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{President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame are in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia to attend 22nd Summit of African Union Heads of State and Government, which begins in Addis Ababa on Thursday.}

The African Union has declared 2014 as ‘The Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa’ and the 22nd summit of African Union Heads of State and Government will have “Transforming Africa’s Agriculture: Harnessing Opportunities for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development” as its theme.

Meanwhile, IGIHE learnt that the meeting will not end without discussing security issues related to Great Lakes Region especially the war torn Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to sources, there is Good news also for regional countries because the UN intervention brigade in DRC will be pressed to support military operations against all armed groups in DRC including FDLR rebels accused of disturbing Rwanda’s security and regional security.

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be one of two main issues to be addressed by the Heads of State. The eleven signatories to the Framework Agreement on the Great Lakes region countries will meet at the level of Heads of State on Friday morning for an update on the signed agreement there almost a year .

They should validate the five priorities outlined in a discussion paper that was drafted early January at the last meeting of the Heads of State of the Great Lakes conference in Luanda, Angola.

Meanwhile, Mary Robinson, the UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes told RFI she “will again” press Kabila to rapidly establish a unity government” in his country

{The brother of terror suspect Joel Mutabazi and the prosecution yesterday revealed how the accused used the former to sneak a pistol into Uganda, which he later used to shoot at his own house as a strategy to get asylum.}

Details of how Mutabazi staged his own shooting were made public at the beginning of his trial alongside his 15 co-accused, including his younger brother Jackson Karemera, at the Military High Court in Kanombe, Kigali.

“Mutabazi, who was serving under the presidential guard, deserted the military on October 29, 2011 and crossed into Uganda where he attempted to seek asylum,” said prosecutor Faustin Nzakamwita.

“While he was still in the military, Mutabazi had obtained a pistol, which he buried at Eugene Mutamba’s farm (a co-accused, who happens to be his uncle). After failing to secure asylum, he called his younger brother (Karemera), who was studying in Uganda at the time and sent him for the pistol since he couldn’t come for it himself because he was a deserter,” he said.

When he got the gun, Nzakamwita told court, Mutabazi realised that the bullets were faulty and then used his wife to get him some bullets.

His wife called her sister, Diane Gasengayire (a co-accused who is Mutabazi’s sister-in-law), and asked her to find some bullets. Gasengayire got two bullets and sent them to Uganda, the prosecutor said.

He added that these were the very bullets that Mutabazi would later use to shoot at his house as a means of justifying his seeking asylum.

“After shooting at his house, he handed the gun to his brother. Karemera then took the pistol and threw it in a pit latrine.”

“Mutabazi then reported to the (Ugandan) authorities and UNHCR that he had been attacked by Kigali authorities,” added Nzakamwita.

Guilty pleas from co-accused

The prosecutor’s version was corroborated by Karemera, who confessed to the court of how he travelled to Rwanda to get a gun from his uncle’s farm and sneaked it into Uganda through Nyagatare.

He told the judges how Mutabazi asked him to make the pistol disappear and how he did it.

Also arraigned before the Military High Court was Mutamba, who pleaded guilty to illegal possession of firearms.

He talked of how Mutabazi asked him to give the pistol to his brother and why the terror suspect needed it.

At the beginning of the trial, Mutabazi pleaded not guilty on all the charges.

He is charged with deserting the military, terrorism, formation of an armed group, spreading rumours with the intention of inciting the public to rise up against the state, murder, crimes against the state, illegal possession of a firearm and attempt to harm the person of the President.

During his pre-trial hearing, Mutabazi pleaded not guilty before he reportedly entering a guilty plea during a closed door hearing.

Yet in a dramatic twist yesterday, Mutabazi again pleaded not guilty and rejected to participate in his trial arguing that only God can judge him fairly.

The hearing, which lasted more than eight hours, is expected to continue today.

The New Times

{The Heads of States who will meet in AU summit in Addis Ababa on Thursday and Friday, January 31 will address different issues that affect the security in the Great Lakes region.
}

According to RFI, there is Good news also for Kigali because the intervention brigade MONUSCO will be pressed to support military operations against Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), an old request of Rwanda, supported on this point by the United States of America.

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be one of two main issues to be addressed by the Heads of State. The eleven signatories to the Framework Agreement on the Great Lakes region countries will meet at the level of Heads of State on Friday morning for an update on the signed agreement there almost a year .

They should validate the five priorities outlined in a discussion paper that was drafted early January at the last meeting of the Heads of State of the Great Lakes conference in Luanda, Angola.

Meanwhile, Mary Robinson, the UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes told RFI she “will again” press Kabila to rapidly establish a unity government”

{A total of fifteen students left Los Angeles International Airport Friday morning on a set of three flights that, after more than 24 hours of travel, landed them in Kigali, Rwanda. They are there to investigate the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.}

Before they left, in addition to getting through vaccinations, five webinars on Rwandan history, a dinner meeting at one of their homes and a lot of communication by email, they were sorted into smaller groups by Emmy Award-winning producer Jeff MacIntyre.

Each group will produce a media project from the trip, and they were formed based on the aspects of the Rwandan Genocide students wished to focus on. These topics range from clean water to soccer, from general history and “silver linings” to the role of women in Rwanda’s recovery.

“I’m really looking forward to looking into this event that we never really learn about but had such a massive impact,” Katherine Calvert ’15 said. “I think it’s going to be a really life-changing experience for everyone.”

MacIntyre, Visual Arts Department Head Cheri Gaulke and Friendship Tours World Travel founder Alethea Paradis are coaching the students through the trip and will help them through post-production. The same group chaperoned a student trip to Laos last year.

The trip’s itinerary includes interviewing people with varying views on the clash between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, such as government officials, western investors in the mineral industry there and representatives of both groups. The students will likely meet President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, who established control over the nation after the genocide.

“I’m really proud of these students,” Paradis said. “Upon awareness of an incomprehensible tragedy, they chose to adventure from a place of curiosity, to intense empathy, to understanding, and creative action through media. It is in this way that we can make ‘Never again’ mean just that.”

The students missed any midterms they had on Friday to travel to Rwanda through Washington, D.C. and Brussels, Belgium. They will miss the first three days of the new semester.

“Though this trip is about exploring the roots of genocide, it is also about seeing how people can rise out of hatred and live together again,” Gaulke said. “It’s a journey about hope.”

Source: http://www.hwchronicle.com/news/15-students-depart-for-rwanda/

{President Paul Kagame has encouraged the country’s servicemen and women to maintain discipline and close cooperation with the population if it is to effectively contribute to the country’s economic development.}

This was revealed yesterday by Defence and Military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Joseph Nzabamwita, shortly after members of the army’s top brass met the President at the conclusion of their retreat in Kigali.

The officers reviewed the implementation of the army’s five-year defense strategic plan.

“He (President Kagame) sees a strong, disciplined RDF as an important pillar for the country’s development,” Nzabamwita told the media shortly after the meeting with the President.

He said the Head of State called for discipline within the army that would allow them to contribute in the achievement of the country’s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2).

The strategy is set to be implemented between 2013 and 2018 and is expected to accelerate the country’s Vision 2020 where Rwanda aspires to be a middle income economy with a $1,240-GDP per capita by the year 2020, up from the current $644.

“We, as the Rwandan army, no longer look at security in terms of military operations only. We look at the country’s security in terms of development. We think poverty and ignorance are the country’s major threats and we need to contribute in bringing solutions,” he said.

Officials in the Ministry of Defence revealed that the army’s retreat examined aspects regarding security, contribution to national development, defense infrastructure development, welfare, recruitment, retirement, defense diplomacy and peacekeeping missions, among others.

{{Zero tolerance to indiscipline}}

The Army spokesperson said the RDF sees discipline as being at the centre of its performance and will do everything to maintain it.

He highlighted military courts and social integration among the army’s means of maintaining discipline by calling those who go astray back to order.

“When we are talking about discipline, we are talking about individual discipline. That individual discipline is the one that makes the RDF as a whole. Whoever might become undisciplined to the extent of becoming a criminal, then the RDF has got disciplinary mechanisms to handle that,” Gen. Nzabamwita said.

The RDF has deployed thousands of troops to several peace keeping missions around the world where they have exhibited their high level of discipline and efficiency.

{Six people were injured in a grenade explosion in the town of Musanze in the Northern Province. The incidence occurred yesterday at about 7:33 PM.
}

Two young men on a motorcycle that has long stationed in a place of the City of Musanze threw a grenade in the crowd and seriously wounded six bystanders who were immediately rushed to Ruhengeri Hospital for emergency care.

Eyewitnesses say that this gruesome act happened in Gikwege village in Nenge cell. This village is close to the Academy of the National Police.

Alphonsine Uwimana said that she saw the two criminals throw the grenade. Police investigation is underway to stop the criminals who are not yet identified.