{{World food prices fell in January for the first time for three months, because plenty of food is reaching markets and production looks good, the UN’s food agency said on Thursday.}}
But demand, notably in Asia is rising.
A key price index fell by 1.3 percent from the level in December, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.
Its Food Price Index averaged 203.4 points in January as cheaper cereals, sugars, oils and meat outstripped climbing dairy prices.
“We’re seeing lower prices due to abundant supplies, but stronger upturn in demand, such as an increase in the pace of imports from Asia, could limit the decline,” said FAO economist Abdolreza Abbassian.
Bumper grain crops helped to bring down cereal prices — down 1.6 percent from December and 23 percent lower than January 2013 — and meat prices, which had strengthened over the past few months, also fell in January, the FAO said.
“The only notable exception was a rise in dairy prices… reflecting strong demand, especially from China, North Africa, the Middle East and the Russian Federation,” said Michael Griffin, FAO’s dairy and livestock market expert.
FAO also released its latest estimate for world cereal production in 2013, forecasting a stronger growth in world cereal production than anticipated — up 8.5 percent from 2012 — and said prospects for crops in 2014 were favourable.
{{Italy’s navy has rescued 1,123 people from inflatable boats in the space of 24 hours, as clandestine migration from North Africa reaches record levels.}}
The latest migrants were found in eight boats and a barge about 120 miles (222km) south-east of Lampedusa.
They included 47 women, four of them pregnant, and 50 children, all probably from sub-Saharan Africa, the navy said.
Meanwhile, at least seven migrants have drowned trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa.
Local officials say the bodies of six men and a woman were found on a beach in neighbouring Morocco. The dead migrants had been part of a group of some 400 people who tried to enter Spanish territory on Thursday.
All of the victims were from sub-Saharan Africa, Spanish news agency Efe reports.
Some 2,000 migrants landed on Italian shores last month, nearly 10 times the number recorded in January 2013.
{{Fear among Burundians is growing since Wednesday after three cabinet ministers resigned coinciding with the escape of the former Vice president.}}
The three ministers that quit government belong to the UPRONA political party including; District Development Minister Jean-Claude Ndihokubwayo, Communications Minister Leocadie Nihaza and Trade Minister Victoire Ndikumana.
UPRONA had a vice-president in government, but he was sacked by President Pierre Nkurunziza on Saturday after he opposed the party change.
The fallout brings to test an increasingly delicate power-sharing agreement between Burundi’s majority Hutu and minority Tutsi communities that have been struggling to reconcile after decades of conflict.
According to local media reports, the UPRONA members’ resignations from government follow an attempt by the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, to force out UPRONA party chairman Charles Nditije ahead of elections scheduled for 2015, and replace him with a sympathiser.
However, Presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe has dismissed the idea that the president and his party “had played any role in the UPRONA crisis” conceding only that there had been “crises and misunderstandings”.
{As the year begins, most Rwandans have big plans for the future and access to finance is one of the requirements for those aspiring business owners and entrepreneurs. }
In analyzing the challenges of access to finance, IGIHE.COM profiles one of the leading finance institutions in Rwanda, Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD).
In brief, we found that BRD (as a development bank) focuses on economic growth and transformation through long term financing of development projects unlike commercial banks that are focused on collection of deposits and provision of short and medium term or consumer lending.
{{BRD’s priority sectors for investment financing}}
In a discussion with the Director of Investment Department in BRD, Manzi Benjamin, he explains the different sectors of main focus and the reasons.
Manzi explains that BRD’s financing objectives largely focus on almost all sectors of the Rwandan economy such as Agriculture and Livestock, Manufacturing (Including Agro- Industries), Commercial & Hotels, Mining, Water and Energy, Mortgage and Real Estate, Socio Infrastructures (education and health) as well as Refinancing of MFIs.
“For instance, Agriculture is considerably given priority since it employs majority of the Rwandan population. Our financing therefore encourages commercial farming rather than subsistence farming which leads to provision of raw materials for agro-related industries in the country.” Manzi
He further notes that under the industries and services sector, BRD financing seeks to boost the growth of industries so as to enhance production for exports and greatly reducing on the country’s imports. In supporting this sector, BRD also contributes to better service delivery through promoting the tourism service sector like building of hotels and setting up of service centered business.
More so development of the microfinance institutions has been a priority by BRD and this has been done through refinancing of these MFIs.
“We support MFIs through refinancing their portfolios and rendering technical assistance to boost their operations. Therefore through refinancing MFIs, BRD’s outreach to SME’s is greatly reached because of the nature of MFI operations and lending. Our partnership with MFIs increases access to finance to all Rwandans.” Adds Manzi
In the water and energy sectors, BRD supports investments in green energy related projects to attain the country’s objectives aimed at increasing power supply needed for fast tracking development.
Manzi explains, “We have also prioritized the development of social infrastructures such as markets, schools and clinics through financing private sector investments in education and health areas to reduce over reliance on government expenditure in such investments.”
{{Advice on Access to financing from BRD}}
BRD just like any other financial institution in this country is bound by the central bank regulations as per respecting the set requirements of a project promoter to access investment loans.
For instance, among the requirements to be eligible for BRD short, medium or long term investment loans, one has to go through the individual identification procedures, possession of adequate technical capacity to manage the project, minimum participation of the project promoter (varying between 30% and 50% of the cost of investment according to the size of the project) and feasibility project study (technical and financial).
In addition, BRD requires certain loan securities depending on the project (though BRD also accepts guarantees provided by recognized guarantee funds such as BDF), and we also encourage the project owners to consider our unbeatable and negotiable interest rates and favorable long repayment plans depending on the total cost of the project as agreed upon.
“We have a highly dedicated client relations team that is always at hand to provide all the detailed information on requirements to access our investment financing.” Says Manzi
BRD also offers advisory services and capacity building to its clients (business promoters) faced with challenges of limited skills in terms of compiling their business ideas into bankable business plans and management skills during and after project implementation.
At BRD, one can also access extensive capacity building programs on the basic skills from our subsidiary companies such as Business Development Fund (BDF) and BRD Insurance Brokerage (BIB) that deliver business development services and training on best business management practices.
More so, these services can be accessed through Business Development Centres (BDCs) located in all sectors of the country financed by BDF. We have branches in all provinces – Southern and Western (served by Nyanza), Northern (Musanze) and Eastern (Kayonza)
This highlights BRD’s financing outreach, for instance the majority (about 60 percent) of financed projects in 2013 were located in other provinces of the country with only 40 percent located in Kigali.
Capt. Simbikangwa was born in the northwestern Rwandan town of Rambura in 1959 and he is believed to be a relative of former Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, with whom France had close ties.
In 1986 he was involved in a car accident which resulted in his current disability. He still moves in a wheel chair.
Capt. Simbikangwa was a key intelligence officer who served in Habyarimana’s regime monitoring the activities of Tutsi community in the country.
Capt.Simbikangwa retained his anti-Tutsi sentiments which were evident from his chilling activities as a spy chief.
Following an attack on Rwanda by the Rwanda Patriotic Army rebels, Capt. Simbikangwa tortured several Tutsi’s most of whom he accused of working for the intelligence services of the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front).
Capt. Simbikangwa was one of the brains behind the Radio Mille Collines, which was primarily used to broadcast messages against Tutsi and encourage their slaughter.
As soon as the Hutu regime was ousted in 1994 by the Tutsi rebels, Capt.Simbikangwa fled the country with his family to the Democratic Republic of Congo before wading into Kenya and Cameroon.
He is believed to have entered in the French territory of Mayotte in 2005 but was apprehended by authorities in 2008 for possession of fake documents to support his travel. Capt. Simbikangwa was initially charged for posessing illegal papers.
French authorities were able to establish his true identity and it emerged that he was wanted by Interpol for “crimes against humanity, genocide and organised crime”.
In April 2009, he was indicted for genocide and organised crime related to the 1994 killings. Capt. Simbikangwa was then transferred to the French detention centre of Saint-Denis on the island of Reunion.
{{The Trial}}
Capt. Simbikangwa’s formal trial which began on 4 February is expected to continue through March.
Unusually for France, the trial – which is expected to last six to eight weeks – will be filmed, with recordings available once the case is concluded.
Capt. Simbikangwa said little in court, apart from reading out a brief statement in which he acknowledged that he was a “captain in the Rwandan army, then in the intelligence services”.
{President Paul Kagame has, shared Rwanda’s homegrown Innovations in dealing with numerous sector problems. }
President Kagame shared Rwanda’s Experience during an interactive session at the Africa Innovation Summit in Cape Verde. The session included also the President of Cape Verde, Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca and former Mozambican President, Joaquim Chissano.
Kagame talked about Gacaca Courts which were established in the country to prosecute Genocide perpetrators while at the same time restoring unity and Trust among Rwandans.
Although many countries in Africa are already looking for homegrown solutions in order to resolve their unique problems, Kagame said “In Rwanda, we drew from our culture and traditions for innovations in dealing with numerous sector problems: Between 2002 and 2012, Gacaca courts across Rwanda tried two million cases at the cost of less than one billion dollars. ICTR has so far tried 60 genocide cases and in the last 19 years at the cost of two billion dollars.”
He explained that this new approach and transformative justice, allowed Rwandans to heal and continue pursuing socio-economic transformation.
Commenting on different innovations that work in Rwanda, the Head of State said that Rwanda Defence Forces have worked tirelessly to get every citizen participate in national development.
“The army as a national institution has to reflect the character of the nation.” Said Kagame
RDF also provides healthcare during Army Week, which take place around the time “we celebrate the liberation of Rwanda… Rwandans have seen these innovations work and are encouraged and empowered to innovate even more.” He added
“We want Rwandans and other Africans to be equipped with education, skills, confidence and opportunities to innovate and be competitive globally. This is a serious and difficult conversation worth having, in order to attain self reliance, prosperity and dignity for our people.” Said President Kagame
He advised other participants in the summit noting that “Governments should connect with the needs and aspirations of citizens-agents of innovation and ultimately socioeconomic transformation…We have everything to gain by opening up to new ideas. In our quest to empower and enable our people fulfill their potential, we need to keep adapting and doing things differently”
{{Police is holding a commuter taxi driver for attempting to bribe a police officer with bottles of wine after the officer confiscated his documents over traffic-related offences.}}
According to the National Police website, the suspect, a 20-year old taxi driver is currently detained at Muhima Police Station.
The Police officer confiscated the suspect’s documents last Saturday in Kigali for overloading.
On January 16, the suspect’s (name withheld) driving licence was confiscated at Mulindi in Gicumbi district and fined for overloading.
It is said that the suspect did not clear the fine as is the norm, to collect his driving licence but continued to drive without it and continued committing the same traffic offence. He was again caught and fined for the same traffic offence early last week.
When he was stopped in Kigali on February 1 for overloading for the third time, the suspect tried to use the two fines receipt he had been given weeks earlier to avoid being fined for again.
The Police officer, however, confiscated the receipts and ordered the suspect to take the vehicle to Kigali Metropolitan traffic Police, which he never did but instead continued operating until February 4 when he pulled the illegal move to try to seduce the officer to give him the seized receipts.
The officer was in his office at Kigali Metropolitan traffic Police at the time the suspect tried to bribe him with bottles of wine.
Normally, if a driver is charged for committing a traffic offence and fined, they are supposed to pay the fines within three days.
The Traffic and Road Safety Spokesperson, Superintendent (SP), Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi commended the officer for acting professionally.
“Confiscated documents should be acquired through legal channels but not by means of bribery. Police officers know that corruption is zero tolerance in the force and the public should know that whoever tries such unlawful moves will be caught to face justice,” Supt. Ndushabandi warned.
{{Rwanda’s economy would soon benefit from exporting petroleum products to some countries in the region following plans to construct an oil storage facility in the counrty.}}
Speaking to a local daily, Christian Rwakunda the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure said; “it (oil storage facility) will reduce transportation costs. Holding the oil stocks will be an opportunity for Rwanda since it will reduce the cost of transporting fuel into the country.”
Rwanda’s strategic location in the region places it at an advantage compared to Eldoret in Kenya where several regional countries have been importing their petroleum products.
Some regional countries will be importing petroleum products from Rwanda if a plan to construct a regional oil-pipeline that will connect Kigali and Eldoret via Kampala is achieved.
A UK-based company, Penspen, has been subcontracted to conduct a mapping exercise for the oil pipeline connecting Kigali to Eldoret via Kampala.
Pensen company deals in engineering and management services related to oil and gas industry.
The mapping of the oil-pipeline will cost over Frw51 million to be contributed by Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.
The project is expected to be implemented within the next three years.
•{{ Your Excellency President Michel Martelly,
• First Lady Mrs. Sophia Martelly,
• Distinguished Members of Cabinet and Parliament,
• Senator Jim Inhofe,
• Ladies and Gentlemen,}}
Good evening,
Tonight I am honored by Senator Inhofe’s gracious invitation, to share with this audience, the Role of Prayer and the impact it has had on our success in Rwanda.
As leaders you may have heard about Rwanda in varying degrees. We are mostly known for 3Gs – Gorillas, Governance and Gender. Allow me to build on this knowledge, highlight key parts of our history, and the journey we have undertaken, over the last few years.
2014 marks the 20th commemoration since the horrific Genocide Against the Tutsi. What Rwanda went through in 1994, was the culmination of over 3 decades of systematic classification, dehumanization, persecution and extermination of a targeted group of people. When all was said and done, the Genocide did not benefit a single Rwandan; neither the masterminds and perpetrators and certainly not the victims.
The net result was a complete collapse of family, church and state, as well as a society intoxicated with bitterness and mistrust. Families were torn apart; thousands of innocent people were brutally murdered, in so-called sacred places of worship; the state whose mandate it is to protect citizens, sponsored, planned and implemented the genocide.
The numbers are shocking:
• Hundreds of thousands of women were systematically raped,
• 300,000 – 400,000 people survived the genocide,
• 50,000 widows and 75,000 inconsolable orphans,
• 650,000 internally displaced persons,
• 2 million refugees fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo after the Genocide and held as hostages and used as shields, by the extremist Genocide regime, bent on finishing their work,
• 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu men, women, and children who were supposed to be part of our future and not our past, were massacred in 100 dark days.
Our faith was tested. There is a saying in Kinyarwanda that goes “Imana yirirwa ahandi, igataha mu Rwanda.” Loosely translated to mean “God spends the day elsewhere and returns home to rest in Rwanda”. In 1994, we lamented and often wondered where this God had gone.
We questioned 1 Corinthians 10:13, which teaches us that: “God does not give us more than we can bear”. What our nation endured, was an overwhelming cross to bear. We bear a responsibility is to reconcile people to God; we are called to reconcile people to each other.
What choices could we make to restore the humanity and sanity that had vanished? Would people ever trust one another?
To mend this brokenness, to restore confidence and credibility in our institutions, we had to carry out deep soul searching. The leadership often had to make tough, unpopular decisions.
We, however, understood, that it was in the best interest of our people and our country.
We swallowed the bitter pill to help us heal faster, as opposed to going for the band aid therapy.
Let me share some examples of necessary choices that were met with resistance:
• Gacaca was a value based court system, that promoted restorative rather than punitive justice, for both Genocide survivors and perpetrators;
• Restoration of property to families of genocide perpetrators, despite the urge to redistribute that property to survivors who were wronged and lost their families and property, due to the Genocide;
• 40,000 prisoners who committed genocide were released due to old age, under a compassionate plea;
• Laws were put in place to forbid revenge killings. Those who exacted revenge; knew the fate that awaited them and some took their own lives. Capital punishment was abolished, this was unusual for a nation emerging from genocide.
In my view, going beyond personal suffering prevented Rwanda from becoming a failed state. We opted instead to embark on a road to recovery.
As we began the journey towards nation building, we discovered that infrastructure could be fixed with enough resources and human capacity.
However, Ladies and Gentlemen, on the opposite end of the spectrum, healing hearts and building people’s psyche is a generational undertaking.
We quickly realized that what unites us, is far greater than what divides us. We challenged ourselves to be a voice of unity and reconciliation. We are working towards a collective consciousness of who we are as one people. We have transcended peaceful co-existence to becoming a truly integrated and cohesive community.
To foster social cohesion, last year we embarked on a national process that we called “Ndi Umunyarwanda” or “I am Rwandan”. The idea behind “Ndi Umunyarwanda” is to engage all Rwandans in a critical and truthful self-examination exercise, through open conversation. It is about understanding and strengthening the Rwandan spirit, with our dignity taking center stage. It is an important step in creating trust after what Rwandans went through. Ndi Umunyarwanda is about Rwandan’s taking responsibility for their destiny.
I am reminded of Dr. Ben Carson’s remarks during the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast. In his speech Dr. Carson mentioned that we are getting too sensitive; and it is keeping people from expressing what they truly believe.
Ndi Umunyarwanda is such a platform where political correctness and sensitivities are secondary to speaking the truth, value-sharing, and understanding our history. Without social harmony, a nation cannot progress towards socio-economic transformation. This is what we are fighting for and we are determined to win. Rwandan unity is a source of energy for our development.
Last month, at the Rwanda Leaders Fellowship Prayer Breakfast, where the country’s leaders gather periodically to pray for the nation, President Kagame encouraged leaders ‘not to waste the tragedy’.
His statement was in reference to the Genocide against Tutsi. Although, we cannot erase our tragic past, Ndi Umunyarwanda is about turning this tragedy into triumph based on 4 pillars: history, testimony, truth and trust and healing through forgiveness.
In just 20 short years, Rwanda has done well on several fronts, such as:
• Gender parity with 64% female representation in parliament;
• Ease of doing business, with a ranking of 3rd easiest economy to do business in Sub-Saharan Africa. It takes 6 hours to register a business in Rwanda;
• Globally, Rwanda is ranked 6th for having the best prison rehabilitation programs. We respect of the rule of law, even behind bars.
This incredible rise from the ashes did not just happen by mistake. All credit goes to our citizens, who have engaged their hearts, heads and hands to work for and own the process of progress.
Our success comes from the vision of an informed leadership, and certainly the hand of God.
Distinguished audience,
As I end my remarks tonight, I ask that we join hands in human solidarity. “May God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference”. This prayer, originally authored by an American Theologian, (Reinhold Neibuhr) speaks to God’s hand in Rwanda’s rebirth.
We stand by the belief that God granted us the serenity, the courage and the wisdom to lift ourselves from the depths of evil, to the optimism of a new dawn.
{The trial this week of a Rwandan genocide suspect in a Paris courtroom is a well-earned victory for the French human rights groups who lobbied so hard and so long for justice. The milestone trial signals the end of France as a safe haven for genocidaries. But more than this, the trial is likely to see intense public scrutiny of one of the great scandals of the past century — the role of France in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi of Rwanda, which journalists and activists have tried so hard to expose for 20 years.}
Pascal Simbikangwa, the defendant in Paris, is said to have been a member of an inner circle of power in Rwanda that devised genocide as a planned political campaign. Developed by Hutu ideologues, it was intended to prevent a power-sharing system of government that was to include the minority Tutsi. The genocide claimed up to a million lives.
A captain in the Rwandan gendarmerie until 1986, when he was paralysed in a car accident, Simbikangwa — a fanatic who hoped to create what was known as “a pure Hutu state” — worked for the security services in the capital Kigali. He was eventually found hiding out in the French department of Mayotte, an island group in the Indian Ocean, with 3,000 forged identity papers — more than enough for the hundreds of Rwandan fugitives still at large. He denies all the charges, and his lawyer says he is a scapegoat.
Until now there has been a complete absence of will in Paris to bring to justice any of the estimated 27 Rwandan genocide fugitives who live on French soil. The country was a staunch ally of the Rwandan government which planned and perpetrated the genocide. The trial may well show the French electorate just how appalling its secret policy towards the central African state really was.
The policy was devised in secret, with no accountability from press or parliament and largely determined within the confines of a special office in the president’s Elysee Palace known as the Africa Unit. It operated through a network of military officers, politicians, diplomats, businessmen and senior intelligence operatives. At its heart was President Francois Mitterrand, who had operated through senior army officers: General Christian Quesnot, Admiral Jacques Lanxade and General Jean-Pierre Huchon.
The prosecution testimony in the trial will be unprecedented in the detail it will provide about the genocide. The evidence combines the results of investigations into the Simbikangwa case at the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and details from investigations carried by Rwandan authorities. Never before, not even in the courtrooms of the ICTR, has such an impressive array of witnesses assembled. It is hoped that their combined testimony will put paid to a campaign of denial waged by defence lawyers at the ICTR who claimed the killing in Rwanda was not the result of a conspiracy but was somehow “spontaneous”.
Simbikangwa’s prosecutors are concentrating on his role during the killing, when he allegedly encouraged the murder of Tutsi by Interahamwe militia on roadblocks and provided them with weapons. The roadblocks and the Interahamwe were an integral part of the planned killing mechanism and ensured the speed and scale of the slaughter.
But the impact of the Simbikangwa trial will be felt far beyond the courtroom. It is hoped that for the French public the nature of the genocide will be laid bare, and that at long last a debate about France and Rwanda will begin. Twenty years too late, a true reckoning may at last be possible.
