IGIHE

Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

  • Government bans prayers in public service buildings

    {The Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi has announced a ban on sermons conducted in public service buildings where people would gather in break time. }

    The statement signed by the Prime Minister Murekezi indicates that the decision has been taken following cases where some public servants spend working time in prayers in government buildings.

    “I announce that all prayer activities are banned in all places where public services are executed. I remind public servants at all levels to respect the law no 86/2013 of 11 /09/2013 establishing the common statute of public servants especially article 10 and 11 regarding the oath and its respect mainly with regard to the national flag,” reads the statement in part.

    Working hours in public service are 45 hours per week and 9 hours a day beginning at 8:00 to 17:00 hours including one hour of break between 12:00 and 13:00 hours.

  • Kwibuka23: Christians called to respect humanity, bury genocide ideology

    {Religious denominations are believed to play a great role in shaping people’s faith, acquaint followers with ethics and good moral behavior guiding them in society. }

    However, Tutsi endured sufferings during the 1994 genocide despite the presence of a wide range of such denominations in Rwanda.

    Genocide left wounds in Rwandan society. The government of unity put on forefront the pillar of non-discriminative politics and promoting equal opportunities among Rwandans.

    Religious denominations have also demonstrated willingness to shape history providing a hand in building Rwandan spirit that lacked among believers who deviated from their mission and killed fellow citizens.

    Churches were considered as shrines, havens and path to Heaven. It was not the case when Tutsi seeking refuges in churches were killed therein during the 1994 genocide. It is upon that sad background that some churches were turned into genocide memorials today.

    Recently, Pope Francis apologized for the role of Catholic Church members during the 1994 genocide against Tutsi.

    The Catholic Church Spokesperson, Bishop Philippe Rukamba has said that Christians and priests are all called on supporting the value of upholding Rwandans’ unity.

    “A Christian must have a sense of building humanity including ‘Ndi Umunyarwanda’.It is a particular onus upon us,” he said.

    He explained that the Catholic Church will next year focus on message of reconciliation among Rwandans.

    Bishop Rukamba explained that all priests will convene in Kabgayi on 7th October to discuss the said theme as they will be celebrating 100 years since priesthood sacrament was introduced in Rwanda.

    He highlighted that Christianity must not be limited in words but demonstrated in building the nation where believers need to have identity through good social interaction, caring for the vulnerable and weak people and transforming thoughts to strengthen brotherhood in the country leading to peace and love.

    The spokesperson of ADEPR, Bishop Jean Sibomana has too stressed the need to uphold ‘Ndi Umunyarwanda’ program among believers.

    “We are concerned with promoting unity and reconciliation of Rwandans and standing against racial discrimination,” he said.

    Bishop Sibomana called on Rwandans to condole genocide survivors and keep away from genocide ideology.

    “We need to mobilize Christians to avoid genocide ideology. We have even heard that part of a Christian’s residence was demolished recently in the nigh. I don’t remember where he lives but it is a manifestation of lingering genocide ideology among people,” he said.

    “I request Rwandan Christians not to hurt genocide survivors,” he added.

    The Catholic Church Spokesperson, Bishop Philippe Rukamba has said that Christians and priests are all called on supporting the value of upholding Rwandans’ unity.

  • Stop playing name-games-Ibuka to UN

    {The president of Ibuka in Rwanda, Prof Dusingizemungu Jean Pierre has requested the United Nations to stop playing name-games, changing the meaning of genocide against the Tutsi. }

    As Rwanda commemorates Tutsi killed in Nyanza, Kicukiro in 1994 11th April, what is summoned into memory is how the international community abandoned a people in need, with UN ‘peace keepers’ packing their bags leaving hunted Tutsi in the hands of death.

    Prof Dusingizemungu has said that international community has however not yet learnt any lessons for it still refers the 1994 pogrom as Rwanda genocide instead of genocide against the Tutsi.

    “It is shocking to see UN, claiming to oversee humanity, unchanged despite the lessons,” he said.

    “UN is creating confusion among people through speeches of its leaders. They need to be clear and announce that genocide in Rwanda was perpetrated against the Tutsi,” he added.

    He urged UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to remove the confusion to avoid misinterpretation of history.

    Prof Dusingizemungu explained that some countries still support genocide trivialization and denial, pointing out a Belgian journalist, Peter Verlinden accused of undermining genocide who wanted to attend a public lecture on genocide history among schools held in parliamentary buildings in Wallonie-Bruxelles province of Belgium on 24th March 2017.

    He explained that Ibuka denied the journalist working for VRT television attendance.

    He appealed to speaker of parliament in Belgium and allowed to follow discussions but in a particular own room where he could not share ideas.

    Prof Dusingizemungu said international community supported Interahamwe accusing France of being at forefront.

    “France took a fore position in executing genocide,” he said.

    Prof Dusingizemungu urged world historians to document the role played by France in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

    The president of Ibuka in Rwanda, Prof Dusingizemungu Jean Pierre.
    The Minister of Sports and Culture,Uwacu Julienneattending commemoration of victims of 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Kicukiro yesterday.

  • How over 4000 Tutsi were killed as French soldiers looked on

    {The United Nations accepted France request on 22nd June 1994 to send troops in Rwanda, an operation called “Operation Turquoise” meant for intervention and saving people in danger. }

    However the tide turned wrong as French troops did support the government which executed genocide against Tutsi and helping EX-FAR to flee from RPF –Inkotanyi soldiers that were setting in to stop genocide. Eye witnesses, survivors of the genocide in Bisesero attest.

    During the commemoration of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi held in Bisesero on Monday, survivors recalled how they begged French soldiers to rescue them from the hands of Interahamwe and soldiers who had killed over 40,000 people but kept a deaf ear until more 4000 Tutsi were killed within three days.

    “We saw French soldiers coming on 27th June 1994. I left the forest in which I was hiding and went to talk to them because I could speak French. We explained what was happening, the indiscriminate killings, but they never listened to us. They asked us to keep hiding as we did before promising to return in three days to our rescue. We insisted for assistance and begged but they did not budge, yet they had all materials to rescue us from enemies,” recalls Eric Nzabihimana, a survivor in Bisesero.

    He explained that interahamwe attacked three days later and killed 4000 among 6000 Tutsi after French soldiers had left them in a cumbersome situation.

    French soldiers arrived in Rwanda with more than 30 war jets, 2400 soldiers among other military equipment.

    French soldiers would leave Bisesero people being killed and supply food to refugees including perpetrators who had fled to Democratic Republic of Congo.

    The Minister of Defense, Gen. James Kabarebe highlighted how France had good relations with Habyarimana’s government and provided military support during the liberation war but were defeated as they defended the indefensible.

    “Their plan failed because Rwandans, their efforts, devotion, patriotism, and truth defeated them and fled,” he said.

    He explained that France was involved in war and genocide as it kept providing support to defeated government forces in various forms after executing genocide.

    Bisesero is located at the Rwanda – Democratic Republic of Congo border. It is known for people of bravery where residents would defend the country against the enemy in case invaded or carrying expeditions beyond borders in the past.

    Residents kept such brave spirit during the 1994 genocide against Tutsi where they persevered, resisted killers and used all possible means fighting against the enemy who had enough strength and materiel.

    During the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, Bisesero people resisted and fought attackers that no one was killed in April. Unfortunately, bad leadership sent armed Interahamwe troops from Gisenyi, Cyangugu which attacked and killed them.

    Today, Bisesero has experienced development facilities including electricity, schools, safe water and health centers among others.

    Some Bisesero survivors have advanced their education unlike the past when they were deprived of rights.

    One of eye witnesses, survivors of the genocide in Bisesero.
    Bisesero residents during commemoration of 1994 genocide against Tutsi on Monday.

  • Malala Yousafzai named youngest UN Messenger of Peace

    {The highest honour given to a citizen by the UN, Yousafzai received the award to promote girls education.}

    Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has been appointed a UN Messenger of Peace to promote girls education, more than four years after a Taliban gunman shot her in the head.

    At 19, Yousafzai is the youngest Messenger of Peace, the highest honour given by the UN for an initial period of two years.

    She was also the youngest person to win the Nobel peace prize in 2014 when she was 17.

    The Pakistani education activist came to prominence when she was shot in the head in 2012 as she was leaving school in Pakistan’s Swat valley, northwest of the country’s capital Islamabad.

    She was targeted for her campaign against efforts by the Taliban to deny women education.

    “You are not only a hero, but you are a very committed and generous person,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Yousafzai.

    Other current Messengers of Peace include actors Leonardo di Caprio (climate change), Charlize Theron (prevention of HIV and elimination of violence against women), and Michael Douglas (disarmament).

    Yousafzai has become a regular speaker on the global stage and visited refugee camps in Rwanda and Kenya last July to highlight the plight of refugee girls from Burundi and Somalia.

    “Now this is a new life, this is a second life and it is for the purpose of education.”

    “The extremists tried all their best to stop me, they tried to kill me and they didn’t succeed,” Yousafzai said on Monday.

    In January 2009, Yousafzai began to keep a diary for the BBC’s Urdu service, in which she detailed how she had been affected by the Taliban’s rule, and what life was like for her and her peers under them.

    She wrote then under the pen name “Gul Makai”, the name of the heroine from a local Pashtun folk tale.

    Swat valley was under the control of the local chapter of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) during that time. The TTP-Swat enforced a strict interpretation of Islam in the valley, ruling with an iron fist.

    One of its many edicts enforced a complete ban on women’s education.

    Yousafzai now lives in the UK, where she received medical treatment following her shooting.

    Malala believes 'education is a right of every child and especially for girls'

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • North Korea vows to respond to ‘reckless’ US moves

    {‘DPRK ready to react to any mode of war’ after US sends navy strike group to Korean Peninsula following missile tests.}

    North Korea has sharply criticised the US after the US Pacific Command moved a set of warships to the Korean Peninsula over the weekend.

    The North’s foreign ministry, in a statement carried by its KCNA news agency on Tuesday, said the US navy strike group’s deployment showed America’s “reckless moves for invading had reached a serious phase”.

    “We never beg for peace but we will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms and keep to the road chosen by ourselves,” a spokesman for the country’s foreign affairs ministry said.

    “The DPRK [North Korea] is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US.”

    Later in the day, North Korea’s military chief said his country was ready to “mount a pre-emptive nuclear attack” on South Korea and the US.

    Hwang Pyong-so, the North’s effective number two behind leader Kim Jong-un, made the threat during a live broadcast on state television.

    He insisted North Korea will “wipe them out without a trace if they attempt to launch a war of aggression”.

    On Saturday, the US warships – including the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, two guided-missile destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser – cancelled a trip to Australia and headed from Singapore to the waters off Korea, as part of the US response to North Korea’s recent missile launches.

    On Wednesday North Korea launched a missile into the Sea of Japan from near Sinpo in South Hamgyong province, according to South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff.

    {{Tensions rising}}

    Speaking to Al Jazeera from Seoul, B J Kim, adjunct professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said the level of tension has many South Koreans worried.

    “The overall situation here, the way the South Koreans perceive it, is very unusual. They have not seen this level of heightened tensions for about a quarter of a century,” Kim said.

    “In 1994 we had a similar situation in which the United States possibly wanted to strike. But since then this has been the highest point of tensions here, so people feel quite uneasy about it.”

    North Korea has ratcheted up its nuclear programme under its relatively new leader Kim Jong-un, carrying out two nuclear tests and launching around 20 ballistic missiles last year alone.

    The international community also is concerned that North Korea could be working on an intercontinental ballistic missile, which could reach the western US.

    US-based experts say that North Korea is currently planning a further nuclear test.

    Hwang Kyo-ahn, South Korean acting president, ordered the military to intensify monitoring of the North’s activities and to ensure close communication with the ally the US.

    “It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme People’s Assembly,” said Hwang, acting leader since Park Geun-hye was removed as president over a corruption scandal.

    {{Important date}}

    The North convened a Supreme People’s Assembly session on Tuesday, one of its twice-yearly sessions in which major appointments are announced and national policy goals are formally approved.

    Saturday is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country’s founding father and grandfather of current ruler, Kim Jong-un.

    A military parade is expected in the North’s capital, Pyongyang, to mark the day.

    North Korea often also marks important anniversaries with tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities.

    Hankuk University’s Kim said South Korea feels it is up to North Korea to open the possibility of dialogue.

    “North Korea has been escalating the tensions and the US has been responding to it,” he said.

    “Seoul is waiting for words of reconciliation or at least expressions of interest in dialogue from Pyongyang.

    “From a Chinese perspective, they have always stressed the need for dialogue but we have not seen any progress for years now. China is therefore also responsible for coming up with new ideas to lower tensions.”

    USS Carl Vinson is part of the navy strike group headed for the Korean Peninsula

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • US to Russia: Abandon Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad

    {Tillerson says ‘Assad family reign coming to end’ as he heads to Moscow after talks with G7 ministers on Syrian war.}

    The US secretary of state has said he hopes Russia will abandon its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because actions such as last week’s chemical attack have stripped him of all legitimacy.

    Rex Tillerson made the remarks at the conclusion on Tuesday in Italy of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) and “like-minded” countries.

    “It is clear to us the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end,” he said shortly before leaving the Tuscan city of Lucca for Moscow.

    “We hope that the Russian government concludes that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in Bashar al-Assad.”

    A British proposal to slap extra sanctions on Syrian and Russian military officials, however, failed to win the support of the G7, Angelino Alfano, Italy’s foreign minister, said.

    Alfano, who chaired Tuesday’s talks, said: “At this time there is no consensus for further new sanctions as an effective tool for reaching the objective that we have set ourselves.”

    He also said that Russia should not be “pushed into a corner” over Syria, but that it should put pressure on Assad to stop the use of chemical weapons, and should join the international push for peace in Syria.

    The Syrian government has denied it was behind the April 4 attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun.

    Russia has also rejected the accusations that Assad used chemical arms against his own people while stating that it will not cut its ties with him.

    Assad has been locked in a six-year-old civil war that has devastated Syria and displaced half its population.

    “Returning to pseudo-attempts to resolve the crisis by repeating mantras that Assad must step down cannot help sort things out,” Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Monday.

    The same day, Boris Johnson, UK’s foreign minister, praised last week’s US missile strike on a Syrian airbase as a “game changer”, and said that support for Assad “was toxifying the reputation of Russia” and suggested that sanctions could be imposed on Russia if it refused to change course.

    However, Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, says it is questionable whether sanctions would have any effect on Syria.

    “We know that sanctions alone will not make much of a difference,” she said, speaking to Al Jazeera from London on Tuesday.

    “We have seen sanctions against Ukraine, and they didn’t achieve much. So, the only way forward is a dialogue with Russia.

    “Rex Tillerson’s visit to Russia is not going to be a game changer. It is a start but we know that after this visit, Russia is not going to declare it has severed its ties with the Assad regime. What will make a difference is if Russia sees that there is the political will on part of the United States.”

    Khatib said if the US took this opportunity to show that regime change or political transition was a serious priority and that the administration was willing to engage in political action in order to make it happen, it would cause Western countries to rally behind the US.

    “This will be what will bring Russia to the negotiating table as [the Russians] have so far only paid lip service to political change,” she said.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • China, Iran, Saudi Arabia executed most people in 2016

    {Number of executions drop worldwide, Amnesty International says, attributing decrease mainly to fewer hangings in Iran.}

    The number of executions worldwide dropped by 37 percent in 2016 compared to the year before, mainly because Iran hanged fewer people, Amnesty International said in its 2016 global review of the death penalty published on Tuesday.

    China executed more people than all other countries in the world put together, Amnesty said.

    But it is difficult to get a clear number as Beijing classifies most information related to the death penalty as “state secrets”. It is estimated to be in the 1,000’s each year.

    “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world,” said Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International.

    “The Chinese government has recognised it is a laggard in terms of openness and judicial transparency, but it persists in actively concealing the true scale of executions. It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system.”

    Excluding China, states around the world executed 1,032 people in 2016, according to Amnesty’s records.

    The vast majority of those executions – 856 – were carried out in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

    {{Historic low in US}}

    Meanwhile, the US reached a historic low in its use of the death penalty in 2016.

    For the first time in a decade the US was not one of the five biggest executioners, giving hope to human rights activists. Still 20 people were put to death there, mostly by lethal injection.

    Another 2,832 people are still on death row in the US.

    Amnesty said the decrease in executions was due partly to litigation on lethal injection protocols and challenges in sourcing chemicals in several states.

    The group added that the possible resolution of some lethal injection challenges could see the level of executions start to take off again in 2017 – including in the state of Arkansas, the governor scheduled eight executions during a 10-day period this April.

    At least 856 executions were carried out across the MENA region in 2016, a drop of 28 percent from 2015 which had seen a sharp increase from previous years.

    Iran executed at least 567 people alone, accounting for 66 percent of all the confirmed executions in the region.

    Saudi Arabia carried out at least 154 executions in 2016 – just four fewer than the record high of 158 executions in 2015, which was the highest recorded figure since 1995.

    In Egypt the number of executions doubled from 22 in 2015 to 44 in 2016 – ranking the country sixth place worldwide.

    That increase came as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi cracked down on political rivals, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Amnesty said “Egypt has witnessed an unprecedented increase in mass death sentences after unfair trials”.

    “Many MENA states justify their use of the death penalty by claiming that they are acting to counter grave security threats, despite there being no evidence that the death penalty deters violent crime,” said James Lynch, head of the death penalty team at Amnesty International.

    “The reality is that many of those executed across the region are from poor and marginalised communities, in hundreds of cases sentenced to death for non-violent crimes.”

    For the first time in a decade the US was not one of the five biggest executioners

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Trump administration ‘to sell Nigeria planes’ for Boko Haram fight

    {The Trump administration plans to sell military planes to Nigeria despite concerns over rights abuses and a botched air strike that killed scores of civilians in January, US media say.}

    Up to a dozen A-29 Super Tucano aircraft would be sold to Nigeria to help fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram, unnamed US officials said.

    The deal, which is not yet official, will require approval from Congress.

    Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency has displaced more than two million people.

    The deal, said to be worth up to $600m (£490m), was agreed by the Obama administration, but was reportedly halted on the day it was due to be sent to Congress, after a catastrophic incident involving the Nigerian military.

    About 90 people, mainly women and children, were killed in January when the Nigerian Air Force mistakenly bombed a camp in the country’s north-east, which was hosting thousands of those who had fled Boko Haram.

    An aid distribution was taking place at the time of the attack, according to medical charity MSF.

    The Nigerian government indicated last month that the deal might be back on, following the first phone call between President Muhammadu Buhari and President Donald Trump.

    “President Trump assured the Nigerian president of US readiness to cut a new deal in helping Nigeria in terms of military weapons to combat terrorism,” Mr Buhari’s office said in a statement.

    The US congressional source said human rights concerns remain, despite support for the sale from some lawmakers, Reuters news agency reports.

    The US Air Force described the A-29 aircraft as a “game-changer” when they were deployed in Afghanistan in 2016.

    They can be armed with two wing-mounted machine guns and can carry up to 1,550 kg of weapons.

    But the aircraft that would be sold to Nigeria come with a “very basic armed configuration,” one of the unnamed US officials told Reuters.

    {{Boko Haram at a glance:
    }}

    Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style education – Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden” in the Hausa language

    Launched military operations in 2009

    Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, hundreds abducted, including at least 200 schoolgirls

    Joined so-called Islamic State, now calls itself IS’s “West African province”

    Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate

    Regional force has retaken most territory in the last two years.

    Super Tucano A-29 aircraft can be used for both surveillance and attack

    Source:BBC

  • Somalia piracy: Indian ship freed but hijackers take crew

    {Somali security forces have rescued an Indian cargo ship seized by pirates earlier this month, but the hijackers took nine of the 11-man crew when they fled ashore.}

    They are thought to be being held near the city of Hobyo.

    The Al Kausar was one of three vessels to be hijacked after a five-year lull.

    On Sunday sailors from the Indian, Pakistani and Chinese navies freed the crew of a Tuvalu-registered vessel which had been boarded by pirates.

    The two crew members who were rescued were in a car that the pirates abandoned after they were chased, Mohamed Hashi Arabey, vice president of Galmudug state, told Reuters news agency.

    {{Maritime piracy threatens to return}}

    Pirates contacted by Reuters said they would keep the crew to try to secure the release of more than a hundred pirates jailed in India.

    Piracy in the waters off Somalia and Yemen peaked in 2011, with more than 200 attacks.

    But it has dropped significantly in recent years, in part because of extensive international military patrols as well as support for local fishing communities.

    However, the factors that drove many Somali coastal fishermen to become pirates nearly a decade ago are still there, says the BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner.

    Somalia is currently in the grip of a famine. Poverty is widespread with few employment options for young people.

    There is also continued local resentment at the poaching of fish stocks off the coast by Asian trawlers.

    Source:BBC