Author: Publisher

Welcome Note to Launch of East Africa Tourist Visa

{{Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have announced the operationalisation of the East Africa Tourist Visa, which is operational since 1st January 2014 and officially launched by the Heads of States of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda on the 20th February 2014 in Kampala.}}

Up to 31st December 2013, tourists travelling between the neighbouring East African countries must obtained a separate visa for each nation, therefore Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have partnered in order to simplify travel arrangements for holidaymakers, as well as creating a new brand for the whole region in turn opening up opportunities for joint marketing campaigns.

Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda are three countries famed for their wildlife, which is, through the introduction of a joint visa, boost regional travel, adding value to the tourism product offerings of these countries and highlighting the diversity of East Africa.

Our three Presidents are strong believers in Regional integration, including in the management of our tourism assets. The introduction of the single tourist visa is a result of a joint initiative and decision made by the Heads of State of the respective countries.

Tourism in East Africa region is a cornerstone of our economy. The political will has allowed us today to launch the implementation of a single visa and subsequently one destination in a record time of the previous six months.

As a Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda we believe that we will benefit from increase travellers to the region as well as intra regional movement.

The Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda joint visa costs ONLY USD $100 (approximately £60.00). The previous cost of a single entry visa for Kenya was USD $50 (approximately £30), for Uganda was USD $50 (approximately £30) and Rwanda was USD $30 (approximately £18).

The cross-border visa will support intra-regional travel between the participating countries through new joint marketing and trade opportunities.’

We are proud to invite our future tourists to experience a more accessible eastern Africa region.

Since January 1st 2014, Visitors to our region are benefiting from the new, more convenient multi-nation visa and seeing the improvements in security, immigration systems, infrastructure and capacity building that this system brings.’

With the introduction of our cross-border visa we unite to promote the dramatic and varied landscapes, species and experiences that our nations offer.

Through this new partnership our USPs will be highlighted from Kenya’s lions and Rwanda’s Gorillas to Uganda’s waterfalls while we work as one to add value to the regional tourism product overall.’

Today, we celebrate another milestone in East African Tourism, the impending transformation of our three markets into one seamless tourist offering through the issuance of a single tourist visa for Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda – Single visa, one destination.

We believe the introduction of a single visa strengthens our value proposition as a region, allowing us to eventually promote our dramatic and varied, flora and fauna, our varied landscapes and cultural experience.

On a single visa, a tourist can enjoy Kenya’s sandy beaches and majestic lions, Uganda’s waterfalls and magic music, or Rwanda’s rolling hills and rare mountain Gorilla’s. Under this initiative the Tourist is the winner.

We seek to provide a smoother and cheaper process that gives you pass to a better banquet of touristic experiences.

At this ITB we are calling upon our ongoing partners and invite for the new ones to make use of this East Africa Tourist Visa which is coming as additional USP in the promotion of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda as must see destination. We are ready to welcoming and taking care of you.

March 6, 2014
Something Wrong with Miss Rwanda Certificate?

{{Unless she returns her certificate to organisers for correction, Miss Rwanda 2014, Akiwacu Colombe might have to keep an embarrassing certificate with spelling mistake.

Currently a Photo of this certificate is circulating on social media platforms attracting several negative comments.}}

({internet photo})

March 6, 2014
A Visit to FDLR Base in DRCongo (Pictorial)

{{The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), says it is clearing all the armed groups out of the east of the country by force.

The largest group is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. Also known as the FDLR, its ranks include members of the militia that carried out the 1994 Rwanda genocide, who have been in neighboring Congo ever since.

The Congolese army says it will attack the FDLR, with UN support, within a matter of weeks if they don’t surrender. Some of their members are accused of genocide, mass-rape and trying to overthrow the Rwandan Government.}}

{{ {Current FDLR president Gaston Iyamuremye prepares to give a speech to his soldiers in Buleusa.} }}

{{ {The official number of FDLR fighters remain unknown, but the UN claims the number could reach into the thousands.} }}

{{ {A view of Buleusa – a village in the North Kivu region – early in the morning. The village is populated by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FLDR).} }}

{{ {FDLR members protect their headquarters in Buleusa. The group’s ranks include members of the militia that carried out the 1994 Rwanda genocide, who have been in neighbouring Congo ever since.} }}

{{ {A view of the village of Buleusa early in the morning.} }}

{{ {FDLR members are protecting themself from the rain under grass huts outside the headquarters of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda in Buleusa village.} }}

{{ {A stack of AK47s inside a hut at the FDLR headquarters in Buleusa. FDLR claims that they laid down their arms but the UN claims otherwise.} }}

{{ {The FDLR consits of Hutu fighters and families that fled Rwanda after the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) took over the country in 1994.} }}

{{ {Kids dry mais in Buleusa. North Kivu has been wracked with conflict for decades.} }}

{{ {The Congolese army says it will attack the FDLR, with UN support, within a matter of weeks if they don’t surrender.} }}

{{ {Women wait to collect water in the village of Buleusa early in the morning.} }}

{{ {Many FDLR members are accused of genocide, mass rape and trying to overthrow the Rwandan Government.} }}

{all photos by Michele Sibiloni/Al Jazeera}

March 6, 2014
Tanzania Concerned over Powers of Zanzibar President

{{The Tanzanian government has admitted that some of the agreements that formed the basis of the 10th amendment of the Zanzibar constitution contravene the Union Constitution.}}

The Minister of State in the Vice President’s Office responsible for Union affairs, Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan, said when briefing journalists on preparations for the 50th Union anniversary celebrations that some provisions in Zanzibar’s constitution were out of sync with the Union supreme law.

She said the Zanzibar constitution would have to be amended to harmonise it with the Union statutes once the new constitution was in place.

Ms Hassan said among the provisions in the Zanzibar constitution that contradicted the Union supreme law was the one empowering the Isles president to create administrative areas.

She added that the Union Constitution clearly stated that this is the sole preserve of the Union President.

She said another contentious provision is the one empowering the Zanzibar president to command an army and other security organs. But the Union Constitution states that the Union President is the Commander-in-Chief of defence and security forces.

However, Ms Hassan said all security agencies in Zanzibar were under a special department.

She said land ownership was also a contentious issue, noting that there was a need to allow people from Tanzania Mainland to own land in Zanzibar.

“There are many Zanzibaris who own land here in Tanzania Mainland, but people from the mainland cannot own land in Zanzibar, and this is according to the law,” Ms Hassan said.

The minister added that poor knowledge on union matters, lack of funds and delay in implementing various programmes were among the main challenges the union was facing.

NMG

March 6, 2014
Witness: ‘Oscar Cried as Girlfriend lay Dying’

{{ Oscar Pistorius cried and prayed as Reeva Steenkamp lay dying in his home, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard on Thursday.}}

“Oscar was crying, saying please let her live,” radiologist Johan Stipp said to questioning from prosecutor Gerrie Nel.

“He was saying he would dedicate his life to God if she will only live.”

Stipp, who was woken by screaming and subsequently heard gunshots, described how he drove to Pistorius’s home nearby and found Steenkamp on the floor at the bottom of the stairs on the ground floor.

Nel asked him to look at pictures in a file in front of him. The images were not shown on the television screens in court.

Stipp, who told the court he was a doctor, rubbed his chin as he looked at the photos and confirmed that they were of the woman as he found her lying in the house.

He said he knelt down beside her.

“I tried to open her airway and look for any signs of life. She had no pulse in her neck and no peripheral pulse.”

{{‘She was dying’}}

He said Pistorius was kneeling next to her, two of his fingers in her mouth, trying to open her airway.

“She was clenching down on Oscar’s fingers,” said Stipp.

“I opened her right eyelid. Her pupil was fixed, dilated and her cornea was already drying out. To me it was obvious that she was dying.”

“I noticed blood in her hair and brain tissue mingled with that.”

As Pistorius listened to this he bent over in the dock, his hands pressed against the back of his head.

{{Court adjourned for lunch at 12:50.}}

Pistorius is accused of the murder of Steenkamp. He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.

He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.

In September 2010 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.

– SAPA

March 6, 2014
Nairobi Now Africa’s Most Expensive City

{A Lion scans through the Southern Bypass in Nairobi National Park}

{{A steep rise in the cost of living in past 12 months has seen Nairobi dethrone Lagos as Africa’s most expensive city.}}

London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) says in a new listing of the world’s most expensive places to live in that rapid increase in consumer good prices linked to new taxation measures propelled the Kenyan capital to the top spot on the continent, ahead of Côte d’Ivoire’s Abidjan.

Though it dropped one position from last year’s global ranking to position 73, Nairobi’s emergence as Africa’s most expensive city should catch the attention of Kenya’s policy makers, especially over its possible impact on the quest to become East Africa’s commercial hub.

The ranking, which is based on the cost of living, is important because it determines a city’s ability to attract and retain foreign investment, expatriates and tourists.

EIU says a slight steadying of the exchange rate helped Nairobi to improve its global ranking from last year’s position 72 to 73 in 2014.

Jon Copestake, an EIU analyst, said that despite the relatively stable exchange rate Nairobi still performed worse than other African cities.

{an aerial view of Nairobi}

NMG

March 6, 2014
KQ Suspends Services on Nairobi- Eldoret route

{{Kenya Airways has announced withdrawal of services from the Nairobi- Eldoret route from April 1 this year. }}

Through a communication, the airline urged guests with existing bookings for travel on the cancelled Nairobi- Eldoret route f to contact Jambo Jet for further assistance.

“Options are available to provide guests affected by the network change with alternatives, including a full refund.”

{Standard}

March 6, 2014
Crimea Lawmakers vote to Join Russia

{{ Lawmakers in Ukraine’s Crimea region voted Thursday in favor of leaving Ukraine for Russia, which already has the Black Sea peninsula under de facto control, and set a referendum on the move for 10 days’ time.}}

Citizens of Crimea will face a simple choice: Stay in Ukraine or join Russia.

It’s not clear how easily the region could split off if the referendum endorses the move.

The autonomous region has a 60% ethnic Russian population, having been part of Russia until it was ceded to Ukraine in 1954 by the Soviet Union.

But not everyone may be as keen on coming under Moscow’s direct influence. A quarter of the peninsula’s population is Ukrainian and about 12% Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim group.

The parliament in Crimea installed a new, pro-Moscow government late last month. It had previously said a referendum would be held at the end of March on greater autonomy for Crimea.

Citizens will now be asked on March 16 if they want an autonomous republic of Crimea within Russia; or within Ukraine.

Michael Crawford, a former long-serving British ambassador in Eastern Europe, cautioned that whatever the result, it may be meaningless.

“It does not follow that if Crimea votes to join Russia, that anyone will accept it,” he said.
“For Russia to start cherry-picking bits of the former Soviet Union, cranking up referenda in Kazakhstan or Latvia or wherever you like, to try to carve off bits, would be against international law, and it would be something Vladimir Putin has said he doesn’t want to do.”

Putin, the Russian President, has insisted Russia has the right to use military force in Ukraine if necessary to protect ethnic Russians.

But he has denied claims by Ukrainian officials and Western diplomats that Russia has sent thousands of troops into the region in recent days. Russia says the heavily armed troops, in uniforms without insignia, are local “self-defense” forces.

The deputy speaker of the Crimean parliament, Rustam Temirgaliev, said Thursday at a news conference that the only forces allowed in Crimea are the Russian military — and that all others will be considered to be occupying forces.

He said he’d advised Ukrainian troops to swear allegiance to the Russian army or leave Crimea under safe passage.

In the regional capital, Simferopol, residents have demonstrated this week against the interim government in Kiev, with crowds chanting in favor of Putin.

{Yuli Mamchun, the commander of the Ukrainian military garrison at the Belbek air base near Sevastopol, salutes on March 4.}

March 6, 2014
Sarkozy Couple Seek Tape Injunction

{{Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are to launch legal action after secret recordings of them were leaked online.}}

Lawyers for Mr Sarkozy say they will file a request for an injunction to prevent more from being published.

They say the recordings were made by a former aide, Patrick Buisson, without the couple’s knowledge.

Though embarrassing, the transcripts are unlikely to cause political damage, correspondents say.

Mr Sarkozy was said to be furious after it emerged that Mr Buisson had recorded hundreds of hours of meetings and private conversations during his 2007-12 term as French president.

In a statement, Mr Buisson’s lawyer confirmed that the tapes had been made but claimed they had been done to help him to keep a proper record of all discussions with Mr Sarkozy and other officials.

Most of the recordings were destroyed and those that have been made public must have been stolen, the lawyer added.

{{‘Betrayed’}}

Some of the recordings were published by satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine and website Atlantico on Wednesday.

The initial revelations contain excerpts in which top officials express scorn over the presence of Mr Sarkozy’s wife at meetings at the Elysee.

They also suggest that Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy was unhappy she had lost income when she married Mr Sarkozy, and hoped to boost her finances by advertising anti-ageing products.

Mr Sarkozy himself is shown to have been dismissive, even mocking, of the capacities of some of his ministers.

Henri Guaino, one of Mr Sarkozy’s closest allies, said the former president felt “betrayed” by Mr Buisson.

March 6, 2014
Nigeria’s Sports Minister Sacked

{Bolaji-Abdullahi-presents-the-FIFA-World-Cup-to-Jonathan}

{{Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked the Youth and Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi Wednesday in a cabinet reshuffle.}}

A move many could consider to be ‘wrong and ill-timed’ given that the FIFA World Cup in Brazil is just three months away.

Dr Tamuno Danagogo is to take charge of the Ministry with immediate effect, as directed by the President. He is one of the eleven newly-sworn in ministers.

The Swearing-in Ceremony took place at the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

The new ministers with their portfolios are :-

Senator Musiliu Obanikoro – Minister of State for Defense

Mohammed Wakil -Minister of State for Power

Alhaji Abduljelili Adesiyan – Minister of Police Affairs

Ambassador Aminu Wali – Minister of Foreign Affairs

Lawrencia Laraba Mallam – Minister of Environment

Dr Tamuno Danagogo – Minister of Sports

Mrs Akon Eyakenyi – Minister of Land & Housing

Hajia Asabe Asmau Ahmed– Minister of State for Agriculture

Gen. Aliyu Gusau – Minister of Defense

Boni Haruna – Minister of Youth Development

Dr Khaliru Alhassan – Minister of State for Health

The President said new ministers will also be named next week.

{wirestory}

March 6, 2014