Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

Kirehe residents reminded on community policing

{The District Police Commander of Kirehe, Supt. James Rutaremera has appealed to the residents to maintain the spirit of partnership and preserve the existing safety and security.}

He noted that through community policing, a lot has been reaped in terms of crime prevention and development.

The DPC made made the call on January 26 while addressing residents of Nyamugari Sector

Supt. Rutaremara asked residents to shun abetting acts of criminality including facilitating and hiding drug dealers.

Kirehe is among the districts on spot as one of the main transit routes for drug dealers, who use porous borders to traffic especially cannabis into the country.

He said that generally, security is calm in the district largely due to the existing partnership and information sharing, but asked residents to report any wrongdoers in their vicinity, especially drug dealers.

“Involving yourself in acts of criminality will only affect your personal development in terms of money invested in dealing in narcotics, which are seized and destroyed, and the culprit imprisoned, ” Supt. Rutaremara said.

“One thing is clear; you will be identified and arrested in one way or another.”

The community policing outreach exercise was also attended by local leaders.

Joel Harerimana, one of the residents thanked Rwanda National Police for empowering them and continuously engaging them in security matters.

“In the past, I knew ensuring security was the soul responsibility of security organs. Community policing values the role of every Rwandan in transforming our country,” Harerimana said.

January 29, 2017
Answers to how our brains make meaning, with the help of a little LSD

{We all have particular experiences or particular things — a favorite song, for example — that mean much more to us than others. Now, researchers who’ve studied how perceptions of meaning change when people take the psychedelic drug known as LSD have traced that sense of meaningfulness to particular neurochemicals and receptors in the brain. The findings are reported in Current Biology on January 26.}

The findings add to our fundamental understanding of the human experience. They also point to potentially new targets for drugs to treat psychiatric illnesses or phobias, which come with abnormalities in the attribution of personal relevance to particular sensory experiences or cues, the researchers say.

“Our results increase our understanding of how personal relevance attribution is enabled in the brain,” says Katrin Preller of the Zürich University Hospital for Psychiatry. “[We now know] which receptors, neurotransmitters, and brain regions are involved when we perceive our environment as meaningful and relevant.”

Earlier studies showed that LSD alters the attribution of meaning and personal relevance to the environment, Preller explains. LSD also changes the way people perceive themselves, as the distinction between the self and the world outside the self blurs. But it wasn’t clear exactly what parts of the brain and which neurochemicals were responsible.

Preller and colleagues first confirmed the usual effects of LSD on study participants’ state of consciousness, mood, and anxiety in the lab. They found that those psychedelic effects of LSD were erased when participants took a second drug called ketanserin that blocked the ability of LSD to act on serotonin receptors known as 5-HT2ARs. That finding came as something of a surprise because LSD is also known to stimulate dopamine receptors, Preller says.

To explore LSD’s influence on the way people attribute meaning to things in their world, the researchers asked participants taking a placebo, LSD, or LSD plus ketanserin to rank the meaning attached to a series of songs. Some of those songs were ones that participants told the researchers were particularly meaningful to them. Others were either neutral or without meaning.

The researchers found that musical pieces that were previously meaningless to participants took on special meaning when those individuals were under the influence of LSD. That effect was diminished when participants were given the second drug to counteract LSD’s effects on the brain’s serotonin receptors. Brain imaging studies also linked those changing attributions of meaning to particular brain areas.

“By combining functional brain imaging and detailed behavioral assessments using a specific experimental paradigm to investigate personal relevance or meaning of music pieces, we were able to elucidate the neurobiological correlates of personal relevance processing in the brain,” Preller says. “We found that personal meaning attribution and its modulation by LSD is mediated by the 5-HT2A receptors and cortical midline structures that are also crucially involved in enabling the experience of a sense of self.”

Preller says they now plan to explore whether they observe the same effects in response to visual or tactile stimuli. They also hope to explore the relevance of their findings to dysfunctional attributions of meaning in people with psychiatric disorders.

“Excessive stimulation of 5-HT2A receptors seems to underlay the experience of loosening of self/ego boundaries, disrupted self-referential processing and thus the related impairment of making meaning and attributing personal relevance to percepts and experiences seen in various psychiatric disorders,” she says. “Therefore, it is important to consider this receptor subtype as potential target for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses characterized by alterations in personal relevance attribution.”

A separate study in Cell on the structure of LSD and its receptor, and what this teaches us about the drug’s potency, was also published on January 26.

This study was financially supported by grants from the Heffter Research Institute, the Swiss Neuromatrix Foundation, the Usona Institute, and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

January 29, 2017
President Kagame in Addis Ababa for 28th AU Summit

{President Paul Kagame and First Lady, Jeannette Kagame have arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the 28th African Union Summit.}

Heads of states and governments will meet at the headquarters of African Union in Addis Ababa from 30th to 31st January 2017 in a meeting where they will elect the chairperson of AU Commission and commissioners, receive the report on AU reforms made by the committee chaired by President Paul Kagame.

Candidates vying for AU chairmanship include Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi from Botswana, Agapito Mba Mokuy from Equatoriale Guinea, Abdoulaye Bathily from Senegal, Moussa Faki Mahamat from Chad and Amina Mohamed from Kenya.

Heads of states attending the summit will also consider Morocco’s request to rejoin the AU it had withdrawn from 34 years ago.

January 28, 2017
New health facilities inaugurated in Mahama Refugee Camp

{The Minister of Disaster Management and Refugees Hon. MukantabanaSeraphine and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative Dr. Saber Azam inaugurated two new durable health clinics for Mahama Refugee Camp in Eastern Province, which will serve over 50,000 refugees from Burundi currently living in the camp as well as new arrivals. }

As the camp is split into two administrative units, UNHCR with its partners American Refugee Committee (ARC) and Save the Children constructed two health centers serving MahamaI and Mahama II, with support from the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and European Commission Department for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection. Representatives of the Ministry of Health, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and country directors of ARC and SCI also participated in the ceremony with the Governor of Eastern province and Mayor of Kirehe.

“Strong partnership and commitment always produces lasting solutions. It is from actions like these that lives of refugees – people like you and I, are improved. The Government of Rwanda commits to work with our partners for continued positive change for refugees across our country,” stated Hon. MukantabanaSeraphine.

Mahama Camp was opened by MIDIMAR and UNHCR in April 2015 and rapidly became the largest of Rwanda’s six refugee camps within only a few months. Today, MIDIMAR and UNHCR coordinate the refugee response which includes a range of UN and both international and local NGO actors who provide critical services in all sectors ranging from protection and education to health, water and shelter among others.

UNHCR delivers primary healthcare for all refugees with ARC and SCI and ensures access to secondary and tertiary care through support for national hospitals. When the camp opened, UNHCR with ARC immediately established a health center in the camp however this was built with emergency structures which after a year and a half required upgrading to more durable and dignified structures which can be used by the host community as well.

ARC was the first health partner when Mahama Camp was opened in April 2015, providing primary health care services including In Patient Department, Outpatient Department and Maternity services. Slowly other services such as HIV program, Maternal Child Health, Antenatal Care, Vaccination, Mental health and Nutrition (management of acute malnutrition) were introduced. With the camp expanding rapidly during the course of 2015, SCI came on board in August 2015 and constructed a second health facility in Mahama II to provide lifesaving primary health care services.

In December 2015 SCI has upgraded the health post into a health centre to scale up its health capacity to meet needs of more than 25,000 refugees living in that section of the camp. Today UNFPA is also providing much needed equipment to support the health facilities.

“On behalf of all actors engaged in supporting the Government to respond to the needs of refugees, I am proud that the health response in Mahama was well coordinated, of good quality, and that key humanitarian standards were respected,” said Dr. Azam.

“Thanks to the generous support of donors, UNHCR had a budget of USD 47.1 million for its Rwanda operation in 2016 and our health response could not have been possible without the dedicated support of key donors including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and European Commission Department for Humanitarian Affairs.”

January 28, 2017
Trump signs executive order banning Syrian refugees

{US refugee programme suspended for 120 days and Syrian refugees barred until further notice.}

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order suspending the US refugee programme for 120 days, specifically barring Syrian refugees until further notice.

Trump signed the order at the Pentagon, saying the moves would help protect Americans from “terrorist” attacks.

“I’m establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. Don’t want them here,” Trump said earlier on Friday.

“We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people,” he said.

Civil rights groups condemned the measures as discriminatory.

“Trump’s latest executive order is likely to hurt the people most in need: those fleeing violence and terrorism – and on Holocaust Remembrance Day, no less,” said Grace Meng, senior US researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“The decision to drastically curtail the refugee programme will abandon tens of thousands to the risk of persecution or worse and cede American leadership on a vitally important issue,” Meng added.

The order suspends the Syrian refugee programme until further notice, and will eventually give priority to minority religious groups fleeing persecution. Trump said in an interview with a Christian news outlet the exception would help Syrian Christians fleeing the civil war.

His order had been expected to include a directive about setting up “safe zones” for Syrian refugees inside the country, but no such language was included.

The measure limits entry for at least 90 days from Syria and other Muslim-majority countries, but did not list the countries by name.

The state department said the three-month ban in the directive applied to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen – all Muslim-majority nations.

Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said: “[Iranians] are shocked and astonished that this has taken place. There’s more than one million Iranians living in the US. A lot of them have extended family, or their children, or their parents still in Iran.”

Ardeshir Namavar, a US green card holder currently in Tehran, told Al Jazeera: “We feel really terrible about the news. I bought my ticket [to the US] and have a flight in 10 days; now we don’t know what we are going to do. All of my family are in the US including my mother and father. They are American citizens. I had planned to study there, now everything has changed.”

The order said all immigration programmes should include questions to “evaluate the applicant’s likelihood of becoming a positively contributing member of society”.

{{‘Extreme vetting’}}

Jennifer Sime, the senior vice president of US programmes at the International Rescue Committee, an NGO that works with refugees, told Al Jazeera: “I think it’s important to understand that there is already a robust vetting process in place. It was reviewed a few days ago and new things were added to enhance the vetting process.”

She added that refugees were already the “single most vetted population coming into the US”.

On the exception in the order that favours Syrian Christian refugees, Sime said: “The first thing to remember is that this programme [was] based on the principle of non-discrimination, so it’s not about choosing Muslims or Christians. Refugees are selected based on need, urgency and basically their cases, not based on political affiliation and religion.”

Trump’s order cuts the number of refugees the US plans to accept this budget year by more than half, to 50,000 people from around the world.

During the last budget year, the US accepted 84,995 refugees, including 12,587 people from Syria. President Barack Obama had set the current refugee limit at 110,000.

During the Obama administration, vetting for refugees included in-person interviews overseas, where they provided biographical details about themselves, including their families, friendships, social or political activities, employment, phone numbers, email accounts and more.

They also provided biometric information, including fingerprints. Syrians were subject to additional, classified controls that administration officials at the time declined to describe, and processing for that group could routinely take years to complete.

Following Trump’s signing of the order, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a US Muslim advocacy and civil rights group, said it would file a “federal lawsuit on behalf of more than 20 individuals challenging the ‘Muslim ban’”.

January 28, 2017
Czech court rejects suit over school veil ban

{A Prague court rules in favour of a nursing school that banned a Somali refugee student from wearing a headscarf.}

A Czech court has rejected a discrimination suit filed by a Somali refugee, who was banned from wearing her headscarf in a nursing school, the first case of its kind in the European Union state.

“The suit, which the plaintiff lodged seeking an apology and 60,000 crowns ($2,350) in compensation, was rejected,” said Justice Daniela Cejkova, handing down the verdict in a Prague court on Friday.

Ayan Nuur filed a lawsuit against the school after she was not allowed to attend while wearing a headscarf.

The school argued that the young woman had never formally enrolled in the establishment. Ivanka Kohoutova, the school’s principal, also argued that wearing a scarf covering the hair, ears and neck, and revealing only the face contravened its safety and hygiene standards.

Nuur, who was granted asylum in the Czech Republic in 2011, did not attend the trial, but was represented by her lawyer.

During the trial, a group of female students came in support of the school and its rules against the head covering, reported the Czech news agency, CTK.

A group of Muslims also came out in support of Nuur, the agency said.

The Czech Republic is a secular country of 10.5 million people, with a Muslim community of only 10,000 to 20,000 members. It has no law covering the wearing of religious garments.

But like elsewhere in Europe, anti-Muslim sentiment has been on the rise there following the 2015 refugee and migrant crisis when more than one million people, mostly refugees fleeing violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, entered the EU.

Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his fiery anti-migrant rhetoric, insisted last year that it was “practically impossible” to integrate the Muslim community into European society.

Members of the public present in court on Friday sang the Czech national anthem and applauded after the verdict was handed down.

January 28, 2017
Anti-abortion activists ‘march for life’ in Washington

{Tens of thousands convene in the US capital, spurred on by Donald Trump who has vowed to end taxpayer-funded abortion.}

Tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists marched in the US capital, Washington, DC, spurred on by the election of Donald Trump who has vowed to end taxpayer-funded abortion.

Vice President Mike Pence, a longtime supporter of the anti-abortion movement, was the most senior government official to speak at Friday’s rally.

“Life is winning again in America,” Pence told the demonstrators who hoisted signs saying “Choose life”, “I am the pro-life generation” and “Equal Rights For Unborn People”.

Pence, who as governor of Indiana signed some of the nation’s strictest abortion laws, praised “the election of pro-life majorities in the Congress of the United States of America”.

On Tuesday, Trump signalled his intention to nominate an anti-abortion justice to the Supreme Court and has already revived an old policy banning funding for groups abroad that pay for abortions or provide information about abortion.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from the rally in Washington, DC, said many of the protesters were optimistic that they had an ally in the new president.

“Many of the protesters hope that a Trump-nominated justice will help overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling in 1973 that a woman has the right to make her own medical decisions without any interference from politicians,” he said.

Trump has said Roe v Wade should be overturned. He has also pledged to defund Planned Parenthood, which draws the ire of many Republicans because it provides abortions, along with other services.

Dana Tilson, the Kenya director for Marie Stopes International, a family-planning clinic, told Al Jazeera that cutting funding to abortion providers could see poor women across the world turn to dangerous methods to end their pregnancies.

“If women and girls are denied safe options, they will seek any method to end a pregnancy,” she said.

“They will go to the streets and will be served by unskilled providers who use chemicals and sticks and other mechanisms that will damage their reproductive organs and some cases result in them bleeding to death.”

The rally comes as the number of US abortions has fallen to a record low. The Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health and rights organisation, said last week that it dropped below 1 million in 2013 for the first time since 1975.

A Quinnipiac University poll released on Friday showed that 64 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 31 percent said it should be illegal in all or most cases.

January 28, 2017
Turkey threatens to cancel Greece migration deal

{Turkey ‘may scrap’ migration deal after a Greek court refused to return eight soldiers allegedly linked to failed coup.}

Turkey has demanded the retrial of eight soldiers who fled to Greece after a failed coup last year and said it may take measures, including scrapping an agreement on refugees and migrants with Athens, after a Greek court rejected an extradition request.

Greece’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against extraditing the soldiers, who have sought political asylum, saying they feared for their lives in Turkey. Ankara says they were involved in the July 15 coup attempt and branded them traitors.

“We demanded that the eight soldiers be tried again. This is a political decision, Greece is protecting and hosting coup plotters,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state broadcaster TRT Haber on Friday.

“We are evaluating what we can do. There is a migration deal we signed, including a re-admission deal with Greece, and we are evaluating what we can do, including the cancellation of the re-admission deal with Greece,” Cavusoglu added.

Subsequently, a European Union spokeswoman said it was confident its cooperation with Turkey on migration will continue to hold firm.

Relations between Greece and Turkey, neighbours and NATO allies, have improved over the years but they remain at odds over territorial disputes and ethnically split Cyprus. In 1996, they almost reached the brink of war over an uninhabited islet.

The two countries play an important role in the handling of Europe’s worst migration crisis in decades and the EU depends on Ankara to enforce a deal to stem mass refugees and migrants fleeing to Europe.

The suspects – who landed a helicopter in Greece a day after a botched putsch in Turkey and asked for asylum – were also ordered to be released from police custody.

Earlier on Friday, the Turkish justice ministry submitted a second extradition request to Greece for the return of the officers, state-run news agency Anadolu said.

Cavusoglu said the ruling would have an “effect on relations whether we want it to or not”.

The controversy also comes as Greece and Turkey are trying to work together to find a deal for the reunification of Cyprus in ongoing talks brokered by the United Nations.

The officers deny having taken part in the attempted failed coup attempt and have claimed their lives are in danger should they return to Turkey.

They have requested asylum in Greece but their applications were originally rejected in July.

However, their appeals are currently being processed.

January 28, 2017
Lundi Tyamara: South African gospel star dies aged 38

{South African gospel star Lundi Tyamara, has died after a battle with stomach TB and a liver condition.}

His family confirmed that he died on Friday morning in Edenvale hospital in Johannesburg.

The 38-year-old singer, loved for his energetic stage performances, had hits with Mphefumlo Wami and Ndixolele.

President Jacob Zuma led the tributes to the star, saying Tyamara was “one of the best gospel artists that the country has ever produced”.

The BBC’s Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg said the award-winning star brought gospel to a younger generation through his unique style and drew thousands of people closer to the music genre.

His manager Tshepo Nzimande explained what made Mr Tyamara so popular: “He had energy on stage and he was very powerful.”

Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said there was “a deep sense of grief for losing such a young life. He is a success story that South African youth have a significant contribution to make in our society.”

{{‘Massive shock’}}

Popular evangelist pastor Paseka “Mboro” Motsoeneng who had visited the musician in hospital also described to local newspaper how shocked he was when he heard the news.

“It was a massive shock to me. I could not believe it at first but I was grateful that I could pray for him and bring him closer to the Lord.”

The singer had been receiving treatment since being diagnosed in December.
A family statement, released on Friday, said that Lundi has passed away peacefully just after midnight.

Tyamara is the third young artist to die within the last six months, after the deaths of another gospel star Sifiso Ncwane and musician Mduduzi “Mandoza” Tshabalala, both also aged 38.

January 28, 2017
Kenyan soldiers fight back after raid by Shabaab

{Kenyan troops in Somalia were Friday engaged in a massive counter offensive against Al-Shabaab – on land and air – just hours after a deadly attack on their base by the Somalia-based terrorists.}

The attack, in which BBC says 50 Kenyan soldiers were killed, comes just days after the first anniversary of the El-Adde attack in which more than 100 Kenyan soldiers were killed inside Somalia on January 15, last year.

Al-Shabaab attacked a KDF camp at Kolbiyow, 18km from the Kenyan border, at about 5am, the military spokesman, Lt-Col Paul Njuguna, said.

The base hosted Kenyan soldiers working under Amisom in the Lower Juba.

It had personnel from various units but the core group comprised soldiers from the Nyali-based 15 KR Infantry Battalion.

Other supporting units were engineers, doctors and gunners from heavy artillery battalions.

The attack came three days after KDF captured Badhaadhe township in Somalia.

Cord leader Raila Odinga, who has in the past called for Kenyan troops to be pulled out of Somalia, condemned the attack, calling it “unacceptable”.

According to a statement that Lt-Col Njuguna posted on the KDF Twitter handle, the terrorists tried to attack the camp “using a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devise” but were repulsed by the Kenyan soldiers.

He said “scores” of the terrorists were killed but declined to divulge more information on losses incurred by KDF troops.

“KDF soldiers remain vigilant and will continue to relentlessly pursue the terrorists to ensure peace and security of our country Kenya as well as support Amisom operations in order to stabilise Somalia,” Lt Col Njuguna said.

The soldiers also received reinforcement from air and land forces.

{{SUICIDE BOMBERS}}

Sources told Saturday Nation that “the vehicle-borne device” — basically a bomb on wheels — exploded before attackers who were on foot marched towards the Forward Operation Base from different directions.

The attackers were backed by others riding on pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns.

The raid was similar to the El-Adde attack in that it occurred before daybreak, was initiated with vehicle-borne bomb and there were casualties on both sides.

In both attacks, fighting went on for hours.

KDF has never released either the names or numbers of soldiers who died, those who were taken as prisoners, the survivors or those who went missing in action.

Unlike El-Adde, however, communication and command was not lost during the hours of fighting on Friday morning.

The Saturday Nation established that the officer in charge of the base was in communication with top commanders in Nairobi throughout, relaying information and receiving orders.

A preliminary report indicated that KDF incurred the first casualties after the explosives-rigged vehicle exploded.

The explosion was followed by suicide bombers and fighters on foot who attacked in waves.

Other attackers were riding on technicals — the pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns.

There were unconfirmed reports of a military-grade armoured personnel carrier being among the vehicles used by Al-Shabaab.

“The information being peddled by terrorists on social media is false and part of their propaganda,” he said. Al-Shabaab had claimed that 57 soldiers had been killed in the raid.

{{WEAPONS SEIZED}}

Top military commanders held a meeting at the KDF headquarters at dawn and subsequent briefings were planned for the entire.

Lt Col Njuguna pledged to give more details about the attack but had not done so by the time of going to press.

When the Saturday Nation called Defence headquarters last evening, we were requested to call back today.

Earlier in the day, he had said two bombs, eight AK-47 assault rifles, loads of live ammunition, parts of explosive devices and other Al-Shabaab paraphernalia were seized from the battle filed.

Al-Shabaab had occupied the area after a tactical withdrawal of KDF troops in January last year.

The Voice of America and wire news agencies reported that the terrorists drove a truck filled with explosives and detonated them inside the base.

This was followed by heavy gunfire and an infantry attack.

“Two mujahideen (fighters) rammed suicide car bombs into the base in Kulbiyow town before storming it,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al-Shabaab’s operations spokesman, claimed.

According to him, the terrorists had seized weapons and military vehicles, Reuters reported.

Col Njuguna described these claims as false.

“Our soldiers repulsed the terrorists,” he said.

{{STABLE GOVERNMENT}}

He said the Kenya Air Force had joined the land forces in what he described as “an intensive pacification operation” in the border town.

Kenyan soldiers are fighting the terrorists as part of a UN-backed African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

Amisom is a 22,000-strong force comprising soldiers from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

Besides Kenya, Al-Shabaab has attacked camps belonging to Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia, with Uganda and Burundi suffering massive causalities.

Over the last two years, the terrorists have rampaged through bases manned by Burundian soldiers in Lego, Ugandan troops in Janale and Kenyan soldiers in El-Adde, inflicting high casualties and stealing military equipment each time.

The Kolbiyow raid is the second major attack this week in Somalia, coming three days after 28 people were killed when Al-Shabaab bombers and fighters attacked a hotel in the capital.

Somalia is due to hold a presidential vote in early February, signalling the end of a drawn-out electoral process in which a new parliament has also been selected.

Political infighting and ongoing insecurity frustrated plans for a universal vote in 2016, with lawmakers elected by specially selected delegates.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of president Siad Barre’s military regime, which ushered in more than two decades of anarchy and conflict in a country deeply divided along clan lines.

January 28, 2017