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  • Trade & Agriculture Experts Discuss Climate Change

    {{Experts on climate change, Agriculture and Trade have urged East African States to pool efforts in containing negative effects of climate change.}}

    This was revealed at a One day semminar conevened in Kigali .

    Human activities including agricutlure, Industries and infrastructure development including other activities are at the forefront of environmental destruction usually leading to adverse effects on climate.

    The experts noted that most institutions on Environment,Agriculture and industries tend to operate independent of each other without a common focus.

    Its against this background that the experts called upon the government to help in creating a system that pools together efforts by various institutions aimed at finding substantial solutions to climate change and its adverse effects.

  • Mombasa Free Trade Zone Development Kicks off

    {{In a strategic effort to kick off the development blueprint for the proposed Free Trade Zone in Mombasa, the government through the Ministry of Industrialisation is now seeking for qualified consultants to guide the process.}}

    Industrialisation and Enterprise Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed, says the Consultant will be retained to conduct a detailed feasibility study on the project.

    He said the feasibility study will provide a roadmap towards the establishment of a Free Trade Zone as envisaged in the country’s Vision 2030 National Development Plan.

    The proposed Mombasa Free Trade Zone, Mohamed said will be benchmarked against some of the World’s best Free Trade Zones including the Dubai Airport Free Zone, China’s Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone (WFTZ) and Malaysia’s Iskandar Free Trade Zone.

    “The Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development is hitting the ground running with a commitment to fulfil such key projects as the Free Trade Zone to facilitate national development,” Mohamed said.

    “I am optimistic that this project to establish the country’s first dry free port will be up and running in less than 24 months,” he added.

    Besides promoting Foreign Direct Investments, the Mombasa Free Trade Zone is also expected to boost Intra-Africa trade, support economic growth while expanding employment opportunities.

    The government, Mohamed assured is already pushing for the speedy enactment of the Special Economic Zones bill currently pending in parliament.

    “The government will grant the necessary incentives to roll out the free trade zone and the country to enable us leverage on our prime location in the East African Sea Board,” he said.

    The zone is a significant step among other projects that the government intends to put up including a free port in Mombasa’s Dongo Kundu area.

    According to the EOI document published last week, the project consultant will also be expected to provide a detailed report.

    {agencies}

  • Andrew Mitchell Tells African States to Resolve Conflicts

    {{The former UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell told media that he came to Rwanda to learn how the country managed to recover from the dark past and progress economically. }}

    Mr Mitchell also attended a conference on“Development Partnership–A Donor View” where he addressed Rwandan senators and other officials at the opening of the three-day event.

    He advised African states to address conflicts and ensure proper accountability as benchmarks for donor aid.

    He said, “We understand today that because of modern communications, our generations, working together, have a chance to make real progress on development and tackle the great variations of opportunities and wealth in our world as never before.”

  • Tunisian Soldiers Killed at Algerian Border

    {{Eight Tunisian soldiers have been killed by gunmen near the Algerian border, the president’s office said, in what appeared to be one of the biggest attacks on the country’s security forces in decades.}}

    The incident on Monday occurred in the remote area of Mount Chaambi, where Tunisian troops have been trying to track down armed groups since December last year.

    Adnan Mancer, Tunisia’s presidential spokesman, told the Associated Press news agency that the attack took place on Jebel Chaambi, Tunisia’s tallest mountain and a suspected hideout of al-Qaeda-linked armed groups.

    The army has been searching the mountainous region near the Algerian frontier since a patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in April.

    On June 24, the army declared the mountain cleared of “extremists” in a campaign that cost three lives and left 27 soldiers injured.

    In the course of its operation, the army discovered evidence suggesting an al-Qaeda-linked movement supported by the local population had set up training camps in the area.

    Late on Monday, Moncef Marzouki, the Tunisian president, announced three days of national mourning for the soldiers.

    Source: Agencies

  • International Praise for Mali Elections

    {{Malian and French leaders have praised the calm and smooth-running presidential vote in Mali, the first election since a coup last year led to a violent rebellion in the north.}}

    There were no reports of violence in Sunday’s poll despite threats to “strike” polling stations by armed rebels who had occupied northern Mali before being ousted in January by a French-led military intervention.

    Local and international observers said there had been a strong turnout in the populous south, although official data have yet to be released, giving rise to optimism that the voting rate would exceed the 36 percent achieved in 2007 elections.

    French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday declared elections in Mali a “great success” for France.

    “Congratulations are in order that the Mali elections went off well,” he said.

    Even in the northern regional capital of Kidal, a stronghold of Mali’s Tuareg rebellion and the scene of recent deadly ethnic violence, voters cast their ballots in an atmosphere of calm, although the turnout was thought to have been lower.

    “I’m a happy man. We rose to the challenge of voting in Kidal, a zone of insecurity where almost everyone is armed, without incident, without a single shot, and no one could have imagined that a few weeks ago,” said regional governor Adama Kamissoko.

    The authorities have until the end of Friday to announce the results, although preliminary findings collated by journalists in polling stations gave a clear early lead to former premier Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, sparking celebrations among his supporters.

    The unofficial projections, based on the accounts of reporters watching counts across the country, suggest that 69-year-old Keita, known universally as IBK, could even cause an upset and win the first round vote outright.

    aljazeera

  • Khartoum Accused of Pressing Collapse of Juba regime

    {{South Sudan president Salva Kiir has accused neighbouring Sudan of attempting to instigate a collapse in his administration through threats to block southern oil exports from reaching international markets.}}

    They are threatening to block flow of the oil through their territory. It has become a weapon and a strategy they think would instigate collapse. They are doing it deliberately thinking we will collapse. We will not collapse,” Kiir said

    “How long have we been running this government without oil revenues and we are still surviving”? he asked

    South Sudan stopped exporting its crude through Sudan, its only available route in January last year over a transit fee dispute. Production only resumed again in April this year, meaning that Kiir’s government has had to implement severe austerity measures after 98% oil revenues were lost.

    Kiir made these remarks while at an occasion organised by the red army foundation; an organisation formed by minors who joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) during the liberation war era.

    The former rebels fought the government of Sudan from 1983 until 2005 when its leadership signed the landmark Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end decades of conflict.

    The South Sudan leader, who resolved his government a week ago, said his new cabinet will be based on the people’s will as this would be the only way his party could reward the public for their support during struggle for independence.

    “I want to assure you that the new cabinet will reflect the will of our people. We want to reward them with provision of services. We want to build schools, hospitals, roads, clean water and all the other basic necessities”, Kiir said.

    Over the last two years, both Sudan and South Sudan have not been able to resolve several post-secession issues, which nearly returned the two countries back to war in April last year when their armies clashed in Heglig/Panthou.

    Khartoum had set a deadline on August 7 for Juba to prove it was not backing its civil war colleagues from the northern Sudanese border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. The deadline has however been extended to 22 August after oil companies warned that the time frame given was too short.

    “I have told our people time and again that I will never return them to war whatsoever. This stance has not changed and will never change. We will always seek dialogue to resolve differences with Sudan,” said Kiir amid applause.

    “This is the message I want to spread to those who think we will fight”, he added.

    ST

  • Media Urged to Promote National Reconciliation

    {{The Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana has appealed to the media to promote a Youth’s Initiative on national reconciliation based on trust.}}

    Nsengimana said, “Since we have together pledged to take part in nation building, these dialogues and debates should not take a controversial path.”

    He was presiding over the closing ceremony at a two-day YouthConnekt dialogue organised for journalists and artistes that took place at the weekend in Bugesera District.

    Nsengimana says the debate ignited by the youth that Hutus have a moral obligation to apologise because the Genocide was committed in their name.

    Defence Minister Gen.James Kabarebe also at the event said, “asking for forgiveness is not an obligation.”

    Gen. Kabarebe was presenting on the topic, “The struggle that set us free” adding, “Anyone who feels they have the responsibility of asking for forgiveness, especially those in leadership positions, for their role in the 1994 Genocide should do so with honesty.”

  • Bensouda wants Ruto at all ICC trial sessions

    {{ The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor has now appealed the decision by judges excusing Deputy President William Ruto from attending part of the trial sessions set to start on September 10.}}

    In the appeal, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda argued that the judges had applied the Rome Statute selectively by allowing Ruto to skip some of the trial sessions.

    “The majority’s “exceptional circumstances” test is therefore inconsistent with the Statute. The majority’s test violates the principle of equal treatment under the law, as expressed in Article 27(1) of the Statute. Furthermore, the majority’s test violates the bedrock legal principle that all persons are to be treated equally under the law,” Bensouda explained.

    In her application she asked the Appeals Chamber to overturn the decision by the Trial Chamber to ensure Ruto is present in The Hague during the entire trial session.

    She explained that Ruto should not be allowed to skip sessions of his trial on basis that he is the Deputy President of Kenya who has to attend to State duties.

    Apart from contravening Article 63(1), which requires the accused to be present during a trial, she argues the decision also accorded Ruto special treatment because of the position he occupies in government.

    “It appears that the majority would not have afforded Ruto the same “indulgence” if he did not hold such high office. The importance of Ruto’s political office to the majority’s reasoning is evident on the face of the decision, which references his status no fewer than 29 times,” she asserted.

    Bensouda argued that the decision of the Trial Chamber fell out of the provisions of the Rome Statue that makes it mandatory for accused persons to be present during their trial.

    “Such a general exception to the rule requiring the accused’s presence at trial finds no support in this Court’s legal framework. The drafters adopted only one exception to the rule, which is inapplicable here, and left trial judges with no “discretion” to create additional broad exceptions of the type advanced in the Decision,” she explained.

    According to her the judges used their own ‘reasoning’ – which is outside the court’s provisions – in allowing Ruto to attend some sessions.

    “The decision improperly relies on external sources of law rather than this court’s statutory provisions that resolve the issue. The majority erred by relying on external sources of law in support of its decision to disregard the unequivocal requirements of this court’s statute.”

    The prosecutor in her appeal further said the decision of the Trial Chamber will affect the integrity of the court since it failed to follow the existing legal framework followed when considering the presence of accused persons during the trial stage.

    She expressed concerns that other government officers accused of crimes against humanity can easily take advantage of the decision on Ruto’s presence in court to also seek to be allowed to skip sessions of their trials.

    In her view, the decision has set a wrong precedent that is likely to see the court face bigger challenges in future when dealing with persons charged with State duties.

    “Even assuming that the majority’s test had a basis in the law of this court, it is still the wrong standard because it invites a flood of excusal applications from accused who do not wish to attend trial. Almost every accused will be able to present a reason why he or she “has important functions of an extraordinary dimension to perform” and should be excused from attending the trial,” she explained.

    “While Ruto’s position as Kenya’s Deputy President may ‘make this case different from the average case’ seen so far at the court, it is foreseeable that many future accused will put forward a compelling argument as to why they too should be excused from attending the trial,” she goes on.

    Citing the case of Congolese leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, the prosecutor explained that he was absent during his trial only for ‘less than a handful of hours’ hence allowing Ruto to skip sessions of the trial was out of the ordinary in the history of the Hague- based court.

    “Bemba was permitted to be absent for a total of three court sessions, plus one where he was absent from the courtroom for a matter of minutes. In total, Bemba has been absent for less than a handful of hours in a trial that is approaching its third anniversary. This is a far cry from the near-blanket waiver the decision grants to Ruto,” she explained.

    The Trial Chamber on June 18 ruled that Ruto would be allowed to skip sessions of his trial and outlines sessions that he will be required to be present in court among them during the opening and closing sessions where parties and participants and victims will present their views.

    {wirestory}

  • ‘Why Nigeria may withdraw peacekeepers from Darfur

    {{In a move that is now interpreted as a fore-runner to the planned review of her multilateral diplomacy, only the signals corps of Nigeria’s 1,200 troops (initially 900) in Mali is being left behind as the Federal Government withdraws its peace-keeping contingent from the West African country.}}

    The withdrawal would also affect the country’s participation in peace-keeping efforts in Darfur, Sudan, just as similar steps are being contemplated in any emerging flash-point to ensure that actions that have to do with co-operation with other nations or/and international organisations are in sync with Nigeria’s excellent peace-keeping records and pre-eminence in the region, The Guardian has learnt.

    And in so saying, informed diplomatic sources at the United Nations (UN) have indicated why Nigeria and the world body’s secretariat are at loggerheads over the running of the UN peace-keeping operations and recognition of the country’s contributions in key appointments in those operations.

    A diplomat in New York, United States (U.S.), alleged that the current Under Secretary-General in the UN Peace-keeping Department recently stopped a Nigerian Army General from commanding the international troops in Mali on the ground that he does not speak French. The interview was personally conducted by the Head of the UN Peace-keeping Department, Mr. Herve Ladsous, himself a French man.

    The Africa-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) includes a significant number of Nigerian soldiers, as well as other UN international troops. Nigeria has been ranking fourth or fifth in UN Troops Contributing Countries (TCC) over the years.

    Though the Federal Government had before now explained that the troops’ withdrawal was predicated on pressing “security issues at home,” it was gathered that Abuja was now keen on seizing the Malian opportunity to re-order its engagement patterns and chart a new peace-keeping trajectory to make it impossible for observers to continue the affirmation that “for all her efforts in peace-keeping and the liberation of parts of Africa, Nigeria has been paid in bad coin.”

    Besides the raised eyebrows over the appointment of the 50-year old Rwandan, Gen. Jean-Bosco Kazura, as commander of the Multi-dimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the deputies of both the military and political heads of the operation in Mali are as well non-Nigerians.

    This means that in Mali, Albert Gerard Koenders (Netherlands) is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of MINUSMA while Abdoulaye Bathily (Senegal) is Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General.

    Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Guardian at the weekend that the international politics emanating from Mali “took a worse dimension with events in the last couple of weeks…to signal the beginning of the implementation of our grand strategy that we have always spoken about.”

    The link between Nigeria’s participation in military missions abroad and economic realities at home would always be a recurring decimal. Since 1960, beginning with the then Congo, Nigeria has spent a whopping $13 billion on peace-keeping.

    Until the beginning of last year, facts from the report of the UN Department of Peace-keeping showed that Nigeria had about 6,000 peace-keepers in various flash-points, a figure only surpassed by those of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

    In the course of time, over 250,000 members of the Nigerian Armed Forces have participated in UN-sponsored missions worldwide, translating to 73 per cent involvement, having participated in 40 of the 55 UN peace-keeping missions.

    Meanwhile, observers think that with the French having already withdrawn her forces, Nigeria’s withdrawal of troops from Mali would be harder felt after the country’s elections, which were conducted at the weekend amid security challenges. Nigeria’s action goes beyond troops’ withdrawal, as impeccable sources stated at the weekend that it includes funds and logistics.

    As things stand now, there would be no tea party in Mali after the elections, with or without Nigeria. The head of the UN Peace-keeping Field Support Department in Mali, Ameerah Haqrt, noted: “We are unable to deploy our mobile communications system to Kidal because its sensitive components will melt. This operation would be one of the most logistically- challenging missions the UN has ever launched.”

    A source at the UN explained that the head of the UN Peace-keeping Department, Ladsous, personally took charge of the interview because he was determined to oust the Nigerian in favour of a Chadian General, who is French-speaking.

    Sources claimed that Ladsous even refused to grant Aso Rock’s request that a Nigerian General heads the UN mission since the country’s leadership of some of the UN missions have expired. According to a U.S.-based Nigerian international politics scholar, Dr. Wale Adebanwi, “this is unacceptable and another demonstration of a long-standing policy of France regarding Nigeria.”

    According to the University of California professor, “since the earliest years of independence in Africa, France has always attempted to play the principal préfet (senior prefect), especially in the West African sub-region.

    “And because generations of policy-makers in Paris have always considered Nigeria’s size, population, resources, power and potentials as constituting a threat to their country’s influence in the sub-region, they have always shown their readiness to subvert Nigeria’s influence and interests.

    “Even though the past successes of France could be seen as a reflection of the limitations of the fumbling leadership that Nigeria has reproduced over the years, this one must not be allowed to stand. It is an insult to Nigeria, a slap in the face despite our contributions to peace in the sub-region.”

    UN sources said it was reasonable to have another national head of the UN troops in Darfur while a Nigerian leads the political wing. However, the USG for Peace-keeping is said to have insisted that a non-Nigerian takes charge both at the political and military departments, despite Nigeria having the largest number of UN soldiers in Darfur.

    Besides, sources added that right now, there is no Nigerian in senior appointment at the UN except Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin who is the Executive Director of UNFPA. Another Nigerian said to have been edged out was Margaret Vogt who was knocked out “on health grounds.”

    She was in 2011 named a Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peace-building Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA). She had since been removed.

    However, sources at the UN Secretariat explained that part of the problem is a perceived notion that some of Nigerian troops have been performing below par and also that Nigeria’s standing in the UN has been declining in significance over the years.

    This notion was clear when the UN Peace-keeping Operations Department simply acceded to Nigeria’s request to withdraw troops from Darfur without any offer of negotiation, because the country has been “loosing its respect at the world body over the years.”

    The source recalled that when the UN wanted to drop then Special Envoy, Oluyemi Adeniji, from the headship of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone several years back, then President Olusegun Obasanjo simply dared the UN to proceed, threatening consequences. Under Kofi Annan, Adeniji was kept in that office until Obasanjo named him Foreign Affairs Minister.

    {NgrGuardian}

  • Ghana Couple Quizzed over ‘Captive Children’

    {{Police in Ghana are questioning a couple accused of keeping their three children, aged between four and eight, locked inside their home since birth.}}

    Police raided their four-bedroom home in the capital, Accra, on Friday, rescuing the one boy and two girls.

    The couple had told police they did not want to expose their children to “bad” people, said a police spokeswoman.

    The children are being kept in a foster home, amid suspicion that their parents are mentally ill.

    The boy is eight years old and the girls are aged six and four.

    They are said to have been kept secluded at home since birth, and did not know anyone apart from their parents, our correspondent says.

    On a visit to the stench-filled house on Monday our reporter noticed that sheep and fowls had lived in one room, the children in two of the other rooms and the parents in the fourth room.

    The house looked abandoned, as though it had not been cleaned for years and the walls had been scrawled with graffiti, he says.

    Police raided the home after a suspicious neighbour alerted police.

    The parents are being interviewed by police and a psychologist at the police headquarters in Accra, while the children are being cared for at a foster home, our correspondent says.

    Police spokeswoman Christine Srofenyoh told the BBC the parents had not allowed their children to leave home.

    “According to what we got, they don’t want their children to be exposed to the public because people out there are bad. They will influence their children negatively,” she said.

    The children told police their unemployed father taught them English and mathematics at home, as they did not go to school, our reporter says.

    Residents are shocked that the family could have lived for so long in such appalling conditions without anyone noticing, he says.

    BBC