Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

Donald Trump stands by phone-tapping claims

{White House repeats allegations of surveillance by Obama administration despite senior legislators rejecting claim.}

President Donald Trump stands by his accusation that the Obama administration tapped his phones during the 2016 presidential campaign, the White House has said, despite three senior legislators rejecting Trump’s claim.

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a statement on Thursday they saw “no indications” of surveillance at Trump Tower in New York as the president claimed in Twitter posts on March 4.

“Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016,” Republican Chairman Richard Burr and Senator Mark Warner, the committee’s Democratic vice chairman, said in a statement.

The top Republican in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, on Thursday added his voice to those saying there was no sign of phone tapping.

But White House spokesman Sean Spicer forcefully defended Trump’s assertion during a briefing, citing media reports that have discussed intelligence collection on possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia in the campaign.

“There is no question that there were surveillance techniques used throughout this,” Spicer said.

When pressed for further evidence, Spicer chastised the media for focusing so much attention on comments disparaging Trump’s claim about surveillance.

He said reporters have not focused enough on comments from officials denying evidence of any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

The Russian government has rejected an accusation by US intelligence agencies that it worked to influence the election in Trump’s favour by hacking computer systems, among other methods.

Ryan said: “The point is, the intelligence committees in their continuing, widening, ongoing investigation of all things Russia, got to the bottom – at least so far – with respect to our intelligence community that – that no such wiretap existed.”

Trump accused Obama of tapping his phone during the late stages of the campaign, but provided no evidence.

Obama said through a spokesman that it was “simply false”.

“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!,” Trump wrote.

Trump appeared to back away from his accusation of literal “wire-tapping” in a Fox News interview on Wednesday night.

“But wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think you’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks,” Trump said.

In the briefing on Thursday, his pres secretary cited unproven media reports that President Barack Obama asked Britain’s signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, to monitor Trump in order to “make sure there were no American fingerprints”.

Spicer quoted at length from a Fox News report, which alleged Obama had used GCHQ to dodge US legal restrictions on monitoring US citizens.

In the Fox report – which came almost two weeks later – Andrew Napolitano claimed that “three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command” to order the tap.

“He didn’t use the NSA, he didn’t use the CIA, he didn’t use the FBI, and he didn’t use the Department of Justice,” Napolitano said, adding that Obama used GCHQ.

Source:Al Jazeera

March 17, 2017
Outrage over Helen Zille’s colonialism tweets

{Former DA leader apologises for social media posts suggesting that the legacy of colonialism was not all negative.}

The former leader of South Africa’s main opposition party has sparked a public outcry over a series of social media posts that suggested colonialism brought benefits to the country.

“For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water,” Helen Zille, the ex-head of the Democratic Alliance (DA) party and the current premier of the Western Cape province, wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

She tweeted that the transition into “specialised healthcare and medication” may have not been possible without “colonial influence”.

Zille’s comments drew strong criticism from political opponents and those within her own party, as well as on social media.

Mmusi Maimane, who took the reins from Zille in 2015 to become the DA’s first black leader, criticised his predecessor, tweeting “colonialism, like apartheid, was a system of oppression and subjugation. It can never be justified”.

Maimane told local media that Zille’s tweets were “completely unacceptable and indefensible”.

In a statement , the party reiterated Maimane’s remarks, saying colonialism “oppressed millions of people and violated human rights in a cruel and inhumane way”.

The DA, which won 22 percent of the vote in 2014’s general election, has been gaining popularity and trying to shed its image as a “white” party before 2019’s presidential election.

It promotes itself as a liberal equal-opportunity party, but efforts to broaden its appeal among black voters have been hurt by social media scandals, and the party has struggled to present itself as a credible alternative to the ruling African National Congress (ANC)

{{Opponents demand Zille’s removal}}

The ANC urged the DA to immediately remove Zille as Western Cape premier, calling her tweets “reckless and ignorant claims”.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), another opposition party, also demanded Zille “step down”.

The EFF called Zille’s remarks “cold-hearted racism”.

South Africa was colonised by the Dutch and British for about 300 years. The country then experienced white-minority rule under apartheid, which ended in 1994.

Racial tensions, however, have continued to endure in the years after apartheid.

Source:Al Jazeera

March 17, 2017
Egypt Pharaoh statue ‘not Ramses II but different ruler’

{An ancient statue which was pulled from the mud in Cairo is not the Pharaoh Ramses II, but could be another king, Egypt’s antiquities minister has said.}

Khaled el-Anani told a news conference the statue was almost certainly Psamtek I, who ruled between 664 and 610BC.

Experts had thought the statue was Ramses, who ruled 600 years earlier, because it was close to a temple dedicated to the ruler.

But one of Psamtek’s five names was found engraved on the huge statue.

Even so, the find is still significant, Mr Anani said.

“If it belongs to this king, then it is the largest statue of the Late Period that was ever discovered in Egypt,” Ahram Online reported him as saying.

The discovery was made after they moved the statue – which was nine metres (29ft) tall originally – from a wasteland in between apartment blocks on the site of the ancient capital, Heliopolis, to the Egyptian museum in central Cairo.

It was found by an Egyptian-German archaeological team, and was partially submerged in water, and had split into a number of parts. Its torso alone weighed three tonnes.

The Ministry of Antiquities said it hoped the two parts could be put back together again.

Source:BBC

March 17, 2017
Namibia tribes sue Germany in US over colonial-era genocide

{More than a century after a long-hushed genocide took place in Namibia while under German colonial rule, descendants of the victims had their day in court in New York for the first time Thursday.}

In one of the darkest chapters of African colonial history, tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people were killed from 1904 to 1908.

Germany and Namibia have been in talks for the past two years about a joint declaration on the massacres.

The tribes filed their class-action lawsuit in January seeking compensation for “incalculable damages” and demanding that they be included in the negotiations between the two countries.

The 15 or so tribal representatives at the hearing — who came from Namibia, Canada and midwest America, some wearing colonial-era traditional dress — won their first victory Thursday when Judge Laura Taylor Swain scheduled another hearing for July 21.

“When I heard that she said the hearing can take place — that was the greatest success we have achieved. This is the sign that we are the winners,” said Ida Hoffmann, 69, a Namibian MP and Nama representative.

{{REPARATIONS REFUSED}}

While some German officials have acknowledged that a genocide occurred, the government has fallen short of an official declaration.

And Berlin repeatedly refused to pay direct reparations, saying that its development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibia’s independence from South Africa in 1990 was “for the benefit of all Namibians.”

A foreign ministry spokesman described the aid as “generous,” saying it includes “record” amounts per individual and points to Germany’s “responsibility.”

German settlers grabbed land, cattle and other means of subsistence from the locals, triggering a Herero revolt on January 12, 1904 in which they killed 123 German civilians.

In the bloody Battle of Waterberg in August 1904, around 80,000 Herero fled with women and children toward Botswana. German troops went after them across what is now known as the Kalahari Desert. Only 15,000 Herero survived.

In October 1904, colonial military commander General Lothar von Trotha ordered that the Herero be exterminated.

The smaller Nama tribe faced a similar fate. Around 10,000 of them were killed as they sought to rebel against the Germans during the conflict.

{{BLIND EYE TO RAPE}}

The lawsuit alleges that from 1885 to 1903, about a quarter of Herero and Nama lands — thousands of square miles — were taken without compensation by German settlers with the explicit consent of German colonial authorities.

It also claims that those authorities turned a blind eye to rapes by settlers of Herero and Nama women and girls, and the use of forced labour.

In addition to land and property grabs, there were concentration camps, exterminations and scientific experiments on “specimens” of what the settlers considered to be an inferior race — as if setting the stage for the major genocides of the 20th century.

“What happened to the Jews was only a perfection of what happened (to us),” said Vekuii Rukoro, identified as the paramount chief of the Herero people, who attended Thursday’s hearing.

“I’m sure Germany will ask, ‘How many billions?’ I don’t know, we need to sit around a table and hammer this out on the basis of give and take.”

The lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort Statute that allows non-US citizens to make claims in US federal court for international law violations.

Berlin has been tight-lipped about details of the deal being negotiated with Namibia, but the two tribes claim that their exclusion from the talks violates a United Nations declaration on indigenous people.

Kenneth McCallion, lawyer for the tribal groups, said he hoped Germany would “reconsider its position” on including them in the negotiations, and respond to the lawsuit if possible before the July hearing.

Source:AFP

March 17, 2017
Somali pirates release hijacked oil tanker, hostages

{Somali pirates on Thursday handed over an oil tanker and eight Sri Lankan hostages captured just days ago, the Oceans Beyond Piracy NGO told AFP, bringing to a close the first such attack since 2012.}

“The Puntland maritime police force freed the ship. They made (the pirates) an offer they couldn’t refuse and the pirates have left,” said John Steed, a former British army officer with the NGO who has spent years negotiating the release of piracy hostages in Somalia.

Earlier on Thursday the Puntland coastguard had threatened to use force if the talks to convince the pirates to release the vessel failed.

Armed attackers seized the Aris 13 on Monday as it made its way from Djibouti to Mogadishu, the first hijacking of a large merchant vessel by Somali pirates since 2012.

Steed said the pirates had left the Aris 13 ship, which was under control of the coast guard and on its way to the port city of Bossaso in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, on the northeastern tip of Somalia.

Somalia ready to use force to free ship seized by pirates
He was not able to provide more details on the conditions for the release of the vessel.

Abdirahman Mohamud Hassan, the director general of the Puntland maritime force, said earlier that a regional governor, who was not named, had been appointed to negotiate with the pirates.

The successful release came after a fierce firefight between the coast guard and armed men aboard a boat believed to be taking food and provisions to the hijacked tanker.

“Our forces were doing a normal routine patrolling around the area when they came under gunfire from these gunmen who were onboard a small skiff and they returned fire,” said Hassan.

Steed said an unknown number of people had been injured in the exchange of gunfire.

At the time the tanker was taken it was forced to change course and head toward Puntland. The Aris 13 was about 18 kilometres off the Somali coast when it was attacked, according to Steed.

He said the vessel was not following the “best practices” put in place to avoid piracy, since it was taking a cost- and time-saving route too close to Somalia’s coastline, was travelling too slowly and was without an armed escort.

ILLEGAL FISHING

Village elders in Alula where the hijacked vessel first docked, said the pirates had not made clear demands, but claimed to be driven by anger over illegal fishing.

“These are fishermen who are infuriated with the illegal fishing off their coasts. They desperately need to show their grievances by seizing the boat,” said Abdiwahab Ahmed, an elder in Alula.

Somali pirates began staging waves of attacks in 2005, seriously disrupting a major international shipping route and costing the global economy billions of dollars.

At the peak of the piracy crisis in January 2011, 736 hostages and 32 boats were held.

ATTACKS

Though anti-piracy measures ended attacks on commercial vessels, fishing boats have continued to face attacks.

Steed says the international community had taken significant steps to improve security, boosting naval forces in the area and requiring ships to take protection measures.

“Hundreds of pirates were arrested, others gave up, and we hadn’t had an attack of a commercial ship for five years,” he said.

“But the one thing that’s not really been addressed is the real root cause of this, which is poverty and the lack of jobs on the ground. There’s also a drought, so there’s no food, no water.”

Illegal fishing has long been used by Somali pirates as an excuse for attacks and Steed has in the past warned that the presence of foreign vessels emptying Somali waters could reverse the gains against piracy.

“The question wasn’t really if an attack was going to happen, the question was when,” said Steed.

Source:AFP

March 17, 2017
Uganda:Makerere suspends issuance of transcripts, closes online marks system

{Makerere University has closed the online marks system and suspended the issuance of academic transcripts. The online marks system is used to enter and store student’s examination scores. }

Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, the Makerere University Vice Chancellor in Charge of Finance and Administration, says the drastic decision was reached after discovering that some members of staff in the academic registrar’s office were tampering with student marks.

“The university suspended issuing of transcripts because of the problem that was discovered of officers fidgeting with the results system,” he said.

Prof Nawangwe further noted that: “The University is investigating the system to ensure its total integrity and credibility of the data before we can resume issuing of transcripts.”

Prof Nawangwe said the investigation is likely to take “sometime” but the administration is doing everything they can to ensure that students can start getting their graduates transcripts again.

“The whole results system is closed. Nobody can access the system except the people (police) who are investigating the system,” he said.

On March 6, detectives from the Crime Intelligence and Investigations Department (CIID), Kireka picked up two IT specialists attached to the academic registrar’s office at Makerere University on March 6th 2017 for allegedly altering student marks following a complaint by Prof Nawangwe to the Police Chief Gen Kale Kayihura.

The two, Christopher Ntwatwa and Mike Barongo are still in police custody. The online marks system is accessed by students who view their marks by logging in using their registration number and registrars in schools and colleges who enter marks in the system.

At the school of social sciences, college of humanities and social sciences, a communication has been pinned on the noticeboard informing graduates that they cannot issue testimonial because the system’s closure.

“The school is not issuing testimonials to the graduates. They should get transcripts from the senate building. The results system is currently closed so all results related matter is at hold,” the communication reads.

A testimonial is a letter issued to graduates confirming that they have successfully completed their degree programmes. The letter is usually issued to students whose transcripts are not ready.

{{Background}}

Days to the 67th graduation of Makerere University, the academic registrar withdrew the names of 50 students who had been cleared to graduate after it was discovered that their marks had been altered.

The university also suspended, Joyce Namusoke an Assistant Registrar in the School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Science.

Complaints of changing marks at Makerere University have been popping up since the turn of the decade. The complaints usually emerge in January, the month when students graduate. A committee set up to investigate the alteration of marks in 2015 is yet to produce its report.

Source:Daily Monitor

March 17, 2017
Kenya:More Jubilee smart cards on the way, says Raphael Tuju

{A shortage of smart membership cards has hit Jubilee after the party sold all the seven million cards it had procured since the recruitment started in January.}

Jubilee Secretariat Chairman Raphael Tuju said the party had ordered extra 2.5 million cards and were expected in the country on March 23.

{{SH 20}}

Each card costs Sh20, meaning the party has already cashed in Sh140 million and is intending to mint an additional Sh50 million, if it sells all the extra cards to its supporters.

Aspirants have been flocking the party headquarters at Pangani in Nairobi and many have been leaving disappointed after failing to get the cards.

“We ran out of the smart cards due to high demand,” Mr Tuju told the Nation on Thursday evening.

“The cards are selling like hot cakes but we have placed an order and by March 23 we will have more cards for our members.”

{{ELECTION BOARDS}}

He said the party was in the process of forming nine-member election boards in all counties to be in charge of nominations, slated for next month.

He downplayed fears by some aspirants that the primaries will be marred by irregularities.

“The fears are unfounded. We have politicians who believe an exercise is fair only when they win but when they lose it is unfair and not free. We guarantee our candidates that the party primaries will be fair,” said Mr Tuju.

“The board will be in charge and not the interim officials. The officials were for presidential campaign and mobilisation of new voters during the recent registration,” he added.

{{DIRECT TICKET}}

He revealed that there were wealthy politicians attempting to compromise the party officials to get direct tickets.

“There are politicians who want to compromise the process and are making financial advances but we have rejected,” he said.

The party, according to Mr Tuju, has established a national tribunal to handle complaints that may arise from the primaries.

He confirmed that there were aspirants peddling lies and intimidating their rivals that they are close to the presidency and would secure direct tickets.

{{DECAMPING}}

“We want to ensure we get what the people want,” he said.

Mr Tuju further said the party had forwarded its nomination rules to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ahead of the Sunday deadline.

His sentiments come as a section of Nyeri politicians hinted at ditching the party over fears over the impeding nominations.

Others have opposed use of the smart cards in the exercise, saying it would be better if identity cards and voter cards were used.

Senator aspirant and former Mathira MP Ephrain Maina said decamping from the party is imminent if the primaries will be shambolic.

{{RIVALRY}}

Mr Maina warned that if party officials mismanage the primaries, the president’s party will be faced with stiff rivalry from smaller parties which have declared support for his re-election.

“We want to use of the voters’ register instead of the smart cards. The party should take care because in case of favouritism, locals will decamp and support other parties,” Mr Maina said.

Parties such as the Party of National Unity, Democratic Party, Narc-Kenya and Maendeleo Chap Chap have opened offices in Jubilee strongholds and vowed to field candidates in all elective seats except president.

{{REGISTER}}

Tetu MP aspirant Peter Kamuthu also called on the party to conduct the nominations using voters’ register and identity cards instead of the smart cards.

Mr Kamuthu said there were problems with accessing the cards and thus only few party members will participate in the primaries.

“Many supporters mostly the aged have problems in their transactions and so it is better they allow IDs to vote and then IEBC provide the voter’s register. This is the only way which will ensure free and fair nominations,” noted the aspirant.

He said if the nominations are marred by irregularities, the party should expect fall-out.

Source:Daily Nation

March 17, 2017
Tanzania:22-year lady delivers healthy quadruplets

{Isengule resident on the shoreline of Lake Tanganyika in Katavi Region’s Tanganyika district, 22-year old Fatuma Issa, has delivered quadruplets, one of them a girl.}

The new babies are believed to be the first quadruplets delivered at Mpanda Municipal Hospital. Nursing-in-Charge at the municipal health facility, Mr Alexander Kasagula said Ms Issa delivered the four children at the health facility over the weekend, saying the conditions of both new born and their mother who gave birth through a normal method are stable.

“The girl came first, weighing 1,088 grams, the second born weighed 1.5 kilogrammes, the third and fourth weighed 1.8 and 1.7 kilogrammes, respectively,” said Mr Kasagula. Three of the newly born babies are boys and one girl, he said: “It is an extraordinary thing to witness the proud mum and her four new babies.

They are still hospitalised for close medical watch.” Ms Issa said she was proud to deliver four children at once, saying the couple, with her husband, 25-year old Agustino Andrew have five children from three deliveries.

“My husband and I have five children now, during my first delivery I gave birth to a baby who is alive but in my second delivery I gave birth to twins, one died shortly after delivery and another died three months later,” she said.

She thanked God that in her third delivery, she gave birth to four babies without any maternal complications.

“I thank God and I’m proud to have all these new babies,” she said. Medical in Charge at the health facility, Dr Jaffar Kitambwa said the mother and her four babies have been admitted to the facility for close medical observation and treatment.

Source:Daily News

March 17, 2017
DRC resumes stalled political dialogue amid uncertainty

{Following a long and uncertain wait, doubt has been cast over the political dialogue in the Democratic Republic of Congo.}

It is becoming more and more difficult for authorities and the opposition to implement the late December deal on power sharing.

This has raised concerns within the episcopal conference which has been influential in the power-sharing deal.

It is in this climate of uncertainty that the talks resumed this Thursday in Congo’s capital Kinshasa.

The Bishops remain optimistic to finding rapid solutions at a time when the Congolese public seem impatient.

According to one of the mediators, Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo, “one afternoon could be sufficient to complete what remains, except stakeholders are not willing,”

The comments say a lot about the uncertainty which was discussed during the parliamentary opening session on Wednesday.

Members and Senators had pointed out during the opening that a reassuring electoral process is key to peace and stability in the DRC.

Source:Africa News

March 17, 2017
Burundi-born transgender candidate in Dutch elections

{A transgender candidate born in Burundi is standing as a candidate in the Dutch general elections.}

Olave Basabose fled Burundi as a young child but her family and friends are still there.

She says she still has deep and strong ties with Burundi and has kept in touch with LGBT activists there, she told a Burundian online publication in an interview.

She said:

The situation in Burundi fills me with anger, sometimes, pain, often, and hope, always. The emergence of a young, politically conscious and ethnically united movement for progress, democracy and development gives me hope.

I think that Burundi has real hopes, as long as we think in a unified way, as long as we are in solidarity, as long as we fight for democracy, as long as we aim for progress, as long as we hope together.

Olave trained as a corporate lawyer in the Netherlands and has been working there to protect the rights of sexual minorities.

She says her experience as a black transgender person in the Netherlands has been problematic and is part of the reason why political activism has become important to her.

She is standing for the newly formed Artikel 1 party, which was set up to defend equality, emancipation and social justice for all residents of the Netherlands.

Source:The Star

March 17, 2017