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{{A delegation of 30 Czech business representatives have expressed deep interest in investing in Rwanda.}}

Leading the delegation, Czech Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jan Kohout told media “We have chosen Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Ghana as our economic mission in Africa and I hope our business community will find investment opportunities in these countries.”

The delegation said they are interested in investing in among others energy, manufacturing, aviation, agriculture, services, import and export promotion.

Hon. Kohout noted that they chose Rwanda because it offers potential business opportunities because the country performs well in the World Bank doing business reports.

The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) assured the visiting business Executives from the Czech Republic of an enabling business environment in the country.

The delegation also toured Kigali Genocide Memorial accompanied by CNLG Executive Secretary Jean de Dieu Mucyo and Aegis Country Director Freddy Mutanguha for a tour of the Memorial, where young Rwandans come to take part in peace-building education organised by the Aegis Trust.

{Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout speaking at Kigali Genocide Memorial on October 15}

{CNLG Executive Secretary Jean de Dieu Mucyo and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout are shown the Aegis Trust’s mobile peace-building education exhibition by Aegis’ education outreach officer Nepo Ndahimana.}

{Freddy Mutanguha, Country Director for the Aegis Trust, and Lubomira Hedlova, Deputy Director of the Lidice Memorial, sign a partnership agreement between the two organisations at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.}

{{Siyapata Masika a trader near {St Famille } church in Kigali city narrowly survived death this morning after a truck (registration Number: RAC 079J) crashed into her business house.}}

She told IGIHE that she ran out of her shop after noticing the tipper truck loaded with gravel was about to crash into the house.

The truck was delivering gravel for paving the road at the church in preparation for the forthcoming centenary celebrations at st.famille Church.

She said her leg was injured though she managed to escape.

Siyapata says she wants to be compensated for her merchandise that was destroyed in the accident.

{{Police is searching for a man accused of allegedly killing his six months old baby named Kwitonda that died today two days after undergoing emergency attention at Gahini Hospital in Kayonza district.}}

The suspect has been identified as Ndayambaje Elias who had reportedly quarreled with wife Mukabutera Assoumpta.

The incident happened at Rwakabanda village located at Ryamanyoni in Murundi sector.

According to Mukabutera the mother of the deceased, her husband Ndayambaje on Sunday returned home drunk and the two quarreled prompting her husband to pick a machete and attempted to slaughter her.

Mukabutera told IGIHE that the machete missed her but crashed into the baby’s head she was carrying on her back causing over bleeding.

Neighbours were alerted by an alarm from Mukabutera. The bleeding baby was rushed to a nearby Karubamba health center and later transferred to Gahini referral hospital.

After the incidence, Ndayambaje is said to have disappeared and is presumed to be hiding in Tanzania where he allegedly has a family.

The couple is said to have had two children together.

{{President Kagame has said that Rwanda had its misgivings on ICC right at inception, because there was a feeling that this was another international institution that was going to be abused and the victims would be weak nations.}}

While meeting with local and international media today, President Kagame said the situation today makes him and others who had the same feeling convinced that they were right:

“Our stand is not in any way related to what is happening in Kenya. Kenya only serves as a good example of the problems at the ICC.This relates to another problem also that we have discussed at the AU and is now with the UN General Assembly.

It relates to Universal Jurisdiction where some lower courts or a local judge from some nations wake up and decide to indict officials of another country. When you look at the nature of cases that were affecting us in France or Spain,

you will see that they are of a political nature instigated by some local judges somewhere. If you call it universal jurisdiction it means it can happen with judges in Spain, in France, in Rwanda or other East African nations. However, this is not the practice.

There are people who have the power to use international law to judge others but it does not apply to them. You find mostly that this is used either against people who they think do not serve their interests or to determine leaders of countries…and it happens only in one direction…why should we accept to have a world that is like this?”

Responding to a question on whether Rwanda recruits child soldiers as stated by the US State Department recently, President Kagame said the integrity, professionalism and discipline of the Rwanda army are well known all over the world and therefore cannot recruit children in its ranks. However, President Kagame said Rwanda and the US are still good friends and are working together in many ways.

President Kagame said elevation of women in various spheres of life in Rwanda is still work in progress and that the ultimate objective is to finally make it a way of life without necessarily having to employ affirmative action.

Concerning emerging perceptions that Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya may be trying to exclude Tanzania and Burundi from East African matters, President Kagame said:

“Ordinarily we are supposed to have five countries in the community. On some issues, some countries are behind others in terms of implementation depending on where individual countries come from. The best starting point, if we can do it, is for all of us to be at the same starting point.

But there is another way of looking at it and say that if we wait for everyone to be at the same level, there is a danger that we might never move forward.

Therefore, those who are ready should move forward on some aspects as fast as they can, as long as they keep the original objective, and help others to catch up where necessary. This has an effect of accelerating the East African integration.”

President Kagame assured Rwandans that problems in Congo have repercussion on Rwanda and Rwandans and that although Rwanda may have not be able to do anything about that, the country has the capacity protect the population from any harm by making sure what is happening in Congo does not affect them.

“Problems in Congo have been there for long, and focus for everyone should be on finding a solution.

We have been having bombs landing on our side and killing our people and we said enough is enough and it had to stop, and fortunately it stopped. It was not so much about us going there to do anything because we don’t need to do that. Our belief is that what is important is for the confusion and suffering across should stop.

Today there are efforts in the region and beyond to try and calm the situation and find a solution and that is what we are all involved in. Rwanda does not want to feel like victims in any situation.”

On the issue of reported problems between Tanzania and Rwanda, President Kagame said it is difficult for one country to tell another one what to do, but that there have been discussions between the two countries aimed at trying to make people understand the situation and come up with a better way of handling the situation.

Commenting on the ongoing Nd’Umunyarwanda campaign, President Kagame said this is a continued fortification of the reconciliation drive aimed at promoting national cohesion. President Kagame said this is a national dialogue based on truth which will facilitate healing of society.

Police in Ngoma district has apprehended 15 residents from Nyamagana cell, Remera sector found illegally mining Colta in a local farmer’s garden.

Manasseh Rwiririza, the owner of the garden, told Police the mineral was discovered by men who were making terraces in his garden.

Police was also told the men started coming at night to mine.

The suspects include 10 men, two women and three secondary school students. They are all held at Kibungo Police station awaiting further investigations.

Eastern Region Spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Jean Marie Njangwe said discovering minerals does not give anyone the right to mine them. “It is a national resource, thus one needs authorization to mine.”

Illegal mining is punishable by law. It can be lead up to 12 months in jail and a fine of Rwf3 million to Rwf10 million.

source:RNP

{{ The United Nations marked World Food Day on Wednesday, warning against food waste as 842 million people go hungry and stressing the importance of healthy diets amid rising obesity.}}

Around a third of food produced globally currently goes to waste — some 1.3 billion tonnes a year according to the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

“With just a quarter of that, we could feed the 842 million hungry,” said Robert van Otterdijk, an agriculture industry expert at FAO.

Halving the amount of food wasted would mean having to raise world food production by 32 percent to feed the world’s population in 2050, instead of the 60 percent currently estimated.

Mathilde Iweins, coordinator of a report on the cost of food waste, said that “the agricultural areas used to produce the food that will never be eaten are as big as Canada and India combined”.

But the FAO said focusing on the type of food being consumed was just as important, warning that malnutrition and poorly-balanced diets impose high costs on society — from towering health care bills to lost productivity.

“One out of every four children in the world under the age of five is stunted,” the FAO said in a report.

“This means 165 million children who are so malnourished they will never reach their full physical and cognitive potential,” it said.

About two billion people in the world lack vitamins and minerals that are essential for good health while 1.4 billion people are overweight.

Children with stunted growth may be at greater risk of developing obesity problems and related diseases in adulthood in a worrying cycle of malnutrition.

Of those overweight “about one-third are obese and at risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes or other health problems”, the FAO said.

The agency said that while wiping out malnutrition worldwide “is a daunting challenge, the return on investment would be high”.

“If the global community invested $1.2 billion (888 million euros) per year for five years on reducing micronutrient deficiencies, the results would be better health, fewer child deaths and increased future earnings,” it said.

“It would generate annual gains worth $15.3 billion,” it added.

The FAO said it was particularly excited by projects aimed at “raising the micronutrient content of staple foods — either through ‘biofortification’ or by encouraging the use of varieties with higher nutrient content”.

There are hopes that underutilised, nutrient-rich staple crop species might come into fashion, as well as eating insects such as beetles.

With the fight against malnutrition excelling in some countries and lagging behind in others, the FAO gave examples of methods to help improve food systems.

In rural Vietnam, fish-stocked ponds, chickens used as a source of fertiliser and garden-grown crops have reduced child malnutrition and chronic energy deficiency in women of child-bearing age, while raising incomes.

In Ethiopia, a project involving goats has upped milk consumption and incomes by teaching women better goat management and genetically improving the animals.

The FAO insisted however that country-specific projects must be backed up by global efforts to stem waste.

“Getting the most food from every drop of water, plot of land, speck of fertiliser and minute of labour saves resources for the future and makes systems more sustainable,” the organisation said.

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