Author: Publisher

The Police Spokesperson for central region, Supt. Modeste Mbabazi has appealed to women and girls to plan when to have children instead of aborting the fetus.

The call follows the arrest of Jeanne Nyirahategekimana, 23, who allegedly aborted her twins and dumped them in a pit latrine.

The incident happened on May 17 in Ruhango cell, Gisozi sector in Gasabo district.

The criminal act was reported by area residents after they found blood stains on the pit and confronted her.

The resident, who knew that Nyirahategekimana was pregnant, reported to Police after they confronted found her without the pregnancy.

The Police Fire and Rescue Unit retrieved the fetus, which was given decent burial.

“Abortion is only allowed when it is approved by a recognised institution with that mandate. Innocent babies should therefore not be condemned for the inappropriate behaviour of the mother or parents,” Supt. Mbabazi noted.

He thanked the public for their continued cooperation in fighting unlawful acts and advised girls to always plan when to have children and have protected sex.

He also urged them to avoid things that can lure them into such traps such as drug abuse.

RNP

{One passenger died and several injured Sunday morning after three cars including a bus of “Trinity Express” Transport Company, involved in a road accident at the place known as 19 near Mulindi Market in Kanombe, Kicukiro District.}

Police has immediately intervened and several injures were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital.

Police Spokesperson, Supt. Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi told this Site that the exact number of injuries not yet known.

{About 49 people were yesterday killed in separate attacks on villages in Borno State by gunmen believed to be Boko Haram, as the terrorist sect sustained hostilities on isolated communities, eyewitnesses and security sources said.}

In the early hours of Saturday, gunmen in their large numbers attacked a quiet agrarian village, Dalwa-Masuba in Damboa local area of the state, killing 40 people, injuring several others and torching the entire community.

The gunmen had also burnt down three pickup vans carrying woods to Damboa.

A member of the security vigilante, who spoke to LEADERSHIP Sunday on phone on condition of anonymity, said no security personnel had reached the attacked town at the time he was speaking.

“We heard about the attack from some of the villagers who fled the village, and we had to drive there on our patrol van; the entire village was set on fire, and about 40 persons were lying dead all over the place; three firewood pickups were also set ablaze,” the local vigilante said.

The attack which occurred within the morning hours has not been confirmed by the police and other security operatives yet.

Dalwa-Masuba is a farming community 40km away from Damboa town and about 80km south-west of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

Another attack was reported some hours earlier along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway. Boko Haram attacked and killed nine people and escaped with a vehicle loaded with beans.

Witnesses said the incident happened about 6pm on Friday.

A lucky bus driver whose three passengers were not so lucky said he did not notice the attackers until he ran into them while operating on the highway. He managed to escape but three of his passengers died of bullet wounds fired by the attackers.

Relating his story to newsmen, the driver who was in tears said, “I failed to notice that people in the nearby village were stopping me. The attackers shot at my vehicle and killed three people. The rest of us were lucky to have escaped.”

The gunmen, according to a witness, had engaged some of the soldiers in the nearby checkpost, but still managed to escape with the lorry filled with about 150 bags of beans

Source: Leadership

{After almost completing implementation of a 28 MW hydroelectric project with USD 80 million in line of credit from the Indian Government, Rwanda is taking up an irrigation project with another USD 120 million of Indian assistance.}

Mr Ernest Rwamucyo, Rwandan High Commissioner to India, said that the East African nation has planned the irrigation project to aid its export-oriented agriculture.

Mr Rwamucyo said that one Rwandan tea estate and five tea processing factories (owned by the state and overseen by state arm OCIR-Thé) are due for divestment. “An Indian company has shown interest in joining the bidding process.”

McLeod Russel and Jayshree Tea have interest in Rwanda’s tea business.

Source -{{ Business Line}}

The demobilization and reintegration into society of former members of the March 23 Movement (M23), a rebel group that used to be based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), will require an estimated $100 million, an Angolan government minister said Friday.

“We need to accelerate the demobilization and reintegration of M23 because the conflict is over,” Angolan External Affairs Minister Georges Rebelo Chicoti told a press conference in Ugandan capital Kampala.

“So far, nothing has been contributed… the process needs about $100 million,” said Chicoti, whose country currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

The ICGLR is directly involved in the M23 demobilization process after brokering a peace deal between Kinshasa and the group last year. The deal was signed after M23 rebels were defeated last November by Congolese government forces, who forced the rebels to cross the border into Uganda and Rwanda.

Under the terms of the deal, rebels who renounced the rebellion were allowed to apply for an amnesty offered by the Congolese government.

At the press conference in Kampala, Chicoti stressed the importance of reintegrating former rebels into Congolese society.

“Eventually, we will need to mobilize resources for that,” he said.

Contributions are expected to come not only from the DRC government, but also from other countries of the Great Lakes region and from the ICGLR, the U.N.’s Organization Stabilization Mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO), and the Southern African Development Community.

“I think it is an urgent issue to be handled,” said Chicoti.

Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa, for his part, said support was also expected from the U.N., which had been a guarantor of last year’s peace agreement.

“World Bank President Kim Yong Kim visited the DRC recently and promised support in this regard,” said Kutesa.

The amnesty applies to acts of insurgency, acts of war and political offenses committed in the DR Congo up to December 20, 2013, when the bill was approved by the government.

However, serious crimes – including genocide, crimes against humanity, terrorism, torture, sexual violence, child conscription, embezzlement and looting – are not covered by the amnesty.

-Left out-

Chicoti, meanwhile, lamented the fact that former M23 rebels who fled to Rwanda had been “left out” of the amnesty application process.

“The problem, in our view, is the procedures,” he said. “Why did we only offer amnesty to those in Uganda when… the process of signing [amnesty applications] should be done by everybody, including those in Rwanda?”

“There are about 600 [ex-M23 rebels in Rwanda], which brings the total number of those that need to be processed to over 2000,” Chicoti added. “As chair of the Great Lakes Region, we [Angola] have to make sure that the government of Congo does it properly.”

Without giving an exact date, Chicoti said he would be travelling to the DRC in coming days to meet ICGLR Executive Secretary Ntumba Luaba and DRC officials to discuss means of implementing the social integration process.

The M23 rebellion against the DRC government began in April of 2012 in the eastern North Kivu province.

The following year, M23 commander Sultan Makenga and his 1600 fighters were defeated by the U.N.-backed Congolese Army.

Last November, the rebels surrendered to the Uganda People’s Defense Forces, and have remained in Uganda ever since.

{Kenya president Uhuru Kenyatta launching the construction of the new railway line}

{{The governments of Rwanda and Uganda are working closely to procure the consultancy for the feasibility studies and fund mobilisation for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project set to run from Mombasa to Kigali through Uganda.}}

The studies will precede the preliminary designs for the railway.

Monique Mukaruliza, the national coordinator of the Tripartite Initiative, said the two countries will jointly procure consultancy services for the Kampala-Kigali section that is expected to go through Mirama Hills, Rwanda’s New Times has reported.

“Rwanda is jointly working with Uganda in the feasibility studies and fund mobilisation to ensure the project becomes a success,” Mukaruliza said.

Mukaruliza said the ministers of finance of the two countries had been directed to explore financing options.

“For the financing of the SGR project, the Summit of Heads of State directed the ministers of finance to explore financing for the project using both the African Development Bank (Africa 50) and the China Exim Bank approaches,” she said.

Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda signed an MoU with the African Development Bank/Africa50 on the financing modalities of the project in February 2014 in Kampala.

The MoU aimed at making the project bankable where parties shall work together for the development, structuring, costing, financing, construction and operation of the railway estimated to cover nearly 3000km.

The Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority report released earlier this month indicated that the government of Rwanda had secured funds to finance the preliminary designs of the section from Mirama Hills to Kigali.

NV