IGIHE

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  • At least 35 arrests in Mali over French journalist murders

    At least 35 arrests in Mali over French journalist murders

    {At least 35 suspects have been arrested in 48 hours as the hunt intensifies for the killers of two French journalists shot dead in Mali’s rebel-infested north, sources in the west African nation told AFP.
    }

    Ghislaine Dupont, 57, and Claude Verlon, 55, were kidnapped and killed by what French officials called “terrorist groups” after interviewing a spokesman for Tuareg separatists in the flashpoint northeastern town of Kidal on Saturday.

    “A few dozen people have been arrested on Malian territory over 48 hours in the course of the investigation related to the murder of the two French journalists,” a source from the Kidal administration told AFP.

    A member of the Malian security forces confirmed the information, putting the number of people detained at “at least 35”.

    News of the arrests came after the bodies of the Radio France International (RFI) journalists arrived back in Paris, with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announcing that 150 French soldiers had been sent to join 200 troops already in Kidal.

    He said however that France would stick to plans to withdraw two-thirds of the 3,000 soldiers it has in Mali by the end of January.

    The Kidal government source described the arrests as an “encouraging” advance in the investigation.

    “In the car abandoned not far from the crime scene, precious phone numbers were found. This is an important detail,” the source said, without revealing if the numbers had been linked to suspects.

    The Malian security source told AFP evidence was “accumulating” and amounted to more than just “clues”.

    He said investigators were being helped by prisoners jailed for the kidnapping of Frenchmen Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic, ordered by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

  • Mozambique rebel movement rejects peace talks

    Mozambique rebel movement rejects peace talks

    {Mozambique’s revived rebel movement Renamo has rejected a government invite for high level face-to-face talks to end destabilising military skirmishes.}

    The Frelimo party-led government had called on its civil war foe Afonso Dhlakama, the leader of Renamo, to travel to Maputo on November 8 to discuss his grievances personally with President Armando Guebuza.

    But just hours later Renamo rejected the invitation outright as “cynical”.

    Renamo spokesman Fernando Mazanga branded the offer “a political propaganda campaign without minimal respect for ethics”.

    Supporters of Dhlakama – a rebel leader in Mozambique’s brutal civil war – have been involved in a series of deadly attacks and are demanding a share of the country’s resource wealth.

    For many Mozambicans the crisis has uncomfortable echoes of a 16-year civil war between Renamo and the ruling Frelimo party that resulted in the deaths of around one million people.

    Amid nearly a year of simmering tensions and sporadic attacks on police and civilians, the Mozambique army raided Dhlakama’s bush camp on October 21.

    He has been in hiding since then, “trying to escape attack”, according to Mazanga.

    The factions signed a peace deal in 1992 and Renamo subsequently became the main opposition party, but has since seen its support erode.

    Guebuza said he wanted to hold talks “out of respect for the strong wishes of the Mozambican people”, his office said in a statement reported by the state news agency.

    Renamo accused the government of planning fresh assaults on the movement’s strongholds in central Mozambique.
    {{
    ‘Solution is dialogue’}}

    A face-to-face meeting between the two leaders is seen as the only way of ending the impasse after months of dialogue between Renamo and the government failed to yield results.

    Last week Guebuza told the AFP news agency in an interview that “the solution is dialogue. It is not a military solution”, a day after government forces attacked another Renamo camp.

    Aljazeera

  • Rwanda aims to make Charcoal production sustainable

    Rwanda aims to make Charcoal production sustainable

    {Studies show that in the next 20 years charcoal will still be a major source of cooking energy in Rwanda.}

    Dr. Adrie Mukashema, the DDG of Forestry and Nature Conservation at Rwanda Natural Resources Authority, states “In Rwanda, Biomass energy is the major source of Energy since it provides about 86% of cooking Energy and about 26% of that is charcoal”. However, the Department of Forestry Management said Rwanda looses about 50% of Charcoal Energy because of poor production. Rwanda still practices Traditional methods of charcoal production.

    Although Rwanda tries to improve its way of producing charcoal, there’s still a need for further improvement.

    During an initial consultation meeting that was held in Kigali earlier this week, investors from Netherlands presented a project entitled “NOTS Blue Charcoal Business Model” where the Rwandan Government, Charcoal producers and NOTS will collaborate to make charcoal production sustainable.

    Bart Hartman, Chief Entrepreneur of NOTS explains to IGHE that “This model consists of four elements which includes; using efficient ovens where only 50% of the woods to produce charcoal is used compared to the traditional way of producing charcoal, the second element is growing new trees, third element is growing food trees, a food crop between the trees and last element is the distribution of seeds”.

    Further, Hartman stated “we have tested this methodology for the last three years in Mali and the results were good. Now, we are ready to roll it out to other countries. Subsequently, we met with the Rwanda Minister of Agriculture when she visited the Netherlands and we talked about this methodology and then she asked us to come to Rwanda to discuss whether this methodology could also be introduced in Rwanda”.

    The Ministry of Infrastructure projected that many Rwandans will be using other forms of energy sources, including: pit, Methane Gas as opposed to Charcoal. On this note, Hartman was asked whether he was hopeful of the project,
    he responded “I am very hopeful this project will succeed in Rwanda because we launched this project in Mali four years ago due to political stability which recently changed. But I am convinced it will be a success here in Rwanda and that’s why I am very happy to be at this meeting to further discuss with Rwandan authority how we can implement this project”.

    He added that according to studies many people will indeed continue to use charcoal for the next 20 years and Rwanda is among the countries that will be using charcoal.
    During an address to investors, Dr. Adrie Mukashema stated that we can all be farmers if this model works well for us- this model has potential, however, he suggests that the model be modified to satisfy our local context.

  • UN envoy welcomes end of M23 rebellion, commitment to peace talks

    UN envoy welcomes end of M23 rebellion, commitment to peace talks

    {The United Nations special envoy for Africa’s Great Lakes region joined other senior diplomatic officials in welcoming the announcement by the M23 rebel group that it is ending its bloody insurgency against the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which for nearly two years has exacerbated humanitarian strife in the country’s restive east. }

    Welcoming the announcement in a statement issued from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, Mary Robinson, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to the Great Lakes Region, and Martin Kobler, Special Representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, were joined by a host of other diplomats, including Boubacar Diarra, African Union Special Representative for the Great Lakes, Russell Feingold, United States Special Envoy for the region and the DRC, and Koen Vervaeke, European Union Senior Coordinator to the region.

    The envoys also welcomed the commitment of the Congolese Government to end combat and complete steps agreed to as part of the Kampala Dialogue. The envoys commended Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Defense Minister, Crispus Kiyonga, for their “patient and determined leadership” in facilitating the Dialogue.

    “The Envoys urge both parties to conclude the political process by signing a principled agreement that ensures the timely disarmament and demobilization of the M23 and accountability for perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the statement said, adding that the officials also welcomed the reestablishment of State authority by the Congolese Government in areas previously held by the M23.

    While the envoys noted that the end of the M23 rebellion represents an important step in ensuring sustainable peace in eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region, they stressed that “this is only one step towards addressing the persistent conflict and instability, and to ensure an end to all illegitimate armed actors in the DRC, including the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda).”

    The envoys went on to urge all signatories of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Great Lakes and the DRC to recommit to ensuring the implementation of the accord, including by advancing a political dialogue between key countries in the region.

    The M23 – composed of soldiers who mutinied from the DRC national army in April – along with other armed groups, has clashed repeatedly with the FARDC. In the past year, the fighting has displaced more than 100,000 people, exacerbating an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region which includes 2.6 million internally displaced persons and 6.4 million in need of food and emergency aid. Earlier today, the UN refugee agency reported some 10,000 people had been forced to flee to Uganda after fresh fighting in the region.

    At various times, UN officials have also deplored the activities of other armed groups in the region, including Mayi Mayi, the FDLR, the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

    {{UN}}

  • M23: Makenga Ready for Disarmament

    M23: Makenga Ready for Disarmament

    {The rebel M23 group has announced that its military commander, Brig Sultani Makenga, is ready to oversee a comprehensive disarmament exercise within the Movement to allow a peaceful end to the rebellion. }

    By Wednesday morning, Makenga was reported in Virunga Mountains where he is stationed with his closest associates Vianney Kazarama, Col Kaina and Mboneza among other field commanders.

    The rebel Movement on Tuesday announced that it had decided “from this day to put an end to this rebellion” and to only use “purely political means” the search for solutions to the root causes that led to its creation.

    M23 President, Bertrand Bisiimwa said the Chief of General Staff (Maeknga) and the commanders of all major units of the Movement are “requested to prepare their troops for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration whose terms are to be agreed with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

    M23 publicist, Amani Kabasha said Makenga decided not to fight a joint force comprising troops from Tanzania, South Africa, France and elements from Mai Mai and MONUSCO to avoid the escalation of the humanitarian crisis in the restive eastern region.

    It remains unclear if Makenga will surrender to DRC authorities considering that he faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    However, the M23 military commander’s fate is likely to be decided by the peace agreement which will be signed before the end of this week between DRC and M23 representatives in Kampala.

    Bisiimwa said the end of the rebellion would possibly lead to peace in DRC. “Let’s test this: Maybe the M23 to be aside will give to our people and our country more security, peace and development,” he said, adding, “The DRC without M23 has to deal with security issues (FDLR, FNL, ADF-NALU), return of refugees, national reconciliation, and development of Eastern DRC.”

    {{Chimpreports}}

  • Obama administration pushes back over canceled health plans

    Obama administration pushes back over canceled health plans

    {The Obama administration, under pressure over the botched opening of its healthcare website, scrambled on Tuesday to try to appease hundreds of thousands of people whose coverage is being canceled as insurers prepare for reforms in 2014.}

    President Barack Obama and his top officials are trying to contain the fallout from people angry they have lost their insurance and frustrated with being unable to shop easily for alternatives on the malfunctioning website, HealthCare.gov.

    Obama had repeatedly promised that under the new signature law, people with insurance would be able to keep their existing plans if they wanted to – a pledge that glossed over details of which policies would be protected from new minimum benefit requirements.

    “The president, as awesomely powerful as the office is, can’t go back in time,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters when asked whether Obama would use the same words to describe the grandfathering provision.

    Obama’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough urged a group of insurance executives on Tuesday to tell consumers in cancellation notices that they could qualify for premium tax credits through the new online marketplaces.

    Some cancellation victims hear only about costly replacement plans from their insurers and not about options available through the marketplaces, including the subsidies.

    “He’s saying that we all need to do the best we can in getting information that consumers need,” Carney said.

    OBAMA TO DALLAS, SEBELIUS ON THE HILL

    On Wednesday, Obama will visit volunteers in Dallas who are helping people sign up for health insurance – part of a push for senior officials to highlight the program in cities with the highest number of uninsured residents.

    In Dallas County, more than 670,000 people or 28 percent of the total population do not have insurance, the White House said. Texas has the nation’s highest percentage of uninsured people.

    Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will face tough questions at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, both from Republicans who oppose Obamacare as an unwarranted expansion of the federal government, and from Democrats dismayed at how poorly the launch has gone.

    Marilyn Tavenner, the head of the federal agency responsible for the Obamacare rollout told lawmakers on Tuesday that her staff is working on a plan to get more information to people with canceled plans.

    “This is actually a conversation we’re having today … Is there a way we can actively engage to reach out to people who have been canceled?” Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee.

    In California, officials announced that a major insurer – Blue Shield of California Life and Health Insurance Co – has agreed to allow 115,000 state consumers who had been notified of cancellations to keep their lower-priced policies through the first quarter of next year.

    Reuters

  • Nyaruguru: 3 Murder suspects arrested

    Nyaruguru: 3 Murder suspects arrested

    {
Police in Nyaruguru district has brought into custody 3 men suspected of murdering 33 year old Business man Ndutiye Damascene and robbing him of six hundred thousand Rwandan francs}.

    Ndutiye was murdered last Saturday night, he was stabbed to death by armed robbers.

    According to the Eastern province police spokesman and chief super intendant Hubert Gashagaza, the police is undergoing further investigations to track down every one who was involved in Ndutiye’s murder in order to bring them to justice.

    The 3 suspects accused in the murder of Ndutiye are currently in custody at cyahinda police station. According to the CSP Gahagaza, their names have not yet been released to the public, however, their age range was revealed to be around 33-45 years old.

    CSP Gashagaza stated that ” Investigations are ongoing in order to determine if there were other people behind the murder”. He also added that the gun that was in possession by the armed robbers hasn’t yet been found and claims that the gun would be one of the best objects to aid their investigations. Further, he also requested that any witnesses with information to co-operate with police.

    On monday morning, the police also arrested 2 other suspects aged between 25-26 who were armed with grenades. The 2 suspects are currently in custody at the Ngera
    police station.

    According to CSP Gashagaza, investigations are still ongoing to determine if there are any connections between the 2 individuals that were armed with grenades and the Ndutiye’s murder.

    The Rwandan police is currently putting further efforts on cracking down on people in possession illegal weapons.

  • Kenyan art auction held in Nairobi

    Kenyan art auction held in Nairobi

    {Kenya is holding its first commercial auction of East African art in the capital, Nairobi, with 47 works going under the hammer.}

    Prices are expected to range from several hundred dollars for some pieces up to more than $28,000 (£17,400).

    The auction is a sign of the growing profile of the region’s art scene, as well as the growth of a a wealthy elite, experts say.

    International collectors are increasingly focusing on African art.

    Last month, London hosted the first international fair dedicated to modern and contemporary African art.

    Earlier this year, London auction house Bonhams sold the work of eight leading Kenyan artists at a charity auction.

    {{‘Hidden treasures’}}

    The works of Kenyan artists will dominate the auction, but artists from Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda will also be featured.The Circle Art Agency, which is organising the auction at Nairobi’s Kempinski Hotel later on Tuesday, says some of the works for sale have not been seen in public for decades.

    “There are some hidden treasures that form part of Kenya’s cultural history dating from 1967 to 2013,” it said.

    “Over the last few months we travelled to numerous places in search of exceptional works, many of which were buried away in artist’s studios in neighbouring towns or hanging on hidden corridors in collectors’ homes,” Danda Jaroljmek, from Circle Art Agency, told Kenya’s Star newspaper.

    One of the most expensive items going up for sale is a sculpture called Dancing Warrior by the late, influential Kenyan artist Samuel Wanjau.

    It is expected to fetch between $25,000 and $28,500.

    “His work and career is emblematic of a time when artists were breaking away from the mass production of co-operatives and finding distinctive individual voices,” the auction notes say.

    Lot 47 is entitled Auction by Kenyan artist Michael Soi, who painted it to celebrate Tuesday’s sale.

    Some of his most widely collected paintings are from a recent series called China Loves Africa, The Circle Art Agency says.

    He has also tackled controversial issues like the cases of Kenya’s leaders at the International Criminal Court and is currently painting a series on prostitution.

    “I do not create controversy; I just create work that revolves around things that I see. So, I want to believe that society itself is creating the controversy, all I’m doing is just documenting it,” he told the AFP news agency.

    It is not only those in East Africa’s growing art scene who have welcomed the Nairobi auction.

    “I think it’s very exciting, and I think from an investor’s point of view, and someone who appreciates art, I think it’s only going one way, and that’s going higher,” Aly-Khan Satchu, an investment adviser in Nairobi, told AFP.

    Source: BBC

  • Rwanda beats Kenya to first commodities trade deal

    Rwanda beats Kenya to first commodities trade deal

    {Rwanda has beaten Kenya in the race to establish an East African commodities exchange with conclusion of the first regional trade auction. }

    Tuesday, the East Africa Exchange (EAX) concluded trade of 50 metric of tonnes of maize valued at Sh34,000 ($398) sold by a Ugandan to a Rwandese.

    Kenya’s dream of establishing a commodities exchange is still stuck at the formulation of a legal framework for the market, expected to boost farmer’s earnings by providing a ready market for their goods.

    “The auction took EAX one step closer to its ambition to create “one African market” and has given further credence to the importance of regional commodity trading,” said the company in a statement.

    EAX is owned by Nigeria’s Tony Elumelu’s Foundation, Heirs Holdings, Berggruen Holdings, 50 Ventures and Rwandan-led Ngali Holdings.

    Paul Kukubo, a Kenyan and former chief executive of ICT Board, is EAX chief executive.

    Talks on setting up a futures market have been ongoing in Nairobi since September 2010 when Futures Market Committee was set up.

    The agricultural sector has been the main focus on the need for a futures market due to the expected gains in helping famers and consumers sail through the annual wild swings in commodity prices. Draft rules to guide the market have been released to the market for public debate.

    The Capital Markets Authority is also processing applications for licences to operate the derivative exchanges, which includes the commodities market, from local and foreign firms.

    In July, Nairobi Securities Exchange said that it had started testing a new IT system for trading currencies and other commodities in partnership with a South African firm, Securities Trading and Technology.

    Kenya has been seeking to boost its profile as the financial hub in the region a position that may be challenged by the younger but the ambitious and aggressive Rwandese market.

    Rwanda has consistently ranked higher than Kenya in the Ease of Doing Business report prepared by the World Bank.

    In the four months prior to this first auction more than 50 traders from Rwanda and the East African region have visited EAX offices for training on the electronic trading platform.

    A commodities exchange is a marketplace offering price transparency and wider market access to traders. Kenyan farmers are currently exploited by brokers who buy from them at low prices to sell it to the urban market with huge margins.

    Business Daily

  • Witnesses pin Genocide suspect Bandora

    Witnesses pin Genocide suspect Bandora

    {The case of Genocide suspect, Charles Bandora has today continued at the High court with prosecution bringing on evidence from at least 22 key witnesses about the killings that took place in Ruhuha commune during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.}

    Yesterday court was adjourned after a three hours hearing of testimonies from eighteen witnesses. Today, and today November 5, all the written testimonies heard from the prosecution, indicated that Bandora actually ordered the killings which claimed over 500 people.

    According to prosecution, all the witnesses were separately interviewed and questioned at different intervals, but all their testimonies have a close relationship about who ordered the killing and how they were conducted.

    Witnesses, including some that participated in the genocide- and were convicted, stated that Bandora held meetings with various local leaders in which he ordered the killings in the genocide that claimed over a million lives.

    Bandora, who looked very confident in court, denied the allegations but the prosecution gave stunning evidence of testimonies of property that was looted and kept at Bandora’s house- where most meetings were held.

    Prosecution, which named and listed all the witnesses, said that Bandora had even paid back the looted property after the genocide, and his case couldn’t be tried by the gacaca courts since it was out of their jurisdiction.

    Prosecution argued that by Bandora paying the damages was enough evidence that he had participated in the genocide and thus should be charged for the crimes according to the law.

    Bandora was in March 2013 extradited from Norway after the Rwandan prosecution sent a file of the suspect’s charges to Norway in 2010 following a tip-off that he was hiding in the European country.

    Born in the Southern Province in 1953, he is currently on trial for committing Genocide and other crimes against humanity in former Ngenda commune which is in n Bugesera district today.

    Until his arrest he operated businesses in Malawi. In 1994 he was a high-ranking member of National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) party in Bugesera.

    Bandora is accused of having facilitated the Interahamwe in the mass killings of Tutsis in 1994 by training and arming militias and personally supervising massacres in the Bugesera region.

    The militias he trained are alleged to have travelled in bands with machetes and small arms, in open trucks, killing people with extreme efficiency.