Author: IGIHE

Witnesses told IGIHE that the 40-year-old man got mental disorders on Christmas day morning and tried to kill his children and wife but they ran away and luckily escaped from him. The perpetrator continued to victims who he killed one by one.

The victims are Reverien Nzeyimana 35, Juliette Mukankiko 55, Jean Nsekanabo 33 and Venuste Kezimfura 65.

Speaking to IGIHE, the Executive Secretary of Kamegeri Sector, Dative Mwibonere said that Police retained the murderer while victim bodies were taken to Kigeme Hospital.

“The incident occurred on Christmas day around 8:00am. He took the hoe and killed one by one in their homes, he was hitting the hoe in their heads. The man is now held at Gasaka Police station,” she said.

Mwibonere added that the murderer used to have mental disorders but had not attended any hospital for treatment.

Officials called on residents to timely inform authorities on everything that seems a threat to their security.

So-called Mai-Mai armed groups were probably trying to steal goods from the building in Musienene, North Kivu province in the country’s troubled east, according to a military official.

“The residence of the head of state in Musienene has been targeted in an attack from 03:00 and then burned by the Mai-Mai,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“The attackers ransacked everything before setting the house and some vehicles on fire.”

Kabila spends most of his time in the capital, Kinshasa, but is believed to have several homes across the country, including a farm.

Musienene regularly sees protests against Kabila’s extended time in power and demonstrations over insecurity.

He has managed to cling to power despite his second and final term as president officially ending in December 2016.

Elections to replace him never took place and a deal was eventually brokered that enabled Kabila to stay in office until a vote that was due to be held in 2017. The poll has since been postponed until December 23, 2018.

“We saw the flames consume the residence of the president of the republic when we awoke,” said Pascal Mukondi, a resident of Musienene.

Another resident said they “feared retaliation” from the army.

Armed Congolese groups and foreign forces control swathes of territory in North Kivu province and fighting is relatively common.

In a separate development, nine soldiers were killed in two ambushes by a suspected rebel militia group in South Kivu province, the military said Monday.

“The army recorded a loss of nine soldiers in two ambushes in the Baraka operational zone”, a unnamed military official told AFP.

A lieutenant was killed on Sunday in the village Lweba, 7km from the Baraka district, the official added.

The other deaths came in an attack two days earlier.

“Our hospital received the bodies of eight soldiers killed by bullets on Friday,” an official at a hospital in Lulimba, a village 60 kilometres south of Baraka, told AFP.

The military official accused the Mai-Mai militia of being responsible for both attacks, adding that DR Congo’s army lost “important material”.
{{Source: zimeye.net}}

Gen. Zamora, who was accompanied by other top MINUSCA officials, was received by the RWAPSU III contingent commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Emmanuel Hatari, who gave him the overview of the unit’s capacity and readiness and the contingent’s owned equipment.

The presentation by the contingent commander tackled areas of training, operations and some challenges especially those related to infrastructure the Rwandan contingent has encountered since they arrived in CAR early this month.

The PSU composed of 140 officers is among the three contingents of 140 officers each that replaced the same number in MINUSCA in a rotational exercise conducted early this month.

In his remarks, the Police Commissioner welcomed the peacekeepers and wished them a “successful tour-of-duty.”

“It is a tradition of the UN to welcome new peacekeepers, but let me also mention that since the start of MINUSCA mission, Rwandan peacekeepers have been performing their duties exceptionally well, so we expect you to maintain that legacy and even do more…we have no doubt about that,” Gen. Zamora said.

The Police Commissioner also emphasised the need to stay focused and distance themselves from malpractices of sexual exploitation and abuse and observe stands on ‘direct use of force.’

Meanwhile, the Rwandan Formed Police Unit (FPU) in Haiti shared their Christmas joy with children residing in the surroundings of their based camp, where they shared dinner on the eve of the Christmas Day.

The Christmas party for the children from vulnerable families was also attended by their parents and local leaders.

Local leaders and parents, who spoke at the event, thanked the Rwandan police peacekeepers for their humane and for instilling the ideals of human security development and being friendly to the people.

The Rwandan Police peacekeepers in Haiti under RWAFPU8 is also composed of 140 officers under the command of ACP Yahaya Kamunuga.

The health non-government organisations are Concern and Care for the Needy (CCN) Rwanda and Health Development Initiative (HDI).

During the campaign conducted in Ntyazo Sector last week, residents received free HIV test and counselling.

Nyanza District Vice-mayor in charge of Social Affairs, Solange Mutesi called on residents to avoid adultery which is the main channel of HIV infection.

“This campaign aimed at sensitizing the population on knowing their health status about HIV/AIDS, those who find themselves HIV positive should go for antiretroviral and the HIV negative need to guard against the virus,” she said.

CCN Coordinator, Ephrem Nteziryayo said that the campaign raised awareness about HIV among the citizens and its fatal effects on their lives. It also encouraged them to support the government’s initiatives targeted to have an HIV/AIDS free society.

“We have tested 574 people in Ntyazo in two days and some people we have found HIV positive are going to start antiretroviral treatment immediately. We will continue teaching people on how protect their lives,” he said.

According to the 2015 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), 24% of men and 16% of women have never had an HIV test and the percentage is much higher standing at 67.2% among the youth aged 15-24 while 13% of infected people in Rwanda don’t know their HIV status.

Explaining the Global 90-90-90, an ambitious treatment target to help end AIDS, HDI Programs Director, Dr. Athanase Rukundo said that under the target all people must have HIV/AIDS tests.

“The Global 90-90-90 aims to ensure that 90% of people living with HIV know their status, 90% of people living with HIV who know their status are receiving antiretroviral treatment and 90% of people on treatment have viral load suppression,” he said.

The campaign comes in the aftermath of the celebration of 2017 World AIDS Day that was globally marked on 1st December under the theme “Right to Health.” In Rwanda, the day was celebrated under the theme “Get tested for HIV. If positive, Start and Stay on life-saving treatment.”

A small bus taking an extended family to a dawn church service crashed into a larger bus in the town of Agoo, 200km north of Manila, killing 20 on board, Agoo police said.

The nine other occupants of the small bus were injured, as were 15 travelling on the bigger bus, police said.

“They were trying to catch a mass in Manaoag,” police officer Vanessa Abubo told AFP, referring to a nearby town with a famous Catholic church.

The centuries-old Our Lady of Manaoag church is a popular pilgrimage site in the mainly Catholic nation, featuring an icon of the Virgin Mary which the faithful say performs miracles.

Agoo police chief Roy Villanueva told Manila radio station DZMM by telephone that the smaller vehicle had left its lane to overtake a third vehicle.

Authorities are investigating whether the driver, who Abubo said was among those killed, had fallen asleep or was under the influence, Villanueva added.
{{Source:News24.com}}

The pontiff compared them to Mary and Joseph, recounting the Biblical story of how they travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem but found no place to stay.

Many migrants, he said, were being forced to flee from leaders who “see no problem in shedding innocent blood”.

He has made defence of migrants around the world a major theme of his papacy.

The number of refugees worldwide exceeds 22 million, with the latest cross-border influx being the Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar.

“So many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary,” the 81-year-old Argentine pontiff, himself the grandson of Italian migrants, told worshippers in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City on Sunday evening.

“We see the tracks of millions of persons who do not choose to go away but, driven from their land, leave behind their dear ones.”

The leader of the world’s estimated 1.2bn Roman Catholics also stressed that faith demanded that foreigners be welcomed everywhere.

The Pope will give his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the city and to the world”) Christmas address later on Monday.