IGIHE

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  • S. Sudanese Rebels Say Former Detainees “Undecided”

    S. Sudanese Rebels Say Former Detainees “Undecided”

    {{The South Sudanese faction of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which has formed an “armed resistance” against president Salva Kiir’s government, said the 12 former colleagues freed from detention in Juba including the former secretary general of the party, Pagan Amum, have not decided which side to join in resolving the new nation’s five-month old conflict.}}

    “The former detainees have not yet made up their minds about which side to join. In recent consultations with our leadership in Addis Ababa, they felt they needed more time to think over it whether to remain neutral or join us or the other side,” Machar’s spokesperson James Gatdet Dak told media on Tuesday.

    Under the leadership of the former vice-president and the then deputy chairman of the ruling SPLM, Riek Machar, the now SPLM (in opposition) have been battling Kiir’s government since mid-December 2013.

    The group include Pagan Amum, former SPLM secretary general, Mama Robecca Nyandeng, presidential advisor and widow of late leader John Garang, Deng Alor, former cabinet affairs minister, John Luk, former justice minister, Kosti Manibe, former finance minister, Oyai Deng, former security minister, Gier Chuang, former minister for roads, Madut Biar, former minister of telecommunications, Majak Agot, former deputy defense minister, Cirino Hiteng, former youth minister, Chol Tong, former Lakes state governor and Ezekiel Lol, former diplomat to US.

    Prior to the 15 December violence which erupted in South Sudan last year, the politicians who are senior members in the SPLM, were allied to the former party deputy chairman, Riek Machar, in which they on 6 December 2013 held a press conference in Juba, calling for political reforms in the party and accusing the party chairman, Salva Kiir of “dictatorial tendencies.”

    Following the violence, they were all arrested, except Robecca Nyandeng. Seven of them were released two months later, but Pagan Amum, Oyai Deng, Majak Agot and Ezekiel Lol remained in detention, accused of alleged coup attempt. They were, however, released five months later for lack of evidences to support the alleged coup.

    The first seven released former detainees however played an insignificant, sometimes denied, neutral position in the peace talks, calling themselves a “third bloc” which did not want to join either side in the conflict, despite being named by Machar as members of his delegation and demanded for their release throughout the peace talks.

    ST

  • SADC Regional Peacekeeping Training Center on Study Tour at Rwanda Peace Academy

    SADC Regional Peacekeeping Training Center on Study Tour at Rwanda Peace Academy

    {{The Staff of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre based in Harare, Zimbabwe, is conducting a two day study tour at Rwanda Peace Academy (RPA) in Musanze District, from 20th to 21st May 2014. }}

    Col Sambulo Ndlovu, Deputy Commandant of the School who is leading the team told the Media that the aim of their visit was “to learn more of sister institutions that have the same business with us”, he said before adding that although Rwanda Peace Academy is a new School, they believe it is a model that can help their Academy.

    Col Sambulo noted that from the brief presentations they had at RPA on 20th May, they learnt how the funding of the School is done, especially how much efforts the Government of Rwanda is putting in to help the Training Centre becoming a Regional Centre for Peacekeeping training.

    They learnt how RPA interact with Partners and challenge the Institution faces in delivering courses.

    The SADC Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre Staff appreciated the way RPA trains students from the whole region and even abroad.

    Col Jill Rutaremara, RPA Director reiterated that they got lessons from each other experiences and that they examined areas of partnership between both Schools.

    SADC Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre based in Harare, Zimbabwe, trains police, military officers, civilians and correctional services officials from 15 SADC Member States in courses related to peacekeeping.

    MOD

  • Kagame Hosts Mkoba Private Equity Fund CEO

    Kagame Hosts Mkoba Private Equity Fund CEO

    {{President Paul Kagame Tuesday received in his office the partner and CEO of the newly launched Mkoba Private Equity Fund, Frannie Leautier, who is also former Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). }}

    The fund will support SMEs targeting equity investments ranging from $1.0 to $15 million Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mozambique, DRC, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

    After meeting the President, Frannie Léautier said:

    “I briefed the President on what I have been doing since I finished my term at the African Capacity Building Foundation and thanked him because Rwanda has been one of the countries that worked closely and supported the ACBF along the years and has been one of the most successful countries to use support from the fund to advance its own priorities. I also briefed him about what I am doing now where we have just launched the Mkoba Equity Private Equity Fund to support Small and Medium Enterprises to make them global and regional champions.”

    Frannie Léautier said discussions with the President also focused on how best to introduce the fund in the Rwandan context in terms of investments:

    “I am very happy to say I have received very strong support in terms of launching these activities in Rwanda and experiencing the successes of Rwanda where one can launch a business in a matter of days and this should be a signal to the rest of the world.”

    The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Claver Gatete said the equity fund would be very significant raising the portfolios of Rwanda’s Small and Medium enterprises which are the key providers of employment.

    “This is a great initiative for Rwanda because it provides solutions that are in line with our vision which aims to grow small business into big industries that can contribute to national development. The fund will introduce capacities and capital which are the main recipes for growth of businesses and we are hopeful that this will boost overall development of our country.”

  • President Kagame Blames African Leaders Over Conflicts

    President Kagame Blames African Leaders Over Conflicts

    {{President Paul Kagame on Tuesday blamed African leaders for failure to resolve conflicts that are taking the continent backwards.}}

    “As African leaders, we must take responsibility and accept our failures in dealing with these matters,” he told a panel discussion at the ongoing African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meeting in the capital, Kigali.

    “Unless we deeply look into these, we may not make any meaningful progress on the continent,” he added.

    Kagame and other leaders were discussing a report from the panel of experts established by the AfDB president, Donald Kaberuka. Liberian leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf chaired the high level panel on fragile states.

    Social exclusion, income inequality, vulnerability to economic, social and environmental risks, according to the 2014 African Economic Outlook report, continue to threaten Africa’s long-term aspiration for a people-centred and prosperous continent.

    “Peace and security breakdowns in the Central African Republic and South Sudan have resulted in the tragic loss of lives and livelihoods,” notes the 205-page report.

    “A strong commitment from Africa and the international community is required to help address these crises”, it adds.

    The conflict in South Sudan, Kagame said, would not have escalated into a full-scale war had its leaders taken into consideration what prompted the fight for independence.

    “This country and the people there wanted to be independent. They got independence, but that turned into a problem,” he told the audience at the AfDB meeting.

    Kagame, however, insisted that African leaders should work together and solve their own problems, without seeking assistance from western countries.

    “Why do you have wait for Europeans to solve your problem? he asked, adding that “I think we should work together to solve our own problems”.

  • Nigerian Actress Says Doesn’t Use Vibrator

    Nigerian Actress Says Doesn’t Use Vibrator

    {{Nigerian Actress Chika Agatha Oguine started acting in 2012. Recently she opened up about a few things to a journalist.

    In the conversation she spoke about ‘cumming’ during sex and how she chases men away by giving them bills upon bills because that is the only way one can chase Nigerian men away.}}

    She also spoke about not needing a vibrator when their are male friends she can do it with when the feeling arises. Find her interview below..

    {{How do you deal with your male admirers?}}

    You all know how I handle them. Since they are in love, there are always bills there to pay so they would have to run away.

    It’s not like I tell them to pay my bills though, but I have seen that in Nigeria, the only way you can actually chase a man out of your life is to tell him, ‘I need this, I need that

    {{Do you believe in vibrators?}}

    Why do I have to get a vibrator when there are so many able men out there? It could be helpful for some people who do not have relationships but seriously, Nigerian guys are very able bodied men.

    Personally, I don’t believe that. If you want to have a good sex, you should have one of your friends that you have feelings for, even if you guys are not really dating. Believe it or not, some men don’t like to be committed to a woman and don’t believe in dating.

    Instead of jumping around from one place to the other with loads of people you don’t really know, it’s safer to do it with someone you know, someone close to you, someone you can actually give yourself to. Not for payment of any kind or for exchange of money.

    {{What would make you climax during sex?}}

    For me, it’s really something out of the physical. It’s more of psychological than sex itself because I could have sex and not cum but what makes me cum is who the person is, what feelings I have for the person.

    That is why I can never have sex with someone I don’t have feelings for because I might not cum

    adapted from {Vanguard}

  • Husband Speaks About Christian Wife on Sudanese Death Row

    Husband Speaks About Christian Wife on Sudanese Death Row

    {{A U.S. citizen, who rushed to his native Sudan to save his pregnant wife from the death sentence, described his horror at seeing her shackled in a prison cell. }}

    Meriam Yahya Ibrahim Ishag, a 27-year-old doctor, was charged with adultery for marrying Christian Daniel Wani, a Sudanese man with U.S. citizenship who lives in New Hampshire.

    She was sentenced to 100 lashes as the Sudanese court refuses to recognize her 2011 marriage to Mr Wani because they consider Ishag a Muslim.

    The eight-months pregnant woman, who has a toddler son, was subsequently sentenced to death for the crime of apostasy. Sudanese law considers her a Muslim while she has declared that she was raised Christian and refuses to convert to Islam because it is the only religion she knows.

    She told the court: ‘I was never a Muslim. I was raised a Christian from the start.’

    Daniel Wani married wife Meriam in 2011. She was sentenced to death in Sudan last week because the court considers her Muslim and found her guilty of apostasy for converting to Christianity. Her husband, a U.S. citizen, has flown to Sudan, to try to save her life.

    Ishag is considered Muslim by the Sudanese court because her father was a Sudanese Muslim. However the woman was raised by her Ethiopian Christian mother after her father left them.

    She has been shackled at the legs in jail since the sentence was handed down, her husband said.

    Mr Wani was allowed to visit his wife for the first time on Monday where she is being held along with the couple’s 20-month-old son Martin.

    The father is not allowed to care for Martin because he is a Christian and his son is considered a Muslim.

    Tina Ramirez, executive director of Hardwired, an American group which fights for religious freedom around the world, told Fox: ‘He originally was not allowed to see her until this week.

    ‘Once he was able to, she was shackled and her legs were swollen.’

    The couple’s lawyer is working on an appeal to the 27-year-old’s sentence amid mounting international pressure.

    The White House condemned the pregnant mother’s treatment and urged the Government of Sudan to meet its obligations under international human rights law.

  • Ghana: US$70m Boost For Local Content

    Ghana: US$70m Boost For Local Content

    {{In Gahana, Service companies in the mining and oil and gas sectors can apply for a share of a US$70million loan being provided by HFC Bank to enable them take on contracts from majors in the two sectors.}}

    The facility is a syndicated credit between HFC and Afreximbank, which service providers can access as cash advances to pre-finance their contracts, or as confirmation of letters of credit or the issuance of guarantees on their behalf.

    Briefing the service companies in Accra, HFC’s Director of Corporate Banking Osei Asafo-Adjei, said the companies can apply for a minimum of US$500,000 and a maximum of US$20million out of the revolving facility.

    Interest on the loan is 4.5 percent — a rate Mr. Asafo-Adjei said is the lowest that companies can get in Ghana.

    Although foreign companies registered in Ghana will be considered for the loan, Mr. Asafo-Adjei said the facility is “largely” for Ghanaian service providers in the mining and oil and gas industries who struggle to take on contracts in those sectors.

    “The idea is to provide an affordable facility to enable particularly Ghanaian service providers to deepen their operations and increase capacity. We realise that one of the major challenges for Ghanaians in these sectors, which require a lot of resources, is that they do not have adequate funding. So we have put together this structure, which is affordable because it has about the lowest interest rate in Ghana,” Mr. Asafo-Adjei told the B&FT.

    Renaissance Africa Group, a financial advisory services firm, has been charged to profile applicants for the loan and help them organise their documentation. Once the application reaches HFC, the loan should be processed in not more than four weeks, said Mr. Asafo-Adjei.

    Other flexible terms of the loan, he said, include a 36-month or three-year period of tenor and the fact that need for collateral may not apply in some cases.

    Managing Director of HFC Bank Asare Akuffo said the bank is happy to be the first financial institution in Ghana to provide such a “focussed facility” to the mining and oil and gas sectors.

    “Apart from fulfilling our medium- to long-term strategic objectives in exploring opportunities in the mining and oil and gas sectors, it will also give a boost to Ghanaian companies in particular who have had difficulties in taking advantage of the opportunities in this lucrative sector,” he said.

  • NFL Players Sue Over Painkillers

    NFL Players Sue Over Painkillers

    A group of retired American football players have sued the National Football League, claiming it illegally gave them painkillers to keep them playing.

    The players named in the suit say they were given narcotics and other drugs without a prescription, and had health issues and addictions as a result.

    A NFL spokesman said their lawyers had not yet reviewed the lawsuit.

    The league previously settled a case that accused it of concealing it knew the risks of multiple concussions.

    It settled that lawsuit for $765m (£454m), without admitting wrongdoing.

    In a complaint filed on Tuesday in a US court, lawyers for the eight named players said the NFL had “intentionally, recklessly and negligently created and maintained a culture of drug misuse, substituting players’ health for profit”.

    The retired players include three members of the NFL champions 1985 Chicago Bears – Richard Dent, Keith Van Horne and Jim McMahon.

    The suit seeks class-action status, and says more than 500 other former NFL players have signed up.

    In addition to unspecified financial damages, the players are seeking to require the NFL to create a testing and monitoring programme to help prevent addiction and health issues from the use of painkillers.

    “The NFL knew of the debilitating effects of these drugs on all of its players and callously ignored the players’ long-term health in its obsession to return them to play,” Steven Silverman, a lawyer for the players said in a statement.

    Mr McMahon alleges said he suffered a broken neck and ankle during his time in the NFL, but was never told about those injuries by team doctors. Instead he received medications and returned to play.

    The complaint also alleges Mr Van Horne played an entire season on a broken leg, and was not told about the injury for five years “during which time he was fed a constant diet of pills to deal with the pain”.

    And former player JD Hill allegedly “received hundreds, if not thousands, of pills from trainers and doctors, including but not limited to NSAIDs [anti-inflammatory drugs], codeine, Valium and Librium”, without a prescription or warning of potential side effects.

    Mr Hill said he left the NFL – after a career in the 1970s – addicted to painkillers, and became homeless as a result.

    In a statement to the Associated Press news agency, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said: “We have not seen the lawsuit, and our attorneys have not had an opportunity to review it.”

  • Cuban Dissident to Launch Newspaper

    Cuban Dissident to Launch Newspaper

    {{Cuba’s best-known dissident blogger, Yoani Sanchez, says she is launching an online newspaper with daily news about the communist-run country.}}

    Ms Sanchez said the website would not be a platform against the government; its aim is to provide essential information to Cubans.

    The paper will be produced in Cuba and will not have a print version.

    Cuban media, including the country’s three national newspapers, are under strict state control.

    But President Raul Castro has eased restrictions on dissidents in recent years, allowing opponents of the government – including Ms Sanchez – to travel abroad.

    In her Twitter account, Ms Sanchez described the new publication as “a space to tell Cuba’s story from inside Cuba”.

    The paper will be called Catorce y Medio, which means Fourteen-and-a-Half. The title makes reference to the year of its publication, 2014, and the word medio, which is Spanish for media.

    {{“No loaded words”}}

    The editor-in-chief will be Ms Sanchez’s husband, fellow activist Reinaldo Escobar in the capital, Havana.

    “We want to produce a newspaper that doesn’t aim to be anti-Castro, a newspaper that’s committed to the truth, to Cubans’ everyday reality,” he told media.

    Mr Escobar said the paper will avoid using loaded words such as “dictatorship” and “regime” and will refer to Mr Castro simply as “the head of state” or “President Gen Raul Castro”.

    About 10 staff have been working for weeks in Havana in preparations for the launch of the first issue, later on Wednesday.

    Critics say the website will reach very few Cubans inside the country, where there is limited Internet access.

    Ms Sanchez achieved international recognition with her prize-winning blog, Generation Y, in which she criticised the restrictions on freedom of speech and movement imposed on the island since the 1959 revolution.

    AP

  • Mexico’s National Power Utility Plans Natural Gas Sales

    Mexico’s National Power Utility Plans Natural Gas Sales

    Mexico’s state-owned power utility plans to start selling natural gas to the private sector for the first time as it builds new pipelines, the company’s top executive said.

    Industrial consumers would be the target market for the sales, Enrique Ochoa, chief executive officer of the Federal Electricity Commission, or CFE, told Reuters late on Monday.

    Before energy reform legislation passed in December, only state-run oil company Pemex was allowed by law to produce and market natural gas.

    “For us, this is a new opportunity that the reform allows,” Ochoa said.

    The legislation also ended the decades-long monopoly on power generation held by the CFE, while calling for private contracts to improve transmission and distribution infrastructure.

    The reform is expected to spur investment across the sector, especially in natural gas production, which is increasingly the country’s low-cost option for power. Congress could approve the rules as soon as June.

    The government has said the reform will lower electricity rates, particularly for industrial users, but Ochoa declined to say how quickly that could occur.

    The CFE’s near-term priority, Ochoa said, is a major expansion of the country’s natural gas pipelines. This should boost capacity to allow for more cheap imports from the United States, where output is booming.

    Ochoa said five new pipeline projects due to be put out to contract later this year are designed to provide better interconnectivity.