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  • UK Town Declares Rwanda Friendship Day

    {{Little Known to most Rwandans, residents of a UK town Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk have declared July 7 Rwanda Friendship Day. }}

    Bury is the seat of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

    The Rwanda Friendship Day was declared by the community’s leadership during Mass at at St Edmundsbury Cathedral also attended by the area mayor, Councillor Terry Buckle and Rwanda’s High Commissioner to the UK, Williams Nkurunziza attended.

    Also about 200 residents including other dignitaries and members of the Rwandan community were in attendence.

    Mayor Buckle and Amb. Nkurunziza light a candle of friendship to mark July 7 as ‘Rwanda Friendship Day,’ the same day a year ago that the Rwandan Olympic team first arrived in Bury St Edmunds for their Pre-Games Training Camp.

    According to the mayor, the dedication of this day is intended to ensure that the community builds ‘a lasting legacy of friendship’ from their first interaction with the Rwandan athletics’ team.

    Amb. Nkurunziza noted, “Our athletes came here to compete in sports, but won a special place in your hearts. By declaring July 7 the Rwanda Friendship Day, the people of St Edmunds demonstrate a deep desire to build an enduring friendship between your community and our country. We share this desire and commend you for taking the first, firm step in this journey.”

    {Newtimes photo}

  • Sarkozy Returns to Politics

    {{A year after he declared he would leave politics for good, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy is back in the spotlight.}}

    The combative ex-president attended a meeting of his troubled UMP party Monday where he was welcomed like a star. It could mark his first step toward candidacy in the next presidential election in 2017.

    It’s the first time the 58-year-old Sarkozy has made a political appearance since he lost the presidency to Socialist Francois Hollande in May 2012 after just one term in office.

    It’s also the first time Sarkozy has attended a UMP party meeting since 2007, when he was elected president. Some 800 UMP politicians were invited to the event, closed to the media.

    Last year, Sarkozy said that if voted out of office, he would “completely change my life. You won’t hear from me.” He later explained he aspired to a new life with his wife, singer and former model Carla Bruni, and their now-18-month-old daughter Giulia.

    But much has changed since then. Sarkozy appears to be rejoining the political fray because of the embarrassing state his old party finds itself in.

    The party he helped found, France’s center-right Union for a Popular Movement, faced a farcical election for a new leader last year that left it badly divided.

    And now it’s on the edge of bankruptcy, swamped with debts after the Constitutional Court last week ruled that he exceeded the legal funding limit during the 2012 presidential race.

    That decision prevents the UMP from being reimbursed half its campaign expenses by the state. That means Sarkozy’s party is left with an 11 million euro ($14 million) bill, pushing its overall debt to more than 50 million euros.

    {France24}

  • EAC to Establish Technical Group on Industrial Research

    {{The East African Community plans to establish a Technical Working Group on Industrial Research, Technology and Innovation, the Secretariat has announced.}}

    Also on the table for consideration is the establishment of a Centre for Adaptation and Transfer of Manufacturing and Industrial Technologies, it was revealed during a just-ended meeting on the EAC Industrialisation Policy and Action Plan.

    The policy and plan call for ‘facilitating the transformation of the manufacturing sector through high value addition and product diversification based on comparative and competitive advantages of the region’ and ‘regional collaboration and development of capacity in industrial research, development and innovation’ respectively.

    The IRTI Technical Working Group will be indispensable in guiding collaboration between research and technology organisations to enhance use of technology in driving the EAC industrial development agenda, it emerged during the meeting.

    In this regard, the technical group will be tasked with identifying specific projects and programmes for regional collaboration, foster stronger linkages between industry, private sector, academia and research and technology as well as be the leading light in the mobilisation of sustainable financial and technical resources among others.

    In his keynote address, Ambassador. Dr Joseph Kiplagat from Kenya’s ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development noted that there was a great need to tap the opportunities the African continent has to offer.

    “Africa has many opportunities for economic growth. While many African countries have experienced tremendous economic growth, science, technology and innovation are critical for the transformation of these economies to aide the attainment of Millennium Development Goals,” he said.

    {{NMG}}

  • UN Report: FDI Inflows to East Africa Increase

    {{Member states of EAC bloc, have recorded a surge in Foreign Direct Investiments FDIs according to latest data released by the New United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2013 report.}}

    Data shows EAC states received a combined $ 3.9 billion in FDIs in 2012 representing a 48.71% rise from the $ 2.6 billion registered in 2011.

    Rwanda’s FDIs rose by a whooping 50.94% to $ 160 million in 2012 from $ 106 million.

    For Burundi, which lagged the five East African countries, attracted $ 1 million, representing a 66.67% fall from $ 3 million in 2011.

    Uganda is in the lead in FDIs which jumped by 92.51% to $ 1.721 billion from $ 894 million in 2011. The report attributes the surge in FDIs in EAC states to the recent Oil discovery in Uganda and vast gas reserves in Tanzania.

    According to the data, Tanzania attracted $ 1.706 billion in 2012, a 38.81% increase from the previous year’s $ 1.229 billion.

    However, Kenya’s FDIs dropped by 27.04% to $ 259 million from $ 355 million. This lag in Kenya, analysts blamed it on political tensions and delays in removing cumbersome licensing procedures.

    FDI to Uganda and Tanzania was seven times larger than what Kenya received in 2012.

    {contact author: patrick@igihe.com}

  • Report Says Corruption Rising Globally

    {{More than half of respondents in a global corruption survey released on Tuesday think that graft has worsened over the past two years, and a quarter reported having paid officials a bribe in the last 12 months.}}

    The survey by Berlin-based non-profit group Transparency International also found that people have least trust in institutions meant to help or protect them, including police, the courts and political parties.

    Respondents also believed official anti-corruption efforts had deteriorated since the 2008 start of the world financial and economic crisis.

    The group’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013 is the world’s largest public opinion survey on corruption. It surveyed 114,000 people in 107 countries, the group said.

    It found that 27 per cent of respondents had said they had paid a bribe to a member of a public service or institution in the past 12 months, revealing no improvement from previous surveys.

    The group pointed to a link between poverty and graft. Eight of the 10 countries with the highest bribery rates are African, said a Transparency spokesman.

    In 36 countries, respondents viewed police as the most corrupt, while 20 countries view the judiciary as the most graft-ridden. In 51 countries political parties were seen as the most corrupt institution.

    People’s appraisal of government efforts to stop corruption was worse than before the financial crisis began in 2008, falling to 22 percent now from 31 per cent then.

    Still, the group said that there was a growing will to fight back, with two-thirds of those who were asked to pay a bribe saying they had refused.

    “Bribe paying levels remain very high worldwide, but people believe they have the power to stop corruption and the number of those willing to combat the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery is significant,” said Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International.

    She added that “governments need to make sure that there are strong, independent and well-resourced institutions to prevent and redress corruption. Too many people are harmed when these core institutions and basic services are undermined by the scourge of corruption.”

    {wirestory}

  • Africa Demands permanent Seat at UN Security Council

    {{Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa has demanded for Africa’s permanent membership at the UN security council saying a bigger part the council’s agenda relates to African situations and thus a need for an African Voice.}}

    He said African states are like “visitors” on the Security Council because they seem inert in decision-making on even their own matters.

    “We are not represented permanently and we do not have a veto like other members on the council. Why Africans?” he said.

    He made the remarks in his keynote address at the launch of the national 50th anniversary celebrations of the Organisation of African Union (OAU)/African Union (AU) at Serena Hotel, in Kampala on Monday.

    NV

  • Kenya Teachers given 24Hrs to Stop Strike

    {{ The Kenya Industrial Court has now suspended contempt charges against Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) officials for them to end the teachers strike within 24 hours, failure to which the case will be reinstated.}}

    The charges were suspended after KNUT Chairman Wilson Sossion and Acting Secretary General Mudzo Nzili honoured court summons served on them on Monday while attending a meeting with officials of the Teachers Service Commission.

    TSC has already offered the teachers Sh17 billion to be paid to the teachers, but KNUT is yet to make a decision whether to reject or accept the offer.

    Lady Justice Linnet Ndolo had issued orders directing both KNUT and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers to call off the teachers’ strike on July 1 before the talks could commence.

    KNUT officials are now due to address a news conference.

    {CapitalFm}

  • Chelsea Rady to Splash £60m to Tempt Rooney

    Chelsea will match Wayne Rooney’s £240,000-a-week wages in a five-year deal worth a staggering £60million – if he can force his way out of Manchester United.

    Rooney is Jose Mourinho’s first-choice transfer target and the Chelsea manager has been encouraged that he can still land the striker this summer.

    Although Rooney was told by David Moyes last week that he will not be allowed to leave United, there are issues which remain unresolved.

    Rooney, who has two years left on his Old Trafford deal, is showing no sign of backing down and Chelsea want to take advantage.

    He will cost about £30m if United can be persuaded to sell but that will not be an issue for Chelsea.

    Mourinho, who took charge of first-team training yesterday for the first time after the summer break, wants to give Rooney a fresh start at Stamford Bridge.

    Mourinho is also monitoring Luis Suarez’s position at Liverpool and has asked his advisers to be kept informed about his position. Arsenal are also monitoring the Uruguayan but remain focused on rubber-stamping Gonzalo Higuain’s protracted move from Real Madrid.

    Higuain has agreed to join the Gunners in a deal that could be worth up to £150,000 a week to the Argentine.

    But the clubs are still around £2m apart in terms of a transfer fee — with Real demanding £25m.

    {DailyMail}

  • Car Explodes in Mogadishu, Gunfire Heard

    {{A vehicle carrying men in the uniforms of government security forces exploded in a main market in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday and gunfire could be heard afterwards, witnesses said.}}

    Some witnesses said the casualties were carried away by other security forces, but it was not immediately clear if there were any fatalities. Police said they were gathering details.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

    Somalia’s Islamist al Shabaab rebel group, which has launched several attacks in Mogadishu, threatened last month to press its campaign after launching an assault on July 19 against a United Nations base that killed 22 people.

    “A four-wheel-drive car carrying men in government uniform exploded in … Bakara (market),” said one witness, Hussein Nur, a money exchanger.

    “Immediately gunfire opened up. We are not sure who is doing it. The men in the car looked like soldiers,” he said.

    A Reuters witness at the scene said he saw the ruined car and quoted other witnesses as saying that they saw soldiers in it. There was no sign of casualties when he reached the spot.

    {reuters}

  • Tunisia Extends State of Emergency for 3 Months

    {{The Tunisian presidency said on Monday it would extend by three months the state of emergency in place since the uprising that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.}}

    “The President of the republic Moncef Marzouki decided to extend the state of emergency by three months,” the official TAP news agency reported.

    The three-month period will start retroactively from July 3, it said.

    The agency said the “decision was taken following a proposal by security leaders and after meetings with the Prime Minister and the President of the Constituent National Assembly”.

    Tunisia’s authorities have renewed the state of emergency by periods ranging from three months to a year since the 2011 uprising when Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.

    On June 3, the state prolonged the state of emergency until July 3.

    The state of emergency has given extra powers to the army and police to help them contain radical Islamist militants, who have launched several attacks since the fall of Ben Ali.

    The coalition government, led by Islamist party Ennahda, was sharply criticised last year for failing to rein in extremists and prevent the violence.

    But it has since taken a tougher stand, especially since the discovery in April of jihadist groups on the border with Algeria with links to Al-Qaeda.

    {NMG}