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Bharti Airtel Appoints New Managing Director in Rwanda

{{Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), a leading telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, has announced the appointment of Mr. Teddy R.V.S. Bhullar as Managing Director (MD) of Airtel’s operation in Rwanda. }}

Before his appointment, Mr. Bhullar has been the Managing Director for Airtel Sierra Leone since the launch of the Airtel Brand in the country in November 2010 and in Airtel Seychelles prior to that.

He is expected to support further developments in the telecoms operator’s newest operation.

The mobile industry has already had a transformative effect on the social and economic development of Sub- Saharan Africa.

Despite the astonishing progress of the mobile industry in recent years, the biggest impact of mobile in Africa is yet to come.

Mobile solutions are beginning to address a range of social and economic challenges in the region, some examples being healthcare, education and agriculture.

Making the announcement, Airtel Africa CEO, Christian de Faria said: “With his diverse experience in blue chip organizations and skills, Teddy is a great fit for Rwanda.

His drive for results and passion for improving the lives of the people around him makes us all extremely confident that he is best placed to coach the new team at Airtel in Rwanda into the next frontier.”

The new MD brings 32 years of wide-ranging experiences working at Tata Tea Ltd, Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola and Airtel. Mr. Bhullar holds an MBA Degree and has also attended various Leadership programs at CCL in Singapore.

He will succeed Mr. Marcellin Paluku who will now head Airtel Money at a pan-African level for a cluster of Operating Countries. He has successfully led Airtel Rwanda since its inception in 2011, which he managed to launch three months ahead of schedule.

Over his tenure in Rwanda, Airtel not only has the best Internet service in the country, but more than 1 million Rwandans have adopted Airtel as their network.

“Airtel Money has had significant growth momentum in the last couple of years. Mr. Paluku is an important addition to the team at the Airtel Africa Headquarters with his practical expertise in developing one of the fastest growing services in Africa and will work with an excellent team.” commented Mr. de Faria.

March 11, 2014
EAC Suspends Officer on Graft Claims

{{The East African Community (EAC) secretariat has remained silent on the suspension of one of its senior officials on graft claims and alleged abuse of office.}}

Neither the Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera, nor the Counsel to the Community, Mr Wilbert Kahwa, were ready to give details on the suspension of Phil Kleruu, a senior estate management officer.

Kleruu was served with a 30-day suspension letter on February 28, this year in connection with the loss of items belonging to the Community.

EAC officials who were contacted declined to comment, saying that it was an internal matter.

Mr Kleruu, for his part, said his suspension was against the existing EAC rules and regulations for it was not consented by the Council of Ministers, the policy organ of the Community.

The Arusha-based secretariat has also distanced itself from some mails circulating among its employees and officials of the ministries responsible for EAC affairs in the partner states which cited allegations of funds mismanagement by key officials.

“Those are just malicious e-mails. We don’t have time to attend to them because they originate from anonymous sources,” an official told The Citizen last week.

Mr Kleruu, a Tanzanian national, joined the EAC in 2007 to handle the new headquarter construction project.

He alleged that his troubles started early this year over the recruitment of some workers and failure to renew a contract of an employee in the estates unit.

He added that he had also raised a number of issues needing the attention of the SG and the executive management team, winning him enemies within the ranks of the secretariat which has over 200 employees.

When contacted over the issue, the deputy secretary general (Finance and Administration), Mr Jean Claude Nsengiyumva, dismissed allegations levelled against him by Mr Kleruu, arguing that the latter had been under investigation for sometime over the Community headquarter project.

He said he had not been served with an audit querry over alleged double payment to him during his numerous trips and assignments outside Arusha. He also denied claims of favouritism in awarding working contracts to employees or consultants.

{thecitizen}

March 10, 2014
Training of Trainers (TOT) of Community Policing Committees kicks off

This year’s Training of Trainers (TOT) of Community Policing Committees (CPCs) kicks off on March 9 at the Rwanda Peace and Leadership Centre in Nkumba, Musanze District.

This is the fifth TOT where the Rwanda National Police (RNP) trains CPCs the norms and values and government development programmes as the force continues to give them skills in the campaign against crimes.

About 2000 CPCs have so far benefited from this programme.

March 10, 2014
World’s Largest Banana Supplier Makes Annual Revenue of $4.6 bn

{{US-based Chiquita Brands and Ireland’s Fyffes Plc said Monday that they are merging, creating the world’s larget banana supplier with annual revenue of $4.6 billion.}}

In the stock-for-stock transaction Chiquita shareholders will own approximately 50.7 percent of the new company, named ChiquitaFyffes Plc, and Fyffes shareholders owning the remainder, the companies announced in a joint statement.

The combined company will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and based in Ireland. The Chiquita and Fyffes brands will also continue, the statement read.

Chiquita CEO Ed Lonergan will serve as chairman, while Fyffes executive chairman David McCann will become the combined company’s chief executive officer.

ChiquitaFyffes will have an operating presence in more than 70 countries and a workforce of some 32,000 people.

The transaction is expected to be complete this year, the statement read.

Chiquita is one of the top global marketer and distributors of fresh food products, including bananas and packaged salads. Fyffes, though not quite as big, is also a major global player.

“This is a natural strategic partnership that combines two complementary companies of long history,” said Lonergan.

{agencies}

March 10, 2014
Stranded Zimbabwe Special Forces Swim for 3hrs in Atlantic

{{Five Zimbabwean soldiers reportedly swam to safety for more than three hours in the shark-infested Atlantic Ocean after their boats capsized and sank during a training exercise in October last year.}}

Quoting the latest edition of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) magazine, The Sunday Mail, said the five soldiers were among the 21 members of the SADC Special Forces that successfully swam for their lives after a sea-borne exercise code-named Weiwitchia “went horribly wrong” in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Namibian coast.

The report said one Malawian soldier died during the mishap after he was hit on the head by propellers while two South Africans were “reported missing in action”.

The Zimbabwe National Army has since promoted the five soldiers by a rank each, with Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Washington Chidavanyika saying “their ability to make split-second decisions made the difference between life and death”.

Chidavanyika said like true soldiers, the five did not let the “daunting odds of survival deter them”.

The training was aimed at strengthening regional co-operation.

Chidavanyika said Zimbabwe’s high standard of training in military skills made it easy for the soldiers to quickly adapt to changed conditions, making it possible for them to even operate in oceans and deserts.

March 10, 2014
Egypt Military Chief Launches Housing Initiative

{{Egypt’s powerful military chief is launching a housing initiative to build a million homes for the poor, in the first campaign-style move by Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is widely expected to run for president.}}

El-Sissi hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but has strongly indicated he would run.

The elections expected in April are the first since the military ousted elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July following mass protests against him.

The housing initiative was announced Sunday on the official Facebook page of Egypt’s military spokesman. It only said the million homes are dedicated to “Egypt’s youth” and are a first step to solve the country’s housing problem.

Senior generals close to el-Sissi have told Press he is focusing on the country’s myriad of economic problems.

AP

March 10, 2014
RwandAir’s New Bombardier Q 400NextGen flies to Bujumbura.

{{The management of RwandAir celebrated the delivery of a dual-class Q400 NextGen turboprop airliner at the Kigali International Airport on Monday March 3rd 2014.}}

The event was attended by RwandAir’s senior management; Bombardier management team from Canada and guest of honor Minister of Infrastructure Silas Lwakabamba, was a huge success.

With a beautiful low pass preformed by the pilots followed by the tradition fire man’s salute, the newest addition to the RwandAir fleet received a spectacular welcome.

The delivery of the Bombardier Q 400 NextGen aircraft makes RwandAir the youngest airline with a complete fleet of all Next Generation Aircrafts.

In exactly one week since the arrival of the aircraft, the airline announced that the Bombardier Q 400 will be taking its first commercial flight this very morning from Kigali to Bujumbura and back.

This marks the official commencement of its commercial flights in the region. RwandAir, the national flag carrier of Rwanda, will operate the new Bombardier Q 400 NextGen aircraft equipped with 7 Business Class and 60 Economy Class seats.

The aircraft will operate daily services to Brazzaville, Libreville, Entebbe, Nairobi, Kilimanjaro, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and Kamembe the only domestic route.

RwandAir is well-known for appropriately connecting travellers through Kigali International Airport.

Small in scale, the airline and airport are competent to deliver similar transfer and tailored services to Nairobi, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Johannesburg, and many more.

RwandAir projects to enlarge and reveal its new routes to Middle East, Asia and Europe.

March 10, 2014
Mexico says Kills Drug Kingpin Reported Dead Years Ago

{{A Mexican drug lord who had been falsely reported dead more than three years ago was killed in a shootout with federal forces in western Mexico early on Sunday, the government said.}}

Nazario Moreno led a powerful criminal gang that has ravaged the western state of Michoacan, and was known as “El Mas Loco,” or “The Craziest One.”

He had been reported killed by the government in a firefight in December 2010, but his body was never recovered and he was widely believed to be still alive.

Government security spokesman Alejandro Rubido said after security forces discovered Moreno was still alive, he was tracked down and found to be the undisputed leader of the main drug cartel operating in the area, The Knights Templar.

“This morning, he was intercepted,” Rubido said. “When he was asked to turn himself in, he opened fire and was killed.”

The death of Moreno marks another major victory for President Enrique Peña Nieto’s government in its campaign to bring Mexico’s powerful drug gangs to heel.

The country’s most wanted drug baron, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, was captured last month.

Officials said the identity of Moreno, who was killed near Tumbiscatio, a village about 50 km (30 miles) north of the port of Lazaro Cardenas, was confirmed via fingerprints.

{{SURVIVOR}}

Moreno led a drug cartel known as La Familia, which fractured after his reported demise in 2010. Moreno’s allies formed the most powerful faction of La Familia and renamed themselves the Knights Templar after a medieval military order.

The Knights Templar had much of Michoacan under its control until local vigilante groups rose up against it at the start of this year and began to overrun the gang’s strongholds.

The government has formed an uneasy alliance with the vigilantes despite concerns that the so-called self-defense groups had themselves been infiltrated by organized crime.

Rubido said a series of raids and arrests in the last few weeks had helped the government to track down Moreno.

Moreno was born in 1970 in an unruly part of Michoacan known as the “Tierra Caliente,” or hot country, where traffickers have long grown marijuana and poppies to make opium.

Working as a laborer in the United States in the 1980s, Moreno converted to evangelical Christianity, and on his return home, he spread his version of the gospel within the drug trade.

In 2006, Moreno named his cartel “La Familia Michoacana” and in advertisements printed in newspapers claimed his troops were good Christians who defended their kind even if they smuggled drugs.

La Familia was given a boost by the growing crystal methamphetamine trade, with smugglers bringing in precursor chemicals to Michoacan’s Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas.

The Knights Templar took a firm hold of Lazaro Cardenas and would go on to export iron ore from the port to China.

Federal police first caught up with Moreno in 2010, when he was handing out Christmas presents of washing machines and cars in a festival in the Michoacan village El Alcalde.

Police who took part in the attack against Moreno said the 2,000 officers involved in the operation ran into hundreds of gunmen who blocked roads with burning cars and trucks.

Five officers were killed, and police shot dead more than 50 gunmen in fighting lasting several hours, police said. The gang carried many of those hit, including Moreno, into the hills.

March 10, 2014
Facts & Figures for India’s 2014 General Election

{{Voting for the 2014 general election will begin on April 7, the Election Commission said on Wednesday.}}

More than 814 million people — a number larger than the population of Europe — will be eligible to vote in the world’s biggest democratic exercise.

Voting will be held in nine stages, which will be staggered until May 12, and results are due to be announced on May 16. Elections to state assemblies in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be held simultaneously.

Around 930,000 polling stations will be set up for the month-long election using electronic voting machines, first introduced in 2004.

About 23 million eligible voters have been enrolled in the 18 to 19 age group, nearly 3 percent of India’s voters.

Of India’s 814.5 million eligible voters, 28,314 identify themselves as transgender and their gender is listed as “other”. There are 11,844 non-resident Indians registered to vote in the election this year.

Since introducing photo voter ID cards and electoral rolls in 2009, 98 percent of India’s eligible voters have the former, 96 percent have the latter.

Electronic voting machine security includes: transported under armed escort and stored in strong rooms, with a double lock system and guarded 24×7 by armed police, and CCTV coverage. Also, parties/candidates allowed to keep a watch on them.

“Basic Minimum Facilities” for polling stations include drinking water, shed, toilet, ramp for disabled voters.

Voters will have a “None of the Above” option on voting machines.

Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the favourite in opinion polls, which reflect waning support for Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party that wrested power from the BJP in 2004.

Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, will also be challenged by a clutch of regional parties that are vying for power as part of a “third front” opposed to both the Congress and the BJP.

Also in the race is Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, which made a stunning debut in Delhi elections last year and is now eyeing a national presence on the anti-corruption plank.

Here’s a look at the election schedule, and the states and union territories going to polls:

April 7 (six constituencies) – Assam, Tripura

April 9 (seven constituencies) – Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland

April 10 (92 constituencies) – Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, Delhi

April 12 (five constituencies) – Assam, Sikkim, Tripura

April 17 (122 constituencies) – Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

April 24 (117 constituencies) – Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Puducherry

April 30 (89 constituencies) – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu

May 7 (64 constituencies) – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal

May 12 (41 constituencies) – Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

{{MORE ON THE ELECTION}}

The new Lok Sabha is expected to be constituted by June 1 with 543 lawmakers chosen from across India. Of these, 131 seats are reserved for candidates from the country’s scheduled castes and tribes.

Two other lawmakers can be appointed to the Lok Sabha by the president to ensure the representation of India’s tiny Anglo-Indian community, taking the total number of lawmakers to 545.

A political party needs to secure at least 272 seats to form the government.

March 10, 2014
Red Cross Worker Killed in Central African Republic

{{A Red Cross worker was killed on Saturday in the north of the Central African Republic, amid escalating religious violence that peacekeepers have been powerless to stop.}}

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement armed men entered the Catholic mission in the northern town of Ndele, where four of its staff were based, and killed one of them, a Central African man. The remaining three are safe, it said.

The attack came after warnings last week that humanitarian workers were at risk in the former French colony and calls from senior U.N. officials for the international community to deploy more troops.

“We are outraged by this killing,” said Georgios Georgantas, head of the ICRC delegation in the country.

“We urgently call on all those bearing arms to respect and spare people working for the ICRC or for the broader International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and indeed all those who carry out humanitarian work,” he said.

Thousands of people have been killed since the Seleka, a coalition of mostly Muslim northern rebels, seized power a year ago and embarked on a campaign of looting, torture and killing in the majority Christian country.

Since the resignation of Seleka leader Michel Djotodia as interim president in January under intense international pressure, Christian “anti-Balaka” militias have stepped up reprisals against Muslims.

France has deployed 2,000 troops to support a 6,000-strong African Union peacekeeping mission in the country of 4.5 million people but they have failed to halt the violence.

On Friday, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres had warned that armed groups were attacking and robbing aid workers in the landlocked nation, making it difficult to bring humanitarian relief.

The United Nations estimates that some 650,000 people have been displaced by violence within Central African Republic, while nearly 300,000 have crossed into neighboring countries.

Despite the escalating violence and worsening humanitarian situation, the United Nations has received less than one fifth of the $551 million it requested from donors in December.

The Security Council on Thursday discussed a proposal for a nearly 12,000-strong peacekeeping force to stop the killing, but reached no decision.

{reuters}

March 10, 2014