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  • Rebels Kill 41 in South Sudan Cattle Raid

    Rebels Kill 41 in South Sudan Cattle Raid

    Rebels in South Sudan’s volatile Jonglei state killed at least 41 people and wounded 46 others in a raid on three cattle camps on Sunday, a local official said.

    Since breaking from Sudan in 2011, oil-producing South Sudan has struggled to assert control over remote territories awash with weapons after a 1983-2005 war with the north and torn by ethnic rivalries.

    Dau Akoi, commissioner of Twic East, a county in Jonglei, said rebels loyal to former theology student David Yau Yau were believed to be behind the attack.

    Yau Yau last year recruited armed youths antagonized by a government campaign to end tribal violence in Jonglei, which human rights groups say was marked by abuses by soldiers.

    More than 1,500 people have been killed in Jonglei since independence, according to the United Nations. Yau Yau has refused President Salva Kiir’s offer of amnesty.

    Akoi said all the cattle were taken in the raid that killed 41 people and wounded 46.

    agencies

  • Rwandan Filmmaker Scoops Award at 2013 SVAFF

    Rwandan Filmmaker Scoops Award at 2013 SVAFF

    {{Gilbert Ndahayo, a US based Rwandan filmmaker scooped an award this weekend at 2013 Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF). Ndahayo won the “Best Documentary Film Award” for his second documentary film “The Rwandan Night” which had its world premiere at the annual film festival that was organized from October 11th to 13th, 2013.}}

    “I am delighted for the world premiere of my second documentary feature and it is an honor for me to fly high the Rwandan flag in one the world’s famous African film festival”, said the Rwandan filmmaker.

    The Silicon Valley African Film Festival is presented by Oriki Theatre at Community School of Music and Arts. The 2013 SVAFF opened on Friday, October 11 at 5:30pm with a reception and red carpet, followed by a parade of flags of the countries represented in the festival and a screening of the opening night film – the 2013 Cannes Vulcan Award winning film “GriGris” from Chad.

    Thirty-two films from Africa were screened among them three from Rwanda. The latter are “Chora Chora” that was directed by Richard Mugwaneza, Imbabazi – The pardon directed by Joel Karekezi and The Rwandan Night by Gilbert Ndahayo. Saturday October 12th, 2013 the festival was dominated by Rwandan cinema as the three films by Rwandan filmmakers were all scheduled to screen.

    The event was marked by the presence of Ms Yvette Rugasaguhunga,the second counselor of the Embassy of Rwanda in Washington D.C. “She had come to grace the film festival and support the films from Rwanda” said Gilbert.

    The presence of a Rwandan official was highly regarded by the festival organizers, which prompt them to award the Rwandan Embassy a trophy in recognition for supporting the Film Festival.

    Ms Yvette commended the efforts of SVAFF by bringing the true story of Africa to Silicon Valley. She was also a panelist in the forum “The African Women in Technology – a future of promise!”, organized on the sideline of the film festival.

    “It is no coincidence that women empowerment and technology are some of the key drivers of Rwanda’s political and socio-economical development,” noted the counselor of the Embassy of Rwanda in Washington D.C.

    Gilbert Ndahayo had two test screenings this year during the genocide commemoration events in Zurich (Switzerland) and Maine (USA) this spring. “I felt I can give it a shot and submit my film in 2013 SVAFF,” noted the Rwandan filmmaker.

    At Bates College this February, Professor Alexandre Dauge-Roth remarked, “Gilbert’s central part of the documentary is about a survivor who testifies against the genocide; and according to the American standards of film consumption, it can be called a long moment.” Gilbert Ndahayo explained that he wanted to put the chronology of the genocide on the screen.

    The 2013 Awards Winners were in seven categories among them the 2013 SVAFF Africa Reel Award Winner Newton Aduaka (Nigeria), 2013 Emerging Filmmaker Award for Sephora Woldu (Eritrea), 2013 Emerging Filmmaker Award for Chimwemwe Mkwezalamba (Malawi ), Narrative Feature Film Award Shemu Joyah (Malawi), Narrative Short Film Award for Tim Huebschle (Namibia), Documentary Short Film Award for Kurt Orderson (South Africa) and Documentary Feature Film Award for Gilbert Ndahayo (Rwanda).

    “The Rwandan Night” is a 97-min ethno-documentary that features the haunting memories of the oldest survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Both poetic and moving, Ndahayo’s use of original Rwandan music of commemoration, produces a vivid cinematic rendering of this unique voice forcefully testifying to the long ordeal of his people during so many decades before April 1994.

    “This happens to be the first time I work with fellow Rwandan artists. For instance the opening music ‘Nibarize’ (Tell Me) draws out of melodic whispering style which has long disappeared in Rwanda, but still in use in Burundi by ‘Inanga’ players (string instrument)” confessed the filmmaker in a statement issued at the release of his film.

    As African cinema is being appreciated overseas, there is a growing discussion on the creation of the East African Film Commission.

    The debate is championed by the Zanzibar International Film Festival in collaboration with filmmakers from East Africa and the diaspora. It is still too early to talk more about the commission but the body will help to promote East African cinematic culture.

  • Conflicts Over Water Rise in Tanzania

    Conflicts Over Water Rise in Tanzania

    {{Conflicts over water are increasing in the sprawling Pangani River Basin in northeastern Tanzania as farmers and herders jostle for dwindling water resources in the face of climate change.}}

    Over the past decade, Maasai pastoralists from the northern areas of Moshi and Arusha have been streaming towards the basin with tens of thousands of their cattle in search of water and grazing pasture.

    Hafsa Mtasiwa, the Pangani District Commissioner, told IPS that the Maasais’ traditional land was strained by overuse of water resources and overgrazing. She said in the last three years 2,987 herders with 87,1321 cows and 98,341 goats moved into the basin’s low land, destroying arable land.

    She said that although the government of this East African nation was trying to control the influx into the basin, a lack of policy coordination between relevant regional authorities made this difficult.

    “This is a very complex issue whose solution requires a general consensus between the fighting groups. You don’t simply chase away cattle keepers. We must educate them on the need to respect the rights of the others,” she said.

    The Pangani River Basin, which sprawls across 48,000 square kilometres, is already stressed as it faces continued demands on its water resources and ecosystems.

    According to the Water and Nature Initiative of the International Union of Conservation of Nature, the basin has a population of 3.4 million people, “80 per cent of whom rely on small-scale farming.

    Ecosystems are in decline and, with aquatic resources supplying up to 25 per cent of household income in parts of the basin, the poorest are those most affected by declining water levels.”

    Statistics from the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) show rainfall patterns across many parts of the Pangani River Basin have drastically dropped in the past 10 years. Some areas that recorded 990 mm of rainfall a decade ago receive almost half of this now.

    “The impacts of climate change are very difficult to foresee, they keep changing from time to time. It could start with drought then abruptly switch to floods, the important thing is for the people to adapt,” TMA’s director general Agnes Kijazi told IPS by phone.

    {{Irrigation}}

    What little water there is, is mostly used for irrigation and electricity generation. The Clim-A-Net project, which aims to develop scientific knowledge on climate change, states on its website that “almost 90 percent of the surface flow in the Pangani Basin is used for irrigation and hydropower generation.”

    “We are spending sleepless nights just finding water, the little we get we feed our cattle. We have lost so many cows … The people here should also understand the situation we are in,” Vincent Ole Saidim, a Maasai youth living in Pangani, told IPS.

    But farmers here complain about the number of cattle that enter their fields, destroying crops and irrigation structures in the process.

    “These Maasai are very selfish people, they think they are always right, even when they destroy other people’s lives. I can’t bear them, they should go back to where they belong,” Mwasiti, Isinika a farmer in Pangani, told IPS.

    Residents from the region told IPS that over the last six months tensions between farmers and herders have been ongoing and many feel that there is no end in sight.

    The most recent incident that IPS noted occurred in August in Makenya village, a community of 600 people located about 19 km from the basin’s Pangani Town.

    According to residents, a scuffle involving farmers and pastoralists ensued when 24 herders attempted to take over the village’s central water source in order to feed their animals. The villagers managed to remove them and no deaths were reported.

    However, two years ago in Mbuguni village, which is about 18 km from Pangani Town, four farmers were hacked to death by angry Maasai morans (warriors) as they tried to stop a group of cattle from trampling on their maize seedlings.

    {{Reduced rainfall}}

    Omar Kibwana, a local government official from Mbuguni village, told IPS that conflict was rife because the government was reluctant to create borders separating farmers from pastoralists.

    “This issue should have been resolved a long time ago had there been clear demarcation,” he said.

    The Pangani Basin Water Board said it was aware of the challenges here.

    Arafa Maggidi, an engineer from Pangani Basin Water Authority, told IPS that while climate change was the main reason for the reduced water supply here, other factors such as deforestation, increasing number of livestock, and an expansion of farming activities contributed.

    “The threat of climate change and the need to adapt cannot be over emphasised. We are trying our very best to educate the people to change their life styles, they must understand by destroying environment they are preparing for their own suffering,” Maggidi said.

    “We strongly believe that successful management of the water resources has to integrate all environmental, economic and social demands,” he said.

    Going forward, scientists predict increasing temperatures, reduced rainfall and ultimately less water.

    According to Pius Yanda, a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam who is also a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rise of between 1.8 and 3.6 degrees Celsius, decreasing rainfall and increased evaporation in the river basin can be expected before the end of the century.

    But as they face an uncertain future, people here recall better times when the river was full and its flow was guaranteed throughout the year.

    “The river has lost all its old glory, some of the fish species have also disappeared, how disgusting,” Fundi Mhegema, a villager at Buyuni village in Pangani, told IPS.

    -IPS-

  • Ugandan Minister to Chair UN Board on ICT

    Ugandan Minister to Chair UN Board on ICT

    {{Uganda’s ICT minister Eng. John Nasasira has been nominated to head a UN body dealing with international telecommunications development.}}

    Nasasira was appointed chairman of the Smart Sustainable Development Model advisory board, a UN body under the International Telecommunications Union, whose headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

    “This is a great opportunity and honour, not only for me but also Uganda,” he told New Vision. “I will do my best to deliver on this assignment and represent our country as I always do.”

    The body, whose mandate is to link ICT for development and ICT for disaster management, is an initiative developed to mobilise infrastructure for social services in cases of disaster emergencies. Nasasira becomes a founding member and first chairman of the advisory board.

    The 20-person board includes ministers from Japan, Luxemburg, Indonesia, Thailand and Jamaica. It also includes satellite professionals from the UK, US, Netherlands, France Saudi Arabia and UAE. Others are officials from the UN and other humanitarian organisations.

  • Dakar regional summit to focus on West African crises

    Dakar regional summit to focus on West African crises

    {{West African bloc Ecowas said Sunday it will hold a special summit in Dakar on October 25 focused on the region’s economy and recent political crises.}}

    The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States said the economy would top the agenda, but also singled out as priorities the situations in Mali and Guinea-Bissau and the threat of post-electoral crisis in Guinea.

    The regional bloc will also consider contributing more troops to the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) following a surge in Islamist attacks there.

    MINUSMA is meant to eventually reach 12,640 troops and police. At the end of July it had just over 6,000 but Nigerian and some Chadian troops have since withdrawn.

    French troops entered Mali in January to halt an advance on the capital Bamako by Al-Qaeda linked Islamist troops and allied Tuareg rebels. It plans to reduce its presence from 3,000 troops today to 1,000 by the end of January 2014.

    Legislative elections are due to take place in Mali on November 24, after Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was elected as president.

    Leaders at the summit will also call for calm in Guinea, where the opposition has said it will take its claims of election fraud to the country’s Supreme Court.

    Guinea-Bissau, where Ecowas also has troops, is another source of concern for the west African leaders.

    After a military coup in 2012, a caretaker regime is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on November 24.

    wirestory

  • Angolan Troops Free Seized Congolese Soldiers

    Angolan Troops Free Seized Congolese Soldiers

    {{A group of Congolese soldiers who were seized last week by Angolan troops when they entered the Congo Republic have been freed, a senior local government official in Congo said.}}

    A detachment of Angolan troops crossed into neighboring Congo from Angola’s oil-rich enclave of Cabinda and took up positions in several locations in Congo’s Kimongo district, Congolese sources said.

    The incident highlighted tensions around Cabinda, which belongs to Angola but is separated from the main part of the country by Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo Republic borders the enclave to the north.

    The FLEC rebellion has fought a low-intensity guerrilla war there against Angola for decades.

    “Our soldiers have been freed and are, at this moment, heading towards (the city of) Dolisie,” Jacques Mouanda, head of the local government council in Congo’s Niari administrative department, told Reuters.

    He said the group had been released on Saturday but declined to give further details until the soldiers were debriefed by army officials upon their return.

    Angola’s ambassador in Brazzaville had previously said he was not aware of any Angolan troop movements inside Congo, and denied that his country’s army had detained Congolese soldiers.

    A senior Congolese officer, who confirmed on Thursday that troops sent to the area had been encircled and detained, would not say how many soldiers had been seized.

    However, French broadcaster RFI, citing anonymous local sources, reported that the group numbered as many as 40 Congolese soldiers.

    Angola, which possesses one of the region’s most capable militaries, has in the past pursued FLEC separatists beyond its borders, notably inside Democratic Republic of Congo.

    However, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has recently said he wanted to help secure peace and stability in the region through diplomacy rather than military intervention.

    The country’s last overseas military operation, a mission to reform the security sector in Guinea-Bissau, was cut short last year after the Bissau government asked the Angolans to leave.

  • Journalists Arrested for ‘Insulting’ Sierra Leone President

    Journalists Arrested for ‘Insulting’ Sierra Leone President

    {{Two journalists have been detained for insulting Sierra Leone`s President Ernest Bai Koroma.}}

    Officials from the Criminal Investigation Department arrested the managing Editor of the Independent Observer newspaper, Jonathan Leigh and his news editor Bai Bai Sesay over an article comparing the President to a rat.

    The article, titled “Who is molesting who: Ernest or Sam Sumana”, was addressing the feud between the president and his vice.

    The two have been involved in a bitter succession battle that is worsening by the day.

    Mr Leigh is seen as one of the VP`s supporters in the media.

    His controversial article accused the President of betraying his VP by seeking to do away with him despite the latter bankrolling his 2007 election.

    It said President Koroma was abusing the country’s constitution and becoming a dictator and “behaving like a rat and should be treated like one”.

    The article claimed the President was complicit in setting up his VP for ridicule, including in last year`s infamous Al Jazeera documentary linking Mr Sumana to corruption.

    “Chief Sumana being discreet and charismatic; he pretends not to know what the President was planning for him. In actual sense, he was notified by the very people the President speaks to about setting Chief Sumana up, molest and humiliate him so the public would despise him when it comes to the administration of the country. Even the Timber gate and the Aljazeera crisis according to information was a plot hatched by President Koroma to paint Chief Sumana…,” part of the article reads.

    Sources described a seriously angry President Koroma who through his personal attorney demanded an apology and a retraction of the publication.

    {{Selective justice}}

    The fight between the two has since spilled over to the public through the media.

    Last week there were reports that President Kororma allegedly ordered that Hajj pilgrims recommended by the VP for government sponsorship be left stranded at the airport.

    The presidential feud took an even more serious turn with the reported boycott of Cabinet meeting by the VP this week.

    Supporters of the president interpreted that as an open defiance to his authority and part of a plot to gain sympathy by the VP.

    Until Saturday evening, Mr Leigh and his editor were still at the CID headquarters.

    The pair were said to be on their way to the office of the Independent Media Commission, which had invited them for questioning following the publication on Thursday when they were arrested.

    The head of the CID was cited saying they were been interrogated and their findings would be sent to the office of the Attorney General for legal adviser on further action.

    Meanwhile, while many agree that the journalists may have gone a little too far in their article, their arrest has however raised a number of questions.

    {{Who ordered it?}}

    In addition, there is the issue of ‘selective justice’, with critics asking why a similarly offensive article against the VP by the pro-government Awareness Times newspaper has been ignored.

    The Awareness Times is owned and published by the Special Executive Assistant to the President, Sylvia Blyden, who also serves as his de factor spokesperson.

    She has been accused of ‘lying’ that the journalists were detained after an official complaint was filed by the Attorney General.

    Some would want to believe the President ordered their arrest.

    The “VP’s boycott of this week’s Cabinet meeting was boastfully publicized to gain sympathy.

    But, it boomeranged as it made many to realize that VP is too much in a haste to be President of Sierra Leone; to extent of folks publicly opening up fronts against his boss,” the Awareness Times read in part.

    Ms Blyden was criticised by international media watchdog recently for promising a crackdown on journalists who are critical of the government.

    {agencies}

  • Uganda Raises Security Alert to Maximum

    Uganda Raises Security Alert to Maximum

    Uganda’s police have raised the country’s “terror alert”, as domestic and US intelligence agencies warned of an imminent attack similar to last month’s assault on a shopping mall in neighbouring Kenya.

    Security staff have been recalled from leave and thousands of extra police deployed across the capital, Kampala.

    “Our intelligence and that of the Americans show an imminent terror attack is likely,” police spokesman Patrick Onyango told Reuters news agency on Friday.

    The Ugandan police appealed for calm and people’s understanding as the police carried out more random searches and said the force’s staff would not be allowed to take leave until further notice.

    Al-Shabab threat

    Uganda had already heightened security after the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, claimed by Somali armed group al-Shabab. About 70 people were killed during the siege of the mall.

    Al-Shabab also carried out the 2010 bombings in Kampala, targeting crowds gathered for the occasion of the football World Cup final in reprisal for Uganda’s participation in an African Union force that swept into Somalia to neutralise rebels and help end prolonged war and anarchy in the country.

    The US Embassy in Kampala said on Tuesday it was assessing reports that a “Westgate-style attack may soon occur in Kampala”.

    It also cautioned its citizens to be vigilant about visiting crowded areas.

    Al-Shabab has issued several threats to again strike Uganda, a staunch western ally, unless it withdraws from Somalia where its troops are fighting as part of a 17,000-strong AU peacekeeping force.

    Source: Reuters

  • Mexico Drives North American auto investment, challenges China

    Mexico Drives North American auto investment, challenges China

    The Mexican auto industry is about to go on a $10 billion factory building spree, illustrating the nation’s rising economic challenge to rivals from the United States to China.

    Japanese and German auto manufacturers are spearheading the drive, say parts suppliers and researchers who see more auto factories built south of the border than in the United States between now and the end of the decade.

    The United States will consume the vast majority of the new cars, but Mexico’s domestic market has rebounded from a long slump, and in a sign of Mexico’s growing global role, auto exports outside of North America will rise faster than those to the United States.

    BMW AG, Toyota Motor Corp and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz are expected to announce at least $2 billion of deals in the next year or two, according to supplier and other industry sources. That’s on top of nearly $6 billion in announced plants by Nissan Motor Co, Honda Motor Co, Mazda Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG.

    U.S. automakers, all of whom have been building cars in Mexico since before World War II, will spend another $1 billion or more to upgrade Mexican plants. And Nissan and VW also are considering expansions at existing factories that could total $1 billion or more, according to sources familiar with their plans.

    Mexico “is quickly turning into the China of the West,” said Joseph Langley, a senior analyst at Michigan-based research firm IHS Automotive, pointing to Mexico’s low wages, a strong supply base and a global web of free-trade agreements.

    Mexican auto exports beyond North America are growing even faster than those within, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. They accounted for nearly 30 percent of the 2.4 million exported last year. Altogether Mexico built 3.0 million cars and trucks, according to Automotive News, compared with 10.4 million in the United States and 2.5 million in Canada.

    By 2020, Mexico will have the capacity to build one in every four vehicles in North America, up from one in six in 2012, according to IHS.

    The investment shift has implications for auto jobs and labor unions north of the border, particularly in Canada, which will see a 20 percent decline in production, IHS projects. Output will soar 62 percent in Mexico.

    U.S. auto production will rise 12 percent, and Detroit-based automakers are expanding domestic production by ramping up the pace at existing factories to as many as three shifts running six days a week, said IHS. By those calculations, Mexico is building more auto plants than in the United States or Canada through 2020.

    “It’s all about lower production costs and lower export costs,” said Michael Tracy, principal at the Agile Group, a Michigan-based auto consultancy. “That’s what Canada used to be — the place for low-cost manufacturing and shipping. Now, everybody is targeting Mexico.”

    Mexico’s economy is seen growing faster than Brazil’s next year, underscoring the success of Mexico’s export-driven model versus regional economic powerhouse Brazil’s more protectionist policies. The promised auto investment could help Mexico challenge regional dominance by Brazil. Analysts are warning of excess Brazilian auto production capacity within five years.

    Suppliers say the Detroit auto makers, with more than half the production capacity in Mexico, have not signaled any plans to expand vehicle output there. But General Motors and Chrysler this year have said they will install additional engine and transmission production capacity in Mexico.

    {reuters}

  • Guinea Ruling Party wins Parliamentary Polls

    Guinea Ruling Party wins Parliamentary Polls

    Guinea’s ruling party and its allies came have won the nation’s first parliamentary elections in a decade, taking 60 of the 114 seats in the national assembly, according to electoral commission results.

    The provisional results released late on Friday showed that Alpha Conde’s Rally of the Guinean People party obtained 53 seats and its small party allies seven in the elections held last month.

    The opposition UFDG party, led by Conde’s rival, Cellou Dalein Diallo, won 37 seats while former Prime Minister Sidya Toure’s UFR secured 10 seats. They have said they would not recognise the results.

    Smaller parties won the remaining seats.

    Conde became the country’s first democratically elected president in 2010 and the parliamentary election was due to complete the long-delayed transition back to civilian rule following a 2008 military coup.

    The results came nearly three weeks after voters cast ballots. Both sides have accused the other of using the delay to tamper with the vote.

    Ruling party spokesman Moustapha Naite said although it was relieved by the announcement of the results, the party has filed complaints with the Supreme Court over activities in some districts.

    UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, even before the results were announced, appealed on Friday for “all parties to maintain calm and resolve all differences by legal means”.

    International observers said on October 9 that there were serious flaws in the election which affected the credibility of the vote.

    “Breaches and irregularities were observed in a certain number of constituencies, preventing a significant number of votes from being taken into account,” they said in a joint statement.

    The observers included the region’s top UN envoy Said Djinnit as well as representatives from the European Union and west African bloc ECOWAS.

    Mr. Conde
    Source: {Agencies}