This is after one Alexis Hakizimana, 25, was arrested recently in Ngororero district, Matyazo sector, Matare cell in Kamasorori village, who was impersonating local authorities and defrauding unsuspecting residents.
“Hakizimana, who was masquerading as the district agronomist, was telling residents that he is compiling a list of those, who will benefit from the government support in this period of the Coronavirus pandemic,” said CIP Bonaventure Karekezi, the Police spokesperson for the Western region.
Hakizimana was taking Rwf1, 000 from each resident he registered as “registration fee.”
“We have so far identified 80 people, whom he had already duped by the time of his arrest,” CIP Karekezi said.
“Information on Hakizimana’s criminal acts was reported to local leaders by residents. Local leaders called the Police, Hakizimana was located and arrested.”
CIP Karekezi called up the public to be vigilant, not to listen to anyone and to report such individuals to be arrested.
“Don’t be duped; anyone supported by the government is not required to pay anything. If someone comes to you requesting for money so as to get any service, report to the law enforcement organs or local leaders,” he advised.
Sharp downward revisions to economic growth forecasts in the wake of the pandemic point towards sickening levels of unemployment, but Modi urged Indians to maintain the discipline shown in the first three weeks of the lockdown.
“That means until May 3, each and every one of us will have to remain in the lockdown,” Modi said in a televised address to the nation.
“From an economic only point of view, it undoubtedly looks costly right now; but measured against the lives of Indian citizens, there is no comparison itself.”
India’s neighbour, Pakistan, with a population of 205 million, extended its lockdown, due to end on Wednesday, by two weeks. Nepal extended the lockdown of its 30 million people until April 27. Nepal has 16 cases of the virus and no deaths but worries about a spillover from India.
Modi spoke as the latest government data showed the number of people infected with coronavirus in India had reached 10,363, with 339 deaths.
Although the numbers are small compared with hard-hit Western nations, health experts fear that is because of India’s low levels of testing and that actual infection levels could be far higher.
Lacking testing kits and protective gear for medical workers, India has only tested 137 per million of its population, compared with 15,935 per million in Italy, and 8,138 in the United States.
The sacks of dry food were delivered last week to the main governmental distribution center in Kicukiro District, and they were handed to the Kigali stores manager by H.E. Dr. Ron Adam who said that since the beginning of the COVID 19 crisis, too many people in Kigali became jobless in the services industry and construction as well as the motorcycle riders.
“I am glad to take at least a small part in the Government’s effort to give basic food to those in need in Kigali”, said Ambassador Adam.
The Embassy of the State of Israel to Rwanda promised to continue working with her sister country Rwanda to strengthen bilateral cooperation for the good of the citizens of both countries.
“We take this opportunity to comfort Rwandans during this period of 26th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. We stand with Rwandans, pray for the healing of survivors and for Never Again!”, a statement from the embassy reads.
Twenty six years down the road, sports, especially football, has been a springboard from where several genocide survivors have excelled nationally and globally.
When genocide broke out, Ange Poela Igihozo was just one year old. She says she commemorates and pays respects to all relatives who died before knowing them.
Igihozo, who is diehard of Kiyovu and Liverpool of England says that playing football in local teams and in Europe, has been so important in her life.
“At seven years, I started supporting SC Kiyovu and at eleven11 years in 2005. I fell in love with Liverpool FC when they won the champions league title after beating AS Milan on penalty shootouts.”
Igihozo studied at Ecole Secondaire Remera Mbogo in Rulindo, where she played volleyball and basketball for which she was team captain, before joining and playing for Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA). She is also a fan of Los Angeles Clippers in the United State and Patriote Basketball Club.
She says sports add to the enrichment of human virtues.
“What I have come to appreciate most in sports, it inculcates in you a team spirit, purpose, striving to win and selflessness.
“When I was growing up, there was no television but I followed the games on Radio Rwanda. I realized that I was good at running and so I decided to try and exploit the talent,” she recalls.
Igihozo said that sports, especially football helped her to heal their wounds of Genocide and believes even others who were affected by the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis in which over a million innocent people lost their lives.
“After the death of my family members, I don’t remember much but in the end, everyone within 400 meters was dead. I have never forgotten my father. When I grew up, I used to pray every day with my family and remember my family members who died. In the past I was asking myself why my family who had prayed were now all dead. Where are they now?
“But I had confidence that my family and friends who perished were in heaven. I realized that if I was ever going to see my family again or get closer again was through prayer.
“In the Bible, it says that there is only one way to heaven, Jesus Christ. If you are to get to heaven, it can only be through Jesus Christ. For me Jesus Christ is the way to heaven and the way to God.” she said.
Her father was killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, something that changed her life. Her then expectant mother struggled to raise them without any meaningful source of income.
The 27-year-old Igihozo says she was told that the Interahamwe would taunt his father for being thin and tall and accused him of collaborating with Inkotanyi, as the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) was then known.
Her father, Charles Cacana was killed 13, April, 1994 in Nyamirambo. He was working for Minitrap and was killed alongside 12 other relatives. A total of 18 close family members were killed during the genocide
Igihozo says that the memories of Genocide still haunt him and his surviving family member but understands that it is imperative to move on. She survived with three brothers, six sisters and mother.
“Life has not been easy. Some time back, even getting a meal was a problem. But our Mama started to fend for us and now we are doing well.
“Our Mama is our hero. She took care of us and provided for our needs, grooming us into women and men that are able to survive under easy and difficult life situations..
“It is hard to forget the 1994 Genocide, and we must all unite and honor the victims. But we must move forward and build our country. We must learn how to forgive those who wronged us if we are to move forward. We should all make sure it never happens again.”
In an interview with Rwanda Television on April 11th, 2020, Dr. Ngamije Daniel, Minister of Health confirmed that 11 more coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospital.
“So far, 118 patients have tested positive for coronavirus. Among them, 7 were discharged last week and 11 others will be discharged today.”
Ngamije said that currently, health institutions have tested 8000 people who were suspected of carrying COVID-19 or who have been in contact with patients who tested positive. However, due to the fact that some patients were tested more than once, at least 11,000 tests have been conducted.
Rwanda will remain with 100 patients after discharging 11 today. All patients are being treated and are in stable condition. “Although we have prepared in advance an intensive care unit, all the patients remain in a stable condition.”
Ngamije urged Rwandans to keep observing guidelines from the Ministry of Health to prevent further spread of the virus.
RIB stated that a few suspects have already been apprehended while further investigation proceeds.
Most of the cases received by RIB during the commemoration period are related to genocide ideology, use of ethnic slurs, intimidating or threatening survivors and other criminal acts done out of spite against survivors.
Umuhoza Marie Michelle, RIB spokesperson told IGIHE “Currently, we are investigating 39 cases related to genocide denial and a few suspects have been arrested.”
Prof Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, President of Ibuka said that denialism should be criminalized to prevent the matter from escalating further.
“Denialism is one of the stages of genocide and should never be tolerated. We have survivors whose cows were hacked to death or whose crops were destroyed by neighbors who still perpetrate genocide ideologies. We must act before the same people resort to more severe crimes.”
Some of the victims who have filed complaints include Uwamahoro Maritha, a resident of Kirehe district who says that a few hours before commemoration activities started, unidentified criminals hacked down her plantain field. The same scenario happened on April 7th in Ruhango district to Nyiramporampoze Chantal.
In Nyarusange sector, Muhanga district, Gashogi Innocent, a genocide survivor claims neighbors uprooted his cassava and yam plantation.
Last year, RIB reported that crimes portraying genocide ideology had considerably reduced compared to the two previous years.
In 2019, during the commemoration period, RIB received 72 cases related to genocide ideology and denialism while 69 suspects were arrested.
Among the 72 cases, 25 were from the Southern Province, 27 from the Eastern Province, 3 from the West, 7 from the North and 10 from Kigali
During the commemoration period in 2018, 72 crimes related to genocide ideology were reported compared to 117 crimes in 2017.
Law Nº 59/2018 pertaining to the crime of genocide ideology and related crimes states that convicts of genocide ideology and perpetration are liable for 5 to 7 years of imprisonment and a fine between Rwf 500,000 and a million.
The Ministry has also explained that all the five patients identified on Friday had made contact with COVID-19 positive cases inside Rwanda.
All patients that have tested positive have been isolated as they undergo treatment. The ministry continues to track down all people in the country with whom the patients made contact for timely testing and attendant management.
The Ministry has, in a statement, also reminded all people that those who are certainly aware that they came in contact with COVD19 patients but decline to report to health facilities for testing and treatment will face prosecution.
The statement reads in part ‘‘Any person who conceals information about people that got in contact with a known coronavirus patient, puts lives of others at risk and, on the discovery, such a person will be prosecuted before the courts of law.’’
Since the identification of patient zero on 14 March 2020, a total of118 have been diagnosed with coronavirus, seven of who have healed and rejoined with their families. All patients are responding well to treatment and none is in critical condition.
Main support of Algeria in the Security Council, South Africa has repeated before the UN executive body an odd set of tropes mixing bad faith with the ideological dogmatism of another time, before a UN body firmly attached to the path of reaching a political, realistic, pragmatic and lasting solution based on compromise regarding the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.
The South African delegation deplored a so-called deadlock in the political process, where the other members of the Security Council welcomed the new impetus brought by the holding of two Round Tables in December 2018 and in March 2019 in Geneva bringing together Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and the “polisario”, and the will of the participants to meet again in the same format.
In doing so, South Africa has not only placed itself at odds with the fourteen other members of the Security Council, but also contradicted its own positions. As a member of the Security Council for the period of 2007-2008, South Africa had voted in favor of resolutions 1754, 1783, and 1813, which call on the parties to engage in the political process to reach a political solution, while stipulating the pre-eminence of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, which they describe as “serious” and “credible”.
Where the Security Council clearly circumscribes in its resolutions the mandate of MINURSO to observing compliance with the Military Agreements, South Africa continued its logorrhea by alleging that the mandate of MINURSO is to organize a referendum, an option that the Security Council has definitively rejected since 2001.
Short of ideas, South Africa tried to instrumentalize the COVID-19 pandemic in its tirade against Morocco, alleging “responsibilities” arising from a Kingdom’s status in relation to the Moroccan Sahara that belongs only to the imaginary of South African diplomacy. Likewise, South Africa called for extending the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire to the Moroccan Sahara, a region where no shots have been fired since 1991.
The attempt to instrumentalize the human drama that COVID-19 inflicts on the whole world is all the more surprising given that South Africa is the most affected country in the continent by the disease, which requires states to focus their attention on domestic response efforts, while showing solidarity and compassion.
South Africa’s sad spectacle ended with a proposal for the press compiling its worn-out tropes, a proposal that the Security Council rejected, dealing the South African delegation an unprecedented blow, according to the same diplomatic sources.
Over the past years, Canada has gained notoriety for sheltering genocide deniers led by Judi Rever who published several books and articles advancing the double genocide theory. She has published books perpetrating denialism and history revisionism such as ‘In Praise of Blood” and “The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front.”
In the latter, she explains that with over 20 years worth of investigation, she found out that the RPF perpetrated the genocide against Tutsi and a second genocide against Hutu. She uses testimonies from former military officers who fled the country after the genocide.
As Rwanda began the 26th commemoration of the genocide against Tutsi, Gen Dallaire said that in Canada, his country of origin, denialism should be a crime punishable by law. “the Canadian government should reaffirm its stance against genocide and make denialism a crime punishable by law. Politicians, journalists, writers and other individuals who perpetrate denialism should not be tolerated.”
Gen Dallaire restated the fact that during the genocide Tutsi were left to fend for themselves as the international community overlooked gruesome massacres. “We have failed Tutsi families during the genocide and for the rest of our lives, we will have flashbacks on the indifference we showed while more than a million Tutsi were being killed.”
Gen Dallaire said that the 1994 genocide against Tutsi is the most ruthless and brutal mass killing he ever witnessed. He called upon the international community to prevent genocide by first prosecuting deniers and perpetrators.
In 2007, Dallaire founded the Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, a program with the aim of rescuing and rehabilitating child soldiers.
Statistics published today April 10th show that market prices in cities increased by 8.5% in March 2020 and by 8.7% in February,2020.
Between February and March, 2020, prices of non-alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased by 2.5% while prices for alcoholic drinks and tobacco increased by 0.8%.
Prices of utlities including water, gas and electricity have increased by 4.8% in March 2020 compared to 0.7% in February 2020.
Comparing market prices between March 2020 and March 2019, there has been an increase by 4.3% in food and crude oil prices.
