IGIHE

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  • Ugandan Traders Kidnapped in DRC

    {{Three Ugandan traders have been kidnapped in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.}}

    They were traveling from Goma back to Uganda through Ishasha border post. They are suspected to have been kidnapped by Mai Mai militias.

    The traders whose identities are still unknown were ambushed at Paizano Bridge near Nyamirima town which is about 20kms from the Uganda border of Ishasha and were whisked away to Nyabitare forests.

    According to Ugandan press, the traders were allegedly traveling in a Fuso truck registration number UAS 144D which was left abandoned on the roadside at Paizano.

  • US tells Russia Snowden Won’t face Death Penalty

    {{Attorney General Eric Holder has told the Russian government that the U.S. will not seek the death penalty for former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden.}}

    In a letter dated July 23, the attorney general said the criminal charges Snowden faces do not carry the death penalty and that the U.S. will not seek the death penalty even if Snowden were charged with additional death penalty-eligible crimes.

    Holder says his letter follows news reports that Snowden, who leaked information on largely secret electronic surveillance programs, has filed papers seeking temporary asylum in Russia on grounds that if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty.

    The attorney general’s letter was sent to Alexander Vladimirovich Konovalov, the Russian minister of justice.

    (AP)

  • EU’s Ashton in Cairo for talks as Crisis Deepens

    {{The European Union’s foreign policy chief was scheduled to hold crisis talks in Cairo on Monday after the weekend killing of at least 72 supporters of Egypt’s deposed Islamist president plunged the pivotal Arab country deeper into turmoil.}}

    Underscoring the risk of more bloodshed, several thousand supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood threatened to march on the military’s intelligence headquarters in defiance of a warning from the army to stay away.

    They turned back early Monday, having left the site of a Brotherhood vigil in northern Cairo chanting, “Our blood and souls we sacrifice for Mursi.”

    The dawn killings on Saturday, following a day of rival mass rallies, deepened the turmoil plaguing the country since the army shunted Egypt’s first freely elected president from power on July 3.

    The West is increasingly concerned about the risk of broader conflict in the Arab world’s most populous country, a bridge between the Middle East and Africa and recipient of more than $1 billion in military aid from the United States.

    Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, was scheduled to meet General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the head of the Egyptian armed forces who led the overthrow of Mursi, the country’s interim president, Adli Mansour, and officials of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political wing.

    Ashton, in a statement, said she would press for a “fully inclusive transition process, taking in all political groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood.”

    Thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been staging a weeks-long vigil outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in northern Cairo to demand Mursi’s reinstatement, defying threats by Egypt’s army-installed authorities to disperse them.

    France24

  • South Sudan arrests two Uganda journalists

    Two Ugandan Journalists are allegedly being detained in south sudan.

    A statement from Uganda Journalists Union (UJU) said, “Two Ugandan Journalists are being detained incommunicado in South Sudan after they were arrested in Juba by security operatives.”

    Justin Dralaze, a correspondent for Reuters and Hilary Ayesiga were reportedly picked up by security officials on Saturday night from streets of Juba before being detained incommunicado in a military establishment.

    Sources in Juba confirm the two journalists are being detained at the National Security headquarters in Juba. Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers reportedly arrested the journalists on Airport Road while filming.

    South Sudan security officials claim the two journalists had no press permits or formal accreditation issued by Juba authorities. But it is not clear why the two civilians had to be detained in a military barracks instead of being taken to a Police Station or Courts of law.

    wirestory

  • Zimbabwe Accuses EU, US Plot to Discredit Polls

    {{A pro government newspaper,Herald, in Zimbabwe has accused the European Union, Britain and the US government for allegedly funding efforts to discredit the forthcoming harmonised elections, documents in our possession reveal.}}

    The paper claims that its investigations show that the United States Department of State has been making huge deposits into quasi-political groups masquerading as NGOs to prop up the MDC-T campaign while the department’s development aid arm, USAID has been sponsoring the Zimbabwe Election Support Network to come up with a negative report on the harmonised elections in anticipation of an MDC-T defeat.

    The strategy is two-pronged. While the Department of State is pouring money into the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition to campaign for MDC-T, USAID is preparing for an MDC-T loss by availing money for drafting a damning, unempirical and biased election report aimed at discrediting the elections.

    The US State Department made two separate deposits into a Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition local account on January 23, 2013 (US$264 684) and June 24 2013 (US$187 978,04) to finance the so-called Feya Feya campaign which is designed to lure voters to the MDC-T under the guise of a campaign for peaceful, free and fair elections.

    The EU, on the other hand, through non-governmental organisations, Humanist Institute for Co-operation (Hivos) and International Media Support (IMS) has also availed $ 736 530.00 to ZESN to carry out a quasi-election monitoring exercise whose intended purpose is to “authenticate” the Western stance that the elections are not free and fair if the MDC-T loses.

    The money was paid in four tranches on April 17 2013 (US$168 258 and US$199 993-00), July 10, 2013 (US$168 258) and 11 July 2013 (US$199 993).

    The British Embassy also joined the fray and availed US$156 000 on January 30, 2013 and US$161 000 (February 13, 2013) to Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition for the MDC-T campaign.

    On February 23, 2013, Morgan Tsvangirai met with British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert and DFID director where he begged for election funding.

    Tsvangirai, in a two-page paper prepared by Jameson Timba, said, “I know that Jameson Timba, Elton Mangoma and Tendai Biti have spoken with you in recent days about desperate need for financial support to help level the playing field. We have agreed to share our strategy with you- any potential donor to our cause will wish to be clear what they are contributing to.”

    He further exhorted Bronnert to avail funds saying: “I understand this is a tricky issue, but we know that if we can fund more effective organisation and communication, especially in the rural areas, we will prevail in the elections when it comes”.

    As a result of the meeting, the British Embassy availed tranches of money to the MDC-T through the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition using a conduit called the Global Advocacy Campaign (GAC) which is managed by Macdonald Lewanika, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition director and Mr Timba.

    {Herald}

  • Over 90 killed in Darfur tribal clashes

    {{Two days of fighting between rival tribes in Sudan’s Darfur region has killed up to 94 people, tribal leaders said.}}

    Clashes between Arab Misseriya tribesmen and members of the rival Salamat tribe in South Darfur began on Friday, Ahmed al-Kheiri, a Misseriya leader, said.

    “We lost eight of our men and killed 86 from the other side,” al-Kheiri said, accusing Salamat of attacking his tribe.

    A Salamat leader, however, gave a lower toll.

    “The Misseriya attacked our village and we resisted, losing 52 of our men,” the leader said, asking not to be named.

    The latest fighting occurred in southwestern Darfur’s Umm Dukhun area, near the Chadian border.

    {Peace deal}

    On July 3 the two tribes signed a peace agreement under which they were to pay compensation to each other, and refugees would return.

    The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) says inter-ethnic fighting has been the major source of violence in the region this year, leading to the displacement of an estimated 300,000 people in the first five months alone. That is more than in the previous two years combined.

    In its latest Humanitarian Bulletin, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that about 12,000 people are believed to have fled into Umm Dukhun town from the surrounding area after the Misseriya-Salamat unrest began in April.

    Prior to this year’s upsurge of violence there were already 1.4 million people in camps for people uprooted by Darfur’s conflict, which began a decade ago when rebels from black tribes rose against what they said was the domination of Sudan’s power and wealth by Arab elites.

    Source: Agencies

  • Copperbelt Energy to raise funds for African expansion

    {{Copperbelt Energy, which supplies power to Glencore Xstrata and Vedanta Resources in Zambia, has revealed plans to raise US$150mn through loans to expand business in Africa and finance existing debt.}}

    Copperbelt Energy corporate development managing director Michael Tarney said that loans of as much as US$100mn from German and Dutch development-finance institutions will be completed in three months and will have 10-year maturities.

    The debt funding deals will be carried out with Dutch development bank FMO and German lender Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft
    Copperbelt Energy will also try and raise about US$50mn in a rights offer this year.

    Tarney said that the company has tested the market for a bond sale two to three months ago, and concluded that a debt sale will be more expensive than development-finance loans and its maturity will also be shorter.
    Bonds may be sold at a later date, he noted.

    {africanreview}

  • US to host Israeli-Palestinian talks

    {{Israeli and Palestinian teams are heading to Washington for preliminary talks toward a formal re-opening of negotiations after years of stalemate, but both sides are emphasizing that many obstacles stand between them and a final deal.}}

    Israel’s chief negotiator Tzipi Livni said early Monday as she left for Washington that talks will be complex and that she was leaving “cautiously but also with hope.”

    Palestinian negotiators also departed after the Israeli cabinet acceded to Palestinian demands and agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been jailed for decades.

    A statement issued on Sunday by the US State Department said that secretary of state John Kerry spoke to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders and “personally extended an invitation to send senior negotiating teams to Washington to formally resume direct final status negotiations.”

    These meetings “will serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural workplan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement on Sunday.

    aljazeera

  • Two Guantanamo inmates to be transferred to Algeria

    {{Two detainees at Guantanamo Bay will be repatriated to Algeria, the White House has said, as part of its effort to close the military prison.}}

    The plan will be presented to Congress, where President Barack Obama hopes lawmakers will ease transfer rules, a White House spokesman said.

    Mr Obama has recently renewed calls for Congress to close the prison.

    Prisoners at the Cuban facility have been on a hunger strike in protest against their indefinite detention.

    “The United States remains determined to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney, in a statement.

    “In support of those efforts, today the Department of Defense certified to Congress its intent to repatriate an additional two detainees to Algeria.

    “We continue to call on Congress to join us in supporting these efforts by lifting the current restrictions that significantly limit our ability to transfer detainees out of Guantanamo, even those who have been approved for transfer.”

    Meanwhile, Pentagon press secretary George Little said: “Over the past few months, a very senior inter-agency team conducted an intensive review of this matter.

    “Based on their recommendations, and as mandated by Congress, [Defence Secretary Chuck] Hagel signed off on the legal requirements to move forward with the transfer of these detainees.”

    Mr Little added that the defence secretary agreed the prison should be closed.

    The current hunger strike, which began in February, is the longest in the military prison’s history. Lawyers representing detainees say it was sparked by tougher prison searches.

    At least 100 prisoners had joined the strike.

    There are currently 166 inmates at Guantanamo Bay. Some have been held there for more than a decade, and many were cleared for release years ago.

    BBC

  • South Korea offers ‘final’ Kaesong talks

    South Korea has proposed “final talks” on restarting operations at the joint Kaesong industrial zone, amid deadlock with North Korea.

    The zone has been closed since April, when North Korea withdrew its workers.

    The two sides have held six rounds of talks on a restart, but are deadlocked on Seoul’s insistence that Pyongyang agree not to unilaterally close the complex again.

    On Sunday Seoul’s unification minister said a written guarantee was needed.

    “We want a clear answer from the North on preventing a recurrence,” Ryoo Kihl-jae said.

    “Otherwise, we will be left with no choice but to make a grave decision to prevent even bigger damages on our companies in the future.”

    North Korea blames the shut-down on South Korean provocations, including military exercises.

    {agencies}