IGIHE

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  • NewYork: Rwandan Choir at International Festival of Faith & Culture

    NewYork: Rwandan Choir at International Festival of Faith & Culture

    {{The African New Life Children’s choir from Rwanda participated today in the International Festival of Faith and Culture.}}

    The festival held in York, UK, is an annual event that celebrates faith and culture; showcasing cultural dances, fashion and many form of musical expression from local faith and cultural groups.

    The children’s choir, which consists of 15 children aged 11 to 15 years, is currently on a short fundraising tour in the UK and will be performing in Sheffield at the Rock Christian Centre on their last stop.

    This is the first time any of the children has left Rwanda and were very excited to be in the United Kingdom.

    The group’s performance prompted a big round of applause from their audience as they sang and danced to both Kinyarwanda and English worship songs, their performance was one of many pieces of entertainment and activities to take place during the festival; The audience were also treated to song and dance from Indonesia, India, China and several other countries.

    The festival which was attended and supported by a representative from the Rwanda High Commission in the UK is organised by the City of York Council in partnership with York St. John University and the York City Council’s City of Faiths group is an initiative which brings together an number of different faith groups in York..

    In attendance at the event were senior local Government leaders including the Lord Mayor of York, City of York Director of Communities and Neighbourhoods Sally Burns.

  • Six bloggers, journalist arrested in Ethiopia

    Six bloggers, journalist arrested in Ethiopia

    Six members of an independent blogger and activist group and a freelance journalist were arrested in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on Friday night, Amnesty International has reported.

    {{Tesfalem Weldeyes, who writes for weekly English newspaper, Addis Fortune, and Addis Standard magazine was picked from his house by the police, according to his neighbour.}}

    His home was also searched before being picked by seven policemen.

    On Saturday morning, photographs of six bloggers, known as writers of Zone Nine who criticise the government were published on social media by their friends indicating that they were arrested on Friday night.

    Campaign for their release has been started on the social media by their friends. They indicated that the bloggers arrested last night are: Befekadu Hailu, Natnail Feleke, Mahlet Fantahun, Atnaf Berhane, Zelalem Kibret and Abel Wabella.

    According to relatives, the detainees are being held at Maakelawi prison in Addis Ababa and are expected in court on Monday.

    Neither police nor government officials have commented on the issue.

  • South Korean PM Chung Hong-won Resigns over Ferry

    South Korean PM Chung Hong-won Resigns over Ferry

    {{South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won has resigned amid criticism of the government’s handling of the sinking of a passenger ferry.}}

    He said the “cries of the families of those missing still keep me up at night”. Mr Chung will stay in his post until the disaster is under control.

    The Sewol ferry with 476 people aboard – most of them students and teachers – sank off South Korea on 16 April.

    Officials have confirmed 187 died, but scores are missing presumed drowned.

    Furious relatives have repeatedly criticised what they see as the slowness of the recovery operation.

    “The right thing for me to do is to take responsibility and resign as a person who is in charge of the cabinet,” Mr Chung said in a brief televised statement.

    “On behalf of the government, I apologise for many problems from the prevention of the accident to the early handling of the disaster.”

    He added: “There have been so many varieties of irregularities that have continued in every corner of our society and practices that have gone wrong. I hope these deep-rooted evils get corrected this time and this kind of accident never happens again.”

    President Park Geun-hye accepted her prime minister’s resignation but did not set a last day in office.

    The PM would leave his post once the ferry disaster was under control, South Korean media reported.

  • Brazil Investigates Possible Mad Cow Case

    Brazil Investigates Possible Mad Cow Case

    {{Brazil is investigating a potential case of atypical mad cow disease, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday, just over a year after several countries banned Brazilian beef imports when a similar case of the disease was confirmed.}}

    A routine inspection at a slaughterhouse in Mato Grosso state found an animal that veterinarians suspect of having a neurological problems, a ministry spokesman said in an e-mail.

    Laboratory tests are under way and atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, has not yet been confirmed, the e-mail said.

    In late 2012 tests showed that a cow that died two years earlier in Parana state had developed the protein that causes mad cow disease, though the animal never developed the disease and died of natural causes.

    The case was considered “atypical” as the animal contracted the protein spontaneously, rather than through the feed supply. Classical cases of mad cow are caused when cattle are fed brain or spinal tissue of other ruminants, which is now forbidden in nearly all beef producing countries including Brazil.

    The World Animal Health Organization maintained Brazil’s status as a country with an insignificant risk of BSE after it confirmed the atypical Parana case in tests carried out in England in 2012.

    Even so, several countries including South Korea, China and Egypt banned some or all beef imports from Brazil, the world’s top exporter.

    Humans can develop what is known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from consuming animals with mad cow, and more than 150 people have died from it. Mad cow was first discovered in Britain in 1986, but strict controls have tempered its spread.

    reuters

  • MDC Faction ‘Suspends’ Tsvangirai

    MDC Faction ‘Suspends’ Tsvangirai

    {{A faction in Zimbabwe’s main opposition movement said on Saturday it had suspended party leader Morgan Tsvangirai for “fascist” tendencies and failing to oust veteran President Robert Mugabe, deepening divisions in the opposition ranks.}}

    The group led by Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), accused Tsvangirai and his lieutenants of resisting a leadership change after losing a third general election to Mugabe last July and of using violence against internal challengers.

    The turmoil among his political rivals is a gift to the 90-year-old Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 despite frequent Western criticism over human rights and accusations of economic mismanagement.

    In a statement after a day-long meeting, Biti’s faction said Tsvangirai and his deputy Thokozani Khupe had been suspended for deviating from democracy and failing to effectively tackle Mugabe.

    “The MDC as we know it has abandoned its original founding values and principles,” it said. “The party has been hijacked by a dangerous fascist clique bent on destroying the same and totally working against the working people of Zimbabwe.”

    Tsvangirai’s faction immediately dismissed the move as unconstitutional and meaningless.

    “The MDC leadership cannot be changed by a bunch of desperate power-hungry officials, a minority that cannot win a leadership contest at party congress,” national party spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told reporters.

    Tsvangirai has resisted pressure to quit after a devastating election defeat last year which he says was rigged by Mugabe’s supporters, and analysts predict the party will break apart.

    The 62-year-old Tsvangirai has led the MDC since its formation in 1999, when the former trade unionist emerged as the biggest threat to Mugabe.

    {wirestory}

  • Two Arrested Selling Narcotics

    Two Arrested Selling Narcotics

    {{Police in Kicukiro is holding a man and woman arrested in connection with selling narcotics.}}

    The suspects were apprehended on Saturday in Niboye sector after a tip off from area residents.

    About 200 pellets were also discovered from the duo at the time of their arrest.

    The suspects are currently detained at Kicukiro police station as investigations continue.

    Senior Superintendent Urbain Mwiseneza, the Central region Police Spokesperson said drug-related crimes are on tremendous decrease in Kigali.

    “Many drug dealers, especially suppliers have been arrested and their narcotics confiscated, all based on information given to us by the public. We have no doubt that this great job the public is doing will lead to success in combating drug abuse,” he explained.

    RNP

  • Popes John XXIII & John Paul II Canonised

    Popes John XXIII & John Paul II Canonised

    {{There is only one story in town for the Vatican press today: the unprecedented canonisation of two pontiffs watched by two living popes.}}

    Tens of thousands of pilgrims marched on St Peter’s Square to see Pope John XXIII and John Paul II declared saints in the eyes of the Roman Catholic church in the first dual ceremony of its kind.

    The day was made further historic by the presence of the two living popes at the event, with Pope Francis joined by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, in a rare public appearance for the 87-year-old following his resignation last year.

  • EAC Presidents to Confer on Regional Security, Economy

    EAC Presidents to Confer on Regional Security, Economy

    {{Presidents of the East African Community (EAC) Partner States will converge in an extra-ordinary session in Arusha next Wednesday (April 30), IGIHE reports).}}

    The one-day meeting will be to review activities of the five-nation economic bloc.

    Among issues at the top of the agenda of the Presidents will be to consider progress achieved in the implementation of the Common Market, which was signed in November 2009.

    The Common Market provides for the free movement of goods, persons, labor, services and capital. It provides for the right of establishment, the right of residence, free movement of services and free movement of capital within the region.

    The Common Market is the second point of the entry of the Regional integration project after the Customs Union, which was signed in 2005.

    The third phase—Monetary Union—was signed in Kampala in November last year.

    According to a press statement availed by the EAC Secretariat, the Presidents will consider report on the revised model structure, road map and action plan for the East Africa Political Federation, which is the final an ultimate objective of the East African regional organization.

    The applications of Southern Sudan and Somalia to join the organization will also be reviewed.

    However, sources said that current war situations in the two countries may render difficulty to allow any two an entry, at least, at this time of the point and given the all-time low relations among some members of the bloc.

    The source also hinted that security situation in the Region will be among critical items on the agenda.

    EAC Secretariat and its programmes, which are heavily financed by the Development Partners is also expected to draw attention of the Presidents and consider the way forward. An alternative funding mechanism has been proposed by the EAC Secretariat through one per cent tax collection on all imported goods.

    EAC budget is approximately 130-140 million USD which is not enough to implement all the projects and the programmes of the community.

    According to the financial year 2011-2012 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in imports survey, EAC collected US $134 million a year.

    The meeting of the Presidents is preceded by session of senior officials; the Permanent Secretaries; and the Council of Ministers.

    The former EAC collapsed in 1977 mainly because of divergent political and economic views of the three founding members—Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Rwanda and Burundi joined the new bloc in 2007—eight years after the Treaty was signed.

    Current fourth Secretary General is from Rwanda Dr Richard Sezibera. The previous SGs were: Francis Muthaura of Kenya (1996-2001); Amanya Mushega (2001-2006); Juma Mwapachu of Tanzania (2006-2011). The Secretary General serves only one term of five years as stipulated by the Treaty.

    The next on the line to succeed Dr Sezibera will be from Burundi based on rotational basis.

  • Grenade Blast Kills One Injures 10 in Gatsibo

    Grenade Blast Kills One Injures 10 in Gatsibo

    {{A grenade blast in Gatsibo district has killed one person and seriously wounded ten others IGIHE has reliably learnt.

    The Blast took place at about 9PM Saturday at Gasange trading center in Gasange sector.

    Investigations are ongoing to determine suspects behind this attack.

    Hategekimana Samson the Executive Secretary of Gasange told IGIHE that after the blast people ran for their safety , however, after the situation normalised they returned to find one person had been killed in the attack.

    The Eastern Province Police Spokesperson SSP Benoit Nsengiyumva told IGIHE that he would provide detailed information later.}}

  • Rwandans in Botswana Mark 20th Commemoration of Genocide

    Rwandans in Botswana Mark 20th Commemoration of Genocide

    {{The Rwandan Community in Botswana on Saturday April 26 marked the 20th commemoration of the genocide against ethnic Tutsi that claimed over a million lives.}}

    Ambassador Vincent Karega officiated at the kwibuka 20 commemoration organised by the Rwandan community based in Botswana.

    The commemoration event was also attended by Diplomats, Academia and officials from Botswana Government and over 90 people.

    Professor Boloane from Botswana university highlighted historical facts most related to colonial times making the root causes of discrimination and demonisation that led to genocide ideology.

    Both the Chairperson Cheikh Hassan of the Rwandan community and HE Karega emphasized the theme and the necessity to remember but also work hard for a better future.

    The representative of Botswana Government Mr Kelapile, Africa Director in International relations ministry concluded in line with the never again elsewhere and expressed Botswana encouragements for Rwanda progress after the heinous genocide.

    The ceremony was quite educating for many as testimonies and films on genocide helped to understand what exactly happened in the genocide and the reconciliation process. He pledged Botswana partnership with Rwanda where appropriate.