{{The Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) has a new Chief Executive Officer Alex Kanyankore appointed on Wednesday.
He replaces Jack Kayonga who has been at the helm of the bank since 2009.
Kanyankore has until recently been heading the National Agricultural Export Board (NAEB).}}
{{Members of Genocide survivors’ umbrella organisation- IBUKA are seeking compensation from government following effects of crime of genocide committed against Tutsi in 1994.}}
In a joint declaration issued on June 28, seen by IGIHE, IBUKA and Rwanda Civil Society Platform (RCSP), noted that in past 18 years, ideas and proposals for reparation have been considered and debated, although to date a concrete legal framework to address this issue in practice has yet to be established in Rwanda.
IBUKA also says, since the immediate aftermath of the genocide, survivors have always called for reparation.
This call has been formalised in a campaign for reparation led by IBUKA since 1997, with a declaration that reparation is the absolute and inalienable right of survivors pursuant to international treaties and conventions, including the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines (as detailed below).
IBUKA and the RCSP, commend the social protection programmes of the Government of Rwanda, as supported by the international community, to help all Rwandans in general and vulnerable survivors in particular.
However, the organisation argues such social protection, which is delivered in part by the National Assistance Fund for Vulnerable Survivors of the Genocide (FARG), does not satisfy the right to reparation for survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi.
IBUKA and the RCSP also declare that this lack of reparation is a violation of the right of survivors to complete justice.
To this day, survivors continue to endure the social, psychological and material consequences of genocide which negatively impacts on perceptions of justice rendered and the trust that survivors have in the national and international judicial institutions.
IBUKA and the RCSP call on all concerned institutions, in particular the Government of Rwanda and the international community, to work together to establish an International Trust Fund to ensure that reparation can be delivered, and restorative justice served, for survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi.
{{Police in the Eastern Province has reported 330 cases of drug abuse from January to June 2013.}}
Eastern Region Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Erick Mutsinzi said there is an increase in drug abuse in the region.
Mutsinzi made the remarks yesterday while addressing more than 300 women from all the seven districts of the Eastern Province.
He told the gathering that GBV cases are also increasing; at least 64 of GBV and 44 cases of defilement were reported between January and June 2013.
Such issues were part of the discussion which was chaired by the governor, Madame Odette Uwamariya.
Crime prevention and environmental conservation were also issues discussed.
In regard to GBV prevention, Mutsinzi said Rwanda National Police will invest in infrastructure and create mechanisms to combat the crimes.
He referred to Isange One Stop Center as a vivid example. The center offers Medical, legal and counseling services to victims.
RNP
{{East Africa Community member states have removed duties on imported railway equipment to accelerate rail construction in the region.}}
The exemption is contained in the East African Community (EAC) gazette notice published on June 30.
“Any of the following goods, which are imported for use by an operator approved by a competent authority responsible for railways in Partner States and in such quantities as the commissioner may specify [are exempt]” reads the Gazette notice in part.
In meetings held in Uganda last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda vowed to extend this modern rail to Kampala and Kigali.
{{Exemptions}}
These goods include wagons, coaches, traffic control instruments, construction and repair equipment as well as railway line signs.
The exemptions are part of a wider plan in the region to expand and rehabilitate the rail network.
Railway handles about 10% of the region’s cargo, a situation that has taken a heavy toll on the region’s road infrastructure.
Cargo arriving at the port of Mombasa is expected to grow at a rate of eight per cent per annum in coming years, raising the imperative for countries in the East African region to find an alternative to road transport.
{NMG}
{{Construction of a major railway line 73Km between Mombasa and Nairobi has been completed at an investment cost worth $20m.}}
The construction is being managed by Rift Valley Railways (RVR) company that operates the Kenya-Uganda railway.
A statement from RVR says completion of the railway modernisation project has reduced cargo delivery time between Mombasa and Nairobi by six hours through rebuilding the most badly rundown sections that were responsible for 60% of blockage time on the railway line.
“RVR’s investment in building this new stretch of railroad is a significant milestone as this railway line had been ailing for lack of investment for over a decade prior to the concession,” said RVR vice-chairman Brown Ondego.
Construction of the new railway line included the laying of 10,000 sleepers to retain track geometry and improve safety.
The upgrade is part of a larger railway track modernisation programme that will see the rebuilding of over 360km of the most affected sections of the railroad in Kenya and Uganda.
Last week presidents Yoweri Museveni, Uhuru Kenyatta and Paul Kagame who met in Kampala made major pronouncements on the railway line, whose development has stalled for almost 10 years.
{additional reporting NV}
{{British sprinter Mark Cavendish finally hit form to win the fifth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish on Wednesday and Australian veteran Simon Gerrans kept the yellow jersey.}}
Cavendish made a poor start to the Tour but this 24th career Tour stage win will boost his confidence and launch his bid to win the sprinters’ green jersey.
“I’m super happy,” Cavendish said. “Now the pressure’s off and hopefully it has started the ball rolling.”
With a few hundred meters to go, Cavendish sat on his teammate Gert Steegmans’ wheel and got into a perfect position to attack and held off a challenge from Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Peter Sagan, who leads the green jersey contest, finished in third place. But Cavendish pulled back to within 35 points in second place overall.
“I’m motivated, I’ve got good form and a great team around me,” Cavendish said, praising Steegmans. “He did a great job.”
The 84-year-old Andre Darrigade, who won 22 Tour stages as a sprinter, warmly greeted Cavendish after his win.
Cavendish needs one more stage win to tie Andre Leducq for third on the Tour’s all-time list of stage winners, and he could do that on Thursday as stage six again favors sprinters.
If he does that, he could eye Bernard Hinault’s 28 wins, the second-highest total after Eddie Merckx’s imperious record of 34.
While Cavendish was raising his arms in triumph, behind him there was more chaos as about a dozen riders hit the tarmac in a crash. It was unclear who caused it.
The 228.5-kilometer (142-mile) route featured some small climbs but was otherwise flat, starting out from the tourist beach resort of Cagnes-sur-Mer and finishing in the southern sea port of Marseille.
It was a quiet afternoon with the pack rolling along at a slow pace until a crash toward the end brought down 15-20 riders.
Gerrans held off Sagan to win Monday’s third stage in a sprint finish and helped his Orica Greenedge team to narrowly win Tuesday’s time trial on stage four in a Tour record time. It was enough to take the leader’s jersey from Belgian Jan Bakelants.
Gerrans is only the sixth Australian to wear the yellow jersey – the first was Phil Anderson in 1981 – and to celebrate Orica Greenedge took the start line with yellow helmets on.
Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro and Frenchman Kevin Reza formed part of an early six-man breakaway group.
None has even won a Tour stage, so the pack let them go. They opened up a lead of more than 10 minutes, which was whittled down to about eight minutes when the peloton reached the foot of the day’s third small climb.
{France24}
{{Sudanese parliament has unanimously adopted the 2013 army reserve law which allows the defense minister to summon all citizens including government and private sector employees, university graduates, army and regular forces retirees, between ages of 18-60 to join the reserves service.}}
According to the law, those who refuse to join the reserve forces without a valid excuse will be fined and jailed for up to six months while conscripts who commit a crime during their service period will be imprisoned for three years.
The law bans all reservists, with the exception of pilots and naval reservists, from leaving Sudan during their call for service unless they obtain prior permission and stipulated that all reservists must notify reserves administration within a month after the end of their service of their home and work address.
The law also provides for the formation of a Council for Reserves service including ministers of defense, finance, higher education and scientific research, and human resources development and labor beside the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chief of police, director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), and general manager of the Security and National Intelligence, and the deputy Chief of Staff for ground forces.
The law allows the defense minister or an authorized representative from the reserves administration to exempt any individual from the service and requires reservists undergo military training before they engage in military operations.
The lawmakers insisted that the age limit for the reserves service must be 60 years instead of 50 years as suggested by some.
The Popular Congress Party (PCP) MP Ismail Hussein, called for keeping the age limit for the army and regular forces retirees open while demanding that age limit for other individuals must be kept at 50 years due to potential health problems suffered by older people such as diabetes, high blood pressure and knee pain.
The defense minister insisted on the 60 years age limit and saying it gives a chance to benefit from the cumulative experience of the senior army officer,s pointing that call for service will be made only when necessary and for a maximum of two months.
The parliament speaker, Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir, for his part considered the laws which have been approved recently by the national assembly including the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) law, the reserve service law, the national service law, and the Popular Defense Forces (PDF) a real support for the army, describing it as a “simple gift” for SAF.
Sudanese officials have privately expressed concern over low level of recruitment of conscripts in the armed forces despite intense mobilization campaigns.
This issue was highlighted particularly in the wake of rebel one-month occupation of areas in South Kordofan state.
In a related issue the Sudanese opposition threatened to seek review by the constitutional court of controversial amendments to the 2007 Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) law which will allow for prosecution of civilians in military courts.
The National Consensus Forces (NCF) opposition coalition accused the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of seeking to use the law against dissidents.
ST
{{Egypt’s new caretaker president Adli Mansour had been head of the Supreme Constitutional Court for just two days when the army named him leader of the Arab world’s most populous state.}}
He takes the helm of a nation riven by deep divisions over the army’s ouster of its first freely elected president Mohamed Morsi following days of deadly clashes between his Islamist supporters and their increasingly numerous opponents.
Ironically he was named by Morsi himself to Egypt’s top judicial post, which, following the army’s suspension of the constitution, catapulted him into political power.
The 67-year-old father of three, who won a scholarship to France’s most prestigious institute of higher education, the Ecole Nationale de l’Administration, was a long-serving judge under the regime of veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.
But he served in the state-sponsored religious courts which deliver fatwas, or edicts, on observance, as well as in the civil and criminal courts.
Mansour helped draft the supervision law for the presidential elections that brought Morsi to power in 2012, which included setting a legal timeframe for electoral campaigning.
He was deputy head of the Supreme Constitutional Court from 1992.
Unlike the principal leaders of the opposition — among them Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei and former Arab League chief Amr Mussa — Mansour was never a household name, but that probably served the military’s purposes in their search for a neutral figurehead for a potentially rollercoaster transition.
The balding, mustachioed judge could probably have walked through one of the huge opposition protests that swept the country on Sunday prompting the military’s dramatic intervention without being recognised.
His photograph was never among those brandished by the million of demonstrators mobilised by the grassroots opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood’s grip on power during Morsi’s tumultuous 12 months in power.
AFP
{{The remains of three of Nelson Mandela’s children have been exhumed from a property belonging to his grandson, Mandla Mandela, police say.
}}
They have been taken from Mvezo in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province to a funeral parlour in nearby Mthatha, Lt Col Mzukisi Fatyela said.
It comes hours after a court ruled the remains should be removed for reburial in a nearby family graveyard.
Mandla moved the remains in 2011, allegedly without the family’s consent.
His 94-year-old grandfather remains critically ill in hospital suffering from a recurring lung infection.
Court papers filed last week reveal that Mr Mandela has been on a life support machine, South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper reports.
“Nelson Mandela’s health is perilous. [An] affidavit will be provided from physicians that he is assisted in breathing by a life support machine,” the paper quotes the documents filed by Mr Mandela’s family last Thursday as saying.
President Jacob Zuma said on Monday that Mr Mandela’s condition remained critical but had stabilised, and he urged South Africans to plan for his 95th birthday on 18 July.
{{Forensic investigations}}
The former president has said he wants to be buried in the family graveyard in the village of Qunu, where he grew up and mostly lived after he retired.
Lt Col Fatyela said forensic investigations would be carried out on the exhumed remains in Mthatha.
A court last Friday granted 16 members of the Mandela family an order for the remains to be exhumed and moved from Mandla Mandela’s homestead in Mvezo, the former president’s birthplace, to nearby Qunu, 22km (14 miles) away.
But Mandla Mandela, who was appointed as chief of Mvezo by his grandfather, went to court to challenge it.
On Wednesday, the Mthatha High Court confirmed its initial decision and said the exhumations should take place – despite an appeal lodged by Mandla Mandela, which reports said the High Court refused to hear.
Police arrived at his property on Wednesday afternoon accompanied by Mr Mandela’s daughter Makiziwe, breaking down the gates with an axe.
The remains are those of Makgatho Mandela, Mandla’s father who died from Aids-related diseases in 2005, and Makgatho’s siblings, Thembekile, who was killed in a car accident in 1969, and Makaziwe, Nelson Mandela’s first daughter, who died when she was nine months old.
Mr Mandla Mandela’s plans to open a heritage centre dedicated to his grandfather in Mvezo, in the former site of the graves, have left a bitter taste among many within the family.
Some family members have also laid a criminal complaint against him for illegal grave tampering.
The police said on Tuesday they would investigate such allegations and a public prosecutor would then decide whether to press charges
NMG
{{China’s economy is expected to grow 7.6% in the second half of 2013, but risks of bad local government loans, slowing growth of central government revenue, diminished export competitiveness and industrial capacity are growing, the official China Securities Journal reported on Thursday.}}
Economists have been cutting their forecasts for the world’s second-largest economy following a string of weak data recently, with some predicting the government will not be able to meet it full-year target of 7.5%. China’s economy expanded 7.8% last year, the slowest pace in 13 years.
At the same time, Chinese markets are struggling to recover from a crunch in the country’s financial markets that saw short-term money rates spike to record highs and stock markets swoon in recent weeks.
Investors feared that the increase in rates, set off by the central bank when it refrained from injecting liquidity in recent weeks, meant Beijing was preparing to tighten monetary policy to seize control of its shadow banking sector, which some fear is misallocating capital to speculative ventures such as real estate.
The report, which was authored by an economic research unit at the State Information Centre, said that China’s economic growth model remained fundamentally stable.
Whole year inflation was expected to clock in at a moderate 2.5%, and China should maintain its growth targets and stable financial and monetary policy stances.
The report said local government debt was posing increasing risks to economic recovery, and so was industrial overcapacity, increasing investment in real estate that is pushing up housing prices, and the increase in the value of the yuan against other currencies which has hurt export competitiveness.
The report recommended that China make minor adjustments to monetary and financial policy to sustain growth while “eliminating waste.”
{agencies}