IGIHE

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  • Italy’s Berlusconi accuses left of ‘coup d’etat’

    Italy’s Berlusconi accuses left of ‘coup d’etat’

    { Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi accused the left today of attempting a coup d’etat, as he prepares for a Senate vote this week which will likely see him ousted following his conviction for tax fraud.
    }

    “Wednesday the Senate will vote to do away with the head of the centre-right, after 20 years of failed attempts. This move is called a coup d’etat,” he told the youth branch of his Forza Italia (“Go Italy”) party.

    “The left should know I am not afraid, I have nothing to ask forgiveness for. I am completely innocent and am the emblem of my people,” he added.

    The 77-year-old media magnate and his allies have been trying to delay the moment the political guillotine will fall on a man who has dominated the Italian political scene since he entered it in the early 1990s.

    So far attempts to buy time have failed. The vote is expected to go ahead as scheduled and, with Berlusconi’s supporters in the minority, his ouster under a law banning convicted criminals from parliament looks set.

    The ex-premier said he was organising a protest rally for Wednesday in Rome.

    A combative Berlusconi said Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano should pardon him to spare him the embarrassment of doing a year’s community service.

    “The president should not hesitate even for a moment to prevent the disgrace of community service, even without me asking him to,” he said, describing the idea of him doing service as “a humiliation for me, and also for the country”.

    The president’s office has repeatedly said that any such pardon could only be granted once a formal request for one has been made.

    The billionaire was given a 12-month jail sentence in August by the supreme court, but asked to serve it in the form of community service instead.

    The punishment — not likely to be meted out before next year — could see him working in an old people’s home, stacking shelves or cleaning up graffiti.

    AFP

  • Somalia and Somaliland talks face new challenges

    Somalia and Somaliland talks face new challenges

    {Talks between Somalia’s Federal Government and Somaliland are facing new challenges ahead of planned meeting in Ankara on the first week of December.}

    Both sides seem failed to impalement articles in the agreement signed earlier phases of the talks, including establishing a joint committee based in Hargeisa to manage air traffic control, equitable revenue sharing and not criticizing each side through the media.

    Somaliland Minister of Interior, Ali Mohamed Waran-adde accused the federal government of inciting insecurity and political chaos in Somaliland, using local residents to do the work.

    “Somali Government, ‘which is the enemy of Somaliland’, and its president are creating insecurity using misled local residents, the aim is to show that Somaliland is facing the same insecurity situation in Somalia,” Waran-adde said.

    He claimed that the federal government is paying a lot to create political confusion in Somaliland.

    Somalia’s Interior Minister Abdihakim Hussein Guled contradicted the allegations, stating that the Somali government is encouraging stability in Somalia.

    The minister said that Somali President is delighted to see stable regions, Somaliland in particular.

    “We heard Somaliland minister of interior’s accusation that President Hassan is creating political confusion and planning to ruin the administration, we are shocked to hear that,” Abdihakim said.

    The accusations between the sides through media may spoil the talks and result to stall, according to Abdihabib Yasin Warsame, a political analyst in United States.

    “The sides [Somalia and Somaliland] have to respect the agreement reached, each side has be patient and everything solved in a political way.” Abdihabib said.

    Turkish ambassador to Somalia Cemalettin Kanu Turan said that his government will encourage both sides to continue talks, during a visit to Hargeisa on Saturday.

    “The reasons of my visit [to Hargeisa] include proceeding talks between Somalia and Somaliland hosted by my country, although there are political issues, yet the talks will be continued.” Kanu Turan said.

    Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, but it is still considered regional administration in Somalia.

    somalicurrent.com

  • ‘Tanzanian’ arrested in London slavery case

    ‘Tanzanian’ arrested in London slavery case

    { A couple accused of keeping three women as slaves in a London house for 30 years are of Indian and Tanzanian origin and two of the victims were part of a political “collective”, police said on Saturday.}

    The two older victims involved in Britain’s most notorious case of modern-day slavery are thought to have met the male suspect through a “shared political ideology” and began living with him as part of a collective, London’s Metropolitan Police said.

    The third victim, a 30-year-old woman, is believed to have spent her entire life in servitude in a case that has stunned Britain. Police commander Steve Rodhouse said the couple, both aged 67, were of Indian and Tanzanian origin and had been living in Britain since the 1960s.

    “We believe that two of the victims met the male suspect in London through a shared political ideology, and that they lived together at an address that you could effectively call a ‘collective’,” he told reporters.

    Police carried out house-to-house enquiries on Saturday, speaking to residents living near the house where the women were held in south London.

    The exact location has not been revealed but the police operation centred on a modern, low-rise block of flats in Peckford Place in Brixton, an area known for its vibrant nightlife and large Afro-Caribbean community.

    The victims are a 69-year-old Malaysian, a 57-year-old Irish woman and the 30-year-old Briton. They were freed on October 25 after one of them made secret telephone contact with a charity.

    Their alleged captors, who are suspected of immigration offences as well as involvement in forced labour, have been provisionally freed until January pending further investigations.

    The Citizen

  • Tanzania’s Diamond denies joint concert with Rwanda’s Dream Boyz

    Tanzania’s Diamond denies joint concert with Rwanda’s Dream Boyz

    Hopes of ever seeing Rwanda’s duo the Dream Boys on the same stage with Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz were all but dashed when the latter denied claims they would perform together at this year’s Miss East Africa Belgium.

    Posters had started circulating on social network sites publicizing the highly rated show, but Diamond has all but poured cold water on any possible prospect.

    Immediately after coming across the poster, the regional celebrity took to his Facebook page to deny he would perform in Belgium. He said, “I would like to say that there are rumors circulating that I will be in Belgium on December 7, 2013, but they are not true. I have not been invited by anyone or any company for that matter and I want my fans to treat the news as lies.”

    Rwandashow.com tried to contact both Platini and TMC of Dream Boyz but neither of them could be reached for comment but proxy sources indicate the group had been invited separately and had no news of sharing stage with Diamond.

    Rwanda Express

  • Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home: South African papers defy photo ban

    Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home: South African papers defy photo ban

    {South African newspapers have published images of President Jacob Zuma’s residence, defying a government warning that this would break security laws. }

    Mr Zuma’s Nkandla residence is at the centre of a row after it emerged that the government had used $20m (£12m) of taxpayers’ money to refurbish it.

    Cabinet ministers on Thursday said anyone who published images or footage of the estate would face arrest.

    A group of South African editors described the warning as “absurd”.

    The Times newspaper has the headline “So, arrest us”, above a picture of the luxury thatched-roof compound.

    The Star newspaper has a photo of the homestead with a big red cross over it and the caption: “Look away! What ministers don’t want you to see”.

    The upgrades to Mr Zuma’s private residence include a helipad and an underground bunker, which the government says are needed for security reasons.

    The contract is being investigated by South Africa’s public protector, or anti-corruption watchdog, Thuli Madonsela, amid allegations that costs were inflated, and that the renovations went far beyond what the rules allow for a politician’s private home.

    Earlier this month, security ministers went to court to try to block Ms Madonsela from publishing her report.

    State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele on Thursday warned newspapers:

    “No-one, including those in the media, is allowed to take images and publicise images even pointing where the possible security features are,” he said.

    “It is not done anywhere. We have not seen the images of the White House showing where the security features are. It is not done in any democracy.”
    Awkward for ANC

    Following the publication of the photos, the government has issued a statement, saying that newspapers are within their rights to publish photos of the estate but “zooming into safety and security features… is a challenge as it compromises national security”.

    The newspaper editors say the public paid for the upgrades and have a right to see how their money was spent.

    The warning has created public outrage, with many expressing their dissatisfaction on Twitter and also posting pictures of the home.

    The main opposition has lambasted the upgrade and called for investigations into why so much was spent and whether Mr Zuma was aware of the cost burden to the state.

    The Democratic Alliance has always insisted that the upgrade was not only morally wrong and unjustifiable given the country’s social needs, but that it is also possibly illegal.

    Other opposition parties have called it an abuse of state funds.

    They also want to know why Mr Zuma’s home was classified as a place of national security, despite being a private residence.

    BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding says the issue is an awkward one for the governing African National Congress (ANC), with elections approaching next year.

    He says it also touches on deeper concerns about the undermining of South Africa’s young, but vital, democratic institutions.

    BBC

  • Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan taken ill in London

    Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan taken ill in London

    {Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has been taken ill and given medical treatment while overseas, but his condition is not said to be serious.}

    The president was in London for a business meeting, but could not attend.

    “The Presidency wishes to assure all Nigerians that President Jonathan’s condition is nothing serious,” his aide Reuben Abati said in a statement.

    He said the medical attention sought by the 56-year-old president was “only precautionary”.

    Mr Jonathan has been president since 2010, when his predecessor died in office and he was promoted from vice-president.

    In recent days he was forced to delay presenting the annual budget to the national assembly indefinitely due to disagreements between the executive and legislators.

    Mr Jonathan is also facing serious divisions within his own party, as rival factions jockey for power ahead of the 2015 presidential poll.

    He is also battling an Islamist uprising in the north of Nigeria which has killed thousands.

    BBC

  • Journalists in Somalia arrested after airing rape allegations

    Journalists in Somalia arrested after airing rape allegations

    {Somali authorities arrested two journalists, one of them the victim of an alleged rape, on Wednesday in Mogadishu, the capital, and charged them with defamation in connection with a report on the alleged rape, according to news reports and local journalists.}

    In a video, which was posted online earlier this week, Radio Shabelle journalist Mohamed Bashir interviews a female reporter of Kasmo Voice Women Radio, who says that she was raped at gunpoint. The unnamed victim said she was assaulted by two journalists from the state-owned Radio Mogadishu, according to news reports.

    The woman named her alleged attackers in the video. The accused denied the allegations and filed a defamation suit, according to news reports.

    Mohamed and the victim of the alleged rape have been detained at the Central Investigations Department headquarters, local journalists said.

    “This is not the first time in Somalia that the victim of an alleged rape and a messenger are harassed or imprisoned for reporting such allegations,” said CPJ East Africa Representative Tom Rhodes. “We call on authorities to release Mohamed Bashir and the victim of the alleged rape, and to ensure a transparent and efficient investigation into the allegations.”

    The manager of the Shabelle Media Network, Abdimaalik Yusuf, was also detained for six hours in connection with the story, news reports said. He was questioned in custody about recording the interview, and then released, he told CPJ.

    Government Spokesmen Abdirahman Omar Osman told CPJ that they were allowing the police and judiciary to carry out their investigations prior to any government involvement in the case.

    In February, a Mogadishu court sentenced a victim of an alleged rape and freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinuur who interviewed her to one-year prison sentences, but released them on appeal two months later, according to CPJ research. Abdiaziz fled the country soon after release, fearing for his life, he told CPJ.

    Authorities forced Radio Shabelle off the air on October 26 over a building ownership dispute and confiscated the media house’s equipment, local journalists told CPJ. The station is off the air, but still broadcasting online.The government recently returned the equipment to Shabelle Media Network but in a damaged state, Abdimaalik said.

    The president’s director of communications, Malik Abdalla, denied that the equipment had been returned damaged and said the claim was “completely false,” he told CPJ.

    SOURCE

    Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

  • Mukurarinda slams the claims that Kagame ordered him to stop music career

    Mukurarinda slams the claims that Kagame ordered him to stop music career

    {Rwandan Prosecutor and spokesperson of National Public Prosecution Authority, Alain Mukurarinda, refuted claims that he had deserted the music field because President Kagame has commanded him to stop music career in order to serve better the work of the government.}

    Mukurarinda said there were rumors that President Kagame ordered him to stop music career, but during a press conference that took place on 21 November 2013, Mukurarinda explains that “those rumors have no basis”.

    He said that many people keep asking him whether he has stopped his music career due to the presidential order but he responds to them that “Although they ask and say that, the truth is that such rumors are lies”

    He added that “Even law gives the right to do so; President has never ordered me to stop my music career”

    However, Mukurarinda told journalists that “During These past two Years” as a prosecutor, he had been taking part in the trial of two cases, one of Victoire Ingabire (the leader of FDU-Inkingi) and another one of Dr. Leo Mugesera (who was arrested and jailed due to his role in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.”

    Mukurarinda also took the opportunity to show media that he is still a musician. “I’m back. I have new songs ranging from the 50th anniversary of Mukura Football Club to love songs, culture and social life,” says Mukurarinda.

    Mukurarinda is a legend who started singing with traditional bands.

  • Ugandan President Praised for Reviving East African Community

    Ugandan President Praised for Reviving East African Community

    {A spokesman for the Ugandan government says there would not be an organization called East African Community had it not been for the efforts of President Yoweri Museveni and two other east African leaders to revive the organization.}

    Spokesman Ofwono Opondo was responding to criticism by an official of the newly-formed Freedom and Unity Front (FUF) of Uganda that President Museveni was out to destroy the Community.

    General David Sejusa told VOA earlier this week that Museveni attempted to isolate Tanzania and Burundi by not inviting their leaders to recent regional summits.

    But Opondo says there are some issues within the community that are bilateral as well as tripartite and do not affect regional cooperation.

    “First of all, we don’t know that organization – Unity and Freedom Front – we don’t know them and we have not seen their report. But there has not been an East African Community to speak about until President Museveni restarted it about 12 years ago together with President Daniel Arap Moi and Benjamin Nkapa. And so you cannot be the same person trying to destroy,” he said.

    He dismissed criticism that President Museveni tried to isolate Tanzania and Burundi by not inviting their two leaders to recent East African Community summits.

    “There regional issues that are bilateral to Uganda and Kenya; there are issues that are bilateral for Uganda and Rwanda, and there are issues that are tripartite for Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. So, we don’t think that bilateral issues of Uganda and Kenya should in any way jeopardize the regional cooperation of the East African Community,” Opondo said.

    The FUF describes itself as a “new liberation platform to unite different liberation forces, political organizations and individuals to free Uganda from Yoweri Museveni.”
    One of its leaders is General David Sejusa, the former Coordinator of Uganda’s Intelligence Services.

    Sejusa fled Uganda in April this year after writing a letter, alleging that there was a scheme to assassinate senior government and military officials perceived to be against an alleged plot to have Mr. Museveni’s son, Brigadier Muhoozi Kainerugaba succeed his father as President.

    Opondo describes the group as “fictitious” and said the Ugandan government does not know of the group’s existence.

    “I am hearing it from you for the first time. So it must be a fictitious organization. First of all, Sejusa is a renegade fugitive who has previously been a member of parliament of Uganda representing the army. He has run out of what to say, and I think this announcement of a fictitious organization that does not exist, at least not here in Uganda is an attempt to create a profile to you, the international media who may not have all the facts about Uganda back home here,” Opondo said.

    Opondo also rejects the FUF’s criticism that President Museveni has been a sponsor of the M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo and cannot be the one to mediate peace talks between the government and M23 rebels.

    “President Museveni and Uganda was asked by a committee of African Union states in November of 2011 to be the mediator and we have been conducting that mediation for the past 11 months. It has never been raised by the DRC delegation the biasness of Uganda until when we hear accusations via the media,” Opondo said.

    First founded in the mid-1960s, the East African Community collapsed in 1977 due to disagreements among its founding countries – Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. It was revived in 2000 by leaders of the same three founding countries.

    VOA

  • Rwandans in Zambia begin processing travel papers

    Rwandans in Zambia begin processing travel papers

    {The Government has commenced a process to facilitate Rwandans who lost their refugee status in Zambia with travel documents to enable their repatriation or integration in host countries.
    }

    The latest development follows the coming into force of the Cessation Clause with which the refugees lost their status on June 30.

    Officials from the Ministries of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (Midmar) and Foreign Affairs, as well as those from immigration department launched the week-long exercise on Monday.

    All nationals eligible for Rwandan passports are expected to get the documents within the time frame.

    Ange Sebutege, the communications officer at the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration, told The New Times on Wednesday that all those affected by the cessation clause who chose to remain in Zambia and other countries were free to apply for the passports to help them integrate.

    He said people can also access the application forms online from the Immigration web site, or at Rwandan embassies.

    “We facilitate them like other Rwandans in Diaspora and it’s the same process that anybody seeking a passport goes through,” Sebutege said.

    He added that the immigration directorate will provide temporary travel documents to those who want to return and apply for the passports from home.

    Fredrick Ntawukuriryayo, the communications officer at Midmar, said Rwandans in Zambia had responded positively to the registration process.

    The initiative targets all the countries hosting Rwandan refugees, such as Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique, said Ntawukuriryayo.

    Meanwhile, media reports indicated yesterday that the Zambian government has warned some people who were dissuading their colleagues from getting the documents.

    “The government will not hesitate to apply the law because we don’t want to have people living in Zambia without passports of their country of origin,” deputy minister of homes Stephen Kampyongo was quoted as saying by the Zambian Daily Mail yesterday.

    The Zambian minister expressed frustration that some Rwandans were not keen to acquire the passports.

    With 4,000 people, Zambia is one of the countries hosting most Rwandan refugees.

    About 3.5 million refugees have returned home voluntarily since 1994, according to government. More than 70,000 Rwandans are said to still be stuck in different parts of the world.

    The provisions of the Cessation Clause leave room for former refugees to get alternative legal status.

    Rwanda and Zambia governments have been working on modalities to facilitate voluntary repatriation and integration of those who wish to continue living in Zambia.

    Reintegration

    Earlier, while launching the exercise in Zambia, on Monday, minister Kampyongo reportedly commended the move as a good gesture.

    He assured the former refugees that although the framework for their local integration was yet to be approved, the Zambian government already had a draft under consideration.

    “What is important to note is that the criteria will be based on the existing law and hence the need for all the former Rwandan refugees who are interested to locally integrate in Zambia to apply to be issued with the Rwandan national passport,” he said.

    The majority of the former refugees are mostly accommodated in Maheba camp in the North-Western Province of the southern African country.

    During a bilateral meeting between the two countries in Lusaka in July 2013, both sides agreed to enhance the implementation of the Cessation Clause by promoting voluntary repatriation and facilitating those who need to be locally integrated.

    Since the coming into force of the Cessation Clause, 1,399 Rwandan refugees have voluntarily repatriated.

    Those who have returned with the help of the UN High Commission for Refugees, in collaboration with the host countries and the Rwandan government, have been resettled.

    {{The New {{Times}}}}