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  • AfDB Injects US$18M to Boost Infrastructure in Africa

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a USD 18 million private equity investment in infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa.

    The recipient of the investment is the InfraCo Sub-Saharan Infrastructure Fund (ISSIF), aiming at target capitalization of USD 200 million of equity with a first closing of USD 100 million expected third quarter 2012 to participate in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects.

    The ISSIF will catalyze additional funds for infrastructureprojects, which will create employment and bring essential skills and technical knowledge to sub-Saharan Africa.

    Infrastructure requirements in the sub-Saharan market are estimated at USD 94 billion annually over the next decade.

    This considerable deficit severely impedes Africa’s economic development. The power and transport sectors are especially lacking in investment.

    Population growth and increasing urbanization has left many countries with a power shortage.

    The lack of regional transport infrastructure has resulted in vastly greater import/export and transport costs in Africa than in other countries.

    African governments, traditionally the main investors in basic infrastructure, would greatly benefit from private sector investments to fill the gap.

    Hence, the ISSIF represents a key alternative for private-led financing for the infrastructure sector in Africa.

    The ISSIF is sponsored by InfraCo Limited, a donor-financed fund launched by the Private Infrastructure Development Group and EleQtra LP, a group of companies specializing in the development, financing and ownership of greenfield infrastructure projects.

    The ISSIF will provide scarce equity capital for infrastructure projects, create jobs and enhance the transfer of knowledge in Africa.

    These infrastructure investments are crucial to release constraints on long term sustainable growth and private sector development.

    Tas Neside Anvaripour, AfDB’s manager of the infrastructure finance division said: “Buttress by a strong pipeline due to Infraco’s role as a project developer, ISSIF is expected to have immediate access to quality projects and help them to get to bankability stage”.

  • Dirtiest Spots in Hotel Rooms Revealed

    {{Microbiologists have revealed the dirtiest spots in a hotel room.

    Surpsrisingly it’s the TV remote control gadget and the Bedside switch which were found to be contaminated with higher volumes of germs than any other spot in the hotel rooms.}}

    So if you want to stay away from germs during your next hotel stay, don’t turn on the TV or lights — new research shows that TV remotes and light switches are among the most contaminated items inhotel rooms.

    Researchers from the University of Houston took bacteria samples from several items in hotel rooms in three regions of the United States.

    While the toilet and the sink were expected to have high levels of bacteria, researchers also found more surprising items with high contamination levels, such as the remote and the switch on the bedside lamp.

    Hotel rooms “don’t have to have it ready for surgery,” said study researcher Jay Neal, a microbiologist at the University of Houston, but there certainly is room for improvement in their cleanliness.

    The amount of bacteria on the remote may not mean that it’s “any dirtier than at home, but there’s a stranger factor” in a hotel room, said Neal, who oversaw the research performed primarily by student Katie Kirsh.

    Housekeepers clean spend about 30 minutes cleaning each room, Kirsh said. If the researchers could pinpoint the most contaminated parts of the room, the cleaning process could be made more effective.

    The highest levels of contamination were found in the maid’s cleaning cart, specifically, on the mop and sponge. That’s a problem because it means that bacteria are being carried from room to room, according to the researchers.

    Such cross-contamination could be reduced, though, by replacing cleaning liquids during housekeeping shifts, they said.

    The lowest levels of bacteria were found on the headboard, curtain rods and bathroom door handle.

    The researchers tested for bacteria in general, and did a separate test for cloriform bacteria, which are found in feces and are more likely to cause illness.
    Both tests showed that bacteria levels in hotel rooms were between 2 to 10 times higher than the levels accepted in hospitals.

    The presence of bacteria’s doesn’t guarantee that people will get sick, but it makes it more likely.

    The study was limited in that it was small — nine hotel rooms were tested in each of three states: Texas, Indiana and North Carolina.

    The research was presented today (June 17) at microbiology researchers’ conference in San Francisco.

  • Kivu Provincial Minister Resigns, Joins M23 Rebels

    Reports from Kivu indicate that Julien Paluku(pictured) the Governor of North Kivu appointed, Saturday, June 15, Christopher Ndibeshe as new Provincial Minister of Justice, Rights and Community Rehabilitation.

    Ndibeshe replaces Francois Ruchogoza who resigned two weeks ago to join the March 23 rebel Movement (M23), according to sources close to the governorate.

    Prior to his appointment, Ndibeshe was the executive secretary of the provincial government.

    Ruchogoza resigned following the defection of his political party of the Presidential Majority (MP).

    He said on June 3, that his party had left the presidential majority to pressure the provincial government to restore peace in the provinces.

    “This is in accordance with the decision of the political leadership of the CNDP including myself, who decided that we were leaving the province.

    Last time there was the beginning of hostilities in North Kivu, we pressured the Congolese government to cease hostilities and virtually the Government replied in the negative.

    That is why the political leadership of our party decided that I leave the government, “he said.

    But he denied any desire to join the M23, indicating that his party, the Congolese government’s CNDP requires compliance with the agreements of 23 March 2009 which provided in particular the integration of former rebels of the CNDP in the police and the army and that of his senior civilian in the country’s political institutions.

    These agreements also provided for the return of Congolese refugees living in Rwanda and Uganda.

    These same claims are made by the M23, a politico-military movement created by mutineers from the Congolese army in May and who faces the Congolese soldiers in North Kivu.

  • Rwanda,DRC to Share Half Of Revenues Generated from Gorillas

    {{In 2005, a Family of Congolese Mountain gorillas migrated to Rwanda and settled in the Volcanoes National Park.

    There has since been an agreement between the two countries to share revenues generated from visits made to families of mountain gorillas that switch residence.}}

    Over the weekend the international conservation community marked the ceremony of naming nineteen baby gorillas at Kinigi in Rwanda.

    Rwanda thus gave half of the revenues generated from visits made to the family of Congolese mountain gorillas that migrated to Rwanda.

    According to Dr. Augustine Kanyunyi, acting director of the International Gorilla Conservation, a family of twenty-three gorillas had migrated to Rwanda in the Volcanoes National Park since 2005.

    “We had an arrangement so that the income generated from tourism this family be shared equally between the DRC and Rwanda,” he said adding that each tourist pays U.S. $ 500 for a family visit gorillas.

    The same source says that these gorillas are visited every day. But the total amount of the sum has not been reassigned revealed.

    A census conducted in 2010 jointly by the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda in the Virunga Massif, the gorilla population there would be 480 individuals (against 380 in the previous census in 2003). This group will add about 300 mountain gorillas of Bwindi Forest.

    But since the early clashes between the Armed Forces of DRC (FARDC) and the M23 rebel group in the area of Jomba, in Rutshuru (North Kivu), the mountain gorillas of Virunga National Park have been exposed to crossfire of the warring parties.

    According to the director of the park on the DRCongo side, Emmanuel de Merode, it is two hundred gorillas are threatened. This would have suspended tourism which had already begun to grow in the park.

  • Joint Statement on US-EAC Trade & Investment Partnership

    {United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk; the Honorable Richard Sezibera, the Secretary General of the East African Community; Victoire Ndikumana, the Burundian Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Tourism; Moses Wetang’ula, the Kenyan Minister for Trade; François Kanimba, the Rwandan Minister of Trade and Industry;

    Abdallah Kigoda, the Tanzanian Minister for Industry, Trade, and Marketing; and Amelia Kyambadde, the Ugandan Minister of Trade and Industry are pleased to release the following joint statement, following a meeting on June 14, 2012 on the sidelines of the AGOA Forum between the United States and the East African Community (EAC) Partner States, in Washington, D.C.: }

    Recognizing the importance of strengthening the economic links between the United States and East Africa, our governments jointly resolve to pursue a new trade and investment partnership between the United States and the East African Community.

    This new partnership will build on the foundations of our existing trade and investment relationship, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and the U.S.-EAC Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

    Under this new partnership we will work together to provide new business opportunities to U.S. and EAC firms by reducing trade barriers, improving the business environment, encouraging open investment regimes, and enhancing our two-way trade.

    The initial items we have agreed to explore under this new umbrella partnership include a regional investment treaty, a trade facilitation agreement, continued trade capacity building assistance, and a commercial dialogue.

    These agreements and other activities that we will pursue will help to promote EAC regional integration, economic growth, and expand and diversify U.S.-EAC trade and investment. They could also serve as building blocks towards a more comprehensive trade agreement over the long term.

    We, the Ministers, have therefore directed our respective technical teams led by the EAC to engage as soon as possible to begin consultations on each of the areas we have agreed upon.

    We have full confidence that together, we can build a stronger U.S.-EAC trade and investment partnership for the benefit of the American and East African people.

  • Korean Air Says Kenyans are ‘Primitive’

    {{Diplomatic relations between Kenya and South Korea are currently unpleasant following Korean Air online Advertisement that refers to Kenyans are ‘Primitive’.}}

    Kenyans have demanded an immediate apology.

    Korean Air advertisement was aimed at launching direct flights to Nairobi.
    Part of the advert which has generated heated debate on the social media reads in part: “Fly to Nairobi with Korean Air and enjoy the grand African savanna, the safari tour, and the indigenous people full of primitive energy.”

    The term ‘primitive energy’ has apparently annoyed many Kenyans on the social media who have demanded an apology.

    Primitive means ‘belonging to a very simple society with no industry or belonging to an early stage in the development of humans or very simple and old fashioned.’

    However, Korean Air via its twitter handle @KoreanAir_KE on Today (Monday) has issued an apology promising to investigate how the offending advert came to be.

    “Regarding our recent promotional notice of Nairobi, we are checking on this issue accordingly. We sincerely apologize for this situation,” the airline posted on twitter on Thursday at 11:22 am.

    “After ‘checking’, it will be appropriate to issue an apology to ‪Kenyans on your website and mass media,” Kimunya Mugo tells the airline on twitter.

    “You’d better be thoroughly apologetic. We are not very pleased with our primitive energy,” says Nick Walubengo on twitter.

    “Seems like they have realised that the people they thought were primitive aren’t afterall,” Nomkhoni Warui adds.

  • Burundi Police Handsover Murder Suspect to Rwanda

    {{Burundi Police has handed over a Rwandan national suspected of murdering Colette Munyana 19.
    Jacques Shumbusho 23 allegedly murdered Munyana on March 12, 2012 and fled to neighbouring Burundi.}}

    The Prime suspect was handedover to Rwanda National Police on Saturday at Akanyaru boarder post. The Bourgmestre of Kabarore in Burundi and his Rwanda mayor of Nyaruguru district, Francis Habitegeko were present.

    Shumbusho was arrested in Burundi after the Burundian Police was notified about the Rwandan criminal who was on the run.

    He has been held at Kayanza prison for nearly three month as Burundian Interpol office liaised with their Rwandan counterparts.

    He was deported after completing Interpol transfer procedures. Shumbusho had sought refuge in Burundi to evade justice.

    However, due to the bilateral cooperation of the Police forces of the sister countries he was apprehended and is set to face justice.

    He is currently held at Nyaruguru Police Station while investigation continues.
    “Shumbusho has been handed over to the Police who will have to observe the normal procedure of handling a criminal case by holding him for not more than 72 hours before handing him to the prosecution,” Police Spokesperson Superintendent Theos Badege said.

  • Pagani Huayra is Not Just Another Hypercar

    {{The Pagani Huayra is not just another fringe hypercar — another exclusive, expensive, pointless toy for the collector who’s bored with his Ferraris and wants to tool around to the country club in something his rich buddies don’t have. Tempting, that is, until you drive it.}}

    The Huayra is the follow-up to the Zonda, the debut model from self-taught supercar auteur Horacio Pagani.

    It features an all-new chassis with a central monocoque made from titanium-infused carbon fiber, and the wheelbase has been stretched 2.75 inches over the Zonda.

    The suspension is pure race car stuff: double wishbones milled from billets of a copper-rich aluminum alloy called Avional, with pushrod-actuated Ohlins shocks.

    The carbon bodywork was styled by Pagani himself, and features active aerodynamics — flaps at each corner of the car that can move independently and alter downforce according to inputs from sensors that measure speed, lateral and longitudinal acceleration, roll, and steering angle.

    The suspension will also automatically lower the nose to increase the car’s angle of attack and increase downforce at speed.

    {{Maths of the Huayra}}

    The Huayra weighs less than 3000 pounds (dry) and has 720 horsepower. Oh, and it also has more than 737 lb-ft of torque, courtesy of a new 60-degree, 6.0-liter twin-turbo V-12 developed expressly for the car by the engine wizards at AMG, replacing the 7.3-liter naturally aspirated AMG V-12 in the Zonda.

    The mid-mounted engine drives the rear wheels through a seven-speed, single clutch automated manual transmission built by Xtrac, the British company that makes trannys for F1 cars and Le Mans prototypes.

    There was some wrangling over the new engine’s configuration. Horacio Pagani didn’t like the idea of turbos, and didn’t like the naturally aspirated V-8 AMG first proposed as a replacement for the Zonda’s 7.3.

    He wanted a V-12, but AMG engineers were insistent that to meet emissions and fuel consumption standards through the next decade, the engine had to have forced induction.

    AMG clearly knew what it was talking about. At cruising speeds, the Huayra is one of the most fuel-efficient supercars in the business, says Pagani, brandishing figures fresh from the test lab showing it has achieved 21 mpg (U.S.) on the Euro highway cycle.

    Nailing the gas in the Huayra is like lighting the afterburners on an F-15, though. The new V-12, codenamed M158 in AMG-speak, will pull cleanly and smoothly from as little as 1000 rpm, but once the tach needle swings past the 2500 mark and the turbos get into their comfort zone, the thrust is epic and utterly relentless all the way to 6000 rpm.

    I didn’t go past 160 mph more than once on the bumpy, busy autostrada near Bologna, but the Huayra got there without breaking sweat; a casual canter en route to its claimed 230 mph top speed.

    More impressive than the Huayra’s raw speed on the autostrada, however, is its agility on the winding two-lanes. This is a big car — 181.2 inches long and 80.2 inches wide, rolling on a 110.2-inch wheelbase — but its low mass — it weighs about 200 pounds less than a Ferrari 458 Italia, and a whopping 1300 pounds less than a Bugatti Veyron — means it darts and weaves through the twisties like Jerry Rice on a crossing route.

    Factor in that weapons-grade torque and a complete absence of turbo-lag, and the Huayra will destroy a canyon road using only second and third gears.

    Which is just as well, because the seven-speed automated manual transmission is the car’s weakest link. Sure, it’s light — at 211 pounds, the single-clutch unit is less than half the weight of the 458 Italia’s dual-clutch ‘box — and the F1-style transverse gearset keeps most of the transmission’s mass inside the wheelbase, but the speed and finesse of its shifts are nowhere near as good as those of the Ferrari.

    It feels like a first-gen Lamborghini automated manual — slow and clumsy in auto mode, thumpingly brutal in manual mode if you keep your foot on the gas through the shifts.

  • Abortion Suspect Dumps Baby in Latrine

    {{Police in Nyamasheke district has detained a woman for allegedly carrying out an abortion and dumping her baby in a pit latrine.}}

    The suspect has been identified as Marceline Nyarambanjineza. She was arrested Thursday.

    According to Police sources, Nyarambanjineza was suspected by her neighbors after they found her lying on a mat outside her house.

    After confirming that the suspect had aborted, residents called for Police intervention.

    The dead body was retrieved from the pit and taken to Kibogora Hospital for postmortem. The suspect is detained at Kanjongo Police station.

    Nyarambanjineza Confessed to the crime but claimed she never intended to terminate the life of her baby.

    “I went to the toilet to release myself as usual but did not intend to lose my child,” she narrated.

  • AGOA Forum Focuses on Boosting Africa’s Infrastructure

    {{Last week (14th-15th) the largest event the U. S. government shares with Sub-Saharan Africa nations; the AGOA Forum – brought together U.S. and African ministers, members of Congress, private sector and civil society representatives.}}

    The 12th annual forum was titled “Enhancing African’s infrastructure for trade”.

    Minister Francois Kanimba led the Rwandan delegation along with Ambassador James Kimonyo and other delegates from Rwanda from the private sector and Rwanda Development Board.

    The meeting reviewed the idea of selling the opportunities that Sub Saharan Africa offered to U.S investors and consumers, while also acknowledging the challenges faced as well as the benefits of good quality competitive products from Africa under AGOA for U.S consumers and Importers.

    Discussions resolved to engage the US corporations on a win-win basis in order to ensure that industrialization benefits for US investors went along with development benefits for Africa. Above all, emphasis was placed on Africa’s importance in the global economy, thereby necessitating AGOA’s extension beyond 2015 and the Third Country Fabric provision beyond September 2012.

    Participants expressed serious concerns on the delay in extending the Third Country Fabric Provision which is set to expire in September 2012. Given the lead time of nine months required to place orders, the experts also noted that orders had dried up, making the extension an extremely urgent issue.

    There is, therefore, a need to intensify lobbying from all fronts in order to have the extension renewed without further delay.

    The Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton opened the forum and paved her remarks for others by applauding the great success of the pivotal economic development program. “AGOA has helped to increase trade and investment and opened new doors of opportunity”.

    “It’s led to new jobs, the rise of new sectors and new business opportunities for people in every country represented here, as well as the United States.”

    She further stated that this week the US President, Barrack Obama approved a Presidential Policy Directive that outlines his vision with respect to U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa. This document is drawn from and reflects that Directive.

    This calls for partnership with African nations as they grow their economies and strengthen their democratic institutions and governance.
    Highlighting this year’s topic, Minister Kanimba co-chaired a plenary section titled, “optimizing Africa’s transportation infrastructure to increase international trade”.

    He noted the need of a “stronger partnership” between the countries in order to optimize trade.

    It was further noted that the major challenge is finance, which requires more of public private partnerships and long term commitment more than the humanitarian approach. The session was on optimizing Africa’s transportation infrastructure to increase international trade.

    The panel focused on National and Regional transportation infrastructural development initiatives. The three main areas of concern were maritime, roads and railway transportation.

    It was noted that over 90% of merchandise transportation is done through maritime means and there is need to address the efficiency of the ports as they affected the competitiveness of SSA products.

    Further, the panel noted that most of the roads connected to the ports were congested which caused inefficiency at the said ports, and particularly prevented land locked countries from taking advantage of AGOA.

    As a result, the meeting acknowledged the need to develop an integrated transportation network which links roads and rails to the ports.

    The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the cornerstone of U.S. economic engagement with the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA has succeeded in helping nations grow and diversify their exports to the United States.

    In 2011, 40 AGOA countries exported $53.7 billion in products to the United States contributing to economic growth for African nations as well as creating new opportunities for American businesses to export U.S. goods and services.

    AGOA is important to Rwanda in that it improves the value addition of Rwandan products as a result of access to the American market and the closer collaboration with important US partners.

    Over the years, AGOA Forum discussions have focused on how to improve AGOA utilization by beneficiary countries. This year’s annual AGOA Forum is a mix of programs and events that will take place during the month of June.

    After the 2012 AGOA Forum Ministerial June held 14-15 in Washington, DC hosted the US government, the preceded event was a two-day civil society program held June 12-13.

    The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) will host its infra-structure conference June 18-20, and the U.S. Africa Business Conference (USABC) will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio June 21-22.

    After the AGOA forum, the Honorable Minister Kanimba and the EAC- Secretary General were hosted at Bourbon Café in Washington DC to speak to the Diaspora community and the friends of Rwanda interested in investing in Rwanda and the East Africa region.

    The platform was to discuss the current Economic development activities in Rwanda and the East Africa region and to see how the Diaspora should be part of these development activities.