IGIHE

Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

  • Genocide suspect Murekezi jailed for five years guilty of corruption

    Rwandan national Vincent Murekezi was jailed for five years on Monday after he was convicted of corruption by the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court almost nine years after he was tried in absentia.

    Murekezi’s co-accused Komani Nyasulu was already convicted and served his sentence.

    The court heard that Murekezi was convicted of the offence of corrupt transaction by private body contrary to section 26 subsection 2 of the corrupt practices Act where it was alleged that he on or about the 30 of December 2007 in the city of Lilongwe corruptly gave Nyasulu a clearing agent with Trade and Freight Connections K200 000 in order to facilitate evasion of import duty of approximately K2.2million which was payable to Malawi Government.

    Principal Resident Magistrate Chilunga Chirwa said Murekezi deserved custodial sentence.

    “Having arrived at the decision that an immediate custody term is deserved , the next issue is how long should the sentence be. Without a doubt he does not deserve a short sentence. This is not a matter where he pleaded guilty. It is my honest belief that the offender herein deserves more than 4 years as the advantage offered in instant case was higher and it resulted in the loss of a lot of money in revenue.

    “It is my view that he deserves 5 years imprisonment with hard labour to run from the day he was convicted by this court namely the 2 February, 2017,” said the Magistrate.

    Murekezi’s lawyer Gift Katundu said the Rwandan has already instructed him to appeal the sentence, saying it is “harsh”.

    “My client has already advised me to appeal the sentence,” Katundu told Nyasa Times.

    Vincent Murekezi was jailed for five years yesterday after he was convicted of corruption by the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court.

    Source:Nyasa Times

  • Five Burundi MPs boycott Kigali- EALA sitting

    {Five representatives of Burundi in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) have declined to attend the EALA sitting in Kigali citing personal security reasons.}

    EALA opened a general assembly which will be held in Rwanda from 6th to 17th March 2017. It is the last sitting before a new parliament is ushered in on 5th June 2017.

    Before the sitting that started yesterday, five among nine parliamentarians representing Burundi in EALA informed the speaker, Daniel Fred Kidega, that they could not attend the general assembly in Rwanda over personal security reasons.

    As President Paul Kagame officially opened the general assembly, only four Burundian EALA MPs were present, including; Amb Jeremie Ngendakumana, Ngenzebuhoro Frederic K, Dr Martin Nduwimana and Nsabimana Yves.

    Absentees are Bucumi Emerence, Jean Marie Muhirwa, Ndahayo Isabelle, Ndarubagiye Leonce and Nengo Emmanuel.

    In a press briefing following the launch of EALA General Assembly, the speaker Daniel Fred Kidega has said that Burundians absence won’t interrupt the session.
    “To assume a quorum, each country has to be represented by at least three members,” he said.

    “Now EALA is complete. I want to highlight it again that five Burundi MPs filed a complaint to me regarding their personal security if they come to Rwanda. It is not for the first time that I receive such a complaint of security problems; but we have a proper way of settling the situation to normal,” he added.

    Kidega explained that Rwanda assured full security despite worries of the Burundians.
    “I worked with the Republic of Rwanda to ensure all parliamentarians in Rwanda stay in secure hotels and I do appreciate the government of Rwanda,” he said.

    The speaker of EALA, Fred Kidega has said that more parliamentarians from other countries have not attended the general assembly noting that all absentees from any countries have to provide explanations.

    Burundi-Rwanda relations soured following 2015 insurgency sparked by president Nkurunziza’s bid to run for a third term where the latter accused Rwanda of being behind security breakdown , an accusation Rwanda denied.

  • North Korea bans Malaysians from leaving in murder row

    {Malaysia quickly responds by imposing a similar ban on North Koreans as tensions swirls over killing of King Jong-nam.}

    North Korea has barred Malaysians from leaving the country, sparking tit-for-tat action by Malaysia, as police investigating the murder of Kim Jong-nam sought to question up to three men hiding in the North Korean embassy.

    After Pyongyang announced the move, Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak swiftly called for the immediate release of its citizens, instructing police “to prevent all North Korean citizens in Malaysia from leaving the country until we are assured of the safety and security of all Malaysians in North Korea”.

    “This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms,” Najib said in a statement, adding that he had called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.

    The North’s foreign ministry notified the Malaysian embassy in Pyongyang of the reason for the ban and said it had hoped the case would be swiftly and fairly resolved in order to develop bilateral ties with Malaysia, the North’s KCNA news agency reported.

    “All Malaysian nationals in the DPRK will be temporarily prohibited from leaving the country until the incident that happened in Malaysia is properly solved,” the official Korea Central News Agency said on Tuesday, citing the foreign ministry.

    Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Reezal Marican told reporters that there were 11 Malaysians in North Korea: Three at the embassy, two UN workers and six family members.

    Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi, reporting from Kuala Lumpur, said Marican also said the government will need to check the exact numbers because some Malaysians might be in the country on approved tours or some other business.

    “Initially, we were told Malaysian government’s ban only affected the North Korean embassy staff and officials. But through the prime minister’s statement, it’s clear that it extends to all North Koreans in the country.”

    Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur had unusually strong links for years, but have been set at loggerheads following the assassination of King Jong-nam by two women using VX nerve agent.

    Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for the assassination and Kuala Lumpur has sought several North Koreans for questioning, although the only one it arrested was released for lack of evidence.

    According to KCNA, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry expressed hopes that the Malaysian government would solve the issue in a “fair and timely manner based on goodwill”.

    The North has yet to confirm the dead man’s identity, but has denounced the Malaysian investigation as an attempt to smear it.

    Malaysia expelled the North’s ambassador as diplomatic tensions soared, and Pyongyang retaliated late Monday by formally ordering out his counterpart – who had already been recalled for consultations.

    Malaysian diplomats and nationals in the North would be allowed to “conduct business and live normally” while the travel ban is in place, it added.

    Earlier, Malaysia decided to cancel visa-free entry for North Koreans entering the country. North Koreans are now required to obtain a visa as of March 6 before entering Malaysia for national security reasons, state news agency Bernama reported on Thursday, citing the deputy prime minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

    Malaysia expelled North Korea's ambassador as diplomatic tensions soared following the assassination

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Clashes on Pakistan-Afghanistan border kill 15

    {Ten fighters and five soldiers dead after border posts targeted in attacks claimed by a faction of Pakistani Taliban.}

    At least 15 people have been killed in clashes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border after Pakistani Taliban fighters attacked three border posts in Pakistan’s Mohmand tribal area, according to the military.

    A Pakistan military statement said on Monday that 10 fighters were killed and five soldiers lost their lives in the attacks that occurred late on Sunday.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,500km-long border, which is largely unpatrolled and disputed by Afghanistan.

    “[This attack] emphasises the need for required physical presence on the Afghan side of the border,” the statement said.

    “Terrorists are a common threat and must be denied freedom of movement or action along the border.”

    In a statement emailed to journalists, the Jamaat-ur-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.

    “This attack was a part of Jamaat-ur-Ahrar’s previously announced Operation Ghazi, which targets the enemies of Islam and is ongoing with full force,” the statement said.

    The group has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks last month, including suicide bombings against police in the eastern city of Lahore; attacks on government employees in the northwestern town of Ghalanai; and an explosion in a court complex in Charsadda district.

    Pakistan sealed all border crossings with its northwestern neighbour following those attacks, which together with the 88 killed at a shrine in Sindh province claimed more than 120 lives.

    Pakistan’s foreign office announced on Monday that two border crossings would be reopened for 48 hours on Tuesday to allow stranded visitors in either country to return home.

    That announcement came hours after a senior Afghan diplomat was summoned to the foreign office to protest over the latest border attacks, urging Afghanistan to “take firm action against terrorists operating from its soil to prevent recurrence of such incidents”, according to a statement.

    The statement said a soldier was killed in a similar attack on a border post in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal area.

    Afghanistan denies it has allowed its territory to be used against Pakistan, accusing its neighbour of giving sanctuary to leaders of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.

    {{Pakistan denies the charge.}}

    Last month, both countries exchanged lists of fighters they believed to be hiding in each other’s territory, demanding action be taken against them.

    Pakistan sealed border crossings with Afghanistan following last month's attacks

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Rajbiraj pre-election rally turns deadly

    {Police open fire after supporters and opponents of upcoming local election clash, leaving at least four people dead.}

    At least four protesters have been killed and four others injured in Nepal after security forces opened fire at a political rally, according to police.

    Thousands of officers were deployed on Monday to the southeastern town of Rajbiraj, where the Unified Marxist and Leninist party had organised a get-out-the-vote rally before local elections set for May 14.

    Members of the Madhesi ethnic community, who oppose the upcoming polls, held a counter-protest. The police opened fire at the protesters when they began hurling stones at the leftists.

    An 18-year-old man died at a local hospital, while three others died at another hospital in Dharan, a town about 80km east, said Sarbendra Khanal, a spokesman for Nepal Police.

    “The area is still tense. Protesters have set at least four vehicles on fire and have obstructed the highway,” Khanal said, adding that about 40 security forces were injured in the clashes.

    Khanal said that the leaders of the party that organised Monday’s rally were escorted back to their homes in the east of the country.

    Thousands of officers were deployed on Monday in Rajbiraj [Shreedhar Poudel/AFP]
    The opposition party has been critical of the protesters’ demand seeking greater rights.

    Nepal’s coalition government announced last month that polls would be held on May 14 for more than 700 local bodies, the first local elections in 20 years.

    The government’s move has met fierce opposition from the Madhesis, who protested by shutting down the southern region bordering India for a day.

    The polls were delayed for years because of civil war and political infighting, but the protesters have refused to participate in the elections and are demanding amendments to the country’s new constitution.

    The Madhesis say the constitution discriminates against them by limiting their representation in state institutions.

    They have long called for the redrawing of provincial boundaries to ensure greater representation for their community.

    The Unified Marxist and Leninist party organised a get-out-the-vote rally

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Deadly clashes hit Kokang in Myanmar’s Shan state

    {Authorities say rebels attacked Chinese-speaking Kokang region while armed group says violence was self-defence.}

    At least 30 people have been killed in a region on Myanmar’s border with China after rebels – some dressed in police uniforms – launched a surprise attack, according to authorities.

    Monday’s clashes were some of the worst to break out in the Chinese-speaking Kokang region of the northeastern state of Shan since fighting in 2015 left scores dead and forced tens of thousands to flee across the border into China.

    Rebels from the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) group launched an attack early on Monday against police and military posts in Kokang, according to the office of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader.

    A separate group of fighters later attacked locations in Laukkai, a main town in Kokang.

    “According to initial information, many innocent civilians including a primary school teacher … were killed because of attacks by the MNDAA armed group,” the state counsellor’s office said in a statement.

    It also said some attackers wore local police uniforms.

    The statement, accompanied by graphic pictures of the dead and wounded, said at least five civilians and five local police were killed in the fighting.

    It also said that a further 20 “burned bodies” had been found alongside weapons.

    Zaw Htay, the government spokesman, told AFP news agency that the 20 bodies were of MNDAA fighters.

    Unverified video shared on social media appeared to show parts of the town still ablaze on Monday afternoon while civilians scurried to safety amid the rattle of small arms fire.

    READ MORE: Aung San Suu Kyi hosts ethnic minorities in Myanmar

    An army source told AFP that the fighting was continuing as darkness fell.

    “Residents in town are fleeing. We do not know exact figures yet,” the officer said.

    The Northern Alliance, an umbrella group of rebels including the MNDAA which has yet to join national peace talks, confirmed its members were fighting in Laukkai.

    But in a Facebook post, it said they carried out the attack “to resist an enemy offensive in self-defence” and cited Myanmar military operations since December.

    Multiple conflicts

    Myanmar is torn by multiple ethnic conflicts, but the Kokang conflict has raised tensions with China.

    The latest fighting raises the spectre of a fresh refugee exodus into China.

    In early 2015 tens of thousands fled there when dozens of civilians, rebels and army troops died in months of fighting across the remote and mountainous region.

    China said Myanmar warplanes dropped bombs on its side of the border during that bout of fighting.

    Kokang has strong bonds with China – local people speak a Chinese dialect and China’s yuan is the common currency.

    Observers say China’s government holds considerable sway over the rebels.

    Clashes with the Northern Alliance have intensified across Shan state since late last year, claiming more than 160 lives across an arc of land in the long border region.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Satao, one of the last ‘giant tusker’ elephants, killed in Kenya

    {A rare African elephant – one of the continent’s oldest and largest – died in a suspected poaching incident, a conservation group has said.}

    Satao II, a 50-year-old so-called “giant tusker” was found dead near the Tsavo National Park border.

    Conservationists at the park believe he may have been killed be a poison arrow, although the cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

    Satao was named after another giant tusker killed by poachers in 2014.

    There are now fewer than 30 African “big tuskers” – adult bulls with ivory large enough to brush the ground – in the world.

    “I am pretty gutted really,” Richard Moller, head of the Tsavo Trust, told AFP.
    “This particular elephant was one that was very approachable, one of those easy old boys to find. Many are the others are much more difficult to see.

    “He has been through lots of droughts and probably other attempts at poaching.”
    A team from the park and Kenyan Wildlife Service recovered the animal’s enormous ivory tusks intact, before poachers could claim them, the park said.

    His carcass was discovered in January during routine aerial surveillance of the 25,000 sq km national park, but was only announced Monday.

    After the discovery, the park’s teams tracked an “elephant poaching gang” deep into the park, and two poachers were arrested.

    Among the items found with the poachers were three bows and 12 poisoned arrows, as well as an AK47 rifle, the park said.

    “Although this is a very sad loss in everyway, we can take some positive from this in that Satao’s carcass was indeed found with the ivory intact, and recovered before it could fall into the wrong hands and further fuel the illegal ivory market,” the Tsavo Trust said.

    “More importantly, this poaching gang… has been broken for ever.”

    One of the park's elephants, photographed in 2009. It takes decades for ivory tusks to grow to "giant tusker" size

    Source:BBC

  • Eight killed in Zambian food aid stampede

    {At least eight people were killed in a stampede on Monday as thousands of desperate Zambians scrambled for food handouts, police said.}

    The incident occurred in the capital Lusaka at a public sports centre where a church was handing out food to about 35,000 people, mostly from the city’s impoverished slums.

    “Eight people died while 28 others were injured in a stampede which happened at the Olympic Youth Development Centre around 6:00 am Monday as a crowd jostled to enter the premises,” police said in a statement.

    “The victims are among the 35,000 which the group had invited for prayers.”

    Police ordered the church that had been distributing the corn meal, cooking oil and salt, to halt the handouts.

    Hundreds of people, however, stayed there hoping the organisers would resume distribution, with some saying that the country’s president should ask millers to cut meal prices.

    “We cannot afford to buy it, so we come here,” Memory Chisanga, a 64-year-old woman, told AFP.

    A member of the church declined to comment.

    Southern Africa has been hit by a severe drought since 2015, and food prices in Zambia have risen steeply.

    People receive food aid in Minkammen, South Sudan. Eight people died while 28 others were injured in a food aid stampede in Lusaka, Zambia on March 6, 2017.

    Source:AFP

  • Nigerians told to avoid travel to US

    {Nigeria is advising its citizens against all but essential travel to the United States because of the lack of clarity on new immigration rules, the government said today.}

    A special adviser to the president on foreign affairs, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said in a statement that Nigerians “without any compelling or essential reasons” should consider delaying.

    “In the last few weeks, the office has received a few cases of Nigerians with valid multiple-entry US visas being denied entry and sent back to Nigeria,” she said.

    “In such cases reported to the office, such affected persons were sent back immediately on the next available flight and their visas were cancelled.” Dabiri-Erewa said “no reasons were given for the decision by the US immigration authorities”. The recommendation to postpone trips was given “until there is clarity on the new immigration policy” from Washington, she added. Of the 2.1 million African immigrants living in the United States in 2015, 327,000 were born in Nigeria, according to data from the Pew Research Centre, published in February. (AFP)

    US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 27 to bar people from seven, Muslim-majority countries from travelling to the United States for 90 days.

    It also stopped all refugees for 120 days and Syrian refugees permanently. The ban caused global outrage, as well as chaos across the United States, before it was frozen by a legal ruling.

    On Monday, US President Donald Trump signed a revised ban on refugees and on travellers from six Muslim-majority nations, scaling back the order to exempt Iraqis and permanent US residents.

    With his first attempt frozen by federal courts, Trump signed a second order suspending refugee admissions for 120 days and halting new visas for travellers from Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan.

    Tourists arrive to visit the Statue of Liberty on October 13, 2013 in New York City. Nigeria on March 06, 2017 advised its citizens against all but essential travel to the United States.

    Source:AFP

  • António Guterres visits Somalia, appeals for $825m

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres has landed in Mogadishu for his first trip since he took office in January in what he terms “a show of solidarity with Somalia people”.

    His emergency visit is meant to draw global attention to the humanitarian crisis facing the Horn of Africa nation.

    {{US BAN}}

    “People are dying. The world must act now to stop this,” Guterres tweeted to announce his arrival in Mogadishu.

    On arrival, he held a meeting with Somalia’s new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, after which he is expected to visit people affected by hunger and cholera.

    In their meeting, President Farmaajo urged US President Donald Trump to lift ban imposed on Somalia immigrants.

    Mr Guterres said the challenges facing Somalia— a combination of hunger, drought, conflict and disease— require massive response.

    {{SH82BN APPEAL}}

    “We need to make as much noise as possible,” he said. “Conflict, drought, climate change, disease, cholera. The combination is a nightmare.”

    He appealed for $825 million (Sh82.5 billion) to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa nation.

    This time, the UN chief said, they were better organised to respond to situation, referring to the UN, International Committee of the Red Cross, NGOs working in Somalia, the international community and the Mogadishu government.

    {{$4 BILLION}}

    Somalia is part of a massive $4 billion aid appeal launched last month for four nations wracked by conflict, drought and hunger.

    The others are Nigeria, Yemen and South Sudan, with Unity State bearing the brunt of the crisis.

    “I was at UNHCR when South Sudan became a state in 2005 and accompanied the refugees returning home,” recalled Guterres. “Now it’s a case of enormous hope turned into enormous tragedy! With 1.5 million refugees.”

    He added, “We have told the leaders to cease hostilities, dialogue and allow access to humanitarian organisations as well as UNMISS.”

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres is received in Mogadishu on march 7, 2017.

    Source:Daily Nation