Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

FIBA allows hijab in professional basketball

{Basketball governing body FIBA ratifies proposal overturning ban on head coverings including hijab.}

Headgear, including the hijab and yarmulkes, will be allowed in professional basketball following the approval of a proposal by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) that overturns a ban on such head coverings.

The organisation’s central board approved the proposal on Wednesday and the new rule was formally ratified during FIBA’s midterm congress on Thursday.

“It came up in our board meeting and everyone supported making the change,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley told AP news agency prior to Thursday’s FIBA meeting.

The body started the process of revising the rule in September 2014 and in February of this year, it tasked its playing rules committee to create a proposal that outlines how headgear could safely be worn in competition.

“The new rule comes as a result of the fact that traditional dress codes in some countries – which called for the head and/or entire body being covered – were incompatible with FIBA’s previous headgear rule,” FIBA said in a statement.

It was feared that head coverings could fall off during the game and potentially pose a risk to players.

Under the new rule, headgear must meet certain criteria to be allowed in competition, including that it “does not cover any part of the face entirely or partially”, it is “not dangerous to the player wearing it or other players” and it does not have “parts extruding from its surface”.

The rule change comes after a successful social media campaign aimed at overturning the ban that began more than two years ago.

A number of change.org petitions calling for a change to the rule have garnered more than 137,000 signatures.

Kike Salihu Rafiu, who played basketball in college but was forced to give up the sport on a professional level because she wears the hijab, told Al Jazeera she believed social media helped prompt the reversal of the ban.

“Because we couldn’t physically meet in person because we’re all diverse … I think using that platform did open the eyes of FIBA in realising that there’s a huge community that wants to participate in the sport and this rule is actually stopping us from participating professionally and representing our country,” Rafiu said.

The hijab is a headscarf worn by many Muslim women who feel it is part of their religion.

The new rule is set to come into effect in October.

It follows the lead of other sports that have, in recent years, allowed religious head coverings and other wear in sport, including football and weightlifting.

Last week, US boxing officials announced religious wear would be exempt from their rules on headgear.

Rafiu said she is excited about FIBA’s rule change.

“I’m really excited. Not just for us, but also for the younger generation,” she said.

“Now they don’t have to worry about any type of ban, all they have to worry about is just playing basketball.”

Source:Al Jazeera

May 4, 2017
Romania withdraws amendment pardoning corrupt officials

{Demonstrators force Senate committee to change vote on amendment to pardon officials convicted of corruption.}

A Romanian Senate committee has caved under public pressure and cancelled proposed legislation aimed at pardoning officials convicted of corruption.

The amendment was designed to allow convicted government officials to walk free or have their jail sentences significantly reduced.

About 2,000 people demonstrated in Bucharest, the capital, and other cities on Wednesday after the Senate committee passed the amendment to a draft bill that would have cleared the convicted officials.

They chanted “Romania demands no pardon” and “If you don’t back down, we’re coming for you.”

The latest demonstrations came two months after the eastern European country witnessed its biggest protest movement since the 1989 anti-communist revolution, after the newly installed Social Democratic government secretly passed an emergency decree to decriminalise some corruption offences involving officials.

It was later withdrawn after the mass demonstrations.

Cristian Ghinea, an opposition Member of Parliament from Union to Save Romania, told Al Jazeera that his party supports the protesters.

“We are witnessing an attempt to force the contents of the old emergency decree through parliament and I hope that the people will keep up the pressure,” he said.

The Romanian government drafted a law to pardon some criminal convictions involving officials citing the need to relieve overcrowded prisons in the country.

That draft bill currently does not include any mention about pardoning corruption convictions – a promise made by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu in the wake of protests that saw some 600,000 people march upon the seat of his government.

The controversial amendment in the Senate legislative affairs committee also included corruption convictions.

Officials jailed for bribery, official misconduct, conflict of interest, or trafficking influence would have had their sentences pardoned entirely, or reduced in half.

One of the amendment initiators is former Romanian president Traian Basescu. He was elected twice into office, running each time on an anti-corruption platform.

Basescu said “Romania needs a clean slate,” according to a statement made in the Senate committee and quoted by local media.

But critics condemned the move.

“This amendment goes way beyond what drove people into the streets this winter,” Laura Stefan, an anti-corruption campaigner with the Romanian NGO Expert Forum, told Al Jazeera.

“This plan goes against all international obligations of Romania and against the will of the people that was so clearly expressed during previous demonstrations.”

Political reaction

PM Sorin Grindeanu posted a statement on his Facebook page saying “the government supports the draft bill in its initial form. The amendments voted today [Wednesday] do not have the government’s support”.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who joined the demonstrations in February, told Romanian media he was “unpleasantly surprised” by the Senate committee’s move.

The leader of the ruling Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, also spoke out against the amendment.

“I will have a talk with the Social Democratic members of the committee so that the final report does not contain the amendment,” Dragnea wrote on Facebook.

Dragnea, the speaker of the House of Representatives, was convicted of voter fraud but did not serve time in jail. He is currently on trial over accusations of official misconduct, and was seen as the main beneficiary of the emergency decree earlier passed.

Radu Magdin, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera the situation put the Social Democrat leader in a difficult position.

“If Dragnea didn’t know about the planned amendment vote then he is no longer controlling his own party. If it turns out he knew, he will lose even more credibility in front of external partners,” Magdin said.

Source:Al Jazeera

Source:Al Jazeera

May 4, 2017
Somalia attack: Minister Abdullahi Sheikh Abas killed in Mogadishu

{Somalia’s security forces have shot dead a 31-year-old government minister after mistaking him for a militant Islamist, officials have said.}

He was killed in his vehicle near the presidential palace in the capital, Mogadishu, the officials added.

The president has cut short his visit to Ethiopia following Abas Abdullahi Sheikh’s killing, state radio reports.

He grew up in a refugee camp, and became Somalia’s youngest MP in November and a minister in February.

Somalia has been wracked by conflict since the long-serving ruler Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.

It is currently battling militant Islamists from the al-Shabab group, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda.

Security forces on patrol came across a vehicle blocking the road and, thinking it was being driven by militants, opened fire, police Major Nur Hussein told Reuters news agency.

Mr Abas was killed “by mistake – they opened fire on his car accidentally. May God rest his soul”, Mogadishu mayoral spokesman Abdifatah Omar Halane was quoted as saying.

Somali youth have been robbed of a role model following the shocking death of Mr Abas. Always polite and well-dressed, the former child refugee was widely admired for his sheer determination to succeed.

Coming from a prominent religious family, Mr Abas studied at Kenya’s prestigious Nairobi University and entered politics last year.

He became an MP for the port city of Kismayo in Somalia’s Jubbaland region after an electoral college chose him, ahead of a government minister who had been on the political scene for more than two decades.

Mr Abas’ victory showed that Somalis were fed up with the old guard, and were demanding change. Sensing his popularity with the youth, the president appointed him to the cabinet in March.

Less than three months later, this rising star has become the latest casualty of more than two decades of violence in Somalia. But in this case some are asking: Has Somalia lost a future president?

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo said Mr Abas would be given a state funeral.

He had ordered security chiefs to “immediately get to the bottom of this unfortunate tragedy” and make sure the perpetrators were “brought to book”.

Information Minister Abdirahman Osman said several people had been arrested, but did not give details, state-owned Radio Mogadishu reported.

Troops are sometimes nervous, and have previously shot officials – and each other – by mistake, says BBC Somalia analyst Abdullahi Abdi.

But Mr Abas, the public works minister, is probably the most high-ranking official killed by “friendly fire”, he adds.

The president appointed Mr Abas to the cabinet following his surprise election victory in February.

President Farmajo promised to improve security and establish an effective government in Somalia.

Much of the country is still under the control of al-Shabab.

Mr Abas grew up in Dadaab camp in Kenya, home to hundreds of thousands of Somalis who fled drought and conflict.

Source:BBC

May 4, 2017
Nigeria’s ailing President Buhari misses third cabinet meeting

{Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has missed his third cabinet meeting in a row amid ongoing questions about the state of his health.}

There are concerns about a leadership vacuum as one of Africa’s largest economies struggles to pulls itself out of recession, correspondents say.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said Mr Buhari “needed to rest”.

In March, Mr Buhari returned from seven weeks of sick leave in the UK where he was treated for an undisclosed illness.

When he returned home he said he had never been so ill in his life.

To calm fears, the president’s wife Aisha Buhari tweeted on Tuesday that her husband was not as sick as is being perceived.

But as he has not been seen in public for more than a week, Nigerians are continuing to discuss the issue.

In her tweets, Mrs Buhari said that the president was continuing to “carry out his responsibilities” and has been meeting with ministers.

Mr Buhari has rarely been seen outside of his official residence in the eight weeks since he returned from the UK.

But the real controversy began when he stopped attending an important weekly cabinet meeting four weeks ago.

#WhereisBuhari started trending online and the writer Wole Soyinka, as well as prominent civil society activists, is calling on the president to release his medical records and to take official medical leave once again.

This is a crucial year for Nigeria and important decisions need to be made as the country struggles to get out of recession.

The presidency is keen to assure the public that Mr Buhari is still very much in charge because a power vacuum, or even the perception of it, could have very damaging effects.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who was the acting president while Mr Buhari was away in the UK, chaired the cabinet meeting in the capital, Abuja.

On Monday, a group of prominent Nigerians has called on Mr Buhari to take medical leave as concerns about his health grow.

They said in a statement that the president’s absence from the cabinet meetings, as well as the weekly Friday Muslim prayers, “has fuelled further speculation and rumours” about his medical condition.

The 13 said they felt “compelled” to ask Mr Buhari “to heed the advice of his personal physicians by taking a rest to attend to his health without any further delay”.

Mr Buhari’s personal assistant Bashir Ahmed said the president had met Justice Minister Abubakar Malami and other officials at the presidential villa on Tuesday as part of his official duties.

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

{{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

Source:BBC

May 4, 2017
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwe second-most developed country in Africa

{Zimbabwe is the most highly developed country in Africa after South Africa, President Robert Mugabe has said.}

He denied that the country was a fragile state.

“We have over 14 universities and our literacy rate is over 90 [%] – the highest in Africa,” he said, adding that the economy was improving.

Zimbabwe has been struggling to pay its civil servants recently and is ranked 24th on the UNDP’s Human Development Index for Africa.

“We have more resources, perhaps more than the average country in the world.” Mr Mugabe said, during a panel discussion on fragile states at the World Economic Forum on Africa in South Africa’s costal city of Durban.

“We have a bumper harvest, maize, tobacco, and other crops. We are not a poor country,” Mr Mugabe added, while acknowledging that Zimbabwe had problems.
Last year, more than four million people were in need of food aid in Zimbabwe after rains failed. The country was once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa.
The opposition accuses Mr Mugabe, who has ruled since independence in 1980, of ruining the economy.

Zimbabwe has faced a severe cash shortage since last year and has introduced so-called bond notes as a substitute for the US dollar, the main currency people use.

Hyperinflation forced the government to abandon the Zimbabwean dollar in 2009.

After Mr Mugabe came to power in 1980, he was widely praised for improving access to education in the country and in the 1990s, it did have among the highest literacy rates in Africa.

However, schools have also been affected by the country’s economic problems and rates have now dropped back.

Source:BBC

May 4, 2017
Burundi princess wins Swiss court battle over late king’s remains

{A Swiss court has ruled that the remains of Burundi’s deposed king Mwambutsa IV, who died 40 years ago, must stay in Switzerland, ending a drawn out legal battle, local media reported on Tuesday.}

Mwambutsa led Burundi at independence from Belgium in 1962, but was deposed just four years later in a dispute linked to rivalries between ethnic Tutsis and Hutus, which still haunt the country.

The monarch died in Switzerland in 1977, leaving clear instructions that his remains should never be returned to Burundi.

But his daughter and the Burundian government campaigned for his remains to be repatriated, reportedly hoping to use the occasion to organise a ceremony promoting national reconciliation.

In 2012, one of the king’s relatives authorized the exhumation of his remains ahead of an eventual repatriation.

Mwambutsa’s niece princess Esther Kamatari opposed the process insisting the king’s last wishes should be honoured.

Switzerland’s federal court, the nation’s highest legal authority, has sided with Kamatari, the ATS news agency said.

The judges upheld a ruling issued last year by a lower court in Geneva.

Amid the legal back and fourth following his exhumation, Mwambutsa’s remains have been held in a cold-storage facility at a Geneva funeral home for the past five years.

Kamatari fled Burundi herself in 1970, ultimately settling in Paris where she worked as a model, including for top designers like Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

She voiced interest in contesting in Burundi’s 2004 presidential election but never made it onto the ballot.

Burundi has been seized by crisis for two years, since President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a third term. The turmoil has left an estimated 500 people dead, according to the UN.

Source:AFP

May 4, 2017
DRC becoming fastest-growing mining market – BMI

{The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will vie with Peru as the fastest growing major mining market in the world during the next ﬁve years, forecasts research firm BMI.

The firm states that the DRC benefits from low labour costs, high ore grades and vast untapped resources that will attract foreign investment into some of its largest gold and copper deposits, particularly from China. }

Further, the rise in global cobalt demand will further fuel potential for growth in the DRC’s mining sector owing to the country’s vast reserves of the battery-making commodity.

“Containing over 50% of the world’s cobalt reserves, the DRC will be a beneﬁciary of the booming cobalt industry in the coming years. Primarily used in rechargeable batteries, we project that solid future growth in global battery demand will support cobalt consumption and prices for decades to come,” BMI said.

“We forecast DRC’s cobalt production to increase from 70 100 t in 2017 to 82 000 t by 2021.”

However, BMI warned that, despite strong growth projections, recent moves aimed at reforming the mining code to increase royalties and taxes have the potential to disrupt BMI’s forecasts, while uncertainty regarding the upcoming DRC elections may lead to social unrest.

“BMI’s country risk team believes it is likely that the elections will be postponed to 2018, which could lead to a cut in foreign aid and discontent among the population,” BMI said.

Source: Mining Weekly

May 4, 2017
Uganda:Over 9,000 scramble for 124 Public Service jobs

{A total of 9100 candidates who applied for Public Service Jobs have appeared for an aptitude test at Namboole Stadium seeking to join the central government.}

According to the commissioner human resource in charge of guidance and monitoring Mr Richard Enyomu, Public Service advertised for the jobs and received more than 10,000 applicants and that to cut down the number, they had to take the candidates through an aptitude test.

“We have had two groups sitting for aptitude tests here. The first group had 5,050 candidates and the second one has had 4,050 candidates and in total we have had 9,100 candidates appearing for the aptitude test,” said Mr Enyomu.

The chairman Public Service Commission Mr Ralph Ochan said after the aptitude test, they will select about 162 candidates who would then later appear for oral interviews for the 124 vacancies.

“We are targeting a ratio of jobs to candidates of 1:2 because we need to have the numbers reduced down wards for easy management,” he said.

Latest reports show that nearly 80 per cent of the youth in Uganda are unemployed.

Source:Daily Monitor

May 4, 2017
Kenya:EACC raids homes of top Lands officials

{Anti-corruption detectives on Thursday raided the home of National Land Commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri.}

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission spokesman Yasin Aila said the raid was prompted by suspected graft in compensating individuals and institutions affected by the standard gauge railway project.

Also raided are the homes of vice-chairman Abigael Mbagaya Mukolwe and chief executive officer Tom Aziz Changingi.

The homes of several top managers were also raided.

Other reports indicated that the home of the valuation and Taxation Director Salome Munubi, director of finance Francis Mugo, manager Mary Ngundo were also raided by the officials.

It is alleged that over Sh 2 billion was irregularly paid between November and December.

The queries include “compensation to individuals for public land, double compensation, compensation to people who did not own land acquired for SGR project, excessive compensation as a result of over valuation, compensation in regard to Kenya Railway Reserve land,” according to EACC.

The officials are also being investigated for abuse of office.

“So far important documents helpful to the investigations have been identified and recovered,” said Mr Aila.

He added: “Upon completion of the investigation EACC will forward a report and the inquiry file to the Director of Public Prosecutions with appropriate recommendations.”

NLC is also being investigated by the National Assembly Lands Committee because of the large payments made in December last year.

The Commission’s secretariat was accused of withholding information on the matter.

Among the plots of land were at least five parcels in Embakasi valued at a combined Sh215 million.

Former journalist, Mugo Njeru filed a complaint claiming Mr Swazuri asked him for a bribe to facilitate compensation of his prime land.

Njeru and his wife Edith Wairimu accused Swazuri of demanding a bribe of Sh1.2 million to be compensated for their land which the government acquired for the Standard Gauge Railway project.

Source:Daily Nation

May 4, 2017
East Africa military spending down by $600m

{Military spending in the East Africa recorded its biggest drop last year, pushed down by South Sudan which cut back its expenditure by more than 50 per cent, in a year its economy tanked due to a prolonged political crisis than turned into a civil war.}

Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an independent resource on global security, shows that regional economies spent $2.5 billion on their military expenditure last year, a drop from the previous year of $3.1 billion, even as countries sought to modernise their weapons while also tackling the surging terrorism threat.

Africa’s overall spending fell by 1.3 per cent to $37.9 billion in 2016, the second year of decreasing military spending, after 12 consecutive years of increased military spending.

Kenya and South Sudan continued to be the region’s top spenders. Kenya spent $908 million in 2016, up from $844 the previous year, while South Sudan saw its spending drop to $525 million, from $1.14 billion the previous year.

Tanzania also recorded an increase in its spending from $517 million the previous year to $561 million. Uganda recorded a rise to $398 million from $389 million, with Rwanda’s spending rising to $106 million from $104 million. Burundi’s spending, however, from by $1 million to $65 million.

In January, the US State Department approved a $418 million foreign military sales contract that has since turned controversial after several US lawmakers questioned it.

Kenya spent $790 million on arms from China, placing the latter in the league of its largest sources of arms outside of Russia, Germany, the United States, Spain, Jordan and South Africa.

South Sudan, which saw its budget drop from $1.8 billion in 2014/2015 to $1.64 billion in 2016/17, still remained the region’s heaviest military spender. In the 2014/15 budget, Juba allocated $737.8 million to the national army but ended up spending $1.08 billion.

“The security sector has the largest budget allocation of $101.11 million or 29 per cent, entirely funded from the government’s own resources. The bulk of this will be used to pay salaries for the army and veterans,” Stephen Dau, the South Sudan Finance Minister said in October.

A January 2016 UN report showed that Israel supplied the South Sudan military with wiretapping devices, as well as Israeli-made weapons that included ACE assault rifles. Uganda has also been one of the country’s supplier of weapons on a second-hand basis while Ukraine sold South Sudan 830 light machine guns and 62 heavy machine guns. Chinese arms company Norinco sold 100 antitank missiles and about 10,000 automatic rifles to the government army.

A recent UN report showed that weapons continue to flow into South Sudan from diverse sources, often with the co-ordination of neighbouring countries.

“There is a preponderance of evidence that shows continued procurement of weapons by the leadership in Juba for the army, the security services, militias and other associated forces,” the UN experts said in their report.

South Sudan’s government rejected the allegations in the report, saying that the country had other priorities.

In the past three years, Tanzania has acquired 14 new J-7Gs fighter jets, Type 63A amphibious tanks, A100 multiple rocket launchers and Type 07PA self-propelled mortars from China.

Uganda, which saw a minimal rise in its spending last year, is expecting to procure more weapons this year in a bid to improve its infrastructure, mainly communication, medical, and transport, with no information about any combat hardware orders. In its 2017/18, its allocation for defence will increase from $414 million to $524.4 million.

Source:The East African

May 4, 2017