{{The International Criminal Court said Friday it will on July 10 sentence Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, convicted of using child soldiers in his rebel army.
Lubanga was found guilty of conscripting and enlisting children.
Lubanga, 51, was convicted in March of war crimes for using child soldiers in a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002-03, in the ICC’s first verdict since it started work a decade ago.}}
{{In a new twist of events the Congolese Army has allegedly renewed its cooperation with the FDLR rebels based in Eastern DRC aimed at launching terror attacks on Rwanda soil.
The Rwandan government on Thursday accused Kinshasa of renewing cooperation with the genocidal forces.}}
An official in the Rwanda President’s office Yolande Makolo was quoted saying, “Two FDLR political cadres, travelling on Belgian passports, are currently in Rutshuru in North Kivu to meet the FDLR command and convince them to resume cooperation with the Congolese army.”
The men have been identified as Faustin Murego and Joseph Nzabonimpa, both residents in Belgium.
Also their passport numbers on which they are travelling have been revealed.
The two men are said to have flown into the Ugandan capital, Kampala aboard Egypt Air flight and then made their way to the North Kivu Provincial capital Goma, with the help of DRC intelligence agents.
Makolo explained that an official in DR Congo’s North Kivu province, where the commander of the Rwandan Hutu rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is based, is tasked with persuading the FDLR to resume cooperation with the DRC army and to “plan terror attacks on Rwanda.”
The DRC government has in the past weeks accused Rwanda of backing a mutiny in the east of the DR Congo.
{{About Faustin Murego and Joseph Nzabonimpa}}
Murego was a lieutenant in the former Rwandan army and now lives in the Belgian city of Liege, Makolo said.
Nzabonimpa was also an officer in the former Rwandan army and now lives in Brussels, where he works in IT, she said.
Still according to Makolo, North Kivu Governor Julien Paluku asked the UN mission in DRC to fly the two men to Walikale, a town deep in the forest, so they could meet FDLR commander Sylvestre Mudacumura.
The UN refused and so Mudacumura sent a lower ranking officer Pacifique Ntawunguka to meet them.
“The meeting took place … and they decided to resume cooperation,” Makolo said, adding that the two had given Ntawunguka $100,000 to give to Mudacumura.
Meanwhile, DR Congo on Thursday urged Rwanda to stop fuelling conflict in the east, after a UN report found that Kigali officers had assisted a mutiny there.
“We demand that the Rwandan authorities prevent their officers from continuing to fuel the war in Congo,” government spokesperson Lambert Mende said.
“We ask them to unconditionally dismantle networks, stop recruitment and supplies feeding the nefarious forces in Congo,” the spokesman said at a press conference.
Kigali has vehemently denied accusations it had been helping a mutiny in the eastern DRC by former rebels who had been integrated into the army but defected again this year.
{{In Zimbabwe a man was allegedly caught red handed by his wife, raping his two daughters aged six and seven.
The 46-year-old man is now being charged with six counts of rape. He denied the charges when he appeared before regional court.}}
He was remanded in custody to July 11.
He was advised to apply for bail at the High Court.
Prosecutor Valery Ngoma alleges that sometime in January this year, the man followed his daughters to the bush where they had gone to fetch firewood.
He reportedly told them to carry the firewood home before ordering the six-year-old daughter to remove her clothes.
Without any suspicion, the little girl complied and he raped her while her sister watched. After raping the younger girl, the man ordered the elder sister to lie on the ground and also raped her.
When the children returned home, they reported the abuse to their mother who confronted her husband but he denied the allegations.
In February, the accused arrived home from a beer drink and found his wife away.
He then summoned one of his daughters to his bedroom before locking the door from inside and raped her.
On April 10, the man noticing that his wife was busy watering the garden called the seven-year-old behind the house and raped her once.
On May 15, the man ordered the girl to accompany him to a nearby bush to collect wild fruits. He raped the minor and ordered her not to tell anyone, it is alleged.
It is the State’s case that the following month, the man who was sleeping with his wife in their bedroom sneaked out and went to where his children were sleeping.
He sneaked into the blankets in which one of the girls was sleeping before raping her. However, this time his wife caught him red-handed while abusing the girl.
She reported the case to the police, leading to his arrest.
{{Two Fuso trucks have been impounded and by Police in Rusizi district for using forged certificates and stickers.
The two suspects are also being held to help in investigations aimed at tracing all people that are connected to this crime.}}
The incident happened June 27 when two men were arrested in connection with using counterfeited certificates and stickers on their trucks (Registration numbers RAA 918 X and RAA 685 Y as shown in photo).
The suspects and trucks were brought at the Motor Vehicle Inspection Center at Remera where it was confirmed that the certificates and stickers on the two trucks were not genuine compared to the ones at the center.
The arrest of the two men came after Police suspected possible counterfeiting and use of MIC documents in the country but the law enforcer had not yet identified any clear evidence.
Initially, certificates and stickers are issued by the Motor Vehicle inspection Center (MIC) as a confirmation that a particular vehicle has been inspected by the center and thus allowed to make movements on roads.
Superintendent Rafiki Mujiji, the MIC commanding Officer condemned the criminal act saying that Police will not tolerate such people who tarnish the good image of the center.
“We have done all possible to ensure our customers get the best services. We introduced a third lane to reduce the time customers used to spend here waiting for their vehicles to be inspected,” Supt Mujiji said.
One of the arrested suspect names withheld for investigation purposes denies any responsibility in forging the certificate and sticker.
He claims, he gave Rwf 210,000 to a friend who promised to get him the documents as quick as possible. “I wanted to get my truck back to work and that is why I accepted to give him this amount of money,” the suspect said.
“I was surprised when police officers arrested me weeks later accusing me of using forging documents,” he (suspect) said.
If found guilty, the three are likely to be sentenced between 5 and 10 years and pay a fine up to Frw 100,000 according article 193 of the Rwandan penal code.
{{Officials from National Police and Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration have received training aimed at equipping them with skills on identifying, investing and responding to cases of human trafficking.}}
The three day training took place at Top tower hotel in Kigali to help over fifty participants benefit from skills such as differentiation between internal and external trafficking, the human trafficking process, and offence of trafficking, human trafficking investigations and identification of human trafficking.
Participants acquired knowledge on protocol to prevent, suppress and punish human trafficking especially women and children.
They also gained skills on protection of victims of trafficking in person, cooperation and other measures of human trafficking.
Madame Agnes Igoye a facilitator from Uganda said the human trafficking is the recruitment, transporting transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of a threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation.
Superintendent Steven Rukumba, the director of training in Rwanda national police said human trafficking is a crime that all persons must cooperate in fighting against it.
The training was organized by a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in collaboration with International Organization for Migration.
{{A body of a young lady aged approximately 20 was found laying lifeless at Kimisagara cemetery at Sangwa, Kimisagara sector in Nyarugenge District of Kigali city.}}
On Thursday morning a passerby Umazekabiri Venuste,discovered the body and immediately notified local authorities and Police.
By press time, the name of the deceased had not yet been established.
Ndaziramiye Icyeza a local official in the area in charge of information said that, before the young lady could have been raped before meeting her death.
He added that condoms were littered near the body and that her skirt had been torn indicating there was struggle.
“Also at the scene of crime, there were clothes, body lotion,” Ndaziramiye said suspecting that she could have been killed at the scene and not killed from somewhere and later dumping her body at the site.
Nyabyenda Vincent,a local official in Sangwa area where the crime was committed said, “ its not the first time such an incident has occurred in the area”.
He added that this is the third case of a young lady killed in the area yet all were not residents or known in Sangwa, “it has always been difficult to determine their places of origin”.
{{Seven People including a three months old baby died on the spot on Thursday June 28 in an accident that occurred along Bugarama-kamembe road at about 7:45 AM.}}
The accident involved a saloon car (taxi Voiture REG: RAA 485 T) and a cargo truck (REG: RAB 825B).
Eye witinesses said the cause of the accident was largely due to overspeeding and the fact that both vehicles tried to dodge potholes on the road.
All seven that died were occupants of the Taxi car but the passengers in the truck were unharmed apart from the turn-boy who got traumatized and currently receiving specialized attention at Gihundwe hospital.
The truck driven by Bushenge Emmanuel, was speeding from Kamembe heading towards Bugarama.
Abantu barindwi barimo n’umushoferi wari utwaye imodoka isanzwe ikora akazi ka Tax voiture, yavaga mu Bugarama yerekeza i Kamembe nibo baguye mu mpanuka y’imodoka.
The dead were said to be travelling to Gihundwe hospital to be treated for various conditions in the ongoing Army WeeK medical services Outreach to the community.
{{A heavily loaded cargo truck (today) knocked down two commuter taxis at Kinamba in Kigali city leaving three people seriously injured.
There were no deaths but the injured were rushed to CHUK hospital for immediate medical attention.}}
The truck crashed into the first commuter taxi carrying passengers, which both later rammed into another commuter taxi forcing them to overturn.
The vehicles were headed in one direction towards Nyabugogo when the tuck trounced a commuter taxi carrying passengers (REG: RAA 740 T ) which later crashed into another.
Eye witnesses said, the truck was trying to overtake the passenger taxi when suddenly another car approached from Nyabugogo.
It’s also said that the truck tried to return to its lane but the guard shields on the truck looped into the passenger taxi trouncing it into the air carrying passengers and later rammed into another commuter taxi (REG: RAB 431) ahead in the same lane.
{{ICPAR together with the key stakeholders and all participants June 26, in a one day seminar reviewed the previous East Africa states budget pronouncements.}}
This is to provide the opportunity for participants to fine tune their knowledge and gain strategic insights on the previously read budgets of Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania; their effects on business and to find way forward in aligning them to business growth strategies.
Peter Rutaremara ICPAR president narrated, “We are the key stakeholders of the government because as accountants, we are the implementers of the budget proposals, so we intended to critically understand the budgets read recently so that we can submit them correctly to the tax payers.”
“We are the link between tax offices, Rwanda Revenue Authority, and also tax payers and therefore, we have to be very critical and go through everything to bring significant levels of expectations and professionalism,” Rutaremara added.
The seminar brought together among other participants and from different institutions; employees from public and private sector organizations, Professional Accountants, Tax Managers, Internal Auditors, and Practicing Auditors.
Henriette Nishimwe an Internal Auditor at Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) said that “the budget review gave me wider knowledge because we saw how Budget proposals from different countries are being prepared.”
Among others, insights looked on during the seminar were; the Implications of the 2012/2013 finance bills, Income Tax, VAT, Customs and Miscellaneous Pronouncements, Cross Boarder Pronouncements and their implications.
Tax payers have been mainly complaining about reverse charges on VAT but Rutaremara further during the press interview said that ICPAR as government stakeholder will spearhead the process and review the possible adjustments.
{{In an effort to enrich the experience of its customers, Bank of Kigali (BK), the largest Bank in Rwanda, has entered into a partnership with Rwanda’s leading telecoms operator MTN Rwanda to offer services under its mobile money platform. }}
Under the partnership, BK will offer MTN mobile money existing and new subscribers the full bouquet of mobile money services including; account opening, cash deposits, transfers and withdrawals.
At present, 41 of our 56 branches are offering the services but BK will continue to roll out the service to the remaining 13 branches by the end of the year.
MTN pioneered the mobile money platform in Rwanda in February 2010. Since its inception, the service has transacted volumes of over Rwf70 billion.
“This is probably the biggest partnership between a telecom and a financial institution in Rwanda. We remain committed to bringing financial services closer to the people and we believe this partnership will further expand the potential that mobile money services have on banking the unbanked,” Lawson Naibo the Chief Operating Officer, BK said.
An estimated 45 percent of households in Rwanda have access to a mobile phone and MTN mobile money can leverage our extensive branch network to increase the penetration of their service, while we can capitalize on the increased footfall to bring these customers into the formal banking sector,” he added.
Mr. Naibo also said that since the mobile phone is the most ubiquitous distribution channel on the continent at the moment BK believes that the delivery of financial services through mobile telephony is where the real innovation and development is taking place in the retail market.
MTN Rwanda’s CEO Khaled Mikkawi said that with looming and growing competition in Rwanda’s financial industry, MTN as the market leader in the country also leads the way by creating partnerships with financial institutions, to widen access to services.
“The mobile money platform should not be seen as competition to consumer banking but instead as a catalyst to services offered by leading financial institutions like BK. Rwandans can only benefit from greater convergence between conventional banking services and the mobility that mobile telephony offers,” Mr. Mikkawi said.
Albert Kinuma, Head of MTN Business said that the partnership is in tandem with the company’s strategy of stretching the mobile money’s footprint beyond the regular agent outlets.
“Through MTN’s innovative products, we may deploy different channels as a way of promoting customer satisfaction. It is now possible for senders from outside Rwanda to register online (MTNMMO.COM) and send funds from their debit card or bank transfer to MTN Mobile Money in Rwanda,” Mr. Kinuma said.