Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

Hamid Ansari says India is development partner of Rwanda

{Vice President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday said India was Rwanda’s strong development partner.}

“We in India see ourselves as a strong development partner to Rwanda. We are already cooperating in sectors such as solar electrification, food processing, skill development and hydropower projects,”

Vice President Hamid Ansari said in an address at the University of Rwanda.

“India’s engagement with Africa has its own unique script, based on what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called ‘strong emotional link’ defined by our shared history of struggle against colonialism and our aspiration to bring prosperity to our people,” Ansari said.

Ansari was on a visit to Rwanda from February 19-21.

Speaking on the outcome of the visit of the Rwandan President Paul Kagame to India, Ansari said: “During President Kagame’s recent visit, an understanding has been reached for a new line of credit worth $80 million for a road project. We are also committed to continuing and enhancing the provision of scholarship for training of Rwanda civilians and defence personnel under various technical cooperation and cultural cooperation programmes.”

Kagame was on his maiden official visit to India from January 9-11.

During his visit, both sides agreed to raise the level of bilateral cooperation to a strategic partnership and India extended a $120 million credit to bring over 41,190 hectares of cultivable land under irrigation in the African country.

On the bilateral trade between the two nations, Ansari said: “Our bilateral trade has doubled over the last five years, but as $106 million, remains modest and much below its potential. Rwanda has a dynamic economy and ranks highly in the ease of doing business, providing many incentives for inventors.”

On Indian investments in the African agriculture sector and its market potential in India, he said: “The growing middle-class in urban India can become a dependable consumer for African food processing Industry.”

“India provides a long-term, stable and profitable market to the goods and services that Africa generates. For India, Africa has the potential to become a major contributor to our energy security and food security requirements. This is a ‘win-win’ situation.”

“The quantum of Indian investment in Africa has increased in recent years and is presently estimated to be about $35 billion, with a large part of it concentrated in Southern and Eastern Africa,” he added.

India has announced concessional credit of over $10 billion for Africa, over a period of next five years.

Source:One India

February 22, 2017
India, Rwanda sign aviation, visa deals

{ {{Rwandan Airways to begin direct flights between Kigali and Mumbai in April}}

India and Rwanda have concluded a bilateral air services agreement enabling direct flights between the two countries. This is among the three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) concluded during Vice-President Hamid Ansari’s visit to the African nation. In the words of Amar Sinha, Secretary, External Affairs Ministry, it was a visit from which India learnt a lot.}

Rwandan Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi and Mr. Ansari witnessed the signing of the MoU by Mr. Sinha and Alexis Nzahabwanimana, Rwandan Minister of State for Transport.

“With direct flights between the two countries, we expect our exchanges to be more fruitful,” Mr. Murekezi said.

Rwandan Airways will begin direct flights between Kigali and Mumbai in April.

The other two MoUs pertained to the setting up of an entrepreneurial development centre in Rwanda and exemption of visa for entry of diplomatic and official passports.

The agreements were signed in the presence of a large business delegation from India at the newly constituted India-Rwanda Business Forum organised by the FICCI and the Rwandan government.

Briefing the media at the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Sinha said while there was much to discuss what the Rwandan government wanted from India, including the desire of many pharmaceutical companies to open shop in the country and to have Bollywood films shot in Kigali, Mr. Ansari too had several questions on the many Rwandan initiatives.

{{Encourage tourism}}

“The Rwandan government wants to encourage tourism. With the air services agreement, that should happen. But they also want Bollywood films to be shot here, because they have noticed how tourism to New Zealand picked up after Bollywood started shooting films there,” Mr. Sinha said.

He said Mr. Ansari had many questions about President Paul Kagame’s governance model that had helped Rwanda become one of the cleanest, most well-run states in the region.

“It’s a visit where we too had a lot to learn … the reconciliation of various groups, to be conscious of a colonial policy of divide and rule and to try and overcome it, and how they are overcoming ethnic majoritiarianism by concentrating on a shared linguistic and cultural heritage.”

Source:The Hindu

February 22, 2017
US lawmakers urge Kenya to reconsider sh43b weapons deal

{Five members of the US Congress are urging the Kenyan government to reconsider a proposed sh43 billion purchase of 12 armed aircraft and related elements intended for use in Somalia against Al-Shabaab.}

Four Republicans, joined by a Democratic member of the Congressional Black Caucus, suggested on Tuesday in a letter to Nairobi’s envoy to Washington that the potential deal appears to be a bad deal for Kenya.

The lawmakers told Ambassador Robinson Njeru Githae that they “have reason to question the propriety of the acquisition.”

At the same time, the congressional sceptics are urging their colleagues to block the proposed transaction. They are also calling on Congress to investigate the circumstances surrounding Kenya’s pending agreement to buy a dozen armed Air Tractor AT-802 aircraft, two trainer planes and technical support and programme management services from L3 Technologies.

{{FAR LOWER PRICE}}

The five congressmen said in their letter to Ambassador Githae that L3 “has no experience converting agricultural aircraft into intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft with precision-strike capability.”

“One aspect of his process that concerns us,” the US House members added, “is whether any misrepresentations about capabilities have been made.”

A different company with proven experience could provide Kenya with field-tested aircraft and related elements at a far lower price, the congressmen said.

“Spending sh43 billion of Kenyan national funds on aircraft that could be acquired for over sh20 billion less from a company that has years of past performance and an existing production line is not an optimal allocation of scarce defence dollars,” Ambassador Githae was told.

The alternate company, which goes unnamed in the letter, is IOMAX USA. It is based in a part of the state of North Carolina represented in the US House by Congressman Ted Budd, the leader of the effort to halt the proposed deal with L3.

“We believe Kenya would benefit by exploring its options in regard to this acquisition,” Mr Budd wrote in a letter also signed by Congressman Sanford Bishop, an African-American Democrat, and three Republicans: Walter Jones, Jeff Duncan and Mark Meadows.

{{ONGOING INVESTIGATION}}

“We ask that the government of Kenya take these facts, in particular the prospect of an ongoing congressional investigation of this sale, under consideration as it decides whether or not to proceed with this arms purchase.”

James Braid, a senior aide to Congressman Budd, said in an interview on Tuesday that the type of converted agricultural aircraft manufactured by IOMAX has been used to drop at least 2000 bombs on Islamic State targets in Yemen, Syria and Libya. Those attacks were carried out by the United Arab Emirates, which purchased 48 of the planes from IOMAX, Mr Braid noted.

Kenya’s proposed deal with L3 has been approved by the State Department, which declined to comment on the five Congress members’ allegations. The process for finalising a deal under the US Foreign Military Sales programme also involves a 30-day review by Congress. That period came to an end last Sunday without any formal expression of opposition to the proposed Kenya-L3 agreement.

But Mr Braid says the deal can still be blocked if Congress supports Mr Budd’s call for an investigation. The US government’s executive branch, headed by President Donald Trump, could also intervene to halt the sale, Mr Braid noted.

{{TRANSPARENT BUYING PROCESS}}

US Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec has defended the propriety of the process whereby an arms sale to Kenya would be made.

“The process underway is transparent, open and proper,” the US envoy declared in a statement issued last Saturday. “This potential military sale would be carried out wholly in keeping with appropriate laws and regulations.”

No deal would be concluded, Ambassador Godec added, until the Kenyan Ministry of Defence receives “a detailed US government document that will clearly describe each item to be purchased and service to be provided along with an estimated cost.”

Kenya can then negotiate a purchase price, he said.

Kenya will thus have “the opportunity to review the offer line by line and make a final determination on the Air Tractor aircraft package,” Ambassador Godec stated.

Source:Daily Nation

February 22, 2017
Regional experts meet in Kigali to deliberate on joint counter-terrorism actions

{Counter-terrorism experts from police institutions in the region and international organizations are meeting in Kigali for a two-day workshop to deliberate on various strategies against the major security threat of the 21st century.}

At least ten countries from the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) and representatives from international organizations including Interpol, and Institute of Security Studies (ISS) are taking part in the workshop that started yesterday.

The third EAPCCO counter terrorism meeting held under the theme: “Sustaining regional cooperation to combat terrorism and violent extremism,” also brings together partners including the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany and Canada.

Top on the agenda is enhancing partnership between counter terror departments and agencies in EAPCCO, training – field training and command post exercise – looking at the current state of terrorism and radicalization in the region, laying deradicalization strategies; and exchanging best practices in combating terrorism and violent extremism, among others.

The Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) in charge of Administration and Personnel, Juvenal Marizamunda, while officiating at the opening of the meeting, said that such platforms signify the threat to peace and security posed by terrorism in the region and beyond.

“The success of counter-terrorism efforts depends upon strong commitment and concerted actions among countries,” DIGP Marizamunda said.

He added that to achieve this, it requires comprehensive approach encompassing not only security-based counter-terrorism measures but also preventive actions to address underlying conditions that drive individuals to be radicalized to join violent extremist groups.

Experts say that terrorism and extreme violent activities have increased exponentially over the last five years in the region. According to the 2016 report by the European Institute for Security Studies, more than 11, 000 fatalities were recorded in 2015 in Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Some of the terror groups operating in the region include Al-Shabab, ADF, FDLR composed of remnants of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda.

“EAPCCO countries have been working closely together through various bilateral and multilateral arrangements to prevent and combat terrorism. It is our responsibility to ensure that our region doesn’t become a safe haven or a soft target for terrorist groups,” DIGP Marizamunda said.

Francis Muhoro, the chairman of the EAPCCO Permanent Coordinating Committee (PCC), said that there are great strides in the region, either individual countries or joint efforts including deradicalisation strategies to deplete the pool so that terrorist doesn’t have the recruitment source.

“EAPCCO have been able to develop standard operating procedures in fighting counter terrorism; strengthening and capacitating directorates of criminal investigations and counter terrorism, developing CVE [countering violence extremism] strategies, and establishment of centres of excellences,” Muhoro said.

Currently, Kenya hosts the regional counter terrorism centre of excellence, and the Interpol’s hybrid as a ‘City Node’ which further provides EAPCCO countries with a pool of tools and expertise especially in three major areas of counter terrorism, cybercrime and emerging crimes.

“Terrorism has no defined physical barriers; to make the assumption that terrorism and violent extremism can only be associated with a particular country is a grave mistake. The networks are wide and borderless. We must remain vigilant, empower our people to speak out,” Muhoro said.

Canadian High Commissioner to Rwanda, Yannick Hingorani, whose country has been supporting counter terror activities in the region, pledged Canada’s continued support.

Willem Els from the Institute of Security Studies, a leading African organisation that enhances human security, said: “Cooperation is no longer a choice… it’s a necessity. Some of these terrorist groups are stronger than just a nation.”

The 3rd EAPCCO counter-terrorism workshop follows two others including the maiden one held in Seychelles in February 2014, and the second one held in Naivasha-Kenya in March last year.

Source:Police

February 22, 2017
Fifth of world’s food lost to over-eating and waste, study finds

{Almost 20 per cent of the food made available to consumers is lost through over-eating or waste, a study suggests.
}

The world population consumes around 10 per cent more food than it needs, while almost nine per cent is thrown away or left to spoil, researchers say.

Efforts to reduce the billions of tonnes lost could improve global food security — ensuring everyone has access to a safe, affordable, nutritious diet — and help prevent damage to the environment, the team says.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh examined ten key stages in the global food system — including food consumption and the growing and harvesting of crops — to quantify the extent of losses.

Using data collected primarily by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the team found that more food is lost from the system than was previously thought.

Almost half of harvested crops — or 2.1 billion tonnes — are lost through over-consumption, consumer waste and inefficiencies in production processes, researchers say.

Livestock production is the least efficient process, with losses of 78 per cent or 840 million tonnes, the team found. Some 1.08 billion tonnes of harvested crops are used to produce 240 million tonnes of edible animal products including meat, milk and eggs.

This stage alone accounts for 40 per cent of all losses of harvested crops, researchers say.

Increased demand for some foods, particularly meat and dairy products, would decrease the efficiency of the food system and could make it difficult to feed the world’s expanding population in sustainable ways, researchers say.

Meeting this demand could cause environmental harm by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, depleting water supplies and causing loss of biodiversity.

Encouraging people to eat fewer animal products, reduce waste and not exceed their nutritional needs could help to reverse these trends, the team says.

The study is published in the journal Agricultural Systems. It was carried out in collaboration with Scotland’s Rural College, University of York, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research.

The research was funded through a Global Food Security Programme supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council and the Scottish Government.

Dr. Peter Alexander, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences and Scotland’s Rural College, who led the study, said: “Reducing losses from the global food system would improve food security and help prevent environmental harm. Until now, it was not known how over-eating impacts on the system. Not only is it harmful to health, we found that over-eating is bad for the environment and impairs food security.”

Professor Dominic Moran, of the University of York, who was involved in the study, said: “This study highlights that food security has production and consumption dimensions that need to be considered when designing sustainable food systems. It also highlights that the definition of waste can mean different things to different people.”

Source:Science Daily

February 22, 2017
Gishari Integrated Polytechnic hold first graduation ceremony

{Gishari Integrated Polytechnic (GIP), yesterday, held its first graduation ceremony of 161 students, who graduated in various advanced vocational diploma fields.}

The graduands include 90 police officers and 71 civilians. At least 13 of the total graduands are girls.

They completed in three disciplines; civil engineering, electrical and electronics, and electronics and telecommunication technology.

The State Minister in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, Olivier Rwamukwaya officiated at the graduation ceremony, which was also attended by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana, the Governor of the Eastern Province, Judith Kazayire and parents.

The State Minister commended the increasing enrolment of students in technical and vocational schools as part of the national policy.

He, however, expressed the need for more girls’ enrolment. Currently, girls comprise of 45 percent of the total enrolment in technical and vocational schools.

“The target is to have the number of girls increase by three folds by 2020 as part of President Paul Kagame’s goal under the HeForShe programme,” Minister Rwamukwaya said.

HeForShe is a global solidarity movement spearheaded by UN Women that seeks to engage men and boys in removing social and cultural barriers that prohibit women and girls from achieving their full potential.

Rwanda, through His Excellency President Paul Kagame, chose three priority areas through which the country’s Impact Commitments were selected. These include: bridging the gender digital divide in ICT and attain parity in access and usage and innovation by 2020; enhancing girls’ enrollment in TVET to boost their employability and; eradicating Gender-Based Violence in all its forms.

The State Minister called upon all vocational schools to align their courses with the new national curriculum effective this year, adding that they were developed in line with the EDPRS2 and Vision 2020 of building a knowledge-based economy and technical skills.

“For the curriculum to be effective in achieving a knowledge-based economy, it is paramount that enough time be allocated to practical programmes to produce technical and competitive students especially in job creation,” he said.

He told the graduands that the country expects a lot from their skills in job creation.

“The climax of your course marks the beginning of your ideals, knowledge and skills in driving the country’s transformation process,” he said.

The GIP Chairman of Board of Directors, John Bonds Bideri, noted that the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) will continue to play its role to ensure that the three pillars of access, relevance and quality are pursued to ensure the standards of TVET remain competitive at all levels where they are demanded or required.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Damas Gatare, the acting Principal of GIP, reassured the quality and competitiveness of the graduands on the labour market.

“This milestone is in line with the polytechnic mission “to empower police officers and the community with competitive technical knowledge and vocational skills required on the labour market, and to provide comprehensive in house support for effective and efficient management of resource,” ACP Gatare said.

The graduands, through their representative – Richard Karemera – however, requested that the government considers their A1 as Ao (bachelors), and reward best students with scholarships for further studies GIP opened its doors in 2013 following the memorandum of understanding between RNP and WDA in 2011.

Source:Police

February 22, 2017
10 things every husband should do for his wife

{It’s certainly true that there are no perfect men but many marriages would be successful if men strive to become good husbands to their wives.}

Here are 10 things every husband should do for his wife

1. Every husband should take into account how his wife feels. Ensure you value your wife’s feelings.

2. Do not be too busy for wife. Spend quality time regularly with your wife.

3. Every husband should trust his wife. You cause cracks in your marriage when you doubt your wife.

4. Help your wife with house chores without her asking you.

5. Always remember days that are important to your wife like birthdays, anniversaries etc.

6. Every husband should know the likes and dislikes of his wife. Know her hobbies, the movies she likes etc.

7. Every husband should be transparent and hide nothing from his wife.

8. Every husband should treat his wife like the most important woman in the world because that is what she is to you.

9. Every husband should believe in his wife and also believe in her dreams and goals whether he supports them or not. If it makes her happy, support her.

10. Every husband should do everything that he can to make his wife feel better when she’s sad.

Source:Elcrema

February 22, 2017
Humans are hard-wired to follow the path of least resistance

{The amount of effort required to do something influences what we think we see, finds a new UCL study suggesting we’re biased towards perceiving anything challenging to be less appealing.}

“Our brain tricks us into believing the low-hanging fruit really is the ripest,” says Dr Nobuhiro Hagura, who led the UCL team before moving to NICT in Japan. “We found that not only does the cost to act influence people’s behaviour, but it even changes what we think we see.”

For the study, published in eLife, a total of 52 participants took part in a series of tests where they had to judge whether a cloud of dots on a screen was moving to the left or to the right. They expressed their decisions by moving a handle held in the left or right hand respectively. When the researchers gradually added a load to one of the handles, making it more difficult to move, the volunteers’ judgements about what they saw became biased, and they started to avoid the effortful response. If weight was added to the left handle, participants were more likely to judge the dots to be moving rightwards as that decision was slightly easier for them to express. Crucially, the participants did not become aware of the increasing load on the handle: their motor system automatically adapted, triggering a change in their perception.

“The tendency to avoid the effortful decision remained even when we asked people to switch to expressing their decision verbally, instead of pushing on the handles,” Dr Hagura said. “The gradual change in the effort of responding caused a change in how the brain interpreted the visual input. Importantly, this change happened automatically, without any awareness or deliberate strategy.”

“Traditionally, scientists have assumed the visual system gives us perceptual information, and the motor system is a mere downstream output channel, which expresses our decision based on what we saw, without actually influencing the decision itself. Our experiments suggest an alternative view: the motor response that we use to report our decisions can actually influence the decision about what we have seen,” he said.

The researchers believe that our daily decisions could be modified not just through deliberate cognitive strategies, but also by designing the environment to make these decisions slightly more effortful. “The idea of ‘implicit nudge’ is currently popular with governments and advertisers,” said co-author Professor Patrick Haggard (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience). “Our results suggest these methods could go beyond changing how people behave, and actually change the way the world looks. Most behaviour change focuses on promoting a desired behaviour, but our results suggest you could also make it less likely that people see the world a certain way, by making a behaviour more or less effortful. Perhaps the parent who places the jar of biscuits on a high shelf actually makes them look less tasty to the toddler playing on the floor.”

Source:Science Daily

February 22, 2017
Uganda deports two Rwandan fugitives

{Rwanda National Police (RNP), yesterday, received two fugitives at Gatuna border post, who had escaped prison and fled to Uganda.}

Boniface Ndimubanzi, 58, a genocide convict and Valence Ndikuryayo, 31, who was convicted for forgery and deceit, was arrested separately recently by Uganda Police Force following an Interpol arrest warrant issued by Rwanda.

Ndimubanzi was handed a life sentence in 2009 by a Gacaca court in Tovu Village Kiyombe Sector of Nyagatare district for genocide related crime he committed in former Murambi commune, currently Gatsibo District. He escaped Nsinda prison in February 2012 after serving three years.

He was arrested in Kyankwanzi in Kiboga District where he was apparently working as a casual laborer.

Ndikuryayo, on the other hand, who had been convicted for forging land titles through which he defrauded people in Kimironko Sector of Gasabo District, was arrested in Mubende District where he had since settled.

RNP spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Theos Badege, said that following their escape, a notice was issued by Interpol Kigali through the I-24/7 communication tool, which connects all the 190 Interpol member countries.

He lauded the act by their counterparts in Uganda adding that “it materializes the existing cooperation between the two countries and respective police forces.”

The deportation comes two days before a bilateral meeting between the RNP and Uganda Police Force to be held in Kigali, which will mainly focus on strengthening the already existing cooperation in various areas of policing and fighting cross-border crimes in particular.

Source:Police

February 21, 2017
Digital Ambassadors program unveiled in Kigali

{A new youth-led initiative in Rwanda will transform the lives of 5 million citizens by bringing them online and providing digital skills training in their communities through the newly announced Digital Ambassador Program (DAP).}

In partnership with Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) and the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Internet for All Northern Corridor initiative, Rwanda’s Ministry of Youth and Information Communication Technology (MYICT) will be spearheading a push to train youth to provide internet access, digital skills training, and to create jobs across the country.

Based on DOT’s youth-led development model, DAP will train 5,000 young Rwandans as Digital Ambassadors who will offer digital skills training to 5 million Rwandans so they can access online opportunities and e-government services.

“Digital Ambassadors will receive the digital, leadership and training skills they need to respond to the unique needs and challenges of their communities,” said Janet Longmore, founder and CEO of DOT.

“DAP is an innovative and youth-led approach to economic development and digital inclusion – we are inspired by the commitment our network of partners in Rwanda to making this a highly impactful initiative that will create new opportunities and transform communities.”

Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean PhilbertNsengimana, shares, “The Digital Ambassador Program is a great initiative to achieve Rwanda’s Digital Talent Policy objectives. We strongly believe that digital literacy combined with internet access for all will accelerate Rwanda’s digital transformation toward a Smart Nation. The Government of Rwanda would like to thank all partners of the DAP and extends an invitation for others to join. This is an important step in a long journey of building a Smart Africa.’’

The WEF Internet for All initiative aims to create millions of internet users in the Northern Corridor of Africa, with an objective of adding 25 million new internet users to the region by 2019. Alex Wong, WEF Internet for All steering committee member, said, “The Rwanda Digital Ambassador Program is an example of the innovation and collaboration between government, civil society, and other key stakeholders that will mark a significant step forward to achieving our DOT Rwanda Remera Kigali, P.O. Box 5182 www.dotrust.org Page 2 project goals and, more importantly, position Rwanda with the ICT and internet skills, awareness, and content necessary to embrace and benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We congratulate Minister Jean PhilbertNsengimana and Janet Longmore for their leadership in launching this important program.”

DAP partners will collaborate based on core principles that respect and respond to the needs of local Rwandans, empower young women and men to become digital champions in their communities, and meet the unique needs of Rwandan women and girls. DAP was announced today at an event in Kigali, Rwanda, that gathered partners from across the private and civil sectors to plan the initiative’s launch in Rwanda.

February 21, 2017