IGIHE

Category: News

  • Eight killed in DR Congo attack

    {{Eight people were killed in a militia attack near Lake Edward in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga national park, park authorities said Friday.}}

    The park’s chief warden, Mr Emmanuel de Merode, said those killed were two rangers, a soldier and five militiamen.

    He said a soldier who was helping the park rangers was killed and three others were wounded, one seriously, in the attack that occurred on Thursday in the northeast of the country.

    The clash also claimed the lives of five rebels from the Mai Mai Pareco group, while two were wounded and one was captured.

    The wounded rebels were under guard at the hospital in Vitshumbi, a statement from the park management said.

    The Virunga park, which is famous for its rare mountain gorillas, has become the scene of fighting between soldiers and armed groups, such as the Mai Mai tribal militia, which are among many rival forces active in eastern DR Congo.

  • Minister Nsengimana Hails Rwanda-Korea Ties

    {{Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, has said that the existing cooperation between Rwanda and South Korea is contributing a lot in the improvement of ICT, infrastructure and rural development.}}

    He made the remarks on Thursday as he joined South Koreans living in Rwanda to celebrate the anniversary of the National Foundation Day where they celebrate the creation of the state of Gojoseon (ancient Korea) founded by Dangun Wanggeom in the year 2333 BC.

    Minister Nsengimana noted that South Korea assists Rwanda in the areas of capacity building, education, infrastructure and rural development and that those are key areas towards beating the 2020 Vision and EDPRS targets.

    He pointed to the ICT School at the National University of Rwanda and the Kicukiro Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC), among other infrastructures, which he said are some of the results of the cooperation

    South Korea has trained 627 local individuals between 2009 and 2011 in different domains.

    In addition, some Korean giants including Samsung Electronics and Korea Telecom have started investing in Rwanda where Korea Telecom installed a fiber optic cable of 2,500 kilometers, he added.

    “This ceremony is another occasion to deepen the bilateral cooperation between our two countries,” Nsengimana remarked.

    In mid of this month South Korean Ambassador to Rwanda Hwang Soon -Taik presented his credentials to President Paul Kagame.

    At the occasion, Ambassador Hwang vowed to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the areas of business and investment.

    He said that “Rwanda is one of our priority countries in Africa that we will promote capacity building in various sectors and increase business and cultural exchanges.”

  • Puff Daddy in Car Crash

    {{P. Diddy says it was a “close one” after surviving a car crash. }}

    The 42-year-old rapper was involved in a collision outside the Beverly Hills hotel in California when his chauffeur-driven Cadillac Escalade was crushed in an accident with a Lexus RX vehicle, and while he is said to have complained of an unspecified pain following the incident, he has taken to his twitter account to reveal it could have been much worse.

    Diddy wrote on the social networking website: “Woah…that was a close one! (sic)”.

    The rapper – who was previously known as Puff Daddy – also attached an image to his tweet, which simply contained the message, ‘WOAH … THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE! (sic)”, to emphasise just how near to being seriously injured he was.

    After seeing a photograph of Diddy’s bashed up bonnet online, his friend Russell Simmons tweeted: “after seeing this pic i’m glad to hear my man Puff is ok… (sic)”

    The I Need a Girl hitmaker – whose real name is Sean Combs – was overheard telling police he would “seek his own medical attention” following the accident, which left the front of his car crushed and undriveable with the windscreen smashed and the airbags all activated.

    His driver and fellow passenger, who is believed to have been record boss Andre Hurrell, were not taken to hospital and the vehicle was later towed away.

    But the driver of the Lexus was said to have received unspecified injuries and taken to hospital.

  • Syria Clashes ‘Violate’ Eid Ceasefire

    {{Fierce clashes between Syrian government forces and rebels have broken out around a military base near the northern town of Maaret al-Numan in the “first violation” of a ceasefire, an activist group has said.}}

    “Violent clashes started around 0730 GMT around the Wadi Deif base. The army responded by bombing the neighbouring village of Deir Sharqi. It is the first violation of the ceasefire,” Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the AFP news agency on Friday.

    He said that among the rebel fighters were members of the Islamist Al-Nusra Front, an armed group that had already indicated it would not abide by the truce, agreed by President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the main rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) for the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

    There were no immediate indications from either the regime or the FSA that they considered the ceasefire had been violated.

  • New Joint Military Operations Target FDLR Rebels

    {{Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and those of the Mission of the United Nations for Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO) launched on October 22, a new joint military operation called Taharazi (Alert) against armed groups operating in the territory of Fizi, in South Kivu province. }}

    According to Felix Prosper Basse, military spokesman of MONUSCO, the main target of the campaign is a coalition of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the National Liberation Forces (FNL) and Mai Mai Yakutumba.

    This operation is in its second phase and has allowed FARDC to stop 18 rebel elements, authors of abuses against civilians.

    The South Kivu citizens believed that with this action, they will be able to back and indulge freely in their field of work and other social activities.

  • China, ECOWAS Sign Development Pact

    {{CHINA does not seek the economic takeover of the West African region but is poised to assist in the realisation of the development of badly needed infrastructure as well as interconnectivity of the area.}}

    The Vice Minister, Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, Li Jinzao, made the declaration yesterday in Abuja while signing an agreement on infrastructural development and economic cooperation with the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

    Under the terms of the agreement, China is to carry out two specific requests of the ECOWAS. They are the building of the trans-West African highway (which will go through nine states) and the construction of the ECOWAS headquarters building extension in Abuja.

    Fielding a question from The Guardian at the high-level meeting on Economic, Trade, Investment and Technical Cooperation yesterday in Abuja, Jinzao said: “Chinese assistance is on humanitarian basis. We supported after and during the liberation struggles and during the fight against colonialism in the 1960s and early 70s.

    China also supported Tanzania and Zambia to construct the Trans Sahara railway line and we did not do this in order to get anything in return.

    “China has made sacrifices for Africa and our gain is justice and common experience of human beings, in sharing in the common aspiration of Africans.

    From the time and now, China sees itself and the countries in Africa as both developing countries in poverty and that Africa is even more critical.”

    Early this year, China announced the donation of its newly built $200 million state-of-the-art headquarter complex to the African Union. Nigeria also recently confirmed that it was taking a $1.1 billion loan from China, fuelling fresh fears about the Chinese grand design to penetrate African economies for a hidden futuristic gain.

    Fielding questions, Jinzao said further: “Our gain is not in material or financial terms but the satisfaction that we are contributing to the progress and development of other people. Over the past decade, China has provided grants to African countries and has announced debt cancellations.

    There are no political strings attached to our assistance packages and China does not seek to interfere in the domestic affairs of the nations that we have economic cooperation with”

    The ECOWAS-China deal is part of the general Chinese development cooperation with the sub-regional organisation, chief of which is to help develop infrastructure partnership by mandating Chinese companies and financial institutions to develop priority projects.

    It also stems from some of the general understanding reached in July this year during the China-African Forum in Beijing.

    On this, the Chinese minister maintained yesterday that “China is willing to support this area of interest (infrastructure). All that is required is for there to be an understanding and support for the projects by the nine states that the road project would be linking.”

    In his remarks, the ECOWAS Vice President, Toga McIntosh, said: “We do hope that in the implementation of the agreement, both sides would work diligently to allow for adequate access to the US$20 billion of credit line provided by the government of China to African countries to assist us in developing infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and small and medium sized enterprises.

    We shall work hard on this and working together, West Africa as a region, stands to gain from our strategic partnership arrangement with our Chinese brothers and sisters.”

    On the sustainability of the partnership, he said: “West Africa-China relationship is a win-win situation. We are prepared to work. The Chinese are already hardworking people. Now, if you have a partner who goes to work and thinks hard and you sleep off and metaphorically go to the drinking bar and drink yourself to stupor, that other partner would win.”

    According to him, ECOWAS’ inspiration in working with China is “drawn from the knowledge that established Chinese companies and financial institutions are called upon to take part in transnational and trans-regional infrastructural development in Africa.”

  • Sudan Vows Extra Support to Hamas

    {{The speaker of the Sudanese parliament, Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Tahir, declared on Thursday that the Israeli attack on Al-Yarmook arms factory will not deter his country from continuing its support to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.}}

    During an emergency meeting of the parliament’s affairs committee in the capital Khartoum, Al-Tahir stressed that the “Israeli aggression” will not prevent Sudan from fulfilling its duties towards the causes of the Arab and African people.

    “If Israel is targeting Sudan because of its stand on the side of the Palestinian resistance, then Sudan will continue down that road as dictated by the religion, history and fate it shares with the Palestinian people” he added.

    Israel neither denied nor confirmed responsibility for the airstrike that Sudan says it caused the destruction of AL-Yarmook military factory in the capital Khartoum at the midnight of Tuesday, 23 October.

    But it is known that the Jewish state sees the Muslim east African country as an ally of its arch enemy Iran as well as a conduit for arms smuggling activities toward the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

    Al-Tahir warned that by this attack Israel has rendered itself in “a state of war” with Sudan and that the latter will respond in kind. The parliament later issued a statement condemning Israel for “using high-tech to execute a criminal deed that violated all laws.”

    Hamas issued a statement on Thursday condemning the alleged Israeli attack saying it proves that Tel Aviv “continues to violate international laws and international norms, and to exercise state terrorism not only against Palestinian people.”

    The statement reiterated Hamas’s support to the people and government of Sudan, and praised their backing of Palestinian people and their rights.

    ST

  • Rwandan Youth Raise Frw33 Million For Somalia

    {{A group of youth, under the umbrella, Rwanda Youth Campaign for Somalia, handed a check of about Rwf 36,611,576 Million to Somalia Ambassador Cabdullani Sheikh Maxamed which (fund) has the objective of helping famine victims in Somalia.}}

    The group started the campaign the social media (Facebook) and has held a number of meetings to discuss means to raise funds for Somalia.

    Somalia Ambassador appreciated the contribution noting that what matters is an amount of money contributed but the willingness to help victims.

    The Youth and ICT Minister Jean Philbert Nsengimana encouraged youth to explore more opportunity that ICT has noting the example of how young Rwandan secured that amount of money through the usage of social media.

  • Gov’t & Samsung Seal Agreement

    {{Global electronics giant company, Samsung Electronics Ltd has sealed a pioneering partnership agreement with the Government of Rwanda geared at facilitating the rollout of a broad range of advanced information technology solutions.}}

    The partnership between the Rwanda Government and Samsung Electronics is expected to play a key role in bridging the digital divide in the fast growing Rwanda’s economy while boosting its Vision 2020 long term socio-economic transformation plan.

    With the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Samsung and the Government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Youth and Information Communication and Technology, Rwanda, becomes the first African country to step forward in adopting Samsung SMART Government solutions to enable an efficient service delivery.

    Among the MoU highlights will be efforts to collaborate in Education and job creation, youth leadership, Consumer electronic devices and mobile Applications development programmes.

    The MoU may also see Rwanda adopting customized Samsung solutions such as a Solar Powered Internet School (SPIS).

    Speaking in Kigali, Rwanda, during the MoU signing ceremony which was preceded by a stakeholders workshop comprising of key stakeholders in the country’s ICT sector which include Education, health, justice and other government Institutions, Rwanda’s minister for Youth and ICT Jean Philbert Nsengimana who presided over the workshop confirmed that the government of Rwanda is exploring feasible avenues to guide its SMART Rwanda vision rollout.

    The signing of an agreement with Samsung Electronics, Nsengimana explained is, but the first step, towards ensuring that the Rwanda government is well positioned to adopt Samsung’s patented solutions on the Education, Healthcare, Security, and e-Governance.

    “The Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Ministry of Youth and ICT and Samsung Electronics is aimed at enhancing productivity, reducing costs and allowing ministries in the Rwandan government to deliver new and better services to citizens,” Nsengimana explained.

    And added: “We are looking forward to working with Samsung Electronics in achieving Rwanda’s Vision 2020 of transforming the country into a middle income country and more specifically to develop access to ICT down to the administrative umudugudu level.”

    Rwanda is among the most dynamic developing countries in terms of ICT, according to the latest report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

    “The Government is proud of what it has achieved with regard to the development of the ICT. Although we still have a long way to go, our objective is to remain among the top performers globally”, commented Mr. Nsengimana. .

    Speaking at the same ceremony, Samsung Electronics East Africa Managing Director, Mr Jong OhLee said: “This strategic ICT partnership with the Rwandan Government will ensure a continued multiplier effect on economic growth as Samsung has gained extensive understanding and insight in all areas of government service.”

    He added that, Samsung is able to bring in its support to realize this vision, by provision of Information and Technology solutions that will not only keep to a minimum the implementation costs, but also assist in streamlining the day-to-day operational procedures.

    Samsung helps government entities to enhance productivity by managing and the implementation of IT solutions, which enable customers to comply with government regulations, while at the same
    time ensuring legally compliant, high security paperless working solutions for governments.

    Samsung hopes to grow the African market size through innovation and the exchange of new ideas in technologies.

  • Sectoral Council on Gender, Youth, Community Development On in Arusha

    {{The 2nd Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Gender, Youth, Children, Social Protection, and Community Development is taking place 22 to 26 October 2012 at Snow Crest Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania.}}

    The Sectoral Council is considering, among others, the status of implementation of previous Decisions; the tools for mainstreaming gender into EAC policies and structures.

    These tools include a Report of the Gender Audit for EAC together with the proposed Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Action Plan, Training Manual and Guidelines for integrating Gender into EAC interventions.

    In addition to these tools, there is also Gender Sensitive Outcome Indicators for the 4th EAC Development Strategy which were developed on the basis of the Gender Audit.

    Since 2010, the EAC has been developing a comprehensive Social Development Framework in order to address cross-cutting social concerns for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

    After various consultations at national and regional levels, the Final Draft Social Development Framework was completed and is being tabled before the 2nd meeting of the Sectoral Council.

    The Sectoral Council is also considering a proposal for an increased budget for the Gender and Community Development Department. So as to implement the EAC Strategic Plan on Gender, Youth, Children, Persons with Disabilities, Social Protection and Community Development (2012-2016) together with the Policy on PWDs,

    and to implement the Social Development Agenda for EAC, it is of paramount importance that the Sector receives substantial resources from Partner States while the Secretariat continues to mobilize other resources from Development Partners.