IGIHE

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  • UN Head of S.Sudan Says not Leaving

    UN Head of S.Sudan Says not Leaving

    {{The head of the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has refuted claims that her recent decision to leave the world’s youngest nation in July was allegedly due to pressure from government officials and individuals opposed to the world body’s mandate in the country.}}

    “This is my decision and I have to say it is very important to note one thing, and that if the hostility campaign against United Nations and against me personally had continued, what we saw in the past few months, then I would have clearly maintained and remained in my job in South Sudan”, Hilde Johnson told reporters on Monday.

    “Because there is one thing I am not accepting it is to be pressured in a way that implies that people think they can push me out of the country”, she added.

    Johnson made known her decision to depart from the conflict-ridden nation during a meeting with the South Sudanese president, Salva Kiir last week.

    “I informed the president that by Independence Day in July, I will have completed my three years as special representative, which is much more than usual for an SRSG in a peacekeeping mission of this nature, and in particular also with the crisis that we’ve gone through”, said the UNMISS chief in statement.

    {sudantribune}

  • S. Sudan Generated $3.5 billion From Oil in a Year

    S. Sudan Generated $3.5 billion From Oil in a Year

    {{A total of $3.5 billion was realised by South Sudan from its crude oil sales between June 2013 and May this year, the country’s petroleum and mining ministry announced.}}

    A statement signed by petroleum minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, said only half of the revenues generated reached the new nation’s coffers after payments of load and proceeds to the Sudanese government, as pipeline charges, were made.

    “The net amount realized by the Government of the Republic of South Sudan after payments or settlement of loan is $ 1,887 million (only one billion eight hundred eighty seven million US Dollars),” partly reads the statement.

    “Proceeds to Sudan amounts to US $857 million and loan settlements took $788 million” it adds.

    SLUMP IN OIL PRODUCTION

    South Sudan’s government admitted on Sunday that ongoing conflict has affected the country’s oil production, which now stands at just 165,000 barrels per day.

    Petroleum minister Dau, told Sudan Tribune that the country had continued to receive revenues from the oil produced in Upper Nile state, where production rate is reportedly on the decline since no additional explorations takes place in the area.

    “The oil production is continuing in Upper Nile. The current output is not bad, but there is a drop. At the moment the level of output stands at 165,000 barrel per day from 245,000 barrels per day before the current crisis erupted last year”, said Dau.

    “This [oil] is produced in Paloch”, he further added.

    The minister, however, commended government troops for providing protection and defense to the country’s only remaining oil wells, despite several attempts by rebels to control it.

    “There is no problem around production area at the moment. There is enough production by the SPLA [Sudan People’s Liberation Army] forces to the oil workers. They are secured”, said minister Dau.

    “The army in the area are doing [a] commendable job in defend of the country, its constitution and the resources of the people”, he stressed.

    Prior to South Sudan’s July 2011 secession from Khartoum, oil production generated millions of dollars and accounted for at least 98 percent of the young nation’s budget.

    Till now, however, South Sudan’s oil is exported through Sudanese pipelines and this generates revenues, which are economically significant for the Khartoum government.

    {sudantribune}

  • UK Firm Evacuates Staff from Sierra Leone over Ebola Virus

    UK Firm Evacuates Staff from Sierra Leone over Ebola Virus

    {{Iron ore producer London Mining has evacuated some non-essential staff from Sierra Leone and imposed travel restrictions due to an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, the company said on Tuesday.}}

    Sierra Leone last month recorded five deaths from Ebola, its first confirmed fatalities from an outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever that has is believed to have killed around 185 people in neighbouring Guinea and Liberia since March.

    London Mining said its output had not been affected and no cases of Ebola had been found in communities around the mine.

    But a spokesman for the company, which operates the Marampa mine some 120 km (75 miles) east of Freetown, said eight non-essential staff had left Sierra Leone at the weekend and those abroad on holiday had been advised not to return for now.

    “The company has also restricted non-essential travel and all such travels are approved by the managing director of London Mining,” Osman Lahai said.

    A spokesman for African Minerals, another British iron ore miner in the West African state, said it had also introduced travel restrictions on workers but operations were otherwise unaffected.

    Both firms said they had put in place systems to screen the body temperatures of people working on their sites.

    An Ebola outbreak began earlier this year in Guinea’s remote southeast, spreading later to Guinea’s capital, Conakry, and into neighbouring Liberia. Until last month, suspected cases of Ebola in Sierra Leone had tested negative.

    reuters

  • Amin Actor Dies at 70 After Fighting High Blood Pressure

    Amin Actor Dies at 70 After Fighting High Blood Pressure

    {{The man who acted as former Ugandan dictator president, Idi Amin Dada in the popular film Rise and Fall of Idi Amin has died at the age of 70. }}

    Joseph Olita died suddenly at his rural home in South East Alego at Kogelo on Sunday morning hours after the funeral of his mother.

    Olita reportedly succumbed to high blood pressure which worsened after his mother’s burial on Saturday. Olita had returned last week from Uganda, where he has been living, to bury his mother.

    A close relative, Ms Risper Odero said Olita’s death was a big blow to the family coming less than 24 hours after the burial of his mother. A funeral committee has been set up in his home village chaired by the Kenya’s South Alego Ward representative, Joshua Osuri.

    The towering man, who during his prime stood at six feet 5.5 inches and weighed 150kg, bore a striking resemblance to the late Idi Amin.

    He will be remembered as one of Kenya’s outstanding film stars for not only his sterling role Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, but also in other movies that he featured in prominently.

    Rise and fall of Idi Amin premiered in Kenya in 1981. The movie detailed the controversial actions and atrocities blamed on the former dictator of Uganda, after his violent rise to power in 1971 until his overthrow in 1979.

    NV

  • PS Imberakuri President to be Released from Prison

    PS Imberakuri President to be Released from Prison

    {{Bernard Ntaganda, the founding President of opposition party {PS Imberakuri} will on Wednesday, June 4 be released from Jail after successfully completing his four year prison sentence.}}

    The High Court in Kigali found Ntaganda guilty of endangering national security, “divisionism” – inciting ethnic divisions – and attempting to organize demonstrations without official authorization.

    He was sentenced to two years each for the first two charges and fined him 100,000 Rwandan francs.

    The Rwandan opposition party PS Imberakuri has recently declared full support and collaboration with the FDLR and RDI-Rwanda Rwiza.

    Bernard Ntaganda

  • International Envoys in DRC for Peace Mission

    International Envoys in DRC for Peace Mission

    {{A high-powered group of special envoys to the troubled heart of Africa were set Monday to assess the peace process in the conflict-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN statement said.}}

    The envoys from the United Nations, African Union, European Union and United States were to meet in Kinshasa with Martin Kobler, head of the large UN mission in DRC (MONUSCO).

    Their two-day visit is part of the ongoing international oversight of DRC’s peace process, with a particularly focus on the east of the country, which has suffered more than two decades of strife and human rights abuses.

    “The Envoys plan to meet with representatives of the government, civil society and the international community to hear first hand about the implementation of commitments to the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework and what they can do to support further progress,” the MONUSCO statement said.

    The experts’ oversight role arises from a pact signed by 11 African countries in Addis Ababa under UN auspices on February 24, 2013.

    The signatories included Rwanda and Uganda, which border on the east of the vast DRC and have both been accused by Kinshasa and the United Nations of backing ethnic Tutsi Congolese rebels, allegations they deny.

    The envoys to the central African Great Lakes region are Mary Robinson for the UN, Boubacar Diarra of the AU, Koen Vervaeke of the EU and Russ Feingold of the US.

    On Sunday, the special envoys called for “the total surrender of all the fighters and ranking officers” of a different rebel group active in the Kivu provinces of eastern DRC, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

    Some older members of the ethnic Hutu FDLR are accused of taking part in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, when Hutu troops and militias massacred an estimated Million people.

    The FDLR is said to number between 1,500 and 4,000 members, according respectively to the United Nations and the Rwandan government. Its forces are accused of serious abuses against civilians in both North Kivu and South Kivu, including killings, rape, looting and theft, and the forced enlistment of child soldiers.

    Under the Addis Ababa accord, the Kinshasa government undertook to introduce reforms in political, social and security policies, while the other nations pledged to give no assistance to any of the armed movements rife in the east of the DRC.

  • Apple takes on Dropbox and WhatsApp

    Apple takes on Dropbox and WhatsApp

    {{Apple has taken on Dropbox and WhatsApp with a series of software upgrades that mimic the rival apps’ services.}}

    At its annual conference for software developers, the firm unveiled iCloud Drive, an internet-based storage app, which works on Apple systems and PCs.

    In an effort to keep customers using all its technologies, Apple improved integration for calls and messages across its devices.

    It also unveiled new mobile and desktop operating systems.

    Apple’s iMessage app was given extra features, some of which are similar to rival service WhatsApp, recently acquired by Facebook for $19bn (£11.3bn).

    Users will be able to easily create and modify group messages, send voice clips with a single swipe, and even create and exchange short video clips.

    The ability to send and receive text messages across all Apple devices was also introduced.

    Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s co-founder, reacted to Apple’s announcement by tweeting:

    “Very flattering to see Apple “borrow” numerous WhatsApp features into iMessage in iOS 8 #innovation”

  • Syria Votes in Contentious Election

    Syria Votes in Contentious Election

    Syria is holding a presidential election in government-held areas, amid heightened security.

    President Bashar al-Assad is widely expected to win a third seven-year term in office.

    However, critics of the Syrian government have denounced the election as a farce.

    Syria is three years into a civil war in which tens of thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced.

    Analysts say Syrian officials have gone to great lengths to present the vote as a way to resolve the crisis.

    This is the first time in decades that more than one name – just a member of the Assad family – has appeared on the ballot paper.

    The interior ministry says there are 15.8 million eligible voters, both inside and outside Syria, and about 9,600 polling stations have been set up around the country.

    In the Syrian capital, Damascus, people had to make their way through multiple checkpoints to cast their ballots.

    For thousands, this was a chance to pledge their allegiance to the president. Some have reportedly refused to go behind the curtain to cast their vote in privacy, instead publicly declaring their backing for Mr Assad.

    Odai al-Jamounai, 18, told the Associated Press that he had used a pin to prick his finger and vote in blood, “to express by my love to my country and my leader.”

    In the coastal town of Latakia, a stronghold of Mr Assad, Zein Ahmed told the BBC he would be voting for the president because “no-one can lead this period better than him. We believe in him.”

  • G7 Leaders to Seek Energy Strategy at Summit

    G7 Leaders to Seek Energy Strategy at Summit

    {{ The Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialised nations may agree at their summit this week to try to develop an energy strategy, a senior German official said on Tuesday.

    “In concrete terms I can imagine the G7 agreeing to launch a process in parallel with the EU’s energy strategy,” the official said ahead of the meeting of G7 leaders in Brussels this week.}}

    agencies

  • New Malawi Leader Promises Economic Stability

    New Malawi Leader Promises Economic Stability

    {{Malawi President Peter Mutharika said on Monday economic stability and national unity would be the focus of his government as he became the fifth leader of the southern African state following a disputed election.}}

    Mutharika, declared the winner of the May 20 election last week, said his administration would target annual economic growth of 7 percent and promised a lean cabinet of 20, including deputy ministers – half the size of previous governments.

    “We are determined to change the direction of the economy. This is why …I chose a running mate outside of political ranks,” Mutharika said in his inauguration speech.

    The new vice president, Saulos Chilima, is an economist and former Managing Director of telecommunications firm Airtel, a local unit of Bharti Airtel.

    Mutharika, a former law professor, also sought to mend fences with his predecessor Joyce Banda, who at one point disputed the validity of the vote and demanded a re-run. Banda did not attend Mutharika’s inauguration in the commercial capital, Blantyre.

    “I look forward to shaking hands with her to bury the past. I come to her with an olive branch. Don’t let it drop,” Mutharika said.

    The poll, which was plagued by logistical problems and followed by sporadic protests, was declared generally “free, peaceful and credible” by a Southern African Development Community observer mission.

    Mutharika, 74, is the brother of president Bingu wa Mutharika, who died in office in April 2012.

    Banda took over after his death and tried to rebuild an economy hammered by fuel and dollar shortages, but prices have soared since she devalued the kwacha currency on the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    {wirestory}