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  • Rwanda Issues Frw12.5 Billion Treasury Bond to Stimulate Local Capital Market

    Rwanda Issues Frw12.5 Billion Treasury Bond to Stimulate Local Capital Market

    {{Rwanda issued a Rwf 12.5 billion (US$18.3 million) treasury bond with a three-year maturity period. This move is in line with the renewed government commitment to revive the bond market.}}

    Proceeds from the bond will be used to finance infrastructure projects as well to develop the capital market.

    While announcing the bond, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Claver Gatete, said that currently the capital market in Rwanda is still at initial stages characterised by dominance of banks with over 80% holdings. The bond will therefore help stimulate the sector.

    “The Government of Rwanda plans to embark on a Treasury bond program in a bid to boost the capital market development and fund infrastructure projects,” said Minister Gatete, adding that the primary objective is to increase and diversify participants in the Treasury Bond Market.

    The bond target market is domestic, regional and international investors, gradually in that order.

    On the local stage the bond targets banks, investment groups, Umurenge SACCOs, Micro-Finance Institutions, Cooperative Banks, Insurance companies, Pension Funds among others.

    Minister Gatete added that “domestic preliminary market surveys indicated a huge appetite from local investors while regional investors have expressed interest to participate in the local market following the success of the Rwanda Sovereign Bond and the need for diversification”.

    The main driver for regional investment is the spread between the local interest rate and the ones for the issuer country, the stability of the local currency and the level of inflation, and the status of the financial markets infrastructure as well.

    As for foreign participation, only regional institutional investors and fund managers will be targeted due to the size of the issue, which is very small, by international standards.

    However, there will be no restriction to participation by investors outside EAC region.

    Treasury Bonds issued between 2008 and 2011 amounted to Rwf 31 billion. A big part of this has been paid back, only a stock of Rwf 8.5 billion is not yet retired.

    In the past, the subscription level was at 197% in average and the price ranged between 8% and 11.5%.

    The National Bank of Rwanda will undertake book-building method. Book building is a process by which potential investors (mainly institutional investors) determine the demand and the price of a proposed issue of securities through public bidding.

    It facilitates to discover prices and quantity before issue and is the most efficient way to elicit information from investors in terms of a correct bond valuation.

    Source: {gov.rw}

  • Obama Warns Museveni on anti-gays Bill

    Obama Warns Museveni on anti-gays Bill

    {{American President Barack Obama has warned that his country and Uganda’s relationship would be “complicated” if President Museveni assents to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.}}

    A statement from the White House in Washington quoted Mr Obama as saying that the bill will “complicate our valued relationship with Uganda”, adding: “The Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda, once law, will be more than an affront and a danger to the gay community in Uganda. It will be a step backward for all Ugandans and reflect poorly on Uganda’s commitment to protecting the human rights of its people. It also will mark a serious setback for all those around the world who share a commitment to freedom, justice and equal rights.”

    Mr Obama’s Sunday warning came a day after President Museveni announced at the NRM party’s parliamentary retreat in Kyankwanzi that he would assent to the Bill after a presentation by Ugandan scientists concluded that homosexuality is not natural.

    “It is on the strength (that people are not homosexuals by genetics) that I am going to sign the bill,” President Museveni told the MPs. “I know we are going to have a big battle with the outside groups about this but I will tell them what our scientists have to say.”

    Whereas Parliament had passed the Bill in December, President Museveni was hesitant to assent to it, first citing the lack of quorum on the day it was passed but later indicating that he needed a scientific explanation on whether homosexuality was a natural condition.

    Barely 24 hours after his Kyankwanzi pronouncement, the President was already facing the “battle” with the American National Security Adviser, Ms Susan Rice, calling Mr Museveni to express her government’s and Mr Obama’s reservations on the matter.

    According to the Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Ambassador James Mugume, the Americans had called to offer “further evidence” that homosexuality is a natural behaviour in contradiction with what the local scientists had presented.

    agencies

  • EU, Regional Trade Talks to Conclude in March

    EU, Regional Trade Talks to Conclude in March

    {{The European Union (EU) is optimistic that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) talks with the East African Community (EAC) will be concluded next month.}}

    Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the EU to Kenya Lodewijik Briet said 97% of the talks have been completed with only few underlying issues left for consultations.

    “Now we are on a good space… what separates us are just a few last remaining issues, they are difficult issues but they are important,” he said.

    Briet said the main outstanding issues to conclude the negotiations are the clause on most favoured nation provisions as well as the issue of export taxes.

    The envoy said with flexibility from both sides as well as political will, the agreement will be reached, pointing out that further discussions on rules of origin and agriculture still need to be held at the technical level to be ironed out.

    Failure to sign the agreement before October 1 will result in high tariff hikes on EAC’s non-Least Developed Country’s (LCD) exports to the EU, with Kenya being the only non-LDC in the EAC region thus attracting import duty on her exports.

    Flower exports to the EU will attract an import duty of 8.5% which will force the prices of Kenya flowers to go up and face stiff competition from other nations such as Colombia that export flowers to the EU on a Duty Free-Quota Free basis.

    Close to 70% of Kenya’s total flower production is currently exported to the EU.

    23% of Kenya exports worth Sh110 billion were shipped to EU member states in 2012.

    Within the EU, the United Kingdom has been Kenya’s leading export market, followed by the Netherlands and Germany.

    The main export products to the European Union markets include horticulture (including flowers, of which Kenya’s products account for 36% of all EU flower imports) and tea, where Kenya’s main markets are Pakistan, the UK, Egypt, the Netherlands and the USA.

    The latest round of negotiations took place in Brussels at the end of January 2014 and was joined by a joint ministerial meeting co chaired by Kenya’s EAC, Commerce and Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie.

    The next round of talks are expected in March in one of the EAC countries.

  • Italian Gay Activist Says Detained in Sochi

    Italian Gay Activist Says Detained in Sochi

    {{Russia: Police in Sochi detained a transgender former member of the Italian parliament for holding a sign that read “Gay is OK” in an apparent violation of Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, Italian LGBT rights activists said.}}

    “I’m in Sochi! Saluting with the colors of the rainbow, in Putin’s face!” Vladimir Luxuria said in a Twitter message before her detention on Sunday.

    The message was accompanied by a picture of herself wearing a rainbow-colored skirt and holding a rainbow umbrella and fan.

    After several hours in custody, Luxuria was released, said Ivan Scalfarotto, the openly gay vice president of Italy’s Democratic Party.

    “I have spoken to Luxuria,” Scalfarotto said in a Twitter message Sunday night. “They have released her and she is fine.”

    A spokesman for Italy’s Gay Center Fabrizio Marrazzo said that he also received a text message from Luxuria, saying that she had been freed from custody and planned to attend the Games on Monday, according to a statement on Luxuria’s website.

    The leaders of two Italian gay rights groups said earlier that Luxuria had called them after her detention on Sunday, and that supporters appealed to Italy’s Foreign Minister Emma Bonino to help secure her release.

    “She was arrested while attending the Olympics in Sochi with a banner that said in Russian: ‘Gay is OK,’” said Imma Battaglia, honorary president of Italy’s Gay Project group, Italy’s La Stampa reported.

    The police were “brutal and aggressive. No one speaks English,” Battaglia said.

    Sochi organizers said Monday they had no information on the incident, The Associated Press reported.

    “We have talked to police and they have told us there is no record whatsoever of any detention or arrest,” the AP quoted Sochi organizing committee spokeswoman Alexandra Kosterina as saying.

    Luxuria had traveled to Sochi specifically to challenge the 2013 law, signed last summer by President Vladimir Putin, that outlaws the dissemination of gay propaganda to minors.

    “Rebellious, free and unafraid of the state’s morality police,” openly gay Italian politician and regional leader Nichi Vendola said in a Twitter message on Sunday.

    No information was immediately available about whether formal charges have been filed against Luxuria. Under Russian law, foreigners can be extradited if found guilty of promoting “non-traditional sexual relations” in the presence of children.

    Luxuria had worn the rainbow outfit to stand outside the main spectator entrance to the Games on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Spectators who were on their way to watch the U.S.-Russia hockey game stopped to take pictures with her, while a few Olympic volunteers watched the scene but did not ask Luxuria to leave.

    Luxuria — who was born a man but lives as a woman — was also briefly detained during a gay rights march in Moscow almost seven years ago.

  • Kenya Risks Losing EU Flower Market to Newcomers

    Kenya Risks Losing EU Flower Market to Newcomers

    {{Kenya and the East African Community (EAC) risk losing the European Union (EU) flower and horticulture market to newcomers. }}

    The EU and EAC have made little progress in negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreements (Epas) that earned Kenyan more than 200 million euros last year.

    Failure to conclude the negotiations will see regional exports attract duty ranging between 5.5% and 15%.

    With less than eight months to go before Kenyan products to the EU start attracting high taxation, Germany Ambassador and head of EU Delegation to Kenya Lodewijk Briet warned that failure by the two regions to reach an agreement by October 1 will be catastrophic for the economies of the involved states.

    While it would be a loss for both the EAC and EU, he cautioned that EU was currently negotiating agreements with other regions. “What we stand to lose in trade terms is huge… The longer it takes, the stronger the trade erosion,” he said.

    “There are agreements that the EU is signing with other regions and there is a risk of Kenyan flowers being replaced by, for example, flowers from Colombia.”

    A meeting between Kenyan and EU officials late last month was not able to conclude some of the contentious issues. Another meeting is expected either towards the end of this month or early next month. “There was little progress made last month.

    However, both parties underscored the importance of concluding the negotiations,” Briet said. He said most of the issues had been agreed on and only a few needed clearing. But these could end up costing Kenyan businesses exporting to Europe.

    Some of the pending issues include rules of origin for agricultural produce and EU governments’ subsidies to their farmers.

    If EAC countries fail to meet the October deadline, Kenyan exports to the EU will attract high taxes unlike her neighbours.

    Kenya is classified as a developing country while Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania are least developed countries.

    EPAs, while giving preferential treatment to products from the region, require EAC to open up to goods from the EU.

    standard

  • South Sudan Rebels Launch Major Attack

    South Sudan Rebels Launch Major Attack

    {{Rebel forces in South Sudan launched a major assault early Tuesday against the key town of Malakal, the government-controlled capital of the oil-rich Upper Nile state, witnesses told media.}}

    “The fighting is very heavy. There is fighting on the outskirts of the town. It’s a very big, coordinated attack,” an independent source said.

    The fighting appeared the heaviest to take place since the government of President Salva Kiir and rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar signed a ceasefire agreement in neighbouring Ethiopia on January 23.

    Malakal, situated on the bank of the White Nile, is one of three state capitals that were in rebel hands but which were recaptured by South Sudan’s government, backed by Ugandan troops, before the ceasefire was signed.

    The conflict in South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation which won independence from Khartoum less than three years ago, erupted in the capital Juba on December 15 but quickly spread across the country.

    The fighting in South Sudan has left thousands dead and displaced close to 900,000 people.

    wirestory

  • New Tech to Improve Tree Cover in Arid Areas

    New Tech to Improve Tree Cover in Arid Areas

    {{A new technology is expected to improve tree cover in arid areas as government gears up to improve country’s tree cover to 10 per cent to fight climate change.}}

    Researchers have developed tree species that are adapted to arid counties and the technology is already on pilot basis in nine counties including Tharaka, Kitui, Machakos, parts of Embu County as well as Siaya and Homabay, Laikipia, Turkana and Marsabit.

    Environment cabinet secretary Prof Judy Wakhungu said the government had set a target to plant 50 million trees this financial year, in a bid to fight climate change, which has become a global challenge.

    “We have to reach the 50 million target set for my ministry and I am counting on this technology to help increase our forest cover,” she said.

    She said ravages associated with climate change such as floods, drought and scarcity of food and water was a threat to fighting extreme poverty and hunger and in environmental sustainability.

    The technology which involves harvesting rain water in arid areas to grow trees and crops on farms as well on communal land has been extended to 19 other countries in Sub Saharan Africa, whose senior environmental officers have received training from Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for the past 19 years.

    The new method, which involves introduction of two tree species as well as improved crop varieties intercropped with trees that can withstand dry weather, is expected to improve livelihoods, boost food security and deal with negative effects of climate change.

    Prof Wakhungu was speaking at Kefri headquarters during the launch of a five day training programme for senior environmental officers from 19 countries, who are expected to roll out the technology in their respective countries.

    The country has been pushing to improve its forest cover to internationally recognised levels of 10 per cent, but has faced challenges including wanton destruction of forests, and lack of land in the fertile areas, where population boom has left little space for trees leave alone growth of food crops.

    Kefri director Dr Ben Chikamai said the focus on arid areas to grow trees was meant to deal with challenge of lack of land in arable areas, where trees would grow naturally.

    There was however no figures to indicate how much tree cover had been realised using the new technology, which was however lauded as popular with farmers in the arid areas, and was expected to help government achieve its 50 million trees target as well as improving country’s tree cover.

    nation

  • Former French President Chirac Released from Hospital

    Former French President Chirac Released from Hospital

    {{Former President of France Jacques Chirac was admitted to the American Hospital of Paris on Monday night but the matter was “absolutely not an emergency”, a member of his inner circle told reporters. He was released later the same evening.}}

    “There is absolutely no critical emergency. We think he has a serious attack of gout,” the source said shortly after the admission.

    A little before 8pm Paris time, a journalist saw an ambulance in front of Chirac’s home on Quai Voltaire in Paris. Two police motorcycles were also in attendance.

    Last December the former president, who is now 81, was hospitalised for a week at the Pitié Salpetriére Hospital for kidney-stone surgery that was said to have been successful. In 2005 Chirac suffered a vascular incident, which has left him weakened.

    He was France’s president from 1995 to 2007 and twice previously served as prime minister, from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988.

    He was also mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.

    {france24}

  • Escaping S African Miners Arrested

    Escaping S African Miners Arrested

    {{Ten illegal gold miners have emerged from an old South African mine, with more still underground.}}

    Some of the men came out after being told there were no police around – but all 10 have now been arrested by police who had been hiding.

    The miners are reported to have been trapped by a rival group.

    Those underground are once more refusing to leave the mine shaft for fear of being arrested.

    The landscape around the abandoned mine near Johannesburg is dotted with similar abandoned shafts – attracting men from around the region with the promise of remaining gold deposits.

    Some men may also be resisting coming to the surface of the mine because they fear losing any gold they have found, say correspondents.

    Previous reports suggested as many as 200 fellow miners remained underground, but our correspondent says the latest estimates put the figure far lower, at about 15.

    It is not clear when this operation will end, as it is not known exactly how many remain in the vast network of underground tunnels, our correspondent says.

    She says that such miners often take enough food and water to be able to survive underground for several days.

    One man came halfway up the shaft and then turned round when he saw the cameras.

    Notices warning miners that they face arrest and that the mine will be sealed in two weeks’ time have been thrown down the shaft.

    Many of the miners are from Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, officials say.

    {BBC}

  • Islamists Claim Egypt Bus Bomb Blast

    Islamists Claim Egypt Bus Bomb Blast

    {{Islamist militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has said it carried out a deadly bomb attack on a tourist bus in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula on Sunday.}}

    The group warned it was part of its “economic war” against the current Egyptian authorities, which it described as “traitors”.

    Three South Koreans and an Egyptian were killed in the attack.

    The Sinai peninsula has become increasingly lawless since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011.

    Militants further stepped up their attacks after President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the army last year.

    {{Tourism industry fears}}

    In a statement, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis said one its members carried out the bombing.

    “With God’s will we will be watching this treacherous gang of infiltrators and we will target their economic interests,” it said.

    This was the first attack on tourists in nearly a decade, raising fears that the militants have renewed a campaign to wreck the flagging tourism industry.

    The bus was reported to be heading into Israel from St Catherine’s monastery, a popular tourist destination near Mount Sinai, when it was attacked.

    South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Monday that the bus was carrying 31 tourists, plus three tour guides – two Korean and one Egyptian.

    Those who died were the two South Korean tour guides, a Korean tourist and the Egyptian driver, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the ministry.

    Fourteen other South Koreans were taken to hospital.

    {wirestory}