IGIHE

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  • Kagame Pledges €50,000 to Perfect Joanne O’Riordan’s Robot

    Kagame Pledges €50,000 to Perfect Joanne O’Riordan’s Robot

    {{President Paul Kagame has pledged to match a €50,000 donation to perfecting a robot built for Cork teenager Joanne O’Riordan.}}

    Speaking in Dublin yesterday President Kagame told the UN Broadband Commission meeting that his country would match the funds being put forward by the International Telecommunication Union.

    Robbie the Robot was unveiled on Friday, having been built by a team of Trinity College engineers in response to a challenge set down by Joanne two years ago.

    He is designed to help Joanne, who was born without limbs, maintain her independence, picking up objects for the 18-year-old.

    On Friday, engineers stressed that Robbie is a working prototype and not the finished product. He was built in €50,000 in funding in just three months.

    The ITU pledged €50,000 to help fund the perfection of the robot, with President Kagame committing to match that amount.

    More funding is expected to have been put forward by private firms at the meeting, which was hosted by billionaire Denis O’Brien.

    {thejournal}

  • RDF Peacekeepers Launch Umuganda in Bangui

    RDF Peacekeepers Launch Umuganda in Bangui

    {{Citizens of SOCATI and BENGEWE localities, Bangui in Central Africa Republic, joined Rwanda Peacekeepers in Central Africa Republic in Umuganda activity on 22 March 2014. }}

    They cleaned and cleared bushes on the road around 5th and 8th Arrondissement, Bangui capital. The work done covered a distance of 1km.

    “Umuganda” is a community work, that brings together residents to work toward common good of their country. It is one of the Home Grown Solutions, undertaken on the last Saturday of every month in Rwanda and a philosophy of all citizens participating in solving their problems together.

    In a meeting after Umuganda, Lt Col J Paul Karangwa, Rwanda Mechanised Battalion (RwaMecBatt1) Contingent Commander in AU Forces deployed in Central Africa Republic, encouraged the citizens to embrace the introduced culture of Umuganda in their country.

    “This is a regular voluntary community activity we do in our country. It serves us to build our nation and I encourage you to do the same. Thank you for your effort today”.

    Lt Col Karangwa also urged the citizens to cooperate with Security Forces to bring stability in their country, “your contribution is key to build security in your country”, Lt Col Karangwa told the citizens.

    The participants of today’s Umuganda thereafter socialised with RDF sharing Bread, in what is referred to in Rwanda as Ubusabane.

    Residents could not believe Rwandan peacekeepers could come to clean up their neighbourhood.

    “We had never seen Military holding hoes and spades to do cleaning”, commented citizens watching in awe, before turning in big numbers to join the RDF in Umuganda for the first time.

    The Chief of SOCATI Locality, Philemon Laelang thanked the RDF Peacekeepers on behalf of the residents that participated in Umuganda.

    It has been a tradition that Rwanda Peacekeepers introduce umuganda wherever they are deployed. Umuganda has among others contributed to social-economic development and has made Kigali and Rwanda one of the cleanest cities and countries in the world.

    According to Rwandapedia a website that collects and tells the story of Rwanda’s development, the value of Umuganda to the country’s development since 2007 has been estimated at more than US $60 million.

    MOD

  • Drivers Warned Against Breaching Traffic Rules

    Drivers Warned Against Breaching Traffic Rules

    {{Road traffic accidents have tremendously decreased, but there are some road users, especially drivers, who continue to violate traffic rules leading the injuries, destruction of property and loss of lives.}}

    Supt. Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi, the spokesperson of the Traffic and Road Safety department warned of severe consequences to anyone that will be caught violating traffic rules.

    He said most accidents are caused by reckless driving, over speeding, over-taking in corners and driving while on phone.

    On March 22, two road accidents were registered across the country, in which one person died and eight others injured.

    The two accidents were caused by over speeding.

    He also said that some drivers and motorcycle taxi operators have no driving licence and hardly know the meaning of signposts, which also contributes to road accidents.

    He also warned drivers and motorcyclists against violating traffic lights.

    “Accidents are not selective. They can kill or injure whoever is on board or around. Breaching road traffic rules including driving without permit, puts the lives of people on board and pedestrians and destroys public infrastructure,” he observed.

    He said provisional driving licence tests are meant to teach candidates road signs and urged Rwandans to always learn these signs to be better drivers.

  • Quantity Surveying Students Form Association

    Quantity Surveying Students Form Association

    {{Students studying Quantity Surveying in the School of Architecture at the College of Science and Technology under University of Rwanda have established an association that seeks to bring together construction management students.}}

    The Rwanda Quantity Surveying Students Association RQSSA was established in the first intake 2010-2013.

    The association has a vision of connecting construction management students with their career especially in Quantity Surveying and to play an important role towards the development of construction industry in Rwanda.

    RQSSA’s mission is to produce competent Quantity Surveyors in the future that can promote the infrastructure development in Rwanda.

    The association provides students with more information about the career through workshops and professional speakers. It connects students to the world of Quantity Surveying.

    R.Q.S.S.A produces a journal annually that includes articles undertaking the profession of Quantity Surveying, explaining what they study, what they are expected to deliver and general professionalism.

    The association is also scheduled to produce a second Journal titled “UNDERSTAND QUANTITY SURVEYING PROFESSION” aimed at helping people to understand the role of Quantity Surveying profession in construction industry.

    Quantity surveying is the science of measuring and valuing of construction works. It is also concerned with financial, economic and managerial aspects of construction.

  • Youth Urged to Use Youth-Friendly Health Centres

    Youth Urged to Use Youth-Friendly Health Centres

    {{Imbuto Foundation, through its “Family Package Project”, last Friday held an Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (ASRH&R) Day at Rubavu Stadium (Rubavu district).}}

    The event was organized under the theme “Rubyiruko! Kugira Ubumenyi ku buzima bw’Imyororokere ni uburenganzira bwanyu”.

    The target is the population of the whole district. Various artists such as Knowless, Kamishi, Urban Boys, Mani Martin, Tom Close, Fireman took part in the campaign.
    This ASRH & R Day aims at ensuring that beneficiaries understand their roles, responsibilities and rights, and all stakeholders understand and implement results-oriented interventions.

    In order to reach these goals, Imbuto Foundation focused on the following objectives on ASRH Day:

    -Empower all youth with knowledge on ASRH & R services, unwanted and early pregnancies;

    -Raise awareness on access to youth friendly ASRH & R services available at the nearest health centre;

    3-Advocate for youth-friendly services within health facilities;

    4- encourage parents, authorities and communities to provide a supportive environment to the youth on these issues.

    Key messages were delivered by the Guest of Honour Honourable Minister of Health Agnes Binagwaho; as well as the UNICEF country representative Noala Skinner; Director General of Imbuto Foundation Radegonde Ndejuru; and the Mayor of Rubavu District Hassan Bahame.

    In their speeches, Noala Skinner and Minister Binagwaho urged the youth to use the youth-friendly centres and get the right information about their health, while Radegonde Ndejuru reminded parents that they are the first responsible for communicating with their children about those important issues.

    These messages were echoed by the testimony of Furaha, a young woman of 25 years old who was abused and consequently got pregnant at 13 years old.

    Her foster family rejected her. She therefore urged the audience to take advantage of the youth-friendly centres, as she didn’t have the chance to have a safe space, to turn to for advice and comfort.

    A group performed a sketch where they portrayed a young girl who was seeking for advice from her father; after being dismissed by him, she turned to a neighbour who tried to abuse her.

    This showed how important it is for the youth to get information on ASRH & R and the responsibility that parents have in informing their children. Approximately 3000 people attended, mainly young people aged 10 – 24 years. More than 600 got tested.

  • Woman Arrested over Drug Trafficking

    Woman Arrested over Drug Trafficking

    {{Police in Ruhango district arrested a woman in connection with drug abuse related crimes.}}

    The woman, name withheld, was arrested on Friday in Kinazi in a police operation.
    She is currently held at Kinazi police station as investigation continues.

    Police also recovered about four kilogrammes of cannabis in her house. She said to be involved in trafficking and selling narcotics into the country.

    Chief Superintendent Herbert Gashagaza, the Southern region Police Spokesperson, who confirmed the seizure and the subsequent arrest, said there is big turn up of members of the public giving information on people involved in illegal activities and drug dealings.

    “Many drug dealers, especially suppliers have been arrested and their narcotics confiscated, all based on credible information given to us by the public.

    We have no doubt that this great job the public is doing will leave no stone unturned; it will put drug dealers in a fix and easier for us to apprehend them,” he said.

    RNP

  • Nigeria State Closes Schools for Fear of Boko Haram Attacks

    Nigeria State Closes Schools for Fear of Boko Haram Attacks

    {{Public secondary schools in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state have been closed indefinitely following deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram Islamists, teachers and parents said on Saturday.}}

    The closure reportedly affects 85 secondary schools, catering to about 120 000 students across the troubled state, a stronghold of the militant sect waging a five year insurgency in Nigeria.

    The murderous group, whose name means “Western education is sinful” in the Hausa language, has vowed to stop children attending school.

    “We reported to school on Friday last week [14 March] but to our shock the principal of the school told us he had received orders from the ministry of education to close down the school indefinitely,” teacher Suleiman Gana told media.

    “He [the principal] told us the decision affects all public secondary schools in the state and was taken as a precautionary measure to safeguard lives of teachers and students from Boko Haram attacks,” Gana said.

    A Borno state official confirmed the closure of the schools to press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    Deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram have intensified since the turn of the year, with about 700 killed in more than 40 attacks in 2014 according to Human Rights Watch, making it one of the bloodiest years since the insurgency began in 2009.

    In the restive northeast, tens of thousands have fled for their lives, either in fear of further attacks or after militants razed their homes and businesses.

    A wave of attacks on education targets, including the slaughter of boarding school students in their beds while they slept, has prompted international condemnation.

    wirestory

  • Cost of East Africa’s Poaching Economy

    Cost of East Africa’s Poaching Economy

    {{Organised crime gangs in East Africa are generating staggering profits smuggling ivory and rhino horn with impunity, experts say, threatening both an irreplaceable wildlife heritage and key tourism industries.}}

    Kenyan and Tanzanian ports are the “primary gateway” for ivory smuggled to Asia, where demand is fuelled by increasingly affluent markets, especially in China, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warns.

    Last year, seizures of ivory shipments reached “record levels”, according to a recent Interpol report.

    “Large-scale ivory shipments — each one representing the slaughter of hundreds of elephants — point to the involvement of organised crime networks operating across multiple countries,” Interpol said.

    Poaching has risen sharply across Africa in recent years.

    Organised gangs with insider knowledge and armed with automatic weapons and specialised equipment such as night vision goggles, brazenly use chainsaws to carve out the rhino horn or remove elephant tusks.

    Veteran Kenyan conservationist Richard Leakey has now warned that drastic action must be taken, saying that known ring-leaders in Kenya are operating with “outrageous impunity”.

    The rise in poaching, with animals being slaughtered inside even the most heavily guarded national parks or conservation areas, show that the poachers have little fear of tough new laws designed to stem the wave of killings, he said.

    “They could not operate with the impunity we are seeing if you did not have some form of protection from law enforcement agencies,” Leakey said, as he made an appeal for Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to take action.

    “It is a problem of a few criminals… the ringleaders are known,” he added, claiming that a core group of around 20 to 30 people were organising the mass poaching but that none had faced justice.

    {{Big money}}

    It’s a lucrative business: a kilo of ivory is worth some $850 (650 euros) in Asia, with UNODC suggesting ivory smuggled to Asia from Eastern Africa was worth over $31 million (23 million euros) in 2011.

    But such short-term and finite profits generated by the spate of killings are threatening the far more valuable tourism industry, which in Kenya and Tanzania is the second largest foreign exchange earner after agriculture.

    “The African elephant is not currently deemed ‘endangered’ as a species, but its decimation in Eastern Africa could be devastating,” UNODC’s report read.

    “In addition to the reduction in genetic diversity, its loss could seriously undermine local tourist revenues, a key source of foreign exchange for many of the countries of the region.”

    But the region’s two large container ports — Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania — are also notorious trafficking hubs, funnelling more elephant tusks to Asia than all of central, southern and west African nations combined.

    The two nations made up almost two-thirds of all large shipments of ivory seized across the entire continent from 2009-2011, according to the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), a tracking database run by wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

    Seizures of containers crammed full of tusks — often hidden under foul-smelling fish or dried chili peppers in a bid to confuse sniffer dogs or discourage detailed searches — are regularly found.

    Much of the ivory smuggled is destined for China, whose rapidly growing economy has encouraged those enjoying disposable income to splash out on an ivory trinket as a sign of financial success.

    “Growing affluence in China, where possession of elephant ivory remains a status symbol, appears to have rendered China the world’s leading destination for illicit ivory,” the UNODC report added.

    The smuggling of rhino horns is a bigger problem for Southern Africa, which has far more of the endangered animals. It is often done by air, due to the value of the horn and its smaller size.

    But scores of East African rhinos are also being killed despite wildlife rangers often risking their lives to protect them.

    NV

  • Pope writes to Museveni About Cancelled Trip to Uganda

    Pope writes to Museveni About Cancelled Trip to Uganda

    {{Pope wrote an official communication to the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and to the Country’s Episcopal Conference Secretariat saying he would not travel to Uganda because of having a busy week.}}

    Monsignor John Baptist Kauta, the secretary to the Uganda Episcopal Conference noted that Pope would be busy with the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of the Bishops on the Pastoral under the theme ‘Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization’ scheduled to be held in October in Rome.

    In Uganda, the Episcopal Conference last week also postponed the national celebrations that are being organised to mark the Golden Jubilee of the 22 Uganda Martyrs since canonization.

    The occasion had been originally scheduled to be held in October this year, a period that coincided with the Pope’s Synod.

  • APR 1-2 Rayon Sport

    APR 1-2 Rayon Sport

    {{Rwanda’s rival football clubs Rayon Sports and APR FC are currently struggling to edge out each other at a match ongoing at Nyamirambo regional stadium.}}

    Hundreds of fans are parked at a highly protected stadium.

    Rayon sport trounced APR FC in a 2-1 win which drove Rayon sport fans around the city into celebration mood.

    Rayon Sports scorers included; Jamal Mwiseneza and Abuba Sibomana.

    Ndahinduka Mitchel scored for APR FC