Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

Thousands to Get Free Treatment During Kwibohora20 Army Week

The Rwanda Military Hospital (RMH) will provide free health care to thousands of Rwandans in Musanze, Gakenke, Burera and Nyabihu districts during Army Week.

This year’s Army Week is part of Kwibohora20 activities marking 20 years since the Rwandan Patriotic Front stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi and liberated Rwanda.

As part of Army Week, the RMH will treat survivors of the Genocide who still suffer from their wounds.

This builds on the work already done by the hospital in offering specialised treatment to survivors.

To date, RMH has covered 16 districts and treated 30,000 genocide survivors. Of these, around 15 have been transferred abroad for services that could not be provided in Rwanda.

During Army Week, Genocide survivors from Musanze, Gakenke and Burera will be treated at Ruhengeri and Nemba hospitals and specialists will consult those who need further medical care or surgery.

In these three districts, the target is to treat 1,000 survivors. One thousand Genocide survivors from Nyabihu district will also be offered treatment by RMH specialists. All services will be free of charge.

Non-surgical and surgical male circumcision as well as HIV counselling and testing will be provided by the Rwanda Military Hospital in Rubavu, Musanze and Burera districts.

This activity has been organised in partnership with the Society for Family Health and Drew Cares International. The official launch for this activity will take place at 3pm on 24 June 2014 at the Busogo Health Centre.

The Rwanda Military Hospital will offer free dental and eye care in Musanze and Burera districts. Included in this activity is the provision of cataract surgery at Ruhengeri Hospital.

Rwanda Defence Force members will take part in Army Week by donating blood to help save the lives of many Rwandans in need of blood transfusions.

This activity is organised in partnership with the National Blood Transfusion Centre and will officially launch at 9am on 24 June 2014 at the Kanombe Military Barracks in Kigali.

Rwanda Military Hospital Army Week Activities:

17-19 June: Provision of free, non-surgical and surgical male circumcision as well as HIV counselling and testing at the Gisenyi Health Centre in Rubavu District.

22 June-3 July: Provision of free, non-surgical and surgical circumcision at the Busogo and Muko Health Centres in Musanze District and at the Cyanika Health Center in Burera District.

22 June-3 July: Provision of free dental and eye care in Musanze and Burera districts.

23 June-3 July: Rwandan Defence Force members from the Kanombe and Kami Military Barracks to donate blood.

24 June: Official launch of blood donation by Rwanda Defence Forces personnel at the Kanombe Military Barracks at 9am.

24 June: Official launch of free, non-surgical and surgical circumcision and HIV counselling and testing at the Busogo Health Centre at 3pm.

26-29 June: Provision of specialist treatment for genocide survivors in Musanze, Gakenke and Burera districts.

30 June-3 July: Provision of specialist treatment for genocide survivors in Nyabihu District.

7 July-11 July: Provision of cataract surgery at the Ruhengeri Hospital.

June 23, 2014
South Sudanese Peace Talks Adjourn Over Inclusivity Crisis

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June 23, 2014
Uniform Fees for EA Students Draw Debate

Ugandan universities have expressed mixed views on a proposal to charge uniform fees for students from the East African region.

Hundreds of Students from EAC member states have in the past been attracted to Uganda’s universities and this has been profitable business to the country’s private universities.

Under the proposed scheme, students from all the East African countries and South Sudan would pay the same tuition fees at any university in Uganda and in all member states.

The Inter-University Council for East Africa is finalizing a standard tuition fees structure which member states will be required to endorse before it comes into effect.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni recently directed the country’s Education ministry to harmonize tuition fees for students from the region, in line with the move towards regional integration.

June 23, 2014
Uganda not Exploiting Global Tilapia Demand

Ugandan farmers have been challenged to take advantage of the increasing global tilapia fish demand by boosting production.

Latest reports from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO Globefish) released early this month, indicate that the international tilapia trade has grown due to demand from the United States and many non-traditional emerging markets.

According to Uganda Fish Processors and Exporters Association (UFPEA) vice chaiperson Phillip Borel, “The global demand for tilapia is good for Ugandan farmers who should use it to their advantage by producing more fish.”

According to the Globefish report, there is increased production of farmed tilapia in the major producing countries of China, Egypt, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Thailand and Bangladesh.

The Globefish report adds that the popularity of tilapia, including the high value, air-flown fresh fillet, continues to grow among US consumers posting all-time records.

Although imports in all product categories increased in volume only marginally (+2.9 per cent) last year, the value of tilapia imports crossed over $1 billion, which was 7% higher than the value of imports in 2012.

In Africa, countries such as Ghana imported about 2,600 tonnes of tilapia from China in 2013, mostly in whole frozen form. The average Chinese export prices were $1.90 per kilogramme.

African countries are increasingly becoming the target markets for Chinese tilapia, especially for whole frozen products.

June 23, 2014
Plastic Tide ‘Causing $13Bn in Damage’, UN Says

The dumping of plastic waste into the world’s oceans is causing at least $13 billion a year of damage, threatening marine life, tourism and fisheries, the United Nations warned Monday at the launch of a global environment conference.

“Plastics have come to play a crucial role in modern life, but the environmental impacts of the way we use them cannot be ignored,” said UN Environment Programme (UNEP) chief Achim Steiner said.

“The key course of action is to prevent plastic debris from entering the environment in the first place, which translates into a single powerful objective: reduce, reuse, recycle.”

Scientists have found tiny plastic fragments trapped in sea ice in polar regions, while plastic waste has killed marine life, whether it be eaten by sea creatures such as turtles, tangled up dolphins and whales, or caused “damage to critical habitats such as coral reefs,” the report read.

“There are also concerns about chemical contamination, invasive species spread by plastic fragments, and economic damage to the fishing and tourism industries in many countries-by, for example, fouling fishing equipment and polluting beaches,” it added.

While much of the plastic waste ends up in vast mid-ocean rubbish patches where marine currents converge, micro-plastics — tiny fragments less than five millimetres in diameter — have had a growing impact that is particularly worrying, UNEP said.

“Their ingestion has been widely reported in marine organisms, including seabirds, fish, mussels, worms and zooplankton,” the report added.

“Transported by ocean currents across great distances, these contaminated particles eventually become a source of chemicals in our food,” Steiner added.

Some of the tiny fragments are caused by the breakdown of plastics, but one emerging issue is the increasing use of directly created “micro beads” of plastic in toothpaste, gels and facial cleansers.

“These micro plastics tend not to be filtered out during sewage treatment, but are released directly into rivers, lakes and the ocean,” the report added.

Companies should take responsibility, with experts arguing they could also boost their business savings through greater recycling efforts.

“The research unveils the need for companies to consider their plastic footprint, just as they do for carbon, water and forestry,” said Andrew Russell, chief of the Plastic Disclosure Project, a UNEP backed organisation.

The UNEP report was released at its headquarters in Kenya as it opened its first week-long conference bringing together over 1,200 delegates and experts to discuss a raft of environment challenges.

The UNEP conference runs until Friday, tackling a range of subjects including sustainable consumption and production, and financing the “green economy”.

wirestory

June 23, 2014
Kenyan Fighter Jets ‘Bomb al-Shabab’

Kenyan fighter jets have bombed the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group in Somalia, killing more than 80 of its fighters, the African Union (AU) force in Somalia has said.

The assault on the villages of Anole and Kuday was part of an effort to “liberate” Somalia from al-Shabab’s grip, the AU added.

Witnesses said a third area along the Kenya-Somalia border was also bombed.

Kenyan troops are part of the 22,000-strong AU force battling al-Shabab.

The militant group denied it had suffered casualties during the bombing campaign.

Last week, it said it was behind a deadly raid on the Kenyan coastal town of Mpeketoni, adding that such attacks were in response to the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia.

Kenyan warplanes bombed al-Shabab bases in the villages of Anole and Kuday in Somalia’s Lower Juba region, the AU force in Somalia said in a statement.

More than 50 insurgents were killed in Kuday and 30 in Anole as part of an on-going offensive to defeat al-Shabab, which had already lost control of 10 key towns, the statement said.

“Our forces will relentlessly keep up the pressure on al-Shabab and we will employ all the means at our disposal to end their reign of terror,” it added.

wirestory

June 23, 2014
Aid Group Says Ebola In West Africa “Out of Control”

An Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is out of control and requires massive resources from governments and aid agencies to prevent it from spreading further, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said on Monday.

The death toll has hit 337 since February, the U.N. World Health Organisation said last week, making it the deadliest outbreak since Ebola first emerged in 1976.

The disease has not previously occurred in the region and local people remain frightened of it and view health facilities with suspicion. This makes it harder to bring it under control, MSF said in a statement.

At the same time, MSF said, a lack of understanding has meant people continue to prepare corpses and attend funerals of Ebola victims, leaving them vulnerable to the disease, transmitted by touching victims or through bodily fluids.

Civil society groups, governments and religious authorities have also failed to acknowledge the scale of the epidemic and as a result few prominent figures are promoting the fight against the disease, the statement said.

“The epidemic is out of control,” said Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. “With the appearance of new sites in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, there is a real risk of it spreading to other areas.”

“Ebola is no longer a public health issue limited to Guinea: it is affecting the whole of West Africa,” said Janssens, urging WHO, affected countries and their neighbours to deploy more resources especially trained medical staff.

MSF has treated some 470 patients, 215 of them confirmed cases, in specialised centres in the region but the organisation said it had reached the limit of its capacity.

Patients have been identified in more than 60 locations across the three countries making it harder to curb the outbreak.

Ebola has a fatality rate of up to 90 percent and there is no vaccine and no known cure.

The virus initially causes raging fever, headaches, muscle pain, conjunctivitis and weakness, before moving into more severe phases with vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhages.

reuters

June 23, 2014
Details of Anwar al Awalaki Killing Released

A New York court has released the Obama administration’s legal justification for the killing of a US citizen and suspected al-Qaeda leader in Yemen.

The previously secret justice department memo was published after a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times.

Anwar al Awlaki was killed by a US drone attack in Yemen in 2011.

Critics have said Awlaki was killed without being given his right to legal due process as an American citizen.

The memo argues the killing was legal because he was an “operational leader” of an “enemy force” at war with the US.

Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU lawyer who argued the case, said the memo’s release “represents an overdue but nonetheless crucial step towards transparency”.

“There are few questions more important than the question of when the government has the authority to kill its own citizens.”

The document, still partially redacted, also says the killing of Awlaki by US military forces would be legal under an authorisation for the use of US force after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington DC.

It is dated July 2010, more than a year before Awlaki was killed.

Awlaki

agencies

June 23, 2014
South Africa’s Longest Strike Called Off

South Africa’s AMCU union declared a five-month platinum strike “officially over” on Monday as thousands of miners roared their approval when leader Joseph Mathunjwa asked if they wanted to end the longest work stoppage in the country’s history.

“Yes! Yes,” the miners chorused as the union boss asked whether they wanted to accept the wage offers from producers.

“The strike is officially over,” Mathunjwa then shouted back, to unrestrained jubilation from the tens of thousands of workers packed into Rustenburg’s Royal Bafokeng Stadium, one of the venues of the 2010 soccer World Cup.

The spot price of platinum fell 1 percent, the rand firmed slightly against the dollar and the London-listed shares of number three producer Lonmin rose nearly 5 percent.

The Johannesburg stock market, where the other two producers Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum are listed, had closed by the time Mathunjwa finished his speech, but their shares closed up 1.6 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.

Mathunjwa said wage deals would be signed on Tuesday and workers would start reporting for duty the following day, ending industrial action that had started on Jan. 23 – five months and two days ago.

AMCU had been demanding that basic wages be more than doubled to 12,500 rand ($1,200) a month, but in the end they settled for three-year deals that amount to monthly increases of around 20 percent, or 1,000 rand.

Marred at times by violence, the strike hit 40 percent of global production of platinum, a precious metal used in jewellery and for emissions-capping catalytic converters in automobiles.

The stoppage also dragged Africa’s most advanced economy into contraction in the first quarter and cost the companies almost 24 billion rand ($2.25 billion) in lost revenue, according to an online tally run by the three firms

africareuters

June 23, 2014
Ukraine Separatists ‘to Join Truce’

Pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine say they will observe a ceasefire until Friday morning, responding to the Ukrainian forces’ unilateral ceasefire.

The rebel announcement was made in Donetsk by Alexander Borodai, leader of the self-styled “Donetsk People’s Republic” which is defying Kiev.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced a 15-point peace plan and declared a week-long truce.

Mr Borodai spoke after attending preliminary peace talks in Donetsk.

June 23, 2014