

    Sunday’s attacks were the latest in a slew of violence blamed on religious extremists in this West African oil producer, where the radical Boko Haram group, which wants to oust the government and impose Islamic law, poses the greatest security threat in years.

    It was not immediately clear why the Islamic Boko Haram would have killed worshipping Muslims, but the group has in the past attacked mosques whose clerics have spoken out against religious extremism.

    Boko Haram also has attacked Christians outside churches and teachers and schoolchildren, as well as government and military targets.

    Since 2010, the militants have been blamed for the killings of more than 1,700 people, according to a count conducted by The Associated Press.

    The news about Sunday’s violence in Borno state, one of three in the northeast under a military state of emergency, came as journalists received a video featuring Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, who gloats over recent attacks, threatens more, and even says his group is now strong enough to go after the United States.

    The mosque slayings occurred Sunday morning in Konduga town, 35 kilometers (22 miles) outside Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s Borno state.

    A state security service agent and Usman Musa, a member of a civilian militia that works with the military, said Monday they counted the bodies at the mosque after the attack. Musa said four members of his group – known as the Civilian Joint Task Force -also were killed when they reached Konduga and encountered “fierce resistance from heavily armed terrorists.”

    Musa and the security service agent said the attackers wore military camouflage uniforms used by the Nigerian army, which they may have acquired in one of their attacks on military bases.

    On their way back from Konduga, the security forces came upon the scene of another attack at Ngom village, 5 kilometers (3 miles) outside Maiduguri, where Musa said he counted 12 bodies of civilians.

    Twenty-six worshippers at the mosque were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, said a security guard at the emergency ward of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. He and the state security agent both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to give information to reporters.

    {wirestory}

  • World Bank Funds for Hydroelectric Project in Africa

    {{The World Bank has approved US$340mn for a hydroelectric project that will aim to benefit 62mn people in Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania, as part of the Great Lakes regional initiative.}}

    The initiative was inaugurated by the bank’s president and United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in May 2013.

    The Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project, which has a total cost of US$468mn and an eventual 80MW generation capacity, will aim to boost reliable power supply to the electricity grids of the three countries, reduce electricity costs and promote renewable power.

    The World Bank stated in a news release that the project will be expected to spur job-led economic development and pave the way for more dynamic regional cooperation, peace and stability among the countries of the Nile Equatorial Lakes (NEL) sub-region in east Africa.

    World Bank director of strategy, operations and regional integration Colin Bruce said, “This landmark project will have transformational impact, bringing lower-cost energy to homes, businesses, and clinics in Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania.

    “By connecting grids, people and environmentally-sensitive solutions, the project will help to catalyse growth and encourage peace and stability in the sub-region.”

    source:{Africanreview}