IGIHE

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  • Invest in African Women

    Invest in African Women

    {{Kigali played host to over 20,000 delegates attending the African Development Bank Annual Meeting 2014 this past week at Camp Kigali.}}

    One of the sessions, titled the “Gender Dividend: The economic benefits of investing in women”, covered topics of land ownership by women, financial inclusion, and government support to women-targeted projects.

    The panel, moderated by Ms. Madeleine Mukamabano a former journalist, included Rwanda’s very own Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Hon. Gasinzigwa Oda; Hon. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Nigeria’s Minister of Finance; Hon. Adji Oteth Ayassor, Togo’ Minister of Economy, Finance and Privatization; Hon. Cristina Duarte, Minister of Finance and Public Administration; Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women; Mme. Bineta Diop, AU Chairperson Special Envoy on Women Peace and Security; and Mr. James Mwangi, CEO Equity Bank Kenya.

    The AfDB was represented by Ms. Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Special Envoy of Gender at the Bank, however, Dr. Donald Kaberuka managed to step away from a Governors’ meeting to share a few words with the audience.

    The audience was also graced by the presence of Former President of South Africa and Gender Champion, H.E Thambo Mbeki, and Rwanda’s Chief Justice Prof. Sam Rugege who gave Rwanda’s experience on legal frameworks that help women with land rights and ownership.

    The panelists debated that even though declarations have been made at continental level, governments need to do more to ensure women are made a priority within their national programs.

    It was agreed that African nations need to review their laws to not just protect women but protect citizens and ensure that everyone is equal within their countries especially in access to financial help to improve the lives of women across Africa.

    This panel discussion was attended by many key women figures from the Rwandan private sector and civil society.

  • Keynote Speech by President Kagame at ECOSOC 2014 Intergration Segment

    Keynote Speech by President Kagame at ECOSOC 2014 Intergration Segment

    {{• Excellency, Angelino Garzón, Vice President of the Republic of Colombia
    • Excellency Isabelle Picco (Monaco), Vice-President of the General Assembly Excellency,
    • Excellency Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations
    • Excellency Vladimir Drobnjak, Vice President of the U.N. Economic and Social Council
    • The Honourable Michael Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy & Former Mayor of New York City
    • Distinguished Officials, Ladies and Gentlemen

    Good morning.}}

    I am pleased to be here and thank the President of the UN Economic and Social Council, for the kind invitation to speak at this first Integration Summit. The discussions at this meeting are important for Africa — and indeed for the entire world.

    Urbanisation is inevitable. More people will move to cities, at a faster rate than at any other time in human history. The most dramatic shifts will occur in Africa, currently the least urbanised continent, but with an urbanisation rate several times higher than anywhere else in the world.

    When people move from rural areas to cities, they get exposed to new ideas, technologies, habits, and skills. They learn to work differently. In other words, they become more productive.

    Urbanisation can help reduce poverty, sustainably, in ways that handouts never can. Growth without planned urbanisation, in contrast, is a recipe for soaring inequality.

    Thus the choice is not whether to urbanise or not. The issue is whether we manage it in such a way that we obtain, together with our citizens, the maximum benefits possible.

    That insight is critical, because increasing our citizens’ productivity results in higher wages, empowering them to build a prosperous, secure future for themselves and their children.

    That is why people will continue to move to cities by the millions every year, whether we want them to or not, affecting and being affected by the environment.

    Rwanda shares with other African countries the many challenges and opportunities of rapid urbanisation.

    These include the urgent need to upgrade informal settlements and avoid such development in the future; provide basic infrastructure and services; mitigate the risks of inequality and segregation of the poorest; protect urban wetlands and green space; and enable the private sector to create jobs, especially for youth.

    In addition, twenty years after a genocide that destroyed Rwanda’s social fabric, urbanisation is part and parcel of our rebuilding and unity and reconciliation efforts.

    Rwanda’s most recent national development agenda gives high importance to organised settlement – from rural market centres to small towns and larger urban areas, while taking care of our environment.

    In an effort to make the most efficient possible use of Rwanda’s land, the government established a comprehensive legal framework for the inclusive registration and management of land, and built a national database for property records and land use maps. This provides the basis for a vibrant and trustworthy property market.

    Rwanda also seeks to establish financing and supply options for affordable housing and related services, such as education and health, to address the needs of low income earners.

    • Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

    The best response to the risks and dangers associated with urbanisation is innovation and cooperation rather than alarm.

    For example, sometimes social problems become more noticeable when concentrated in urban areas, but that does not necessarily make them more difficult to deal with. In some cases, urban density may make them easier to solve.

    Take the case of basic services, which will have to be provided more extensively in cities in the coming years.

    The good news is that the money we spend on services goes further in towns and cities than in rural areas because of the bigger scale.

    The role of urbanisation in development policy will continue to be the subject of vigorous debate, and rightly so.

    This is, in some sense, inevitable, because cities have to work for everyone. Industries and investors. Real estate developers. The middle class. Environmentalists. And, above all, for the young people struggling to make a better life.

    Against this background, it is important to resist the tendency to equate ambitious urban design — particularly in Africa —with an anti-poor agenda. After all, it is not just the well-off who appreciate and benefit from an orderly and predictable urban environment.

    Modern central business districts are an important part of a balanced city capable of sustainable economic growth. But they are, of course, only a part of a comprehensive approach.

    In Rwanda this includes an ever improving decentralisation system within which citizens participate in the decision-making process.

    The emphasis on accountable governance and zero tolerance to corruption ensures that resources meant for urbanisation are used appropriately.

    • Distinguished Audience

    Let me once again thank the UN Economic and Social Council for providing this invaluable platform, to establish a common understanding of the role of urbanisation in sustainable development.

    African leaders have adopted a common position on the Post-2015 sustainable development agenda which incorporates cities and human settlements. Drawing on our national experience, we will continue to work with partners such as UN Habitat and others at the regional and global level.

    The road ahead is long, and we are aware that solutions that worked elsewhere in the past may not work as well today, in Africa. We will learn and innovate and adjust course as needed.

    But the reason why sustainable urbanisation has moved to the centre of the development agenda is clear: It is key to the well-being of our citizens.

    In order for cities to drive progress, our people must be able to afford to live in them. Once there, they must be able to afford to travel to work.

    Our task as leaders is to maximise the benefits by promoting orderly migration, investing in basic services, and adopting policies that support affordable housing and transport.

    If we work together to stay focused on these policy objectives, Africa can become a middle-income continent within our children’s lifetimes.
    Thank you for your attention.

  • White Clouds CC Pulled off 15 Runs Win Over Kigali Angels

    White Clouds CC Pulled off 15 Runs Win Over Kigali Angels

    {{White Clouds CC pulled off 15 runs win over Kigali Angels in a tight and interesting game on Saturday 24th May 2014 in the on-going women’s computer point T20 tournament.}}

    Kigali Angels needing 119 to win from 20 overs, they were on course until Egidia Uwimana that seemed a threat to WCCC was run out on 49 runs in the last over.

    There was a lot of pressure on the field when Egidia was batting because she was hitting our bowlers and has ability to turn the game said WCCC captain Iriho Veronique.

    Uwera Sarah the KACC captain said, if only our middle order batters comprising of Ishimwe Diane and Antoinette were not out early, we would have won the game.

    A first wicket stand of 60 runs between Byukusenge Vestine (33) and Mary Maina (36) gave WCCC a leading edge to win the game.

    On Sunday Victory CC suffered a 53 run loss to Challengers after they failed to chase 209. Challengers made the most of VCC’s poor fielding to post the highest score so far in this year’s computer point T20 tournament.

    Mutuyimana Evode 57 runs and Subashis Samal 77 runs made the most runs for Challengers.

    Andy Storey’s brilliant knock of 74 runs not out off 53 balls with seven fours and 3 sixes wasn’t enough to take VCC home. We had an early collapse that probably contributed to our loss said Ed Pearson who make 48 runs.

    Indo-Pak CC’s performance continued to decline as they lost their third straight game to Indorwa CC by 62 runs. Put in to bat, ICC scored 187 runs in their allotted 20 overs with Nayan Patel 49 runs and Denis Mukama 25 runs not out.

    Good bowling figures from Ndayisenga Freddy 2/17 and Mukesh Joshi 2/23 posed the biggest threat to IPCC batters as they reaped through them. It was only Adnan Abbasi 34 runs who offered some resistance.

    Group A preliminaries ended on Sunday with Challengers leading the group with 15 points followed by Victory CC with 10 points.

    {{Summaries of matches played last weekend;}}

    Saturday 24th May 2014

    WCCC 118/4 in 20 overs beat KACC 103 all out in 19.4 overs by 15 runs.
    WCCC batting: Byukusenge Vestine 33 runs and Mary Maina 36 runs
    KACC bolwing: Assumpta Uwase 3/21
    KACC batting: Egidia Uwimana 49 runs
    WCCC bowling: Mukunzi Betty 2/21
    Woman of match: Byukusenge Vestine

    Sunday 25th May 2014
    CCC 209/3 in 20 overs beat VCC 156/6 in 20 overs by 53 runs.
    CCC batting: Evode Mutuyima 57 runs and Samal Subhasis 77 runs
    VCC bowling: Ed Pearson 2/34
    VCC batting: Ed Pearson 48runs and Andy Storey 74 runs.
    CCC bowling: Feroz Shaikh 2/21
    Man of match: Samal Subhasis

    ICC 187/5 in 20 overs beat IPCC 126/9 in 20 overs by 61 runs
    ICC batting: Nayan Patel 49 runs
    IPCC bowling: Adnah Abb 2/30
    IPCC batting: Adnan Abbasi 34 runs
    ICC bowling: Ndayisenga Freddy 2/17 and Mukesh Joshi 2/23.
    Man of match: Nayan Patel

  • One Dead in Accident at Kirehe

    One Dead in Accident at Kirehe

    {{One person has died instantly in an accident which occurred this evening at Nyamugari sector in Kirehe district.

    An eyewitness told IGIHE that the accident involved a saloon car and a truck. The saloon car swayed off the road and rammed into a tree while attempting to dodge the approaching speeding truck en-route from Rusumo boarder.

    The deceased is said to have been a mid aged man travelling in the saloon car.
    More details to follow.}}

  • Kenya Over Prices Coffee, Makes no Sales at Auction

    Kenya Over Prices Coffee, Makes no Sales at Auction

    {{Kenya made no coffee sales at Tuesday’s auction because of high offer prices, the Nairobi Coffee Exchange said.

    The average price for all the coffee rose to $237.33 for a 50-kilogram bag from $208.41 a week ago, the exchange said by e-mail.

    The benchmark AA grade average was $329.69 a bag compared with $312.14 at the previous sale.

    “We had only one catalog and the reserve prices were high,” Daniel Mbithi, the exchange’s chief executive officer, said by phone from Nairobi. “The quality was good.”

    A catalog is a package of beans from one supplier.

    Supplies at the auction fell 76 per cent to 4,842 bags from 20,451 bags, it said.}}

    NMG

  • Guinea Signs Investment Deal to Develop Iron Ore Project

    Guinea Signs Investment Deal to Develop Iron Ore Project

    {{The government of Guinea has signed an investment agreement for US$20bn to develop the Simandou iron ore project.}}

    According to Reuters, Yansane Kerfalla, mining minister, said that Guinea was on track to conclude negotiations with its partners — Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto, International Finance Corporation and China’s Chinalco, on the Simandou project.

    Simandou is the largest untapped iron ore deposit in West Africa and the project is touted to be an ambitious one in the West African country.

    The project would comprise the construction of a deepwater port, fibre optic and wireless communications, and 1,000km of new roads and railway lines to carry the ore from the Simandou mountain range.

    Sam Walsh, chief executive of Rio Tinto, said, ”The Simandou iron ore project, which could create Africa’s biggest ever infrastructure venture, would boost Guinea’s annual revenue by US$1.2bn through income tax and royalty payments, and pump billions more into the nation’s economy.”

    The deposit would also contribute about US$7.6bn to the Guinean economy — 22 times the US$340mn received in international aid by the West African country in 2012, added Walsh. Production is expected to begin by the end of 2020, added reports.

    According to statistics by Rio Tinto, Simandou has 2.25bn tonnes of iron ore resources and the company has been given control of all four tenements.

    In April 2011, Rio Tinto and the government of Guinea signed a settlement agreement that secured Rio Tinto’s mining title in Guinea and provides the government the right to take a stake of up to 35 per cent in Simfer SA, according to the company website.

    african review

  • Pakistani Woman Killed for Marrying Man of her Choice

    Pakistani Woman Killed for Marrying Man of her Choice

    {{A 25-year-old woman was stoned to death by her family outside one of Pakistan’s top courts on Tuesday in a so-called “honor” killing for marrying the man she loved, police said.}}

    Farzana Iqbal was waiting for the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore to open when a group of around dozen men began attacking her with bricks, said Umer Cheema, a senior police officer.

    Her father, two brothers and former fiance were among the attackers, he said. Iqbal suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead in hospital, police said.

    All the suspects except her father escaped. He admitted killing his daughter, Cheema said, and explained it was a matter of honor. Many Pakistani families think a woman marrying her own choice of man brings dishonor on the family.

    Iqbal had been engaged to her cousin but married another man, Cheema said. Her family registered a kidnapping case against him but Iqbal had come to court to argue that she had married of her own free will, he said.

    Around 1,000 Pakistani women are killed every year by their families in honor killings, according to Pakistani rights group the Aurat Foundation.

    The true figure is probably many times higher since the Aurat Foundation only compiles figures from newspaper reports. The government does not compile national statistics.

    Campaigners say few cases come to court, and those that do can take years to be heard. No one tracks how many cases are successfully prosecuted.

    Even those that do result in a conviction may end with the killers walking free. Pakistani law allows a victim’s family to forgive their killer.

    But in honor killings, most of the time the women’s killers are her family, said Wasim Wagha of the Aurat Foundation. The law allows them to nominate someone to do the murder, then forgive him.

    “This is a huge flaw in the law,” he said. “We are really struggling on this issue.”

    wirestory

  • Somali Children Need Food Aid

    Somali Children Need Food Aid

    {{Up to 200 000 children under the age of five could die from severe malnutrition in Somalia by the end of the year unless the United Nations receives emergency funds to stave off mass hunger, UN officials said on Tuesday.}}

    Only $15m has been received in the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) $150m appeal to donor states to provide vital health services to more than 3 million women and children in the Horn of Africa nation this year, the agency said.

    “If funding is not received immediately, Unicef will have to suspend essential life-saving health services within one month,” said spokesperson Christophe Boulierac.

    “Somalia has 200 000 children under the age of five at risk of death [by] the end of the year 2014 from severe malnutrition if they do not receive life saving therapeutic assistance,” he told a news briefing in Geneva.

    Some 50 000 Somali children under five currently suffer from acute severe malnutrition, according to Unicef.

    Somalia’s government is struggling to impose any sense of order, more than two decades after the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre tipped the country into chaos.

    Unicef has been providing 70% of health services including medicines, vaccinations, staff salaries and fuel to run hospital generators, especially in central and southern Somalia, Boulierac said.

    Western nations fear the country could sink back into chaos and provide a launch pad for Islamist militancy.

    The capital Mogadishu has been hit by a series of suicide bomb attacks in the past few months, claimed by al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants, who have waged a sustained guerilla campaign even after being pushed out of the city in mid-2011.

    – Reuters

  • US to Leave 9 800 US troops in Afghanistan

    US to Leave 9 800 US troops in Afghanistan

    {{US President Barack Obama will announce plans on Tuesday to seek to leave 9 800 US troops in Afghanistan after the formal troop draw down at the end of this year, a senior administration official said}}.

    The number emerged after Obama held talks with US military commanders at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on Sunday as the United States winds down a war begun in the aftermath of the 9/11, 2001 attacks.

    Obama was to make the announcement in a 14:45 EDT (18:45 GMT) statement in the White House Rose Garden.

    US officials are expressing increasing confidence that the next Afghan president will sign a bilateral security agreement that Obama wants before the United States will agree to leave behind troops to help train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism operations.

    Under the scenario envisioned by Obama, the 9 800 troops would stay for a year, then that number would be reduced by half by the end of 2015, the official said.

    By the end of 2016, the US presence would be cut to a normal embassy presence as has been done in Iraq, the official added.

  • Somalia Declares New War on al-Shabaab

    Somalia Declares New War on al-Shabaab

    {{Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed has declared ‘all-out war’ on al-Shabaab as AMISOM warned of more attacks by the al Qaeda-linked group in the country.}}

    “I order the Somali National Army to ‘move now’ to eliminate the enemy wherever they are in the country. We must eradicate this enemy from our country,” Abdiweli said at a press briefing.

    “We cannot tolerate that the enemy carries out such attacks on our people — we must all take part in the war,” the prime minister emphasized, urging the Somali people to help the army eliminate what he termed as the invading ‘enemy’.

    Abdirahman Mahamed Turyare, the Somali High Military Court chairman, yesterday said every al Shabaab member will receive the death penalty and be shot dead when seized without postponement.

    Turyare, who was appointed as the court’s chairman last week, said: “Al-Shabaab will not be released if seized. The Somali High Military Court will instantly sentence them to death. I request the security department to inform the court if they seize al-Shabaab members.”

    “Al-Shabaab is an enemy and will be punished. I am informing al-Shabaab that they will meet the consequence of their acts if they fail to surrender,” he announced.

    Turyare’s declaration came amidst further terrorist attacks. AMISOM spokesperson Ali Adan Xumad warned that the terrorist group was planning more attacks on key government installations.

    Ten people were killed when al-Shabaab attacked Somalia’s Parliament where over 100 MPs were attending a session on Saturday.