The 9th edition started yesterday is attended by Imbuto Foundation’s ‘Edified Generation’ scholarship programme from which 228 being enrolled for the first time while 192 are in their last year of secondary education.
The annual camp is implemented under the Youth Empowerment and Mentorship Programme, established by Imbuto Foundation in 2007, to engage, empower and educate Rwandan youth.
Speaking at the opening of the camp, Imbuto Foundation Director General, Sandrine Umutoni urged students to follow lectures so that they will learn much from them.
“I also call upon you to be on top in schools where you belong in, you should read books, conduct research beyond what your teachers give you,” she urged students.
“You should have enthusiasm in using opportunities that surround you and work hard for your development, families, community and the country in general. You should have your role models and we as Imbuto Foundation are there to support you,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Emmanuel Bigenimana thanked Imbuto Foundation as the main partner in supporting the youth in Rwanda, andhe pledgedthem continued support from the Ministry.
He urged youth to use the opportunity and learn much enough.
“Concerning youth here, you are benefiting from the current policy that supports youth, which was not the case for your parents,” he said.
In 2017 Academic Year, Imbuto Foundation supported 720 students from 110 schools from around the country.
In the camp, the students engage with speakers by using different methods of creative interactions such as group discussions and educative games. The topics of discussion include discipline, Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health, human trafficking, importance of saving culture as well as drug and alcohol abuse among others.
Mutangana was speaking yesterday to the Senatorial Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security while exchanging ideas on prosecuting runaway genocide suspects from outside the country.
He said that they still encounter challenges of countries which do not want to change their mindsets towards help in extradition of suspects.
“Actually, there is a political will challenge for some countries; the more genocide suspects are not arrested, the more genocide ideology continues to rise; so we have discussed this issue because during past 23 years, countries did not do enough to bring suspects to justice,” he told the media.
The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) says that they issued over 800 arrest warrants in 32 countries around the World. They say that they conducted investigations on other 500 people which they are planning to issue their arrest warrants. Also, 17,000 escapees were convicted on their role in the genocide by Gacaca courts while in absence.
According to NPPA, countries that drug feet in arresting genocide escapees include France, Germany, United Kingdom and other African countries.
Though many countries continue to exhibit reluctance, Mutangana said that there is optimism as the discussions and extradition treaties signing with different countries continue.
These countries include Zambia, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Malawi among others.
The State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Community Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe said that they will continue diplomatic discussions so that genocide escapees at large will face justice.
“This is a case that we will collaborate with the Ministry of Justice and discuss with host countries so that they send them in Rwanda or they take them to justice from these countries as laws state. Discussions are ongoing as well as signing treaties,” he said.
The two-day gathering is hosted by President Akufo-Addo, who co-chairs the Eminent Group of Advocates, along with Norway Premier Erna Solberg.
Below is President Kagame’s speech at the roundtable:
Good morning.
It’s a great pleasure for me to join you, Mr. President for this event, here in Accra. I would like to start by thanking you, for the invitation to participate in this important discussion, and the warm hospitality accorded to us.
I also wish to commend you, Mr President, and co-chair, Prime Minister Erna Solberg, for your service leading the UN Secretary General’s Eminent Group of Advocates.
There are two main aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals, that i will talk about, that constitute an improvement from our experience with the Millennium Development Goals.
We can take better advantage of these, as we work to reach the new targets, and transform the lives of our people.
First, is the strong emphasis on the private sector as an engine to eliminate poverty and create wealth, objectives that are at the heart of most of our national plans.
Integrating the SDGs into these plans, and ensuring their implementation, cannot be successfully achieved, by government alone.
This is why strong collaboration with the private sector, throughout the process, is critical, for reaching a win-win situation.
For example, the financing gaps for major projects, can be filled by private sector investment, through appropriate de-risking mechanisms, provided by the public sector and other partners.
Secondly, we now have an ambitious development framework to engage all countries, rather than just developing ones, especially knowing that there are cross cutting issues that affect everyone and every country.
This provides new scope for productive global partnerships and learning. This could include reaching consensus on how to measure progress, and support implementation, in ways that are most relevant, for our respective national contexts.
Rwanda will continue to collaborate with partner states, particularly through the SDG Centre for Africa, which we are happy to host in Kigali. And Mr President, I wanted to thank you for your support on that as well.
The centre was established to facilitate coordination and advocacy, and help us all build capacity to implement the SDGs. I invite you all to use and support it, as we support our continent.
Mr. President, distinguished audience, I would like to once again thank you for your kind attention, and I look forward to further discussion today.
Highly placed sources said the group, comprising only young men, were travelling on forged Ugandan temporary travel documents that were given to them by Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) to enable the group cross into Tanzania, then Burundi, and to eventually reach their final destination in Minebwe, South Kivu, DRC.
The recruits were travelling in a Ugandan bus with yellow and green colors registration number UAQ374B and lied that they were going to Burundi for a religious crusade.
However, when the group initially reached Kikagati border post, Uganda’s immigration department blocked them suspecting the authenticity of their travel documents. Immigration officials were also suspicious why such a big number of young Rwandan men would be travelling with Ugandan documents in one single group.
In the process of questioning the young men, sources at the Uganda’s Kikagati border post say, the immigration officials came under immense pressure from “above” instructing them to immediately release the group and allow it to proceed with their journey. The border post officials readily obliged.
However after the immigration officials alerted Police of this big group crossing with forged documents, Uganda Police immediately alerted their counterparts in Tanzania to block and return the group to Uganda.
Upon their return to the border, sources say, the immigration officials were again instructed to release the recruits and facilitate their travel into Tanzania with immediate effect.
It is at that moment that Uganda’s Police intervened once again, and with help from their Tanzanian counterparts intercepted the group and arrested all the 40. They are now being held in Isingiro Police station.
“It was total drama this morning–the scuffle lasted almost three hours,” the immigration official who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity told this website.
“When we released them the second time, we were shocked to see the Tanzanians working with Uganda Police return them.”
In a desperate attempt to cover up the scandal, a Ugandan website that is linked to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (www.softpower.ug) immediately put out a story claiming the arrested Rwandan young men were “refugees on a missionary journey to Tanzania.”
Instead of explaining why a large group of Rwandan young men were given Ugandan travel documents, the story chose to castigate Uganda Police for arresting them, alleging they fear the group could be taken to Rwanda.
Nonetheless, credible security sources confirmed that the group was part of RNC recruitment drive happening in different refugee camps across Uganda and firmly supported by the Brig Gen Abel Kandiho of Uganda’s Military intelligence, CMI.
As recently exposed, a parallel scheme exists of covering up this recruitment drive for RNC by claiming that Rwandans who go missing in these camps are instead kidnapped by Kigali. The scheme is run from Kampala by renegades Rugema Kayumba, Cpl Mulindwa aka Mukombozi and Sande Mugisha coordinated by Kayumba Nyamwasa from South Africa with facilitation from Uganda’s CMI.
“This incident in Kikagati today should raise serious questions,” a security source in Kampala told this website. “It is shameful that this recruitment is happening in broad day light and instead of questioning the culprits behind it, they are instead rewarded with promotion.”
Observers expect immense pressure on the Uganda Police to release the RNC recruits because those who helped to recruit them fear the young men represent damning evidence CMI’s sponsored recruitment for the terrorist group RNC.
Moreover, these developments come a day after news reports exposed the on-going illegal detention of Rwandans visiting Kampala.
Over the weekend, plain clothed security operatives suspected to be CMI – RNC agents arrested a Rwandan named Fidele Gatsinzi in Kampala as he went to visit his son in school in Mukono Christian University.
Since September, dozens of Rwandans have been illegally detained by CMI under unclear circumstances and subjected to torture to induce false confessions that they are Rwanda spies. These innocent Rwandans are usually pointed out by Kayumba Nyamwasa’s agents operating in Kampala.
As these arrests increase, a general fear of safety for Rwandans travelling to Uganda is growing by the day. Many of them now tend to alert family members, friends, and officials, whenever they travel to Uganda, asking them to keep keen ‘eye’ out just incase they suddenly disappear.
Most of the young men intercepted on Monday by Uganda Police were taken from Refugee camps of Nyakivala, Kibale, and Mubende where RNC fugitives, Maj. (rtd) Habib Mudathir and Capt (rtd) Sibo Charles undertake most of the recruitment.
It is hoped that with the arrest of this group, the truth about RNC recruitment activities in Uganda as this website has always pointed out, will be exposed and all those involved punished according to law especially when they are involved in recruiting an armed group whose intent is to terrorise Rwanda.
I’m yet to see the person who hopes for something terrible; we all long for perfection, and whether or not we get what we want perfectly is another discussion for another day.
The point I’m trying to make is, as we seek that perfect partner in our lives, we also ought to build ourselves to perfection as much as possible, irrespective of whether we get there or not.
And these are some of the things the almost perfect but still imperfect man does for his woman:
{{He believes in her}}
The heaven-sent man believes in the woman in his life. He believes she’d make a good wife, he believes she’s right for him, he believes she’s the best, he believes in her dreams and not try to squash it and he trusts her and her sense of judgment.
{{He values her}}
The heaven-sent man values his woman and treats her like a queen. He values his relationship with her and makes her know that she’s the only one in his life.
{{He protects her}}
While other men hurt their women physically and emotionally, a heaven-sent man protects her. He protects her image, her body, her emotions and everything that concerns her. He’s interested in her, so he protects her.
{{He loves her}}
He loves her sincerely and wouldn’t do anything on purpose to hurt her. He’s genuine in how he feels about his lady and he shows it to her as well.
{{He prays for her}}
A heaven-sent man wants the best for his woman; he wishes her well and thus prays for her. He’s interested in her wellbeing and wants what’s best for her.
The heaven-sent man is the kind of man every woman should yearn for.
{{Source:elcrema.com}}
Kagame was speaking in an interview ahead of opening the ‘Campaign Against Genocide Museum’ slated on Wednesday 13th December.
Located at Kimihurura in parliamentary building, the museum shows the history of Rwandans’ bravery in putting an end to the genocide, saving lives of people as well as liberating the country.
Speaking about the history of liberation struggle, the head of state said that on 7th April 1994, he ordered the troops to stop the genocide and protect themselves.
“The order which came the next day was not only to protect themselves, to split so that they are not all under one heavy attack while in one place, but split for two reasons or more; one was that the force had to cross and go to the Amahoro Stadium where there were already people taking refuge and were being threatened. In fact they had almost under attack, so that force had gone to protect those ordinary people who had fled from that place,” he said
Even though there had been UN force around the area, Kagame said they weren’t going to do much or they were overwhelmed.
“They were requested if possible to join up the UN force that was at Amahoro Stadium to protect people who were fleeing and running into the stadium as well as fighting to protect themselves,” he added.
Meanwhile he explained that there were two companies from which one went to protect people at stadium and another one continued holding the ground by protecting people from outside as well as those who were on their way heading to stadium.
{{UN troops failure}}
Reports say that UN troops that were deployed in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi failed their mission of protecting civilians who were being killed, but left them to the mercy of killers.
Speaking about UN troop’s failure, Kagame said that the first reaction was to pull out their forces.
“I don’t know the UN had come here to do what, I wonder whether they were pulling out because they had achieved what they had set out to achieve from the beginning, which was not the case or they were really giving up on the situation and they were saying this is impossible to deal with and therefore we are doing nothing here, let’s go,” he said.
He said the gesture informed Rwandans that ‘We are there for ourselves and we are there on our own”
An outreach conducted by Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe in four districts namely Gatsibo, Gakenke, Ngororero and Nyaruguru has revealed that women are still spending much of their time doing household chores while more men appear in good income-generating jobs.
Sharing with the stakeholders about findings on gender gaps on Friday, Marguerite Mutumwinka, 2nd Vice President of Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe, said gender equality principles should be respected in planning and budgeting at national and local levels.
“We examined how this principle is being implemented in four districts and we found gender gaps. This is what we want to discuss with different stakeholders including government and non-governmental institutions and to jointly chart the solutions,” she said.
“Budget implementers are not duly considering the principle of gender responsive budgeting. Budgeting guidelines also have gaps and we want them addressed over time. GBS is in place but there are still gaps.”
Rebecca Asiimwe, Director of Gender Mainstreaming Unit at Gender Monitoring Office (GMO), said national planners do Gender responsive budgeting but local implementers are yet to fully understand it.
“More sensitization is required and it is a process towards change. With Government commitment to fighting gender-based violence, increase girls in science and technical education, we shall be able to address gender gaps in budget implementation,” she said, adding that more women in professions like construction and plumbing will help them make more money than many are making in subsistent jobs.
She said analyzing budgets from a gender perspective is integral to understanding the extent of gender mainstreaming within projects and policies.
Rwanda’s Organic Budget Law of 2013 on State Finances and Property enforces accountability on financing for gender equality and provides for mandatory gender responsive planning and reporting through Gender Budget Statements.
{{Skills gap}}
Nelson Muhayimana, Nyaruguru District’s Planner, said they consider gender principles promotion in the projects but there are still areas of jobs in which few women appear to have the skills required.
“We consider gender equality in jobs allocation. For example, we targeted to give women 50% of supervision jobs in the last fiscal year and we got 60%. However, they are technical jobs like site design, mapping of roads and terraces sites in which women stood at 33% because they did not have the required skills yet we had to examine applicants’ competencies,” he said.
Muhayimana said women also have potentials to acquire technical skills and encouraged more sensitization to make women understand that they able and should look for jobs generating better income than they are making.
GMO report on Gender and Access to Finance released in March this year shows that female accessing formal financial services have almost doubled from 36% in 2012 to 63% in 2016 although it remains below compared to males whose proportion increased from 51% to 74% in the same period.
Women having access to informal financial services have decreased from 32% in 2012 to 24% in 2016 compared to males who dropped from 27% in 2012 to 17% in 2016.
Women having ATM debit cards were 40% compared to 60% men in 2016. A bigger disparity appeared in rural areas with men and women standing 76.1% and 23.9% respectively while it was at 52.8% and 47.2% among urban population. The uptake of mobile money transactions stood at 46% and 33% of men and women respectively.
The five-star hotel with world-class service has prepared three and four offers for Christmas and New Year respectively to give Kigali dwellers and visitors yet more reasons to end 2017 and start 2018 in style. Festive themed meals will be served at special prices for adults, further reduced for children between 6 and 12 years while children five years old and under children can enjoy all free of charge.
The Christmas Eve dinner buffet in Marriott’s Soko Restaurant allows goers to indulge in Christmas cake, gingerbread houses, turkey, roast beef, African BBQ, and fresh seafood as a special treat on Sunday, December 24th from 7:00pm to 11:00pm. At the same, Cucina Restaurant’s Christmas Eve dinner will give guests the chance to celebrate this holiday season the Italian way.
You can make it a Christmas to remember with Christmas Day brunch at Soko which features traditional turkey dishes, sweet treats and kid’s activities from 12:00pm to 4:00pm.
{{Welcome to 2018}}
Kigali Marriott’s New Year’s Eve Party has all to usher revellers to the New Year in style with a fun-filled experience to keep only the sweetest memories of the year ends and another year openings. The party will ring the New Year in a live band, cocktails, draught beer, regional bottled beer and sparkling champagne. It’s in Kigali Marriott’s Iriba Bar & Terrace on Sunday, December 31st from 7:00pm till late.
Before the party starts, you can visit Soko for a New Year’s Eve dinner buffet. It showcases an incredible range of culinary delights including turkey, roast beef, seafood, Asian dishes, Indian cuisine, and African BBQ. For those looking for an intimate, yet indulgent way to celebrate, try a five course Italian meal at Cucina Restaurant’s New Year’s Eve dinner.
Last but seemingly the best is the New Year’s Recovery Brunch at Soko Restaurant on Monday, January 1st from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. Meet New Year 2018 head on by joining a brunch designed to help you recover from the previous fun-filled evening with bottomless black coffee, sweet treats and fun activities for kids.
Kigali Marriott Management and Staff wish you “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2018!”
For reservations, please phone phone +250 222 111 111
Pregnant women must routinely go for antenatal care visits in health facilities where their blood pressures can be measured; they must be vigilant to identify any of the danger symptoms and report quickly to the hospital, according to Dr Andrew Oryono, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at Heritage Medical Park, located in Kagarama, Kicukiro District.
He says HBP is a lethal but often symptomless complication; hence it is nicknamed ‘silent killer.’
Also known as hypertension or better called hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, HBP is among the top five complications that account for nearly 75% of all maternal deaths, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) report 2016.
The complications are severe bleeding (mostly bleeding after childbirth), infections (usually after childbirth), high blood pressure during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia), complications from delivery and unsafe abortion.
Defined as the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood, blood pressure is measured by taking the { {{Systolic pressure}} } (blood pressure when the heart beats while pumping blood) and the { {{Diastolic pressure }} } (blood pressure when the heart is at rest between beats. Thus blood pressure is reported as systolic blood pressure over diastolic blood pressure in millimetres of mercury (mmHg).
Dr Oryono says the blood pressure is said to be low when it is less than 90/60mmHg, normal when it is between 90/60mmHg and120/80mmHg while HBP starts at 140/90mmHg and above.
“High blood pressure or Hypertension is when blood flows through blood vessels (arteries) at higher than normal pressures. It is a common disease and often occurs during pregnancy causing maternal and prenatal morbidity and mortality,” he says.
{{HBP risk factors}}
Dr Oryono says every pregnant woman has a potential to get high blood pressure (Preeclampsia) but there are factors that account for higher risks. These include extreme age as women below 20 and those above 40 years old, first pregnancy, preeclampsia in previous pregnancy, carrying multiple foetuses like twins, triplets or more, family history of high blood pressure or preeclampsia, pre-existing or chronic high blood pressure, kidney disease or blood disorders and diabetes, African or Native American ancestry, obesity before pregnancy and being impregnated by new spouses.
{{Symptoms}}
Pregnant mothers with high blood pressure often have no symptoms and can be referred to as mild preeclampsia but severe preeclampsia (BP ≥160/110mmhg) is characterized by end-organ damage and the symptoms include persistent severe headache, blurred vision, temporary loss of vision in one eye or both, epigastric pain or right upper quadrant abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting after 20 weeks of pregnancy, decreased urine output, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing on exertion, sudden weight gain, swelling of the face or fingers, altered mental state like developing confusion, anxiety and sometimes coma.
Dr Oryono, however, reminds that these symptoms do not necessarily come from HBP and pregnant women must always get examined to ascertain complications behind the symptoms.
Though the cause of preeclampsia among pregnant women remains unclear, placental delivery reverses the symptoms of preeclampsia, suggesting that the placenta has a controlling role in the condition.
{{Hypertension effects}}
In addition to possible death, hypertension carries more dangerous effects to mothers and foetuses. Mothers face fatal convulsions; the placenta may prematurely separate from the wall of the uterus and internal bleeding occurs where it had been attached, a condition known as ‘abruptio placentae’; stroke or cardiovascular accident due to burst of blood vessels in the brain and this is the main cause of maternal death, according to Dr Oryono.
It can also cause difficulties in breathing as a result of accumulation of fluids in the lungs (pulmonary oedema), uncontrolled bleeding from various sites of the body, kidney failure, blindness that may occur due to retinal detachment or occipital lobe lesions and ruptured liver.
Foetal complications include foetal growth restriction, preterm delivery resulting into a premature baby, foetal distress, intrauterine foetal death and more.
According to WHO, hypertension is a very common disease, albeit not well-recognised nor well-controlled among people of all categories. The global mortality index ranks hypertension as the leading cause of death (smoking is second), making it the most dominant silent killer disease. Hypertension accounts for 51% of all strokes and 45% of all heart diseases.
WHO statistics show that at least 33 women die of pregnancy related causes every hour in the world and hypertension is among the leading causes. Maternal mortality stood at 216 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2016 while Sustainable Development Goals aim to reach less than 70 per 100,000 live births in 2030.
In Rwanda, the rate was at 290 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015.
In the recent past, dozens of Rwandans have been detained illegally by Uganda’s military intelligence under unclear circumstances and subjected to torture for allegedly being Rwandan planted spies.
On Saturday 09th November, another Rwandan, Fidele Gatsinzi was arrested by plain clothed security operatives suspected to be CMI agents and his whereabouts remain undisclosed up to now. Gatsinzi had gone to Kampala last week on Thursday to visit his son who studies at Uganda Christian University in Mukono.
Family sources say, Gatsinzi booked into Winks Hotel in Ntinda near Capital Shopers where he spent one night before being kidnapped the next day at around 9am local time.
“We have been trying to look for him for the past two days but we have failed to trace his whereabouts,” a close relative of Gatsinzi told this website. “We requested his niece to go and check his hotel but upon arrival, she was told that Gatsinzi left in the morning and didn’t return.”
However, his belongings remained in the hotel room.
Since September, dozens of Rwandans have been illegally detained under unclear circumstances by CMI and subjected to torture to induce false confessions that they allegedly spy for Rwanda.
On 23rd Sept 2017, three Rwandans, Bayingana James, Nsekanabo Lando Ali, Byaruhanga Nduwamungu Vianney were arrested by Uganda’s CMI from Bukasa and detained in Mbuya for three months till their release in November.
Rene Rutagungira was arrested on 6th August 2017 from Bakuri in Kampala and remains under custody till today.
“All these arrested people are subjected to torture and detained incommunicado and asked common questions such as their military background, their associates in Uganda and their involvement in kidnap of Rwandans,” a source said.
Recent media reports indicated of an existing scheme to fake kidnaps of Rwandan refugees reportedly committed by Kigali as a strategy of portraying Rwanda as a “hostile” state
As these arrests increase, a general fear of safety for Rwandans travelling to Uganda is growing by day. Many tend to alert family members, friends and officials whenever they travel to Uganda asking them to keep keen ‘eye’ just incase they suddenly disappear.
Contrary to the standards that guide arrests of foreigners, Rwandans detained by CMI are denied consular access from Rwandan diplomats and legal counsel. Since most are detained in ungazetted detention centers, Uganda’s Police force is usually unaware about these arrests.
As these continue illegal detentions escalate, sources say increased recruitment of Rwandans into rebel ranks for RNC continues unabated. Credible information obtained by this website shows that the recruitment drive is happening in refugee camps of Nyakivala, Kibale and Mubende with support from Uganda’s CMI.
During these recruitment visits to refuge camps, Rugema Kayumba, a former army corporal and cousin to fugitive Kayumba Nyamwasa does the mobilization propaganda while the entire recruitment scheme is supervised by CMI that provides the team with logistical support including security escorts.
RNC’s Rugema Kayumba re-located from his asylum home in Norway and now coordinates fugitive Kayumba Nyamwasa operations from Kampala where he’s a special guest of CMI.
“It is most likely that the arrests are being done to divert or cover-up the recruitment for RNC that is now in full gear in refugee camps accommodating Rwandans,” a highly placed intelligence source told this website.
Two RNC fugitives Maj. (rtd) Habib Mudathir and Capt (rtd) Sibo Charles left Rhino refugee camp in Arua facilitated by CMI to coordinate training for RNC recruits in Minebwe S.Kivu of DRC and prepare another training camp in West Nile of Uganda.
Credible information from intelligence sources say the two renegade ex-soldiers (Habib and Sibo) are trying but with limited success to mobilize retired RDF officers inside Rwanda, hoping to have them in RNC training camps.
