IGIHE

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  • 500 UNMISS Staff Evacuated to Uganda

    500 UNMISS Staff Evacuated to Uganda

    {{Over 500 staff of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have been relocated to Uganda over security fears.}}

    The staff are part of the UN team that was working in South Sudan where war guns are currently sounding.

    the UNMISS head Hilde Johnson says the growing hostility towards UNMISS staff in South Sudan has forced them to relocate over 500 staff that are non critical at the moment to the UN base in Entebbe.

    The relocation of the staff was started on 21st December last year with the relocation of 40 UN staff from battle grounds in Bentiu to Juba before finally bringing them to Entebbe.

    A day later, another 450 members of the UNMISS were relocated to Entebbe.

    Fighting in South Sudan has intensified with armed militia attacking UN bases in areas of Bor.

    The attack of UN bases forced the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces to take over control of the UN camp in Bor for two days.

    {agencies}

  • Uganda Accuses Bashir of Resuming Support for Kony

    Uganda Accuses Bashir of Resuming Support for Kony

    {{A senior Ugandan government official on Wednesday accused Sudan of resuming its support for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.}}

    Speaking on the seemingly wary relations between the two countries, Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi said Uganda has filed a complaint with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) about Sudan’s alleged support for LRA.

    “We had hoped that we had put all this behind us, but sadly, Sudan has not stopped supporting Joseph Kony and the LRA,” Mbabazi reportedly said.

    “Sudan accused us of supporting rebellion in their country, which I denied. The OIC has taken note of our complaints and it has expressed willingness to mediate”, he added.

    Both Sudan and Uganda are members of the OIC, a 57-member body which safeguards and protect the vital interests of Muslims as well as work for the settlement of conflicts and disputes involving member states.

    Kampala and Khartoum have, in the past, traded accusations of supporting rebel groups. Sudan government says Uganda hosts Sudanese Revolutionary Front rebels.

    {{Sudan Recalls Envoy }}

    The strained relationship between Uganda and Sudan deteriorated further with Khartoum recently recalling its ambassador to Kampala Hussein Awad Ali, over long held suspicions that Uganda was harbouring Sudanese rebels.

    Diplomatic sources told The East African that Sudan’s ambassador to Uganda left the country on 17 April after he was recalled by the Khartoum government.

    Some sources, however, said the Sudanese diplomat was requested to leave Uganda after intelligence information reportedly linked him to espionage.

    Uganda’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson said it was within Khartoum’s prerogative to recall it envoy, adding that Uganda already explained its position to Sudan regarding the presence of its rebels in Kampala.

    “What Uganda has done is to give shelter to their [Sudanese rebel] families and of course they come in to visit their families, but are not allowed to launch any war from here”, Fred Opolot was quoted saying.

    Uganda expelled a Sudanese diplomat last year over alleged espionage. Kampala accused Jad-el-Seed Mohammed Elhag of involvement in “activities beyond the norm.”

    In January last year, Sudan lodged a complaint against Uganda with the African Union and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, after the opposition political parties and Sudan rebels signed an agreement dubbed “New Dawn” in Kampala whose aim, Khartoum said, was to overthrow the regime.

    Uganda has, however, denied having any intentions of overthrowing the Khartoum regime or supporting any rebel group with the intention of regime change.

    {sudantribune}

  • Kenyatta Says EAC Will not Allow Another Genocide

    Kenyatta Says EAC Will not Allow Another Genocide

    {{Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the East Africa Community will not allow another genocide in the region.}}

    The President, who is also the chairman of the EAC, said they will convene an emergency IGAD summit deliberate on the South Sudan crisis.

    In a statement on the South Sudan crisis, the President said the region is committed to averting a repeat of the 1994 genocide killings in Rwanda.

    “During the 20th commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, I expressed our region’s disappointment at having done little to nothing at the time to end the slaughter of a million innocent human beings in Rwanda by a bloodthirsty cabal.

    “I also pledged, in the name of Kenya and the region that we would never again allow a similar genocide to happen within our shores. I return to the pledge today because of what is happening in parts of South Sudan, we are outraged and gravely concerned at seeing the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians caught up in the internal conflict of the South Sudan Liberation Movement. We refuse to be witnesses to such atrocities and to remain helpless and hopeless in their wake,” the statement read.

    Uhuru expressed concern that both the government and rebels sides in South Sudan had ignored a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement they had signed and are still allowing the killing of innocent civilians in Africa’s newest state.

    “It is heart-wrenching for us in the IGAD, the EAC, African Union and indeed the wider global community to sit and watch atrocities being committed on a daily basis. This must be put to a stop.

    “We strongly call upon all the Parties to bring their military activities and killing of innocent people to an immediate end and bring to account those involved. Failure to do so is unacceptable and will call for concerted effort by the International Community to do so,” he added.

    Uhuru further pledged that his government remains committed to the pledge he made in Kigali on full commitment to ensuring the region remains peaceful.

    “We expect the Parties to live up to their commitments to save lives, allow decent burials for the hundreds dead – many of them lying on the streets of some of the towns. We also expect them to open up humanitarian corridors for the delivery of assistance to those in need,” he added.

    NMG

  • Muslim Clerics Denounce Radicalisation

    Muslim Clerics Denounce Radicalisation

    {{Muslim clerics from around the world have urged local religious leaders to reach out to the youth and deter them from falling into the trap of radicalisation.}}

    At the first Annual Islamic Conference in Nairobi on Saturday attended by thousands of Muslim faithful, the clerics said the core message of Islam had been corrupted by a few individuals posing as Sheikhs with the intent of turning the youth to violence.

    “Many in the world have misunderstood and abused the message of Prophet Muhammad. That is why we call on all local teachers to refresh the people’s understanding of the lifestyle and teachings of the Prophet,” said Sheikh Ahmed Hameed.

    London based Muslim scholar and Imam Wasim Kempson said Prophet Muhammad is “the most misunderstood individual” in modern times but this is not a reason to respond with violence and say “off with the heads” of those who insult the Prophet.

    “We are emotional beings, and someone who insults the Prophet is seen as someone who has insulted your mother. But we should practice restraint and avoid knee-jerk reactions. We should respond in a way that reflects and demonstrates the good nature of the Prophet,” said Imam Hameed.

    National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale who also attended the conference said that a small group of false teachers had managed to grab media attention and propagate false stereotypes about the religion and those who practice it.

    “Islam stands for peace, tolerance and co-existence, and none of these radical Sheikhs seem to be preaching this message. It is really unfortunate that our sisters’ mode of dressing (the hijab) is now being seen as a security risk,” said Duale.

    The conference comes at a time when tensions are running high in the country after a series of terrorist attacks that led to heightened security and the arrest of hundreds of suspects.

    NMG

  • Ghana to Host 8th African Confederation of Principals Conference

    Ghana to Host 8th African Confederation of Principals Conference

    {{Ghana will host the 8th African Confederation of Principals Conference (ACP) this year under the theme: “Educating the African Child, Walking the Policy Talk.’’}}

    The four-day Conference to be held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) from 1st–4th September, 2014, will be the second to be hosted by Ghana’s Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS). The previous hosting was in 2002.

    Membership of the ACP of selected African nations includes Lesotho, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Ghana.

    According to the Vice President of the ACP, Mr. Samuel Ofori-Adjei, who is also the President of CHASS, formal invitations have been sent to member countries by the Local Organizing Committee.

    Mr. Ofori-Adjei said the ACP 2014 edition will feature presentations from international and national professionals on wide range of issues facing secondary school education in Africa, including strategies for the continent’s educational system and maintaining a competitive edge globally.

    He affirmed his optimism that this year’s event will be a great success to the benefit of the over 1,000 expected participants.

    Meanwhile, the President of the ACP, Mr. Bonus P. Ndimbo of Tanzania led a 5-man inspection team, including Daudi H. Mulongo, Treasurer of Uganda; John Awiti of Kenya; and Nicodemus Bore of Kenya, the ACP Secretariat Administrator, to discuss preparation updates on the ACP event, including inspecting the venue of the Conference and other logistic arrangements.

    The ACP President, in his departure comments, emphasized how impressed his team has been with the Local Organizing Committee’s work and expects to have refreshing sessions that will add value to the continent’s secondary school delivery system.

    myjoyonline

  • President Mugabe Says Has No plans to Seize Foreign Firms

    President Mugabe Says Has No plans to Seize Foreign Firms

    {{Zimbabwe’s veteran President Robert Mugabe on Friday tried to assure spooked foreign investors that his indigenisation policy is not about asset seizures, softening his tone amid renewed economic troubles.}}

    “There is no expropriation or nationalisation of shares held by non-indigenous persons,” Mugabe said at the opening of country’s main trade fair in Bulawayo.

    Frozen out of foreign debt markets and plagued by years of political crises and international sanctions, Zimbabwe faces what the central bank has called a “severe and persistent liquidity crunch”.

    Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned farms and an indigenisation law introduced in 2010 that forced foreign companies to cede majority shares to Zimbabwean partners, led to an exodus of capital.

    So far the policy has only been applied to mines, but critics say it has been a deterrent to badly needed investment.

    “We would want investment from abroad,” the 90-year-old leader said, adding that the controversial indigenisation policy has been “subject to misinterpretation and misrepresentation”.

    “We have not nationalised a single company ever since our independence,” he said.

    “I, therefore, invite bona fide local and foreign potential investors to come on board and seize the vast trade and investment opportunities available in the various economic sectors.”

    His comments are the strongest signal yet that the hard-line leader is softening an earlier vow to pursue the controversial indigenisation policy with “renewed vigour”.

    Earlier this week Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the government was drawing up a “comprehensive plan which will handle this [indigenisation] issue sector by sector”.

    Mugabe vowed his government will fight to mend the economy despite hardships including high unemployment, company closures and a liquidity crunch.

    – AFP

  • Gambia Reopens Borders With Senegal

    Gambia Reopens Borders With Senegal

    {{The Gambia reopened its borders with Senegal on Friday, ending a week-long diplomatic stand-off between the west African neighbours, officials said.}}

    The move came just four days after security sources told reporters that President Yahya Jammeh had ordered the closure of all official crossing points into the Gambia’s only neighbour.

    No explanation was given for either decision.

    “The orders were given this morning by the government. That’s all I can say. For now, I cannot tell you why they were opened,” a government official said on condition of anonymity.

    Jammeh made the decision to close the border during a 21-day “country-wide dialogue with the people tour” launched on 17 April, an official from the National Intelligence Agency told AFP on Monday.

    The Gambia, a country of about 1.8 million, is a finger of territory flanking the Gambia River, with Senegal on either side and a narrow Atlantic coastline.

    “We just saw [Gambian border police] lift up the barrier and vehicles started going in and out. There are no strange conditions,” said Ousman Drammeh, president of the Gambia Transport Union, of the re-opening.

    The closure came less than a week after Senegalese hauliers ended a month-long border blockade against Gambian vehicles in protest over transit rights which they say have been decided unilaterally by Gambian authorities.

    Jammeh, 48, is often pilloried for taking unilateral and seemingly impetuous decisions as well as for rights abuses and the muzzling of the press.

    In March, he said the former British colony would be dropping English as its official language and in 2008, he gave an ultimatum to gays and lesbians to leave his country, saying he would “cut off the head” of any homosexual found in the Gambia.

    Two years ago, the European Union cancelled $30m of aid because of concerns over human rights and governance issues.

    – AFP

  • French Troops in Firefight in CAR

    French Troops in Firefight in CAR

    {{French forces returned fire when they came under attack in Bangui, a MISCA official said Friday, after residents in the Central African Republic’s capital accused the French soldiers of opening fire on civilians, killing at least five.}}

    The soldiers were on patrol in the mainly Muslim PK5 district when they were shot at by unidentified gunmen late Thursday, triggering a riposte, an official in the MISCA (African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic) peacekeeping force said.

    The gunfight continued for more than three hours. Residents in neighbouring districts said they heard heavy arms fire for several hours as a helicopter flew overhead.

    “The exact toll of the shooting is unknown,” the MISCA official added.

    A French military statement on Friday also said the soldiers had come under attack and were defending themselves.

    Ousmane Abakar, a resident of the PK5 neighbourhood, said he saw five people killed
    and 10 injured after the altercation, which lasted until Friday morning.

    A spokesman for the Muslim community in PK5, Abakar Moustapha, also said five residents were killed and several other people were wounded.

    A source close to the French forces confirmed the incident by telephone but did not give a toll.

    “French soldiers were searching a house suspected to be an arms cache in the Cameroonian district [of the PK5] when they were attacked by angry youths because the Senegalese owner of the house is not in Bangui,” he said.

    A spokesman for the Central African Red Cross said three people with gunshot wounds were taken to a PK5 hospital overnight Thursday.

    The country slipped into chaos last year after the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels deposed president François Bozizé in a March coup.

    The Seleka officially disbanded after seizing power, but some of its former members launched a campaign of killing, raping and looting, prompting communities in the Christian-majority nation to form vigilante “anti-balaka” militias, some of which are now seeking revenge on the country’s Muslim minority.

    Both the UN and France have warned that the crisis in the impoverished country risks degenerating into genocide and ethnic cleansing.

    wirestory

  • G7 Imposes Additional Sanctions on Russia

    G7 Imposes Additional Sanctions on Russia

    {{The Group of Seven has agreed to “move swiftly to impose additional sanctions on Russia”, a joint statement on Saturday said, as pro-Russian militants in the country’s east detained several members of an OSCE observer mission near Slaviansk.}}

    The G7 statement also praised the “restraint” with which the new government in Kiev has shown in dealing with the pro-Russian militants who have seized official buildings across the country’s east.

    Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU foreign ministers would meet soon to discuss the issue following a conference call with US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President François Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The G7 also includes Canada and Japan.

    The United States and the European Union have already targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle with visa and asset freezes and imposed sanctions on a key Russian bank.

    Western leaders have repeatedly threatened to hit Russia with measures aimed at the wider economy.

    Obama, however, has signalled that the new sanctions will not involve an attempt to target key areas of the Russian economy such as mining, energy and the financial sectors. US officials have said those measures would only be considered if Russia sends forces across the border into eastern Ukraine.

    Several members of an OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) observer mission to Ukraine were detained Friday at the entrance to Slaviansk and taken to the rebel-held security services building, sparking immediate international condemnation.

    German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said the pro-Russian separatists had taken 13 mission members, including three members of the German army and an interpreter.

    The pro-Russian rebels holding them accused the observers of being “NATO spies” and said they would be freed only in a prisoner exchange.

    “Yesterday, we arrested some NATO spies… they will be exchanged for our own prisoners. I don’t see any other way they will be freed,” Denis Pushilin, the head of the insurgents’ self-declared Donetsk Republic, told reporters.

    Washington called for the immediate release of the OSCE team and State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki repeated claims that “there is a strong connection between Russia and these separatists” who are now taking hostages.

    Rebels in Slaviansk on Friday released US national Simon Ostrovsky, one of three journalists they were believed to be holding.

    france24

  • North Korea President Tells Troops to Prepare for War

    North Korea President Tells Troops to Prepare for War

    {{North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has warned his soldiers they must be ready for “impending conflict with the United States,” Pyongyang media reported on Saturday as satellites showed a nuclear test could be near.}}

    The report comes as US President Barack Obama finishes up a two-day visit to South Korea, where he warned the North it faced tougher sanctions if the underground detonation went ahead. Obama described North Korea as a weak “pariah state”.

    It also comes after Pyongyang claimed it had been holding a young American for two weeks.

    Kim, the supreme commander of the North’s 1.2-million-strong armed forces often visits military units to deliver on-the-spot “guidance” on ways to strengthen preparedness.

    He usually lavishes them with praise and presents gifts such as rifles or binoculars as symbols of their vigilance.

    But after watching a shelling drill by an artillery sub-unit on Friday, he upbraided soldiers for their lax approach, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

    “Dear Supreme Commander Kim Jong-Un said nothing is more important than preparing for combat now, in the face of an impending conflict with the United States”, KCNA reported.

    North Korean state media regularly carries colourfully-phrased warnings that the isolated state is on the verge of war.

    Pointing at a map, Kim ordered the unit to establish a firing position and start the shelling exercise, the agency said, without revealing the location.

    “Watching the drill, he severely criticised the sub-unit for failing to make good combat preparation” citing the time it had taken to deploy, it said. He blamed a lack of enthusiasm over training among the sub-unit’s commander and his superiors.

    “The minds of the commanding officers of this sub-unit and relevant unit seem to be away from the battlefield”, he said, KCNA reported.

    It is unusual for the agency to carry direct quotes from Kim. “Of course, they might do sideline jobs for improving service personnel’s living conditions and do their bit in building a rich and powerful nation. “However, they should always give priority to combat preparations”, he said.

    Speaking in Seoul on Friday after satellite imagery revealed the North was advancing preparations for a nuclear test, Obama warned it of sanctions with “more bite” unless it fell into line.

    North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

    Underlining its status as global outlaw, Pyongyang said late on Friday that it had been holding US citizen Miller Matthew Todd, 24, since April 10 because of his “rash behaviour” while passing through immigration.

    france24