IGIHE

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  • Kenya Rejects Britain, U.S. ‘Unfriendly’ Travel Warnings

    Kenya Rejects Britain, U.S. ‘Unfriendly’ Travel Warnings

    Kenya rebuked Britain, the United States, Australia and France on Thursday for issuing warnings about travel to the east African country and particularly its main port city after a series of attacks there.

    Kenya called the alerts “unfriendly”, saying they would increase panic and play into the hands of those behind the gun and grenade assaults.

    Kenya has blamed bomb blasts in the capital Nairobi and the main port city Mombasa this month, as well as other attacks, on the al Qaeda-linked Somali group al Shabaab.

    The Islamist movement killed at least 67 people including foreigners in a raid on a Nairobi shopping mall in September, saying it was in revenge for attacks on its fighters by Kenyan troops in Somalia.

    The warnings may further damage Kenya’s tourism sector, one that President Uhuru Kenyatta said is “on its knees” following the raids in the capital and along the Indian Ocean coastline.

    Karanja Kibicho, the principal secretary at the foreign affairs department, said Kenya was assuring its visitors of “utmost security and safety”, and lamented the advisories by countries also involved in its fight against the militants.

    “The advisories therefore are obviously unfriendly acts coming from our partners who have equally borne the brunt of global terrorism and no doubt understand the repercussions of terror menace,” Kibicho said.

    “The challenges arising from acts of terrorism require concerted efforts to fight it and not behaving in a manner that accelerates it by causing fear and panic.”

    agencies

  • Woman Says 6-year Old Daughter Wants Missing Dad

    Woman Says 6-year Old Daughter Wants Missing Dad

    {Tuyisenge Mary expecting her second child, wants to see her husband and know what he is being investigated for. She says life is hard without him}

    {{Tuyisenge Mary a mother of one and also expecting her second child says she is worried about her husband who has not returned home since the Easter holidays. }}

    The family resides at Kavumu in Gitarama Cell at Nyamabuye Sector in Muhanga District. She says she has notified Police and local authorities but all has been fruitless.

    Speaking to IGIHE today, Tuyisenge said her husband Mr. Maniraguha Gilbert 35, has been an employee of Ngali Energy Company working as a technician at the Rukarara project in Nyamagabe district.

    She says, she had last spoken on phone with her husband on April 24, however, the following day his phone could not be accessed as it was persistently off until today.

    Maniraguha had last visited his family during the Easter holidays. The wife says he normally returned home after two weeks from work in Nyamagabe district.

    Tuyisenge says the six year old daughter keeps demanding to see her father and also to speak with him on phone as this has been a regular way the young girl kept in touch with her dad, “She keeps crying all time,” says the worried expectant mother.

    According to Tuyisenge, when she couldn’t access her husband on phone she managed to obtain contacts of her husband’s supervisor (Rukarara Plant manager).

    She was later told that her husband had been formally taken by people who identified themselves as from ‘security’ and that they said they wanted Maniraguha to help them in their investigations and that he would return upon competition of the investigations.

    “I want to see my husband and know what he is being investigated for. If he has any charges against him, he should have been brought before the courts of law because it’s past the required legal time to produce suspects in court,” Tuyisenge noted in tears.

    Tuyisenge was flanked by her father in law and mother in law who also told IGIHE that now their three sons have gone missing in a similar manner in just a period of less than a month.

    Mr. Nkamirabatanyurwa Froduard the father-in-law to Tuyisenge says his wish was to see his three sons and maybe could at least settle; “I want to see my children. All I heard was they were taken by ‘security people’. I want them produced or even brought to court if there are any charges against them”, he said adding that if his sons are found, he can be contacted on 0789140938.

    Nyiramatama Elizabeth the mother of the missing men including the husband to Tuyisenge’s husband says, she has not slept ever since her children were taken.

    According to Nkamirabatanyurwa his eldest son Ndarusanuye Alphonse 40 who was married, was last seen on April 24 at Kingasire area in Gatsata sector of Gasabo district.

    Mr Nkamirabatanyurwa says unidentified people packed a pickup truck with tinted glasses meters away from his son’s house and called him out. “When he moved out of the house he was taken to the truck and hasn’t returned again.”

    He adds that on April 21, his other son Mr Maniranfasha Nobert 32, who has been a university student in DRC, was also last seen in Rwanda but in company with people in a pickup truck at Rugerero sector, in Rubavu district.

    {{Nyiramatama Elizabeth (L),Tuyisenge Mary and Nkamirabatanyurwa Froduard at IGIHE offices May 15.}}

  • Qatar ‘to Ease Foreign Worker Laws’

    Qatar ‘to Ease Foreign Worker Laws’

    {{Qatar has moved to change controversial laws on foreign workers amid mounting criticism ahead of the 2022 World Cup. }}

    The Gulf state has come under pressure to drop rules tying migrant workers to a single employer amid an influx ahead of the football tournament.

    Human rights campaigners have accused Qatar’s current sponsorship system of being akin to modern-day slavery.

    The draft law is part of a range of proposed labour reforms but there is no timeline for their implementation.

    Expatriates make up the bulk of the workforce in the country.

    More than 180 migrant workers died in Qatar last year and a significant number are believed to have suffered injuries as a result of unsafe working practices.

    There have also been complaints about the standard of accommodation many workers live in.

    {{Reform package}}

    Officials announced the proposed changes at a news conference in the capital Doha on Wednesday.

    They said they hoped to introduce “a system based on employment contracts” as part of a reform package.

    The reforms are also designed to end the longstanding requirement that foreign workers obtain their employer’s consent before leaving the country.

    This received global attention after a French-Algerian footballer was forced to stay in the country for nearly two years over a dispute with Qatari club El-Jaish over unpaid wages.

  • Manslaughter Charge Over Korea Ferry

    Manslaughter Charge Over Korea Ferry

    The captain of the sunken South Korean ferry has been charged with manslaughter, reports say.

    Lee Joon-seok, 68, is accused of leaving the ship as it was sinking while telling passengers to stay put, reports Yonhap news agency.

    He was among the first to be rescued by coast guards at the scene.

    The Sewol ferry disaster on 16 April killed 281 passengers, most of whom were high school students. Another 23 are still missing.

    Besides Mr Lee, three crew members – the chief engineer, the chief mate and the second mate – are also being charged with manslaughter. If convicted, they could face life imprisonment.

    “The [four people charged] escaped before the passengers, leading to grave casualties,” prosecutor Ahn Sang-don told journalists.

    Prosecutors have indicted another 11 crew members for negligence.

    Only 172 passengers survived the sinking of the ferry, including 22 of the 29 crew members.

    wirestory

  • Class Divisions in Brazil Presidential Campaign

    Class Divisions in Brazil Presidential Campaign

    {{A controversial new campaign ad has made class divisions a key theme in Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s battle for re-election in October.}}

    The combative video, released online by Rousseff’s Workers’ Party this week, suggests a deeply polarized campaign ahead in which the incumbent will try to shift attention away from Brazil’s current economic malaise and focus instead on how life improved for the poor over the last decade.

    The ad shows a rural family happily driving in a truck loaded with goods. Then they pass a dust-covered, downtrodden version of themselves from the past, walking along the side of the road and carrying heavy boxes.

    “We can’t let ghosts from the past come back and take away everything we achieved,” a narrator says.

    The ad is designed to appeal to the some 40 million Brazilians who have been lifted from poverty under 12 years of leftist Workers’ Party rule. Many acquired trucks, washing machines and other big-ticket consumer goods for the first time.

    Despite that progress, Brazil still has one of the world’s biggest gaps between rich and poor, and class divisions remain a fact of politics and daily life.

    The ad drew an immediate rebuke from Rousseff’s leading rival in the election, Senator Aecio Neves of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), who accused the ruling party of “scaring and threatening people in order to try to stay in power.”

    {reuters}

  • German Growth Puts Stagnant France & Italy in Shade

    German Growth Puts Stagnant France & Italy in Shade

    {{Germany posted strong growth in the first quarter of the year in stark contrast with France: the euro zone’s second largest economy failed to expand at all and Italy, the third largest, went into reverse.}}

    German quarterly growth of 0.8% marginally exceeded forecasts and was double the pace at the end of 2013. France was expected to pale in comparison but had still been forecast to grow by 0.2%.

    Inventory changes and public spending were the only factors which kept the French economy from contracting while Germany’s performance was driven largely by domestic demand.

    The figure for the euro zone as a whole is due at 0900 GMT and forecast to show growth of 0.4% on the quarter.

    France will now need 0.5% growth each quarter to meet a government forecast for subdued 1% growth in 2014, Natixis Asset Management chief economist Philippe Waechter said.

    “France’s public finance plan has been built on the 1% growth forecast. If we don’t achieve it France will not meet its (debt and deficit) targets for 2014 and 2015,” Waechter said.

    France is not the only euro zone member in the doldrums.

    Italian gross domestic product contracted unexpectedly by 0.1%, denting a fragile recovery begun at the end of last year when the country finally put an end to its longest recession since World War Two. Growth of 0.2% had been forecast.

  • Suspected Thugs Killed in Foiled Robbery at Muhanga

    Suspected Thugs Killed in Foiled Robbery at Muhanga

    {{Police in Muhanga District killed two people and arrested another man in connection with the attempted robbery of shops in Ruli cell of Shyogwe sector on Tuesday evening.}}

    ACP Damas Gatare, Rwanda National Police spokesperson, who confirmed the development, said: “We had credible information from the public about a group of six people who had hatched a plot to rob two shops in Muhanga city. We trailed them from Kigali to Muhanga.”

    He added: “When they found out that they were being followed, as they were attempting to implement their criminal plan at about 9:30 pm, one of them who had a gun fired at the officers and in self defence, the officers retaliated killing one of them instantly and injured another in the chest, who also died as he was being taken to the hospital.”

    He identified the deceased as Seleman Hakizimana and Sylvin Cyimana.

    ACP Gatare also explained that the third suspect identified as Ernest Ntakirutimana was apprehended as he tried to escape.

    Police also recovered the gun the suspects were using.

    “Investigations are still underway to apprehend all those connected to this racket.”

    The arrested suspect, who confessed to the crime, told Police that they had information that the would-be victims were keeping large sums of money in their shops.

    ACP Gatare appealed to the business community to not to keep big sums of money in their shops, houses or move with it to avoid such incidents.

    “Financial institutions can be easily accessed in all parts of the country, where such amounts can be kept to prevent such risks.”

    He also appealed to the general population to strengthen their cooperation with Police by providing timely information on people planning or involved in criminal acts.

  • Residents of Matimba Accuse Executive Secretary of Brutality

    Residents of Matimba Accuse Executive Secretary of Brutality

    {{Residents of Matimba zone in Rwezamenyo Cell are bitter at their Executive secretary accused of brutally punishing residents suspected of committing minor mistakes.}}

    Last Friday, two residents including Zuzu and Mukandutiye Zura were seriously beaten by the area executive secretary on suspicion that they were sex workers.

    The area is located at Rwezamenyo I Cell, Rwezamenyo sector in Nyarugenge district

    Last Friday when Munyaneza Jacques the Cell executive secretary was passing near Matimba centre, suspected sex-workers took off on their heels to avoid being apprehended.

    Previously the executive secretary had promised to get rid of sex-workers in the area.

    On Friday it had been reported to the cell authorities that a man had lost his money to a sex worker at Matimba it wasn’t established whether this man had been in company with a sex worker.

    This prompted the Executive secretary to reach the site and suspected sex workers ran away immediately and entered a building where they rent.

    However, the leader also ordered other female residents in the area to lay down and beat them up including Zuzu and Mukandutiye Zura.

    This prompted intervention from Zuzu’s mother who questioned the leader about why he was beating her child. Zuzu was set free.

    Mukandutiye managed to escape but the executive secretary ordered night patrol (Irondo) squad to chase her and bring her back. She was beaten in yet again but the residents intervened and forced the executive secretary to stop beating her.

  • Gen. Katumba Wamala Addresses Regional Security & Development Challenges

    Gen. Katumba Wamala Addresses Regional Security & Development Challenges

    {{Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) Chief of Defence of Forces (CDF)Gen Edward Katumba Wamala has said that security and development go hand in hand. Gen Wamala was delivering a lecture on “Contemporary Security Dynamics in the Great Lakes Region: Way Forward” to Senior Command and Staff students at Rwanda Defence Forces Command and Staff College, Nyakinama on 12 May 2014. }}

    He emphasized that addressing regional security challenges requires collective mechanisms.

    He noted that “the Great Lakes Region has witnessed some of the most intense violence and protracted conflicts for the last half century”.

    Gen Wamala indicated that going for the root causes of the conflicts is key to have a stable region.

    He explained that respect for human rights, rule of law and democratic governance, enabling environment for trade, protection of environment, strong institutions, regional integration, sharing of intelligence, expedite formation of East Africa Peace and Security Council; social, economic, political, economic and diplomatic means to solve conflicts among others have to be considered as crucial for sustainable peace and development of the region.

    Lt Col Robert Mulayi, a student from Kenya told the media after the lecture that security challenges has to be solved by Africans: “we need to solve our own problems”.

    Gen Wamala who was on a two day visit to Rwanda toured the College facilities and later paid a courtesy call on the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Patrick Nyamvumba at Defence Headquarters.

  • South Africa Expels Foreign Defence Attaches

    South Africa Expels Foreign Defence Attaches

    {{Two foreign military attaches have been expelled from South Africa in an effort to curb alleged subversive activities.}}

    The Beeld reported that other senior officers could soon follow suit. The newspaper reported that the two expelled attaches are believed to be from Rwanda and Burundi.

    In March South Africa expelled a diplomat from Burundi’s embassy in connection with a raid on a home of Rwandan fugitive Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa in Johannesburg home.

    South Africa in early March expelled three Rwandan diplomats and Rwanda retaliated by ordering out six South African diplomats.

    Meanwhile, the South African Department of Defence has instituted stricter rules controlling the activities of defence attaches, Beeld reports. Attaches are now requested to provide information on their travel activities.

    A letter from Defence Intelligence dated April this year to the Military Attache and Advisory Corps (MAAC) reads: “It has been noticed that there is a growing trend on the side of MAAC members of leaving the Gauteng Province without notifying the Chief Defence Foreign Relations (C DFR) of their whereabouts.

    All MAAC members are kindly requested to provide their visit information before they embark on any type of visit, the purpose of the visit, the time period and the person responsible for the day to day running of the office during their absence.

    “All MAAC members are kindly requested to adhere to this procedure as the way of strengthening the communication channels between themselves and C DFR.”

    reuters