Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

Safety of Rwanda Bill, which sought to declare Rwanda a safe destination for asylum seekers after the Supreme Court declared the scheme unlawful, faced strong opposition from the Labour Party and human rights groups.

The groups argued that the safety of the migrants could not be guaranteed in Rwanda with the Lords pushing for amendments to ensure the legislation had “due regard” for international and key domestic laws, including human rights and modern slavery legislation.

The Supreme Court judges had earlier ruled that there were substantial grounds for believing “asylum seekers would face a real risk of ill-treatment by reason of refoulement [return] to their country of origin if they were removed to Rwanda”.

After a sustained parliamentary ping-pong the bill sailed through after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stuck to his guns on plans to deter vulnerable migrants from making dangerous crossings to the UK using small boats.

In light of the debate about the safety of Rwanda, we sought to know the experiences of the foreigners living in Rwanda as the country continues to rebuild itself after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed the lives of more than a million people.

Here is what the foreigners had to say about Rwanda:

The soldiers received a briefing on the new mission during a meeting with senior officials, including the Rwanda Defence Forces Army Chief of Staff, Maj Gen Vincent Nyakarundi and Commissioner Vincent B. Sano, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations.

The RDF Army Chief of Staff conveyed a message from President Paul Kagame, who also doubles up as the Commander-in-Chief of RDF, reminding the troops to maintain discipline and commitment to the crucial mission.

Nyakarundi emphasized that the forces currently deployed in the region were performing admirably and urged the troops to uphold the standards.

“This deployment underscores the strong bilateral relations between the Republic of Rwanda and Mozambique,” RDF said in a statement.

The Rwandan forces are helping Mozambique’s army fight militants who launched an armed uprising in 2017.

The insurgency began with the group expressing discontent over the lack of economic benefits from natural gas in the region, allegations of government corruption and marginalization of local communities.

However, over the years that followed the rebellion escalated with the militia employing violent tactics, including attacks on civilians and security forces and destruction of property, forcing the government to seek military support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2021. SADC forces started withdrawing last month as its mandate ends in July.

New attacks were reported in the northern town of Macomia on Friday morning. Confirming the attack, Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi said the country is battling ISIL-linked groups.

“Macomia is under attack since this morning. Fire exchange still continues,” Nyusi said, adding that the armed group fighters initially withdrew after about 45 minutes of fighting, but then regrouped and came back.

Early this month, RDF announced that joint Rwanda and Mozambique forces had made gains in neutralizing the militia insurgency in the country.

RDF revealed on May 5, 2024, that the joint security team had managed to smoke out and kill a majority of the Al-Shabaab terrorists hiding in Odinepa, Nasua, Mitaka, and Manika forests during a one-week operation that started on April 26.

Only a few insurgents are reported to have escaped the military onslaught during the one-week operation.

The United States Embassy in Tanzania has suspended key consular services following a widespread internet outage linked to a major fault on the subsea fibre connecting the East Africa region to the rest of the world through South Africa.

As a result of the network interruptions, the US embassy said its offices in Tanzania will remain closed to the public on May 14 and 15.

“All consular appointments on May 14 & 15 will be cancelled and rescheduled to a later date,” the embassy said in a statement.

During the period, the embassy noted that only the consular section would be open as scheduled for visa pick-up and handling of emergency cases for American citizens.

Kutokana na changamoto za huduma ya kimtandao nchini, miadi yote ya kikonseli Mei 14 & 15 itafutwa na kupangwa kwa ajili ya baadae. Kitengo cha konseli kitafunguliwa kama kawaida kwa ajili ya kuchukua visa na huduma za dharura kwa raia wa Kimarekani.

******

Due to degraded…

— US Embassy Tanzania (@usembassytz) May 13, 2024

Tanzania was the worst-hit country in the internet outage that hit EAC members including Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda on Saturday.

Cloudflare Radar, which monitors internet connectivity, reported that Tanzania’s traffic had fallen to 30 per cent of expected levels since the network interruption was reported at 10 am on Saturday.

Nape Nnauye, Tanzania’s minister of information, communication and information technology confirmed the service disruption on Sunday, saying the cuts affected the SEACOM and EASSy subsea cable systems between Mozambique and South Africa.

The minister said the country would continue to experience low internet speeds until the technical problem is resolved.

“There are ongoing efforts to solve the problem,” he said. “As they continue to solve the problem, we will have very low access to internet and international voice calls.”

Internet service providers (ISPs) in Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda said they were aware of the intermittent internet connections and urged their customers to be patient while the issue is being addressed.

“To our customers, we would like to inform you that the technical problem with the Internet in East Africa has not yet been resolved. We are still monitoring it to provide you with normal internet services. We apologize for the inconvenience caused,” MTN Rwanda said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Most ISPs, including Kenya’s leading telecommunications company Safaricom, said they had been forced to activate redundancy measures to keep their customers connected.

“We have since activated redundancy measures to minimise service interruption and keep you connected as we await the full restoration of the cable,” Safaricom said, adding, “You may, however, experience reduced internet speeds.”

Meanwhile, the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) assured members of the public on Monday that efforts by relevant players are ongoing to restore full connectivity.

“This is to inform all internet users of the undersea cable damage leading to internet disruptions. Users are encountering slow internet speeds due to congestion on remaining links.

“Please be patient as all is being done to restore full connectivity,” RURA said in a statement on Monday.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania confirmed on Monday that the technical problem had not been resolved even as internet users continued to complain of frustrating low speeds.

More than 80 million internet users are reported to have been affected by the internet service outage that started at around 10:00 am on Saturday.

Rwanda’s leading telecommunication company, MTN Rwanda, said it was monitoring the situation to provide its customers with normal internet services.

“To our customers, we would like to inform you that the technical problem with the Internet in East Africa has not yet been resolved. We are still monitoring it to provide you with normal internet services. We apologize for the inconvenience caused,” MTN Rwanda said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Airtel Rwanda users have also reported slow internet speeds on social media.

In Kenya, leading telco Safaricom confirmed that its internet services had also been affected following an outage on one of the undersea cables that deliver internet traffic in and out of the country.

“We have since activated redundancy measures to minimise service interruption and keep you connected as we await the full restoration of the cable,” Safaricom said, adding, “You may, however, experience reduced internet speeds.”

Responding to customer complaints on Monday the company said the problem was yet to be resolved.

“We are aware of the challenge, and request patience as resolution is ongoing.”

Airtel Uganda also said it was aware of the “intermittent internet service” linked to failures affecting the SEACOM and EASSy subsea cable systems.

Earlier, Cloudflare Radar, which monitors internet connectivity, reported that Tanzania was among the worst-affected countries with traffic falling to 30 per cent of expected levels.

Nape Nnauye, Tanzania’s minister of information, communication and information technology confirmed the service disruption on Sunday, saying the outage was caused by a fault on the cables between Mozambique and South Africa.

“There are ongoing efforts to solve the problem,” he said. “As they continue to solve the problem, we will have very low access to internet and international voice calls.”

Other countries that have reported internet service outages include Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.