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  • Tsvangirai’s Election Organiser Arrested

    Zimbabwean police on Sunday arrested the election organiser of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party after he reported marked ballot papers were found in a dustbin following early voting, the party and police said.

    “Around 6:00 am (0400 GMT) our deputy national chairman, Honourable Morgan Komichi, who is a deputy minister of transport, was picked up at his home by the police,” Nelson Chamisa from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told a news conference in Harare.

    Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba confirmed the arrest just three days before key general elections, but did not elaborate immediately on the charge against Komichi.

    wirestory

  • Bruni-Sarkozy threatens to sue over website claims

    France’s former first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on Sunday threatened legal action “to defend her honour” after an online petition demanded she repay 410,000 euros from the presidential budget that were used to fund her personal website while her husband was head of state.

    Some 77,000 web users had signed the petition by noon on Monday.

    Paris-based website developer Nicolas Bousquet, who started the petition, said it was “obscene” that such an amount personally benefited Bruni-Sarkozy and that the site should have cost less than 10,000 euros to create and run.

    The appeal was created in the wake of a July report by the French Court of Auditors that stated that Bruni “benefited from a personal website” dedicated to her position as First Lady.

    The site, her lawyers pointed out, is not the same as the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation site she maintains today. She denies any wrongdoing.

    “Carla Bruni-Sarkozy reserves the right to fight, through the courts, all claims that attack her personal honour, namely that the Foundation that bears her name benefited from financing that never existed,” her lawyer Richard Malka said in a statement.

    Malka said that the website mentioned by the Court of Auditors “ceased to exist” in May 2012 and that the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation had not received “a single cent” of public money.

    Following the lawyer’s statement, petition creator Bousquet wrote: “We are delighted to learn that the Foundation did not receive any public funds.

    “But it changes nothing – 410,000 euros were spent to finance web pages that promoted the activities of former first lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy.

    “She should still pay the money back.”

    Former model turned singer Bruni-Sarkozy is currently promoting her album “Little French Songs”.

    france24

  • Ex-Prime Minister Keita holds wide lead in Mali vote

    {{Former Malian Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita holds a comfortable lead and could win an outright first-round victory in the West African nation’s high-stakes presidential election, the minister of territorial administration said on Tuesday.}}

    Keita’s rivals immediately rejected the partial results, calling for the minister, who is in charge of the elections, to resign and an international commission to be established to tally the vote, which they said must go to a second round.

    Voters turned out in large numbers across Mali on Sunday, eager for a fresh start after a March 2012 coup allowed separatist and al Qaeda-linked rebels to seize the desert north last year. It took an offensive by thousands of French troops in January to scatter them into the desert and mountains.

    Voting was peaceful and observer missions have praised the polls, but tensions were rising as announcement of results neared.

    “There is one candidate, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has a wide margin compared with the other candidates,” Colonel Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, the minister of territorial administration, told journalists in the capital, Bamako.

    “If maintained, (it means) there will not be a need for a second round,” he said. The results represented a third of ballots cast from constituencies across the country, he said.

    reuters

  • Civilian casualties up 23% in Afghan war: UN

    Civilian casualties in the Afghan war rose 23 percent in the first half of this year due to Taliban attacks and increased fighting between insurgents and government forces, the UN said Wednesday.

    The increase reverses a decline in 2012 and raises questions about how Afghan government troops can protect civilians as US-led NATO troops withdraw from the 12-year war against the Taliban.

    The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 1,319 civilians died and 2,533 were injured as a result of the war from January 1 to June 30, up 23 percent on the same period in 2012.

    UNAMA said there was a 14 percent increase in total civilian deaths and a 28 percent increase in total civilian injuries.

    Female civilian casualties rose 61 percent, most caused by fighting on the ground between pro-government and insurgent forces, the UN said in a report.

    Child casualties were up 30 percent with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the Taliban weapon of choice, the leading cause.

    “The rise in civilian casualties in the first half of 2013 reverses the decline recorded in 2012, and marks a return to the high numbers of civilian deaths and injuries documented in 2011,” the report said.

    The UN said 74 percent of the casualties were caused by insurgents, nine percent by pro-government forces and 12 percent as a result of ground fighting between the two sides.

    The remaining four or five percent of civilian casualties were unattributed, caused mainly by explosive remnants of war, it added.

    While IED attacks remain the highest cause of civilian casualties, increased ground fighting between Afghan troops and insurgents was the second leading cause and a new trend in the first half of 2013.

    The NATO combat mission is due to close down at the end of 2014 and Afghan government forces have taken the lead in the battle against the Taliban, who were deposed in the 2001 US-led invasion.

    “Despite Afghan forces leading almost all military operations countrywide, a permanent structure does not exist… to systematically investigate allegations of civilian casualties, initiate remedial measures and take follow-up action,” the UN said.

    The UN also recorded a 76 percent increase in civilian casualties as a result of insurgents targeting civilian government employees, government offices, district headquarters and other offices.

    agencies

  • East African Breweries shares fall after profit warning

    Shares in Kenya’s East African Breweries tumbled as much as 6 percent in early trade on Wednesday, a day after the beer and spirits maker warned that its net profit would drop by more than a quarter in the year to June.

    By 0645 GMT, the shares had recovered some ground to trade down 4 percent at 335 Kenyan shillings ($3.83). The shares closed at 349 shillings on Tuesday.

    ($1 = 87.4000 Kenyan shillings)

    wirestory

  • EU regulator intensifies scrutiny of Google search results

    {{EU antitrust regulators sharpened their scrutiny of how Google ranks its web search results, asking rivals whether their lower rankings affected the number of visitors to their sites, a European Commission questionnaire showed.}}

    The two-page document seen by Reuters came after the EU competition authority demanded more concessions from the world’s most popular search engine earlier this month to allay concerns that it blocks competitors in search results.

    European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Google’s offer earlier this year to label its own products in search results, provide links to at least three rival sites and make it easier for advertisers to move to rival platforms was not enough.

    His comments echoed those of Google’s complainants, such as British price comparison site Foundem, a group of German publishers and online travel site Expedia, which said the concessions could reinforce Google’s dominance.

    The list of six questions focused on the last two and a half years, as EU regulators sought evidence of any possible link between the complainants’ lower rankings in Google search results and lower traffic to their sites.

    “In the period from January 2011 to June 2013, have you ever noticed a decrease in the number of users reaching your vertical search sites via Google’s natural search, which cannot be explained by a change in your web site?” the questionnaire asked.

    “Did it coincide with a significant change in the ranking of the pages of your web site in Google’s natural search results?”

    Respondents were given until August 16 to reply to the questionnaire.

    Google, which has more than 80 percent of the European search market, reiterated comments made two weeks ago in response to the Commission’s ultimatum.

    “Our proposal to the European Commission clearly addresses their four areas of concern. We continue to work with the commission to settle this case,” its spokesman Al Verney said.

    The company could face a fine as much as $5 billion if it does not resolve the three-year long EU investigation.

    wirestory

  • Obama asks Republican Senators McCain, Graham to visit Egypt

    {{President Barack Obama has asked two senior Republican senators to travel to Egypt to meet with its military leaders and the opposition, as Cairo’s allies struggle with how to address the turmoil convulsing the country.}}

    Senator John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, hope to travel to Egypt next week, Graham said on Tuesday.

    “The president reached out to us, and I said obviously I’d be glad to go,” Graham told reporters outside the Senate. “We want to deliver a unified message that killing the opposition is becoming more and more like a coup” and to encourage the military to move toward holding elections.

    He said specifics of the trip, including with whom he and McCain would meet, had not yet been worked out.

    McCain and Graham, two of the Senate’s most influential voices on foreign policy matters, have at times been harsh critics of Obama’s foreign policy. The White House has recently been reaching out to them on a range of issues.

    U.S. officials have been grappling with how to respond to the situation in Egypt since its elected Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted by the military on July 3.

    In particular, they have struggled with how to handle the $1.55 billion in mostly military aid Washington sends to Cairo each year. Egypt has long been an important U.S. ally in a tumultuous region and officials in Washington value their ties to its military leaders, many of whom have studied in the United States.

    U.S. law bars sending aid to countries in which there has been a military coup, and Obama administration officials have been scrambling to talk about events in Egypt without using the word.

    {agencies}

  • “Freedom from Pain is Human Right”

    {{The need for worldwide palliative care coverage has never been greater. As the incidence of non-communicable diseases like cancer is rising in resource-limited settings, the need for palliative care alongside curative treatment is also growing.}}

    Basic symptom control and holistic support are not expensive and do not require highly specialized personnel, but are often lacking even where health structures and home based care programs are in place.

    Inadequate drug supplies are partly to blame, but equally important area lack of basic understanding of palliative care amongst healthcare workers at all levels, a lack of confidence in communication skills and a lack of knowledge of symptom control techniques. All of these may compound the inadequate procurement of the needed palliative care drugs.

    For these reasons communities and health workers can be overwhelmed by palliative care needs that they do not feel equipped to meet. Despite these challenges, it is not acceptable that we have to suffer and die without dignity solely because of the place we are born and live.

    In Rwanda, we consider comprehensive health care as basic human right, and thus have decided to address these challenges by implementing a coordinated Palliative Care program.

    While this will certainly be a great undertaking, we will take it step by step. As a well-known Indian Proverb says “When you want to eat an elephant you need to decide where to start and then just eat a little bit at a time”.

    Since the National Policy of Palliative Care was adopted by Rwanda Ministry of Health in March 2011, Rwanda has devoted a great deal of time and energy toward improving the quality of life ofpatients with life-threatening illnesses.

    A center of excellence for Palliative Care (PC) has been set up at Kibagabaga Hospital with a success stories of task shifting in the community, all working hand in hand with Palliative care Association of Rwanda which made that dream possible.

    Two hospitals have already started to integrate PC as a routine activity using Kibagabaga hospital’s experience, Teaching Hospital (CHUK) and Rwamagana Hospital.

    The national plan has several parts, including training health professional to be more comfortable to manage patients in the Palliative Care program. This is included both clinical teaching and supply chain management.

    From 27th-28th June, 2013, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Rwanda Palliative care association organized a two day workshop to develop a national framework for the estimation, procurement and use of opioids in Rwanda.

    A group of Experts from Rwanda led by Dr. Muhimpundu Marie-Aimee, head of NCD Division, MOH Rwanda with Rose Gahire (Executive Director of PCAR), Grace Mukankuranga (Executive Secretary of PCAR), Dr. Christian Ntizimira (Kibagabaga Hospital), Dr. Jean Luc Nkurikiyimfura (Head of HIV/AIDS Clinic, Teaching Hospital CHUK), PhmTayari (Director of marketing and sales/ MPPD/ RBC), Phn Theogene (Pharmacy Desk/MOH), Dr. EvaristeNtaganda (RBC/ NCD/ Director of CVD Unit), Dr. Kayonde Leonard (RBC/NCD/Director of Cancer Unit), Dr. Jean Baptiste Nkuranga (Director of Rwamagana Hospital) and Diane Mukasahaha Expert in Palliative care, participated in the workshop.

    A team from Uganda Ministry of Health and palliative care association was invited to share the experiences, challenges and opportunities that would help the Rwanda team to develop their own plan.

    The team was led by Dr. Mhoira Leng (Mulago Hospital), Dr. Henry Luzze (Division of NCDs MOH, Uganda), Rose Kiwanuka (Executive Director of Palliative Association of Uganda) and Dr. Dan Knights Medical Student fellow from UK.

    Dr. Muhimpundu said that the aim of the workshop was to estimate the needs of the opioids and to define procurement, request, and monitoring channels and develop a national framework that will guide the MOH in the management of opioid use in Rwanda.

    Kibagabaga Hospital has developed a specialized palliative care service and has become a Centre of excellence in the field. In a 12 month period, Kibagabaga hospital, which sees 55,000 patients per year (inpatients & outpatients), is using 0.12kg of oral morphine.

    By using that experience we estimated the opioid needs for one year based in our administrative health sector and our decentralization, an approximate projection of realistic usage in the following eight facilities was made, taking in account expected numbers of patients per year.

    The following are the main hospitals and their estimation: CHUK (0,3 KG), Rwanda Military Hospital (0,2KG), King Faysal (0,2 KG), Butaro ( 0,2KG), CHUB (0,12KG), Rwamagana (0,12 KG), Rwinkwavu(0,12 KG), Kibagabaga (0,12 KG) accounting for 1.38 KG.

    In our decentralized health system, the level below referral hospitals is the District Hospitals. Rwanda has 42 District hospitals, all of which have a Multidisciplinary Team including physicians. At district level in its phase one of the Implementation plan, 10 hospitals and their catchment area will use the same amount of opioids as Kibagabaga Hospital and at the same time the 30 remains hospitals will use half of that amount: 0,6kg.This accounts to a morphine quantity estimated at 3.12 Kgs.

    Finally, with a buffer stock that accounts to 10% (0, 5 KG), the total morphine that is required during the period 2013-2014 for our National PC program is estimated to 5 Kgs.

    Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Minister of Health of Rwanda, said that after having almost reached Millennium Development Goals 4&5 and doubling the life expectancy of our population, it is time to focus on improving the quality of life of Rwandans, and thus needing all health professionals to contribute to better management of chronic diseases and development of palliative care.

    {Author is a practicing doctor at Kibagabaga Hospital}

  • Summit Seeks to Unlock Rwandan Girls Potential

    {{Over one hundred people gathered at La Palisse in Kigali to deliver results for Rwanda’s adolescent girls.}}

    Through three-days of immersive, interactive sessions, participants established the foundation of a girl-centered community armed with the tools and resources to do more and better for Rwandan girls.

    The Gender Monitoring Office (GMO) and Girl Hub Rwanda co-hosted the event with the shared vision of bringing girls to the forefront of programming and policy. Girl Effect University, an initiative of the Nike Foundation, curated the Summit to bring learning to life.

    The focus of the Summit was on enabling adolescent girls aged 10-19 to fulfill their potential and become agents of change for Rwanda.

    “Investing in girls sparks a ripple effect of change,” said Rose Rwabuhihi, Chief Gender Monitor at the Gender Monitoring Office. “Enable girls to succeed through adolescence and you enable her to lead her community’s development.”

    Research shows investments in girls return big dividends: When a girl receives seven years of education she marries four later and has 2.2 fewer children. An extra year of secondary school increases her eventual wages by 25 percent.

    A report from the World Bank shows that if young women were employed at the same rate of boys, Rwanda would add US$30M annually to the economy.

    The Summit featured speeches by the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, who featured the incredible progress Rwanda has made for girls in the last 15 years.

    The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Economic Planning highlighted how delivering results for girls will benefit the Rwandan economy.

    And Lamin Manneh, UN Resident Coordinator showcased Rwanda’s focus on bringing girls’ voice into the Post-2015 debate and urged participants to advocate for girls in the next development agenda.

    “There is an incredibly ambitious community focused on girls in Rwanda,” said Kate Wedgwood, Country Director for Girl Hub Rwanda. “Often, though, we don’t have the opportunity to collaborate or build connections.

    The Girl Learning Summit has provided a brilliant way to bring together people from across sectors who together can enable girls to drive social and economic growth.”

    During the Summit, participants shared their work and learned what others are doing for girls in Rwanda.

    Interactive sessions included PLAN Rwanda’s strategies for keeping girls in school; CARE’s learnings on how to enable girls to access and control economic assets; and the Rwanda Women’s Network and RMRC tools for creating a healing space in a family for a girl victim of violence.

    Throughout the event, girls were in the room to showcase their experience, their voices and their aspirations for the future.

    Groups of girls involved including Ni Nyampinga journalists, Girl Hub Rwanda’s Girl Research Unit and Girl Trustees, beneficiaries from CARE’s economic empowerment programmes, and girls that have benefitted from Rwanda Women’s Network programmes.

    Summit outcomes include a map of the girl-centered community in Rwanda: who is doing what for girls and what organizations need and can offer to the community to be successful.

    Additionally, participants designed statements that outline the needs for girls in Rwanda Post 2015.

    Participants also delivered recommendations from government, development partners, CSOs, NGOs and girls on else needs to be done to make girls successful throughout the country

  • U.S. Embassy Announces $1 Million Increase in Contribution to UNHCR

    {{The U.S. Embassy in Rwanda has announced a $1 million increase in the U.S. government funding allocation to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for refugee protection activities in Rwanda.}}

    The funding will be increased from $3.6 million to $4.6 millon and is provided through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).

    The additional funding will help UNHCR Rwanda, the Government of Rwanda, and the American Refugee Committee provide the residents of the camp better access to clean food and water; hygiene services; health and nutrition services; services to support survivors of gender-based violence, as well as efforts to prevent this type of violence.

    The U.S. government recognizes the signficance of continued support for these services. This assistance comes at a time when Rwanda’s Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs and UNHCR, among other partners, are working to construct and open a fifth refugee camp in Rwanda’s Southern Province this year. The expectation is that this new camp will alleviate pressure on refugees in heavily populated existing camps such as Kiziba.

    During a visit to the Kiziba camp on Tuesday, July 30, U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Donald W. Koran, together with UNHCR Country Representative, Ms. Neimah Warsame, and the Governor of the Western Province, Mr. Celestin Kabahizi, heard first-hand about the needs of the refugees living in the camp, some since 1996.

    Young girls and boys, together with their parents, high-lighted the pressing need for education as both protection and a counter to delinquency. According to UNHCR Representative Warsame: ”Education is the best strategy to protect refugee children; it plays a central role in prevention of gender-based violence and early pregnancy while it empowers future generations.”

    She further thanked Ambassador Koran for the unwavering support the U.S. government provides to the refugee population hosted in Rwanda. “The U.S. government,” stressed Ambassador Koran,”is committed to ensuring that adequate services are provided in all the camps.”

    The U.S. government recognizes the tremendous support that the Government of Rwanda gives to UNHCR and the refugee populations it hosts. The Government of Rwanda has worked hard to identify land to host refugee camps.

    We understand what the cost that providing this support means for the Government of Rwanda and appreciate its willingness, and that of the Rwandan people, to share the burden with the international community, donors and UNHCR.