IGIHE

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  • UN reinforces its beleaguered peacekeeping force in South Sudan

    UN reinforces its beleaguered peacekeeping force in South Sudan

    {The United Nations is speeding reinforcements to its beleaguered peacekeeping force in South Sudan, where ferocious fighting was raging in the oil-producing north.
    }

    “We are working on 48 hours delivery of several of the critical assets that we need,” and the first reinforcements should arrive by Saturday, the world body’s special envoy to the violence-wracked country, Hilde Johnson, told journalists via videoconference from Juba.

    The UN is bulking up its peacekeeping muscle in the African nation, which won independence from Sudan only two years ago, amid a vicious fight between troops loyal to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and fighters backing his sacked vice president, Riek Machar.

    The UN security council agreed on Tuesday to nearly double the size of its mission known as UNMISS, allowing for up to 12,500 soldiers and 1,300 police, after the violence sparked on December 15 and raged out of control.

    Thousands of people have died, according to the United Nations, and tens of thousands of civilians are seeking protection at UN bases in the country.

    While the conflict appeared to start as a power struggle — with Kiir alleging a foiled coup attempt and Machar saying it was really a purge of potential challengers to the president — it rapidly took on an ethnic dimension.

    The violence now cleaves along a divide pitting members of Kiir’s Dinka tribe against Machar’s Nuer clansmen.

    A South Sudan army spokesman, Philip Aguer, told AFP troops were fighting forces allied to Machar inside the town of Malakal, capital of Upper Nile state.

  • ADF attack pushes over 500 Congolese fleeing to Uganda

    ADF attack pushes over 500 Congolese fleeing to Uganda

    {Over 500 Congolese nationals have fled into the western Uganda district of Bundibugyo following armed clashes back home.}

    The clashes broke out at dawn on Christmas day when a group of Uganda rebels operating in eastern Congo, the Allied Democratic Front (ADF), attacked Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) unit in Kamango, near the Uganda/D.R Congo border.

    Confirming the incident, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) 2nd Division spokesperson, Major Ronald Kakurungu, said the ADF attacked FARDC at around 5.00am local time.

    “By this evening (Xmas day), so far 500 Congolese refugees had fled to Busunga border point,” Major Kakurungu told New Vision on phone.

    He said the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was already moving in to relocate the Congolese from Bubukwanga.

    A Congolese source based in Kasindi, told New Vision that the attackers, whose numbers could not immediately be established, struck and looted assorted weapons from the Congolese before retreating back into the eastern DRC Rwenzori jungles.

    The attacks come hardly five months after similar clashes between the ADF and FARDC that saw over 30,000 Congolese flee to Uganda for their lives in July.

    “We are taking precaution and put our troops on extra alert and are working with police to screen the refugees lest we are infiltrated by wrong elements disguising as refugees,” Kakurungu said on Christmas day.

    He said the refugees were being carefully screened as the security agencies along the Rwenzori region were monitoring the movements along the common border to stem any possible enemy attack.

    The ADF, a Muslims fundamentalist group led by Jamil Mukulu, first attacked Kasese on 13 November 1996, before later spreading to the entire Rwenzori region where they committed various atrocities including the burning of about Uganda Technical College Kicwamba students in their sleep.

    In 2001, the UPDF announced that it had defeated the ADF and that the remnants had fled to the DRC, where they have set up hideouts in various places.

    From their hideouts, the rebels resorted to survival tactics including attacks on civilian populations, small abductions, petty trade and occasional ambushes on travellers.

    “Should the ADF dare us, we are very prepared to deal with them,” Major Kakurungu warned.

    New Vision

  • Zimbabwe: 17 More Killed As Carnage Continues

    Zimbabwe: 17 More Killed As Carnage Continues

    Seventeen more people have been killed in 738 road traffic accidents recorded since the start of the festive season on December 15.

    This brings the holiday death toll to 64. The number of people injured as of yesterday was 311. During the same period last year, 123 people had been killed and 599 injured in 793 recorded accidents.

    National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi yesterday said the major causes of the accidents were speeding, overtaking errors, inattention, misjudgement, failing to give way and following too close behind the vehicle ahead such that braking time was greatly reduced when the need arose.

    “We have also impounded 997 vehicles for various defects, and police have issued 67 821 tickets to motorists for various traffic offences,” he said.

    Chief Supt Nyathi said Masvingo had the highest number of deaths so far (15), followed by Manicaland (nine) and Mashonaland East and Central (seven each).

    Harare and Matabeleland South have recorded six deaths each while Matabeleland North and Mashonaland West have five deaths each. Two deaths were recorded in Midlands while Bulawayo has one. The Christmas and New Year holidays are usually associated with a high number of road accidents. Chief Supt Nyathi urged motorists to obey all traffic rules and regulations.

    Last year, more than 200 people died while close to 1 000 were injured in road traffic accidents during the festive season, which runs from December 15 to January 15.

    Chief Supt Nyathi said they would continue mounting roadblocks on the country’s major roads and carrying out patrols to curb criminal activities.

    Last week, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri said motorists and public transport operators who break road traffic rules and regulations would be severely punished.

    Last year, more than 200 people died and close to 1 000 were injured in road traffic accidents during the festive season, which runs from December 15 to January 15.

    The Herald

  • Somalia: New PM to put together Transparent Government

    Somalia: New PM to put together Transparent Government

    {The Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed officially took over responsibility and duties of the Office of The Prime Minister yesterday. Speaking during the handover ceremony he thanked the president, parliament and the outgoing Prime Minister H.E. Abdi Farah Shirdon for their support during transition. He stated the government’s vision and key priorities.
    }

    “I would like to assure the Somali people that we will put together a professional and transparent government that is committed to deliver public services”, the Prime Minister said. Focusing on delivery he stated that the government will utilize the available local knowledge and experience, and will set strategies to build institutional capacities for delivering concrete results to the Somali people.

    During handover ceremony Prime Minister outlined his focus on security, economic, social development and rebuilding the legislative branch of the government. He commented on his commitment towards building a capable and technocratic cabinet. He is expected to announce his new cabinet in few days. He stated that cabinet members will be selected based on merit, expertise and experience.

    “I am well aware of the reality in Somalia and the constraints facing the government today. I believe we need to have a bold vision to reach a stable, democratic and prosperous Somalia”, The Prime Minister said at the office transfer ceremony.

    The Prime Minister reiterated his commitment to the New Deal Compact agreed in the Brussels conference on 16th September. He stated that the New Deal will support the institutional capabilities and capacity, services delivery systems and the Federal government by providing a resources and a framework for carrying the Peace-Building and State-Building process.

    The ceremony was concluded with the President H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud welcoming the new Prime Minister and thanked the outgoing Prime Minister. He urges the Somali people and the international community to provide full support and cooperation to the new government at this critical stage in Somalia.

  • China says satellite network to be big asset, others can use it too

    China says satellite network to be big asset, others can use it too

    China’s homegrown satellite navigation system will bring untold economic, social and military benefits and other countries in Asia are welcome to use it, the director of China’s satellite navigation agency said on Friday.

    The year-old Beidou satellite navigation system is a rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russian GLONASS. Beidou’s 16 satellites serve the Asia-Pacific but the number of satellites is expected to grow to 30 by 2020 as coverage expands globally.

    The system would bring benefits across the board, in both civilian and military applications, said Ran Chengqi, the director of the Satellite Navigation Office.

    “The construction of the Beidou network should resolve the country’s security issues, including economic security and the security of society-at-large,” he said. “It’s obviously a combined military and civilian infrastructure.”

    “What purpose it will have for national defense or armament, that’s for the armament department or Defense Ministry to consider, but I think that its uses are many,” Ran told a news conference.

    The successful deployment of Beidou means the increasingly potent Chinese armed forces will have an accurate, independent navigation system – vital technology for guiding the missiles, warships and attack aircraft that allow Beijing to claim great power status.

    Senior Chinese military officers have said Beidou is more important for the country than manned space flight or the Chinese lunar probes now under way, according to reports in the state-run media.

    But the benefits are by no means limited to defense.

    The government sees it as a commercial coup for fast-growing market satellite navigation services for cars, mobile phones and other applications.

    China is encouraging other countries in Asia to adopt it by offering the service free, as the United States does with the civilian GPS network.

    Stations are being built in Pakistan to improve service there and Thailand has signed up to use Beidou for disaster forecasting.

    “It’s completely open,” Ran said. “Technology and service both.”

    “Even though we still do not provide global coverage, its applications are already spreading worldwide,” he said.

    This month, the cabinet approved a blueprint that envisioned Beidou capturing 60 percent of a projected 400 billion yuan ($65 billion) market for satellite navigation services in China, according to the China Daily.

    The newspaper said 40 percent of Beidou’s satellite applications would be for military use.

    Reuters

  • Nigeria: APC laments Obasanjo, Jonathan war of words

    Nigeria: APC laments Obasanjo, Jonathan war of words

    {The All Progressives Congress (APC) decried the tensions between President Goodluck Jonathan and former head of state Olusegun Obasanjo.}

    In a statement its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued in Lagos, the party said while it was not interested in joining the fray over the issues contained in the letters written by both men, the decision by the president to go personal in his reaction crossed the threshold of decency and brought the presidency and the country into disrepute.

    “The president’s response read like the stuff of gossip magazines, and the exchange of words felt like what one would have expected in a beer parlour. At the end of the day, the Presidency allowed Obasanjo to take the higher moral ground by simply insisting on the allegations he made in his letter and saying he would not respond to the presidency’s reply.

    “The President, who accused Obasanjo of doing him a great injustice, has himself done a great injustice to the Presidency, which is an institution in which he is only a tenant. In the end, the President of Africa’s most populous nation, the leader of the foremost black nation on earth and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria simply desecrated his own presidency and allowed those who can only be likened to gravy train passengers, rascals and knaves to seize the initiative from him,” Mohammed said.

    “’This is what happens when a President is surrounded by self-serving, boot-licking and dishonest people, at the expense of seasoned technocrats and veteran policymakers, who would have reminded the President that while critics can afford to fire all sorts of darts at him, as the custodian of the presidency at this point in time, he cannot afford to respond in kind because, in doing so, he would be debasing the presidency as an institution.”

    The party said the president was not unaware of this because he struggled in his letter to maintain some minimum level of decorum, and then quickly lost control and engaged in a bare-knuckle fight.

    “The president himself knows that he ought not to have engaged in such exchange when he wrote early on in his letter: ‘It is with the greatest possible reluctance that I now write this reply. I am most uneasy about embarking on this unprecedented and unconventional form of open communication between me and a former leader of our country because I know that there are more acceptable and dignified means of doing so.

    “However, he quickly jettisoned such reluctance and, in an unfortunate debasement of the tone and quality of statecraft, went full blast, calling the former President a liar, a conflict instigator and an unreliable ally, among other inferred derogatory labels that may have now shut the window to reconciliation between him and his political Godfather, in addition to portraying Nigerian leaders as delinquents.”

    The opposition party alleged Jonathan criticised Obasanjo and other critics during a church service on Christmas Day.

    “’To worsen matters, President Jonathan could not restrain himself from using even the revered and ecclesial platform provided by his appearance at a Church service on Christmas day to further lambaste his critics and spew out hot words. This, surely, is not what is expected of a President, a leader and anyone who wants to be a nation builder,” Mohammed stated.

    News24 Nigeria

  • China urged to retaliate for Japan PM shrine visit

    China urged to retaliate for Japan PM shrine visit

    {China must take “excessive” counter-measures after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s controversial war shrine visit, state-run media urged on Friday, reflecting the smouldering resentment among Chinese at its onetime invader.}

    China expressed strong opposition and summoned Tokyo’s ambassador on Thursday to deliver a “strong reprimand” after Abe paid respects at the Yasukuni shrine.

    The site honours several high-level officials executed for war crimes after World War II, a reminder of Japan’s 20th century aggression and a source of bitterness for China and other Asian countries.

    “People are getting tired of such futile ‘strong condemnations’,” said an editorial in the Global Times, a paper that is close to the ruling Communist Party and often strike a nationalist tone.

    “China needs to take appropriate, even slightly excessive countermeasures” or else “be seen as a ‘paper tiger’”, it warned.

    It suggested barring high-profile Japanese politicians and other officials who went to the shrine from visiting China for five years.

    Abe’s visit was the first by an incumbent Japanese prime minister to the inflammatory site since 2006, and came as tensions between the two Asian powers have escalated since 2012 over an island dispute.

    State-run media also excoriated Abe, who has sought to shore up Japan’s military.

    “In the eyes of China, Abe, behaving like a political villain, is much like the terrorists and fascists on the commonly seen blacklists,” the Global Times said.

    The China Daily called the visit “an intolerable insult” that had “slammed the door to dialogue shut”, adding that “Abe knew it would be an insult. But he does not care”.

    It criticised the leader’s “sheer hypocrisy” and “nasty track record”, including “his denial of the aggressive nature of Japanese intrusions during WWII, his lack of remorse for Japan’s historical sins”.

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Abe’s visit “a flagrant provocation against international justice and treads arbitrarily on humanity’s conscience”, a ministry statement said on Thursday.

    China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, have important trading ties.

    But conflict over East China Sea islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan have soured diplomatic relations since last year.

    AFP

  • Strong Explosion Shakes Lebanese Capital

    Strong Explosion Shakes Lebanese Capital

    { A strong explosion has shaken the Lebanese capital, sending black smoke billowing from the center of Beirut.
    }

    The blast went off a few hundred meters (yards) from the government headquarters and parliament building. The cause was not immediately known.

    Troops were seen deploying nearby, and ambulances were rushing to the area

    Lebanon has seen a wave of bombings over the past months as tensions rise over Syria’s civil war.

    {{New York Times}}

  • Ban Ki-moon spoke to Kagame, Seeking support for South Sudan

    Ban Ki-moon spoke to Kagame, Seeking support for South Sudan

    {The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, spoke with Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame, to discuss the situation in South Sudan.
    }

    Ban Ki-moon is reaching out for the support of Rwanda for bolstering the capacity of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (UNMISS) to allow it to do its utmost to protect civilians and for stepping up efforts to find a political solution to the crisis.

    Ban Ki-moon has been speaking to many leaders on the situation in South Sudan. More than 81,000 people have been displaced by the crisis in South Sudan.

    Ban has spoken to African leaders about “bolstering the capacity of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (UNMISS)”

    Apart from Kagame, Ban also spoke to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission; Hailemariam Dessalegn, Chairperson of the African Union and Prime Minister of Ethiopia; Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda, President of Malawi; Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania; Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan; Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh; and Khil Raj Regmi, Prime Minister of Nepal.

  • Tigo brings Bonane prizes give away week five to Musanze District

    Tigo brings Bonane prizes give away week five to Musanze District

    {{Kigali, December 24, 2013.}} {Today, Tigo Rwanda’s Bonane promotion prizes give away moved to Musanze district rewarding the week five winners based in the Northern Region of Rwanda. }

    Yvette Umutoniwase, went home with 500.000 Rwandan Francs Cheque, together with her husband Jean Pierre Niyibirora. Other ten lucky ones enjoyed cash prizes of 20, 000 and 50, 000 plus many android smartphones.

    Tigo Rwanda launched the promotion in mid-November 2013. By sending the code *250*friendnumber# lucky winners are instantly notified by SMS with the prize they are winning.

    Over 6000 customers receive airtime prizes ranging from 100 to 5000 Rwf worth daily as other hundred winners get cash prizes and smartphones.

    Unable to hide her joy, Missus Umutoniwase who received her cheque at the event held at Tigo Service Centre in Musanze town, expressed that the cash prize she and her husband won will make this festive season one of the best for their family.

    “I thank my husband and my little son who encouraged me to keep playing”.
    Mutabazi Didier, Entertainment Category Manager at Tigo Rwanda added, “We are delighted to bring the Bonane Prizes give away week five to Musanze. Tigo wanted to celebrate this great prizes give away with Musanze townspeople near where they live.”

    To participate, Tigo users send the USSD code (*250*) followed by a friends number # then Yes/ok. The cost of the promotion is 50 Rwf. Winners collect their prizes weekly and are allowed to choose one friend to be rewarded with the exact same prize. Tigo plans to run this promotion until mid of January 2014.