Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

India top court upholds 2012 gang rape death sentences

{Supreme Court upholds death penalty for four men convicted of rape that sparked widespread protests and condemnation.}

India’s Supreme Court has upheld death sentences against four men who fatally gang raped a woman on board a bus in 2012, a crime that sparked widespread protests and drew international attention over violence against women.

The four had challenged a 2013 court ruling that they should be hanged, which was later upheld by an appeals court.

“It’s a barbaric crime and it has shaken the society’s conscience,” Justice R Banumathi told a packed courtroom on Friday.

Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, was raped and left for dead by a gang of five men and a teenager after she boarded a private bus while going home from the cinema with a male friend.

She died from grievous internal injuries 13 days later.

Of the six people arrested, one committed suicide in prison in 2013, while the juvenile was sentenced to three years in a reform facility and released in 2015.

The rape, and Singh’s determination to survive long enough to identify her attackers to police, triggered large-scale street protests over the high levels of violence against Indian women and children.

In 2015, more than 34,000 cases of rape were reported in the country, according to the country’s National Crime Record Bureau.

Women’s rights activist Binalakshmi Nepram said violence against women is a “trend” in India.

“The rise of violence against women will not end with any one case,” Nepram told Al Jazeera. “India will take 100 more years to treat its women with the respect they deserve.”

She added that there needs to be a change in mindset in the country.

Source:Al Jazeera

May 5, 2017
Grand Mufti Abu Mohamed wins case against newspaper

{Daily Telegraph depicted Mohamed as the proverbial three wise monkeys, claiming he didn’t condemn 2015 Paris attacks.}

Australia’s grand mufti has won a defamation case against The Daily Telegraph newspaper over claims that the scholar failed to condemn the 2015 Paris attacks that left more than 100 people dead.

The Sydney-based tabloid, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp, published the articles about Dr. Ibrahim Abu Mohamed in November last year, depicting him in a front-page spread as the proverbial three wise monkeys, calling the scholar the “unwise” mufti.

The publication lead to widespread condemnation and outrage in Australia’s Muslim community.

“The Grand Mufti is pleased to announce that the matter has now been resolved, and the Supreme Court of New South Wales has recorded a verdict in his favour,” The Australian National Imams Council said in a statement on Friday.

“It is hoped that the outcome of the proceedings is the first step towards improved harmony between Australian Muslims and the media in the future,” the statement added.

‘Lesson for the media’

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Sydney, Moustafa Kheir, the mufti’s lawyer, said the details of the settlement will not be made public.

“We are pleased the matter has settled and that a verdict has been entered in favour of the mufti,” Kheir said.

The Egypt-born cleric, Australia’s highest ranking Sunni Muslim, condemned the Paris attacks and sent his condolences to the families and friends of those killed before the tabloid published its controversial articles.

Mohamed argued in court that the articles suggested he had failed to condemn the deadly attacks.

In one of its front page articles, the paper used three photographs of the Muslim leader, based on the famous “see no evil, hear no, speak no evil” proverb. But the paper replaced the words with “sees no problem, hears no concerns, speaks no English.” The article was headlined: “The unwise Mufti.”

In a second publication, the tabloid run an article headlined: “Even Hamas condemn the Paris attacks so why won’t Australia’s Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed?”

Source:Al Jazeera

May 5, 2017
Nigerian officials jailed for selling food aid

{Two Nigerian officials have been jailed for selling food aid meant for people fleeing militant attacks and food shortages in the country’s north-east.}

The two sold 180 bags of rice donated by an international aid agency, the court in Maiduguri, Borno State, heard.

They were jailed for two years and fined 1m naira ($3,200; £2,500) each.

More than two million people have been displaced in north-eastern Nigeria where security forces are battling Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

The prosecution of the two officials was brought by Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the EFCC.

Umar Ibrahim, a local councillor, and Bulama Ali Zangebe, a member of a camp feeding committee, are said to be the first convicted for corruption in relation to food aid in Nigeria since the insurgency began in 2009.

The rice had been donated by the Danish Refugee Council for victims of insurgency in the town of Mafa, and had been marked as not for sale.

The two admitted the charges against them but told the court that the rice was about to expire.

President Muhammadu Buhari took office in 2015 with a pledge to root out corruption in government.

Last month his office ordered an investigation after the head of the national intelligence agency was suspended over corruption allegations.

He acted after anti-corruption officers found more than $43m (£34m) in a flat in the main city, Lagos.

Source:BBC

May 5, 2017
Algeria election: Governing coalition wins parliamentary vote

{Algeria’s governing coalition has retained its majority in parliamentary elections, official results show.}

The National Liberation Front (FNL) won 164 seats in the 462-seat lower house with its ally, the National Democratic Rally (RND), on 97.

Turnout was just over 38%, the interior ministry said, reflecting widespread disinterest among voters.

The poll took place amid deep economic gloom and uncertainty over the health of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

{{More about Algeria}}

Mr Bouteflika’s FNL party has dominated the country’s politics since independence in 1962.

On Thursday, the 80-year-old leader voted from a wheelchair in Algiers, in a rare public appearance since a 2013 stroke.

Announcing the results on national television, Interior Minister Noureddine Bedoui said there had been “an exemplary atmosphere” during the election.

“The Algerian people have proved that they insist on their voices being heard,” he said.

Final results must be confirmed by the constitutional council following any appeals.

Correspondents say many Algerians are disillusioned with the political system which is largely presidential and gives the National Assembly only limited powers.

The rule of President Bouteflika has been criticised for corruption and a lack of freedom, even though he has overseen a period of relative stability and prosperity following a decade-long civil war in the 1990s.

A collapse in oil prices has hit the country’s economy badly and led to austerity measures being imposed.

Unemployment is high, particularly among Algeria’s youth, and poverty remains widespread.

More than 23 million people were eligible to vote for 11,334 candidates from 50 different political parties, including opposition Islamist alliances, in Thursday’s elections.

Algerian lawmakers are elected for a five-year term.

Source:BBC

May 5, 2017
Nigeria’s President Buhari makes rare appearance amid health concerns

{Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has made a rare public appearance amid ongoing questions about the state of his health.}

Photos and a video posted on Twitter showed Mr Buhari, 74, attending Friday prayers at a mosque in the presidential villa in the capital Abuja.

The footage showed the president shaking hands with fellow worshippers.

Aides say Mr Buhari has been resting after receiving medical treatment in London for an undisclosed illness.

Earlier this week, the president missed his third cabinet meeting in a row, stoking further debate about his condition. Until Friday, he had not been seen in public for more than a week.

Mr Buhari returned from the UK in March after seven weeks of sick leave. When he returned home he said he had never been so ill in his life.

Since then he has rarely been seen outside of his official residence. His wife, Aisha, has said that her husband is not as sick as is being perceived.

Correspondents say a power vacuum in Nigeria, or even the perception of it, could have damaging effects.

The country is at a crucial stage as it struggles to emerge from recession.

Last week, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said Mr Buhari was “taking things slowly, as he fully recovers from the long period of treatment”.

{{Buhari’s unhealthy start to 2017}}

19 January – Leaves for UK on “medical vacation”

5 February – Asks parliament to extend medical leave

10 March – Returns home but does not resume work immediately

26 April – Misses second cabinet meeting and is “working from home”

28 April – Misses Friday prayers

3 May – Misses third cabinet meeting

5 May – Appears at Friday prayers in Abuja

Source:BBC

May 5, 2017
Petrol shortages expose Burundi’s economic woes

{A lack of foreign currency means petrol pumps are running dry across Burundi, the government has admitted, as the country struggles with a serious two-year-old political crisis.}

Long queues have been quickly forming in the capital Bujumbura where petrol is only available at some of the fuel stations some of the time.

“It’s been a disaster for the last week because we only find one or two stations stocked every other day across the whole capital,” said Hassan, a 35-year-old taxi driver reached by telephone.

He said that when a fuel truck delivers, the news spreads like wildfire among desperate motorists, and “hundreds of cars and buses rush over to it, and in a few hours there is not a drop left.”

The shortage has triggered a sharp rise in the price of black market petrol which now sells for 7,000 Burundi francs ($4 or 3.70 euros) per litre, more than three times the official rate.

The price of taxi rides has increased and many drivers have chosen to leave vehicles at home and travel on foot, leaving the capital strangely quiet.

But the situation is worse still outside Bujumbura.

In the second city of Gitega residents said there has been almost no petrol for the last month.

“Sometimes one of the 10 stations in the city receives a few thousand litres, but they are gone in a few hours,” said one resident who did not want to be named saying anything the government might dislike.

– ‘Total asphyxiation’ –

Urged by parliament to investigate the cause of the shortages, Burundi’s energy minister, Come Manirakiza, said last week it was down to “the lack of sufficient foreign currency” to pay for imports to the landlocked central African country.

Manirakiza said that “due to the period we are in” importers were unable to get hold of the US dollars they need to import fuel.

Burundi is in the midst of a deep political crisis triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a controversial third term in April 2015, a move his opponents said was illegal.

Many months of sometimes violent upheaval followed, leaving at least 500 dead while a further 400,000 people have left the country.

The political crisis has triggered an economic crisis, deepened by sanctions imposed on Burundi by the EU, the impoverished nation’s biggest donor, accounting for 70 percent of aid.

The EU and member countries stopped direct budgetary support to the Burundian government in protest at a brutal crackdown on opponents, but specific projects are still being financed, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity, including dams, roads, health and education.

The EU also continues to pay for fuel for power stations supplying around one-sixth of the country’s electricity.

That support, the diplomat said, has “saved the country from total asphyxiation”.

Source:The Independent

May 5, 2017
North Korea accuses CIA of plot to assassinate Kim Jong-Un

{North Korea on Friday accused the CIA and Seoul’s intelligence services of conspiring to assassinate the isolated country’s leader Kim Jong-Un with a biochemical weapon, amid heightened tensions in the region.}

In a statement the powerful ministry of state security, said it had foiled a “vicious plot” by a “hideous terrorists’ group” to attack the North’s “supreme leadership”.
The accusations come with the US and North trading threats over the latter’s nuclear and missile programmes, and as Washington considers whether to re-designate Pyongyang as a state sponsor of terrorism.

That follows the killing of Kim’s estranged half-brother Kim Jong-Nam by two women using the banned nerve agent VX at Kuala Lumpur international airport.

Both Malaysia and South Korea have blamed the North for the assassination, which retorts that the accusations are an attempt to smear it.

The security ministry statement, carried on the North’s official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), said the CIA and the South’s intelligence had suborned, bribed and blackmailed a North Korean citizen named only as Kim to carry out the attack.
Possible locations included the mausoleum where Kim Jong-Un’s father and grandfather — the North’s founder — lie in state, or a military parade.

Such an operation would be extremely difficult to prepare and carry out successfully. The North’s leader is surrounded by tight security at all times, and Pyongyang maintains a gigantic surveillance system over its own population that is ingrained at every level of society, where open dissent is unknown.

The CIA told its agent Kim it had access to radioactive and “nano poisonous” substances whose lethal results would appear only after six to 12 months, the statement said.

Kim — described as “human scum” — received payments totalling at least $740,000 and was given satellite transceivers and other materials and equipment, it said.

He had multiple contacts with South Korean intelligence personnel, and an accomplice who had a Chinese-sounding name, Xu Guanghai of the Qingdao Nazca Trade Co.

Checks on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information system show that a company of that name was formed on March 7 this year, with a Xu Guanghai named as its legal representative, and business areas including “chemical products”.

No details were given in the ministry statement of how the supposed plot was uncovered, or of Kim’s fate. But in a potential sign of an internal purge, it said that the ministry will “ferret out and mercilessly destroy the terrorists”.

{{‘Empire of evil’}}

The lurid accusations come with Pyongyang and Washington at loggerheads over the North’s banned weapons programmes, which have seen it subjected to multiple sets of United Nations Security Council sanctions.

Pyongyang, which says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against invasion, has carried out a series of missile launches and threatened a sixth atomic test, while the administration of new US President Donald Trump has said that military action was an “option on the table” — raising fears of a spiralling conflict.

The alleged plot was a “hideous crime” the security ministry said, and tantamount to “the declaration of a war”.

The statement came hours after the US House of Representatives in Washington voted to broaden US sanctions against the North.

The measure, which now heads for the Senate, also gave the Trump administration 90 days to determine whether Pyongyang should be re-designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, after it was removed from the list in 2008.

The North Korean statement described the US as a state sponsor of terrorism itself, and an “empire of evil”.

Analysts said the accusations could be a pre-emptive attempt to try to dissuade Washington from any attempt at a surgical strike on its leadership, as suggested by some commentators.

The North believes the US and South are seeking to assassinate Kim, said Professor Koh Yu-Hwan of Dongguk University.

It was “unimaginable that individuals can get close enough to Kim to harm him in light of supertight security there”, he said.

But the allegation was also “aimed at keeping its people on their toes and strengthening its grip on them”, and intended “to distance itself from the assassination of Jong-Nam who was killed by a chemical weapon”.

North Korean commandos infiltrated Seoul in January 1968 in a failed attempt to assassinate its then leader Park Chung-Hee. Bullet holes are still visible on a tree above the presidential Blue House.

Source:Daily Monitor

May 5, 2017
Donors not serious, says Museveni

{President Museveni has said private sector led ventures in large infrastructure projects is a necessity for Africa to attain a certain level of economic development but the challenge is their “carelessness” and desire to recoup investments in a short period. }

He said this often results in the high cost of doing business on the continent.

The President also criticised international financial agencies that have either funded or expressed interest in funding infrastructural projects in Africa such as the World Bank, saying they are unserious and one of their biggest problems is “frivolity.”

“They take small things, say tendering, when you go for tendering, they bring all sorts of jokers, and then they want the same ground field for the tenderers; then when the small ones don’t win, then they appeal….then you find a project taking like five years to start,” said Mr Museveni, who was speaking on Wednesday as the chief panellist at this year’s World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban, South Africa.

He added, “Why can’t you (financial lending institutions) look for serious groups and are the ones which tender for business instead of wasting time with these jokers. We shall be democratic (in terms of business) later after we have had some of the infrastructures.”

Unlike other panellists who made case for investment in other sectors such as education, the President argued that it will be a miracle to “see a country that develops without electricity.”

The government is currently undertaking massive infrastructural projects including, dams and roads and is also in talks with the Chinese government for an advance loan of $2.8b (about Shs8 trillion) for the multi-billion Standard Gauge Railway.

Once roads and railway are in place, the President said it will help phase out the transport bottleneck and help farmers get their produce to the market, which will boost productivity with related economic returns. With surplus power in place, the President says this will spur industrialisation and agriculture because farmer’s warehouses will be effective a model for long term economic development planning, a line of thinking which is still subject of debate.

He made a case for Africa using its own means to fund projects such as “paying less salaries” to public servants to be able to divert the rest of the money in the budget to infrastructural development.

“When you do that, then you can ask these agencies to come in and help.” He added that there is political will on the continent to attain economic development but one main challenge countries are grappling with is the piecemeal approach to development, further exacerbated by “ideological meandering.”

“In the last 55 years, I have found out that taking one element and concentrating on it is not enough,” Mr Museveni noted. “It must be infrastructure plus others like education, fragmentation of markets. You must ask, if you produce goods and services, who will buy? And is it sustainable?” He however, stressed that good infrastructure projects are ones that do not result into high costs for doing business by the private sector.

{{Theme}}

The Forum under the theme “Achieving Inclusive Growth through Responsive and Responsible Leadership” which ends today was attended by more than 1,000 participants from several countries around the world to exchange ideas on economic progress, prospects and challenges on the continent. Other members on the panel discussion on the topic “Agenda 2063: Infrastructure Update” moderated by the Vice President of the World Bank’s IFC, included Patrick Dlamini, the chief executive officer of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Andrew Baldwin, a managing partner of Ernest & Young, and Carlos Pone, CEO of US based engineering firm AECOM.

{{Forum}}

The Forum under the theme “Achieving Inclusive Growth through Responsive and Responsible Leadership” which ends today was attended by more than 1,000 participants from several countries around the world to exchange ideas on economic progress, prospects and challenges on the continent.

Source:Daily Monitor

May 5, 2017
US soldier killed, two wounded in fight with Shabaab in Somalia

{An American soldier was shot dead and two others wounded in Somalia during a joint operation with Somali forces against Shabaab militants, the US military said Friday.}

“On May 4, one US service member was killed during an operation against Al-Shabaab near Barii, Somalia, approximately 40 miles west of Mogadishu,” said a statement from the US Africa Command (Africom), adding the US forces were “conducting an advise and assist mission alongside members of the Somali National Army”.

{{Two wounded }}

Africom spokeswoman Robyn Mack told AFP two US soldiers were also wounded.

“The service member was struck by small arms fire while conducting an advise and assist mission alongside members of the Somalia National Army.

“Two other US service members were wounded in the incident. They are both receiving proper medical attention,” she said.

US special forces have been deployed in Somalia for years, training and supporting the Somali military in the fight against the Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab.

Drone and missile strikes have also been used against Shabaab commanders and foot soldiers.

Since taking office President Trump has signed a directive loosening the US military’s rules of engagement in Somalia and authorised the deployment of dozens of additional regular troops from the 101st Airborne Division.

{{Black hawk dawn }}

In 1993, during the last major deployment of US troops in Somalia, 18 US soldiers were killed in the capital Mogadishu in fighting against warlords and their clan militias.

The incident was captured in the book and film Black Hawk Down.

For the last decade the Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government of Somalia.

Source:Daily Nation

May 5, 2017
University of Rwanda mired in gross financial indiscipline

{The University of Rwanda has been found to be mired in gross financial indiscipline, poor contracts management, incoherent internal and external financial control measures and outright negligence in the observation of professional financial reporting standards, the Auditor General has observed.}

As he presented the financial audit report of government entities for the year ended 30th June 2016 to parliament on Wednesday this week, the Auditor General, Obadiah Biraro unveiled that University of Rwanda spent Rwf 46 billion but books of accounts are dotted with mistakes, where some incomes ad expenditures are unaccounted for.

Biraro explained that UR comes on top among entities failing to implement recommendations of the Auditor General as it executed previous audit recommendations at only 77%.

According to the report, some of the incongruous activities include a contractor who won a tender of expanding the a veterinary school worth Rwf 3.7 billion but abandoned the project in December 2015; even after receiving a staggering Rwf 1 billion which was, to make matters worse, released without proper documentation. Another release involved Rwf 240 million that was misused and Rwf 421 million released without authorization.

In a similar spate of misappropriation in such lightning succession, the Ministry of Health paid over Rwf 170 million to a former employee of University of Rwanda account instead of the latter’s. Contracts of constructing classrooms worth Rwf 1.3 billion at Rukara College are reported to have been delayed for more than 437 days and, among others, the Auditor identified forged guarantees for two tenders worth Rwf 3.7 billion.

{{Unrecovered money }}

The Auditor General report indicates that Rwf 2.2 billion was earned by Rukara College and Rwf 534 million earned by Kavumu College but how the money was spent is not recorded in financial books of accounts for both Universities.

It was further revealed that The University of Rwanda owes Rwf 969 million as arrears to pensioners which is however not reflected in financial books. Besides, there is a total amount of Rwf 665 million paid by students to university account but the university authorities are unaware of why and can’t identify individual students who made the payments.

An additional Rwf 2.4 billion earned is not accounted for while accountability of Rwf 95 million is incomplete. The university records show that it is owed Rwf 7.1 billion by students but management cannot identify particular students that owe them the money. The University does not either account for Rwf 764 million it is claiming to have used for lecturers’ transport and compensation for extra time.

A total of 116 lecturers work less compared to the expected working hours while other lecturers received Rwf 201 million in extra work payments.

{{Poor reflection}}

MP Kankera M. Josée lauded efforts in management of government resources but said it is frustrating to see a university which should be a distinct example leading the mismanagement pack.

“There is something saddening. When you get deeper into management of the University of Rwanda resources, where we expect experts in management only to be met with explicit loopholes, then it does not reflect well on our current and future national performance s,” she said.

The Auditor General Obadia Biraro said that the University of Rwanda is discrediting the fame of alumnus if it can’t practice what it teaches.

“There is a need to revise the way they make financial books of accounts. They can as well work with some of their students in some assessment reports to make financial books complete,” he said.

It is four years since the government of Rwanda merged all public universities and higher learning institutes into one ‘University of Rwanda’ (UR).The latter is comprised of six colleges and 14 branches teaching various courses countrywide.

The decision was expected to boost quality education and tackle mismanagement in public universities and higher learning institutions.

However two previous consecutive Auditor General’s reports have been indicating mismanagement problems at the UR.

May 5, 2017